Happy Saturday to you. It’s 51 degrees and the sun is trying to shine up I think the clouds will win out before too long. It rained last night and is supposed to rain agin tonight and also tomorrow, although the temperature is to climb up to almost 70 tomorrow. This is sure a pleasant change from a week ago when we were digging out from the snow. It look like Spring is starting to raise it’s beautiful head. I have daffodils up about four to five inches but no buds on them yet. Give them another week. Sister-in-law Karen has buds on hers but she is always at least a week ahead of us\, I wonder why that is. Perhaps it has something to do with her living on the Ohio River front. She probably gets a different wind flow and moisture level. 

Yesterday Ms. Kate and I celebrated our 55th wedding anniversary. We didn’t do any “big” celebration per se’. We did go out to lunch with Mr. Bob and his daughter Brenda. They are our “Beer and shrooms” buddies and I think I’ve told you that we try to get together for lunch about every six weeks. When Bob’s wife, Georgia Ann was alive, the four of us would go. When Georgia Ann passed, it became Bob and Brenda, and sometimes Brenda’s husband, Andy, will join us. We get one pitcher of beer to split between us, two orders of deep-fried mushrooms and then order what ever the special is for lunch. It’s a good time and Ms. Kate and I don’t have any other friends that we do that, or anything else with. We’ve gotten to be be such “old fogies”.

After lunch, Ms. Kate and I went to AT&T to get her a new IPhone. As opposed to other experiences that we have had with AT&T customer service and sales people, the young lady we dealt with was very knowledgeable enough to answer all of our questions and had the patience to deal with us who don’t really understand a bunch of technology. I gave her an excellent rating on the post visit survey. So now, Ms. Kate has the latest and greatest, the IPhone 12 Pro. It fits her hand much better, the keys are a little larger, and the camera is amazing. It met all of her requirements. She was really interested in the camera because we have the family reunion coming up in three months and she wants good pictures. 

Today, I have to get back down to my office and finish up the sermon I started for next Sunday. I’ve outlined the sermon, done my research, and found my scriptures, so what am I having such a hard time putting it all together? It is frustrating. Maybe I’m not supposed to give it —- I don’t know. Any way, that’s all for today\. Have a great weekend. Peace.

 Thursday morning, February 25th; wow the month is going fast isn’t it? I hope your morning has started off with you feeling well and blessed. I certainly do. The sun is shining, I have visitors at the Backyard Buffet, mostly starlings up still visitors. The other smaller and more noxious birds try to get in for a bite or two but the starlings run them off. But they run each other off too. They are some nasty, selfish greedy dudes. I haven’t had a lot of other guests yet this morning, just an occasional sparrow and a junko or two. I have one squirrel at the feeder across the yard. But the rest of the gang will be along before too long. 

We had a good day yesterday. We went to R’z, our nice restaurant up in Ft. Branch. We have not been there since November. In fact, we came down with COVID symptoms the day after our last visit. I don’t think it had anything to do with going there because we had used all of the safety precautions and so had they. I just think it was a coincidence that the symptoms manifested themselves after that visit. So, it was nice to go back. The really good thing is that people know that we like that particular restaurant and we have several gift cards to there. So, yesterday our lunch was compliments of one of our friends. 

After we finished lunch, wee went to the churches and we ran the bulletins for the week. Tat doesn’t take near as long as it used to. First of all, we aren’t running near as many, and I think I’m going to cut down of what we do print. Since we have the screens at St. Lucas, hardly anyone uses a bulletin because everything is on screen, including the music. We don’t have any of that technology at St. Paul’s so I have to make bulletins for them. Speaking of our system at St. Lucas, we have finally put the order in for the new camera. I’m looking forward to when the system is finally installed and done. I think it is going to greatly enhance our ability to broadcast our services. 

Tomorrow is a special day around our house. It is our 55th, wedding anniversary. We’ve come a long way haven’t we. We don’t have a big anything planned, but we are going out to lunch at St. Joe Inn with our friends for “schrooms and beer” and good company and conversation. It is really hard to think that Ms. Kate and I have been married for 55 years. But, one day leads into another and another and the next thing you know, you’ve gone from innocent and wide eyed youngsters ready to take on the world to senior citizens sitting in your recliners and not in a hurry to take on anything. And, we aren’t ready to quit any time soon, although days left are a lot fewer than days spent. We are just glad to have one another to hold on to and snuggle up to at night. So many people never get that chance. So I give God praise for this very special blessing and opportunity. 

That’s enough for today. I need to go to the optometrist today and order new glasses. I told you I lost one lens out of my glasses and still have not found it. That was I think the third time that I had that lens fall out so obviously the frame isn’t a very good one. An, I want to take Ms. Kate to get a new IPhone. That means there are chores to be done. 

Enjoy your day. Think happy thoughts and take time to give God praise. Peace. 

 Coffee, orange juice, and a fried egg sandwich for breakfast. Who says I can’t cook?  What I find interesting about myself is that I love cereal, but I very, very seldom have cereal for breakfast. Cereal is my “go to” midnight snack. My perfect breakfast is what the family has always called “my big breakfast”. I want eggs, a meat, (not particularly bacon) biscuits white gravy, fried potatoes, juice and coffee. When we go out for breakfast I want it all. You can even throw in a small stack of pancakes. But, I am not good at fixing breakfast like Ms. Kate is. I don’t know how she gets everything done at the same time and nothing has gotten cold. I always amazes me. When I fix breakfast something always gets cold before I get the other stuff done. I like cooking on a griddle and I bought myself a Blackstone griddle last year. I just haven’t used it enough. Ms. Kate is never ready to eat a breakfast so it seems like a waste of time to get everything out, and carry it all outside to fix for just me, when I could just throw it in a skillet in the kitchen. I also like my sweets for breakfast. I go to Schnucks or to Walmart and I pick up either some donut twists or my favorite, cherry turnovers. I do love me some cherry turnovers. I’ll bet if I checked what kind of dough I need, I could make some cherry turnovers. I think all it would take is some crescent roll dough and some cherry pie filling and some granulated sugar on top. I need to Google that and give it a try. 

Can you believe it!! It is going to be 60 degrees today. The snow is really melting and should be almost all gone by the end of the day. It is currently 40 out there and even that is a blessing. I’m waiting for the snow to all let so I can check to see if my daffodils are coming up at all yet. I look forward to that every year. Most of the tie they come up and then we have another cold snap but it doesn’t seem to hurt the daffodils at all. I’m starting to get spring-fever and am anxious to get out there and clean up flowerbeds. But, I read an article the other day that said don’t start raking out the flower beds until you have at least five days in a row of 50 degrees or better. The reasoning is that many of the insects that are helpful to the plants are actually hibernating in the dried stalks and grasses. By raking it out early, you re just throwing away th every thing you may need to pollinate. That was all news to me. One is never too old to learn something new, and I got a lot of “learnin’ “ to do. 

I got some work done yesterday on my services and writing. I still have more to do for the 7th of March. I may do that tonight while I’m watching television. It felt good to be “back in the saddle” again and doing something creative. I’m changing up things a bit for this coming Sunday but the topic of the day is going to be God’s Grace. I don’t think a person can say enough about the grace that God provides us. I need to read my sermon over several more times to make sure I’m not giving myself more credit for this message than I should and that it says what I really want to say. I wrote this several weeks ago and have let it set. Sometimes I write them and then when I give them, they just don’t turn out to be as exciting as I think they should be. I always want my sermons to make an impact and give people something to take hoe with them and think about. But, while I love to write them and give them, I know I’m not the best presenter. Ms. Kate told me just last week that I “read” my sermon too much. But that has always been my style. I admire the guys and gals that can just get up there with an outline and have at it for thirty minutes and the congregation still wants more. But, that ain’t me. I just feel honored that God allows me to be a pastor at all. 

Time to color this one done. I pray you will have a blessed day. Never forget to stop and give thanks for thee bucket load of blessings that was waiting for you when you woke up this morning. Peace. 

 Good morning and happy new week! It is a happy new week because it is all the way up to 38 degrees already this morning. That is fantastic. They snow and ice are melting. We had a little rain last night that helped that along. Today it is supposed to get into the mid 40’s and tomorrow it is to get into the midd 50’s. Is it possible that the weather haas turned a corner?? Well, I won’t count old man Winter out just yet. I’ve see it snow on Easter and that is still another few weeks away. Easter will fall on April 4th this year and that is I think, 41 days from now. Anything can happen although we are officially in the last third of the winter season, which changes to Spring on March 21st. But, let’s just give God praise for a “warmer” day today and be satisfied. 

Church services went well yesterday and it was so very good to be back in the pulpit. This is the first Sunday that I have been there. The 7th of February I had a terrible cold. The 14th and 17th we got iced and snowed out so it was wonderful to be together once again, —- and we have decided to start singing in our services again. It was wonderful to hear the voices of the congregation blend together once again. Attendance was fairly good at each church. I know some people didn’t come simply because they were concerned about walking or slipping in the parking lots, but the fellows had cleared off the lot pretty well, and the sidewalks were totally clear. 

Today, my oldest daughter, Julie and her hubby Jim celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary. That seems almost impossible to believe. But then, Ms. Kate and I celebrate our 55th anniversary this coming Friday. But when I look back on those two kids at the time they got married, I can’t think of any two kids that were less prepared for married life. They were broke, they were reckless, they lived for awhile in his parents basement and then for awhile in our basement. They gave us two weeks notice that they were getting married in the middle of a Massachusetts snow and ice storm. But, they were in “lust and in love”. And for all of the things that I considered to be their “faults”; —— I’ve got to say that Jim loved Julie deeply and with all of his heart. He would have done anything in the world for her then, — and he still would today. And Julie, being the independent kid she was, and still is; was going to prove to the world that they were right for each other; —- and it appears that she was exactly right. I love them dearly and they bring so much joy to all of our lives. I pray they will always be happy together. 

Today I’m going to head to the basement and my office and spend the day writing. I’m having to change somethings about next Sunday’s sermon and bulletin and then I need to get started on my March 7th sermon. I’ve put the service together but I need to  write the sermon. It’s a good day to do that. 

So, I guess I will sign off and get busy. Maybe I’ll toast a couple pieces of the home made bread first for breakfast and then get ready. In the mean time, I pray you will have a fully blessed week. Be careful and be safe. If you haven’t gotten your COVID shot yet and are eligible, please do so. I send you God’s peace. 

 Fourteen degrees this morning but the sun is shining brightly. The real feel temp is 22 It doesn’t happen often during the winter that the real feel is higher than the ambient. But, I’ll take it. 

I’m moving slow this morning. I spent hours outside again yesterday shoveling snow both by Hans and with the John Deere. I think I have spent at least ten hours this week chipping ice and shoveling snow, I’m getting too old for this crap. On the other hand, I give God praise and thanks that I am able to do it. And, Ibuprofen does help take the soreness away.  But my driveway looks great and is one of the few in the neighborhood that is cleared. I even got some of the street cleared. I just saw a mail truck go up the street with no problem and that’s partly due to me, thank you very much. . I have no idea how the local streets are and there is no way we will ever see a county truck come through here. A couple of years ago a fella who lives next door used to drive those trucks and would come through here. But he has changed departments and no longer drives them. I have a couple of UPS items that are scheduled to come today and now they can easily walk up my dry driveway and sidewalk and deliver them. 

Speaking of deliveries. I had to put in an order for more stuff from Wild Birds Unlimited yesterday. I spent $142.00 on food for my birds. I think I’m going to declare them as a business or as dependents on my taxes. They eat me out of house and home. LOL. I wonder if I could declare the Backyard Buffet as “non-profit”. 

I heard from my church council president that the farmers cleared the parking lot for my St. Lucas church so we can hold church service on Sunday. And I talked to a member of the St. Paul’s church who lives next door to that church that the driveway up to the church is clear although the parking lot is still a mess. Hopefully by Sunday we can get in there too. I’m planning on it anyway. Sunday it is supposed to be in the forties and believe it or not, next week is to be in the 50’s. It would be wonderful to think that the snow and ice is about done for the year. 

I may have to adventure out today and try to get to a grocery store. We don’t need much so it would be a “being nosey” trip as much as anything. I think I have a bit of “cabin fever”. 

That’s all for today. I pray you will have a safe weekend, that you have water and power, that you will stay in touch with the Lord God. Peace, my friends. 

 It was and is still snowing when I got up today but it appears that the snow is just about over. I pulled up the radar and it looks like we are just about in the clear and the Accuweather says that snow is ending in about 10 minutes. The good news is that we actually have 22 degrees this morning. Why that is good news I guess is silly but it is the first time in a week that we have had temperature that “warm” in the morning. It likes like we got maybe another inch to an inch and a half of snow last night. It shouldn’t be too hard to clear off. I put ice melt down on the drive last night before it started. If the sun would just pop out now, it would do wonders. I look out the window now and it is a bit hard to think that by Sunday we are going to have temperatures in the 40’s and next week in the 50’s. 

One of the biggest problems I have at the moment when it starts to melt is that there is snow and ice of course on the sun porch roof. When it starts to thaw, I get dripping into the sun porch. I have two buckets and a wastebasket out there at the moment to catch the drips and will have to watch them today and keep them emptied. But, I cannot complain about something so minor. I saw a news story last night about all of the power outages in Texas and they showed one home that actually had ice-cycles hanging from the ceiling fan. I’ll hush about my buckets. 

I taped an Ash Wednesday service yesterday and posted it for my folks. It went well. I had not done that before so it was good to know I can if I need to. There were several pastors that did that and at least one that I know of that actually had a church service. We still can’t get in to our parking lots. I hope that they melt enough before Sunday. I don’t want to miss another Sunday of live services. 

I guess I’ll drop off now. Sorry this is short but not a lot of news happening in the neighborhood these days. Have a blessed day. 

 Happy 14 degrees! It turns out that snow shovels and 76 years of age isn’t the best combination in the world. I’ve been waiting for a John Deere worthy snow fall and we finally got it. But, living on an incline just doesn’t always work well with my JD. I really do need weights on the back end of that John Deere. The addition of the snow blade on the front end raises the rear end just enough that it will sit there and spin. I spent as much time shoveling the JD out as I did riding it I think. The snow was supposed to be “light and fluffy”. Somebody forgot to tell the snow producer. It was heavy and hard to move. I have a set of chains for the other John Deere but they don’t fit this JD right They are about an inch too short or something. I tried them last year and they kept coming off. And, using them tore my concrete up.  So, I shoveled and I shoveled, I used the JD when I could and I spent about three hours out there. To top it all off, I also lost one of the lens out of my glasses. I was sitting on the JD and the glasses had fogged up and was actually freezing the “condensation” on the glasses. I took them off and was going to put them in my shirt pocket but when I was folding them up, the lens popped out and for the life of me, I could not find that lens. Luckily, I still have my older glasses and they work pretty well. Things aren’t quite as clear as they should be but I’m doing okay with them. I can read and witch TV and see well enough to write. So today, I have a sore back, sore arm muscles, the wrong glasses and we are expecting more snow today. 

I talked to a couple of my parishioners yesterday by phone. One of the folks is my buddy, Bob. He was very glad to hear from me. Bob lost his wife several years ago and is 87 years old, and lives alone. He was really glad to hear from me and I was glad to know that he was safe. He’s one of the folks that doesn’t have a computer or internet and has to rely on personal contact via one method or another. Most all of my folks have the the internet and I talk to them via Facebook messenger. Others I call once in a while so they know someone is thinking about them. It’s a good thing to do, doesn’t cost anything and I think other folks should reach out like that too. 

I’m going to sit down and attempt a live broadcast today via Facebook and conduct a very short Ash Wednesday service. I’ve put it together, now I just need to get cleaned up and dressed up just a bit and try it. My friend and fellow pastor does these once in awhile and so do several of the other pastors. I reckon if they can figure it all out, so can I. I think I talk self out of trying technology things simply because I think I am going to mess something up. However, at the moment, I’m having to work from my IPhone Hotspot because the internet is out from Spectrum They are aware of it and are trying to fix it, but It is a area wide issue. 

That’s it for now. Have a blessed day. Stay warm, stay safe, and stay in touch with God.