Good morning on this eleven degree morning. There is a woodpecker sitting on the suet feeder that is suction cupped to one of the doors here on the sunporch. It is trying to eat some of the frozen suet and it sounds like someone is knocking at the door. When the woodpecker isn’t on the feeders you can bet the starlings will be and sometimes they have “discussion” about whose turn it is. There is a squirrel literally hanging by one toenail from a limb trying to hold anther type of suet feeder up to him so it can eat some of the suet. What I have out there is a blend of suet and ground corn and peanut butter paste. It gives them good energy and food at the same time. The thistle seed feeder is down to about an inch and a half of seed left in it. A couple of the other sunflower cylinder feeders are down to about two or three inches of seed left and that is about it. I haven’t gone out and refilled anything since this snow and ice stuff started. About four years ago or so I went out when it was like this and fell resulting in some nasty shoulder injury and surgery. Sometimes us old dogs do learn new tricks like being cautious.

I apologize for not writing yesterday but I had a meeting with Pastor Art about upcoming stuff at church. Unfortunately when we start talking we tend to “go long” and it was noon before we knew it. But that’s what happens when friends meet and greet. You might think that a couple of preachers would be sitting around just talking “holy - churchy” stuff, but nah, —- it can turn into a gab fest pretty quick. We are still waiting for the congregational meeting to see if they will pass a two-pastor budget. But we have to do planing as if it were a reality.

My buffet guests this morning include wrens and finches, woodpeckers, starlings, junkos, sparrows, Cardinals, and squirrels. The bird bath is popular for drinking today again but so far nothing has ventured in for a bath. It wouldn’t surprise me to see a starling or two do that. I really need to dump the water out of it and put in fresh. There is a lot of crud and dirt in there from them wadeing around in it. I’ve been watching this one wren. It eats off of a suet ball for a while and then goes and gets a drink of water, then back top the suet ball.

I guess that is it. I’m going to sit here for a bit more and just enjoy the beautiful but cold picture God has painted outside my windows. Listening to the joyful song of the wren as it hops around out there is just another example of the blessings that God continuously sends my way. I hope you take time to stop and enjoy the blessings that God is sending your way today. Peace.

Three degree outside with a wind chill well below zero. I don't care what Eskimo's book you look in --- that is cold. There is little food left for the back yard buffet guests and there won't be until it warms up just a little. There is still water available in the bird bath and there is food in the less popular feeders that they can have. They will just have to get over themselves and their spoiled ways.

I have a water dripping problem this morning out in the sun porch. There is ice up on the roof and it is slowly melting. The foam roof on the sun porch is I think about five inches thick and there is caulk sealant on every seam. But --- water always wins and I have a spot that is dripping because I guess the heat from the sun porch has warmed the foam up some.. I had this same problem three years ago when we had an ice storm. So, I have a bucket out there to catch it . What drips in the bucket, I'll use to water all of the plants out there. 

The snow we got yesterday amounted to about three inches or maybe a little more. It did quit snowing by about 1500 hours and I got dressed and jumped on the John Deere. Since it was just snow, the JD handled it quite well. I cleared my driveway, part of the street, part of Dan's driveway and part of Purdy's driveway. It was a lot of fun but my hands were cramping yesterday evening from working out there. I'm still sore today and stiff. Dan came out and did some shoveling while I was running the Deere. Today, with the sun shining on it, it is dry where I was able to clear. It will give folks some good traction to get up the hill we all live on. Much of the ice is still there though and the JD just doesn't want to work on that, although I was able to bust through some places and clear it out. Friday it is supposed to be 44 degrees and then on Saturday it will be even better and by Sunday, the weatherman said last night that might hit 63 degrees. Unbelievable!

I got hold of my insurance company and they made arrangements for replacement of my truck windshield. It'll cost me close to $300.00 for my deductible and the cost of new wipers, but it sure beats paying the entire thing. We use USAA, serviceman's insurance company and they are wonderful to work with. Thankfully we haven't had a lot of claims with them but boy, when we need them, they are right on top of the issue. I think we have been with them for thirty years now. So, Saturday morning, Safelite will be here at the house with a new windshield and install it. They could have done it today if I wanted to take it to their place over in Henderson, Kentucky. But, since the offer the home service at the same rate, why not have them come here. If it is bad weather, I'll just put the truck in the garage so they can work.

I'm offering prayers this morning for a family in Newburgh, IN. Their sixteen year old daughter was sledding and slid out in front of a car that was being driven by a twenty year old woman who was driving under the influence of drugs. This was the third time she had been involved with police for DUI. So, I'm offering prayers for the distraught family but I'm also praying that the driver gets her life straight and realizes what her actions have caused. What astounded me though was that the news folks interviewed the drivers girl friend who was with her and the girlfriend said, "well, yes she came back positive for drugs but she hadn't had any thing but her Xanax and the marijuana she had smoked the day before. And beside, that accident could have happened to anybody." Yes, it could have happened to anybody but her words are so typical of a social generation that takes no responsibility for their actions and shifts the blame to everybody else.

Have a great day. Stay warm, and take time to be grateful for your blessing today. God loves you and so do I. Peace.

We’re having a heatwave; a tropical heatwave!  Yeh, that song doesn’t apply this morning at 25 degreees. But it is better than it has been and is supposed to go to 30 today. We are having light snow at the moment and are supposed to get another one to three inches.

My John Deere adventures were a disaster. With the ice that developed prior to the snow, it was impossible to do anything with the JD even with chains on. So, we (Dan and I) did a lot of shoveling and scraping on Saturday and got a lot of it up. Then yesterday I finished the driveway and the side walk. Today’s snow is the dry/fluffy stuff with no rain or sleet or freezing rain preceding it, It should be easy to remove it. BUt it will be 1500 hours before this snow is over. Tomorrow we are looking for a high of zero. However, by the end of the week we are looking for fifty degrees. What a roller coaster.

You didn’t know that I waas stopped for awhile but, I’m back. Neighbor Dan came over to visit and he and I have been sitting out in the sunporch for the last three hours gabbing about anything and everything. We have been through a pot of coffee and have solved all of the world’s problems as we sat here watching the birds and squirrels. And, in all of that time, the birds and squirrels haven’t decreased one bit. Nor, has the snow quit yet and it is now 1300 hours.

We ventured out yesterday for church and then out to lunch after church. The hardest driving of course was getting out of the subdivision. Once we go to the main roads the highways had been cleared pretty well. A lot of the churches cancelled services but we had a couple of guys who worked really hard and cleared our church lot and the drive way going to the church. I was surprised at how many people did actually show up for the service and Sunday school.

I guess that is my tale for today. I need to think about having some lunch. The bagel and creamed cheese I had hours ago has since ceased to be of any value. So, Ms. Kate has chili made.

Have a great day and stay warm and safe. Blessings.

Seventeen degrees with a “real feel” of ten degrees, light snow for the next 120 minutes; thus sayeth my Accuweather app first thing this morning. But the sun is shining and I have a backyard full of guests. Thankfully they left themselves plenty to eat today. I really thought they would clean everything out yesterday during their feeding frenzy. but, I will certainly have to go out and fill feeders later. But, first things first; it is about time to see how this new John Deere and blade is going to handle removing snow. Hopefully the snow will come up fairly easily and I don’t spend the morning slipping and sliding up and down the driveway. It looks like we have had traffic up and down the street. The neighbor across the street has guests that unfortunately have parked where I need to shove the snow. I wish they had parked in front of their own house. I’m sure they never thought that I might accidentally come sliding down my driveway right into their cars. Civilians have no sense of situational awareness.

It will be interesting to see how much street clearing the highway and street departments get done today. I imagine they are hard at it already this morning. But nothing is going to melt since it is supposed to only get to about twenty-three today. The pastor and I discussed possibilities of cancelling church service tomorrow. We have one fellow that, bless his hearts, does the cleaning of the parking lot and the road and driveway leading to the church. Our church is a rural church and the likely hood of a highway department getting out there isn’t high. So, if Fred can’t get it done, it won’t get done. My comment to Pastor Art was — safety first. Let Fred be the one to make the call as to whether we have church or not. Not only does the road and parking lot need to be cleared but the sideways around the church too. We don’t want anybody slipping and falling. And, I suspect that with a high tomorrow of twenty degrees, attendance will be scarce regardless.

I reckon I better put on my warmest clothes and go see what I can get done. Wish me luck. Stay safe out there. If you don’t have to be out —- stay inside where it is warm.

Have a blessed weekend .

From near sixty degrees yesterday at this time to nineteen this morning with a thin layer of ice and snow on the ground today; it is no wonder that people everywhere are sick with the flu and colds etc. Fortunately Ms. Kate and I are not involved in that. But then we have tried to stay away from folks even though we did go to the grocery store yesterday. As I told you yesterday, we were out of milk, bread and a bunch of other stuff. So, we went and stocked up.

It is hard to tell but I think it is either doing a very fine snow or freezing rain. I don’t hear it on the sunporch roof but I can see it doing something. Whatever it is, it isn’t slowing down the frantic feeding going on at the backyard buffet this morning. I filled the feeders yesterday again and by now they are half empty. I have probably a minimum of sixty starlings, blackbirds, and red-winged blackbirds out there. There are I think, seven squirrels , plus a few cardinals, junkos. Sparrows, blue jays, finches and wrens. But it is the starlings that are ruling the roost and protecting territory the most. I threw a half a loaf of bread out there and it was gone in thirty minutes. Some of the cylinder feeders have as many as eight starlings all trying to eat from them. The amount of wing flapping, pecking, squawking and out right nasty behavior going on out there is amazing. Survival of the fittest is in full swing at the backyard buffet. And then there are the one actually talking baths during all of this.

I don’t know if you have had any of the Jimmy Dean or Bob Evans breakfast bowls or not but I recommend them when you want a good breakfast but don’t want to go to a lot of trouble I just fixed one while I was making a trip to the coffee pot. It only takes thre minutes in the microwave. BTW, this is going to be a two pot day from Mr. Coffee too. It is certainly a day to stay in. I did go out to see what I could determine about whatever was falling from the sky and it is a mixture now of rain and snow. I have the John Deere sitting at the ready but it would be useless at the moment to go out there.This is supposed to last all day. And, frankly, depending on the layer of ice that is there, The JD might just slip and slide when I do get out there. But, I went out at midnight after it had quit raining for awhile and I threw down a good layer of ice melt as a helper for when it did arrive. I may have done more harm than good. I guess we’ll find out eventually.

That’s it for today. I hope you didn’t have to get out in this weather and are hopefully safe and warm at home. Pray for those that are out in this whether they are working or maybe homeless. Peace.

It is hard to believe that it is almost sixty degrees this morning. It is even harder to think about the fact by tomorrow morning it will be thirty degrees colder with freezing rain, ice and snow. The sad thing is —- I have to be one of “Those people” because we are actually out of milk and bread around here and now I’m going to look like one those people that panic at a snow flake and have to buy milk and bread. Oh well, I just won’t make eye contact while I’m in the grocery. Or better yet, Maybe I can convince Ms. Kate to go in by herself.

I just refilled the backyard buffet items so everybody should be good for the next couple of day. If in fact we do actually get snow and ice, I want them to have a source of energy and water. Of course if we do get snow, the place will be over run with starlings and blackbirds. In the past I have seen it look like I have a black yard because there were so many black birds etc. At the moment though, it is the cardinals that are enjoying the freshly filled feeders, and the woodpeckers are enjoying the fact that I filled all of the bark butter feeders.

I went to an absolutely wonderful speaker/luncheon yesterday. The speaker was Rev. Dr. Sara Lund from Christian Theological Seminary, and her presentation was called “Blessed are the Crazy”. She told the story of her family and learning to deal with severe mental illness in the family. It was an amazing presentation and I don’t know how she gets through the presentation with out crying. Her family life has been filled with people and incidents caused by mental illness to include mental and physical and mental abuse, homelessness, poverty, suicide, murder and death row family members. Her discussion was on how to deal and rise above it and take away the stigma and shame for even admitting that we may have a mental problem. People suffer in silence and don’t want to admit that they have a family member with a mental health issue or an addiction. Her speech gave me much to think about having dealt with some of this in my own family.

I guess I should put up my IPad now and take Ms. Kate to the store, or maybe I could be a real nice guy and let her stay in her PJ’s and go by myself with a list. There is no need for both of us to go unless of course she is going to let me go out for a good breakfast of pancakes or something. Right now I could go for a plate of steak and eggs and biscuits and gravy with fried potatoes.

You have yourself a most wonderful day. Step outside and suck in some warm air before the freezer door opens up again. God loves you and so do I. Peace.

Good morning on this cloudy, wet, but quasi-warm Wednesday morning. It is fifty degrees and a bit foggy yet. For whatever reason, I associate mornings like this to Carolina springtime mornings. We lived in Fayetteville North Carolina for a couple of years and many mornings during the spring time of the year were like this. It is peaceful and the world, just like me, is slowly waking up and ready to start the day. The temperature is supposed to climb maybe another ten degrees today and even higher tomorrow before the bottom drops out once again, and we are then predicted for rain, freezing rain and sleet followed by measureable snow fall for Friday and Saturday. No wonder the doctor’s offices and hospitals are full of patients with colds and the flu.

I have lots of small birds at the buffet this morning; finches, wrens, junkos and sparrows mostly. One red-headed woodpecker is out there pecking away at the bark-butter feeder. Perhaps the cardinals have already been here for their first round but there are none at the moment. Nor are there any squirrels or starlings, not that they are missed. Oops, I just noticed there is one squirrel just beyond the door eating off of the ground.

I had a morning clergy meeting yesterday and I never got around to writing my blog. There were interesting conversations being held  at the meeting concerning the direction and re-organization of our denomination conference. It is a fact that “The Church” of 2018 is not the church of the 1960’s. The parishioners and clergy from that era are having a problem with the change and the “New Church” seems to be having an identity crisis and lack of direction and or leadership. In my humble, or not so humble opinion, the modern parishioner could care less about “where we came from” or what has made us the church we are today. And we have for the most part lost our sense of Covenant with one another. We come to church, do our worshiping with no sense of belonging to a larger worshiping community. True, we can exist as a church like that —- but can we survive with a sense of purpose? It is a transition period that we are going to have to go through because society continues to move on. With God’s help we will make it.

While I was sitting here writing that last paragraph, I suddenly had three or four blue birds come in for a quick snack. So, that was my extra helping of blessings for today. And now, on schedule, the cardinals are arriving. God is great and life is good. Have a blessed day.