It is Saturday after noon and Ms. Kate and I are home. We left Fredericksburg Texas on Thursday morning and made it to Texarkana, AR. Then yesterday morning we decided to try to make it home. We were just tired and didn’t want another hotel bag drag. So, we pushed hard and arrived home just as the sun was setting at 1900 hours. Most everything is still in the car. One of my jobs today is to get everything out of the car and put stuff away. But today so far has been spent relaxing mostly. I did take the car and get it gassed up and 2,000 miles worth of bugs cleaned off of it when I went to the post office to pick up my held mail. 

Ms. Kate made the trip very well. She had a couple of small bouts of nausea but they passed relatively quickly with her medicine for it. It has been months since I saw her feel this good. God is so good. I thank each and everyone of you who has prayed for her. Her ordeal is not over. She still is facing the possibility of colon surgery. She will know more after her appointments with our doctor and her surgeon. It would be nice to think that she is completely healed but the abscess is still there. 

So, there are lots of leaves to mulch up and blow off of my sidewalks. Lots of weeds that need pulling an a lawn that need to be mowed. Some who none of that magically got done while we were gone. But, we did come home to a clean house because our cleaning lady had come on Wednesday and had us prepped and ready. She does such a wonderful job, and goes above and beyond. But, other than bring the stuff in from the car, I don’t know that I will do anything else today. I’m on vacation!!!

I pray you have a blessed weekend. Take time to give thanks for your week of blessings. Peace. 

 God is great and Hill Country Methodist Hospital is wonderful. They have Ms. Kate back in sync and have released her from the hospital about 30 minutes ago. So, we have come back to my hotel room and will spend the night and head out towards Evansville in the morning. Many, many praise to the doctors and caregivers at that hospital. 

That’s all I got!  Our day has been blessed, I pray your’s will be too. Peace. 

 Tuesday morning an we are still in Fredericksburg. Our vacation took a sudden turn and Kate is in the hospital here in Fredericksburg. She has been sick the whole time we were here and hadn’t left the rental house. We had a great visit with the kids though. We went and did things but mostly stay at the house with Kate. Sunday evening she started feeling worse and then had a terrible night, with nausea and vomiting. So, first thing yesterday morning she called her surgeon’s office back in Evansville, and her surgeon said she needed to be seen and have another CT with contrast scan done. So, I got on Google and found out they have a hospital here. Heather and John finished closing up the rental unit while I took her to the ER at Methodist Hill Country Hospital. They then headed to San Antonio to catch the flight home. 

The hospital is really good and they got busy with Kate right away. They did all kinds of bloodwork and finally came back and said they systems were way out of balance and the abscess on her Colon is causing the problem. So, they admitted her. They have looked at several options; —- everything from inserting a drain into the abscess to keeping her and building her system back up with Electrolytes and antibiotics enough to get home, to full out surgery. The decisions were fluid all day. I think they have decided to not do any surgery because they are leaving her  Coumadin levels alone.  So, at this point, I don’t have a final diagnosis and probably won’t until they do another CT scan to see how things are progressing. But — they have her nausea under control and she had a good night last night. We are hoping now to get on the road by Thursday. Heather and John changed their flight plans to fly tomorrow and came back. I got us a couple of rooms at the local Comfort Inn & Suites. 

So, That’s my news’s for this glorious day. We may not yet be on the way home, but Kate is where she needs to be and is receiving good care. God has looked after us once again. 

Peace. 

 Happy Sunday morning. I’m sitting on the back patio of our rental house again this morning. It’s a little muggy because we don’t have the breeze this morning like I had on Friday morning. But my world is complete; Kate, Heather & Steph are sitting around the fire pit (fire not allowed due to burn ban) and they are visiting and enjoying being together. Steph and Chris will head back to Oklahoma this morning some time. The rest of us will be on the road before 1000 hrs tomorrow morning. Heather and John to CA and Kate and I start the drive back home. It’s been a very enjoyable vacation with the exception of Kate feeling constantly sick. She hasn’t left the house because of nausea. It’s caused by the dang super strong antibiotics that she has to take. Bless her heart. But —- she says she has thoroughly enjoyed the visit. 

Yesterday the four of us went to the Texas Ranger memorial. It as interesting. I guess the thing that I really  found interesting is the high number of Texas Rangers that were killed in the line of duty over the years. From there I had them drop me off back at the house  and they went to downtown Fredericksburg and walked around and looked at the shops. I don’t know that they bought anything and it was a hot day to be doing that. Later they came back to the house and we sat around until it was about supper time and then we went looking for a good meal. 

I had hoped to find a good Chicken fried steak someplace so we went on line and found a place that was supposed to “have the best chicken fried steak in Texas”. We got there and it was so loud and the line was long so we walked one down the street and found another place. But —- they only had chicken fried chicken and not steak. We settled for that and it was delicious. 

Today I want to go to a Wildflower Seed store and look around. I’m thinking that I want to turn one of my raised beds into a wild flower bed instead of raising any garden next year. So I want to buy a mixture of wildflower seeds to plant in there. After that we are going to a winery tasting and then petting a rhino. What can I say, I’m a wild child. LOLOLOL. 

In a couple of hours, I’ll watch Pastor Art as he conduct the worship service at St. Lucas. 

That’s it; have a blessed Sunday. Take time to talk with God today. Peace. 

 Good morning. It’s Friday, September 22nd and I’m writing to you from the back patio of our rented house in Fredericksburg. It is currently 80 degrees and there is a beautiful breeze blowing through. However, the sun will be getting higher and the temperature is going to hit 95 by mid day. 

This has been an eventful week. It was just eight days ago that Kate was put in the hospital and we did not know if she was going to require surgery or not. Between then and Monday she was given massive amounts of antibiotics and is still taking some by pill now. However, surgery for the present time has been put on hold. She got to feeling much better and we took her home on Monday afternoon. We were determined to make this vacation happen although we have shortened it by a week. Tuesday we decided to give travel a test try and headed out and stopped in Metropolis  Illinois for the night. She handled that well so we took off of Texarkana, Arkansas and spent the night. Yesterday morning we headed on down to Fredericksburg and arrived around 1700 last evening. 

The house we have rented is a neat place; very spacious and very clean. Today Kate is feeling a bit nauseous and we are just sitting around at the house and waiting for Heather and Steph and hubbies to arrive this afternoon. In the meantime, I’m going to make a Walmart run. It is only about three blocks away. I need to pick up some simple stuff. 

There are some thing I want to see here in Fredericksburg, one of which is the Texas Rangers museum. And I need to check the local ads for good German restaurants.  

That catches you up. Have a wonderful day. Peace. 

 Monday morning, September 18th. We are still at Deaconess Midtown Hospital. But the hope is that Kate will get to go home today. Dr. Gessfora, the hospitalist, was just in and checked her out and also expressed that she hopes Kate gets to go home today too. but, I guess it will have to be someone from the surgeon’s group that actually releases her. So, we could easily be here until this evening. But that’s alright; —- boring but alright, as long as she gets to go home. She wouldn’t have been doing anything more than resting at home anyway. But, it would have given me a chance to get some preps done for the trip. I have my suitcase mostly packed but I know that I’ll be packing hers too. 

So, I’m officially on vacation. That’s our first since March when we ran down and back to North Carolina for Amanda’s wedding, and that was a whirlwind trip. We’re really hoping that this trip will be relaxing. Our current plan, (and they change daily) is that we will now leave on Wednesday and will arrive at our rental house on Thursday evening. Then we leave Texas and will drive to Biloxi, Mississippi. We have reservations at two different resorts while we are in that area. One in Biloxi and one in Gulfport. We have stayed in both before several times and really like both places. We have certain restaurants in the area that we like to go to. One of our favorites is over in a small town called Bay St. John. They have some seafood dishes that Kate really like’s and the seafood is of course fresh out of the Gulf. 

My favorite place is the Beau Rivage Hotel and casino. Kate and I do like to play the penny slot machines. We take along a certain amount of money that expect to lose and just consider it the price of entertainment. Kate’s sister, has in the past won some good hits on the slots there but certainly none of us have become paupers or rich. And, I really like the coffee shop restaurant and the buffet at the Beau Rivage. Having said all of that, if when we get ready to leave Texas Kate isn’t feeling well, we will just head back home and finish our vacation as a “stay-cation”. 

That’s it for today. I donn’t know how often we I will be writing this week, because our plans our fluid. So, I pray you will have great days. Peace 

 It’s ne’er a dull moment around our house. Today I’m sitting in a hospital room with Ms. Kate. I told you she had to go for a CT Scan with contrast yesterday morning. Well, her doctor got the results back and called her and told her to go to the emergency room. We did around 3:30 yesterday afternoon. We were in the ER for 3.5 hours but they finally assigned her a room. I went home as they wheeled her up to her room. They are treating her for a diverticulitis infection. She can’t have anything to eat or drink until my tomorrow morning. They are giving her very strong antibiotics. She has a leak in her colon and they are hoping that these drugs will close it. If not, they will have to do surgery to repair. So, I’m asking for prayers for her. 

I came up here this morning at 0800. I eventually went down stairs for breakfast. I didn’t want to eat anything in front of her and have her even smell it. That would not have been kind. 

The trip next week is still on until we are sure we can’t make it. If we can’t, Heather & John and Steph and Chris can certainly still use the rental.

That’s it in our exciting world. Hope things are better in yours. Peace. 

 Happy Thursday. Can you believe that a September is half over almost?? And the morning is a beautiful one. We started our morning out like so many in the past oaths; at the doctor’s office. This morning Kate had a CT scan with Contrast. We didn’t know why she had to have it but —- Dr. Jackson had it set up so we went. Turns out it was to do with her Diverticulitis. She had to drink this large bunch of yucky stuff in a half an hour and then they did the scan. I reckon we’ll hear later today about the results. I sat out in the car enjoying the air and the peace and quiet, except for the noise of the traffic on the expressway about 400 yards away. I just told myself it was really the sound of the surf and waves coming in. LOL.  Ya’ do what ya’ gotta do. 

Yesterday I wasted a couple of hours u at the church. We had a technician from Ricoh Copiers come by and he was supposed install something to our copier so that I can print copies directly from my computer up there. Well, he worked for almost two hours and s on the phone with his boss or assistant the whole time and never did make it work. He will have to come back out and try it again. Oh well!!!! 

I had a parishioner pass away yesterday afternoon. I will do her funeral come Saturday morning. I spent most of the evening writing that. 

Today I’m going to start putting my stuff together to pack for the trip. We did a Walmart pickup yesterday evening and have the stuff we want to take along already in the car from that shopping trip. 

And today, I have to fill bird feeders. If I don’t they will revolt and start dive bombing me or something.

With that, I’ll drop off. Have a blessed day. Peace. 

 Tuesday, September 12th, it’s an overcast day. We have had some Pringle’s to light rain over night and some this morning. But it is leaving the are now I think. The forecast now call for “fall-like” weather for the next seven days. I’m seeing a few leaves start to fall. 

My day started at the doctor’s office for my annual physical. I’m very happy to report that I am in excellent health for my age. Just some of the routine issues that naturally come with being 79 years old. I’m very blessed. So far I’m living proof that coffee and ice cream just may be good for you. What’s really good about it is thatKate has so many health issues that we don’t need to be adding anything else to the pile. 

Speaking of, —- she is doing better today so far. We are still waiting on lab reports from yesterday to see if she has to go in for another injection of Rocepherin, her antibiotic. Hopefully the answer will be “no’. 

I told you that I had planted some tomatoes this year and that so far they just had not done anything. Well an update. Most of them never did do much of anything at all, I don’t know why, but I have two plants that are providing all of the tomatoes that I could possible want. Kate hasn’t been eating any of them because of her diverticulitis and can’t eat seeds. So I have been enjoying them. I just now finished a couple that I cut up in to pieces and salted. Yesterday a friend came by to visit and I sent some home with her. I need to go out and check on them again in a few moments and pick any more that are ready. If I don’t they will fall off of the vine and I don’t want that to happen. I lost several that way because they fell off when they were still very green. I guess the stem wasn’t strong enough. They aren’t huge tomatoes but they are so very sweet. I don’t know if the the plant tag is still out there or not. I want to get that same variety next year; assuming I plant tomatoes next year. I’m actually contemplating just sowing the raised bed in wild flowers next year.  

That’s about it for today. I have writing to do. Have a wonderful day. Peace. 

 Happy Saturday. I don’t know where you might be reading this but here at my house it is a cool 60 degrees this morning and the sky is a cloudy grey. It looks like it could rain any moment although I don’t think it is projected to do so. My neighbors were just out walking their dogs and they had on sweatshirts. Well, sweatshirts with shorts. LOL. 

Not much new in my world. Kate is not feeling well again today. We took her for another antibiotic shot yesterday. Of course the doctor’s office is closed today and tomorrow so she can’t get one until Monday. We just have no idea where to go with this. And right now, we are still looking at going on our vacation but it won’t be much of a vacation if she is just going to sit in a chair and not feel good or want to do anything. That’s exactly what happened to our last vacation we tried to take in Marilyn. 

I had a good day yesterday. I made three parishioner calls and then I went to the church and ran a bunch of bulletins to try to get ahead enough to go on vacation. Working ahead is always a good thing. But —- that said, I’m soon going to run out of Sunday to be ahead. LOL. I think I only have 14 weeks left until my retirement. Two of those Sundays I will be on vacation, and probably one of those Sundays they will want to hopefully have a candidate for my replacement and will want him or her to do a trial sermon. So, the job is coming to a close. 

I received my pre-ordered Stephen King novel yesterday in the mail. That make three stacked up beside my recliner for my post retirement enjoyment. That will take me awhile s slow as I read. But, I have thee rest of my ice to finish them. And as long as King keeps writing, I’ll keep reading. He is the only author I read besides all of the stuff I read for the job. I have all of his books in hardback. 

I was up way too early this morning. Sometimes I just wake up and it is time to get out of bed regardless of the hour. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night, (generally around 0300) and I lay there and toss and turn and my brain clicks on and I think of sermon ideas and out other things. Two nights ago I had the beginning of a poem pop into my head. After I got up for the day, I went down and wrote that poem and it will be the beginning for my Christmas Eve sermon. So, thank you Lord for the mid night brain wave. 

That’s it for today. Have a great weekend. Peace. 

 It rained last night. We got all of .03 inches which is barley more than a dew. However, the sky is clouding up a bit more, and I think we are predicted to get more this afternoon just ahead of the temperature and humidity drop. That would all be good. We could stand to have some rain. 

Yesterday morning I got a call from my neighbor that I had a dead animal of some kind next to my mailbox. She didn’t know what it was but said it was pretty big. I went out there and sure enough there was something laying there and dang it was ripe already. I had not been to my mail box since Saturday afternoon and it wasn’t there then. So, I don’t know when or how it got there. It had not been hit by a car or we would have seen it in the road. I called Animal Control and they said they would come and pick it up, which they did late yesterday afternoon. The pick-up lady said it was a raccoon. I had to wear a mask yesterday while I mowed and ran my weed eater. Yuk. That lady that picked that thing up does not get payed enough, I don’t what she makes. 

So, that’s my stinky report for today.  LOLOL. Have a great day. 

 As I recall, the weather prediction for today was for more clouds than sun and so far it has been true. I saw the sun pop out for a few seconds a bit ago but it quickly was shrouded once again. 

How was your Labor Day? Did you take time to enjoy it or did you just spend a day catching up on things you needed to get done. We had a relaxing day around here. I did water the garden, pick the tomatoes, clean the bird baths. I also threw some hotdogs on the grill, but that was about it. I was going to do some writing but decided against it. Instead I watched a wonderful historical documentary series on the History Channel last night. I think it is called Empires. Last night was the first one and it was on Alexander the Great. Alexander is arguably the greatest warrior leader in history. His tactics were new to the battle field of the day and he expanded a small kingdom to an empire larger than the Roman Empire ever achieved. And he did it in fourteen years. Unfortunately he lost sight of himself and who he was and his goal. He died at age 32 without naming a successor and the result was that everything he had established at the cost of a great many lives came apart. Tonight I think we are watching Cleopatra and the empire she established. I do lead an exciting life, don’t I? 

I need to get out my weed eater today and do some trimming  around the flowerbeds and then maybe mow my yard. I have been waiting on the delivery of a new “head” to go on my Worx weed eater. It will be a much more heavy duty thing and will cut through heavier stuff including all of the darn saplings that constantly grow in my flowerbeds. It is supposed to be delivered any day now. I just hope it works. 

So, that’s my only news for today. I hope you have a great first full week of September. Peace. 

 Labor Day 2023. It is starting off quite well with a nice mild temperature and just a hint of a breeze. I haven’t been out much this morning yet but I did go out and pick some tomatoes and water the garden and potted plants. Also filled the hummingbird feeder because I think they will be around for a couple of more weeks at least. Now it’s back to the sun porch and watch my guests at the Buffet. I haven’t had a lot of guests yet but they will be here shortly. It is about time for the Cardinal gang to show up. So far it has mostly been the finches. I noticed this morning that the Goldfinches are starting to lose their bright yellow color. I wonder. Why they happens. But it is a sure sign of fall and then a sure sign of spring when they revert again. 

Son-in-law Jim came over yesterday and installed the “fix” I had manufactured for my kitchen drawer —- and it works!!! I’m impressed with myself even if no one else is. Let’s just hope it holds up. Of course the way to help it is to not cram the drawer full of heavy stuff. Every household has a junk drawer, —— we have four just of kitchen stuff. Kate took at least half of the stuff out of that drawer and put it in a box. Of course the question now is —- what are we going to do with it because there is no way in the world she will get rid of any of it whether we ever use it or not. When we are both dead the kids will throw in in an auction bundle and maybe it will fetch a dollar if the bundle is big enough. 

We have been invited over to Jim and Julies for dinner this evening. He has already put the brisket on and will have it smoking all morning. Unfortunately, I think we will pass. Traffic is going to be fierce for the holiday travel and I don’t need to add to it. 

As predicted —- here come the buffet guests.So I’m going to put my recliner in a better position and sit and enjoy my guests. You hav yourself a wonderful day. Peace. 

 Hello September! We have a beautiful morning opening up this brand new month. I give praise to the Creator for that. I’m sitting here at the kitchen table enjoying another one of God’s blessings; — the last three of the peaches we were given. I’m sharing them with Ms. Kate. She has dared to eat a half of one of them. I say dared because she’s not sure that it won’t bother her stomach. Hopefully it will be fine. 

Do you have any September plans? Ms. Kate and I certainly do. We are heading out to Texas hill-country for a week.. It is a beautiful area of the country that we have visited before. Heather and John are joining us and Steph and Chris and Caden might come down for a couple of night. Heather has signed her and me up for a cute venture. There is a winery there that has tours and they also have “pet rhinos”. They offer people to a chance to actually go in the rhino area and pet and scratch the rhino. They say the rhinos love being ribbed and scratched. So — that will be a new adventure. I have been to a place here in southern Indiana where we could help bathe elephants and loved doing that. I have also ridden camels while I was in Turkey. Now I can add rhino petting to my weird list of fun things I have done. My girls are all adventurous. Back in 1996 Heather and I climbed Mt. Vesuvius the volcano in Italy. That was a long and tiring adventure. What was funny was that before you started the long walk up, there was a man renting “walking sticks” for people to use. You can bet we each got one. But there is nothing like standing on the edge of an active volcano and looking over the edge, especially knowing that this is the same volcano that buried the city of Pompeii  so very many centuries ago, and knowing that it is still active. We could see and small the sulfur smoke rising up out of the bottom. But —— on the other hand, millions of people go to Yellowstone National park every year and that whole area is actually one huge volcano that could erupt at any time. Scientists say that if it does, it will wipe out a major portion of North America between the eruption, the lava, and the ash that will fall across the nation. 

So, we had a problem come up yesterday. Kate was working at the kitchen counter and she tells me that she can’t get the bottom kitchen drawer to open nor can she get the one above it to close. I figured it was a matter of having too much “un-needed” stuff in it. I managed to get the bottom drawer out but I could not get the next drawer to close. It seemed to be going off track at the rear. I pulled it out and found that there was a broken piece at the end of the drawer track. While the track is made of medal, there is a plastic piece that slides into it that attaches it to the wall. That’s the piece that was broken. So, I started researching it on Google, found nothing, then I call a local kitchen cabinet store and asked if they had parts. Well — not only do they not carry parts, the part I need hasn’t been made for years, nor has that style of drawer track been used for decades. But —- I may have a solution; I manufactured a piece that will fit out of wood. Now, I have to wait for Jim to come and see if he can reach back in there and install it. If he can, and if it works, that’s a really great thing. If it doesn’t work, then I may have to have some major cabinet work done. I do not want to do that. 

That’s it for this first day of September. This afternoon I have to take my car in for its 55000 mile servicing. You have a great Friday and a great Labor Day weekend. Peace.