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We were in second grade together. I’d rarely seen a black child before. We met in the line to wash our hands before lunch. I had terrible anxiety, and our teacher didn’t much care for me. She sent my anxiety through the roof to the point I could not eat. And if I didn’t eat, she held back my tray to show my mom when she came to pick me up after school. Mrs. Alexander crossed her arms over her chest and scowled whenever she looked at me.
\n\n\nAs I stood in line to wash my hands that day, I prayed quietly. I asked God to please settle my stomach so I could eat and not get into trouble anymore. I felt a tap on my shoulder, and this little round chocolate-brown face met me with concern. Her name was Lisa.
\n\n\n“Are you praying?” she asked.
\n\n\n“Yes. Mrs. Alexander scares me, and I can’t eat. Then I get in trouble every day after school.”
\n\n\n“Well,” she said with a firm confidence I knew little about. “I’ll pray with you!”
\n\n\nSo, she wrapped her little arm around my shoulders, and we prayed together that God would make me feel better so I could eat. After that, I knew God was always with me and I didn’t need to be afraid because my new friend Lisa would pray with me as many times as necessary till I got through second grade.
\n\n\nAs it turned out, my parents bought a house in another school district, so I didn’t see Lisa again till high school. By that time, we had our circle of friends, and we didn’t really connect till many years later at high school reunions. Eventually, I moved back to my home state of West Virginia and started getting together with Lisa. She had become a pastor and worked with several churches in the area and with Urban Ministries in town. Lisa joined our Divas do Coffee group, and we all enjoyed her stories and warm presence.
\n\n\nLisa was funny, yet she didn’t mince words. If you needed correcting, she didn’t care who you were or what the social norms were. You got corrected. She was also the humblest human I’d ever met. She never tooted her own horn. She always made sure those who were considered the fringe of society knew they were loved.
\n\n\nLisa died the other day. She was diagnosed with advanced cancer in September 2024. Lisa chose to go on Hospice to maintain quality of life instead of quantity. Her beautiful family put a hospital bed in her daughter’s den where she could watch the comings and goings of her grandchildren and love on them all she could. Occasionally, her daughter would record a video at Lisa’s request. On it, she reassured us all that she was doing fine. She told us she knew where she was going, and it would be glorious to walk with Jesus.
\n\n\nLisa never really had much. She worked hard and raised an amazing family, living in the same town where she grew up. She lived in an older neighborhood because that was home. Lisa didn’t put up with any shenanigans from folks who may not have had her best interests at heart. She wasn’t afraid because she knew Jesus resided in her house, so there was nothing to worry about.
\n\n\nOur friend was in a terrible accident years ago. She stepped out into the street in front of her church. The sun’s glare in her eyes blocked her view of the car that could not stop. She was gravely injured, and the family was called in to say goodbye. Lisa was a strong woman with a lot of fight in her, and she recovered… unfortunately, with memory loss, back and spinal pain that stayed with her the rest of her life. She worked and did amazing things in this town. There was a settlement after the accident, but she did something special with it that she didn’t reveal to anyone.
\n\n\nI spoke with her daughter at the funeral home yesterday. It turns out that Lisa, in her humble way, created an endowment that would help support the Urban Ministries in perpetuity. No one in her family had any idea she had done this. It was a lesson for all of us in humility, love for your fellow man, and living like Jesus. None of us was surprised by the generosity coming from our stout little friend. It just makes us love her even more and makes her family very proud.
\n\n\nMiss Lisa, you were a peach, and we’ll miss you! We’ll see you in Heaven!!!
\n\n\n💜
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHumble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 1 Peter 5:6 ESV
\n\n
***Gratitude Journal*** Today, I am grateful for the friendship I had with Lisa and that she’s singing and praising Jesus in His presence…right…this…minute. I’m grateful for her gentle lessons in humility and the way she jumped out of her chair and danced around the room when I told her Mr. FixIt and I were getting married. “Perfect! A perfect match!!! This is exactly what I wanted for you two.”![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/www.marshmallowranch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Training-for-my-flight-next-week-Wish-me-luck.png?fit=819%2C1024&ssl=1\")
The world has gone bat-stick crazy! It reminds me of The Lord of the Flies when all the kids went feral. Socially acceptable norms seem to have vanished. Especially on airplanes! Did you see the video that was circulated on social media this week? You don’t usually see women as the perpetrators of violence in the public sphere. She had to be physically restrained after hitting, spitting on, and pulling the hair of a woman sitting in a seat. Do I know what led to this pugilistic outburst? No, I do not. But there is no need to act this way anywhere, let alone on an airplane.
\n\n\nSomeone will say the perpetrator was mentally ill or having a breakdown of some type. That may be true… we don’t know. Let me just say this: social media and those who pander for “likes and shares” are just as guilty as the woman doing the spitting. The people filming and sharing, the news outlets flashing it on the evening news, the algorithms promoting violence, and feeding the millions of humans glued to their screens… hooked and reeled in for their drug of choice… dopamine. This magic neurotransmitter in the brain is associated with pleasure and reward. And yes… it is addictive. Being mindful of the amount of time you spend in front of a screen is the first step in recognizing that you may have a problem.
\n\n\nI guess Boxing Barbie in the video doesn’t recognize that this behavior is inappropriate. So, how do we get the smoke back in the bottle? I’m afraid it’s going to be difficult in this climate. I’m praying that new moms start raising a generation of kind humans who are rewarded with the satisfaction of doing good things and helping people. It won’t be easy, but I still believe it’s doable… someday.
\n\n\nIn the meantime, I hope you realize this was tongue-in-cheek. Violence doesn’t end violence. Love does. I’ll leave my proverbial boxing gloves at home and take a Bible instead. God’s Word is more powerful than anything that could be thrown at me. I don’t take no truck in fighting with people. To quote the infamous Sweet Brown, “Ain’t nobody got time for that!”
\n\n\n💜
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBe sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 1 Peter: 5-8 ESV
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***Gratitude Journal*** Today, I am grateful for the love and peace I have in my life. I’m grateful for the friends in my life who have become like family to me. We lost three of our senior classmates in the last week. We don’t have time to act a fool. It’s time to share loving kindness. Put it out in the world. Be the shining light on the hill. Be the change!\n\n", "date_published": "2025-06-20T04:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/06/20/training-for-my-flight.html", "tags": ["Faith","Peace","Anger","Kindness","Control"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/05/31/saving-bambi.html", "title": "Saving Bambi", "content_html": "\n
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We’re in monsoon season here in West Virginia. We’ve had more than four inches of rain this week…three of which fell in forty-five minutes yesterday. We get long stretches of rain, and the ground becomes saturated. If what the old-timers called a “toad strangler” comes through, there is no place for the water to go. Then it rushes down the hillsides and through the hollers till the creeks can’t hold anymore. That’s when we get areal flooding, which, in our case, is the fields with the pollinator gardens. Only the three closest to the creek got hit, but the water was higher than I’ve seen in the eight years since I moved here from The Farm. Mr. FixIt has lived here since 1979, and he’s seen the water clear up to the pole barn and surrounding the neighbor’s house down the road.
\n\n\nWhen the rain let up a bit, I could hear the creeks roaring, so I put on my raincoat and boots to see what was happening. Those creeks were going so fast! I’ve seen the news stories about the devastating floods around the country, and I can understand the power of that water. As I circled the “far field” and made the turn toward the “near field,” I could hear an animal crying. It sounded like it was in distress, so I picked up my pace to get closer. I could hear it, but I couldn’t quite tell where it was. Finally, I called out softly, and it returned with frantic bleats.
\n\n\nWhen I determined the approximate location, I encountered another problem. The hedgerow around our fields is extremely dense. I had to get down on the ground on all fours and wedge my way into the dark thicket. The rushing water was no more than four or five feet in front of me. And there, standing at the very edge of the water, was a very tiny fawn. Barely able to stand yet, the baby cried out for me. I couldn’t reach her, and I was so scared she would fall in. If that happened, there would be no way to save her.
\n\n\nOn my knees, sinking into the soggy leaf litter, I asked God to help me get her. I started talking to her in a soft, gentle voice. She wobbled her way to me on her Bambi legs, crying the whole time. She let me pick her up without a fuss, and I quickly got her to the pole barn. There were old towels in there, and we were safe from the rain. I grabbed a folding chair and sat down to inspect the little critter. She still had her umbilical cord, so she couldn’t be more than a day or two old. She didn’t seem to be injured in any way — just very wet and cold. Poor thing was shivering. I wrapped the towels around her and slowly dried her off. Her cries calmed down, and she fell asleep.
\n\n\nI stayed there till the rain was only a sprinkle. She stopped shivering. I debated what to do. It was still chilly and raining lightly. If I were going to set her out somewhere, it needed to be sheltered as best it could. I finally decided to lay her under the huge forsythia bushes along the fence, and hopefully her mama would smell her or hear her.
\n\n\nI could hear Mr. FixIt sucking up water in the basement from the flood. It was time to go inside and do the next job. Honestly, once spring hits, there isn’t a dull moment around here. That’s a good thing…because once I lay my head on the pillow at night, I can honestly say I gave it my all that day. And thank God for the opportunity.
\n\n\nᓚᘏᗢ
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThen God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
\n\n\nSo God created man in his own image,
\n\n\n
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.Genesis 1:26-27
\n\n
***Gratitude Journal*** Today, I am grateful I was able to hear that little fawn’s cry over the roaring creek waters and save her from a certain death.\n\n", "date_published": "2025-05-31T04:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/05/31/saving-bambi.html", "tags": ["Overcoming Obstacles","Farm Life","Kindness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/03/02/the-lone-pine.html", "title": "The Lone Pine", "content_html": "\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/1fbc39f98a.jpg\")
When I wake up in my “inside bed” and look out the window, I see the sun hitting the ridge line on the other side of the near field. Through the bare bones of the deciduous trees stands a lone pine tree…tall and statuesque. I smile when I see her in her evergreen glory watching over the valley floor below. We have some mighty winds that come through here from time to time and I always worry that one day I’ll look up and she’ll be gone.
\n\n\nThis lone pine has stood there for decades since she broke through the emergent layer of the forest…thin shoots of oak from acorns and pine from pinecones and all the underbrush that grows beneath the towering trees. It’s not easy for them to make it to their grand heights. There’s steep competition for sunlight and nutrients not to mention the threats of disease and injury.
\n\n\nSince I’ve been back in West Virginia, I’ve been intrigued by the myriad varieties of trees growing in the hills of Appalachia, so I’ve been studying them. Every once in a while, I’ll see a walnut or hickory tree growing when they aren’t really close to others of that ilk. Interestingly, squirrels are natures most prolific tree planter. They bury seeds and nuts here and there to sustain them over the long winter months when food is scarce. Fortunately for us, they sometimes forget where they buried them all so they sprout and can grow into trees. They’re the little furry Johnny Appleseeds of the forest.
\n\n\nThere’s a hickory tree along the driveway out at the farm. I usually gather up the nuts when they’re still encased in their hulls. Sometimes I dry and hull them, but there’s never enough to do anything with. Usually I set them out on the front porch and eventually the squirrels or chipmunks find them, leaving the dried hulls behind as evidence.
\n\n\nIt made me think about the good things we leave out in the world unseen. The things that may feed us when times are lean, or that feed others when they’re in trouble. Things like kindness, charity, goodwill, honor, diplomacy, friendship…love. Things that we give to the world and to others knowing full well they cannot give in return. These are the things that show the true character of us as a people. Standing up for the downtrodden is the most honorable thing we can do. Our forefathers died to lift up the least of these in the image of Christ.
\n\n\nWhether planting a tree or planting the seeds of love, it’s a noble thing indeed. Let us always strive to be the beacons of light for those less fortunate.
\n\n\n☘️
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n“Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out.” Proverbs 17:14 NIV
\n\n
***Gratitude Journal***\n\n", "date_published": "2025-03-02T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/03/02/the-lone-pine.html", "tags": ["Faith","Hope","Love","Courage","Kindness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/02/15/the-never-ending-phone-call.html", "title": "The Never Ending Phone Call", "content_html": "\n
Today I am grateful that I have Jesus as a Savior and a role model.
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/4ce685fd61.jpg\")
Last fall when Mr. FixIt and I were on our anniversary trip to the Outer Banks, we used a transponder for the tolls. When we come home from the beach, we always get a statement in the mail from the WV Parkways Authority telling us how much we paid in tolls and how much is left in our account. We don’t even open those because the account is automatically refilled from our bank.
\n\n\nWell, we received another statement two weeks ago and I knew we hadn’t traveled recently. I opened it and apparently our transponder wasn’t read at one of the toll booths. The normal toll is $9.50 when pulling a camper. So now, not only did I owe the original toll, I have been charged $25 in Violation Fines, $10 First Notice Fee, and $15 Second Notice Fee for a total of $59.50.
\n\n\nI have been trying to call them every day and I’m always well over 150th in line…sometimes 200+. Wait times on the phone have been over two hours no matter what time of the day I call. I’ve emailed them twice and sent a message through their website, to no avail. Last night, I finally was told I was 85th in line and my wait time would ONLY be 96 minutes. I stayed online, listening to their abysmal music broken by periodic updates on my queue status and how long my wait would be. (As it turned out, it took three hours on the phone to resolve the transponder issue. Victory!)
\n\n\nWhy does it take forever on these things? Cutbacks? I mean…HOW many people could be calling the turnpike people on an average day, right? I know this is a state agency and it doesn’t have anything to do with the cutbacks currently being enacted in DC. But, I have a feeling we’re going to have a lot more trouble resolving things like this in the future.
\n\n\nWe’ve become so accustomed to instant gratification. Ever since the dawn of the internet, we’ve been moving faster and faster. Information is thrown at us so fast, we cannot possibly commit things to memory. I remember when I was a lot younger, we had to remember all of our contact phone numbers. And addresses, birthdays, and appointments. Now we run around with a computer in our pockets that has taken control of our lives. Not all of us, of course. But, most of us.
\n\n\nOur brains have been hijacked and voluntarily held hostage by an electronic gatekeeper. We’ve handed over the keys to the kingdom and I’m just so over it. The world has become so complicated and much smaller than we could have ever imagined. We can find out anything about anything with a tap on a screen. Sometimes it just feels like we are puppets on a string. Maybe this is Oz and there’s really IS a Wizard on the other side of the curtain.
\n\n\nI don’t know what the answer is. For a number of reasons, I can’t unplug completely. I have to be available to people that need me. But I do long for the simpler days before all these shiny things were dangled in front of us like a carrot on a string. Progress is not perfection.
\n\n\nOn another note, we went to town yesterday for breakfast as our Valentine. I should have known, when we agree not to get gifts…well, yeah. Mr. FixIt had a sweet card and some chocolates in my Big Red Chair. I made it up to him with a homemade pizza with sourdough crust last night. Ohhhhh, yummmmm! I used the same master recipe of Kate’s Soft Sourdough Sandwich dough for the crust and it was perfect. It got a big thumbs up from the hubs!
\n\n\n💜
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Romans 12:12 NIV
\n\n
***Today’s Gratitude***\n\n", "date_published": "2025-02-15T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/02/15/the-never-ending-phone-call.html", "tags": ["Positive Energy","Wisdom","Kindness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/01/26/give-us-this-day.html", "title": "Give Us This Day", "content_html": "\n
Today I am grateful for the patience to wait for the goodness in people. When I finally got to a live person on my phone call, I told her how grateful I was to finally be able to reach someone who could help me. Instead of expressing my frustration in reaching someone after two weeks, countless phone calls and four hours on the phone, I greeted her with relief and thanked her tremendously for doing the hard stuff. In the end, she totally dismissed the charges and helped me fix the issue that triggered the late fee. Win-Win!
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/f525ecce28.jpg\")
I've been doing a lot of baking lately. It gives me great satisfaction to provide sustenance from my own hands. Bread has just three ingredients…flour, water, salt. With these simple every day pantry items, you can bake bread without preservatives or additives and it tastes much better than anything you can buy in a shoppe.
\n\n\nI measure, add, stir, and knead the dough as I meditate on life. The good things and the challenging things. Sometimes I pick up a thought or phrase in my reading and writing that I mull over as I stretch and fold the dough. If you've made your own leaven by capturing the wild yeasts that create sourdough, it's a much longer process to get that perfectly crispy, aromatic loaf that permeates the entire house. More effort for the work yields better results. (Colossians 3:23)
\n\n\nI listened to a short \"sermon\" from Trent Tribe on FB yesterday and it took me on a meditation on bread…specifically, the Bread of Life. Then I saw a meme from Kelsey Piggott that was brilliant…
\n\n\n“God gives us the ingredients for our daily bread…but He expects us to do the baking.”
\n\n\nWe can read the Bible and thump our chests and scream from the rooftops about what good and faithful Christians we are. Or, we can quietly and calmly take Jesus at His word.
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.” 2 Peter 1:5-9 ESV
\n\n
Culture seems to be defining who a Christian is by warping and twisting the words and meanings of Scripture. The enemy can lure us into thinking we are doing God’s work when indeed…we may be doing just the opposite.
\n\n\nNot every insight or vision comes from God. The Bible says that people should test spirits to see if they are from God, and not to believe every spirit. (1 John 4:1-21 ESV) There is something terribly wrong when a person of strong faith speaks scriptural tenets like love and compassion and kindness only to be ostracized and called nasty. Terribly wrong.
\n\n\nWhen we have the love of Jesus in our hearts, we are stepping out into the world every single day and representing Him. We have fed on the Bread of Life and that aroma follows us every step of our journey. Speaking goodness and light into the world can be met with anger and ugliness. It may even make us a target for hate. But please…don’t let that ever keep you from sharing your daily bread with others.
\n\n\nRemember, iron sharpens iron and we can improve each other through collaboration, feedback, and challenges. (Proverbs 27:17 ESV) Speaking out against injustices, discrimination, and downright meanness IS displaying the character of Jesus.
\n\n\n🙏🏼
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBlessed are the PEACEMAKERS, for they will be called the children of God. Matthew 5:9 ESV
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***Gratitude Journal***\nToday I am grateful for the opportunities God brings me to share Jesus with others who may not know Him. My experiences and the testimony of my journey to finding Him is the greatest gift I have ever received.\n\n#Devotionals, #Kindness, #Jesus, #DailyBread\n\n", "date_published": "2025-01-26T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/01/26/give-us-this-day.html", "tags": ["Faith","Grace","Kindness","Devotionals"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/01/10/baking-day.html", "title": "Baking Day", "content_html": "\n
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It’s getting to the point there are several baking days a week around here. We were out of bread so I baked a couple loaves of sourdough yesterday morning. It is SO good toasted with butter and jam or for a quick supper of ham and provolone. I’ve pretty much given up trying to eat in the dining room or the kitchen bar. Poor Mr. FixIt has a bad back and his recliner is really one of the only places he can sit and get some relief. So I bring his meals in to him in the family room. We sit and watch the television…another thing I swore I’d never do after Mr. Virgo died. It must be a guy thing, I don’t know. But I’m at a point where I just want him to be comfortable and if that means we slack off in the formal dining department, that’s fine with me.
\n\n\nEvery time I bring his something…a plate of food, a bowl of chili, a sandwich, or even a cookie…he always says, “Thank you, my baby.” I smile at him and say, “Who takes care of you?” “You do!” “Yes, and don’t you forget it!” He laughs and I kiss him on top of the head. I do take care of him. But he takes care of me, too. He’s always watching out for me, helping me with whatever I need, giving me hugs no matter what he’s doing. He’s a good man. I don’t take his presence in my life for granted. I remember the terrible pain and loneliness after Mr. Virgo died. Our days are numbered here, so I will treasure each one…even when he’s standing on my last nerve and jumps. That’s a guy thing, too. lol
\n\n\nWe watched Jimmy Carter’s funeral yesterday. There were so many heart touching moments. The eulogies honoring him by his family and peers alike, made my eyes leak a few times. He was a good and faithful servant and his accomplishments inspire me to up my game in the service department and be a better human. I can’t do what I used to do, but I can still do a lot!
\n\n\nAren’t the fires horrible in California? We know people who were evacuated or the evacuation orders came within a few blocks of their homes. There have been terrible fires near me when I lived in Colorado but none of them had that degree of destruction. I did witness the Storm King Fire where we lost 14 smokejumpers in Glenwood Springs. That was devastating. Daughter #2 was little and we hiked up the hill a little ways to see the fire from a few miles away. It blew up so fast and hot, the day turned into night and the sun was a deep red ball in a black sky. We watched the news last night and entire cities and towns were wiped out. It’s just so hard to imagine what those poor people are going through right now. Keep them in your prayers.
\n\n\nThe weatherman predicted a low of 8° last night. I still sleep with my window cracked, but that might just be a little too much for me. It’s supposed to snow sometime late this afternoon. My dentist’s office called yesterday morning to reschedule me. He had a family emergency. I hope everything is ok. I’ll make it a quick trip and get back home. I’ve become a hermit this winter and that’s ok. We rest when the world sleeps. There will be plenty to keep me busy come spring.
\n\n\nI think I’m going to try baking a loaf of sandwich bread this weekend. It’s been a long time since I’ve made just a regular loaf of bread. What are your plans for the weekend? Do you find yourself wanting to bake and be cozy? Or are you getting indoor projects done?Whatever you’re doing, I hope you are safe and warm, happy and healthy!
\n\n\n🩵
\n\n\n“Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.”
Proverbs 22:9 ESV
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Do we think…if we turn ourselves to stone, we won’t disappear?
\n\n\nOr that nothing will hurt us?
\n\n\nI would rather be a stream that crashes over the stones and smoothes them for those drifting behind me. After all, those jagged stones were smoothed by someone else.
\n\n\nGo with the flow.
\n\n\n![\"🩵\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/bbba1d8a27.jpg\")
“He set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved. You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.” Psalm 104:5-6 ESV
\n\n\n#writing#writingcommunity#thinkingwe
\n\n", "date_published": "2024-10-04T01:59:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2024/10/04/todays-thought.html", "tags": ["Kindness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2024/01/26/an-unexpected-excursion.html", "title": "An Unexpected Excursion", "content_html": "\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/ff29c42334.jpg\")
After being gone all day Wednesday, I thoroughly expected a stay-at-home day yesterday. After breakfast, I went downstairs and knitted two more babies and another strip for the baby blanket. Mr. FixIt got a call from the friend that was going to go to the funeral home with him last night saying he was sick as a dog and couldn’t go. He told Harry that was fine, he’d go alone. While I was cooking breakfast, he told me he was going anyway so Mike would know he cared.
\n\n\nAs I was sitting in my studio working, I kept hearing that over and over in my mind, so at 3:30 I headed upstairs. I jumped in the shower and Mr. FixIt stuck his head in the door and said, “Are you going with me?”
\n\n\n“I sure am. You want to make sure Mike knows you care? Well, I want to make sure you know I care about YOU!”
\n\n\nI could hear the love and appreciation in his voice. We can tell people we love them till the cows come home. But when we get to SHOW them…well, that’s the key to a rewarding life. We didn’t get home till late. The funeral home is about an hour away. It was raining hard and getting foggy. Mr. FixIt suggested we drive back on the Ohio side of the river, but that turned out to be a mistake. By that time it was raining harder and it was REALLY foggy.
\n\n\nWe decided to stop in Marietta for supper at IHOP. We’ve been there numerous times for breakfast after church, but never in the evening. When our waitress came to our table twice to introduce herself and forgot to bring the water we requested from the first time, I had a sinking feeling this wasn’t going to be the best experience. We wanted breakfast food and we always ask for eggs over easy and extra crispy bacon. He had hash browns and I had pancakes.
\n\n\nThe eggs were barely cooked, the bacon was limp, and the pancakes were cold. I mean…cold. We asked to have the bacon crisped up and she took it away only to return less than a minute with oily bacon from dipping it in the deep fat fryer…which I can’t stand. It was still limp as a dish rag so I asked again to have it crispy. She took it away and about fifteen minutes later she brought us our check. I pointed out that we had never received the bacon and she was so apologetic. She asked about the rest of the meal and I was honest and told her what was wrong.
\n\n\nBless her heart…she discounted everything. It wasn’t all her fault…they were short staffed and she wasn’t the one doing the cooking. I told her I understood…I’ve been in situations where things didn’t turn out right myself. I smiled and told her not to take it personally. And I gave her a tip. I’m not sure about her restaurant, but I’ve known some to take the money out of the waitstaff’s tips to cover discounts and I didn’t want to short change her. After all, she was out there working, trying to make a living in a pretty thankless job. Waiting tables may not be the career field this young lady sticks with, but for now she’s learning valuable lessons.
\n\n\nThere is no good reason to become ugly to someone who is trying. There are far too many people these days who see nothing wrong with reading the riot act to someone for the smallest perceived infraction. Kindness goes a long way in this life and I will always try to take the high road in any given situation.
\n\n\nWe finally got home around 8:30 last night…dangerously close to the hour when my brain becomes a pumpkin and my creativity goes out the window. I didn’t have any photos from yesterday and I sure wish I had a picture of the thick blanket of fog that settled on the river because it was remarkable. Instead, I’ll share one I took when I lived in big TOW-Wanda on the West Virginia side of the river back in 2015. That river is alive and looks different from minute to minute. It is fascinating and I truly loved living up there.
\n\n\nWe don’t have anyplace to go today, but our belated Christmas celebration with our son’s family is tomorrow. I need to bake the Cinnamon Rolls and pick up around the house. And, I’ll spend a little time making more babies!
\n\n\n🩵
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n”But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.“
\nGalatians 5:22-23 ESV\n
#Kindness, #Lessons, #Family
\n\n", "date_published": "2024-01-26T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2024/01/26/an-unexpected-excursion.html", "tags": ["Family","Growth","Kindness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2023/10/31/the-kindness-strategy.html", "title": "The Kindness Strategy", "content_html": "\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/afbb4b3a83.jpg\")
I opened my eyes to the sound of the bedroom door being gently closed…my husband’s attempt to keep from awakening me. I smiled because that meant he was feeling better…up making tea and getting his day started as usual. Such good news. I turned and looked out the bedroom window at the ridge beyond the far field. It was a dull, grey morning with a steady misty rain making everything look like a faded WWII movie in an English countryside.
\n\n\nBy this time of the year, the majority of the leaves have fallen…blown away by the wind and rain. Rather than a dismal view, I was greeted by Autumn’s bold invitation to look deeper at the waning colors. While most of the leaves of the giant sycamore trees have fallen, those in the uppermost branches retain their last flash of color looking all the world like starry crowns. While I love the flashy bright colors of early fall, it’s these days that draw me in closer.
\n\n\nWest Virginia is covered with dense deciduous forests in a tangle of underbrush. The first time you see a bit of color is in the spring when the redbud and dogwood trees bloom before the rest of the trees leaf out. Now, at the end of their growth cycle, that dense under canopy pops with bright reds, oranges, and yellows. It’s Mother Nature’s curtain call…the encore that you might totally miss if you don’t look deeper and pay attention.
\n\n\nA lot of life works in the same way…inviting us in to see the rare beauty after the really big show. That which draws us in touches our spirits and forces us to find the magic in life. If you watch the main stream new outlets, you are likely to see only the sensational and the gaudy…the ugly and the frightening. Because that’s what sells. That’s what stirs up the populace to gather pitchforks and torches, pitting neighbor against neighbor.
\n\n\nYou may sit there in your chair with your morning coffee and think, “What difference can I make? The world is so big, and I am so small.” Well, this is true…but, let me tell you something. The smallest, most insignificant gesture sent out towards another will cause a small shift in the forces of nature. It will spread like the ripples of a pond, every growing till it crashes into another’s love-sent ripple. And eventually, the tide will shift, a voice will grow, a heart will mend. No kindness will be unnoticed.
\n\n\nEvery single thing we do, good or bad, will be reflected through the large lens of life. I prefer to send out love and light and peace into the world because I know that will feed the planet. If you want a garden to grow, you don’t throw seeds out on the parched earth and expect to grow anything. You have to break the ground open with diligence and strength. You have to plant the seeds with service and hope. You have to fertilize and water the garden with an abundance of love and light in order for it to grow into a rich harvest.
\n\n\nGod gives us every one of the tools we need to do this. I saw a meme yesterday. I can’t find it now, but I’ll paraphrase.
\n\n\nNarrator: Imagine you have been assigned to the crew of a starship.\nYou: Cool!\nNarrator: But, the time travel is really, really slow and you’ll be with a lot of other crew members for a really long time.\nYou: Oh, ok. We would have to cooperate and get along and make compromises in order to finish our mission successfully?\nNarrator: Yes, that’s exactly right.\nYou: I can do that! By the way…what’s the name of the starship?\n\nNarrator: Earth.\n\n\n
🌎
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n“She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.”
\nProverbs 31:26 ESV\n
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
\n\n\nPeace on Earth…Goodwill to All
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/2c8b857694.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/142ef28cbf.jpg\")
Playing with the light. “Wedding Pumpkin on Knitting”
\n\n\nI got home from my camping trip in the late afternoon. Mr. FixIt was so glad to see me, but he was so stoved up from putting in the new garage door on Thursday that he could barely move. This frustrates him tremendously because he is a real go getter. But, between the two mini strokes and the back pain of the last three years, he’s gotten way out of the habit of working that hard. So he’s going to pay for it for the next couple of days, I’m afraid. I don’t mind doing all the hooking up and unhooking anyway. It keeps my skills sharp and it’s good exercise.
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/f759a4ab80.jpg\")
My lovely book from one of our readers….Knit, Pray, Share!
\n\n\nAfter the news, I drove over to our little village and checked the Post Office Box and there was a package from one of our readers. She and I had discussed the merits of knitting. She bought a book to learn from and decided it had my name written all over it so she popped it in the mail for me! What a kind gesture. I am going to save it to read on our camping trip next week as I sit on the banks of the Ohio River.
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/484668e9c1.jpg\")
Hand knitted slippers with a Wedding Pumpkin and Apple.
\n\n\nGail gave me a pair of slippers she knitted for me to wear in the camper to keep my toes warm during these chilly fall evenings. The last three nights have been in the mid to low 40’s! That makes for good sleeping weather if you have enough blankets. I also have the electric blanket on the bed so I was toasty warm. It’s crazy…the first night camping I just had the windows open. The second night I had the AC on! Then the last three were “three dog nights!” As I was preparing to leave the campground yesterday, here came Gail with the most beautiful potted mums! I’ll take pictures today and post them tomorrow.
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/ad6dfe8a03.jpg\")
Chicken in the Woods. This is actually an edible fungus. There are recipes! Yeah….that’s a big nope from me. That looks like something my grandma told me to stay away from. lol
\n\n\nI stopped at the Pig when I was in town and picked up some fresh ginger root. Gail and Jan both have Ginger and Honey Tea every morning and that just sounded delightful. Not to be left out…I got some for myself and I’ll let you know what I think.
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/7d401da962.jpg\")
Another one of Gail’s misty morning photos. “The Grande Dame!” A stately old sycamore tree in the campground.
\n\n\nI was thrilled to get home and find the kitchen exactly as I left it! Mr. FixIt is awesome! And now I’m whupped. I’ll write more tomorrow!
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2023-09-16T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2023/09/16/more-surprises.html", "tags": ["Gratitude","Kindness","Crafts","Friends"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2023/02/14/a-beautiful-day.html", "title": "A Beautiful Day", "content_html": "\n“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:”
\n1 Peter 4:10 ESV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/f984d2c3a9.jpg\")
I can live through the darkest of winters. Especially when God gifts us a day like yesterday. As a matter of fact, we’ve had a lot of sunny days the last two or three weeks. The sun was shining brightly yesterday and big puffy clouds drifted across a sky the color of a fine piece of Wedgewood. It was so delicious you could almost taste spring.
\n\n\nMy dear friend Gail sent me a screenshot of a spinning wheel she’s been wanting forever and wondered how close I lived to the seller. Turns out, it was just 20 miles away so with a few texts back and forth, we made the arrangements for me to pick it up. Since yesterday was a stellar pre-spring sun-fest, Mr. FixIt and I decided to drive down to pick up Gail’s treasure and go the long way around.
\n\n\nThe seller’s name was Cathy. Gail found her on Marketplace and didn’t know her from Adam, however…they have a mutual friend. Cathy is as sweet as honey. When we arrived in her small town, I called her and she talked me to her with turn-by-turn directions. The place where we parked was on an incline and I was struggling with the door and trying to get the money out of my purse. She ran to hold the door for me.
\n\n\nWhen I finally got out of the car, she held out two big bags of apples.
\n\n\n“You like apples?” She asked, her smile as radiant as the day itself.
\n\n\n“Sure! Who doesn’t like apples?” I smiled back.
\n\n\n“Well, my husband drives a tow truck and he ran on a call this weekend. A tractor trailer rolled on a highway in Ohio. It was packed full of apples and that company said to just throw them away! My husband said not on his watch so he packed up as many as he could carry and brought them home. I called my girlfriend and we went to work and we’re giving everyone we know some of these beautiful apples!”
\n\n\nWho am I to look a gift horse in the mouth? I gladly took the apples and I’ll bake some pies with them. We loaded up the spinning wheel and headed home. People are good, y’all. They’re out here being selfless and doing good things and helping others. The Good Lord brought us an abundance of sunshine yesterday…from the sky, and from a sweet lady named Cathy. We drove off, hand in hand, feeling really good about the day and thanked God for the blessings.
\n\n\nHappy Valentine’s Day, my friends!
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2023-02-14T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2023/02/14/a-beautiful-day.html", "tags": ["Positive Energy","Gratitude","Kindness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2022/12/25/merry-christmas-ranchers.html", "title": "Merry Christmas, Ranchers!", "content_html": "\n“Everything in the world is about to be wrapped up, so take nothing for granted. Stay wide-awake in prayer. Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything. Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless—cheerfully. Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God’s words; if help, let it be God’s hearty help. That way, God’s bright presence will be evident in everything through Jesus, and he’ll get all the credit as the One mighty in everything—encores to the end of time. Oh, yes!”
\n1 Peter 4:7-11 MSG\n
![\"\"](\"https://www.marshmallowranch.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/DABFD3B4-83C6-4AB6-9011-B97E8883ADA6-782x1024.jpeg\")
As I fumbled around, trying to find just the right story to bring you today, I kept circling back to the word innocence. With the birth of Christ came the purity of God in the form of man. Jesus was without guile. He came into this world, laid in a lowly manger, and grew to teach us every thing we ever need to know to be a good human. He came to teach us to love. To love as we wish to be loved.
\n\n\nIn this time of divisiveness, it is hard to see the true goodness in the world. As I looked around for inspiration, I was drawn to this beautiful video. My brother has cerebral palsy. I’ve always been his champion…his protector…his bestie. Ever since I was a little girl. Why? Because he’s my Bubby. And if the tables were turned, he would do the same for me.
\n\n\nWe speak on the phone two or three times a week. So when I didn’t hear from him for several days at the beginning of December, I went on the prowl to find out what was going on. As I imagined, he had lost yet another cell phone. The organization that cares for him made sure he got a new one and he finally called me on Friday.
\n\n\nPhone calls with my brother are long and tedious. He has a terrible stutter and a speech impediment. I have to have the house quiet so I can turn all my focus on him. He’s very patient and if you can’t understand what he’s saying, he’s happy to spell a word for you. When he called after a month of little contact, his voice was absolutely jubilant! It warmed my heart and I was filled with glee.
\n\n\nWhen I see others like my brother who aren’t as fortunate to be cared for as well, it breaks my heart and makes me cry tears of sadness. And, when I see the incredible character in those who treat people like him with grace, kindness, and respect…it makes me cry tears of joy. This is what happened when I found this video and it was a gift I wanted to share with you today.
\n\n\nThe greatest gifts in this life are surely not the things we find under the tree. They aren’t things money can buy. No…the greatest gifts are loving each other. And teaching our children to love and look out for those who are less fortunate than they are.
\n\n\nI do hope you find joy in the giving of yourself this Christmas Day in whatever way possible.
\n\n\nIn His Love…
\n\n\nGinny
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2022-12-25T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2022/12/25/merry-christmas-ranchers.html", "tags": ["Holiday","Kindness","Happiness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2022/11/22/when-bad-things-happen.html", "title": "When Bad Things Happen", "content_html": "\n“But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or his stature because I have rejected him. Humans do not see what the Lord sees, for humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.””
\n1 Samuel 16:7 CSB\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/1df586cc4a.jpg\")
It turns out, it may not have been the smartest thing. I’ve been trying to figure out what I want to do with my Twitter accounts. Things are flaming out of control over there and I just don’t want to be a part of it. Besides that, they are running on a skeleton crew. Who knows what their security is like, right? I have two Twitter accounts…one for Marshmallow Ranch, and the other strictly grief related.
\n\n\nI finally made up my mind and deleted both accounts and took the app off my phone. As the day wore on, the more I thought about it, the more I regretted deleting the grief related one. So, I went back later and reinstated just the grief account. I did not download the app again…I’ll only access Twitter from my iPad. I may change down the road and delete the app there, as well. I can always just go to Twitter online and bypass the need for the app anyway.
\n\n\nHeading into the holidays is the worst time in the world to abandon people in the throes of grief. The thing I did not realize is this…when you deactivate an account then reactivate it, your followers…disappear. As in zero, zilch, nada…back to square one. All that work I did for years to build it up and it’s just gone. It’s ok, though. I just spent some time reconnecting with some of my previous followers. And I published a tweet explaining the situation.
\n\n\nAt least the political stuff isn’t showing up and for that I am most grateful!
\n\n\nWe cleaned house in preparation for the big dinner on Friday. I was hampered by a twinge in my back that showed up when I…of all things…pulled on my socks yesterday morning! This getting old crap is for the birds, I’m telling you!
\n\n\nThere was a rug on the floor in the walkway through the kitchen to the back of the house. It’s been there since…forever. It was there when I got here. Over time, all the wear and traffic soil got so bad that I couldn’t stand it for another minute. Unfortunately, it was pretty well glued down with double stick tape. I pulled it all up and threw it out. Then I vacuumed up the dust and bits of old tape and got down on my hands and knees to scrub up the places where the sticky stuff had hardened on the floor.
\n\n\nWhen I was finished, the kitchen looked brighter and more airy and I was really happy with it. I’m thinking I might want to paint the cabinets a light color…kind of give it a facelift without putting a lot of money into it. That’s down the road. Too many other things need our attention first.
\n\n\nWe got closer to getting the tree up. Mr. FixIt washed all the windows inside and out in the family room. We always set the tree in front of the picture window because I want people to see it when they drive out our road. Our friend Richard dropped by to pick up a jar of the cranberry sauce I made Sunday. I touched base with Hubby #1 to wish him and his family a Happy Thanksgiving. Daughter #2 called to check in before she and her wife leave for her in-laws’ and her dad’s for the holiday. I’m glad they get a chance to get away. It seems all they do is work and come home.
\n\n\nMy daughter was saddened…as am I…with the news of the shooting at the gay bar in Colorado Springs. The beautiful people in that community have been ostracized and abused for so long and violence is escalating against them. They have so few places they can go where they feel safe to be themselves…to feel loved and at home. And now, another one of those safety zones has been taken away from them. I’m not only sad, I’m angry. My daughter and her wife are members of the LGBTQ+ community. When I saw the news, I wasn’t fearful that they were there…it was in another city and they aren’t party people. But…somebody’s mama is grieving their lost child this week. There will be…yet again…more empty chairs at the tables of their loved ones this holiday season.
\n\n\nYou know…here’s how I feel. I think God will very likely forgive us if we aren’t perfect with the dogma. But, I think He’ll be pretty darned upset if we don’t get the “Loving Others” part right. He SAID that’s the most important thing. So that’s why I stepped away from Twitter yesterday. I’ll stay and love on the brokenhearted, but I’m not feeding the hate-mongers and I’m not going to be dragged along by someone else’s ugly narrative.
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2022-11-22T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2022/11/22/when-bad-things-happen.html", "tags": ["Peace","Anger","Choices","Kindness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2022/11/21/let-the-cooking-commence.html", "title": "Let the Cooking Commence!", "content_html": "\n“If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
\n1 John 4:20-21 ESV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/51d7b95396.jpg\")
No, we’re not having venison. But this beautiful boy was in the near field when I got home last night. An 8 point white tail buck! I haven’t seen one this big in quite a while. The field was full of deer. There was a smaller 4 point buck, as well as the twins from this spring!
\n\n\nThere is a Kroger Store across the river in Ohio that I always go to when I’m on the hunt for something special. It’s as close to a Colorado grocery store that I’ve found in this area. They carry a lot of hard to find items and let’s face it…if you’re going to go to all the trouble of making a Thanksgiving dinner, it might as well be fabulous, right?
\n\n\nI’m making the stuffing from scratch this year. I’m going to make a new Brussels Sprouts salad I found on Pinterest that looks heavenly. I already made the cranberry sauce last night while Mr. FixIt was bowling. I used a recipe I found online as a guide and did my own thing, which is how I roll.
\n\n\nSpeaking of rolls, I’m trying something new in the bread department, too. Kaleb from the Wyse Guide blog has a video that he made with his grandma where they make Butterhorns…a buttery crescent roll that’s been around since as long as I can remember. I’m looking forward to trying that, as well.
\n\n\nI’m also going to try Kaleb’s Citrus Dry Brine for the turkey this year. You don’t need to do a wet brine for a fresh turkey because it’s pretty darned juicy on its own. But this dry brine gives the meat a well seasoned flavor and a crispy, brown skin that’s just gorgeous to look at and tastes great, too.
\n\n\nUsually I just do the same old things, but this year I want to shake it up a bit. We may be having some extras around the table and there’s nothing I love more than feeding people. Like I said before…cooking is my love language. And, it’s something I really enjoy doing. I texted our friend Richard last night and he’ll stop by today for a jar of the cranberry sauce I made. I don’t know that there’s anyone in the family but me that really loves it, so this way it won’t go to waste.
\n\n\nHere is the recipe for the cranberry sauce. I’ll include more recipe links tomorrow.
\n\n\nGinny’s Fresh Cranberry Sauce\n\n2 apples, peeled and chopped\n1/2c. Maple Syrup\n1/2c. Water\n1/2c. White Wine\n1 Bag Fresh Cranberries\n10 Dried Apricots, cut in small pieces\nJuice and Zest of 1 Orange\nDash of Ground Cloves\nDash of Ground Cinnamon\nDash of Ground Nutmeg\nDash of Salt\n\nCombine all ingredients in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer till apples are tender and mixture is thickened. Mash the sauce with a potato masher. Pour into jars and cover. Let cool then store in the refrigerator. Can be made several days in advance. I’m sure you could can this as well.\n\nYield: 2.5 pints\nI used two wide mouth pint jars and one jelly jar. Honestly, I think this is the best cranberry sauce I’ve ever made. When you just use straight cranberries and sugar, it can be kind of overwhelming. The apple and apricot in this sauce mellows out the bitterness you sometimes get. Yummy!\n\n\n
?
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2022-11-21T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2022/11/21/let-the-cooking-commence.html", "tags": ["Gratitude","Farm Life","Kindness","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2022/11/20/cleaning-and-cooking-and-watching.html", "title": "Cleaning and Cooking and Watching", "content_html": "\n“give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.””
\nLuke 6:38 ESV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/23be9e5777.jpg\")
It was a busy day here at Marshmallow Ranch. I started out the day bone weary because unfortunately, it was one of those nights that I tossed and turned till 4:00 in the morning. I knew I was keeping my sweetheart awake and there’s no need in both of us being sleep deprived. So I finally got up and went to the guest room. I keep it cooler in there and it wasn’t anytime and I was sound asleep. Still, I woke up pretty early and was ready to get to work.
\n\n\nI managed to persuade Mr. FixIt to let us relax and channel surf in our recliners on Friday, but yesterday was time to pay the piper for the privilege. One of the first things I needed to do was get the pork roast in the slow cooker. I usually don’t put much seasoning on it…maybe a little garlic or a shake of Farm Dust Unsalted Seasoning. I used the leftovers from a box of bone broth instead of putting water on it. It adds to the richness but you don’t want to put any salt in it.
\n\n\nI set the slow cooker on “High”, cleaned up the kitchen, and turned my attention to the dining room. We seldom eat in there, so when I was canning this fall, I just put all the jars of produce on the table and closed the door. I don’t know if you remember or not, but I can several dozen jars of food. I figure if I’m going to take the time to do it, I’d better put up enough that I don’t have to do it as often.
\n\n\nMr. FixIt found a milk crate for me while I cleared off a couple of shelves in the basement to store the jars of food. The shelves in the hallway off the kitchen are packed, as is the pantry, so these jars needed to go downstairs. I carried nine jars at a time in the milk crate. It would hold twelve, but that was too heavy and awkward to carry down the steps. It took several trips and I was exceedingly careful on the steps. Now the jars are lined up and easy to reach. Mr. FixIt was kind enough to screw a piece of wood across the front of the shelf to make a guard to keep jars from falling off if they’re inadvertently bumped while reaching back. Always thinking ahead.
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/458c4d1b49.jpg\")
We got most of the canning gear downstairs, but by then it was time to stop and watch Big in her college swim meet. What a treat that was! I watched her standing on deck, waiting her turn to dive in and I marveled at how much she looked like her mama when she was eighteen. It gives me shivers. Big had a big weekend. She competed Friday night and Saturday, then rushed off to catch the train to the airport. Then she flew home for Thanksgiving weekend.
\n\n\nI told Daughter #1 that I totally understand the excitement she is feeling getting her girl home. I felt it, as did my mom and my grandma. It was difficult for me when she and her husband got married and moved to Long Island for four years. I can’t imagine how hard it had to have been on my mom and Grandma when I moved to England right after finishing x-ray school. We didn’t get to see each other for over a year and it was my first time away from home.
\n\n\nAfter the meet was over, I finished fixing supper…pork roast with mashed potatoes and gravy and home canned green beans. I finished it off with a pan of homemade biscuits hot from the oven. Mr. FixIt ooooohed and ahhhhhhhed over the meal. I smiled demurely and said, “Aw, shucks…it’s just a little something I whipped up.” You know what they say…the quickest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/491d86cd7a.jpg\")
I love this time of year. It’s the time when people reach out to each other. It’s been such a difficult few years. I hate seeing what has become of our people. There’s too much discord and disconnection and I fear it could become the “norm”. I vow to do everything in my power to normalize decency and empathy. This is the perfect time to reach out and love on each other…friend and neighbor…kith and kin…stranger and weary sojourner. Let’s ride that wave straight through the holidays and into the New Year and beyond, shall we?
\n\n\nIt isn’t “woke”.
\n\n\nIt’s being kind. And kindness matters.
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2022-11-20T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2022/11/20/cleaning-and-cooking-and-watching.html", "tags": ["Choices","Kindness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2022/11/07/let-it-rain-peace.html", "title": "Let it Rain Peace", "content_html": "\n“Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.””
\n1 Peter 3:8-12 ESV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/6d81554236.jpg\")
Hopefully today is the day the fellas get started on the roof. I’m not the one in charge of that particular chore, so I don’t know all the ins and outs. My job is to keep them fed and have bandaids ready…just in case. Mr. FixIt and I have totally different ways of approaching jobs that need to be done. He puts a whole lot of time and effort into the thinking about how we’re going to do it. Not me. I decide to do something and by golly you better get out of my way because I’m starting it…NOW.
\n\n\nOk, I know his way is better than mine. I always end up having to stop and do things over because I didn’t think it through. And, truth be told…Mr. FixIt knows what he’s doing so I really should just back off and leave him to his own devices. I’m better at the support staff stuff until it gets to the place where I’m the only one left to do things. So, I watch and learn and take notes because you never know when that’s going to happen.
\n\n\nThank goodness we had a really lay low day yesterday. Other than Mr. FixIt putting the belt back on the mower deck and bowling for his buddy, Harry…we didn’t do a thing. Well, I cleaned the kitchen and made a nice breakfast and fed him before he left. And I worked on balancing my checkbook. And I knitted a little. I’m at that place on the sweater where I just want to get it done so I can move on and do other things. I’ve made a commitment to finish projects before I start another one. One of the hardest things to ever ask a Gemini to do.
\n\n\nAnd then there’s the time change. Ugh! I am not a fan of the world getting dark at 5:00. That being said, there’s a really pretty moon tonight and it will be full tomorrow night. We’ve had fabulous warm weather the last week. I’m “field camping” and I didn’t even have to turn the electric blanket on, which is really nice for this time of year.
\n\n\nThis might be a rough week for some. Let’s all remember to be good humans and good citizens. Let’s practice what our grandma’s taught us about manners…about being gracious winners and losers. Let’s get back to working for the betterment of mankind…ALL of mankind. Let’s rise up and be good and faithful servants. Let’s show our good character. Let’s ask ourselves…WWJD? Then DO that.
\n\n\nKindness matters and Lord knows….this world is ACHING for more kindness. We can do better! We MUST do better! I don’t know about you, but all this hatred and anger is breaking my heart. I long for a time with less angst. I long for peace. That’s why I seek God’s peace. It is above and beyond my understanding.
\n\n\nPray for peace.
\n\n\nBe the change you want to see in the world.
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2022-11-07T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2022/11/07/let-it-rain-peace.html", "tags": ["Peace","Change","Kindness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2022/10/27/when-three-days-feels-like.html", "title": "When Three Days Feels Like a Week", "content_html": "\n“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.”
\n2 Thessalonians 3:16 ESV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/f414c196a8.jpg\")
I’ve had three days that felt like a week of bad Mondays…but this camping trip was over the top good! The weather was absolutely perfect. Mid 70’s, clear skies without a cloud to be seen till the last night. Then it rained for a few hours and it was just lovely to lay there listening to the pitter-patter on the camper roof. We came home today and both proclaimed it felt like we’d been gone a whole week!
\n\n\nI decided to park the camper by the big building out back along the driveway. There are two reasons. One is it’s easier to plug the camper in with the power cord that came with it. That way we don’t have to use an extension cord. The second reason is safety. I have a dear friend who took her camper out of her barn to pack it for a trip and someone stole it during the night. She was fortunate to get it back, but it was only because she took hundreds of fliers around and scouted till she found it.
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/fb7044e21d.jpg\")
This is the first time I’ve ever had a camper that has a lien on it. We’ll be selling the a-frame in the spring and pay it off, but technically…the bank owns it. I don’t want anyone stealing our camper, but especially one we don’t own free and clear yet. If I store it by the big building, we can park our extra truck in front of it and save for dragging the pickup out into the field and getting through two locks on the camper or using a crane to lift it…little Grace isn’t going anywhere.
\n\n\nWe spent about an hour after we got home, emptying things out of the camper and the back of the truck. Then we finally caught up with the mail, emails, and messages we didn’t get while we were out of cell range. Actually, that felt really good. We ended up going to bed earlier, sure. But we curled up in the camper and ate snacks and watched old episodes of West Wing. I have a tendency to watch it when we’re in the whirlwind of an election year. I used to find it so timely and informative as it closely followed the way elections and the government were run. Now I watch it with a tinge of sadness that politics isn’t like that at all anymore. It’s like everyone’s good grandparents died and no one learned a dang thing from them about manners and social niceties.
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/66608c6e2a.jpg\")
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’ve kept my nose pretty much out of politics on here this go round. I learned a lot from the last couple of elections. Short of ending relationships, you still have to face the people you berate on social media…no matter what the outcome. Lord knows there’s enough crap out there on the internet, doing it’s darnedest to split us up. I’ve decided, short of encouraging vaccinations and practicing good hygiene, to keep my head and heart on God and vote my conscience…just like I did before everything headed south. I’m not perfect. I may slip up from time to time. But we all need to have a safe place to go and talk about the good things in the world. There still are plenty of good things. And when you see bad things, please…do what you can to stop them.
\n\n\nAfter every camping trip this year, I’ve been left wanting more. This time, I feel like we accomplished what we wanted to do, and now it’s really time to make hay while the sun shines…so to speak. We are getting our bivalent Covid vaccine today. They are encouraging people to get them in October in order to build up immunity before the holidays. I don’t know about you, but I want to spend the holidays with family this year so we’re going to do what we can to do that while remaining healthy.
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/717fb9c1cf.jpg\")
We’ll go tomorrow and get the supplies to have the new roof put on the house. Time is flying and soon there’ll be snow. I want to be ready.
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2022-10-27T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2022/10/27/when-three-days-feels-like.html", "tags": ["Camping","Gratitude","Farm Life","Kindness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2022/10/20/she-met-mr-fixit.html", "title": "She Met Mr. FixIt", "content_html": "\n““Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.”
\nRevelation 22:12 ESV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/c9214e1e35.jpg\")
Ok…another “It’s a Small World” story. Mr. FixIt has a buddy he used to bowl with years ago. On occasion they get on the phone and talk each other’s ear off. I’ve met him before and he’s a kindly fellow who tells elaborate and thoughtful stories. And he has the most fascinating face. He’s in his eighties and doesn’t have but the slightest wrinkles at the corner of his eyes…from all those years of smiling, I reckon.
\n\n\nAnyway, as the stories moved along, his daughter was with him and she turned to me.
\n\n\n“May I ask you a question?”
\n\n\n“Of course,” I replied.
\n\n\n“Do you by any chance write a blog?”
\n\n\nMr. FixIt and I both started laughing. This is the second time in two weeks this has happened.
\n\n\nI was curious how she could have recognized me because Mr. FixIt and I both were wearing masks. She said it was my braid and the way it lays across my shoulder. She’s been reading me for a long time and enjoys my writing. I am always so humbled by this. You never know who you might be touching when you reach out with loving kindness in your heart. I’ve always prayed that God would bring me the words to say, and the people who need to hear them. This gentleman just lost a daughter last week to cancer…this lovely lady just lost her sister. I hope my stories of grief and God and how He has carried me though the impossible help them as they navigate this journey without their loved one.
\n\n\nAnd I introduced her to Mr. FixIt. One of only a handful of people who ever actually see his face. Well, as much of it as she could see with him wearing a mask.
\n\n\nOur “quick trip” into town lasted seven hours! When Mr. FixIt asked if I wanted to go into town with him, I said, “On one condition….that it doesn’t turn into an all day ordeal.” I love this guy…I truly do. AND…if you’re going to town with him, you had better pack a lunch (and maybe supper) because there’s no such thing as a “quick trip to town.” There was lots to do, mind you.
\n\n\nWe went to the Former Mrs. FixIt’s house to get underneath her house to turn off her water to the outside faucets so they don’t freeze up over the winter. She brought us a gift from the beach. We stopped for bird seed and conversation. We went to three different pharmacies to try to get our Bivalent Covid booster but one was all out and the other two would only give injections by appointment. We scheduled our shots for next Thursday.
\n\n\nOh, here’s something cool. I got a notification from the Sheetz app (one of our local gas stations) saying for a short time they would give me an extra twenty cents per gallon off my fuel. Since I was down to a quarter tank, we stopped in and when I scanned in my card, I was offered FORTY cents off per gallon! I must have had a lot of points on that card. We paid $3.11 a gallon!!! It was a banner day, that’s for sure. We ate at the Corner Cafe as it wasn’t crowded. They just expanded their hours and the word’s not out yet. We went to our favorite grocery store after and picked up a few things. Then we hightailed it home. And, I will do everything in my power to stay at home the rest of the week!
\n\n\nRemember to be genuinely kind in your comings and goings with people. You have no idea how many lives you may touch when your kind word or thoughtful gesture might be the difference between darkness and light for someone.
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
Hebrews 4:12 ESV
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/7f33efab2e.jpg\")
I knew yesterday would be busy. I had two doctor’s appointments…one with my regular health care provider and the other with the endocrinologist. It’s been six months since I had the second parathyroid surgery and I’m actually feeling much better. My calcium is down to a level I haven’t seen in years, my Vitamin D is in the normal range, yet my parathyroid hormone is still somewhat elevated. The biggest relief is the deep bone pain is gone. That’s because my body isn’t trying to eat the calcium in my bones. Not as bad as it was, anyway. I got a relatively clean bill of health with followup appointments scheduled.
\n\n\nWhen I was finally finished with the appointments, I called up my sweetheart to see if he’d like to meet me for dinner. We went to the only restaurant in town that I’ve deemed to serve passable…if not truly authentic…Mexican food. We haven’t eaten there since before the pandemic began, so I was really looking forward to it. We even decided to eat indoors. We wore our masks in and were seated away from others in a booth that offered even more protection.
\n\n\nI was a little disappointed at the rushed approach by our server. She spoke little English, and from the little bit of Spanish I was able to conjure up, apparently didn’t speak that either. We did ok and ordered our food, but she didn’t give us enough time to peruse the menu and I didn’t feel like trying to make her understand we preferred not to be rushed. The chips and salsa were great. The guacamole was wet and bland. The sweet tea had that velvety smooth quality that takes me back to my Aunt Dixie’s table.
\n\n\nMr. FixIt ordered the Seafood Chimichanga. It was served with a generous portion of white rice with what looked like Veg-All in it. There was also a very small amount of salad on the plate. He was almost through his dish before he found a lone shrimp. I ordered the Taco Salad. The tortilla bowl was about half the size of what you used to get and the meat had no seasoning. I was so disappointed.
\n\n\n“Shrinkflation” is occurring everywhere now, it seems. We stopped at Sam’s yesterday for a soda and they’ve started using smaller cups for the same price. Everyone is out to protect their bottom line. What this shows me is how incredibly spoiled we have become in this country. The sense of entitlement stuns me.
\n\n\nWe have lived through several seminal events in the last sixty-nine years. The Cuban Missile Crisis, the assassination of President Kennedy, wars, recessions, 9/11…all events that led to “market corrections”. I told Mr. FixIt from the very beginning…we are going to feel the effects of the pandemic for a long, long time. We are only just beginning to see some of what’s to come.
\n\n\nWe are a resilient people when we set our minds to it. Before spending money on outrageous vacations or cars or whatever, it would behoove us to use a lot more discretion in our finances. This is a turning point in time. I believe we can find ourselves again and bring truth and kindness and love into our lives. Anger is the demon’s seed.
\n\n\nI will always believe this.
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2022-08-05T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2022/08/05/never-too-busy-to-be.html", "tags": ["Health","Kindness","Marriage"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2022/08/01/bring-more-joy.html", "title": "Bring More Joy", "content_html": "\n“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”
\nJames 1:19-20 ESV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/6063a9b93d.jpg\")
We stayed in a hotel in Columbus Saturday night after getting Bear on the plane. I stayed at the gate till I was sure the flight was in the air, then we drove to a local hotel. It was near sunset by the time we were done at the airport and I didn’t want to drive all the way home in the dark. Those corn fields in Ohio are just brimming with deer who think nothing of darting out into traffic. So, we felt it was safer to just stay up there.
\n\n\nWe ordered dinner to go and picked it up on the way to the hotel. We were both so tired, the lights were off at 10:30 and snoring soon followed. Unfortunately, neither of us slept well. The room was stuffy, it was noisy, and…well, it wasn’t our bed. Yes, we are “I-sleep-better-in-my-own-bed” years old. What can I say? It happens to the best of us.
\n\n\nWe didn’t get up till 9:00 yesterday morning and my sweetie went down to the lobby to bring me a surprisingly good cup of coffee and a granola bar…their answer to a “Grab and Go” breakfast. Disappointing. We didn’t go to Easton Mall. We really don’t need anything and certainly don’t need anything that pricey. I mean…when the mall has a Jaguar dealership in front of it, you know you’re in the wrong place for a “deal”.
\n\n\nWe decided to head on home. It was raining, so we knew we weren’t going to get to mow when we got there. By the time we got to Nelsonville, we were really hungry. We still don’t eat indoors. We went through the drive-thru at McD’s and they didn’t serve all day breakfast sandwiches so we moved on. I remembered that Sonic has all day breakfast items and there happened to be a restaurant just down the road.
\n\n\nWe ordered our food and when the young man came out to deliver it, we were so taken by his genuine joie de vivre. He was conversational, interested in where we were from and what brought us to his neck of the woods. He came out two or three times to see if we needed anything else. As we were preparing to leave, I said “Jonathan…what is your position at this store?” He said, “I’m just a regular crew member, ma’am.” “Well,” I said. “I just gave you an outstanding review on the website for this Sonic. You made our little fast food meal a true delight. Thank you!”
\n\n\nJonathan beamed.
\n\n\nIt doesn’t take much to make people happy. It isn’t difficult to make the world a better place. It doesn’t take fame or fortune to lift people up and let them know they are appreciated…even if they are doing nothing but bringing you your breakfast with joy in their hearts.
\n\n\nBe good to people…even if they aren’t good to you. ESPECIALLY if they aren’t good to you.
\n\n\nMake your side of the street shine, then go across it to help your neighbor.
\n\n\nIt’ll make both of you better people.
\n\n\nI am SO ready for more kindness in this world!
\n\n\nLet’s do this!!!
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2022-08-01T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2022/08/01/bring-more-joy.html", "tags": ["Choices","Be Joyful!","Kindness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2022/07/07/the-calm-after-the-storm.html", "title": "The Calm After the Storm", "content_html": "\n“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,”
\nColossians 3:12 ESV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/ec88e6d282.jpg\")
We had appointments with the eye doctor yesterday. Time for new glasses, I’m afraid. For years, I only bought my eyeglasses through the optometric clinic. Sometimes I had really great insurance that provided a new pair every year. Other times I had none and paid out of pocket whether I could really afford it or not. We didn’t have much of a choice of buying options. Now we live on a fixed income with Medicare and Social Security. We’re back to being careful with our money. As they say…watch your pennies and your dollars will watch themselves.
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/d5ace8f4f0.jpg\")
Mr. FixIt is the one who turned me on to buying my glasses online. He had used Zenni for a few years so I gave it at try the last time I needed a new pair. While they weren’t the greatest quality…certainly not what I had become accustomed to…they were perfectly adequate. The prescription came back accurate and they were delivered in a couple of weeks. And, I was able to buy a pair of glasses and a pair of sunglasses for less than one pair would have cost had I gone my more traditional route.
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/a123de69e0.jpg\")
The key to getting glasses online is to tell the optometric office when you check out that you would like to have a copy of your prescription along with your Pupil Distance measurement. They won’t like this, of course. They are banking on you spending a delightful hour or two trying on frames and fawning over your choices then dropping some serious coin in their store. I head them off at the pass by looking them directly in the eye, smile and say, “I’m retired and live on a fixed income. I buy my glasses online, so I will need a copy of my prescription, please.” I’ve never had any trouble save for a slight shift in demeanor which doesn’t bother me a whip. Mr. FixIt ordered his new glasses and sunglasses last night and they totaled under $200. I’ll fiddle around with mine later today.
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/3553d20a41.jpg\")
I received a gift from a friend yesterday. Kindness doesn’t grow on trees. Kindness is a choice. And it is one that far too many people have forgotten to make anymore. It doesn’t take much to be kind. My friend lives in a teeny, tiny magical cottage and she is forever having to curate what she can keep and what she can send on its way to bring joy to another person. She didn’t go out and buy these treasures for me new. She poured her love into them for a while, then she sent them on to me. She does this for people all the time.
\n\n\nI’m going to start doing this. This isn’t “re-gifting.” This is spreading love with tangible items that were carefully selected for a specific person and a specific purpose. It doesn’t cost as much as buying a gift and shipping it. And it reduces waste while it spreads kindness into the world. So, thank you to my sweet friend. You are so special and so loved!
\n\n\nI was writing this post when Mr. FixIt called to me to come look at the sunset with him. The sky was streaked with peach, yellow, pink, blue, and indigo as the sun headed west for it’s final hurrah of the day. The creek was roaring from the heavy rain we had in the afternoon. The frogs were serenading from the creek beyond the far field. Bats dipped and dove over our heads, feasting on the early evening treasure trove of mosquitoes. The catbird in the maple tree out front was putting up a fuss as we were invading her turf. The lightning bugs were rising from their daytime hideaway in the field grasses…on the search for summer love. I turned to my sweetheart and smiled. He wrapped me in his arms and held me close, kissing me on the forehead. And for that moment…we were safe and all was right with the world.
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2022-07-07T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2022/07/07/the-calm-after-the-storm.html", "tags": ["Comfort","Choices","Farm Life","Kindness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2022/04/27/manners-are-important.html", "title": "Manners are Important", "content_html": "\n“Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.””
\nHebrews 13:5 ESV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/8c25539054.jpg\")
It seems a goodly portion of society today has forgotten their manners. Or, maybe they didn’t have them in the first place. What happened to all the Grandmas insisting the young ones say please and thank you and respect their elders? Are people with impeccable manners a thing of the past? Gosh…I surely hope not.
\n\n\nThere are regional rules of etiquette. Young people in the south are routinely taught to say “Yes, ma’am” and “No, sir”. While hand written thank you notes seem to be positively prehistoric to most people today. Things are much more relaxed in the West, but here in West Virginia…in my generation…we were taught good manners. We even had special assemblies in school where we learned the proper way to put on a coat and to enter a room. How to shake hands and make eye contact.
\n\n\nWhen my girls were young, I taught them what all the spoons and forks were for in a formal place setting, just in case they found themselves in such a situation. They learned to converse with adults. I taught them their opinion mattered…even when it differed with that of management…ie, their parents. I took my older daughter’s friends out for breakfast at McDonald’s and we played a game I called “Worse Case Scenario”. I’d give them a hypothetical situation and they discussed it amongst themselves and decided what the best course of action would be. Those kids are grown and sending their own kids off to college. They still remember that game.
\n\n\nMr. FixIt has such old world manners. When we were first dating, he opened the car door for me every time. I soon told him that was fine for dates, but he needn’t do that every time. Still, when we walk down the street together, he always walks to the outside between me and traffic. It’s charming. He won my heart when he bowed his head in front of my mom’s grave and introduced himself to her. He told her how much he loved me and that he would take good care of me till the day he dies. He melts my heart.
\n\n\nThere’s something I have noticed when we drive places. I almost always do the driving. Sometimes I’ll catch a quick movement out of the corner of my eye and look over at him. I can tell he moved, but I wasn’t quite sure what he was doing. I didn’t want to ask him…I wanted to figure it out on my own. I finally got my answer on our way home from the beach last weekend.
\n\n\nWe switched turns driving in Charlottesville, VA. Some ways down the road, I happened to be looking over at him when I caught a swift motion. He was saluting! I looked back at the road just in time to see a sign on the bridge we were crossing. It had been dedicated to the memory of a certain soldier. There was an American flag stuck on the sign. My husband was physically honoring a fallen soldier and our flag!
\n\n\nMy heart swelled with pride and tears stung my eyes. What a beautiful thing to do. We also pull over for funeral processions. He has such a huge heart. We neither one had the best of childhoods, but I thank his late mama for teaching him how to be a good husband. I wish more men were like my Mr. FixIt. The world would be a more loving and honorable place.
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n“Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me forever,’ but now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed.”
\n1 Samuel 2:30 ESV\n
#Esteem, #Honor, #Manners
\n\n", "date_published": "2022-04-27T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2022/04/27/manners-are-important.html", "tags": ["Family","Aging","Kindness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2022/03/21/a-soft-day-at-home.html", "title": "A Soft Day at Home", "content_html": "\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/6196535ac1.jpg\")
We had a soft day. Nothing pressing. Nothing urgent. Our day of rest and reflection and silent prayerful meditation. Mr. FixIt made oats for breakfast. He watched a little TV. I knitted. We attempted to nap…albeit unsuccessfully. He went to town to visit with his bowling buddies as they played. He hasn’t bowled on a regular basis since the original lockdown and subsequent strokes. His balance is a little off…his hands not quite as before. But he’s all there and healthy so we’ll take that as a win!
\n\n\nI watched the last day of the swim meet. Big knocked several seconds off her personal bests and we were all so proud of her. I’m almost finished knitting the first of another pair of socks. There’s still so much strife in the world and I just didn’t have it in me to write a long post last night. I set it aside and read my book for a while before I went to sleep in the Birdhouse.
\n\n\nToday is a new day. We’ll head to Charleston to run an errand then back home. The time is passing quickly now and we have things to do before it’s time to travel and mow and garden. I’ll be back tomorrow with a full post. In the meantime, be gentle with each other…and yourselves. Till then, here is a feel-good, Motivation Monday post from 2019 to hold you over.
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2022-03-21T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2022/03/21/a-soft-day-at-home.html", "tags": ["Hope","Comfort","Courage","Choices","Kindness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/09/30/kindness-matters.html", "title": "Kindness Matters", "content_html": "\n“with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
\nEphesians 4:2-3 ESV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/a7b1006805.jpg\")
I woke up yesterday and had a hankerin’ for homemade buttermilk biscuits but the buttermilk I had in the fridge was “blinky”, as my mama called it. It was way past its expiration date so I made a quick run to Piggly Wiggly to get some more. While I was there, I checked out the meat department and there was a blade-in pork shoulder roast in the “reduced for quick sale” bin. A nearly $15 roast for only $6 and change. Not bad!
\n\n\nI got home and whipped up the biscuits, heated up some sausage patties and fried a couple of eggs for little breakfast sandwiches. Mr. FixIt and I enjoyed our breakfast together and watched a couple of game shows. I cleaned the kitchen then set the roast to cook in the crockpot. I worked on a hat I’m knitting for a Christmas present. Then, Mr. FixIt left to run errands in town.
\n\n\nAlong about 2:00, I thought to myself… “OMGosh! I must have Covid…I can’t smell a thing!” I should have smelled that roast cooking long before that. I went into the kitchen, only to discover I had forgotten to turn on the crockpot when I moved it from one counter to the other. Whew…at least it wasn’t Covid!
\n\n\nA few months ago, Mr. FixIt and I went to the cemetery where most of his family are buried. He noticed his Uncle Junie never got his military plaque for his grave so he made the necessary arrangements to have it done. He received a call yesterday from the old gentleman down at the cemetery. The plaque was in and mounted and he needed Mr. FixIt to come in to pay the installation fee.
\n\n\nNow, Mr. FixIt is worse than me when it comes to yakking with people…even those he doesn’t know. He got to the cemetery around 4:30 and it was 6:30 when he called to say he’d just left there. Turns out the old fella who runs the place is in his 80’s and doesn’t have a lot of people to talk to up there. And, if our conversation on the phone yesterday morning was any indication, Mr. Okey was quite a talker himself.
\n\n\nWhen my hubby finally got home, I gave him a kiss and told him what a great guy he is. Not only did he think of his uncle when no one else had, but he sat and listened to the stories of a lonely old man and no doubt made his day.
\n\n\nI love this guy!
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2021-09-30T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/09/30/kindness-matters.html", "tags": ["Love","Choices","Kindness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/08/13/its-the-dog-days-of.html", "title": "It’s the Dog Days of Summer", "content_html": "\n“making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding;”
\nProverbs 2:2 ESV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/353d79ffa9.jpg\")
The Mystery Flower: Sun Star? Star of Bethlehem? Some kind of lily?
\n\n\nI am hoping against hope that yesterday was the hottest day of our summer here in West Virginia. When they tell you it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity…that’s pretty much true. The thermometer on the back of our house registered 103 at 4:00. Granted…that’s on a red brick wall on the west side of the house, but it’s under the eaves and out of direct sunlight. The humidity was only 63% but it felt like a sauna out there.
\n\n\nMr. FixIt went to town to help a friend price some antiques before his yard sale this weekend, so I stayed home in the air conditioning and finished up the plans for our trip to Colorado. I found some really great places to camp and didn’t have a bit of trouble finding available campsites. That’s the beauty of camping in September and October…the kids are back in school and summer vacations are all but over.
\n\n\nAs the sun began to slip toward the horizon, I went outside and took some pictures of this mystery plant that was here when I came onto the scene. Remember I told you it was all but dead in the basement and I emptied the two planters into a washtub along the fence? Well, they’ve gone crazy and now they’re blooming. The tallest blossom is as high as the fence! I ran a picture of it through a plant identification app on my phone (PictureThis) and it says it’s a Sun Star…otherwise known as a Star of Bethlehem. I’m not totally convinced, but it might be. Anyway, the flowers are beautiful. The plant is hardy. But, you do need to dig up the bulbs and store them in the basement over the winter.
\n\n\nI walked around the property as it got dark and suddenly, I started seeing movement out of the corner of my eye. I looked up and there were bats swooping down all around me and that kinda freaked me out a little so I headed back to the pool where Mr. FixIt was sweeping and cleaning. All this hot weather has really made the algae go nuts so we need to get after it with some chemicals today. He asked me to go turn off the pump so I could back flush it. Well, as soon as I tried to turn it off, the switch broke right off! I was reaching the end of my rope by this point. It was still in the 90’s, I was sweating buckets, I was being chased by bats, and now I’d broken the pump switch.
\n\n\nIt was getting pretty dark. I went in and got the head lamp and Mr. FixIt handed me a flathead screwdriver. I unplugged the pump, got down on the ground and managed to flip the switch back to the on position. When we plugged it back in, it turned right on. By this time, we had a hose running in the pool to bring the water level back up. We have had no rain to speak of in weeks and between that and all the back flushing, we were running pretty low.
\n\n\nI sat down on the deck. I could feel the sweat running down my cheeks and made a decision…it was time to turn off the lights and go skinny dipping! There is nothing more wonderful than slipping into cool water when the world feels like an oven and it’s making you act just plain nasty. My dear friends Janine Pettit and Lesa McDermott just finished rafting the length of the Grand Canyon. It was 114 degrees every day. The nights got all the way down to 99 and they slept with wet towels over themselves to try to cool down. I cannot imagine that kind of heat. That was an incredible life experience…one they were both glad they did with twenty other Girl Campers. But, they neither one have a desire to do it again.
\n\n\nAnyway, the pool felt wonderful and it was like that candy bar commercial where the grumpy guy turns nice again once his sugar level comes back up. I could feel my shoulders relax and the tension leave my body. Mr. FixIt and I floated around and talked about the stars and the Colorado trip and the news of the day. We watched the heat lightning off in the distance. Soon we were friends again and laughing.
\n\n\nIt’s important to feed each other in life. To look out for each other. To fight fair. To talk nice. When you fall short…you say “I’m sorry”. Marriage shouldn’t be “hard work”. Like all things, living and loving can challenge us. The challenge is loving and forgiving and trusting with a great big sense of humor. It’s easy to get grumpy when the weather is hot and sticky and things break. So, take my advice…turn off the lights, drop your drawers, and jump in the water!
\n\n\nStay cool, dear ones!
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2021-08-13T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/08/13/its-the-dog-days-of.html", "tags": ["Love","Wisdom","Anger","Forgiveness","Aging","Kindness","Marriage"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/08/07/a-matter-of-self-care.html", "title": "A Matter of Self Care: An Open Letter to Simone Biles", "content_html": "\n“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.””
\nGenesis 8:22 ESV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/4ccf169f64.jpg\")
Dear Miss Simone,
\n\n\nI haven’t really watched the Olympics much, but I’ve kept up with the major stories. Our family’s biggest interest is the swimming events since my older grandchild has been on swim team practically since she could write her name. She had hopes of going to the 2020 Olympics, but when push comes to shove in any sport, you athletes know early on what level you are likely to perform at. My granddaughter knew she was a healthy competitor, but she also knew she was a college level swimmer…not an Olympian. So, when it came time to choose…competitive or athletic, she chose athletic. Her reasoning was…she wanted to have a life and enjoy growing up. I think she made a wise choice. She is mentally and physically healthy, she excels at academics, swimming is still fun and great exercise, and…colleges are contacting her to apply. There’s nothing wrong with that.
\n\n\nAs I watched the drama unfold surrounding your struggles in Tokyo, my heart ached for you. You climbed the ladder the hard way. You worked hard. You were focused and determined. You were built to do what you do. And, when your mind played tricks on you and you chose to protect it, there were actually people calling you a “quitter” and “an embarrassment to our country”. I was shocked, but not surprised.
\n\n\nWe live in a culture where the word “woke” has been given an ugly connotation. Maya Angelou said, “I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.” That, my friend, is all “woke” really is. It’s being twisted to represent this or that…but the bottom line is, it is awareness. In the past, there are myriad examples of Olympians pushed beyond their limits, receiving life altering and career ending injuries. I mean, look at how few Olympians there are compared to the number of people who try to get there. The pressure put on these mostly young people is abysmal. The pressure you put on yourselves is tragic.
\n\n\nYes, I know…some will blame it on “every participant gets a trophy”. Or “kids these days are too soft”. I’d dare anyone to say you, or the hundreds of premier athletes like you, are soft. The skills you perform are seriously life threatening. You had a case of the “twisties”…something gymnasts know all about. It comes when, for whatever reason, your mind and body disconnect and you lose your spatial awareness. You don’t know where you are in your spins and rolls and flips. When that happens, a gymnast is in terrible danger. The accident that could have occurred had you continued could not only have ended your career…it could have ended your life.
\n\n\nHow fair is it of us “armchair athletes” to say what’s going on in another person’s mind? If you, or any other gymnast, would have landed wrong and broke your ankle, for instance, and had to pull out of events…are you “soft”? No! The only difference between a mental injury and a physical injury is…NO ONE CAN SEE IT. I understand the struggle between trying to do something I’m not capable of in the moment and the expectations of others that I SHOULD be able to. I don’t feel “seen” or “understood” or “validated”. I feel “judged” and “weak” and “inferior”. And I’m not on a world stage…not in any way near what a world class athlete is.
\n\n\nAs a fellow human being with struggles of my own, and as a mom of a wonderful human being who struggles in their own way, my heart goes out to you, Simone…and the hundreds of people like you who have to make a choice…protect your mental health, or risk disappointing others. I’ll choose disappointing others any day of the week after what I’ve been through and what I’ve learned from the experience. Life is far too short, dear one. All you wonderfully talented athletes don’t “owe” me anything but honesty and good character and the wisdom to know when to say, “I can’t do this.”
\n\n\nIt’s really ok to not be ok sometimes.
\n\n\nI’m proud of you, Miss Simone. As proud as I can be without actually being your mom. You are SO much more than your craft.
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2021-08-07T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/08/07/a-matter-of-self-care.html", "tags": ["Health","Courage","Choices","Kindness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/07/23/whatever-happened-to-manners.html", "title": "Whatever Happened to Manners?", "content_html": "\n“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
\nJeremiah 29:11 ESV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/9ae87e88ca.jpg\")
The other night, Mr. FixIt and I went to our local pizza establishment to get our twice-weekly ice cream to take to the park. As with most food service establishments, they have had issues about getting and keeping help. There have been signs saying they were training a whole new crew and to please be patient. Hey, I’m retired. I’m rarely EVER in a hurry to do anything, let alone pick up some ice cream.
\n\n\nA young lady came to the counter and asked if she could help me.
\n\n\n“Yes, please…I’d like two small ice creams…one vanilla and one twist. But, I’d like them in a styrofoam cup, not the the little plastic ones. By the time we get them over to the park, they drip all over me when I open them.”
\n\n\n“Ok. That will be $4.88.”
\n\n\nI hand her a $20 then said, “Hang on a second, I have the change.”
\n\n\nShe held the bill in her hand and looked at me puzzled.
\n\n\n“Oh, that’s ok…you don’t need to give me change. You gave me a $20.”
\n\n\nI smiled behind my mask. “Yes, I did. But, If i give you $.88, you can give me $16 in change. That way, you have extra coins in your register, and I don’t have to carry so much weight around.”
\n\n\nI could see the gears turning as she thought about what I said. She did a quick finger count.
\n\n\n“Right!”
\n\n\nWhen she handed me the $16, she leaned forward and said, conspiratorially, “thanks for explaining so patiently. Most people would have treated me like an idiot.”
\n\n\n“Well, honey…I’m not like most people. I still believe in manners.”
\n\n\nI smiled and stepped aside.
\n\n\nThe woman behind me walked up to the register and said in a loud, demanding voice, “Your phone is off the hook! I’ve been holding for 20 minutes and no one got back to me!” Which already doesn’t make sense…how can the phone be “off the hook” when you are on hold?
\n\n\nAnyway the young lady behind the register had a slightly stricken look and apologized profusely. “I’m so sorry. Here, what can I get you?”
\n\n\nThe woman didn’t let up and continued to rant, even while the young lady was trying to take her order. I caught the employees eye, tapped my heart with my fist and winked at her.
\n\n\nShe continued to treat the woman with kindness and respect. Then, the next woman in line stepped up. About this time, my ice cream was ready. I took it from the young man serving it, and walked straight to the register. I leaned forward and said, “Please excuse me for interrupting, but I just wanted to tell you what a fine job you did there.”
\n\n\nThe woman she was currently waiting on turned to me and said, “Thank you for telling her that! She was really given a hard time there and she needs to hear the good things about her.”
\n\n\n“Yes, she does! My late husband worked in the food service industry all his career and he always told me, whenever you see someone doing a good job, tell them. Right then and there. It can make all the difference in the world because this can be a thankless job.”
\n\n\nI waved to them both and walked out with my frozen treats.
\n\n\nI understand we don’t know what that woman was going through. We don’t know what her circumstances are. But, for some reason, kindness and good manners have just gone right out the window…especially since the beginning of Covid. I know we are frustrated. I know the world has been polarized and pitted person against person…usually down political lines. But there is absolutely no excuse in exhibiting poor behavior toward people in the service industry. Well, toward ANYONE, really. It isn’t biblical to treat others poorly.
\n\n\nEmily Post is whirling in her grave. And, Jesus can’t be any too happy either!
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2021-07-23T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/07/23/whatever-happened-to-manners.html", "tags": ["Faith","Grace","Humbled","Kindness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/04/22/an-employee-shortage.html", "title": "An Employee Shortage", "content_html": "\n“And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.”
\nLuke 6:31 ESV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/28484db680.jpg\")
This trip to the beach has been different than any I’ve made so far. Usually this week is moderately busy...wedged between Spring Break and Bike Week, you almost always have lines to get into restaurants and bars. Places may be closed on Sunday, but almost always things open back up on Monday. This time, there are a lot of places only open from Wednesday through Saturday. And the reason is...they can’t find workers.
\n\n\nThat may be because of unemployment insurance. If they can get paid the same...or MORE than what they were making working forty hours a week, there are a boatload of folks opting to ride the benefit wave till it runs out. In the meantime, they’re doing I don’t know what...traveling? Taking a class online? Learning to knit? I will say, I saw more kite surfers than I’ve ever seen before, so there’s that.
\n\n\nThe paucity of reliable employees has caused some real frustration with business owners down here. I saw a few signs that said “this location is closed because we can’t get good help. Come see us at our other store. AND, if you want a fun job, call ###-###-####.” For those who ARE open, they’re doing the best they can to provide good service...sometimes to an unappreciative, if not totally clueless crowd.
\n\n\nI stumbled upon this sign in Tullio’s Bakery Tuesday morning. I can only imagine what kind of abuse their employees were faced with to warrant such a warning, but I have to say...when I was in there, the little gal was darling and very patient as I made my choices. BTW...Tullio’s is much better than Duck Donuts. They had real flavor as opposed to the greasy sugar bombs Duck Donuts throws out. (Sorry, DD...assembly line cake donuts from a mix is not a donut...it is fried cake. I don’t usually diss a product, but they left a lot to be desired.)
\n\n\nI left yesterday in the middle of the morning to go to my favorite knitting shop. I was sad to hear Jeanne, the owner, wasn’t there due to a family issue. I really missed visiting with her. But, I picked up a few things. They always have some custom died yarns and I love them so much. As I was heading south to Knitting Addiction, I noticed the thermometer on the truck was already 74! I called Mr. FixIt and told him to be ready...as soon as I finished my little shopping foray, I wanted to pick him up and go have some fun! It was too nice of a day to miss out on play time!
\n\n\nWe drove all the way down to the tip of the island to Hatteras Village. I stopped at my other favorite yarn shop in the back on The Blue Pelican Gallery. I bought a kit for Little so I can teach her to knit, and a shawl kit for me. We wandered around the shops and stopped to see some sights. Then, we got a seafood dinner to go and had a picnic as we watched the sunbeams shining down through little breaks in the clouds. It was really a glorious day. It got all the way up to 78 and I was one happy little camper!
\n\n\nToday is supposed to be much cooler and rainy, so we are hanging around the condo and I’ll start a new knitting project. Tomorrow is our last day and it’s supposed to be warm and sunny so we’ll spend as much time on the beach as we can. The week at the beach always goes WAY too fast and we will soon be heading back to West Virginia. I’ll get out to the farm for a few days alone just as soon as I can. And Mr. FixIt will finish the work on the master bath, with the help of his best friend, Harry.
\n\n\nAt least we didn’t get the snow they had in Colorado...OR in West Virginia! There’s something to be said for getting away to the beach at this time of year!
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2021-04-22T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/04/22/an-employee-shortage.html", "tags": ["Overcoming Obstacles","Grace","Choices","Kindness","Control"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/02/25/day-sunshine-is-good-medicine.html", "title": "Day 346: Sunshine is Good Medicine!", "content_html": "\n“But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”
\nRomans 8:25 ESV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/686c1e66cb.jpg\")
We had an important appointment yesterday...one we’ve been putting off for too long. Time to make our wills. Not everyone dies with a will, but in my experience, if you really love your spouse you make a will. I didn’t realize how stressful this simple exercise would be for me. When you talk about wills, you are really talking about death. And I didn’t adequately prepare myself for all the feels that would well up surrounding that.
\n\n\nFrankly, it made me upset. It didn’t occur to me that it would...but there it was. And when I get upset like that, it’s right in the pit of my stomach and makes me sick. It always has, so I don’t know why I’m surprised when it happened yet again. But there’s a level of shame in there....like, I should be stronger than this.
\n\n\nYesterday was warmer than it has been since last fall...clear up to 72! I was wandering around the house, preparing to go and willing myself to calm down and not let my nerves get the best of me. Mr. FixIt finally said, “What’s going on, honey? You ok?” He could tell...he knows me so well. I almost cried. I told him I was just freaking out a little and to give me some time.
\n\n\nI went back to the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed and breathed slowly. I took something to settle my stomach. Then I had a brilliant idea...maybe we could have the appointment over the phone. I called the attorney’s office and they said that was absolutely doable...they would call me back in half an hour.
\n\n\nWhen they called, I was settled in my big red chair and Mr. FixIt in his. And in the comfort of our home, we loved each other through what was surprisingly difficult for me. I am so blessed I have a loving and supportive husband who really “gets” me. It didn’t matter one bit to him whether we had the appointment at home or in the attorney’s office or even if we rescheduled. His primary goal was my comfort doing something he knew upset me. I love him so much for all these little things.
\n\n\nThe sun was gorgeous and the air was warm with the early breath of spring. I sat out on the steps of the deck and turned my face to the sun and let its warmth creep into my bones. Mr. FixIt went out to change the oil in my truck, and I curled up under a blanket and took a nap. When I got up, all was right in the world again. I am so grateful I am past the age when I beat myself up for not being “perfect”. I am what and who I am and so is my husband. This is why we are such a good team...it may not have worked between us when we were young and dumb. This way, I think we got the best version of each other.
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2021-02-25T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/02/25/day-sunshine-is-good-medicine.html", "tags": ["Health","Grief","Overcoming Obstacles","Love","Kindness","Marriage"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/12/30/day-let-your-light-shine.html", "title": "Day 289: Let Your Light Shine Brighter", "content_html": "\n“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
\nPhilippians 4:13 ESV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/da88bbd5cc.jpg\")
My grandma had all kinds of sayings that were descriptive and puzzling and funny and weird. Some were long handed down colloquialisms. Some were just those inside jokes that develop within the family and you’re surprised no one else has heard them...they’re just so accurate. One saying she used a lot...it was an Appalachian take on Karma. If you did something you might not ought to have done, or if you made a simple mistake that came back to bite you in the butt later, Grandma would exclaim... “Well, your chickens are just coming home to roost.” Meaning...you’re going to have to pay for that one.
\n\n\nCovid. You would be hard pressed at this point to find someone who doesn’t know someone in their circle who has had it. I hear more and more, every week. I can’t count anymore how many people I know who have had it or knows someone who has. I find it just as concerning today as I did when this first started spreading like wildfire in March. My only fear is that someone I know and love will get it and die. Thank God, the ones I know personally have been among the fortunates who just get sick. Science is still trying to figure out why some feel nothing much more than a bad cold while others seem a little sick one day and die the next.
\n\n\nIt’s a crazy disease. And seriously, one that should never, ever have gotten out of hand like this in the United States of America. I’m not going to go on a rant over this here, but I have choice words when I’m watching the news with Mr. FixIt...trust me.
\n\n\nThe other day, Daughter #2 called in a panic. They have a good friend who totaled his car a couple of weeks ago and they helped him out. His bubble is small, like theirs, although he does work in assisted living. His patient population had remained untouched by Covid until the week of his accident. And that is when my daughter went to pick him up from the emergency room after his car accident and let him stay with them for a couple of days to make sure he was ok.
\n\n\nWithin a few days, he tested positive for Covid. And, three days later, my daughter and her wife began having symptoms. They went right away and got tested, however, tests can often be negative when taken too early in the course of the illness. They haven’t had another test yet, but the circumstances wouldn’t be any different for them if they had. They are isolated and will schedule a repeat test sometime this week.
\n\n\nI am also thanking God they aren’t any sicker than they are. Right now, it’s mostly the fatigue that’s hitting them, and my daughter says it really doesn’t feel much worse than a really bad cold. Thankfully, she has Type O blood...they say those with that blood type seem to get a less severe case. Which is good because she also has bad asthma.
\n\n\nThey were just trying to do something kind to help their friend out when he crashed his car. They thought they were safe with all the precautions and their small social bubbles. But, it just goes to show you, this disease is nothing to trifle with. We cannot afford to let our collective guard down...which leads me to my main gripe.
\n\n\nSitting in my living room, not seeing my family since March...not seeing my Colorado family since August 2019...not eating in a restaurant since February, not camping, not socializing outside of direct family who also socially isolate and then only visiting outside and distanced. Making all these sacrifices and then watching all those people going through the airports and mingling at the malls, knowing...KNOWING full well what’s going to come in two weeks...it makes me so mad I could spit nails! I worked in medicine for forty-two years. I was married to an internist for twenty-one of those. I know how hard those on the front lines work when there ISN’T a pandemic raging.
\n\n\nAll it would have taken was a warning in January...something deadly is coming. Prepare yourselves. These are the steps you’re going to need to take. Do these things so we can hunker down and get through it and get back to normal as soon as possible. New Zealand did it. Other countries did it.
\n\n\nThis isn’t our Grandfather’s country anymore. What happened to the spirit of a people who rallied around the war effort and sacrificed for others? Those who say “You can’t stop living your life!” Tell that to the 330,000+ families who have lost their beloveds. It just boggles my mind that there are STILL people out there who think this is all a hoax or it’s overblown or it’s just a political ploy to try to control the masses. How many body bags does it take to convince them this is real and the medical community is about to crack?
\n\n\nOk...ok...I got on my soapbox after all. I can’t help it. It’s come after MY baby now! And this mama is pissed!!!
\n\n\nIT’S NOT FOREVER...IT’S JUST FOR NOW!!!
\n\n\nSTAY HOME
\n\n\nWATCH YOUR DISTANCE
\n\n\nWEAR A MASK
\n\n\nWASH YOUR HANDS
\n\n\nAnd, please pray my baby and her wife get better quickly with no complications or lasting side effects.
\n\n\nPLEASE
\n\n\nWhen times are dark....let your light shine brighter!
\n\n\nPhoto Credit: Steve Derrick - https://www.timesunion.com/entertainment/article/Local-artist-unmasks-soul-of-front-line-workers-15513007.php
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2020-12-30T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/12/30/day-let-your-light-shine.html", "tags": ["Overcoming Obstacles","Strong Women","Positive Energy","Love","Wisdom","Courage","Warning","Choices","Change","Kindness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/12/20/day-keep-calm-and-bake.html", "title": "Day 281: Keep Calm and Bake On", "content_html": "\n“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”
\nPhilippians 2:3-4 NIV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/f9e9ffc40d.jpg\")
Just before the bombings started in England in WWII, the Queen issued an edict that was produced on signs and posted everywhere to encourage the British citizenry.
\n\n\n“Keep Calm and Carry On”
\n\n\nAfter all, it is what the Brits were known for. Strength and calm in the face of adversity. They are a stoic lot with dry wit, fierce loyalty, and sturdy countenance...all attributes well to be admired and emulated by all.
\n\n\nAs we march toward a Christmas unlike any other you and I have likely experienced, I find myself particularly emotional. I’ve always been one to cry at Kodak commercials. Show me the ones with a soldier coming home to his mom and I’m a puddle. A news story about a little boy with inoperable brain cancer delivering toys to the hospital chemo ward because their funding was cut after Covid struck? I’m a mess.
\n\n\nBabies being born.
\n\n\nPeople holding hands.
\n\n\nChildren baking cookies.
\n\n\nAhhhh...that last one gets me every time. After Mr. Virgo died, I was included in the family baking day at my son-in-law’s house and I felt a renewed hope after such a painful loss. After moving to West Virginia, I flew to Colorado at Christmas for a couple of years. Then it became increasingly expensive and the weather was dicey. I started spending more time in the summers to make up for it.
\n\n\nStill, Facebook floods my feed with memories of Christmas past and much of that includes Mr. Virgo...and baking cookies. And I find my heart hurting. I cannot tease out my memories of Mr. Virgo and discard them simply because I am happily married to a wonderful man. He is woven in there like a thread through the tapestry of my life. I miss my mom at Christmas. I miss my grandparents at Christmas. Why wouldn’t I also miss Mr. Virgo? It’s only natural that I would and does not take away from my love for Mr. FixIt in any way.
\n\n\nI’m missing the whole package of Colorado this year. I haven’t seen my western family since my daughter’s wedding in August 2019. Yesterday was their cookie baking day. Sue told me about it last week. So, I prepared myself for a day of baking yesterday so I could at least be doing the same thing they were doing, even though I’m many miles away. And my heart hurts. Pictures bring tears. A picture of my daughter removing a tray of cookies from the oven. My grandkids decorating cookies. Snow on the mountains. Setting up the new bird-feeder we got them for Christmas. My eyes have been leaking a lot this week.
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/f4e4eaaf08.jpg\")
Then, there are the good things here on the Ponderosa. The neighbors knocking on our door, bringing us cookies and taking a tin of ours along with them. The black cat playing in the snow and sitting on the windowsill, watching me bake. The smell of cookies fresh from the oven. The feel of sourdough as I turn it and set it to rise. The smell of the cold outdoors on my husband’s collar when he returns from errands. The lights on the tree in the grand window of the family room. The phone calls and Christmas cards. The family dropping by for quick visits out of doors to avoid close contact but still getting to see each other. The packages waiting to be wrapped for our West Virginia family.
\n\n\nIt’s ok to feel happy and sad at the same time. This has been a long, hard year. Feeling our feelings is how we process through them. I think the hardest thing I’ve seen this year though, is watching our front line workers in the hospitals...reeling from the aftermath of people insisting on maintaining a normal Thanksgiving. The wave upon wave of illness is taking its told on our healthcare staff as well as our teachers and all essential workers. To see the news and hear of the expected travel for Christmas just breaks me.
\n\n\nI am foregoing my visits with my Colorado family...not only for my own safety, but for theirs and all the people I would contact between here and there. How hard can it be to make a sacrifice for others?
\n\n\nYes...my heart hurts a lot lately. And this too shall pass.
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2020-12-20T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/12/20/day-keep-calm-and-bake.html", "tags": ["Family","Grace","Holiday","Courage","Choices","Kindness","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/12/06/day-remembering-the-firsts.html", "title": "Day 267: Remembering the “Firsts”", "content_html": "\n“Christ encourages you, and his love comforts you. God's Spirit unites you, and you are concerned for others. Now make me completely happy! Live in harmony by showing love for each other. Be united in what you think, as if you were only one person. Don't be jealous or proud, but be humble and consider others more important than yourselves. Care about them as much as you care about yourselves and think the same way that Christ Jesus thought:”
\nPhilippians 2:1-5 CEV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/fa8652ced3.jpg\")
I know many who are approaching this as their first Christmas without their loved one. Those “firsts”...and sometimes the “seconds” are really tough. Watching everyone happy when you feel such pain and longing inside is so hard to take. It stirs so many emotions in you. By the time I reached the first Christmas without Mr. Virgo, he had been gone over nine months. While I still suffered agonizing sadness, I was also experiencing an emotion that shocked me.
\n\n\nAnger.
\n\n\nI was SO bloody angry at...everyone! God, for taking him. Happy people, for having the nerve to be happy. Myself, for not insisting he have those tests the doctor wanted to have done just months before he died. But, on one particular night, it was Mr. Virgo I was the most angry with. He had one heck of a lot of nerve leaving me with this mess to take care of!
\n\n\nIt snowed all that day. I worked nearly an hour away from home. By the time I got home, there was at least a foot of snow in the driveway. I couldn’t get in the garage, so I stopped down by the street, went in and got the snow shovel that now only had MY name on it, and...after having worked a ten hour day...I set to shoveling. I got two tracks in...enough to pull the SUV up off the street. And I shoveled a path to the front porch.
\n\n\nI was crying by the time I was finished. It was so bitter cold. I was wet. And sad. And totally ****** off. I stripped off my wet hat, gloves, coat, and boots and left them on the tile floor in the foyer. Then I headed for the bedroom to run a hot bath. As I passed Mr. Virgo’s highboy, I caught a glimpse of his picture from our wedding. I was immediately overcome with this intense rage and it shocked me.
\n\n\nI pounded on the surface of his dresser, yelling at him through my tears. It was fierce. And immensely cathartic. I had felt stabs of anger over the previous months, but I stuffed it down. How could I possibly be angry with him for leaving me? He didn’t MEAN to. He didn’t do it on purpose. It’s just not right to be mad at someone for dying...is it?
\n\n\nI found out that cold December night that it is not only alright...it’s healthy. Grief covers every facet of emotions and not one of them is wrong. We grieve just like we live and love...with deep emotion.
\n\n\nThese photos showed up in my Facebook Memories yesterday. They reminded me of that dark night. But they reminded me of something else, too. These pictures were taken the following morning. After that hot bath the night before, I cried myself to sleep and awoke in the fog that comes after such emotional upheaval. I heard something, but couldn’t quite tell where it was coming from. I got up and drew my fluffy white robe tight around me and padded into the living room.
\n\n\nThe noise was louder out there. I went to the door, and there was the most miraculous sight. The “Snowblower Fairy” showed up! I couldn’t tell who it was with all that bundling up, but whoever it was, I was eternally grateful. I slipped on my boots and went out on the porch and waved. He stopped, pulled down his face covering, and I saw the broad smile of my neighbor, Ben. What a delightful surprise! There was a full 18” of snow out there and he cleared out the entire driveway and the long front sidewalk.
\n\n\nI was off that day, so I baked them something. I don’t remember now what it was, but it was still warm from the oven when I took it to them. There’s nothing more wonderful than a good neighbor that watches out for you. As a new widow, I was blessed with many such gifts and I’ve never forgotten to pay those kindnesses forward. If you are hurting this holiday season, I hope you have someone who pays you some kindness. I pray that you do.
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2020-12-06T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/12/06/day-remembering-the-firsts.html", "tags": ["Grief","Gratitude","Humbled","Kindness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/10/08/day-multitasking.html", "title": "Day 209: Multi-Tasking!", "content_html": "\n“For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.””
\nGalatians 5:14 NIV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/9218da0089.jpg\")
Multi-Tasking!
\n\n\nHokey-smokes! It took three days to make seven and a half PINTS of apple butter....but, ohhhhhhhhh....is it ever good! I started out with nearly a bushel of apples on Sunday. On Monday, I had them mostly cut up. On Tuesday morning, I managed to get them cut up enough to fit them all in two big slow cookers. I thought they would cook up nice and thick but by evening, they were actually swelling up and I was afraid they would spill over. So, I took my immersion blender and puréed them. Now I was absolutely sure the apple butter would be nice and thick by yesterday morning. Nope...still soupy. I needed some way to cook them down.
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/73e0b61cd3.jpg\")
What started out pale like applesauce is turning dark from the carmelization of the sugars.
\n\n\nI remembered I had a big disposable turkey roaster in the pantry, so I pulled that out. I put as much of the purée as I could fit in that pan and popped it into a 325 degree oven. I put the rest in my big canner, poured myself a cup of coffee, pulled up a stool, and sat down with a big wooden spoon in one hand and my coffee in the other...all while perusing Facebook! After a couple of hours of that, the pan in the oven had cooked down enough to add what was in the canner. Finally! I could leave it alone and just stir it ever half hour or so. I discovered this is the only way to make apple butter if you want to do anything else that day! It came out so nice and thick and the perfect balance of spicy sweet and tart. I can’t believe all of that cooked down into just seven full pints. The half pint I put in the fridge for eating right away. I’m not the biggest fan of apple butter, but I’ll tell you what...you’ll have to be pretty special to get one of these jars!
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/3c32e07c17.jpg\")
The apple butter is now a very rich brown color. Reduced by baking for hours at 325, it’s finally ready to jar up and process. Believe it or not, this is nearly a bushel of apples!
\n\n\nAfter two days of vibrant yet civil discourse on some sensitive topics on Facebook yesterday, I was pretty fried. I have a couple of pages that I can go to with like minded individuals and just get a feel for what everyone else is going through. In one group, a woman asked if we were still going to be friends with our friends who vote differently than us. I was appalled by the number of people who replied with a resounding no. It gave me time to think about what comes next.
\n\n\nTrue friendships are like a marriage in a way. You go through the good times and the bad times. Sometimes you have to speak uncomfortable truths and stand up for what you believe in. But you still respect each other in the end. At least I think you should. I love all of my friends and it never occurred to me that I wouldn’t continue to love them after the election. We are all, every single person, no matter which side of the fence you sit...we are ALL entitled to our views. We may not understand how or why the other votes or believes the way they do, but as long as you still want to be my friend, you have a friend in me. I draw the line if things get abusive. I do have boundaries.
\n\n\nDr. Martin Luther King said it best. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
\n\n\nI choose love.
\n\n\n❤️
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2020-10-08T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/10/08/day-multitasking.html", "tags": ["Love","Forgiveness","Kindness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/10/02/day-where-do-i-findfeel.html", "title": "Day 203: Where Do I Find...Feel Good Friday?", "content_html": "\n“Love is more important than anything else. It is what ties everything completely together.”
\nColossians 3:14 CEV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/1b904472f7.jpg\")
Lord, have Mercy...these are hard times if we look at all we are shown. I’ve lost friends this year...some to death...some to politics. My list dwindles as people peel away from me for whatever reason. I had a friend ask the other night if we should unfriend till next year. I told her I am comfortable with civil discourse but if it made her more comfortable, she needed to do what was best for her. We decided to stay connected and work our way through the next few months. That being said, there are some friends I have had to put in “time out” by snoozing them for thirty days. When those thirty days are up, I can revisit and evaluate. I don’t unfriend people just because we have a difference of opinion. I DO unfriend people if they attack, are verbally abusive, or go beyond my personal boundaries of what I am willing to put up with.
\n\n\nSo...I snoozed the loudest, angriest, ugliest posts. Then...by mid week, my FB feed sounded like crickets. It’s been so much more peaceful and it left me the space to fill with hope and love. Hate doesn’t kill hate...only love does. My dear friend Diane shares the craziest, sometimes bawdiest memes and funnies and she helps keep me sane. She sometimes has a crusty exterior, but inside...she’s a marshmallow. She just doesn’t let very many people know. The other day, she sent me this. I watched it in messenger, but the sound wasn’t on. I thought is was so sweet...a speech therapist is getting married and her groom surprises her with the beautiful children she works with. Sweet. Then...when I prepared to write this post, I watched the full video with the sound and sobbed all the way through it...three times.
\n\n\nWe need more of this beauty and joy in our lives. These are hard times, yes. And there’s a lot of ugliness in this world. But....oh, my...there is still SO much beauty. Please don’t forget there is still so much beauty around us. Please don’t give up.
\n\n\nKeep looking.
\n\n\nKeep looking.
\n\n\nWATCH THIS BEAUTIFUL VIDEO HERE!
\n\n\n❤️
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2020-10-02T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/10/02/day-where-do-i-findfeel.html", "tags": ["Overcoming Obstacles","Hope","Positive Energy","Gratitude","Love","Peace","Be Joyful!","Kindness","Feel Good Friday"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/09/21/day-be-betterdo-better.html", "title": "Day 187: Be Better...Do Better", "content_html": "\n“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
\nGalatians 5:22-23 NIV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/bbbef741b5.jpg\")
My mom always told me my mouth would get me in trouble someday and she was so right. There have been times...too many times...that I react and speak instead of take a breath and think. I try limiting my news time. I try staying off of social media more than just a few minutes a day. I try to get out and do something active. I try to end each day with a feeling of accomplishment.
\n\n\nI try.
\n\n\nI don’t always succeed.
\n\n\nToo often I get sucked into the maelstrom that social media has become. I get triggered. I get angry. I get frustrated. I get sad. When those things happen, it’s far too easy to start to respond negatively and that’s when the drag starts...like a weight around my neck, pulling me deeper and deeper into the depths.
\n\n\nThat’s not where the light is. That is not what brings me hope. Finding hope today is sometimes like parenting an obstreperous toddler. No matter how tired we are, we have to find something they’ve done to praise them for so they feel encouraged. In this case, it’s us that needs the encouragement. We need to shift the attention to what we are doing right, thank ourselves for do it, and do more of it.
\n\n\nMy friends and I talk about the Bible and share scriptures. We text them to each other periodically during the day for encouragement. We share bible studies. We send jokes that make us laugh and eases the tensions in our lives. Having a network with whom you can share life with is invaluable. Find your people...through church or a senior center or the library. Meetup is an app that helps you find likeminded individuals with similar interests.
\n\n\nGo through your friends list on Facebook. Pick five people a week to just send a random note to. Not a meme...but a heartfelt message letting them know you were thinking about them and you wanted to reach out to see how they’re doing. Send more goodness out into the world and it’s bound to catch on eventually.
\n\n\nFlood the world with kindness this week.
\n\n\nThink about what you are sharing with the world before you hit “send”.
\n\n\nDon’t contribute to the divisiveness that’s out there. Be part of the solution, not part of the problem.
\n\n\nResearch before you post. Include resources. Make your English teacher proud.
\n\n\nWhen that meme grabs your eye, think twice...three times before you share. Is it kind, is it true, is it necessary?
\n\n\nSend beautiful things out into the world. Do you really think your rant about the “other guy” is going to change anyone’s mind at this point? I can pretty much guarantee this...it may not change their mind about who to vote for, but it’s sure to make them look at you differently. We’re almost to Election Day. We are coming into the home stretch.
\n\n\nLet’s fill the world with a lot less bitterness and a lot more better-ness. Let’s see if we can put out this dumpster fire and create some beauty. Because...
\n\n\nKindness Matters
\n\n\n❤️
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n“Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.”
\nIsaiah 1:17 NIV\n
\n\n\n\n“Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.””
\n1 Corinthians 15:33 NIV\n
\n\n\n\n“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.”
\nJames 1:19-20 NIV\n
\n\n\n\n“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”
\n1 Peter 4:8 NIV\n
\n\n\n\n“The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint, and whoever has understanding is even-tempered. Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues.”
\nProverbs 17:27-28 NIV\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2020-09-21T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/09/21/day-be-betterdo-better.html", "tags": ["Faith","Hope","Growth","Gratitude","Forgiveness","Courage","Choices","Kindness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/08/06/day-we-are-all-differentyet.html", "title": "Day 141: We Are All Different...Yet We Are One", "content_html": "\n“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
\nGalatians 6:9 NIV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/d66382bbde.jpg\")
He’s been there since I took my first breath. My big brother. My “Bubby”. My first playmate. My first friend. We were in cahoots on many occasions...but I was always the instigator. He was special. Always gentle...always sweet. He didn’t run and play like the other kids so he was happy to sit on the floor with me for hours...rolling the ball back and forth...playing with cars...building with blocks.
\n\n\nEvery week, we went to this special place to play for an hour or so. There was a table with four doors...one on each side. You opened the door, stood inside, and someone closed the door after you. Then you could play with the objects on the table. Sometimes they would bring us cookies and milk while we stood there. I think I always knew this was a place that helped my Bubby, but I never saw him as anything other than the perfect brother.
\n\n\nI will never forget driving up Murdoch Avenue one day. Bubby and I were sitting in the back seat and I could tell my mom was crying...though she tried very hard to hide it. When we got home, she asked us to go play and she went in her room for a while. Later, when she was tucking us into bed, I asked her what was wrong.
\n\n\n“Oh, Sis...I just got some news today that was upsetting to me.”
\n\n\n“What was it, Mommy? Are you sick?” One of our neighbors had something called “cancer” and I was very afraid my mommy would catch it. Daddy said she could.
\n\n\n“No, sweetheart. You’re a big girl now. I can tell you. They told me today that your Bubby has Cerebral Palsy. They said he may never be able to drive a car or get a good job. He may be crippled his whole life.”
\n\n\nI didn’t know what to say to my mom because my Bubby was the same he had always been. I was growing up, but I didn’t have a concept of what life might look like for my brother.
\n\n\nAfter that, I was always my brother’s champion. I protected him from neighborhood bullies. I was one of the only people who could understand what he said. I interpreted for him and ran interference...so well, in fact, that I had to learn to back off a little so he could learn how to do things for himself.
\n\n\nHe went as far in “special school” as he could...8th grade. It took him 12 years, but he finally earned his GED. He was so proud. We were so proud for him. They sent him away for “vocational training” but he wasn’t very successful at any of the jobs they tried to teach him...mainly because Mom insisted he come home every weekend. It wasn’t that she didn’t want him to succeed. She just wanted him to be home where she had control over what he did and saw.
\n\n\nHe worked in the Sheltered Workshop for 25 years or so, and when Mom retired, she found it easier to just keep him home with her. He was good company for her. She devoted her entire life to him...taking care of his every need.
\n\n\nThen she died.
\n\n\nHe came to Colorado to live near me because, by the Grace of God, he was accepted into a wonderful program for adults who are “differently abled.” When I had the opportunity to come to West Virginia to live, I offered to “bring him home” with me. But he wouldn’t hear of it. He told me he has a life in Colorado...a life he never would have had if he had stayed in West Virginia. As a matter of fact, he told me one time...if I hadn’t have brought him to Colorado, he would be in a nursing home. And that is the God’s truth. He would have. He now enjoys as independent a life as he can live. He has a roommate. They have support staff come in frequently to make sure they are taking their medicine, check on their finances, get them to medical appointments, take them shopping, help them with meal planning.
\n\n\nHe loves his roommate. He told me once that he never had a best friend before, but his roommate is his best friend. That warms my heart more than you can know. To rest secure in knowing he will always be taken care of, that he is happy and as healthy as he can be, that he has a happy and fulfilling life...well, that is such a blessing to me.
\n\n\nMy friend Jan shared this video on Facebook last night and I cried when I saw it. Just like I cry when I see someone who is differently abled and they succeed at something we so often take for granted. I know how hard it is to do “normal” things. I saw how much work my brother put into learning how to take care of himself, cook his meals, do his laundry, keep his room clean. To see these kids and young adults expressing themselves with joyous abandon...being exactly who they are...take me or leave me...just warmed the cockles of my heart.
\n\n\nI’m missing my big brother and all my Colorado peeps something awful right now. As of the 3rd, it’s been a full year since I’ve seen them and I’ve never gone that long. I do not feel it is safe, or fair, to go visit them now. I certainly would not want to make any of my loved ones ill....especially my brother. He has become much more frail the last few years and I must protect him from all this if I can. I pray there will be a time soon when we can see each other. Until then, we will have to be satisfied with phone calls.
\n\n\n\n\n\n❤️
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2020-08-06T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/08/06/day-we-are-all-differentyet.html", "tags": ["Faith","Family","Uplifting Stories","Overcoming Obstacles","Gratitude","Grace","Wisdom","Aging","Kindness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2016/10/14/blue-skies.html", "title": "Blue Skies", "content_html": "\n“The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.””
\nExodus 4:11-12 NIV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/61c2b4cb02.jpg\")
I don't talk politics here. It's too personal and too important to trivialize it with merely an opinion or marginalize it with angry rhetoric. There are enough venues to discuss the particulars. I won't do it here. I also won't have the comments run off the rails either. This is my safety zone...this little imaginary ranch where the wild marshmallow grows. And, I'm certainly not endorsing a candidate here. But I've got to tell you...I cannot wait till this is over. I mean, like....if this election were a bear trap and I were caught in its massive steel jaws, I would gladly chew off my own arm rather than spend one more moment with it.
\n\n\nI saw a meme the other day that said this election is like our parents are fighting an ugly custody battle over us and all we kinda want to do is go live with grandma. The hateful, vulgar debacle is enough to depress the most stoic of visages. I want it to be over...and this spoken from a woman who doesn't watch TV. I can't imagine watching this play out on a screen larger than my cellphone...and that's filtered through social media and select news outlets...with the sound off.
\n\n\nI don't know about you, but I just want America to be nice again. Please? I want a world where we don't have to censor the television to make it safe for the kids to walk in the room. I'd like to see mental health statistics based on election years. I want us to just get along. I know this is a naive oversimplification, but I want my grandma. I want her kind face smiling at me. I want to see the twinkle in her eyes when she sees me run in the door. I want a piece of her jelly bread. I want her to cup my face in her hands and blow zerberts on my cheeks. I want her to gather me in her lap and rock me safely in her arms singing \"Bye yo bye yo, baby bye.\" to the tune of \"Rock of Ages\". Instead, I'll snuggle into the big rocker by the front window...with a cup of tea. And pray it will be over soon.
\n\n\n❤️
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2016-10-14T01:30:38-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2016/10/14/blue-skies.html", "tags": ["Grief","Fear","Kindness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2016/05/17/a-soft-heart.html", "title": "A Soft Heart", "content_html": "\n“For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: \"You shall love your neighbor as yourself.\"”
\nGalatians 5:14 ESV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/fca7c49b62.jpg\")
This world can be harsh. Bad things happen to good people and it's sometimes difficult to maintain an upbeat attitude. We all face struggles at one time or another and sometimes we feel it would just be easier to shut down and keep a low profile till the storm blows over. It is a true act of courage to maintain a soft heart when the world is slinging arrows at it.
I strive every day to keep a soft, open heart. I embrace life, and those whose paths cross mine, with as much positive energy as I can muster. Why? Because, during the lowest points of my life, there were angels unawares walking with me and they showed me their kind, soft hearts in an effort to ease my pain. I want to be that person who spreads love and kindness to the world.
Everything in and of the world is made of energy of different frequencies. The more positive you are, the higher your frequency. And high frequencies tend to congregate and boost each other. It is not a sign of weakness to go out in the world with a soft heart. You have to be incredibly brave to go out there and be vulnerable...day after day after day. Sometimes you get stung. But the benefits far outweigh the risks.
\n\n\nThis week I am working on my book proposal. This is a glorified outline that my agent will use to shop my book around to publishers. I've been so scared to write it and put it out there for those with whom I will trust with my heart and soul, because that's just what my book is. It is my story. I want someone who will \"get it\". Someone who will treat it with the respect anyone's story deserves. I want someone who will see it as incredibly courageous to be vulnerable with a heart so recently shattered. I have that person in my agent, Italia. So, I meditated yesterday. I sat with it in my heart. I shared it with my most trusted friend. I gave it wings. And today, it will fly from my heart to the blank pages to gather a life of its own. I will be walking with a softer heart than normal in the coming weeks as I dig around in my story box for just the perfect content. I am playing it like a movie in my mind. I am excited. I am terrified. I am determined.
\n\n\n❤️
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2016-05-17T01:30:29-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2016/05/17/a-soft-heart.html", "tags": ["Overcoming Obstacles","Writing","Kindness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2016/05/10/male-bashing.html", "title": "Male Bashing", "content_html": "\n“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
\nEzekiel 36:26 NIV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/a8e9722d1f.jpg\")
Mr. Virgo and I watched a lot of TV. A LOT. I hate TV. And since I have rarely watched it the last three years, I am not so desensitized as I once was. There was one issue we were always on the lookout for though. And that was male bashing. It was something neither of us would tolerate or listen to. I hate seeing commercials that slam anyone. Some are so obvious they might as well flat out say men are stupid. It's not even subtle. Mr. Virgo used to say, \"If this were reversed and it was a man saying those things about a woman, there would be hell to pay.\" And he was right, of course.
\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love. This is the eternal rule.
\nBuddha\n
Love is the key. Love and respect. Without it, the energy level on the planet just keeps sinking. Speak up and speak out against hatred and bullying of any kind.
\n\n\n❤️
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2016-05-10T01:30:47-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2016/05/10/male-bashing.html", "tags": ["Overcoming Obstacles","Love","Kindness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2016/04/03/direction.html", "title": "Direction", "content_html": "\n“Don’t speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you.”
\nJames 4:11 NLT\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/3d19096778.jpg\")
It doesn't matter what you call it...fate, kismet, destiny, serendipity, divine intervention...it's real. It's when something happens at exactly the right time in exactly the right way it needed to in order for the outcome to occur. It happens to everyone, all the time. You just may not be in tune with it.
\n\n\nMy lifestyle is such that I have the freedom currently to do pretty much whatever I want, when I want. I have few deadlines. I have no real schedule to speak of. On a typical day, I wake up and meditate and converse with God. Then I check in here and my personal FB page. I check the news and weather. I glance at emails. I read. I allow two hours for this nebulous journey then I get up, put on my coffee. After that...it's anybody's guess where I'll end up. I train, have lunch, run errands, do chores, write, research, prep meals, and have dinner...with friends or alone. It's a simple life and allows much more clarity than I have ever experienced in my life. It's like living in a foreign land where everything is beautifully outlined in light. I notice things more. I feel and sense more. And God absolutely drops everything I need in my lap. He's been pretty generous with the things I want as well.
\n\n\nYesterday, I was walking through the Kroger store. I walked past the meat aisle and laughed at a memory. John Shepherd was the general manager of the Kroger my mom always shopped in. My boyfriend (who later became my first husband) also worked there. I remembered a story about John eating a steak on Good Friday and saying \"You're a fish! You're a fish!\" as he cut it up. This led me to try to remember the others who worked there at the time, one of whom was Jim Wilson. I loved Jim. He was a Pastor and worked at the store, in produce, I believe. My boyfriend and I attended his church a couple of times. I knew John died many years ago, but I hadn't heard a thing about Jim since 1973.
\n\n\nI turned away from my reverie and finished gathering my groceries. The lines were long and I chose one. After waiting several minutes, I remembered something I needed and went off in search of it. When I came back, all the lines were long except one. I piled my items on the belt as the clerk assisted the couple in front of me. When it was my turn, I stepped up and started rummaging around in my purse for my wallet. The clerk asked how my day was going and I replied, still looking in my purse. \"It was busy...but great!\" I found my wallet and looked up at the clerk for the first time.
\n\n\nIt was Jim!
\n\n\nMy knees actually wobbled. My jaw dropped. I knew it was him...but I didn't want to come across all creepy so I asked,
\n\n\n\"Aren't you Jim?\"
\n\n\n\"Yes.\"
\n\n\n\"You were a Pastor?\"
\n\n\n\"Still am!\"
\n\n\nI introduced myself and after a while, I had to apologize profusely to the people in line behind me for keeping them waiting. Jim and I quickly exchanged info so we wouldn't lose track again. Later in the evening, we had an hour long conversation.
\n\n\nGod is the perfect orchestrator of all things. I never question anymore. There's a reason we were brought back in contact. I think it was for something Jim was about to discuss with me. We were talking about my writing and how it has developed a following over the last few years. I told him how I pray over my keyboard for the right words and for the people who need to hear them. Then, I half apologetically told him I ask God to provide for me financially through my writing. Jim went on to talk about Matthew 7:7 \"Ask and it will be given...\" He pointed out there are two other parts to that. \"Seek...\" and \"Knock...\" All action words. We aren't told to ask and then sit back and wait for the silver platter. So, I ask God...then I seek God...then I knock on the door of His heart. And He blesses me.
\n\n\nWhat a beautiful life this is!
\n\n\n❤️
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2016-04-03T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2016/04/03/direction.html", "tags": ["Faith","Be Joyful!","Kindness","Memories"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2016/03/05/make-love-not-war.html", "title": "Make Love, Not War", "content_html": "\n““Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”
\nMatthew 7:7-8 NIV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/08968ac206.jpg\")
The angry, hateful rhetoric being slung around like a bunch of schoolyard bullies continues to dismay me. And it makes me wonder...where are the hippies? Where are the pacifists, the tree huggers, the flower children? I want them back. I want them to protest. I want them to stand up and say, \"No...we won't take this!\" I want them to put flowers into the weapons that are destroying us!
\n\n\nWhere are they? What happened to Flower Power? We fought for something. We stood up for our rights. Everyone seems so complacent anymore. I have nothing to say about who you vote for. It is your right to choose in this country. But I do have to ask you...BEG you to exercise your right to vote. It's an important right that was hard fought for.
\n\n\nI wanted to be a hippie but my mom wouldn't let me. Wanda Belle would have tanned my hide if I acted like a \"wild nelly\". I know every generation thinks the world is going to h$&@ in a hand basket, but we've never seen anything like this. I want the peace freaks back.
\n\n\nWhat do you all think? Where did they go?
\n\n\n✌️❤️?
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2016-03-05T02:30:31-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2016/03/05/make-love-not-war.html", "tags": ["Hope","Grace","Love","Peace","Wisdom","Forgiveness","Choices","Change","Kindness","Friends"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2015/07/17/kindness.html", "title": "Kindness", "content_html": "\n“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
\nMatthew 5:9 NIV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/c14ecc14a9.jpg\")
I dread election year. We are already experiencing the slings and arrows of misfortune…do we have to add the barbs and daggers of divisiveness? I don't discuss politics on Facebook. I know what I believe. I respect that others believe differently. This is the foundation our country was based on. Brotherly love. We can disagree without being unkind. The rhetoric is already bad out there. The name calling, the personal attacks, the discrimination…I hate it. The advent of social media has allowed public discourse without the governor that face-to-face interaction provides. We no longer have to look the other person in the eye when we slam them, degrade them, mock them, deride them. It is unseemly and inhumane. It is uncivilized. It scares me because you can't put smoke back in a bottle. There is only one way to create change and that is to BE the change.
\n\n\nA few years ago, my kids were really hurt and angry with me surrounding my divorce from Hubby #2. My oldest said something really snotty to me, in front of a bunch of people…including her young daughter. And here is how I handled it. I turned to my daughter and calmly said, \"I have to own your treatment of me because I trained you how to do it. I spoke ill of my mother in front of you when you were growing up so how could you have learned the proper respect a parent deserves? But let me explain something to you. As we sit here and you speak to me this way in front of your young daughter, you are in turn training her how to treat you some day. You just think about that.\"
\n\n\nKindness costs nothing. Love is free. Practice Peace. And remember, children learn by what they see.
\n\n\n❤
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2015-07-17T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2015/07/17/kindness.html", "tags": ["Hope","Forgiveness","Courage","Choices","Kindness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2015/06/30/namaste.html", "title": "Namaste", "content_html": "\n\"Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.\"
\nPsalm 34:14\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/5734bbf63d.jpg\")
At the end of yoga practice, you put your hands together in a prayer pose, bow to the others in the room, and say \"Namaste\". It means, \"The divine in me honors the divine in you.\" You recognize the similarities between you, not the differences. There are no colors. There are no lines in the sand. There are no differences in dogma. Only the sameness of the divine spark that lives within each of us. For me, that divine spark is God. If someone else calls this spark of life by a different name, if they follow a different path, it is not my place to judge them. It is my place to love them.
\n\n\nThe same goes for differences in choices of who to love, who to marry, who to have children with if children are desired. The same goes for political orientation. I do not judge you. I love you. All of you. And, isn't that what Jesus preached? And Mohammed? And Gandhi? And Mother Theresa? Isn't that what we all want…to love and be loved? To be at peace with one another? The world is a dangerous place right now. There is so much turmoil, so much anger, so much hatred, so much confusion. Issues have come up that we had hoped were long ago put to rest. In the words of Rodney King…\"Can't we all just get along?\"
\n\n\nI make it a point not to discuss politics and the extent of my online discussion of religion is done here on the Ranch in my profession of faith, and my inclusion of Scriptures that underscore my topic of the day. I bring my thoughts to you from a place of love. I don't have an agenda other than peace and love. And that is what I wish for you today…every day. Peace and love. Namaste. Amen.
\n\n\n❤
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2015-06-30T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2015/06/30/namaste.html", "tags": ["Overcoming Obstacles","Comfort","Grace","Peace","Courage","Choices","Kindness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2015/03/24/a-voice-from-the-past.html", "title": "A Voice From the Past", "content_html": "\n\"They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.\"
\nJeremiah 6:14\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/7fd101f341.jpg\")
Have you ever had someone on your mind and out of the blue you run into them or they call you? Can you honestly say that's just a coincidence? I don't know…maybe it is, but it has happened so often, I am disinclined to think it was an accident. I used to jump and call the person when that happens but I've learned to smile and wait. Invariably, I hear from them within a week or two.
\n\n\nBefore I met Mr. Virgo, I dated Mr. Cowboy. He has popped in my head multiple times the last two weeks. We have remained close friends over the years. He lost his wife a couple months before I lost Mr. Virgo. It was such a treat to hear from him! We compared notes and have discovered we are both doing well. He, alone in the desert. Me, alone on a bluff overlooking the river. We are walking a journey together….2,000 miles apart. Mr. Cowboy is reading The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. Really great book that has helped me tremendously. If you get a chance, read it.
\n\n\nToday is another day working in my friend's bathroom and hope to be done soon.
\n\n\n❤
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2015-03-24T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2015/03/24/a-voice-from-the-past.html", "tags": ["Fun","Gratitude","Kindness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2015/03/04/yesyou-can.html", "title": "Yes…You Can!", "content_html": "\n\"Nevertheless, each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches.\"
\n1 Corinthians 7:17\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/39796776fe.jpg\")
I am so proud of my friend. Last week I showed you the underlayment I put down in her bathroom for her. That was in preparation for the vinyl tiles she was going to lay. There's a new kind of peel and stick tile that you can use spacers with and grout to look just like ceramic or stone tiles. How many of us have been told we can't do something simply because we are women? Well, so has this gal and she, like many of us, has a tendency to second guess herself and listen to other people's opinions. I assured her she was more than capable, stop overthinking, and do the job the way her gut told her. And look! She finished the tile and grout on her bathroom floor and it looks awesome. Today, we'll move the new vanity in and hook up the plumbing. She's doing an awesome job.
\n\n\nAfter mom died, I needed to renovate the house to sell it. I ripped the kitchen out to the walls and did all the work except hang the kitchen cabinets and hook up the gas stove. I had a book about home repairs. I would read about what I had to do the next morning, put the book under my pillow, and sleep on it. The next day, I just knew how to do stuff. Pretty neat! Now there's a video on YouTube about anything. Us gals can do SO much more than we give ourselves credit for. Good on you, my friend!
\n\n\n❤
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2015-03-04T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2015/03/04/yesyou-can.html", "tags": ["Overcoming Obstacles","Strong Women","Kindness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2015/02/02/kindness-matters.html", "title": "Kindness Matters", "content_html": "\n\"A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.\"
\nProverbs 17:17\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/755afb279e.jpg\")
You know those cool signs with the sayings painted on them that are so popular? I love those. I have three or four of them and I rotate them around the camper in my décor. One is a big sign with two words…Kindness Matters. I am a huge proponent of kindness. Kindness will change the world. If I slip and do something unkind, I die a thousand deaths till I can somehow make things right. I was raised to be generous and kind….but it has to be done anonymously. If you let someone know about it, it doesn't count. I love when I go through the drive through at Starbucks and the car in front has paid for my order. In turn, I will pay for the person behind me. I often wonder how far down the line it goes.
\n\n\nThere are many ways to pay it forward. I love bookstores. I love to browse, read a few pages in the center of a book…and when I find a passage that moves me, I have been known to slip a crisp five dollar bill between the pages with a note that says \"You are Special.\" or \"You are Loved.\" That way, somewhere down the line, someone will come across that and hopefully do a kindness in return. I know of people who buy meals for others in a restaurant. The other day, a friend of mine leaned over when the lady in front of him wasn't looking and he swiped his card to pay for her groceries. I give away hugs to complete strangers…being careful, of course. There are so many ways to show kindness. What will you do today to make the world a kinder place?
\n\n\n❤
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2015-02-02T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2015/02/02/kindness-matters.html", "tags": ["Positive Energy","Love","Peaceful Moments","Kindness"] } ] }\"Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.\"
\nRomans 12:13\n