community – Page 7 – The Hermits' Rest

Harmony, Before the Storm

What could you let go of, for the sake of harmony?

I’m pretty tired from moving things to minimize potential tropical storm damage and a bit warm because I’m sleeping in the upstairs bedroom with no air conditioning. I have a fan and an open window, at least until rain starts. So, I’ll answer this blog prompt quickly.

For the sake of harmony I’ve let go of any drive I have to clarify my perspective on things that happen to me. I don’t need to prove I’m right or justified to anyone else. That’s led to a lot of harmony.

I’ve also let go of the desire to have a say in current or future plans that involve anyone other than myself. It’s not worth trying to provide input or ask questions that will come across as nosy. I make my own plans for things that are just my “stuff” and do my best to let people who are affected know. I try, anyway. That’s just how I do things. I don’t need to know what other folks are up to (in general, not making a barbed comment). I just used to be way too curious/interested.

There’s probably more, but it boils down to learning to stay in my own lane, accept changes and new situations as gracefully as I can muster, and let go of expectations. This makes work, community life, and family life much less stressful for me and reduces at least some potential conflict.

And gives me more time to enjoy the weather.

For every situation there’s more than one right solution and it’s not my job to find it every time! And I don’t HAVE to share my opinion so much. That has been hard to learn and I’m not quite as far along as I’d like to be. But since I started out as the annoying student who raised her hand to answer the teachers’ questions every single time, I had a long way to go.

Curious as to what these are? I’ll tell you! They are seed pods of the beautiful pitcher’s leather flower vine *Clematis pitcheri*

Now to keep my phone charged in case we lose power. Beryl should not be too bad this far north. Think about our family on the Texas coast and my Houston friends!

Not a Good Deja Vu

Once upon a time I was in charge of a large flock of chickens that the owners were no longer interested in taking care of. Their coop had a door, but an animal had broken the screening. Let’s just say soon I had a small flock of chickens. Then I had one. Big Red hung on for a few more years.

I got a much sturdier coop and kept a few more chickens. I was down to six most of this year, then something got Bertie Lee. Then Blondie.

When I had seven. We lost the gray one last year.

Last night something got almost everyone else by coming in through their door and getting them while roosting. My fault. The hens liked to free range so I didn’t lock the door to their run. If the dang bobcat wanted them so bad, why didn’t he take them? Or maybe it was a raccoon. Or any other of the many predators we have.

I’ll really miss Buttercup. She and Bertie Lee were the friendliest ones I ever had.

I’m glad we didn’t have an attack like this for four years! But today was bad and made me cry. I’d had these hens a long time. But one is here still, poor Bianca, who can’t take the heat. It’s hard to be a lone chicken like Big Red was. She bonded with Sara’s horses. Either Bianca will do that or the predator will come back.

Circle of life. Blah blah.

If I get more chickens it will be in the fall, when it is cooler. In the meantime I’ll clean the henhouse out really well. Sigh. This past week has been rough.

At least the horses are okay. Apache seemed off yesterday but today he ate his food and took his meds like a champ. And Drew did all his exercises right, paying attention to me, his leader.

Thanks for being a good guy, Droodles. You were even good for your shot.

As icing on the cake, we are sleeping in the RV because our upstairs air conditioner has broken and won’t get fixed until Monday. Oh course, now is the time the bedroom slide decides to not extend so I can’t make the bed. Sigh again.

I’m doing a lot of deep breathing and trying to be kind to myself. I’d hoped to have lunch with friends today to cheer me up, but just one friend made it. I enjoyed a Negra Modelo in honor of Buttercup, Henley, and Billie Idyll and was consoled by Phyllis. I’m grateful to her and all my sympathetic Facebook buddies.

We can get through this stuff together (this means YOU, too, members of my household).

Much Gratitude, Must Express

How do you express your gratitude?

Honestly, I think I’m pretty bad at expressing gratitude, at least to people. And there is SO much to be grateful for, even with the challenges my family and community keep coming up against. The support each of our communities give us can give the strength to make it one more day.

I didn’t take any photos today, but I’ll find some. I saw this beauty yesterday.

I do say I’m grateful, especially to those who help around the ranch, help with animal care, and fix the endless broken things. But no doubt I could say it more and come up with better ways to show my gratitude.

Example: I’m really lucky I can just ask my son to go look at a broken door or ask Anita to help with my screw-ups on the Red House bookings. I’m taking him to dinner and got her a shirt, but they both need to know how much their flexibility means to me.

And just knowing our niece and nephew who live on the ranch with us are there when we need them takes away so much stress. I just hope we reciprocate in ways we can help!

I think I do let Tarrin know how much her work with me and the horses means to me. Her journey has contributed greatly to mine. Mentors who share their growth are to be treasured. I try to share my own growth here, to pass it on!

She’s patient, firm, and kind. It’s a good way to be.

I guess I try to tell people in person how grateful I am for them. And for those I know via social media, I try to express it often. In this world where it’s sometimes hard to find like-minded people in person, having folks who understand your fears and worries to turn to online is invaluable. Thank you, blog readers, too!

This rabid wolf spider has black front legs that almost disappear.

Yes, nature. I also try to express gratitude to the earth and her inhabitants by treading lightly and harming as little as I can. I want to fit in, though as a human being in Western civilization, it’s hard to not take up too many resources.

I let this fellow out. There are more things to eat outside. It’s some kind of wolf spider.

I’m trying to learn to do better, mainly by reading my neighbor Sara’s blog on regenerative agriculture. In fact, you can head on over there and read her post on things you can do now to meet the goals I have been talking about. Hmm. Sara is someone I need to express gratitude toward!

Family, friends, community, mentors, our planetary home…I’m grateful for them all and will strive to make that clear!

Sunday Plarn and Pool

I’m still pretty out of it, so let’s talk about good parts of today. As always, plants, animals, and insects are good, even the differential grasshoppers, who lurk everywhere to surprise me.

Hi. Am I bothering you? No? Let me go crawl in the chain on a gate so you’ll have to move me and my buddies.

Even the birds are feeling the summer heat. I enjoyed watching these Brown-headed Cowbirds today. They were making their weird gurgling noise.

Say what you will about them, but they sing prettily

The chickens and horses are feeling the heat, too. Poor guys.

Bianca won’t come out of her puddle to join us.

I spent much of the day doing chores, cooking, and knitting. I made a couple of plarn discoveries. I need a crochet hook to help me pick up stitches along the edges when I start a new segment. Also, “throwing,” or English knitting is easier than Continental knitting when your yarn is plastic.

I haven’t finished the first ball of plarn yet, but it’s getting bigger. The plarn maker just randomly put in different colored bags, so it’s coming out quite random.

I still don’t know what this is. I may make it sorta big and use it as a camping mat.

My hands are holding up okay (weaving is tempting me nonetheless) but I’m still going to alternate with my Temperature Blanket, which is easier on my fingers. Speaking of which, we made it through June without any 100° days! But they’re coming.

And the air conditioning upstairs needs fixing!

Anyway, the day ended with a nice meal “cooked” by me (frozen lasagna and salad) and lots of time in the swimming pool with our camping buddies Mike and Martha. I’m glad the pool is still working. Long story behind that. and I’m glad for friends you can talk to about pretty much everything. We’re lucky!

What Are Friends For?

What quality do you value most in a friend?

I can forgive a lot of things in my friends. I don’t expect them to be perfect or nice or generous. What I appreciate the most is that my real friends like me the way I am and don’t put me down.

I never want any more “friendships” with conditions on them, where I have to act in ways that don’t feel genuine, or that are based on what I can do for them. I’m fine with that.

And I will remind myself that, with very few exceptions, your coworkers are not your friends. They are people you are cordial with to make getting your work done bearable. (Bear in mind that I married a coworker (twice), became a business partner with a coworker, and still call a former coworker my dearest friend.)

I just need some people in my life I can be myself around without having to walk on eggshells or pretend I’m someone I’m not. And I’m very uninterested in hearing how I should behave, why people don’t like me, or that I’m not woke/unwoke enough. Those folks aren’t in the friend zone anymore.

I don’t need many close friends for a happy life. I have just enough. And interacting with my informal friend groups and like/minded acquaintances can let me have lots of fun—I just have to be more guarded in the larger circle. That’s probably true for most of us.

And I still care deeply for so, so many people I don’t know well or who may not think all that much of me. I just care about folks.

More storms today. Just wind again, though

I am fortunate to have a few very accepting friends, though, and not all of them are dogs and horses! Thanks, friends!

What a Scary Weather Day

Yikes. Today started out just fine. I got a bunch of work done, then in mid afternoon Lee and I drove to Waco, with me doing my meetings and stuff. Have laptop, will work. Lee was called to Federal Jury Duty, and wanted to check out the courthouse before tomorrow and not have to get up quite so early.

As we drove, we started getting severe thunderstorm warnings. I still had time to check out the lovely river area near the Waco Hilton. They’ve done a great job!

As I was taking pictures of urban birds, I heard thunder. So I went inside and we went downstairs to eat dinner. That was a good idea.

It started to rain, and it got as bad as rain gets in a hurricane, along with similar winds. It was quite a show outside the restaurant windows. Then things went downhill when the kitchen had to stop making hot food, then some roof collapsed in the convention center part of the building. Water was pouring in.

We only had a couple of power glitches. Unfortunately it was not as good back at home. The hospital where Kathleen is staying went on generator power and moved all the patients into the hallways. She said there was a bit of chaos and screaming when the big hail came. They had 80 mph winds.

At home it was bad. Our house, family members, dogs, horses, and chickens are fine. Many trees are down and water was over the roads. Luckily everyone got home safely. My chicken pens blew away. The pool, which had just had a repair today, is full of lawn furniture and a greenhouse frame. But that’s nothing.

Roofing blew off the cabin where my son lives, and the material covering their patio is now in Sara’s horse pen. Glad we have the RV where they can stay until repairs are made. A tree fell on Sara’s horse trailer, and Mandy’s balcony rail is gone.

It was a mess. What is good, though, is how we all checked up on each other. My friends, family, and even the insurance agent/friend started texting and offering to help each other out. It really made me feel safer and like I belong. Plus I was so worried about everyone!

I haven’t heard from the people in our Red House Airbnb. There are so many trees around it that I get worried. Someone will check tomorrow. I just hope we don’t get much more rain tonight.

There IS something more positive out of today! Lee’s trial got canceled, so he doesn’t have to go in tomorrow. I may be able to visit a friend in the afternoon, since tomorrow is my extra early work day. And Lee met the lady who is the court clerk and she told him our planned vacation in a couple weeks would excuse him from the next trial. He still might have to go at the end of June, though. It’s our duty to do this service, so Lee is happy to do so.

Pretending I’m Camping

We aren’t at a state park tonight, because Lake Livingston was getting flooded today. Plus, Lee didn’t want to drive the big vehicle towing a small vehicle in hard rain. It’s rainy all over our area, but a lot worse to the east. Maybe we’ll go over tomorrow.

Looking at the bright side (though it was a dim day), I needed to get a lot of work done today, and I had plenty of time to do it AND have a S’mores brownie with Anita at the bakery. That was one good brownie. And it was sort of camping food, right?

After work, I indulgently sat in the back yard with the birds. I even got a recognizable painted bunting picture!

But the way I turned my day of disappointment into a day of joy came when I decided to go for a late-afternoon walk and pretend I was on one of my nature walls, in search of new and exciting things, and maybe encountering someone interesting to talk to!

There! Pitcher’s leather flower! (Or bluebill, *Clematis pitcheri*)

Finally finding the coolest wildflower in my exotic county road made my pretend hike more exciting right away. It’s hard to spot these native clematis, so my heart swelled up a wee bit.

Then I got to talk to someone interesting, my son, who stopped to chat in his way home. We always have fun telling each other our latest cool nature discoveries. He had a bee swarm near his place and also saw a huge toad. I told him about the scorpion and crawfish from yesterday.

Funereal dusky wing, another exotic find.

I went a bit further, listening to birds and looking for turtles, when another familiar car drove up. It was Buddy, who lives one house further than my son. He told me about a skunk he saw and showed me the rattles from a big rattlesnake he found at his house, which is our former rattlesnake house project. Fitting.

Dickcissels listened at each of my stops.

I got all cheerful after sharing tales with my neighbors and didn’t even mind when I could hear no birds at all for a while, at the top of the hill (which technically is a ridge).

I love looking down the hill at the creek and our house.

My nature hike got interesting again quickly, though, when I heard some interesting hours or squawks coming from the creek. Merlin told me it was wood ducks. Really? You mean, those really pretty ones? This was going through my mind when all of a sudden two pair of genuine wood ducks flew right by! I could even sort of tell they weren’t blue-winged teals, mallards, or even whistling ducks, which are the usual suspects.

They aren’t uncommon in Texas, it’s just that our ranch isn’t ideal duck habitat. But today it WAS a flooded woods.

This last encounter sent me into full Nature Girl joy mode. I was grinning like a child and getting more thrilled with every sight. Look! The kingbird is back! There’s a big hawk, so they’re not all gone! There’s something loud! That was the other man of our house coming home from work and trying to make me jump. Ha. I heard the truck.

Yep. I managed to get exercise, see interesting plants and birds, and talk to folks. That was as nice as camping, practically! We will try again tomorrow, maybe. You can’t wish away rain here, knowing the scorching heat is coming soon enough.

Risky Moves

Describe a risk you took that you do not regret.

One risk I took was buying and moving into property in a rural part of a state full of people who don’t like people like me. I was concerned that we hermits of the Hermits’ Rest would be truly isolated, other than the folks next door.

I’d always lived in small cities or suburbs, not rural properties. I didn’t know if I’d be able to adapt to the challenges of living with no HOA to keep things tidy, no convenient shopping areas with a Walgreens and a Starbucks every few blocks, and plenty of biting and stinging creatures lurking everywhere.

Prickly pears do have thorns, but it’s wonderful when they bloom.

I’m so glad I discovered I’m quite flexible, I can adapt, and there are plenty of people here that enjoy people like me. I treasure the wide variety of friends I’ve made in this small town, rich and poor, conservative and liberal alike. And it’s such a privilege to have family in our little commune. I’d never have known this was possible without taking the risk of joining Lee in his retirement dreams.

And I’d never have learned so much about the natural world around me. That’s a green heron.

Now I’m the one taking care of livestock, understanding where the dangers are as well as the wonders, and learning new skills every day. I’m bemused by visitors in their shorts and flip flops running from every flying insect and prickly plant. Or worse, being afraid of chickens, horses, or dogs. (You can respect them without fearing them.)

Apache feels as if I don’t respect him, by washing him with medication and putting so much on his legs. But that’s stopping flies!

It takes all kinds, of course, and I’m glad there are options. I bet I could even find community and new things to learn in a downtown of a city. Maybe in my 80s…

Speaking of friends, I’ve come to view Ssssally here as a friend. Might as well.

Wandering with Visitors

It’s always fun to show off where you live to visitors, and there’s so much to show off these days! So today I took my intrepid visiting friends on a walking/driving tour of our small town. I also got to visit some places I wanted to go!

After a peaceful morning, we headed to the bakery for what I guess was brunch. We sat up in the mezzanine to watch the “action” around the square, of which there was none. But that’s okay.

Next we headed to the antique shop where I got to chat with the folks there while Patty found a celluloid thimble to buy. In ZX I got some wine and David got an eclipse shirt, while Patty found a really cute top. They enjoyed all the art and memorabilia We peeked in the windows of the Venue to see the work our family members helped with.

I got Sherrie Jo and Patty to pose in front of the restored signage.

We wandered to the old jail, which really is an impressive building. I forget how cool it is!

Both the architecture and the grounds are quite beautiful. It’s very well kept.

Of course we visited the Chamber of Commerce, where everyone was friendly. At this point I’m sure the visitors must have thought I knew everyone in town, which was further confirmed when we went in the Bling Box. I got my yearly pair of Corky’s flip flops.

Finally we hit the museums. I hadn’t seen the railroad museum since it moved. They did such a great job on rebuilding the train layouts. The ceiling is a sky, too. I need to go back and read more about the local railroads.

Cameron and its environs. Volunteers have done amazing work.

Finally we went into the local history museum, which is a lot more fun now. We identified a strange object that looked like a bulldog holding a tuning fork as an old curling iron, and next figured out what the item pictured below is.

It was warming up, so we took a drive around town to see the sights. I got to see Anita’s house with its new paint job. It looks sharp! I’ll have to get a photo. We got food for dinner and headed home.

There I did enjoy the finished roof on the tack room. It looks quite snazzy now. I also have Apache pain meds and his normal meds. He was walking, but not yet normally. So it’s Plan B for the show tomorrow.

We had hot tub time, a fun dinner and lots of conversation through the afternoon and evening. Lee showed Patty lots about bookbinding, while all us women crafted (Sherrie Jo was embroidering pillow cases, Patty was crocheting a rug, and I finished another row on the 2024 temperature blanket.

After dinner we fired up the fire pit, which was quite beautiful. So was the sunset.

The only things that marred the evening were a big ole dog fight (in which Carlton and Harvey both got owies) and Apache breaking out of the dry lot into the small paddock. There he proceeded to call to the other horses and race back and forth along the fence line. Hmm. Racing. I guess the pain meds kicked in. He’s staying home tomorrow anyway.

I sure enjoyed having guests and hope they make it to their eclipse destinations safely. Who’s next to visit?

Sportsing and Friending

What Olympic sports do you enjoy watching the most?

Two topics today: visitors and Olympic sports.

Since the prompt is about sports, I’ll answer that first. I’m not sure I’d decided on a favorite Olympic sport, but upon reflection, I realized all the sports I like most involve twisting and flying in the air. I also figured out that I like winter sports the best.

So, in summer Olympics, I enjoy gymnastics and skateboarding. I had to check to see if skateboarding was still going to be in. Yes. Much twisting. I also like equestrian jumping.

In winter sports, I like ice skating, ski jumping, and snowboarding. Very twisty. I just love watching those sports, none of which I can do myself.

As for visitors, I’ve been looking forward to some old friends from my LLL days to come here for months now. They arrived from different directions within five minutes of each other!

So nice to have a guest motorhome, and space to park a guest’s motorhome.

My friend Patty from Arizona drove here in her very cute travel van. She’s already visited some interesting spots and will continue her adventures at a ranch in the best part of the solar eclipse on Monday and then on to parks and sights on the way back.

Sherri Jo and David are here from the Seattle area. He was skiing in various mountain areas until heading here after picking Sherri Jo up in Dallas. They’re going to a cool house on Lake Travis to watch the eclipse with friends. That also sounds fun!

We talked a lot and sat in the hot tub. Well, I didn’t, because I was checking on Apache constantly. He’s walking but not well. I knew it was time for another setback, darn it. I gave him pain meds and took him off the grass. Hoping that helps.

Work started on the fence that will let me manage grazing more easily.

After swimming, we went to the Central Avenue Bistro for the longest meal ever. Wow the service was slow. The food was good, and it was nice to have Anita join us. I got the bonus of seeing friends, too. It’s sure nice to have guests occasionally! I treasure time with dear friends.

I drove them around after dinner and showed them the town at night. People invited us to drink wine as we drove past the ZX place. It sure made Cameron seem friendly!

I look forward to tomorrow. We will do more Cameron activities, such as they are followed by dinner. And maybe I’ll get in the hot tub.