Saturday morning and it is a misty 37 degrees outside. Not going to be a very inviting day at all. Long range forecasts show us to be going through several days of on and off rainy weather. But, we actually need rain. We are below average and it doesn’t look like we will be getting any or at least not very much of the snow that is going to sweep across the country this weekend and next week. But then I don’t want any snow because I don’t have my blade on the JD yet. 

We’re finally getting the appointments lined up for Ms. Kate. She has to be at Gateway Hospital at 0800 on Monday for her cardioversion. It is a two and a half hour appointment but hopefully when she is done, she will have a lot more energy. Then Tuesday she has an appointment with our family doctor’s Nurse Practitioner. Then on the 19th, she sees the surgeon again, although she is supposed to wait for the surgery until 30 days after the cardioversion. This whole things is really dragging out. 

In the meantime, I made a good pot of beef-vegetable soup yesterday and an excellent Meyer Lemon pound cake. I am expanding my cooking repertoire Of course I spend a good amount of time asking Kate how to do stuff. I also went to my local Neighborhood Walmart and did the grocery shopping. I didn’t think I had bought much until it was time to pay the bill. It doesn’t take long to jump past the hundred dollar mark these days and that was without buying any meat. One of the things that I bought that really shocked me was cottage cheese. They had a large size container of it and it was $17.00. I certainly didn’t buy it but that really shocked me. 

Well, that’s it for today. Have a great weekend. This is my first weeekend of retirement and my first time not preaching (except for vacation) in a very long time. It does feel strange. Peace. 

 January 4th of this brand new year. Time is weird all of a sudden. It seems like it was forever ago that I retired and it hasn’t been a week yet. And yet, I keep thinking that I need to get things done for this coming Sunday to prepare for the services. Sigh; I reckon I’ll get my brain straightened out soon enough. 

Our week has been busy with doing stuff for Ms. Kate of course. She had an appointment yesterday to meet with her heart doctor’s Nurse practitioner to get a pre surgery EKG and get signed off so she could have the surgery. Instead, they quickly determined that she is in AFIB again. So this morning we went for blood work and now we are waiting for lab results and for someone to call and give us an appointment date  for her heart cardioversion.  We have an appointment next Tuesday with our family doctor’s FNP and then another appointment with her surgeon on the 19th. It’s just one thing and then another. We know the surgery can’t happen now until 30 days after the cardioversion. So it all just continues to drag out. It does tend to get depressing. 

In the meantime, the most exciting thing in our lives is watching birds at feeders and bird baths. Although, I did take down the Christmas tree. That was a real “hoot”. LOL

Have a blessed day. Peace. 

 Good morning and Happy 2024. It is the first day of a new month and the first day of a new year. I pray that 2024 will be a much better year for Ms. Kate than 2023 was. 

I am officially retired. After 32 years of service to the nation and another 20 years of service to the church, I woke up this morning with absolutely nothing and no “out of the house” obligations on my plate. I have been looking forward to this day for the past year and now that it has arrived, I’m not really sure how I feel about it all. It’s way too early in the game to try to figure out what I’m going to do with myself to keep busy. Granted, I have a self generated list of things that I want and need to do around here but that is just “putzing” around doing “make work”. But it will get me to Spring when it will be lawn and garden time again.  My first priority of course is to take care of Ms. Kate. We have doctor’s appointments lined up through the end of the month, that will culminate with surgery. Our thoughts now are that her surgery will probably be the first week of February; although she has been having several issues that could move the date forward. We’re planning a call to the surgeon’s office tomorrow to discuss these issues. 

We had a really full church yesterday for my last service. I felt very honored. It was wonderful to have two of my daughters and a son-in-law there for the service. Ms. Kate was just not up to the task. I was also honored that my friend and mentor was there. As a faith community/family we shared a lot of love yesterday. It will seem really strange to not make that trip up to Ft. Branch any time soon. However, I can still watch their services via Facebook. I’m not really supposed to return to the church any time soon but Facebook will keep me informed as to how they are doing. And several people do read this blog, so they can keep up with what is going on my the life of Ms. Kate and me. 

That will bring you up to date on me. I celebrated New Year’s Eve by doing laundry. Having had company for the past ten days, it was starting to back up a bit. I’m finishing the last load in the dryer right now so we can start the new year off all neat and shiny!!!  I did the same thing with my soul too by starting the year off with a prayer of gratitude and a request for guidance through the upcoming year. Peace my friends; May God bless you and guide you as you start out on  another year of adventures. 

 December 28th. Christmas has come and gone. Julie and Jim have come, spent Christmas with us, and gone back home. They will probably be back again tomorrow evening depending on the weather. It is supposed to rain and may even bring some snow along with it. 

Lisa and Gary arrived on Tuesday morning from North Carolina. We’ve been have a good visit with them They will head back to NC on Sunday afternoon. 

Christmas Eve services went well for both the morning and the evening service. As expected, both were well attended. This Sunday is my final service and my farewell to the parish. It has been a wonderful career but is now time to hang up the robe. 

That’s it for tonight. It’s late. With more company coming in —- I won’t be writing again until 2024. Have a blessed remainder of your 2023. Peace. 

 December 23; — one more day until Christmas Eve.  With Christmas Eve comes Ms. Kate’s 76th birthday!!! I have an Angel Food cake in the oven right now for her. I usually bake her an Angel Food cake, and there is a story to go with that. Many years ago I offered to bake her a cake for her birthday and she said she wanted an Angel Food cake. Well, my only experience with angel food cakes was when my mother made the “back in the day”. I guess back then they had a tendency to “fall” so we didn’t dare make any heavy steps or whatever or we would catch the dickens from my mother. So, I told Kate there was no way I could make an Angel Food cake. She looked me in the face and said “You can’t add a cup of water to a cake mix and bake it???”  Yeh, I felt pretty dumb. 

Yesterday was a fantastic day at the surgeon’s appointment.  We had the CT scan the day before and Dr. Roberts had the results of that. He was very pleased with what he saw. He said the infection was mostly gone and was ready to remove the drain tube from her which was fantastic. And just like that he took it out. She felt so relieved having that thing out. So first time in four weeks we didn’t have to do a flush last night. And for the first time in four weeks she was able to sleep on her left side without the drain hurting her. 

She goes back to she the surgeon on the 19th of January and then he will do her surgery two weeks after that. We appear to be coming to a close of this saga. Hopefully that will be the end of all of this drama and her life can get back to normal. She will be well, I will be retired —- watch out world!!! 

Julie is here and Jim and the pups are coming a little later. She is going to get busy shortly preparing the turkey for our dinner. 

Have a wonderful day. Peace. 

 December the 21st; the shortest day of the year. Yes, they all have 24 hours but today has the least amount of sunlight thereby giving it the title of shortest day of the year. Starting tomorrow morning we will have maybe one minute more of sunlight which will increase daily until June 21st. That’s your science lesson of the day and about all I know about science. LOL

It is also my daughter Lisa’s 52nd birthday. Y’ all don’t know her but let me just say she is a wonderful human being. And if I may be so bold as to say —- all of my daughters are wonderful human beings. They all have such different personalities. Julie, my oldest, is the one with the biggest imagination. That imagination has, I think, been the street to her success. If she thinks she can do something, she will make it happen. She is kind, determined and strong willed and would give you the shirt off of her back; —- unless you cross her or try to BS her. 

Heather, my middle is focused on doing what is right and is also strong willed. She’s honest to a fault and a deeply caring person. She’s highly selective of her friends and deeply loyal to those friends and her family. 

And then there is our birthday girl, Lisa. I don’t know of a kinder, more gentle person in the world than Lisa. We always called Lisa “our nature’s child” because she has always been in tune with the universe and the world around her. She unassuming, unpretentious, and deeply cares for the people and the world around her.  My girls are all wonderful mothers and wonderful daughters.  They are all the embodiment of Ms. Kate. I think they all get their “workaholic” nature from me which is why they are all highly successful leaders and managers; but all the rest of it comes from Kate.

So, that’s enough bragging on my girls. God blessed me and continues to bless me. 

Peace.  

 December 20th; eleven days left in this year and in this month. Can you imagine that??? And can you believe that we are supposed to reach 55 degrees today and that we might have 60 degrees on Christmas day?? But —— I’m not complaining about any of that. 

Our house cleaner was supposed to come today but I got a text from her that her son and her husband have both tested positive for COVID. So, she won’t be coming; and that’s okay. We went a lot of decades without a house cleaner. I just pray they will all recover quickly. Would be terrible to be spending Christmas with the entire family down with COVID. 

I’ll be spending some quality time today at Walmart, sigh!!! Got to get the shopping done for the Christmas company coming in and today is about the only free day to do that. Tomorrow and Friday we do doctor’s appointments and Friday Jules and Jim come in and then we have company for the rest of the year. My list isn’t overly long and I want to get my stuff and get out of the way of the last minute crazies. Ms. Kate and I have our menus fairly well planned, at least for the “big meals”. 

Yesterday we did a good outing. I got ms. Kate to actually ride along with me and we went to our butcher shop, and to both of the churches. She didn’t get out of the car but she did get to see. Few folks that we know and got to have short visits with them. It did her a world of good and it did me a world of good too. It was almost like a”normal day”. It’s been a long time since she went anyplace that wasn’t aa doctor’s visit. 

Well, I can’t put off Walmart forever so I better get properly dressed and get my shopping done. Have a blessed day. Peace.