A blessed Saturday morning to you. It is a chilly 40 degrees outside but the sun is shining through a partly cloudy sky. It will warm today to about 70 degrees. So, we are in for a pleasant day.

I’m sitting here watching the squirrels play in the trees. The neighbors trees. All of the trees in my yard and the neighboring yards are large enough that their branches intermingle. It makes for a very large “squirrel highway” or playground, depending on their mood I guess. They go from tree to tree chasing one a another and fighting. It is quite entertaining. This morning I absolutely must fill the bird feeders. They still have food out there that they are “making do” with but if I’d fill the feeders, they would be very much happier and I think I would draw in a larger crowd. Of course, the first in would be the danged starlings and blackbirds. This morning my guests are several cardinals and a couple varieties of woodpeckers. One lone goldfinch sits out there eating thistle seed. It is time to empty out the hummingbird feeder. The temperature has not officially reached freezing yet but I’m sure our hummingbirds have packed their suitcases and headed for Arizona. Hopefully when they return next April they will bring lots of friends.

We had a wonderful visit with Ms. Brenda and her dad, Mr. Bob. Brenda's husband was out on the combine harvesting soybeans. He had wanted her to run the tractor and disc yesterday but she had enough other things to do, including meeting Ms. Kate and me for lunch, so she left him on his own. Ms. Kate and I bought a pig from them and it will be delivered to the butcher shop on the 30th of this month; —- “Trick or Treat” little piggy. LOL It will be great to have a freezer full of meat. The hog should weigh in around 250 pounds. I don’t know the loss is when butchered but that will still provided a lot of pork chops, sausage, ham, and tenderloin. I think I have mentioned that I prefer pork to beef although a good steak every now and then or some good ground beef is pretty good too.

Tomorrow is Sunday and it is my Sunday to preach. I suspect that the crowd will be a bit small. One of our members is getting married in another state and her family will all be gone. The girl’s grandmother is also my Sunday school teacher so I told her that I would handle teaching the class. It will be a busy day. That reminds me that I need to read our lesson today and prepare for the class. I hope you wil take the time and go to church tomorrow and give thanks to God for any and all blessings that you have received this week. You know, I think most of us go from day to day with out considering what all God has made possible in our lives. So, we need to sit an hour aside to do that. And, I’m convinced that if we can do that with others it makes the event much more special. So, I urge you to attend a house of worship this weekend. Have a blessed day.

Thursday morning and we are home. We left Lisa’s house on Tuesday morning and drove mst of the day; finally stopped in Corbin, Kentucky at the same hotel we stayed at on our first day of travel down to Lisa’s house a week ago. The weather was perfect on Tuesday and we made good time. Our only holdup was a traffic accident that had happened at the seven mile marker just inside of North Carolina. We caught up with that accident around the fourteen mile marker and traffic was at a standstill. We had maybe a 30 - 45 minute wait there but once we started to move, it was good traveling from there on.

We stopped in Louisville, KY for lunch at P.F. Chang’s. It is Ms. Kate’s favorite restaurant. From there it is a two hour jaunt to the house. We got home and immediately took a nap, and then unpacked the car after we got moving gain. Ms. Kate got a load of wash going right away and we can put our suitcases away until December.

It is a brisk 40 degrees here this morning. My bird feeders are empty and that means I’ll need to put on my jacket and go full feeders sometime today. I see I also have a bunch of leaves to take care of today. Bless my sister-in-law Karen, she kept the yard watered while we were gone and my newly seeded back yard is showing a good stand of grass now. We’re starting to get rain again so I think I can pull the hose back in. This morning I have cardinals and blue jays, and finches here and they’re all giving me the “stink-eye” and looking toward the house, accusing me of not doing my job. I noticed too that the goldfinches have almost all turned brown now with little to no yellow showing.

While we were on vacation, I only did one day of doing any bike riding. Lisa has a recumbent bike identical to ours but I never got off my rear end except for one day to to day riding. So, that too is on the agenda for today. And, I also need to take Ms. Kate to get her hair trimmed. It;s aa busy day and we are playing “catch-up”  Having said that, I guess I better get out of the recliner and get started. Have a most wonderful day. Peace.

Monday afternoon and we are still at Lisa’s house. We have had a wonderful visit since we got here and the vacation is going to be over way too early for us but all wonderful things must come to an end at some point and we must return to reality and work. I’m always glad to be back at the church and doing the job I love, but visiting with my family is a blessed thing. 

Had a great evening yesterday. Lisa fixed a great meal and then we had fresh apple pie and we froze a freezer if homemade ice cream. Every body had already eaten their tummies full at lunch time and then supper wasn’t that late. But, the pie and ice cream went over well. I had a piece of ape pie for breakfast today and then had a serving of ice cream for a snack when I got home from our running around today. 

I’m going to miss doing my daily task here at Lisa’s house. She has one chicken that runs around her yard and it lays one egg a day generally. I have enjoyed going out to the little coop that they have for the chicken and collecting that egg. It is reminiscent of the days and or occasional weeks that I spent at my grandma’s house and I always went out with her to gather the eggs. It used to scare me when I did it the first few times because they would peck at me. But I learned to shoo the hens off of the nest and gather the eggs with out too much problem. Those days are full of fond memories. My Grandma Rath was a busy person all of the time. I’d help her as she went out and took a long hooked chicken catcher and she would hook a chicken by the leg and grab that chicken by the neck and wring it’s her off before the chicken even knew it. Then, she had a five gallon lard bucket full of water that was boiling of an open wood fire and she would stick that chicken down in it for a few minutes and then we would “pluck” the chicken’s feathers off. She would take me fishing with a cane pole in the strip mine pits and we would catch blue gill. She was always up to something. 

My Grandma Heumann, on the the other hand, was the sedate one. She mostly sat in her recliner. She was one of the sweetest woman I’ve ever known. I remember her dinners the most because she almost alwys made roast beef with browned potatoes and carrots and a bowl of peas. 

We’re heading home in the morning and will get there on Wednesday sometime. So, if you don’t hear from me. For a couple of days, just know that I pray you nothing but good things and blessings from God Almighty. Peace. 

Today’s Notes for the Sunporch is brought to you from Lisa’s sunporch, not mine. We are in Goldsboro, NC at our daughter’s house.  We got here Thursday afternoon and have had a really good visit thus far. The last time we were here was three years ago. It’s a darned shame we don’t get out and go more to see our kiddos. Oldest daughter Julie only lives 90 miles from us and we don’t even get there very often. They come to see us mostly. Lisa lives here in Goldsboro which is 750 miles, Heather lives in SOCAL which is 2500 miles from us so it isn’t that we can just drop in to see the kids and even if we could, they all have jobs and schedules that requires prior planning and vacation time if we are to get a good visit with them.

We’ve been eating great here. Lisa is a good cook; she should be though because Ms. Kate is a great cook and has provided each of the girl’s a large cook book that she put together of all of the family recipes from grandmas, and aunts, and other friends and families. Last night we had chicken enchiladas. Tonight we are having spaghetti with shrimp and asparagus mixed in. Tomorrow night we are having whatever Lisa fixes but also Ms. Kate is going to make an apple pie or two and we are going to make some ice cream to go with it.

I’ve talked to Gary about my truck back home and he also says it sounds like a bad water pump. I guess I’ll just have it towed in when I get home and see what they say.

Tomorrow my church will be celebrating their 160th anniversary. We’re having what we call Homecoming Sunday with a picnic and a special guest speaker to deliver the sermon for the worship service. Of course Ms. Kate and I won’t be there because we’re down here. We are going to g to her church which is a Pentecostal type of church with praise and worship music etc. It will be a lot different from the traditional service that I do, but scripture tells us that Jesus said: “Where two or more are gathered in my name, there too am I.” So, we’ll partake of the Holy Spirit in their church and it will be fine.

Time to grab a short nap before we head out to do something else. Have a great weekend; stay in touch with the Lord. Peace.

It is Wednesday night and I'm in a Comfort Inn & Suites in Winston Salem, North Carolina. We stopped here for the night rather than driving another four hours or so to get to Lisa's house. e spent the night last night in Corbin, KY. About 1530 hours we had stopped at a gas station to refill the Prius and decided that the traffic was getting heavier than we wanted to drive through. We still have Greensboro, Durham and Raleigh to go through, all of which are heavy traffic cities. We had seen two very serious accidents out there on the highway already in the last hour or so and didn't want to be involved in one or have to wait in traffic for an hour while one got cleared up. So, here we are. There is an Outback Steak House next door so that's where we had our first and only meal of the day.

I have to say that I am impressed with our new car. It has plenty of pickup when we need it and it handles well. Best of all, we've driven 500 miles on $13.00 worth of gas. I find that incredible. The vehicle is comfortable and has plenty of room. It was Ms. Kate's idea to buy this car and I salute her thought process. We have the prospect of some changes coming in our life in the next couple of months and this car will be a great asset. More about our changes if they in fact come to frution.

Speaking of vehicles, when we get back home, we need to take the cadillac in for servicing and maybe some new tires. And of course, the Dakota is sitting in front of the house waiting for a trip to the garage and diagnosis. I'm looking at anyhting from a busted hose to a thermostat, to a water pump, to a new radiator. Nothing is going to be cheap, that is for sure. Since I have the new car for a work car, I might just fill the radiator with antifreeze so it doesn't freeze up, unhook the battery, and let it set there for the winter.

It has gotten late and I think I'll finish up and go to bed. Have a great week. Later!

And Monday has arrived once again. Oh, get that frown off of your face!!! It's a whole new week of blessings and opportunities to serve God  and be surrounded by people who love you.

But, maybe I'm just in a great mood because tomorrow we will be heading out on vacation to see Lisa and her family. It has been three years since we were down there last. Therefore, we are anxious to get there and hug some family. It is hard to believe that our grandkids are now fully grown adults with lives of their own. But what is wonderful is that all of our grandkids are still always glad to see us and want to be with us. It doesn't get better than that.

We will be driving down there in a brand new car. We went Saturday and ordered the car and they are supposed to go and bring it to the dealership yet today. I suspect it will be late afternoon before we can actually pick it up. It is amazing to me that we are buying this car. I wm usually the one who mentions getting a new car and Ms. Kate, who hates the thought of going through the car looking and buying process, drags her feet all the way. But this was her idea and it makes a lot of sense. I think it is going to take some getting used to driving a hybred car but the one we test drove on Saturday drove very nicely and was comfortable. Granted --- it isn't a cadillac, but it will be economical to drive and for a "work-car" it doesn't need all of the bells and whistles on it.

God has provided us with some very much needed rain. Granted, it was only a half an inch but it saved me two days of watering on my newly planted grass seed. The seed has begun to germinate and is sprouting up. now. I hope it takes a good hold. At least the birds didn't eat it all up.

I may miss a couple of days writing this week what with traveling and all. But my record hasn't been that good as of late anyway. So, for you who read it faithfully, I say thank-you and and frankly, I'm surprised that anyone cares to eread my diatribe. But, I'll be in and out and keping you up to date on my daily adventures, as mundane as they may be. Until then, I'll drop off for today. I hope you have a wonderful blessing filled week. Walk with God everywhere you go. Peace.

What a beautiful Saturday this is. Ms. Kate and I are both sitting in the sun porch checking our eyelids for holes. I dozed for a bit but now I’m mostly awake so I thought I might as well jot a few words.

It has been a busy morning. We went to the Toyota Dealership today and ordered a new car. It is a 2019 Prius, AWD XLE. We had to order it because the colors they had on the lot were not colors we liked. They found one in the color we liked at another dealership somewhere and will send their porter to get it on Monday morning. Personally I would have taken one of the ones they had because I like dark colored cars it Ms. Kate doesn’t and she says that AAA recommends light colored cars for us older folks. So, we’re getting a “Sea-Grass” green. We want them to expedite picking it up because  we want to drive it to North Carolina next Tuesday. This will be a “work car” for me. It gets 50/54 MPG which will take a load off of Caddy and my truck. We’ll save the Caddy for trips etc. and use the Prius for all of our run around driving here in town and for my parishioner visits etc. It might seem really silly for two people to have three cars but they each have a purpose. I could have traded in my truck but I just believe that a family needs a truck even if only occasionally, and my truck, although it is a 2007, only has 48,000 miles on it. Of course, as I told you yesterday, it is “sick” at the moment and needs to be repaired as soon as I get back from vacation. As for Ms. Kate’s Caddy, well, she loves her Caddy and we want to make it last as long as we can, We already have almost 70,000 miles on it and it is a 2015. See, one can rationalize most anything if they put their mind to it. LOL

We are really looking forward to our visit to Lisa’s house next week. I think it may have been two years since we were down there. I sometimes really envy folks that have their families really close. BUt the truth is, all of the kids and their husbands work all the time and have little to no time for things like visiting. It is a fact of life in today’s society.

Tomorrow is Sunday and I’m preaching the sermon tomorrow. I hope you plan to take the time to attend your house of worship. We can never be grateful enough for all of he blessings God provides so we as a minimum owe God an hour or two a week spent in worship.

I looking at my recumbent bike and obviously it isn’t going to ride itself so I guess I better haul my butt out of my recliner and get on it and ride for a few miles. Have a blessed day. Shalomn