Good morning and Happy Saturday. I trust your day is going well. Just the fact that you are alive and up and able to read this tells me that God has already blessed you today. (Well, --- not because you are reading this, but because you are eyes open and reading anything.) So welcome to a new day full of opportunities to do something for somebody today. And who knows --- maybe someone is waiting to do something for you today.

I don't know what has the squirrel's tail shaking this morning but something certainly does. It has been round and round the tulip poplar tree and on and off of the bird feeder next to that tree and it will stop and look around and lash its tail back and forth and then move some more and stop again. Maybe it sees a challenger out there somewhere or maybe there is a cat in the yard some place. It isn't chittering but it certainly is animated this morning.

It certainly is another beautiful morning. It is 71 degrees with a 5mph breeze and no clouds to be seen. Tomorrow we have church service in the outdoor sanctuary and it is supposed to be another day like today. I'm looking forward to that. I plan to take advantage of the weather today and do some stuff in my flowerbeds again. As I look around, I see that I have a bunch of Redbud trees sprouting up all over the place again. So, I need to go chop those out before they get too big. The leaves have stopped dropping for now so my yard still looks good from my work earlier this week. But I have to minimize the miniature forest that keeps popping up in my flowerbeds. I also need to spray some roundup or other weedkiller on the darned ivy that is threatening to take over the area behind my shed again. And --- the large flowerbed on the south side of the driveway needs a lot of work too. There is always something that needs doing around here.

I've been keeping tabs on what is happening through the state of Florida and islands south of that. Hurricane Irma should make landfall directly on Miami tomorrow morning at a Category five level. That will be devastating to the area and yet there people who simply refuse to move out. MKaybe they simply have no where to go or a way to move out. But, I certainly lift them up in prayer and ask for God's shooting hand to be upon this storm. But , --- the irony of that is that even If God did lay God's hand upon this storm and tone it down, those that's refused to evacuate would probably just say; "See, I told you it wasn't going to be anything." So, what can you do but pray for them and all of the people that are about to lose homes etc and hope no lives are lost. This storm has already cost close to a hundred people their live on some of the islands that it has devastated. Let's all pray no more are lost. And --- don't forget that the victims of Hurricanes Harvey are still suffering over on the other side of the Gulf of Mexico, and people in the state of Montana are losing farms and livelihood to forest fires, and Mexico got hit hard with an earthquake yesterday and has a hurricane bearing down on it. God certainlyhas God's hands full with nature that has run amuck. Please keeep your prayers flowing for al of th victims in the path of these things. Peace.

It is 56 degrees as I greet this Friday morning. But the sun is shining brightly and we're in store for another beautiful fall-like day. The only thing left to do is give thanks to God for once again providing a heap of blessings. As I read the news and talk to friends around the country though, many are not so lucky.  I have friends in Florida who are staring down the barrel of a category 5 hurricane. I have a friend in Montana who as of last night said they were still ok but that there are three major forest fires within ten miles of his house due to what is the largest forest fire in the nation up in Montana. Folks in Texas and Louisiana are still either not back in their homes or if they are, they may be trying to decide what is salvageable. So as the rest of us who are unaffected by these things start our day, let's collectively lift these folks up in prayer.

Ms. Kate and I had a good day yesterday and checked off several things on the "to-do" list. We went and got our pedicures done first thing. Mine hurt like heck because of an ingrown toenail; but I was expecting that. It is still sore this morning a little because of all of the digging around that the gal did. Next we went to lunch at an oriental buffet place a couple of doors down from the nail salon. We hadn't eaten there in maybe a decade and it didn't take long to remember why. The food is edible but certainly not what I would consider "good". So, we'll give them another ten years or so before we waste our money in there.  From there we went to the cemeteries and decorated family graves. Ms. Kate always does a great job of keeping fresh looking seasonal flowers on the graves. It is sad when I see a grave that has a raggedy faded out bunch of flowers on a grave. It is almost better for me if there were no flowers on the grave at all. I suspect that once Ms. Kate and I pass that there will be no flowers on our graves. Our girls all live so far away that they will have no reason to come to Evansville once we are gone. And that is alright I reckon. Besides cemeteries and toenails, Ms. Kate and I also did our laundry yesterday so we are good to go for the weekend.

Today we are taking neighbor Dan and his wife to lunch and then up to Karen's house so the can see her flowerbeds and house. She has done massive amounts of work on her flowerbeds and is a Master Gardener. So, she is always glad to have a chance to show it off. Things aren't blooming a lot right now of course but it shows well just the same.

That's it for today as we head into the weekend. I hope you have time or take the time to stop your busy life and not only relax, but take time to give God credit and thanks for the blessings you have received this week.  Have a great Friday!

It is a sixty degree, sunny morning and the buffet is in full swing. The hummingbirds are here, the finches and sparrows are flitting around between the bird bath and the feeders. There are a couple of starlings fighting over one feeder while a couple of others sit and watch them. A dove waddles around on the porch and in the yard picking up what the other birds knock out of the feeders. Sprinkled in and amongst the birds are several small butterflies fluttering around to the pholx adding a splash of color to the mix. It is a very peaceful yet actively entertaining scene.

This "fall-like" weather is quite a change from the norm for southern Indiana. Usually September is a fairly hot dry month at least through the first half. But --- world weather is totally screwed up at the moment. We had Hurricane Harvey a couple of weeks ago that devastated the Gulf Coast regions of Texas and Louisiana and now we have Hurricane Irma, barreling across the Atlantic Ocean at a Category 5 level and it is about to hit Florida head-on in Miami. The weather forecasters had predicted that we would have the worst hurricane season in a decade this year and so far they have been on target with their predictions. I just continue to pray for safe conduct for people in their paths.

The harvest has begun. My friend Scott Wallis posted a picture of the corn going into the elevator yesterday. I always worry about my farmer friends and their families during planting and harvest seasons. They work long hours, often past a state of complete mental alertness. That can lead to some rally dangerous and horrible accidents. So, I'm firing up my prayer list for all of of those folks.

I had a highly productive day yesterday and got all of the things that I had put on my "to do" list completed. The result is that I can take it a bit easier today which is a good thing. We plan to go get pedicures today and then go to the cemeteries and put fall flowers on the graves. My yard is mowed and the leaves in the back yard are raked and mulched. I spent two and a half hours in one front flowerbed yesterday pulling out grass and weeds and cutting back the iris. The only thing left to do there is wait until the end of September and them cut back the peonies. Then I'll get a scoop of mulch on put a fresh layer on before winter. But, --- there are still more flowerbeds out front to be worked and I need to stay on top of them or they will get out of control again. But the yard looks great this morning. I wish I had help doing some of this stuff but I don't. Ms. Kate can't work it there much and I give in to myself too easily. So I got to keep at it. I think I told you last week that I had finally planted my turnip seed out in the garden. Well, I was out there yesterday and had to laugh because as I told Ms. Kate --- the garden looks like a "Chia-Pet" where the turnips are coming up. I sure didn't think I had planted that many seeds but there is a mat of turnips growing out there. We'll see how all of this turns out. All we wanted was a few turnips to munch on and we'll certainly have that. The rest will make for good ground cover and keep the weeds down. Then I can till them under and they will enhance the soil.

That is about it for today. It is time to do something useful. Have a wonderful day. Stay in touch with God today and be grateful for all of the blessings that are flowing your way. Peace.

What a blessed looking morning out there in the buffet territory. The sun is shining brilliantly, there is no wind and the temperature is sixty-five degrees. It looks and feels like fall especially with all of the leaves that have fallen from the poplar trees in the past few days. I know we will have lots of warm days yet but these semi-cool days are wonderful. It appears I need to refill some of the feeders once again. This is getting to be a three times a week event as a minimum. That is not unexpected as the temperatures start to cool off. I was checking the weather out in West Yellowstone National Park this morning since we are headed out there at the end of the month and it is thirty seven degrees at the moment. We are certainly going to need some warm jackets to take along on the trip. I'm excited about this trip, especially for Ms. Kate who is always cold anyway. Her blood thinner medicines keep her in a sweater most of the time. The last time she and I were at Yellowstone we sat and watched for Old Faithful to erupt. It was a very cool windy morning and we got there just after it had gushed which meant we had to wait the 45 minutes or what ever for it to erupt again. I have a picture of her and Karen sitting huddled together in their jackets shivering, with very unhappy faces. Then it erupted and all I heard was ---- "We froze our butts off for that???" They were not impressed.  (I will admit that the pictures of Old Faithful erupting look better than the actual event.) I hope our timing will be better or that the temperature will be warmer this time.

Ms. Kate and I have started "walking". We are both terribly out of shape and our lives have become terribly sedentary. So, we decided that we would start doing a litle walking. Our distance isn't much yet and require a few stops along the way to let Ms. Kate's heart quit pounding and to catch some air, but we'll get there. Gosh it seems like just yesterday I was walking seven miles a day at a brisk pace every morning before I went to work. I had to do that to maintain my weight for the Air Force and as an example to my personnel who worked for me. But --- while it might seem like "just yesterday", --- in reality that was 40 pounds and almost twenty years ago. Dang  ---- where has the time gone? Obviously it passed me by while I was in my recliner, or maybe at my desk writing sermons and stuff.

I think today I will head back out to the flowerbeds and maybe to the backyard and rake some leaves. That works for me for good exercise and it needs doing. I also need to cut the okra today, I should have done it yesterday. So there is outside work waiting on me and I must get to it. God has provided the opportunity and great weather to do it, I just need to provide the effort. Isn't that pretty typical of what God does??? So, Have a mst wonderful day. Tell someone you love them and pray for them. I've included you in my prayers today, so pass it along. Peace.

Starting one's day out in the dental chair isn't the happiest experience a person can have but today it was alright. Back at the end of June I lost the majority of a molar the night before we wwere to take off on vacation, about ten minutes after the local dentists offices had closed. Fortunately, as big of a gap as it was, it didn't hurt because no nerve had ben exposed. So, we went on our weeks vacation. The remainder of the tooth was extremely sharp and hurt my tongue so my daughter Julie pit some Dentemp on it. That didn't work well and while I was on vacation I called my dental office and they scheduled an appointment for me after we returned from vacation. Well, it has been a full two months plus, but this morning I finally got the new crown put in. It only took a root canal, two months, and a crown to get me back to "normal". Oh, and in two weeks, I get to take Ms. Kate and we both go in for our "six month checkups" and cleaning.

Labor Day didn't amount to very much around our house hold. Although we did have a nice thing happen. I got a text Sunday evening from a young man who worked for me 27 years ago when I was the commander of th Security Police Squadron at Pope Air Force Base. He ws a youg airman at the time. He and his significant other were doing some travel over Laot Day and were going to be in Evansville. He wanted to know if could get together for lunch. So we met them yesterday at the Golden Corral for lunch. It was a very nice visit as we caught up on old war stories and our lives covering the past 27 years. His girl friend is a nice woman and they seem very happy as a couple. I felt honored that one of my troops from so long ago would want to get together with me after all of this time. I look forward to doing it again sometime. They live close to a restuarant that Ms. Kate and I really like over in Kimmswick, MO. I have a nephew that lives over that way too so one of these weekends, we'll just have to go over and have breakfast with the lot of them.

I think to day we may need to go to AAA and seee what they have on the area we are heading to for our vacation at the end of this month. We pay to belong to AAA so we might as well use their services, although, their products and services aren't near what they used to be. They used to be a great travel agency and would provide the famous "Trip Tik" maps etc for a trip. Now, they basically hand you a map. They are far more insurance company than travel agency anymore in my opinion. Between "On Star" and Google Maps on my IPhone, travel agencies will soon be a thing of the past I think.

It has been sufficient time for the new tooth cement to have completed drying so I think it is time for breakfast or brunch. I hope your day is filled with blessings and you feel the love of God surround you at every turn. Blessings and peace my friends.

And --- it's Labor Day! This year does just keep on passing doesn't it? I assume we are supposed to be celebrating the accomplishments of the American Worker today. And we are supposed to be recognizing the improvements in treatment of workers brought on by Labor Unions. I admit that the Labor Unions have had their important roles in the the improvement in pay and creating better and safer working conditions in the past. I'm not sure that they are effective in today's society. I've been a union member in the past when I worked for Whirlpool. I was going to college and trying to raise a family at the time. I thought the wages were pretty good but the union was always pushing for more. I worked at Whirlpool for six years and I think we went out on strike three times. Once we were out for three months while the union and the company haggled over a ten cent raise. So, while we were arguing over a $4.00 raise per week, we were losing $250.00 a week. (And back then, $250.00 a week was really good money.) Anyway, I could never see the benefit; but then, I was just trying to have money to take care of my family  while I got my degree and could move on to something better. It all worked out though and I got my degree and became a 2nd Lieutentant in the Air Force. And as they say; "the rest is history." I stayed in the Air Force until 2001 and retired as a Colonel.

Speaking of the Air Force, Ms. Kate and I are having lunch today with a fellow that worked for me years ago, and his wife. The man worked for me almost 30 years ago when I was the Security Police commander at Pope AFB in Fayetteville, NC. I have had maybe three dozen of my former personnel look me up on Facebook and make contact with me because they thought I was a really good commander. I feel very honored by that. We often never know what kind of lasting impression we make on people with who we cross paths during the journey through our lives. I've certainly never set out to be anyone's lasting memory but rather simply treat people the way I would want to be treated and do the best I could for them and their families. I took the responsibility being a unit commander very seriously. I guess I always figured that if they knew I was working to support them and their families, they could spend their time concentrating on the mission at hand instead of worrying about their family. Ms. Kate was a critical part of that equation too. She was always the the rock that stood beside me and was concerned about the people in our units. Many a troop has seen Ms. Kate at midnight out with me checking on my personnel while they were on security posts and duty. She was there when I was congratulating people on promotion, She was there when I visited troops or their wives in the hospital. When we sent troops off on deployments in the middle of the night or when we welcomed them back home, she was there. She's made more cookies and sweet rolls to take out to the folks on post than a bakery. While the husbands were deployed overseas, Ms. Kate was always available to tthe "left-behind" wives. My success as a unit commander came in large part beecause of Ms. Kate, and I think that is why we are fondly remembered. We represented what it meant to be an Air Force family.

So, I better get myself ready to meet and greet this day. I hope your day is full of blessings and love. Continue to pray for all of the folks that are struggling in the Texas/Louisiana areas from the flooding. And also pray for the folks up in Montana  that are being driven out of their homes because of forest fire.

Have a blessed day. Peace

Happy rainy Friday. It is fifty-nine dgrees this morning and isn't going to warm up much more than that. For September 1st, that is just crazy-sauce. It is all thanks to the remnants of what is now tropical depression Harvey. This weather is supposed to clear out of here by tomorrow though and we are expecting a nice Labor Day weekend. The good thing about the rain though is that I just planted turnip seed yesterday and this will water it in good. I think this is the first time I have ever planted turnips so we'll see what happens. By the time we get back from our fall vacation they should be ready to pull. Ms. Kate and I like to pull them, peel them and eat them. I can't stand cooked turnips although I've heard that if they are fixed right one can't tell the difference between them and mashed potatoes.

I had an industrious day yesterday. Besides planting my turnip seed, I got the front yard mowed and neighbor Dan's yard mowed. I also went to the back yard and took the blower and cleaned off the sidewalks and blew the leaves out of my newly mulched flowerbeds. I didn't mow the back yard because the grass is much thinner back here and it would have been really dusty and I didn't want tobe breathing that in. I'll wait until the rain is all over and mow it tomorrow afternoon. I also went to the Pet Food Center and picked up another 40# of sunflower seed and a dozen packages of suet and what they call a "birdola" which is a rectangular seed cake. My can was half empty and I needed to fill feeders yesterday so I bought some more sunflower seed. From what I see out there this morning, my backyard buffet guest are quite satisfied. And --- besides all of that, Ms. Kate and I got the laundry done. So, it was a highly productive day for both of us.

Today --- not so much. We are meeting Bob and Brenda for lunch at St. Joe Inn and that is about the extent of our activities and social life today. Tomorrow Julie and Jim are coming over and will spend the night, Jim has to work on Labor Day so that puts a damper of the holiday weekend. In that it is supposed to rain like this most oof the day, I think the sound of the rain litter-pattering on the sunporch roof is going to make a nice lullaby for our naps later in the day. I love being retired.

That is about it for today. My heart still breaks for all of the folks suffering from the Hurricane. The death toll is up to 47 now and they expect it will rise as the water recedes and they find more bodies. I continue to pray for them and Ms. Kate and I have also made our donation to the Red Cross to help out in some small way. After all, we can't just pray it away, we have to get involved too. Until next post --- have a blessed day.