Ramblings @ 3:35 am

Good morning,

              I cannot sleep. I'm exhausted, but sleep escapes me. I have been awake since midnight. I have finally given in and have made my first cup of tea for the day.(Jasmine)
My mind is in a constant state of thought, nothing of value mind you, just random misfiring of brain juice gone wild.
              We pulled into town to discover that a fire had broken out not to far from where we live. They had evacuated the town closest to us that morning in case the fire changed direction. God sent rain to help extinguish the fire. Praise God! It is so dry that the sage is crunchy when stepped on.
              The last two years we have had blue birds nesting in the spare tire of our car. Those eggs were well traveled eggs. The parents were always here to welcome their little eggs home when we would return. Once hatched, we had to stop driving the car. Yesterday, the little hatchling's left the nest, so driving has resumed. We have to watch the dogs, so they don't kill the baby birds. They are still learning to fly or crash depending on how you look at it.
              We made it home after what seems an eternity of constant hard physical labor. The first week for money and the second for piece of mind. Our Southern home has been completely transformed by the sweat of our brow. There was a lot more to repair than we imagined. Not only had our air conditioner stopped cooling, we also had a leak in the roof. It wasn't a structural thing, just a leak around the vent thingy.
              Can you imagine what it was like with no air in the south in a home that was sealed up like Fort Knox? This was all suppose to be taken care of by a child posing as a man who was a contractor. Yea right. What a mess. Once the repairs were made, we cleaned, re-painted, re-stained and reorganized every nook and cranny until it became a new home. We are proud of our hard work. There is still more to do, but it will have to wait for next time.
              We decided to take our sleep number bed to the other house and use a new mattress (free on Craigslist, never used) here. I inadvertently left the remote that inflates the bed to the desired firmness. Well, when you drop about 8,000 ft everything deflates. We had to sleep on a very saggy bed. We did not have the time to put the other mattress in place before we left, so when we got home in the middle of the night we decided to sleep on our air mattress. We woke up once to put the air back in it and it was flat again by morning. Go figure?
              I was suppose to go to a birthday party retreat for a friend of mine, but thought the 15th was on Saturday when it was actually yesterday. I was in tears when I figured it out. My spirit was grieved deeply. You see, I really needed that time with my friends to rejuvenate myself in the fellowship of Christian women. To be able to share my deepest thoughts with trusted friends. To seek council with those whom God has seen fit to bless me with. I made arrangements with the birthday girl to meet for coffee and a soak in a nearby hot spring this morning for a few hours. The others could not make it.
              I'm also going to visit the chicks and drop off another fifty pounds of feed this morning before I meet up with birthday girl. Just a few more weeks before they are able to come to their new home. We are going to town on Monday to get all the supplies for building the coop. I think that I have a usable plan that utilizes a very small space to keep cost down and to keep the chickens warm in the winter. I'm so excited. How many women do you know that asks for a chicken coop and chickens for their 25th anniversary? I'm just that kind of gal, I guess.
              I didn't have much posting time while I was away this time. We were only getting about four hours of sleep at night the first week and the second week I was just too tired. I'm sorry. I really enjoy blogging. Spring, Summer and Fall are our busy working seasons. Winter (my favorite time) everything slows way down. That's when we get our social on. Hunting and preserving happens then too. The weather dictates a lot around here.
             We have so many plans this year for improvements, like drilling a well, putting in a wood cook stove, building a chicken coop, updating our solar and putting up a green house. Slowly, but surely as our finances allow we will get our goals met. God is faithful and we look to Him for all our needs. Praise God! We try to be content no matter what our circumstances. I attended a retreat based on this biblical principal. It was a joy and I learned many other biblical principals that helps to make my life a joy to live.

1 Timothy 6:6-8

New International Version (NIV)

⁶ But godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷ For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. ⁸ But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.


               I am content right now with the reorganizing of our home. Making it more functional and user friendly. We have been using our spare bedroom as a storage room and that doesn't work out to well for our guests. We have been cleaning and organizing our barn, so we could move our storage room into it. Our goals for the next two weeks are building the chicken coop, cleaning out the spare bedroom, building our water hauling trailer and whatever else we can squeeze into this small amount of time.
              We have swapped out furniture from our two homes to use where we can to get the most benefit out of it. We have a beautiful old metal bed and a dressing table (Our first antique) that we brought back with us to use in the guest room. The room is small and so is the bed. Our guests will have to snuggle, but I'm sure that it will be fine. We have air beds if we have overflow.
               I must be finished posting because my thoughts have just stopped flowing. I guess I had a lot to say. Thank you for listening. Any suggestions on organizing or anything for that matter is always appreciated. God bless! I'm going to go take a nap...