Welcome back to fall and a couple nice “summer days”. It’s a damp 47 degrees this morning which is certainly not the worst it could be, but enough to be uncomfortable. But, I have outside stuff to do today so I hope it hurries up and warms up a bit, although it is only going to about 62 today. 

Yesterday I finally got off of my duff and went to Lowes and bought the blocks and lumber and peat moss and a bag of soil and horse manure and set up my new raised bed. It should not have been as involved as it turned out to be but —- it is what it is. I had made up my mind that I was going to go to the Lowes on the east side of town because I was Ted to surprise Ms. Kate and go to Mike Libs candy store and get some caramel apples for her. She loves those silly things. So I started out there but when I got there, they had none. So, I decided to go to his brother’s place, Stephen Lib’s, and see if they had any. For those who don’t know, Mike Libs is the “poor brother” of the family. He’s a great guy but has had to constantly move to find a place for his business. He’s been in his current location for several years now. It isn’t “fancy” but he does a good business and the prices are reasonable. Stephen Libs has the “fancy” place and has been in his location for years. His prices are high but he has a much larger selection of chocolates and candies. For instance, had Mike had the caramel apples yesterday, they would have been a little smaller and would have cost about $4.00 each. My bill yesterday would have been about $12.00. However, at Stephen’s palace, the apples are slightly larger but they charge by the pound. I ended up paying $30 for three apples. But, the season is short, and Ms. Kate loves her caramel apples, so it is worth it to me. But, back to my story. ——

I got my apples and then I went to Lowes. They didn’t have what I needed. So, I came home, gave Ms. Kate her apples, and grabbed a bite to eat before heading out again to the Lowes on the west side of town. I picked up my garden blocks that I needed, a bale of peat moss, and a bag of soil and hose manure, paid for that and then drove down to the other end of the store to get my lumbar. 2x12x 8ft are heavy and of course they were up high. I could reach a couple but one of them was warped. So I went to the service desk and asked if I could get some help. They called for someone and I went back to the section and waited, and waited and waited. I only need a total of four boards and finally a young lady showed up and between us, we got the boards down and on my cart. I told her that I need two of the boards cut in half and she said she would call somebody to run the saw and do that. I went on back to the millwright section and waited, and waited, and waited for at least thirty more minutes. They had made a total of five announcements for someone to come back there before someone finally showed up and did the two minutes worth of work that was required. 

I got home, unloaded the truck and got the raised bed put together. It was threatening thunderstorm and the sky was black but —- God held the rain and storm off until I got the last of the peat moss raked out. Thank you very much God. Today, I’m going to rake up a lot of these leaves and put down a really good layer of leaves in that bed to serve as much over the winter. Once I have that done, I will go buy my Miracle -Gro garden soil and put that in. It will settle over the winter but will be ready for planting come spring. 

That was my yesterday, and my plans for today. I hope your day is full blessed and I pray that you have a marvelous weekend. Peace. 

 Bright sunshine with a breeze today and already 67 degrees and going up to about 85 today. I think it will be a great day to go stand in line and vote. Early voting has been going on for a week or so and the lines are long. This years election for President of the United States is maybe one of the most contentious that we have had in years and years. The lies and the mis-information and dis-information surrounding the candidates is horrendous. Our current president is not a politician and the establishment hates him because he tends to be rude and crude and refuses to play along with long established corrupt practices. He’s running against a party that is promising free everything and they play with sympathy to very fringe group in society in order to gain votes. As a person, I probably would not choose our president as a best friend  but I think he would be a loyal friend that would look out for my best interest. Our current Vice President, from everything I know about him is a total stand-up guy with excellent morals and values. 

The opposition candidates has been in politics for 47 years, has become a multimillionaire on a government salary, was Vice President for eight years, has accomplished absolutely nothing as a senator or Vice President except to raise a lot of taxes and has chosen a running mate strictly because she is a woman and a person of color. There are a dozen corruption scandals surrounding him that the media refuses to acknowledge and he has a hard time remembering his words in front of an audience. 

Realize of course that everything I just said is my opinion and my opinion only, but it is the opinion that I will take to the polls with me. Others will think exactly the opposite of me and that is okay and that is why we vote. I pray, and I pray often that once the election is over, regardless of who wins, that this nation can come back and be one nation, under God because if we don’t, I fear there will be blood shed. So my friends, I ask you to join me in prayer for peace. I ask you to be sure and go vote. I’m sure it is obvious who I’m voting for, and I hope that if you vote differently, we can still love one another  and be Americans first, and Republican or Democrat some where down the line of of priorities. Peace my friends. 

 It is a much better looking morning out there on this Wednesday morning. The sun is shining, only a little overcast, and it is 60 degrees instead of 40+ like it has been the past couple of days. Everything is pretty well soaked though from the rain. Once it dries out, I have more leaves to rake (Oh goody). 

I have a lot of visitors at the Backyard Buffet this morning. That’s mainly because the starlings are back for breakfast. But, we are a non-discrimination establishment here and all birds are welcome. I had another hawk strike yesterday. It came through here like a WWII fighter bomber, zigging and zagging after its prey. I don’t know if it actually got anything or not because it passed out of sight and into the neighbor’s yard and trees. Odds are good though that it got the breakfast it was after. 

Yesterday morning I had to take Ms. Kate for her hair appointment and permanent. I had planned to write my blog and do some other work on my IPad while I sat there and waited in the car, but I had no internet connection. I went went over to the bank and did some banking, the to Dollar General to pick up some Halloween Candy for this Sunday afternoon’s “Trunk or Treating at the church, then stopped at Dunkin’  for some “munchkins”. Went back to the beauty shop and sat there in the car with my coffee and donuts and waited and listened to the music on my IPad. Not a bad way to spend a couple of hours.

This being Wednesday, of course you know what my plans are for the day; go to the churches and run bulletins. I’ve told you that we got new technology in the one church. We added screens to the front of the church. I sent the bulletin to the guy that runs our system and he put the announcements, prayers, hymns, and scriptures all up on the screen. Last week I made close to 50 bulletins for that church and I don’t think we used a half dozen. With everything up, people need bulletins less and less. This has been one advantage to come out of the COVID pandemic. And since I use the same service for both churches, folks from either church can listen in and watch at home. But, I still need to go run the bulletins for St. Paul’s because we don’t have any technology beyond a microphone at the pulpit. And, —- with that’s all of a congregation, there is no way it would be cost effective. I’ll still run some bulletins for St. Lucas, I just won’t run as many. 

That is about all for this day. The sun has disappeared, and the day has gotten gloomy looking. So, put a smile on your face and brighten up someone’s world. Peace. 

 How was your weekend? I hope it was filled with good things. We had a good one around here, busy, as usual, but a fairly good one. 

We did have one mishap this weekend. Ms. Kate was getting something out of the refrigerator and can of something fell out and landed on the “quick” of her big toe. I’ve had that happen before and it is painful as can be. She still cannot put a shoe on that foot and didn’t go to church yesterday. She’s walking around better but. Still is only wearing her house-slippers. I’m hoping she doesn’t lose the toenail. 

Other than that, our weekend was fairly uneventful. ( we didn’t need any more excitement than that) I got the tomato plants all pulled up and the cantaloupe vines all pulled up. Yesterday afternoon I got the tiller out and tilled the garden to get it ready to build my new raised bed that I have been talking about for a month now. I still haven’t been to Lowes to purchase any of the stuff. 

The big news I have is that my home church, Zoar, has actually called a man to be their permanent pastor. They have been in the pastoral search mode for seven years. I met him on Saturday and spent a two hours with him. He is an extremely like able guy and obviously very smart. He has a MDiv and a PhD in Theology. He did his “trial sermon” yesterday and was approved by the church at 100%. I listened to his sermon yesterday afternoon and I was impressed. It is obvious that he is very comfortable speaking and teaching and preaching. I pray he will be just as comfortable and effective as a “Pastor”. I pray it will all work out. He is currently teaching in Greece and would not move here until after the semester is over in the spring. That means that Pastor Art will continue to lead the church until then. All of this just proves to me that God might not answer every prayer immediately, but God will answer every prayer. Every assembly line has a beginning and a lot of parts need to be put together before you have a finished product. 

I need to get down to my office and get this day moving. I pry you will have a wonderful week, full of blessings and joy. Peace. 

 This will be a Thursday afternoon quick note I think. We have had a busy day so far. This morning we got and listened to the weather and decided that we needed to bring in the patio plant today. We don’t a lot of them but we bring them in every year to keep them from freezing. The plants were dry and needed watering so it ws a good time to move them Dry dirt is much lighter than wet dirt. It was supposed to rain todaay and then turn much colder and by the weekend we re supposed to have frost. So, we got busy, pulled furniture back out of the way, went out and trimmed up the plants and removed all of thee dead tree levees that had fanned on them and cleaned the flower pots off too and brought the plants in. 

Next, I got my rake and cleaned off the sidewalks and flowerbed of the bazillion leaves that have fallen in the last couple of days, raked them all out into the yard and then jumped on the John Deere and mulched the all up. We had just taken in the last flower pot when it started to drizzle rain. So, I did my raking and mulching in the rain. The advantage was that it held the dust way down. 

We came in and had a cup of coffee and Ms. Kate fixed lunch for us and then I had to go make a grocery run. We knew we needed some stuff, but when she opened up the milk to make some gravy, we discovered that the milk was expired and turning bad, the potatoes for fried potatoes weren’t all that great either so —- it was time for a trip to the grocery. One thing seems to lead to another doesn’t it? So now, it is 1600 hrs and I’m just now getting around to my blog and my other computer stuff. It is almost cardinal feeding time so I reckon sitting her will be aa good thing. The cold front brought the rain in and the temperature has dropped a good 10 degrees. My comfy chair here in the Sunporch is the perfect place to be surrounded by my flower buddies. 

That’s it for today. Stay warm, stay dry, and stay healthy. Peace. 

 It is another beautiful morning as we begin our day on the Wednesday. I’ve been sitting here awhile doing my usual morning computer (IPad) stuff and watching the leaves fall. We have gusts that come through and it literally looks like it is snowing leaves. It’s blowing them off of the trees and the roof, and the gutters, all for me to rake up and mulch up. I wonder how many levels there are on a 60 foot tree? I think the answer is: —- a lot. 

I’ve had an active Backyard Buffet this morning. I see a couple of feeders that need filling either today or tomorrow. I had a squirrel circus going on out here earlier. One of them came and literally was scratching on the bottom of my door wanting to get is. I think it was seeking refuge from another squirrel that was chasing it all over the yard and trees etc. But sorry, I’m not running a squirrel shelter here. You’re on your own buddy. There haven’t been a lot of birds here this morning, or maybe I just missed them. (I got up late today) I’ve had a couple of cardinals and wrens and woodpeckers, but that is about all. We’ve noticed that there is very little, if any, yellow left on the goldfinches. They have tuned to a brownish green. I assume they do that for camouflage reasons during the fall and winter. I have not seen a hummingbird in a week and suspect they may be gone by now. I need to put up their feeder for the season and wait for next April when they return. 

I was going to work outside yesterday but Ms. Kate reminded me that I have several sermons and services to get done before our November vacation.  So, I went down and knocked out the service and sermon for October 25th, and I have started on November 1st. I really need to work on four services and three sermons to be “caught up. By the time we get back from our vacation we’ll be looking at Thanksgiving and immediately after that, —- Advent and Christmas. Yikes!!!

I was conversing by phone with the prospective new permanent pastor for Zoar Church yesterday. I’m supposed to meet with him on Saturday for an hour or so. He is a young pastor but very educated. He has a PhD in theology, but he has had little “Pastor” experience. For whatever reason, Zoar church folks told him I’m the guy to talk to in order to get to know Zoar church. He sounded like a nice guy. I just pray he’s the right person for Zoar. I’m looking forward to meeting him. After-all, if he is hired, he will be my pastor. Sunday he is to preach a trial sermon this Sunday and since Zoar also televises their service, I’ll get to hear him preach. Immediately after the service on Sunday, the congregation will hold a vote on whether to accept him or not. Personally, I think it it will be a given, but this is 2020 and strange things do happen. His next hurdle will be getting through the local Church Association for dual standing since he is not a UCC Pastor. He is a non-denominational pastor which means he is much more fundamental learning that the United Church of Christ and especially our local association. I pray for him because I know the uphill battles he will face.

That’s it for today. It’s a dual celebration day: —- Hump Day and Amazon Prime Day for you shoppers.

Blessings and Peace my friends. 

 Happy Tuesday! It is bright and beautiful out there in my little corner of the world but it is also 42 degrees which makes it a to chilly. My friend and fellow pastor, Art, just told me he is heading out to play golf this morning. I told him that if he swung a club as many times as I do, he’d stay warm for sure. 

My yard, my gutters, and my sidewalks are leaf covered again. I had everything looking really good but yesterdayI got another “delivery” from God. So, I have some raking to do again this morning. I’ll rake them out into the yard and with run the lawnmower over them or maybe I’ll take my “leaf sucker” and pick them up. Then they will be pulverized and I can put them on my garden. On the other hand, I may wait a couple of days and let some more fall. But, —- I think I took care of the getting up on the roof top to blow the gutters of yesterday. We had a salesperson from Leaf Filter come by for an appointment yesterday and decided to go with them to replace my current system that was no longer working very well. It isn’t cheap but then neither is falling off of a roof. They are scheduled to be here on November 5th. What ever leaves are up there on the gutters now will wait for the installation people to remove, or maybe God will send a wind to help out. 

I spent some time yesterday working on the Four O’clock plants yesterday. The front porch was just about invisible because they had grown up so much. We get them every year because they are prolific self seeder. The Papa John’s Pizza deliver’s always know that they are going to “the house that smells good” during the summer and they make remark about it. But now it is time to cut them back. 

Gotta quit for today and get busy. I have too much to do. Go have yourself a great day. Peace.