crafts – Page 4 – The Hermits' Rest

Doing Something about It

The Universe has spoken. I’m on the right path for right now, and I’m reaping the rewards. Now I need to be an example for others. I’ll explain.

But first, look, I made a thing. It’s a small bag to hang on a hook next to where I sit in the RV. It will hold my nail file, pencils, and scissors. Not having an end table is a pain.*

I’m feeling somewhat better now that I can be outside more. I was even able to work in the porch today. No wonder I was able to hear 50 birds today.

My view was these two cows. One was not feeling well and the other stayed with her, licking her until they napped.

And more horse time has also helped. Lee put out more hay today, and while everyone else wanted to get into the hay, Dusty just hung around with me and let me remove burs. So when Lee was done, I gave Dusty a bonus meal and a grooming session. That helped, because he’s shedding even more than Apache. We even took a nice walk around the obstacles. He liked that. Much hugging was involved.

He’s looking good for his advanced age, just thin.

After I was finished working I fed everyone and took Apache out on a ride. He’s getting so much better at home. We had fun, and he genuinely seemed to enjoy hanging out with me. More hugging occurred.

I ended up taking lots of horse and donkey photos after trying to de-bur Fiona. I only got partway through. My hands hurt.

I know all those bird observing and horse hugging is good, because I went to a tarot group meeting this evening on Zoom. I appreciated the invitation, because I’d been wanting to get back to more readings, but didn’t want to get a scary one all alone. We did a five-card spread and each did our own analysis.

It may look depressing, but it made sense.

I won’t go into what each position was for, since the spread was just for this group. The gist of my interpretation is that I’m one broken-hearted wise woman who needs to turn away from what makes her sad and go meditate or whatever. As usual, the cards back up what I’m trying to do! The Emperor tells me I’m on a path of leadership, and that’s a nudge to go be a good example more. I’ll heed that advice and go do something: be a more vocal proponent of peace and universal love.

Anyway, that was a different and fun day!

*there is no pattern for this. It’s got a single crochet base and double crochet sides using two strands of Dishie cotton yarn. I seamed the center with slip stitches and added a handle 5 stitches wide. I put this here because I know people always want patterns, but this was just a utilitarian object.

February 11 Status

Update on today:

It rained all day. I hope it was enough.
I finished the 2024 temperature blanket. The borders helped.
I feel irrelevant in today’s world. Not much to contribute. Fading away.
Goldie had seizures. Lee wants to see if she can make another week.
Lots of sickness among my friends, as well as losses of beloved dogs and cats. They mean so much to us.

There are hundreds of Grackles in these trees.

It’s just one of those times. I’ll keep breathing and accepting that life has its ups and downs.

Blanket with borders. January 2024 at left, December at right.

A Beautiful Day for a Long Nap

This was such a pretty day. It started out cool and barely got to 70°F. I had hoped to spend most of the day outdoors, and I got a good start in the morning by taking a long walk, then guarding two escaped calves until the owner could move them back inside. Only one truck was going fast enough to hurt them but I slowed it down. They’re valuable livestock!

Then I spent time with the chickens trying to figure out why bees are all over their food. I still don’t know, but Clint assures me they are delicious. Extra protein!

Bonus bee, rooster and turkey video. Hear the buzz and gobbles.

Back at the house, I tried to finish January on the temperature blanket but got sleepy, which is odd, because I slept great last night. I went upstairs and collapsed into a deep sleep that I had a hard time waking up from. It was a weird feeling. I thought I was sick or something but maybe I should have eaten more.

I made myself get up and go outside once I could move around. I took some photos with the telephoto lens but haven’t downloaded them yet. It wasn’t such a great bird day anyway.

I saw a formation of planes, three white, three black. They went north then came back.

I’d intended to ride Apache but was feeling lightheaded so I just exercised him. I’m sure he’s thrilled. Tomorrow he has no choice.

I did get January all done. It needs blocking, but does look like a calendar! I like the border. It’s perky.

Gonna Get Cold

I’m hiding and hibernating this weekend, I guess, spending most of my time with birds and horses. That’s just fine with me.

I’ve made sure Apache gets his rides and cantering in before this big cold front arrives. Terry the farrier said Apache has muscles! Mabel has a cut on her hip area from an encounter with a tractor, so I’ve been monitoring that and putting ointment with honey on it. It’s better now, but here was its original state.

All animals are as ready as I can get them for cold weather, with water, shelter, etc. I worry about Connie Gobbler, but the hen house should stay above freezing and I put electrolytes in the water bucket there, for her and the chickens.

Other than looking at birds, including a Vermilion Flycatcher today, I worked on my knitting. The border on last year’s temperature blanket is slowly growing (it’s 540 stitches long on the long end).

I have a very long circular needle for all those stitches.

And today I was able to finish the third row of January on this year’s blanket. It looks more like a calendar now. I’m ridiculously excited about this cold front bringing temperatures low enough to have some purple in them! I guess that will make up for having to wear so many layers for a while!

I’m loving all these cooler colors. The blue lazy daisy stitches equal .2” of rain each.

Ignoring the metaphorical elephant in the room (the room being my country) I’ll just share that I tried to paint my nails black, maybe with one nail with a little sparkle to symbolize hope. But when I put the set I’d picked out on, I realized it was actually dark green. There goes my mourning theme. I guess it’s now the dark embrace of the forest, with little ice crystals, which I put on all the nails.

I expect I’ll be slightly off kilter for a bit, but I’ll be here to support my friends and family, all of them. Have a good Sunday.

Of Blankets and Birds

I’m too tired to write much. Well, honestly, my back hurts too much to concentrate. Spending 3.5 hours in the seating at the place where our Master Naturalist meetings are held is too much, even with cushions. However, it’s good that we started a new member class and that I got going on borders for my temperature blanket from last year. Here it is in its lengthy glory:

Last January is at the top, and the last row is December 31-January 12.

I’m not sure how I didn’t realize the year would end with one day on the last row. So I added the beginning of January. At least that put a few cold days on that end of the blanket. I plan to do the black border wider on the long side to make it more balanced. we will see.

Close-up of summer through winter. You can at least tell it cooled off a bit.

It was another pretty cool bird day. The highlight came when I was standing in the back yard of the house we are incredibly slowly renovating. Suddenly a Red-Shouldered Hawk landed on the old clothesline support, just a few yards away. We were impressed! And she stayed there. We left, not her.

It’s really fun to share an interest in nature with a family member!

Maybe tomorrow I’ll be perkier! I did enjoy the class this evening. The new students are interesting people.

Quiet Weekend Other Than Wind, Skunks, and Hippos

I didn’t get a lot accomplished this weekend, but now that I think of it, I got stuff done. I probably got amnesia from inhaling skunk odor from Goldie, who still thinks she’s a mighty hunter despite her cancer and missing leg. At least she didn’t get hit too closely and didn’t try to eat it.

I did finish the first week of the 2025 temperature blanket and even started a little scarf. I hope I can get it done quickly.

I’m sort of glad a huge cold front is here, because I ran out of Caution, the bright yellow that’s 70-75°. I’ve ordered more, and I’m pretty sure the replacements, and a lot more black, will get here before it warms up again. I get a bit over-excited when I get to use green, blue, and maybe purple in my blankets, because it sure hasn’t been cold this year.

The last three days of December (black) and January 1-4. You can tell it was warm yesterday because the high temperature on Wednesday was the low yesterday (lime green).

Today it rained a teeny bit but mostly the cold front brought wind. It was a biting one, too. Still, I’d planned to take Apache over to a horse show friend’s place for a holiday party/riding fun. But the rain made Lee rethink pulling the trailer with no brake controller in bad weather. I resolved to reluctantly stay home.

Then Tarrin texted asking if I was coming and reminded me I could come without a horse. Well, duh. So I jumped in the car and drove over to the nice setup my friend has on her property.

She has an arena and it’s quite comfortable.

They were all waiting for me to get there, so I’m glad I hurried. I sure appreciated being there for the big reveal of the Christmas gift we all chipped in for to give Tarrin. It’s what she always wanted for Christmas but her husband just wouldn’t get her.

She really did want a hippo and one of our horse show group knew where to get this cute and very heavy statue. It weighs over 500 pounds. One help in finding a hippopotamus in central Texas is to know that the mascot of the town of Hutto is the Hippo, so businesses all over there have statues in front of them.

We all enjoyed discussing names for it, potential outfits (how to make a hippo hackamore was an unexpected topic), and whether to paint it or not. And of course, Ziggy the dog had to show his hippo love.

It was lots of fun to laugh and tell stories together, and Tarrin reading her family’s reactions when she texted them the news was just great.

So glad to have made it to the gathering.

Later on Tarrin told me she could have come and got me and Apache. Why does it never occur to me to ask for help? I’m so intent on getting more self reliant that I forget I’m not alone. I guess I need to work on a balance between not being a burden and not missing out on things from not asking for assistance.

Oh well. On to a very cold week. I’m glad I have a lot of warm clothing!

I’m Good at Things!

Share five things you’re good at.

Since I’ve had a rough day emotionally, I’ll share something somewhat fun today. Of course, I’m good at many things, less good at others, like we all are. That’s one thing that makes people so interesting!

Lee and Penney are very good at relaxing together.

Here are the requested five things I’m good at.

One. I’m good at empathy. That’s both a positive and a negative. Today I truly felt someone’s pain over a loss. That wasn’t fun, but I’m glad I can do it. Empathy is probably why I’m so good at reading tarot cards. Combine empathy with a mind that treasures metaphors and insights keep a-coming.

Empathy can trap you in a beautiful web, like these spider eggs. They know how to escape.

Two. I can name animals well. I enjoy my human-like names. Since I’m on the letter C in chicken names, the new rooster is now Clint White. Get it?

Three. I’m a reasonably good writer. I’m not polished or brilliant, but I love expressing myself in writing. I have done it my whole life!

Another chicken picture, since all my journals are downstairs.

Four. I’m good at knitting and crocheting. I used to be very good, but now I just do it yo relax, not show how fancy I can be. My favorite thing is teaching others these skills, to bring a lifetime of never being bored.

Working on one of the many blankets I made for friends and family a while back.

Five. I’m good at using my peripheral vision. That’s how I can spot birds and animals so well. I detect movement practically as well as the ever-vigilant Apache. We are both easily attracted to movement when we are working together. No wonder we get along.

What are you good at? Since I love how people differ, I’m interested!

PS: sorry if the red text is hard to read. I designed it for the blog interface.

Not a Sales Person, But

If you were going to open up a shop, what would you sell?

I’d sell all my yarn stash, which would take quite a while, and offer knitting and crochet lessons. It would be a fun little pop-up store and I wouldn’t have to worry about maintaining inventory and paying sales taxes except once. I really have no interest in owning a shop. I enjoy interacting with people, organizing, and decorating, but not accounting.

Some nice, organized yarn. Photo from Pexels.

So, that’s not gonna happen but at least it gave me a topic, since much of my day was fairly full. At least I feel better. When I woke up I felt awful, but it must have been all those anti-shingles dispersing. I’m normal other than lingering arm soreness.

I managed a quick walk and saw this Spicebush Swallowtail.

It was very humid, so the heat felt hotter, and I decided to skip an activity in the blazing sun this morning. Instead, I went to the new bird station Master Naturalist project to take my August bird inventory there. At least I could do that in the shade.

I had a pleasant time and saw or heard 17 birds. There is a new water feature there, with water coming down a chain into a bird bath. On the chain I got to watch a juvenile Painted Bunting having a nice drink. I didn’t figure out what it was until I got home and looked it up.

There were also juvenile cardinals out and about, and one did some fine snacking right near me. Birds ignore you if you sit still long enough!

In fact, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers were bold enough to sit on the tree branch closest to me as if to inquire whether I had any gnats for them. They are so pretty.

No gnatcatcher photos, but here are the cool furniture pieces that got donated.

I’m not going to go on and on, since I already wrote a blog post for the Master Naturalist blog this afternoon. But I enjoyed seeing so many birds flitting around, plus the chickens, guineas, and turkeys are fun, too.

Old live oak tree near the birding station

I’m glad I was feeling well enough to get horse supplies afterwards, since Dusty was out of his feed. Lifting 60-pound bags of food and salt got my weight-bearing exercise quota in, too. I’m sure the horses didn’t mind that I went swimming rather than riding, because I was I overheated!

Cattle were hot, too, but it didn’t phase the Great Blue Heron.

Dull but productive day, for sure, but since I’ll be traveling next Saturday, I enjoyed the chores and everyday duties! May tomorrow also be average!

Enjoy your weekend like this Eastern pond hawk.

Curiosity: The Secret to a Happy, Long Life

What are you curious about?

Now, here’s a question I can answer! I’m curious about everything. I probably could have gone to college my whole life getting degrees in different subjects. Since I couldn’t do that, I’ve tried to keep asking questions and trying to see how things work my whole life. And oh, how happy I am when I figure something out (examples to follow).

Dusty is **always** curious about what I’m doing. I couldn’t get a picture of all 4 horses lined up in their stall, because he had to come check me out. He’s so sweet and I can’t fault him for being curious!

It’s always seemed to me that people who are curious and want to expand their knowledge are happy. Closed-minded people seem either sad or grumpy. I don’t have scientific evidence for this, so maybe I should look that up…

There’s lots of evidence that lifelong learners stay sharper (on average) than people who are fine without getting new insights or ideas. To me these folks seem to live longer, but maybe not. In any case, curiosity makes any life feel rich and long.

Look! I was curious as to what this is. It’s a bluish-green cuckoo wasp. I found out it’s a parasite on mud dauber nests. Hmmm.

There are things I’m not all that curious about. For certain I don’t want to know what other people are thinking. Nope. I’ve tried, but I can’t get interested in learning war strategies, types of firearms, ways to cheat “the system,” or gambling. I’m not all that curious about how political systems work, but since Lee is, I’m learning about it anyway. It just soaks in.

Lee loves CNN. He took this awkward anchor person photo.

I like solving little local mysteries that my curiosity brings out. I gather my mental evidence and look for more. Like today, my hunch that there was a Green Heron nest in the pond behind the house was borne out. I finally saw the whole family, including squabbling adolescents. That was fun!

In Other News

I made more cardigan progress today. It fits! Now I’m working on the sleeves, which require a delicate calculation of how much of the main yarn color is left. The sleeves need to be even!

Yep, it’s bright. At least I smoked today.

And I have also finished updating the Sightings section on this blog website. I found it interesting that the numbers of plant and insect species are very close, over 350 each (I say from memory, since I’m not curious enough to check). I don’t think I’d ever have imagined I’d find that many if I hadn’t have been curious enough to start recording them.

I’m glad this week is over. There certainly have been lots of ups and downs in my personal stuff, my friends’ lives, the US, and the world. Maybe there can be a little break?

Crocheting a Distraction

Hello! I’m here, just without much to say. There’s so much going on around me, both good and challenging, that it’s hard to focus on a topic. Honestly, I want to meditate all day to get away from the competing distractions, but I know meditation shouldn’t be an escape. So, I’m crocheting.

I was trying to make this bright and sparkly project out of only yarn in my stash, but I didn’t have any solids in the right weight (oh, I do, but in the shipping container). When I found the purple gradient, I was thrilled, since it’s the same brand.

I tried it on this morning after I finished the bottom band and was happy to see it was the medium length I wanted.

Older person, rear view. It looks good other than lacking sleeves.

Today I got more than halfway through the collar band, so the sleeves will happen soon. It’s a yoked cardigan. I’ve knitted many but never crocheted one. I’m so impressed that I didn’t make it huge.

It’s good to have the crafts and the birds to distract me. There were lots of birds today, including the elusive Wild Turkey and Osprey. I didn’t see either but I heard them. I’d heard the Osprey arguing with a hawk earlier in the week. Of course, no photos of them, but the Cardinals and Mockingbirds will pose.

I’ve been letting the swimming pool distract me, too. It’s so nice after horse activity. I’m getting swimming muscles, I think. The Olympics are also great distractions. Just people who have incredible skills showing good sportsmanship. That’s encouraging.

Look at this interesting insect. I have no idea what it is, but look at that stinger!

What distracts you when the world threatens to overwhelm you?