Summer Projects at Thistle Hill Ranch

Our first year at the Thistle Hill Ranch has just passed. It's been an amazing year here. There's so much we've accomplished, and so many projects we've finished. I'm so happy we made the desicion to move here, even though we've had so much to learn, in a short amount of time. My Grandpa used to say, "If you Love the Place, It Doesn't Feel Like Work"!

The before and after of the property is shocking!

Here are a few before and after photos...

The House~

I love this little '80's ranch home, but being on "the ranch", it doesn't quite fit in with the overall plan we have for Thistle Hill.

The plan is to have this home, and the new home blend. Not to mention, all of the out buildings too.

Let's Start With the House...

The brick, and black shutters, (shutters on the large window also, not being quite to scale), give a colonial feel to the home.

Here are some before pictures of the house.

{Side Note:My Father-in-law helped us with tree trimming, fan installations and shutter removal and building new ones! Poor guy came for a visit and we put him to work!}

I couldn't get over all the mud robber nests behind the shutters...YUK!

We capped the black turned posts with cedar. We will clear coat them to protect them from the elements, but keep the color.

You can see a glimpse of the new shutters.

You will also notice in the before picture the large bushes in the right front corner, are . It really made the house seem larger.

Our new umbrella on the back patio, to cut out the intense sun and heat. The patio deck will be getting a paint makeover too.

The painting of the brick, shutters, door, and deck start tomorrow...if it doesn't rain. It's like Christmas! I'm so excited!

The Pond~

This was the pond last year. Overgrown plants draining the water, an old dock, and a several year drought, took its toll on this 1/4 acre pond.

What a difference a year makes!

Look at the fence line in comparison. The water is almost to the top!

We have plans for a small dock, and fishing shack for fishing tack, and a little more shade. Maybe in a year...

The Barn & Corral~

It was full of snakes, and bunnies!

Recently, as of a week ago, barn fans installed!

Don't judge the mess, HA! This is also part of our storage until the house is built.

The end result...Sandy & Baby Koa enjoying the breeze!

I sure loved seeing the new barn sign in the winter too...Goose Bumps!

Next was Tree Trimmming...

We now understand, that this ranch chore is never really finished.

The picture below is showing the overgrown juniper bush, ivy, and other bushes. From what we could see, it had railroad ties on one side. We later discovered, they were all the way around.

Three hours later, all 4 of us, a tractor and a chainsaw later, it was all gone! Glad the boys are old enough to help...it sure went by fast with them.

Inside Our Home~

Not the greatest lighting in the pictures, but it's a peek inside.

If you follow me, you know I'm compelled to change in my decor. So this is the latest change. I moved the shedding plant to my patio. I was tired of cleaning up leaves. You can catch a glimpse of the before, in the above photo.

Entrance~

Dining Room

 

Preston's Bedroom

Landen's Bedroom

Not a fan of ceiling fans, but it's staying. Notice the printer in the corner, that's on my desk/ side table. We were really pleased at the size of this master bedroom. It's very comfortable and has an ensuite bathroom.

So what's next?

There is just so much on the list! New house, arena, and barn to build. Not necessarily in that order, but that is on the top 5 of the triage list. We just keep plugging away!

The Summer includes homeschooling a bit this summer with Math, and workbooks to keep their minds going. Horseback riding lessons continued, and fishing, fishing, fishing.

This was during Grandpa Ralph's visit...can you say "Boy Heaven"?

My Favorite!

Hope you had a great 4th of July! Last year we celebrated at The Whitesboro Rodeo. This year at home, at Thistle Hill Ranch.

Check back soon for the pictures of the AFTER on the house!

Have a Great Week!

 

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Unique Passion or is it a DNA Memory?

Have you ever gone antique shopping, collected certain items, or wanted to learn a language and wondered why you really like these things, when it really has nothing to do with anything, except that you like it?

My sister collected lighthouses, in the form of miniatures, art, etc., She never knew why she liked them so much...she just did!

We both have always LOVED the East Coast, and fell in love with Massachusetts. The history, the lush green countryside, the historic homes, on and on. I have always loved the coastal style of home, decor, etc.

Three or four years ago, {I've lost track now}, we started our Family History Journey. I know I'm probably being redundant, as I have shared a lot of this already; but, I still feel the need to share and put an all important question out there..

Could it be possible, that your DNA has a memory?

We all have passions, likes/dislikes, hobbies, or even extreme fascinations with certain cultures. But have you ever wondered if it's something deeper than, "it just interests me"?

The reason I ask this, is because through this journey of researching our family history, many "isn't that weird?" moments kept happening. At some point you start to think maybe this is more than coincidence.

Let me explain...

I'm 41 now, and when I was 24 and living in Honolulu, Hawaii for a short time, to be near my Dad and his family, I was working in the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center. One of my coworkers suggested that while on my lunch break, I stop by the psychic fair and get a "reading". I was single, and wanted to find out why, at that point in my life, I was still having trouble finding "The One"!

What else does a 20'something single girl ask a "psychic", Ha!

So...why not!

She was a young late 20-something "psychic", and I asked her the above question.

Her response was this...

"This is interesting...I see a very large ship, with large sails, like from a long long time ago. I see you. You have 3 children. Something happened and your husband died, and left you with the 3 children. Until you get over the loss of him, you won't be able to move on and find your true love."

I walked away thinking that was the most random and bizarre "reading" and made absolutely no sense!

Fast forward 14 or so years later, and Heather and I discover in our research that our Great Grandmothers Grandfather was a whaling captain in Honolulu. That was shocking enough, then I found this...

Notice the last obituary...

 

At this point, we find out it took over 6 months for our 3rd Great Grandmother to find out her husband died. We just felt sad. Then, later that evening, I kept rereading the obituary in my head.

Then, it HIT ME!

"Leaves a wife and three children to mourn his loss."

All of a sudden I remembered that "random" psychic reading, that didn't seem so random anymore!

Then, we find out he was from Lowell Massachusetts, his best friend married our 3rd Great Grandmother, and he was also a whaling captain, and in his retirement he was a lighthouse keeper in Honolulu.

Are you kidding me!

So now, the lighthouses, affinity for anything Nantucket, nautical, etc, all of a sudden makes scary sense to both my sister and me!

I bought this print below,10 years ago. I found it in a thrift store, and had to have it!

Turns out it's the Charles W. Morgan in Mystic, Connecticut, which was an American whaling ship.

Another, "Holy WOW", moment when I looked at this print with new eyes, after our research.

I put my questions about the elusive Dennis (Denis) Kelly on a whaling online forum. And in a twist of fate, a friend of a relative, saw the post and recognized the story. She told our cousin, who lives in Californina, and she got in touch with me! In another twist of fate her son was living in Texas too! The next thing I know, she comes for a visit!

This is all of us together last week, here at Thistle Hill Ranch!

Her boyfriend, her in the middle next to me, her daughter in-law and son Kelly...notice the name Kelly? Yes, it's from Dennis Kelly.

I somehow know our relatives that have passed on made this happen! It was the most amazing 3 hours. I felt like I had known them my whole life. So comfortable and so much fun!

I know people casually say they believe in fate, or that their loved ones are still with them, and you casually agree.

But, if you really think about it, do you ever wonder about those "loved ones" you've never met? What if they love us, and know us; yet we've never met? What if they want us to know them so badly, they latch on to our passions, and push us in directions to find them, know them, and love them too?

I think so often when we research our family tree, it's just a bunch of names and dates. Never any stories, never any pictures, never a "real" person. So how could you possibly get a real picture of who they were?

Watch any show like "Who do you think you are?", or "Genealogy Roadshow", and see their individual journeys. It all seems to start out the same way...looking for a name, date, and some more information. Then, you hear, stories like Brook Shields, finding out she had history in France, as in royalty. She mentioned she wanted to learn French, had traveled to France, loved everything French, and never knew she had a genealogical history in France!

There are many stories like this!

I have loved our journey immensely. NOTHING is a coincidence anymore, I look at everything differently now.

My sister Heather brought this question to mind... {and forgive me Heather if I've chopped up your idea, but I think this is pretty close!}

~What if we don't just pass down eye color, hair color, and health. What if we pass down memories? What if we pass down passions or fears?

For example, when were afraid of certain things, for no reason at all! No previous experiences with that fear, we are just afraid!

I know... It really makes you think!

Ironically, several years after she proposed this idea, a study came out about this exact thing a year ago.

Here is the link:

http://themindunleashed.org/2014/01/scientists-found-memories-may-passed-generations-dna.html

So the next time someone asks you why you started a certain hobby, collection, or career choice, stop and think. It could be genetic! Your 4th Great Grandfather may have been an architect, whaler, scientist, lighthouse captain, artist etc.

It may not be as random a career choice or passion as you think.

Don't you just LOVE science?

Have a Great Weekend!

And when your out gardening, sailing, antiquing, etc. this weekend, stop and think... like one of my Pinterest Boards Titles

"Family History~I wonder if ?..."

 

 

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Summer is Almost Here at Thistle Hill Ranch!

I can't believe it's taken me so long to post on my Blog!

Rushing to finish up with school so they don't go to far into June, rains putting a damper on every ranch duty, {Pun Intended}, and technical difficulties.

I had issues with storage on my phone, uploaded photos to my laptop and apparently didn't know that would delete them from my blog! Who knew???? I have no clue how to correct the issue, so if you see random missing photos in previous blog posts, well...now you know why! So bizarre. Sometimes I hate technology, and my lack of knowledge in the field. UGH!

Moving on...

Our Homeschool year 2014-15 is coming to a long close! This has been the LONGEST year Evvvvveeeeer!

We learned we do not like the math program we chose for this year...it's not enough practice, (so we supplemented), yet, too many lessons for a normal school year, so Double YUK! You live and you learn, and thank god for a knowledgable tutor.

We finished the entire book of Mythology, that covered Greek, Roman, and Norse gods, "Mythology", by Edith Hamilton. We loved learning all the gods and goddesses, for me it was a slight repeat of a High School; although, I'm pretty sure we didn't read the WHOLE book. We read this while learning Ancient History, Greek, and Roman History at the same time. I found that the boys were coming to me bringing examples of Greek and Roman influences in society, architecture, art, and even modern advertisements.

We had a very busy year of homeschooling and ranching, but somehow we managed it. While coming to a close in our school year, I stumbled on an ad for music lessons. They are an amazing family, that I'm lucky enough to get to visit with, while the dad/husband teaches my boys guitar.

They live in an amazing home that they've built all on their own. They keep telling me all they want to do with it, and looking around you see it is technically in various stages of renovation or construction. Yet to me, it's perfect! It's so welcoming and cpmfortable. It could be the beautiful spirit of the family. I feel very lucky to have stumbled on them to teach my boys. The boys feel lucky too!

Here is their darling momma cat with her babies.

This is the head of the family, Mr. Grubb, who has made guitar so much fun, that the boys practice without reminders. Thanks to Mr. Grubb, we may have campfire songs after all.

Back to ranching!

The prep/clean-up for Summer begins!

And here we are in FULL Thistle Hill Ranch Bloom! Purple Thistles Galore!

The rain in our area has been relentless, as I'm sure most of you have heard...Texas is a swamp!

The rain has held us back from a lot of ranch duties. This just means twice the amount of work, which means I stress out and freak out!

Last week, we had a few hours to get up the temporary fencing of chicken wire, to start training the ducks and geese to swim and come back to the coop.

Guess who did the fencing? Oh My GOSH...it was ME! I swore I would never put my pinky toenail in water I couldn't see my toe in...well, I guess sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

My hair went into a bun, and into the pond I went! I won't lie, it was so slimy and disgusting. Not to mention, any person who has ever watched the movie "Lonesome Dove", has that fear of going in any Texas water after a rain..."WATER MOCCASIN!" Is all I could hear in my head for the first few minutes.

 

But, I got the job done and the ducks and geese LOVE it!

 

For those of you that don't already know, we call our weekend the days my husband has off. He's off Wednesday and Thursday. So today being Wednesday, it's the beginning of our weekend. We finally have some sunshine, and at 6AM, we got up and got the day going before the storms roll in this afternoon.

First we dropped off Momma Sandy and baby at our vets for Sandy to be bred. Hopefully if all goes well, we'll get her at the end of the week. Her buddies Bailey and Classy had a hard time watching her leave. It was so sad...

Baby Koa wanted to be right by Mom, and Momma Sandy was happy to be able to see his face.

See you soon Sandy and baby Koa!

Then we returned to inspect fences after the storm and get started on projects.

Here is a picture of our normally dry creek bed overflowing this week, and moving water into the real creek.

When the rain receded, we discovered rock formations that have been revealed after all the dirt and sedement has washed away. The creek looks new to me again, almost unrecognizable.

Wildflowers are everywhere...I never tire of them!

Finding critter prints along the creek makes me smile. So much we don't see, that's happening here at the ranch.

While finishing things at the barn, Daisy called to us to let her in the back pasture with her girls. I guess she was ready to be a Nanny again to her girls, after a two week vacation with the horses in the front pasture.

Today the main focus was on Duck Mahal. It was so disgusting, I had a hard time even standing by it! "Gagging"!

But, luckily my guys helped out and we got it all done! Hopefully we'll get some nice days next week, so I can get my shelves up and the outside plantings around the duck coop finished.

Have I mentioned how much I hate pending projects?

HAAAATE Them!

But....I wait!

Luckily today we have a little sunshine before the afternoon storms. But the clouds are already closing in.

Below is what I call the Hobbit Tree. The previous owners stacked fence posts around the base of the tree, and I won't let anyone move them. They make the tree look like something in the Shire.

But, hard work and rummaging in ponds and around the woods does have it's dangers. I'm not afraid of bugs, but there is something about them in my hair that makes squeal like I'm 5!

I was so itchy and shaky after pulling it out of my scalp, I couldn't even take a good picture!

 

So, off to the Doctor I go. This was a week ago, but a few "iffy" symptoms warrant a check. So pray it's not Lyme. So gross, so gross, so gross!

Preston got it last Summer, and after antibiotics is Lyme free. Hats, Deep Woods Off spray, and you can still get critters on ya! So always check yourself and loved ones...have I mentioned it itches and it's gross? What do you do? Check for ticks and if you get one get checked out.

Lots to do, but somehow it never gets old and we always love the rewards! Thistle Hill Ranch is a true example of a labor of love.

Do what you love, love what you do, and SNAP the jobs a game...wait...I'm pretty sure I mixed Mary Poppins and Confucious, LOL!

I will leave you now with pictures of baby birds about to leave the nest, snuggling before the rains come in; and our beautiful sunset here last night.

Have a Great Week!

 

 

 

 

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