I’m having my coffee, watching my Backyard Buffet guests, and procrastinating about getting on the recumbent bike. My Buffet guests this morning seem to be happy that I have filled up feeders again last evening especially the darn starlings. I don’t know how they always manage to know when I hve freshly filled the feeders. There is one feeder in particular that they flock to and it is filled with a product called “Bark Butter Bits”.  These bits are just small nuggets of something like peanut butter and everything loves them. The starlings, the blackbirds, the bluebirds, the cardinals, wrens, finches, and especially the woodpeckers all hit up that feeder as soon as I fill it; and of course, it is one of the most expensive of the foods that I buy. The surprising thing is that the squirrels won’t bother that feeder at all. This morning the blue Jay has joined the fray too so there is going to be a battle of the “long beak” birds over that feeder. I also put fresh water in the birdbath so they will be going from the feeder to the birdbath with regularity.

It is the first of October and rather that being a cool fall day, it is already eighty three degrees this morning and going up to ninety five today, again. That will break a 100 year old record temperature for today. The month of September was the driest on record with only eight tenths of an inch of rain for the whole month. And we are not expecting any rain for most of this week either. The weather dude said that maybe Thursday we will see a shower but it won’t amount to much. And while the majority of the country is suffering through a heat wave, the north west portion of the country has already had snow fall measured in feet instead of inches. The state of Montana has declared aa state of emergency for portion of th high elevation that received over forty inches of snow over the weekend.

This weather though is allowing our farmers to get out into the fields and get the crops in. I’ve only talked to one farmer’s wife but she said the corn harvest is really going well. They need rain to help the soy beans though. The news reporters too have been out in the fields talking to farmers and they too are saying hat it is going to be a good harvest. That is really good news because the spring forced a late planting season due to all of the rain we got then and many mid west farmers didn’t get to put corn in at all. I always worry about my friends who are working on harvest because they work too many hours in the day and that causes them  to lose concentration sometimes which leads to front accidents and injury. So I keep them in my prayers for a safe harvest.

Tomorrow I have to cover Pastor Art’s Bible study for him because he has a funeral to do. He does a lot of funerals. But, he has been a pastor for over sixty years and a lot of people and their families know him. I have been blessed to be able to work with him these past two years and have learned a lot from him. His training is Southern Baptist but he is ecumenical enough to fit in with our congregations.

I guess I have put off getting on the bike long enough. It isn’t a big deal, I just put my IPad up on the bike, tune into to You Tube music videos, put on my ear phones and peddle away to no where. It’s good exercise and gets the heart rate pumping. While I’m doing that, go have another cup of coffee for me. Have a blessed day, and stay in touch with the gracious God who created you. Shalom.

Sunday night. I don’t generally sit down to write on a Sunday evening. I know tomorrow is going to be a busy day though. I have office hours in the morning, and yes, I sometimes write during that time, but I have a sermon to work on and want to get to that tomorrow morning. Then,  I have a a home visitation and communion to do in the afternoon. That is at 1400 hours and I know the lady and I will get to gabbing and I’ll not get out of there until probably 1530. The lady is 90 years old and was one of my Sunday school teachers when I was a youngster and then she was my Youth Fellowship leader when I was a teenager. She and her husband, who I did a funeral for  a few years ago, were two of my favorite people when I was growing up. I already know that when she passes, I’ll be doing her funeral too regardless of where I may be preaching. Ms. Katherine has made that clear. LOL.

Yesterday we had our annual fund raiser at the church, a car show. We had 79 cars show up this year which is a good number. There were six other car shows around town yesterday. But, people lke to come to ours because we don’t have an entry fee; we do ask for donation but that goes to the Weekday Christian Education of Evansville. We award prizes and and trophies for the top 25 cars and also a “Pastor’s Choice” trophy, and a Best of show trophy. It is one of the best in town.

We had aa pretty good attendance at church today even though it was “Susan G. Komen, Race for the Cure” Sunday, and a lot of women go to that rather than attend their own church. It’s a good cause and they are dong God’s work, so, —- it’s all good.

Ms. Kate made pies today. She made one large apple pie, two small apple pies, a small apple and blue berry pie and a small blueberry pie. We had a blueberry pie and ice cream for dinner tonight and it may have bee the best blueberry pie I have ever eaten. Ms. Kate is a marvelous cook but her absolute best things are homemade soups and her pies. Her cream soups are to die for.

That is it for tonight. Have a great weekend be intentional i your walk with God.

Thursday morning —- AGAIN! Where did Tuesday and Wednesday go? I didn’t think I was that busy that I missed days but I have. Actually those days were full. We’ve had doctor’s appointments this week. Tuesday we spent the morning at the optometrist appointment. We hadn’t been in a year so it was time for our annual check-up. My vision was fine with only a micro-difference between last year and now. Ms. Kate however needs new glasses. We knew that was going to be the case as she has been having trouble seeing stuff. So, it took awhile for her. Because she is a diabetic they always dilate her eyes and that takes longer too. But, we picked out some really cute frames for her for both regular glasses and sun glasses. She has had the same frames for nine years and it was time for her to change some.

Yesterday was of course Wednesday and that is an office day. After I left the office I went and did a home communion with a couple of folks. Then yesterday afternoon Ms. Kate had another doctor’s appointment. Monday she had to go for a Doppler test to check her blood flow. Yesterday was the doctor’s appointment for the results of that test. Praise God, the results were perfect. She’ll go back in a year. That was the best kind of news.

Yesterday afternoon, Ms. Kate made an apple pie for us to give to neighbor Dan and his family. Sad news on that front. His former son-in-law committed suicide; I think I told you that. Bless Ms. Kate’s heart, she wanted to do something for the family so she baked a pie. That’s the kind of lady I’m married to; no frills, no fuss, just kindness and love. Of course she made one for us too and it is delicious. I’m going to have another piece of it shortly for breakfast.

We have a busy day again today too, and tomorrow and again Saturday. Today the folks from “Tru-Green” are supposed to come by and arriate and seed our back yard. I’ve told you that we have no grass back there and we had to do something. I hope this works. I don’t particularly like the company but it was cheaper than having a landscape company come in. I guess we will see what happens. I need to go out thee and clean the leaves off of the sidewalks again. The leaves on the poplar trees are certainly falling.

This afternoon we have an appointment with our lawyer to sign our Last Will and Testament and Power of Attorneys. I having copies made for each of the girls and since we’ll be seeing each of them before Christmas we can give them each a copy. I don’t want there to be any problems or secrets after we have passed away. I went through that with my sister and the result is that we no longer see each other and seldom speak. That was four years ago. What a shame and a waste of life. But, our girls know that everything gets split even between them including the mess they will have trying to clear out this house from all of our stuff.

I guess that is it for today. It is a cooler morning and the sun is hidden behind the clouds. It looks like it could rain but that is an empty promise. Have a blessed day.

Monday morning and I'm at the office. I came in late today because I have already been out doing a parishioner visit at the hospital. Ms. Kate had a doctor's appointment at Deaconess Mid-town Hospital this morning at 0800 and we have a parishioner up there. So, I took her for her appointment and then went up to see our person. He was awake and alert which is better than I have seen him in some time. He is having some heart problems and today he is supposed have another test of some kind.

We had a good service yesterday at church. We did get to have it out doors in our Woodland Chapel. The weather was perfect although it was a bit windy. I was afraid that the organist was going to lose her music from off of the keyboard. I had put my sermon in document protectors and a three ring binder and even then the wind was catching it. But it all went well. That was our last one for the season. By October it is generally a little more cool out there than people are comfortable with. I think we still have a wedding or two planned for out there this fall. Neither Art nor I are involved with them. We rent the facility out for weddings and most people already have a pastor they want to use. As pastors of the church we do have "first rite of refusal" for all weddings and funerals. Generally folks don't use us for funerals though unless they have a cemetery plot out here.

We had a sprinkling of rain last night, and I do mean sprinkling. It wasn't enough to settle the dust. I could tell that the sidewalk was barely damp in places and not at all under the limbs of the big trees. So far we have only had .01 inches of rain for the month of September and the month is about over. I have a lot of leaves falling already from the big trees. I don't know if that is because the weather and ground is so dry or if it is a sign of an early and bad winter coming. One of the foks here at church said last week that the persimmon seeds had "spoons" in them anstead of "forks". I guess that when you split the seed open and the center is shaped like a spoon it means we are going to have a cold and snowy winter. Personally, I'd rather rely on the caterpillars. Everyone knows that if you see a lot of caterpillars in the fall and late fall it is going to be a really bad winter. LOL

Well, I guess I better get at least some work done while I'm here. I have a couple of parishioner calls to make and need to get on with it. Have a blessed week. 

I can’t believe it has been all week that I haven’t written. But, here it is — Saturday morning. We are back home from our vacation; got home Wednesday evening. We have been busy catching up on stuff. We got our suitcases unpacked and clothes in the laundry basket. We haven’t put the suitcases away because we are going to be packing them again for our next vacation in about two more weeks. The next trip will be to North Carolina to visit with Lisa’s family. Then we are home for six weeks before we head off to Las Vegas once again for a week. I know we are cramming in a lot of vacations here in the fall but being laid up for six months and not being able to travel has forced us to get our four weeks in kind of all at once. My contract with the church allows me four weeks of vacation and that contract ends at the end of December and December isn’t that far off.

I accomplished two things I wanted to get done yesterday. I filled most of the bird feeders and I got the leaves cleaned up from the sidewalk and the back yard. My gutters are covered up with leaves and I couldn’t find my extension ladder to get up on the roof and blow them off. I finally remembered that I loaned my ladder to my son-in-law. Of course, I’m getting all kinds of advice about me being upon a ladder, let alone the roof, but, a fellow has to do what a fellow has to do. I’m not going to ask anyone else to get up there and I don’t ant to let them lay. Fortunately, there is enough wind to blow some of them off. These two poplar trees have a bazillion leaves on them and so far about 10% of them have fallen already. After I vacuumed up the leaves from the sidewalk I got on the JD and mulched up the leaves in the rest of the yard. The cloud of dust I raised has everything out there with a coat of dust. We really need rain and my back yard has zero grass on it anymore. I don’t know whaat to do to fix that. I have reseeded it but it just doesn’t really grow. I think the soil has gotten really poor and it is shaded probably 75% of the time. I may take thee hose and go out there and water things down though so it doesn’t look like a desert.

Tomorrow is Sunday and it is my Sunday to preach. I have my sermon all ready to go. We are supposed to have the worship service outside but I think that it might have been moved inside because of a chance of rain. I think that decision was made a bit prematurely. Yes, we are supposed to maybe get rain on Sunday but not until late in the afternoon. According to the schedule, this was to be our last outdoor service for the year. I hope you will take the time to go to your house of worship this weekend. I think it is critically important that we take the time to give thanks for the week of blessings that we have been given during the week. I know you ca stop and say a prayer at any point during the week but there is a special power in worshipping with others. It gives you strength emotionally and physically, or at least it does for me.

Time for me to to get on the “bike to nowhere” and ride for a few miles. I did that on Thursday first thing because we had been off of them for a week. It would be so easy to fall out of the habit and give excuses, but I don’t want to do that. Besides, it isn’t hard to do, it just takes some time. I put on my earphones and pull up my music on my IPad and peddle away. In thirty minutes I have done four miles. Otherwise, I would have just sat in my chair for that half hour and complained nothing. So, I’m gone for today. Have a blessed weekend. God loves you and so do I. Peace.

Monday from Las Vegas. It is 1600 in the afternoon and Ms. Kate and I haven't done much of anything except walk around the Venetian and the Palazzo complex. We've played a few mchines, had some fun, had some good food and now I think it may just be time for a short nap before dinner. The temperatire outside is about 100 degrees so there is no value to going out there for anything. Later we will go back downstairs for dinner at The Grand Lux Cafe. It is our favorite place to eat here in this complex despite all of the restaurants that are owned by some very famous chefs such as Emeril Lagasse and Wolfgang Puck. Their food is good, no doubt about that. However, you pay an arm and a leg for smaller portions and usually it is prepared in a way that while might be what "fine dining " tastes like --- it sure isn't Ms. Kate's cooking. It's too fancy for me.

I as looking out the window from our hotel room. We are on the twenty ninth floor and we can see off into the Vegas Valley. The sky is somewhat cloudy and you can see areas where it is raining but the rain never makes it to the ground because the heat and dry air dries it out first. It is kind of an amazing phenomena. We lived out here for two years from 1997-1999 and we saw that happen often. Wow! It has been twenty years since we lived here. That is amazing.

It's time I think for me to go recline on the bed and close my eyes for awhile. I hope your week is great. Peace.

Saturday morning and we’re at Heather’s house in Menifee California. We spent Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night in Las Vegas. Yesterday we drove across the Mojave desert to southern CA and will spend tonight yet here and then head back to Las Vegas on Sunday. It is so very great to be here with Heather and the kids. Her husband, John, is up in Monmouth, CA for the weekend. He and several of his bicycle riding buddies are up there to do a fifty mile bike ride in the mountains. They do this every year. Usually it is a 100 mile trip that they do and they do it in one day.   I tell him he’s a beast. But, he is a great guy. We think a lot alike.

Can you believe it —— I actually won some money on a slot machine!!! When I go to Vegas, I play the penny machines only which in actuality can cost you as much as $5.00 a pull. Well, I sat down to this machine and it started pay out a little. Then it started to pay out a little more and I just kept winning so I up my betting and it still kept hitting. Before I knew it I was up to over $500.00 win. I cashed it out. I have never had a session like that and I got to admit —- it was fun. But, I also know enough that I won’t have that kind of luck again. I’ve seen people win a large some of money of a particular machine and they continually go back to it and before they know they have lost all of that money and then some.

So, I’m going to drop off and get myself ready to do some stuff with the family. Have a great weekend. Shalomn.