The last day of August 2023. Eight months gone to the wind or wherever time goes. Actually, I wonder where time does go? 

Did you see that super blue moon last night with the planet Saturn off to its right? I love to watch the heavenly occurrences such as that. I love to watch meteor showers. The vastness of the universe simply fascinates me. There is so much beauty out there beyond our little planet here in the middle of the Milky Way galaxy.  I love to watch programs that show the pictures of space taken from the Hubble or the new Webb Space Telescope. They are so fantastic. I look at those images and my only thought is “God made that; the same God that watches over me.” How fantastic is that to realize. It’s hard to wrap ones mind around the concept. 

I know my mind goes off on tangents sometimes but I sometimes think about what we will be doing in our eternal existence. Every person who has any concept of life after the discontinuation of physical life on this planet has some idea of what they think it will be like. As a Christian, I firmly believe in life after death. However, I don’t think it will be a just sitting around in the “Glorious Cafe” having an endless cup of coffee chatting with the loved ones. I think perhaps God will have an eternal task for us; a task so profound that it will take us an eternity to begin to accomplish it. I hope my spirit will be assigned to supervise or help in the development of life on one of those billions of planets that are just hanging out there in the realms of the heavens. My concept of heaven is that our spirits will be united with our full potential and we shall join our minds together and we shall know one another by our spirits of love. Our scripture says that God created mankind in His own image; if God is spirit and love; —- then so shall we be.  Scripture says that on the seventh day, God rested. I take that to mean that on the eighth day; God went back to work. Okay —- enough of my mental rabbit trail for today.   

The “ding-alarm” on my smart watch has been going off all morning like crazy. It is the activation of the motion sensor on my bird feeder. It has been a busy place all morning. Mostly it is the cardinals and finches. Once in a while a goldfinch stops by or a bluebird. 

I have convinced Ms. Kate that we need to go out for breakfast, so it is time to head out. Have a most blessed day. Peace. 

 What another beautiful day we have today. It was 66 degrees with a stiff breeze when I came out to turn on the coffee pot this morning. The sun is shiny brightly and there is very little humidity this week. This is a far cry from what is gong on in north Florida with the hurricane. We’re saying many prayers for all of them, and for people in the outlying bands of this thing and are still in the path as it rapidly moves north and east. My granddaughter  and family are in Wilmington North Carolina and this thing will brush by them, probably at tropical storm strength by then. We had wonderful news from them this weekend as our darling Amanda announced that she is pregnant. We get to be great grandparents again. I just married those two last March. The family is all thrilled on both sides of the aisle. 

Ms. Kari is where the morning to clean so I need to stay out of her way. Kate has gone to the sunporch until Kari get there. By then I will be in the basement busy writing I think. I didn’t get too far last night. I had a hard time pulling the right thoughts together for this sermon. It is from Matthew 21, the parable of the tenants. Sometimes the lessons from the parables are obvious and sometime I need to write, throw away, and rewrite. But —- you know, even the disciples had to sometimes ask Jesus what he was taking about; so I’m in good company. 

I’m having fresh peaches for my breakfast. A friend gave me a couple of bags of them and they have just not hit perfect ripeness, and they are so very good. But, Ms. kate can’t eat them and I have too many so I just offered a bag of them to Kari and she is a happy lady. 

That’s it for today. I’m going to the churches later and run some bulletins. It’s a good day to be out and about. I may have to go by the Ritter’s farm stand and pick up some corn on the cob. Season will be over shortly and I’ll ick up a cantelope and watermelon too. 

Have a blessed day. Peace. 

 I haven’t talked much about my Backyard Buffet in quite awhile. But rest assured I am still enjoying it. The problem is that I have been negligent about keeping it filled. It was either to wet to be out there walking around in the backyard, or we were under an air zone alert, or it was to hot. One can come up with all kinds of excuses if we want to  when the bottom line more often than not is I was being lazy. And I was doing my morning computer / IPad stuff at the kitchen table instead of from the sunporch. 

But I filled all of the feeders again yesterday and the weather is so pleasant that I am out in the sunporch this morning enjoying my kingdom. Besides, —- there is something special about the day when the first thing I see is a pair of Bluebirds having breakfast at the Buffet. This morning’s guests include my regular half dozen or so Cardinals, a couple of hummingbirds, titmouse, sparrows, goldfinches, downy woodpeckers, and of course a couple of squirrels. The squirrels are still unhappy with me because I cut their favorite perching limb off that was next to their favorite feeder. They are going to be even more upset because I have two more limbs that have to be cut out of that Pussy willow tree because they are pressing into my gutter. 

I mowed my front yard yesterday and of course since the JD was running, I went over an mowed Dan’s yard too. They have been on vacation and just got home late Sunday night. But today I have to head to my downstairs office and get my fingers going on the computer keyboard. Tomorrow I’ll be going to the church to run bulletins and also up to a couple of nursing homes for visitation. I will miss that when I retire. 

Okay, the Cardinal gang is back so I’m going to finish my coffee and enjoy watching them. You have yourself a blessed day. Peace.  

 It is morning like this that hint that autumn is on the way. What a beautiful morning. I’ve only been out long enough to put some stuff in my composted but it was so pleasant. So, I must begin my week with giving thanks to the Creator for this day and the projected weather for the week. 

How was your weekend? We had a pretty good weekend. Ms. Kate is improving everyday. She has finished all of her antibiotics and is eating Faith well — small portions but is having something most every meal. That is a huge improvement. This morning I fixed scrambled eggs with ham and mushrooms in them and a pan of biscuits. She ate a heathy portion of the eggs and a couple of biscuits with a little home made strawberry jam on them. I proud of her. 

We had a great service at church yesterday. My friend Ron Henze was in town and sang a couple of songs for us. He did a solo and then a duet with one of our soprano singers for church. He did a really god job, especially considering he’s 80 years old. My voice went to trash several years ago although I still try. But we had a fairly full church yesterday and Ron and Samantha’s music was a blessing and was well received. I was very happy to see that because Samantha is timid about singing, and she did such a good job. 

I have writing to do and I have ideas in my brain to put down on paper but —- I’m going to enjoy riding my John Deere today and mow my yard and probably Dan’s. I need to get my yard mowed and being out there will be relaxing and enjoyable. 

That’s about it for this last Monday in September. Have a blessed week. Peace. 

 Friday afternoon, 1:15 pm. I just went out to the mailbox to drop in a couple of items and the heat is horrible. The “real-feel” is 109 and it is hard to breathe. I feel sorry for anyone that has to be outside working in this kind of heat. I pray God keeps them safe. I also think about people that do not or cannot afford air conditioning. I don’t know how they survive this. 

But, —- I remember days like this when I was a kid and was spending the week with my Grandma and Grandpa Heumann. Grandma would have had all of the windows open and a box fan going. Grandpa and I would have been sitting out in the shade in the yard in the old blue steel chairs. He would have been sitting there smoking his pipe. Those are precious memories. I would love to be able to sit with him once again under that tree. Grandma and grandpa Heumann were “quiet people”. They moved slow; They didn’t talk a lot but they were great listeners. They were humble and they were kind. All of us grandkids have such fond memories of the two of them. 

They were the opposite of my Grandma Rath. She was high energy and always doing something, always in motion. When we went on family vacations, she almost always went with us, five of us in crowded in a 1950’s Studebaker of some model, with our luggage and food. There weren’t a lot of restaurants back then; Drive through were something new. I remember going to my first McDonalds in Rapid City South Dakota. 

We have another appointment at the doctor’s office today for Kate to get another antibiotic shot. Then she will come home and sleep the afternoon away. It does seem to be our routine. Hopefully today will be the last one. She is doing better. Last evening she ate a whole meal, the first in weeks. So, we are hopeful that she will be past this in a few days. 

That’s my Friday story. I hope you have a great weekend. May God grant you peace. 

 Good Thursday morning. It’s hot already and only 0915. It is supposed to go to 100 ambient today and maybe again tomorrow and that will put the heat index up to 110-115. That’s not fit for man nor beast. However, I heard of a place, and I think it was in Kansas, or maybe it was Death Valley, that had a feels like temperature of 138 a couple of days ago. Do we still think that global warming is a myth??? I certainly believe that it is real; —- however the cause is not only debatable but also extremely political. This planet has gone through global warming and global freezing, global flooding and every other extreme. And as long as God lets the earth to continue, —- it will all happens repeatedly. The biggest difference this time is there is money and power to be gained this time. 

Ms. Kate had a good night last night and this morning “doesn’t feel awful” which isn’t quite the same as feeler better. LOL. Her doctor called and wants her to come in for another antibiotic shot today. Heck, we might get this lady well yet. If we have to go daily for an antibiotic shot —- that’s what we do. 

So, beyond not going out in the heat except to g to the doctor, there isn’t much else going on in my world. I guess I will do some writing today. Trying to stay ahead of the game. Things like Ms. Kate getting sick and requiring care are why I try to stay ahead on stuff. One never knows what will happen. People get sick, parishioner end up having surgeries and need visitation unexpectedly. It is just better to have ones ducks in a row; —— or at least know where the duck are. 

So, I think I’ll make some jello with pears in it. That’s a good snack. You have yourself a great day. Peace. 

 I was hoping today would be a better day for Ms. Kate —- ‘twas not to be. I told y’all that we spent part of Monday at the ER getting her checked out. They gave her antibiotic injections as well as a prescription and sent her home. Yesterday morning she was better, we even had company come by and drop off a nice meal for us. But mid afternoon she was feeling rough again and by this morning she was having a total relapse. We had an appointment with our doctor this morning. He confirmed they hospitalist’s diagnosis of UTI and Diverticulitis. He has given her another shot of antibiotics. They will be calling us tomorrow to check on her. If she is better, they will continue with her prescribed medicines. If not, they are going to hospitalize her and continue treatment through IV’s etc. I hope it doesn’t come to that; but if that’s what we need to do, that’s what we do. We have to get that lady well. 

Bambi and I grazed on the backyard yesterday a evening after the sun went down. It’s so good to have it running again. I also cleaned the birdbaths and filled them with fresh water. They are getting a lot of use with this heat wave going on. I also watered my tomatoes. I have lost so many of the tomatoes because they are small and green and falling off of the vines. Maybe it is the heat, I don’t know. I only have a couple of ripe ones at the moment. 

I had brought all of my material up to the kitchen table to work so I wouldn’t have to keep going up and down stairs to check on Kate. Last night I took it all back down. But —- I reckon I better bring it back up. I have work to do and she’s still sick. But —- this is exactly why I work ahead. One never knows what is down the road and being prepared helps you get through it all. 

That’s it for today. Peace. 

 It has been a trying day for the Heumann’s. We had several things on the schedule today, The John Deere place was supposed to come and pick up Bambi, then I had an appointment to have the Prius serviced, and Kate had an afternoon appointment with Dr. Jackson. We, Kate woke up feeling really bad but we sat around here and waited for the John Deere guy to call and come pick up the mower. By the time he got here which was ably enough, Kate had reached a point that she asked me to take her to the emergency room. 

So, I canceled my appointment with the Toyota dealership and rescheduled that service and then I cancelled Dr. Jackson’s appointment and told them we were gong to the ER. Got to the ER and thankfully it was empty and we got her in to see a doctor right away. They ran a lot of blood work, did a CT scan and xrays, started her on IV fluids with medication and they finally determined that she had a serious UTI. So, they shot her full of antibiotics and we sat there and let her rest for quite awhile. Finally around noon they let me take her home. 

She is feeing some better now and I hope she has a good night and is much better tomorrow. 

This afternoon I got a call from the JD shop and they said they had put a new fuel line on Bambi because a mouse or squirrel had chewed a hole in the old one. Who knew. No wonder it would not push any gas into the engine. 

That’s my day. I hope yours was better. Peace. 

 Good morning Sunny Saturday. It’s good to see you up and around. Word is that starting tomorrow and going for the next week it is going to be “hotter than blue blazes” as they say. Our weather forecaster say tat every day next wee is going to have a heat index of 105-110. That is brutal. 

Yesterday I got my yard work all done so I won’t have to worry about that next week. No way am I getting out in that kind of heat if I can manage not to. 

Ms. Kate is still sick. We went to the doctor and saw the nurse practitioner, She prescribed some medicine for her diverticulitis but so far it does not seem to have helped. They have ordered upper and lower GI procedures for her. Monday she has an appointment to see the actual doctor so we will see what Dr. Jackson has to say. I feel sorry for her because I know she is miserable but there is nothing I can do to “fix her”. So, I just keep checking on her and bringing her whatever she needs. 

“Bambi”, my small John Deere, is not working AGAIN!!! The dealership is going to come and get it AGAIN on Monday morning. It is not getting and fuel. I don’t know if there a fuel “pump” that is bad or if the gas line is bad or what. I know it isn’t getting any gas to the fuel filter because I can they’ll that. This is the third time this summer that the dealer has had it. It is a good little mower but I have spent a lot of money on it this year for the same problem. It is really frustrating. Thank goodness I have a great backup John Deere.. 

I need to get back down to my office downstairs and get some writing done. Trying to get everything done around here and take care of Ms. Kate has kept me busy and away from my desk. Yes, there were periods when I should have been less lazy but I didn’t get down there. So, today is the day or maybe I’ll set my laptop up and work up here so I can keep an eye on Kate without having to run back and forth up the stair. 

So, you have a great day and don’t forget to go to your house of worship. Peace. 

 Thursday evening! It has been a day for sure. We have been going since this morning. Ms. Kate was able to get in to see the Family Nurse Practitioner at our doctor’s office this morning and she gave Kate a good going over. They ran a bunch of blood tests first and did the routine doctor visit in accordance with her symptoms. In the end, they are focusing still on her diverticulitis and prescribed a couple of meds to help with that. In the meantime they are working on getting appointments for a Colonoscopy and and Endoscopy. She had her last Colonoscopy about six years ago but has never had an Endoscopy. Hopefully we can get in for those fairly quickly. 

We left the doctor’s office and went home to wait for Walgreen’s to text me that her meds were ready for pickup. We waited about an hour and when I got the text, I ran down to get them and stopped by Taco Bell and picked up lunch for me. After lunch, Kate had taken her meds and was ready for a nap. While she was napping, I decided to go do some parishioner visitation. So, I headed out to the other side of town and spent some excellent time with some parishioners.

I came home and Kate was awake and hungry with no idea about what she thought she could eat but came up with pizza. (Who knew??) So, I ordered a small pizza from our favorite coal pizza place. 

Now, she’s napping gain or what we used to call for her mom — watching the snooze. 

That’s my Thursday; —- how was yours. I hope it was a great day. Tomorrow for sure, I’ll be mowing grass. Have a great day. Peace. 

 Hello on this Wednesday morning. Its only morning for another ten minutes of so. I have had a busy morning so far; nothing exciting or spectacular, just routine stuff that needed doing around here. Ms. Kate had another bad day yesterday health wise and most of my attention went to that. But, she is feeing better today. What ever her problem is, — it just comes over her suddenly and then gets progressively worse until suddenly she is better. It is a crazy thing and we never know when it is going to heat her. This round went almost eight days. And, while she feels better, — she’s “not well”. 

Since she was doing so poorly last night, I went ahead and our cleaning lady not to come today. I don’t know if Kate has a “catchable” or not although it doesn’t ever seem to affect me. I did have my landscape guy come by this morning for an estimate for my fall clean up. His crew does such a great job. I have asked that we can be scheduled for around the second week of October. Everything should be ready to be trimmed back by them and aa fresh layer of mulch put down for winter. It isn’t cheap but it sure save on my back and body. We’re going to have to scale back on all of these flowerbeds and stuff. It is just getting to be more than I can handle. 

I plan to maybe mow this afternoon or maybe I’ll save that for tomorrow. I also have writing to do. I did finish up my September 3rd service last evening. I have three more to write before I go on vacation. 

So, that’s it for today. I hope you can get out in the sunshine and take advantage of a brilliant day. Peace. 

 Welllll, pooop! Ms. Kate’s doctor’s appointment got pushed back a week. We don’t know why other than the doctor’s office called and said it was cancelled for today. We were really hoping to get her seen today and maybe find out what her health issues are. But — it is what it is. 

This certainly not the bright shiny morning that we have been having. It rained a good portion of the night. We received .66 inches here so far and it looks like it could start raining again any minute now. In fact Accuweather app show rain for the next couple of hours. We certainly do not need any right now but there isn’t any need to complain because there is nothing we can do about it. Our forecaster last night said this will all over today and then look for sunny skies and milder temperatures and a little lower humidity until the weekend when the 90’s will return. But — as I said the other day, I can feel the “change” towards fall, and it is a welcome change. 

Today I am going to take advantage of the rain and get some writing done. I have several services worked up that I need to write for. Yesterday we had. Good crowd in the service. I was obvious that vacations are pretty well over and kids are back in school. Our Bible study last evening was really good. I am so pleased   With the way it has gone. We aren’t a big group, usually between nine and twelve people but everyone joins in the conversation. That is very refreshing. We did some Bible studies several years ago and it was a totally different crowd. It was mostly the senior ladies of the church; (people who were what my age is now) and they were from an era where they sat and listened to me teach as opposed to joining in. I loved them dearly but it is hard to teach when you don’t get feedback. I think everybody gives input in our current study. That makes it fun. We only have one more night. I expect the wrap-up to be lively. 

I did parishioner visitation on Saturday and it went well. It is always nice to be able to sit and talk to folks one-on-one and be able to have them open up about what their health issues might be and more importantly how they feel about their condition. People take things like hospitalization in totally different ways. Some times they are fearful, sometimes they just takes it in stride. But they almost always seem grateful that the pastor came by and prayed with them.  

That’s it for today. I pray you have a blessed week. Peace. 

 Happy Saturday morning. I woke to the sound of thunder about 0530 this morning so our weather guy was right on target for a change. And, by 0830 it was all over, at least for this morning. We received .14 inches of rain. More is predicted this evening. The temperature is supposed to get up to 90 today which is not a good thing because that will increase the severity of any storms that might accompany the rain. Now you have your weather report. 

I don’t have a lot to talk about this morning because I just wrote last evening. Today, I’m going to go do some parishioner visitation. And — I have to do a lot of miles to do so. One parishioner is on the south shade of Evansville and the other two are luckily in the same facility but it is in Princeton. So they are about 40 miles apart. But —- that’s part of the job. In the past have had visitation in four different towns. That made for some long days and lots of miles. But that is why I bought my Prius so I can get 52 miles per gallon. 

I was going to have Cantaloupe for my breakfast. I cut it open and it smelled okay but it was fairly “mushy” so I decided not to eat it. I have two more. I need to use them in the next coupe of days too before they go bad. I also have a watermelon to use. Karen called me about a news report about “foaming watermelons.” The reporter said that some of the watermelons are developing a bacteria on the inside and are just exploding. We had one that did that and so did she. I didn’t know it “was a thing” though this year.  Seems there is always something new. 

Time to get myself ready to go do my visiting. By the time I get showered and dressed and to the ovations, lunch at the facilities should be over. Then I have to catch them before their afternoon naps. 

Have a blessed weekend. Take time to visit your house of worship and give thanks to the God of all blessings. Peace. 

 It’s been three days since I wrote; —- where has the time gone? What has taken up my time; —— just stuff that needed doing, and here it is, afternoon already. 

This morning Ms. Kate had a hair appointment this morning and I am so happy that she changed her hair style back to a look that I love.  I never say much about her hair stair cuts or styles. But a few years ago she had a hair style that I really liked. It was much sorter than what she has been wearing it for the last year or so. Any way, I found a picture of her from a couple of years ago in tat hairstyle and showed it to her and told her that I really like that style. Well, she came out of the beauty shop today and I was very surprised and happy that she had changed it back again. 

Wife she was getting her hair cut, I went to my Neighborhood Walmart and picked up a few groceries that I knew we needed and filed up the gas tank. Gas is still $3.49 at Walmart, but higher elsewhere. Then — we went to breakfast at the Sunrise Cafe. You know I love a good breakfast. 

Yesterday I spent all day out i the yard mowing, weed eater trimming, and finally gettin  the tomato garden weeded. I also dig up my couple of volunteer potatoes and ended up with maybe a dozen and a half potatoes. Not bad for something I did nothing for. So, thank you Lord for the gift. 

The temperature is going up to 90 again today so I’m glad I got my yard work done yesterday. It has been really comfortable out for the past two days. The blessing was low humidity. 

This afternoon yet, and after our nap, Kate and I are going to make up some meatloaf. I love her meatloaf. We went to the market the other day and picked up some Ground Chuck. Fresh Market had ground chuck on sale every Tuesday. The really great thing about it is that Fresh Market is across the street from Cold Stone Creamery; so guess what we had for lunch on Tuesday!!!!!!!!!

That catches you up on life from the Sunporch. It is now nap time. Have a blessed day. Peace. 

Second day of the second week of the eighth month of 2023. Happy August 8th. It started off cool this morning at 63 degrees and now has gone up ten degrees which is still beautiful. Neighbor Dan was having his pretend coffee (he drinks instant — yuk) on his front porch, and texted that it was really a beautiful morning. 

The first school bus of the new school year went by this morning. That is a month earlier than when I went to school. We always started the day after Labor Day. I don’t know why they start them so early now. Maybe indoctrination takes longer than teaching. That’s my snarky view anyway. The kids that play sports have already been out on the football field for a month. So much for their summer. Of course, it seems to me that kids that I’m acquainted with these days are so involved in so many activities that they are never home anyway. They wouldn’t know what to do by themselves with only their imagination for company. They wouldn’t know to handle a day where you left the house and walked to a creek and caught minnows, or just laid there under a shade tree with nothing to do all day; no phones, no iPads, — just peace and quiet. I had a place just over the property line of the “back forty” that had a little creek where the water was just deep enough to hold minnows and tadpoles and there was a fallen tree that went across the creek. A lot of invisible battles happened in that creek whether it was pirates or Indians, or bandits. 

I got my front yard mowed yesterday as well as Neighbor Dan’s. I got the weed eating done around almost all of my yard. I was getting ready to mow the back yard when it started to bring a rain shower. I figured it was basically a “mist” and I could work through that. I started the mower and ran out of gas instantly. Then, the mist became a downpour so I grabbed up my tools and went in to dry off. By the time I got in the house —- yep, I was soaked and the rain stopped. I didn’t bother to go back out. I may go put some gas in the mower and finish mowing  the back yard yet this morning. 

That’s it for today. Have a wonderful Tuesday. Give thanks for another day of God’s beautiful earth. Peace. 

 A blessed good morning to everyone. It is a beautiful morning; 76 degrees, sun is shining. The breeze comes and goes. It rained again last night as we were putting ourselves to bed. So, I need to check the grass this morning and see if I can mow or not. I may have to wait until later in the day. But — the temperature isn’t supposed to go above 80 today and the humidity is supposed to stay almost comfortable. All-in-all that is pretty pleasant isn’t it. I’m wondering if just maybe a hint of fall is showing up already. Someone posted on Facebook the other day that we will be raking leaves in about six weeks. That would be third week in September, so I can see that possibility. It has been such a strange weather year, —- who knows what is in store. 

Had a nice attendance at the worship service yesterday. It was communion Sunday and that usually increases the attendance. But the Indiana State Fair is also going on so that took some folks away with kids showing their animals and taking their 4H projects to the Fair. I haven’t been to the fair in at lest three decades. As a kid I used to participate in the talent contests at he State Fair, and always took first place playing my trumpet or my accordion. My sister and I had an act where I would wear the accordion and play the bass keys with my left hand; she would reach around me and hold my trumpet up to my lips with her left hand and play the accordion keyboard with her right and while I blew the trumpet and played the valves with my right hand. It was quite a novelty act and brought us a first place. We also did that little act for the local fairs, the Fall Festival, and Farm Bureau dinners etc. No wonder it is almost impossible to embarrass me these days. Also no wonder my sister lost interest in music. But, I have to say that my trumpet playing was one of the things I continue to be remembered for today. I was “pretty good”; but I as never “great”. I remember a fellow named Ronnie Fox who was two years older than me from high school. That kid was fantastic on the trumpet. There was no way I way going to play “1st Chair” until he graduated. When he graduated, — I earned the chair for my last two years of high school. 

We had another good night at Bible study last night. Julie Wallis does such a great job of engaging the class. We have two more sessions. 

That’s it for this morning. Welcome to week two of August. Make it a great week by staying in touch with the Lord. Peace. 

 Happy rainy Saturday morning. It actually feels very pleasant outside at 75 degrees. It rains for a few minutes and then the sun almost breaks through the clouds, — and then back to showers. It makes for a great Backyard Buffet watching morning. A gentle shower landing on the porch roof, the sound of my guests is a recipe for napping and relaxing. 

Speaking of the Buffet; I cut a couple of limbs off of the Pussy Willow tree and it is driving the squirrels nuts because they can’t reach the feeder they have been robbing for years. They can still climb up the pole but it is really hard for them to hang on to the pole and still grab the seed. My plan worked perfectly. The two limbs were dead anyway so I cut them off. 

I made Toaster Strudels for breakfast this morning. It was a hard choice. I asked Ms. Kate if she wanted a bagel with creamed cheese, some oatmeal, or some orange danish rolls. So, —- who is queen of the un-offered said she would like toaster strudel. So toaster strudel it was. Teach me to ask. LOLOL

I had really hoped that I could mow today; but I guess that will wait until tomorrow or rather Monday. I shouldn’t be mowing on Sunday regardless of sun or no sun. My next door neighbor mows every Sunday and it disturbs my nap and disturbed naps make for grumpy people. LOL

Okay, I’m just rambling so I’m getting off. I hope you take time to visit your house of worship this weekend. God has provided blessings that you don’t even know about yet. Take tie to give God praise. Peace. 

 Good afternoon on this cloudy/rainy afternoon. I know it is a bit late in the day for a blog entry and I don’t have a lot to say. It’ e been in and out of the house today. 

This morning I had an appointment with my optometrist. I had my cataracts removed a year ago come October. The first six month it was great not having to wear glasses for anything except for reading. But, maybe three months ago I noticed that my distance vision seemed to be getting worse again and I thought maybe I was going to have to start wearing bi-focals a once again. It has gotten to the point where I walk around with my “readying classes hanging off of my nose half of the time and looking over the rims of them. So, I decided it was time I gave in and saw my optometrist and had them checked out. 

Well the good news is that I didn’t have to get bi-focal. The bad news is that I have developed significant scar tissue on my left eye from the cataract surgery and I have the scar tissue beginning to develop on the right eye too. This happens more portend than not I guess and having it taken care of is no great deal and is a relatively minor procedure done with laser. Then it should never come back and my vision will clear up. The optometrist said my vision is 20/20 except for the scar tissue blurring it. So, I have an appointment set up in February of 2024 to have the eyes evaluated once again and see if it is time to have the surgery on both eyes. Chalk it up to the benefits of getting older. In the mean time I’ll just keep swapping the readers off of my face. It will drive others more nuts than it will me. LOL

After my optometry appointment I went to my local Neighborhood Walmart and pick up some groceries. We didn’t need a lot of stuff but Kate wanted to fix lasagna for supper tonight and we needed some of the ingredients. 

That’s my exciting Thursday. Now I have to watch the news and find out who shot who today. It seems like everyday we hear about some body shooting some one. 

Have a blessed evening. Peace. 

 Good morning on this kind of over-cast day called August 2nd. I'm relegated to my office down stairs because this is Kari's day to come and clean and I can stay out of the way. What a great decision we made by hiring her. She does a wonderful job and she gets down and around all of those places we have a hard time reaching anymore. Today is a typical example; I got up this morning with a sore hip. I don't know why but it is tough to get around today. She does all of the vacuuming and mopping and dusting and the place looks great when she leaves. We have her twice a month and she's here for about four hours and her price is extremely reasonable. 

I heard some thunder rumbling at 0600 this morning. I had planned to do another early morning weed-pull but decided since it was raining that another hour of sleep was the preferred idea. Actually, it turned into two more hours so I had to move quick to get my shower and get dressed before Kari came at 0900. However, when I did get up and look outside, --- apparently the rain didn't amount to very much because the sidewalk and street was barely still damp. But that's my story and I'm sticking to it. We are supposed to have rain on and of for the next several days. My garden and flowers, and yes the dang weeds, will all appreciate it. 

I think I will leave the house today around 1430 and do all of my chores for the day. I have a visitation to do at a nursing home, then go to St. Paul's and run bulletins and set things up for Sunday, then at 1730 I have a couple and some of their family coming in to St. Paul's for me to baptize their son. I normally do baptisms during the worship service on Sunday but several of the "baptism party" work every Sunday so I'm doing it today after they all get off of work. It's not a problem for me. They wanted me to be able to do the baptism before I retire at the end of the year. I married the couple and baptized their oldest son as well as many of the other members of the family. When you have pastored a church for almost twenty years, it does become "generational". I'm going to miss that when I retire as well as missing a lot of other things about being a pastor. 

Okay, time to button up the blog and get back to work on my August 27th sermon. Have a blessed day. Peace. 

 Well, good morning August.  Why don’t you hang around for about 31 days and visit. You certainly started out nice tis morning. It was 61 degrees when I went out at 6:00 am. Now however, the sun is screaming for attention and heating the place up rapidly. It has gone up about 15 degrees in the last couple of hours. 

Yes, I got up and went out to work on a flowerbed first thing this morning. I beat the sun and it was perfectly lovely out there. I got a lot of weeds pulled up and vines pulled out and the lilies deadheaded. There is a heck of a lot to do yet and maybe I’ll follow the shade and do some more a bit later. It isn’t supposed to get too hot today and the humidity will be in check for one more day. That really helps.

Yesterday we had to take Ms. Kate to the dentist to get fitted for a crown replacement. It will take a couple of weeks for them to get the crown in. She had the old crown break off a few weeks ago but she was going through her radiation treatments at the time so her dentist put in a temporary tooth until she could come back and be fitted for the new one. 

I filled several feeder in the Backyard Buffet yesterday. My critters are happy. I’m not filing as many right now because there is plenty of food out in the wild. I should have a delivery coming from Wild Birds and Things today. I need to name all of my birds and squirrels so I can start claiming them on my income tax as deductions. I think today’s order cost me about $150.00. But —- yes, I get a lot of enjoyment watching them, and I really love that new feeder/camera that Heather and John got me. It goes off constantly and I get a 10 second video of what ever bird has dropped by for a snack. The Cardinals seem to really love the foo I put in that feeder and so do the Chickadees. Thankfully, the blackbirds and starlings have not discovered it so far. Although they aren’t around very much during the summer. Just wait until the first cold snap comes along; they will be right here. 

I have to brag about my youngest daughter, Lisa. Yesterday she took two tests having to do with her job as director of a North Carolina State owned nursing home/nursing facility. One was for her state certification and one was a National Certification to qualify her for the job. She had four hours to take both tests; and she finished both tests in about an hour and a half and passed both. She has been working and studying her tail off and her hard work has paid off. She is now certified to run any facility like that in the nation. We are all extremely proud of her. And —- she absolutely loves her job. She makes a very good “boss”. She cares so much about her staff and she cares so very much about her patients. She was absolutely the right person for this new job she is in. But then —- all off my girls are in strong management / high stress positions and they all excel at their positions. I’m not ashamed to brag on any of them. 

That’s it for today. I hope your day goes well. Peace.