Happy Friday the 22nd of Oct. Cool, cloudy and a breeze today. Sounds like a fall day doesn’t it? And —- it looks like one. 

I know I’m a fairly predictable person, kind of “in a rut” of my daily activities, I didn’t know it was so much so that even my IPad knows my schedule and prompts me with it. LOL I sat down in my recliner earlier, (yes, like I do every morning) and I had two messages posted on the front as suggestions. The first said; “Check Accuweather, based upon time and location.”  The second one said “Google Chrome; based upon time and location.” So, my IPad knows where it is setting and knows that at a specific time I check the weather report and I set and write my blog. I think maybe that spooks me out a little. What else is Artificial Intelligence keeping track on about me?? But, here I am; —- it is 52 degrees and I’m working on my blog. (“I will obey, I will obey, I will obey)

This morning I’m taking Ms. Kate etc the doctor to see if she can get a handle on what has been causing her all of this stomach trouble. We both believe it to be diverticulitis but if that is it, maybe they will start her on some antibiotics and start the healing process. She been sick long enough to really be worrisome. Wish her luck with a prayer. 

I fished up another big portion of the front flowerbed yesterday by cutting back the last of the four-o’clocks like I had hoped to do. I have one more section of the front to do hopefully today, if it doesn’t rain. That will probably take a couple of hours to clean that part up. Then I can move around to the north east side and finish that up. From there I’ll move to the south side and I think I’m going to try to just pull up everything everything in the garden and get that all cleaned up. The tomatoes are still green, but the fruit hanging on them does not seem to be turning. And the okra keeps putting on but we aren’t doing anything with it. I might as well get it winterized. There is a spot that I want to transplant a peony to that currently has the okra in it. That peony really needs to be moved from the north west side of the house to the southwest side. I had moved all of the others that were out there but I missed this one. It and several others were plants that I moved from my mother’s field many years ago, so it is an heirloom plant for us. 

Time for me to get myself ready to take Ms. Kate for her appointment. Enjoy your Friday, Enjoy your weekend. Shalom. 

 

 It’s another beautiful morning and warmer than it has been for the past few. 66 degree this morning and I think it isn’t supposed to go up or down much from that all day. But it is a breezy morning so that will make a difference, and there is a cloud layer overhead keeping the sun out. 

We are waiting this morning for Habitat of Humanity Restore folks to come pick up a couple of the chairs that we have in our family room. We bought them a few years ago from a really nice second-hand store and they have served us very well. They are still good chairs but they sit a little low for us now\ and we have a hard time getting in and out of them. So, I called the Restore and offered them up to them. We also have a couch that we got when Kate’s mom passed and we have a chair that we got when my mother passed that we wanted to also donate. When I called the Restore folks they had me send pictures of the furniture so they could decide if they wanted it or not. I did  and they said they would take the to family room chairs but not the others. I said “okay” even though I think it is a bit “snooty since all of the pieces are in good shape. Anyway, they will be here this morning to pick up the two chairs. I also called St. Vincent DePaul and asked if they would want the couch and the other chair. They said “yes” right away and set a pick up date for November 16th, no questions asked, no pictures required. It kind of makes me wonder about the difference in the mission of the two stores. Is Restore in it for the money or to help folks out. It’s obvious where St. Vincents sits on that scale. 

I had a good afternoon working in my front flowerbed yesterday afternoon. I got he peonies cut back as well as some other stuff too. I still need to Get the Four-oClocks trimmed back on that side and that’s gonna take some work. I really wish we didn’t have those plants but there is no getting rid of them. They drop hundreds of seeds every year so it is an on-going battle. Beside, the Papa John’s pizza delivery dudes know our house as “the house with the good smelling front porch”. LOL I wouldn’t want to deprive them of that pleasure during the summer. Our trash collector hauled off six of those large Lowe’s yard waste paper bags this morning that were stuffed as full as I could get them. So much to do!!!

Can you believe it is Thursday already?  Where has the week gone. As a matter of fact where has October gone? Three weeks of October have passed already and November is only ten days away. Halloween is coming next week, Thanksgiving 27 days after that, Advent starts, then we go on vacation, then Christmas arrives ——— Time flies when you are having fun. 

Now it is time for me to go have some fun and carry the mail out to the mail box. That’s my exciting life. Peace. 

 It is nice to see sunshine once again this morning and it is a tad warmer at 49 degrees, I have a bevy of the “little birds” here this morning; finches, sparrows wrens, titmouse and a nuthatch. There are several cardinals in and around too and one noisy blue jay. The “Rooster Beagles” have been out, exercised their lungs and I guess are back in the house because I don’t hear them barking any longer. The silence from that yard is nice. 

I didn’t do any yard work yesterday after all. I was still stiff and sore from Monday’s adventures out there. And I broke the handle off of my pruning loppers. But Amazon has the quick answer and I’ll have a new set arriving today.  This morning Ms. Kate and I will be going to the churches and will run the bulletins etc, and then this afternoon she says she will come out with me to give me a hand. That would be great. I love it when we can work on this stuff together. It isn’t that she can do a lot but I like having her out there with me. I’m just happy that she is feeling well enough to to actually get out and do stuff.  

So, I’m out of news for today and I’m holding three on-line conversations at the moment with my daughters so I think I’ll just wrap this up by saying I hope you have a blessed day. Peace. 

 A crisp Tuesday morning has dawned. It is currently 46 degrees but the temps should rise to around 74 today. That’s a good thing because I have more work to do out there in my front flower bed. I spent three hours out there yesterday and only got one corner looking decent. But that corner hadn’t been touched all summer and had gotten so over grown. It was one of those, “I need to do that” things. I admit that I really neglect the north side of my house. The only time I see it is when I mow. There is a fence that cuts it in half so it really gets neglected. Then I have to spend days like I’m doing now and work my tail off to get it back under control. I filed three large yard waste bags yesterday with stuff that I cut out. This afternoon I’ll get back to it. Unfortunately, I also broke my “limb loppers” in the process. The handle snapped off. So I have to go get a new set or jump on Amazon and order a new set. 

This morning I need to get ready and go get my hair cut. It’s rubbing on my ears and that not only looks shaggy, it kind of drives me nuts. I can’t believe that in the early 70’s I actually wore my hair down over my ears. But it was the style and I wanted to look cool. Instead, I think I just looked like a nerd with long hair. I’ve never really fit in style wise. Man, —- back in the late 50’s, early 60’s I want to look like a greaser with the slicked back hair and all. Two major things prevented that though; first of all my parents would allow it, and secondly I’m a blonde and that just didn’t work. So, instead of looking like Elvis —- I looked like Pat Boone. Instead of singing “Nothing But a Hound dog”, I was singing “April Love”. Sigh Instead of having a cool ‘57 Chevy, —- I had a ‘54 Studebaker. LOLOL. But — I did love that car, and back in those days, I was one of the few kids that actually owned a car. I paid $125.00 for that car. Back then Studebaker were the only kind of cars we had in our family. Dad was a mechanic and shop foreman for the local Studebaker dealership, so that’s what we drove. They were excellent cars. Very solid, ran well, but certainly not stylish and that kind of is what became their demise. 

I guess I better sign off now and get on with my day. I hope you get a chance to get out and enjoy some sunshine today. While you are out there look around at what God has created just for you today and then \\give thanks for your blessings. Peace. 

 Good Monday morning to you. It’s all of 44 degrees this morning but the sun is shining brightly so it will warm up before long. I went out and tended a couple of feeders this morning and it didn’t feel bad out there. I’m going to have to fill a couple more feeders today. The Woodpeckers would appreciate it if I put out some bark-butter I’m sure and a couple of the other feeders are getting low. Mostly this morning, my guests consist of Cardinals, titmouse, finches and a dove or two. So, it’s a pleasant morning at the Backyard Buffet. And so far I haven’t had to listen to the Rooster Beagles. 

How was your weekend? Ours was uneventful which was good because we had enough things going on during the week with the funeral and visitations etc. Saturday afternoon I took time to get out in a couple of flowerbeds and do some work. They look so much better. When it warms up a bit later today, I’ll be back out there. One thing at a time and it will get done and I guess if it doesn’t all get done we’ll live with it. Yesterday afternoon I asked. Ms. Kate to come outside and help hold my ladder while I got up on my roof to blow of the leaves and stuff. The pussy willow tree that is immediately outside the sun porch has lost all of its leaves by now and they all gathered up on my sun porch roof and stayed there. That was causing a problem for the water flow off of the roof when it rained. So, I made a very closely supervised roof excursion yesterday and got it and all of the gutters blown off. I have a good gutter guard system tat keeps the gutters from clogging but it doesn’t guarantee that the leaves will all blow off. So, I walk the roof line with my blower and clean it off. Once I had it all cleaned off then I raked all of the leaves out into the yard, jumped on little JD and made short work of all of it. I’ll have to probably do it a again before  winter but the first mess is gone and cleaned up. 

Right now, I’m waiting on the furnace folks to come and do my fall service. I do an annual contract with them and they come in the spring to do the a/c and in the fall to do the furnace. I knew it is working alright because we have it going right now to take the chill off of the house. 

I need to call St. Vincent’s DePaul today and see if they still  pick up used furniture. We have a couch and three chairs that we want to donate. It is all good furniture but we have got to downsize some of this stuff. The hard part of going to be getting the couch out of the bedroom. She and I got it in there but we were a few years younger when we did that. But I’m not moving anything until I know they will come and get it. 

Well, the HVAC dude is here so I gotta go. O hope you have a blessed week. Peace. 

 Hello Saturday. It’s nice to see all 46 degrees of you. What’s up with that??? We had a cold front move on in and bring some fall weather with it. Our forecaster says that the “warm days” are probably mostly gone. Of course by that he means the days up in the 80’s that we have been having. Now we are back down where we should be in mid-October, the 70’s. I can handle 70’s weather quite well. But, I did turn the heat on for Ms. Kate and close the door to the sunroom since it isn’t heated. I will be very comfortable out there when I go back out with my cup of coffee again. I bring my IPad in to the kitchen to write my blog because it is a lot easier to use it on the table rather than my lap. 

We got plenty of rain yesterday evening and last night; not that we needed any at all. I’m hoping the grass will dry out fairly soon because I want to mow the front yard and do some other work outside but it is too wet at the moment. Maybe this afternoon. It is only going up to 64 today so it should be comfortable to work outside. I just don’t want to get wet and muddy. I know, I’ve gotten to be a wuss in my old age. 

Ms. Kate is feeling only slightly better today. This darn Diverticulitis is just wearing her out. She really needs to get in and see her doctor and see if she can get some antibiotics. It has basically incapacitated her from doing anything. I’ve had this problem many years ago and I can attest to the fact that the pain will literally take you to your knees. Or at least it did me. Hopefully we can get her taken care of soon. 

I’ve had a lot of visitors at the Backyard Buffet this morning. I think they like the cooler weather or maybe they need to refuel more. Mostly it has been cardinals, which is always good. I have changed up the diet out there a little and they are eating everything in sight. It is obvious that the harvest is going on and the blackbirds and starlings are all out in the fields gleaning them of dropped corn etc. I’ve not had but one or two here this week and they didn’t stay around much. That works fine for me. It really bugs me when they come in in flocks and just take over the feeders. They throw so much on the ground. What can I say, they are rude guests. 

I spent most of yesterday in my basement office working on my sermon for the 24th. I finished it up last night along with the service. I still have one more thing to write and will do that in a few minutes after I finish up this blog. 

My neighbor across the street has his yard full of blow-up Halloween stuff. He does this every year. He also has a bunch of Thanksgiving stuff that will go up when this comes down. It’s not my thing. I personally think that stuff looks gaudy, but to each his own I reckon. But then, neighbor Dan’s wife has put up their Christmas tree already and all of the Christmas decorations. Why???? Who knows. Dan says he thinks she got bored. Go figure. 

That’s enough gossip. I better quit. This is the weekend and tomorrow is Sunday. I hope that at some point this weekend you find yourself in church taking time to worship \God and giving thanks for a week of blessings. Peace. 

 And, it’s Thursday already and I only have a few moments this morning to joy something down before I start my day. This morning we have a funeral at the church that starts at 1000 hrs. That mean that visitation will start at 0900 and we’ll need the church to be open by 0830 for the mortuary to bring the casket in. That’s how time backs you into a corner. And —- it’s a 30 minute drive to the church. After the service ends which will be around 1130 there will be a bereavement meal. I won’t stay for that probably. I need to get busy running the bulletins and setting the two churches up for Sunday. So, I expect to get home around 1430. 

It is a gloomy day,. The temperature is warm, especially for October and there is no rain predicted for today but clouds are expected all day. I guess it is fitting for a funeral day mood wise, but I prefer bright sunny funeral days because they lift attitudes and a sense of hope. But, we’ll take what we get. 

I went to the visitation last evening. I got there around 1600 and the place was full. She has a very large family and was a lovely lady so a lot of folks came to pay their respects. I expect may 75 at the funeral which is a large attendance especially for a 90 year old. So often funerals for seniors are barely attended by more than a couple of dozen. 

I spent yesterday morning out in my flowerbeds cutting back plants and putting in a new piece of “yard-art”. It is a very large owl that is weighted and balanced so that it moves in the wind and the wings will go up and down as though it were come in for a landing. I got it at Wild Birds Unlimited of course and at the same time we picked up another set of smaller Corinthian Chimes. I love to listen to the wind gently blow through them. The sound is so melodic. 

Out if time. I hope your day is blessed. Peace.