How wonderful to see bright sunshine this morning. I was expecting to get up to another gloomy day. So, I say " thank you very much Lord".

The fuzzy butts are at two of the feeders this morning. I don't see how they can be hungry, they were out there all day yesterday, eating as fast as they could. I was concerned about one of my really pretty Goldfinches yesterday. It flew and hit the window really hard. I looked out there and it was flat on it back, wings all splayed out. But about two hours later I noticed that it was gone. I thought it was dead for sure, but, it is the season of the resurrection.

I'm seeing more Cardinals this morning than I have seen in a few days. Of course the rain kind of diminished their appearances at the feeders. It was late yesterday afternoon before the Finches all showed up. The Robins are here of course. Fresh rain equals fresh worms. But this morning the gang is all here, the daffodils are blooming brightly , and life is as it should be.

Last evening Ms. Kate and I went out to dinner for a date night. Our favorite resturant was having a prime rib buffet. The food lived up to our expectations. The prime rib was done perfectly and the desserts were wonderful. We have reservations there this coming Sunday with the family after church. Sheila and Byron, Ron and Betty , and my mother are joining us at church on Sunday.

Speaking of S & B, we are anxiously waiting to hear what his oncologists have to say to him today. Our prayers are certainly out for nothing but good reports. And if they are less than that, we pray for strength, patience, and a proper treatment plan that leads to better health. The bottom line is that cancer is a bitch with no mercy. We've lost too many people to it in our families and are not anxious to lose any more. So, we keep the prayer line open, and trust God to lead us through any and all situations.

My battery on the Nook is down to 15% so I'm jumping off. I hope your day is full of nothing but smiles and blessings.

The daffodils all have their  heads down to keep the rain out of their faces. Yes, it is raining again this morning. It is a light rain though, very typical of what one might picture as "an April shower". However with a total of almost eight inches lat week, I'm thinking we could do without any rain today or even for the next week or so. Its just proof that my thoughts are not always God's thoughts. I do wish, however, that Southern California and the other drought stricken areas of our crop producing country had a rain like this for about three days. That would allow it to soak in rather than run off, and would be a blessing indeed.

There is a Crow, or maybe it is a Raven, (I don't know the difference),  sitting on a branch "cawing" about something. It got the squirrels attention and a couple of them took off. I wonder what that is all about. Who knows what critters are allys or enemies out there. All we need is Jeff Probst to referee my backyard Survivor episode.

This coming Sunday will be Palm Sunday and is also Confirmation Sunday at the churches. My confirmands did an excellent job yesterday during their oral examination in front of the congregations. I was very proud of them.

This evening is "date-night" for Ms. Kate and me. We're going to our favorite resturant for an all you can eat prime rib buffet. Yesterday after church we went there and had a wonderful seafood stew; possibly the best seafood stew we've ever had. We told the owner that it was a definite keeper for the menu.

My thoughts and prayers this morning go out for my son- in- law Gary who has a job interview to teach automotive classes. I think he would be very good at that. I also raise up our friend Betty Harmon who lost her hrother on Saturday. Finally, I offer up prayers of gratitude once again for my blessings. As I sit here comfortably in my house, I pray for those who are out there on the streets of this country and around the world who have no home and no shelter. May God guide them to a place of comfort and peace.

Have a blessed day, I already have.

I love being able to sit out here and see all of those lovely daffodils that Ms. Kate has blooming out there in the flowerbeds. This morning they are still hanging their heads down. It is 42 degrees and still a bit overcast. When, and if, the sun pops out they will be all bright and beautiful. Ms. Kate plans to take a boquet of them to our favorite resturant tomorrow after church. The owner, Candice, does so many nice things for us, it is nice to be able to share our blessings with them.

Our second oldest grandchild, Amanda, turned eighteen today. She is indeed a beautiful young lady. She is smart, fun, and full of love and life. It just doesn't seem possible that she is now a fully grown adult. As I told Ms. Kate this morning, Amanda is now only two months younger than Ms. Kate was when I married her. Where does the time go? Amanda is in her second semester of college as she finishes up her high school. We are going to North Carolina in June to watch her high school graduation. She will be our first grandchild with a high school diploma. Josh finished his schooling with his GED. I'm proud of both of them because they are good people.

I need to go to the pet food store this morning and pick up another 100 pounds of black oil sunflower seed. My birdfood can is almost empty and by now so are the feeders. The yard hasn't even begun to dry out from all of the rain so it will be a little messy getting out there. But if I don't get out there the critters may form a picket line and we wouldn't want that. It doesn't look sloppy wet so if I tread lightly maybe it will be alright.

Tomorrow is a big day at the churches; it is Confirmand Examination Sunday. The seven young confirmands must stand in front of the congregation and answer questions on things we have covered over the past eight months. It isn't as drastic as it sounds though. I have given them each a list of questions to study, so it is more a matter of memorization than anything else. Still and all, it will be an anxious day for them.

The sun is starting to come out and the day is getting brighter. The Golfinches are busy at the feeders as are the Cardinals. The Robins are still getting easy worms that have yet to dig back down deep enough. And so, --- I give thanks to God this morning for yet another day of life. It s a beautiful day, but then God gives me the opportunity to turn any day into a beautiful one. It is all a matter of attitude and decisions. Our blessings surround us all the time. We just need to be able to recognize them. I hope your day will be as blessed as mine is.

Its a tired morning. Our record setting rain fall gave me cause to spend the night in the recliner in the family room. I slept, ---  but was up every hour making sure all was well with sump pumps etc.   We were fortunate that we had no damage from the severe storms that rolled through and the pumps worked per design. I poured an inch out of the rain guage yesterday morning and another seven inches out this morning.

I was up at 0445 checking things and came out to the porch. Despite the rain, it was light enough in the neighborhood to see things fairly well. I noticed there seemed to be a large something in the branches of the pussy willow tree outside my porch door so I went over and checked it out. There was a young raccoon up there eating from the bird feeder. So, --- I hit him with three BBs before he was able to escape.

One of the things though that I count as a blessing from the rain is that the air has been washed. Being an asthmatic getting through early pollen season, I give God thanks for washing the world and cleaning up the air for at least today. See --- one can always find a blessing if we just look for it.

Lots of Finches are hitting the buffet line this morning as well as a couple of the fuzzy fat boys. Mostly everything is seemingly checking out the ground to see what treasures have been uncovered by the rain. The Robins should be estatic this morning because the earthworms have come to the surface to keep from being drowned.  I cleaned up several from the porch floor this morning and tossed them outside to the birds.

I know that a lot of people are goingto be spending the day getting water out of their basements and maybe even their main living areas this morning because of localized flooding. So, this morning I put them in my prayers that they accomplish their tasks safely and don't get too depressed over lost "stuff".

My sky is getting a bit brighter and lots of birds are singing out there to welcome a new day. This is a day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

The sky is dark with storm and rain clouds this morning. It stormed and rained off and on most of the night and is currently raining. Forecasters are predicting a severe weather possibility for parts of the Tri-State area. I pray there will be no damage, injuries or death.

The birds are few and far between this morning. I suspect they are under what ever shelter they can find. The squirrels have been here and are currently gone. The limbs  and feeders are rain slick which provides some entertainment. They keep slipping and losing their grip on the limbs and the feeders. I giggled when one litteraly fell off of the feeder and out of the bush a few minutes ago. It was extremely cartoonish.

This rain is messing up the outside of my windows that I just cleaned. But at least it isn't snow and ice. I can hardly belive how dark it is outside. It looks like late dusk. My Nook tablet is the brightest thing around. It would be perfect napping had I not been up for only an hour or so. But it got dark enogh that the solar light yard decorations came on briefly.

My prayers go out to the families of the soldiers at Ft. Hood, Texas. A soldier went berserk yesterday there and killed four fellow soldiers and wounded fourteen. He then turned the gun on himself and killed himself. I pray God be with the families as they grieve and go through the healing process, both physically and mentally. It is a dark day for America, especially since this is the second time in four years an incident like this has happened at that same location.

My coffee cup is empty and my bladder is full so I need to get out of my recliner and take care of business. I hope your day is blessed. Mine is already full of blessings.

Another great morning! How wonderful is that? The sky is blue for the moment but clouds are building in the west. We have a couple of typical spring days coming which means stormy weather.

We can see the back yard a lot clearer this morning. Ms. Kate and I spent several hours yesterday rearranging the room, mopping floors, washing the windows inside and out. The sun-porch is in reality nine ceiling to floor triple pane windows. Five of them are sliding glass doors with five screens. It was built by Champion Window company and we love it. While I'm plugging Champion, let me tell you that if you want a good glass cleaner --- they have the best we have found.

With company coming in a couple of weeks, we had to add a couple of our patio chairs back in the room so logistics was challenging, but it is comfortable and looks good. We still have several large potted plants out there that will eventually go outside for the summer, but for now they are protected from the weather. We leave the porch fairly open to the house most of the year since it is considered a "three-season" porch which means no heating and air conditioning. That's why we don't get taxed on it.

I have lots of Junkos and Finches and Cardinals out here this morning. Of course those fuzzy tailed rats are here. There was a squirrel on the feeder right out side the door and a big ol' Blue Jay almost landed on it. The squirrel jumped a mile.

Today is work at the church day. We have the Sunday bulletins to run and choir practice this evening. Fairly soon, choir will be over, no confirmation, and having only the trips for services and running the bulletins will reduce the mileage. No complaints there. I've been very fortunate that we have had only a couple of people in the hospital and or nursing homes in the last couple of years. (knock on wood) By and large, the congregation is healthy except for joint replacements and physical therapy.

My prayer this morning continues to go out for Jean Holmes and her bout with radiation. I also have a young man facing the removal of a tumor on his pituitary glad at Vanderbilt next week, So I pray they will get it all and he doesn't have to go through radiation. Our prayers too continue to go for a good report from Byron and his doctors, which would relieve some of the stress from my sister, Sheila. My mother (96 yo) lost another friend at the nursing home she is in. Not a day goes by it seems that they don't lose someone out there.

Again, I feel so blessed to have good health. And I feel so fortunate that Ms. Kate does as well as she does with all of her past major medical problems. I can't imagine what life would be like without her. So --- all praise be to the Lord God, who walks with us on our life's journey.

Have a most wonderful day! I plan to.

Snow?? Why is it snowing??  Okay, it isn't. That was my April Fool joke on Ms. Kate this morning. Her response, --- "I hate April Fools."

Actually it is a beautiful morning here on the sunporch. It is fifty-nine degrees and the sun is shining brightly. There is a wind blowing though and unfortunately it is going to blow in a lot of stormy weather for the next few days. We absolutely do not need rain. It would be great if it didn't rain for a week or so and we could get some planting and transplanting done out there in the yard. But, it happens like this every year here in southern Indiana, and the weatherman has predicted a wet spring. That means late planting for our farmers and the corn crops.

I had a yard full of squirrels again this morning. Every large feeder had a squirrel on it. I just shot a bunch of them with my BB gun but they will be back in less than five minutes. They run off to the neighbors trees for a few minutes and work their way back to my feeders. At least while they are gone the birds can grab a bite or two.

I need to take the little shop-vac to the sunporch. The edges are dirty and there are cob webs around. The windows really need cleaning. Julie's dogs leave paw prints all over the lower portion of the doors as they paw at the doors when they see a squirrel outside. It is as bad as grandchildren's nose and and hand prints. So a little spring cleaning is in order before we get company in a couple of weeks.

On the other hand, those paw prints remind of my blessings. We are blessed that she lives close enough to be able to come over at least one weekend a month. We are blessed to have children that want to come and spend time with us. We are blessed that all of our girls have grown to adulthood with good honest moral values and a strong sense of love for their fellowman; and they have each raised their children with these same sets of values. Personality wise, they are such different people, but their love for one another keeps them locked at the brain. I couldn't be more proud of each of them. We do love our girls and their families.

Today starts a whole new month. Let's all use this month as a month to share ourselves and our love with someone in obvious need of a smile or a gentle touch or maybe even a hug. Remember --- our days are finite: but our compassion should be infinite. My day has already been filled with blessings and so has yours. You just need to look for them.