The Week/Month in Review

Holy smokes! Another month has come to an end and we are 1/3 of the way through 2022!
The calendar serves to mark the passing of time or to measure the distance to upcoming events in our lives. Its overall purpose doesn't matter near as much to me as it once did.

April coming to a close brings us closer to the months of summer. I am really enjoying the spring weather and had forgotten how much I truly enjoy sitting on the deck and listening to the sounds of nature. I especially like the morning coffee time on the deck. 
Groucho the cat also enjoys the deck and seems to be happiest when we leave the back door open and she can come and go as she chooses. She is currently taking her post-breakfast snooze on the futon as I sip my coffee and type on the keyboard.

I'm slowly getting back into the swing of the daily yard work thing. It will sure look pretty once the flower beds are built, planted, and in full bloom. Until then, it is a lot of work. On some days I remember how thankful I am that I didn't have to do the manual labor thing for my daily job. 
The exercise and activity has been good for me. I am sleeping better (not that it's been a problem), feeling better, and have lost a couple of pounds this past week. 

The overall scope of my life remains pretty narrow. There really isn't much more than sitting on the deck or working in the yard. Chris has started morning exercise with a friend. The yard is now my exercise/activity. My only regular outings are Thursday nights at 425 (aka Barchurch) and Sunday mornings at The Venues. And while I do enjoy those times, I don't think my life or happiness would suffer greatly without them. 

I'm spending a little less time on social media platforms. I've been posting results of daily word games, but trying to refrain from too much scrolling. Those damned reels can really drag me into a black hole that sucks away the minutes of life. 
As a kind of experiment, I posted this blog last week without a Facebook link. It only got about half of the normal hits. Maybe I'll post this one without a Twitter link. I know the analytics gives me the information on where readers come from, but a little practical experiment is fun, too. 

I did manage to finish a few books in April (5, I think), and will continue to read through the summer. I need to get back to some non-fiction, educational reading. Fiction is fun and entertaining but sometimes feels like wasting time watching television sitcoms or drama series. 

Sun is breaking through the clouds, so I guess it's time to get to work.
Enjoy the weekend!

John

Aging... not so gracefully

It is really amazing how a little bit of work can make this old body sore. 
The winter inactivity is making itself known as I begin with the spring yard work. I don't even work that hard or for very long.
It's not too bad and I am not in any real pain or anything. It's just that ugh kind of stiff muscles and a little bit of soreness from working muscles that haven't been worked in some time.

And while there is plenty more work to be done, I get a rest day on the gardening stuff today as another round spring shower hits us this morning and throughout the day. I have other work that can be done while the rain falls outside, but there is something satisfying about working outside that motivates me to work so much more than working inside.
Maybe I'll just throw on a sweater, sit on the screened in (and covered) deck, read a book, and enjoy a cigar this afternoon. I suppose I could manage a little work this morning and enjoy an afternoon cigar--I'll have to consider that. 

One small project that could be done on the patio under the deck--I want to build a bird feeder. I have the lumber scrapes and there are plenty of YouTube plans and demos. I'm not much of a woodworking craftsman, but I should be able to handle something that is functional and doesn't look too hideous and frightens away the birds. I also have a couple more bird houses that I need to put up (when the weather permits). Digging post holes in SWMO is a chore. And the cost of a post these days is also a little prohibitive. I have one 4x4 post I can use and I can probably use the opposite side of the post that occasionally supports a hammock. I don't really use it for a hammock too often. 
With the nearest mature trees about a quarter mile away, we don't have much shelter for birds or other wildlife. 

All-in-all, the warmer weather and the spring activity is quite welcome. I don't even mind the associated aches and stiffness (much). Although I did make use of the deck throughout the winter months, I had forgotten how much I enjoy it during the warmer months of the year. Once I get the garden planted and the flowerbeds are growing, I'll be back to my normal unproductive member of society status of consuming a daily cigar and a beer. 

In spite of a little stiffness, I am looking forward to this, my 22,600th day on planet Earth. 

John

Earth Day 2022

I'm spending this Earth Day morning enjoying my morning coffee on the deck. I have become much more aware of our home planet and the impact we have on her. I think that's been a part of fewer pleasure rides on the motorcycle over the past few years as well as other behavioral changes.

We (late to the party) have been recycling much more than before. Recycling is sometimes a difficult habit to get into. Recycling in our area isn't a big thing. There are no pick-ups for recyclable items and collection sites can be far. I wonder about the trade off of a 35 mile round-trip in the car and recycling cardboard, paper, glass, cans, and plastic.

I'm waiting for some pines and crape myrtle trees from the Arbor Day foundation. I have another maple sapling to plant and three sprouts from some apple seeds. I'm still hoping for more.
I also have a couple of tiny sprouts from some pine cones that I picked up in Colorado. 
If you have any saplings or seedlings that need to be uprooted, let me know. I have five acres of former pasture that I would love to fill with trees.

We have been doing more grocery shopping at Aldi and using our reusable boxes. I need to get some reusable produce bags to eliminate the need for those plastic bags. When we do shop where the use plastic bags, we save them for donation to a local shelter that has people that crochet them into sleeping mats for the unsheltered community. I'm so bad about remembering to bring reusable shopping bags with me.

We'll try a little more gardening this year. Our garden last year was pretty pathetic, yet we managed a few cucumbers, tomatoes, and green beans. We also had some lettuce, a few carrots and a handful of peppers. Hopefully we'll do better this year. I wonder how much more care my garden would get if we were dependent on a good yield for survival.

What's your Earth Day outlook?
How are you taking care of our home world?

John

Getting into the Spring of Things...

I'm adapting to a new schedule, or at least working on it.
Chris has started morning exercise classes with a friend. They're meeting at the Ozarks' Community Center (The OC) for 9am classes. That has Chris going to bed before midnight instead of her usual 3-4am time. Although I usually manage to stay up until after the midnight hour, I am usually in bed by 1. Last night was much earlier.

I've been hitting the new day's Wordle and Quordle puzzles just after midnight when they become available, but was already in bed by that time last night. A couple of my Facebook friends had already posted their results to my page by the time I got up this morning. I'll get to it after a little bit.

This is shaping up to be an unusually active kind of week for this retired introvert. We have lunch with another couple today, dinner with our small group tonight, dinner with shelter volunteers tomorrow night, barchurch on Thursday followed by drinks and conversation with a friend. 
I might have to hibernate for a week!

Actually, it's not so bad. A couple of those engagements are pretty energy neutral and barchurch can even be a bit of a midweek charge depending on the night. I still have these quiet mornings and I should have some good deck time as spring moves forward. It looks like I'll be able to get to work in the yard this week. It's been pretty rainy in the past, but this week looks promising.
I ordered a load of topsoil for the flower beds, garden and to fill some low spots where water pools in the yard. I expect to get it sometime in the next week (provided the rain holds off). They're a bit behind in deliveries due to the past weeks of rain. That will serve as my daily dose of exercise/activity.

All in all, I'm okay with the shift in sleeping time. I didn't sleep quite as well last night, but I'm pretty adaptable so I expect that to change. 
More activity, good sleep, maybe some better eating habits -- it could be a whole new me by summer!
I hope your spring is going well, too.

John

Internet Isolation

I suppose it is a part of life in rural SWMO.
We are once again without internet service to our home. 

There isn't a good, affordable service available.
Affordable service isn't good, and good service is really more than I want to pay. Truthfully, we don't need it that much. After one and a half years into our two year contract with Hughes Net satellite internet service, we decided that paying the cancellation fee was better than paying for the crappy service. We are back to where we started with our internet service coming from using our phones as hotspots for streaming on the TV or browsing and blogging on a Kindle or laptop.

It's more of a problem for Chris than for me, as she is more of the TV watcher. Also, her Kindle doesn't seem to like the hotspot service and refuses to operate the same as it does with traditional wifi connections. We took a trip into town and used McDonald's free wifi to download a few books onto her Kindle yesterday. For me, it's just a pain when trying to stream weekly fights, but I don't suppose the world would end if I didn't get to watch them every week.

I'm spending a little less time on the laptop and think that will probably result in blogging less often (it already has) as spring progresses and summer nears. That's probably a good thing.

I think I'll just enjoy my morning coffee (I treated myself to a little vanilla and cream this morning) and finish reading my book. I hope your day is as peaceful as mine.

John

Spring in SWMO

It is a foggy, rainy Monday morning in Highlandville, MO. It looks like the coming week will be overcast and then downright cold by Friday night. I hope those early gardens survive. I started some plants in egg containers and can easily bring them in. It would have been nice if they had some good days of sunshine to get started. I know a few early gardeners, but think that early April is a bit too soon for this area. 

Most of my potted starts are flowers. I'm looking forward to the spring and summer colors and am looking to add plenty of flower space this year. 
As for vegetables, I hope that my second year garden beds will be better producers than last year. They'll have a little deeper soil and it should be a little richer, as well. I'm going to have a few more cucumber plants than last year, and also a couple more tomato plants. I should probably get some pepper plants started.
I haven't decided what kind of green beans to grow, nor have I decided if I'll give popcorn another try.
I didn't grow cabbage or zucchini last year, but might add a plant or two this year.
I've started some spaghetti squash.
I'm wondering about broccoli or cauliflower.
I'm probably not going to grow potatoes this year.
I've thought about a couple of pumpkin plants, but am undecided. 

And we need to decide on some herbs.

What's going to go in your garden?

John

If you want to get to heaven -- ask a Southern Baptist (or NOT)

Not too long ago, I encountered a man that told me that the Southern Baptists were the only ones with the true doctrine of God. 
Hmmm...

I'm a born skeptic, but I don't think it takes a skeptic to find doubt in such a statement. Yes, I spent a couple of decades on the SBC evangelistic circuit, but I was never so sold on the one and only true doctrine bullshit. Forgive me if that sounds too sacrilegious for your liking, but that's what it is. Whenever someone says that the bible clearly says or that they know the mind of God, it's time to back-up and see what their motivation is. 

Today I learned that there are 46,400 different Christian denominations around the globe.
FORTY SIX THOUSAND, FOUR HUNDRED different denominations of Christians. That adds up to a whole lot of wrong thinking followers of Jesus. I think maybe this guy that is positive that he has it right is likely one of them. I have seen far too many people hurt by that one denomination to consider it to be anything like the Jesus of the Bible. 
Each one of these 46,400 denominations teaches their own version of Jesus.

I have a feeling there will be a lot of surprised souls at the people that God chooses to let into his heaven. I think there will be more than a few that might be surprised to see me, heretic that I am. I wonder how many souls I have guided away from God by my poor example of living like Jesus.

Today I do very little in the way of spreading the Word of the Bible.
I don't preach. I don't teach. I don't lead altar calls or have people repeat a magical incantation that will guarantee their eternal salvation. I don't believe that God needs John Hill to gather people into his heaven. I think God is way smarter than giving the task of filling heaven to me or to a single religious denomination under the direction of a bunch of power hungry, greedy, control freaks.

A couple of years ago the cover pic for my Facebook was a saying that I wrote that said:
The farther I got from religion, the closer I got to God.
Sorry, but that Old Time Religion isn't good enough for me. I don't want a religion anymore. If that makes me a heretic, I can live with that. It really doesn't mean anything to me that others might not think that I get to go to heaven. Until God gives them the job of Gatekeeper, it just doesn't matter what their opinion is.

I may be a fool destined for eternal hellfire, but I am quite honestly in a good place spiritually speaking. I'm enjoying some background music from a friend of mine on Spotify while sitting on the deck. I just finished a good cigar, and the afternoon is slowly fading towards evening. The land around me is starting to get green as the trees are budding and the grass is coming out of its winter dormancy. 
I am connected to the world around me and I sense the presence of the Creator in the chirping of the peeper frogs, the evening activity of the birds and in the potential of the seeds I've planted and am watering.

Yeah, I went to church today, but this is my religion. 
This is my peace.
This is where my soul is rested and restored.
This is where I connect with God.

I don't know what the Southern Baptist's heaven looks like, but I'm okay with not being included there. I have my heaven. The presence of God is evident all around me. God is all around you, too. Over and over, Jesus said that heaven is here. Open your spiritual eyes and look around you.
But don't take my word for it. I'm just another seeker on this road of life.

John

April 1st and Looking for a coffee shop

It is hard to believe that 2022 is already 25% over!
Although it has been a mild winter, it's like the year doesn't really start until spring arrives and I can spend more quality time in the sun. I know lots of people enjoy the outdoors in the winter, too -- but not me!

It's still right around freezing outside this morning so I'm inside with the fireplace warming up the living room from the cool indoor temp of 61 (16c). It is sunny out and the day will warm up nicely. I'm looking forward to working on the flower beds and garden during the month of April.
I'm going to begin by building a little outdoor table/workbench. I need a place to pot plants and stuff. It is amazing how much lumber costs these days! Four 2 x 4s and a few screws is $40! I'm glad we built this house before those prices went up. We could probably sell it right now for a 50% profit and move to Mexico. 
Hmmm...

As the spring progresses and I start spending more time working around the yard, I think I'll be spending less time on the computer and less time on the blog. One thing that I'd like to do more of this year is ride the bike.

My motorcycle has been parked in the garage for all of last year and most of the year before. It hasn't even been tagged to ride for over a year. It is now ready to ride and I even managed about 100 miles last week. I think I'd like to start a regular practice of a weekly morning ride for coffee. It would be better if I am meeting someone for a little conversation to go with my coffee, but I suppose I can enjoy coffee and my laptop and try a little blogging about whatever local coffee shop I happen to stop at on that particular day. Mornings will be pretty cool for a little longer, so it might be a while before I get this practice started. 

Looking ahead to next week, Monday morning looks like it has possibilities. 
Anybody up for a Monday morning cup of coffee somewhere within 60 miles or so of Highlandville?
Let me know in the comments or send me a text or message. Otherwise I'll be the pathetic, lonely, old guy sitting by himself at a coffee shop.
Actually, that doesn't sound so bad.

John