And a blessed Wednesday afternoon to you. The office hours are done, lunch has been had and now I thought I’d try to throw in a short blog before we have to get built again. Tonight of course is the Lenten Wednesday meal and Bible Study. So that doesn’t leave a lot of time in between.

It is another rainy day and tomorrow will be about the same. We should pick up about an inch more on top of what we’ve had. It is really sloppy to try to walk around in the yard. I had to take some stuff out to the compost barrel awhile ago  and it was high stepping and watching where you walk out there. I don’t need to muddy up my “church shoes” or be bringing mud in the house.

I went to the Boeard of Christian Education meeting and was pleasantly surprised by their answers to my questions. I was concerned ton owif they have an actual plan for faith development or not. Well, they may not have a written plan. (Which would still be a good idea) it they seem to have a good handle on the teaching of our youth the fundamentals of Christianity. They are enthusiastic about it and that is key to a successful program.

I went to Wild Birds Unlimited yesterday afternoon and spent $115.00 on filling up my larder of bird food stuff. Unfortunately nothing was on sale either. But, I have enough to last for maybe three weeks now. I also refilled feeders and changed things around as to location. I like to keep it changing. I’ll really be glad when the ground finally fries out and I can clean up all of the residual seed and hulls that are on the ground out there. It kills the grass and obviously the dang mole like to dig under there and eat too. It really make for a mess. I keep my emptied sunflower sacks just for that purpose. I put all of the crud back in them and then put it in the garbage cans. I don’t want it in my compost piles.

That is about enough for today. I need to go downstairs and do some work in my office. I hope your personal day is going brighter than my weather. If not —- just say a prayer and let in a little “Son-shine”. Peace.

And God said, “Let there be light. And there was light”. And we call it a beautiful Tuesday morning. It is cool, (44 degrees) but there isn’t any wind so that will help. But, it is so nice to see the sunshine after the days of rain that we had.

I ventured out into the yard yesterday afternoon and filled some of the feeders; I think I told you that last evening. I still have some more to fill and unfortunately I have to go to Wild Birds and restock again. I’m out of several items again that they rely on. I especially need to get some bark butter bits and some more bark butter paste. I bought four tubs of it last time I was there and I opened up the last one yesterday. I’m out of thistle seed for the finches and I’m out of seed cakes and seed cylinders of my different varieties. This will be an expensive trip. I need to put out five of my suet cakes and that will just about deplete my supply of those. Luckily, they are a lot less expensive.

I noticed my new tulip bed is starting to sprout up. The first of the leaves are pushing through. If they all come up, I should have about sixty new trips blooming out front. The main flower bed I have here in the back yard is really looking good. The daffodils are coming up nicely. The tulips and the lilies are also doing well. The pussy willow tree is putting out lots of buds and should be in bloom soon. My buddy Bob called me last night and asked if I wanted some saw dust to put on my asparagus. I told him I’d pick some up from hm on Friday. I called sister-in-law Karen and asked her if she wanted me to get her some too and she said yes. I think Bod has it already on his truck but he keeps his truck in the garage so it won’t get wet when it starts raining tonight and tomorrow. The area is supposed to get yet another half to an inch and a half of rain between now and Thurday. All indications are that we are truly headed into spring.

Tonight is the Board of Christian Education meeting at church. It will be my first one and I am planning to be there and maybe get an idea what approach they are taking to their program. It all seems a little uncoordinated to me but maybe it is just what they want. I don’t want to try to fix something that isn’t broke but I also don’t want us to be “just doing something” and not expanding our Biblical knowledge. So, I’ll need to ask some questions.

It’s time for more coffee and I think I’ll get a Bob Evan’s breakfast bowl out of the freezer and have breakfast. Those thing are darn good. I wish for you a most glorious day. Peace

Happy fifty-second anniversary to Ms. Kate and me. It is hard to believe it has been fifty-two years since that beautiful young girl walked down the aisle of St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, took my hand and  agreed before God’s altar to become my wife. We swore til death do us part, and that is exactly what we meant. Fortunately, she hasn’t decided to “death me” just yet. But wow; we have had some great adventures, traveled thousands of miles, raised a geat family, and as far as we know; —- there is no end in sight. I would be thrilled to be sitting here in ten years repeating this blog.

The flooding rains have stopped until some time tomorrow evening or so says the weather dude. I have not heard how much we actually got but suspect it was around seven inches. This has been the wettest February in recorded history for this area with nine and a half inches. The rivers have all swollen way beyond flood stage. Roads around the area are washed away. Fortunately for us, we had no severe weather but just 100 miles south they had several tornadoes. In the mean time, I have friends who were going through blizzard conditions up in the northwest part of the country. Weather is indeed a wild ride.

I have some happy cardinals and woodpeckers at the moment. I’ve waited most of the day to fill feeders just because the yard was too muddy to walk around in. But, I did go out and fill several of them and it only took moments for them to fly in. There were birds in the bushes as I filled them and they were putting the word out that the buffet has been restocked. I see at least six cardinals out there right now. They need to be discreet or the squirrels will find out and then they will have to fight for space.

I went for office hours this morning and then waas going to go do some visitation at one of the nursing homes but the receptionist told me that they were recommending that we didn’t do visitation because so many of the residents had the flu etc. So, I left my business card so my parishioner would know I had been there and cared about him.

After I got home from the office, Ms. Kate and I went out to one of our favorite restaurants for lunch as a celebration of our anniversary. I had a delicious prime rib sandwich and baked potato. The restaurant provided us a piece of “Turtle Pie” that was fabulous.

Time to watch the evening news. I hope your evening goes well and that you get a good nights rest  and wake up ready to greet God’s world tomorrow. Peace.

Rain, rain, and more rain. I thought maybe it hadn’t rained at all last night because I hadn’t heard it. But it was pouring when I got up at 0645 and has been raining on and off ever since. Thank goodness I have good sump pumps. They have been working steady all morning. The radar shows a bit of a lull coming but then by this afternoon the final push of this thing is supposed to come through with severe weather in tow. I pray for no tornadoes and that every one remains safe.

I’ve spent much of my morning so far “talking” to my girls via Facebook Messenger. As far as I’m concerned, Messenger is the best thing about social media. Our family has a chat group we call The Committee and we have conversation that runs several times a day and has for maybe three years now. All four girls, their husbands, Ms. Kate and I and oldest grandson, Josh, just chime in whenever we feel like it. It is the closest we can come to all being together since we are physically spread coast to coast.

I saw a mouse in my garage last night. That is only the second mouse I have seen in the sixteen years we have lived here. I had mouse traps years ago but I have no idea where they might be, So, I’m heading to the hardware store today to get some poison bait. The rain probably drove this little guy in but he is uninvited. We had a mouse problem years ago when we lived in Collinsville, IL. We had had a wet spring and they moved in out of the woods. I thought we would never quit killing mice. So, I don’t want to let them get a stronghold in there. It’s bad enough that we have moles, voles, and squirrels; I don’t need another rodent variety.

I have a couple of frustrated squirrels out there at the buffet. One keeps trying to get into a particular feeder and can’t figure out haw to get the lid off of it. Well, the lid is tight for one thing, but it is also sitting on the lid so that doesn’t help its cause. The other squirrel keeps coming over to the 20 gallon garbage can that I have full od sunflower seed. It keeps trying to figure out how to get in there. I find it a little difficult to get the lid off of that can so I know it will never get in there; but it is entertains to watch. Squirrel number one is now hanging from a limb by his toenails trying to grab the wire handle of the feeder and pull it up and over the hook it is on. They are smart critters.

Tomorrow is Sunday and it is my week to give the sermon. I’m well ready for it and in fact, I finished my sermon for the 11th of March now too. Next I need to start working on my Palm Sunday abdEaster Sunday messages. Once Holy Week is over, life will smooth out until Christmas.

That’s about it for today and for this week. Hopefully next week will be drier and sunnier. I pray your weekend will be blessed and full of happiness. Peace.

It is almost 2:00 pm and I’m just getting around to the blog. We’ve had a busy morning. Ms. Kate had a doctor’s appointment this morning so that took up a fair amount of our time. Then we went by the cemetery to check on flowers . Most of them were gone. I don’t know if people took them or the wind blew them away. Unfortunately I think they were taken. Kate’s family’s plot are right by the main entrance road and we have lost a lot of flowers and tomb sone decorations over the years. How pathetic is that? What kid of low-life steals flowers off of someone’s grave to put on their loved ones grave? We’ve had news stories over the years about people that go and steal little plush animals off of the graves of children. That would take some sorry kind of individual to do that.

After we went to the cemetery we went out to St. Joe Inn for our monthly “Schrooms & beer” with Brenda and Bob. It was great to sit and visit with them. Brenda and her husband Andy have been busy with the farm. They have been having theft problems of a serious nature. Someone has been stealing their hogs. A month ago, someone butchered one of their hogs right their in the hog pen during the night. They had killed it, gutted it and left all of the entrails their in the pen and carried off the carcass. Then a couple of weeks later, some one got in there and stole one. Sunday, someone stole ten of their market ready hogs. They live out where few people come buy and the hog pen is maybe a quarter mile from their house so they don’t hear the ruckus. I advised them to ring that hog lot with trail cameras so they can catch the sorry so and so’s. That is a good $2000.00 worth of live stock tha they have lost.

Our rain has been on and off still. It finally quit about 0600 this morning or was at least down to a light rain. But we are expecting it to pick up again this afternoon and then rain most of the night. Tomorrow we are now under and “enhanced” chance for severe weather. I’ll be glad when this storm system is over. I think we will have picked up about five inches of rain by Sunday morning. The flooding has started and there are many roads closed due to the flooding. Unfortunately there are always idiots that are just sure they can make it through and they end up having to be recused or sometimes they end up drowning. Too many people just think the rules don’t apply to them.

I have several empty bird feeders now but I’m not going to do anything with them until the rain and weather stuff is all over. Lord knows there is enoughseed on the ground to feed the birds and squirrels for a month.

That’s it for today. If you are in the path of the weather that we are having; keep your eye on the weather and your severe storm plan in your mind. Be safe. Peace.

Cloudy and grey, forty three degrees. But not raining —- at the moment. It has rained most of the night though and the ground is soaked. It is supposed to rain yet more tonight and on through Saturday into Sunday morning. I haven’t seen the critters lining up two by two just yet, but then we’re on the high ground. Around the area, communities are already having to close roads due to flooding. By Sunday morning we could have another three plus inches of rain. Yesterday I unplugged and cleaned the electric bird bath for the next couple of seasons. I’m pretty sure our hard freezing days are over until December. After I cleaned the bird bath, I just left it empty because I figured we’d get enough rain to fill it up. Sure enough, it is full to the brim this morning with fresh clean rain water.

Congratulations to our oldest daughter, Julie, and her husband Jim as they celebrate their thirty second wedding anniversary today. That hardly seems possible and yet they have a thirty year old son so I guess it is true. On Monday, Ms. Kate and I will celebrate our fifty second wedding anniversary. God has been exceptionally good to all of us.

Last night we had our church Lenten meal and Bible study. Instead of Bible study, our couple finished up their presentation on their trip to the Holy Land. They had some very interesting slides and their trip gave them some very interesting and often times humbling experiences. I remember my tour of duty to the middle of the country of Turkey. The land was basically bare  of population, itwas short grass covered , and rocky and hilly. There were often shepherds out with their sheep just they had been doing for millennia. The Apostle Paul had walked that land two thousand years ago  and it was easy to imagine either the Roman Empire armies or the Ottoman Empire Armies marching over the hills on conquest. Frankly, life in that region of Turkey had not changed much since then. The homes were still made of mud brick. Fruits still lay on flat roof tops to dry, Wool rugs were stil being loomed by hand and laid out on the parched dirt to season. It was a good tour of duty.

Most of my bird feeders are still over half full which is a good thing. I do have to fill the thistle seed feeder for the finches today. But, I’m not having an abundance of birds with this weather the way it is. This morning I’ve had a few cardinals and goldfinches but that is about it. But, — it is still early. I was up at 0615 today so everything is early today.

Ms. Kate plans to make one of my favorite desserts today that isn’t an apple pie. It is a pudding dessert we call Lemon Lush. She made the chocolate version to take to the chuch dinner last might and they ate very bit of it.

Time to refill the coffee cup. I pray your day will be filled with love and joy. Share your blessings. God didn’t send them to you to hoard. Peace.

Light showers fall gently on the roof of the sunporch. My backyard buffet guests are all starlings and one squirrel at the moment. That’s fine, I’m sure the rest of the gusts have been here and had their fill for the time being anyway.

It is 1300 hrs and I got home from the church for our Wednesday morning staff meeting, and we had lunch. I’ve said it before but it still feels a bit strange having office hours and a staff to coordinate with. It’s just the three of us, Pastor Art, Karen the secretary and me, but I haven’t done any “staff coordination” since 2001 when I was the Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff for the Joint Task For Civil Support at Ft. Monroe, VA. That was an every morning event and it was burdensome to the rest of the staff and me. But, the Commander was an Army Major General and that was the way he wanted it, —- so, I made it happen.

Despite the rain showers, I put a couple of strip streaks on the grill for lunch while Ms. Kate boiled up some potatoes. It made for an excellent lunch. Tonight we will be having supper at the church. During Lent we have a Lenten meal and Bible study on Wednesday nights. Each group or Sunday school class takes a Wednesday and sponsors it for the main entree’ and then all other comers bring either a dessert or salad or veggie as needed. Tonight we rate having fried chicken. Ms. Kate and I are assigned to bring a dessert so she is making what we call Chocolate Lush. A lot of people make it and call it by different names. The program for tonight is being done by the folks that gave the Holy Land presentation Sunday. This will be the conclusion to their briefing.

I told you yesterday that I was going to maybe clean up the back yard from all of the twigs and branches etc that has fallen over the winter. I was hoping that at some point I would get an inspiration  for a sermon that I was trying to work on. Well, I got the yard looking great —- but was still without an idea. However, —- last evening it hit me and I started writing. But —- one of the great things that happened was that I posted something about this on my FB page and I got several ideas from people based upon my cleaning the yard. What’s neat about that is that it shows that as Christians, we really can be a Community of Believers, regardless of our specific denomination. God is indeed still speaking.

I would ask today that you pray for our nation and its leadership. Some of you did and some of you did not vcote for President Trump; but, —-regardless, he needs our prayers as do all of our leaders. And I would also pray that we may become better citizens and learn to work together.

Have a blessed day. Peace.