community – Page 8 – The Hermits' Rest

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.

Extra Springy

Today was truly a spring day. The weather kept changing from intense fog to sun to cloudy to windy…warmer, cooler, you name it.

I felt much like the weather. I was extra productive, deeply tired (thanks to Goldie and all the other dogs sleeping in my bed during storms), energetic, and zonked. In between spurts of creativity I went out and enjoyed the flowers and butterflies for a while.

I managed to brave the very muddy pens to feed the horses and groom Apache, who thankfully was not all muddy or covered in burs. I have to try to get him clean by 8 am tomorrow. Wish me luck. He didn’t help when he stomped on his halter, which meant I had to wash that, too. Sigh. It’s not like I didn’t t have things to do!

The Master Naturalists had a nice, big booth at the Spring Festival in Cameron this afternoon and evening. I was on the second shift, which enabled me to get all my chores done before heading over to the Venue.

We met a good number of folks and did some excellent recruiting. Alan (left in the photo) is great at encouragement, and we got all sorts of people interested in our work. Cindy of Bird and Bee Farm talked a lot about turkeys, and I think she convinced a guy to get some for his big ranch. That would be cool.

The best part of the evening was finally introducing Lee to a couple of my Master Naturalist friends. I hope he liked them. The other part that made it a great time was just sitting around and talking to Chapter members outside of a meeting setting. They’re such an interesting group of people and so good to each other. We marveled at how fortunate we are to have found so many compatible folks in this sparsely populated county. In these times, that’s really great.

Yes, I enjoyed all aspects of today’s extra springy events. Life is pretty good in our little town.

Why Yes, You Can Have a Good Time at a Funeral

First, I just can’t answer the boring Bloganuary question today, so I’ll just have to give up on that challenge. I will, of course, blog every day this month, as usual.

Or I can just put up photos of my nails every day. That would drive the readers away!

Now that it’s dealt with, I can talk about why I’m in scenic Little Rock, Arkansas. My friend, Barbara (yes, the Barbara of the comments section), lost her husband recently. We have been friends for a long time, and she was one of the best listeners ever when I was having issues with my work in La Leche League. We’ve been email friends since around 1995, so there have been a lot of memories, stories, confidences, and kindnesses between the two of us. I felt that it was important that someone come to her husband’s service just to be there for her, and her alone (and to represent our group of close friends from our years as LLL administrators).

I hadn’t seen Barbara in a very long time. It sure was good to be there today. What a hard day in anyone’s life.

So, this morning I put on some somber clothes and headed to downtown Little Rock for Gene’s service. The church is very cool. I’ve been hearing about it for years, so I was uncharacteristically (for me) excited to actually see it. What a cool old building it is, and how welcoming they’ve made it for everyone. No wonder Gene, not a religious person, was fine being memorialized here.

I enjoyed talking to people at the pre-service reception and finding out more about Barbara’s kids (not much younger than me, so not really kids) and grandkids, and hearing good stories. I got to chat about knitting, listen to conversations about Gene’s work with the Humane Society here, and lots more. And on an interesting side note, people here still wear black to funerals, unlike in Texas where they wear anything that’s not jeans and a t-shirt.

So many activists were there. I’d be pretty comfortable here if I were more Christian.

The service itself was very simple and well planned. Barbara and her family did a great job on it. There were really cool hymns, after some improvisational music before the service by a talented pianist. But the very best part was the “Stories” section, in which people from all areas of Gene’s life spoke (he was a law professor, fiction writer, dog lover, veteran…etc.). Everyone was so good at speaking, especially Barbara’s sons, who she has to be very proud of. It’s so nice to hear people who know how to work a room give a heartfelt talk. Ah, smart people. Former colleagues, former students, fellow writers…dog people, all talked. It reminded me of my dad’s service, where you could get to know the person by just listening to the stories. I honestly think everyone felt like they got a hug and new memories to cherish in Gene’s absence.

My favorite part was when I really wanted to clap after one son’s story, and I was really glad when people did so. How often does THAT happen? I just smiled through the whole event and thought how lucky Barbara is to have such a warm community around her.

There was a cool set of woven pieces that represented the four seasons

Afterwards, I was invited to lunch with the family and close friends, which led to much lively discussion. But by the time that was over, my introversion kicked in and I went to a park. I didn’t get to see birds or many plants, but it was still nice to get out in nature, though of course it was STILL raining. Whoa am I ready for some sunshine.

The sun did finally come out a little around sunset, and I got to enjoy some fast-moving and interesting clouds out the hotel window.

I’m glad I came to support Barbara and hug her for all the rest of our friends. It’s worth doing if you possibly can. I know it meant a LOT to me when my friend Vicki came for my dad’s funeral, just for me. Since then, I’ve tried to repay that kindness by being there for others.

Think of me driving 6.5 hours tomorrow. I hope it’s more clear (and that it is clearer at home so I can groom the horses).

My Leisure Time Surprise

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.

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:

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.

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.

How to Keep Up Online

In what ways do you communicate online?

Greetings from the Polar Vortex where it finally got cold, even way down here in Texas.

We’ve been busy keeping ourselves and the dogs warm

Today’s question is harder than it seems. It forces me to admit something that kind of makes me sad: I’m no longer an internet pioneer. Y’all, I’m even in a couple of books for being an early feminist voice on the ‘net. I made websites before color monitors existed. I had email way before most people did, thanks to being at the University of Illinois.

I helped make online communities before Facebook. So what? Yep. That’s the past. Zzz.

I no longer keep up with things. Twitter bored me, I have to admit. I also don’t enjoy watching videos for very long (amusing since I create them every day at work). So I’m not on YouTube for hours. And I cannot tell you how annoying and boring I find Tik Tok and Reels and social media influencers.

Please enjoy them and tell me about it, though. I am fine experiencing those things second hand.

So. Boring senior citizen Suna communicates online mainly in Facebook and communities there, and by reading and writing blogs.

I text friends and family a lot, and enjoy my text groups with them. Certainly I’m up on Cameron news thanks to that! I also really enjoy online Zoom meetings that started in the pandemic but are now just nice ways to keep in touch with people I used to email a lot. I feel so close to friends all over the place!

Email is there still, but mostly for work or nonprofit stuff. The few email lists I’m still on don’t get much of my attention these days, because I run out of time.

For what it’s worth, that’s that. I enjoy the online communities as much as the in-person ones, though. I like blog comments and interacting with readers, a lot. So thanks to you commenters and silent readers. You know who you are!

It’s too cold to have a daily bird, though I did enjoy looking at puffy sparrows today. It’s supposed to snow tomorrow. I know the chickens are enjoying their heat lamps and the horses appreciate the new shelter. I tested both of them out today!

Our heater is still working, so us humans are coping well with 19° F weather. The heat pump unit got wrapped in insulation, so it’s not failing when it got into the 20s like it used to. We are getting stuff figured out, thanks to the brain power of the ranch commune.

The far left square is today. That’s the coldest day I’ve recorded!

It may snow tomorrow! I bet I take pictures. What do you think?

Can We Live Long and Prosper?

What are your thoughts on the concept of living a very long life?

Today’s question has been on my mind lately since there have been a lot of deaths in my circle, and I’ve been a close observer of the stress, pain, and hard decisions loved ones have to go through.

One of our blog family lost her husband yesterday, which hits hard. But I’m glad she has the support of many close friends who’ve gone through this before, and she has supportive family. Sometimes, when no one you know has been through such a loss, you can feel so alone and lost, and it hits you so hard.

So, do we want to live very long lives? No matter when we pass away, we will leave sad people behind to treasure memories. I wish I had more of them with my mom, who died when I was 26. I coped poorly but was glad she was out of her mental and physical pain.

As long as I’m in reasonable health, can enjoy nature and my community, and am not a burden to others, I’d prefer to live a long life. I’m just curious about how we humans are going to handle things in the coming 30 or 40 years. And I’d love to continue contributing to society and becoming more wise.

Yet, if I were chronically ill with constant pain or costing my family so much that I was a financial burden, I’d have no problems with letting go. It would be interesting to see what’s next for the energy that brings me life.

I can honestly say that I empathize with anyone who decides they are “done” and don’t keep pushing forward in old age, and I can see not wanting to give up. And I have seen for myself how quickly you can go from fighting to dignified surrender when the time comes.

This made no sense, I’m afraid, but it helped me to write it. I do want to live long and prosper, though!

Love to all of you who are struggling. I am here for you if you need me.