First step

Hey there blogernets (still working on the terminology). Lord willing and our finances hold out - we may actually renovate (read that word FINISH) the master bath. While putzing around at a home improvement store I found this light fixture on the clearance table. I like it - a lot - so it is planned for over the bathtub in the alcove next to the new window we have yet to build. First will be a large bumpout on the master bedroom so we can have a closet to truly organize (HUH?) my life.
But this light fixture is a commitment - especially since it is still in the box sitting in our home office. Talk about an elephant in the living room - this is the renovation reminder in the office space! Probably going to do beadboard ceilings like we did at the little rock house, Italian style plaster and waxed walls, not sure about tile versus wood floors and after that it all gets blurry. I'm not a person who plans a heck of a lot - I'm a lot more - build me a house around this doorknob gal. So you are looking at the doorknob (metaphorically speaking) of my master bath. What do you think? You doing any big projects in the next few months? We are always doing projects but this time it'll be mostly for US not for money. Woo Hoo says the Lady of Buhlaland - it is GOOD here and we are grateful even for a cool metaphorical doorknob type inspiration. Y'all have any good door knobs out there??

Different blooms

The flamboyant canna blosssom is courtesy of a friend named Ruth. I love the name Ruth especially the story of Ruth in scripture. My mother's middle name was Ruth - very much from the bible since her parents were also believers. The beautiful woman from Kenya who processed my blood donation on Friday - her name was Ruth and it opened a discussion of her faith she is an impressive woman. Our friends in Honduras - the Rudds have a lively, bright teenager named Ruth (she is in the videos on GodTube). Last on my short list but definitely not least - Ruth Graham Bell a woman who truly lived her faith. I could be totally irreverent and mention another favorite Ruth - the candy bar all chocolate and caramelly goodness but oh no I'd never do something like that. Go on reading now without thinking of a candy bar - nope - don't think of candy.
What do all these Ruths have to do with blooms? You knew I'd get here somehow despite taking a rabbit trail or two mentally. My rambling point is tonight I believe we are all blooms in the garden of life. Just as the blooms in my garden are intensely beautiful but only visible for a short time - we aren't promised tomorrow. We need to be the most wonderful bloom we can produce. Even if you are like me - more a prickly cactus flowers than cultivated raspberry crepe myrtle or flamboyant canna or delicate rose. Be the bloom you are meant to be - each has a place in the garden. That's how I see it on Buhlaland - and it is good to even be the bloomin' idjit I can sometimes be. See you in the bouquet!

Compassion

I seem to have a theme this week. As a person with no children of her own it truly makes my heart ache when I read about a child who needs help. Rachel and Jacob were the subjects of yesterday's plea for help (my pleading - they graciously gave us the opportunity to be part of blessing a child).

I joined the Compassion International's bloggers some time ago- a very loosely knit group of Compassion sponsors who are given a blogging topic once a month. I'm a wretched procrastinator and I've delayed until today - the last day for June to post. Hard to get my mind around how massive the Global Food Crisis is and how quickly it is growing. I've posted one of our sponsored children - Elius in Bangaldesh again - he is not starving but I spoke with a pastor from his country and was told food is getting harder to buy. We have SOOOOOO much in this country. Like you I'm freaking out a bit each week seeing how staples in our diet are going up in price but we still are able to buy pretty much what we want to eat. The dividing line in my mind would be - I get to think about what we WANT to eat - while millions are trying to find a way to eat at all. Now realistically - how long do we spend thinking about it? Oh a few minutes during the evening news watching foreign reporters talking about feeding stations. YUCK what an awful word to have to apply to humans, created in the image of God. Humans who are our brothers and sisters in this world are fed at "stations".
If you click on the link global food crisis - it takes you to the Compassion International site where you can get more information or make a donation. I know I know I know - we are bombarded with "good causes" and catastrophes and flooding and typhoons. Yes yes yes I totally agree we cannot save the whole world ourselves. But if we can save just a few at least we won't stand on the Day of Judgment saying - well Lord there were so many good things available to do I just couldn't decide which one YOU wanted me to do - so I sat and read and thought and prayed - and did nothing.
I want us all to hear "well done my good and faithful servant". Quoting the advertisement from Nike - Just Do It.
God bless you for reading this - whatever you decide to do is between you and the Lord. Honestly unless you are just moved to say so - I'd rather you didn't post if you gave or not - this is one of those times I think it would be wise to keep the giving decision between you and God.

We are overfed and often overwhelmed on Buhlaland and forever grateful for a chance to help. Cannot do it all - but oh thank you Lord we can do something.

Chance to shop and do good!

Hey Bloggy readers?blogospherites - I never know what to call y'all so I'll just call you friends of the bloggy persuasion. Anyhoo - just saw a neat opportunity to act quickly and do a VERY good deed. Rachel is preparing to do foster parenting and needs some help in the preparing supplies department. Shouldn't be expensive (little kiddos and their clothes aren't all that costly when we are talking warm weather and small children) and I doubt even UPS charges would be much. PUHLEEEZZEEEEEE zip over there - read her nifty posting and DO IT. Just click on her name and you'll go to her blogsite. You'll be blessed and if we can't help somebody with a little giftie here and there - well life just gets too boring don't you think? Here in Buhlaland we are planning a boy and a girl gift bag and will take pictures before we send it off. It is good to be spontaneous and sounds like Rachel and her husband are just the kind of folks I'd want to be caring for some little ones. How about you? Okey dokey - I have to get back to work ASAP - showing property late this afternoon (yes it will be 100 degrees ) so need to be organized before I get out there.

A Hoooooooooooooooo!

I felt like howling at the full mooooooonnnnnnn a bit. Took this picture last Monday but didn't feel moved to post it until tonight. The delay and the idiocy of my title says something about the week we've had. Work challenges to the max, some interpersonal stuff(relational no not my marriage - it is veryfinethankyouverymuch), a sad diagnosis for our beloved Corey dog and winding up with --- ta da - a wonderfully quiet Sunday.

I'm feeling stressful pressure from too many sources and getting reminded continually I am not in this alone. He that is in me is greater than he that is in the world. So what's the end line on this? We are doing OK. Corey is responding to her medications pretty well. Right at this moment she is laying in the chair with DH - her head on his lap.

We aren't promised tomorrow, trying to living in the past is a waste of today. I was told by a fairly wise person, anxiety and worry is paying interest on a debt you don't even owe. We can choose to dwell on the negative or not. We pick NOT. It is well in Buhlaland and even without a full moon - try howling it is amazingly relaxing!

A horse is a horse of course

I'm not a horse person - you know how people say they are cat people or dog people. Well we are aware they are not truly feline or canine homo sapiens so we agree about understanding what they mean. I love the appearance of horses, have ridden a few in my life and certainly appreciate having these magnificent creatures around us every day. The county in which we live is a self proclaimed capital of two things - first it is the peach capital of Texas - now honestly - there is NOT much competition for that title in Texas. We are in an area where peaches will grow but it is no Georgia. We have fun at the Peach Festival each year and occasionally enjoy someone's shared peach bounty.The other capital claim of Parker County is Cutting Horse Capital of the World. I think there are places in Oklahoma which might want to dispute this title but there ya go. Sorry I didn't take along something to clean the plaque which explains the claim - apparently grackles have nested and done what birds do - do. (small potty humor there) You'll probably have to click on the picture of the plaque to read the text. The large bronze which is next to the plaque shows a cutting horse and cowboy doing what they do best - cutting or heading a calf away from the herd. We also have a picture of a mare with her foal next to a local bank. Most colorful picture is a pair of fiberglass horses painted with the designs of an American and Texas flag - technically I think they are quarter horses and not necessarily cutting horses (hindquarters not as heavy) but they are pretty cool. I don't have a good scripture to tag along with this - we know the Lord God created all and when He made horses I think He liked the result a lot. So I'm not back to blogging from my heart - but this is from my area. It is horsey around the country of Buhlaland.

What do you like?

Still having trouble finding my blog voice but I took this nice picture of my teakettle the other day and thought - what "thing" do the people who read my blog really like. You know something you have in your kitchen? Not something you wish for or dream about - we're talking in there now. I like my teakettle, it has a red handle (red is favorite color of mine), it whistles if I leave it unattended on a burner and it gets very hot (so I don't burn it up if I walk off and forget about it) and it is functional - if I put water in it, turn on the burner underneath it - every single time it makes hot water.

Not fancy schmancy or antique or collectible - a very ordinary teakettle I bought at Costco a year or two ago.

So what about you? What item in your kitchen at this moment now just plain pleases you ? Here in Buhlaland - a teakettle is enough to remind me - my life is very good.
I added this picture of a recent sunrise just to avoid being all about the stuff and the question - the Creator gives to us all many blessings we don't even notice. Like a teakettle huh?

I've got Blogger Block

I've written and deleted three posts - pictures and all - cannot think of something worth saying and as mama always said - if you can't say something clever, amusing, instructive, inspiration or just dadgum funny - shut up. I'm shutting - that's how it rolls here on Buhlaland.

Family portraits

The lovely doe with a chain on her neck is Snickers' twin sister. We were up at the home of our neighbors and I took a picture to compare their sizes. Snick is definitely larger (bucks should be) and he lives a very different life. As a milk goat she is kept in a pen and fed only hay and grain - not mistreated at all not saying that - but Snickers runs in the pastures and eats weird plants. Of course he also stays scratched up and clobbered from his more rough existence but you can surely see the resemblance in Nubians - the other 3 are bucks born to a different doe. Just for those who are interested in the goatishness around Buhlaland. Later - I need to get busy - more work than daylight this week!

Just too adorable huh?

Yes his eyes are huge and appealing, yes he is a bottle fed goat who is supposed to be my "baby" for as long as he is in the herd because I raised him. However puberty has begun it's personality dominating hormone changes. Today was the first time Snickers absolutely would NOT follow me into the pen, ended up having someone else carry him because he is getting too big for me to pick up and walk with. They grow up so quickly and rebel. I hope it is true for goats as well as children - train up a child in the way he should go and he will return to it. :::sigh::::: it is good on Buhlaland but a little teenaged rebellion can make a gal tired.

Linkage

Quick updating - I have been working on the section called Internettedness - deleting several links and adding a few. Being true to myself there are several very nice blogs, well written and often amusing which espouse ideas I'm not at all comfortable about. Sorry if someone is offended I deleted their link - I certainly expect they will do the same. Anyone know the etiquette on that? Am I supposed to notify a reciprocal link they are getting unreciprocated? As you know - I'm ALL about etiquette here on Buhlaland - for example you never try to remove food from a goat or serve store bought pies to my family!

Ever think things are just a little "off"?

I was deleting some picture files and stopped at this one. It is of a bathtub in a rental unit we manage - look closely at the drain and the faucet - yep - off by a good bit! Glad to have my perception of the apartment confirmed by a picture - t'ain't straight. Reading and hearing from our western culture that I am wrong in my beliefs for many years now - I am becoming cautious about stating firmly - "this is SO". One friend and I decided our lives must be part of a fable. Remember the Emperor's New Clothes ? Much of the world is nekkid as a jaybird and seems compelled to declare my insistence on truth old fashioned, ignorant or only looking at one truth. If you have a drain that is not aliged with the faucets by a good ten inches don't tell me it is my perception. The Bible tells me people will call good evil and evil will be called good. Deciding to call a lie the truth still doesn't make it true!

An illustration I heard when living in Vermont was that being born in Vermont doesn't make a person a Vermonter. A cat could have kittens in the oven but that don't make'em muffins.

It is good in Buhlaland, blessed beyond belief and truly tired already of the pundits, news media and candidates - it is a LONG time until November y'all. I'm going back outside and tend my tomatoes. Curmudgeoning along the way - I won't be like this later on - simply letting it get posted because maybe someone else is seeing a Naked Emperor.

Texas Weather

What did I say about hot tamale? I took a picture yesterday - June 3, 2008 at 4:57 pm of the thermometer mounted outside our breakfast room - in the shade with a nice breeze blowing. Yes ma'am - a hunnert degrees already. We had an unusually cool and rainy summer last year - don't believe we are getting a repeat on the weather. Before you ask - yes it feels hot, no I don't hate it, yes we do things outside even with the heat and it is easier because we get up very early. Early mornings are wonderful and evenings after sunset are absolutely fabulous. The hot dry winds have ruined my hanging baskets - I need to replant. Here is a gardening tip - put a disposable diaper inside your planters, pots - helps hold the soil and moisture longer. Didn't put a diaper on the hanging pots and they are pooped out (ha?) Will post something meaningful (maybe) soon -just wanted to give you the weather update from Buhlaland. Def hot tamale!