daily life – Page 32 – The Hermits' Rest

Aw, Shucks

Today was my birthday, and I expected to spend the day working, then doing horse stuff, including taking Drew to his re-education camp. I did all that, but when I came home well after dark I found birthday balloons on the mailbox, hanging geraniums in baskets on the front porch, and a nice meal being cooked. Then my son and his partner showed up, so we had a wonderful family dinner!

I even got birthday cards and a tres leches cake from the local bakery. It has to marinate, so we got to enjoy a sampler of baked goods for dessert after our tacos and homemade guacamole. It was so kind of my family to do this. You could have blown me over with a feather!

It was just one of those very full days. I enjoy days with challenges that take work to solve, but you can cope. Work was that way today, with laughter on top of it. Wow, it’s great to have a good job and supportive team!

I have no work photos, so here’s a willow branch covered in dew.

Horses were also challenging but do-able. Apache was a mess when I got him from the pasture so I had to wash him off. I think that helped. I was also able to get Drew haltered and ready to go to Tarrin’s safely.

Once at Tarrin’s he was back in his old pen, but he was jumpy at construction going on, new horses, and mares next to him. They also got excited and ran around their pen dozens of times. We kept wondering if they’d ever stop!

Aragorn and Apache managed to do their lessons, though. I got a lesson at putting on Apache’s new saddle pad, and we changed out his straps so he’s all green now. Snappy.

I am pleased with the progress my fine gelding and I are making. Tarrin purposefully got Apache annoyed so I could practice settling him down. Maybe this will help when he’s at Sara’s again. Still, he’s doing trot transition work very well and I’m proud of him (and me—lots of butt bouncing). Bonus: Tarrin gave me chocolate ale to take home! And nail strips!

Tarrin took this picture to show how straight he was standing, just as he was going to shake his head.

The last couple of days have given me much to be grateful for! Hoping it stays this nice!

Sometimes You Just Need a Listener

Today I needed to get some things off my chest so I could move on past them and get back to my “normal” fairly balanced frame of mind. I’m very lucky that I was able to have a couple of Zoom chats and a couple of Messenger chats that set me back on an even keel.

I just needed to talk things through in a safe, nonjudgmental space. We all need friends to listen to us when we need to vent, even when we’re a little off base or even a little wrong. The listeners let you hear yourself, ask helpful questions for you to ponder, and allow you to gain a better perspective on whatever is bugging you.

By this evening, after a nice ride on a mostly calm horse (mentally thanking my supportive equestrian friends), cooking a tasty dinner for the menfolk, and zoning out knitting, I feel refreshed and able to cope with whatever challenges come my way. Woo hoo!

Most of them probably won’t see this, but I’d like to thank these friends for lifting me up between the weekend and today:

Alice
Barbara
Nancy S
Barbara
Connie
Kathie
Lynn
Phyllis
Anita
Martha
Jay
Pamela
Avery, Sara, and Tracee (for horse support)

I even got to be a bit of a listener for Pamela and Martha, too. One of the best things about good friends is that they can take turns being the helper and the helped. My high school friend group also does that for each other. It’s a good feeling all around.

When Goldie was sad, Lee cheered her up.

If someone has helped you get through a rough spot, be sure to thank them, too!

And if you get vexed, just look at some vetch and breathe. I did.

Three Necessary Things

What are three objects you couldn’t live without?

This question intrigued me. And answering it is way more fun than talking about my anxiety attack from today. Ugh. I let something get to me today. So, hmm.

1. My glasses. I rely on my eyes so much! How could I read, write, look at birds, and knit easily without them? I’m so glad eyeglasses were invented.

I want to see things like this amazing swamp privet in the back pond area near the spring (*Forestiera acuminata*). I had no idea it was there.

2. My car. Not only is it pretty (red leather!) and zippy, but it’s my only way to get to food, friends, and non-ranch fun. I don’t want to hitch Fiona to a wagon to get supplies!

3. Knitting Needles. Weird but true. I need to knit to stay even semi-sane. I’d say I need a pair of circular size 4 US needles and I’ll be set for life. I can knit with any yarn-like stuff. String, strips of cloth, wire…whatever.

This is the progress on 2023 for my friend. The dark are isn’t very pretty from a distance.

There you have it. I am sure my answers aren’t typical!

Today, other than dealing with mental challenges, Lee and I went to Temple to look for containers to put in my “new” nonfunctional freezer that will store horse food and foil those darn mice for good. Thanks to our neighbor for painting it red just before it died. It looks good. Now we just have to work out the storage method.

Latches were added to prevent creatures from breaking in.

Lee even treated me to an early birthday lunch, which was fantastic. Seared tuna with a great salad. And I got free dessert!

Other than that, I mostly hung out with the birds and plants. That brings peace.

There is good news! Apache isn’t mad at me today. He even picked up his feet so I could take his boots off. I think he should only wear them a couple days at a time. It’s rubbing off his hair.

Rainy Day Achievements

Well! The nerve! They are recycling blog prompts and I’d already answered today’s! And it was a cold, rainy day, so there’s not a lot of other exciting to report, so a topic would have been helpful.

I wish you could have seen this in person. It nearly glowed in the soft light. *Castilleja indivisa*

My lack of drama made me feel like I could be a member of the Dull Women’s Club in Facebook! Look it up, both it and the men’s version can be quite funny until people get snippy.

How dull WAS I?

My proudest accomplishment was tallying how many bird species I saw here at the ranch last month. 78. Down from 82 last month.
My second proudest accomplishment was hanging my clean clothing. I won’t tell you how long it had been, but I came across many pumpkin t-shirts.
I put away coffee mugs (I have to take them upstairs, because that’s where we make coffee).
Work happened. I wrote three bulleted lists, much like this one. I also helped a bunch of people and participated in meetings with grace and humor. I hope.
Animals were cared for. I got a lot of horse supplements that were too heavy to lift, so I got help with moving them out of the rain.
I listened to another Master Naturalist webinar to help me reach my continuing education requirement. They are always good, but they conflict with a work meeting, so I must watch recordings.
I texted with my friend Mandy. She does speech to text so she says way more than me.
I knitted a lot while Lee enjoyed the Dune movie that came before the current one. Spicy. I didn’t realize that Timothée guy was just a kid.

Now, wasn’t that fascinating? Must I blog all this? Well, why not? Sometimes I like reading that other people out there have their share of boring days. So, now you know I do, too. I prefer that to drama!

Excitement. Wind blew this chair into the pool.

I’m quite content.

Life Phases and Going Forward

Describe a phase in life that was difficult to say goodbye to.

The time in life that I wish could have lasted longer was when my sons were teenagers. I really enjoyed being a band mom, watching them make lifelong friends, and seeing them grow into independence. We sure laughed a lot. No doubt they remember it differently.

But, life goes on and there’s much to both enjoy and endure now. A joy was working with Anita, my mid-century modern expert, on finalizing colors and fixtures for the current remodeling project. Here’s what we picked for the exterior, after much debate. You can see the colors look different in different light.

At left are the interior colors that we already chose, Santa’s Beard and Dance of the Goddesses. Top left, Copper Canyon, is the inside of the porch, to keep it lighter. Ripe Peach in the middle is for the doors. It blends with the brick rather than contrasting. Greenwich Green is the trim color.

Note that we are removing the shutters, since they aren’t the right vibe. We checked to be sure fading hadn’t occurred on the brick, and it just needs power washing. One reason we don’t need the shutters is that we will have a new exterior element, the Hardie board where the new windows are. Here’s how it turned out.

The guy who did this is justifiably proud of how it came out. It will break up the long horizontal line of the house very well.

So, what am I enduring? The continuing saga of my boy Droodles. He seems to have made advances at Mabel and was rebuffed severely. He has bite marks on his side, along with this lovely gash. Only one horse could literally kick his butt, and the theory is that she’s in heat, but only has eyes for Apache.

Horse drama. Apparently I shouldn’t mix the sexes. I’ve spent too much effort getting Mabel into good enough shape that she can kick ass, though, so when we get the new pasture set up, she may get to stay with Apache and Fiona in the old one.

Of course, Drew also bugs Dusty, but that’s calmed down a lot. We will figure something out! In the meantime, I don’t look forward to grooming Apache tomorrow. He rolled after all that sweating yesterday.

It may rain, though, so bit might wash him or mess up my riding schedule. Today wasn’t a good day to ride anyway, since winter came back to say hi, and brought its buddy, the wind.

Spring Rushing In

Signs of spring start off slowly. A purple martin arrives, chicory blooms, the few bees that are around delight in the early dandelions and bur clover blossoms.

Then, one day, you realize that the spring rush is ON. Around here, that happens in the last week of February. Wow! In town there are redbuds, and plum trees blooming. Those really pretty orange-red bushes are blooming, and the highly scented narcissus are everywhere.

Since I didn’t get photos in town, here’s my noble Vlassic, who’s showing his age.

No trees bloom spectacularly here, but today is the day there’s a green sheen in the woods. Even the willows are leafing out. In a week or two they and the cedar elms will be blooming subtly and stuffing my sinuses. It’s ok. They’re cute.

I’ve been sharing the early flowers lately, but today I found the second wave is showing up. Very soon we will have Texas paintbrush all over the front field, and the little stick-like stems of cat’s-ear will wave around (sometimes I’ll catch them with their flowers open). I even found my first plantain blooming. The yard will be covered with them eventually.

Well, there will be fewer wildflowers this year, because Lee and his brother are itching to mow. I’ve conveyed my instructions as to the no-mow areas. They’ll have smooth expanses of green and I’ll have SOME of my “weed” buddies.

One more sign that spring is in full swing is that every day there are fewer and fewer sparrows. That bums me out, but I know the summer residents will be here soon to entertain me. And of course the house sparrows will never leave. Sigh.

It’s getting warmer, too, so I’m hoping Apache hurries up and sheds out. In the meantime, all the horses are getting curried (except Drew, who’s being good but not getting worked with).

I just wanted to share these happy thoughts of life around the Hermits’ Rest. We need to focus on that sometimes. The little good things.

My Next Challenge

What is the biggest challenge you will face in the next six months?

The next six months bring a lot of challenges. There’s no way to avoid changes at the macro and micro level. My main one will be to decide whether to retire or keep working. If I retire, my income goes way down, so I’ll have to change a lot. If I keep working, I’ll still be dealing with changes made by the company where I work.

I guess the good thing about being a “senior citizen” is that whatever happens, the consequences won’t last too long, because neither will you. Ha ha. Elder humor. And yes, I do realize I could drag on another 30 or more years. I plan to be ancient.

My fingernails will keep me alive by being so loud.

Today was fine, other than human beings disappointing me (vandalism at the nearby cemetery and getting a weird email from the city saying the Red House on Fannin had been reported for…something).

I saw the first bluebonnets on our road, had a nice ride on Apache, and enjoyed the moon for the second evening in a row. Lee and I watched it rise while we sat by the pool discussing our challenges.

Tomorrow should be fun, so I’ll just leave it there.

Traveling Shoes

Tell us about your favorite pair of shoes, and where they’ve taken you.

Today’s question is well timed, as I traveled back home to where my favorite shoes were waiting for me. Fair warning: I’m not feeling 100%, so I’m less coherent than usual (scary).

These are Ariat slip-on waterproof riding/barn shoes. I wear them for at least part of most days, when I’m out with the horses. I love them because they don’t come untied, they don’t get my socks wet, and they have smooth soles with a notch in them. Once you’re around horses you quickly learn that shoes with tread get hard-to-remove poop and mud stuck in them.

If I’m riding a long time, I need boots to protect my calves, but for most of what I do, these shoes fit the bill.

Now back to travel, for which I wore my Skechers slip-ins that are comfy and practical. I had many technical difficulties that made working in the RV a challenge. My headphones stopped working (again) so calls were hard. They still aren’t playing sound, though people could hear me, so the mic works. I guess I could record if I have any time tomorrow.

I could have recorded this Bewick’s wren. It was really close.

At least I got a little walk in today. The highlight was a bald eagle flying right over me. I carefully checked to be sure crested caracaras don’t live that far north yet, and eagles live near water. And it wasn’t an osprey either. I feel the need to justify my observation! It’s a good one for the Backyard Bird Count. So was the brown creeper that Lee watched from the RV window while Merlin identified its sound. Score.

Here are Carolina wren photos, so you can compare and contrast — I do wish my camera were better.

I was glad to get home with my horses, dogs, chickens, and wild birds. Doing my back exercises by the woods and hearing a weird sound that turned out to be a migrating rufous hummingbird made my stomach and head feel better.

Good news: Lee didn’t mow the tiny bluets. He did mow my bluebonnets. Wah.

I’ll stop here and save stuff for tomorrow, when I hope I feel better and survive some tough meetings. I can DO it.

Still a Weird Happy

If there was a biography about you, what would the title be?

Yes, if there was a biography about me (Zzz) it would be called Still a Weird Happy. That was the name of our club of misfit hippy girls in 7th grade, which we turned into imaginary alien friends. Anita and I wrote stories about the Weird Happys (spelled that way on purpose) when we were young teens.

All of us Weird Happys were odd in one way or another, both the humans and the imaginary ones. But we embraced it. And I’ve always tried to keep that attitude. (I was trying to write something nice, but I’ve been interrupted five times now.)

I interrupt this whine with a hairy buttercup. They are so shiny.

Yeah, I’ve skipped blogging for a couple of days, because I’ve felt pretty boring. It’s been fine, just nothing extraordinary. I had a good lesson on Apache yesterday, and it was great to have him rideable again. Here he is very tired after Tarrin made him do things he didn’t want to do.

Even his new brow band didn’t perk him up.

Drew seems better, too. Today I was able to exercise him and groom him normally. He just had one little expression of annoyance when cantering. I was able to remove his burs and everything. Wow, both horses doing okay! It must be time to leave town for a few days!

I’m in love with Mabel now and let her nip me.

The other mildly interesting events this week so far were bird related. On Monday, I had the chance to hang out in the back yard and listen for birds around sunset. I was entranced at the sound of two great horned owls calling to each other. Mourning doves were also cooing away, which was so soothing!

And yesterday I was out walking when two red-tailed hawks flew right over my head, calling and calling.

They began their love dance, and I watched the whole thing! Next, they flew over to the big electric pole and began making little cooing chortling sounds. I’d never heard hawks speaking their love language before. What a privilege!

Soon enough, they flew off together. I saw and heard them again today. I wonder if these are the same ones I saw a few weeks ago?

I never see these guys at the same time I see the red-shouldered hawks or harrier. That’s unlike the woodpeckers, who seem to all hang out at the same time. Today I heard a Downy, a Ladderback, and a Pileated within 5 minutes of each other.

Yes, my life is calm right now. I’m loving my work and enjoying my leisure, which is pretty great. However, if you have a spare moment, please send healing vibes to my Purple Martin-loving friend, Donna, who had back surgery, as well as to family members dealing with challenges.

Stay weird. Be happy.

A Day of Stuff I Like

It’s still all rainy, but I managed to do nothing but stuff I enjoy. There was no horse fun, just slogging through mud and arguing with Apache over his medicine. I had bird and plant fun, though. Whoopee, the bluebonnets are coming in strong.

I indulged my boring American self and watched football coverage most of the day. I especially enjoyed the segment on the history of football on CBS. It was interesting to see the women and people of color highlighted. Jayne Kennedy also is a role model of grace and cool hair.

While I watched all the coverage and the very close game, I finished the third row of this year’s temperature blanket. I like seeing a more normal winter range.

Today isn’t shown, but will get 4 rain chains, since it rained another inch. Luckily we just got lots of standing water, and the creek stayed within its banks.

It’s getting greener, but we can still get another freeze.

I needed to get some movement in today, so I wound some pretty yarn into cakes. It’s a soft merino 4-ply in a DK or sport weight. I’m glad it’s not sock yarn or I’d have had to double it. My friend Ray at Knitivity dyed it, and I just love the colors. Here’s what I made:

It’s mitered granny squares. They will look cool when there are more of them. Since the yarn is thin, the fabric will be light, yet warm. I think this will be a rectangular wrap, unless I have enough yarn for a lap blanket. Well wait and see.

I’ll still keep working on the two temperature blankets, but the 2023 one for my friend will finish sooner rather than later, and I can then crochet this.

As for the Big Game, I enjoyed it. I’m glad it was close so both teams can be proud of themselves. The commercials were good. As long as a couple make me laugh, I consider it a win, and I certainly laughed enough. The music was all good, and a nice variety. I like that Reba didn’t overdo the National anthem.

And Usher was such an athletic guy, all while singing. The roller skating, too! The guest performance singers were also enjoyable. I’m sure there were famous people I didn’t recognize, but I’m bad with pop music.

I knew eventually I’d stop being able to keep up! I feel like my dad saying all my music sounded alike to him. On the other hand, I’ve never really liked pop music, dance music, or the hip hop as much as folk and rock (and classical), so I’ll cut myself some slack. Maybe one day I’ll immerse myself into the last 20 years and learn what Beyoncé, Taylor, and all those folks sang.

Or not. They have plenty of fans.