Monday, February 24th, 2003

We have about 4 inches of snow on the ground here and temps in Sedalia are reported to be about 7* this morning. Every school in Pettis Country is closed I think. I listened to the list of closings on the radio this morning and that's how it sounded to me. Several in surrounding counties are closed too. South of us is much worse. Springfield, MO has 7-9 inches. Our son said yesterday they had about 5" in mid afternoon.
We started in to a JESUS CELEBRATION service yesterday evening but never got all the way there. We were driving about 45 all the way in on Highway 65 and nearly slid off the road at the north edge of Sedalia where 65 joins 765 going thru town. Shad suggested I stop at a BreakTime station just a block from there and check road/street conditions thru town. I did and the lady there called a station on the south side of town. 65 and the streets over there hadn't been cleaned at all and there was already at least one vehicle off the road in a ditch. So we turned around and come home. I could only drive 30-35 all the way home and still control the van. I was so glad to be back home. We had been gone less than an hour and our tracks in the drive were nearly filled with snow already. I had made about 2 1/2 dozen sandwiches for the fellowship after the services so I just froze most of them. The party mix will just go back into the canister. I had already made Oh Boy(also known as Cowboy)cookies to take to Powell Gardens so we have those left over too. I was suppose to go to PG today but told my supervisor last night I doubted I would be there. DOT report this morning said Highway 50 is snow covered. One thing I have learned is that as I age I have slower reflexes and when I get hurt it takes a lot longer to recover. Therefore I take fewer chances that could lead to injuries nowadays.
There aren't even very many wild birds at the feeders because of the cold temps. Maybe a couple dozen compared to the 6 dozen or more most mornings. I filled the feeder yesterday before leaving for town so they had plenty of feed when they came to eat early this morning.
I bought the book I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Josh Harris Saturday. Much of what he says in there could well apply to every area of anyone's life. I recommend it for everyone of all ages. He has another one out called Boy Meets Girl that I'll read next. With a 14 year old boy I want this help to get us thru the next few years. Hopefully his mother will agree to read it and use the princilples to help Shad's younger sister too. We took a pretty strict line with our children in regard to dating but I wish I had had something like this to explain GODly standard to them instead of just having to say that this was our position.
I guess I should venture out into the cold and feed and water the poultry and pigeons. I do the feeding in the building in this kind of weather. Most of them don't venture out of the building all day when it's this cold. Others go out for only a few minutes. Of course the ducks and geese splash water all over the bedding requiring more leaves to be put down every few days to keep dry bedding for them to walk on. However it does help the decay of the manure laden bedding in the lower layers. That means lots of wonderfull compost in the spring.
GOD bless and keep each and all of you. Kathleen, are you getting this last storm? We watch the weather channel but I don't always catch everything because it moves so fast.