The cable came from the satellite dish into our house.  (We don’t have cable TV here in the country.)  We’ve returned their equipment to DirecTV.  After adding a new a new online service, we’re saving over $100 per month.

This is not a complaint against our satellite TV service provider.  They were very good and their equipment worked fine.  Life under that system was actually easier.  However, we can handle a bit of inconvenience for $100/mo.

We use a Roku streaming device to access Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.  That same device also connects us to Sling TV, where we get the cable channels that we want for $25/mo.  For another $5/mo we have an online DVR with a 500-hour capacity.

For over-the-air (OTA) TV, we use a Magnavox DVR.  That allows us to time shift even the sub channels.  (I particularly like the Johnny Carson reruns on Ch 17.2, which I couldn’t get on DirecTV.)

Thus far, the new setup has worked very well.  Sylvia and I are happy campers.

Today is my ninth blogaversary.  For some time, I posted at least once a day.  I’d spend hours at my computer.  I don’t do that anymore.  Many of my friends from back then have vanished.  In those days, the typical blog lasted no more than three or four years (if that long).

Fortunately a few of those friends are still around and active.  I am particularly grateful to those hardy folks who are still making their presence known in the blogosphere.

Lots of cold weather here lately, and tonight I hear the wind blowing.  I’m grateful to have a warm home and a loving wife.

Frosty mornings have greeted us with scenes like this one.

Unfortunately, the camera utterly fails to capture the scene as the human eye does.  Yet, there is beauty in those silver-frosted trees.

Sylvia joins me in wishing you all the very best in 2018.

This month, this blog has featured a nine-part series retelling the Christmas story through ceramic figures.  Here they are combined in an animated gif.

Part 9 had two photos and an embedded Youtube video.  If you follow this blog by e-mail, you did not see the Bethlehem star video.  Follow the link to the Secondary Rds blog and check it out.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas.  Sylvia joins me in wishing you a happy and healthy 2018.

The shepherds returned to their flocks.  Following his natal star, magi from the east sought the Christ child.  Their journey would take some time.

We usually portray them as arriving at the manger, but the Scripture reports that the family was living in a house.  Being limited by the figures, I’ll show them at the manger.

While we celebrate the arrival of the magi on January 6 (Epiphany or three kings day), they may have actually arrived on December 25.  (How great is that?)  That story is told in the video clip that follows.  A longer version can be found on Youtube.

Sylvia joins me in wishing you all a very Merry Christmas.

Outside our windows the world is white and the snow continues to fall.  It feels very “Christmasy” to us.

As the shepherds were at the stable, another group was preparing to make their journey to visit the young child.  These were magi from the east.  They came from the land where, nearly 600 years earlier, Daniel had been the chief of wise men.  Would they have learned prophecies and wisdom handed down from him?

Angels told shepherds, most humble of folk, of the birth of the Christ child.  They hurried to the stable to visit the babe.

In the stable’s silence, a child is born.  Prophets had foretold this, but little did they realize how humble his arrival would be.

An angel appeared (look on wreath) to shepherds, who were tending their flocks.  Thus the news was first announced to the lowliest of people.

The kindly innkeeper provided room for the weary travelers in the stable.  This was probably in a cave or grotto (there are many in that area).  The couple were away from the crowds in the inn.  The stable was protection from the elements and the animals kept it warm.

The Galilean couple inquires about a room at an Inn.  Once again they are told that there is no room, and “No, we don’t know where you can find a room.”  Bethlehem is filled with descendants of David who have come here to register for the Roman census.

Again the innkeeper speaks, “Your wife looks very pregnant and very tired.  Perhaps we can find a little space . . .”

The couple approaches Bethlehem.  Will they find an Inn?  The little town is very crowded with pilgrims coming to register for the census.

The contented cow waits in the manger, chewing her cud.  She had no idea what was coming her way.