I'm a bit bleary eyed this morning for some reason. I can't seem to wake myself up. Maybe my cup of coffee or three will do the trick.

We had a good weekend. The church services were well attended. We had good company with my sister and brother-in-law coming down. They brought down a load of stuff for the auctioneer because they are dowsizing their home. Our local auctioneer has done a good job for them in the past so they are using him again. I can't imagine going through that process. Unless it becomes totally necessary, our girls are stuck with getting rid of all of our stuff after we either die or get so senile that they decide to "put us in a home" somewhere.

God is shaking the dandruff out of the trees this morning. There is a wind blowing and the petals from the Tulip Poplar blossoms are raining down. I need to get my ladder out and get on the roof and blow out the crevices and the gutters. Between the Maple tree helicopters and now these petals, it doesn't take long to cover the gutters over. I have a gutter guard system up there so it is only a matter of walking the roof line with my leaf blower. It takes me longer to get my ladder out than it does to do the job.

The iris are really blooming right now as are the peonies and the rhodadendrums. All of the colors blended together can only be God's work. Sometimes I see beds of flowers and blooming trees and it just takes my breath away. It becomes a picture of nature's perfection. How absolutely blessed we are to be able to see things like that and have the ability to enjoy it. Think about that for a moment. Out of all of God's living creatures, we are the only one that can comprehend what beauty actually means and is. We are the only one of God's creation that derives pleasure simply by looking at our surroundings. If that thought doesn't make you feel special in God's sight, I don't know what would.

My prayers today are again prayers of gratitude. Both of our people at church that had recent knee replacements were in church yesterday and seemed to be getting along very well. So, I'm thankful that God continues to give them the strength to do their therapy and I'm thankful for those who have participated in their surgeries. I'm thankful that my brother-in-law is feeling as well as he does despite his cancer, and I'm thankful for the better than expected doctor's report for the mother of one of my parishioners. God is so very good.

I hope your day is as blessed as mine already has been.

Its a happy Saturday morning, or at least all my flutter wings and bushy tails seem to think so. Everyone seems to be getting a fair share out there, including my cute baby bunny.

It is a beautiful morning. The sun is shining brightly and it is 46° with no breeze to speak of. We went out and picked up a bunch of suets and stuff like that yesterday morning so there should be a fancy buffet for the critters. Today I need to go pick up a bag or maybe two of sunflower seed. It doesn't take long to go through a 100 lbs of it. Years ago I used to go out and fill my wonderful mother-in-law's bird feeders for her. I don't know how she afforded to keep those feeders filled. I used to call her birds "flying pigs". I really miss Kate's mom; she was a beautiful person. Some day, --- after I'm dead and gone; it would be nice to think that maybe someone will think the same about me.

I been out here on the porch now for 45 minutes and there is a squirrel on one of the feeders that has been steadily eating the whole time. I don't see how it can eat that much. I hope it craps it's self to death. I finally decided it had eaten enough so I popped it with a BB.

I got around to putting the new battery in my truck yesterday. I'm glad to have "Big Red" back among the living. I do like my truck. I was toying with idea of putting a bid on a Cadillac Escalade that is up for auction next week. It is a good vehicle with only 10,000 miles on it and four years old, but we have three vehicles now. Our Cadillac is eight years old and has 140,000 miles on it. But --- it runs fine, looks good, and is paid for. That's a good combination. So, I'll keep my money in the bank. It gets back to what I wrote about yesterday. I have everything I need. Most everything else is just silly desire.

Well, I have drained my coffee cup and almost drained the battery on my Nook. I guess it is time to quit. My prayers again go out for friends and loved ones. I found out yesterday that another friend of mine has stage two lung cancer. I'm hearing that word amongst my friends far too often these day. But, I suspect that I'm getting to the age where it will become even more frequent. I heard last night that the average life span for women in the US is 81 years but the average life span for men is now 76. I hope to go past that since that is only six years from now. But then, on the other hand, if I died today it would have been a wonderfully blessed existance on earth, and I give God praise for every moment and every blessing. I hope you do the same.

I missed another day of blogging yesterday. However, I refuse to take the blame and instead pass it off to Time Warner Cable. We were without cable and internet connection for hours yesterday. It is amazing how our worlds can crash to a halt with the loss of the internet and a rainy day. What kind of creatures have we become?

It is a chilly 43° this morning. The sun is shining brightly but I don't think it is supposed to get above the upper sixties today again. For the middle of May in southern Indiana, that is down right chilly. I think we are having what folks often call a "Dogwood Winter". That's when a cold snap hits when it is late enough in the spring the the Dogwood trees either are in bloom or have already bloomed.

I got the yards mowed yesterday afternoon. I had to wait until the grass dried out. Then it showered again last night. Enough of the rain already, Lord. How about sending the rain out west so it can put out the raging wilfires. They could really use it about now. Of course, I shouldn't complain. Everything is lush and green and beautiful.

I need to go get a new battery for my truck first thing today. Maybe we'll go to Sam's. That way we can also go by Wildbirds Unlimited and pick up what I need. I still need to get suet cakes and a container or two of bark butters, as well as a couple of seedcakes. My black oil sunflower seed container is getting low too. That's stop at a different pet food place.

Sheila and Byron are down this weekend again. They are dowsizing their home and have an auctioneer that they like to use down here. We are supposed to meet them for supper this evening at Max and Erma's on the casino boat. I think Byron had yet another chemo infusion yesterday. I hope he feels well enough to get around today. My prayers are with them both.

Speaking of prayers, it is time to once again take stock of my blessings and give thanks and praise to God for them. My life is rich and full and I have no needs. How many people in this world can honestly say that? Sure, I have things that I want, --- but all my needs are met. As the 23rd Psalm says, "my cup runs over."

Have a wonderful day. Mine already has been.

54° this morning and rain. That sure makes for a sleepy morning. I could easily crank the recliner back, close the eyes and drift off to some place in dreamland. But today has to be a day dedicated to writing so I don't dare give in to temptation. I expect it will be a two pot day for Mr. Coffeemaker.

I missed blogging yesterday as well as being out here on the sun porch. I had an early meeting yesterday that took me past lunch time. Then I spent a lot of hours putting together worship services. Now I have to put together the sermons to go with the services. When we go on vacation, I have to make sure I have services ready for the guest pastors as well as for the week that we come home. Its going to be made a bit more difficult this time because we will be coming up on mid-year congregational meetings as soon as we return from the second vacation we have planned to California.

The birds are not as happy as they could be out there in the rain this morning. Their feeders are all fairly low or empty. And, --- I'm out of a lot of the stuff to fill them. I need suet cakes, bark butter paste, birdola cakes and probably some other things but I don't really have time to be running across town to the store. Gosh, they may have to fend for themselves like "wild birds" do! But, there still is finch feed and sunflower seeds in the feeders so I guess they can adjust their pallates.

This has been a rainy week. Every day has brought showers on and off. The grass really needs cutting. Hopefully that can happen tomorrow afternoon. I was all set to take a break from the computer yesterday afternoon and go out and mow the yard and along came another ten minute thunderstorm. But, God provides blessings even in the rain. Our tomatos and squash and cucumbers are really growing.

As always, I take stock of the abundance of blessings God has showered down upon me once again today, and I give God praise for them. I continue to to be blessed with a loving family, good friends, and a faithful and faith filled parish. I pray that God is pleased with my leadership of these two congregations and I am "getting it done right". Every day I ask myself if it is time for me to step down as pastor. But, I haven't felt that it truly is time for me to quit, --- just yet. Just like the point came that I knew it was time to retire from the Air Force, --- I reckon God will tell me it is time to retire for a second time. In the meantime, --- I have sermons to write.

Have a wonderful day.

73° degrees and muggy this morning already, but the sun is filtered this morning through a partly overcast sky.

I have squirrel wars going on this morning. I had a young squirrel just outside the doors up in the pussy willow tree trying to eat from one of the birdfeeders. It was so stretched out between the limb and the feeder, which kept turning , that he finally gave up. It then went over to another feeder that already had a squirrel on it. That began a chase that has gone across the yard several times, up and over my roof and back again and up and down the Tulip tree and around it at least twenty times. They are all gone for now ---- but thanks for the show guys. It was fun to watch! I'm sure they will be shortly.

It would appear that the old rabbit has had her babies out the among the daffodils and lilies again this year. There is the tiniest bunny sitting out there chewing on a dandelion leaf. I hope it really likes that dandelion and eats all of them in my yard for me. It is really exploring its world. Its now hopping over here to the door. How cute.
The old rabbit comes here every spring to have her litter in that flowerbed. Actually, I don't know how many she has because I never see more than one or two new ones each year.

We had a good day yesterday. It was Mother's Day. The churches had good attendance with people visiting moms for the day. Then we went to our favorite resturant for lunch. Then during the afternoon we went out to visit my 96 year old mother and took her to Cracker Barrel for supper. My duty was done.

I have a lot of work to do. We just added two more weeks of vacation to our schedule at the end of June and the first week of July. That means for me --- a lot of pre-planning of services and getting things ready for when I return. I have time to do it, but it means no wasting time. Our 16 year old granddaughter, Lauren, begins a career as a professional MX rider at the end of June in a race at Mammoth Lakes California, and we want to be there for it. Yes, --- we are going 3000 miles to watch a seven minute race. That's what grandparents do!

My prayers this morning are prayers of gratitude. Once again I take stock of my blessing and see that they are over abundant. I am grateful to God for his grace and I also pray the continued touch of the Holy Spirit be with those who are enduring treatment for cancer and going currently through physical rehabilitation for joint replacements. I have an extensive prayer list these days --- but I know God is aware of each of them and walks with them daily.  God is so good.

Have a blessed day.

We are feeling extremely blessed this morning after seeing all of the storm damage pictures from around town. I have a few limbs down and they are small. I had some damage done to a trellis that I built years ago and had another flag pole snapped off. That is the second one that I have lost to storms. But gosh, we were lucky. Weatherman said this storm just exploded over the top of the city with 77 mph winds. We were with out power for five hours but some may be out all weekend. There is much damage around town but I haven't heard of any injuries or deaths. God be praised.

It looks like we could have more storms today because it is overcast this morning. However, the temp has dropped significantly. All the birds and squirrels are here this morning for breakfast. Maybe they anticipate a storm too. Actually, we only got about an inch and a half of rain so the gardens fared well. Many of the iris are laying over though. Hopefully they will stand back up if it dries out a bit. We'll probably cut some of them for boquets for the church tomorrow. Tomorrow is Mother's Day so it would be nice to have some fresh flowers in the church for the altar.

There is nothing big on my schedule today other than go out and clean up any limbs in my yard. I have a couple of feeders that need to be filled so I reckon I'll get that done too.

I'm sitting here watching the Robin as it takes its bath. It will splash a lot of water out of that bird bath. I guess it didn't get wet enough in the storm and has to take its Saturday morning bath. The starlings will be lining up next for their bath if things go as normal out there. Whoops --- another Robin just came in for a dip in the pond.

My prayers go out for the victims of our storm yesterday, several of whom lost homes. I also  give God thanks that it wasn't worse. A large portion of the nation got hit yet again with storms and tornados. That no one was killed is a blessing from God.

I hope you have a very wonderful day full of love and hope and joy.

A light rain is falling this morning which is a good thing. We finished planting the garden yesterday evening and this is the perfect kind of rain to water it all in. Ms. Kate has also put out a multitude of flowers in a variety of containers along the patio and this will be good for them. Unfortunately we are also predicted for strong thunderstorms this afternoon. Hopefully it won't be too bad. So much of the country is in the path once again of storms and tornados. I pray no injuries or deaths occur from them.

I got out of bed in time to beat the rain this morning because I had neglected to cut the asparagus yesterday. There wasn't but a really good hand full but it can go from just the right size to "too big" in seemingly a matter of hours sometimes. I got the yards mowed yesterday and Ms. Kate got some dalias planted out front too. It is no wonder this yard continues to look so nice; we have flowers blooming everywhere. It is nice to know that the neighbors enjoy our yard too. Dan, across the street, says they love looking out on it every morning too. We are but caretakers of what God creates.

We thought Julie, Jim, and the pupperonis were coming back this afternoon but it is the start of a new semester and the bookstore got slammed with orders yesterday from the web. So, she will get to spend her Mother's Day weekend pulling books from the shelves and getting ready for her customers. She runs a tight ship over there at the university and the bookstore has done exceptionally well under her management. All three of my girls are in senior management positions in their respective career fields. We are proud parents because their family life is as successful as their careers. That will happen when you step back from the driver's seat and let God take the lead.

My big agenda item for the day is to run up to the churches and get the bulletins printed. When everything goes right, it is a couple of hours work. I also have to finish next weeks sermon and hopefully get started on the following week's sermon. Stuff to do, stuff to do. It never ends. But I am very fortunate that the churches allow me to do my work from home for the most part. The congregations both know that if they need me for anything, I am as close as the phone and will drop what ever I'm doing and be there for them.

The battery is in the critical zone so I need to plug it in and be done writing on this for today. It is also time to once again give God thanks and praise for my overwhelming amount of blessings. I ask for strenghth and courage as those I know and love deal with a variety of serious health issues. From Jule's RA to Byron's cancer to the multitude of issues that so many of our friends and parishioners are dealing with; I ask that each one feel the presence of God's love, grace, and power in their lives today. On our "bad days" it is often difficult to remember that God is good, --- all the time. We never walk alone, even for a micro-second. Have a blessed day.