Saturday, February 26th, 2022. I don’t know what you were doing 56 years ago on this date but I was preparing to marry the love of my life. I was home on leave from the Air Force having just finished Basic Training and Air Police Technical School. I was young and brash and knew I had the world by the cajones, —- after all, I was an American Fighting Man. LOL I had no idea or probably even any thoughts what the future would hold. The entirety of my future was to get married and make sure I was at my first military assignment on time. Neither Kate nor I had any idea that the Air Force would end up being my first career. 

Our wedding was very simple. We got married at Kate’s home church, St. Paul’s United Church of Christ on Michigan Street. The reception was simple and we maybe had thirty people at our wedding. The reception was in the basement of the church and we had cake, punch, coffee, and mints. Ms. Kate was absolutely gorgeous in her wedding dress, and many years later, our daughter Lisa wore that same dress. Next spring, Lisa’s daughter Amanda will get married and I really hope she will choose to wear Ms. Kate’s dress. But, she probably won’t. 

This evening we will celebrate by going to a nice restaurant up in Haubstadt called the Haub Steak House. We’ve been there only once because it is a bit pricey. But then any place that you go and the meal is “ala-carte” is going to be pricey. 

So here we are, 56 years later, moved back to our home town after 32 years of serving our country in the Air Force. We have three wonderful daughters and a fourth young lady we treat as and consider our daughter. She’s just proof that God sometimes throws in an extra blessing and you get to take it home with you. The girls are all long gone from home and have families of their own which gives us five also fully grown grandchildren. I retired from the USAF 21 years ago and I’m 19 years into my second career. If God is willing, I plan on working for another 22 months and finally really retire at the end of 2023. Ms. Kate and I are in our mid & upper seventies and just continuing to live and love and give God thanks for a life overwhelmed with blessings. 

Have a blessed day. Peace.

 Hello Thursday, How did you sneak past Wednesday? I guess you didn’t but here you are. And what did you bring me??? Rain, sleet, rain some more. You know of course that your repetition is getting old, don’t you?

Well, we last met on Tuesday and I was all set to do my taxes. However, “all set” is as far as it really got. The first thing we did was begging to separate all of our documents into the different categories etc and make sure we had everything. Then I started looking at them and the first thing I found —- my two W2’s from the churches didn’t match. I knew what they were supposed to look like and one of them was correct. But the other has to be re-done. It was a relatively simple error but left as is would cost me some big money. So I have texted the treasurer involved, provided the reference and hopefully I’ll get a new W2 on Sunday and we can proceed. Ms. Kate wants to have the taxes done and out of the way by the end of February but my records indicate it is generally the middle of March before we’re submit them. But —- I too want to get them done and off of my brain.

Yesterday I went to the churches and ran my bulletins for this Sunday and for Ash Wednesday which is next Wednesday. Since we are having a day of rain again today, I plan to go downstairs to my off and write my sermon for the 6th of March. It seems like a worthwhile thing to do. 

The bad weather is affecting folks all over the country. My daughter Lisa and her family were suppose to fly out of Raleigh-Durham airport today for Gary’s dad’s memorial. The flight got cancelled and they now fly out tomorrow morning. My daughter Heather, in Southern California said they had a hard freeze warning going. Of course Julie just lives an hour and a half east of us so we send her our weather. And Stephanie lives over in the Oklahoma City area and send her weather to us. It’s a shared experience and we all get to have weather that sucks. But, the daffodils are up and spring is coming. The Lenten season starts next week and that means we are only seven weeks from Easter. Good stuff is on the way and God has it in control. 

Time for some breakfast. Have a blessed day. Peace. 

 Good morning on this rainy morning. We have gotten 1.19 inches so far since midnight. I think we are in a lull right now with more rain coming later. But the worst has passed us I think. 

So, today and this week is a Palindrome Week, meaning that the date reads the same forwards and backwards. That’s not going to happen for another eight years; 03/03/2030. I wonder if I will be alive to see that. I should be 85 then so there is a possibility. I would hope so. But then, I reckon I won’t know it if I’m not. LOL

Today is “Tax Day”. Ms. Kate and I finally have all of the paperwork gathered to file our taxes, or at least we think we do. We always file through on-line Turbo-Tax. It is a frustrating five hours or so but feels so good when we have them finished. And, it is better than paying an accountant, or at least has been so far. I think only once in our life did we take them to a “firm” and that was the first year we were married. Between us we didn’t make $5000.00 that year and it cost us, I think, a couple of hundred dollars to have them done and we didn’t get anything back. In those days, as a “one stripe airman”, a couple of hundred dollars was huge; I mean like “rent payment” huge. So the only other time we have had someone else do our taxes was when we asked our accountant daughter to do them for us. But she doesn’t do taxes anymore and even sends hers out to be done. Her philosophy is that “you don’t grade your own paper when you run a business”. That makes sense. A couple of years ago we checked with H&R Block about doing our taxes and they were going to charge us about $500.00 because we had to add IL farm income to our mix. Certainly, Turbo Tax isn’t free or even cheap but we can save some money by doing them ourselves. They are just a PITA to do. I was reading an article last evening that said the government (IRS) is still 23.1 million tax forms back logged  in completing last years tax forms and they are trying to hire 1200 extra people to catch up on their backlog. The back log is mainly caused by folks who file their taxes on paper instead of on-line. When you file on-line the computers do a good job of filing them but if you file by paper, they literally have to sit there and go line by line and number by number. It is no wonder they are jammed up because they were also the ones that had to deal with the stimulus payments. But —— I’ll bey that if I filed late they would have time to catch that right away and charge their fees. 

Okay, enough about terrible topics. I need to get cleaned up and dressed and prepare for battle. Y’all have a wonderful day. Try to stay dry, stay safe, and stay in touch with God. Peace. 

 Good morning and a Happy Monday to you. God has brought us through another weekend and now has opened up a another week before us. What shall we make of it do you think? Got any big plans for the week? Actually, I’m trying to make some plans for the upcoming Saturday but I just don’t know what yet. Ms. Kate and I will celebrate our 56th Wedding anniversary on the 26th and we should do something special, don’t you think?? I’ve been checking out some restaurants on line we could go to but so far noting really peaks my interest and I haven’t mentioned it to her yet. But, after 56 years, I know what she is going to say; “I don’t know, —- we’ll see”. Then I’m left to wonder some more. 

Did you have a good weekend? Did you take time to go to your house of worship and give God thanks? I think it’s important that we do that. Our services were well attended yesterday at both churches. We have a new sound system at St. Paul’s that I used for the first time yesterday. It really works well. We’ve been needing one for a long time. I think the old one was at least thirty years old and has had “band-aid fixes” for the last 15 years that I have been there. The sanctuary isn’t all that large but the ceiling is really high and sound gets lost. And, let’s admit it, as I get older, my voice gets weaker; so it was time for a new system. 

I think we now have all of the documents that we need to do our taxes. I hate doing taxes with a passion. We do ours on-line through Turbo Tax and it always takes us about six hours and a lot of frustration. I know we could go to a professional and have them done but that would cost us about $500.00. Going through Turbo Tax still costs a couple of hundred dollars and a lot of time. The thing that drives our price up is that we have to pay taxes in IL for the farm rent income. 

Gotta drop off, and take Ms. kate for her blood work. have a blessed day. Peace 

 The old commercial of the Dunkin Donuts guy used to say “Time to make the donuts”. Well, it’’s time to make the orange rolls. I love those silly things. I know they aren’t “homemade” but Pillsbury does an adequate job. For a while they were hard to find in the grocery store. They had lots of the cinnamon rolls but not Orange rolls. I’m not a fan of the cinnamon rolls. Actually the best part of a cinnamon roll is simply walking by a Cinnabon bakery. LOL I always think they smell so good, and then I remember that they are so sweet that they make my teeth hurt and walk away. 

Today is an exact opposite of yesterday. We have lots of sunshine, the 40mph winds have passed, and no projected rain. But, it’s cold with a high of maybe 35 today. The back yard is really sloppy so I won’t be going out there. I hope it dries out some because I have so many small branches that have ben collecting on the ground from the different storms and snow etc. It will take a couple of hours one of these days to get the all picked up. I’m also eyeing all of the leaves that I need to get off of my flowerbeds now. The daffodils are up and peeking through but not blooming. Days like today give you “spring fever” until you walk outside. Then you realize that Mother Nature is just being coy still. But, it will be here soon enough. 

The rain yesterday gave me extra reason to stay in my office downstairs and get some work done. I finished up my 27th of February sermon, bulletin, and AV slides. And I finished up the Ash Wednesday service. Today I may start on March 6th service, and work on my Bible study readings. 

The Backyard Buffet is swarming with birds this morning. Most of them are the small birds like finches, wrens, and chick-a-dees etc. Although there is a fair amount of Cardinals out there. |(Interesting note to self: why do I always capitalize Cardinal and not the names of the other birds? Hmmmm) Most of the feeders are still plenty full which is a good thing because it is too sloppy to be walking around out there. I’ve had a couple of the larger red-headed woodpeckers here this week. Maybe they are migrating back in the area. That would be super. 

Well, the orange rolls were delicious and I’m done here. Have a blessed day. It is the end of the week. I hope you have a blessed weekend. Peace. 

 It is 0900 and the world is no brighter than it was at 0630. Rain has settled in for the day and as I said in a Facebook post this morning, it is a “soft patter on the roof, hot cup of coffee, light blanket, recliner kind of morning”. I could add a good book to the mix but I wouldn’t get very far with it and it would only serve to hold my blanket in place. So, I decided to get out of my recliner, pour a second cup of coffee and come jot a few words down in my blog. That is not to say that the recliner won’t win out a bit later. Forecasters say we are going to go through several phases of this rain today to include the possibility of a severe storm some time after noon. It is currently 57 degrees and will drop all the way down to 19 degrees tonight. We are under a flash flood advisory and a wind advisory. It’s just one of those days where we get a little bit of everything. 

We went to the churches yesterday and ran our bulletins for the week. I use to really dislike doing that and it seems that it always took forever to do it. I think the thing now is that I have quit making it harder on myself. I used to run copies of the hymns to put in the large print bulletins so my elderly parishioners would not have to hang on to the hymnals. But now, I don’t really have many elderly parishioners at St. Paul’s and at St. Lucas, we put the hymns up on the screens. At. St. Paul’s, I am the oldest most of the time. 

My carpenter finished up the work he was doing yesterday to trim out the cabinet so the new refrigerator would fit under it. He really worked hard to make that happen. My cabinets are very well made and are solid wood. He was able to not only save the cabinet but you can’t tell that he did anything to change it except that now the refrigerator sides right into place. If I need any more carpentry work done, I’ll certainly call him. This is the third appliance that he has done trim work for for us and everyone of the jobs has been well done. 

I started on my February 27th sermon last night. That is Transfiguration Sunday and for me, —- that is a hard Sunday to write a sermon for. It always takes me extra study and research to find the answers that I am looking for to craft my message. One would thing that after 17 years of writing a sermon for this day that I could write it easily, but the scripture covering the event is only about 15 verses, and holds a lot more questions than answers. Ms. Kate asked why I don’t just choose another topic but this is the Sunday that takes us to Ash Wednesday and the Lenten Season. So, I feel like I have to not shy away from it. The story is in the Bible for a reason, and far too often, I feel like I ignore scriptures because I just can’t seem to draw the meaning out of them. So, I rely on the hope that God will provide the words and I can convey them to others. 

I think that I will quit and go toast a bagel. Have a safe day, have a blessed day. Stay in touch with God and draw your strength from Jesus Christ. Peace. 

 Wednesday, — mid-week already. It’s going to be a warm day around here but lots of wind supposed to come in; gusts up to 45mph today and tomorrow. Tomorrow the rain and storms come in. Of course in our area that could also mean tornadoes and other stuff. So, today I’ll try to get as much done as I can so we can hunker down tomorrow if we need to. The forecast was interesting last night because the forecaster said that along with the wind and other stuff tomorrow and a 60 degree temperature it could end up with a temperature drop and some snow. Welcome to southern Indiana. 

It’s a noisy house this morning. The woodworking guy is here to do whatever he needs to do so that we can move that refrigerator in place. He is having a heck of a time because the cabinets are solid wood. I still thinking when may just have to take the whole bottom out and we lose the use of the cabinet. To me it isn’t a big deal. We took the stuff out of it this morning and I’m sure we initially put that stuff up there at least ten years ago if not twenty. If we put it on a yard sale I bet we could get $10.00 for the lot of it. 

I had lunch yesterday with my buddy Art Christmas. It was the first time I had seen him since he retired\. It was great to catch up. He brought me a couple of copies of a book for my use with parishioners. It is on grief and and dealing with grief. I have a couple of people that I’m going to share them with. 

Since the weather is supposed to be terrible tomorrow I’m going to go to the churches and run my bulletins today. I finished tailoring the bulletin last night and made my slides for the video and got the program sent off to the two organists and to Jacob, the AV guy. I’m doing a sermon of “self-care” this week. It is a really important topic, especially with the COVID pandemic and frustration that has swept the world with that. I’m trying to impress that self-care is not just a modern day term and not just for people who may be struggling mentally with all of this; Self-care is a Biblical issue and we should treat it as such. I hope I get my point across. 

I’m also putting together a Lenten Bible study on the last week in the life of Jesus. I’ll be using the Gospel of Mark, Chapter’s 11-16 as my source. As I tell people, the Gospel of Mark is one of my four favorite Gospels. LOL

That’s it for today. The carpenter is just about done and I gotta go find the check book. Stay safe if you are in the storm zone. Peace. 

 The saying is; “If it isn’t one thing, it’s another”. The saga of “The Refrigerator” continues. But first —- Good morning! Happy Tuesday to you. It is supposed to be a really nice day today with sunshine and warmer temperatures. I’ve been outside a couple of times already this morning and it felt very comfortable. 

So back to the refrigerator. I may have told you that last October we ordered a new refrigerator from Wayne’s Appliance. Well of course it was “back-ordered” like everything seems to be\ and we have waited and waited, I finally went in last week late and asked about it and they said that it might still be another two months but they did have some new refrigerators in. They were GE as opposed to LG that we had ordered and were the same size as the one we had ordered. So, we decided to take that one. They delivered it yesterday and got it all set up to slide back in place and it is an inch too tall to fit in the space. There is a cabinet above the space and normally that would not be a problem because there is usually some “over hang between the bottom of the cabinet that could simply be trimmed off. But —- not this one. The bottom of the cabinet is flush with the trim. So, they suggested that we go ahead and hold on to this one so we would have a refrigerator and we are aiming for their trim work guy to come and assess the problem and see what he can do about it. If it is major work, we may have to return it and try to find a shorter one. It’s always something, isn’t it. 

Julie came over this weekend so she could be with a friend of hers through the friend’s surgery. She spent most of the day yesterday with her friend; took her to the hospital, brought her home, sat with her until the pharmacy got her meds ready (which took hours), fed and walked her friends dog, and fixed a meal for her friend. This morning, Jules went back to check on her friend, and help her with whatever she needs and then is heading back to New Albany. Julie is a great kid. I’m very proud of her. Unfortunately for her, Barnes and Noble lost the bookstore contract for all of the IU schools and it appears that she will be out of a job at the end of May. I’m not sure what she is going to do then. She is going to contact HR tomorrow and see what it takes to get unemployment. Julie has never been without a job since she was fourteen. Usually had two at a time. She will receive her BS degree from IUSE two weeks before the contract ends so she is going to be like every other new college graduate; a brand new college graduate and no job. The difference is the 30 year gap between the other graduates and her. There is some hope that the new company taking over the bookstore will keep her on. But, she isn’t holding her breath for it. We have lots of things to pray for, but please add Jules to your list. 

That’s my story for today. I’m meeting Pastor Art for lunch and Ms. Kate is heading to the beauty parlor. Then we’ll come home and start on laundry. We do live exciting lives. 

Peace. 

 I’ve been talking about restocking the Backyard Buffet for a couple of weeks now and have not done it until today. So today the snow is mostly gone and the ground hasn’t thawed to the point of sloppy yet so I decided it was time to get off my bum and get it done. It’s 54 degrees with a stiff 12 mph breeze blowing in so it was fairly comfortable out there. It is supposed to start raining at some point today and I wanted to get them refilled before the rain finished melting the snaps and turned the back yard into a mud patch. My guests are very appreciative. There were cardinals coming in before I even finished and came inside. I have some nuthatches and wrens, and chickadees sampling the goods too. I heard a squirrel come and jump on the roof of the sun porch but so far it hasn’t come down to a feeder. But, it will and I see a couple more are up in the surrounding trees checking the place out. It won’t be long now. 

I’m glad to see that I have daffodils coming up throughout the flowerbeds. Sister-in-law Karen already has blooms on hers. I was shocked to see that. Mine are up in varying heights from two to five inches but there are no buds on any of them. I really need to get out there and do so much raking this spring and put down fresh mulch. That’s the problem with daffodil popping their heads through — it makes you start thinking of all the spring work you have to do and there is still snow on the ground. I need to shelve those thoughts for awhile. 

That’s about it for today. I just dropped by for a “howdy”. I pray your day goes well. Peace. 

 Well —- we jumped fright over Wednesday didn’t we? That’s because I was busy yesterday. And besides that, I didn’t have any news or thoughts worth sharing. 

Yesterday morning I went to our Neighborhood Walmart store and did I the grocery shopping. I only had a little over a dozen items on my list so it didn’t take a real long time. But I take my time when I go. I actually managed to get everything that was on my list. A lot of people don’t get to say that because grocery stores are like everything else, they don’t get their shipments in so stuff isn’t available. For instance, we like the Walmart brand of low-salt “Ruffles” chips and they only had one bag in the store. On another day, I wanted a head of cabbage and all they had was red cabbage and no green. Maybe if all of the truckers that are currently protesting in Canada about vaccine mandates were out delivering stuff, they could stop some of the shortage. But — I’m not going to get into that argument. 

After I got home, Karen came by to work on the caulking in my shower. While we were in Florida, she came by to check on the house and noticed that my shower needed to be caulked. I had tried to do that a couple of years ago and did a horrible job. First of all, I don’t know what I’m doing and secondly, I can’t get down to do it very easily. However, I feel stupid because Karen  is the same age as I am and she gets down there and does it. But, she had a new product that she used that is a long strip od stuff that sticks to the floor and wall. Unfortunately, it didn’t all stay so she came back yesterday to repair her repair. She knows a heck of a lot more about home repair than I do. And she’s has the patience to do it right the first time and follow directions. 

The snow is still hanging around in places. But the roads are all clear and most of it is gone from the grassy areas. But it is a cooler day today than yesterday, I think 43 is about all we are going to get. That’s still tolerable. Ms. Kate wants to go to Target yet this morning and I’d like to go to Tin Fish Restaurant for lunch. I’m hungry for some raw oysters. And I need to go to Cold Stone Creamery and take advantage of their special, Chocolate Covered Strawberry ice cream. It is a limited product, I assume for Valentines Day. So, I’m waiting for Ms. Kate to get out of the shower, dry her hair and get ready  to go. 

JUlie is coming over this weekend. She has a friend that is having surgery on Monday and Jules is “her person” designated to be with her. Jules is a great kid and friend. It will be great to have her over. I don’t know if she is bringing the pupperonies or not but I suspect she will. 

That’s enough for today. Enjoy the rest of your day. Don’t forget to take time to give thanks to the Lord God who made this day possible for you. Peace. 

 Aaah Tuesday! Welcome to our week. You are looking fine this morning with all of your sunshine lighting up the world so nicely. Ya’ could have come in a little warmer than 28 but I’m told you are going to move on up to maybe 50 degrees this morning. I hope you do and maybe more of this ice will melt off of my driveway. 

And good morning to the rest of the world. It is a beautiful morning. The sky is clear and blue and the ice has melted off of the trees. And —- the good news is that Ms. Kate saw a Bluebird first thing this morning. That is maybe a sign that Spring is at least not too far off. It also means that I need to get out there and fill my feeders today. Everything is empty. The starlings have made sure there isn’t a bit of anything left. But —- they have not found this one feeder that I have out front in the azealia bush. It is tucked in just enough and out of the pattern of travel of most of the birds. But — the wrens and the cardinals know where it is and they are my steady customers at that one. Anyway, I reckon I’ll throw on my coat and boots after while and go fill everything. It’s really still too chilly to sit out in the sun porch and watch my critters but that doesn’t mean they don’t need to be fed. I did clean the electric bird bath yesterday and it is the popular spot in the neighborhood. Saturday, in the middle of the snow and ice and sleet, the starlings and blackbirds were sitting in the birdbath having a wonderful time taking their bath. I don’t know how the water didn’t freeze to their wings when they got out, but they didn’t seem to be bothered. It’s just as the song says; “His Eye is on the Sparrow”. 

I got out yesterday and did some parishioner visitation like I had planned. I enjoy doing that and I think my parishioners enjoy having me drop by. I never stay long; generally about 30-45 minutes, but we talk about stuff and and we pray together, and share the love of God with one another. Then, yesterday evening, I started on upcoming worship services. I can’t believe I’m already working on my Ash Wednesday service. March 2nd is Ash Wednesday. We will do the annual Ash Wednesday Combined service. We always do those at St. Paul’s and then we do the Maundy Thursday service at St. Lucas. For Ash Wednesday we do Holy Communion and the imposition off ashes. That service is one of my favorites. The strange thing about that is that I don’t remember us ever doing the imposition of ashes when I was a kid. I remember the Catholic kids getting on the bus with the ash cross on their forehead but it wasn’t a thing practiced by any of our local Protestant churches that I know of. 

I hope you have a wonderful week. Peace. 

 Hello Monday! Nice to see you and start a brand new week. I wonder, do people still “dread” a Monday? Do they still talk bad about it be another Monday? Do they still say things like “I’ve had a week of Mondays”? I don’t recall ever having a time with Monday. It starts a new week off with all kinds of unknown things coming in a new set of days. It’s the opening of a new chapter of life and a fresh set of opportunities to demonstrate our ability to be a good citizen and a good human being. So, if Mondays bum you out —- give yourself and Monday a break. 

Well, I didn’t get anything more done on my driveway. I can’t believe how hard that ice is sticking to the pavement. I did move my truck out of the driveway and drive it around the block. It was slow going because nothing has been done to our streets in the subdivision of course. I had thought that with the temperature reaching 40 yesterday that maybe it would be easier to move the snow and ice, but ‘twas not to be. Today the temperature is not going above freezing either so I reckon we’ll just wait. Starting tomorrow we are warming up and the stuff will start to actually melt. We might even hit 50 a couple of days this week. That would be tremendous. The good thing is that we are supposed to have a week of sunshine. That does the body and mind good. 

How was your weekend? Did you do anything productive? I spent yesterday putting together my sermon and worship service for the 20th of February. It is going to be about Self-care and how it is a Biblical thing to take care of our bodies, minds and spirits. There are a lot of scripture passages that talk about that; a lot more than I would have thought. I never cease to be amazed at the wisdom contained in those 66 books of the Bible. I’m certainly not a biblical scholar but I have learned how to make use of my Bible. I have never read the Bible from cover to cover like so many people have. I know people who try to read the entire Bible every year and I wonder if they are doing it because they are actually finding new insight or are they doing it so they can tell people they read the entire Bible every year. I can read an Algebra book from cover to cover and still not know anything about doing algebra. I encourage people all the time to read and study their Bible. Compare the Gospels to one another, Find out why the stories in the Bible were written, who they pertained to at the time and how are they relevant to us today. 

Today I’m going to venture out and go do a couple of visitations at the nursing home. I have two fellas in the same facility so I’ll go see them and maybe even take communion to them. So, it’s time for me to get myself cleaned up and start my week. Have a wonderful week, Enjoy the world and life that God has provided for you. Peace. 

 Happy February 5th. It is 15 degrees right now and is supposed to go up another ten degrees. The sun is brilliantly shining and the wind is less today so I hope that there will be a little bit of melting going on today. Tomorrow it is supposed to get up to about 40 which will feel like beach weather after this. 

Yesterday I went out and did some shoveling of snow in the driveway. I managed to get about 25 feet down the drive way. In the sun the ice came up pretty well with my shovel. The JD blade of course won’t touch it so shoveling is the only answer. But, I’ll be adding Tylenol to my pills this morning. I’m pretty stiff this morning. As I told my kids, I woke up “old” this morning. I was going to do some more shoveling today but since the temperature is supposed to get up to 40 tomorrow, I think I’ll wait. It’s not like I have to get out but I’m at a point that I could if I needed to. 

I decided to make an Angel Food cake yesterday. It turned out excellent. We aren’t big cake eaters around here. I like it more than Ms. Kate does. But we both love angel food. One year, many years ago I told Ms. Kate that I would have made her a cake for her birthday but I didn’t know how. She laughed at me and said; “You don’t know how to measure a cup and a third of water?””  I did not know that with an angle food cake mix that was all you had to do. My memories were of my mother making Angel Food cake and we had to tip toe around the house so they didn’t “fall. But that was from scratch. Anyway, I’ve been making Angel Food cakes ever since. When I was in Italy I had a great apartment with a full kitchen and I’d get hungry for cake. So, I’d bake a bake and then share it with other service members on my floor. 

Okay, that’s it for today. Stay warm, stay safe. Honor the Sabbath. Peace. 

 Good morning on a cold snowy February 4th. The sun is trying to break through the clouds and it is brighter than anything we have seen in the last 48 hours. It does look beautiful as I peer through the windows. I went out and measured and I think we have about an inch and a half of combined snow, sleet and frozen stuff on the driveway and sidewalks and well, just everything. With a high of 27 today, nothing is going anywhere fast; not the snow, not the ice, not any people. I’m watching the local news and weather right now to see what is really on the horizon. The weather guy just predicted a high of 24 for tomorrow.  I’m seeing lots closings scrolling across the screen; schools, businesses, all kinds of things. Our trash pick up has been delayed another day, although we didn’t have but one bag anyway and Dan took that and put it in his trash can. 

Yesterday was a “red-letter-day” around here for finding and fixing things. Our I-Robot has been missing for a couple of weeks now. I have looked and look at all of the place that I thought it could get stuck to no avail. Yesterday as I was walking through the dining room I noticed that there were robot tracks along the front of the china cabinet. So, I got down on the floor. (Not an easy thing to do) and sure enough there it was, stuck under there. Of course the battery was dead. It took quite a bit of effort to get it back out of there but “Robbie” is back home. As hard as it was to get it out, I can’t figure out how it actually got under there in the first place. But it did. —— Next, Kate had somehow gotten locked out of her PC. Our attempts to correct it and get her back on only made it worse. Microsoft had made it where we had to wait  X number of hours until they would send us another PIN number. So, last night, I went in and told her computer that I had forgotten the password. I knew they would send her a code so we could change passwords so I had her pull up her email on her IPad and wait for a message . It came through, I changed the password and viola’, we were back in business. Next, she plays a game on the computer called Klondike and has for some time now. Well, for what ever reason, it just disappeared. She plays through Facebook and the game simply didn’t show up anywhere. Once I got her computer back up and running, I texted Julie and asked her about the Klondike game because she and Kate both play it, and Jules gave me the website address to go to. I did so, and it was a simple thing and now Kate has the game back. I have to say, Kate is an ITs worst nightmare. If it can go wrong, it goes wrong for her and her stroke left her unable to understand things and instructions sometimes. First thing this morning, she came out and said the internet must be down because she can’t get on. I checked the modem and router and all was fine. The problem was that the batteries had died on her keyboard. But, stuff like that happens to her all the time with her computer and she gets so frustrated. It makes her feel like an idiot and she certainly isn’t. I used to go to her for all of my computer questions because she basically taught me how to use one. But —- bless her heart, not that way anymore. And, admittedly, I probably don’t make her feel any better because I get frustrated with her getting frustrated with it. I need to be more patient. 

That’s enough about my problems and accomplishments for today. I’m headed to the basement and my office to do some writing. Stay safe, stay indoors if you can. Stay in tough with God. Peace. 

 2/2/22. Today was brought to you by the number “2”. We will have another day like that this month and that will be 2/22/22. That is Julie and Jim’s anniversary. 

We are back from our vacation just in time or the big winter storm that is in the process of starting right now. We had rain last night for awhile but has temporarily stopped which is good because I need to get to the grocery store. Yes, —- we need milk and bread but —- we also need Veggie soup fixings. Tonight we are predicted for freezing rain and sleet and then snow. The local weather dude said don’t even try to get out of your house on Thursday or Friday because it is going to be dangerous to walk or drive due to the possibility of ice etc. 

But — last week was wonderful. I’m sure you saw my many pictures off the animals that I put on Facebook. This was maybe one off the best vacations I have ever had because it was a vacation without expectations. Ya’ know what I mean?? So many time when we get home from “vacation” we are just worn out. There is always something that we need to go do or go see etc. This time, we did exactly what we wanted to —- sit and enjoy ourselves. I spent my days sitting on the veranda, watching the animals, reading my book, and having my coffee. Ms. Kate did the same. We did venture of of the resort a couple of time for a meal but that was really all except we had to ind an “Apple store” to get Ms. Kate’s IPad and iPhone straightened out. Somehow it had locked her out and we had to go to an Apple store to get it fixed. The young guy to helped us was super and gets kudos from both of us. Beyond that —- we just stayed in the room or walked around the main resort. Chris and Steph had actually arranged this trip for us because they have a membership and often they don’t get a chance to use it so it is wasted money. When i mentioned that gong to this resort was on my bucket list, they quickly made the arrangements and set it all up. They and the other kids may have been disappointed that we didn’t “do more” to take advantage off it but we were extremely happy. And — the road trip down and back went very smoothly too. We actually drove straight through Atlanta both ways and had no problem at all. I wouldn’t want to do it everyday —- but it worked this time. 

Now, I need to get cleaned up and head out to the grocery before the rain starts again or gets heavy. I hope you have a great day. This storm is only going to affect the whole country so stay safe out there. Peace.