Rather than doing the usual Saturday chores, Lee suggested we go to Austin and do something different. We call that spontaining. Being spontaneous, but more active.
So we drove to Austin (a thing we usually avoid), visited the wonderful camera store there and chatted with the friendly staff, bought Girl Scout cookies because I support them and could enjoy a few cookies, looked in the comic book store, which is really a gaming store, and enjoyed some memories of my past life.
With my weird attachments to places, I find returning to my old stomping grounds rather difficult. I get very sad, nostalgic, or something. But, I powered through it and checked out all the changes in greater north Austin. I still miss everything about the place except high property taxes and awful traffic.
We ended the day with a nice visit and dinner at my favorite small sushi restaurant (which is still fantastic and patronized my mainly Japanese people), with our friends and former business partners, Carol and Russell.
It’s sushi all right. Salmon, mmm.
We had great conversation, supported each other, and enjoyed the food. I’m so glad we are making the effort to see people. Even they aren’t going out as much these days, and they used to be so social.
We look like old friends.
Consider hanging out with a friend or two. It’s a privilege to be free to do so. And do some spontaining!
In the last few years I’ve done quite a few things I have been hesitant to do. It always feels like I’m stepping off the edge of a cliff. But every time I don’t fall. I live. *
See I’m alive.
I moved to a ranch in Texas. I’ve started and closed businesses. I’ve stood up to horrible bullies. I got off a tall horse without falling. I trotted and relaxed. I hiked six miles on my own. I raised my voice and dealt with the consequences. I’ll raise my voice again if I have to.
I’ve nursed a broken animal back to health, too. I didn’t think I could.
Today I did another grown woman thing. I drove myself and Apache to Tarrin’s. By myself. I pulled a trailer safely and successfully both directions! I lucked out and hit zero stoplights on the way out, but handled them fine coming back.
See. Here we are.
It would have been GREAT except my lesson is tomorrow. It says so, right on my calendar. Geez. At least my horse looked good as he arrived on the wrong day.
There’s something weird in my tail. Maybe Camena will pull it off.
Tarrin was nice about it and let me ride Apache around while she did her lesson. It was a lot of fun and good practice. He’s so comfortable there! And sparkly.
It’s a subtle sparkle.
I got these mane and tail clips a while ago. But hadn’t had time to figure them out until today. I got one glamour shot of him, but not in the sun. I probably should put in more clumps of green.
I feel like the steed on the cover of a romance novel!
I tried to get cute pictures of him after our ride but he really, really wanted to take a nap in the nice sun. I can’t blame him; the weather was perfect by afternoon.
Before anyone says anything, I know I shouldn’t let his reins lie on the ground. He wasn’t going anywhere. The green supposedly matches his tack. I’m sleepy. Leave me alone. Now I’m both annoyed and sleepy.
It was quite frosty this morning but only down into the 20s here. The afternoon was in the 50s (F).
Frosty chairFrost on a clump of Alfred hair. Made me laugh.
All the animals enjoyed the day, and I feel so much better being able to tow horses myself. Yep, I’m a grown-up woman with a sparkly but sleepy horse.
Goldie supervised the cattle. All the dogs ran and played with cows. Little birds were everywhere. This one, and at left, is a Western Meadowlark.
*I did think I’d died that one time I tried to canter on Droodles and was thrown off. But I lived.
I’ve been reading more different social media sites lately. I’m learning a lot, much of it not about political perspectives.
I read a lot of science and nature stuff, too.
The thing is, whenever someone says something good, others (some of whom I suspect aren’t real people) re-post it so many times that it’s quickly becoming pretty boring. I’m not immune to this. I probably re-post a couple of juicy bits of prose (long or short, depending on the site) a day. But I often see a dozen re-posts by the same account all in a row. Then someone else shares the same things.
Like, how many sunset photos will I share?
It’s good to share, but it’s even better, to me, to read original content and new perspectives. That’s one reason I persist in sharing my thoughts on social media. I hope it occasionally gives someone a new perspective, comfort, or a laugh. I’d love to see more of that on these platforms, actual thoughts and opinions of thoughtful people (see what I did there? It’s gotta be thoughtful).
Three. I will share three sunset photos.
I miss the days when Facebook showed me how my friends and family are doing, how cute their pets are, and how the weather is in their area. Some still do share, and I am full of appreciation. And with many going to other platforms, I’m putting out a plea: please share your own ideas, insights, photos or writings, not just the same stuff everyone else shares.
Speaking of pets, here’s Harvey, chugging along despite the liver issues.
The repetition is getting to me! Don’t let me go bonkers. Whatever that means.
Luckily, I have real life friends who I can talk to, share my fears and worries with, and provide support for. I’m so grateful to you all. I’m also glad to have friends in my social media private groups who I can hear from, learn from, and support from afar. And I have some super family members to rely on as well (even if they’re snowed in).
Oh, and there’s Ada, the Finch birb. She supports me from her snow camp, and my friends in the app help, too. Lots of hugging happens.
So let’s get out there are communicate with each other! Be original! You are ALL interesting!
I say “semi-old,” because I’m eligible for Social Security (still am two whole days into the new administration!), but I don’t consider people really old until they’re in their mid eighties. So, most of my friends aren’t old.
On another topic, it snowed, barely.
I’m say back, because I took yesterday off to honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Lee and I watched many, many episodes of the West Wing, a wonderful television show from a quarter century ago about a US President and his staff. Perfect.
I was a little mad that we got such wimpy snow. If we’re going to endure super-cold weather, we should get pretty snow as a reward.
I say angry, because right now I’m rather irritable and impatient. This makes me quite inarticulate, which irritates me more! I can’t even make rational statements other than how much I care about disenfranchised folks.
Happy picture of Penney loving her coordinated chicken toy on a matching rug.
So I had been wandering around feeling all my feels and hoping the biting, cold wind would suck away my angst. I’d been hearing some heavy equipment going beep around the ranch for a few days, and suddenly it was close. That messed up my bird recordings, which made me grumpier.
I heard a crack. Loud. Looking up I saw a backhoe zipping off to a pile of branches, carrying my Osage-orange tree, the only one on the ranch that’s on a part we will still own after Lee and Sara sell the cattle pastures at the end of the month. My tree, the coolest tree here, just got toted off.
I was steamed, as they would say in the old days. So I marched through the gate, dodging cow patties in my house slippers, with no coat on (it was about 36°), and went to find that backhoe or bulldozer or track-hoe or whatever it was. I found a very young stranger in it, and informed him he’d just killed my valuable tree (they are pretty rare, long story about settlers planting them, the wood being good for bows…). He said but it was dead. He was clearing dead trees from the tornado, as our tenant asked him to.
Former location of Bois D’arc tree.
The tree was not dead. It had leaves and produced horse apples this summer. It’s deciduous. Grr. But, I looked at the young man, who was just doing what he was told to do, and asked him to please not knock over any more living trees, especially around my pond, because I do nature research there. His eyes got big. Well, I do engage in research! I was doing so right then!
Kid getting the heck away from me. Or going to move stuff elsewhere. Hope it’s the latter.
Anyway I apologized for getting upset, and he said it was okay and called me ma’am dozens of times. This isn’t my time. Right now is not a good time to raise a ruckus about hippie stuff like trees. I sure feel old and helpless and expendable. besides, I need to stay under the radar, not act like a nutty tree hugger, even if I am a nutty tree hugger.
And nutty bird lover.
I’m not leaving you all, though. I want to share fun pictures and silly stories to bring some cheer, for all my non-old friends.
I just don’t feel like writing. I think that’s okay, because judging from my stats, no one feels like reading chatty blogs about nature and pets, either. Our thoughts are elsewhere. We’re concerned and distracted.
I think Carlton knows I’m not at my best. He’s really attached these days. Here he’s “helping” me check the rain gauge.
So, I wish you peace and safety. I’ll be back after the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.
I’m hiding and hibernating this weekend, I guess, spending most of my time with birds and horses. That’s just fine with me.
The birds don’t mind, either.
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.
Ow.
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.
Thanks!
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.
See, not black. Evergreens in winter, I guess. Looks good against the controller of my free Apple TV.
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.
Sometimes it hits you who your true supporters are. Tonight I know.
Gratuitous image of a circle around the sun.
Tonight, as often is the case, the large dogs have been barking. Occasionally, Penney goes out and frantically barks then runs back in. After a couple of hours, I started to wonder what the fuss was all about. I mean, I’ve seen marks from armadillos, skunks, and coyotes near the fenced-in area. I also know the dogs don’t like the owls to come too close.
I looked for “skunk” in the free photos on WordPress. There were three images of this mammal and over 20 photos of marijuana. Hmm.
I was right. When I went out I heard the coyotes in the distance. They’re often closer, so I wasn’t concerned. But someone else was. My great protector.
Not me. I’m sleeping with you.
I looked up and a large, white blur was barreling toward me. It was Alfred. When he got to where I was on the back porch, he placed himself in front of me, between me and the perceived coyote threat. He gently started pushing me backwards. I just hugged his fluffy, matted mass and told him what a good dog he is. I tried hard not to start crying.
The big guy. He’s brave about everything but grooming.
The urge to protect is strong in these guardian breeds! I’ve probably mentioned before that he always places himself between me and men he doesn’t know, like delivery drivers and such. He is indeed my great protector. I admit it makes me feel good to have this devoted companion on my side.
My loyal friend and supporter.
(FYI: once he knows someone, he doesn’t even bark except to say hi. I never know when good friends, my son, my brother-in-law, the pool guy, or the house cleaner are here, because he doesn’t bark.)
After making sure the dogs and elderly resident at the Hermits’ Rest would have good care, Lee and I did our best to get to our latest state park. For some reason, perhaps the cold weather, getting ready seemed to take forever. So many things to feed and water, so much to load, and so many RV chores.
The road seems long.
Yeah, I think it was the cold and wind. It took a long time to leave, since we had to check the tires, try to add propane, and get lots of gas. We aren’t sure why the propane furnace won’t come on, because apparently the tank is full. RVs sure have a lot that can go wrong.
Proof that we made it and successfully detached the Gladiator.
We got to Blanco State Park, a tiny park with a lot of frontage on the Blanco River, before dark, which was our goal. Our friend Mike had gotten there a little while earlier, so we got settled in and went to find a nice place to eat.
I did manage a small walk and got this shot of the sunset reflecting in the river.
The park is right in town, so after finding that our first intended destination was now a dive bar, we had a good meal and very yummy beer at a brewery place. There are another couple of places that look good, too.
Courthouse still looking festive.
I’m looking forward to exploring the river and seeing if there are any birds around here. So far I’ve seen one Mockingbird. Hmm.
Sigh. Goldie has new lumps around her right shoulder. Dr Amy removed one that wasn’t attached to anything, and got a sample of the others. We will get those results in a week or two.
We knew this was coming, but had hoped for more time with her. As it is, she’s acting cheerful and dealing with her many staples just fine. We just can’t let this wound get infected. At least it’s smaller.
Not thrilled to be demonstrating her latest wound.
She can’t catch a break. Her hair had just finished growing in from the last surgery. As long as she is living a good life, we’ll keep pampering her. Such a good girl; she deserves all the love we can give her.
Meanwhile Harvey got blood tests to check in his liver and it was determined all his lumps are lipomas, which aren’t too bothersome. He also had the classic swollen anal gland, everyone’s favorite dog malady. He was pretty sad when his anesthesia was wearing off, weaving and wobbling around, but soon was his regular self, with shorter toenails (yay).
The wound is smaller than it looks. It has salve on it.
I love the dogs so much, but I warn you to consider veterinary costs if you get giant dogs or have a lot of them. The team that works on the dogs are kind and competent, but not inexpensive. Having the mobile service IS really convenient, though.
Lee is Dog Man
At least the horses are currently ok, though huddling up in the cold appears to have led to some bickering. Apache is a real hoot vacuuming up his medication in the senior feed. Meds time is now his favorite time of day.
I don’t want my healthy food and supplements. I want Dusty’s gourmet senior feed with no molasses. I scoff at Apache. And I will eat his alfalfa, no problem. I just wander around chasing the donkey away from food. Everyone needs a hobby.
Next up? Figuring out if we still get to go camping or not. I’d feel a lot better if someone was home this weekend. of course, bad weather may make the decision for us! I hope it’s not too cold for the farrier tomorrow, too.
Years really do zip by the older you get. I like that they’re all a blur now. It makes living in the present easier.
The present is a good place to live.
Calendars are human inventions, but years happen regardless of whether people are around or not. Years are “real.” Since this is the time my culture marks the start of another year, then, I’ll go ahead and say that I wish you all the best possible 2025 that our combined positive perspectives can create.
Hey look, Gemini can’t spell. I love these AI things.
I’ll rely a lot on small acts of kindness to keep me going. For example, today I was taking my morning walk when a pickup truck approached from behind me. This happens about every ten minutes here. To my surprise, the truck slowed down and stopped beside me. A young-ish man leaned over and told me he’d just stopped to wish me a good day from him and his daughter. A little girl said, “Have a good day!” from her car seat. How kind! I told them happy new year, and the little girl thanked me and waved hard as they left. Ah. That started my day off well.
Savannah Sparrows from my walk.
The day remained good, too. I remarked to Lee that it was the first day in a couple of months that I felt free of anxiety. I’ll take an occasional day like that!
I was so calm I didn’t scare this Mockingbird.
Just little things cheered me up. I got some work done, then I got my journal ready for next year and tallied my December bird sightings. I felt so organized.
Of course I sat and listened to birds. White-crowned Sparrow.
I even got to go out a little earlier to work with the horses, and ended up having one of the best sessions with Apache that I’ve ever had. The stuff we are learning is sinking in! We both had fun and got exercise.
Neither of us wanted to go back to the pens when we were finished, so Apache got to eat good grass and endure my hugs for a while.
Oh, and Connie and the chickens are doing well. I fed them some fresh chickweed and curly dock, and they even stood near each other. I turned on their heat lamp, since it’s finally cooling off tonight. They will keep each other warm.
I’m counting on you, Suna.
This has been a hard blog to write, because it’s New Year’s Eve and the locals are compelled to shoot off fireworks. That means Penney is trying to merge herself with me. Luckily she eventually crawled under the bed, so I didn’t have to fake a sneeze to send her away. I love her anyway.
The Hermits' Rest 