Friday, May 6th. I guess I had "failed this week of puns. I didn't say "May the 4th Be with you " on Wednesday in honor of Star Wars, and I didn't have a margarita yesterday or dance the Mexican Hat Dance or even have tacos in honor of Cinco de Mayo. I'm just no fun at all.  

We are still waiting on the doctors and pharmacy and hospitals to press on with getting Ms. Kate some help. She did get her test results back from the doctor's office and they point out a possible thyroid problem, a possible blood clotting problem, and a possible congestive heart failure problem; --- none of which are purely definitive yet until we can get her in for her echocardiogram which will not be until June the 8th. The doctor has ordered a change in her thyroid medicine but because it is a change --- it has to go through the insurance justification process first so we're waiting on an insurance company to decide her health condition. It is all very frustrating. In the mean time she basically can do very little. The real hard part for Kate is that she is going to miss Julie's college graduation because she simply can't do the walking. So, I'm going to go by myself and will leave Kate with her sister Karen for the day and over night. Not that we really think there will be an emergency but she could fall or something and would have no one to help her. ( I wonder if I could rent a wheelchair for a couple of days and I could take her along.)

Julie is coming over this evening and I have asked her if she would bring along her gown and cap so we could get some pictures of her with Kate and Kate could at least see her in it. Julie has worked so hard for so very many years to make this happen, it breaks Kate's heart that she will miss it. 

I did my hospital visitation yesterday with my parishioner that was to have surgery, She came through the surgery successfully and noo the rehabilitation will begin. I don't envy her that at all. I've been through that three times and hope to never have to do it again. 

It's still raining on and off and we are maybe going to have storms this afternoon. I hope not, I  don't want Jules to have to drive over here in a storm. 

That's it for Friday. Have a great weekend. Peace. 

 Cinco deMayo; a day when people decide they have a little bit of Mexican blood in them and celebrate that by drinking Margaritas. I remember a a grade-school kid we would  have to participate in some sort of Pan-American Day program and do the Mexican Hat Dance. I don’t know id they still do things like that or not. Probably someone finds it offensive so maybe they don’t do that anymore. But, it was fun at the time. 

Yesterday was a busy day. Ms. Kate had a doctor’s appointment to try to find out what is causing her to feel bad all the time. The took chest xrays and did blood work. She got her results back through the Deaconess My Chart system, but that’s like handing a symphony to someone that doesn’t read music. The chart reads several things that are really out of whack but we don’t know what that means. Hopefully the Nurse Practitioner will call her today and tell her something. 

After we finished at the doctor’s office we went to Denny’s for some breakfast or brunch. Then I got ready to go do some parishioner visitation then go to the churches and run my bulletins and that was followed by doing a pre-marital counseling session. I have a young couple getting married on May 21st. They are a really nice couple; both are 22 years old and have been dating for seven years. They both have steady jobs and are so “down to earth” with their hopes and dreams. I think they will do just fine. 

Today I have a parishioner that is having surgery on her shoulder and arm. She took a bad fall several weeks ago and is just now to the point where they can do something about the broken arm. \It was broken in three places. She’s going to be in for some tough rehab. I don’t envy her at all. So, I’ll go and sit with her  for a bit before the surgery and do prayer with her.  Then I have to get home and get busy on finishing up the sermon I’m working on for the 15th. I have it half done, or at least I think I do. I never know what the end product will look like until I type “Amen”. 

It is supposed to rain and maybe storm today, tonight and tomorrow. That’s not good news for us with a roof leak. I still haven’t heard from my contractor. I called them again yesterday but they are really busy. Hello springtime. 

That’s it. I have things to do. Have a wonderful day. Peace. 

   

 May 3rd — Primary Election Day. One of the first things that we will do today is go vote. So many people don’t vote in the primary elections because they don’t really think it makes any difference. Primaries are strictly a “party election” where you are choosing the candidate you want to run in your party for an office. I think all opportunities to vote are important. I gave up 32 years of my life serving our country to guarantee we would always have that right to vote. 

I have been busy ever since we got home from our vacation. Mowing, gardening, weed eating, working at my job, writing sermons and helping Ms. Kate around the house has kept me busy. But, I’ve gotten in my nap time too, but I’m also taking Tylenol because I’m stiff and sore from the yard work. 

It rained last night and is supposed to rain again this week. That’s not a good thing because we came home from vacation and Ms. Kate discovered a discolored spot on the ceiling that says we have a roof leak. Just what we needed. We had one a couple of years ago that was dripping in the shower through the light fixture. It took them four attempts before they finally found the source, just a tiny hole. The new spot is against the wall on the lowest point of the roof, —- and is going to be a real bear to find because where it shows up is no indication of where it is really leaking. I’ve notified our usual contractor but have not heard from him. 

Ms. Kate is sick, —- again. She has a doctor’s appointment tomorrow. She has zero energy, is lethargic, has real problems breathing. It is very concerning to me because this is a pattern that repeats itself every couple of weeks and this time it has gone on for two weeks. I don’t know what to do to “fix” her and that frustrates me. Her only description is “I just don’t feel good”. And I watch her run out of breath with just the least little thing. So, keep her in your prayers please. 

Okay, time for me to get ready and go vote. You have yourself a wonderful day. Stay in touch with God. Peace. 

 QOTD: Why am I up at 0600 this morning?? Actually, why is anybody up at 0600 if they don’t have to be? I reckon it is because I had a good night’s sleep and my brain says it was time to get out of the bed. — Silly brain. 

I had a very busy day yesterday. I told you I had a lot of stuff to do yesterday and I got busy and accomplished a lot of it. My yard is mowed, front and back; the trimming is done and then some; the bird feeders are filled and the bird baths are cleaned and fresh water put in them. (They were gross. I don’t know why birds insist on pooping in the same water they drink from.) I wanted to get as much done as possible because there was a prediction of showers for last evening and rain today. But —- it didn’t rain last nor has it rained so far this morning. So, with a little luck, I’ll get the weeds pout of the raised beds (again) before it does actually start raining. According to my Accuweather App, it isn’t supposed to start raining until around 1800 hours today. That would be good. But — the weather guy last night predicted a week of rain starting tomorrow. That’s not good. We really, really do not need any rain now. The farmers are just now being able to get out in the fields and they don’t need any delays. 

Amongst other things I have on my list today, Ms. kate wants to go to Hastings Nursery down on the other side of Mt. Vernon, IN. I’m supposed to pick up a gardening tool that Karen has on hold down there and no telling what Ms. Kate has in mind for us to buy for planting. Hopefully it isn’t anything more than some garden plants like tomatoes etc, although it is still too early to plant that stuff I think. Heck we had frost warnings just three nights ago still. It has been a weird season. Winter just doesn’t want to go away. There are still blizzards occurring in the northern plains of the country. At least we aren’t looking at anything like that; — I don’t think so anyway. But, this is southern Indiana and who knows what season we will have today. 

I need to go downstairs to my computer and pull up my sermon for this week and read it again. And I need to get back and finish up my sermon for next week too. Next week will be Mother’s Day and I’m doing a sermon of mothers of the Bible, with the focus of course on Mary, the mother of Jesus. I found it interesting as I was going through Google looking for stuff about Mary because there is a lot of information about her and yet — the Bible really doesn’t tell us much of anything and tells us even less about Joseph. So basically anything I can say is repeating someone else’s conjecture and generalizations. There is allegedly a “Gospel of Mary” what was supposed to have been found among the Dead Sea scrolls, but from what I have read it amounts to nothing more than a couple of pieces of parchment that is barely legible. The document has been basically shunned by the “smart people” who do such things. So I don’t know if it is valid or not. There is also supposed to be a Gospel of Judas. 

I think i need a coffee refresher so I’m dropping off of here. Have yourself a blessed day. Peace. 

 Thursday Morning and we are home from vacation. We did a 12 hour straight-shot drive from Biloxi to home yesterday. It made for a long tiring day and we are still stiff and sore this morning even after a wonderful night’s sleep in our own bed. Resorts are nice and all but there is nothing like your own bed, is there. ? The drive was fine; there worst part was getting into Nashville at 5:30 traffic time. But —- for once it wasn’t pouring down rain. The last couple of time we made that drive, it poured on us all the way through Alabama and Tennessee. But yesterday was a lovely travel day. 

We got home at 8:30 pm, got most of the car unloaded, will finish that this morning and get the laundry going. Then we flopped down in our recliners and watched a couple of television shows and went to bed around 10:30. Ms. kate was up at 0600 and I got up at 7:15. Neither of us is moving very fast so far today. 

I’m looking around at my yard and it is a holy mess. The yard needs cutting, the raised beds are full of weeds that need to be pulled. The Backyard Buffet is mostly empty and I have some more sticks and stuff in the yard to pick up before I mow. It is supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow which means I need to get as much of it done today as I can. So much for relaxing. I have grown less and less fond of traveling because this is what you come home to. But —- all of that aside, it was a nice vacation and we got to see parts of the country that we would never have seen had we stuck to the Interstates and not taken all of those backroads along the Mississippi River and through the state of Mississippi on the way from Vicksburg to Biloxi. Backroads were not an option for the return home trip. We got on I-65 at Mobile Alabama and got off of it in Nashville. 

I guess I better get cleaned up and put on my work clothes and get this day really started. I also need to take Ms. Kate t\o get her glassed fixed again. The nose piece has come off once again so she getting a tender spot on the bridge of her nose and of course not seeing well out of crooked glasses. And, we’ need to pick up some groceries and maybe even make a run to Sam’s Club. Too much to do. 

Have yourself a very blessed day. Smile at a stranger today. You just might be the best thing to happen to them all day. Peace. 

 Good morning as we start as new week. I predict it is going to be a good week just because I want it to be a good week. I have that power, you know! Well, at least for me. I mean, no one wants to start out thinking that "this week is going to really suck!" I believe we control our own destiny much by our outlook on life. Everything else then is up to God. Maybe some bumps will come along and that's okay. I've never been on a completely smooth road. I've been on a lot of road that looked smooth but then you hear the constant "bump-bump" as you drive along over the pavement sections. And sometimes that's the way life is; full of little nuance "bump-bumps". Just keep your eyes on the horizon. That's where the journey is taking you and where God's reward lies. ----- (Well that got deep in a hurry, didn't it?)

In the mean time, --- it is a sunny warm morning here in Biloxi, MS. Our room is on the 19th floor overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. We have a very nice room and I'm on my third Keurig cup of coffee so far. So far my morning has been a lazy "sit and read Facebook posts and play Criminal Case on my IPad" type of morning. I'm also enjoying watching all of he small boats heading out on the water. I assume it is people going out for a little fishing. Most of them appear to be personal pleasure boats, not commercial fishing or charter. A couple of trips go down here I went on a charter fishing boat right out there where I'm looking. I was really surprised when the boat only went out maybe a half mile and stopped. The water was only about twenty feet deep. I was used to New England charter fishing where we went out about twenty miles and fished at 300 feet deep where we caught large cod etc. So, fishing out here in the Gulf was a disappointment. Yes, I caught lots of fish, but I have no idea what I was catching. They were all "small". We were only out for a couple of hours and when we came back in, I gave all of my fish to one of the other passengers because I was in a hotel with no ability to do anything with them. The fellow was very happy with me because he was a local. 

We had lunch yesterday at the buffet and it was really good food. We had tried to go to the Beignet Café but there was an hour wait. So we decided to come to the resort, check our luggage with the bellhop and have lunch while we waiting for hotel check-in time. As Ms. Kate said, we have now satisfied all of our "southern cooking" food requirements. We've had fried chicken, oysters, beignets, red-beans and rice, gumbo, corn-bread, catfish, and crème broulet (sp). 

Time to go downstairs and maybe go to the snack  bar. I'm thinking an egg sandwich for breakfast this morning. Have yourself a wonderful day. Peace. 

 Good morning on this sunny Saturday morning. Today we are in Biloxi, MS, and are staying on Keesler Air Force Base in the DV Quarters. We have a four room "apartment" types quarters; living room, large bedroom, kitchen and large bathroom. These quarters are used for Colonel's and Generals when they come to visit the base for specific duty. Then also then allow retired Colonels and Generals to use them if they have room. We have stayed in DV quarters across the nation and they are almost always great, --- if they are Air Force. The other services have a different set of standards and generally are not as nice. 

So, as planned, we drove from Vicksburg to Biloxi yesterday. It was a nice trip, about four hours. We took the state roads and stayed off of interstates again. Yes, you can't go 70 - 75 miles and hour but the state highways was really a good one with little traffic on it. And there is nothing wrong with traveling 60 mph and seeing America like we used to do when I was a kid before interstates were built. (Yes, I'm that old. The interstates weren't built until the early to mid-50's. My folks, my sister and I, and Grandma Rath used to travel to places like Florida and Michigan, and the Black Hills of South Dakota in our old Studebaker on state roads with luggage, coolers, and five people in the car. Car air conditioning meant all four windows "rolled down". LOL) So, traveling backroads and bi-ways was the purpose of this trip and it has been very enjoyable. However, on the way home we will jump on the interstate and boot-scoot on home. 

I really enjoyed coming on the base yesterday. I received a sharp salute from the Security Forces member at the gate, and was addressed by my rank at the gate and and billeting. That might not sound like a big deal to the civilian world but to military and I think especially to retired military, it is a big thing. It is a culture of respect and discipline and recognition for who and what you are and what you have worked hard to achieve, I find very little comparison to that in the civilian world. Everybody seems to want to be on "first name basis". Maybe that's okay, but I think we all like to sometimes feel a sense of acknowledgement. I'm very fortunate in that the people of my parish call me Pastor John, and I appreciate that. I remember when I first retired and went to my home church I heard the young kids all referring to "PT" when they talked to or about the pastor. I was shocked. But, ---- that was what he allowed. Shame on him. But then again, --- maybe I'm the one that being "uppity". 

Time to close this up and go find some beignets for breakfast. Have yourself a very wonderful weekend. Peace.