What’s the best advice you’d give to someone younger than you?
Dear younger humans,
You’re fine, even your broken parts. Other people’s negative opinions about you reflect their issues, not yours.
You’re lovable!
Sincerely,
Suna
Long day. Did good work. Someone else didn’t like it. Nonetheless, it was good. Heeded my own advice.
What’s a common misconception people have about happiness?
I always feel sad when I hear people say their goal is to be happy. Or all they want is for their kids to be happy. All the time? We can’t always be happy.
I’d be exhausted if I was happy for days at a time. Happiness is a fleeting state of mind, for me. I want to have happiness, joy, and contentment in my life. Yet, all those feelings are sweeter and and more to be treasured when life has ups and downs to compare them to.
So I do not wish my children or anyone happiness all the time, just enough to savor and enjoy. My ideal would be to feel vaguely content most of the time, with sadness during appropriate times and happiness sprinkled throughout the day in little bursts.
I make sure to notice when I’m happy, since it comes more often these days. For example, I was happy just now when hugging Carlton.
I do wish that life could have less anxiety and stress. Everyone seems to have an imbalance of that, if they’re paying attention! This became abundantly clear yesterday, as so many friends expressed how good it felt to see the Obama Center opening. Independently, I kept hearing how people had forgotten what it felt like to be proud of a leader, and to hear former political rivals being civil with each other. The constant dread of these times lifted briefly.
Today was pretty darned pleasant. I got some items on my to-do list done, and enjoyed a day of less bad news surrounding me. Woo hoo!
I went with Lee and Chris to Lowe’s to pick up supplies for the pool house project behind our house. I remembered to ask them to get a new air conditioner for my she shed, which will certainly improve horse feeding this summer.
I also finally remembered to get an American flag to go by our front gate. I’d been intending to do it for quite some e, but I rarely go anywhere that would have one these days. I want to be clear that everyone on our property has hopes for a better future here, no matter the details of our beliefs.
When we got home I hurried to do barn chores, and the flag was up by the time I got finished! What a joy.
I met an interesting man who builds furniture mostly out of 2x4s at the checkout line at Lowe’s. I enjoyed looking at his creative ideas and techniques. He reminded me very much of the creative builders in my family!
After Lowe’s Lee and I went to the pet store and got some “rosy red minnows” to put in the horses’ water troughs. That’s another to-do item I kept forgetting to do. I didn’t remember to take any pictures before I put them in. Let’s hope enough of them survive to do mosquito and algae control.
We got canna lilies to plant near the pool, too. The variety name cracked me up. My mother’s first name was Canova. Close. No humans by that name are authorized in this property, but innocent sale bin plants are.
Plus, I gave my nails a rainbow manicure and finished May on the temperature blanket. April and May were fairly pleasant. June is rather red so far. Red is over 90°, wine is over 95° and hot pink is over 100°. I’m hoping for very little hot pink this summer.
I wish you little moments of joy and much peace. Thanks for reading.
If you’ve read my writing before, you’ve probably realized I’ve gotten more like the hermit in our ranch name as time goes on. I get pretty drained in crowds nowadays, even Master Naturalist meetings. (Yet I am going to a convention soon, which I may regret.)
However, one-on-one interactions lift my spirits so much! Today I had many opportunities for good conversation. I’m thankful to all!
This morning I spent a good while talking about some complicated stuff with Kathleen over our morning coffee, but soon the topics veered off into what an odd little family dynamic we have over here at the compound. For example, we keep repaying each other similar amounts of money, so it’s just floating around in circles. Much laughter ensued. Penney also found it funny.
Next, Terry the farrier came to trim the horses and Fiona. We had good conversation with him, too. I enjoy learning his stories of his interesting life and his own odd happenings, like someone just giving him a Jeep. He also found a weird thing growing on Spice, near her tests. Our guess is that it’s a skin tag or little melanoma. I need to find someone knowledgeable to look at it.
After a nice, quiet afternoon of work, Terri from Master Naturalists came over to get a blog software refresher so she can help on the Master Naturalist blog. We are supposed to have a backup for all our roles. We fed the horses, looked at all the ponds and outbuildings, and yes, practiced blogging. I tried to explain our family arrangements here, and once again realized how weird it sounds when you say it out loud. I enjoyed her stories of living on a sailboat with young children, too.
It was a very pleasant time with no deadlines or big agenda. The whole day was like that. Very little negativity and much supportive interaction. I wish you similar days!
Today was good. One of my friends had asked our chat group if anyone had certain essential oils. I thought to myself, why, I have a considerable amount of essential oils. I could give them to her so she wouldn’t have to spend all the money to buy them. Then I realized I now only use one or two oils, so ten years’ worth of collecting was just sitting there. I decided to give it all away.
I could barely carry the bag full of oils in boxes, bags, etc. into the restaurant for lunch. I laughed as my friends descended on those bottles of oils like magpies spotting shiny objects. The one who needed the oils to tend to her llama went first, and she found all she needed.
I got joy out of everyone’s chatter and discussion of where and how they were going to use their aromatic treasures. It all went to someone, including the boxes, one of which was a humidor. One friend only took a box! I was just so pleased to know that this stuff I’d spent a lot of money on would get used by people who’d enjoy it. I’m so happy for them.
Later in the day, I gave the phone number we’d been using for our late lamented Air Bnb house to my son’s partner, who is about to lose their previous number. I’m so proud of myself for remembering to hold on to the number for just this kind of occurrence. My reward was hugs and smiles, which made my heart soar. All I want is to make life a little easier for them!
This still relates to being nice, but in a different way. I finally got an equine dentist to come out and float our horses’ teeth. Kayli at Walking K Equine Dentistry is charming and enthusiastic. She’s also one strong cowgirl.
It’s always fun to watch the horses get worked on. They always feel better with sharp edges removed and irregularities smoothed out.
The best part is when they’re done and recovering from the sedation. It’s pure relaxation. I really enjoyed listening to Spice snoring as she recovered.
I’m glad we found someone who lives nearby to do this work, since it needs to be done yearly and our previous dentist has had trouble with appointments (she’s still very good at the job). Mabel needs to be seen again in 6 months because she has a loose tooth. Or Spice. What a fine memory I have. Good thing Kathleen was with me to remember things and tell fun stories about cattle. We are an interesting team.
I’m thinking that, since I hear often that I need to have fewer objects, I should keep my ears open in case someone else needs something I can pass on. It’s uplifting to think that my unused items could be just what someone else needs!
The rain gauge read 4.3 inches this morning though the pond flowed better. The creek is looking like a river, but we’ve seen worse.
However, in a break the nephew and I got my car to the tire place and got four new tires. I sure wish I’d brought a checkbook, because there’s a surcharge to use credit. Ugh. That ate a chunk out of my bank account. However, since one tire was dead, the time had come.
Later in the morning, I joined a good-sized group at a meet-and-greet with two candidates in the upcoming election. Both of their opponents have disappointed me in their policies that cater to billionaires and ignore their constituents’ issues about health care, water, etc.
The candidates were both very impressive. They were intelligent, thoughtful, well educated, and friendly. They listened to us and did a great job answering questions. I’d forgotten that people running for office could be genuine and honest. Well, who wants to vote for people like that? Not a majority of Texans.
Nonetheless, today’s experience was quite positive. People were genuinely excited that we could hold an event in this county.
After I came back, we fetched my car—it will be so nice to have my comfy car back.
After last week’s work, I decided to rest most of the afternoon, though Lee and I did enjoy a sunny period by swimming for a while. The water is quite pleasant. I look forward to swimming season! However, soon as I had fed the poultry, rain came back. It’s going to be a wet week!
I’m glad for some downtime.
I had exactly ONE important meeting today where I had to pay attention. That is when some folks off somewhere adjacent to the people across the road decided it was time to break out the rifles and start with the pew, pew, pew. Only it was much louder.
Of course, while I had my camera on, Penney had to try to insert herself into my arms, Carlton started shaking under my desk, and Alfred stuck his giant head under my free arm. My headphones disconnected, things fell off the desk, and I kept trying to act professional. At least I wasn’t leading the meeting.
Let’s hope they don’t start up again tomorrow when I’m leading a meeting with bosses in it. Apparently, yesterday the blamming was during my lunch with friends.
The good news is that there was no massacre. Once the meeting ended and I walked past the bridge, I could hear them yelling, “pull,” before shots rang out, so I figured out they were skeet shooting. That’s a new one.
The shots sounded really close from our house, and my neighbor said it sounded like it was in her back yard. Her dogs were also terrified. The shooters were very close to her property line. Well, I hope they got lots of skeet.
I also enjoyed banter about skeet and what they could be hunting in response to my Facebook post about the noise. That made a weird day a bit better.
In the end, I enjoyed writing for most of the day, and had a nice rest on the porch with all the flowers after work.
Then all but one horse got some vigorous currying, because it’s shedding time. Mabel, as usual, also has mud clods that I’m gradually scraping off. She can really collect mud. I’m in charge of the horses for a while, since my helper has had a setback, but I’m on it! I just want no nearby shooting during horse time.
It finally rained again, which we needed. It waited until I was finished having baked goods with Martha, and chatting with Vicki and others at the bakery. Vicki rode her new horse almost to our house this morning.
Martha and I then went to the yearly Master Gardener plant sale. Since half the Master Gardeners are also Master Naturalists, we saw lots of people we knew and had a fun time catching up and looking at the few plants that were left. I did find a fig tree to buy, and my friend Lynn took it home with her and will bring it over here when it isn’t raining. Future visitors!
The rest of the day, we stayed inside and I got all sorts of tasks completed that were perfect for a rainy day. I wrote a presentation on beavers for the next Master Naturalist meeting, catalogued the birds seen here from February, filled out my timesheet (yay, money), and did my nails. Maybe dull, but necessary. And I indulged in an old television series on the history of the first 55 years of Star Trek (it’s 60 this year).
The animals made it through the rain, so we just relaxed after feeding them. I’ve got more relaxing ahead of me tomorrow, but maybe a bit more creativity.
Sometimes a lack of excitement is just fine. This rain daze was pleasant.
Where to start? First, I laughed SO hard yesterday at my dear cousin, who was kind enough to call and wish me happy birthday. The problem was that she wished me a happy 67th birthday. No, I correct, I’m 68. You can’t be, she exclaimed, because I’m older than you and will be 68 in November. No, you turned 68 last November. Now, we have known each other since infancy and can’t figure out how old we are. Finally I brought up an age calculator and asked it how old I was. It said 68. My cousin wailed that she had lost a year. That was so dang funny.
Now for the weird. Kathleen spent all day today cleaning the tack room as only a Kathleen who’s feeling better can clean. When she has energy, she really has it. There’s a distinct lack of mouse and rat poop in the room now.
But, she discovered weird/icky things in her deep cleaning. First, Tipper has created a litter box area under a chair, sans litter box. So, suckers that we are, we’re getting the cat a litter box. And food. And water.
But what was weird was what she found under the desk. It was someone else’s poop! Our best guess is a raccoon, which it kind of resembles. But we aren’t sure. Guesses?
Another weird thing happened at work. My colleague and I were trying out all the possible voices to use in a web-based training I’m making (so they won’t have to rely on my voice after I’m gone). We found one that sounds quite real. It’s so real that I think it’s Captain Ake from Star Fleet Academy (Holly Hunter). Of course we chose her so I can chuckle as I hear Ake talking about project management software.
Now for the fun part. My friend, Melanie invited me to share wine and a cheese board with her after work. We had fun picking out cheese from Wisconsin, “the cheese capital of the US.” Then we got a lesson in the use of cheese utensils from the shop owner, who plans to give classes. It all made us laugh.
It was lots of fun sipping prosecco and munching on snacks. I learned a lot about the history of this county (in sum, everyone really IS related) and got to chat with a few other women who were there. It was a great way to end my extended birthday, and everyone else got barbecue for dinner, so they didn’t miss me at all!
It rained a bit today, not too much, but enough to please wildflowers. I didn’t hear as many birds as usual, but there’s always tomorrow.
The time passed pleasantly enough, because neighbor Vicki invited me to have lunch at the restaurant that replaced my old favorite, the Dutchtowne Deli. Neither of us do a lot of socializing without an agenda, so this was daring for us. And we had a good time eating huge Dutch babies with strawberry/rhubarb filling. It was just about the most delicious food I ever ate.
Then we went to the bakery and got more baked goods (for later). I think my friends and family keep that place in business. My son had already been by.
Next we went to the ZX Made in Texas shop and browsed. There I was delighted to find a can that once held Granger pipe tobacco. It reminded me so much of my dad, who always smoked a pipe with that tobacco. I got it and put it next to Dad’s bronze baseball glove and his baby picture.
After all that the rain was starting in earnest, so we headed home, checked out Vicki’s new horse, Malone, got my mail, and still didn’t get drenched. Not bad.
The rest of the wet day was pleasant, especially since Kathleen came back for a while bearing Valentines gifts. It’s always good to have someone to talk to!
And you know it’s a rainy day because I watched two movies, which means I wasn’t outside all day! Both Song Sung Blue and How to Train Your Dragon were good. I really enjoyed the Neil Diamond songs and sweet characters in the first one.
One of my online friends passed away today after a miserable struggle with cancer. I keep thinking about her husband and kids. They were so good to her. Hug a loved one!
The Hermits' Rest 