Friday night. I just peeled an orange for my midnight snack. I was going to have a bowl of cereal but saw the oranges on the way to the refrigerator and changed my mind. While I was fixing mine I fixed one for Kate too. I call it my midnight snack but it’s only 2230. We almost always stay up until midnight or maybe 1:00 am. 

Well, I was hoping that my blog today would tell you what a great time Ms Kate and I had on our little anniversary get away. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. Tuesday afternoon Kate started getting sick with flu-like conditions. Wednesday morning as you recall, she was to have an MRI. She canceled that too and I cancelled the hotel and the dinner reservations at Cavanaugh’s. We spent our anniversary at home and she slept almost the whole day. 

She had a fairly good night’s sleep but when she got up this morning she was still a little rough and felt “woozy and wobbly”. So she cancelled her hair appointment, and we have set around the house again today. I fixed breakfast (actually brunch) and I fixed our supper. She is feeling better now and I hope by tomorrow morning she is over whatever she had. 

I am including in my blog today a video that I had Julie out together as my anniversary card to Ms. Kate.

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipNpqaea98at-J6g8V8_pysxmdSWACzXF1t9IcBT

I hope that comes out right for my posperity. I think you can tap on it and it will show up.  

Time to quit. Peace. 

 Well —— today has not turned out as I planned at all. As I told you, Kate was to have an MRI around noon today and then we planned to check in to the local Bally’s Hotel /Casino for tonight and tomorrow night to celebrate our 60th wedding anniversary. However, last night she got to feeling bad and thinks she has the flu. This morning she was feeling no better so she called and rescheduled her MRI and I have cancelled the hotel and also cancelled our dinner arrangements for Cavanaugh’s tomorrow night. I absolutely hate that she is feeling bad and hope she gets over this in a couple of days.In the meantime, all I can say is; Crap!!!! I was really excited and looking forward to us celebrating this. 

Dis you watch the State of the Union address last night? I watch the last half of it. I thought the President did a really good job although it was a “typical” Donald Trump speech. It was the usual “the biggest, the best, first time ever” stuff that he always does. And of course the opposition comments given by a newly elected very liberal governor said it was all lies. The same thing happens when we have a Democrat President. Politicians are always good for calling one another out while  getting nothing done. The thing about the event was the terrible disrespect shown by the members of the Democratic Party and the nation is pretty much calling them out on it today. The president asked everyone to stand if they believe the first duty of our elected leaders and representatives was to look after the welfare and safety of the American people. Only one democrat stood. That is shameful and I hope it gets reflected in the 2026 elections. On the other had, —- I think we all know it was a trick question and the president played them like an old fiddle. He knew they wouldn’t stand for anything he said to them and they walked right in to the trap.  The other thing that as so disgusting was to of the Democrat congresswomen constantly screaming at the President as he was giving his speech. Totally disrespectful. But it is a representation of today’s society. I just shake my head. 

Nuff talk about politics.  I hope you have a blessed day. 

 Tuesday afternoon.  It’s been a relatively quiet day, but is still pretty chilly. I think we are up to maybe 40 degrees by now. We started at 19 again this morning. We are supposed to be in a warming trend again. The roller coaster continues. I thank the Lord tat we are not experience in the weather that is still going on in the North East. Rhode Island got 37 inches of snow. I wouldn’t know where to begin clearing that kind of snow away. And I think that some places like New York are looking at least two more snow storms coming in. 

Here in Evansville, I have two crocuses blooming today. And my daffodils are all up and have buds on them. They won’t open though for maybe another two weeks. But the intermittent warm days are going to just get more frequent. And in 24 four days Spring will be here. I celebrated that today by ordering y tomato and zucchini squash seeds. I also ordered an indoor greenhouse for the sun porch. To grow my seeds in. It is time to plant the seeds  now and they should be big enough by the first week of May to plant out doors in the garden. I had not planned to do a tomato garden again this year but I gave in. And I guess I will try to grow some zucchini in one of my big flower pots. But, I need to get fresh potting/garden soil put in all of my pots and spread the old stuff out in the garden. As usual I’m going to be making extra work for myself. This year we decided to raise “bush tomatoes” and see how they work out. Generally I raise “regular tomato” plants that grow to about four feet tall or so. These are supposed to grow to about two and a half feet. The worst that can happen is that they won’t produce and I’ll just end up dropping by the local produce stand. And will have wasted money on seed. I still have okra seeds left over from last year. I guess I will see if it is still any good. Ms. Kate will want to plant a couple of cherry tomato plants too. 

Kate has an MRI tomorrow and I think needs to go have blood drawn again all before we go to the hotel. We can’t check in until 1600 so there is plenty of time. 

That’s my blabbering for today. I hope you have a blessed evening. Peace. 

 Winter is not going without a fight , that is for sure certain. I woke this morning to 19 degrees after us having 70 last week. But, —- we’re lucky. The upper north and east are currently under blizzard conditions. Travel has been basically suspended through New York and New Jersey, Boston and even Washington DC. Snow in some area is expected to reach 18-24 inches. I just read that there are currently 500,000 people without power. So, I’ll just put on my sweatshirt and enjoy what we have, —— and stay inside of the house. 

This is my “big week”. Thursday Kate and I celebrate our 60th wedding anniversary.  I know I have been talking about it for weeks but I’m am just excited to have reached this milestone. So many never get to and so many don’t even try. But when she and I make a promise, we do our best to keep it. I’ve conducted a lot of weddings and marital counseling sessions and I always remind my couples that at least when you are doing a “church wedding” you are making a promise not only to one another, you are making those promises before God, and therefore you are making sacred vows. I’m happy to say that I have only had a couple of my couples divorce. 

Have you gotten caught up in all of the “ICE vs NO-ICE” demonstrations going on across the nation. I guess I have some mixed feelings about all of this.  I think it is time all of the illegal aliens were moved back out of the country but I also think that the enforcement is over aggressive in some cases. I also think that the majority of the “NO-ICE” demonstrations are being funded by some very deep liberal pockets. I also disagree that students should be allowed to walk out of the schools to demonstrate without repercussions. And I especially get upset when I see teachers leading second graders out of the school to protest like happened in California last week. Those teachers should be fired for sure. If these high school kids want to protest, as is their right, they should do it after school. I’m betting the demonstrations wouldn’t amount to much then. But all of that is just my take on it. Thankfully we do live in a country where demonstrating and protesting is legal and allowed. I dedicated 32 years of my life to preserve that right whether I agree with their opinions or not. 

That’s it for today. Have a blessed week. Peace. 

 Good morning at a very early hour for us. I’m in the waiting room while they take Ms. Kate back for her Cardio version procedure. They are just doing about 45 minutes of preliminary stuff and then will come get me. The procedure is quick when they get ready to do it. They put her to sleep, do a hopefully quick shock of the heart and then wake her up. I have never had it done and hope to not have to have it done. But this is her sixth time. At least it is non-invasive as opposed to the other options she may be faced with such as ablation or pace maker. By the time you read this, we will probably be home taking a nap. 

It was 60 degrees when I got up at 0430 and the temperature is dropping. We have enjoyed a delightful couple of upper 60’s and lower 70’s. But typical of southern Indiana, when it is that warm in February, there will be storms and even tornados, and there was a tornado north of us. Now we are expecting snow flurries tomorrow. I doubt they will amount to anything but the roller coaster weather is great for spring colds. 

Our oldest daughter Julie and her hubby, Jim will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary on Sunday. That seems impossible. But then, Kate and I will celebrate our 60th next week so I guess all is as it should be. But good for them.  

I’m not sure what I will do with myself today. It depends on how long we are here at the hospital and the weather. I think though that I will spend some time writing a sermon. I have my sermon for March 22nd to work on and also I have to write one for March 29th.

Gotta go, they are taking me back to her room. Have a blessed day. 

 Good morning on this foggy Thursday morning. I love a foggy morning as long as I don’t have to do a bunch of driving in it. It like the world still has its blanket pulled up under its chin. There is always a peace than comes with a foggy morning that just puts you in a whispered conversation with God. It’s extremely comforting. 

Well —- yesterday was a thing but comforting until about 8:00 pm. We decided that we had everything we needed to get our taxes done for the year. I hate doing our taxes because I find it so very frustrating. It stems from the fact that I am terrible at anything to do with numbers. But, I logged in to Turbo Tax and according to them it should only take me one hour and fifty seven minutes to complete the process. Let me say, that Turbo Tax is a good product, we’ve used it for several years. But also, regardless of their advertisements that “”you can do your tax’s for free’ —- by the time I had all of the “add-ons” and guarantees, I finished at $350.00. However, it is what it is. 

So, I started on my tax adventure determined to not let it get to me, just fill in the forms, drink my coffee and get on my merry way. Well, that two hours went by and one thing after another and soon I was in to hour four. It all circled around one simple entry. We own some property in southern Illinois that we rent out for farming. It’s a simple process. The farmer gives me a check for a certain amount to rent the ground and at the end he sends me a 1099 MISC. However, the forms kept insisting that I need a schedule C which I knew I didn’t need and did not have one. Eventually I asked Ms. Kate to come work on it because I thought I must be missing something, but she couldn’t get it to work either. All the rest of the taxes were complete but we couldn’t file until this was fixed. 

We stopped long enough to go to Sam’s Club and pick up our called in order and then came back and I started again. This time I pulled up the “Tax Expert” on the Turbo Tax site.  She called me back and we launched into the problem. I literally spent two hours on the phone and computer with her. She was tied into my forms and was trying everything she could and agreed that I didn’t not need the schedule C. To make a loooonnnnnng story short, she finally fixed it and I have no idea what she did. But the taxes are filed and Federal is already accepted. Today I’ll mail off the Illinois taxes because as a non-resident, they won’t let me e-file. Ms. Kate and I went to bed before 10:30 last night, mentally and physically exhausted, but the 2025taxes are done. 

That’s my sad tale and now I’m going to refill my coffee cup and set my self down in my recliner. I hope you have a blessed day. Peace. 

 It’s Monday night a little before 2200 hrs. Today has been a holiday, President’s Day. I’m not really sure why we continue to celebrate the birthday of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Yes, they were prominent in our Nation’s history but a lot of other people were too. I know I certainly didn’t dwell on their accomplishments today nor do I think I could find a quick fifty people that did either. Federal workers got a day off work but I don’t know of anyone else that did. Certainly anybody in the customer service business didn’t. I mean we have to have places to go on our day off and we need gas stations to fuel to get there and restaurants to eat at when we do get there. And then there are all of the “President’s Day” sales that are held so shop people have to work extra hard. Nah!!!! Stupid to call it a holiday. 

Kate and I didn’t do much of anything today. She did make an anniversary card for Julie and Jim for me to put in the mail that wouldn’t get picked up because it’s a holiday. LOL And I did some sermon writing for the three Sundays that I have to fill in at a church in March. I got one of them done and have a start on the next one. The fact that it is the Lenten season gives me a theme to base my messages on. The scripture lessons for the second of the two Sundays are vastly different. The first on is the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. The second scripture is the story of the vision by the prophet being shown the Valley of the Dry Bones. They are vastly different messages as far as I can see. I am using the Lazarus scripture because it will lend well to the next Sunday which will be Palm Sunday. 

Okay, gotta quit. Have a blessed night.