Good Saturday morning to you. I hope wherever you are is brighter and warmer than where I am. It’s not that it is terrible or anything out side, but it is cold and grey and overcast and makes you cold just to look outside. I’m not a fan of “blah days” as you can tell. But, as I often say, at least it isn’t raining, or snowing, or any of those other yucky winter things. 

I finally finished my sermon for next week. It sounded like a good idea for a message when I began it, but somehow it fell apart between my brain and the keyboard. That happens occasionally and it is frustrating when it does because then it feels like I am forcing words. There is a good chance I will read it again at some point and end up rewriting it. That happens frequently. 

I have a lot of guests at the Backyard Buffet again today. Thank goodness the starlings and blackbirds haven’t returned to clean out the Bark Butter Bits. But that darn. Mockingbird is still out there being a bully. I don’t know what is going on with it. There is only one so I don’t think it is a mate finding thing, but it certainly is being territorial. The smaller birds come to eat and it is at them instantly. What is strange is that it is eating very little, just being a bully for no reason that I can see. If the grackels move in, it will be. Whole different story. The Cardinals do stand up to it though, so that makes it interesting. 

Did I tell you about my new song that I have been listening to every day. It is called “Psalm 34” and is done by the Baltimore Chapel Choir. It is rousing and Holy Spirit filled and really makes me feel good when I listen to it. I generally will play it a couple of times while I’m on my bike. It is a pleasant way to do my ride. I have several You Tube music videos that are favorites that I watch while I ride. I put on my headphones and just peddle away and the next thing you know, I’ve done a 7-mile ride and passed 45 minutes or so. 

But now, it is time to toast a bagel and get the Philly Cream cheese out and have my breakfast. I wish you a very Holy Spirit filled weekend. Peace. 

 Good morning once again. It is almost the end of the first full week of 2021, Only 50 weeks until Christmas. 

The nation is a little calmer this morning. The rioters and protesters have gone home from Washington DC. The mess at the capitol has been cleaned up. President Trump has finally conceded that Joe Biden has won the election although he just “tweeted” that he will not attend the inauguration. You know, I have supported President Trump for the past four years and I have defended him when I thought it was appropriate. But, —- I am so tired of his pouting and tantrums. I don’t like that he lost the election either but he really needs to “man-up” and act like an adult rather than a kid whose mother just took his lollipop away from him. It’s shameful and embarrassing for the rest of us. 

It is obvious that I filled the feeders again yesterday afternoon. The squirrels are taking full advantage. And I have a lot of birds that are happy. Unfortunately I also have a “bully” out there this morning too. The mockingbird is harassing everything that comes in for a bite. Usually it is the starlings, but so far they have not found out the feeders are full. By noon they will be here in full force. I have seen many battles out there between the starlings and the woodpeckers and the mockingbirds over the years. I call it the battle of the long beaks, and sometimes they get pretty vicious. They flutter and peck and flutter and peck and usually don’t get a lot of eating done. The problem is that the starlings and blackbirds usually fly in as a gang so they have the number on their side; —- except they are also busy fighting among themselves too. It’s good entertainment while I’m on the bike because it all happens less than ten feet from me so I get a “ringside” view. 

I’m making this short today. I have a lot of work to do and better get to it. Enjoy your weekend but don’t forget that you only get that weekend because God provides it. Take time out for worship. Peace.

 What a horrible day for this country yesterday. This will be a day for the history books. I just for once hope they write that history story correctly and not try to make it “sound heroic” or some other such nonsense. Yesterday stormed the United States Capitol building all the way on to the Senate floor. One person was killed (shot by police) several other were hurt. Congressional delegates and Senators were rushed to “safe places” and staffers and other were told to shelter in place. There were pictures of anarchists actually sitting in the chair of the President of the Senate, which is theVice President of the US’s chair and another picture of some guy sitting at the office desk of the Speaker of the House. This is the equivalent of rioters storming Buckingham Palace and lounging on the throne. Never in the history of this country has this happened, not even during the Civil War. 

This thing started as a peaceful protest (as they always do) but three or four extreme right wing political groups turned it into a full blown assault on the government. The protesters were there because they were protesting the results of our National election. Thousands had shown up to legally and rightfully voice their opinion. But the fact is that we have many radical militias in this country that are just screaming for a civil war and anarchy. These groups don’t care what the protest is about, they disguise themselves to fit in with the crowd for the single purpose of causing trouble. They should be thankful that they live in the democratic republic that they hate so much. There are regimes and governments that would have gunned them down as they approached. 

I have been a supporter of  President Trump since he was elected four years ago. I don’t particularly like him but he has done a lot of really good things for the country. He believes in taking care of the citizens of this country before we take care of the rest of the world. But —- he was zero help yesterday and in fact added fuel to the fire with his rhetoric about how the election was stolen from him, blah, blah, blah. Do I think there was a lot of foul play in the election? —— absolutely. Do we need to go to a civil war over it? Absolutely not. But we are in a dangerous place as a country right now. I pray that maybe the horrible events of yesterday becomes a huge lesson to the leadership of this nation that they need to lead this nation back to peace. Yesterday was very scary and both sides of the political canvass are equally guilty. The Democratic Party has fought president Trump every step of the way since the day he was elected. Before he was even sworn into office, they were already trying to find a way to, or reason to impeach him. The president didn’t’t help his cause any either because he came into office like a school-yard bully wanting to “kick ass and take names”. He was not and is not a politician. He has always been a multimillionaire business man who hired and fired when people displeased him. “Doesn’t work well with others” fits him perfectly.

We have two weeks until we change our national leadership. I pray that as a nation we can start looking out for one another. I pray that as a nation we can learn to talk to one another and quit listening to rhetoric and conspiracy theories and use our brains instead of our emotions. And I pray that God will not give up o us because I also believe that this is a nation of people that truly loves one another and loves being American citizens. 

Thanks, for reading and listening to my mind this morning. May God bless you each of you, and keep you well. All praise to the Lord God, and may God bless America. Peace. 

 Good morning on this Hump Day. It’s not a “bad” morning; 36 degrees, no wind and cloud covered. We aren’t expecting a lot of sunshine today. But it isn’t raining nor is it snowing, so I’ll just pass along my gratitude to the good Lord above. The whole week is supposed to be like this. 

I have a couple of things on my “to-do” list today. It’s Wednesday and that means go to the churches and run the bulletins etc. I think I will do that this morning. I want to be home this afternoon because my oldest granddaughter is supposed to call this afternoon and I don’t want to miss her call.. She is such a sweetheart. All of our kids and grandkids are sweethearts. We love talking to them. And the joy is, they seem to like talking to us. We just don’t get to see them often enough. 

Other duties today include getting on the bike and taking a ride. I did 8.3 miles on Monday and it kind of wore me out. I was sore in my ankles and legs yesterday so I didn’t ride. I don’t need to ride everyday but I should ride at least three times a week. If I can ride for an hour, that’s seven miles, and do that three days a week, that would be a good consistent program I think. It would strengthen my legs and muscles and my heart. Besides, I have to do something to combat the calories. I just baked and ate most of a pan of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls for my breakfast. I can’t afford to do that too many times a week and not exercise. 

Then this afternoon I need to jump on the computer keyboard and get busy. I’ve started on my sermon for the 17th and have “a lan” for what I want to say, but I need to get it on paper before I forget it. I do that too often. I’ll have a random thought or song run through my head and think to myself that I could turn that into a sermon, but then if I don’t make notes at the time —— it’s gone with the wind. 

That’s it for today; I know it’s short but I do have stuff to get to. Have a blessed day. Pray for one another and pray for our nation. I know God is in charge but “the kids” ain’t behaving  very well. Peace. 

 Good morning and a happy Monday to you. Wow! The sun is actually shining for a change. It’s a cold morning, 30 degrees, but the sun will help it to feel a little warmer anyway. I’m sitting at my kitchen table this morning to write my blog and I’m looking across the street at Dan’s house and his frost covered roof. He obviously has  good insulation because there is no heat escaping to melt the frost off. 

How was your weekend? We were pretty sedentary around here; didn’t do much. Of course we went to church yesterday. We’re open again and doing in-person worship. We had pretty good attendance at both services. Percentage wise, St. Paul’s had a much better attendance than did St. Lucas. It was great to be doing inn-person worship again and see our folks. And, I have to say, they all did a good job of mask wearing and social distancing. I have to admit, social distancing is really hard for rural church faith families. Hugging and handshaking is second nature, especially since most of them are related in one form or fashion. But, unfortunately, we’ve had several cases of COVID 19 in the parish so we don’t want to be taking chances. What we are seeing though through out society is that people seem to have developed an attitude that it is 2021 and COVID was last year. The fact that a vaccine has been developed and is starting to be distributed is making people reckless. They seem to forget that having the vaccine developed means nothing if you ave actually received the shots. Folks are just so tired of it all, and I don’t blame them. I’m tired of it too. 

I don’t have a lot on the to-do list today. I carried the laundry out for Ms. Kate so we’ll do that today. And I need to go to Lowe’s and pick up a 3/4” pipe about 7’ long. Heather and John bought me a “weather station” for Christmas and I need the pipe to mount it on. There are several ways to mount it but I’m limited as to where I put it because of things like trees. So, I’m going to put it in my garden area on the south side of the house. Hopefully that will work for connection to the house. The thing is supposed to be placed between five and twenty feet high, away from tree and south facing. So, the garden is where it will go. I don’t know how the information it collects gets broadcast to the receiver that is in the house but, it is supposed to work that way. —— While I’m out, I need to stop by the grocery store and pick up some dishwashing soap. 

Hey, do you understand this new “Discovery +” television network. It sounds like a lot of the shows that I watch are going to this network and you have to pay extra for it. I pay enough for my cable as it is and I’m already paying extra for HBO, although I’m going to go cancel that. But it seems like there is an extra cost for everything. I have CBS All-Access so I can watch some of the Star Trek stuff and that is a pay-extra. I’m wondering why I even have regular cable. Julie and Jim have all of the extra things that they pay for, Hulu, Netflix, and I don’t know what all. It’s confusing. I think I need to go to Spectrum and get myself a little smarter. 

That’s it to start off my week. Now I need to go get on the bike to nowhere and take a ride. Enjoy your day. You have a brand new week with which to do something amazing.. Peace. 

 January 2nd, 2021; or in “military”, 2-1-21. It’s a cold grey morning. It’s 37 degrees outside and unfortunately that is only two degrees below the expected high for today. I have a few guests at the Buffet this morning. I went out and filled a few feeders yesterday afternoon that I didn’t have to walk through the sloppy yard to get to. Unfortunately for the squirrels, I didn’t go out to the shed and get sunflower seed and fill their feeders. Nor did I fill any of the bark butter logs for the woodpeckers. But, I have suet cakes out there for the woodpeckers that they can eat so I’m not too worried about them. But, I think I will bring the logs into the kitchen and fill them. This morning I put some birdseed just out on the ground for the small birds. Each year my Wild Birds Unlimited store gives away small bags of “good luck” seed for the birds. It is a mixture of stuff that I don’t normally buy because the birds waste it out on the ground anyway. It contains a lot of millet and the birds knock it on the ground trying to get to the “good stuff”. But they will eat this. There was some sunflower seed in the mix and I’m surprised that the squirrels haven’t already snagged that out of there. Thee juncos and sparrows will eat most of it. They are avid ground feeders. 

Ms. Kate fixed our New Years “Good Luck” meal yesterday for dinner. It’s not just the birds that get something special. She fixed some black-eyed peas with ham and rice mixed in, some collard greens, and a paan of corn bread. It was good eating. Well, the collards weren’t all that, —- but everything else was good. We don’t eat a lot of collards but once in awhile I let a small bowl. I’ll sometimes order them at Cracker Barrel and that small bowl is just enough to satisfy my tastebuds. I like greens, but prefer spinach.

The squirrels just found the seed on the ground and are picking out the sunflower seed just as I suspected they would. Silly critters. Now I have a battle over territory going on because another squirrel tried to horn in on the pile. 

I got on the bike yesterday and rode seven miles. I’m going to get on it again in a few minutes and ride some more. I set my IPad up on the holder, put on my earphones and just peddle away. I found a new group to listen to yesterday, it is the Baltimore Chapel Choir. There must be about 75 people in that choir and when they sing their praise music it will bring tears to your eyes as it puts you in touch with the Holy Spirit. I love to listen to  great choir singing with their soul and this choir does just that. Check them out on You Tube. If you do check them out, they do a song called “Psalm 34”, listen to that one. 

Okay, time to take a ride to nowhere for a bit. Have a blessed day. Peace. 

 Happy New Year and welcome to 2021. It neither looks or feels any different than yesterday except that it i a little warmer today than yesterday. It is currently 41 degrees but the “feels like” temperature is 27. It appears to have rained quite a bit during the night because there is water standing out in the back yard and everything looks like it would be a sloppy walk. 

Did you celebrate last night? We stayed up until around 0100 just watching television and celebrated with a kiss. That’s the best way I can think of to start off a new year. Ms. Kate and I have never been big party people and frankly, they older we get, the fewer  people I want to be around. It’s not that I don’t like people, we just enjoy our solitude and peace. I don’t like loud noises. I don’t like to hear people yelling or arguing. I don’t watch television shows that have that kind of stuff in them, and I don’t like to be around drama. I wonder if I have officially earned the title “Old Fogey” yet. I just like peace in my life. 

I need to call my terminal parishioner today and congratulate him for making 2021. He had really wanted to see Christmas and to see the new year. We even prayed together about it. So, I need to call him and congratulate him and remind him to keep looking forward because there is no telling whaat God has in store for him yet. 

Do you make resolutions for New Years? I used to but haven’t done so in years. I do make goals for a new year. I found that making a resolution was a waste of time because I always broke them within the first week. Things like quitting smoking, or getting in shape were resolutions that were a waste of time. Ms. Kate and I did quit smoking and that was 32 years ago this month. Thank goodness we decided to do that. As an asthmatic, and her as a heart patient, we might both be dead by now if we hadn’t. But, making a goal gives me something to work on. My goal this is year is to find mores ways that I can be of service to my fellowman. I’m not sure what that even means but I know that I don’t do everything I could be doing. My goal is to be more active and less sedentary around the house. I’ve gotten into a bad habit of not doing stuff because I give myself excuses not to do them. I’ve kind of convinced myself that I’m too old to do stuff when in reality, all I would have to do is get off of my duff and put in some effort. Will I be able to do everything I used to?— no, but I’m not as helpless as I’ve let myself become. I think it’s a good goal. But, my most immediate goal is to throw a bagel in the toaster, get out the cream cheese and have my second meal of 2021. My first was bowl of cereal a little after mid-night. 

Have a blessed 2021 my friends. Peace