I no longer am comfortable in large crowds. So I don’t go places to see performances anymore. And my family no longer makes music for each other after some sad things happened. Oh well. I still enjoy performances daily.
My audience at this concert.
So, I’ll say my most recent live performance, which took place 2:00-2:20 today, featured, in order of appearance):
Painted Bunting
Tennessee Warbler
Tufted Titmouse
Northern Cardinal
Barn Swallow
Carolina Chickadee
Eastern Bluebird
Carolina Wren
Green Heron (weirdest melody)
Mourning Dove
House Sparrow
Rooster
Domestic Turkey, portrayed by Connie Gobbler
Eastern Meadowlark
Northern Mockingbird
Dickcissel
Bay-breasted Warbler
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
American Crow
Barred Owl
Purple Martin
Brown-headed Cowbird
Baltimore Oriole
Cliff Swallow
Warbling Vireo
Great Crested Flycatcher
Common Nighthawk
Red-bellied Woodpacker
Yellow-billed Cuckoo (second weirdest melody)
Accompanied by:
Flies
Gnats
Wasps
Cow (coughing)
Dogs
Cow (mooing)
Honeybees
The concert venue
I missed the rhythm section, the woodpeckers until the Red-belly appeared, and the frequent raptor soloists almost failed to show up until the Nighthawk croaked. All in all, a pretty good show.
Decorations (Christmas cholla)
Thanks to Merlin Bird ID for recording the concert and iNaturalist for plant ID.
The free refreshments were vine-ripened and delicious.
I know I’m getting pretty dull, you’ve noticed, judging from my sad stats and lack of comments. But hey, that’s not stopping me from my relentless blogging. I’m pretty pleased by the lack of drama in my little world (as opposed to outside of my hermitage).
But look! A frog! Lithobates sphenocephalus
Yesterday’s drama with Big Mabel seems to be resolving. Once Tarrin looked at the video I sent her, she put together what the symptoms meant: Mabel wasn’t eating and was pawing at food because an adverse reaction to a vaccine made her unable to lower her head! Poor horse!
The Gang of Three were not amused. Mabel is the big one.
This morning I fed everyone early so I could test out the theory that she’d eat if the food was higher. See for yourself.
Thank goodness! After a day on hay only, my ribs were starting to show!
She ate her food, the food Fiona rejected, and Apache’s leftovers, which I held up for her. I did notice she could put her head almost to the ground, so she improved. Fiona was grazing on the edges of the pen, so I felt good about her, too. They all had good times the rest of the day, helping Mabel find stuff to eat other than the three hay bags I put out.
Greenbrier shoots. Taste like asparagus.
A busy weekend is afoot. Tomorrow is horse stuff, as Drew gets to meet a new human and the herd gets a new member. You’ll have to check back tomorrow for details!
Meanwhile, you can ponder what the back of this tanker truck means.
After that I set out Sunday for another visit to Hilton Head, though without any fun sisters. Boo hoo. I’m glad Kathleen is back and able to help with horse stuff. I dread flying. I don’t want COVID again.
We did do exciting errands this afternoon. I returned my underperforming Viasat satellite receiver and got more horse food. The reward was going through the fancy new Buc-ees car wash. It has that dang beaver all over it.
Scenes from a car wash.
Hmm. Perhaps my readers are right. I’m pretty dull these days. I didn’t even find an exciting snake skin today. This one is tiny.
I thought today would be uneventful but there were many events, many, all of which involved our precious animal friends. Let’s enjoy the fun one first, shall we?
No carpenter worm moths are part of this story. Other than this one.
I was up nice and early to meet Sara and her horses. I got to go with her for her and her filly Jhayati’s last lesson with Tarrin. She also brought Aragorn, to practice for them all driving to their new and beautiful pasture in Wisconsin. Want to follow their journey? Sara has a blog! Learn all about their regenerative farm there.
Jhayati is so big! She will be two in May.
Anyway, it was a joy to watch the young horse wearing a saddle for the second time like she’d done it for years. Then she wore a bit for the first time, and she explored it but did fine and followed all her instructions fine. This is a smart girl.
I e learned so much from these two women. I’ll miss my horsemanship friend so much, but look forward to hearing about Sara’s new adventures.
Meanwhile, Aragorn wasn’t acting like himself. He did not like being tied to the trailer. Much pawing and agitation occurred. This is more than his usual opinion. But I’m not worried. Sara is well prepared for travel, and Tarrin shared lots of travel tips. This was the only first animal oddity of the day.
Flower break.
I got home, and Lee told me Carlton was acting strangely. He would not eat his food and was limping. He’d needed help getting into the bed to go to sleep last night. It turns out he hurt from having two of his nails trimmed too close yesterday. And to top it all off, Harvey picked fights with him all day. He seems better after some pain medication, though.
Getting rest.
The chickens are acting oddly, too, and I found feathers in the henhouse. Has Connie gone broody? She has nothing to brood though. It seems our egg thief has been so well fed that she had to shed. It’s longer than my height.
Things were calm until I went to feed the horses. They were very well behaved and I was happily watching them eat when I realized Mabel was not eating. She was sticking her tongue out and then yawning. Her food was no different from any other day.
TongueYawn
Eventually she knocked all the food out of her tin and kicked it around. I caught that in 27 seconds of cinematic drama.
Mabel expresses her opinion of food.
I got really worried. I went to let the other horses out, but when I let out Fiona first, I realized that she hadn’t touched her food, either. She just walked away.
Not touched. She doesn’t get much.
As soon as Fiona left, Mabel marched over to her food dish, sniffed it, then kicked the tub over. As an added flourish, she stomped on the tub. Here’s a video of that.
You will note in the video that she cones over to me at the end. She kept doing that, coming over to tell me something I didn’t understand. I worried that she was colicking. So, I called Tarrin.
Luckily, as I dialed, Mabel went to the water trough and drank. That made me feel better about colic (very dangerous horse issue). Tarrin suggested I see if she’d eat a horse cookie. I was relieved to see she would. Fiona reluctantly ate one, too. Whew.
Hummingbird break!
The theory we came up with is that Mabel and Fiona were reacting to their vaccinations yesterday. That makes senses
I do wonder if they ate something less than ideal down by the pond. They were all chomping away there, too.
Weird grazing matter?
I watched the horses a long time after they ate the treats. I was relieved to see Mabel nibble some hay and Fiona grazing.
Now we want to eat this vine.
More horse surprises coming this weekend. Stay tuned.
It’s April, which here at the Hermits’ Rest means all the animals get their yearly checkups. It’s so good that Dr Amy comes to the house in the Neuter Scooter or whatever she calls her mobile clinic. With five canines and five equines to treat it’s well worth the site visit fee.
More good news: red yucca means hummingbirds are here!
The routine they came up with is to sedate all the dogs, take care of the horses, then do the dogs. It went pretty well. I even had time to photograph the cool flower stalk on the palmetto bush.
The horses and Fiona all got their Coggins test done plus all their vaccines. Mabel did not like the strangles vaccine this time (it’s nasal) so she had to get some sleepy juice. Fiona didn’t like any of the procedures and then gave the poor assistant who was trying to draw all her spots for the Coggins certificate the stink eye big time.
No photo of Fifi so here are two sparrows splashing in the pool.
Once again, Dusty was the star and behaved perfectly and looked great. He looked at Death’s door a few months ago but today just had loose poop. We blame the grass. Apache was moving slowly, too, which could either be the grass or the fact we upped his medication. Drew was good and let Amy take out a couple of burs, even.
Drew also points out that he is majestic.
The dogs were a bit more exciting, with their worm medicine and nail clipping the hardest. Poor Carlton has a sore toe. Oenney had a little toe nip. Harvey and Vlassic had to be muzzled, but we knew that would happen. Gee, after all Dr Amy has done for Harvey, you’d think he’d be more grateful. They’re doing a test to see how his liver is doing and think his big cyst on his leg is better. He’s a tough old grump.
I’m woozy but less soI just wanna lie here with my toys.
The biggest news is Alfred. He was out deep enough that Lee and I could cut the matts out of his coat! It’s a miracle! That dog sure is sensitive when it comes to grooming.
Some of the removed matted hair.
He looks kind of strange without his dreadlocks and tail flags, but it’s so much better. It was hard to get it all out, but we’re happy about it.
He looks more like a dog now.
It was pleasant to get through all these services with no injuries to any vet techs or animals. And I feel like a responsible pet owner by having everyone treated and checked. I’m happy to have fewer pet dramas for a while.
This morning, I did my chores and realized it was a bad day for birding—too windy. So I came inside to work on Master Naturalist projects.
Windblown Engelmann Daisy.
At 12:50 I realized I’d worked as much as I would have for paid employment. That’s always been the way I am. I make up a job if I don’t have one. In college I was always typing something for someone. In grad school I knitted. When I was supposed to be a mother at home I created a web design empire and nonprofit online community for other mothers (with a team).
I needed to chill out and look at birds more, even back then. Red-tailed Hawk.
Now I’m retired, so I either write all day or do social media for my current nonprofit. I fixed up the Wild Wings Bird Sanctuary site for those four hours this morning. Time flies when you’re typing, as I discovered in my teens.
Time also flies when you’re identifying native plants. Texas verbena.
I guess I now see how all those older Master Naturalist folks get thousands of volunteer hours: they have time. It keeps me out of trouble and out of the horses’ faces for at least part of the day, too.
They watched me take this photo of the “best” wildflowers this spring. It’s been a bad year.
Probably that’s for the best, since I keep getting stepped on (Mabel in a tizzy over distractions) or walked into fences (Apache learning to move his butt). Tomorrow I have to corral them all again for their annual shots. We will see who steps on whom.
I do love traveling, if you haven’t noticed. I may not go far, but I love to see new places, especially outside of big cities (for the most part). I also love my home, so I’ve got a little yin and yang thing going on: wherever I am, home or away, I miss the other option a little.
This may be the prettiest thing AI ever made for me.
Visiting our friend near Medina, Texas, was lots of fun. I’m not big on all the talking, but I loved walking around the area and finding new and interesting plants and birds.
Not sure what this is. White milkwort Senega albaScenes on a back road
This morning I heard 45 birds, including many warblers (Golden-cheeked, Orange-crowned, Black-and-white, Nashville, and Northern Parula), woodpeckers, doves, ravens, flycatchers, and Summer Tanagers. It was exciting. And the hills were gorgeous.
Only bird photo. Summer Tanagers
I was ready to go home, though. We did stop at Becker Winery so I could stock up on a couple of wines I like and get my free tasting for being in their wine club. I like this winery because they grow their own grapes in Texas and you can see they’ve been doing it a long time by looking at their vines.
Thick stems mean old vines.
It’s not an upstart winery. They also focus on just wine and lavender, not food, lodging, etc. Their wines have greatly improved since I first tried them.
Once I got home it was so nice to fall back into my routine of talking to Connie Gobbler and the chickens, feeding the horses, and doing their exercises. It’s comforting.
We love you, too. Fiona doesn’t love fly spray, though.
I took a nice long bird walk, too, and as always, enjoyed the native plants, even though the wildflower display this year isn’t great.
This is a simple dock flower, but it’s gorgeous up close.
Yep, when I’m home a part of me misses exploring new places, but when I’m gone I miss the friendly faces there. That’s fine with me. I’ll now stay home until Sunday!
It will be a privilege to be alive in ten years. Most of my life I fully expected to be healthy and hearty at 77 years of age, like many of my friends are now.
I hope to enjoy scenery like this for many years.
I expected to be in my home, enjoying my pets and nature, traveling at least a bit to see new sights or visit friends. That’s the same as now.
Simple pleasures are all I desire.
As an example, we drove today to a place near Medina, Texas, to see the cabin Lee’s friend Matt has been working on for many years. It was fun. I got to hear a new kind of vireo and a Golden-Cheeked Warbler, found only here this time of year. What a privilege to be free to do this.
Cabin view
I’m concerned, though, that in a decade I won’t have a source of income or health care, though I’ve paid into Social Security and Medicare my whole working life. If that’s the case, things may look very different in ten years. Who knows? Things could also be better, too.
They have an old horse here.
Let’s hope we all still get to enjoy our friends and family a decade from now. In the meantime, treasure what you have. That’s my plan.
I admit it. I have read many books by Brené Brown more than once. I think people need different kinds of support at different times in their lives. When I needed to drag my self esteem out of the gutter and stop telling myself I kind things about myself, her stories and ideas were there to push me toward healing. I’m forever grateful that she writes in ways that reach me.
Just a picture to note that Cattle Egrets have arrived.
Her writing taught me I wasn’t alone and I wasn’t awful. What a gift!
Here’s a gift. My favorite wildflower, Texas Baby Blue Eyes.
I’ve mentioned before that I must have read Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell, dozens of times as a child. It shaped by love of horses and all animals and set me on a path of kindness to our animal friends.
I do try to be kind.
Speaking of my animal friends, Apache and I had a hard lesson today. He is not fond at all of Tarrin’s gate obstacle. I got a good lesson in patience (though I did lose my patience once). He learned he has to trust me when I ask him to do things, and I learned I still have work to do on quietly repeating instructions and not showing my frustration.
It’s like the dung beetle. You just keep pushing until you get there. No need to get upset.
He’s such a good guy most of the time that I know Apache has his reasons for disliking the gate. We will work through it! After all, Brené Brown taught me that being imperfect is how we grow.
I’ve been thinking about an issue and debating with myself about it. It’s not earth shattering, but something integral to how I interact with others.
I want to revel in my potential, like these future blossoms.
Because of this, I don’t have the blog entry I planned, nor the rant I’d intended to share on Substack. I’d rather present fully formed ideas than total bull. I write enough of that.
I’m wanting to balance thinking about potential with being resilient now, like these poor flowers than got mowed yesterday and are still blooming.
I’ll get back to you tomorrow. Right now I’m physically exhausted and in pain. I’m not recovering well from last week’s horse adventures. Neither is the horse, so we’re together in our elderly aches and pains.
Apache reflected how I felt this afternoon, depleted. He’d have been less depleted if he hadn’t decided to leave his pen and make me go track him down in the pasture. I get it. He’s tired.
He practiced opening and shutting gates long enough at Tarrin’s today that I think he gets the idea that he needs to step up his game and move his butt when asked. I’m hoping we will soon have a practice gate of our own here so I can patiently work on these skills.
Our nemesis. The gate obstacle.
Back to pondering.
PS: Apache “helped” me take photos of Tarrin’s working equitation-style obstacles so I can maybe get some of my own. He wanted to be in every picture. He had to touch each object. What a guy.
This is what rusted on your shirt, right Suna? I did good on this obstacle! (It’s true, he let me spear the ring with the garrocha pole.)
The freedom is getting to me. I may have mentioned that I randomly decided to have a color theme for each month this year. January was black. I was pretty sad that month. The rest of the year is more cheerful, with pink February and purple March.
Purple nails.
I had written orange down for April, but all last month I was planning for green. So I switched to green for April. Because I’m my own boss! Yes! I just wish I paid me more.
Green nails
But not just nails, oh no! It’s hair, too. I’ve never had green hair before. It’s, um, green all right.
I’m laughing at the greenness. Plus braids. It looks like high school me.
I will wear a lot of green, but I’m not gonna go nuts. Just some touches for whimsy. I just need fun right now to keep me going. This doesn’t cost much and I no longer care what people think about how I look (not that I ever did).
I indulged myself today by taking all the time I needed to tally up the birds I saw in March. I have a spreadsheet, you know. I keep track of birds I see at the Hermits’ Rest, elsewhere in Texas, and other states I visit. I share the findings for each month on the blog, too. You can see for yourself what the 84 birds here in March were. You can also see last year, too. I discovered that the only other time Merlin heard a Short-eared Owl was last March. This information alone spurs me on to make it until March 2026!
I really should see them in winter. Maybe they’re migrating in March. Photo from Pexels.
Speaking of green stuff and our ranch, the whole property other than pastures was mowed and trimmed today. It looks very neat. They accidentally mowed the wildflowers on the roadside, which made me sad. Maybe some flowers will come back. The wildflower strip that’s not mowed still looks pretty ragged, so we may just need to try again next year.
Oops.
There’s good news, though. They moved the round pen to the little field in front of the house, so I’ll have a lot more space for horse training equipment. I can have a gate to practice on, my own cowboy curtain, etc.! Note that, as set up, the round pen is sort of a trapezoid. We will fix it.
Very green. Fits the theme.
I introduced Apache to the new location today. The goal was to just get him over there, but we made it in and did some circles and figure eights. He was not thrilled, but I handled it fine. Then we went back and trotted in the circle-ish area where the pen used to be. He’s such a creature of habit. He still balks at the higher jump. It’s okay.
No photos of the horse today, but, look! I have a blurry photo to show the Northern Harrier does exist here!
What’s the point of all this babbling? I want to encourage you to go and find your fun and indulge in what you love. It’s more important now than ever. The joy we can bring to ourselves is ours and ours alone. I’m not going to let my right to do silly things get taken away, because these little things strengthen me to keep fighting for my rights and the rights of people I care about. I think that’s true for us all.
Yes. My toes are green, too.
I declare April to be not only the cruelest month, but also the greenest. So mote it be.
The Hermits' Rest 