I think this will be a short entry today. It’s afternoon and we have had a busy morning. As I sit down to write this though, I’m also watching my neighbor across the street, (Jason, — not Dan) as he is trying to put out his Christmas yard crap, I mean his beautiful decorations. He’s working on a shiny reindeer at the moment and has been now for awhile. It doesn’t seem to be going well for him, He starts at the end of September by filling his yard with all manner of Halloween blow-up stuff. It doesn’t look overly ugly at night but during the day when they are all laying there deflated in the yard, —- well it looks like piles of multi-colored “cow patties” laying in his yard. As soon as Halloween is over, he takes it down and replaces it all with blow-up Thanksgiving stuff, although war Star Wars figures have to do with Thanksgiving is obviously Pilgrims that I never heard of. So now, they lay deflated in the yard and he is starting on Christmas. Bless his heart, at least he keeps a holiday spirit going. I can’t grudge him that. But the deer is new this year so I’ll be interested to see how it all ends up. And —- he obviously has a lot more patience than I do . 

Ms. Kate and I started our morning off very early  this morning. She had to be at Gateway Hospital Campus at 0700 this morning. She was scheduled for an MRI at 0715. The procedure took about an hour. After we finished there we went up to the churches and ran the bulletins for Sunday. Even though I’m not going to be there, I still have to plan the service and run the bulletins. All the guest pastor has to do is show up and preach the message for the day. I don’t know and have never heard the lady that will be filling in for me. The St. Lucas Council president made the contact. But, since we now record our services,  I’ll be able to listen to and see her on Facebook. 

(Jason just finished the first deer and it looks like he’s going for a second!!)

So, now Ms. Kate and I are just waiting for a call from her doctor’s office to give us the results of her MRI. Of course we know that it could be tomorrow before we hear anything. That is why we cancelled our plans to go spend the week with Lisa and family’s at Myrtle Beach. We just didn’t know what to expect but thought it could take a while for results. I hate waiting. 

It is 55 degrees out and I have a front yard that could use the John Deere run across it again to mulch more leaves. It’s a good stress reliever so I think that’s where I’m headed next. 

Have yourself a great day. Peace. 

 Wow, one more day of November; can you believe that?? It has started off as a cold one this morning. It was 21 degrees when I came out to get my coffee this morning. Any Backyard Buffet guests that are out there are all fluffed up to keep warm. Squirrels that were “slim” yesterday are fat dudes this morning, or at least they look that way. Cardinals and other birds too are fluffed out when they are sitting on the branches. The only guys that are not that way were the wrens because I don’t think they ever stop and just sit. 

The weekend is gone. The first Sunday of Advent has come and gone and it was a well attended service at both churches. Julie and Jim have gone home and life is back to a quiet normal around here. And —- the house is warmer because since the dogs are gone we don’t have to leave the doors to the sun porch open. That area is unheated and it does get rally chilly out there. I don’t mind it so much but Ms. Kate says that she is always cold. So, she should be much more comfortable now. 

We are supposed to be going on vacation this week but we are not actually “going” anywhere. Kate has a doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning and may have a follow-up later in the week so we are staying home. I’m still gong to take next Sunday off as a vacation Sunday. The churches had already made the arrangements for a guest pastor so I decided to just take the Sunday off. Depending on how the doctor’s appointments go, we may take a daytime road trip or two. We’ll just have to see how everything plays out.  The weather is supposed to be excellent all week so we could actually take a trip if we are able to do so. 

I participated in a nice wedding on Saturday. The service was at a Catholic Church and it was a beautiful sanctuary indeed. They have renovated it during the COVID year, They have replaced all of the old wooden flooring with marble flooring, repainted everything, put in new LED lighting  and it is really bright. I can’t begin to imagine what all of that must have cost. But, what I didn’t feel was the “warmth” that I feel when I go into my two little country churches. It was very, what I call “tall-steeple” church. The money was obvious, the love —-maybe not so much. But I’m sure their parishioners love their church as much as our parishioners love our churches. 

I don’t know if \any of you have Discovery Plus on your television sets, but we do, I love many of the shows thy have on there and my subscription gives me no commercials during my shows. They break their shows down by genre and one of the genres that I love is “animals and wildlife” documentaries. I started watching one last night called “Serengeti II” and it is excellent. A couple of years ago they had the first one simply called “Serengeti” and I have loved watching that one several times. The documentary covers a year in the life of several species of animals; elephants, cheetah, leopards, lion, baboon\. It is narrated by Lapita Nuongo, a wonderful actress from Africa. If you get a chance to watch it, I highly recommend it. 

I guess that is it for today. I think we are going to get ready and maybe go to Sam’s Club today. Ms. Kate wants to get some gift cards today and that is a great place to get them for a little better price. Of course while we are there, I’ll sneak in a package of cherry turnovers. 

So, enjoy your last two days of November and then jump right on to December. Give thanks to God for another month in which God blessed you and give thanks to God for giving you another month in which to do some great things. Peace my friends. 

 Thanksgiving has officially come and gone; can you believe it? We are four days from it being December and 35 days from it being 2022. But God has blessed us with a much better and more normal year than we had last year so I give God praise and gratitude for that. Well, I say it was normal, but I guess what I mean is that it was more normal for me and my family. It is sometimes hard to look out side our little bubble and see what is going on in the rest of the world. Yes, people are still dying from COVID in this country and around the world. But I don’t really know what is happening with COVID in the rest of the world because it has become “old news” and back-page news. I know that my grandson’s fiance grandmother just died of “COVID but then she was in her 90’s sos that wasn’t necessarily a COVID death but because she had some of the symptoms, it gets listed that way. 

Did you eat lots and lots yesterday? We had a great meal but we didn’t really “over indulge”. We had our turkey, we had our dressing and the other required stuff. We forgot the mashed potatoes until we were getting ready to sit down but figured out that we didn’t really need them. We didn’t starve for lack of mashed potatoes. Beside, we’ll probably have some today before the day ends. I know we will be having turkey for sure. The bird turned out very well. It was really moist and juicy. 

Jim will be heading back home today but Jules is staying until Sunday. I don’t know if he is taking the pups with him or not. He brought the big Christmas tree up from the storage room yesterday afternoon. I will rearrange the living room today and put that together. We went out Friday and bought another tree to put in the sun porch. It is a little shorter at six and a half ft and sits in a pot and is “flocked. It’s a nice tree and frankly looks good with no decorations on it. 

This afternoon I have to go to the church and pick up my robe and stole for the wedding and then go to the wedding rehersal . Tomorrow is the wedding at 1400 and will take a few hours of the day. I’m just giving the homily for the wedding and the Priest is doing the rest of the service. It looks like it is going to be a beautiful day for the wedding albeit cold. 

So, that’s about it for today. Have a wonderful weekend. You can get your house decorated for Christmas now and turn on the Christmas carols. I just put a Mannheim Steamroller album on. Peace. 

 A good late morning to you. It’s 1100 already. But, I just got back from the grocery store. Had a list of items to pick up, some from Ms. Kate and some from Julie. I have become the grocery shopper \\\\for us. I put my list on my phone and walk around in the store like I know what I’m doing. Today I went to Schnucks. Usually I go to the Walmart Neighborhood store. But, I got everything on my list. I usually do. It was a good experience today, no grumpies rushing through the aisles or cutting in front of me. 

Jules and the pups came over yesterday afternoon. Jim didn’t come because he is switching jobs and had to have a drug test for the new job. I’m sure if he will be making it over or not. He is a forklift driver which is a skill in demand for companies that do manufacturing. See, not everybody needs a college education. I keep telling people that and I try to push young people into skilled labor jobs. The country is in serious need of skilled laborers.

Tomorrow is turkey day. We already have the bird out thawing. Kate took the giblets out and went over it to pick off any pin-feathers. That is one big turkey that we have. I don’t know if we have ever had one that big. I have a lady at church that says they get at least a 20 pounder every year. But she always has all of the family over so I guess it works for her. I just know we are going to have a lot of left overs. 

I don’t have much else for you today. I did fill all of my bird feeders yesterday and thank goodness my Wild Birds Unlimited order arrived. I was out of several things. I pray you will have a blessed Thanksgiving. Don’t just make it a day of eating and watching football, make it a day of being truly grateful for your blessings. Peace. 

 

 Brrrrrr! It’s 31 degrees out there and that’s not bad, but —- the wind will drive all 31 degrees right through you. And there is a cloud cover preventing the sun from breaking through to at least make me think it is warm. 

Happy Thanksgiving week. Do you have your turkey or ham purchased yet? I may have told you but we did our grocery shopping on-line at the Walmart Neighborhood market. We had ordered a 10-14 lb bird and ended up with a 22 lb bird. We never buy a turkey that large and since there is only maybe the four of us, —- there will be turkey leftovers forever. But, we’ll send a bunch home with Julie, and we’ll make a large pot of turkey noodle soup. (I need to go to the store and get some wide egg noodles for that). I do like my soups. 

Julie was supposed to come down today but that won’t happen. She had a RA flare-up and will be spending the day on “Flexural” to try to calm it down. Bless her heart, she only got two hours of sleep last night, so she will try to make it tomorrow. We don’t yet know whether Jim will be working or not or when he will make it down. 

Church services went well yesterday. Attendance was pretty good. The taping of the St. Lucas service went well although, we had a problem with the screens. The computer decided to reboot and update just as we were about to start the service and that knocked out the screens. It’s a good thing that I still make bulletins for folks to use and follow the liturgy because they certainly needed them yesterday. Both churches got decorated for Christmas after their respective services. They are beautiful as always. One of the key features of the St. Paul’s decorations is the string of luminaries that run from the highway all the way up the driveway to the church. They gave been putting those out for decades and at night they really show up especially since they are on a hill that is in the middle of a prairie. It all just adds to the “country small-church charm”. Years ago they used to uses actual candles on the church and they kept a bucket of water and a person to tend the tree right there during services. It scares me to even think about that. But, I’ve never heard of a fire being started by it. 

This week I not only have Thanksgiving but also have a wedding to do on Saturday and a wedding rehearsal on Friday night. And, at some point, I’ll need to go run bulletins. We start our vacation next week so I gotta get stuff done. I’d also like to run up to the Gastoff Amish Village Bakery \to get a lemon angle food cake but I don’t know that that will happen. It is a 57 mile trip one way which is a long way to go to get a cake. But. They are soooo good. The village also has a buffet restaurant so  of course we’d eat while we are there. 

That’s it for this morning. Have a wonderful week. Try to stay warm and dry. Peace. 

 Happy cold Saturday morning to you. I’m sitting at the kitchen table loking out at my neighbor’s maple tree. Just a few days ago I took a picture from my seat, through my kitchen window of that tree. It was a beautiful fall picture and the leaves were full on the tree and were a beautiful orange and gold. Today, there are hardly any leaves left on it. That tree made the best out of fall and then dropped its leaves and is ready for winter. I had gone over and mulched up Dan’s leaves while I was out doing mine. Now you can’t tell I was ever there. It’s not terrible outside this morning but is 41 degrees and you wouldn’t want to stand out there in your skivvies. 

We started out yesterday like we seem to do many days now, with a doctor’s appointment for Ms. Kate. But this was a “routine” annual appointment for a Doppler test to check her arterial blood flow. Last year she showed about 40% blockage which the doctor says is still okay. They don’t seem t get worried until you go above 60%. We haven’t heard yet about yesterday’s test, I don’t know if she can go on “My Chart” to find out or not. I need her to check on that. She doesn’t have a follow-up appointment until I think early December. 

Yesterday afternoon we each spent some time straightening out our areas. Kate has finished making all og her Christmas cards (I think) and now has to find a place to put all of her stuff away. She moves a bunch of it out into the family room so she can watch television while she works and has stuff spread across the couch and the floor etc. It works alright for when it is just her and I because we can walk around it, but Julie, Jim, and the pups are coming over next week so she needs to try to get it in her office. She has so much stuff for her various crafts that I think I bed to build a 20’x40’ extension on the house. LOL. That might hold most of it. But, she does beautiful work so I can’t complain.. Besides —— have you been in my garage????? That’s where I started yesterday. I first of all went out back and cleaned up my little storage shed so I could move some of my stuff back out there where it belongs; yard tools and stuff. During the spring through fall period, I just put stuff in the garage as I use it so it is handy. I also have to tackle my big yard barn so I can get the little JD in there for the winter. I think that is going to be at least a two day effort. 

But now, I need to put it away, partly because a certain short person who lives here insists on putting up Christmas trees  and they are in a storage area in the garage that I can’t get to yet. So, I spent a good deal of time \clearing the area and carrying stuff around the house to the back yard. I’ll be spending a good deal of time out there again today. I know Christmas trees are nice when they are put up and decorated and all, but I don’t get it. I’d set a ceramic tree on the coffee table and call it done. Somebody though has boxes and boxes, and boxes of ornaments, many of which she has made, and each one is her favorite, and she wants the trees, (yes, plural) put up so she can decorate them. They will be up for a month and then I have to put it all away again. (SIGH!!!) Except for Julie and Jim and two dogs, it’s not like anybody is going to come to our home and see them. Oh well, —- it keeps me off of the streets and out of the bars. LOL

Enough foolishness for today. I pray you will have a wonderful and faith-filled weekend. Take time to give thanks for another week of blessings no matter what kind of week you had. God did more for you than you know. Peace. 

 Good morning my friends. It is a sunny 41 degrees out this morning but the sun is shining brightly. Unfortunately the sun isn’t going to help much as the temperature is only going to go up another maybe five degrees. I’m glad that I went out and did some yard work yesterday because today is going to be a busy day and yesterday was 70 degrees instead of 45. 

Yesterday I did get on the John Deere’s and mowed one last time and mulched up the leaves. I went over to neighbor Dan’s and did his front yard too. His maple tree had started shedding its leaves and their yard was pretty thick with leaves. We had a lot of wind yesterday and we also had rain last night. This morning it is hard to tell I did anything over there and his tree is now at least 60% empty. He’ll be back from vacation next week so the leaves are all his to deal with. It’s time for me to put the little JD in my yard barn and then change out the mower deck for the snow blade on the big JD. I always tell myself that if I put the blade on, maybe I won’t have too use it, but if I don’t put it on, it will snow like crazy. I think of it as a snow preventer not a snow remover. LOL

This morning Ms. Kate and I have to go to the churches and run the bulletins. I think I’ll run this weeks and next weeks since I have them both ready to print. Next week is Thanksgiving week and there will be enough going on that it would be one less thing to worry about. I left my truck up there Sunday so we’ll bring it back home today. Then this afternoon I have to take the Prius to the dealership for its 25,000 mile servicing. It’s really a great little car. I get 55 mpg with it which is phenomenal. My truck is lucky to give my 19 mpg but it is my baby. I love my truck. LOL It is a 2008 and I only have less than 50,000 miles on it. I think the neighbors have used it more this year than I have. They have a kid that moved into a college Odem so they have borrowed it a few times. It looks as good as the day I drove it off of the sales lot back in 2008. 

Once I get the Prius serviced maybe I’ll still have time to go to the grocery store. If not, tomorrow is another day although it is scheduled to be a busy one too starting with another doctor’s appointment for Ms. Kate first thin in the morning. But, we have to get to the grocery soon. Thanksgiving is exactly one week from today. Wow! Did I just say that?? Suddenly it seems to be rushing up on me. 

I guess I better get changed and get ready for my day. Have a wonderful day. Peace.