Happy Halloween! It is going to be a cold, cold night for the little Trick or Treaters this evening. I guess “the Monkey will ride” again this year though. Or maybe I’ll just sit out there on the John Deere and wait for them to come along. I’m not actually sure I know where I put the “monkey mask” that I have been using for the past decade. But, I’ll have on my warm wear stuff for sure. I think it is supposed to be around  30 degrees at at Trick or Treating hour. My guess is that there will be a lot of “Taylor Swifties” running around out there tonight. She is all the rage  theses days. I saw that she just made “Billionaire” status with her music and concerts. And me —- don’t know that I have ever heard of a song she sings. 

Yesterday Ms. Kate and I made a couple of apple pies because Julie, Jim, and their friend Karyn were coming over. I must say that the pies were absolutely delicious. Kate had been wanting to make some earlier but her health had kept her from it. So I went to Schnucks yesterday morning to get some Golden Delicious apples. Kate wanted a couple of bags of them. Well, they didn’t have any bags of them and they were priced at $2.00 a pound for them. That amounted to approximately $1.00 an apple. So, I went to the IGA and found 3lb bags for less than $5.00. I brought them home and we got to work on them. We have one pie left and I’ll be starting on that one today. 

31st of October! I have two months left in the job or only nine Sundays left. That’s not long is it? I have to admit that I’m nervous for the parish because we have not received except one profile of an interested person in becoming the pastor. But I can’t let that be my concern. As my mentor and friend, Art Christmas tells me, It’s God’s parish; God will handle it as it needs to be handled. I know our profile is out there. I reckon they will have an interim for awhile. 

Today we are doing some laundry; actually just changing and washing the bed clothes. Sure glad we are in the days of indoor drying and not like it was when Kate and I were kids and our mothers had to hang the wash outside. Although, there is a lady that lives just across the block that always hangs her was outside. I don’t know why; maybe she just like that fresh air smell on the clothes. 

So, have a great Halloween, don’t eat too much candy, and then let all start thinking about Thanksgiving and counting our blessings. Peace. 

 Thursday, just past noon: I’m sitting here with a face, mouth, gum, and tongue all numb on the right side. I just came home from a dental filling.  For what ever reason, it always seems to take extra novocaine to prep me for dental work. Then it takes an extra hour for my face to return to normal again. So, I’m sitting here hungry and thirsty but I don’t dare try to eat or drink just yet because I will either spill on myself, or bite my tongue or jaw or something. So, I guess I will maybe try to drink something from my left side and hope it goes well. 

I spent the afternoon yesterday at the churches as I had told you I would be doing. I got the bulletins run and placed for this Sunday and I had time to run the bulletins for next week. As luck would have it, today I got a text from the choir director asking if we can move the date of the quartets song to a different Sunday. They were supposed to sing next week and I have that in the bulletin, —- but, —- what ever. Of course we can move it. Are you kidding? I’m just thrilled that we have a quartet that wants to do a number. Now, I wonder if I can convince them to sing at both churches???? I know the folks at St. Paul’s would enjoy them singing and I love the song they are going to do: “Amazing Grace, My Chains Are Gone”. Well the worst they can say is “no”. 

I need to get on the JD and mulch leaves again today. They are really coming down now. My Tulip Polar in the front yard, the one we call “Harley” is almost totally devoid of leaves now. The two in the back are losing their leaves fast too. Yesterday, Kari, (our cleaning lady) and did get the potted plants brought in to the sun porch. It’s supposed to drop temperatures really quick this weekend. Halloween is going to be miserable for the local kids as the high for the day is supposed to be 48 and we may be having rain. Speaking of which, I have yet to buy any candy for Halloween. I better do that in the next couple of days. 

That’s it for today. I’m going to get a cup of coffee and see if I can “side-drink it”. Peace. 

 Wednesday again — already. It’s a warm morning @ 62 degrees and little to no wind. I watching more and more leaves fall from the trees. Across the street, Dan’s Maple trees are starting to turn. They will get to a nice red before they suddenly fall. All of that could happen within the week. Cold weather is coming in this weekend. I thought our cleaning lady was coming yesterday but I had my calendar wrong and she came today. She and I will get the porch potted plants in today because next Tuesday they are predicting first frost and first freeze. When the temperature dumps, it dumps quick. At least there is no prognosis of snow in the forecast. However, the north third of the country cannot say the same. Friends of ours are already posting snow pictures on Facebook. It’s messing up their golf games. LOLOL. 

Being Wednesday, that means I have to go to the church to run my bulletins for the week and then stay for choir practice. I hope this week we have a better turn out for choir. We only had enough for a quartet last week and I was the lone male singer which is never good. I rely on those young guys to cover up my mistakes. “There was a day” when I could hold my own in choir and even did a few solos and duets. These days though the voice is weak and I have a difficult remember the note “sound”. And then I get so focus on the tone of the note that I sing the wrong words. I’m an old mess and need a keeper I think. LOL. But I enjoy singing, whether anyone else enjoys my singing can be debatable. 

Ms. Kate and I decided to go to Chipotle for dinner last night. They have a new place on the east side of town and we thought we would give it a try. Actually Kate wanted to try it. We have another one also on the east side of town but its location is terrible. One can hardly get in and out of their parking lot because it is on the corner of a very busy intersection, and when you do manage to get in the parking lot, there is hardly any parking. I wouldn’t be surprised to see that location close now that the new place is open. Any way, we went and I got us a couple of Carne Asada bowls to take home. It was “okay”. What surprised me though was that the young kid running the cash register actually did not know how to handle a cash transaction and had to ask someone to help him. I guess they are so used to people paying with their credit or debit card. I mentioned this to Julie and Lisa last night and they said that wasn’t unusual. Lisa and her family just went to Kings Dominion Theme park last weekend and she said the entire park was “cashless” and card only. Julie said that people are surprised that her bookstore still takes cash because the rest of the university only uses cards. Amazing. What are we going to do when the electric grid goes down and people can’e use their card? Do we just not buy anything?? Or what do we do when entire networks get hacked and accounts stolen?  Technology is great for a lot of things, but it can’t become the only solution. Artificial Intelligence use is becoming an actual worry to a lot of the nations leadership. The Jetson’s world is not going to be all we thought it would be in my opinion. 

Notes from the Sunporch —- we had four Bluebirds at once here yesterday in the backyard Buffet. Obviously they are migrating to somewhere. But it was a beautiful sight. 

That’s it for today. I need to go out and clear the leaves out of the patio plants so we can bring them in. Have a blessed week. Stay in touch with God. God certainly will stay in touch with you. Peace. 

 New day, new week, and it’s a beautiful day out side. 

It wouldn’t be normal if we didn’t start the week out with a morning round of doctor’s visits. I am glad too report though that these were very good visits. Today we had Kate’s six-month check-up from both her radiologist and her oncologist. Both gave her good reports and said that they will follow up. Back to the radiologist in six months and to the oncologist in a year. In the mean time she will have her mammogram of course, some time in January and an ultrasound next fall. But —- that doesn’t mean the calendar is clear of doctor’s visits any time soon.  We still have her annual Heart doctor’s appointment, her infectious disease consult for her diverticulitis, and her colonoscopy and endoscopy exams, and family doctor visit all before Christmas. Medicare and Tri-care must love us. It just leans credit to what I’ve heard for years; — you know you are getting old when the only numbers in your Rolodex are doctors. Although, I guess today’s Rolodex would be speed dial on your IPhone. 

Yesterday was another great day at church. I had the pleasure of doing another infant baptism. In fact this was most likely my last baptism. I only have ten more weeks on the job and there are no prospects out there that I know of. I’m really going to miss that. 

Tomorrow our cleaning lady comes and I am going to ask her to help me get the patio plants brought in for the winter. The night are getting cooler and we have had no threat of frost so far but I have babied these dang plants for two decades and I don’t want a sudden drop in temperature to catch me off guard and it maybe kill my plants. Somehow — those pots seem to get heavier every year. What’s up with that???

Well. I have writing to do and my computer doesn’t seem to want to do it for me. I guess I better head down to my basement office and get to work. 

It’s a brand new week with all kinds of opportunities to be kind to one another. Peace, my friends. 

 What a beautiful morning! It’s bright and sunny, about 60 degrees and a breeze of about 10 mph or so. Later today I am going to jump on the John Deere and square up the yards again. I have a lot of leave that are coming down and I down’s want to get behind on that chore. The female tulip poplar has maybe 15% of it’s leaves gone already. The male tree won’t start falling for probably another two weeks or so. His leaves are much bigger than the ones on the female. (I’m only guessing that they are male and female.) She leafs out first in the spring and drops first in the fall by maybe three weeks or so. And she is the one with all of the pods. 

We’ve gotten the majority of our “chores” done for the weeks so we can take it relatively easy for the weekend. Kate will be making Christmas cards, I’ll get the yard mowed and a little other yard work and then work on another sermon. Kate hates for me to work on writing sermons and stuff when I am supposed to be taking a day off, but I enjoy doing it. I suspect once I retire, I’ll end up actually doing some writing that may or may not lead to a book, but we will see what happens. 

Kate made french toast this morning for breakfast and of course it was just perfect. I bought some bananas yesterday when I went to the grocery so we each sliced up a banana to out on our french toast. 

So that’s it for today. I hope you have a great weekend. I hope where ever you might be is going to have perfect fall weather and you can get out and enjoy the beautiful changing of the colors on the trees and breathe in so crisp fresh air. Peace

 Wednesday, Wednesday, —- where do the days go? It looks like Fall out there and at 10:30 am it is only sixty degrees. I think it is supposed to get to about 71 and if it does, that will make for a beautiful afternoon. 

My job today it to make some parishioner calls and run my bulletins for Sunday, then stick around for choir practice this evening. It equals a busy day and a long day; but a satisfying day. 

Nothing else much is news around our house. Well, Kate’s surgeon did have a consult with the Infectious Disease folks concerning the lesion/abscess on her colon; and they want her to come in for a consultation. That won’t be until mid-November though. Nothing like dragging all of this out. The good news is that she is feeling so much better though. Maybe this will all just pass. That’s what happened when I had Diverticulitis, but then I was never diagnosed with an abscess. But, they have now put her on Omeprozole pills which is what I was prescribed and has kept me in check for two decades. Who knows, maybe that is the answer. It would be wonderful if the remedy was that simple. And that’s more information than you ever wanted about my wife’s internal organs; LOLOLOL. 

I’m looking forward to the weekend. Julie and the pups are coming over on Saturday and spending the night. I love that they live within an hour and a half drive from us. We don’t make it over there very often because we never know when or what that girl has on her plate for the day. She is always working it seems. She does five and a half days at work and is doing something that keeps her busy. I’m just glad that she inserts time to come here. It’s great to have one of the girls within reach. With Heather in California and Lisa in North Carolina —- it’s a long way for a drop-in. 

So that’s it; I need to make a couple of phone calls and check on my home bound folks. Have a great day. Peace. 

 Monday morning and October is officially one half over. It’s a chilly 48 degrees and thee sun has yet to be seen even though it is daylight. I think the forecaster said that these clouds may break up this afternoon for awhile. 

How was your weekend? We had a good one around here. This is the first weekend that Kate has felt well enough to to get out of the house go do some things. It was also her first theme back at church in some time. Everyone was happy to see her and she was really happy to be back. Being with our parishioners is the main thing that we will miss after I retire. For the past almost 20 years we have built a lifetime bond with them. Protocol dictates though that we not involve ourselves in those two churches for a lengthy period of time after we retire. It tends to interfere with the relationship that a new pastor is trying to build with the congregations. I understand the reasoning, but it isn’t easy. I wouldn’t want to interfere at all with their progress “post-me”. And —- they need to be open to new leadership and maybe even new ways of doing things.  However, many of these people have become very personal friends of ours. That will not change. 

Yesterday was a great day at my St. Paul’s church because we had an infant baptism. The church was pretty full. This event was actually a generational event. I knew the great-grandparents of the infant and even did their funerals. I confirmed the child’s father and his brothers, I married all three of the boys and now am baptizing their babies. Long pastorates will give you those opportunities occasionally and I have had several of them between the two churches. God blesses me every day with things like this. 

I’m looking over our calendar for this week and it is void of doctor visits this week with the exception of a dental cleaning for me tomorrow afternoon. What will we do for a social life???????

With that, I’m done for this morning. Have a blessed week. Stay in touch with God; pray for peace in this world.