A blessed Monday afternoon to you. We just got home from our Planet Fitness workout and stopped by GD Ritzies for some “3-way Chili” to bring home. I know a lot of people don’t like pasta in their chili but I always have. So “3-way” is chili with no beans, spaghetti and cheese. It’s good stuff. And they make a great chocolate malt. I think they go all the way up to “7-way” chili but that would be too many additives for me. One of my son-in-laws swears it isn’t chili if it has beans in it. I totally disagree. (How’d he get in this family anyway?)

There are great world events going on as I write this. A peace agreement has been signed between Israel and Gaza ending (at least temporarily) that war and bringing peace to the Middle East. Of course we have seen this all many times before. I don’t think I can name a president since I’ve been alive that wasn’t working to bring peace to the Middle East. I pray that this one will hold.

Are you celebrating “American Indigenous People” or are you celebrating Columbus Day? I’m not much for celebrating Columbus Day since I have read a lot about his history and the fact that his “discovery” was actually an accident and he didn’t really know where the heck he was. I personally believe we should recognize the indigenous peoples that were already here for a thousand years before any “white man” set foot upon this continent. In our scewed (SP) version of history that I grew up with we never talked about our treatment of the natives only that they killed the settlers; with the exception of “Thanksgiving Day” when they brought a roasted turkey to dinner. Today, the native Americans are the most marginalized people in our nation. But today, thousands of people will suddenly remember that they are 1/4th Cherokee.Amazing that I never hear people claim to be one of the hundreds of lesser known tribes; it’s always Cherokee. 

I listened in and watched Pastor Adam at St. Lucas in Ft. Branch yesterday. He had a good message. He is my replacement from when I retired. He’s doing very well fitting in up there it appears. WE didn’t attend our church because Ms. Kate still has that nagging cough. And while we would usually watch our church on TV, they didn’t broadcast it yesterday due to a lack of people to help run it. 

Tat’s about it for today. I pray you have a week full of God’s holy blessings. Peace. 

 It is Friday evening and Ms. Kate and I have been out and about since early this morning. Our normal routine lets us do stuff on our IPads for a couple of hours each morning before we get our day started. It gives us time to have coffee, and wake our brains up. 

I was pretty stiff and sore this morning from my flowerbed work yesterday. I had to take some Tylenol at 0530 because my hands were cramping up so much from pulling sunflowers for two hours yesterday and a couple of hours on Wednesday. But I got the bed at the 99% complete point. Lastly yesterday I had one last thing I wanted to do with the John Deere but the battery was completely dead. Time to get a new one. This morning I had “a plan” for the day. After IPad session we would go to the apple orchard out in the next county. I called to make sure they still had apples and they did. So we drove out there, (25 miles to the west of us) and pick up a half bushel of Golden Delicious. There will be several pies in our future for sure. 

The next stop would be at the John Deere store which would be on the east side of Evansville and maybe seven miles to the east of our house. Battery procured, we decided to go to a restaurant up north of Legottee (SP??) IN which was a little over an hour north east of our place. So off we went. The place is called Stoll’s Amish Restaurant and was well worth the drive. They have a “typical” Amish buffet and the food was really good. However, they are known for their pies and the reputation is well earned. Yes, I had two pieces, a coconut meringue and a chocolate meringue. When we finished there we headed towards home which takes us through the city of Montgomery, IN. In Montgomery there is another Amish place that has a great bakery and they make really good Angel Food cakes and sell them at a very reasonable price. So I stopped in there and picked up a lemon Angel Food cake. 

We came home, put away the apples, installed the battery on the JD and made sure it ran, and then flopped into our recliners. That’s where we are for the evening. Later, I will cut us a piece of cake for a midnight snack. 

That’s it for today. I probably won’t write during the weekend, so I’ll see you on Monday. Don’t forget that Sunday id for The Lord. Take the time to attend your house of worship or attend a service from the comfort of your recliner and television. Peace. 

 Good morning and a blessed Thursday to you. It’s a bit chilly yet but is going to go up to mid-seventies and a day of sunshine. That’s perfect weather for being outside and working on my flowerbeds. I guess I talk about working in them a lot but they are so much work. It was a lot easier when I was creating them and was 59 years old. At 81, there is a lot more groaning going on both during the effort and the next day. I spent maybe three hours out there yesterday. I got the front yard mowed, neighbor Dan’s yard mowed and the flower bed about 85% done. I’m pulling up all of the Black-eyed Susans, (an annual Task) and will trim the peonies off today. Then if I’m not done in for the day I will take the weed eater and go over the whole thing. That flower bed is probably 70X40 and is on a hill. Makes it very unsteady to work on and I have fallen on it a couple of times. So, I tread carefully.

Ms. Kate and I were talking this morning about the announcement that Disney is raising the prices to their theme parks AGAIN!!!!! We have been to both Disneyland and Disney World a number of times when the kids were young and then again with grandchildren and while “expensive” it was tolerable. But according the the article their prices have risen by 136% in just the last decade. The cheapest adult ticket for a one day, off season visit is over $200.00. That doesn’t include parking fees which have also gone up. I can easily see where it would cost a family of four $1000.00 per day to go there. And I also read that the CEO of Disney, Bob Lager, just got a pay raise and is making $41 million a year. $41 million dollars a year. There is no way that he can begin to identify with his customers as anything more than a walking dollar sign. Don’t get me wrong, I know that Disney contributes to the economy through job creation and using small businesses but, I think it has long since eliminated the possibility for millions of families to afford what they offer. And I think that demanding a $41 million salary is sinful. Enough of that rant.  

Have you been to the Fall Festival yet? Do you plan to go? Ms. Kate and I haven’t been in at least ten years except maybe to go around lunch time, go pick up a sausage burger and get out of the crowd. I certainly remember the “Old days”. Of course as a band member, I marched in the parade with the Reitz High School Band. And as a kid I was in the Talent show and won that once or twice. I remember going as a high school kid with a girl friend but I don’t remember my parents ever taking me except to be in the talent show. I liked the rides, especially the Farris Wheel. 

I think we may be heading out to the apple orchard either today of tomorrow It is apple pie season and I don’t want to lose out. So, I need to get some working clothes on and get busy. I hope you have a blessed day. Peace. 

 I consider myself somewhat of a self appointed expert in tasting of donuts. This area has a lot of opportunities for places to find good donuts too. We’re fortunate that way. There was a time when it was very hard for me to pass up a Dunkin Donut shop, especially when we were on the road. However, on my list of favorites, Dunkin has slipped to the bottom. Many of you will remember the old commercial “Time to make the donuts” where the fellow gets up real early and heads off to Dunkin Donuts. Sadly that is the case anymore. I don’t think any of the local Dunkin’s make their donuts “in house” any more. If they did, they wouldn’t taste “day old”. 

Locally, I think Donut Bank does a great job. Their donuts are always fresh and they have a great selection from which to choose, I like crème-filled donuts and their Bavarian crème filled ones are excellent. So, they get the number one position. Number two and moving up fast is just a mile down the road from me at Windmill Bakery. Believe it or not, it is a bakery inside of a Marathon gas station. There was a bakery in the same spot many years again and the donuts were pretty good but for what ever reason, they quit making donuts there about ten years ago. This summer, obviously someone new took over the place and totally rehabbed the place and they are making some delicious donuts. I’m having one as I type this. I really hope they succeed and I think they will because you have to get there early for product. I still haven’t gotten there early enough to get donut holes. Their selection is still somewhat limited but they are doing a great job of getting the business up and running and are nice people to deal with. 

Evansville folks were really excited when Parlour Donuts opened up and so were we. We stopped there a few times. My opinion though is that they are too expensive for what you get and I don’t like paying for reputation. As a friend of mine once said, atmosphere and reputation don’t have a lot of taste. 

When I was serving the churches up in Ft. Branch, I used to go to their little donut place. I don’t know if it is still in operation or not but they had good donuts. I used to pick up some to take to our Wednesday morning Bible Study and never got to take any leftovers home. If you live up there, check it out; it’s on Main Street I think. 

I’m also a fan of picking up the occasional donuts of cinnamon roll at our local grocery stores that have in store bakeries. Schnucks has some great crème-filled Long John’s although they have kept the same price and shortened the size of the product. “Not fair Schnucks!!!!!”

That’s my tutorial on local donuts. Maybe I’ll do one on ice cream places although everyone knows I’m partial to Cold Stone above all other and then Dairy Queen How fortunate for me that there is a Dairy Queen located next door to Windmill Donuts!!!!!!

It was 53 degrees when I got up this morning but the sun is shining. This is a gym day but my exercise is going to be had pulling weeds and mowing/mulching up leaves today. We’re supposed to get up to 73 today. That’s perfect. 

Having said all of that, I hope you have a blessed day. Peace. 

 Well of course it’s raining. I am supposed to have a contractor coming this morning to do some work. I contracted several, maybe three, months ago for a company called Acculevel to come and raise up the concrete of my back sidewalk and patio. We had a date set and they called in late August to reschedule because they didn’t have a crew available for the day planned. So, they wanted to set one of the days from two weeks ago but that wasn’t good because we would be on vacation. So, we agreed on today. Of course, as you know, we have been in a drought situation and the weather has been perfect up until today. I haven’t heard from them yet today and maybe they can work in the rain, but ——— I reckon we will see what happens. Speaking of which, they just pulled up. And as I suspected, they can’t pour foam in the rain and standing water. Another reschedule is coming. On the other hand, Lord, I thank you for the rain. It will settle the dust and I can mulch up the leaves in my yard tomorrow or Thursday. It will also soften the ground so I can pull up the sunflowers in my flowerbeds and also all the other stuff that needs removal from those beds. 

Yesterday we had an exercise in frustration with Spectrum and Hulu. We had been watching some shows on Hulu and suddenly we could get it This was before we went on vacation. So yesterday we went to Spectrum to see what the problem was since Hulu is part of our plan. Well, the good news is that after a review of our Spectrum plan we saved ourselves about $60.00 a month and they gave us written instruction on how to activate Hulu again. We went to lunch (nice lunch at Texas Roadhouse) and went home to watch Hulu. Nothing we did got us on Hulu/Disney. (They are bundled together through Spectrum)  Eventually Ms. Kate called Spectrum and talked to someone who very patiently walked us through the process. How nice to actually be able to talk to a human.  But it took a good three hours from start to finish. Technology is great ——- when it works. 

Ms. Kate has a mammogram this morning at 11:00. I hope it quits raining by then. She won’t have to walk in the rain because I’ll drop her at the door and then go park and wait. I’m a professional when it comes to waiting. LOL. 

Ms. Kate and I have made one lifestyle change this year. We have joined Planet Fitness and try to go to the gym three days a week. We do a 30-45 minute workout. I think it has helped us both and is improving heart health for us. She had to go to Heart Therapy last year and decided that she liked doing it, so we decided to continue with it. It helps my breathing and I’m sure helps strengthen our hearts. Getting old takes work if you want to continue getting old. 

That’s it for today. I pray God will fully bless your day and bring peace to your life. 

 Welcome back me. I know it has been months since I last wrote. I want to thank those of you who have inquired as to my absence from the blog. I truly do appreciate you concern and caring. You might recall I was having problems with the site and just quit trying to mess with it. But, I’m going to give it another try with intent this time. 

Ms. Kate and I have had a great year so far in 2025. It would appear that most of the health problems Ms. Kate had for 2023 and 2024 are finally under control and she is doing very well. I can’t say enough about the power of our Lord God and the power of all of your prayers. My health continues to be excellent with the exception of some aggravating arthritis in my left knee. I guess you have to expect that when your life calendar reads 81 years old. But, a visit to the orthopedic doctor and a few weeks of therapy has that under control combined with a shot in my knee. We will hope it continues to behave itself. 

I am 98% retired which means I fill in for a vacationing pastor when asked and have only done that three times this year so far. And —— admittedly, I do miss it. I was asked by the pastor at my former parish to fill in one Sunday and it felt like a homecoming. I do love spreading the Gospel. 

It’s a rainy afternoon and I really glad. It is supposed to be raining again tomorrow so no weed pulling or mowing tomorrow. We have been in a drought situation so a little rain is welcome. It’s almost time to clean up all of the flower beds and maybe even the tomatoes. There are still a lot of green tomatoes on the plants but not much seems to be ripening and what does develops “bottom rot”. But, if you followed me on Facebook, you know that I had a really great tomato season. I started them from seeds and they really grew. 

Ms. Kate and I just got home Saturday from visiting my daughter Lisa and her family in North Carolina and then went to Colonial Williamsburg for three days. We are contemplating another trip, this time to Biloxi, MS at the end of October. We haven’t made any firm plans yet. If not then, our next “firm plan” is to Sieverville TN in June of 2026 for a full family reunion. We already have the place rented. 

Okay that’s a start. Y’all have a wonderful evening. Stay in touch with God. Peace. 

 I am going to try this one more time. I have been having a heck of a time with my blogging site. I write a blog and when I go to publish it, it just disappears. If it happens again today, I’ll have to call in my favorite techie, aka Julie and see what the heck is going on. 

Like most of the country, we have snow on the ground and the weather sucks. We had two winter storms last week which resulted in me having to clear my driveway twice. Thank goodness for the John Deere and for Jim for coming over and putting the blade on before this stuff started. I’m not sure but I think all totaled we had nine inches of snow and a layer of ice for good measure. There are trees everywhere with broken branches laying on the ground including in my back yard. By now, we have had enough “warm” weather to at least have melted all of the snow and ice off of the trees. However with the temperatures staying way below freezing most of the time, this snow will be here for awhile. 

Ms. Kate is doing very well with her cardiac therapy. I’m very proud of her. Next week I think she has her followup Echocardiogram and hopefully it will show us that her blood output has improved and maybe she can get out of the portable defibrillator. She had an appointment with her Nephrologist last week and got a good report from her. All positive things. 

The birds and squirrels have just about depleted everything from the feeders, even all of the stuff that they had left to get old. When I can get out there I will have a big job refilling everything. 

Okay, I’m going to try to publish this thing. Wish me luck. Peace.