No doubt I’ve accidentally done something I’m not supposed to do more than once and still don’t know it. But one I do know about is that for a while I had a collection of bird feathers I’d found on the ground on the ranch. There were striped hawk feathers, huge black vulture feathers, etc.
Here’s some feathery grass. It’s a bluestem.
In my Master Naturalist training I learned that it’s against the law to collect and display native wild bird feathers unless you’re a Native American doing it for spiritual reasons. I think the Migratory Bird Act is the law. It’s so people won’t hurt birds to make hats or other decorative objects.
Fly free, migratory birds! These are geese, probably Canada geese, photobombed by a tern.
I set my wild feathers free and now happily display domestic chicken feathers. It seems like if the feather fell out for bird-related reasons, like fighting or molting, it wouldn’t harm anything. Oh well. I will look at feathers on birds. That’s fine.
Birds I looked at today included a lot of coots.
Yes, we have flown the coop once again (more bird talk) and Seneca the motorhome brought us to Ray Roberts State Park, Isle de Bois unit. This lake provides Dallas and Denton their water.
It’s still looking pretty wintry up here, but we are right on the lake.
Note all the logs. I guess there was a bad storm up here recently, because there is a big mess in the campground. It’s sort of sad. I hope the trails look better! The lake gives great views, though.
We arrived just at sunset. I had to get work done first.
I have seen more birds than I’ve heard, so far. There are very busy white-throated sparrows, loud crows, cardinals, and great blue herons that make noise. But the coots, ducks, geese, and terns didn’t have much to say. The terns were diving from the air, and the coots and ring-necked ducks were diving from the water. it’s lots of fun to watch. I’ll enjoy working from the picnic table tomorrow!
These are the ducks. I know, hard to tell. They have longer black bills. Coots have short white ones. My binoculars helped.
Anyway, I’m looking forward to some quiet hiking. They have paved trails! There’s also an equestrian area to check out. Saturday it will be colder, but I brought my trusty winter hiking clothing AND hiking boots that aren’t broken! I’m set.
So pretty here. The white dots are a plane and its reflection.
The horses and dogs have good care, so all should be well at home. Of course we miss them. But quiet is nice. Enjoy more pictures.
Tree carnageCoots. This is our view. Seneca from the lakeArtsy grass and sunMore geeseTrees and lakeAhhOoh
If there was a biography about you, what would the title be?
Yes, if there was a biography about me (Zzz) it would be called Still a Weird Happy. That was the name of our club of misfit hippy girls in 7th grade, which we turned into imaginary alien friends. Anita and I wrote stories about the Weird Happys (spelled that way on purpose) when we were young teens.
All of us Weird Happys were odd in one way or another, both the humans and the imaginary ones. But we embraced it. And I’ve always tried to keep that attitude. (I was trying to write something nice, but I’ve been interrupted five times now.)
I interrupt this whine with a hairy buttercup. They are so shiny.
Yeah, I’ve skipped blogging for a couple of days, because I’ve felt pretty boring. It’s been fine, just nothing extraordinary. I had a good lesson on Apache yesterday, and it was great to have him rideable again. Here he is very tired after Tarrin made him do things he didn’t want to do.
Even his new brow band didn’t perk him up.
Drew seems better, too. Today I was able to exercise him and groom him normally. He just had one little expression of annoyance when cantering. I was able to remove his burs and everything. Wow, both horses doing okay! It must be time to leave town for a few days!
I’m in love with Mabel now and let her nip me.
The other mildly interesting events this week so far were bird related. On Monday, I had the chance to hang out in the back yard and listen for birds around sunset. I was entranced at the sound of two great horned owls calling to each other. Mourning doves were also cooing away, which was so soothing!
And yesterday I was out walking when two red-tailed hawks flew right over my head, calling and calling.
Here’s one of them.
They began their love dance, and I watched the whole thing! Next, they flew over to the big electric pole and began making little cooing chortling sounds. I’d never heard hawks speaking their love language before. What a privilege!
That’s them, chatting.
Soon enough, they flew off together. I saw and heard them again today. I wonder if these are the same ones I saw a few weeks ago?
First hawk leaves Second hawk leaves
I never see these guys at the same time I see the red-shouldered hawks or harrier. That’s unlike the woodpeckers, who seem to all hang out at the same time. Today I heard a Downy, a Ladderback, and a Pileated within 5 minutes of each other.
Pretty sunset from a bad angle.
Yes, my life is calm right now. I’m loving my work and enjoying my leisure, which is pretty great. However, if you have a spare moment, please send healing vibes to my Purple Martin-loving friend, Donna, who had back surgery, as well as to family members dealing with challenges.
Are there any activities or hobbies you’ve outgrown or lost interest in over time?
Probably many of us have waxed and waned in interests throughout life. My hobbies have remained pretty darned consistent, though. I did stop sewing (mostly quilts) for some reason, around the time when my other upheavals were heaving (divorce and nonprofit organization going up in flames). I still like reading, knitting, horses, nature, and hiking. Oh, and fingernail polish. That’s a weird one.
The amount of doing of any one thing goes up and down, of course. It’s part of the carousel of time. Oh wait, that’s some old song.
Speaking of carousels, my horses have made me feel like I’m on one lately. Up and down. But hey, today the horsies are on the up side (by the way I read that PETA wants to ban representing horses on carousels because that encourages people to think of them as conveyances — oy).
I vote for snapping turtles on carousels. (I ran into this one while bird watching in the woods.)
In addition to receiving their charming custom halters in the mail today, Apache and Drew both are doing better.
Tarrin came here again today for training and we ended up having a lot of fun. First she worked with the Problem Child, Droodles. He was much less reactive today, and after a bit of work on politeness, was able to get in some good ground work, including cantering (some even good cantering).
I laughed at how disdainful they appeared. He seemed to look forward to his massage. Looking goodAh, look at that rounded back. He stopped nice and straight. So did Tarrin.
I had no trouble working with him, either, though he had a little canter meltdown that I took care of just fine. I’m improving.
Apache seemed glad to get back in the saddle today. Like he did yesterday, he did groundwork with glee. Tarrin said his canters were impressive, and that he did flying lead changes, like a fancy horse. He had so much energy that it was catching.
We did have to calm down when I got to ride him (yay!). Luckily all that rushing around tired him out a bit. We had some nice success working on a relaxed walk and some smooth trot transitions. That was so much fun to work on.
We’re both a bit old to be doing this but we don’t care.
It appears he didn’t lose what we’d been working on before the abscess. That doesn’t surprise me. He’s always been able to pick right up where he left off. I’m so proud of him.
After we finished, Tarrin, her cousin, Lee, and I all went in the tack room and went through some of the stuff that came with the trailer. Some things there were so many of that I donated them to the prize collection for Working Horse Central shows. I should have thought of that sooner.
Tarrin was great at spotting what was trash (mechanical hackamores, stud chains) and treasures (this custom bit I’m trying to clean up).
It’s signed!
She also encouraged me to take parts of some of the fancy bridles off and see if they would work on Apache’s bitless bridle. Now he has a fancy brow band. I can’t wait to try it on.
It will look better on.
By the time they left, the prizes took up lots of space in Tarrin’s truck, plus I was able to give her cousin a horse blanket and other things. I got some really nice brushes I didn’t realize were in there. Pretty exciting stuff!
Daily Bird
I was saddened to see that my big bird recording got trashed this morning, but I was able to remember most of what it heard. Besides, my walk in the woods was fun, since I got to see plants, fish, and the snapping turtle.
I’ll give you this photo and not one of the hairy fungus growing on cow poop. You’re welcome.
I’ll let those cheerful red-winged blackbirds be bird of the day, since I talked about their pals the cowbirds yesterday.
My dad hated these guys. The males would always go after him at our South Florida house when he was mowing the grass between our property and a Corps of Engineers canal. He also said they never shut up. That’s sort of true, though the house sparrows have them beat.
I didn’t realize the females arrived before the males until this year. They just make a clicking sound as they fly overhead in large flocks. The males show up around Imbolc and perch in trees or on wires loudly singing their distinctive songs. They make me think of wildflower season. Of course, there aren’t many of those yet. Just the tiny ones.
This speedwell blossom is about 1/4” wide.
I hope you’re able to find an up part on your life carousel. But it’s true that getting to a high point is more fun when you start low. I think.
Dang. These blogs would be a LOT better if I wasn’t always writing when I’m sleepy.
Weird question. I’d say my current fave is a salted caramel milk chocolate square thing you can get from Costco. One is plenty.
I needed a Milky Way bar this afternoon to give me energy to do chores after work. I wish it had helped me realize my Master Naturalist meeting was tonight. I wrote it down on the wrong Thursday in my calendar. Buh.
I usually don’t do that.
Before spacing out, I had a long but fun day, especially when a nice woman taught me how to build a chat bot in MS Teams. I’m not sure if it’s what I actually need, but I had fun messing with the technology.
Then I headed out to horse world without a care in the world.
Drew walked right up to me and indicated he was not interested in working with me, so I put him in his pen and had fun with Apache. He was very interested in getting some fun and exercise in. He acted thrilled to be groomed (I was thrilled to groom him, because he’s shedding! On time! The medicine may be working!
When I took him out to do some slow walk and trot loops (adding more straight walking in), he decided to jump the cavaletti. After a try or two he was trotting over all the logs with vigor. When I sent him the other way after a bit of a rest, he got the zoomies and literally flew over everything at a canter, three times. When I stopped him, he had that look on his face he gets when he knows he did a good thing.
So we left all the other horses to wait for supper while we had a nice walk over to some old grass that won’t kill him, as a reward. I’m glad I had that Milky Way bar, because he had me zipping with him. It was fun.
I also cooked dinner. More nutritious.
Daily Bird
Today I heard yet another sound I’d been missing since summer, the sound of a mockingbird going through its repertoire of songs. All winter they’ve just been chirping, like the cardinals and blackbirds also did. I reveled in my mini concert this morning!
I sing for you, Suna.
Other birds are singing more rather than just giving short calls. The tufted titmice are now bellowing their shrill song, and to my surprise, the brown-headed cowbird has a very pleasant tinkling chiming song that I heard a lot today. See, they aren’t all bad.
For one thing, I need a break from blogging, so this will be brief. I need a break from one other thing, and it’s the endless rehashing of unimportant “news” items.
I’d love to read or hear a daily summation of facts about local, state, national, and international news. Separately, I’d enjoy choosing some analysis by people I trust. Once. Not the same news with one extra nugget each time à la CNN.
And if I want to read about which singer is dating which athlete or which member of the British royal family had surgery, I could go read People. Separately.
The end
Daily Bird
Today I saw one of my favorite raptors doing its job. The Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius) is a resident during its nonbreeding months. I love watching them flying low over the fallow cropland and pastures, looking for field mice. I’ve seen them catch their prey more than once.
I was feeling jealous of my friend Pamela, who lives not too far from here, because she’d been seeing one and I hadn’t. But now I’m happy to see this striking bird with the interesting habits over here in Walkers Creek!
I was going to say something silly about this question, then I thought about how many friendships and connections I’ve made since I got online back in the olden days of the 1980s. So, thanks, Al Gore, for inventing the internet. (I was at the University of Illinois at the right time, so I do sorta know how it all really went down.) Yes, the internet was important to me, the good and bad aspects!
Still, the parts of my life that are in person are much of what’s made my life good. I’m feeling a little better about my living, breathing horse buddies today. Apache and Drew must be exhausted from all their adventures the last few days. And to top it off, I wormed them! (Well, Tarrin wormed Droodles, because I was worried he’d chomp on me.)
Don’t get near my head!
So, today was supposed to be a one-horse lesson with Lee driving, since Sara is unavailable. Instead I loaded both my dysfunctional steeds in the trailer to see what could be done with them.
Drew started the day not letting me groom him, so that saved some time. When Tarrin looked at him, his neck was better, but his poll (top of head) was a mess. She spent a long time working on it, then his legs. His whole spine must hurt, which is why I couldn’t brush his tail. Tarrin’s convinced he hurt himself and pulled a lot of muscles, plus may have been kicked on his side. I think that’s likely, from observation.
Once she did all that, he did all kinds of yawning and releasing, like his did after his trim yesterday. And when she was leading him to the lesson area, he kept rubbing his nose along the ground.
He did okay doing some ground work, so maybe he’s feeling better. My job is to exercise him first, then try to groom him. I have ways to stop him from biting, too, so we’re hoping he will heal.
Apache is a happier story. The fancy boots seem to have done the trick, and he was able to do ground work just fine. We may get to ride in Friday. I’m so relieved. It’s hard with both horses being broken.
I’m too sexy for my shoes.
Apache is also taking his medication well now, and was easy to worm. And the best news? He’s starting to shed! Maybe he’ll be more comfortable soon!
That’s enough blah blah about horses. I really should start writing in my horse journal again so I don’t fill the blog with all horses all the time. Here’s a bird. It was trying to escape.
No daily prompt today. You don’t want to hear my ideal boring day. So let’s talk about today, which, though long, was quite fine, thanks to tiny surprises everywhere.
An actual tiny bluet (Houstonia pusilla)
Indeed, I was delighted to find some of my tiny wildflower friends starting to bloom, but my day was brightened by a series of less colorful tiny creatures, the sparrows. This morning, dozens of Vesper sparrows and Savannah sparrows covered the fields and fences.
It looks like they are in a maze.
Whatever they’re finding has them distracted enough that I can recognize them (those two are similar).
This guy is very graphic with my poor camera resolution.
After enjoying the morning birds, which included my first roadrunner heard in Merlin, I tried to work until the dogs went off. Men were driving a backhoe on our property. Huh? Turns out there was a water line leak they had to fix. The horses were not amused, but it was fun to watch them be curious then agitated in turn.
What the heck?Must run!Thank goodness he’s leaving. Goodbye scary beast
I think the horses were curious because in their minds, tractors bring hay. They like hay.
Another tiny flower, dwarf verbena (Glandularia pumila)
We were only without water for an hour or so, which was barely an inconvenience. I was able to get my stuff done in time to go back out and bother the horses some more, because it was farrier time. Terry brought a helper today, so they both got to marvel at Apache’s fancy shoes and the Artimud stuff we put in to protect his hooves. It’s quite interesting clay with honey and other things.
I put his shoes back on when he was done!
Drew was his new self, but they got him trimmed. Everyone else was fine, even Fiona, who also finally got groomed and de-burred. She was, by the way, hilarious when I was trying to take off Apache’s shoes. She kept gluing herself to me to where I’d lose my balance. At one point I realized my face was an inch from a donkey butt. She’s really friendly, but this tiny surprise wasn’t so delightful.
Such a cutie.
Dusty also finally had a much needed bur-ectomy. I finally had time to do it while the others were getting trimmed. His nearly nonexistent forelock was all bur, as was his tail. He looks good now!
So nice to see his tail looking good.
I fed them after the trimming, and that’s when the next tiny sparrow flock appeared. I could hardly count these busy guys.
Looks like a pike of metal, but look closer.
The horses had a lot to say about their busy day. Mabel is proud to still have her mane burs and bits of mud. I tried.
You can’t tame me, though I appreciate the hoof work. My bad hoof needed it.
Meanwhile, Apache and Drew each didn’t finish their food and instead tried to get to the other’s pen by testing the gate. Apache tried hard.
Lemme in.
Drew thought that was funny.
Har har har
I think Drew was processing something. Maybe his hoof trim helped his issue.
He had a lot to say.
To calm myself after all the day’s activities, I went back to the woods to see who was there. The wind had calmed down, so I hoped to hear some good songs. Instead, as I stood quietly, I heard sounds like someone or something was approaching. Was it a deer? A bunny? A raccoon?
It was us.
Yep. It was sparrows, this time the white-throated clan. Dozens of them were under the young cedar elms, scratching around for some delicious item. It was amazing how much noise those tiny fellows made!
Watch them go!
I had fun turning my Live Photos into tiny videos of tiny sparrows. But it does help you actually see the birds!
So many!
Yes, I was quite entranced by the little black-and-white heads bobbing up and down. They completely ignored me until I finally had to move my aching back. What a nice ending to my outdoor hours today.
How many? I’m not sure. Five?
I did finally go inside and finish cooking. Yes, I’m not 100% birds and horses and yarn.
If you’ve known me a long time, you’ll remember when I blogged a lot about our home renovation business. While we have changed some things, we still buy houses and hire great folks to fix them up. Now some of those folks are our family, which makes it extra special.
The current team worked on some projects of their own recently, but Lee and I finally got to be the client in this one, a very nice single-story house in Cameron that used to be owned by people who made candy in what’s now the master bedroom. What a cool story!
The house is so wide I don’t have a picture of the whole thing. Back
When we got it, the layout was quite awkward, with a giant living/dining area, a huge pink kitchen, an even huger main bath, and a bedroom way at the end of the house that you had to go through another bedroom to access. Luckily, a lot of cleanup and prep had been done by the prior owner, so the team didn’t have to start from scratch.
The giant room. It’s now 3 bedrooms. The closed-off kitchen. It had a very cute stove but it didn’t work. New stove will be where the cooktop is now. All this storage is gone, but a new island and pantry will add back storage. Keeping the tile. It will look retro cool. My son got the nice range. Theirs had died. Much of the big bathroom stays. White-ish carpet goes. It gets a new shower, too. Future living roomI think this photo shows open space at top. Cool shiplap. Saved. Long dark hallway.
After much brainstorming among me, Lee, and our contractor, we redid the layout. There are now three nice bedrooms in the former living area, the middle bedroom is expanded to be a nice living area, and the kitchen is still pink, but open to the living area. It’s much less choppy.
Kitchen is now open. Light is temporary. It will have a dishwasher. New hallway to bedrooms. Front bedroomMiddle bedroomBack bedroom. Closet will be on back wall. New pantry is behind the table. At right will be a banquet for an eat-in kitchen.
They will add windows in the long, dark hallway to the master bedroom, and a utility room with laundry and new HVAC is being added in the former carport, which will now be a nice covered porch.
BeforeUtility area framed Window going away. Another one will be added to the left.
Of course, as with any remodel, structural issues were found, so now the ceiling joists are all new and sturdy, and insulation will be added throughout the house. It’s going to be so much nicer to live in. The electrical work is all new, too. Plus the scary roof has been replaced.
People don’t see the new wood around the windows or the stove vent that now actually goes outside, but we and the crew know it’s there, and future occupants will be safe, dry, and cozy. The house will keep its mid-century style, with a few exterior upgrades.
I hope to share more photos later! Stay tuned.
Daily Birds
Today I enjoyed wrens. Two of our usual residents, the Bewick’s and Carolina wrens, were giving a concert this morning. It sure was beautiful, loud, and lengthy. They have very different songs. The winter wren sometimes shows up, but it mostly makes scolding sounds, as does the house wren, who is very round. I sure enjoy their hopping, climbing, and tail wagging.
Write about a few of your favorite family traditions.
Ah, I’m sitting in a clean, quiet hotel room, with mindless television and knitting. It’s a perfect time to reminisce about family traditions.
Yep, it’s a hotel room.
My current family is a bit too chaotic to have a lot of traditions. It’s always something different every day. But my family of origin had a couple I enjoyed at the time and remember fondly.
I’m not home so I can’t scan photos. Here’s our foggy morning.
One I loved was when we lived in south Florida in a family-oriented neighborhood of little cement-block houses. We had a dachshund mix dog named Pumpkin during my college and grad school years. I thought of her as my sister, because she was great to talk to and hang out with. I’m not kidding, I often forgot she was a dog.
Ha! I found a photo of Pumpkin, Dad, and two neighbors.
Anyway, it was my parents’ tradition to take a walk with Pumpkin every evening after dinner. Whenever I was home, I went along with them and my brother. The walk only went to the end of the block, because Mom couldn’t go very far (she was sick a long time, and died when I was 26).
The front of the house, on my 16th birthday. Stylish for 1974.
However, the walks were always fun. We’d talk and joke and comment on the quality of Pumpkin’s poop, which always happened at the corner. (Dad had to go clean it up once a week or so, because they we’d never heard of poop bags in the 80s.) In the winter we’d check to see if she’d produced a “steamer.” Dad loved those.
Re-enactment?
The walks were often long in time, compared to their length. That’s because we often stopped to talk to the neighbors. My dad and brother were very social. I enjoyed listening to them. It felt so comfortable and convivial. They could talk about all topics, drink beer, tell stories, and get along. They were just nice, hard-working folks. I miss those times.
I realize that hanging out with my family and watching the dog poop is probably a weird tradition, but we all enjoyed it. It was something Mom could do with us, which was so nice. And my Dad and brother were so funny. I’ll treasure our quirky family togetherness time.
Before I left for my 6.5-hour drive to Arkansas, I did get in a little bird watching during the foggy morning. (I haven’t seen the sun since last Saturday.) I’m going to declare our resident loggerhead shrike the Daily Bird, because it matches the sky and trees. Plus, I love watching them grab bugs.
Gray bird in fog.
I’m sure the shrike is wishful for the grasshopper season to start! They go into overdrive then.
What do you enjoy doing most in your leisure time?
This answer will be pretty boring if I give the same answers I’ve given to three or four other blog prompts. Yes, indeed, I enjoy knitting and looking at birds and horses. Most of you know that if you’ve visited this blog before.
Look, a bird. It’s a loggerhead shrike.
But, is there another leisure activity I enjoy? In warm weather I hang out by the pool. That counts. And I read about horses, architecture, and home decorating. The latter helps me deal with what a jumbled mess my own house is right now.
What I’ll read when I’m finished writing this
I think my favorite leisure activity is socializing these days. After staying away from people for so long, I am enjoying seeing friends again. I want to do more of it, but I forgot a couple things this week. Lunches, coffees, meetings, etc., are so nice for breaking up the work day!
Today my friend came over and I did her nails for a party. They look good!
Keeping in touch with friends online is another favorite. Yes, I admit I visit Facebook and valiantly scroll and scroll until I find posts from friends. It’s so great to stay in touch, get advice, and learn that way. Most importantly, I can provide support to others by being available online to listen. I do a lot of that lately.
Yeah, not too exciting, is it? But damn, this is what I’ve looked forward to my whole life: a time to enjoy the little things and the people I care about. I hope it lasts a while.
Now for stories. I went out to feed the horses and saw Drew standing by the fence, staring intently. What? I went on up to get the feed dishes, and something caught my eye behind me. It looked like this:
Hello!
The horses weren’t at all happy to see Fiona wandering around eating fresh clover. I just wondered how she got there.
How come SHE doesn’t have to stand in the mud?
When I took their food to them I saw that the lower wire on the temporary electric fence had come loose. The big horses were still held in the pasture, but Fiona could walk right under the live wire. Clever donkey.
Easy exit for a short animal.
The wire is fixed now.
Speaking of wires, little Carlton got the staples out where he had a lump removed. Lee found out the biopsy results, too. The lump was a completely encapsulated stick, probably a cactus thorn. It had gotten infected, so he has antibiotics, but should be fine.
However, Goldie managed to nearly rip out a toenail today. It must have hurt a little!
And I do have daily birds today. The rain finally let up, which pleased the birds a lot. We even had two birds returning from their winter hangouts! I heard and saw a purple Martin, and I heard a whistling duck. Cameron residents better get ready for lots of trees full of chattering ducks. Love those guys.
The Hermits' Rest 