Tis the season with a reason...

Thanksgiving feasts are over, my pants are tighter and I'm sure my cholesterol level has increased but what matters is we are coming up to the season for celebration of our Saviour's birth.

There has been so much said and it seems much more than usual this year about not using the word "Christ" in any advertising, greetings or any sort of commercial endeavours. What ever the ACLU wants to do they seem to do without much opposition. Christmas is my second most favorite holiday with Easter being first of course. For any that read this that aren't Christians, Easter is when Jesus rose from the tomb and ascended into heaven. All this just so we (thats all we) can be forgiven our sins and also have everlasting life. If you believe that, you too will have everlasting life.

It saddens me that we can't celebrate Christmas like we could just a few short years ago. I truly believe when Madalyn Murray O'Hair was able to have prayer banned in the classroom, the demise of our country began. That's also about the time teachers began to have less ability to teach because they had no discipline. My, my. Where will it end?

Pretty lousy blog...I guess blogs are suppose to be more about where I ate breakfast, who I saw a Wally World or if I got my hair cut today. Toast, Rusty and no, I didn't get a hair cut. What I did however, was awaken about 6 and got a head start on the day. Since we are back at the country house, the moonlight was bright enough to illuminate any deer or heaven forbid a hog. That's always nice to wake up to. We went for a long walk around by the hugging trees, the rubber band frog place and the quiet forest. It was such a beautiful morning. The quietness here is deafening sometimes. We didn't see any deer but a lot of tracks...including the dreaded hog. I know they are part of God's creation, but I don't get it. Destructive suckers!

We've had four people look at the country place and all are still interested. Three are looking for a weekend place and one for full time residency. All four are cash buyers. I'm pretty sure that none of them got money from Obamanation or his henchmen so I guess they did it the old fashion way, earned it. Of course thats pretty unique in today's time. Maybe these prospects will get into a bidding war. That would be nice.

I told my friend Johnye the other day, when Judy and I build our house, it will be my fifth last house I was ever going to build and by golly, its going to have it all. I want an outdoor cooking and entertainment area complete with a fireplace and air conditioning. No and I mean no, swimming pool. We have some unique and beautiful antique furniture that we want to build the house around. Do you remember a TV commercial where the couple met with their architect and handed him a kitchen sink faucet and said, "design around this", thats what we are going to do.

Its beginning to get cool again in the house so I need to go bring some firewood up to the porch and get ready to build a fire. We had a great fire last night and tonight we get to enjoy another with company. Judy is making stew and cornbread for dinner. Yum! I helped...peeled potatoes, onions, carrots and it seems like something else but I can't remember right now what it was. I just hope it was suppose to go in the stew.

Remind me to tell you about pine knots some day.

Blessings to all of you and please remember, it is a season with a reason.

Too much to do and too much time to do it...HUH?

What a whirlwind since my last post. Prospects looking at the country house. Beginning to prepare Judy's house to put on the market, getting prepared for thanksgiving, getting my house in shape to move from, buying wedding rings, arranging for Pastor Alan to perform the wedding, getting rid of things at the country I won't move, buying Christmas presents and on and on and on.

There's plenty of time, we just need to prioritize and organize. Well, thats what I keep telling myself anyway. Lets see. I'm waiting on a call from the realtor. A prospect looked at the place last Monday and brought his wife back today for a noon appointment. It's now after 3 and not a word. Did they not show? Are they still there? Are they deciding how much to offer? Heck, I don't know. Maybe they just went ahead and moved in. I hope they'll make sure the cats have food. You know, a person could get themselves in a knot pretty quickly over this kind of stuff. I think I'll change the subject!

Christmas! Its time to celebrate the birth of Christ and not get caught up in the other stuff. I pray daily and thank God for the blessings I receive and yesterday started some shopping for the grand kids. I had asked my children what the grand kids would like...mistake, big mistake. My son Craig was actually proactive and sent me a message about what Sarah and Allison's interests are...oh my. Sarah wants the Barbie RV set and Allison may not get anything after I saw what the RV set cost. I called Craig while standing in the toy aisle hyper ventilating. What were you thinking Craig? I told him he should get Sarah's rich grand parents to buy it and he informed me thats why he gave that item to me. Blah!!!!!! Yes, I bought it.

I then moved on to shopping for Lance. What in the world happened while I wasn't looking with Legos? Holy cow, they are expensive! Obamanation should be pleased with my one man economic stimulus activity. Heck, I'm not even going to claim a deduction for these gifts like Tim Geithner and most of the congressmen and senators probably will. Sorry for that rant.

Still haven't heard from the realtor. I can see it now. Packing during the Christmas holidays. Praise God I have a home to pack and the ability to have another.

Blessings to all of you...

I'm coming down...

I've been on an adrenaline high most of the day and now I'm paying for it. Exhaustion!



The realtor came back out this morning and we finalized the listing. He brought one of his associates with him that has a client who is looking for place about like ours. Just my dang luck, this place will sell immediately and then what will I do...the nearest bridge is already occupied with a small family of beavers. Oh well, I'll cross that bridge when and if I get there.

I rode them around the property in the Suzuki and what a morning to be out. The temp was mid 60's with a breeze out of the north, just right. The sun was shining brightly on the leaves as they fluttered in the wind and the sound of the birds singing and the squirrels chattering, it again reminded me of how much I love and will miss this place.

He took gads of pictures to put on the web and also they have nationwide magazines that will have all the homes in. I sent him some pictures of the huge and many deer that were in my yard about this time last year. Oh my! Sigh!

As they were about to leave, I asked if they would join me and Judy in prayer. I prayed just a simple prayer to thank God for letting me use this place and asked that He send a buyer that will love, enjoy and take care of it as much as we have. You all do know don't you, its not ours, its God's and we are just the stewards of it. I hope I've been a good steward.

We are back in Conroe and Judy is in a whirlwind around the holidays coming. My goodness, she doesn't have her thanksgiving "stuff" displayed and the dinnerware on the dining table is for fall not thanksgiving. I suggested paper plates in something white would be appropriate all year round. Wrong! Hey, it makes her happy and it does look nice so why not. I hope she doesn't get around to reading this til after thanksgiving.

Well, thats my story for today and I'm sticking to it.

Blessings to all...

A weekend to remember...

Yep!

We went to a Texas Boomers "rv" rally this weekend in Belville; ate too much, laughed way more than I should have and proposed down on one knee to Judy in front of the whole group.

It was great to be amongst friends and well wishers for this momentous occasion. I still remember some of the first couple rally's I attended when if you weren't there with friends you were kind of left to figure it out on your own. That's okay. I was able to figure it out and now try to make sure that the today newbies don't have the same experience. Whew...glad to get that off my chest.

Other than proposing to Judy, the most important and meaningful thing that happened was Mike asked me to pray before dinner Saturday night. What an honor and privilege. Judy and I hold hands and pray before every meal whether we're at McDonald's, at home or the Ritz. It was such an honor and I hope we can continue to offer grace before each meal.

Thank you father for this weekend and continue to lead us in the right direction.

Blessings to all...

A sad day for our country....

We're in Conroe preparing for the weekend rv rally with our friends.

Judy and I spent the afternoon shopping and getting my car scrubbed. I have a great place that is next door to where my body shop was in Conroe that does hand wash for twenty dollars and they make it look great. We also bought Christmas flowers for Jim and Alyce's grave sites and shopped for the pot luck dinners for the rally. Its so great to have Judy to share things with and we continue to talk about our future together.

When we got home this afternoon, Judy's daughter called with the news of the killings in Killeen at Fort Hood. Amy's husband is army and he had called Amy telling her of the carnage. Keith has some men stationed at Fort Hood and was getting calls from people trying to find out information, but of course he didn't know any more than what was on the news. I'm so sorry for all the dead and injured family and friends.

Friends...what is going to happen to this country? We need to pray diligently for this country and its leaders.

Blessings to all...

Got you guessing, don't I...

I love it. I posted on Facebook yesterday that the realtor was coming in a few minutes. Wohoo! Things then got dicey.

The realtor did arrive yesterday and actually two minutes early. This realtor specializes in farm and ranch properties and seemed duly impressed with our property. Yeah right, each listing is impressive for a realtor. The problem I have is that I'm overbuilt for Anderson county. There aren't enough properties to get comparable on.

I'm going to start over and tell you about yesterday and how God is at work in our life. I called my forester's office around 8:30 yesterday morning and was told he was out in the woods. Now where else would you expect to find a forester? I asked her to have him call me either at home or on my cell and then asked Judy to tell Mike, the forester, to call back around noon because I was headed out to the woods myself. Well low and behold, I'm puttin down the road on the tractor not aware that Judy is running behind me because Mike is on the phone. She couldn't out run the Kubota, especially since I was in 2nd gear and motoring right along. Dang, I love that tractor more than my son Mike does for sure. Anyway, by the time she got back to the house Mike (the forester) was turning around in the drive and looking for me. A big ole orange tractor is pretty easy to spot even in the woods. He found me in short order. I explained that I needed to know the value of the timber on my property because I would be putting it on the market. Mike has been my forester since my late wife and I bought this place and he knows how much we and now me and Judy love it. We stood in the road leading to the house next to those pines we planted five years ago talking about my place and then we began to give God the thanks for all He has done for me and and my family. We stood there just taking it all in and then Mike asked if we could pray. Of course! We stood there, two big men holding hands and giving thanks to God for this land. Mike prayed that we will be able to find a buyer that will love and take care of this land just as I've tried to do. You must understand. Its not ours, its God's and we are just stewards of the land. I explained to Mike that I had always known it wasn't mine, it was just mine to take care of and my goal was to leave it better than I found it.

Mike suggested a realtor for me to contact. I couldn't wait to get back to the house and share with Judy how things were falling in place. Man, God is awesome. I called the realtor, the owner of the company, and he asked if he could come out that afternoon at 3. Sure! God's at work and I certainly don't want to be the one to get in the way. I've already said he got here right on time. He's going to get with Mike and come up with a realistic price for the house, land and timber and have it ready for us to make a final decision on the asking price.

Judy and I are going back to Conroe Wednesday and then to an RV rally in Belleville over the weekend. We'll come back to the country Monday because God has also been working on a place for us in Athens. That's a completely different story but rest assured, God is working in our lives unbelievably. I just wish I was a better typist and an even better story teller. I have a head full of stuff and its just so difficult to put in in words.

I'm still struggling with my grand daughter Lauren's e mail about missing the smell of the country. The grand children don't know pops is going to sell "the country" with the quiet forest, the hugging trees, the rubber band frogs, the ....

Blessings to all...

Interestingly enough...

First...what the heck caused all the underlining and other weird stuff to my last post? Cyber gecks apparently got involved, but then who cares.

Judy has been here all week and we spent several days exploring our options on finding a "less maintenance" home site. Its been fun and exciting. I love to design, plan and build homes. As I told Judy this morning, this will be the fifth "last" home I've built. I never imagined I would be so willing to leave the country where my late wife and I spent so many years enjoying the wonders we often found here.

Judy and I spent most of our time discovering a unique development near the east Texas town of Athens. Now for those of you that aren't familiar with this town, you're certainly familiar with one of the great inventions to come from this quaint little town. The hamburger was invented here. I don't remember when but I do recall it was invented around the time of one of the world's Fair's by a local entrepreneur. Of course the sandwich was a huge success for the vendor at the fair.

Back to the development. Its a gated 2200 acre reserve just east of Athens. The reason its gated? They actually have deer, elk, zebra and some other wildlife that freely roam the reserve. We had to slow and move to the edge of the road several times because zebra decided to take a hike down the center line of the road. The lots are 2 acres and up in size...much more manageable. Of course we've just begun to look.

My feelings did get a little dicey today about leaving the country place when I got an e mail from Lauren, my 7 year old grand daughter. She wanted me to know she was missing me and she missed how the country smells. I guess even to "city" kids, there is something to be said about country living.

Blessings to all....