Another of My Favorite Rooms

When I first told Randy I wanted to paint a bedroom purple he raised an eyebrow, and said, "Debra, this is a ranch..."  I told him, "trust me," and he did.  He likes the room too, but it is mainly a room for the grand-daughters, they fight over who will get to stay in what has become called, "the carrousel room."

I keep the little carrousel on top of the  armoire, so it cannot be explored by little hands that might not understand how fragile it is.

I bought the little carrousel on sale a Lowes about 20 years back at Christmas time, and the little figurines are from the Dollar Store.  I have had them as long as I have had the carrousel.  All of the little children portrayed by the figurines are looking up, and when I saw them, I knew they were perfect accent pieces, as they are perfectly proportioned.





The bed is an antique reproduction I bought when we moved to the ranch. I made the form which holds the dressing above the bed.  The floral print is another of my favorite possessions.

There is a couch in this bedroom as well.  and it is very comfortable, and when you have enough company, three of the grand-children can sleep in this room.

I love this antique chest I bought for $25.  That old gilded mirror is so heavy I like to have never gotten it hung.  The closet is built out into the room, so it makes a nice little niche for this little table and lamp.

The print  hanging above it was a gift from my oldest daughter Amie.  It is a favorite of mine.  As you can tell the purple is a very soft color, and I think it works well in the room.

                
This photo of the couch with the puzzle put together and framed above it is in exactly the colors to compliment the room and the rest of its furnishings, but looks a little too blue in this photo.  The puzzle is a mural of carrousel horses in different shade of blue and purple.

The rug beside the bed was a gift from Randy from Afghanistan which for that reason, I truly love. 

Above the closet there is space where I can display items, and that is what makes all the grand-daughters love this room so.  I have placed a small collection of vintage dolls and bears there, along with another piece that goes with the theme of this room.  It is a horse from an old miniature carrousel.

This room too is one I love to clean and make ready for Randy's home coming and the company we will be having.  Children and women love staying in this room, especially those with a child's heart. 

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!

There Are So Many Things To Do At The Ranch

When you come to see us at the ranch there are many things available to enjoy, 
and as always, active duty military and their families enjoy the ranch at no cost.

 Accommodations Pricing

All prices include breakfast served from 6 am until 9am

Additional meals available at a cost of $8.00 per plate by reservation (What’s in My Pots.)

Cabins have air-conditioning, dressing table, hot and chilled water,

electric fire places, microwave, and micro fridge

Bedrooms in the house share a bath room

Separate Bath room is in the house for cabin guests,

(Outdoor bath house/restroom facility under Construction.)

Cowboy Cabin, $40 per night

Gardener’s Cottage $30 per night

Jewel Cabin $40 per night

Rose Bedroom $45 per night

Carousel Bedroom $45 per night

Blue  Bedroom $35 per night

Camping $10 per night Bring your Own Tent, use of our tent $20

Motor home parking $20 per day (no hookups available presently but coming soon.)

Activities pricing

Day Pass for Property $20 per vehicle

Canoeing $10

Grilling $5 (use of our grills)

Fishing $10 per day per fisherman, (Texas License Required)

Dove Hunting $50 Per Day Per Gun,  Deer Hunting $100 Per day per gun

(exclusive reservation required,

no other guests on the property during a hunting reservation, and appropriate License required.)

Four Wheeling, bring your own four wheeler, $50 per day per four wheeler (Reservation required.)

Horse back riding $20 per hour per horse, (reservation required.)

The petting zoo, hot tub, and above ground pool are free, swim at your own risk, no lifeguard on duty!

The doll barn is always free admission,

barbie play in diorama $4 per hour per child, party pricing available

Call us at 979-865-8919 for reservations and more information!

To Doll Or Not To Doll, That Is The Question

My husband was not excited when I put in the doll barn at the ranch.  He just didn't think it looked "Army" at all. When I explained  that there were some little girls in military families who were not all that into fishing, tree houses with a 70 foot zip line, horses, lizards, snakes, hunting, or even a petting zoo... they are just girly girls.  They needed something too, so I came up with the Barbie barn.  Just did not appeal to Randy, until he saw kids there, and their reaction.  Especially to the GI Joes..." fighting men from head to toe."  He's on board now!  He particularly thinks this is a good look for Barbie.  BTW, can't call it the "Barbie Barn," brand name infringement, so the name finalized at Debra's Doll Barn.  (That way he can deny all association to a "doll barn."  Certainly doesn't fit the Airborne Ranger thing.)

So come on down all you military families with little girly girls!  Of course the AK is kept locked in the gun safe...

Just How Far Should Professional Courtesy Go Anyway?

My husband is due in tomorrow for leave, and I am "gimpy" right now.  I traded in the original knee immobilizer, and it was such an improvement. Now it just goes from above my knee about six inches to about four or five inches above my ankle, but still getting around is so hard.  When my husband comes home on leave, I want everything perfect.  So I called in my friend Juana, and she came out with her girls to help me.  I hate accepting help, but I can get anything in the middle, but nothing low, and nothing high when it comes to housekeeping right now.  I get to spend Randy's leave having surgery to repair the injured knee.  Sigh... all that said, what I am trying to convey is, I am really busy today, and don't have time for distractions, things have to get done.

 About six weeks ago, after a week of rain Austin County desperately needed,  I made a professional courtesy.  I had been cleaning the back porch when the rain started with lightning and thunder, and I just left the trash can I was using on the porch and went inside.  It rained and stormed every day for about a week.  When I went back to the task, and started to pick up the trash can, out darted a little bird.  In the trash was a beautifully constructed nest.  Of course one mother to another we immediately had an understanding, and I just left the porch, trash can and all exactly as it was and allowed her to finish her project.

 
Every day Rosie, as McKenna dubbed 

her, (she typically names everything Rosie,) toiled away getting her nest just so-so, and then I didn't seen her for a quite awhile.  I have a large window above my kitchen sink and I can observe my kingdom as I work in my kitchen doing everything from canning, cooking, and dish-washing.  Rosie and I became pretty good buds.
I admired her work ethic, and she admired mine.

 Then I saw her coming and going again, now she was bringing rollie pollies, little worms, and other delicacies.  I began hearing little cheeping from her nest.  Still I did not venture out to the porch, well actually I thought one time I would sneak out to the nursery and catch some photos, but her protests sent me back to my kitchen.

Then this morning Rosie began acting so strangely.  She started flying right smack into the kitchen window.  Flying up she would hover, staring straight at me,  fly away, only to come right back, and she was panting.  That really puzzled me.  I maintain a bird habitat, with a stream I engineered that runs into the pond so the birds will have plenty of fresh, shallow, water.  I keep feeders there as well.  This bizarre behavior continued until I realized I needed to at least try to take her water.  When I went to the back porch carefully balancing the bowl of water, she flew straight at me, turned and flew to the end of the porch, then down behind the storage container that sits about three feet from where the dryer vent exits the house.  She repeated this behavior, and then I heard the familiar cheeping from where she was dropping down by the dryer vent.

Well, here she is, Rosie's little chick, we named her Bunnie after we rescued her from the oven like area where heat from the running dryer was definitely overheating her.  She had left the nest a bit early.  Returning her was not an easy task.  As we attempted the rescue, Bunnie, as we had named her, flew off the porch.  It was a lengthy rescue effort then, because she attracted the attention of the barn cats.  (They aren't that big on dry cat food.)

After taking photos, (after all it took a lot of my time and attention to return her to the nest,) we tucked her back in and watched from the kitchen window as Rosie gave her the lecture of her life.  Each of the girls, Maria and Suzanna, wanted their picture made with Bunnie!  She won't be around long if she keeps venturing out of the safety of her nest.  I hope Rosie realizes just how busy I was, and that I only took time out to help with her wayward child out of professional courtesy, one mom to another.  We moms have to stick together.

Genesis 1:20-23
And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." And there was evening, and there was morning-the fifth day.

Job 12:7-10 - But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind. 

That was an awesome little experience I would not have believed had I not experienced it, and shared it with three friends...

Spring is Here at the Ranch!

 

I do so love Spring!  The ranch is never lovelier! 

Old Soldiers Sleep Soundly At Night

To all those who stand the wall tonight, you are doing the right thing,

 for the right reason.  One day your job will be done.

Old Soldiers Sleep Soundly at Night

When they lay down their gray head old soldiers sleep soundly at night.

They have borne the battle; they have fought the good fight.

When liberty and the freedom which Our Almighty ordained,

Was threatened forever to be forgotten, and liberty to be stained.

The call had gone out for men with bold courage and heart,

For those willing to wage war, yet from honor never to depart.

He had been young then, confident, and full of vim and vigor.

Muscled and strong, he had possessed the necessary will to pull the trigger.

Soon he learned just how hard and unforgiving meeting the enemy would be.

In those moments another life would be taken, no other way could he see.

Because the enemy had been impossible by any words or reason to hold at bay,

Inside without pause he realized he could defend all he loved in no other way.

After that first battle when the stranger lay dead at his feet.

His mind had reeled in despair knowing that he had sent him his Maker to meet.

It seemed forever he was in a foreign land where all he could see was sand.

Victory  could be won only by making a committed stand. 

Years had rolled by as in service to the conflict he came and he went.

His children grew up while he was at war, the enemy would not relent.

The sparkle in the eyes of his beautiful wife had slowly died.

For too many nights she lay lonely and sad as she had cried.

They both had known that his absence had been without doubt required.

While she grieved at time forever lost, his dedication she deeply admired.

At long last he had put in his time and had come home never to leave.

For a long time what he had seen caused him deep inside to quietly grieve.

Then the years and hard gained wisdom softened the wounds of his soul.

Peacefully and never forgetting the cost of freedom, he had grown old.

The nightmares and images seared on his heart at the time,

Always he had deliberately kept in a contained corner of his mind.

Whenever the flag passed or the pledge of allegiance was said.

Love of his country and memories of the fallen caused a tear to be shed.

More than most, he knew the price that always had to be paid,

To preserve the country from those whose vanity sent them on evil crusades.

 His own answering of the call for defenders of all that we hold dear,

Was the thing that caused him to sleep without worry or fear.

His own debt for the privilege of life in our country whose truth is self-evident.

Had been paid and he knew that his final sleep was growing eminent.

Sometimes good men must do dreadful things in order to pass on to those they love,

The benefits and opportunities of that great precept from above.

When they lay down their gray head, old soldiers sleep soundly at night.

They have borne the battle; they have fought the good fight.

Up Coming Fun Events Near Soldier's Heart Ranch

This event will be well worth attending if you live in the Houston area.  I have a map in my Event Gadget showing how to get to La Grange and this event I plan to attend.  Hope to see you there.

It Takes Strength

Sometimes  it is difficult to get a gift for a Soldier, I always think very hard about what to get mine.  For Christmas I got him a little canoe.  When he was a kid he would  go fishing with his dad in a little row boat, his dad has been gone many years now, but he still talks about fishing in that boat with his dad.  Now it is time for Valentine's and I decided that carefully  chosen words of admiration and love were fitting,  I wasn't going to share them with anyone but him, but when he read them, he felt they might speak to others as well... and so here for every Soldier, and everyone who loves a Soldier, words from my heart.  To my beloved, Happy Valentine's Day!

If

If there stood before me 1000 men,

Each of whose lives I had observed again and again.

If I had watched them closely at command,

Of Soldiers, equipment, and resources try to meet war’s great demands.

If I knew their lives, credentials, and previous work,

How they handled things, and I were privy to each little quirk.

If the fate of personal liberty, the freedom of us all,

Hung in the balance, and without the right leadership would forever fall.

If there would be before us, only one chance,

To meet in battle some terrible foe, and the art of war to dance.

If by the wisdom and expertise of only one man,

The defenses of our country would fail or stand.

If you, my love, stood among those men in their rows,

The one whom no other I have ever loved so.

If somehow it were my duty the right decision to deliver,

My mind could easily make the choice, but my heart would quiver.

If I knew the man I chose would never come home,

Could I give what it cost, the most valuable thing I own?

If in my decision, would the moral courage by which I have watched you live,

Empower me to do the right thing, and the sacrifice to give.

If as I considered all that lay in the balance, to me you would clearly state,

What your own choice would be and how you would face your fate.

If, as I know would happen, I knew who stood above the rest.

Could I, in selfishness, select the one who was second best?

If there stood before me 1000 men,

This I pray before God, that I never will know how it ends.