January 2026 – Page 3 – The Hermits' Rest

Let’s Talk about Temperatures

Of the blanket kind, though it’s rather warm to use one today (and yes, it’s January). And there’s good news in the temperature blanket department: 2025 is done. Yay!

I’m pleased with how it came out and I like the border. It looks too big I think because I need to wash and block the blanket to stretch the squares out. Or I could have been mistaken and the border yarn is not sport weight. Well, I thought I checked.

It will get used, since it’s the perfect lap blanket size for sitting and reading or watching television. Or birding.

I climbed on the brown box in the back of the birding station to get higher for the fill-size photo. Art.

I have all the rainfall data to add that in later once I figure out how I want to do it. I want to use beads but am not sure which ones. I may do something softer. Hmm. While I ponder, enjoy a couple of closer views of the squares.

Oh, I should explain for anyone new that the inner part of flower is the low temperature for the day and the outer part is the high temperature. The border was just a color I thought would be fun. I made the pattern up using these flower squares I found online only I used half-double crochet (US) in the first round. It could be just as easily done in any granny square variant.

That’s not much of an explanation. I’m obviously not one of those craft bloggers with the real long introductions and stretched out instructions so more ads can be placed. But more power to them! It all takes time and skill! And I’m too tired to write up instructions. I’d rather be working on my 2026 one.

I was getting snarky for a bit. It’s just because I’m so unhappy with current events that I can’t stay chipper for long. But hey! I did register a Black Phoebe here multiple times on Merlin today. I’d never had one here. I’d love to also see it!

I just have to keep finding these happy things! I started crying today when talking about the news with my son. Not a good sign. Bring on the uplifting thoughts!

Obstacles

One of the rocks I painted paraphrases Marcus Aurelius, the Stoic philosopher. It’s an idea that I lean on when challenges arise: the obstacle is the way.

My spouse bases much of his ethical foundation on Stoicism, and I also find that way of thinking helpful. Life is a series of challenges that you face as best as you can, while acknowledging that you can’t solve every problem. That works.

But I also stop to relish the beauty on that path.

I got a little solar lamp as my white elephant gift at the Master Naturalist holiday event. I hung it up near the birding station. It’s a dim beacon, but it will show me the way when I want to sit outside at night (but it won’t confuse birds). It reiterates in my mind what I keep hearing from many sources, which is not to give up when there’s still a dim ray of hope, even if in the end, you fail. Now that made me think of Anne Frank and get all weepy.

Keep being the light of hope, kindness, and caring for those around you.

Making Up for Scary Days

The two most frightening days of my adult life are remembered by dates. One is 911. I still have dreams of being lost at O’Hare airport and can hear in my mind the sound of my plane’s captain telling us his colleagues and many others had just perished. I had the same feeling of living a nightmare on January 6, 2021. I can’t remember why I was watching a news channel then, but I was. I was terrified that the mob would kill lawmakers or burn down the US Capitol. I guess I expected terrorists to act that way, but not our citizens.

Today I did not forget. I saw it with my own eyes. It was real.

What’s also real is that there are millions of good, kind, ethical and law-abiding people in this country. I will not forget that, either. I had conversations all day that reminded me of it. I was reminded of how much we have in common, even if we grew up in different places. I was reminded of how even folks with values unlike mine mostly try to be good people, even if they don’t quite hit the mark (thinking of Mom).

I also discovered that I don’t have to think every person is a “good guy” for them to matter. People do awful things. They do. I can be disgusted by things people say and do but still see their humanity. Sounds simple but it’s hard for me to get my head around. Like my coworker’s grandmother said, “everybody’s a little crazy.” All of us.

I felt good today wearing my “You matter” shirt and painting good intentions into poorly lettered Reminder Rocks. it helped me send out positive thoughts, energy, intentions, or vibes even on this scary day. I kept channeling acceptance until I felt okay.

If we stick together in spite of our differences maybe we can turn this country into a less scary place, one kindness at a time. And even if we don’t, we can’t say we didn’t try.

Scum, Reporting for Duty

I’ve recently learned that the current US President believes I am scum. And since he’s not a fan of lying (i.e. he seems to believe everything he says at least when it’s logorrhea-ing out of his mouth), it must be true. I think I’ll just own it.

There, I’m very blue and appear manic, though I don’t look like me.

I’m just gonna embrace my woke-i-tude even more than my usual hippie horse mom vibe. I bought shirts that shove my attitude right in people’s faces, both coming and going. I’m just gonna wear stuff like this every day. I do have sweatshirts, too.

The two-sided shirts are from dear person.co and took a long time to get here. The bottom one is from the Bitter Southerner. My other shirt from there says “radicalized by common decency.” Yeah. I’m that scary woke scum person who cares about everyone.

I’m glad I have attire to remind me to not forget my beliefs and morals. Just search for those companies or find your own radically caring slogan.

In less scummy news, I went back to work today and I was genuinely glad to see how my coworkers were doing and relieved at some good news from my perspective.

I had a late meeting so I did animal chores mid afternoon. That made the fowl happy. Darryl eats a lot, so I’ve increased their food quantity.

Apache made me laugh today. He rarely expresses strong opinions, but today he informed me in no uncertain terms that he would NOT go over our little hill on the right track. You see, Lee had started to add some dirt to it just before the front-end loader died, so there was fresh dirt on one end that hadn’t been smoothed down.

Apache was fine on left track, but when I changed directions, he pawed his feet. I asked him to keep going, so he walked to the top, turned to face me, then executed a perfect backup down the hill, stopping in the correct position to stretch his legs. It’s like he was saying he didn’t want to make a circle going down the new dirt side, but he’d happily skip to the backing up we usually do afterwards.

Here he’s demonstrating the stretch (okay, actually acting like he has to pee).

I said okay, we can do other stuff, so we trotted and cantered over poles and the cavaletti jump. Then some perfectly executed side passes on the ground were executed. I mean, I just asked once and he did it!

I went back to the hill with Apache and he enthusiastically trotted going left. But nope, not to the right. I convinced him to go once, then he decided he needed to be more firm about his wishes and gave a buck and a snort. I got the message and we finished with a little walk before I went back to work.

I think he may have believed he’d slip on the loose dirt. Or something. He’s a horse, after all.

A Technology I’d Like to See

I listened to a lot of CNN News (what Lee likes) and NPR (my preference) today. Much of it was helpful in seeing multiple perspectives on current events, though by the time I was heading toward the year-end awards ceremony for Working Horse Central, I was feeling pretty glum.

Luckily the subject of On the Media switched to a discussion of whether the US is in its worst shape, has lost hope, etc., and while that sounds depressing, it helped me get a wider perspective. Brooke Gladstone talked to Bryan Stevenson, public interest lawyer and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, a human rights organization based in Montgomery, Alabama, and he masterfully reminded her of how far the country backslid in race relations after the Civil War. He told a healing story about reconciliation, which reminded me and the rest of the audience that we still have many good people in this place and that we just need to keep going. (This was the January 2 episode, but the interview was in April 2025—look it up!)

National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery. These pillars are memorials to people who were lynched, county by county. Stevenson directs it.

The point is that uplifting and encouraging stories like the one I heard don’t downplay real-life challenges, but don’t ignore progress and positive actions. And NPR and other news outlets do feature them (and book reviews, science stories, etc.) if you happen to be listening at the right time.

I asked the AI to make me with “pleasant news only,” but it sucks.

So what I wish existed was a service that pings you or sends you a schedule for when non-depressing news and information is coming up. Or one that switched to soothing music each time certain officials are quoted, discussed at length, etc. I can take about five minutes of the latest depths to which this country’s leadership has fallen to. After that, let me learn about something else. Please, someone invent that or point me to it.

Sorry for the rant. 2026 already feels 12 months long. But I did enjoy time with the nice horses and riders this morning, I enjoyed my own horses, especially Apache, and I enjoyed dinner with friends.

I feel better realizing that there has been injustice throughout our history, but there are always people fighting it.

Things That Didn’t Upset Me Today

Ok! Let’s see what didn’t upset me today.

I looked up from my phone this morning in the birding station and realized I was surrounded by meadowlarks. Here are just a few.

I cut my nails way short (for me) but they still look festive with snowflakes on them.

I had a good, calm lesson on Apache. Neither Tarrin nor I were feeling well, but we made progress, and, as always, it was a joy to spend time with my horse buddy. When we got home, he shook himself as I was unlocking the gate, and a big cloud of dust flew out from him. He only looked sparkly clean.

Apache and I both wish we looked this good. At least I look kind of like me and he looks kind of like him.

I made some progress on my crocheting. The blanket is getting a cluster border. It’s probably going to be at least three town. It will be good thing to have it slightly larger. Certainly it will be cheerful.

I made a delicious frittata for dinner using Connie’s eggs, leftover broccoli, cheese, garlic and a little milk. Both Lee and I loved it.

And that’s what got me through the day.

I’m Truly Glad I Read That Beaver Book

What an adventure I had today with my fellow Master Naturalist! We escaped to the wilderness known as her property outside of Cameron and searched for a rumored beaver dam on the spring-fed creek that runs through the land. It was a beautiful warm day for exploring.

At first we looked in the wrong place and got attacked by much greenbrier and dewberry vines that tried very hard to trip us. I did determine that the water was not out of its banks and was very clean.

My friend called the folks who’d been on the property monitoring their deer lease or something, and they redirected us upstream. There we found what appeared to be weird flat areas with brown vegetation.

That was actually duckweed on a big ole beaver pond! To say I was excited would be an understatement. The dog was also excited and immediately went swimming.

I enjoyed investigating the dam construction and listening to the water trickling through the spillways. It’s hard to believe animals can do this, even though I read that book all about beavers recently.

Also they dig big tunnels. Here’s an entrance.

We found trees that had been gnawed by beavers (some from the previous dam a few years back). There were also trees whose bark had been gnawed.

We moved upstream some more and found a second dam, which has created a magical pond full of fish, butterflies, and plants. It was hard to pull myself away from the tranquility.

But, I wanted to see if there was a third dam below the first one we found. Sure enough, following the cool beaver trails led to another one that my friend thinks is a reconstruction of the original dam.

Here I located the tunnels they dig for entrances and exits, which is fascinating. I even found some beaver tracks in ant beds, but my pictures weren’t great. That’s okay, just seeing evidence that the amazing mammalian construction workers was a bucket list item for me.

Since we had time and a truck, we went off exploring other parts of the property, which are mostly hay fields. We stopped and got to see a spectacular Northern Harrier fly right in front of us when we both had our binoculars. They’re beautiful hawks with a white patch just above their tail.

We then explored a ravine that lead to the big creek and observed how it is slowly moving northward. I did not fall down when I clambered down the embankment. I held onto trees.

We ended our exciting afternoon doing some more birding back by my friend’s house and enjoying each other’s photos. I’m so pleased to cross another mammal off my list of Milam County sightings, even if I didn’t see an actual beaver. All my beaver knowledge really helped me see the signs of them. I’m sure they’re glad the prowling humans and dogs are gone!

New Year’s Fun for People and Birds

The natural world greeted me as soon as I woke up on New Year’s morning. I looked out the side window and saw a large bird walking along the pond shore, of which there is a lot, thanks to inadequate rain. What was it?

The white blob to the right of the tree is the bird.

Luckily one of my many pairs of binoculars is stored on the windowsill for just this kind of occasion (along with the tools Lee used on his most recent home improvement attempt). Now I could see it, and I was happy.

Why was I so happy to see a bird that’s around here all the time? Because I so rarely see them on the ground, doing their shorebird thing. Usually I hear their very distinctive call, and occasionally see them flying with their legs tucked under like landing gear.

I tend to see the underside. Photos are from Merlin Bird ID. My only photos are blobs.

I like these birds lots, mainly because they were the first bird to visit our front pond after it filled with water. I had to ID it, gasp, from a book! They were also one of the first shorebirds whose call I learned. Here’s more from Merlin on Greater Yellowlegs:

Fairly large shorebird with bright yellow legs. Plumage is essentially identical to Lesser Yellowlegs: gray upperparts with white speckling, streaky neck, and white belly. Proportions are most important for identification. Greater is larger overall with longer, thicker, more upturned bill, longer neck, blockier head, and bigger chest. Forages actively on mudflats and in shallow pools and marshes, often in loose mixed flocks with Lesser Yellowlegs. Somewhat more likely to be found in larger, more open habitats than Lesser, but much overlap. Listen for strong, ringing “tew tew tew!” calls, louder than Lesser, and usually three or four notes instead of one or two (though Greater can also give single notes). (from Merlin Bird ID)

The highlight of yesterday’s sighting was that it stayed, along with some Killdeer, long enough for me to watch it with the good binoculars as it ran through shallow water sticking its slightly curved bill just under the surface, sorta like how a skimmer does when flying. I now know they don’t poke into the dirt, but rather skim the water. Yay for citizen science!

Once I settled into the birding station, I also got to watch a cute Eastern Phoebe get all plumped up for an extended grooming session. I like how the ones here are more yellow than others I’ve seen.

Blob to the right of the pole is the Phoebe. I still hate this phone camera.

This morning I had a Loggerhead Shrike land on the birding station roof. I know that because it then sat on the fence right in front of me. Such striking birds. Wish I’d had the good camera.

I’m off to an adventure this afternoon, so maybe I’ll get more blurry photos (too much walking to carry the big lens camera).

New Year Accomplishments

I had another post about birds planned, but I’ll get to it tomorrow. I stayed up late watching The Residence, the show about the birder detective, which I saw on one of my solo trips, but am enjoying sharing with Lee. What happy elders we are so far this year.

I cooked all day, but it was fine. Every year I enjoy making our traditional family meal and watching the kids eat it. Having young adults who like collard greens and black-eyed peas brings me joy.

I also appreciate that my son made these sconces for me and hung them up. I’ll get a closer photo.

My accomplishment I wanted to mention is that I got the 2025 temperature blanket assembled into one piece on New Year’s Day, 2026. I’m so proud of myself. And it even looks good! Best of all, it’s functional. I can use it as a lap blanket.

Nice look with me holding it up with my mouth, huh.

It looks like a calendar and you can tell it’s hotter in the summer. I’ve added another row of blue on the outside to even it up, then comes an exciting rainbow border while I wait for my new border color, which I’ve already told you is tan. The blue outlines will be red—hoping there’s one not exactly like the reds that are for high temperatures.

I also painted more rocks today. These are the ones I finished yesterday.

All in all, a fun day, of which I will share more tomorrow.