Lately I attract bees. When I’m in the pool, honeybees land on me and drink drops of water off my skin. I do provide them with bowls of water with rocks in them, but I guess I’m more fun. They do tickle.
This is a long-legged fly, not a bee (Condylostylus caudatus), but it has a stinger.
I occasionally get a wasp, too. Nothing ever bites, since I sit still. I’m more choosy about wasps than bees.
These will not be allowed sit on my finger. Nor do they want to.
But today I made a new bee friend. She was a leaf cutter bee. She was so shiny!
She is on my arm here.
She just kept buzzing me, so I stood still and let her explore. In return, I got to look at her up close enough to see her abdomen expand and contract, and her mouth parts checking me out.
Now she’s on my finger. I was trying to catch the iridescent shine on her wings.
She preferred my right hand, which made getting pictures harder, but that’s okay. I just enjoyed the interlude of peace. There are many similar bees, but I hope she’s the pugnacious leaf cutter bee (Megachile pugnata), because that’s such a fun name. Whatever she is, I adored her yellow belly.
Off she goes!
I even made a video (with blurry parts), so you can see her pulsating.
Non pugnacious leaf cutter bee
It’s this, folks, that makes life worth living. Knowing we can connect like this with fellow inhabitants of our planet makes me feel whole, even in crazy times. There’s something new and unexpected everywhere you look.
Our view sitting by the pool. Love this dragonfly!
I’ve been needing something to smile about lately, and the Universe has provided. First, I’m grateful to have spent a few low-stress days with my household members, with lots of laughs and encouragement. You can’t beat that!
Even Lee’s ice cream bucket was smiling.
Besides that, one of my niggling worries is much lessened now. It looks like I’ll have another year at my job. Such good news! I do like my job and the people I interact with, for which I am also truly grateful.
My portulaca plants are growing, which makes me glad!
I’ve watched friends being kind and supportive of each other all week. In today’s combative climate, small things like opening doors for strangers, giving tokens of affection, and offering to help someone struggling mean a lot. I can’t be specific but it’s helpful to make the effort to notice these things, and to instigate them when you get a chance!
Lee made me this image. That was nice. It’s a scan of part of a poster.
What little things made you smile today? It’s worth the effort to try to recall those moments and appreciate them. Since I take so many photos, I can share a few more with you.
Enlarge to see the cheerful wiggly honey mesquite seed pods Gorgeous clouded skipper (Lerema accius)There aren’t many thistles left, so they have to share. I’m always amazed that Wild petunias (Ruellia) exist. This teeny spider is apparently a triangulate combfoot. Great name (Steatoda triangulosa)Ooh, these Poecilanthrax lucifer bee flies are doing it. Aren’t these silver leaf nightshade fruits pretty? Wish I had tomatoes thus nice. The name of these cicadas made me smile: superb dog-face (Neotibicen superbus)The town of Bremond, Texas, full of Polish flags (we drove there yesterday)Spider faces. So cute. This made me laugh. Yes. I shared a meme. expand it. Happy things
This entire weekend I did stuff I wanted to do, when I wanted to. Now, that’s relaxing! Even sweeping the chicken house and getting rid of feed bags was done on MY time. I didn’t breathe poop, by the way. Lesson learned.
I’m glad you wanted to pet ME!
I do have a funny horse story. I was out in the pasture heading to bring in Apache, who still likes to play hard to get. I know I’m sending off good vibes, because every other horse comes right to me. And that’s what was funny. Fiona had already latched on to my side as I walked to Apache. Suddenly I heard thundering hooves, then in a puff of dust, Drew’s head appeared directly beside my face. He was just SURE I was looking for him and he was concerned he was late, because he had to pee. Obviously I have no trouble catching Drew. Eventually I once again had to maneuver around three horses and a donkey who were dying for me to take them off to be groomed.
They are all right there. Happy to see me.
Now, once Apache decides he’s ready, he is no trouble at all, and seems to enjoy walking around, being groomed, and riding. He just wants to be the one to decide it’s time to go do stuff.
I’m working on letting Suna be the boss.
He’s so much fun, though. I’m not complaining at all. We have had many years to develop this relationship, so we’ll keep working and I’ll enjoy the ride, literally.
I got a bath, so I could roll and get all dirty again five minutes after this picture was taken.
The rest of today, like yesterday, was spent knitting, floating in the pool, napping, and hanging out. Lee, Anita, and I even got to go out for dinner! My sour cream enchiladas were great, plus they didn’t mess with the temporary crown I need to keep in until Friday.
Naturally, ha ha, I took some nature pictures. This little garden spider got quite a catch!
The aviary kept me all excited again today, though. We got to watch the wren feed her brood and enjoy all those fledgling barn swallows darting and swooping along with their parents. They seemed pretty proud of themselves to be able to sit on the light fixtures.
Sitting and swooping.
And to top it all off, there were more genuine clouds in the sky tonight (there were some yesterday, too, but no rain).
Last night’s clouds
That led to an amazing moonrise and sunset. The moon was pretty such a short time. I’m glad I was taking my time and enjoying everything that came along tonight and the rest of the weekend.
It may be time for a new Facebook cover photo.
I hope you have a good week and that the weekend refreshed and renewed you, even a little. I certainly needed some time to reflect and treat myself kindly after beating myself up a bit last week!
They aren’t joking when they say time flies when you’re having fun. And Andrew “Droodles” Kendall is nothing but a big bundle of fun on four legs. As of next Saturday, he will have been with us for two years. And we count that as his “birthday,” since his teeth tell us he should be just about five years old right now.
My teeth are good for eating
We’ve been getting our exercise in early in the day, whenever possible, due to the extreme heat and my issues with it. In the afternoons, I’ve been feeding while wearing a wet bathing suit, which really intrigues Drew. He seems to like the smell of pool water (good thing we don’t have a heavily chlorinated pool).
I don’t like Suna’s wet outfit.
This morning I went out to spend some time with the soon-to-be birthday boy and give him some special time, to show him how grateful I am to have my special gray friend in my life. Wow, he’s changed so much from a skinny dark gray guy who couldn’t use his back legs effectively to a strong and capable companion who’s getting lighter by the day.
So beautiful and talented for a little guy.
After our groundwork and ride, the birthday fun began. I rinsed Droodles off under the hose, which he was really fond of. He especially liked getting his neck cooled off, which makes sense given his thick, hot (but gorgeous) mane. But the part that he liked the very best was drinking from the hose, which of course there are no photos of.
Thirsty boy.
Once he figured out how it work, he took charge of the hose by clamping his teeth on the end and sucking down the water. He must have drunk a gallon of water that way. I didn’t want him to overdo it, so I took the hose away, which he seemed a bit sad about.
He perked right back up when he realized he got to graze on some of the remaining green grass over by the tack room. He did a fine job trimming the grass as he cooled off. But I knew there was one more item on his birthday bucket list.
As soon as I let him loose in the pen area, he drank more water (geez, he hadn’t sweated that much!), then started walking with his nose down. I knew what that meant.
I gotta roll, baby
Sure enough, down he went for a good roll. No horse likes to be clean for long, I guess. More likely, I think, when they are wet they can get dirt to stick to them and keep away flies. I sure enjoyed watching his birthday roll (as did Fiona).
PS: Remember the baby barn swallows I shared a couple of days ago? Well, today two of them have fledged. I’m sure these other two will be out catching their own bugs by the end of the afternoon. So cool.
I don’t have a topic today. Things are going along all right, with few exciting developments that I can talk about. That’s not bad at all. We all need some mostly drama-free periods in our lives.
Even the rabbit is pretty chill.
The best thing about today was that there were a few clouds in the sky. The heat dome is moving away at last, and we will be back to normal levels of hotness.
The grass is turning it’s normal summer brown, though, and I saw my first cracks in the dirt today.
I’ve managed to not get too hot this week by doing horse things early, when I have no early meetings, and feeding the horses in a wet bathing suit. Hey, no one can see me! And Drew likes the pool water smell.
I like the smell of fresh trough water, myself.
Mostly I’ve been going through one of my awkward periods where I express myself poorly and upset people, or feel like a fifth wheel in conversations. I know when I start feeling bad about myself that it’s time to apologize, remind myself I’m as good a person as I can be, and to remember that sometimes your best isn’t good enough.
But wait, think about me!
Yes, then I need to think about Apache and how long my well-meaning efforts weren’t enough for our relationship, but with some help, we got to communicate better. I’ll just listen to helpful people about remedying my faux pas and maybe do some improvements in interpersonal relationships. Being a hermit who wants to make friends is complicated!
Speaking of complicated!
Let’s talk about knitting. I finished row 2 of the second unit of the giant temperature blanket and can see it was warming up quickly once May rolled around (after the black square). We got our first red squares, which are over 90°. I was thinking today that I could enter the first bit in the art contest at the Master Naturalist conference. It’s a piece of citizen science, after all. I’d have to type up a nice legend and explanation.
One more piece is f good news is a volunteer tomato plant. It’s with the squash behind the chicken house. Just hope no one mows it! I keep forgetting to mark the “plants” as opposed to cockleburs.
I hope you’re all doing well. Please know that I care about you all, appreciate your feedback, and love hearing your own stories.
The fact that it’s boiling hot (figuratively) outside has not stopped our local birds from churning out new little bug-eating machines. Who am I to stop them? Besides, they’re darned entertaining!
Four hot and hungry babes
The beautiful barn swallows may not get all the publicity that purple martins get, but their shiny navy blue backs, orange breasts, and striking forked tails entertain us just fine.
They are everywhere, eating bugs and feeding babies.
I sure enjoy watching them. It’s fun watching them build nests and raise babies. We must have a dozen nests around our house. They build mud nests in high places. Bridges are very popular, but so are the very front porches suburban homes. People in my old neighborhood hated them. They do poop a lot.
Two nests.
I’m glad we get more of the barn swallows every year, even with the poop. All you have to do is power wash the patio after they migrate.
Soon as it cools off, we’ll leave.
Not all the swallow nests contain swallows, however. Our newest aviary residents, the house sparrows, are no longer content to just build giant, grassy nests in the dead light fixtures.
The light fixtures look hairy now.
No, the incessant chirpers also co-opted a couple of swallow nests that aren’t being used by their creators. Of course, the busy non-native invaders have to add their special flair.
The decorations stayed even through the big wind storm last week.
These aren’t my favorite birds, I must say. We didn’t have any until a couple years ago when they must have flown over from Sara’s house (where they drive her husband crazy) and discovered my chicken scratch strongly resembles bird seed. Now I’m afraid I feed them as much as the hens. Sigh.
There will soon be more sparrows. This nest was chirping.
There’s a new exhibit at the aviary, though. A family of wrens has joined the porch crowd. It’s a Carolina wren group, judging from the song and they eye stripes. But I don’t have any photos of them, because they tend to bop around when I’m in the pool and phone-less. It’s the only time I don’t have a camera!
They are in this box
I guess it’s good that I put some drink trays from our chairs in this box so they wouldn’t blow away. It made a perfect nest area for wrens, who love to nest in human constructions (we’ve had them in flower pots, a wagon, and an old grill).
That’s the nest. I see an egg, I think, or babies and an unhatched egg. Hard to tell.
Since watching wrens bopping around and flicking their is something I enjoy a lot, I’m quite pleased with this new part of the aviary. I believe there ARE babies in there, because I got to see insect delivery this afternoon. It’s like Wild Kingdom around here.
The indoor part of our zoo features French kissing dogs. Eww.
Back to birds, I have a cute chicken story for you, from Lee. He had two pieces of stale bread, and thought he’d give them to the chickens, our traveling domestic exhibit. One piece fell under the shade of our evergreen tree and one fell in the sun.
We prefer shade.
When he came back later, the shady piece was gone, but the one in the sun was still there. He picked it up and tossed it into the shade, and the girls pounced on it.
The tree in question.
The hens are glad we’re back from camping, because the coolest place they can find seems to be under Seneca the motorhome. He also drips water from the air conditioner that they prefer to their trough, though I refill it daily. I’m glad they’re taking care of themselves!
And that’s all the news from the aviary. Hope you’re safe from heat, smoke, or whatever climate issue is happening near you.
I was looking around my bathroom after a shower and started laughing at myself. I realized I’ve amassed quite a collection of matching “beauty products” over the past few years. Yes, I love things that smell like a (real) rose.
I can’t grow roses for the life of me. This ranch is just not cut out for it, and believe me, I’ve tried. But I have loved the smell since I was much younger. I remember paying a lot of money (for an impoverished grad student) for attar of rose oil from my local purveyor (who, believe it or not, is still out there purveying). Pansies remain my favorite flower to look at, but roses are right there at number 2. How do I know? As I was blogging away, I lifted my head and saw this:
Yes, my view is two pieces of pansy art and one piece of rose art.
Back to my bathroom, I recently discovered my absolute favorite rose product. It’s an oil sold by Doterra, that I’ve been using on my face at night.
Smells good AND works
This Moringa Rose Nourishing Oil has kept my face calm and cool while I am outside so much and sweating a lot. Normally I turn quite red, but this (along with my morning stuff) has really made a difference. And OMG what a great smell to go to sleep with! I have no idea what moringa oil is, but it feels good.
The oil came with a “hydrosol” spray mist that I put on my hair, or all over me after swimming. It’s nice and light. I’d run out of my previous rose mist spray, so I am glad this came along.
(Secretly, if I advertised it, I could sell Doterra products, so you could get some of this stuff for yourself. I’m not a high-pressure sales gal, so this offer won’t be repeated any time soon.) By the way, the rose duo re-stocks July 1, I just discovered when I went to order a second set, so I won’t ever run out.
I need roses in the morning, too, but I found something that doesn’t cost mega-bucks that cleans me up and prepares my old and wrinkly face for my moisturizing stuff. I like this Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water in Rose (of course), because I can put it on a cloth or cotton pad and wipe it on. I make a huge mess trying to splash water all over my head, which is why I switched from Rodan + Fields cleanser when it stopped being a cream I could wipe on.
Bargain but good!
If I want to smell really rosy and won’t be around Lee any time soon, I have a selection of rose perfumes and colognes. The one I use all the time now is one I got in Colorado whenever I was last there. First, it comes in a beautiful bottle, and second, it’s quite realistic. Some rose perfumes smell fake. Rose perfumes can also be heavy, so I’m glad this one has hibiscus to perk it up. Get yourself some here. I get nothing from this link, other than happiness.
The hibiscus makes it less overwhelming
I am not done, nope, not by a long shot. I have to shower, don’t I? That means I need shampoo, moisturizer, and bath gel. Of course, I found the right stuff.
And there are no harsh ingredients!Can’t go wrong with Olay
I do have rose deodorant, too. Sadly, it doesn’t smell particularly rosy to me. I think it smells more like a coconut. I like coconuts, though, so I’ll use it up and see if I can find something I like better next time.
IMMEDIATELY! No stinking for me!
I have no more photos, but I happen to know there is a bath gel and cleanser in the RV from the Body Shop. I need to smell good when traveling. Now, that’s not true. I get pretty grimy after all those hikes and explorations. But, I try.
I hope you liked this little change of pace and glimpse into my beauty product lair.
Uncharacteristically, I missed two days of blogging. I was not in the mood to write nice, thoughtful words. Being sensitive is hard.
These guys are good listeners, though.
Plus, there was my pain stuff. The back pain is manageable with stretching and not bending over too quickly. But it was eclipsed by the pain from getting my darn root canal procedure finished and getting fitted with a temporary crown. Even with the combination of acetaminophen and ibuprofen, I had searing pain if my top and bottom teeth met. I was a grumpy gal last night, so you didn’t need to hear from me.
Let’s enjoy a flying Great Egret, instead.
Then there was the weather. We’ve had a tiny amount of rain (the storms have missed us two days in a row) but yesterday an incredible blast of wind came out of the east (not the expected direction) and blew things all over the place. Patio furniture flew, a window blew open, and the trees looked like they were going to snap. I’m pretty sure it was hurricane strength. At least we didn’t lose power. It was scary for a while. Straight-line winds are something else!
Waves on poolNote chair in distanceThis was after it calmed a bitWind!
When I went out to assess the damage this morning, it wasn’t too bad. In fact, it was so pleasant out that I spent some time just watching a friendly rabbit chewing grass. I love how the sun shines through their ears.
They are beautiful creatures
Later I went to get the mail and I saw black vultures on my horse area. I got all worried that Vlassic was dead.
Vultures flying away
But it wasn’t him. It was an amazing roadrunner! What the heck? It looked like the wind had picked it up and slammed it into one of the barrels I use for horse obstacles. Trying to get something positive out of the experience, I looked closely at its beautiful feathers and strong legs, which I certainly can’t do when they are alive. Dang wind.
Look how beautiful it was.
It’s not all bad, of course. I got praised for doing well at work, which rarely happens to contractors. That, along with reduced tooth pain, made getting through the work day today much better than yesterday.
And chickens. They made it fine over the windy period.
The best part of the day was that Bonnie, the equine dentist, was here for the horses’ annual checkups. It’s just fascinating to watch how she does it. I was encouraged to find out they’d all stayed in pretty good shape and mostly just needed routine maintenance.
I love how she climbs the fence and throws her rope over it to set up her dental station
Dusty is older and started out with some weird teeth, so he just got the “keep him comfortable” treatment, because he doesn’t have enough teeth to truly “fix.” He was very good, though.
Dusty was a trooper
Apache did great, too. I’m always so proud of him. He really enjoyed sleeping off the tranquilizers. He even snored.
Apache was very fond of his drugs
Drew has started growing in his canine teeth. I wonder if that’s what made him so grouchy for a few weeks? Bonnie said he’s definitely just about to turn five years old, which makes me very happy I chose July 2 as his birthday! He enjoyed the whole experience, including tasting all the equipment and snoozing with Apache afterwards.
Such big teeth!
Mabel went last. She handled this better than she did the farrier visit. Bonnie kept telling me how much better she looks now. That made me feel glad for all the work we’ve done on her. Mabel’s demeanor change also impressed Bonnie. It was cool to have someone who hadn’t seen her in a year evaluate Mabel. She needed the most dental help, so I hope it will help her keep weight on.
Mabel did her best.
So there, none of us have blown away, and things are all right.
Hi there, readers. Sorry there was no blog yesterday, but I’ll be honest, I was not really feeling like writing about the happenings of the day. The Circle of Life is real, and it certainly becomes clear here at the Hermits’ Rest.
I tried to write this on our newly assembled loveseat, but that lasted five minutes.
I don’t think Great Danes have a reputation for being hunting dogs, but I guess they are bred to protect their property. We’re thinking of renaming Goldie to Artemis, because she truly is a mighty huntress.
I’m resting between hunts.
Yesterday I went out to survey my domain and feed the chickens, as I normally do, and I saw Goldie intently watching something that looked to me like a bunny. I watched it slowly “hopping” away from the fenced-in area.
It has ears. But not a bunny.
But when I got closer, I saw it was not a rabbit, but an injured armadillo. I knew who’d injured it right away, our mighty dog-goddess of the hunt. Goldie could no longer get to her, so my hope was that she could make it to her hole and heal up.
Goldie had chewed on her shell.
But I forgot that we have an actual hunting dog on the property, Vlassic. Apparently, he also got to the poor thing and hurt it a lot more. He was seen chomping away on the armadillo (which I didn’t see, or I would have stopped it).
Let’s look at a happy hen, instead.
By the time I came out in the afternoon, the dillo had made it to the front pond, where she got away from Vlassic, but couldn’t swim anymore. For some reason, this made me incredibly sad, like when the sick coyote died.
I guess I’m just too soft hearted when it comes to animals. Also, since I had just gotten the news that my late friend Christi’s son had just been indicted for her murder and I was still reeling from my two recent friend deaths, I think I am a little more open to sadness than usual. I feel imbalanced, like the scales that are usually balanced between life and death are tipped heavily over to the death side.
I was really sad when Goldie killed this, too. It was a snapping turtle. My favorite huge one.
I know it will pass. But it’s no fun right now. On the other hand, I did get a chance to examine an armadillo up close. It’s cool to see how many hairs they have. I thank the armadillo for the chance to see her. Don’t worry, I didn’t touch her, and she was disposed of properly.
Poor dillo.
So, our little zoo is still bringing me interesting surprises. This morning I found dozens of caterpillars on the sorrelvine behind the house. I recognized them as black swallowtails. With this many babies, we should have quite a display of butterflies when they emerge from their chrysalises.
Baby swallowtails
But the biggest surprise was in the chicken house. When I went in this morning, I saw that my snake friend was still there from yesterday. I love the snake’s smiling face.
Howdy! I’d like an egg or a mouse.
I came back later to see if I’d been left any eggs, and thought to myself, wow, that snake is really long, even for a rat snake (they get to be over six feet long).
It just goes on and on.
Aha, I realized why it was so long. It had two heads. Yes, both my snake friends were actually hanging out in one of the nest boxes. There went my egg supply for the day (but they didn’t get Bertie Lee’s egg, which is always laid on the floor next to their exit door).
I wonder if they are a pair? I’ve seen two together over by the horse pens before.
Our reptile exhibit certainly is exciting. However, I am extra glad we haven’t had any copperheads or rattlesnakes showing up. On the other side of the river, there are lots of copperheads. We should be seeing rattlesnakes now, but I have only seen one this year (and I briskly left the vicinity).
Rattlesnake country is pretty, though.
I wish it weren’t so incredibly hot, smoky, and unpleasant outside. But, we’ll get through it. I want to be able to make more use of that new outdoor furniture. But the pool is always there to help me, especially after horse work!
Honestly, I often feel like I live in a zoo. There are just so many critters everywhere I look. This morning I went in to feed the chickens, and realized the rat snake exhibit had moved back in. The BIG one was in there today. I hope she liked her eggs.
Rather than show you the snake, enjoy the first third of the year in temperatures. I’ve started a new segment. It will have way more red and NO blue.
When I went to the Red House to be sure the weekend renters left it in good shape, I picked up branches the bad storm on Saturday had deposited. As I was doing that, I realized I’d moved part of the amphibian exhibit. There was a tiny baby Gulf Coast Toad. Awww.
Smaller than my pinky nail.
I was basking in that cuteness as I took a pane of glass that had fallen out of the garage window (and didn’t break) into the safety of the garage, which was apparently doubling as an insect exhibit. The star was the stuff of my personal nightmares. It was a huge black horsefly. I got bitten by one as a child and can still feel it.
My least favorite exhibit of the day
These things are not only painful, but deadly.
Lucky West Coast doesn’t have them.
It’s all-black coloring reminds me of a trendy modern black house. Yes, it’s striking, but is a pain when it gets hot outside.
Its head looks like a Star Trek alien.
Luckily the zoo today had some cuteness, and for me it was the free-range cottontails in the pasture exhibit. The ones near the horse pens are still friendly. I enjoyed watching this one exploring and hinting that it wouldn’t mind sharing Dusty and Fiona’s food.
Can we share?
Bunnies aren’t the only ones who like the horses’ food. The chickens have figured out that every afternoon I go into a room and pour delicious pellets into buckets. Fiona’s dish is the perfect size for a pecking hen. This makes horse feeding time even more zoo-like!
I need to get better photos of the “arboretum” in Cameron. There are some crape myrtles that are breathtaking this year!
Back to my indoor menagerie for me. In the house we just have scorpions, moths, one cicada (a dog brought it in), and all the dogs. I’ll be glad when scorpions go back outside.
The Hermits' Rest 