Happy Wednesday friends and blog readers. This is the last day of August and it might just bring us a few showers today. The sky is a bit over cast this morning and the temp is already 80 degrees. The air is still outside and other than a couple of finches and hummingbirds, the back yard is empty at the buffet this morning. It will pick up, I'm sure. I'm about thirty minutes early for the cardinals to come flying in.

We are back to routine around here which of course means that since it is Wednesday, we'll go to the church and run the bulletins for Sunday's services. Our summer schedule of combined worship services has ended and we go back to two services again and a Sunday school. It has been nice have full churches though over the summer. I don't know if they will do that next year or not. I guess that will depend on the wishes of the churches and their new pastor. But, the congregations seemed to really enjoy it. But ---- it won't be my worry. Tonight we also begin choir practice for a new season. Ms. Kate and I will go for a few more weeks. The choir only sings once a month, so at the most, she and I will only be singing with them three more times. That is just another one of those things that we are slowly getting to the "last time we'll do this". We'll miss it. On a good day we only have twelve members of the choir. Now with Ms. Kate and I leaving, and another couple of the members being sick, they are going to get small quick. But --- you know what? If they will just do it --- they can provide good worship music and praise to the Lord regardless of how many people they have. The biggest problem is convincing people of their capabilities and getting them to look beyond their limitations.

Ms. Kate made some fresh peach freezer jam last night. I need to get that put in the freezer this morning assuming I can make room. For it. We went to the orchard yesterday and picked up a peck of peaches and a bag of apples. However, if we are going to make more jelly, and stuff, we need to go to the store and get more sugar today. I wouldn't be upset if a peach pie or two appeared on the kitchen table either.

Ms. Lauren, our motocross rider made it to Michigan with her dad and she is enjoying a week of doing some sight-seeing in the area of the racetrack. She is still healing so she needs to get some rest. And she has her stationary bicycle with her to exercise on for a while each day. I talked to her dad last night and she says she is ready foro the race this coming weekend. Then they will head back to California.

My cup is empty and as I predicted --- the cardinals have arrived, bringing along some of their other friends with them. Time to just sit for a bit and enjoy what God has made. I hope you have a great day. Don't get so busy that you forget to stop and give thanks to God who has made all of the blessings in your life possible. We should never get so wrapped up in ourselves that gratitude to God is a forgotten element in our lives. Peace.

Hello Tuesday! It's nice to see you this morning. The sun is bright, no rain in the forecast and it is 79 degrees already this morning. It will be a hot one today and the humidity will be on the rise for today too. But better stuff is coming down the pipeline for the four day Labor Day weekend. Assuming I get my work done, Ms. Kate and I just might run over to Louisville to PF Chang's restaurant for lunch on Friday. Then we can drop by Julie's house and see her new puppy. Out of respect for our house and us, she's not bringing it to our house until it is house-broken, and I appreciate that. But --- that don't mean we can't go there and pet its floppy head.

 Julie has just finished "rush" season once again at the college bookstore that she manages. But now --- her favorite season of the year; Halloween is upon us and she works her proverbial off haunting at the Baxter Avenue Morgue Haunted House. She has been doing this for several years and looks so forward to it. Certainly she is the "Grand Dame" of the cast and is a looked up to mentor to all of the young kids that come to be in the haunting cast. The fact that the place is an actual old morgue with a dark history, and the fact that it is actually haunted only adds to the flavor and fun. Julie has been pushed several times by things that were not there or seen. That all starts on the 2nd of September and runs through the end of October.  She goes home from a haunt both exhausted and exillerated.

It has been a busy morning at the buffet this morning. I've had lots of birds and a couple of pesky squirrels. Then a hawk came in and just sat up in the poplar tree for awhile. It let everything settle back down and a few birds came back in. One sparrow made the mistake of landing on the ground below one of the feeders and it became hawk breakfast just that quick. That hawk swooped down and never slow down as it grabbed that sparrow off of the ground and flew off. The circle of life continues; some times you eat breakfast and some times you are breakfast. I didn't fill up any feeders yesterday with the exception of the hummer feeders. There is plenty of food out there for them. This morning though, I did go out and water the planters and clean out the birdbath and re-fill them with clean water. I was surprised at how dry the planters had become. The plants were looking pretty wilted. It is interesting though how quickly those plants will look fresh again no matter how bad they looked. All it usually take is a little water. It's pretty much the same as what prayer does for me. No matter how I might feel, a little prayer will perk me right back up.

I have work to do and coffee to finish so I better get on it. I offer up prayers for those who "sit in the sunroom" with me and read my scribbles. May God send blessings your way each and every day.

I have lived most of the past fifty years with my measuring of time by event or "suspenses" for things to get done. For the past several months one of the big events that loomed on the calendar and we all looked forward to was Lauren and Heather coming to Indiana so Lauren could race. Well, that time came slowly and then got here and passed entirely too quickly. She did the race yesterday; -- we had a great representation from Ms. Kate's side of the family and we all drove the 175 miles up to Crawfordsville and watched her race. She did well. If she finishes in the top ten, we figure it to be a good ride and she did. The top four finishers in the WMX races are always the top four finishers in the races so we felt good about her performance.  Now, she and her dad are on the way to Michigan for their next race next weekend and the rest of us are back home and back to our daily routines. After she finishes Michigan, I think she may bow out of the last three races as they are all on the east coast, and Lauren lives in California.

I'm seeing a lot of empty feeders out there this morning including the hummingbird feeders being almost empty again. We'll have to do something about that after while. Last night after we got home, I was sitting here in the sunporch relaxing and playing Bingo on my IPad when I saw something moving outside just the ther side of the door. I went over and checked and it was a cut little black with white stripes critter and no it wasn't Sylvester the cat. It was a small skunk and it was cleaning up residue under the bird feeders that other critters had dropped. Needless to say, I did not bother it. It wasn't bothering me and I wasn't about to bother it. I can just imagine opening the door, scaring it, and filling the house with skunk oder. No, thank you very much.  -----  I took a break and went out and filled the Hummingird feeders. Ms. Kate mixed up two batches, one for each feeder. The ant guards were dry and of course the red ants had clogged up the ports of one of the feeders. So, I cleaned it all up and put water in the guards. The little buzz wings should be happy once again. Old Fuss-a-lot the bluejay has been here most of the morning. He fusses, he eats, and he fusses some more. It is missing a lot of its feathers around its neck. I don't know if it has something wrong with it or what, but it looks like a small buzzard in stead of a bluejay when it stretches it neck out to reach some food.

I'm still on vacation for the next couple of days but I got some stuff that needs doing for the churches so we'll do little, take a nap -- repeat! LOL  With that, I will finish up my coffee and get ready for the day to begin. I give God thanks for this goriest weekend and the fact that our kiddos drove the 2100 miles or so with no accidents or incidents. I will pray for that to continue as they do this next race and then head back to CA.

May God grant you a day with nothing but good things and the strength to handle the things that may not be as good. Peace.

Friday has gotten here and Heather and Lauren are slowly getting their stuff together to reload the van. They didn't spread out very much so it won't take them too long. It's more about showers and hair dryers and make-up than it is packing. Although Lauren has a "certain way" that stuff needs to go in the van. The van is huge. It is a Dodge Pro-Master 1500 and they fill it with all of their gear, two motorcycles, and a mountain bike for her to use as a fitness trainer.

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And now it is Saturday. We got busy around here and I had to leave the blog and get other things done and just never got back to you. Sorry.

The kids did get packed and on the road. They only had an hour and a half to travel yesterday because they were only going as far as Julie's house. But they made it safely and by all accounts and pictures I've seen this morning, they've had a good visit.  Julie has the two dogs and I guess Lauren hasn't left them alone for a moment. She was so looking forward to playing and snuggling with their new puppy.

It is a cloudy morning and we had a pretty good little thunderstorm about 0200 hrs. It is supposed to be scattered rain etc through the weekend. We are heading to Crawfordsville, IN later today. We will meet Heather and Lauren up there this afternoon. Lauren has a big race up there tomorrow which was the purpose of this trip. There are about a dozen members of the family that are  going to the race. Unfortunately, Crawfordsville is in the path north of us to get the rain and storms after they have passed through here. We are all hoping it won't be too wet during the race. I don't think they would cancel the race, but it would sure be miserable for both riders and spectators.

I see the birds have emptied several feeders up here by the sunporch again. They will just have to deal with what is there until I get back home tomorrow evening . This morning I have other things to get done such as packing a quick over night bag and putting some stuff in the car for the trip. We did fill the hummingbird feeders again yesterday so they are good to go. And --- all of the other feeders around in the yard are fairly full.

I hope you have a most blessed weekend and if it isn't a sunny day outside --- get in touch with God, it will brighten your day regardless. Peace.

Thursday afternoon, 91 degrees and sunny. The humidity will suck the life out of you if you are out side for very long. I spent some time out there this morning. I got the trimming done and the yards all mowed. It looks a lot better around here again. 

The bad thing about this being Thursday is that Heather and Lauren are going to be leaving tomorrow and heading over to Julie and Jim's house. Then we'll meet up with them on Saturday up in Crawfordsville where she is going to run her races on Sunday. Lauren's dad will fly in on Saturday evening and them after the races Lauren and her dad will be heading off to Michigan where she will race next weekend and Heather will fly back home on Sunday. It is a short but much loved visit. This evening we are meeting for supper at the Log Inn with Ms. Kathy's side of the family. They all plan to go to the races on Sunday too. We had Lauren Woods team shirts made so we should be a good looking fan club on Sunday at the races. I'm really hoping the weather holds out and we don't have storms on Sunday. That would be miserable for all concerned. This will be the first time that the family has had a chance to see her race in person and everybody is excited about it. 

We've had a wonderful visit with these two though. Just a lot of gabbing and eating and more gabbing. Yesterday we did a little running around and picked up a trainer stand for Lauren to attach to her mountain bike for exercising. It took her and me awhile to get it assembled and placed on her bike. It wasn't hard --- we just didn't know what we were doing. LOL And --- we even read the directions several times. 

I've had to fill bird feeders two days in a row. I can't believe how quickly the hummingbirds empty these feeders. But the fact that we are getting more hummingbirds far outweighs the cost of a little sugar water.  I'm sending one of the hummerbar feeders back to CA with Heather. They have a lot of hummingbirds all the time. When we were out there for the wedding, I'd sit out in their outdoor area and the hummingbirds would come up and buzz right infront of your face and then fly off. When we lived out there back in the early 90's, they woud do the same thing when we would be sitting out on our porch. It used to really tickle my grandson Josh, who was just a kid then. 

Well, if I hurry, I can get in a quick power nap before I have to take people to dinner. I hope your evening is a good one. Peace.

I'm a happy camper this morning! Heather and Lauren, (daughter and granddaughter) arrived last night from California. They made the trip in three days which yes, can be done; but it wears your tail out! Lauren did all of the driving which puts her in superstar range. They got in last night about 2130 hrs. Bless Lauren's heart, the first thing she wanted was ice for her shoulder since she is still recovering from her injury. But it is so wonderful to have them here.

Our beautiful "fall-like" days for the past three days have become memory and the heat and humidity have become to climb back to August standards. The heat index is going back up to three digit range.

I'm officially on vacation although I have to finish up some last minute details from my Monday funeral. The widow had given me a small piece of paper with some scripture verses on it that were favorites of her husband. What I didn't know was that he had written those verses on that piece of paper himself at some point and so that little piece of paper was important to her. Her daughter called me yesterday and wondered if I still had it. I did, although I had t pull it back out of my waste basket. So, I'll run that over to her this morning some time. It is interesting what little things will become of utmost importance when we lose someone.

I think I may mow today and I also need to get my little electric chain saw out and cut up a couple of limbs that have fallen. I'll maybe ask Lauren to help me with it. That would be cool. Right now we are just sitting around gabbing and chilling. Lauren is still sound asleep and I'm glad she is getting a good night's sleep. After driving 2100 miles in thee days; --- she's beat.

So, my comments are short for the next few days. I have some great company to talk to for the next couple of days and don't want to miss a minute of it.

Have a blessed day my friends and Go with God!

I'm sorry I missed you yesterday. It was one of those busy days and I just didn't get around to writing. But I got some good stuff done anyway.

My morning started off with doing a funeral. A lifetime friend from my home church passed away on Friday night and the family called me and asked if I would do his funeral. Of course I said "yes". I have known the man for 67 years and he was a positive influence in my life. How could I not give up some time and do his funeral? So, much of my weekend was dedicated to preparing for that including a Sunday afternoon visitation at the funeral home. There was a large turnout for the funeral and it was also good to see folks from my home church again. I don't know if we will return to that church when I retire at the end of November or not. The church has changed a lot since I left it They had a pastor a couple of years ago that really was an ill fit for the church and the result was a bunch of in-fighting and many of the people my age left the church. They have had an interim at the church for the past two years but I understand her term is up in January and I don't know what their plans are.

I filled twenty feeders yesterday. I had to clean some of them up because residue had built up in them and the seeds weren't able to come out. Ms. Kate and I also cleaned up the birdbaths so they are full of fresh clean water. There have been a lot of visitors to them this morning. We also had to refill the hummingbird feeders because they were empty. We have a steady three and possibly a fourth one now. The amount of buzzing around that goes on here is so much fun to watch.

Speaking of watching it ---- it is easier to do today. I cleaned five of the sunporch windows on the outside that had really gotten bad from dirt and rain splashing on them and the occasional bird poop getting on the. This morning the picture is clearer than it has been all summer.

Sunday we had a wonderful crowd at church --- over eighty people. I know that because we made eighty bulletins and we ran out. That is a great problem to have.  We had an infant baptism and that usually brings in a few more folks. I love doing infant baptisms, I said that before. The baby was good through it and only fussed a little bit, and then settled down in my arms as I walked the aisle with it to introduce it to it's new faith family.

Ms. Kate and I have several things to get done today. Heather and Lauren are still on the road and heading this way. They spent last night on Goodland KS. They should spend one more night on the road and come in tomorrow. However, they might in fact drive straight through and get her tonight. That would put them about sixteen hours of driving today including getting through Kansas City and St. Louis. I really hope they will stop tonight. But, --- I also know the stubborn will of the two of them. So --- send prayers up for their safe travels please.

The work won't get done with me sitting here so I better get out of the recliner and get to it. I hope your day is fully blessed. God gave me another day on earth today so my day has already been blessed. Take a few minutes today and stop and count your blessings and give thanks for them. Peace.