No... on Second Thought, I Like This One Best

My husband and I do not live an extravagant life, but we are very content and happy here at Soldiers Heart Ranch.  We have no desire to live an extravagant life either, we have dear friends, wonderful family, and a good church.  We love our little place here too, and while it isn't fancy, many in the world do not have the blessings that we do.  We are grateful to the Lord every day, and enjoy the time we have together, and count it as so valuable.

When I clean deep down, as I always do before Randy comes home on leave, I think of how much I love this little house, and each room in it.  It is where we have nested, where our animals are, the pond, the cabins, the woods, and much to Randy's chagrin, the Barbie Barn.  It is where our grand-children love to be.  It is where our military friends can rest and regroup to meet the challenges of being a military family.  It is where we pray, where we share meals, where we garden, and grow some of our own food.  It is where we sing, and I play the piano and other instruments.  I have put my stamp, and humble possessions we  have spent a life time collecting in each room.  They are probably only important to us, but to me they make our house our home.  The legacy of our lives is in this ranch house.

Each time I clean a room, I think to myself, I love this room, it is my favorite on the whole place, (we have 6 bedrooms when you count the cabins.)  So tonight I thought, "I will share this room with the world in pictures before my company arrives tonight, and I will share a room each day."   You guys can help me decide, which is the best room at the ranch.  Of course I already know what the men will vote for, it's the man cave... but anyway... the ladies will have to decide which one they like the best.

The walls in this room are the palest pink.  You almost cannot tell they are pink, and the pink sort of runs toward a rose pink.  

The bedstead is an antique reproduction, and the other pieces, the night stand, bookcase, dresser and chest I bought new about thirty five years ago when my children were very small.


 

This little chair I bought at an antique show several years ago for $20, and I recovered it, I love it!  The black Asian trunk at the foot of the bed is one that Randy brought back after serving in Korea.                                                                                      

The lamps on the dresser I bought many years ago at the Dollar General Store, and the three antique looking porcelain figurines I also purchased many years ago at the Family Dollar Store.  I love them because they remind me of my daughters.  Two are just alike, they represent my twin daughters.  

Two of my violets have found their way to the dresser, 

because the kitchen window has gotten too hot. 

 

                             

                                                                                                                  There are two framed prints, which I have had about 20 years, hanging in this room, which I love.

 Always I have lived with the truth in my heart that is the essence of this print.  I believe it with all that is within me...

"A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove, but  the world my be different because I was important in the life of a child."  

This quote is by that really smart guy with only one name, "Unknown."

The very last time Randy and I made the trip up to Arlington Heights to perform our individual responsibilities with the 1st Battle Command Training Group, Randy bought me a tea set on the way home.  I display it in this bedroom on the night stand.

I have taken great care to make my          beds very comfortable.  If you visit me, you will sleep well.  The mattresses are good, and there is a three inch memory foam on each of them.  I have at least 400 thread count sheets, and all kinds of "sleepable" pillows, and decorative pillows as well.  I found these "furry" kinds of blankets at Target one time, the same kind of material that expensive baby blankets are made from.  You will not get cold under them, no matter how cold it is outside.


I always shampoo the carpet with Arm and Hammer Oxi-Clean Laundry Detergent.  It smells heavenly!  In fact I clean everything I can with that laundry soap, I love the clean fragrance!  Well that is a tour of what we call "The Pink Bedroom."  Nothing fancy, but comfort abounds, and we do love company!  So we will leave the porch light on, and turn down the bed if you are headed our way any time soon!  Just give us a call, see ya!

The Plan is Prayer on Labor Day

I had a discussion on Facebook just now with someone in the military whose judgment I trust.  It is a holiday here in the States, but I would remind you, around the world the War on Terror rages on. This is the conversation I had. Read the word of a weary warrior, a son, a brother, a husband, a father, a patriot... be assured, he and thousands and thousands like him are on the job.  Make time in your own life to honor and support them every day.  YOU owe them a great deal.

I have a cold fear rising up my spine, a fear that the American people do not have the will and fortitude to finish what we are about to start...
Excuse me, what our government is about to start... I wonder, will they accuse Obama of just greasing the wheels of the economy and feeding the military industrial machine? 

Buzzy Sørensen: Actually, it's a very good plan & people will be alot safer all over the world when this is finished. Has to be done.

Thank you Buzzy, I needed your assurance on that. Funny how I trust implicitly the word of someone I have never met in person, over my own government. The knowledge that people, some very, very, good people, are going to get hurt... I am a mother... war hurts me to my core. I guess that is why freedom will never be free... Please be careful, your mother would want you to, your wife has probably given up on the idea of it ever happening... but God gave you a mind and an intellect... and she wants you to as well. God implanted a generous instinct for self preservation in you, use it in generous amounts just now. I just want to leave the internet, (the puppy chewed through the T.V. cable, so no news from there until Thursday,) and go outside and garden for the next dozen or so years. Were it not for men and women like you I would, but for your sake, and for your band of brothers and sisters, I cannot.   As it is, every day I will go to that huge fallen oak in the woods, and the little platform I built for the deer hunters, and get on my knees and pray.
 
Men and women from countries all over the world are standing shoulder to shoulder working to preserve our liberties, and the lives of innocent people everywhere.  PLEASE, take a generous part of your day to pray for them.

Caption:  Had to wait an hour to fill up with diesel at €1.69 EUR/L [gas station food is the suc]. Roads clogged with tanks moving north. "Welcome brother, have a nice day".
 

Our Little Cabins

These pictures were taken in the winter, I need some 

new ones with the trees green.            

 Inside they are cozy, and I spent a great deal making the beds super comfy!

They Will Just Learn a New Skill

You should never leave a kitten at home bored while you go to church and then to Tony's to eat lunch afterwards...  A bored cat will just take it upon themselves to learn a new skill, whether it is a useful skill or not.  So you get home and the guest bathroom looks like this...  I am thinking I'm not going to be getting rid of the liter box anytime soon... I wonder who is going to clean this up?

 

She was still having a high old time when I found her, since she didn't come when I called.

I bet she had a great time spinning all that toilet paper off the roll, cats are easily amused...

Austin County Texas Dove Hunting

I woke up this morning to the sound of shotgun fire really early.  I forgot, I was supposed to put up my notice about hunting at the ranch.

We have plenty of dove, $50.00 per gun, per day.

3296 South FM 331, Sealy, Texas 77474

979-865-8919

I will be at church until about 3 this afternoon.

We also have cabins you may stay in here at the ranch.

 

Planting the Fall Garden

Patti loves to follow me where ever I go and be helpful, that is why she is sitting in the middle of the seeds I just put in the row for squash.  Actually she is not that helpful...

The okra is still making.  So are the cherry tomatoes and the big tomatoes too.  The jalapenos are just going crazy producing.  (As Patti can attest...)  I still cannot believe she ate that pepper without any bad consequences, and then wanted more.

This little green lizard is helping keep insects off the okra, although right now he seems to be napping.  

Of everything I grow in the garden, the cherry tomatoes are my favorite.  Nothing in the vegetable world tastes as good as fresh tomatoes right off the vine.  It is so easy to grow them, even in a container.  It doesn't matter where you live, you can grow tomatoes.  Tomorrow I am planting four 5 gallon containers of tomatoes, and I will be doing a video, so don't miss it if you want to learn how to grow the best tomatoes you have ever eaten in very little space at all!
                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Several years ago I put in raised beds, and they are the best thing that has ever happened to my gardening.  They are easier to work in, have far fewer weeds, and look nice as well.  You can move more easily among the rows as well.  My small vegetable garden which produces way more than I can eat is behind our old antique barn.  It is over a hundred years old.  

Another favorite part of the garden for me is my strawberry patch.  It is planted in an old bathtub I took out of a rental house and added wooden sides to for looks.  Again, all the same advantages are in the gardening of the strawberries in a container.  I always put chicken wire over the berries, as the ducks get in them if  I do not keep them out of their reach, and ducks really do like strawberries. 

  

Getting the Barbie Barn Ready for Halloween

Just a little sewing will make something special, like a pirate Arggg!!!