daily life – The Hermits' Rest

Craft Update

I have a couple of crafty updates on something other than my temperature blanket, for once. Oooh, aah.

First, my craft closet has been in a state of disrepair for a few months, because one of the shelves Lee put up for me collapsed and spread all kinds of mess, including hundreds of photos, all over the floor. And I admit that I had little motivation to fix it back up, because there just weren’t enough shelves in it to hold my vast holdings of books, yarn, needles, looms, etc.

Yes, I have two simple looms, one Cricket and one Navajo. I would actually like to make some tapestry and such. Later. You know, when I retire. Ha ha.

Anyway, my personal contractor/child, who’s been helping out with some projects here, made me a new, sturdier shelf to replace the broken one plus a few more to turn what was once a clothing closet into the craft closet I’ve been wanting for 12 years. I feel so pampered!

Shelving. Not showing the work in progress boxes of yarn on the floor.

There was a narrow area that just cried out to have more shelves, so he put some there, too. I thought it was nice of him to make them match, even though I said there was no need to paint them. I’m the only one who will be looking in there.

Now my den area is still full of yarn and endless tote bags of sad unfinished projects. I should be able to organize everything in the next few days though I may need to think about yarn organization. Some I’m giving

I got a good portion of the books up. Pardon the giant circular knitting needle holder at left. It works!

One of the good things about going through my yarn and needles is that I found things that I could used (in addition to my depressing basket of sock yarn that moths attacked). I located all my sets of circular needles, all of which were missing size 4, the size I use most. I suspect I’ll find those among some of my WIPs (works in progress). I think a few of those may end up being frogged (rip it, rip it) and the needles put back into circulation.

It’s okay, though, because I finally found the set of short size 4 tips and a shorter cable. This has enabled me to start a new hat with some beautiful red wool I found. So far it’s an inch of K1 P1 ribbing.

I already finished one hat of this pattern, which knitters around the US are making as a sign of solidarity with friends and family who are in places where fear is growing. I couldn’t find enough red yarn last week to finish my first try, so I made one in a gray gradient (Mandala) acrylic yarn. I added a red tassel. It came out great and I can wear it without looking silly.

I didn’t enjoy the needles I found, which were aluminum with pretty stiff cables for knitting in the round. The yarn is not annoying for acrylic, either. But I’m enjoying the nice Peruvian wool, wooden needle, and flexible center very much.

Really easy pattern, and probably best for four double-pointed needles, but I’m stubborn.

It’s pleasing to have more craft work to do, since I have no more horse lessons and it’s been too cold and soggy to walk or ride. I found even more red yarn (a beautiful Malabrigo) but I can see it’s a moth victim. Never fear, though, I ordered some inexpensive wool from Michael’s so I can make a couple more for non-crafty friends.

You can see the needles I didn’t like in this photo, sort of. And the cool yarn.

Naturally, looking at all my “stuff” reminded me of my unfinished needlepoint and some cross stitching I once wanted to do. Hmm. What will I switch to? I vow to pass some of my stash on to others though, especially since my next-door neighbor is crocheting up a storm.

I’m hopeful that life is settling down a bit, at least on the home front. It’s back to being normally cold for here. That’s a relief. And tomorrow I won’t write a post full of knitting jargon!

The Calm before…

Oh you know the phrase. Yes, everyone in the southeast of the USA knows a storm is coming. We’ve all bought bread, milk (ok, not me), flashlight batteries, and foods that don’t need refrigeration, so we can keep the doors shut if the Texas power grid fails again.

I don’t think the mistletoe will have problems with the weather unless the branch it’s on breaks.

Animals are safe, too. Got food and shelter. And Carlton is healing well. Relief.

My plans are to stay home and inside other than feeding equines and fowl. I have appropriate clothing for that.

Our winter red-stem storksbill will probably be fine, too.

Tomorrow I have lots of work to keep me busy and this weekend I have crafts (making a hat), reading, and talking to friends to occupy my time.

And I’m feeling better, thanks to my extended community. I’m so grateful.

The Day DID Get Better

No kidding, today started out like nothing was going to go right. My first sight, when I went out to check the exciting .04” of rain we got, was an unpleasant unalive mammal. An hour or so later I stepped in gross septic water because it was draining near the chicken pens.

They do have a new entrance ramp, though.

Next I sprayed cold water all over myself trying to fix the automatic waterer without turning off the water. Bright. I did fix it, and my offspring the handyman built a temporary brace to stop big, clumsy Darryl Junior from stomping on the water hose and loosening the connection. Yay.

There is now another piece of concrete and some wood where my foot is here, to stabilize the hose. Yes that’s my wet shoe. And the other thing is what I put their grit in, and it’s a pig (someone always asks).

Then I dropped stuff and nearly failed in putting mice traps in the tack room (sorry, don’t want to die of hanta virus). I got stuff all over me.

At least I had a good interlude when my Precious Stepsister called and she listened to my anxiety stuff. That’s because I gave her a rock.

Not the rock I gave her, but my message to you!

And finally, I sat down to enjoy Facebook at lunch only to discover this article, detailing how the homophobia in Texas is so bad that a children’s book author whose in-laws I’ve known for decades can be prevented from talking about his charming nonfiction books (I’ve read many of them) in elementary schools because there is one sentence in one book that acknowledges LGBTQIA+ people exist. How low can this place go? Rhetorical question.

Read all about Chris Barton and consider buying a young friend (or yourself) one of his books. As a matter of fact, I bought a copy of every book he’s written for children and sent them to my unofficial granddaughter.

And our US Senator has once again left the state when bad weather is coming. Coincidence, I’m sure.

I was pretty mad at the world much of the day, especially when the dogs found something I won’t mention and brought it into the house to fight over. While Penney tried to kill Carlton (she kept going when he stopped at Lee’s command, so Carlton lost), Harvey ate the contested item. All I can say is I’m glad I was feeding horses then. It sounded pretty yucky.

You can sorta see a scrape under his chin, but his leg is worse; he’s favoring it (but it’s not broken).

After all those small things built up, I was about to go crawl under the covers, but then I had a second good phone call of the day that cheered me up about possible not horrible developments in my life!

See, there’s always good among the nauseating events. You just have to be patient and not spend all day hiding under the covers.

Self Encouragement

I can’t say I’m doing all that well these days. Anxiety attacks are getting in the way of trying to live a reasonable life. One woke me up this morning! Geez! Everyone has times like this in their lives, to give them something to compare to when good times come along, right? Sure!

I write like a third grade student, sigh.

Today I found myself painting rocks while trying to organize a complicated piece of writing. I now see they were all messages to myself. That gave me a chuckle. They are still drying, so I’ll give you other recent messages.

This is the other side. I hug much more now than I used to.

It was too cold and cloudy to do much birding today, which didn’t help my mood. Tomorrow should be okay, so I’ll get out more and make Apache do things for no real reason. Maybe I’ll try to do some liberty work with him, or something.

My other new hobby seems to be painting things without enough contrast.

Honestly, today wasn’t all bad. Work was good and we finally started watching Star Fleet Academy, which is very Star Trek. In it, they’ve recovered from a huge disaster, and that positive outlook was nice to see.

By the way, thanks for your positive comments on my recent writings. It feels good to think I give people food for thought. I assure you that many of you inspire me!

Processing

I couldn’t write much last night, because I’d had some wine and wasn’t able to sort through the events of the day well enough. I’m not sure that I’m finished processing yet, but I’m working on it.

It was extra cold yesterday morning! I finally got to make a temperature blanket square with purple in it (it was 21° F). It did warm up enough to take a nice walk mid-morning, though. bluebirds were everywhere, and I found their gentle song quite comforting.

After watching yet another team I like lose in the American football playoffs (all the ones I liked lost in close games), Lee and I brought more hay out for the horses, and of course they all got out and scattered in search of better grass, of which there wasn’t any. They didn’t know that. At least I got exercise encouraging them to come back in.

It’s a very good thing they can’t see this cover crop across the road. It’s so green (rye grass, I assume).

Where I got all my processing to process was going to a gathering of woman at a friend’s house. It was very heartwarming to see so many like-minded women in one place. Some of the conversation was hard on me. I heard details of activities of people I already disapprove of that made me sick.

It’s really like the mega-wealthy who have the power live in yet a third society where the guidelines for ethical and moral behavior do not apply. I guess I knew this. You can pretty much do anything if you’re a white man in that society. It makes their hard-core MAGA followers seem tame. I guess I could have lived without so many details, though it’s good to know. (I do not have citations for you, but I heard them).

Yuck. How I wish we’d been able to keep on the path toward making Martin Luther King’s dream come true. I’d sure sleep better at night.

But, human nature doesn’t fundamentally change, does it? We have more machines, infrastructure, and stuff, but there are still elites and powerless people, wars started just because someone is power hungry, and people living in fear. It was this way a thousand years again, two thousand years ago, and no doubt long before that.

Fighting human nature is frustrating and will fail more often than it succeeds. I will still keep trying.

Things That Make You Unpopular

I have some firmly held beliefs that have caused me deep sadness because I dare to express them. you can be blackballed for these beliefs. And of course I realize my beliefs are aspirational goals.

I expect the following groups of people to be treated with respect and dignity by their community, leaders, and law enforcement.

Women
Children
Black, brown, red, and white people
Gays
Lesbians
Trans people
Bisexuals
Intersex people
Anyone who loves anyone else or presents as any gender they want to
Pagans
Jews
Liberal Christians
Muslims
Any other spiritual path I missed
Descendants of Pilgrims
Native Americans
US Citizens
Legal Immigrants
Undocumented immigrants
People with physical handicaps
People with mental handicaps
Those addicted to or who abuse legal or illegal substances
People who commit crimes
People who make bad mistakes
People of all political parties or groups
Criminals
Poor people
Rich people
Intellectuals
Feminists
White supremacists
Oh, pretty much everybody

I didn’t say I condone or agree with ideas or actions of everyone, but basic human decency means that you can disagree, keep yourself safe, and enforce laws respectfully. I know it can happen. I know it’s never happened 100%, but we’re doing worse now, not better.

It also makes me unpopular to believe that the following people should be allowed to express their thoughts in the USA:

People who agree with the current US government’s policies and actions
People who like some things about the current situation and not other things
People who disagree with or have concerns with how our leaders conduct themselves and the decisions they make
People who believe what they see with their own eyes
People who prefer to be told what to believe

This state of affairs should not turn us against each other. Please don’t let us keep falling further and further into us versus them. We all suffer when that happens. Our families, friendships, businesses, and communities suffer. We lose the ability to trust.

Kindness starts with YOU. And me.

I’m despondent tonight over losing a friend. I should not have admitted that I’m afraid of things that are happening in the US. It’s becoming more and more clear that if I want to be safe I should not question what happens, do as I’m told, keep my head down, stay inside, and shut up. Damn, I’ve tried to be a good person.

Hug a person you care about.

Hey, Reader-folk

How did my weekend off go? Well, it featured some lovely conversations with dear friends and family. It always feels good to keep in touch, and I look forward to more of that. I guess that’s my current mission, to reach out and connect with people I care about, while I still can.

The governor of the state where I live has given our voting records to the national government. This will allow them to see which primary people voted in, since you have to declare which party’s ballot you want. Oddly, many people I know vote in the Republican primary because no one dares run as a Democrat, so many races are decided then. So maybe some of us wouldn’t be targeted if it comes to that.

Oh look. My outdoor plants joined the Christmas cactus to create a cheerful display while it’s cold.

Yeah, I’m not feeling any better. This whole deal where half the US lived in one version of reality and the other half lived in a completely different world only worked when there were checks and balances. The government now parrots the words of an evil regime and has their own scary police force with no incentive to follow legal process.

But gee, we still have birds and flowers. Yay!

As I mentioned last week, there has been a Black Phoebe here. It’s stayed for days now, and I’ve managed to see it three times.

I was very doubtful that Merlin was accurate on this one, because it’s not usually found here. But, I know what the Eastern Phoebe looks like (ours are medium gray with pale yellow breasts), and the bird I’ve seen is very dark with a very white belly, like above.

Range, which does not come close to my house.

The app also registered a Say’s Phoebe, which at least has a closer range, and I kind of believe since my friend Michelle had one show up in Merlin at her house.

I now feel more confident, since remembered that part of the Merlin app is a feature where it will show you all the birds you’re likely to see on any day. Here are the ones I’m most likely to have seen today in Cameron, Texas. Note the Eastern Phoebe among my good bird buddies.

But hey, look what comes up when I type in Phoebe! If I’m going to see the two western phoebes, this would be the week!

The blackbird is there because I only searched for “phoe”

So, this has been fun to observe! It’s been really cold (for here), but the birds have been out, especially the sparrows and wrens. Other than the incredibly windy Saturday, I’ve been out enjoying them every day, along with the horses.

Funny horse story. When it got so windy and cold, I figured I should put Dusty’s new blanket on him, since he’s so thin, though fuzzy. I didn’t think it through, though, and when I brought the blanket out to show him, Dusty was scared to death! He shook and ran as far away as he could in his pen. I’ll never forget the look in his eyes. I felt like I betrayed him.

On the other hand, Apache thought the blanket was cute.

I’ve left the blanket hanging on Dusty’s gate, and I put his food dish near it. He’s still not happy. I guess the old cow horse never needed a blanket before and doesn’t want one now.

Anybody need a gummy bear-themed blanket for a small horse?

Thank you for reading, for being kind to others, and for cherishing your life.

Let’s Talk about Temperatures

Of the blanket kind, though it’s rather warm to use one today (and yes, it’s January). And there’s good news in the temperature blanket department: 2025 is done. Yay!

I’m pleased with how it came out and I like the border. It looks too big I think because I need to wash and block the blanket to stretch the squares out. Or I could have been mistaken and the border yarn is not sport weight. Well, I thought I checked.

It will get used, since it’s the perfect lap blanket size for sitting and reading or watching television. Or birding.

I climbed on the brown box in the back of the birding station to get higher for the fill-size photo. Art.

I have all the rainfall data to add that in later once I figure out how I want to do it. I want to use beads but am not sure which ones. I may do something softer. Hmm. While I ponder, enjoy a couple of closer views of the squares.

Oh, I should explain for anyone new that the inner part of flower is the low temperature for the day and the outer part is the high temperature. The border was just a color I thought would be fun. I made the pattern up using these flower squares I found online only I used half-double crochet (US) in the first round. It could be just as easily done in any granny square variant.

That’s not much of an explanation. I’m obviously not one of those craft bloggers with the real long introductions and stretched out instructions so more ads can be placed. But more power to them! It all takes time and skill! And I’m too tired to write up instructions. I’d rather be working on my 2026 one.

I was getting snarky for a bit. It’s just because I’m so unhappy with current events that I can’t stay chipper for long. But hey! I did register a Black Phoebe here multiple times on Merlin today. I’d never had one here. I’d love to also see it!

I just have to keep finding these happy things! I started crying today when talking about the news with my son. Not a good sign. Bring on the uplifting thoughts!

Scum, Reporting for Duty

I’ve recently learned that the current US President believes I am scum. And since he’s not a fan of lying (i.e. he seems to believe everything he says at least when it’s logorrhea-ing out of his mouth), it must be true. I think I’ll just own it.

There, I’m very blue and appear manic, though I don’t look like me.

I’m just gonna embrace my woke-i-tude even more than my usual hippie horse mom vibe. I bought shirts that shove my attitude right in people’s faces, both coming and going. I’m just gonna wear stuff like this every day. I do have sweatshirts, too.

The two-sided shirts are from dear person.co and took a long time to get here. The bottom one is from the Bitter Southerner. My other shirt from there says “radicalized by common decency.” Yeah. I’m that scary woke scum person who cares about everyone.

I’m glad I have attire to remind me to not forget my beliefs and morals. Just search for those companies or find your own radically caring slogan.

In less scummy news, I went back to work today and I was genuinely glad to see how my coworkers were doing and relieved at some good news from my perspective.

I had a late meeting so I did animal chores mid afternoon. That made the fowl happy. Darryl eats a lot, so I’ve increased their food quantity.

Apache made me laugh today. He rarely expresses strong opinions, but today he informed me in no uncertain terms that he would NOT go over our little hill on the right track. You see, Lee had started to add some dirt to it just before the front-end loader died, so there was fresh dirt on one end that hadn’t been smoothed down.

Apache was fine on left track, but when I changed directions, he pawed his feet. I asked him to keep going, so he walked to the top, turned to face me, then executed a perfect backup down the hill, stopping in the correct position to stretch his legs. It’s like he was saying he didn’t want to make a circle going down the new dirt side, but he’d happily skip to the backing up we usually do afterwards.

Here he’s demonstrating the stretch (okay, actually acting like he has to pee).

I said okay, we can do other stuff, so we trotted and cantered over poles and the cavaletti jump. Then some perfectly executed side passes on the ground were executed. I mean, I just asked once and he did it!

I went back to the hill with Apache and he enthusiastically trotted going left. But nope, not to the right. I convinced him to go once, then he decided he needed to be more firm about his wishes and gave a buck and a snort. I got the message and we finished with a little walk before I went back to work.

I think he may have believed he’d slip on the loose dirt. Or something. He’s a horse, after all.

Things That Didn’t Upset Me Today

Ok! Let’s see what didn’t upset me today.

I looked up from my phone this morning in the birding station and realized I was surrounded by meadowlarks. Here are just a few.

I cut my nails way short (for me) but they still look festive with snowflakes on them.

I had a good, calm lesson on Apache. Neither Tarrin nor I were feeling well, but we made progress, and, as always, it was a joy to spend time with my horse buddy. When we got home, he shook himself as I was unlocking the gate, and a big cloud of dust flew out from him. He only looked sparkly clean.

Apache and I both wish we looked this good. At least I look kind of like me and he looks kind of like him.

I made some progress on my crocheting. The blanket is getting a cluster border. It’s probably going to be at least three town. It will be good thing to have it slightly larger. Certainly it will be cheerful.

I made a delicious frittata for dinner using Connie’s eggs, leftover broccoli, cheese, garlic and a little milk. Both Lee and I loved it.

And that’s what got me through the day.