Another beautiful day; a bit chilly again but tolerable. The temperature has gone up seven degrees since I sat down here. Once again I think we will top out at about 60-65 degrees today. 

We had a good day yesterday. As I told you, we were to met Bob and Brenda for lunch at St. Joe Inn. As soon as we all in, Linda, our waitress pours the it her of beer and brings Ms. Kate her diet Ski. Then she puts in the two orders for the fried mushrooms. You can tell that we are regulars. It was a good lunch visit. Brenda has had a crappy week at work and ended to vent to someone who would just listen. Sometimes we all need that outlet; just someone to listen, not agree or disagree, but just listen. I need to follow up with her today t see if she is feeling better about the world today. 

Once again we were supposed to go to the grocery store yesterday after lunch, however, we came home and took a short nap. Then I went out to the flowerbeds and got started on them again. I filled two of my 40# birdseed bags as full as I could get them with black eyed Susan’s and cut off peony clippings. I still have a bunch of the black eyed Susan’s to pull up in that bed and lilies today pull all of the dead leaves from. I’l then go trough with the weed trimmer and take it all to the ground and then rake it all up. I expect to fill maybe three more bags before I done with that bed. It goes from the street to the house, so probably 25’X80’. When we moved here, that part of the property was all yard with a really ugly cedar tree in it. It is all bank and uneven and was a mess to try to mow. So I dug it all up and we made a giant flowerbed out of it. But, boy did we create some work for ourselves. It is beautiful when it is all blooming but the work that gos with it sometimes makes me question our wisdom. We never considered that we would be getting older and wearing out sooner. It seemed a lot easier twenty years ago when we were thinking of retirement and buying a house. 

I think it is time to heat up an English muffin and slap some jelly on it to go with my coffee. Then I need to get into my work clothes and head back into the yard. Have a wonderful day, enjoy the sunshine, give thanks for your blessings. God loves you and I lift you up n my prayers. Peace. 

 47 degrees??? What’s up with that? And a high today of 61??? Next thing you know, we’ll be having “frost on the pumpkin”. My cousin Debbie posted a picture of their yard this morning and it looked like it was frost covered although I know it wasn’t. They have a beautiful yard setting over in DuQuoin, IL. The yard is large and they have a nice extra large pond, (with plenty of catfish in it). The dew was obviously thick and the steam coming off of the pond made for a beautiful picture. They constantly have deer in their yard. Of course that means they also constantly have deer in the corn and in the soy beans which is no bueno. The deer come right up and look in their windows. It is the blessings of country living. 

I have a full register of guests this morning at the Backyard Buffet. Cardinals, starlings, blackbirds, finches, woodpeckers, mockingbirds, blue jays, wrens and squirrels are all out there tis morning. It might not be country living, but it is certainly a blessing to see them all. Besides my regular bird baths, I have two very small little “dishes”, I guess you could call them, tat I hang out there for the finches and other really small birds to drink out of. They will almost always go to those first before they will go to the birdbath. I have to fill those little containers about every three days. The “micro-birds” are so cute. 

I spent some time out in the flowerbeds again yesterday. I finished up the one by the street on the north side of my driveway. I got the peonies, iris, and lilies all cut back and the bed raked. I need to put some Preen weed control down on it, but I need to wait until I know it is going to rain so it gets watered in. Tat is just one of the many beds that I need to take care of. I should be out there every day doing some of it. But, there is time yet. Time is one of the things I seems to have a lot of. —- Energy is what I don’t seem to  have a lot of. I’m stiff again today from yesterdays little adventure. I need to take some Tylenol this morning. 

Ms. Kate and I still have not made it to the grocery store. Obviously we aren’t hurting for any groceries. We just have stuff that we are out of. LOL. But today we are meeting Bob and Brenda for lunch and we will go do some grocery shopping after that. It is a beer and schrooms day. We’ll meet at St. Joe Inn. Since it’s Friday, that means cod for lunch. 

Speaking of which, I better get off of my duff and get ready to go. It is Friday my friends and that spells weekend. Weekend should also mean church. Plan to go and have a conversation with your creator and give thanks for another week of blessings. Peace. 

 It is the “oneth” of October and it feels like an October morning. But the sun is shining brightly and the breeze is light so it should feel pretty good outside. 

It’s Thursday and that means Ms. Kate and I each spend some extra time on our computers playing our silly computer games. I had a new case open up on Criminal Case and she will be busy with Klondike for awhile yet. She gets “a new land” to open up for her today. Hey, we are so easily amused that it doesn’t take much to satisfy us. I heated us each a bagel for breakfast. She got peanut-butter and a banana on hers and I take the standard Philly Cream Cheese on mine. With our coffee, life is good and that will carry us over until this afternoon. 

Yesterday we went to the churches and ran the bulletins but we never made it to the grocery store.We were both still tired from our weed pulling and trimming etc. I reckon we’ll end up at the grocery today at some point. I hope to go back out in the yard this afternoon and do some more work. Now that the trash guys have been by and emptied the can, I can start filling it up again. What I really need to do is put the stuff in an empty birdseed bag. I have several of them I that have held back for that purpose and I need to get them out of my shed before the mice get into them. That’s another thing or five that I have to do. I need to empty and clean out the sheds and get rid of a bunch of crap that I never use. I also need to clean up my garage and get ready to bring the little John Deere in there for the winter. But that has to wait until after the leaves are gone. Work, work, work. All I see is work to be done. And it doesn’t get done while I’m sitting here playing on my computer. 

Ms. Kate made another apple pie yesterday and it is of course delicious. It might last until tomorrow. She does make delicious pies. In fact, there is very little that she makes that I don’t like. That’s probably why I weigh sixty pounds more now than I did when she married me those 54 years ago. 

With that, I will leave you for today. Have a good one. Peace. 

 It is a sunny and windy 56 degrees this morning on this last day of September 2020. The early leaves are falling like crazy this morning with the wind. I think though that it is supposed to go up to 77 today which will be pleasant. 

I filled bird feeders last evening and had a good amount of guests this morning and then we had a tragedy. One of my prettiest cardinals hit one of the heavy glass  doors Really, really hard. It was so hard that it knocked the bird back and it landed flat on its back. It may have been alright or it may have broken its neck or a wing, I don’t know, nor will I even know. It was almost instantly pounced on by the stray black cat that wanders through my yard every day. I’ve never seen that cat go after one of my birds but it constantly chases the squirrels. I’ve seen it go half way up on of my poplar trees after a squirrel. But, it is going to get to meet Mr. Red Ryder if it starts after my birds. I spend too much money on bird feed and feeders for some neighbor’s cat to be eating them. This is not a take-out service for felines. 

Ms. Kate and I went to bed really tired and sore last night. We went out to the front yard flowerbeds and did a bunch of weed pulling and trimming back of the peonies and Black-eyed Susans. We filled the trash can totally and quit for the day. Neither one of us can kneel anymore and the bending over, especially on a slope wears a person out rather quickly. I told Ms. Kate that I can’t believe that we can’t last more than a couple of hours out there any more. We sure got a lot more to do and these cool weather days are great to work in. Although, —- this morning I think I would need to put on a sweatshirt. 

This morning we are finishing up the laundry and then we need to go up to the churches and run our bulletins etc. After that, Ms. Kate has a grocery list that she wants to take care of. Hopefully it isn’t too long of a list. I know she wants to go to Meijer’s which is a large store and you walk yourself silly finding stuff. I don’t know if she is going to go in or just send me in. We shop totally different. She is really slow and if I go with her, I get tired just standing there while she figures out what she wants etc. Me, give me a list and let me go. I reckon we’ll see what the day holds. 

Did you watch the Presidential debate last night> I did not and from everything I have read today, I’m glad I didn’t. It sounds like there wasn’t a lot of intelligent conversation being had. That’s sad. 

I guess I better get myself cleaned up and get my day going. I hope your Wednesday is a really good one. Peace. 

 Don’t let that beautiful sunshine out there fool ya’. It’s cool enough to make your knickers knock. It has gotten up to 54 by now and I think that 61 is going to be the high for the day. But that is okay because I have outdoor work to do today and cool weather will be a blessing. 

We got some rain Sunday night and into yesterday and we really needed it. I have weeds and Black-eyed Susans to pull out today and the rain has moistened up the ground nicely. It should make for easier work. I tried doing a little of it a few days ago, and stuff was just breaking off and not coming up. That just leaves the roots in the ground and helps nothing. Of course when I pull up those Black-eyed Susans, they are going to drop a thousand seeds, so —- I guess it is a wash. 

Yesterday morning Ms. Kate and I spent the morning at the optometrist getting our annual check up on our eyes. Thankfully we did not come out of there having bought new glasses. But, Ms. Kate’s cataracts are getting a little more developed so we’ll have to watch that. I have a little development but noting to worry about for a few years. What I do have is “droopy eye-lids”. So I have an appointment with a specialist to take a look at that and determine if some kind of minor surgery may be needed to lift them or at least the left one up. Sometimes I have to just reach up and lift the left one because it droops in front of my eye. It’s an age thing. Getting older has so many perks and fun things that can develop and happen to you. 

I had my sermon and the service for this coming Sunday all ready to go, but Sunday night I had a thought come to me for a maybe better message for this week and I decided to save the completed sermon for next week and write a new one for this Sunday. So I went down to my office about 1500 hrs and started on this new train of thought. I finished everything up by 2130 last night. Now, I have to put together the actual service for the next weekend and I’ll be done though the 11th of October. I need to keep working ahead because I have another vacation coming up in November and we know how much work that is to get ready for. 

The new television screens we put up In the sanctuary are getting great reviews. This coming Sunday we will be starting to sing again in church and Jacob will put the songs up there on the screens so that we won’t need to even use the hymnals. I’ll be really glad when we can finally get the new camera installed. I think I’m going to start putting my IPad or my IPhone up on the pulpit with me so I can see what he is putting up on the screens. Right now, I can’t see the screens because they are on either side of me. But Jacob says that we can download the program on to my equipment and I’ll be able to see it. I’m loving this new technology. It’s not gimmicky nor does it turn the service into entertainment, but it sure does enhance the service. 

Lots to do today so I’m jumping off. Have a blessed day. Reach out and be kind to a neighbor, call a loved one, and ave a talk with God today. Your day will go so very much better. Peace. 

 Good morning on this grey somewhat warm morning. I’m just dropping by to wish you a pleasant weekend. 

I’ve been out in the sunporch for the last couple of hours, watching my Backyard  Buffet guests and reading through Facebook posts. Nothing much exciting in there for sure. Our Terminex guy came around and sprayed for mosquitos one last time for the year. I’m glad he did, I was out there feeding birds the other day and was bothered by them. I’m very lucky that they don’t seem to like my blood very much and don’t bother me a lot. Ms. Kate though can’t be out there at all hardly without getting eaten. 

It looks like it is going to rain although the forecast does not call for it. I think what we are seeing is remnants of the clouds from the last hurricane and tropical depression that hit the southern coasts. We aren’t supposed to get any rain until maybe Monday and that will only allegedly be a morning incident and then back to sunshine and cool  weather. 

I had an interesting thought tis morning. I was responding on Facebook to a letter that had been posted by my church denomination concerning the results of a grand jury investigation concerning the death of Beaonna Taylor, a young black woman who was killed by police in Louisville, KY. Her death has cause massive marches and protests, and rioting and looting and assaults and killing of law enforcement  and civilian personnel by the Black Lives Matter organization. Ms. Taylor was basically caught in the crossfire when her boyfriend shot at police and they returned fire. The Grand Jury determined that the policemen who shot Ms. Taylor will not be charged because they determined that the shooting was legal and justified. The denomination and our local conference have taken the position that the verdict is all wrong and there has been no justice for Ms. Taylor. I made comment that the investigation had been handled by professionals of all levels, debated and a decision based upon the facts of the case had been rendered. Some one disagreed with me saying that I was only making assumptions because the case had not been released to the public. Here is where my thoughts come in. I think that far too many in our society think they have the personal right to everything that is decided upon. They seem to think that if they disagree with the decision that society is required to “prove it to them”. The person who disagreed with me has a point, I am assuming the Grand Jury is correct. But that is why we have systems. My  agreement or disagreement is only an opinion. Anyway, enough of that, I didn’t respond to the guy. He has his right to an opinion just like I do. 

Time to get cleaned up and go get my flu shot. Then I’m coming home and plan to eat some of Ms. Kate’s apple pie that she made yesterday. Have a blessed weekend. 

 And another Friday has rolled around. It is a bright and beautiful to boot! I have a few guests at the Backyard Buffet this morning. A couple of the starlings have returned for an upgrade in their diet. I had a few cardinals earlier but they have eaten and I guess gone off to work at whatever birds do when they aren’t eating. I still have at least one hummingbird hanging around and the weekend is supposed to be warmer, so w will see them more often. hey will be gone south for sure in another month. 

We went to the churches yesterday and ran the bulletins and set up the pulpits for worship. We also made several other stops. Had to go to Dewigs for some “cracker bologna” and other stuff. We also went to Sam’s for other groceries. I also had to pick up some paper for the church office. I should have enough now to last me through the end of the year. We also went to the orchard and picked up a half bushel  of apples. But, today I need to go to Meijer’s and pick up some Pillsbury pre-made pie crusts so Ms. Kate can do her magic with the apples. Interestingly enough, my “Facebook Memory” picture this morning was of an apple pie that she baked last year. So it must be the time to get them done. 

I think that while I’m out shopping for a couple of groceries, I’ll run to Lowes and pick up some lumber and the wall blocks that I need for my new raised bed. I can’t start assembling it yet but I want the stuff ready when I can. I think I will have to make a couple of trip to pick up the soil. I need twenty or maybe twenty five bags and that is a lot of weight for the truck. I’d like to have Lowes deliver it but that would cost me another fifty bucks or so. I’ll just make the trips myself. They will load it on the truck and I can get them off. Those 2 cu.ft. Bags are pretty heavy, especially if they are at all wet. I need to wait until the leaves start falling more too. I want to put my leaves as a bottom layer in the bed for compost. They should decompose under that layer of dirt over the winter. At least that’s my plan. 

Tomorrow Mss. Kate and I go get our annual flu shot. We never fail to get them. We are both “at risk” people and with the pandemic going on, we really cannot afford to be talking chances. 

The coffee cup is empty and I have work to do. You go have yourself a wonderful weekend and don’t forget to take time to worship our God. Blessings.