Bright sun out there this morning doesn’t tell its 33 degree secret. It could be worse; it is December after all. I’ll take cold sunshine over nasty rain or snow. 

How was your weekend? I’ve had a good weekend. We got lots done around here. Yesterday of course we had two worship services and they were fairly well attended. There was a death in one of our families some distance away so that took several people away from attending yesterday. I pray for their safe return and we offer our sympathy and prayers for their comfort. Last evening both churches held their annual Christmas party. As I have said, we can only be at one place at a time so we elected too attend the St. Paul’s party. I ate too much of course. It’s hard to beat “church lady cooking”. Ms. Kate fixed a large casserole dish of “green bean casserole” and there was one spoonful left. I love the stuff although she isn’t crazy about it. I’m sure she’s glad that folks finished it so there were no leftovers. LOL

More and more pictures keep coming out of the horrific damage done by the multiple tornadoes in the fours states below us this weekend. The death toll also is climbing. I have asked my churches not to try to do something separate to help but to find other local organizations that are organizing efforts and contribute to those. We can be humble with our efforts and don’t need our label on the box. This isn’t a church parishioner recruitment effort. It’s really sad and heartbreaking to think of all of those lives lost and the amount of homes and businesses that are lying in a state of complete destruction and rubble. Where do you even begin with something like that? How do you even prove who you are or what you had? I don’t know and hope I never have to find out. Over the years our family has been involved in different phases of assisting in disasters like this but, all praise to God, we have never experienced it personally. People say, and I have too, that it terrible that it was so close to Christmas, but there is no good day for your house and everything you own to be blown into the next county. There is no good day for a factory to fall in on someone you love. Massive movement is in the works to help the victims but it will be a long time for the rebuild, and how do you live day to day in the meanwhile? I don’t know. But God will provide. As bad as it is, there will be good things and there will be miracles that come out of all of this. We only need to look for them. The massive amount of people helping people is in and of itself a miracle. 

I think today is going to be a “day off” for both Ms. Kate and I; a day to do nothing. I may do some writing if I get around to it. I have one sermon left to write for this year. Can you believe that??? This year is almost gone!. Of course, I didn’t think that I would be heading into 2022 still working either, so there is that! That’s the problem when you are working for an Eternal God. —- He has no concept of time. LOL

With that, I better quit before the lightening strikes me. Have a most blessed week. Peace

 The sunshine out there sure hides a lot of truths about reality this morning. It looks warm and pleasant but it is cold and a really stiff wind going on. I took the last of the Christmas cards out to the mailbox and it chilled me off pretty quickly. It’s not “terrible” at 41 degrees but the temperature is going to keep on dropping to 27 by tonight. 

Last night was a bad night for Kentucky weather. As you probably went through like I did, there were terrible storms in Kentucky that started in Arkansas and traveled through the entire state of KY. It was a 200 mile pluse tornadoes. At least 50 people were killed that have been reported so far. My heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones and to those who have lost everything dues to these storms. I have seen some of the damage reports and television reporting of the damage and it is indeed devastating. Ms. Kate and I were down in the area where the stories were the worst Tuesday and Wednesday night. I’m glad we came home when we did. 

Our “Staycation” is over and we made the most of it. Ms.Kate finished up making the Christmas cards and as I got busy addressing them and getting them ready to put in the mailbox, we realized that we still did not have enough so she sat down and made some more. I used all but one of them. But, we have all of our cards made and sent out, all of the Christmas shopping done, (Thank you Amazon Prime), the trees are decorated and we beat the December 15th goal line. Tomorrow both churches will hold their Christmas parties. We will attend the one at St. Paul’s. They are both at the same time and we can’t be at both places at the same time. We attended the party at St. Lucas last time so it is St. Paul’s turn. Lucky them. 

I think we need to go out and do just a little shopping today and I want to run up to the church for a minute or two and take care of some business. I should and could have gone yesterday while I was out doing visitations but it was getting late enough and the storm predictions were making it sound like I needed to maybe be home so I decided to follow that advice. As it turns out, I could have gone to the churches after all but who knows. When you’re on the firing range and someone says “duck”, you duck. 

That’s about it for today my friends. Time to get my butt out of my chair and do a few things. Have a pleasant day. Take some time and say a prayer for the folks that have been impacted by the storms and say a prayer of gratitude that it wasn’t worse. Peace. 

 “When out on the lawn I heard such a clatter, I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.” Well, it wasn’t St. Nick but it was my neighbor’s large awning type gazebo. The wind had picked it up and blew it across his six foot fence and then across my four foot fence and sat it down lodged between my fence and my shed, It is barely touching my shed roof and I have zero damage but he has a mess to clean up. That thing had to have traveled fifty years of so before it got tangled up in the Dogwood tree. I was sleeping and Ms. Kate was on her computer when we heard the thud. I got up and looked around the house and out in the yard but it was 0130 and raining so I didn’t see it then. I went over and introduced myself to my neighbor and told him his gazebo was in my yard. Yeh, this is the owner of the Rooster Beagles. Oh well, it is his problem to solve. 

We are well into our Christmas card list. We addressed almost 60 Saturday afternoon. We’re maybe half done. We used to keep a file for printing labels and wouldn’t have to hand write them out, But we haven’t done that in a few years. 

I need to go up tp my sister-in-laws house and check on her place. She’s gone for a week so I need to see if she had any storm damage. So, that’s it for today. Have a good one. Peace. 

 Well, well, well, Hello you beautiful Friday morning. The sun is shining brightly, it’s 51 degrees, going up to 70 today and the wind is calm. Quite a nice morning out there, I’m having my bagel with creamed cheese and my coffee and enjoying my guests at the Backyard Buffet. It reminds me though that I have a lot of feeders to fill today. I got my order in from Wild Birds Unlimited the other day so I’m good to go for a bit for filling the feeders. Actually, they haven’t been around very much in the past couple of weeks. I think maybe they are finishing off the fields after the harvest. My cardinals, finches, and wrens are the main guests these days, and of course the squirrels, but there are only a couple of squirrels these days too. or maybe there is more but they aren’t all coming at once like they sometimes do. 

We finished decorating the trees yesterday and they look nice. I guess the house looks like Ms. Kate wants it to now. I think adding the second tree is what made her happy, I don’t know. I just do what she asks. It’s a formula that has worked for almost 56 years. 

We have stuff to do again today. We are going to meet some friends for lunch today. We haven’t ben able to do that for months and have missed it. It’s always good conversation and good food. With the stress over Ms. Kate’s health issues for the past three months, it will be good to “download” and relax. I don’t know about you but, we have so few folks that we really consider close friends; you know, the kind that you can turn to and talk with about anything and everything. Ms. Kate and I were just talking about this last evening. For as much as we deal with the public, she and I are really not “social people”. Except for Julie and Jim, I don’t know of the last time we actually had any company in our home. It has been years. And, I may be wrong, but I think much of society might be that way, especially as we get older. She and I love being each other’s company and I, more than she, would just stay home. We’re neither good at “small-talk” and run out of things to talk about rather quickly. Granted, if Pastor Art and I get to “talking” on FB Messenger, we talk for a long tome. And if neighbor Dan comes over, it’s a two coffee pot conversation. But, that is about it for me and Kate only talks to her sister. I guess we are just old fuddy-duddies.. 

After lunch, we need to go out to the cemetery and put winter flowers on my parent’s tombstone. Then I know there is something on the east side of town that we need to do but I haven’t a clue what it is at the moment. It will come to me or Ms. Kate will remind me. 

That’s it for today. The weekend begins today. Take some time to relax, Don’t \forget to visit your house of worship. God got you this far this week. Stop by and give Him worship. Peace. 

 Good morning and happy Thursday, Can you believe another week is over half gone? Tick-tock,  we can’t stop the clock. —— Have you ever wondered what happens to and where the moments go as they pass by? Is there a place for well used moments and a place for wasted moments? Do they go into a special storage place where maybe God reuses them as He creates another universe or two. And if God reuses them, are they infused with all of the hopes and dreams of the people of this planet or are they stripped of all of the thoughts and hopes and dreams as well as all of the hate and violence that we put into our moments. When we pass through the veil that separates us from living into eternal life, will we be assigned an eternal duty of cleaning all of those moments and making them clean and fresh and holy for use by God once again? —— Or, are reused moments part of what we call deja’vu, where we recall thinking a thought before or doing a thing before. Perhaps God has provided each of us with our own little  time wheel and we actually get our own thoughts back again and again to make better use of, —  and occasionally an old thought or action memory slips through. I just wonder about things like this sometimes. However, these are definitely second cup of coffee thoughts for when you are well settled into your recliner. “First cuppers” can’t handle the pressure of thoughts like this.

It is a beautiful morning for us today. Not only is the weather going to be almost 70 degrees on this December 2nd, but we had very good news yesterday from Ms. Kate’s doctor. We have been worrying about the results of some tests that she had to have a few weeks ago, The ultrasounds had showed  several cysts on her kidneys and also a “mass”. That had caused the doctor to order a MRI to see if it was possibly cancerous. I told you that she had the MRI done and we were waiting on results. Well, yesterday she was told that she had some cysts but that they were benign and that she needs to go back for another MRI in six months as a follow-up. Our prayers have been answered in our favor, (prayers are always answered, sometimes in our favor and sometimes not) and we are sighing a huge sigh of relief. We are also giving all praise to God as we also pray for those who don’t receive positive results. 

Today we decorate the Christmas tree and I will start addressing the Christmas cards. I’m in a mood to do that. We received our first Christmas card yesterday. The “Golden Ornament” goes to my cousin Sharon for first card received. LOL

I saw on our Facebook Messenger family conversation that my second grandson, Matt, popped the question to his sweetheart and she said yes. So, another wedding is in the future. Life is good on all fronts this morning. 

So, with that, I think I’ll make some pancakes or a waffle for breakfast. Have yourself a most glorious day.  Peace. 

 I think this will be a short entry today. It’s afternoon and we have had a busy morning. As I sit down to write this though, I’m also watching my neighbor across the street, (Jason, — not Dan) as he is trying to put out his Christmas yard crap, I mean his beautiful decorations. He’s working on a shiny reindeer at the moment and has been now for awhile. It doesn’t seem to be going well for him, He starts at the end of September by filling his yard with all manner of Halloween blow-up stuff. It doesn’t look overly ugly at night but during the day when they are all laying there deflated in the yard, —- well it looks like piles of multi-colored “cow patties” laying in his yard. As soon as Halloween is over, he takes it down and replaces it all with blow-up Thanksgiving stuff, although war Star Wars figures have to do with Thanksgiving is obviously Pilgrims that I never heard of. So now, they lay deflated in the yard and he is starting on Christmas. Bless his heart, at least he keeps a holiday spirit going. I can’t grudge him that. But the deer is new this year so I’ll be interested to see how it all ends up. And —- he obviously has a lot more patience than I do . 

Ms. Kate and I started our morning off very early  this morning. She had to be at Gateway Hospital Campus at 0700 this morning. She was scheduled for an MRI at 0715. The procedure took about an hour. After we finished there we went up to the churches and ran the bulletins for Sunday. Even though I’m not going to be there, I still have to plan the service and run the bulletins. All the guest pastor has to do is show up and preach the message for the day. I don’t know and have never heard the lady that will be filling in for me. The St. Lucas Council president made the contact. But, since we now record our services,  I’ll be able to listen to and see her on Facebook. 

(Jason just finished the first deer and it looks like he’s going for a second!!)

So, now Ms. Kate and I are just waiting for a call from her doctor’s office to give us the results of her MRI. Of course we know that it could be tomorrow before we hear anything. That is why we cancelled our plans to go spend the week with Lisa and family’s at Myrtle Beach. We just didn’t know what to expect but thought it could take a while for results. I hate waiting. 

It is 55 degrees out and I have a front yard that could use the John Deere run across it again to mulch more leaves. It’s a good stress reliever so I think that’s where I’m headed next. 

Have yourself a great day. Peace. 

 Wow, one more day of November; can you believe that?? It has started off as a cold one this morning. It was 21 degrees when I came out to get my coffee this morning. Any Backyard Buffet guests that are out there are all fluffed up to keep warm. Squirrels that were “slim” yesterday are fat dudes this morning, or at least they look that way. Cardinals and other birds too are fluffed out when they are sitting on the branches. The only guys that are not that way were the wrens because I don’t think they ever stop and just sit. 

The weekend is gone. The first Sunday of Advent has come and gone and it was a well attended service at both churches. Julie and Jim have gone home and life is back to a quiet normal around here. And —- the house is warmer because since the dogs are gone we don’t have to leave the doors to the sun porch open. That area is unheated and it does get rally chilly out there. I don’t mind it so much but Ms. Kate says that she is always cold. So, she should be much more comfortable now. 

We are supposed to be going on vacation this week but we are not actually “going” anywhere. Kate has a doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning and may have a follow-up later in the week so we are staying home. I’m still gong to take next Sunday off as a vacation Sunday. The churches had already made the arrangements for a guest pastor so I decided to just take the Sunday off. Depending on how the doctor’s appointments go, we may take a daytime road trip or two. We’ll just have to see how everything plays out.  The weather is supposed to be excellent all week so we could actually take a trip if we are able to do so. 

I participated in a nice wedding on Saturday. The service was at a Catholic Church and it was a beautiful sanctuary indeed. They have renovated it during the COVID year, They have replaced all of the old wooden flooring with marble flooring, repainted everything, put in new LED lighting  and it is really bright. I can’t begin to imagine what all of that must have cost. But, what I didn’t feel was the “warmth” that I feel when I go into my two little country churches. It was very, what I call “tall-steeple” church. The money was obvious, the love —-maybe not so much. But I’m sure their parishioners love their church as much as our parishioners love our churches. 

I don’t know if \any of you have Discovery Plus on your television sets, but we do, I love many of the shows thy have on there and my subscription gives me no commercials during my shows. They break their shows down by genre and one of the genres that I love is “animals and wildlife” documentaries. I started watching one last night called “Serengeti II” and it is excellent. A couple of years ago they had the first one simply called “Serengeti” and I have loved watching that one several times. The documentary covers a year in the life of several species of animals; elephants, cheetah, leopards, lion, baboon\. It is narrated by Lapita Nuongo, a wonderful actress from Africa. If you get a chance to watch it, I highly recommend it. 

I guess that is it for today. I think we are going to get ready and maybe go to Sam’s Club today. Ms. Kate wants to get some gift cards today and that is a great place to get them for a little better price. Of course while we are there, I’ll sneak in a package of cherry turnovers. 

So, enjoy your last two days of November and then jump right on to December. Give thanks to God for another month in which God blessed you and give thanks to God for giving you another month in which to do some great things. Peace my friends.