What’s something you believe everyone should know.
Life would be better for all of us if we realized that we are all one big family on this earth and that we all have a place in the Big Picture. That’s not just people. It’s the whole ecosystem.
Maybe we’d all live and let live if we bore this in mind. We humans have different cultures, as do other sentient beings. It would sure be nice if there were more coexistence.
Who am I kidding?
What are you most proud of in your life?
I’m proud of two things in my life right now. One is my son, D. He struggled for a while in his 20s but is now doing work that’s meaningful and is an outlet for his artistic and spatial awareness talents. He did the repairs on his cabin after the severe wind event almost all by himself and it’s so rustic and cute.
And even though he’s my next-door neighbor now, he’s continuing his music career and learning so much about recording, too.
Hard work and determination got my boy to a good position in life! He even has a work truck and leads a crew.
Speaking of hard work and determination, the other thing I’m proud of is my relationship with Apache. The two of us have struggled and had so many ups and downs thanks to my insecurity, his nerves, and his health issues. But by gosh, we’ve gotten to where we’re reaching our potential.
I was feeling pretty down about horse stuff, mainly because Drew seems uncomfortable again and I just can’t get Apache to take his medication. But, I packed up and de-burred Apache, and off we went with Sara, Aragorn, and their New Zealand visitors.
We ended up handling the show very well. In each of the three events, we did our best. Most important to me was that I wasn’t all nervous and remembered most of what I was supposed to do, even though I didn’t bend him well and there was some hind end issue I’ll have to ask Tarrin about.
After we finished the Trail portion of the show, where you go through obstacles, Tarrin left the judging booth and ran to me, yelling, “Sue Ann! Sue Ann!” I immediately thought I must have gotten disqualified or missed something. But no, she came to tell me I looked better than I ever had. That made me cry.
All in all it was a really pleasant and fun event. I don’t have any photos of me and Apache, but I can tell you he stepped up and did his best, even if he’s not been exercising much lately. I at least seem to have my stamina back, though I was totally zonked last night and went to bed at 9.
All the competitors and their beautiful horses did great work. Everyone is improving and so supportive of each other. I learn so much watching the better riders.
I just want to show you how great the competitors looked. I was especially thrilled to see two other Paint horses and my favorite cute Appaloosa, who showed in hand.
I’m proud of all of us for trying to show. I’m so happy we found a supportive discipline with no negativity or mistreatment of horses.
I’m tired so this is quick. The two halves of my day differed greatly. In the first half, I spent a few hours at the Wild Wings Bird Sanctuary with Ann. We got some excellent new birds to add to the list of sightings there, and did a bit of Bioblitz action as well.
We spent time with Gene and Cindy, who were working at selling chickens until we got to them to talk about wild birds. We went over designs for interesting benches to put out in the seating area to replace some rickety ones.
We also talked about a logo. I’d used the AI software they want us to use at work to generate a few ideas. We are going with this one, with different colors.
After all our decisions, I went into Cameron to the annual Steak Stein and Wine event. I got a couple of holiday gifts, which I’m proud of. Such a planner! And I got kettle corn, a snow cone, and later a peach Bellini, frozen. Mm.
But I also was brave. I supported my friends y volunteering at the booth for the county Democratic Party. Why did I do this, if I’m avoiding politics? Honestly, it’s to let others know we are here and just normal people. We had no candidate signs or pamphlets, just a code you could scan to sign up for the mailing list. Mostly people ignored us or were polite, and we had a few nice conversations. Only after the drinking started did one guy get ugly, and I was gone by then.
I am proud for not totally hiding, to maybe encourage others to not be afraid. You shouldn’t be afraid in this country. I’m still going to respect your opinions if they differ from mine, especially if you’ve thought it out. we need to respect each other!
I got to have dinner (the steak part of the festival) with family and workers at our nephew’s business. That means I got to see and talk to my son! And the food was better this year, especially the mashed potatoes.
All in all, it was a good, but long, day. I enjoyed seeing friends and acquaintances and was brave!
Bonus pretty photos to follow.
How about that? Things do sometimes work out. And that helped today end up being good. With this face staring at me while I worked, it couldn’t be all bad.
I was sitting in the bird watching chair early this morning when I noticed a very large cow was mooing at me softly. She had a weird look on her face, if that’s a thing cows can do.
When she turned sideways I realized she was about to give birth. A hoof was sticking out. I watched for a while then went inside for a meeting. When I set up my computer on the porch, I saw she still had one hoof and something pink sticking out. Hmm.
Many episodes of folksy veterinarian shows on Animal Planet have taught me well. There should be two feet, and labor should be quicker. So we texted her owners. I was worried that they would be tired of us telling them every time we see a laboring cow, but this time we were right to ask them to check.
Once her owner got there they saw what I saw, and a difficult ballet of trying to move the cow began. That poor guy, who’s near my age, was sure hustling until he got the great idea to convince all the cattle to go where they are usually fed. Once there, he was able to get the laboring cow into a pen, and with his son, the other owner helping, they straightened the calf’s leg out. Then the birth was easy, and the cute spotted calf was alive!
I felt good knowing we’d helped a little. That made the work day fly by, too. I documented like crazy! I might even get my project done in time. Maybe. Having something to concentrate on has helped my mental state, too. All good! no negativity!
After working and doing horse work, Lee and I were able to relax by the pool and take advantage of the better weather. There was a pleasant breeze that was perfect for enjoying a beverage and petting dogs.
Driving home from the state park was a depressing reminder of how divided our country is today. Sometimes being a sensitive person makes me too vulnerable to attack ads, negativity, and the spread of misinformation. And when people I care about are sharing the worst misinformation, it’s too much.*
So I was thinking that I can’t control what’s on television and other media, but there are things in my sphere that I can control. So I’m taking a vacation from my Facebook feed. I’ll miss some good news and other personal developments that happen, but I’ll get less agitated.
I have other ways to keep in touch! I’m sharing the blog posts on my ranch Facebook page, and dog and horse updates on their pages. And people can comment on the blog or email me. Just ask.
But, I’m not an influencer. I may be an asocial media influencer at that. It will not be a big deal to go away for a while. I just finally hit the point where the benefits of connection no longer outweigh the negativity and hostility from people who mean well.
Other news? Goldie’s biopsy report finally came in. Indeed she had or has osteosarcoma. The best news is that it’s not a highly aggressive or in a one. I guess it’s the least bad kind of a bad thing.
She started licking and messing with her leg where her old hotspot and IV were. So we covered it last night. The vet I talked to today said it needs to able to breathe, so it’s off now and I replaced it with a sock. It’s one that was really tight on me, but is probably too big. We will keep trying.
I’m okay! I just don’t want to be hammered with partisan politics, name calling, and intimidation for a while. Self care rules, y’all.
Oh yeah: take care of yourselves, Florida friends!
*some great friends I disagree with are sharing factual information that makes me think. I appreciate those perspectives.
If anyone reading this isn’t struggling in some way, I’m glad for you, but a bit surprised. These seem to be hard times for most folks I know. And it doesn’t look like things are getting any easier. I vote that we all do the right thing and support each other. Let’s cut each other some slack. Some of us could really use kindness and empathy right now.
We got more sad dog news today and are trying to figure out what to do about Goldie’s bone cancer. I needed support and to just talk about it. Thank goodness I have a friend who I can talk to, who’s going through similar canine concerns.
The horse trailer is back, and I was glad to go to lessons again. Yes, I wanted to learn horse stuff, but I also wanted to talk to Tarrin and engage in mutual support about our dogs and other family issues. Talking really helped me think things through, and I hope I was a good listener for her. And of course I loved on her sick dog.
The lessons were good, too. Apache amazes me. He is doing so well and keeps making progress even with time off. He improved on the dreaded side pass (hooray) and was very patient when I worked on posting at the trot. He’s become a real treasure. We have both calmed down so we can learn.
Drew is doing much better with me, too, though he had some challenges today. That lovely filly of Tarrin’s gets him all rattled. At least this time, Tarrin was on him. But he settled down after ground work and was fine afterwards. He just has to grow out of losing focus on his human leaders. it ain’t easy.
The horse lessons are so helpful to me, as is the support I get from Tarrin. We have so much in common yet challenge each other. That is what we need right now, to see past our superficial differences to our common humanity.
Find yourself someone to support or to be supportive to. It’s a great counterweight to the struggles and challenges we are going through as humans.
Today was just fine. Not too hot, had some rain, horses were well behaved, and I saw lots of plants.
Heck, even Mr and Mrs Bluebird of Happiness visited.
Lee and I watched golf on television, because it relaxes me but does have exhibitions of skill. Then we watched the news a while. Then I was outside enjoying the cool-ish weather until time to make a meal with a lot of mushrooms in it. I guess yesterday’s food post made me crave umami.
Note: I’m thankful for my husband and a couple of friends who were there for me today! Good folks.
That’s all I have for public consumption. Sleep well, everyone.
What’s your favorite game (card, board, video, etc.)? Why?
I admit it. I like word games. My two favorites are Scrabble and Big Boggle. No one will play me because I’m a word professional. I’m NOT the best at either game, honest. I’m above average. I’d probably be better if anyone would play with me.
I don’t like the kind of games people play with interpersonal relationships. That’s why I enjoyed today. I spent much more time than usual talking to friends. It was a nice mix of light-hearted stuff and serious conversation. I’m sure glad I have friends to just hang out with sometimes!
After talking with folks and hashing out some of my angst, I’m feeling a lot more balanced and able to act the way my principles tell me to. That made it worth a Zoom call and driving to Rockdale for fish tacos!
Go off and enjoy your weekend. That’s my plan.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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’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.
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).
The Hermits' Rest 