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Yesterday was one of those days that gave us four seasons in one day. Warm, springlike weather with sunshine followed by dark, heavy skies with snow so dense you couldn’t see across the field. Sun, rain, snow, sun, sleet, rain. Crazy, right? Typical spring weather. We can’t complain because in a few weeks it’ll be so hot you could fry an egg on the hood of your car.
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/e118b7cf84.jpg\")
Our granddaughter’s home by yesterday afternoon.
\n\n\nMy goal yesterday was to tune up my computer and get it working faster. All the graphics I put on it when I was creating designs for my ETSY shop that it got really bogged down. I purchased this computer on Amazon last summer so I knew it was still under warranty so I started a chat with the Hewlett-Packard service department.
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/6e6cda6ef0.jpg\")
After several questions, he began a remote scan of my computer. And in the process, he asked me if I’d ever added hardware to the computer. I had not. However, according to the serial number, my computer should have a lot less RAM and Hard Disk size. That means, the Amazon store I bought it from had boosted the RAM and put in a bigger hard drive…voiding the warranty. I have no recourse because it’s long past the 30 day return period. It was late in the day when I discovered this, and I found a number for the store that sold the computer on Amazon. I can call them and see if I have any recourse through them.
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/e0d2572fc2.jpg\")
The Blennerhassett Mansion on Blennerhassett Island in the Ohio River.
\n\n\nMr. FixIt went to the barber and walked his laps then he swung over to the other side of the Ohio River to view the flooding. Parkersburg has a flood wall and they closed it ahead of the rising water on Wednesday. Belpre and Marietta don’t have flood walls and they get a lot of water damage most springs…sometimes two or three times. As a matter of fact, Mr. FixIt owned a single wide trailer when he was young and first married. He had just moved it to a lot in Belpre when four days later, the river rose and flooded them out.
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/87214b4f4d.jpg\")
When I stayed on the river in 2015-16, there were several floods but I was way up high out of danger. But I have a healthy respect for floodwaters. They are powerful and can float whole houses away. That is why they tell you “Turn around, don’t drown!” Even a few inches of rushing water can sweep a car off the road. We just got a notification on our phones last night with the report of a local woman being swept away in her car by floodwaters. A Good Samaritan was trying to reach her to help her out when the car was flopped over by the strength of the water and she was gone. You become water aware when you are raised on the river. My prayers are with her and her family…and that kind man who tried to save her but couldn’t.
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/2393df1369.jpg\")
I think I’m going to need to go out to the farm soon to use the high speed internet to set some stuff done on my computer. I can get done in three hours what takes a whole day to do here. Maybe I can talk my sweetheart into joining me for a farm fix this weekend! Wouldn’t that be nice???
\n\n\nBe safe out there, y’all!
\n\n\n🌷
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2024-04-05T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2024/04/05/roller-coaster-weather.html", "tags": ["West Virginia","Warning","Choices","Farm Life"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2024/04/03/crazy-weather.html", "title": "Crazy Weather!!!", "content_html": "\n”The seas have lifted up, Lord, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves. Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea— the Lord on high is mighty.“
\nPsalms 93:3-4 NIV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/6daf4e4ce8.jpg\")
My phone lit up like a Christmas tree all day. Severe weather warnings came in like fevered texts from a lovelorn boyfriend. We had to be in town at 1:00 for an appointment. I called the Former Mrs. Fixit around 11:00 to see how she was faring with the storms. We weren’t going to leave till noon, but the warnings were coming in hot and heavy so we booked it…only to run into a veritable wall of water ten miles away.
\n\n\nI went to town last week to pay the taxes and tried to use my debit card because for some reason, my checks weren’t in my purse. They ran the card, then came back and said it didn’t go through because they were having trouble with their computers. So, I walked up the street to my bank and came back with cash. Then…low and behold, the charge DID go through. Argh! That was our first stop yesterday…to straighten it all out. It only took thirty minutes and I left with a check, and a new friend in the lovely clerk that helped me. She has suffered some pretty devastating losses so I thought she might find come comfort and support here.
\n\n\nThe appointment went without a hitch and we headed out for a couple more errands…lunch, the grocery store, the pharmacy…you know the drill. We got back home before the weather broke again. I received a notification last evening about the 7.4-magnitude earthquake in Taiwan with a resultant tsunami warning. This is just crazy weather. Every years seems to get worse. We have plans to camp at the beach late this month so I am praying there aren’t any hurricanes or tornadoes on the Outer Banks!
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/af6d87b896.jpg\")
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Once we got home, tummies full, we got comfy in our Big Red Chairs and I set to work knitting another pair of socks with some yarn my bestie Gail gave me. It’s blue and orange with a little sparkly silver thread in it. More storms were forecast and we’re under another severe thunderstorm and tornado watch. It’s supposed to be 80° today and by Friday, we could have snow!
\n\n\nI’m hoping you all are safe from these severe storms. Please be careful out there and keep your phones charged. Have plans for a safe shelter. Please let us know how you’re doing!
\n\n\n🌪️
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2024-04-03T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2024/04/03/crazy-weather.html", "tags": ["Warning","Change","Farm Life","Crafts"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2023/08/02/a-reprieve-from-mowing-and.html", "title": "A Reprieve from Mowing and A Mother’s Broken Heart", "content_html": "\n”He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.“
\nMatthew 16:2-3 NIV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/ac3f1fc1d3.jpg\")
Mr. FixIt had to run to town yesterday so I asked if he would mind picking up some groceries if I gave him a list. He was happy to oblige so that kept me from having to go to the grocery store. I was just gathering my things to head to the farm to mow when Beans texted. They were just getting ready to mow, so that was two for two! I was off the hook with the house to myself for a few hours.
\n\n\nMr. FixIt checked the mail on his way to town and said I had a book in the mailbox and he would leave it there for me. I ran over to retrieve it then fixed my mug of RYZE. I settled in my Big Red Chair and cracked the book open. This is not going to be a fun read. My camping friend Jea Santovasco wrote it about her son, Jay Austin and the love of his life, Lauren. They were the two American cyclists murdered by terrorists in Tajikistan five years ago. The book started out as a personal journal to help her remember the details of what happened after her world stopped and changed her life forever.But after this time, she’s come to realize it may be of some assistance to other grieving parents, so she published it.
\n\n\nJay was an extraordinary human being and had accomplished so much in his short life. I had actually heard of him before I met Jea as he had championed Tiny Home living. To perpetuate his work on environmental issues and sustainability, Jea started the Jay Austin Simply Be Kind Foundation so that he may be remembered. All proceeds from the sale of the book goes to support the foundation. While it is a painful read, it could be helpful to others who have lost a child to a violent crime. It isn’t a book for someone just starting the grief journey. Some time has to be spent experiencing your own grief before something like Jea’s book would be understood and helpful.
\n\n\nI would encourage you to order a copy. Jea hopes to sell enough books to plant a pollinator garden n Jay’s memory. I think we can do better than that! I’m already committed to dedicating one of my pollinator gardens here at Marshmallow Ranch to Jay’s memory. After you read of this extraordinary young man, I hope you’ll do the same. You can purchase the book here: My Stories Since The Death Of My Son Jay Austin: An American Murdered By Terrorists While Cycling The Globe
\n\n\nYou can read a story about the attack from Radio Free Europe HERE.
\n\n\nIt’s hard to imagine the horror Jea went through and continues to go through. On top of the loss of her son, she had the all too common experience of people she thought would always be there for her that just…weren’t. There were those who thought she should get over it. They thought she needed antidepressants, but she wasn’t depressed. She was sad. No one can fully understand another’s grief…no matter how many times they have experienced their own. The Jea I met camping at Blackwater Falls is gone and after just five short years, she still experiences the depth of her pain every day. Some would say this is complicated grief, but I think it’s more a mother’s broken heart that won’t be healed till they meet again someday. I’m just so grateful that she’s still here with us and I look forward to the day we can camp together again.
\n\n\n❤️?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2023-08-02T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2023/08/02/a-reprieve-from-mowing-and.html", "tags": ["Grief","Strong Women","Warning","Pollinator Garden"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2023/04/06/another-long-day.html", "title": "Another Long Day", "content_html": "\n“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
\nPsalms 34:18 NIV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/93cb6fb262.jpg\")
A storm was brewing when we got home last evening. A cold front came in and ran smack dab into the balmy 87° heat we had in the afternoon!
\n\n\nWell, I told you it would be a long day and I was right. It was 9:30 last night before I finally sat down to write my post. We left the house at 11:00 yesterday morning. The medical appointments always take longer than expected. While mine was shorter than usual, it’s still a long wait. Mr. FixIt walked around the mall to keep himself occupied. We went to lunch and had Wendy’s salads between the appointments.
\n\n\nI saw my dermatologist yesterday for my annual whole body skin check. I had a melanoma removed from my arm in 2005, so I have to be diligent with my checkups. She was pleased with the condition of my face. I had a yeast overgrowth last year and between the ointment she prescribed and washing my face with dandruff shampoo really helped. I think using an Optase wipe once a week helped too because it has tea tree oil in it. She did notice some dryness and didn’t think the Cerave Daily Moisturizer with SPF was enough so she added Lipikar Balm AP+ twice a day. I put it on last night after I washed my face and my skin sucked it up like unpainted drywall! It feels nice on my skin and it’s not heavy or greasy. It’s over the counter, too. It doesn’t have sunscreen so I still need to use the Cerave.
\n\n\nAging skin isn’t something to trifle with…especially if you were a sun worshiper who eschewed sunscreen and used tanning beds like I did. I have those spots on my skin that are more than freckles. My mom’s generation called them liver spots, sun spots, age spots, or solar lentigines. Sounds appropriately icky, doesn’t it? Almost all of them are benign. However, you start getting into a dicey area when you have actinic keratoses. These are precancerous and can turn into squamous cell carcinoma. Every time I see my dermatologist, I get two or three of them frozen. Yesterday was no different. I’ve had a stubborn one on the back of my hand that we’ve frozen several times. She froze that one good and hard as well as one on the back of my arm and in my hairline on my temple. That was a stinger!
\n\n\nMy skin has changed so much in the last ten years. I have spots on my torso and I told her I am turning 70 in June. I lamented that I had “old lady skin.” She said, “You are NOT old! Those are your wisdom spots!” So just like my rapidly graying hair, the spots threatening to turn my body into a connect-the-dots puzzle are merely an outward sign of my inner crone waking up! In olden times, our elders were revered for the treasure trove of knowledge they carried with them. I say…let’s normalize aging. Let’s revere the elders for the repository of information that they are and elevate them with care and respect.
\n\n\nSaying this now seems to intimate I didn’t care before. I did. But now, it seems more pressing and I’m acutely aware of my short-comings. Let’s teach the new generations how to respect our elders by emulating good behaviors. Even though we are “of a certain age” we still have elders out there…just not as many. It’s never too late to reach back and teach those coming up the ranks to be better people.
\n\n\nSo, get your skin checked and wear sunscreen daily, my friends. You’ll thank me later!
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n“Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.”
\n3 John 1:2 ESV\n
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
\n\n\n“A lovely item with a delicious scent. Thank you!” ~ P.S.
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Something happened Monday night that I didn’t tell you about because I wanted to ruminate on it a bit. I do my best thinking when I drive and this deserved some serious cogitation. I was settled in for the night in The Big Birdhouse out by the garden at my son-in-law’s parents house. Ben and Sue are kind enough to let me plug into the electric out in the shed so I can have my own little space and “pretend camp” in the driveway.
\n\n\nI had already made the decision to pack up and head home yesterday morning and was just finishing up my scheduled post when Sue texted.
\n\n\n“Ben is coming out to get you in here. Cops are looking for two armed and dangerous men!”
\n\n\nI jumped up and threw a few things into an overnight bag just as Ben knocked on the door. When I opened it up, there were flashing blue lights all over the place so we locked everything up and quickly scurried inside. The neighbor had alerted Sue and said the police were scouring her yard. We went around and closed all the blinds and locked all the doors including the deadbolts.
\n\n\nI noticed Ben rummaging round and half-joking asked if he was getting his gun. He is a retired policeman. He came around the door and asked if I wanted one, too. I only paused for second when I took the loaded revolver and placed it on the nightstand beside my bed. I was sleeping in the guest wing and wasn’t close enough to feel protected. Yet….
\n\n\nMy heart is changing about the issue of firearms. Mr. Virgo was all about protecting what was ours…including our lives, our stuff, and our right to bear arms. I took a concealed carry class and had a permit. When we worked on the ranch in southern Colorado, we both open carried when we were out on the property because there were dangerous characters out there…two-legged as well as four.
\n\n\nWhen Mr. Virgo died, he left me with no less than seventeen firearms…most of which I traded in for a beautiful diamond ring. I did, however, keep his beautiful western nickel plated long barrel .357 as well as the replica service revolver. After he died, I carried a .357 with me whenever I traveled alone…in my camper and in my truck. I felt safer with it and that was the point.
\n\n\nHowever…as I have aged and I have seen more and more senseless gun violence, I am less inclined to carry it with me. For one thing, there was a terrible injured deer at our place a couple of years ago. I asked my friend Sparky who I should have come put it out of its misery for me. She laughed and said, “You’ll probably just have to do it yourself. We live in the country, you know?” I knew. I was no stranger to hunting and I was no stranger to putting a suffering animal mercifully out of its misery.
\n\n\nI carried the loaded .357 out around the corner of the house where the poor deer was standing. I carefully took note of the surroundings to make sure I wasn’t overlooking any danger beyond the animal. I was not shooting towards a road or another house. There was nothing but unpopulated hillside on the other side of the deer. I carefully raised the weapon, took aim, breathed through my shot, and the gun fired. I felt the strong kick of the force in my hands. And looked trepidatiously to see the damage done to the poor doe.
\n\n\nNothing.
\n\n\nShe stood there with her big doe eyes, looking straight at me, still chewing the mouthful of grass she’d been munching as I aimed.
\n\n\nThis told me something about myself. If I can’t hit a deer not fifteen to twenty feet away from me in a calm and calculated fashion, I sure as hell can’t hit an attacker in the heat of a violent act. I no longer had the heart for it.
\n\n\nMy guns have remained in the safe, locked away ever since. I’ve kept them for a couple of reasons. If I really HAD to, and the lives of my loved ones were in danger, I would try to protect myself and them as best I could. And, they are one of the last things I have that belonged to Mr. Virgo. AND…I don’t want them in the hands of some nefarious character where they might be used in a heinous act.
\n\n\nLike the shooting of more innocent children yesterday.
\n\n\nBabies. They are still shooting babies in their classrooms.
\n\n\nI wish people were as anti-gun violence as they are anti-abortion.
\n\n\nOnce I heard that news, I knew why I didn’t sleep much Monday night with that weapon two feet from my head. I pulled off the road early, got a campsite, and quit for the day.
\n\n\nVicarious trauma…when the violent events of the world deeply affect those who witness it, read about it, see it and hear it on social media and the news.
\n\n\nIt’s just too much for this mama’s heart.
\n\n\nMay we never become so numb to the ugliness that we don’t fight for a better world. May we not hide our heads in the sand. May we be strong and courageous and stand up for what’s right and protect the innocents among us.
\n\n\nYes…my prayers are with those who suffer needlessly. But it’s time for more than “thoughts and prayers”.
\n\n\nThe time for bandaids is long gone. It’s time for real and lasting change.
\n\n\n❤️?
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2022-05-25T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2022/05/25/vicarious-trauma-and-senseless-loss.html", "tags": ["Overcoming Obstacles","Anger","Warning","Choices","Change","Anxiety"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2022/01/26/the-politics-of-death-in.html", "title": "The Politics of Death in a Digital Age", "content_html": "\n“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.”
\n1 Peter 4:12-19 ESV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/ffde5da4d8.jpg\")
I didn’t know Bub personally. I’d never spoken to him. I didn’t know his last name or where he lived or if he had a family. All I knew of this scruffy-bearded man in the Hoss Cartwright Stetson was the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled and tipped his brim when you drove by. The way he held the measuring rod in his hand, leaning on it like the staff of Moses, as he stood by the open manhole cover. Bub’s work brought him into the eyes of countless drivers over the years as we passed by the crew he worked with.
\n\n\nI was scrolling through Facebook yesterday and there was his picture in a post with the caption, “So Long, Santa Bub.” He’d been such a fixture of my forty years in the Glenwood Springs area, I guess I expected him to just always be there. Like the Hot Springs Pool and Doc Holiday’s Grave. Enduring and iconic. And now, he was gone like so many others we have lost in the last couple of years.
\n\n\nI think death is striking so much closer to home since the pandemic started two years ago. Even if it doesn’t hit our inner circle, it’s omnipresence has been overwhelming. We’ve kind of gotten numb to the weekly announcements, either on the national or local news or on our social media newsfeeds. Along with becoming numb, some have become somewhat complacent in the social mores surrounding acceptable ways of announcing someone’s death.
\n\n\nWhen we lost one of my dearest friends and fellow classmates last month, a well meaning person posted on our class page the “RIP, dear friend” post we have all become accustomed to seeing of late. I took issue with this because, I knew for a fact it hadn’t been more than a handful of hours since our friend was discovered unresponsive in her home and her only grandchild had not been informed. Since I am one of the administrators of our class page, I removed the post at once and made a post of my own. “Out of deference to the family, we aren’t talking about this till we are sure everyone is informed and the family has announced the loss themselves.”
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/b6c6661914.jpg\")
When I lost Mr. Virgo, I can’t remember how long it took me to gather enough strength to write a post on FB telling our friends and more distant family that he was gone. I know it was at least one day…and it might have been two. I was in shock. I will tell you this, though…if I opened Facebook to make that horribly painful announcement and saw where one of his friends from high school had beat me to the punch, I would have been devastated. It isn’t anyone’s place but the family’s or their personal representative to make such a sensitive initial announcement.
\n\n\nI had every intention of going on the class page after a reasonable amount of time had passed after our friend died in December to write some guidelines on how and when to share with the group that we had lost another classmate. You know how time gets away from you after the holidays and especially after losing someone so close to you. I didn’t get around to writing it. Then we lost another classmate. And, just as had happened before, someone posted an announcement before the family could do so.
\n\n\nI removed the post and sent a private message to the person posting, explaining why. It’s stirred up some conversation, and as you may imagine, some controversy. I want to give people the benefit of the doubt. I don’t want to think that some folks just want to show everyone they are “in the know” by being the first to share news. I prefer to think they just aren’t aware of protocols or have become desensitized by the constant barrage of death we’ve been subjected to during the pandemic.
\n\n\nWe are “of a certain age”, my classmates and I. And, dare I say, many of you are as well. We must never be in a rush to share the news on social media of someone’s passing. Instead, we must always be respectful of the family’s privacy and be sensitive to their needs. No one…NO ONE wants to find out for the first time on social media that someone they love has died. There was a time when we didn’t really have to tell people this. Those who needed to know were called personally. Then, the circle went ever wider as the news spread to others further out from the inner circle. Only then did we read an obituary in the local newspaper. Now, we have this tool that can instantly spread news like wildfire and we have to remember….think twice. Do a little searching to see if the family has said anything on their social media pages. Check the online newspapers, the local news station, and the local mortuaries to see if there has been a formal announcement. If, after 36-48 hours have passed, you might share the news in private groups like our class page. But, please…don’t be that person who rushes to “be the first” to share such a sensitive and personal event as the death of your high school chum.
\n\n\n❄️?❄️
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2022-01-26T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2022/01/26/the-politics-of-death-in.html", "tags": ["Grief","Wisdom","Warning","Choices"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/12/17/who-gets-your-digital-footprint.html", "title": "Who Gets Your Digital Footprint After You’re Gone?", "content_html": "\n““Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.”
\nMatthew 7:12 NLT\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/670b0d18d9.jpg\")
I follow Heather Cox Richardson. Lately, she’s been sharing some texts that went back and forth during the insurrection on January 6, 2021. Oh, my gosh…was that just this year??? The texters were texting things they ought not to have been texting and it’s going to come back and bite them in the butt, I do believe. At any rate, it got me to thinking about the digital footprints we leave behind without giving it one bit of thought.
\n\n\nWhen my dear friend Sparky died this week, she took with her that close connection we had…in person and digitally. Certainly, during Covid, our connection was nearly exclusively digital. We shared funny memes that were maybe just a little TOO much to put out on our Facebook pages for all to see. We had inside jokes. We talked candidly about everything. I’m really happy I have a treasure trove of her texts that go back over probably five years or more. I have funnies galore. And, I also have private things…the kinds of things you share with your bestie because that’s how you work through things. But they aren’t necessarily things you want your kids finding after your dead, you know what I mean?
\n\n\nSo, I have these things on my phone, which means…unless Sparky erased our conversations every time…these things are also on her phone. Oh, they aren’t state secrets or anything illegal, but if certain people found them, they could be hurtful or perhaps even besmirch a reputation…neither of which is particularly pleasant. It made me think about the digital trails we leave behind and where they go when we die and who gets them and what could they do with them and….well, you get the picture.
\n\n\nI keep a lot of text conversations on my phone because they contain photos, phone numbers, the answers to questions, and frankly…memories of my friend or relative. I probably have every text Mr. FixIt and I ever exchanged, which is sweet. I even have some of the texts Mr. Virgo and I exchanged. But sending out texts between friends isn’t the only place our digital footprints leave trails. Our presence on the internet, no matter WHAT we are doing, or WHERE we are doing it, is…out there. It’s in the Cloud…any number of Clouds, really. It’s on old devices, shared devices, pads, tablets, phones, computers, laptops, readers, home assistance devices like Ring and Alexa and Smart TVs.
\n\n\nI gave up a long time ago thinking that any of this was really going to come back and bite me bad. I mean, after all, I’m a blogger and a storyteller and you all probably know more about me through my writing than some of my own family members do. The things I put out here for you to read aren’t secrets or I wouldn’t be putting them out here. However, private conversations between me and my friends and family on my phone is different.
\n\n\nI’m sure the government officials who were texting directions or updates or whatever during the events of January 6th are pretty upset that the conversations they were having via text are becoming public knowledge. I get that. However, while my friend might be sending me a “you didn’t hear this from me” text, we weren’t in the throes of doing something even slightly illegal. Big difference.
\n\n\nSo, what do you do with all that information? Well, you can ask the executor of the estate to erase it from the phone but that’s not always feasible. You can erase the text histories off your devices, which is time consuming and difficult to remember to do. You can make a pact with your friends or the executor of your estate to clean your phone when you’re gone. I think that’s a pretty good way to do it. Never sharing personal information with anyone ever on digital devices would work, but I’ll tell you what…that horse has long since left the barn for all of us, I’d guess. Except this one strange dude we graduated with. I’ll bet he’s never even had so much as an email address his entire life. I asked him once why he didn’t go on Facebook and connect with us…his fellow classmates. He said, “Are you nuts? Voluntarily let the CIA track me? No thanks!” Yeah, well…ok.
\n\n\nThere are articles all over the internet that discuss this subject and ways to “clean up your mess” but I’ll leave that for you to look up. There’s something to be said for minimizing your digital footprint because your data is like glitter…you will never, ever get rid of all of it. Once it’s out there, it’s out there forever. I’m glad I grew up when I did so my really stupid stuff wasn’t recorded for posterity.
\n\n\n❄️
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2021-12-17T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/12/17/who-gets-your-digital-footprint.html", "tags": ["Wisdom","Warning","Insight","Control"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/11/09/the-scourge-of-the-lady.html", "title": "The Scourge of the Lady Beetle", "content_html": "\n“For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.”
\nLuke 8:17 ESV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/0f209dff6f.jpg\")
My mom died in January 2004. My Aunt Rosie met me during a layover in Charlotte and we flew the rest of the way together. We rented a car and drove to the farm where we were met by two more of Mom’s siblings…my Aunt Peeps and my Uncle Bob. It’s a small farm house, as you have seen in the photos I have shared over the years. There are two bedrooms upstairs and one small room on the main floor where my grandparents slept. There was a rollaway bed in the “Girls” Room” so my Aunt Rosie and I bunked together.
\n\n\nWhen we arrived at the farm, Aunt Peeps matter of factly told us about a recent development. It seemed a non-native insect had been introduced to the US…the Asian Lady Beetle…in an attempt to gain control of a heretofore unnoticed over abundance of aphids. Aphids had never really bothered me as I didn’t raise roses and didn’t live in the country. But someone somewhere thought it was a good idea to bring these nasty creatures to this country and let them loose where they have proceeded to procreate into this yearly…scourge.
\n\n\nAs we lay in the dark, we heard the “tic tic tic tic tic” of the little buggers hitting the ceiling above us. I don’t think we slept because we were afraid our mouths would gap open and one of them would fall in. It was awful. At this point, no one knew how to keep them out of the house short of a nuclear weapon, so the only recourse was to suck them up in a vacuum cleaner. Asian Lady Beetles have something in common with that other autumnal nemesis…the Stink Bug. When you suck these bugs up in a vacuum cleaner, they release a decidedly unpleasant aroma into the room. There’s nothing like it. Really.
\n\n\nThe following morning, we gave each other a knowing look and said in unison… “I’m not sleeping here again.” We packed our bags back in the rental car and headed for mom’s house in town. The lady beetles are there, too…but not nearly in the numbers that they are in the country. Which brings us to today. The “Great Emergence” begins after there has been a period of very cold weather. On the first warm, sunny day that follows, you can’t walk outside in the afternoon without being covered with these bugs. And if they get down your shirt and get stuck in a skin fold, they will pinch the heck out of you!
\n\n\nIn the late afternoon, with the sun shining behind them, there are literally thousands…hundreds of thousands…millions of them flying. I came home in the mid afternoon and was wearing a white shirt. By the time I got to the door, I was covered. Ugh!
\n\n\nI don’t like using insecticides, but these things have NO natural predators. Even the cat gags when she smells one. I have been told by my friends that if you spray around the doors and windows of your home during the first week of October, you can at least keep the inside of your house somewhat clear of them. And yes…I’ve tried essential oils and herbs and other natural remedies to no avail.
\n\n\nI love Indian Summer…but I’m telling you, I’ll be so glad when it gets cold and stays cold to keep these things under control. In the meantime, I am posting this video that I took a couple days ago. I wish I would have taken another movie yesterday because they were particularly impressive.
\n\n\nDo you all have them where you live? Let us know how dispersed these beasts are!
\n\n\n???????
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2021-11-09T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/11/09/the-scourge-of-the-lady.html", "tags": ["West Virginia","The Farm","Warning","Farm Life"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/08/25/when-is-it-a-disasterwhen.html", "title": "When is it a Disaster…When is it Just…Life?", "content_html": "\n““All winged insects that go on all fours are detestable to you.”
\nLeviticus 11:20 ESV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/c3d7cc0f16.jpg\")
There are truly disasters that occur. Things that could not have been predicted that befall us and change our lives in a heartbeat. The floods in Tennessee…the terrible ice storms in Texas…the dreadful fires in the west. These are all things that, aside from the unfortunate predictability of increased global warming, are still horrifying to watch. And even more horrifying to be a part of.
\n\n\nI’ve been thinking about my grandparents and my parents and how they lived through the Great Depression and World War II. Those were both events that shook our country to the very core. Our great and great great grandparents lived through the Civil War…a time when the very fabric of our being was torn in two. They didn’t throw their hands up and cry woe is me. They rolled up their sleeves and put others first. They put their shoulders to the wheel and pushed forward with all their might.
\n\n\nWe’ve become both softened and hardened by technology. We’re soft because there are machines and computers that do everything for us. Everything…EVERYTHING is done electronically. We’ve put all our eggs in one basket and it’s not going to take long for someone to figure out how to take a sledgehammer to them and it won’t be pretty. We’ve become hardened because it’s hard to tease out fact from fiction for the typical Joe and Jane America. We’ve become hardened because we have a screen to hide behind and we don’t have to look in the eyes of our real and imagined adversaries.
\n\n\nBut, with all that being said…I truly, truly believe there are far more good people in the world than there are really bad people. The thing is…goodness doesn’t sell advertising space. Sensationalism and keeping every single news cycle focused on all the terrible things can keep us in a constant state of anxiety if we let it.
\n\n\nI received an e-mail yesterday from the Census Bureau asking me to fill out a “Coronavirus Household Pulse Survey”. It asked questions they didn’t ask in the regular census. The purpose of the survey was to gauge our reactions to the pandemic. How it’s affecting us….physically, financially, mentally, and emotionally. It asked if we were having trouble meeting bills. Were we able to seek and receive the healthcare we needed. Are we getting enough food. This is designed to find out where the trouble spots are and where resources are needed the most.
\n\n\nOne of the greatest lessons of the Depression and WWII was the need for social services to help people through the tough times in life. And, it was fortunate our ancestors were largely farmers and hard work was already a part of their daily lives. They knew how to do all the things that need doing and, unfortunately, a lot of those skills have died out with them. I am a strong proponent of bringing Home Economics and Shop classes back to schools. I think there should be a class that teaches young people how to fill out job applications, balance a checkbook, file taxes. I’ve seen programs that match schools with nursing homes and senior centers in order to enlighten both demographics. There are places that put day care centers in nursing homes and it benefits the elders as well as the littles.
\n\n\nHow can we preserve the skills that are rapidly dying? What skills do you have that you might share with young people? What if all the electronics went away tomorrow? Who would know what to do without YouTube and Google? These are things that roam around in my head when I’m not busy enough, I’m afraid. But they are things that should be addressed. Our great grandchildren’s lives may depend on it.
\n\n\nAs disastrous as the pandemic has been, these sorts of things are just a part of life. Sometimes life is cake…and sometimes it’s really, really hard. Devastatingly hard. Knowing we are not alone in our difficulties can go a long way in calming our fears of the unknown and the anxieties of uncertainty. God walks with His children…always. That was one of the biggest gems I discovered in the flames of my grief. While I was a widow and I was crushed…I was never alone. We are brokenhearted over many things right now. But please know this…God draws near to the brokenhearted. It is when we can communicate with him most intimately.
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”
\n1 Peter 4:10 NIV\n
#Skills, #Talents, #Knowledge
\n\n", "date_published": "2021-08-25T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/08/25/when-is-it-a-disasterwhen.html", "tags": ["Overcoming Obstacles","Growth","God","Wisdom","Courage","Warning","Choices","Change","Farm Life"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/07/27/hot-hot-hot.html", "title": "Hot! Hot! Hot!", "content_html": "\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/da5fa88723.jpg\")
Land’s sake…I don’t know how y’all out West are handling the intense heat and mega drought. It was in the 90’s here yesterday and, of course, that’s with a ton of humidity. As Little would say, you could see the oxygen. The former Mrs. FixIt and my bonus daughter came over yesterday to pick some squash and tomatoes from the garden. They brought lemons and green tomatoes in trade. It was so hot just standing out there for a short period of time. I can’t imagine how people stand it that have to work out in this heat every day.
\n\n\nI remember when I was young, we always knew every neighbor up and down the block by name. We knew where they worked and all their kids’ names. And, if you needed to borrow a cup of sugar, you might take an egg or a stick of butter with you so as to even your debt. That kept you from schlepping back over the next week with that cup of sugar. If you borrowed a tool, you cleaned it well afterwards and returned it in better condition than when you got it. If it used gas, you filled it up. If you broke it, you paid to get it fixed or you replaced it.
\n\n\nIf someone was elderly or ill and unable to care for the yard or garden, you and/or your kids went over and did some chores to help out. When someone died or had a new baby, you took food and offered to shop or run errands. When someone had a birthday or anniversary, you sent a card. When you had a party, you sent an invitation. If you were on the receiving end, you sent a thank you note.
\n\n\nYes, I know times are different. A verbal thank you is sufficient in most cases. And, depending on the depth of your friendship, a Facebook greeting or text wishing them a good day on special days is probably adequate. I don’t know what it is…being old school or being retired and having the time to do more…but I think about these things now and wonder if all this casual communication somehow robs the giver and receiver both of the joy of the giving.
\n\n\nMaybe it’s natural to look back when you are “of a certain age” and long for “the good ol’ days”. I know they weren’t always good, and we have selective memory loss at some point. But, I do miss the more genteel manners of yesteryear.
\n\n\nSpeaking of manners, Mr. FixIt and I were heading to his acupuncture appointment yesterday when we stopped to get a drink on the way. We were sitting in line at the McDonald’s and could clearly see something hanging on the overpass. When we finished eating our breakfast sandwich, my curiosity got the better of me and I drove to where I could read the sign. It turned out to be from a violent, white supremacy, neo-fascist group. I was shocked to see something like that hanging there. This was a 2:00 in the afternoon, so who knows how long it had been there. We called the state patrol and they said they’d get right on it. It had been removed by the time we got back home a few hours later.
\n\n\nI just have no patience for hate anymore. When I see it, I call it out.
\n\n\nIt’s going to be another scorcher today! Keep cool and safe out there, my friends!
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2021-07-27T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/07/27/hot-hot-hot.html", "tags": ["Wisdom","Warning","Memories"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/07/19/the-mistakes-of-others.html", "title": "The Mistakes of Others", "content_html": "\n“Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.””
\n1 Corinthians 15:33 ESV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/241880f201.jpg\")
I’ve always imparted this little tidbit to young people. “You can’t possibly live long enough to make ALL the mistakes. Learn from the mistakes of others.” It’s a lesson that I’m still living out.
\n\n\nI got a friend request from someone over the weekend. I knew absolutely for certain we were already friends, so I took a screenshot and sent it to her asking…is this you? Turns out, it was. She’s been on Facebook for over ten years. Yet, a couple of weeks ago, someone hacked her FB account, changed the password, hijacked a credit card she had on file to use for FB ads…racking up a pretty hefty bill. The money wasn’t what upset her…she has coverage for that and will get it back. However…there’s so much she’ll never see again.
\n\n\nThey not only hacked her account and changed the password. They also DELETED her Facebook page. The whole thing…gone. She had only recently backed up her profile so she has a little bit of stuff, but there is so much that she can never get back.
\n\n\nShe won’t see the sweet comments of family members no longer with us. She won’t see the photos her friends no family shared with her. Some friends and family who are gone had Facebook pages that she was “friends” with, but now…there’s no one there to approve her new friendship request. She can’t go back and browse their page and remember.
\n\n\nThat’s what really hit home for me. What if I lost connection with Mr. Virgo’s page? Granted…I don’t go to it very often anymore, but I want to be able to visit if the mood strikes me. My friend suggested we always make sure a trusted mutual friend has your login info in case you ever need to get back in.
\n\n\nI’ve also worried about this page. That’s why I spent an inordinate amount of time copy every singe post from three years worth of writing and put it on my website. Time very well spent. I still need to do a full backup of both pages…on a regular basis. So, I’m setting a weekly reminder to do just that. I would be devastated if I lost eight years of your comments, love, wisdom and support here on Marshmallow Ranch.
EDIT: Here’s how to back up your page.
I didn’t explain it as well as my friend. She was referring to pages you may be an administrator for. Like, group pages. For instance, my high school class has a group page. For years it had one administrator. We went through a stretch there where we lost several class members and I thought…what would happen if something happened to her? So I sent her a suggestion that we should have more than one admin. She asked if I wanted to be an admin and I said sure. Later, we added a third person. That way, if my account were to be deleted and I needed to make a new account, there would be someone on my page that could approve my request to log in. Make sense?
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/63db49925f.jpg\")
The weekend was good. We got a lot done and went to visit the kids at their boarding stable. They needed to borrow our welder to fix a mower. The weather this week is going to be decidedly cooler so sleeping with the windows open in TOW-Wanda will be delightful!
\n\n\nHappy Monday, everyone!
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2021-07-19T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/07/19/the-mistakes-of-others.html", "tags": ["Wisdom","Warning","Choices"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/05/26/pumpkins-magnificent-adventure.html", "title": "Pumpkin’s Magnificent Adventure", "content_html": "\n“The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.”
\nProverbs 22:3 ESV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/19993ec9b7.jpg\")
Pumpkin
\n\n\nFor those of you who’ve followed a while, you’ll know I lived in my camper for a few years and vowed never to have pets again. Mr. Virgo’s little dog died just three months before he did and it was all just too much. I didn’t want to lose any more beloveds. Then, when I came off the road, I inherited a farm cat I dubbed “Boy Cat”. When I was gone on a trip over Thanksgiving, I came home to a tiny little kitten with exactly the same markings as the long-haired big boy except he had a short, sleek coat. I named him “Kitty Boy”.
\n\n\nWhile Boy Cat eventually warmed up to me and marked me as his by rubbing his face on my legs, Kitty Boy was as wild as wild could be and took off like a shot if he saw you. No rubs and chirps, but he came back every day to be fed and slept soundly through the winter in his bed box complete with an electric warming pad. While not a terribly enthusiastic cat person, I came to love them and watching their antics around the farm.
\n\n\n![\"Farm](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/85db8495d1.jpg\")
Boy Cat and Kitty Boy
\n\n\nWhen the time came to move to join Mr. FixIt at the Ponderosa, the farm kitties moved quite happily to my cousin’s barn down the road and adjusted well. Fast forward to Halloween 2019. Mr. FixIt and I had been married a year and I took off for several weeks camping all around the state of West Virginia in the Girl Camper Raffle Trailer. When I returned, here was this little black kitten someone had dumped and Mr. FixIt had been feeding him. I wasn’t thrilled to be tied down with another pet, but when this little thing shot straight to me like she’d been waiting forever to see me...well, let’s just say...she’s home.
\n\n\nWe woke up yesterday morning and decided it was THE day to take TOW-Wanda down to Setzer’s World of Camping to get some leaks fixed. We haven’t moved that camper for at least two years...maybe three. As a matter of fact, we weren’t really sure when we camped in her last...save for sleeping out there in the field at the Ponderosa. All four tires and the spare were low on air so I got them pumped up. Mr. FixIt struggled and finally got the big tarp off of her. The battery was dead so we had to plug her into shore power to raise her up with the electric tongue jack.
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/bf9ccea5d5.jpg\")
Towing TOW-Wanda to Setzer’s
\n\n\nIt was already near noon by the time we got her completely hooked up and ready to go. I went and closed the doors to the car. Mr. FixIt went to close the doors to the bay. We were sweating buckets. We grabbed a couple of electrolyte drinks and hopped in the truck for the three hour drive to Huntington.
\n\n\nWhen we got there, we went inside to register with Matt in the service department and told him all the things we wanted fixed. We visited a little while, then went back out to unhook the camper so the tractor could pull it into the shop. I needed a tool to unhook the weight distribution hitch so I went over to the storage compartment in the belly of the camper. When I opened the hatch door, I stood there so confused for a few seconds. There was Pumpkin! She cautiously peeked her head out and looked around...sniffing the air.
\n\n\nNow, Pumpkin is like most cats I’ve ever known. She’ll let you pet her for a few seconds then when she’s had enough, she’ll turn around and bite you a good one! Not this time. I picked her up and she literally climbed me and planted her head under my chin. Bless her heart! It never occurred to us that she would have jumped into the belly of the camper. And she’s black as night so you would never see her in there with all the gear and cargo we carry.
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/9b0a3343d6.jpg\")
Pumpkin Peeks Out From Her New Roomy Carrier
\n\n\nFortunately, she was no worse for the wear. We gave her a drink and sat with her for a while in the truck, running the air conditioning so she’d cool off. We stopped at the first Walmart we came to and bought a collapsible pop-up pet carrier and got her settled in on a nice clean blanket and hit the road home. She does really well in the car on the interstate. And she does fine for the short ride to town, which she often makes with Mr. FixIt. But you put this poor kitty in the car and go very far on these twisty turny West Virginia roads and she lets loose from every orifice. I don’t know what to do about that. The only time we ever go far is when we have to take her to the vet...or, when she’s a stowaway on an illicit adventure, apparently.
\n\n\nFrom now on, we’ll double and triple check compartments on the camper when we leave for a trip. This could have had disastrous results, and should serve as a warning to others, but fortunately...all it left us with was a very snuggly kitty...and some blog fodder!
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2021-05-26T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/05/26/pumpkins-magnificent-adventure.html", "tags": ["Travel","TOW-Wanda!","West Virginia","Warning","The Cats","Farm Life","Road Trip"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/01/16/day-observing-history-or-doomscrolling.html", "title": "Day 306: Observing History or Doom-Scrolling?", "content_html": "\n“The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.”
\nPsalm 145:9 ESV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/deb73ce245.jpg\")
I’ve watched national disasters play out on TV ever since that fateful day in 1963 when our beloved JFK was assassinated. Bad and good...the theater that is America plays out on the screen before us. We watch for many reasons. To observe, educate, understand, and be advised. From “Ok, Houston, we’ve had a problem here” to “I am not a crook” to “Diana, Princess of Wales, has died in a car crash in Paris.” Our hearts leap to our throats and we turn our attention to the news.
\n\n\nThis has been a solid year of “We interrupt this broadcast to bring you this breaking news report.” Seriously, there were times when I’d think, “OMGosh...what the **** now???” It’s stressful. Our bodies release cortisol in the response to danger and chronically elevated cortisol levels puts us at risk for many health problems including probably the most obvious...anxiety and depression. Not surprising.
\n\n\nIt’s one thing to observe history, take note, feel the feelings, and get back to the business of daily living. It’s quite another to chase down story after story, inhaling them like a desperate chain-smoking junky sitting in the dark on the sofa with a bag of Cheetos and a beer. It’s called Doom-Scrolling....read a story, there’s a link to another, read that, hit the next link. Before you know it, hours have passed, you have no real answers as to what’s really going on, and your mind is buzzing like a toaster in a bathtub.
\n\n\nGuilty as charged. I do this sometimes. I’m an avid learner, a curious critter who wants to find out what makes everything tick. What makes them believe that? How did we get here? Who is saying what about whom. Maybe part of that comes from being in an emotionally abusive household with an alcoholic father. I wanted to know what was coming next and I’d do anything I could to be prepared. But, that kind of preparation lies dangerously close to control and we all know...there is very little in this world that we can actually control.
\n\n\nThe chatter of impending violence surrounding the inauguration has had my inner investigator working overtime this week. I can’t fall asleep because my mind is churning in a dozen different directions, so I end up picking up the phone to check out “just one more thing”. Thursday night was like that and I finally drifted off to sleep around dawn, only to get an elbow to the back of the head when Mr. FixIt turned over. It was a long night.
\n\n\nWe just have a few more days till this moment in time is passed and it becomes relegated to history. I pray for peace. No violence. No injuries or death. It’s liable to be a bumpy ride, so hold on tight. And remember, goodness wins in the end.
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2021-01-16T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/01/16/day-observing-history-or-doomscrolling.html", "tags": ["Overcoming Obstacles","Fear","Courage","Warning","Choices","Control"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/01/07/day-my-brain-is-buzzing.html", "title": "Day 297: My Brain is Buzzing", "content_html": "\n“Nothing is impossible for God!””
\nLuke 1:37 CEV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/e119fa216d.jpg\")
The sweetest couple moved in next door to me the year after Mr. Virgo died. They had a little boy and I became Nana Ginny to him. He knew I sometimes slept in my camper, so in the mornings, he would run over and knock on the camper door to say hello before his mama took him to day care.
\n\n\nLast week, his real life grandma was tragically killed in a traffic accident. I have met her several times...enough to know she was a very sweet woman. And I love her kids. It’s very sad.
\n\n\nThen, over the weekend, I learned my brother-in-law’s mom died unexpectedly in her sleep. They had shiva for her Tuesday evening over zoom. It’s been many, many years since I attended a Jewish service. I lived a Jewish life for 27 years and the memories flooded over me. I listened to my sweet B-I-L speak words about his mom and there were so many things I didn’t know about his childhood...sad things. It made me cry.
\n\n\nLater in the evening, I looked online for my friend’s mom’s obituary but when I opened the obit page...there was my sweet friend, Melissa. My heart broke. When Hubby #2 and I moved to the mountains of Colorado after residency, Melissa and her family were neighbors a few doors down. Daughter #1 used to babysit for her children. She was truly one of the sweetest, most genuinely kind women I’ve ever known. After I went through my divorce and opened my needlework shop, I used to meet her and several other gals for coffee every Thursday morning. I hadn’t seen her in a couple years and only learned she had brain cancer a few months ago. It was also Epiphany...twenty-one years sober, twenty-one years since my overdose, my “re-birth day”.
\n\n\nThen yesterday, all hell broke loose at the capital and we were plugged into that all day. By last night, my brain was buzzing on overload. I don’t even know how to begin talking about what I saw. I’ll process it for a bit then we’ll revisit. Sometimes things come at you so rapid fire, you don’t even have time to process before the next thing comes. I was just crushed by the time I went to bed. I’m hoping today is a bit more peaceful.
\n\n\nPrayers for all who were injured yesterday. And for the family and friends of those who were killed. And for our legislators who went through all that. And for all of us who sat and watched.
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2021-01-07T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/01/07/day-my-brain-is-buzzing.html", "tags": ["Overcoming Obstacles","Warning","Change"] }, { "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“Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save.”
\nPsalms 146:3 NIV\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/2020/12/10/day-a-day-in-chemical.html", "title": "Day 271: A Day in Chemical Valley", "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/2026/5374fb3b03.jpg\")
I grew up five blocks from the Ohio River. The soundtrack of my life was the constant background noise of heavily laden trains and tugboats pushing barges up and down the river. Their cargo varied from coal to sand and gravel to gasoline and chemicals. Honestly, you never knew what dangers lurked just a few blocks away when you lay sleeping in your bed on those hot summer nights. The toots of the barges signaling the locks...the locks signaling back when it was ok to move forward.
\n\n\nUnion Carbide, Bayer, Shell, Corning, Marbon, Viscose, DuPont, Johns Manville...all were as familiar to us as Wonder Bread and Borden’s. We didn’t think anything of it. These chemical, plastics, glass, and petroleum plants were our bread and butter. Like the coal fields of southern West Virginia and the steel mills up north, big chemical plants ruled the Mid-Ohio Valley. If our parents didn’t work there, we knew someone who did.
\n\n\nOccasionally there would be an accident or a fire or a chemical spill at one of the local plants. But, before the EPA taught us the dangers of some of the things in our very backyards, we really never gave it too much thought. It was part and parcel of life here. I remember in grade school when the father of one of my classmates was killed at DuPont. It struck us on many levels. First, it taught us that parents can die. Second, it meant some jobs were dangerous. And, it gave us our first taste of death.
\n\n\nIf you saw the documentary Dark Waters, you get an idea of the reckoning between big polluters and the little people who worked for them. DuPont worked with a chemical called C8 that leaked into the ground water all around where I grew up and caused cancers, deformed fetuses, and deaths. The people eventually won a settlement, but money is never enough to rectify a situation like that. Extremely expensive filtration systems have been installed to allow the drinking water from the aquifer below us to be potable because...C8 is a “forever chemical”. It will never break down and is here to stay.
\n\n\nThey don’t use C8 anymore. One of my friends spent his entire career working for DuPont...the last several years in a lab trying to come up with a C8 substitute but they were still not successful when he retired. DuPont sold out to a French company called Chemours who subsequently sublease their facilities to other companies manufacturing any number of products.
\n\n\nTuesday night at 10:00, when people were settling down to watch a little TV before bed, a loud explosion rocked the small communities surrounding the Chemours plant in Belle, West Virginia just south of Charleston...about a hundred miles from the Ponderosa. Amazingly, only four people were injured...one of whom died yesterday at an area hospital. A young man in his 30’s with a family won’t be home for Christmas...or any other holiday. Things are a lot cleaner now and much safer, but still...accidents happen. There’s still a much higher level of cancer here than most places.
\n\n\nWest Virginia is a beautiful state. But the wealthy robber barons have continually raped my home state of her natural resources and left her permanently scarred and polluted. The price of progress? Or the “taking advantage” of simple Appalachians trying to get by the best they can? We were resource rich and education poor and it’s hard to complain when “The Man” was putting the bread in your children’s bellies.
\n\n\nI’ll never forget the time I flew into the Charleston Airport one summer. We were approaching from the south...not the way I commonly arrived. I looked out the window of the plane and the tops of the mountains...MY MOUNTAINS...were just...GONE! They were shaved off the top in a new, quicker, cheaper method of strip mining. The landscape has been permanently altered. Farmland that’s been handed down from generation to generation has wide, treeless paths cut through virgin timber to allow gas and oil pipelines to pass through. It breaks my heart and makes me sick.
\n\n\nAll in the name of fossil fuels. Large, gas-guzzling SUV’s. Mr. FixIt and I contribute with our two pickup trucks so I can’t even complain. I pray for a cleaner world and for some way for my fellow Mountaineers to make a living once the switch is made. We have to do something more than pray. We have to change. And change doesn’t come easy, so I’ve found.
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2020-12-10T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/12/10/day-a-day-in-chemical.html", "tags": ["Health","Overcoming Obstacles","Prayer","West Virginia","Warning","Memories"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/08/17/day-crisis-fatiguestepping-away-with.html", "title": "Day 152: Crisis Fatigue...Stepping Away With a Soft Heart", "content_html": "\n““ ‘Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it. Do not defile the land where you live and where I dwell, for I, the Lord, dwell among the Israelites.’ ””
\nNumbers 35:33-34 NIV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/aaf1d9d439.jpg\")
When is too much WAY too much? Where do you draw the line and say enough is enough? How do you step back when you just can’t do any more?
\n\n\nI eased my world a lot the last couple of weeks when I snoozed, unfollowed, unfriended, and...yes...even blocked a few people on my personal Facebook page. My decision to stop posting, forwarding, and commenting on anything remotely controversial and/or political helped a lot. I’ve even stepped out of a few chat rooms with really wonderful people for no other reason than I just can’t take one more thing right now.
\n\n\nI don’t know about you but I’m facing a very real case of crisis fatigue. When the human body is presented with a crisis situation, it produces cortisol...the hormone responsible for our fight or flight response. That’s really handy if you happen to be camping and a great big bear wanders across your path. The heightened attention and rapid response is meant to save your life. But, this year has been like walking into the International Convention of Pissed Off Grizzly Bears....every...single...day. When that happens, it doesn’t take long for the wheels to come off the bus.
\n\n\nIncreased anxiety. Insomnia. Weight gain. Hypertension. Cushing Syndrome. Relationship distress. Even bone loss. All can occur from prolonged elevated levels of cortisol. Plain and simple...it’s just not good for you.
\n\n\nAccording to an article in WIRED Magazine written by Matt Simon... \"Crisis fatigue manifests itself on two levels. On a societal level, it can tempt people to collectively throw up their hands and give up on civic engagement. 'Why not, if we’re going to hell in a handcart? Let’s just enjoy tomorrow.' Matthew Flinders, founding director of Sir Bernard Crick Centre for the Public Understanding of Politics at the University of Sheffield, told WIRED earlier this week.\"
\n\n\nSince 9/11, we have had multiple episodes of acute crises...wildfires, financial strife, social unrest, politics, Covid, job loss. Basically, the sound of the planes hitting the Twin Towers has echoed through every part of American life for the last twenty years. If there is that much havoc in our lives, isn’t it really a small thing to step back a little from the tiny screens that are occupying so much of our waking moments?
\n\n\nI write every day...I have to. It’s a part of who I am and what I do. But, when I get my screen usage report and it tells me just how much time I am spending on these devices, I realize that isn’t healthy either. I have this one group of girlfriends whom I dearly love. We went to high school together. We are each other’s cheerleaders. We are there for one another as we face the challenges of life. And, as much as I love them, we get chatty in that room and by the end of the day we can easily have fifty or more notifications pinging on our phones.
\n\n\nI know...I cant turn off the notifications, but I suffer from FOMO...fear of missing out. I’m like my grandma in that regard. If the phone rang, she’d break her neck to get to it so she could find out who was calling. It may have been someone she really didn’t care to have a conversation with at the time, but by golly...she wasn’t going to miss out on the possibility it was someone else. So, when the phone “pings”, I have to pick it up. I read. I respond. I set the phone down. Someone else responds. “Ping!” Pick up. Respond. Set down. It’s crazy.
\n\n\nIf I didn’t have anything else going on in my life, it wouldn’t bother me a bit. And, I feel a bit silly...a little guilty perhaps...but I had to step away. I sent them loving messages and said, “It’s not you...it’s me. I can’t right now. I’ll be back someday, but right now? I just can’t.” They get it. They’re feeling it, too. Maybe they don’t know there is a name for it. Maybe they don’t know how to step back...or maybe they don’t need to.
\n\n\nI think the bottom line here is...you can step away with a soft heart. You don’t have to hurt anyone’s feelings or get agitated or up in arms. You can just be honest. It’s all so much. Yes, I could have just turned off the notifications and picked up the phone when I had time. But, I’d still be spending the same amount of time reading the updates and catching up.
\n\n\nIt’s not like the individuals in the group can’t reach me or vise-versa. We are still friends on Facebook. We are still connected and are but a text away should someone want to reach out. Between that, shutting down websites and forwarded sources that I do not want to see, and snoozing several of the more vocal suspects, I felt a collective sigh of relief once I was done.
\n\n\nIt’s ok to step away. When I think of all the things I am apt to miss, it’s decidedly my peace of mind that I miss the most. I’m well on the way to lowering those cortisol levels and promoting some peace in my life. Because here’s what happens when you step away from something. You make space between you. And, you can allow that space to be used for parking the offenses between others and yourself.
\n\n\nBest they sit in that space unattended than to sit in the space between your ears.
\n\n\n❤️
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2020-08-17T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/08/17/day-crisis-fatiguestepping-away-with.html", "tags": ["Health","Uplifting Stories","Overcoming Obstacles","Comfort","Fear","Courage","Warning","Choices"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/04/13/day-and-the-gaslighting-begins.html", "title": "Day 28: And the Gaslighting Begins", "content_html": "\n“God's Spirit doesn't make cowards out of us. The Spirit gives us power, love, and self-control.”
\n2 Timothy 1:7 CEV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/d273a406d9.jpg\")
This is probably going to be the darkest post I’ve ever written to you. It’s dark...but it’s not without hope. It’s not without love or light or promise. It is merely my observation and it has been weighing heavy on my heart the last few days. When something sits in me like that, I know I’m supposed to write about it, so here goes.
\n\n\nHumans like security. We don’t like change. When change is thrust upon us, we want everything to go back to normal as soon as possible. I learned as a new widow that life will move forward, but it will never be the same. At first, that devastated me. Then time and experience showed me that just because it’s different, doesn’t mean it can’t also be good again.
\n\n\nI read an article over the weekend about gaslighting and the pandemic. People are going to want the world to go back to the way it was and Madison Avenue has deep pockets. They’re going to start rolling out things that are going to make you doubt what you’ve seen with your own eyes. They’re going to make it look like this virus wasn’t really what you thought it was. They might even pretend it never happened. That it was all faked to scare you. It’s going to make you feel crazy.
\n\n\nYou aren’t crazy.
\n\n\nRemember what you saw. Remember the pictures and the stories and the pleas for help. Remember that, if the death toll doesn’t add up to the numbers originally predicted, it doesn’t mean the virus was faked or blown out of proportion. It means the steps we took by socially distancing ourselves and using proper hygiene worked. The steps worked.
\n\n\nIt’s easier to believe someone went overboard than it is to believe that a worldwide pandemic brought the world to a standstill.
\n\n\nIt’s easier to say maybe we misunderstood what someone said than to believe they actually said such frightening things.
\n\n\nThis is an adjustment phase we are coming into. Another layer of the onion this pandemic has set in our laps. We are going to see things we never dreamed we could possibly see in our country. It’s going to be frightening. It’s going to be confusing. But it doesn’t have to overcome us.
\n\n\nInstead of focusing on the unwanted changes, what would happen if we focus on some of the changes we aren’t even looking at.
\n\n\nChildren are learning that electronics are tools for education instead of mindlessly whiling away hours focused on violent video games.
\n\n\nFamilies are gathering around the table every day...teaching, learning, creating, eating, praying.
\n\n\nWe are learning to appreciate what is really important. We are learning new skills. We are getting mom’s old sewing machine out and making masks for people to use when they have to go out. We are teaching children to care for others in the process.
\n\n\nWe are slowing down and breathing. The environment is recovering. The earth is actually becoming quiet inside...it’s not vibrating like it was with all the heavy manufacturing and traffic. There are places in the world where you can see mountains that haven’t been seen in decades because of pollution. National Parks are closed to traffic so plants and animals will start to recover. Streams will run more pure.
\n\n\nMaybe when things open up, more people can work from home and keep the traffic down and give the earth a chance to heal.
\n\n\nI heard a woman on CBS Sunday Morning yesterday. She said that maybe the NEXT “greatest generation” is being raised now. Maybe they will see what happened and learn better ways of doing things. Maybe they will take the stumbling blocks we have placed before them and turn them into stepping stones. Maybe they will find the cures and the ways of dealing with pandemics that will avoid disasters like this.
\n\n\nNone of these things will happen if we let them downplay the seriousness of the pandemic. We must not forget this, as much as we would like to.
\n\n\nThere are brighter days ahead, I assure you. They will be different, certainly...but they can be good.
\n\n\nI read this week that Bible sales are skyrocketing. People are praying and meditating and practicing their individual faiths. People who haven’t had any faith are coming to find a faith of their own. For me, my faith is in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I find great hope and comfort knowing that God never changes. Everything in the world will change. Everything. But God never does and He is with me always. He loves me and wants to prosper me and give me a rich and full life. Does that mean it’s going to be cushy and easy and nothing but a party? Heck no!
\n\n\nWe have this promise:
\n\n\n2 Timothy 1:7 - For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
\n\n\nStand on this when you see the scary things. Just please...don’t forget they happened. We owe that to the brave souls standing on the front lines. The soldiers in this battle wear scrubs and uniforms, aprons and overalls, blue jeans and sweatpants. They’re nurses and doctors, therapists and technicians, cooks and housekeepers, trash men and sanitary workers, grocers and farmers, teachers and parents.
\n\n\nTake your fear and turn it into determination. Take your uncertainty and turn it into skills. Take your weary heart and turn it over and trust for better days.
\n\n\nAnd...know you are loved beyond measure.
\n\n\n❤️
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n“for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
\n2 Timothy 1:7 ESV\n
Note: This is not a political post, whatsoever. It’s an observation of the human state of being during a time of crisis.
\n\n", "date_published": "2020-04-13T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/04/13/day-and-the-gaslighting-begins.html", "tags": ["Faith","Overcoming Obstacles","God","Wisdom","Fear","Warning"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/04/02/day-my-dressy-mask.html", "title": "Day 17: My “Dressy Mask”", "content_html": "\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/adc6747ce7.jpg\")
Yesterday was filled with good news, but it got a slow start. Mr. FixIt had an appointment at 9:00 which means he woke me at 8:00. Which means I’d had a solid two hours of sleep. I just haven’t slept much at all since I started feeling bad. I’d lay there and wonder if it was coronavirus. I would surreptitiously take my temperature every hour on the hour. I could not turn my mind off.
\n\n\nWhen I had trouble waking up, my sweet husband lovingly offered to let me sleep and he went off to his appointment by himself. They wouldn’t have let me in the room anyway so I couldn’t have been much help. I was asleep before he left the house.
\n\n\nI had an appointment to follow up with this parathyroid issue and the scans they did. When I arrived, this time I had to tell the medical staff at the makeshift desk in the lobby that I’ve been having some symptoms that could possibly be attributed to coronavirus. This time I was ushered to a room with a young woman in full hazmat regalia and carefully questioned. The really good news is...the nurse practitioner is convinced my symptoms are a combinations of severe allergies and the parathyroid issues. I’m trusting she is right. Also, it does not appear to be cancer. However, I still have a parathyroid tumor that is causing hyperparathyroidism and that has to be addressed with an endocrinologist in June.
\n\n\nI had to make a run to the pharmacy to pick up some meds. Yesterday was the first day I have gone out with a mask. Partly because I was concerned I could possibly make someone sick. Partly because I didn’t want to get sick from anyone else. As I stood in line at the pharmacy, a woman turned and asked where I got my mask.
\n\n\n“I bought it last summer to mow the grass. I have asthma and I can easily end up with really bad bronchitis and have to be hospitalized for it, so now I wear an N95 mask. They came two to a package. I have one of them hanging on the riding mower to remind me to wear it. This one is my “dressy mask” for going out.”
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/94f9f3a053.jpg\")
She hesitated a moment then we both broke out laughing at the absurdity of a “dressy mask”. I told her it was soon to be all the rage. People will be adding glitter and sequins and ruffles before long. It made for a lighter moment in a scary situation. If you would have told either one of us last Thanksgiving that, before Easter, we would be walking around wearing masks and schools would be out and people would be working from home, if they were working at all....we would never have believed you.
\n\n\nI honestly felt more comfortable being out in the mask. And, I could see why the medical experts are concerned that wearing a mask would give people a false sense of security and they wouldn’t take the other precautions as seriously. When I was in x-ray school, I had to learn about maintaining a sterile field. The average person doesn’t have a clue how to maintain that. It isn’t easy and is totally opposite of what we normally do in our daily living.
\n\n\nThe good news is, we are learning new skills. And we will continue to learn them because we are a resourceful species.
\n\n\nThe very best news is, Mr. FixIt has met with all the specialists he needed to see after his stroke in February and he has been given a clean bill of health. We are so very grateful to get another chance at this beautiful life.
\n\n\nOh, and today is Daughter #2’s birthday. She turns thirty today...a monumental time in a woman’s life. And, she’s doing it during a pandemic...on a day where it’s supposed to snow. This gal has been knocked down so many times by life and she keeps getting back up...time after time. It’s a heck of a way to ring in the Big 3-0, but “resilient” is her middle name. Happy Birthday, Moon Pie...I love you to the moon, eleventy-seventy-teen times and back!
\n\n\n❤️
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2020-04-02T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/04/02/day-my-dressy-mask.html", "tags": ["Overcoming Obstacles","Wisdom","Warning","Choices","Change"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/04/01/day-is-it-allergiesor-is.html", "title": "Day 16: Is it Allergies...or is it Covid?", "content_html": "\n“For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, declares the Lord...”
\nJeremiah 30:17 ESV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/0ab87e8384.jpg\")
I can tell you what’s going on outside without even looking. If my head throbs and my throat is scratchy and I’m sneezing my head off, it’s sunny and warm with a breeze. Every January, I try to remember to start using my nasal steroids to ward off my seasonal allergies and it never fails...March comes and I smack my forehead. If I start early enough, it’s always so much better, but I seldom remember.
\n\n\nSo, Sunday afternoon when I got home from the farm and jumped on the riding mower, I’d only had a few weeks worth of Flonase treatment on board. Even with that and an N95 mask, by nightfall my head was pounding, my eyes were itchy, my throat was scratchy, and I was coughing.
\n\n\nI laid in bed for most of the night wondering if I had coronavirus. I took my temperature every hour on the hour. I thought back to everywhere I’ve been in the past 6-8 weeks. I counted the number of times I washed my hands. Did I touch my face? Did I forget to use a paper towel to open that door? Is that stomach ache from the spaghetti sauce or am I coming down with something?
\n\n\nThis is the kind of thinking that will drive you crazy. It does absolutely no good to worry myself, and Mr. FixIt, to death about it. I’ll continue to monitor my symptoms but I know it most certainly is the same allergy symptoms I’ve experienced every spring for years.
\n\n\nI was thinking about something the other day. There is a very real comparison to what I’m feeling now and what I felt in the aftermath of Mr. Virgo’s death. Not nearly to the same degree...but eerily similar. I was all set to accomplish great things with this newfound “stay-at-home” order. I thought this would be a period of intense productivity. We’d get this bathroom finished then start the next one. We would strip the wallpaper in the dining room and start going through the closets and the basement. Then we would tackle the building out back. Oh, yes...I had big plans.
\n\n\nInstead, I’ve done very little. I’ve kept us fed. I’ve taken care of the things that need taken care of to survive day to day. I’ve written my blog and kept in touch with my people. I spend a great deal of time doing nothing more than resting with Mr. FixIt. We’ve been watching West Wing and it’s been fun introducing him to that. He never watched it when it was on the air.
\n\n\nI was feeling like I should be doing more. Then I remembered what my grief was like seven years ago. It was a lot like this. Not in intensity, to be sure. But the same malaise is there. The same uncertainty. The same unsettled undercurrent of sadness and longing. The thread of fear that I keep at bay with my trust in Jesus. This is the initial phase of a grief we all are feeling to one degree or another. We are letting it settle in.
\n\n\nIt’s ok that we don’t get a lot done right now. As we adjust, we’ll get more energy and be able to accomplish more. I learned this from before. Until then, self care is a good thing. We aren’t going anywhere...not for a while, anyway. We’ll get through this. I learned that, too.
\n\n\nToday is traditionally April Fools Day. Instead of foolishness, lets make it a day filled with kindness.
\n\n\n❤️
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2020-04-01T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/04/01/day-is-it-allergiesor-is.html", "tags": ["Health","Grief","Prayer","Wisdom","Warning","Change"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/03/31/day-glitter-virus-de-corona.html", "title": "Day 15: Glitter Virus de Corona", "content_html": "\n“do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
\nPhilippians 4:6-7 ESV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/0816781bba.jpg\")
When Little was about six years old, she looked at me with adoring eyes every grandma swoons over and said, “You know Nana...I’m a maker, just like you!” (❤️MELT!) And, indeed she is. She is creative, artistic, witty, and an extraordinarily deep thinker. She is going to be thirteen in May, so she is currently in that stage where most adults fall in the idiot column. But, I have no doubt she will turn around someday and be my mini-me again.
\n\n\nI’m not sure who gave her the glitter, but being the artist she is, someone filled her up with a gigantic supply. Glitter. Beads. Markers. Paints. All manner of brushes and paper and canvas upon which to glue, smear, splash, and enjoy with great abandon. Which is exactly what she did. Daughter #1 had declared there will be no new carpet until Little goes away to college because she just cannot stomach the idea of MORE glitter.
\n\n\nThey have glitter everywhere. You cannot...can NOT...go into their house without getting glitter on you, no matter where you stand, sit, or lie down. Not matter how many times they vacuum, sweep, wipe, dust, or mop. It is impervious and permanent. I saw a meme the other day comparing coronavirus to glitter and it makes perfect sense.
\n\n\nLet’s say you go to Little’s house and get glitter on you, but you didn’t go to the bathroom so you don’t wash your hands and you’re in a hurry. You’re careful because you don’t touch your face so there’s no glitter there. You get in your car and stop at the gas station for gas. You go inside to buy a soda and a candy bar. You can’t decide which candy bar you want. You pick up one and read the calorie count and put it down. By the third or fourth bar, you realize they all have roughly the same calorie count so you put it back and go pick out a piece of fruit. you squeeze a couple of apples and an orange and finally choose a banana. You open the cooler and pull out a soda. then, at the last minute, you think, “Maybe I should have water instead. I’m having fruit, after all.” You put the soda back, grab a water and go up to the counter and pay.
\n\n\nYou pull out the money for your purchase and pay, throwing the change down into the bottom of your purse. You head back out to the car and drive to the post office, the bank, the vet, the hair salon, and make a final stop at Walmart. Somewhere in there, you have washed your hands at least once or twice. But every time you got back in the car or picked up your keys or drank out of that soda or ate that banana or opened your car door...you got glitter on you again. And, every time you touched something that others will touch, you leave glitter that they pick up and carry with them.
\n\n\nWe have all had experience with the persistence of glitter...be it an art project or a Christmas card. Once you get it on you, you have to work at it to get rid of it. The same thing goes for a bacteria or virus. The only thing is, you can’t see them so that makes them even more nefarious.
\n\n\nWe are all going through various stages of grief over this pandemic and will continue to do so over the coming weeks and months. The enormity of the changes this will bring has only just begun to settle around the edges of my mind in the last few days. Beyond the actual virus and potential illness itself lies uncertainty I am beginning to uncover within myself. Humans are creatures of habit and change doesn’t always come easy to some. But, change is my middle name and all those changes that were thrust upon me in grief are tools for this toolbox as well.
\n\n\nRemember when you do have to go out...think of all that glitter you could be picking up. Keep used grocery bags in your car to use as emergency “gloves” for opening doors and pumping gas. Carry a container of your own wipes with you. And keep washing your hands...a lot. I have been reading rumblings they may be seeing evidence of the flattening of the curve which means the social distancing thing is working. Let’s hope so because there are a lot of hospitals already working at capacity.
\n\n\nKeep all the helpers in your prayers. They need us...now more than ever!
\n\n\n❤️
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2020-03-31T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/03/31/day-glitter-virus-de-corona.html", "tags": ["Health","Overcoming Obstacles","Wisdom","Warning","Choices"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/03/07/theres-poorand-then-theres-poverty.html", "title": "There’s Poor...and Then There’s Poverty", "content_html": "\n“So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, \"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.\" Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
\n2 Corinthians 12:7-10 ESV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/1c417d8c3f.jpg\")
When I say we were poor growing up, compared to others we were doing just fine. Sure, we ate a lot of food from Grandma’s garden in the summers and took the canned jars home that she offered us. We had to make a pound of hamburger feed four...two of them male with hearty appetites. And my dad used to grow a garden on the empty lot out behind our house. I remember we would get half a beef and eat from the freezer for a year. We didn’t have a lot of extras, and we lived in a small, modest house in a clean, safe neighborhood...so we were actually pretty golden.
\n\n\nIt wasn’t like my mom’s upbringing out on the farm in the post-depression poverty of the 1930’s. Grandma once told me, if it hadn’t been for the cow, her family of eight would have starved to death. They grew and canned their own food, had a cow and a couple of pigs, and grew a patch of sorghum for their only sweet...molasses. It was a hard life. Still, five out of the six went to college.
\n\n\nWhen I left West Virginia in 1973, I was a newlywed and just graduated from x-ray school. I headed out into the world with great hopes and joined my husband in England where he was stationed with the Air Force. I couldn’t work overseas without going back to school and we wouldn’t be stationed there long enough to even finish. So, we had a baby instead.
\n\n\nLiving life in the military in the ‘70s wasn’t too bad when you were overseas because you got a stipend for living in a foreign country. When we got back home, though...that was a different story. We were stationed in Colorado where the cost of living has always been higher. We were lucky to get an apartment through HUD housing. It was brand new...had never been lived in. I felt like we were living high on the hog...even when we had nothing more than the barest essentials.
\n\n\nWhen Hubby #1 and I separated, I was still in HUD housing. The only difference was, I started receiving WIC and Food Stamps to supplement the small part-time job. It was hard to get a job when you haven’t worked in your chosen career since school and it’s been two years. I was lucky to find that one.
\n\n\nEventually, things improved. I moved up in my career field, made more money, moved in with a friend and shared expenses. I remarried when Daughter #1 was five years old and Hubby #2 was in medical school. We struggled to make ends meet as I supported us while he was in school. We struggled as he joined his first practice. And then, things got much, much better and we didn’t struggle anymore.
\n\n\nI know I’ve been blessed by that union in many ways. It gave me Daughter #2 and it gave me the ability to buy a house when the marriage ended. When Mr. Virgo came along five years later, we joined our households and life was very good. I haven’t had to make a choice between medicine and food. I lived in a camper for three years after Mr. Virgo died because I WANTED to...not because I HAD to. There’s a big difference there.
\n\n\nOnce I settled back in West Virginia, I saw much more poverty than I remembered growing up. I know ours is not the only state, but there are places here in this beautiful state that are struggling like third world countries struggle. My friend Diane sent me a video tonight that broke my heart. A single mom, trying to raise her kids in WV and what she has to do to bare get by. You can see the video HERE. She is articulate and on point and I think she should run for State Delegate and help fix this.
\n\n\nUnfortunately, poverty is the only “trickle down economics” that is demonstrable. It’s a family disease that gets handed down through the generations and it’s extremely hard to break out of the poverty cycle. I’ve seen it in my own extended family. It’s not the same world where Grandma fed her family with a cow and a garden. There’s an ever widening chasm between the haves and the have nots and it’s our children’s children who will pay the biggest price for it.
\n\n\n❤️
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2020-03-07T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/03/07/theres-poorand-then-theres-poverty.html", "tags": ["Overcoming Obstacles","Anger","Fear","Courage","Humbled","Warning","Choices"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/01/29/dear-reporterplease-dont-ask.html", "title": "Dear Reporter...Please Don’t Ask", "content_html": "\n“\"If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you. You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit.”
\nLeviticus 25:35-37 ESV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/f55ca09188.jpg\")
I try to check in on my social media platforms at least once a day. Sometimes it is to answer questions or to acknowledge comments with a “❤️”. But, often it’s to check in on my own support systems. I have found a wonderfully loving and supportive grief community on Twitter, believe it or not. Something about Twitter’s 280 character limit keeps things short and to the point...little soundbites...little nuggets of truth from people who have been there, done that and are still upright.
\n\n\nI try not to get caught up in chasing rabbits when I check in because I could get lost in a serious time suck if I did. Then, there are times when something I come across really needs fleshing out. It came in the form of a telephone interview with Matt Mauser whose wife Christina was killed Sunday in the helicopter crash.
\n\n\nChristina was hand picked by Kobe to be the defense coach for Team Mamba, his own daughter’s basketball team. She was onboard and heading to a basketball game when the helicopter crashed killing all aboard. Matt and Christina have three children ages 11, 9, and 3.
\n\n\nAs Matt Mauser sat on the phone, waiting for the interviewer to do the lead-in, he was trying to maintain his composure, but as soon as he heard them speak his wife’s name, the tears threatened to spill over and you could hear his voice shake with emotion. As I listened, I thought to myself... “This can’t be good for him. This is going to be so, so hard.” It was. I couldn’t listen for long because after he fumbled around trying to put words together and express his feelings about raising three kids without a mom, the interviewer chimed in.
\n\n\nShe tried to commiserate. “There are no words, really” she said.
\n\n\n“Well, there are a lot of four-letter words I’d like to say right now, but I won’t.” He let out a nervous laugh.
\n\n\nThe interviewer took a breath.
\n\n\nShe was struggling to find her own words, when she blurted out that stupid, insensitive, AWFUL question every reporter asks someone who has just lost someone.
\n\n\n“So...how DO you feel? Do you feel angry?”
\n\n\nHow are you supposed to answer that? And why on earth would you even ask that question? Unless you are not human and have no sense of compassion, don’t you think you could at least make the assumption that he feels_____________. Everything. Fill in the blank. Anger. Disbelief. Intense sadness. Devastation. Confusion. Fear. Pain.
\n\n\nI hate it when they do this. I cannot see any sense in it whatsoever. It’s no different than going on the news and showing dead bodies covered in bloody sheets with shoeless feet sticking out from underneath. It can’t do anything but add to the trauma the loved ones are already experiencing.
\n\n\nIt was hard enough to go through the loss of Mr. Virgo without being in the spotlight. Yes...having this outlet, this blog was a saving grace many, many times. You were my sounding board, my support system, my cheerleaders, my mentors. But talking here about grief was one of the only places I could control the conversation. Grieving in the limelight adds a whole deeper dimension to the experience, I would think. Millions of eyes are upon you. And the interviewer asks the worst question...ever.
\n\n\nHow do you feel?
\n\n\nI think I would go on a five minute rant...waving my arms, spit flying, and tell the interviewer just exactly what it felt like. Then again...maybe that’s what they want. The drama. I don’t know. I think in this case, when I listened to the interviewer leading up to the question...I think she genuinely WAS at a loss for words and fell back on the old standby question to fill dead air space. At least, I would like to think it was that and not that she was just morbidly curious and wanted the sound bite.
\n\n\nHere’s a suggestion. How about we leave the bereaved the heck alone and let them try to absorb this experience and cope as best they can instead of eviscerating them on live television? How about if we make the family off-limits...you know, out of respect. That’s a start.
\n\n\n?
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2020-01-29T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/01/29/dear-reporterplease-dont-ask.html", "tags": ["Grief","Wisdom","Warning"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2019/12/28/beware-of-the-scam.html", "title": "Beware of the Scam", "content_html": "\n“Ruthless witnesses come forward; they question me on things I know nothing about. They repay me evil for good and leave me like one bereaved.”
\nPsalms 35:11-12 NIV\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/2b2b3c82ed.jpg\")
Mr. FixIt and I were watching a movie Christmas night when I received a notification from PayPal on my phone. My domain fee for my website was due. I thought back over the time frame when I built the website and it was over the Christmas holiday. When I opened the invoice, it had the GoDaddy logo and the date, amount due, and my domain name. All official looking. I must admit, I was distracted by the movie. And, the thought that it was odd coming in on Christmas Day had barely registered when I determined it was legit and hit “pay”.
\n\n\nThen the receipt came and it was to a Russian name!
\n\n\nUgh...it only took one second to realize I had just been scammed. I could have spit nails. I know better. If I would have just thought it through and asked myself questions like, “Why would they be requesting money through PayPal?” Ahhhh, but that’s water under the bridge now, isn’t it?
\n\n\nI immediately went on GoDaddy’s website and found their chat feature so I could speak to a representative. He walked me though the whole thing and confirmed my suspicions...the invoice did NOT come from them. I contacted PayPal and filed a fraud report. I got on my bank’s website and sent an urgent message to the fraud department. But it was Christmas Day, after all. Not much I could do until the bank opened the next day.
\n\n\nAs soon as they opened, I was on the phone with them. They emailed a form I needed to sign because it came from the account directly and not through a card. If it had, they would have sent me a new card. Since it did not, I had to print the form, sign it, take a photo of it and sent it back to the bank. We do not have a working printer at the house, so I drove to town to the library.
\n\n\nOnce that was finished, I did my grocery shopping and came back home. I received a message from PayPal that said they couldn’t find any fraud because I had ok’d the payment myself. I called them and finally got a live human being and they reopened their inquiry. In the meantime, they emailed the Russian to hear his side of the story. Yeah...like THAT’S going to get them anywhere! Anyway, I’ve banked at the same bank since 1986 and they jump through hoops to make sure you’re well taken care of. Either way, I’ll get my $51 back. I’m just really lucky it wasn’t any worse.
\n\n\nIf you find yourself in just such a mess, the first thing you need to do is change your password and security questions on whatever site they got in through. That stopped them in their tracks. It’s just really frustrating, but at least I didn’t have to close my checking account and start a new one, or change cards. Be careful out there...especially at this time of year!
\n\n\n❤️
\n\n\n“Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.”
\n\n\nEphesians 4:28 NIV
\n\n", "date_published": "2019-12-28T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2019/12/28/beware-of-the-scam.html", "tags": ["Overcoming Obstacles","Wisdom","Anger","Warning","Widow"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2019/12/02/operation-turkey-day-complete.html", "title": "Operation Turkey Day Complete", "content_html": "![\"‘70s](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/a546b1b66b.jpg\")
“Ohhhh….the food of the ‘70s. We thought it was SO elegant and sophisticated!”
Look at these foods of the ‘70s! OMGosh! Someone posted a bunch of these on my Facebook feed last week and I had to laugh. These are the kind of things my first mother-in-law would have called “tres elegante”. El-e-GAN-tay…four syllables. What is that banana thing with ham and some sort of sauce on it? Or the hot dog volcano? Or that clear gelatin mold with the canned vegetables lurking in it??? I wonder if years from now, people will look back at our meals of today and think “Ugh!”?
\nWe held our belated Thanksgiving Dinner yesterday. Cooking for a crowd is a multiple day affair and this year, everything came out perfectly. I cannot make stuffing to save my life, but this year it was moist and tasty. The brined turkey was succulent and flavorful. The roasted butternut squash was a surprising hit. We narrowly averted another fiasco with the sweet potatoes again this year. Last year, we forgot and left them in the oven. This year, I was going to cook them in the CrockPot. I had them out in the garage fridge and when Mr. FixIt brought all the food in this morning, they were inadvertently forgotten. Fortunately, I remembered in time to transfer them into a baking pan and popped them in the oven. They were perfect. The mashed potatoes were great and the gravy was the best! You just cant ruin green beans unless you burn them so they were fine. I wasn’t as impressed with the way I prepared the Brussels sprouts this year. I made a warm bacon dressing and tossed the chiffonade with crispy bacon bits, dried cranberries and the sweet and sour sauce till they were barely wilted. I think I should have cooked them another minute. The only thing we forgot to put out on the table this year was the cranberry sauce. It was left in the fridge. Have any of you frozen the sauce to use later? I hate to waste it.
\nThere was a pall over the festivities, though. There was a death in our daughter-in-law’s family and they could not attend. They are all in our prayers. After dinner, we sat with the rest of the kids and talked about how quickly death can come. We cautioned the young ones to drive safely. They think they are bulletproof. Perhaps something like this coming so close to home will help them remember to drive carefully. I just cover them with prayer all the time.
\nAnd just like that…it’s December.
\n❤️
\n““See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.”\n\n", "date_published": "2019-12-02T02:30:57-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2019/12/02/operation-turkey-day-complete.html", "tags": ["Family","Grief","Gratitude","Warning","Change"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2019/12/01/ok-boomer.html", "title": "Ok, Boomer...", "content_html": "Matthew 18:10 NIV
![\"Ok,](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/5c8b3bb365.jpg\")
“Ok, Boomer…terms of derision from a fed up generation.”
I’m a Boomer. Proud of it. And, like most people who are “of a certain age”, I find myself looking at the younger generations with a critical eye. As has happened with each preceding generation, the young people are looking at us like we’re dinosaurs. Out of touch actors that don’t have a clue. The first time I heard the snarky, derisive phrase…”Ok, Boomer”…I was frankly ticked off. How dare they…snot nosed little whippersnappers!
\nOMGosh…yes, I just said that!
\nOur generation came along after WWII during the Cold War when the economy was booming. All we had to do was roll up our sleeves, go to college, get a great job, build houses and buy cars and furniture and toys galore. Not all of us, certainly. I came from a poor home. But there was opportunity that our parents certainly didn’t have.
\nThen, our children came along. The Sesame Street Gen X-ers reaped a lot of the benefits of our hard work. The computer, then the internet, then cell phones…technology boomed and the world became a much smaller place. Then along came Generation Y…the Millennials…my younger daughter’s generation. And Gen Z…the children of Gen Y who know nothing other than the digital age.
\nBoomers often call the younger generations lazy, entitled brats who never had to work for anything…who got a trophy for showing up…who weren’t spanked by their parents and never suffered consequences for their actions. If they are brats, we are to blame. We raised them. Well, us and Dr. Spock.
\nI feel bad for the younger generations. We are leaving them with a terrible debt to pay. We have consistently and continually abused the planet, spent ourselves into oblivion, and we are preparing to ride off into the sunset. My older daughter and her husband are blessed. They bought a home before the bottom fell out of the housing market in 2008. My younger daughter is 29 and this is a far different world she is facing. This generation may never own homes.
\nWhile I don’t like “Ok, Boomer”…I can understand their frustration. They are saddled with immeasurable student loan debt. They can’t get jobs the way we got jobs…not when “Text 12345 to apply” is how you do it. They can’t dress up and knock on doors unannounced. They have to work 2, 3, or more odd jobs. And the jobs nowadays are not providing benefits. These kids have to get roommates to survive. They’ll eat a lifetime of ramen.
\nI worry about the upcoming generations. What will things be like for our great grandchildren? And the great- great- ones that we will never know? We have to become more forward thinking to preserve some sort of life for them. Or, I should say…Gen X-ers will. We can’t say we weren’t warned. I guess “OK, Boomer” isn’t far off the mark, is it?
\n❤️
\n“He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children.”\n\n", "date_published": "2019-12-01T02:30:54-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2019/12/01/ok-boomer.html", "tags": ["Overcoming Obstacles","Growth","Courage","Aging","Warning","Choices","Change","Starting Over"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2019/11/30/when-kindness-matters-most.html", "title": "When Kindness Matters Most", "content_html": "Psalms 78:5-6 NIV
![\"Be](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/915ddf5f24.jpg\")
“Kindness Matters Most…especially when it involves children.”
My dear friend Diane sent me a link to an article in the New York Times yesterday. It was a story about the new mayor of Charleston and how she barked up the wrong tree. It seems, in an effort to be inclusive and considerate of the Muslim and Jewish population in our state’s capital, she decided to rename the Christmas Parade. She announced on a Facebook post that the Winter Parade would be on such and such a date…and thus began a civil uprising. Well, maybe uncivil is a more appropriate description.
\nI understand what she was trying to do. And I appreciate it. Having lived 27 years as a practicing Jew in a small town and watching discrimination at work was an eye opening experience for me. It gave me a much deeper appreciation for what some people go through on a daily basis in this world.
\nThe mayor was attacked from all sides and had very few backers. Part of it was the way she went about it…making a unilateral decision without consulting anyone. But the biggest part was the way the world is now. I could have been a mediator by profession because I can easily see both sides of this issue. People were feeling attacked and that, in the spirit of political correctness, they felt the mayor was trying to steal Christmas. When, in actuality, she was just trying to be kind to everyone in the community.
\nAs I read the comments to the story, several of them were from minorities saying they never felt they were “less than” or “excluded” because of Christmas celebrations. While they didn’t observe the holiday themselves, they never felt threatened by other people celebrating. I remember talking to a Rabbi once and asked him what he would do regarding my children’s participation in these programs. He said “Lip synch the words to the religious songs and belt out the secular ones. There is a lot of beautiful music in the Christian faith. I think it’s very important that we don’t try to dilute anyone’s holiday.” That made a lot of sense to me.
\nThis story brings to mind something that happened to me when I lived in that small mountain town in Colorado. Hubby #2 was a new physician and we had only lived in town a few years. One Christmas, a couple of things came to a head that are very similar to what happened in Charleston this month.
\nFirst, the wife of one of my husband’s colleagues was Jewish and she had two sons in the public grade school. There was no mention in the curriculum of any holidays besides Christian ones. She wanted the children to have a greater world view and asked if she could form an ad hoc committee to explore how to go about broadening the horizons without stepping on anyone’s toes. Even though my younger daughter was only a baby at the time, I knew she would be going to the same school in a few years so I said yes when I was asked to join.
\nWe held meetings with the school board. We offered to provide children’s books for the school library with stories about Chanukah and Passover. We volunteered to come into the classes during story time and share traditional foods of other cultures. And, we asked that the school program in December be renamed the Winter Festival. That’s where we ran into road blocks and it got ugly…fast. Our mayor hung a banner across the Main Street through town claiming that “The heathens are trying to steal Christmas from our children! Don’t let that happen!” Those were the exact words. Heathens.
\nIn the historical context, the word heathen means “an individual or a people that do not acknowledge the God of the Bible; a person who is neither a Jew, Christian, nor Muslim; a pagan.” We certainly were NOT heathens and it was a blatant slur…not the least of the discriminatory experiences I encountered in my years as a member of the Jewish community.
\nOur little mountain town was formed by a large ranching and mining community. There were two black children, a handful of Hispanic children, and no Asians the year my daughter started 7th grade. We had relocated there from Denver where my daughter was in a tri-lingual classroom…English, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Her school was a cross section of humanity and she was dumbfounded by the “white bread” community she found herself living in. Every holiday, a large cross was lit on the top of a mountain within view of the whole town, reminding everyone that that “we celebrate Christmas in this town.”
\nAt the same time the banner went up across the Main Street and the cross was lit on the hill, we found out that the cross was on city property and the electricity was being paid for with tax money. This is where I had a problem. I can educate. I can buy books and bake cookies till the cows come home, but there is a separation of church and state in this country and the founding fathers made it that way on purpose. I believe in honoring that and if I would have been Christian at the time, I still would have believed in that.
\nThen, things shifted in town. It turns out the ACLU got wind of the situation and put the town on notice they would be taken to court if they didn’t make other arrangements for the cross on the hill. A citizen donated a piece of land up higher than the original location, and a new and larger cross was erected. Every year, a collection takes place to pay for the electricity and upkeep of the cross. I was thrilled with that because it was not only even more beautiful than before, it now complied with the law.
\nAs time went on, some things in town got better, but there was still an undercurrent of anti-Semitism. When Daughter #2, who was just a baby when this all went down, was in high school, she was bullied and called a “stupid, effing Jew” among other derogatory comments. I went to the administration but the bullying continued and we finally determined she would be happier at the alternative high school.
\nShe is doing well now. She is 29 and married. But she carries the emotional scars from her experiences. This is why I am sensitive to all people. This is why I don’t want the little Jehovah’s Witness children to have to sit in the cafeteria, ostracized by their peers because of their beliefs. I want the little Jewish children to be included in the holiday extravaganza because they have a holiday to celebrate, too. I don’t want any child to feel left out.
\nI don’t know what the answer is for you. All I know is, I personally know what discrimination feels like. And I know what it feels like to hold your child in your arms when she’s been crushed by bullies. Therefore, I say “Happy Holidays” if I am not sure of the person’s beliefs. I don’t care if someone says Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas to me. I am not insulted. Why would I be? It’s a blessing when someone wishes you well. I’ll take that any day of the week over some of the terrible things people feel free to say to each other these days. Because…kindness matters.
\n❤️
\n#KindnessMatters, #Discrimination, #HappyHolidays
\n“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.”\n\n", "date_published": "2019-11-30T02:30:32-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2019/11/30/when-kindness-matters-most.html", "tags": ["Family","Uplifting Stories","Overcoming Obstacles","Positive Energy","Growth","New Ideas","Grace","Peace","Holiday","Wisdom","Fear","Forgiveness","Courage","Warning","Choices","Change"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2019/11/23/let-the-preparations-begin.html", "title": "Let the Preparations Begin!", "content_html": "2 Peter 1:5-9 NIV
![\"Sun](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/c9548c81e6.jpg\")
“At the end of a dreary, grey day, the sun peeked through the clouds.”
We went to town yesterday to do “Phase 2” of the Thanksgiving shopping. I have a tip for you that will save you TONS of time if you’re shopping at Sam’s. Quite a few years ago, I downloaded the Sam’s app on my phone then never did anything with it. About two weeks ago, I was walking into Sam’s with my phone in my hand. I happened to look down and I had a notification that I was near the store. I clicked on it and the app opened and my Sam’s card popped up on the screen.
\nOur Sam’s has started checking your member card again upon entry so I just showed the lady my phone and she waved me through. No fishing around in my purse or rummaging through my wallet! I gave the app a cursory glance and saw the button for scanning your items. As I went through the store, I scanned each item before placing it in a box I had found by the front door.
\nWhen I was done shopping, I realized I didn’t have a debit card loaded so I sat down in a camp chair in the outdoor section and filled in my info. (I would suggest you do this at home and not out in the middle of everything like I did. Hindsight is 20/20.) Once all my info was in, all I had to do was slide my finger across the screen, my payment went through, and a QR code popped up as my receipt.
\nWhen we went shopping yesterday, I showed Mr. FixIt how to do the shopping in the app and it was so slick. No waiting in lines. It cuts your time in the store to a fraction and that suits me just fine.
\nOne thing I will warn you about. When we came into Sam’s, there is always a long display of seasonal items to the left of the door. Yesterday, it was filled with holiday food items and the first display was pumpkin pies. Big…gorgeous…yummy looking pies. I haven’t had a pumpkin pie since last year and I was SO excited. I could hardly wait to get home and cut into it.
\nIt. Was. Awful.
\nThe filling was thick and pasty. The crust was undercooked and flavorless. And there was about twice the amount of pumpkin pie spice in it than was needed. I was SO disappointed. I think I’ll take it back today when I go to town to have coffee with the girls.
\nI really wanted to get a fresh turkey again this year. Our celebration won’t be until December 1st due to work schedules and the man in the meat department at Walmart said they probably wouldn’t have fresh turkeys that late. We bought a big frozen Butterball Turkey but I’m going to start thawing it WAY earlier than I did last year! I put it in the refrigerator a full five days before I needed it and it was still frozen solid the day before Thanksgiving.
\nHave any of you brined a turkey? Last year was only the second time I’ve done that and it makes the sweetest, most succulent turkey I’ve ever had. I only rinsed mine off before baking and I should have let is soak for a few hours in cold water to leach off some of the sodium from the brine because it was really salty. Keep that in mind if you decide to do that.
\nI finally ordered myself a Genuine Granite Ware turkey roaster this year. I got the big rectangular one that will hold up to a 25 pound bird. I haven’t had a Granite Ware roaster in decades. I don’t know what ever happened to my old one. Gone in the downsizing, I suppose. I’ve tried cooking a turkey about every way you can imagine. In a brown paper sack. In a plastic roasting bag. Covered with foil. Uncovered. In an electric roaster. And even deep fried. The best and easiest I have every made was in a Granite Ware roaster, just like my grandma’s.
\nGranite Ware Covered Rectangular Roaster, 19.5 x 12.88 x 7 Inches - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000050AVD/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_3jj2DbRY14ZRX
\nSometimes, you just have to go back to your roots.
\n❤️
\n“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”
\nEphesians 5:15-16 NIV
\n#Thanksgiving, #Turkey, #GraniteWare
\n", "date_published": "2019-11-23T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2019/11/23/let-the-preparations-begin.html", "tags": ["Positive Energy","Fun","Love","Holiday","Warning","Choices"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2019/11/21/sensory-overload.html", "title": "Sensory Overload", "content_html": "![\"Black](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/f374f62342.jpg\")
“Here’s a soft kitty to take your mind off of things!”
It’s a well known fact…I hate television. I’ve spent long stretches of time in my life without watching TV and have never missed it. But, I’ve always owned one and had basic cable. I found that to be particularly important when I lived alone out at the family farm here in West Virginia. If there was some kind of alert or a national emergency or impending bad weather, it was important to me to be able to tune in for updates. I just never sit in front of the TV watching endless hours of mindless drivel. That is, until the hearings started.
\nOh. My. Gosh. I feel like it is my civic duty to watch to see what is happening AND to further educate myself on the material being presented. I have now watched more television over the course of three days than I have watched in the last decade…total. My head is screaming. My eyes hurt and feel like I have sand in them. My ears are ringing. I’m nauseous and agitated. My temper is short. My memory is shorter.
\nHow on earth do people watch TV all the time? Maybe it’s the material. I’m having to concentrate really hard. I also have to pause the proceedings every once in a while and Google a term or a name to keep track of what’s happening. I’m miserable, but I’m bound and determined to see it through to be an informed American.
\nThat being said, there were several times when I had to ask Mr. FixIt to pause the TV and let me have a break. At which point I went outside for kitty snuggles. Every time I opened the door, this little bundle of sweetness came running for me to pick her up and tuck her in my sweater. We walked around and I listened to the steady rumble of her purr. I talked to her softly and told her what a sweet kitty she is. When my attention seemed to wander, she took her paw and gently touched my face to bring me back to her. Sometimes she would move up and snuggle her head right under my chin.
\nWhen sanity returned and the kitten went off to chase a leaf or pounce on a branch blowing in the breeze, I came back in and watched some more. It’s oddly addictive, like watching a train wreck and you can’t look away. Which, I suppose in many ways…it is. These are crazy times we live in…no matter what side of the aisle you sit on. I don’t know how much more of this I can watch…AND…I don’t want to miss anything.
\nWith that…let me offer you a little black kitten to look at to take your mind off it all.
\n❤️
\n“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”\n\n", "date_published": "2019-11-21T02:30:59-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2019/11/21/sensory-overload.html", "tags": ["Overcoming Obstacles","Wisdom","Warning","Choices","The Cats"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2019/11/18/nothings-what-it-seems.html", "title": "Nothing’s What it Seems", "content_html": "Psalms 139:23-24 NIV
![\"Filtered](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/1959318ddb.jpg\")
“The truth isn’t always what it seems.”
The first time I saw a Computer Generated Image I thought, ”Uh-oh…we’re about to open Pandora’s Box here.” I think it’s worse than anyone could have ever imagined. Oh, airbrushed models is one thing. But Photoshop and other programs like it have the potential of wreaking havoc on an already insane world.
\nMy grandkids liked SnapChat when it first came out. They would send funny pictures of themselves with bunny ears or puppy noses. Then the app became more and more sophisticated and there are several filters that can really alter your appearance. True…anyone with a critical eye can tell the photos are filtered, but SnapChat is like the “Fun With Dick and Jane” of photographic manipulation.
\nI was playing with the app this weekend, trying to come up with something funny to send Little. These were my top picks. I had to laugh at the absurdity of the “what would I look like as a dude” photo. And the one with pink hair was fun. The brooding one with the Barbra Streisand nose was intriguing. But the one of the little girl kind of twisted my heart a little.
\nSpeaking of things not being what they seem, have you been reading about these people who think the earth is flat? Like…really. They’re all over the world. They have conventions and t-shirts and everything. This isn’t fairly innocuous stuff like “Furries” or “Comic Con” or “CosPlay”. These are real people driving cars and voting. And that’s scary as sh…I mean…stuff!
\nMy great uncle totally believed the lunar landing never happened. He says it was all done in a studio because there was no possible way people could actually get to and then walk on the moon. Ok. I can see how he got there in his thinking. He was born at the turn of the century. He witnessed a lot of innovation over his lifetime. He was of a more skeptical generation and from the hills of West Virginia. He was a hard worker and a very good man with no secondary education.
\nI don’t think we are necessarily talking about uneducated people when we examine the “flat earthers”. It makes me want to smack my forehead and go screaming into the night. I mean…ok, if the world is flat, where is the edge? At what point does it just stop? What keeps the oceans from flowing over the edge? Is there a big wall around it? How do they explain time zones and why it’s night in Paris and daytime in New York…at the same moment? I read an interview with one man who says it’s not like that. He says the world is actually a dome, like in the movie “The Truman Show”.
\nI don’t understand how people can dispute that base knowledge after over 2000 years of study. It’s not something simple like finding out coconut oil isn’t good for you after all. This is fundamental scientific belief that goes well beyond proving the facts. Conspiracy theorists have been around longer than computers, but the Internet makes it far too easy for such theories to take root and spread like an uncontrolled disease.
\nI don’t know…maybe my dad was right. Maybe computers and the Internet ARE going to be the end of civilization as we know it.
\nThis is the kind of stuff that keeps me up at night.
\n❤️
\n\n “Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.”\n\n", "date_published": "2019-11-18T02:30:30-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2019/11/18/nothings-what-it-seems.html", "tags": ["Overcoming Obstacles","Warning","Choices"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2019/11/08/dying-for-a-sandwich.html", "title": "Dying For a Sandwich?", "content_html": "Ephesians 4:25 NIV
![\"Popeye’s](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/02d8ce696f.jpg\")
“Popeye’s chicken sandwich…does it live up to the hype? Meh.”
Who remembers the Cabbage Patch Kid shortage of 1983? Parents were beating each other over the heads to get the last doll so little Susie wouldn’t be disappointed come Christmas morning. There were adults…fighting over a toy…at Christmastime. Peace on Earth…fa-la-la-la-la!
\nThen, there was the McRib from McDonald’s. Shortages caused a feeding frenzy the likes of which would make any Great White proud. And now? Now people are getting killed. Over a sandwich.
\nOver the weekend, a man in Maryland cut in the “sandwich only” line at a Popeye’s and another customer took exception to this breach of fast food etiquette. They took it outside and it left one man dead and another on the run.
\nA woman in California drove her Mercedes around a line of cars at a Popeye’s drive-through so she could cut in at the front of the line, not giving a flip that she was literally ripping the side off her ‘cedes on the cement barrier that was put there to, you know…prevent this sort of madness from occurring.
\nPeople jumping over counters and beating fast food workers because they ran out of the sandwiches. People threatening to kill everyone in the restaurant if they didn’t get that coveted piece of fried fowl on a bun…with two slices of pickle and a dab of mayo.
\nWhat in the name of all things holy is going on in this world? Are we as a society this depraved? What is spurring this? I don’t know…was this a brilliant sales strategy from the folks on Madison Avenue? Did someone say… “I know…we’ll make a sandwich and we will tell everyone it is the best d*** sandwich they have ever tasted in their entire lives. We’ll give them some. We’ll interview some of the lucky few who got to taste it and they’ll all say… “OMGosh! It’s truly the best d*** sandwich I have ever had in my entire life!!!” And then we’ll say, “See? We told you so!” And then….THEN…we run out, see? We tell people, “You all love this sandwich SO much…we just couldn’t keep up!!! We’re going to go regroup and down the road (closer to the holidays…on a Sunday, when Chick-fil-A is closed…on National Sandwich Day) we’ll bring it back! We promise!!!”
\nSo, what happened? You guessed it…they’re “facing shortages” again. And the violence continues. I was in town yesterday. It was lunch time. I drove down the main drag and there was Popeye’s. And…no line! I thought…I’ll just see what all the hype is about. I pulled in, ordered my sandwich and a soda, and pulled off to the side to eat.
\nWas it good? Yeah, I have to admit, it was tender and juicy and flavorful. Did I swoon? Ummmm…no. I don’t usually swoon over food unless it’s cooked by a 5-Star Chef. It’s fast food. It’s a sandwich. As I munched slowly, I perused the internet reading about the atrocities committed in the name of 660 calories of greasy bird breast on bread.
\nI think I have an inkling of what’s playing out here. Remember the movie with the line, “I’m mad as hell…and I’m not gonna take it any more”? Remember people went to their windows and shouted at the world? People are mad as hell these days. They’re mad about everything and they want to be a part of something bigger than them. They want to BE somebody. They want to be included. They want some sort of bragging rights. And, for under $5, they can be somebody SPECIAL. They can say… “I was there!” “I had one!” “It was the BEST d*** chicken sandwich I ever had!”
\nIt’s like a last ditch effort and if it doesn’t work out, they’re taking everyone down with them. It’s crazy. It’s chaos. It’s a SANDWICH!
\nMomentum marketing. Social media exploding with pictures and over-the-top hyperbolic reviews ( because that’s what drives the clicks). A lot goes into rolling out a new menu item for a fast food chain. Research, limited releases in obscure little places to test the waters, intricate calculations of probable demand. This is the way it’s always been done. But we live in a different world now. We are a nation of sheep. And when someone yells “FIRE!”, we are far more likely to run INTO it than away. Not all of us…certainly. But way, WAY too many.
\nI had heartburn the rest of the day. Pass the Tums.
\n❤️
\n“But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.”\n\n", "date_published": "2019-11-08T02:30:16-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2019/11/08/dying-for-a-sandwich.html", "tags": ["Wisdom","Warning","Choices"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2019/11/06/safety-on-the-road.html", "title": "Safety on the Road", "content_html": "1 Corinthians 14:40 NIV
![\"Camping](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/2dd8cdc79c.jpg\")
“Being safe in the woods means staying aware of your surroundings and listening to your gut.”
There were only two times on this last trip that my antennae went up as I paid close attention to what was happening around me. The first time was when I was at Calhoun County Park trying to see a meteor shower. This park only has eight campsites in the first place. And I was there in the middle of the week after school started so there was no one up there camping. There were people in the community building both evenings but they didn’t come over near me.
\nSometime after dark on the second night, a car drove slowly by my camper out to the end of the park and stayed there for about ten minutes. I turned off all the lights in the camper and peeked out from behind the blinds. The car came back and just drove right on by without slowing down, so the tension in my shoulders eased. Mr. FixIt told me he very nearly came out to camp with me out there but he resisted the urge.
\nThe second time I was even remotely concerned was at the last campground I stayed. Twin Falls is stunningly beautiful, as you can tell by the photos I took. But the campground itself is located on the very top of a long and winding mountain, pretty far away from the main park buildings. At this time of year, the campground office and store is closed and there wasn’t a campground host.
\nOn the first night, I read the story about the couple who were boondocking on South Padre Island and went missing. Then surveillance video showed a man and woman, not the owners, driving the truck and camper across the border into Mexico. They were later found buried in shallow graves on the beach. This freaked me out, I will not lie. The next evening, the man who was camping over on the next row walked through the woods between us to come talk to me when I pulled in after spending time at the lodge, writing.
\nHe told me he had tried to flag down the park worker who had just driven through the campground on a side-by-side but couldn’t catch his attention. He also said he didn’t have a phone so he couldn’t call anyone. He told me someone had come to the bath house earlier in the afternoon and their car was there for a couple of hours. After they had gone, this man went over to the bath house and someone had smeared feces all over one of the stalls in the men’s room.
\nOk, that was creepy, but the man seemed harmless enough. After all, he introduced himself by name. And I know stuff happens in campgrounds. I know how to handle myself and to watch what’s going on. I told him I would let someone at the park office know what had happened and he was grateful. As he turned to leave, he swung back around with a big smile and said, “I suppose you saw me all over the news last night!”
\nUm…no, I did not. I thought to myself…what did you do that put you on the news?
\nI swung the door of my truck closed. Then he proceeded to tell me he rode his bicycle all the way from California to look for the father he never knew. Apparently the news had followed him across the country on his quest. I wished him luck finding his dad and I went to tell someone about the men’s room.
\nThat was the night when the truck started making a grinding noise and the first thing that went through my head was “What do I do if I get stuck here? What if the bathroom vandal came back? What if “Bicycle Man” wanted to get friendly?” My imagination started to get the better of me and I had to pray myself to peace. And ask my gal pals to pray for me as well. And, I texted Mr. FixIt to come “help me check out this truck”.
\nI wasn’t really scared. But I was leery. And I was tired and a little road weary after six weeks of camping. It didn’t hurt a bit to get my strong, capable husband to come help me out and be my encourager. He told me he ran into one of my friends at the mall that week. She had been reading about my journey and she told Mr. FixIt she didn’t think she could do that and didn’t I get scared?
\n“Nope! She’s the bravest woman I know!”
\nKnowing he feels that way about me, and that he worries but lets me have my lead, makes me feel wonderful. I have spoken with my closest friends about this….I could never, EVER have done what I’m doing while I was married to Mr. Virgo. Not only did I lack the self confidence, but he would NOT have liked me being gone. He didn’t like me being gone for the weekend to Denver to see the kids. He wouldn’t have stood for me being gone the majority of six weeks. As a matter of fact, when we first started dating, he said he wasn’t interested in dating someone who wanted to spend much time apart.
\nMr. Virgo liked me being right there with him. When he watched TV, he liked me to watch TV with him. He didn’t like it if I was on the computer or the iPad or the phone either. Because, he wanted to discuss the show with me during the commercials. I did these things because I loved him, not because I loved watching TV. When you’re married, you do things sometimes that you don’t particularly enjoy. It’s called compromise.
\nMr. FixIt came into my life when I was a free-spirited, independent, remote-camping gypsy who spends long hours writing. He knew what he was getting and gives me space to grow and spread my wings. That’s one of the things I love about him. I make it up to him by traveling and going to the beach and never saying a word about his bowling two nights a week. I cook him yummy meals and take him camping whenever I can. We treat each other with respect, honoring each other’s interests, and we have a lot of fun together.
\nIt’s a win-win for us both.
\n❤️
\n“However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”\n\n \n", "date_published": "2019-11-06T02:30:14-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2019/11/06/safety-on-the-road.html", "tags": ["Faith","Overcoming Obstacles","Camping","West Virginia","Growth","goRVing","Wisdom","Courage","Warning","Choices","Widow","Road Trip","Marriage"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2019/10/30/premonitions-and-pioneers.html", "title": "Premonitions and Pioneers", "content_html": "Ephesians 5:33 NIV
![\"Pioneer](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/65a0ff50d4.jpg\")
‘Visiting a Pioneer Farm is a step back in time.”
Yesterday was a strange day from the get go. I woke up at 3:30 in the morning knowing something wasn’t right. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I had an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. After determining I hadn’t eaten anything that would cause such a feeling, I got up, wrapped my camp jacket around me and stepped outside to look at the stars. The sky was crystal clear and the stars looked so close you could just reach up and touch them. I stood there for awhile in my bare feet letting the energy from the earth seep up through my body. When I was sufficiently chilled, literally and figuratively, I went back to bed. But I couldn’t get back to sleep until dawn.
\nI finally woke up at around 10:00…absolutely unheard of for me these days. I’m usually awake with the chickens. I stumbled around, did my morning toilette, then dressed and cleaned the camper. Finally around 11:30, I packed up my writing implements and headed for the lodge and good WiFi. I created a movie of the best photos I’d taken on this WV tour and wrote till about 3:00 in the afternoon.
\nI headed to the Pioneer Farm that’s on the back of the park property. This farm was abandoned for a long time, but people were always vandalizing it so now there is a farmer and his family living here. There was no one home when I was there so I wandered around taking pictures and marveling at its timeless beauty. I sat for a while and watched two horses and a donkey browse on the sparse grass in the meadow and felt more peaceful than I had most of the day.
\nOn my way back to the campground, I stopped at the Nature Center and introduced myself to the Naturalist. Tammy is a cat bird. She has a coal country drawl that put me in mind of the Deep South but she assured me she was born and raised within a stone’s throw of the park. She apologized that she had recently let all the critters go. She normally traps possums and raccoons, tags them, and keeps them in the Nature Center for a few weeks to teach people about them. Then she sends them back off into the wild to track their whereabouts and traps another one to tag.
\nTammy wasn’t originally hired to be a Park Naturalist. She was supposed to be a campground attendant. She doesn’t have a degree in biology, but she has a knack for nature…two and four legged. She was taking campers for nature hikes when the Park Administrators saw they had a gem in Tammy and told her she should apply for the Naturalist position. And the rest is history. She was a delight to talk with. She smiled as I left and called after me…”Put me in your book!” You bet I will, Tammy!
\nAs I was pulling back into the campground, it happened. There was a low grinding noise coming from my truck and I knew that is where my uneasiness was coming from. Something hasn’t been quite right with the truck for a couple of days but I just couldn’t discern exactly what was troubling me. A sound, maybe? A smell, perhaps? Whatever it was, I kept shifting it to the back of my mind…yet still monitored the situation.
\nWhen I heard that noise, I knew there was something mechanically wrong with the truck. And that puts me in an uncomfortable position. First, I am here alone. There are two other campers in all of the campground and I am grateful for them. But they aren’t going to help me in this situation. I do not like being in a situation I cannot get out of quickly. It stems from being trapped in a garage as a young child and sexually assaulted. To say I have control issues is putting it mildly.
\nI went into the camper and made myself sit down and think. What I wanted to do was hook up the camper and get out of here, but of course…that wasn’t the right thing to do. I texted Mr. FixIt but I knew he was working and his phone would be in the truck. Then I texted my besties, Janine and Gail, and asked them to pray that I would calm down and everything would work out. Within minutes I felt much better and realized this whole thing is an adventure and an educational opportunity, so why not make the most of it!
\nMr. FixIt called me a few hours later and he’s going to drive down this morning. He’ll check out my truck. We can tow the camper with his truck. And, either he’ll follow me to a mechanic or we’ll have the truck towed. That’s what I have AAA Plus for. We’ll go home tomorrow. I am so grateful for my friends who pray for me. And I am exceedingly grateful for a wonderful husband who takes good care of me. Wouldn’t you know it would happen at the last park on the last day? But I’m exactly where I should be. I have everything I need right here and I can get some work done while I wait. Thank God I wasn’t pulling the camper up the side of the mountain with no cell service!
\n❤️
\n“And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.”\n\n", "date_published": "2019-10-30T01:30:07-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2019/10/30/premonitions-and-pioneers.html", "tags": ["Faith","Family","Travel","Overcoming Obstacles","Prayer","Camping","West Virginia","Gratitude","Grace","God","Courage","Warning","Girl Camper","Girl Campers","Choices","Change","Road Trip","Chasing the Sun - Girl Camper Road Trip"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2019/08/14/the-farm-is-failing.html", "title": "The Farm is Failing", "content_html": "Philippians 4:19 NIV
![\"Green](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/9a329f48ca.jpg\")
“The farm is the home of my heart…but it’s aging rapidly.”
Mr. FixIt and I have been back from Colorado for a week now. We talked over the weekend and decided to go to the farm for a couple of days because I haven’t been there since the third week of June. I really miss the farm when I’m away and can’t get there. Then, Monday morning came and there was so much to get done at the Ponderosa. Still…the farm…
\nI decided to bring the dirty laundry and come to the farm on my own for a couple of days. Mr. FixIt is capable of taking care of himself and, while he misses me…he understands my need to be at the farm sometimes. He’s a good guy.
\nThere was a hard rain come through yesterday. I sat on the front porch and watched and it was soon over. The sun came out and the green dazzled my eyes. Everything was so clean and fresh. I sat for the longest time and just scoured the hillside and surrounding area…looking for differences.
\nThe power line coming to the transformer on the pole in front of the house is noticeably drooping down low over the road. A tall vehicle could easily catch that. I’ll have to report it today. Also, the big pine tree on the bank seems to be leaning further out there over the driveway. I pulled up older pictures from the same vantage point to verify both the line and the tree. Something’s going to have to be done with that, too.
\nI noticed Monday afternoon, there’s a wild grape vine on the power line between the house and the cinderblock building. None of that was there before I left for Colorado. This monsoon summer has created an overgrowth the likes of which I have never seen here. It’s like a tropical rain forest.
\nWhen I did a walkabout yesterday, I noticed another tree on the hillside across the creek from the house that has split in half. But it appears the uphill half is actually falling up the hill. That has always been the main concern here. This little holler is so narrow, and the ground is shale and very soft. It wouldn’t take much to bring trees down on this house.
\nMaybe the earth is taking her back. Maybe it’s the natural progression of old farm houses. I do know, to bring this place back to life and prosperity would take far more money than it’s worth. And, a ton…an absolute TON of work. We’re not OLD…but we are 66 and 67. The other day, I told Mr. FixIt…if we were just 30 years younger, we could do so much with this place.
\nI think what I have to do is start saying goodbye to the old home place…in earnest. I know there will come a time when it isn’t safe to stay here without cutting down a bunch of trees…without upgrading the electricity…without shoring up the beams in the basement and the attic. My time here is getting shorter…I can feel it. I’m working on girding my heart in preparation.
\nIt’s like the old man who can tell it’s going to rain by the pain in his knee. The only difference is…this pain is in my heart.
\n❤️
\n“\"Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?”\n\n", "date_published": "2019-08-14T01:30:36-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2019/08/14/the-farm-is-failing.html", "tags": ["Family","Grief","Overcoming Obstacles","Hope","West Virginia","The Farm","Growth","Gratitude","Comfort","Grace","Love","Wisdom","Courage","Aging","Presence","Warning","Choices","Change"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2019/08/09/the-dmv-me.html", "title": "The DMV \u0026 Me", "content_html": "Haggai 1:4 ESV
![\"The](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/f960f580b6.jpg\")
“Take my advice…bring chocolate next time you go to the DMV!”
How many vacations have you ridden along with me…vicariously? If you’ve been around very long, you’ll know I don’t do very well with “re-entry”. I’ve never just come home and smoothly transition into laundry and cooking and doing the everyday mundane things. And, it seems the older I get, the more difficult it is to come down off the high of a really good trip. And this one was a REALLY good one.
\nThere were a few little bobbles along the way. The whole camper fiasco was a pain in the caboose but I turned it into a teaching moment. Then I lost my driver’s license. I know I had it at the Quick Care when I had the stress hives. But they swear it wasn’t left there. I called the pharmacy to see if maybe I left it there but they said it wasn’t there either. The DMV told me to print off a copy of my driving record to at least prove to a police officer that I have a valid license and I’m trying to fix it. Our whole camping vacation itinerary had to be changed, but that all turned out to be fine.
\nThe first thing that had to be done yesterday was go to the DMV. Well…the FIRST thing I did was go pick up the mail to see if anyone had found it and mailed me my license. Nope. Then I went to the county building and got a copy of my birth certificate and marriage license in case I needed it at the DMV. I had my Social Security card and a vehicle registration with me. I have the Federal ID on my Driver’s License. I had to show a gazillion kinds of ID to get that. I thought SURELY I wouldn’t need a gazillion MORE kinds of ID to let them know I’m the same person with all the OTHER kinds of ID. HA! I was SO wrong!
\nI stood in the little pre-line line to let the clerk know what I needed. She looked at what I had. Nope. Not good enough. I needed a bill with my name and address on it. Ok, I had my health insurance bill. I handed that to her. Nope. They can’t accept health insurance. I had my taxes. Nope. Can’t accept federal taxes. OK, I said…what do you need? She underlined all the acceptable forms of identification. I went out to the truck and brought back a second registration for a different vehicle. Nope. Can’t come from the same source. Grrrrr.
\nSo, I drove all the way across town and went to my car insurance agent’s office. I changed my address on my insurance and had them print out an insurance card for me. I drove back across town and stood in the pre-line again. Ok…we’re making progress. I got a number! I sat. And sat. And sat. Finally, my number was called and I ran up to the window with a huge smile.
\n“Identification, please.”
\n“Here you go! A registration and my car insurance…both with my name and address!” I smiled. They aren’t going to beat me this time!
\nThe clerk looked over my papers and said, “I’m sorry, I can’t accept this. The address on the insurance card doesn’t match the one on the car registration.”
\n“What?!?!?!”
\nShe quietly starts tapping on the keyboard and read, taps and reads, taps and reads.
\n“What is your husband’s name?”
\nI told her.
\n“And what is his birthdate?”
\nI told her.
\n“And you got your marriage license in this county?”
\n“Yes, we did.”
\n“Hmmmmm…I can’t find him.”
\nBe calm. Be calm. Be calm.
\nThey’ve added a large copy of the law, highlighted, that says what the punishment is for disruptive behavior in the DMV. It’s pasted everywhere.
\nI looked over at the different styles of license plates you can order. And there…on number six…was a bluebird. I could almost hear Mr. Virgo say “Go easy, baby doll.” I thought of Mr. FixIt and how nothing seems to ruffle his feathers. And my shoulders relaxed.
\n“This must be a difficult job sometimes,” I said to the clerk.
\n“Oh, it’s not so bad.” She smiled as she continued to type and read.
\nFinally, I picked up the insurance card. The bottom half was kind of faded where the cartridge was running out of toner. Sure enough, under “Name and address of owner”, there was a typo in the name of the street. But, above that, under “Name and address of insured”, the address was correct. And clearly darker!
\n“Oh, look! It DOES have the name spelled right on this line! See? The other one is just so light from the printer, it’s hard to read. See the dark one here???”
\nIt worked! My diversionary tactic to take the focus off the wrong one and place it on the right one clearly saved the day!
\n“Oh, my gosh! It must be my glasses! That IS right!” She took my money and quickly handed my number back to me. “You only have one person in front of you so it should take long now!” She smiled sweetly at me.
\nRight.
\nI was there another hour before they took my picture for my new license. And now I have to look at that tired, sweaty, grumpy picture for the next however many years. Or until I lose THIS license. Whichever comes first.
\nThe bottom line is this…these people are just doing their jobs. They don’t make up the rules. They aren’t there to make your life miserable. They just want to earn a buck and go home and put their feet up. So, next time you have to go to the dreaded DMV, bring a smile. Some chocolate for the nice person behind the counter couldn’t hurt either. Maybe I would have gotten out of there quicker if I’d brought a little Hershey’s with me!
\n❤️
\n“Now swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants. Show to me and the country where you now reside as a foreigner the same kindness I have shown to you.””\n\n \n", "date_published": "2019-08-09T01:30:34-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2019/08/09/the-dmv-me.html", "tags": ["Uplifting Stories","Overcoming Obstacles","West Virginia","Growth","Wisdom","Anger","Humbled","Presence","Warning","Choices","Change"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2019/08/05/full-up-to-here.html", "title": "Full Up to Here!", "content_html": "Genesis 21:23 NIV
![\"Bumper-to-bumper](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/1645f43e4e.jpg\")
“Sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic up to Eisenhower Tunnel”
When I first moved to Colorado, Denver was a cow town compared to what it is today. In 1975, the Denver Metro Area consisted of approximately 650,000 people from what I can deduce for a graph I found. The population now is over 3,000,000! And it’s not just the Denver Metro Area. The states population has grown steadily….every single year. It’s crazy!
\nWhen I moved to Glenwood Springs in 1986, there were two stop lights in the entire town. If it took us five minutes to get across town we thought we were in some terrible traffic jam. Now, it doesn’t matter what time of the day it is, traffic everywhere is bumper to bumper.
\nWe left Montrose yesterday morning at 10:30. It took us eight full hours to drive 263 miles to Denver! Clear roads. A little rain around Eagle. The majority of the time spent driving was between Silverthorne and Idaho Springs. The Eisenhower Tunnel is a huge bottleneck and as soon as the toll lane starts around Idaho Springs, things loosened up and we made good time.
\nI thought it was exacerbated by the fact I have lived in the country for the last five years, but everyone here comments on it. And I have to tell you, I have never in my life walked into a Walmart or a mall…anywhere…and had the thought of a mass shooting go through my mind. But last night, we stopped at Walmart on our way to Ben & Sue’s house, and that’s the first thing that came to my mind.
\n“What is that crowd doing hanging around the front entrance?”
\n“Is there going to be trouble here?”
\n“Where is the nearest exit?”
\nI hate that. I hate that chill that went up my spine. I hate that I looked in the faces of those around me and wondered what they were capable of. Then I found myself in the cereal aisle and I heard Mr. FixIt’s friendly banter. He can (and does) speak to anyone.
\n“You only came in for two items? Well…you’ve sure gone over on this trip, huh?”
\nI turned to find a Hispanic woman smiling shyly at him.
\n“Yes…it happens all the time!”
\nI looked in her face and saw kindness and a slight self-deprecation at her inability to stick to a shopping list. And, what I saw was no different than me.
\nI smiled warmly at her and said, “Oh, I do that, too! What’s worse is when I come home and don’t have half of what I came in for in the first place!”
\nThis was a welcome moment in an otherwise horrifying set of current events. I am devastated. I am outraged. And, I will do what I can and not just send thoughts and prayers, although those are flowing fervently. My heart is broken for the victims of yet more violence.
\nWe pack up the truck this morning and say goodbye to to our Colorado peeps and hit the road for West Virginia. Please keep us in your prayers for travel mercies but more importantly, pray for those innocents who were just going about their day.
\n❤️
\n“Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.””\n\n", "date_published": "2019-08-05T01:30:46-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2019/08/05/full-up-to-here.html", "tags": ["Faith","Colorado","Overcoming Obstacles","Hope","West Virginia","Growth","God","Fear","Courage","Warning","Change"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2019/07/27/there-but-for-the-grace.html", "title": "There But For the Grace of God", "content_html": "Isaiah 35:3-4 NIV
![\"Mudslide](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/4704c77ab5.jpg\")
“Yesterday’s mudslide west of Glenwood Springs.”
I had two epiphanies yesterday. The first was the full realization that I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. On occasion, I wonder in the back of my mind if it was the right thing to do selling my house. I sometimes wonder if I should have kept it and rented it out for income. Then, we drove through Glenwood Springs yesterday…on a Friday afternoon…on Mountain Fair Weekend. It. Was. Insane!
\nThe second epiphany was this: As we drove into town, it was early afternoon and I was going through a mental list of things to do in the area. I looked up at the gondola going up to the Glenwood Adventure Park and thought that would be fun. But the clouds coming over the Flat Tops Wilderness Area were very dark and I knew rain was coming. Scratch that idea. My next thought was to see if my friend Terri was around in New Castle so I could introduce her to Mr. Fixit. Again…I looked at those ominous clouds and I just got a cold chill. We would have to go through South Canyon to get there and I was definitely being told not to go there.
\nInstead, we turned south and headed to Carbondale. I couldn’t reach my friends who are camping in the area so I found, and took, the last hotel room available in the area. And believe me, they were charging premium prices for rooms. We are at the peak of tourist season and the hotels have to make hay while the sun shines. The rates are double…or more…what they were two years ago when we traveled through here at the same time of the year.
\nIt wasn’t twenty minutes after I decided to turn south that an emergency road bulletin came over my phone. The very road I was contemplating going over was now completely impassable with a mud and rock slide in South Canyon. If I hadn’t heeded that nudge, we would have been sitting right in the middle of it!
\nOn top of all the rest of the crazy traffic, the interstate was closed because of the mudslide and they directed the west bound traffic down through Carbondale…during rush hour…and the opening of the Carbondale Mountain Fair! It took us forty-five minutes to go two miles. I don’t ever want to live in that kind of congestion again!
\n![\"Traffic\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/ffb37d2eac.jpg\")
“Traffic being rerouted by the mudslide.”
I don’t know if it’s the fact I’ve been living a peaceful life on five acres in West Virginia, or if it’s the fact that there are a gazillion people trying to cram into a small space and have fun, but I just couldn’t take the crowds and busy, and traffic, and noise. I know I did the right thing selling my house and I am exactly WHERE I am supposed to be…and with WHOM.
\nToday, we head over Independence Pass and down through the Collegiate Peaks. Mr. Fixit is truly enjoying the scenery and that makes me very happy!
\n❤️
\n““Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more.”\n\n", "date_published": "2019-07-27T01:30:20-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2019/07/27/there-but-for-the-grace.html", "tags": ["Faith","Travel","Overcoming Obstacles","Positive Energy","Gratitude","Grace","God","Wisdom","Warning","Choices"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2019/07/15/a-celebration.html", "title": "A Celebration", "content_html": "Mark 4:24 NIV
![\"Celebrating\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/2806442ba2.jpg\")
“Celebrating a love…and a life.”
When Mr. FixIt and I got married last October, it was really a rather spur of the moment decision. I didn’t wan’t my kids to have to spend money to come out for the wedding when we were planning a trip to Colorado this summer anyway. So, I told them we would just have a dinner together with those we love and celebrate that way.
\nYesterday was our day to celebrate our wedding with our Colorado peeps. Daughter #1 organized it and we had fourteen people over for the same menu we served at the actual wedding…pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw, chips, and drinks. In lieu of a wedding cake, and the fact that we all need to fit in our pretty dresses in three weeks for Daughter #2’s wedding, we had fruit salad instead of cake.
\nIt was wonderful to have our loved ones around us. I really wanted them to spend some time with Mr. FixIt and get to know him better…and vice versa. It was such a lovely day and everyone had a great time. And, today is my daughter and son-in-law’s 24th Weddiing Anniversary! Remembering that beautiful day and hoping they have many, many more!
\nI am so blessed to have these wonderful people in my life.
\nI ended the day with a note of sadness, however. I found out a sweet friend of mine died after a ten year struggle with cancer. Rae Ann and I connected six years ago after I joined Sisters on the Fly. She was the only Sister in my area. Rae Ann had an infectious laugh, a gravely voice, and was the best storyteller. She could make your sides split without even trying. I had the very good fortune of camping with her several times. The last time was after she found out her cancer could not be cured. She taught me so much about living the life you have to the fullest. She was camping and kayaking up to the last couple of weeks of her life. She will be dearly missed by all who knew and loved her. Rest in peace, Rae Ann. You were a shining example of living in the moment and I celebrate your life today!
\n❤️
\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.\"”\n\n \n", "date_published": "2019-07-15T01:30:49-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2019/07/15/a-celebration.html", "tags": ["Colorado","Family","Strong Women","Sisters on the Fly","Positive Energy","Fun","Gratitude","Love","Peace","Wisdom","Warning","Choices","Change","Be Joyful!","Widow","Marriage"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2019/05/08/too-close-to-home.html", "title": "Too Close to Home", "content_html": "Hebrews 13:5 ESV
![\"School](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/57405224ec.jpg\")
“How many more children have to die before something is done about this?”
Another school shooting. Seven miles from Columbine. They recently observed the 20th anniversary of the school shooting that seemed to change everything. Copycat killers, looking for moments of notoriety, sprung up everywhere, it seems.
\nWhat is causing all this? I have my theories. Personally, I think things started taking a giant slide down a slippery slope when Dr. Spock said don’t spank your kids. I’m not for violence by any means, but my kids got a proper swat on their butts when they were out of line. And they are great adults.
\nKids aren’t given outlets for their anger anymore. I was talking with my son-in-law’s mom last night. Her mother was discussing this with her contemporaries in the assisted living center at supper. She said, in her day and age, there were bullies, and kids got in scraps, but you had a row and got it over with. Now, children are handled with kid gloves and they can’t fight back.
\nThey also get left with video games and the internet as their babysitters. You cannot tell me that violent video games don’t have an impact on children today. How can it not? You can’t sit for hours at a time, shooting and maiming “people” in this realistic scenarios and not be desensitized to the violence. It becomes the norm.
\nThis one hit close to home. While not in my daughter’s district, she teaches at a STEM school and my granddaughter is a student at that same school. (Not the one where the shooting occurred yesterday, thank God.) She used to work with many of the teachers at the school where the shooting occurred. The principal is my daughter’s sister-in-law’s best friend.
\nThis is getting too close.
\nThey’re ALL too close!
\nSomething has to be done. Our children go into a war zone every single day. Teachers and school staff, too. This is not the country we were raised in. It’s not the country my children were raised in either. I own guns. But my guns are locked up in a safe. I have a .22 hidden when I am at the farm in case I’m bothered by a two-legged varmint.
\nI pray. I pray a lot. But, something has to be done. Our children are killing and being killed. Prayers are wonderful…but we need more. I’m not writing this to invite debate. This is not the place for that. There are better places for that…like with our representatives. I’m just crying out as a Nana. A very, very concerned Nana.
\nAs an aside…I arrived at the campground without incident.
\nI pray for those families. The ones who got the call. And for the families of the shooters. how horrifying.
\n???
\n“For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous.\n\n \n", "date_published": "2019-05-08T01:30:06-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2019/05/08/too-close-to-home.html", "tags": ["Faith","Grief","Overcoming Obstacles","Hope","God","Anger","Fear","Courage","Warning","Choices","Change"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2019/05/07/listen.html", "title": "Listen...", "content_html": "\n
We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”
\n\n
1 John 3:11-12, 14-15 ESV
![\"Listen\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/14f11a17f0.jpg\")
“Chasing down an annoying little beep”
Do you hear that? That’s what I asked Mr. FixIt when I called him over to my camper. We were busy prepping her for her maiden voyage. (We leave today!) I was moving last minute things from the big camper to the little one. Mr. FixIt had just finished greasing the hubs. I was putting some things in a cabinet when I suddenly heard a faint beeping sound. It sounded like the alarm on a small electronic timer inside a suitcase. Faint…but discernible. I started my search.
\nI looked in every cabinet. I cocked my head this way and that trying to figure out where it came from. It definitely sounded like it was coming from the driver’s side of the camper…kind of near the refrigerator. I opened the fridge. Nope…not in there. I moved on to the bathroom. I could hear it still, but couldn’t find the source.
\nI went outside and that’s when I cornered Mr. FixIt.
\n“There’s a noise.”
\n“What kind of noise?”
\n“A beeping noise.”
\n“Ok. Where’s it coming from?”
\n“I don’t know! I’ve been looking everywhere and I can’t find it. Listen…do you hear that?”
\nJust then, a big truck came down the road.
\n“Nope.”
\n“Wait…just listen.”
\nFinally…he heard it, too!
\n“What the heck IS that?”
\nWe walked all around the camper and determined it sounded like it was coming from the side where the refrigerator is. We went inside and checked the fuse box, the air conditioning, the refrigerator. I even got out the owner’s manual to see if there were some sort of alarm that had something to do with greasing the axles, since that’s the last thing we did before I heard it.
\nNothing.
\nThen it stopped. Ten seconds later, it started again.
\n“Oh, my gosh! You know me with noises. That will drive me crazy. I have to find it!”
\nI went back outside and started walking around the camper in ever widening circles and suddenly, I could tell where it was coming from. It wasn’t the camper. It was something in the yard! I walked slowly, thinking maybe someone had dropped off a time bomb near our house. I got closer to the road and suddenly…a light bulb went off over my head.
\nI walked straight to the trash can and started rummaging around for the bag I had dropped in there earlier and came up with the culprit. The old smoke detector was going off because the trash can was getting hot in the noonday sun! Whew…case solved.
\nI moved on to the next job and brought some clothes out to the camper. Suddenly I heard Mr. FixIt. It sounded like a sneeze…but not quite. I stuck my head out of the camper and hollered.
\n“You ok?”
\n“Sneeze!”
\n“You sneezed?”
\n“Sneeze!!!!!”
\n“Ok, already….you sneezed. Jeez-o-Pete!”
\n“SNAKE!!!!!!!”
\n“Holy cats! WHERE????”
\n“It went under your smoker! Get the hoe.”
\nI grabbed the hoe…aka snake killer tool in West Virginia.
\n“What kind was it?”
\n“I think it was a copperhead!”
\nUgh…poisonous.
\n“Ok…tip up the smoker.”
\nHe did. And this two foot snake started squiggling around. We both jumped and the hoe came down before my brain could register it wasn’t a copperhead. I think it was a rat snake. I hated that I killed it. But, I did. Just like the turtle I ran over in the tall grass in the field later. I hated that, too. I tried to switch propane tank covers from one camper to the other. When I lifted up the cover, a bird flew out right in front of me and I about jumped out of my skin. A Jenny Wren had made a nest on top of the propane tank and there was a baby and a tiny egg in it so I quietly left it alone.
\nLiving in the country is NOT for sissies!
\n❤️
\n“I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine.” Psalm 50:11 NIV\n", "date_published": "2019-05-07T01:30:31-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2019/05/07/listen.html", "tags": ["Overcoming Obstacles","West Virginia","Courage","Warning","Choices"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2019/05/06/i-saw-you-there.html", "title": "I Saw You There", "content_html": "
![\"Hand\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/58bd90f058.jpg\")
“I saw you there…and did nothing.”
I saw you there…sitting on the porch with your head in your hands. You looked like you were feeling pretty rough. “It’s Sunday morning so maybe you partied a little too hearty last night,” I thought to myself. We were picking up the grandkids next door to go to church. It never occurred to me to ask if you’d like to join us. We were running a little late. And…well, you know…you looked a little rough. Maybe you wouldn’t feel up to going.
\nI heard the news a couple days ago. You OD’d the other night. Heroin. The kids said you weren’t a junky. You were “just a partier”. Now I understand why you looked so rough that Sunday morning.
\nThey showed me your mama’s post on Facebook. It was all in CAPS…like she was screaming. Which…I’m sure she was. And still is…whether we can hear her or not. She posted your picture, lying there in ICU, eyes puffy and blue, lids closed, the ventilator tube the only indicator you aren’t just asleep.
\nYour mama says you’re not going to wake up. She said your little boy came to see you and asked his mamaw why his Daddy wouldn’t wake up. She said your little girl is too little. She’ll never remember.
\nThey say your party buddies just let you lay there that night. There were warrants out for them and if they called the cops, they’d get arrested themselves. Man…you understand, right? Right? These were your FRIENDS?! They dragged you to the shower and turned the water on for awhile. They said you’d snap out of it…so they just left you there as your brain slowly died from not enough oxygen. Or, maybe it was already dead. Who knows what was really in that crap you put in your body? The dealers cut the heroin with whatever they have handy that looks like heroin. Crushed up pills…baking soda…who knows? The dealer you got it from probably cut it. How many dealers touched it before it got to you? Who knows…who knows…who knows.
\nYour mama’s going to have to take you off the machines now. She begged you just the night before to leave that stuff alone. It was your 20th birthday. She told you it was going to kill you. She had no idea that less than 24 hours later, she’d get the call. You told her you didn’t shoot up the stuff. You were cool. You’d be fine.
\nAnother mama lost her son.
\nAnother baby lost her daddy.
\nAnother boy will grow up without a man to show him how.
\nAnother wife will be a widow.
\nsigh
\nWhat if? What if I would have rolled down the window and called your name? What if I would have said, “Hey…come with us! Come to church with us. We’ll take you out for a big breakfast after! C’mon…climb in!”
\nBut…I didn’t ask.
\nAnother opportunity missed.
\nAnother man down.
\nDamn drugs.
\nI’m sorry…..I should have called your name.
\n?
\n““I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.” 1 Corinthians 6:12 NIV\n\n", "date_published": "2019-05-06T01:30:15-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2019/05/06/i-saw-you-there.html", "tags": ["Grief","Courage","Warning","Choices"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2019/04/02/sick-tired.html", "title": "Sick \u0026 Tired", "content_html": "“Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself?…” 1 Corinthians 6:15 NIV
![\"Elephant](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/7b69958f86.jpg\")
“Can’t we all just get along?”
Those of you who have been reading my blog for some time know that, even in my grief, I’m a pretty upbeat individual. Mr. Virgo used to call me Pollyanna because I always look on the sunny side of life. I objected saying there’s nothing wrong with looking for the light, even in the darkest situations…as long as you don’t stick your head in the sand. I think I keep a weather eye out for the realities of the world while still trying to look on the bright side.
\nI’ve gotta tell ya…and this is in NO WAY a political post…but, I’m just sick and tired of hearing all the ugliness these days. I keep looking for the God-spark in everyone and dang if it isn’t disheartening sometimes. I read something yesterday that punched me in the gut. Teachers can no longer teach kids the way we were taught. Because, the world we were raised for no longer exists. We didn’t have a TV till I was in school. Countries on the other side of the world were nothing but stories in the encyclopedia. We didn’t have indoor plumbing at my grandma’s house till I was in first grade. We went from that to landing a man on the moon by the time I was in high school. To think the computer onboard an Apollo spacecraft was far, far less sophisticated than a Blackberry…and they are archaic in the grand scheme of things.
\nBetween the Information Age, readily accessible electronics, and Joe Public’s thirst for all things that would have been cringeworthy a decade or two ago, we are bombarded with violence. When I grew up, coverage of the Vietnam War and shoot-em-up Westerns were about as violent and graphic as anything you would likely witness unless you saw a terrible accident. You can’t put smoke back in a bottle. Once you see this stuff, it’s in your brain…and in your heart.
\nMr. FixIt and I had to run to town yesterday to get the shower insert for the new bathroom. As I was gathering my things to leave, he asked me to watch a story from CBS Sunday Morning. It was about Sandy and Lonnie Phillips. Their daughter was one of the victims in the 2012 mass shooting in the movie theater in Aurora, CO. She was with a friend who was an EMS. He was shot twice and he did everything he could to save her, but he couldn’t.
\nAs I watched this story, my heart broke for all of them. I know grief. But I know nothing of the grief that comes with violence. Instead of climbing into the never ending hole of horror, they chose to help other victims of mass shootings. They’ve rented their house out, quit their jobs, sold everything they owned, and travel from place to place pulling a travel trailer….following the shootings. They started in Newtown, then went to Isla Vista, San Bernardino, Orlando, Las Vegas, Sutherland Springs, Parkland, Santa Fe, Pittsburg and Thousand Oaks. The equivalent of a soldier with PTSD running into firefight after firefight after bloody firefight with no end in sight.
\nIt brings them no joy. They still cry every day out of sadness and pain and it’s been seven years since their daughter was murdered. But they do find satisfaction in helping others who are coming up the same path behind them. They are able to hang onto each other and offer comfort to others while being bombarded by conspiracy theorists who verbally threaten and harass them. Their super power is compassion.
\nMy soul is tired. My brain is bruised. My heart is weary. “I can do hard things.” But…in reality, can I? Could I do what the Phillips’ are doing? Could I survive such horrors? I think I couldn’t, but I know God could. I know I had to rely on Him to carry me through Mr. Virgo’s death so I have no reason to believe He won’t carry me through everything that comes to me in this life.
\nI’m just so tired of all the anger, hatred, ugliness, violence, pain, depravity. I cling to the joy and hope I find in my faith. I pray for this world. I pray for wisdom. I pray for peace. I pray for strength to get through a time that numbs me. I don’t want to be numb. I want to always, always, always look for the light. Find the good. Encourage the downtrodden. Shine a light in the darkness. See, here’s the thing…there are a lot more good people on this earth than the media will lead you to believe.
\nLook for the light. Look for the helpers. Yes, I get weary…I just can’t quit.
\nSo, I press on. I go outside and put my bare feet on the earth to ground myself. I feel the wind on my face. I close my eyes and turn my face to the sun. I hug people…a lot. It’s the best gift I can give them because I can’t help but get a hug in return.
\nIf all of these things bother you, too…turn off the TV. Put down the newspaper. Go outside. Nature heals.
\n❤️
\n“Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”” 1 Peter 3:9-12 NIV\n", "date_published": "2019-04-02T01:30:17-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2019/04/02/sick-tired.html", "tags": ["Faith","Grief","Overcoming Obstacles","Growth","God","Wisdom","Fear","Courage","Warning","Choices","Change"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2019/03/28/chaching.html", "title": "Cha-Ching!", "content_html": "
![\"Money\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/94e33bfe36.jpg\")
“There’s an old saying…Watch your pennies and your dollars will watch themselves. I hate when I get caught paying more for something than I should have. I feel robbed!”
I’m really careful with my money these days. I wasn’t always. I hate to admit it, but I was a spoiled princess and I really didn’t pay much attention to how much things cost. If I wanted/needed something, I just bought it. I didn’t pay much mind to grades of quality other than to buy the best I could afford. I still adhere to that somewhat, because I firmly believe you usually get what you pay for. I am much more accommodating when it comes to sacrificing a little bit of quality for a good savings. I also hate to admit, I’m learning most of this from Mr. FixIt. He’s a frugal man and, while I have gotten him to spring for a little better quality sometimes, he has done a wonderful job in teaching me to pay attention to prices.
\nI went out yesterday to pay my property taxes and get my tags for my truck for another year. It really chaps my hide that I pay taxes on my earnings, then I pay taxes on what I buy, and ultimately I pay personal property taxes on those items I purchased just so I can own them. In West Virginia, in order to get your tags on your vehicle every year, you have to pay your personal property taxes. You pay on the vehicle you owned in June two years prior. I owned a 2011 Ford F-150 pickup truck and my 2015 camper. My taxes and tags were a little over $800.
\nMr. FixIt and I were having dinner last night when I told him how much my tax bill was. He thought that was a little high so he went and got his. Now, he pays for two vehicles, two campers, and a utility trailer. Granted they are a little older than mine, but all five of his totaled less than what I paid, so I had to dig in and figure out why.
\nIt turns out, I have been using my post office box as my address, even though I physically live in a different county. If I would have changed my address to Mr. FixIt’s house, my taxes would have been at least $250 less! It never even occurred to me there would be that much of a difference. And, now that it’s been paid, I can’t do anything about it. But, trust me, I’m changing my address ASAP. This is just another lesson for widows to check on these things. If Mr. FixIt would have been with me, he would have noticed the taxes seemed high and we could have investigated. And, if it weren’t for him, I never would have known about this.
\nThe upside, if there is such a thing as an upside in spending $250 more than you needed to, some of that money went for a school bond in the little town I grew up in. So, I’ll just look at is as a non-tax-deductible contribution to the betterment of my old hometown. They’re on their own next year!
\n❤️
\n“Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.”\n\n", "date_published": "2019-03-28T01:30:21-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2019/03/28/chaching.html", "tags": ["Overcoming Obstacles","Growth","Wisdom","Warning","Choices"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2019/03/13/springtime-in-wv.html", "title": "Springtime in WV", "content_html": "Proverbs 15:22 NIV
![\"Daffodils\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/39085ac62d.jpg\")
“It’s getting to be springtime in West Virginia!”
Ok, it isn’t officially Spring for another week, but this is one of the biggest reasons I love living in my home state. Spring comes early here. It wasn’t incredibly warm here yesterday…low 50’s…but the sun was shining and it was a perfect springlike day. As you know, yesterday was Mr. Virgo’s Angelversary and I came to the farm for a couple of days. I drank great coffee. I ate yummy chocolate hearts. And it essentially gave myself a day of rest and self-care.
\nWe need days like that sometimes. I woke up and did my Bible study. Read my devotional. My heart was warmed by your loving and supportive responses to my blog post yesterday. As the clock crept toward the hour of his demise, I thought of Mr. Virgo. I wondered how different my life would be now if he hadn’t died. While no one would choose for their loved one to die, I cannot imagine my life without Mr. FixIt now.
\nI can’t conjure up that pain anymore. It’s like childbirth…if you could actually imagine it, you’d never have a second child. I know it was terrible. I remember my reactions to it. I know how hard it was. But I cannot feel that pain anymore. My question yesterday that I kept circling around to was this…I wonder what yesterday would have been like if my path hadn’t crossed Mr. FixIt’s? I know having someone special in my life makes it easier to face the difficult moments.
\nThe fact that yesterday was a beautiful day helped immensely. Colorado and the Midwest is preparing for a mega storm today. And I’ve got to tell you…other than missing my Colorado family immensely, I am not sorry I moved away when I see storm after storm pile snow up higher than most people are tall.
\nIf you’re out there and you are facing yet another winter storm today, I’ll send you some love and light. My daughter shared this footage from Ouray, CO. Red Mountain Pass is closed from dozens of avalanches with 60’ snow and debris fields on the highway. When we lived in Pagosa Springs in Southern Colorado in the winter of 2008-2009, we had 7’ of snow in two weeks. There were little mountain towns like Creede and Lake City that were totally cutoff from the outside world. They had to drop food and supplies via helicopter. At least Ouray still has the northern route in and out of town open so they have access.
\nBe safe out there, people. Stay in if you can. ❤️
\nhttps://www.kob.com/new-mexico-news/snow-strands-people-in-ouray-colorado/5275384/
\n“I will send you the seasonal rains. The land will then yield its crops, and the trees of the field will produce their fruit.” Leviticus 26:4 NLT\n", "date_published": "2019-03-13T01:30:24-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2019/03/13/springtime-in-wv.html", "tags": ["Colorado","Family","Overcoming Obstacles","West Virginia","Gratitude","Warning","Change"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2019/02/05/happy-mind-happy-life.html", "title": "Happy Mind, Happy Life", "content_html": "
![\"Meme\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/2fa7f003ef.jpg\")
“Making the little things count, because the little things add up to be the BIG thing!”
Yesterday was a really great day! First of all…the sun was shining and we had a high of 68 degrees here in West Virginia. A difference of over seventy degrees in three days…and Mr. FixIt has a sore throat. sigh I’m hitting him with Zinc and Vitamin C. And prayers!
\nI met a friend for coffee yesterday at the new Starbucks. Sue is a budding artist and she gifted me a watercolor of a little bluebird. She knows how much I love them. For Christmas, I gave her a pair of socks that I knitted and she wanted to give me something special. I’ve had it sitting near me all day and it’s so sweet.
\nThe other day, when I learned Mr. FixIt’s family was going to join us at church, I made us each a notebook. It has three sections…a planner, a place for prayers and praises, and a section for sermon notes. I’ve always said I was going to take notes during the service and this was the perfect time to prepare.
\nHappy Mind, Happy Life…
\nMy bonus granddaughter and I were talking about that just the other day. We were talking about the images we look at. You can never “unsee” something. And the things we choose to put in front of us for visual consumption changes us. It changes our brains. It changes how we see the world and how we see ourselves. We have to be ever watchful with what we choose to feed our minds because “we are what we eat.”
\nWhen I came in from sitting in the sun yesterday afternoon, I asked Alexa to play Contemporary Christian music. As I picked up my knitting, I let the uplifting music wash over me and fill me with the Joy of the Lord. My heart rose with the swell of the music…my skin still warm from the sun…my spirit still stirred from Sunday’s service. It’s good that we carry that image with us into the week. The image of God and the Word and Love and Fellowship and Goodness and Family. These are the things I choose as my Daily Bread. These are the things that I will fill myself with. ❤️
\n“Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—”\n\n", "date_published": "2019-02-05T02:30:06-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2019/02/05/happy-mind-happy-life.html", "tags": ["Health","Uplifting Stories","Overcoming Obstacles","West Virginia","Growth","Grace","Love","God","Peace","Wisdom","Courage","Humbled","Warning","Choices"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2019/02/02/its-something-in-the-blood.html", "title": "It’s Something in the Blood", "content_html": "1 Peter 2:2 ESV
![\"Meme\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/66882bf2b2.jpg\")
“The advent of home DNA tests can open a can of worms for the unsuspecting.”
“Dirty little secrets, dirty little lies…” Don Henley / Danny Kortchmar
\nA few years ago, I bought a DNA kit through Ancestry.com. I picked up my mom’s passion for genealogy research where she left off when she died in 2004. Even though Ancestry was founded in 1983, it would be many years before the company went beyond connecting the dots between people and helping us fill in the blanks in family trees. When the DNA kit became available, it was fairly revolutionary. Here, you could go beyond the little green leaves and find out where you came from…geographically speaking.
\nI dutifully spit in the little test tube. I did what 95% of people do when they set off on such a venture…I basically ignored the small print. Things like saving my little genes in memory banks, selling my genetic information to third parties, and linking me with relatives I have never heard of never crossed my mind. I didn’t feel like I was registering with the government or Big Brother. I just wanted to know if I had any Native American ancestry like I’d always heard I had. It’s minuscule.
\nWhen I received my report, I wasn’t surprised by anything except some distant relative from Norway. Other than that, it was Scots/English/German…exactly as I expected. Then, Ancestry started sending e-mails saying they linked me to others who have done the test. It might be a 3rd cousin, 6th cousin…nothing close. I looked at the first couple. Other things soon captured my interest and in my typical Gemini fashion, I was off chasing butterflies in another field.
\nI recently read stories in the news about do-it-yourself DNA testing turning up surprises. Some that tear families apart. What would you do if you found siblings you’d never heard of? Or, if you found the siblings you were raised with were only half-siblings, indicating one or the other of your parents had an affair? Or, what if you were an anonymous sperm donor and suddenly you have 64 “children” out there?
\nThe idea of anonymity in such things is seriously long gone with the advent of a $50 DNA test kit. Something that once required blood tests and a geneticist now is available on the shelves of any chain pharmacy. People are receiving troubling information with very little counseling to go along with it. There are now tests that can help predict your chances of developing such diseases as cancer and Alzheimer’s. How far of a jump is it for insurance companies to get that information and turn you down for coverage or refuse life insurance benefits if you die of a disease that has been documented as predictable?
\nIt is estimated that by the year 2021, 100,000,000 people will have had their DNA tested by Ancestry alone. There are several other companies doing DNA tests of one sort or another. That’s a lot of data out there. I’d like to think it isn’t going to be used nefariously, but we have no guarantees of that. I know people who refuse to do the tests. I can’t say that I really regret having mine tested. And, I really would like to know if I have a proclivity to succumb to certain diseases so that I can a) prepare myself and my family and b) practice preventative health measures.
\nI think I am beginning to understand what my grandma might have gone through with the space program and computers and cell phones. Things are happening now that we couldn’t have even dreamed up when we were kids. I mean…it’s beyond Dick Tracy and Get Smart. This is really crazy stuff and, I have to admit…it fascinates the dickens out of me. ❤️
\n“The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy.”\n\n", "date_published": "2019-02-02T02:30:46-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2019/02/02/its-something-in-the-blood.html", "tags": ["Health","Family","Overcoming Obstacles","New Ideas","Fear","Courage","Warning","Choices"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2019/01/25/thoughts-on-conflict-fear.html", "title": "Thoughts on Conflict \u0026 Fear", "content_html": "Proverbs 12:22 NIV
![\"Proverbs](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/8661a28774.jpg\")
“Look for the gold in people. There’s enough dirt in the world.”
The other day, we touched on conflicts and how to resolve them peacefully. We all have seen our fair share of conflict in our lives and had dealt with it in the best way we knew how with the knowledge we had at the time. Sometimes it’s worked out ok…sometimes not. The good thing is, we can always continue to learn and grow and get better at the sticking points in life.
\nWhen you are dealing with marriage, here is the single most important thing I have learned. When you find yourself frustrated with your spouse…and you WILL at some point…mind your tongue when you are talking about him with others. If all you do is spout negative things, it won’t be long till that is all you will ever see in him/her. It doesn’t take long to go from speaking these things to outsiders to berating your spouse with all the things they do that tick you off. I can guarantee you…if you feed that beast, it’s all you’ll get back.
\nI learned with Mr. Virgo…once I started to notice something he did that bugged me, that was a sign I wasn’t praying for him enough. Same for Mr. FixIt. We all need grace. It’s a wonderful habit to practice with your spouse or other family members.
\nI had Bible study last night. We talked a little bit after last week’s study about the book “Goliath Must Fall” by Louie Giglio. Last night’s “giant” was FEAR. The first question we were asked was…”How well do you sleep?” Wow. Sometimes really well. Those are the times when things are going well and I really don’t have much to worry about. Other times, I lie awake all night long, staring at the ceiling, working something over and over, turning it this way and that, puzzling over how to…what? Fix it. Manipulate it. Control it. I rehearse conversations ahead of time with not only my dialogue, but that of the other’s as well. As if I have some sort of control over how another person thinks, acts, or responds.
\nSometimes I lie there and worry about an event that isn’t going to happen for eight months. “Will I have the extra weight off before the wedding? What will I wear? What happens if it’s really hot. I don’t do well in heat.” All I have accomplished in that scenario is set myself up for failure and robbed myself of sleep and God’s joy.
\nLast night’s lesson was this…when you lay down to sleep and the things to worry about start lining up…just hand them over to God and go to sleep. He loves you no matter what. He’s bigger than all of the giants. Trust him to work on your problems while you’re asleep. Then you awaken refreshed and can live in God’s Glory.
\nThere is a fine line between anger and fear. Giving your conflicts to God, praying for others, letting go of your fears…all elements that can help lead to a peaceful night’s sleep. ❤️
\n“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”\n\n", "date_published": "2019-01-25T02:30:09-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2019/01/25/thoughts-on-conflict-fear.html", "tags": ["Faith","Family","Overcoming Obstacles","Hope","Positive Energy","Growth","Grace","Love","Peace","Wisdom","Anger","Fear","Forgiveness","Warning","Choices","Change","Marriage"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2019/01/14/the-water-crisis.html", "title": "The Water Crisis", "content_html": "Ephesians 4:31-32 ESV
![\"Running](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/36c4208b96.jpg\")
“If a crisis occurred and you didn’t have modern conveniences…would you know what to do?”
An alert went out to a good portion of the residents of my home town Thursday evening. There was a boil water advisory. This happens when there has been a water main break or something of the like. It seldom lasts more than a day. Not this one. What started out as “north of the Kanawha River” became “all PUD customers” overnight. Water was coming out of faucets anywhere from clear to partly cloudy to brown. Some people had no pressure at all. Others had a dribble. Still others seemed unaffected but a ban is a ban.
\nIt was interesting to watch Facebook as people became more and more concerned. There really wasn’t a very good explanation given to allay the fears of the citizenry. And, given we live in Chemical Valley, imaginations ran wild. It really could have been anything. Some said it was still ok to shower. Some said not. Others said it was ok to wash your clothes but when they did, large brown spots stained them. Now, I’ll have to admit…this situation did not affect me personally because we live out in the country away from that particular city water system. But, I’ve lived through things like this many times and it is not only a major inconvenience….it can be downright scary.
\nIt happened fairly often in Colorado. Just about every year when the spring runoff brought an over abundance of silt down into the city water intake, the filters were soon overwhelmed and our water got murky. There would often be a boil water advisory. My cousin has to haul water to fill a cistern since they live on the side of a mountain here in West Virginia. When they get a good hard rain, their water turns a murky reddish-brown. Out at the farm, there is a rainwater catchment system in place, but it’s been decades since the cistern has been cleaned or the filter changed. The point being, there are lots of folks who have to boil water on a regular basis. Or they just resort to buying water or taking empty jugs to a family member’s house to refill them. That’s what I did after Mr. FixIt and I started dating. I had about a dozen one gallon jugs I threw in my truck and I filled them when I visited him in town.
\nFor those of us more accustomed to living a more primitive life, these things are par for the course and you just roll with them. But city people who rely on the immediate availability of fresh water at the turn of the faucet get rattled. I don’t blame them. We are creatures of habit and we become complacent in our consumption of utilities. This is such a first world problem. So much of the world’s population has no access to fresh water, let alone electricity, gas, internet, phone, and groceries.
\nWhat would (will?) happen to us if the unthinkable happens and it all goes away??? Will you know how to collect and filter water? Will you know how to produce and preserve food? Will you be able to provide housing and clothing for yourself and your family? Will you be able to gather fuel to cook and keep warm? Do you have skills or goods for bartering? I worry that the last generation to really have those skills is getting too old to provide them. So, here is what I posit. If you have skills, pass them on to young people…your children, grandchildren, great grandchildren.
\nThis isn’t meant to cause an alarmist response. I don’t think something like this is imminent. But it cannot hurt to stock up on some extra jugs of water in case there is an emergency in your area. Parkersburg’s boil advisory wasn’t lifted until last evening. That made three full days without tap water for a pretty good-sized town. I’m not saying you have to go full on survivalist, but knowledge is power. Be prepared…or as prepared as you can be. ❤️
\n“Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.”\n\n", "date_published": "2019-01-14T02:30:26-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2019/01/14/the-water-crisis.html", "tags": ["Health","Overcoming Obstacles","Strong Women","Hope","Positive Energy","Growth","Wisdom","Courage","Presence","Warning","Change"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2019/01/06/the-pivoting-point.html", "title": "The Pivoting Point", "content_html": "Proverbs 27:1 ESV
![\"Snow](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/ec45847fd7.jpg\")
\nThis is the day that I refer to as my re-birthday. It was the day I hit rock bottom and had to start navigating my way back up. It wasn’t like I really wanted to die. I just wanted the pain to stop. Everything had become so painful.
\nI used to tell the details of this day over and over and over to anyone who would sit still. I told about my relationship to a man who wasn’t taking care of me the way I needed. He’s not a bad man at all. Years of illness and my altered personality from all those drugs had taken their toll on both of us. I told about the psychiatrist who misdiagnosed me as having a chemical imbalance in my brain. I told about how my life experiences, including episodes of childhood sexual abuse, had created the perfect storm that produced that fateful day.
\nIt’s nineteen years now. So close to two decades. Not quite one third of my life has passed. SO much has happened in those nineteen years, including burying my next husband. I am a sum of my experiences, as we all are. But, I am not DEFINED by those experiences anymore.
\nThe person I am today doesn’t resemble who I was back then. The only cells that are the same ones now that were present on that night at the turn of the millennium are neurons…the very cells I was trying to shut off. Everything else has been made new…both physically with the passage of time, and spiritually with my salvation.
\nThe value of the story has changed. I no longer want you to take sides with me and hate my ex-husband. I no longer want to make excuses for my behaviors. I no longer want you to feel sorry for me. These things were all present for some time in the retelling. Now, the value of the story isn’t so much the yardstick that measures how far I’ve come, but more a testimony that…no matter how far you’ve gone down the wrong path…you can turn around and have a better life.
\nWhile my abuse came from prescriptions, and Danielle’s (see my post about her earlier this week) came from street drugs and a needle, we are no different. We were both addicted and we were both saved by the same Grace. We were both snatched from the jaws of death by a loving and forgiving God. He didn’t cause our problems, but he did allow us to walk through them so we could learn and grow into the purpose He designed for our lives.
\nIt’s hard for me to believe that was me…that I was that far gone. I will tell you this, though…I will forever tell how Jesus picked me up and carried me when I stumbled and fell on January 6, 2000. ❤️
\n“so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”\n\n", "date_published": "2019-01-06T02:30:09-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2019/01/06/the-pivoting-point.html", "tags": ["Faith","Health","Grief","Overcoming Obstacles","Prayer","Strong Women","Hope","Growth","Gratitude","Grace","God","Wisdom","Fear","Forgiveness","Courage","Warning","Choices","Change"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2018/11/26/a-voice-from-the-darkness.html", "title": "A Voice From the Darkness", "content_html": "Isaiah 55:11 NIV
![\"Depression\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/f4283b783c.jpg\")
“Depression keeps you isolated from those who might help you.”
In between cooking and visiting with my family at our Thanksgiving dinner Saturday, I checked my Twitter account. Someone was asking a question about assisted suicide. I have a contact on Twitter whose husband elected assisted death when his Stage 4 colon cancer became untreatable. In order to connect the two, i had to pop out of his tweet to find her profile. But when I tried to find the original tweet with the question, I couldn’t find it. Rather than take the time to scroll through, I typed “assisted suicide” in the search bar.
\nApparently, there was a program on about it on TV because it was a trending topic of conversation. I started scrolling down through till I came upon a cry for help that alarmed me. Someone with no followers tweeted “How can I find someone to assist with my suicide?” I clicked on the profile and scrolled down reading tweet after tweet over the past day saying things like “I want to die.” I couldn’t get it out of my mind but I fell asleep before I could find it again.
\nToday after church, I went on the hunt for this person and clicked follow. Then I tweeted, “Are you ok?” Finally I got a response. “I’m still alive but I don’t want to be.” I went on to explain how I understood this. I went through a terrible depression and overdosed nearly 19 years ago. I asked how I could help. The response was, “How can you help? I’m on medicine but it’s not working.” I asked, “Do you have someone to talk to?” The answer, “Not really.” I explained that if the medicine wasn’t working, a counselor or therapist could help as well as the physician who prescribed it.
\nBefore I could hear back, I did two things. I Googled “What do you do if someone on Twitter threatens suicide?” I received a link to the help section of Twitter with a form to report an account if you suspect someone is talking about harming themselves. I filled out the form, hoping and praying that someone other than only me would reach out and this person could get help. After the form was submitted, there was a list of resources in multiple countries for suicide hotlines. I took screenshots and tweeted them to the person. I tweeted, “I hope you believe me when I say you matter. There is only one you. God puts us here for a purpose. Don’t leave before you find out what that is. There is always, always hope. I care.” The response was, “Thank you very much.”
\nI haven’t heard anything else. I haven’t seen any more tweets but I will keep my eye out and watch the profile. This is a difficult time of year for some people. Not everyone has love and light and abundant happiness over the holidays. I don’t know this person’s circumstances. I don’t know gender, age, location. I know nothing except this is a hurting soul and I will do what I can to help and give some hope. Please pray for this person that he/she/they find the help needed. ❤️
\n“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10 NIV\n\nNational Suicide Prevention Lifeline '1-800-273-TALK (8255)'\n", "date_published": "2018-11-26T02:30:26-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2018/11/26/a-voice-from-the-darkness.html", "tags": ["Health","Grief","Overcoming Obstacles","Prayer","God","Fear","Warning","Choices"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2018/11/21/is-empathy-gone-for-good.html", "title": "Is Empathy Gone for Good?", "content_html": "
![\"Weeping](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/43ee847b20.jpg\")
“ER Doctor Weeps After Losing 19-year-old Fire Victim”
We have a problem. Ok, we have LOTS of problems, but one of the biggest is a cultural shift away from empathy and respect for human life. I have long held that violence on TV and in movies, as well as video games, has been breeding the art of human kindness right out of the hearts and minds of mankind. And I don’t see it getting any better anytime soon if things stay on the current course.
\nThis photo shows an ER physician in California taking a moment to regain his composure after losing a 19-year old girl. I was married to a doctor. Showing emotion in your interaction with patients is considered highly unprofessional so it’s trained right out of them. It touches my heart to see this image because I understand him.
\nThe other day, I was browsing through my Facebook feed when I saw a video of Barack Obama surprising his wife at one of her book signings. Politics aside, it brought me to tears. Not the act itself, although it was quite special to see a man love his wife so openly. No, what made me cry was the comparison of civility we enjoyed two years ago as compared to what we experience today. I was just “waking up” after three years of foggy grief brain and what I experienced personally was heart wrenching. (I’m not going to step into a political dogfight here…just expressing dismay at so much derision in the world.) I had a flash of what an oppressed people might feel when they no longer enjoy the feelings of safety and freedom they experienced before. It was simultaneously frightening and sad.
\nYou cannot raise a generation of human beings on autopilot, plugging them into electronics, filling their eyes and minds with graphic violence and expect them to come out a well-adjusted, empathetic society. You can’t give them more and more realistic depictions of murder and mayhem with rewards for killing the most and expect healthy minds as a result. Combine this issue with easily accessible drugs and weapons and you have a recipe for the disaster we find ourselves in currently.
\nDo all people who watch graphic programming and play violent video games become mass killers? Of course not. But it does cause a deterioration of the moral fabric in this country. I know this problem didn’t start with this President. I’m not saying he is to blame. That would be naive and doesn’t look at the whole picture.
\nWhat we have in this country is heart disease. I’m not talking cardiac. It doesn’t come from a single source, either. It’s a multifaceted issue stemming from a systematic numbing of the mind. It’s complicated. God. Discipline. Respect. Honor. Work ethic. Inequality. Imbalance of power. Lack of checks and balances. Broken homes. Latch key kids. Low teacher pay. Family values.
\nI long for people to love each other the way Jesus loves us. And, as long as we hide Him in a closet, it’s never going to happen. So, I do my part as best I can. I shine His light out into the world every day. I pray He expands my territory so that I can shine that light even further.
\nI pray for this broken world and its broken people. And I look for the helpers. For the ground breakers. The outreachers. The radical lovers. The peace warriors. The light shiners. And the tearful physicians who aren’t afraid to show their emotions. There is always and forever hope for a brighter tomorrow. ❤️
\n“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” \n\n \n", "date_published": "2018-11-21T02:30:24-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2018/11/21/is-empathy-gone-for-good.html", "tags": ["Faith","Overcoming Obstacles","Grace","God","Wisdom","Forgiveness","Warning","Choices"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2018/08/27/my-phone-is-alive.html", "title": "My Phone is Alive", "content_html": "Ephesians 4:29-32 NIV
![\"Do](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/af32625af8.jpg\")
“My iPhone is learning!”
“The time is coming when everything that is covered up will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all. Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the housetops for all to hear!” Luke 12:2-3 NLT\nMy iPhone scares me. It’s learning stuff. I have it set to “Do Not Disturb” so I won’t be tempted to read an incoming text while I’m driving. I programmed a whole contact list into my phone once while driving to Utah. Granted, there wasn’t any traffic and nothing to see on that desolate stretch of highway, but that was just plain stupid. I’ve learned a lot since then. But, then again...so has my phone!\n
Along with the “Do Not Disturb” message comes an estimated time of arrival at my destination. And how does my phone know where I am, you ask? I wondered the same thing, so I did some searching.
\nFirst of all, the “Do Not Disturb” message is triggered by the phone connecting to the Bluetooth in your vehicle. I thought it was totally psychic, so I was a little disappointed when I discovered this little tidbit. Then, if you have your map set to connect to your GPS, your phone will estimate how long it will take you to get to the place you go to most often. In my case, home. Then, yesterday…it changed.
\nMr. FixIt and I have a routine. We have a leisurely Sunday morning. Then we go to the noon service at our church. After church, we head to Shoney’s for breakfast. My phone usually tells me how long it will take me to get home and what the traffic is like on the way. Yesterday…it switched. It told me how long it would take me to Shoney’s. It’s learning. It knows where I’m going.
\nHow many times have you gotten on Facebook or Google and suddenly…miraculously…a topic you’ve been wanting to research shows up. In an ad. In a search. In a “recommended” button. It’s creepy. But it’s easily explained.
\nWhen you download an app, there is a Terms Agreement you have to accept in order to install it on your phone. Sometimes that thing is over five pages of tiny typeface that is impossible to read, even if you wanted to…which, who does, right? You tap “accept”, download the app, and you’re in business. The problem is, you have no idea what you gave the app permission to do. One of the most common things tucked in that app is “permission to access the microphone”. That means, at anytime, for any reason, the company that developed or owns the app can access you microphone and listen in to your conversations. Over dinner. At work. While you are….ahem…otherwise engaged. Wink, wink. Let’s say you’ve given an app permission to access your microphone and you have a conversation with your best friend about a party that’s coming up and you need a fancy dress. Lo and behold, the next time you go on Facebook or Google or Amazon, up pops ads and suggestions for fancy party dresses.
\nOk, maybe it can make life easier. But what’s it going to save you? A few seconds…a minute, at the most? I don’t need my life to be simplified in that way. I don’t want the intrusion into my personal life. I have changed my mind about many apps I’ve downloaded. I’ve denied permission and hit delete more than once. We’ve gone way past “1984” here. I don’t want my iPhone (or any other electronic device) learning any more about me than I am will to share with it over coffee. ❤️
\n\n", "date_published": "2018-08-27T01:30:39-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2018/08/27/my-phone-is-alive.html", "tags": ["Fear","Warning","Choices","Change"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2018/08/08/out-of-order.html", "title": "Out of Order", "content_html": "
![\"Outhouse\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/ff7fe915f9.jpg\")
“Thank goodness today there are modern conveniences!”
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”\n1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV\nBack in the day, when I was married to Hubby #2 (the doctor), it seemed like every single bug that came along, I got sick. I had a chronic sinus infection that stretched out over two years. Using broad spectrum antibiotics caused my intestinal flora to get out of equilibrium and I developed C. Difficile. That is a bug normally found in the gut, but it’s not one of the good ones. However, it’s really hard to kill. So, the antibiotics killed off the good bacteria and allowed C.Diff to overgrow and that is not a good thing. C.Diff can kill your colon. That’s one of the reasons its important not to take antibiotics when you don’t need them. And that’s why I’ve been left with a wonky gut that gives me fits much of the time and forces me to limit certain foods.\n
Arriving at 65 finally has allowed me to catch up with a lot of deferred maintenance and tomorrow I’m spending a lovely morning with my gastroenterologist. Let’s just say it’s been a busy day and leave it at that. I know this is TMI, but it’s important to have routine healthcare screenings, one of which is a colon cancer screen. I had a precancerous polyp removed in my 30’s. The doctor came in to talk to me and said it was a good thing I had come in when I did or I likely would have had colon cancer by the time I was the recommended age.
\nProbably secondary to lifestyle and diet, the age for colonoscopy screening is now 45. More people are getting colon cancer younger. Pay attention to your body. Take care of your health. You only have one you.
\nUpdate: My tests went well. As I predicted, the prep was by far worse than the actual tests considering they give you this marvelous drug called Versed which produces not only sedation, but anterograde amnesia. Meaning, you are definitely sedated but not so much that you can’t assist and follow instructions like swallow, roll over, etc. And, you don’t remember any of it if you’ve had the proper dose. Win-Win! They did find a hiatal hernia and diverticulosis which explains my symptoms. A change in medication, and eating multiple small meals and not eating late should take care of the problems I’ve been having. So good news is…nothing bad! I’ll be back in the saddle in no time! ❤️
\n\n", "date_published": "2018-08-08T01:30:02-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2018/08/08/out-of-order.html", "tags": ["Positive Energy","Gratitude","Aging","Warning","Choices","Change"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2018/08/04/not-the-sharpest-tool.html", "title": "Not the Sharpest Tool", "content_html": "
![\"Buffalo\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/3170a6bc4e.jpg\")
“Buffalo taken with a LONG lens.”
“Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid.”\nProverbs 12:1 NIV\nThere are certain matters of etiquette one must observe when visiting State and National Parks. There is camping etiquette and fishing etiquette. There are matters of law. Then there’s just plain common sense.\n
A video was posted this week to Facebook.
\nhttp://www.ktvq.com/story/38792071/video-extra-man-taunts-buffalo-in-yellowstone-park
\nIt was taken by a Yellowstone National Park visitor and it clearly shows a man taunting a buffalo by yelling at it and waving his arms. I am not sure if he was trying to shoo the behemoth out of the way because he was in a hurry, or if he was just curious what the beast would do. Either way, he got much more than the sought after 15 minutes of fame.
\nTurns out, this guy has a string of offenses over the course of his “vacation” and he ended up getting his just desserts.
\nhttps://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/news/18034.htm
\nSurely, one would think it only common sense not to go up to a wild animal the size of a semi and taunt it. But, alas…this kind of behavior is not all that uncommon. People have been gored, mauled, trampled, seriously injured and even killed by wildlife who were not respected. These are not Disney animatronics here. These are highly unpredictable wild animals who could easily put you down…permanently.
\nMr. Virgo once saw an elk chasing a woman down a street in Estes Park trying to get her subway sandwich. He also saw many bears in Aspen with people getting entirely too close to pictures. There was an elderly woman mauled in Glenwood Springs, CO by a bull elk right on her front porch. She was feeding him apples. Mr. Virgo and I were in Yellowstone once and saw some grizzlies at what I thought was a fairly safe distance. I stood up on the seat of the SUV and stuck my head out the sunroof to capture a great photo. Al of a sudden there was this loud pounding behind me on the roof of the car. I screamed and turned around in time to see a red-faced, angry Park Ranger yelling at me to get back down in the car. I honestly thought I was safe, so sometimes these things are perpetrated by well-meaning tourists who probably SHOULD know better, but don’t.
\nSo, the moral of the story is this…use common sense when visiting parks and forests where there is the likelihood of coming into contact with wildlife. Read the rules and follow them…to the T. Ask a ranger if you have questions. If you have internet, Google what you should do. And…like the woman who posted the video said… #DontDrinkAndBuffalo. You might not get a second chance. ❤️
\n\n", "date_published": "2018-08-04T01:30:50-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2018/08/04/not-the-sharpest-tool.html", "tags": ["Travel","Overcoming Obstacles","Warning"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2018/06/09/the-importance-of-getting-a.html", "title": "The Importance of Getting a Mammogram", "content_html": "
![\"Mammogram\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/0a696ca332.jpg\")
“It’s important to keep up with your routine health screenings.”
When I was married to the doctor, my healthcare was absolutely top shelf. Specialists who depend on referrals for their patient load may go above and beyond for a physician’s family. A referral pattern is a terrible thing to waste. I never had to wait for appointments. My doctors always answered my calls. Testing, including my mammogram, was done quickly. And, they accepted whatever insurance paid and never charged me a dime. Professional courtesy, it’s called. I have to admit, I was pretty spoiled. My doctors in Colorado were the same ones who took care of me when I was married to the doctor so my level of care pretty much continued even after the divorce. That changed when I moved to West Virginia.
\nMy insurance changed when I moved here and I could not find anyone who took my insurance AND took new patients. I could find one or the other…not both. So I didn’t have a primary physician until Mr. FixIt and I started dating. His doctor was kind enough to take me on. I really like him. He’s thorough and gives the same quality of care I came to expect in Colorado. I have not always heard good things about the level of care here. I didn’t have a good experience with my mom’s healthcare and that was my frame of reference. I have no complaints here.
\nThe problem with not having a primary care doctor is not keeping up with routine health screenings. The current issue is a mammogram. I had a routine mammogram in September. I received a call a few days later saying they needed compression films and an ultrasound. They found something “suspicious.” I do not have a family history of breast cancer and this mass had every hallmark of being a fibroadenoma which is the most common benign breast tumor. My doctor and I discussed it and decided to repeat the tests in six months.
\nI had the repeat tests done the first part of May. This time the suspicious area was bigger. I was scheduled for an Ultrasound Guided Core Needle Biopsy, which I had done on Tuesday. If you have never had one and you need one, they really aren’t bad. The doctor numbs the area then makes a tiny nick in the skin. Then, guided by the ultrasound, a needle is placed in different areas of the lesion and small bits of tissue are removed and sent to the lab. A little bandaid over the boo-boo and off you go. Tylenol every four hours for a day and you’re left with something that feels akin to the breast tenderness you feel at the beginning of your period. Since it’s been 25 years since I’ve had one of those, I had kind of forgotten what that felt like. But, really…it wasn’t bad at all.
\nI went back to the surgeon yesterday for follow up. Because of the place where this mass is, getting a really good sample was difficult. The radiologist who did the biopsy told me he wasn’t sure he got a good specimen. The surgeon came in and said the good news was, there was no cancer found. But the bad news was, he wasn’t sure the specimen was the tissue he wanted to see because it didn’t quite correlate. He suggested removing the mass surgically and we scheduled that to be done on 6/21.
\nI know this is probably TMI, but I can’t stress enough how important it is to stay on top of your self care. Here I am, turning 65 next week, and having this done. It’s easy to blow it off, procrastinate, ignore. It’s just as easy to wait too long and miss something. My surgeon is still quite sure this is benign, but it’s something that cannot be ignored and we need to get it taken care of. Then they can do a proper test on the tissue and I can stop worrying about it. Get your mammogram, girls. It’s important. ❤
\n“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”\n1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV
\n", "date_published": "2018-06-09T01:30:36-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2018/06/09/the-importance-of-getting-a.html", "tags": ["Overcoming Obstacles","Wisdom","Aging","Warning","Choices"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2018/05/06/sold-to-the-highest-bidder.html", "title": "Sold to the Highest Bidder", "content_html": "![\"Gas](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/445fcc5d89.jpg\")
“Mat boards form a bridge to carry pipeline equipment across creeks and up steep slopes.”
On September 13, 2000, David Case wrote an article in Mother Jones Magazine about West Virginia’s Mountain (Party) Mama…Denise Giardina. Ms. Giardina is an author and was sick of seeing the politicians of West Virginia selling off the soul of this beautiful land. She even tried to run for governor by forming her own political party…the Mountain Party. She was born in West Virginia, raised in a coal camp, and has written books on the failing coal industry.
\nDavid Case writes, “West Virginia often seems like America’s very own slice of Third World. A powerful clique of good-ole-boys rape the earth for natural resource wealth, while the masses contend with shabby schools and inadequate public services.” West Virginia has always been in the lowest numbers of any economic chart. Yet she is (or WAS) among the richest in natural resources. She was siphoned of these resources with very little in the way of financial or social remuneration in the past.
\n![\"Mat](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/2656eb8999.jpg\")
“Closeup of mat board bridge.”
First it was timber. Then coal, oil and gas. Coal has seen a decided downturn in production with the pledges to reduce carbon emissions in an effort to protect the environment. Gas saw a resurgence when drilling began in the Marcellus Shale of North Central West Virginia. Look, I’m not going to get into a whole political rant here…this isn’t the place. There are so many sides to every story. There are people in this state who would not eat or clothe their families if it weren’t for the Oil and Gas Industry. I get that. And, there are people starving who cannot provide for their families because of reduced coal production. I get that, too. People have to eat
\nNews broke in November that China came in with a 20-year, $83.7 billion investment in West Virginia’s natural gas industry, yet very few details have emerged as to what, exactly, that will look like. What kinds of pipelines, cracker plants, processing plants, compressors? What about regulation? What about protecting the residents? The environment? Long term climate effects? Will this knock the struggling coal industry completely out of the game?
\n![\"Gas](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/1f3030b6bd.jpg\")
“Equipment operators work on steep slopes high above a roadway.”
Oh, the praises and political jockeying to take credit for this enormous financial coup has been a sight to see. The sight that disturbs me most is the destruction of thousands of acres of forest, some of which are a stone’s throw from my back porch. I hate to see the land of my people, the home of my heart, being raped, pillaged, and plundered to send the gas beneath our feet from West Virginia to Louisiana and then shipped to China. Yes…they’re paying for it. But, for how long? Twenty years? You know…$83.7 billion doesn’t go as far as it used to, especially when you take into account each section of pipe costs around $25,000 to place. There’s an enormously expensive infrastructure to build.
\nI hate what’s happening to the land. At the same time, my mechanically inclined mind is intrigued by the industrial process, I hate to admit. The other day, Mr. FixIt and I went for a drive and saw where the pipeline will be coming off the hill behind the farm, crossing the road, and heading up the far ridge. It is crazy to see the steep slopes these men and their ‘dozers are working on. There are places where bulldozers are chained together and a working ‘dozer gets lowered on a cable down the hill. Workers are literally on their backs with their feet sticking straight up as they try to clear away the trees, underbrush, boulders, and earth as they dangle from steel cables. It’s dangerous work…as dangerous as any coal mine.
\n![\"Gas](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/e90894989e.jpg\")
“Closeup of gas pipeline workers high up a steep slope clearing land behind the farm.”
Anyone with any land at all has put in mini campgrounds in their fields and pastures and even lawns in order to cash in on the economic windfall created by a lack of housing for the oil and gas workers. Restaurants, hotels, food trucks, convenience stores have all sprung up to accommodate the extra mouths to feed. Again, I ask…what happens in 20 years when it all goes away and we are left with a scarred landscape that can be seen from outer space? I know…it’s an influx of money to a struggling, poor state. Maybe people can put a little money away for the future. Maybe they can send their kids to school for better educations. Maybe West Virginia will invest that money wisely and not just line the pockets of the powers that be so our children can look forward to a better life. Maybe. In the meantime, the trucks going up and down our road have literally torn it to bits, hundreds of years of forest growth is gone, and everything is a muddy mess…all in the name of the almighty dollar. ❤️
\n“You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it. You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell, for I the Lord dwell in the midst of the people of Israel."”\nNumbers 35:33-34 ESV
\n\n", "date_published": "2018-05-06T01:30:42-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2018/05/06/sold-to-the-highest-bidder.html", "tags": ["Overcoming Obstacles","West Virginia","Fear","Warning","Change"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2018/04/21/bittersweet.html", "title": "Bittersweet", "content_html": "
![\"Dogwood\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/32c50aa529.jpg\")
“Dogwood”
We had an amazing visit with my cousin and his wife this weekend. Instead of running around and doing things like we usually do while we were there, I was content to stay put and visit with this most beloved man. Our visits are numbered and I am always pleasantly surprised at his resilience and positive determination. He assured me he will be around a while so I told him I’m counting on that.
\n![\"Pink](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/1ff1dd34a5.jpg\")
“I’m not sure what kind of flowering tree this is. Anyone?”
We stopped at Pilot Mountain this afternoon and took in the views from the top. We stopped at a lovely rest area outside Greensboro and had a picnic under the spreading arms of flowering dogwood trees. There was a wonderful sweetness drifting on the warm breeze as we nibbled on cheese and crackers. We browsed the area on my cell phone and found an affordable hotel nearby and called it a day. We’ll drive the rest of the way to the beach today.
\n![\"“Pilot](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/96b72eb6d2.jpg\")
“Pilot Mountain, North Carolina”
Thank you God for travel mercies. My many blessings are not lost on me. ❤
\n\n
“And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest; yes, I would wander far away; I would lodge in the wilderness…”\nPsalms 55:6-7 ESV
\n\n", "date_published": "2018-04-21T01:30:48-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2018/04/21/bittersweet.html", "tags": ["Travel","Positive Energy","Fun","Gratitude","Warning"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2018/03/19/spring-is-coming.html", "title": "Spring is Coming", "content_html": "
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/cba8453d1d.jpg\")
“Giant Hogweed”
Before too long, we’re going to be out and about…hiking, camping, fishing…and there’s something out there you need to be watching for. The Giant Hogweed was introduced to this country in the early 1900’s as an ornamental plant. It is huge with a purple, bristly stalk and a large umbrella of white flowers. And, it has a clear sap that makes skin extremely sensitive to sunlight causing severe second degree burns than can take months to heal. If the sap gets in your eyes it can cause temporary to permanent blindness, so it is nothing to trifle with.
\nBe on the lookout for Giant Hogweed. Do not come near it. Mark the area with a brightly colored strip of cloth and report it to the nearest Division of Natural Resources.
\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/59892f144e.jpg\")
“Giant Hogweed Distribution as of 2014”
Here is an article for more information. The map shows where the plant has been documented but it was 2014. It could have spread by now. Better to be safe than sorry. ❤️
\nhttps://www.ontarioinvasiveplants.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/OIPC_BMP_Hogweed.pdf
\n“One of them went out into the fields to gather herbs and found a wild vine and picked as many of its gourds as his garment could hold. When he returned, he cut them up into the pot of stew, though no one knew what they were. The stew was poured out for the men, but as they began to eat it, they cried out, “Man of God, there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it.”\n2 Kings 4:39-40 NIV
\n\n", "date_published": "2018-03-19T01:30:52-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2018/03/19/spring-is-coming.html", "tags": ["Camping","Wisdom","Warning"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2015/02/05/premonition.html", "title": "Premonition", "content_html": "\n
![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/b22b0aee63.jpg\")
For years, I have had a recurring nightmare. It's always the same. It's about a seven second movie of a plane taking off over a city. It's flying low, banks hard to the left, hits something with its wing and crashes into water. Over and over…same thing. No info. No location. No date. Just the seven second video. The first time I had the dream it scared the bejeebers out of me. Over the years it's become a matter of course. When I turned on the news on my iPad, the video of yesterday's plane crash played out before me and before I saw more than one second of it, I knew this was the one. This was the one I have seen over and over. It was such an eerie feeling.
\n\n\nLast night I was talking to a friend of mine. She told me she had such an odd dream the night before. She dreamt a plane crashed in the water and she and her daughter tried to get to the survivors in a boat but it wouldn't start. Then she saw the news and it freaked her out. I can understand that. Premonitions are not necessarily acknowledged in the Bible except as delivered by prophets. Modern psychiatry has all kinds of names to label a person who claims to \"see things\". But for those to whom it occurs, there is no doubt as to the validity of the visions. They are real.
\n\n\nI had visions, premonitions if you will, for about a week before Mr. Virgo died. Three times I was awakened from a deep sleep, sat bolt upright in bed…breathing hard, heart pounding. I knew, KNEW I was going to reach to my right and find my husband cold and still. It didn't happen though. He was breathing the even, shallow breath of sleep. The day before he died, I walked by as he napped on the couch. His mouth was gaped open and a voice in my head calmly said…\"This is how he'll look when he's dead.\" I stopped in my tracks. Who WAS that? Where did it come from? The day Mr. Virgo died, we were driving to the RV dealer to pick out our travel trailer. He always wore a watch. He SLEPT in his watch. We were holding hands. He picked up my hand, looked at his bare wrist and said, \"Hmmmm…I forgot to wear my watch today.\" And that same voice in my head calmly said, \"He's going to die today.\" Where on earth did THAT come from? I have no idea, but it was very real…and he was gone three hours later.
\n\n\nPremonitions. Visions. Dreams. I don't know for sure…but I think God speaks to us in a million different ways. If we can just be still and listen, we can learn so much.
\n\n\n❤
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2015-02-05T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2015/02/05/premonition.html", "tags": ["Faith","New Ideas","God","Wisdom","Warning","Widow"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2014/10/13/were-off-to-see-the.html", "title": "We're off to see the Wizard!", "content_html": "\"For God does speak—now one way, now another— though no one perceives it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they slumber in their beds, he may speak in their ears and terrify them with warnings, to turn them from wrongdoing and keep them from pride, to preserve them from the pit, their lives from perishing by the sword.\"
\nJob 33:14-18 NIV\n
![\"tornado](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/6940512498.jpg\")
“Tornado!”
There’s not much that scares me, but a tornado in the dark is one of them. I know it’s probably overkill, but I decided rather than sit up all night peering out the windows of a rocking tin can, I would get a nice cushy hotel room and take a bubble bath. Much better plan!
\n", "date_published": "2014-10-13T01:30:19-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2014/10/13/were-off-to-see-the.html", "tags": ["Travel","TOW-Wanda!","Camping","goRVing","Wisdom","Fear","Courage","Warning","Choices"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2014/03/11/the-widowmaker.html", "title": "The Widowmaker", "content_html": "![\"coronary](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/2433a41182.jpg\")
“The Widowmaker”
As many of you know, Mr. Virgo died one year ago tomorrow. He certainly seemed healthy except for a fairly large weight loss in the months leading up to his death. He attributed that to being too busy during ski season to sit down and eat. Also, his dentures were still new and it hurt him to eat.
\nOn the morning of March 12th, we drove to Grand Junction to look at travel trailers. Standing in the fourth one, he had a massive heart attack and was dead in 3 hours. He had what is called The Widowmaker which is a sudden and complete blockage of his anterior descending artery. The cardiologist in the ER kept turning to me and reminding me it was “grave”. He mentioned there is an increase in heart attacks with the time change. This is due to a challenge to the circadian rhythms that regulate everything in our bodies from sleep to cardiac rhythm.
\nMr. Virgo was a stubborn man. He might wince at a hangnail and at the same time downplay that pain in his left shoulder. He refused to have the complete physical his doctor recommended just three months before. So, as they say, the rest is history.
\nI suggest you schedule a physical this time every year. If you are having ANY cardiac symptoms, don’t try to be a tough guy….get checked! You just might be saving your own life and preventing, or postponing at least, the heartbreak your death will cause those who are left behind. Here is a link for an explanation of this type of heart attack.
\n\n", "date_published": "2014-03-11T01:30:19-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2014/03/11/the-widowmaker.html", "tags": ["Grief","Strong Women","Wisdom","Aging","Warning"] } ] }