What a beautiful morning. The sun is bright, the sky is clear and blue. It’s 70 degrees with only a slight breeze. Not only that, but the Backyard Buffet has a lot of beautiful guests this morning; several cardinals, several goldfinches, two bluebirds, and best of all, the Red Breasted Grosbeaks are arriving. They will stick around for a couple of weeks before they continue on with their migration. Several of my friends have reported seeing them in their yards too. 

Today, I think we are going to go purchase another lilac bush, like we need any more plants. We have a huge lilac on the northwest corner of the house but it has gotten so big and tall that we can’t really see the blooms and there aren’t many blooms on it anyway. There is just too much shade where it is and lilacs like sun. That’s why the blooms are only at the top of the bush, about twenty feet up. From there I think we will check out another couple of places to see if we can find some okra plants. For what ever reason, they are hard to find this year. The local CO-OP has always had good plants but they don’t have any plants at all anymore. I want to plant four plants. That always give us plenty. Ms. Kate puts it in her vegetable soup and sometimes she fries up some. Some folks like okra and tomatoes but I could never acquire a taste for that. The okra is too slimy. 

I went out and bought a new television yesterday morning at Best Buy. The Geek Squad will deliver it, set it all up, and haul off the old one tomorrow morning. I’m replacing the last of the three that got killed by lightening last summer. This one was only a year old when the lightening got it. The lightening field the HDMI capability I’ve been able to watch it by using the Spectrum App but that finally went too. 

Time to head to the nursery and maybe grab some lunch while we are out. Have a very blessed day. 

 It’s already mid-week, wow. Time does slip by quickly sometimes. It is already 74 degrees this morning but it didn’t feel that warm when I was outside. And I sitting here in the sunporch with the glass doors open and am using the screen doors. I think the fact that it is overcast and no sun is getting through sure makes a big difference. And there is a slight breeze that carries a hint of the moisture that is coming with the predicted rain and storms for tonight and tomorrow. 

Yesterday was busy. We did our grocery shopping. We went to our favorite jewelry store to have Ms. Kate’s diamonds on her wedding rings checked for tightness. That store is closing shortly because the owner is retiring. I hate to see that, they are nice people and run a good business that has been good for the community. It hasn’t been very healthy for my wallet though. I like buying Ms. Kate jewelry. 

After we did those things we headed up to the churches to run the bulletins for the week. Unfortunately, when we got there I realized I had forgotten to bring the keys to get into St. Paul’s. St. Lucas has a \combo-lock and doesn’t require a key. But, not being able to get into the church meant that I could not run the large print bulletins. The copier at St. Lucas doesn’t have that capability. So, I ran the small bulletins and we went home and. Did a turn-around and went back up and finished the job. It was a 50 mile wasted trip because I wasn’t thinking. The problem is that I don’t need to put my key in the ignition of the car. It starts and runs if you simply have the key in your pocket. The church keys are on my car key ring. But, Ms. Kate had her set of car keys in her purse, so the car started up. The other problem is that sometimes I just do dumb things!! LOL

Today I have a class to attend via Zoom. It should last an hour and  a half. So, I’ll sit here in the sunporch with my coffee, watch the birds, and attend class. I picked this class out because it does sound interesting. It is on the dynamics of small rural churches. I hope it is being taught by someone that experienced working in a small rural church and not just some person with a theory. 

I have a couple of feeders that need filling so I reckon I should do that before the rain. The first thing I did this morning was empty the bird bath and scrub it out. The bird had really made a mess of it and all of the helicopter seeds landing in it didn’t help anything either. Have yourself a blessed day\. Peace. 

 Welcome to a brand new week. What a great way to begin it; it’s 60 degrees, a breeze is keeping the chimes ringing, the sky is clear and blue and it is going up to 75 or so today. Just a slice of heaven for which I am thankful to God. 

How was your weekend? We had a good one mostly. I had to spend most of my Saturday morning in a Zoom meeting; three and a half hours of “ya da, ya da” and stuff I wasn’t remotely interested in. But, as I said before, I play the political games when absolutely necessary. It is even worse when most of what is being said is stuff that I disagree with. This three and a half hour session is making me even more dread the six hour session I have coming up on the 15th of May because I know it is going to just turn my crank. Don’t you just hate when you know you have an obligation to fill and you go into it with a totally negative  prejudiced expectation of the event?  That will be a “Boundary Awareness”training class. Thank goodness we only have to take it once every three years. 

Yesterday’s worship services went well. I am loving the new camera and sound system that we use for broadcasting our services. The picture and sound is so clear. The down side is that I think folks are enjoying it at home and I would love to have them in person. We’ve had 122 hits on yesterday’s service already. That’s wonderful but the selfish, and yes, prideful part of me would really love to see these folks come back to church and worship with us in person. But, I had a great remark made yesterday from someone who said it is so wonderful to be able to worship from five states away. So, I’;; make my apologies to God for being selfish. 

Today I’m going to work on my Mother’s Day sermon. However, at the moment I have a cake in the oven. I got hungry for cake so I mixed one up and it is baking. In another hour it will be done and cool enough to eat. It’s a chocolate cake. Hopefully it turns out well. 

The rain this weekend did a world of good for all of the plants and seeds we put in the ground on Friday. I think maybe this week I will go looking for tomato plants and some okra plants. I think the danger of frost has passed. I also need to get a few five-gallon buckets and cut the bottoms out of them. I always put them around my tomato plants to keep the critters from eating them. And, it keep the plants warm and helps them grow. That’s something I learned from my buddy Bob. 

Okay, I gotta find a recipe for making icing. You go have a blessed day. Peace, 

 It is a gray Friday morning, one of those might or might not rain kind of days. Forecaster says rain tonight and lots more tomorrow. I have outside work to get done today so I hope the rain holds off. I still have plants to put in the ground and I need to move my potatoes that I have growing in the garden. They are really looking good but I need to move them to get them away from where I’m planting the tomatoes. Garden experts say that potatoes and tomatoes are not good garden companions. I didn’t know that until my potatoes were already coming up. There is an opportunity too learn something new everyday it would seem. 

I’m “taking the day off” today. That just means that I’m not doing any church work, it doesn’t mean I’m not doing anything at all. It just means I can get some of my “home work” done like planting these plants, mowing the yard, changing the lightbulbs in the south hallway that burned out. Basically it is a honey-do list that Ms. Kate and I have to work on together. The good part is that she will be out there doing it with me; until she gets cold that is. It is a damp 53 degrees out there so she won’t want to be out there very long. Frankly, as long as she tells me where she wants stuff, that is all I really need. 

I had a special blessing this morning out in the Backyard Buffet. I had my first Pileated Woodpecker come though in at least nine months. I think I saw the last one in July of last year. I always get thrilled when the big guys come through. They are so big and their call is so very distinctive. I hear them in the area every once in a while but they haven’t been in my yard. Last year I had one here and it spent all morning pecking on an old and mostly dead Redbud tree in the southwest corner of my yard. He ate quite a large hole in it too. There must have been a lot of bugs in there. He didn’t stay long today; ate a little from one of my feeders, then flew over to one of the Tulip Poplar trees and pecked round and left. 

Tomorrow morning I will be spending the entire morning in a Zoom meeting with the Evansville Tri-State Association of our church denomination. It is their spring meeting and I think they are having a tough time getting a quorum to sign up for the meeting. It is mentally about the same pain level as having your fingernails pulled out but I’ll play the political game and sign in. At least since it is a Zoom meeting I can be comfortably dressed and have my coffee pot available. I have a Zoom class coming up on the 15th of May that will go 6 hours. Ugh!!!!!! Just shoot me now. More political gaming. It is a “Boundary Awareness” class to remind all of us pastors not to sexually harass people. The denomination hold these classes because they fill an insurance requirement. If some pastor is stupid enough to not keep his pants on or make sexual remarks to anybody, the church is covered in case that person want to sue the church. As I said — political posturing. But, if you refuse to attend or just don’t attend, the hierarchy of the church can make life very miserableness for you. For me, being a lay minister instead of an ordained minister, it means they can refuse me authorization to be a pastor and take my churches away from me. So, I play the political game. It’s just six hours of my life that I will attend in my sweats  and with my coffee pot. 

That’s about all I have for today. Have a blessed weekend. Peace. 

 What can be more pleasant than being woken up in the morning by the sound of rattling garbage cans being emptied and the sound of the garbage truck driving and stopping, driving and stopping. It’s how I know it is Thursday morning, and that people have already been up a couple of hours. Friday morning will be much the same as another company comes through the neighborhood. 

And a happy Thursday morning to you too. It is another beautiful morning but still cold, — 40 degrees. But the sun shining brightly will help warm things up or at least “feel” like it has. I need to put my shoes on and go out and pull the coverings off of my plants again. I think I can put them away as the temperatures isn’t forecasted to drop down below freezing any time soon. I won’t put them too far away because one never knows what God will bring in the spring. Although, we are predicted for 80 degree plus weather just past the weekend. It’s part of the spring roller-coaster temperature ride that we go through every year. 

We didn’t go to the church yesterday. We did “around here” stuff instead including the laundry. Ms. Kate spent a good deal of time looking for a specific paper that she uses to make her greeting cards\. I don’t think she ever found what she was looking for. But when she gets an idea for a card, she spends a great deal of time finding exactly what she wants. She has been asked by two different people now if she would make a card for a specific event for them and of course she said she will. She has such a talent for doing this and I told her whether she recognizes it or not, her card making and send them to people is her ministry. She certainly doesn’t want to acknowledge that because I think she feels it gives her more credit than she is due. All I know is that she constantly send her cards out and people really love them and she brightens people’s day. She’s doing something nice for someone else out of love. Wouldn’t you call that a ministry?

I finished my message for May 2nd yesterday. Next message will be for May 9th and that is Mother’s Day. So, I’ll find a good topic for that. I sometime struggle with what to say about these specific holidays that we celebrate. It’s sometimes hard to justify and celebrate a “man-created” holiday Biblically. I need to check and see what the Liturgical Calendar has for that day. 

Today we’ll go to the church and run our bulletins. Tomorrow maybe I’ll take as a “day off” because on Saturday, I have to spend hours in a Zoom meeting with the association’s spring meeting. Sooo — I’m off for now. Have a wonderful day. Peace. 

 We had our “snowmagedden” snow storm last night. I went out around midnight and looked at the results and I’m glad I did. Last night it looked pretty cool under glow of the neighborhood yard lights. This morning it looks more like a heavy frost. But it was the third largest April snow storm we have had, so there is that. I went out and I covered the plants this morning that I had covered up last evening. The huge peony bloom that we had was broken off from the weight of the rain and snow so I cut it at the break and brought it in and put it in a vase. We’ll enjoy it for a few more days before it falls apart. The rest of the peonies looked sad this morning but I suspect they will bounce back. I may have to cover things up again this evening. The temperature is supposed to get down to 34 tonight. The crazy thing is that we are predicted to have temperatures in the low 80’s within the week. Aaaah Spring, you do keep me entertained. 

I know it is Wednesday but I think that we will not go run the bulletins today. It will be a warmer day tomorrow and nicer weather. Today I’m going to try to finish up the May 2nd sermon that I started on last night. There is no real hurry to run those bulletins; no one will need them before Sunday except maybe Brenda, our organist; and I sent her a copy already via email. We did go to the church yesterday to take care of an administration issue for one of my parishioners. On nice days, if we are going to the church we like to pick up something to eat for a picnic. We sit in the car out under the maple tree and just watch the farmers as they do their work in the fields or watch the traffic and listen to the birds. It is very relaxing and gives us wonderful “us time”. Ms. Kate and I have always been “picnickers”. While I was in the Air Force we would sometimes go out to the base park or lake at lunch time and have our lunch together. Marriages are much better when you like one another and like spending time together. These days even though we are both at home most of the time, we still go our separate ways. I’m usually down stairs in my office and she’s usually in her office/craft room. So we are in the same house but not together. We don’t like the same TV shows so we watch TV separately too. Always together —- yet apart. So a picnic or a day trip is a real joy. Last week, we even spent a day geocaching, but I think I told y’all that. 

I have three “Zoom” events coming up. This Saturday our local church association is holding their spring meeting via Zoom. Then I have class through zoom next week, and then another 6 hr class on the 15th of May. |It looks like Zoom is the wave of the present and future. It is convenient I guess. But not everyone haas the Zoom capability or understanding of it. I’m certainly one of those who doesn’t understand it but I do it. 

I guess I better get a couple of thing done here for Ms. Kate and then get downstairs and start writing. Have yourself a most blessed day. Peace. 

 Sunshine, birds singing, beautiful flowers and 50 degrees are my morning setting and it is going up to 65 today. Not a bad way to start off the day. And to think, — in 24 hours, we will most likely have snow on the ground and be under a freeze warning. Mother Nature is one fickle old gal. We have a relative a couple of states over that showed pictures or the four inches of snow on his deck and yard, and it’s headed this way. Although, we may only get a slight dusting if we get anything at all. But, I am going to cover up the new peonies and butterfly bush that I just planted and my couple of squash and cucumber plants. I still have more stuff to put in the ground, but that is still in their little containers. I’ll set those in the garage for the next couple of days to keep them from freezing. I sure didn’t expect to have to be worrying about frost and freeze and snow on the last half of April. 

We made it to Sam’s club yesterday. And of course we found and bought stuff that we absolutely did not need. One of the first things we found was a couple of new patio pots and these things are huge. Unfortunately, one of us seemed to think it they would be “perfect” out on our back patio but she didn’t realize just how big these things are until we got them home. They take up a lot of room too. Ms. Kate thought they would be perfect to transplant our geraniums into that we take out to the patio every summer and bring into the house every winter. Well, it is going to take 2 cubic feet of dirt to fill each one of those and they are going to be heavy as the dickens to move around, if I can move them at all. Her concept was right though. Those geraniums would look beautiful in them. So, I guess we will see how all of this flushes out. 

I notice that a couple of the feeders are empty again out there in the Buffet. I need to fill those today so the birds will have them in the morning. And, I guess I will plug the bird bath back in so it isn’t iced over in the morning. I don’t think I need to unhook the hoses that I just hooked up two days ago but the birdbath will glaze over with ice and since I have the capability to keep them from doing that, why not??

Time to refill the coffee cup and sit here and be grateful for another day. Go fill your cup and sit here with me as we watch the cardinals  dance their spring mating dance chasing one another all of the yard. Have a blessed day and take time to be grateful to the Lord God for our Savior, namely His Son, Jesus the Christ. Peace.