Poem - Chilly Winds of Winter

The chilly winds brought rain
Pitter patter oh the pain

Stillness cried it's lonesome cry
On a rain drenched heart so dry

But bitter rain softened the heart
Where bitter reigned from the start.

When the chilly winds blew on by
And the chilly rain left the sky

The garden stood the test
Left enriched and blessed

By chilly winds bringing rain
Upon a heart filled with pain.

Encouragement - Just the We Are

What a perfect time to say thank you to our God and our Lord Jesus Christ for all that He has done. After Jesus rose from the dead, he breathed His Holy Spirit upon us and regardless of the circumstances we can have comfort and peace through Him.

It is all about Him. That's the first step, accepting His gift of grace.  It doesn't matter what you've done ... God loves you and receives you exactly as you are.  Next we must read the Bible ... this is God, Jesus and those led and inspired by the Holy Spirit speaking ... this is His instruction to life - now and hereafter.  Learn of Him by reading and hearing His Word.  Be sure the word you hear is from the Bible.

And God will change your heart ... it won't happen over night ... it likely won't happen in a year, but He will change you day by day for the better. 

Jesus said in John 10:27~30 (Amplified)

27) The sheep that are My own hear and are listening to My voice; and I know them, and they follow Me. 28) And I give them eternal life, and they shall never lose it or perish throughout the ages. (To all eternity they shall never by any means be destroyed.) And no one is able to snatch them out of My hand. 29) My Father, Who has given them to Me, is greater and mightier than all (else); and no one is able to snatch (them) out of the Father's hand. 30) I and the Father are One. 

Project - Pavers & Cement, Part I

I mentioned in my bio that I enjoyed doing projects around the house.  Here's the first of my experiments with pavers, concrete blocks and dry cement.  I've now done several projects with these materials and all for different reasons. I started out small to learn the results (of using dry cement mix).

Here are finished pictures of my first small scale project with the dry cement mix and pavers. This is an area where the rain water continually eroded the soil due to no rain gutters. I used a preformed plastic edging as a form, placed 2 small pavers to blend it with the driveway edging ... there are several pavers not visible beneath the grasses as the other edge.  Once the area was level and the 2 pavers in place, I poured (scooped actually) the quick-set cement. After leveling the cement, I brushed the dust from the pavers and sprayed the entire area with a water hose (very fine mist so not to displace the dry cement).  The cement is about 2" think for durability. I think I used 2 1/2 bags of the 50lb quick set (the kind for post setting).

It was easy and I really like the results visibly and no more erosion. I've done several more project using dry cement and will share those later.  Happy projecting!

In Memory - Celebrate Life and Guard Children and Pets

My first blog will be in memory of my beloved pet ... Ivan.  He was my best friend and I lost him three weeks ago to a very sad accident. Ivan was a beautiful gray 10 yr old feline (mostly human). I'm so lucky to have had him, even if he was a cat, he taught me a lot about life. Celebrate your family and pets ... life is a gift!

I had a new A/C installed 2 years ago and was very pleased.  My electric bills went down and the house temperature was excellent. However, back in April, the A/C stopped working. The repair man was kind and courteous and fixed the problem ... he said it was just a damaged valve on the refrigerant tank, it had been damaged on install and had slowly leaked over the past 2 years and finally ran out.

Ivan had already started to lose weight at this time ... but, it never occurred to me something was wrong or that it had anything to do with the leak from my A/C.  Of course hind sight is 20/20 ... Ivan used to lie on the concrete slab behind the unit ... next to the leaking valve.

After few short months later, Ivan suddenly started having very labored breathing and quickly lost from his handsome 20lbs down to 11. When I took him to the animal hospital, his blood work was good, no infection or disease, but the x-rays showed lung damage / edema. He didn't respond to any of the medications, the lung damage was irreversible. 

I'm sharing this story with you in hopes you will block off your outside A/C unit from your children and pets. It doesn't matter if your unit is new or old, there could be harmful chemicals leaking that kill! The local home repair store sells a wide variety of portable fencing that won't restrict the unit's air flow but will keep children and pets away.

Always be safe ... and enjoy every day you can with your children, grandchildren and pets!