The doctor gave me the go ahead to come back to work, so here I am. I actually returned to work Monday. I started my shift at 2PM and worked a sixteen hour shift. It was good to get back with my crew here at work. They are a good group of guys.

It was a quit shift, but I was still very tired when I crawled into bed this morning. I am at work again tonight and all is going well so far. I sleep pretty good today so tonight should be ok.

I will be home tomorrow night so I plan to pop fireworks with my children tomorrow evening. My buddy Dr. Mike may come over, and if he does we will pop the cork on a good bottle of wine while we enjoy the kids, the bottle rockets and the firecrackers.

I won't be able to stay up until midnight though, because I am scheduled to work overtime New Years day, so I will be getting up at 4:30 in the morning so I can come to work.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

I've not posted because of hectic events leading up to Christmas and now it is here I want to say a few things. It is great that we are able to celebrate the birth of our Lord. Many people consider Christmas to be little more than a day to free from work and a day to get and receive gifts. These are certainly good things but it is important that we remember that this day is set aside to celebrate the birth Jesus Christ who is of God incarnate.

I have indeed celebrated during this time. It has been a time of good food and drink. Wine, fine meats, and great desserts are fitting food and drink when celebrating the birth of our Lord. I have endeavored to eat and drink in a manner fitting the birth of the King of kings and Lord of lords.

I am doing well and am supposed to return to work Monday. But I am sore from a little bicycle ride I went on with Izzy the other day. It was a somewhat rough ride and I got banged up a bit. It was great fun though and I hope to do it again.

Soli Deo gloria,
Kenith

I have been a Tolkien fan ever since I read The Hobbit and the Lord of Rings as sophomore in high school. I have been anxiously awaiting Return of the King , which is the last movie in the Lord of the Rings trilogy ever since I saw Two Towers , which came out December of last year. Monday I purchased 5 tickets to for the movie Return of the King which opened on Wednesday.

I purchased a ticket for my older two children (ages 19 and 17), my niece and nephew and for me. During the night (early morning) our youngest son, who is six, got sick so instead of going to see the Return of the King I spent the day with my sick son and my daughter returned my ticket. I was undaunted.

Wednesday evening I called Izzy (a good friend from work) and asked him if he wanted to catch the last feature (11:20 PM) with me. He said yes, so I went to pickup the tickets. There was one person ahead of me in line. I got to the ticket window and asked if the still had tickets for the last feature and he said sure. I asked for two tickets; he looked at his computer screen and said, “Oh; I’m sorry the guy in front of you bought the last two tickets.” I was heart broken.

Izzy and I did go to the 10:20 AM feature this morning. We meet two more guys from work Bryan J. and Mike Ph, at the show. There was a power failure about half way through it, so we had a short artificial intermission that worked out well. The Movie is great.

Frodo Lives,
Kenith

Saturday afternoon I was headed back to town after my trip to the marsh earlier that day. On either side of the road were rice fields. Off to the north west I saw what at first appeared to be smoke, but after a moment it became obvious that it was not smoke that I was looking at but a large flock of blackbirds. I took a turn off the highway to get a closer look at the birds.

They were everywhere and making quite a racket. I clapped my hands and thousands of birds lifted into the air and began to fly a short distance away.

The blackbirds bring back fond memories for me. My first hunting trips were with my dad and other men who also had small kids. We would ride around the rice farms looking for large flocks of blackbirds. When we found some, the men would sneak up on them and all at once the men would start blasting away with their shotguns. I was only a small child and it was my job to run into the field and gather up the dead and dying birds. I thought this was great fun, especially chasing after the wounded birds.

I always loved blackbird hunting, but I haven't done it in years. Of course blackbirds are not very big, so my dad had to kill a bunch of them to make a meal for our family of six. I need to find some land where I can bring my young sons and let them have the experience that I remember so fondly.

When I got older and received my prized pellet gun (along with my brothers) then our prey changed. My brothers and I (along with all our friends) spent countless afternoons hunting robins, which was illegal of course, but it is a very old Cajun hunting tradition. My 83 year old grandfather assured me that he too hunted this delectable red breasted bird when he was a child.

Robins are much larger than blackbirds, so it takes less of them to make a good meal. My two brothers and I supplied the family with many a winter meal back then. Robin breast cooked in onion gravy and placed over rice is a wonderful treat. (I think that the law should changed. If it were not for young Cajun boys with pellet guns the world would be over run by these birds :-)

Coram Deo,
Kenith

My good friend MK has just left for home. He and I enjoyed a very nice bottle of wine. Mike brought over a Greg Norman Estates' Cabernet Merlot (2001). It was a smooth enjoyable wine.

Lisa and I missed church this Sunday because our seven-year-old had a fever and was throwing up during the night. But he was feeling much better Sunday evening. It looks like it was only a 24-hour bug. We were praying that it was not the flu.

I really need to go to bed I will blog again another day.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

This was a pretty good Saturday. The low point is our 7-year-old is under the weather. He was fine this morning, but did not feel good this afternoon. The good news is he is feeling better now, but because he feels better he has made a good size mess.

Today I went to meet a friend at his duck camp. I had not seen him in a few years and we meet at a wedding last week. He invited me over for duck gumbo and to listen to a couple of CD's he has. It is easy to tell when my friend is at his camp because when he is there the Confederate Battle Flag (actually the Confederate Navy Jack) is waving over it. My friend's son and a couple of buddies finished hunting just after I arrived and they came in from the marsh with a load of ducks.

We then all sat down to eat. The gumbo was great (I only found one bb in mine), plus we had potato salad and mustard greens to go along with the gumbo. I brought a bottle of my blueberry wine, and it did not survive the meal. It was a feast!

After the young folks left my friend and listened to White Mansions and The Legend of Jesse James. The music was really good and the view of the marsh was awesome. There were plenty of blue wing teal flying and feeding right near the camp.

These are two great CD's that should be made into movies.

When I arrived home I found that the Seven-year-old was sick, but Lisa was mothering him, and he was feeling better. Lisa sent me to the get medicine and some groceries, so while I was out I stopped at Lake Street Liqueur Store. My duck camp buddy recommended I try some Rebel Yell Bourbon so I stopped and picked up a fifth. I'm sipping on it as I write. It's not bad for the price, but Knob Creek is still my favourite bourbon followed by Old Rip Van Winkle Hand Made Bourbon with Jim Beam Black a little further back. Rebel Yell is cheaper than the others and so I will keep it around.

As I write, Lisa is off to the mall for some Christmas shopping. Our daughter is there as well (working). Our oldest son is at a friends house So I am home with the little boys, one of whom is sick, so I have to go.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

My books are stacking up and I am doing other things and not reading. But my house is looking better. Several rooms have been repainted and rearranged and my bookshelves have been arranged in a way that I can find a book when I look for it.

I was able to go sit on a deer stand on Tuesday. I loved that. It was a full moon that night and so the odds were not real good. I also spent some time at my sister-in-law’s place on a tractor clearing a field. I also took out my shotgun and did some shooting.

Last night I bottled five gallons of blueberry wine that I made back in June. It’s color is very nice and clear and it taste pretty good.

Last Sunday I taught Sunday school. We are finishing up a series on Church history that has taken well over a year to present. I spoke on the subject Religion in the Ante-bellum South. Of course slavery had to be discussed. I hope to get what I spoke on typed up and blogged at some point.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

I finished the painting project yesterday afternoon. But to do so I had to take all the books off my bookshelves, so I could get the bookshelves out of the way and paint behind them. It took forever to get the books back on the shelves once I had finished.

I haven’t even started to read Kierkegaard yet, and I still have to finish getting ready for Sunday school. Tonight we have a wedding and reception to go to, and then tomorrow night we have a Christmas party to attend. So Søren is going to have to wait until next week sometime.

I have work to do around the house. Gotta go.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

Not much has happened since my last blog. I did teach Sunday school again last Sunday. The Sunday before last I spoke on the "Religion and the Revolutionary War" and this last Sunday I spoke on religion in the Ante-bellum North. Next Sunday I will speak on religion and the Ante-bellum South (Lord willing).

MK has asked me to write that Sunday school stuff out and put it on the blog and I plan to soon, but for now it will have to wait. I'm still not supposed to strain or lift things. But I have finally convinced Lisa that I can do more than sit around. I finally talked her into letting me start some long overdo indoor painting. I have to wait for her and our oldest son to get things out of the way for me, but I am making good headway.

Sunday school preparation has really cut into my book reading (cause I am rereading a lot of stuff to teach these classes). But I am hoping to read a little book titled Fear and Trembling, by Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855).

I've never read anything by Kierkegaard, but I have read about him and his views in countless books. I am excited about having this book next to my bed, and hope to get started on it tomorrow, that's if I can get finished with the painting.

Earlier, Lisa came in the living room to help me with the painting. She turned the TV to CMT where they ran a Toby Keith interview by Dan Rather. I like a lot of Toby Keith's music, and after seeing this interview I have a new found respect for the man himself. I like the way he came across.

Coram Deo,
Kenith