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Everyone Lends a Hand!
Our Friends from Georgia Return to DHR
On Saturday March 27 we welcomed a group of old friends from Blythe Island Baptist Church, road-weary from driving all the way from the village of Brunswick, GA, located on the Atlantic shore, for their third mission trip to Down Home Ranch.
The Blythe Island Church symbol,
in the west window of the barn
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In 2006 the Blythe Islanders framed up our beautiful six-stall, raised center aisle barn, which is also where Judy and Jerry have their offices. The barn has a tack room, vet/wash stand, full bath with shower for grubby barn workers, and an apartment upstairs where Brian, Ranch Grower, resides. The Blythe Islanders returned in 2008 to finish out the barn.
The group continued work begun during PUSH week in March, building a second deck behind the Pavilion, expanding usable space for Ranchers and Ranch Campers, finishing the Village lighting project, and setting up a run for the Chicken Hilton. And there's always the Virginia Reel to learn with our Ranchers and staff on Dance Night.
It is always a blessing to welcome back good friends who love the Ranch and those who live and work here.
Everyone Lends a Hand!
PUSH America and Campers on Mission, Texas are joining hands to help Down Home Ranch. Thirty young men from PUSH America, members of Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity Chapters at Texas Christian, the University of Texas at Arlington, the University of Houston, Colorado State, Iowa State, and Embry Riddle (AZ) Universities, came to the Ranch March 13th to work with volunteers from Campers on Mission, Texas through Spring Break.
PUSH guys are joined by four COM couples: Paul and Pat Cude, George and Lee Singleton, Larry and Rita Frantzen, and Dwain and Rosemary Jones. The COM men are skilled craftsmen, and are serving as project leaders this week. Together these two groups moving the Ranch dramatically forward by completing several very important projects:
Elegant lanterns will light the
Village after dark
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The Village by Lamplight
We and our Ranchers have waited for years for permanent lighting in the Village so we can be safely out and about after dark. The PUSH men have augered holes and dropped in 4" X 4" cedar posts, leveling and securing them with concrete footings. Then they cut trenches, ran the electrical wire, hung the lanterns, hooked them up and voila! The Village by Lamplight—a tremendous increase in quality of life.
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A fine home for
feathered friends
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The Chicken Hilton
The men of COM have been building something else we've been needing for several years, ever since the first one burned down with the barn fire and we outgrew the second—a new chicken coop! Fittingly, since the COM-ers travel in RVs, it's even portable so we'll be able to periodically relocate the birds to new scratching grounds. This coop will be so well made, and so durable and beautiful (the guys have dubbed it "The Chicken Hilton"), it should last us for years and years to come.
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Building a fence to last
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Do Fence Us In!
Another thing we've needed for many years is to close in the last half-mile of the Ranch's perimeter, so that when our horses or cattle slip out of the pasture there will be no chance of their wandering out on to the highway. Don Churchill and his Operations team have been working with PUSH on a five-strand barbed-wire fence on the north side of our property. This is muscle-crunching work, and as you can see by the size of the poles going into the holes, this fence will last for years to come.
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Bella munches happily away
on the spring grass
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Horse Heaven
George Singleton and grandson Heath, along with other COM members, built a "run-in" for our three miniature horses, Dash, Mingo and Bella, who were recently donated to the Ranch by Candace Allert of Wimberley. The structure will provide protection from, sun, rain and wind for the little critters. Besides being darned cute out there in their little pasture, the minis are useful for equestrian skills training for our Ranchers and campers.
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DHR's Foreman Pat Tatroe
and a volunteer work on
the Pavilion deck
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Deal Us In!
On the deck, that is! On the back (north) side of the Pavilion a new 60' X 12' deck is being erected by PUSH and COM men. It takes up a sloping space that wasn't very usable, but will now be a favorite spot to sit under an umbrella at a patio table and enjoy a glass of iced tea. The deck will also provide more resting, meeting, and activity space for the 500 Ranch Campers we'll host this summer.
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Rita, Rosemary, and Pat haul
a 50-lb bag of flour
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Food, Glorious Food
Needless to say, with all these PUSH men and COM helpers, someone's got to be busy in the kitchen. Thankfully, the ladies COM are putting in their fourth year of providing meals for the entire group. They're cooking up a lot of very good grub and the guys all love it.
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Rosemary and Pat showing off a tote for a lucky Ranch Camper
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Stitched with Love
The COM ladies, when not in the kitchen, are busily putting together 500 fabric tote bags so that each of our campers can take home his or her summer memories in a special gift made just for him or her. What a thoughtful and wonderful thing to do! Big thanks to Pat Cude.
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Be a Part of What We Do
If you'd like to be a part of any of these projects you can! You can make a gift to help fund the projects that these generous folks from COM and PUSH are working on. Your contribution will make sure we have the materials needed for the next wave of volunteers headed for Down Home Ranch. Or, you can come out and help yourself! We have a never-ending supply of projects that need the special touch of generous folks like you, so just drop us a line and let us know how you would like to help.
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