daily life – Page 67 – The Hermits' Rest

I’m an Ice Princess

While I seem to have aggravated my weird shoulder blade issue and have to deal with sharp jabs, I’m doing just fine this evening. Mainly it’s because I got my scary hair taken care of.

It was too long and too grown out. But it looks spunky.

It was a bit challenging getting to Austin, though. My first delay was when a guy who lives down the road asked for a ride back from his broken motorcycle. He was nice. And they have cattle dogs, so of course he was. I’m glad I did that, because when I thought of texting the salon to say I might be late, I realized I didn’t have my phone. Sigh.

And of course, there were poky trucks and a construction delay to deal with. But, ha, I was only one minute late.

Blue hair and red face. It was hot under there.

I always enjoy talking to my stylist, Danny, who I have a lot in common with. He asks good questions, too. And I was excited to see they had a new bleach product that turned my hair quite blue. It was excellent and so relaxing to just sit there and process. Yesterday evening was hard. I needed to zone out.

When it was done and toned, it was eerily white. I think we have the ingredients for Ice Princess hair. I rewarded myself with a trip across the street to the Randall’s supermarket. I went there mostly to look at the flowers, which are always amazing for a small grocery. It didn’t disappoint. But I just got pineapple and some sandwich rolls.

And canned wine. Tastes okay and is pretty.

And now I’m cozy in the weird Doubletree hotel, listening to a strange noise that sounds like waves crashing on the shore. Austin Beach. That’s okay. I have wine, knitting, Olympics. Oh, and horse videos of the pattern I have to do with Drew.

Breathing Fresh Air

What a nice afternoon I’ve had. I finished a big project, so I spent some time baking a fruit crisp with such nasty peaches that I threw in the frozen berries I found in the freezer to rescue it.

Then I got to spend some relaxing time with the horses. Apache is still doing well, and we even made it out to the field for a bit. I need just a bit more refinement and then maybe we can move forward.

I’m not Apache, but I’m also full of love.

Other exciting stuff for today was the unexpected arrival of the solar company, who told us our panels weren’t giving any power. We had no idea. But it’s fixed now!

The above is the innards of our gate, which has also decided not to work. Maybe it, too, will get fixed. So yeah, it ain’t all bad. Nope.

You know what? It’s really good to have normal days out in the fresh air, enjoying the simple things like sunshine and animal buddies. It may not bring blog hits rolling in, but it feels good.

Droodles and Canoodles

My heart is full. I was tired from work and hurting from lifting many heavy objects yesterday, so I went for a walk. I hadn’t planned to do much with the horses, because they did a lot yesterday, but I wanted to spend time with them. I spent some comforting time with Apache, then noticed Drew was looking at me from the other side of the gate.

I walked over and spent quite a while rubbing on his face and helping with his itches. He rubbed back, which is always so nice. He had such good breath. Then, I saw that the gate at the end of the little pasture appeared closed, so I went over to open it. I called to Drew, and both he and Vlassic accompanied me (Vlassic ALWAYS accompanies anyone who appears to be walking toward the cabin).

This horse is so cute that I will allow photos of my hair looking this bad to be published.

When we got there, and I realized the gate was actually slightly open, I figured Drew would go out. No. That little horse turned and matched my steps the whole way back. If I stopped, he stopped. If I sped up he sped up. Whoa, has he been watching Apache in the round pen? I was so happy that when we got to the end of the pen, he got lots of pets and loves.

Yes, my little Droodles is GOOD at the canoodles. He must have spent ten minutes nuzzling me, checking out my ears, sniffing my head, and rubbing me gently. I just about burst into tears. I don’t think I’ve been shown so much physical affection by a horse, ever. Heck, he was more affectionate than most people are now that I’m old. I got some extra sweet selfies, and he tried to help by sticking his nose on the phone.

I do enjoy these guys. Fiona loves to cuddle while she’s eating dinner, and Apache is so good at making sure NO ONE gets into his pen at feeding time. Everyone else lines up like little soldiers, ready for dinner.

The sun is shining gloriously on my magnificent patchiness

Meanwhile, wow, I have a lot of love in my life.

Fire in My Heart

And fire in my backyard, too! Bless that young man from the pool company for his perseverance! I spent a LONG time last night enjoying the fire pit and my new solar lights.

It was warm and pleasant outside. I could even get out of the spa, relax in a chair, and get back in.

The sunset was very pink, which made the clouds before the storms look more benign. It was so relaxing!

All that relaxing was great preparation for some busy times coming up. I worked like crazy today and had plenty of energy to keep going. Hooray! The Pool of Dreams is a dream come true.

I even got my son to help me put my old rug from my knitting room in Austin on the porch to make more of an outdoor living room effect. It’s an indoor-outdoor rug so should be ok.

The highlight of the day today was getting more propane delivered. A lot. And since I’m apparently the family propane waster I’m now paying for it. Ka-ching. I’ll try to ration my fire pit use. But not the spa. I love it.

We are sort of battened down for a winter storm right now. Well, most of us are. Lee and the resident nephew went somewhere in east Texas to pick up a beautiful second-hand horse trailer and some mysterious “other stuff” that I can’t wait to see. I hope the weather is kind to them!

Day Is Done. Not Work, Though

Yeah, the sun has set, horses are fed, and it’s my usual relaxing or educational time. But I have classes to teach every night this week. I don’t mind a bit, since this isn’t a frequent occurrence and I think Asian people ought to have a chance for training during their work day!

I haven’t had much to write this week because I’ve been productive at work, which is fine, right? Since I’m working in the evenings, though, I took a few hours off this afternoon to get things done.

Actually, Trixie did all the work on the horses. Drew got a little body work and was medium well behaved for his hoof trim. Apache was good as gold, though, and we are happy to say his hooves are perfect.

Also, very clean, unlike the rest of him.

I had to leave Trixie to finish Apache so I could go help the resident offspring move more things from the church. We managed to get a heavy dresser and a bookcase loaded into Lee’s Tahoe ourselves. That church sure has lots of stairs.

I was busy working and trying to avoid electrical sparks (workers blew a transformer and knocked power out on us), so no photos of that. Instead, look a the cool door the resident nephew found hiding at our Ross property! It fits the cabin, and will sure be a cool entry.

All I have is some happy flower images from the arrangement I got for Kathleen (the rarely resident niece) for her birthday. It was not too bright of me to assume she would be here that day, knowing how plans change so fast!

But flowers are cheerful from afar, too. Sending love to all who are struggling. You’re never alone when I’m around!

Who’s a Pretty Chicken?

I’ll tell you what, Peeper, the one we hatched from a chick, has blossomed into a great beauty. She’s almost full grown, and could start laying in February.

She inherited a lot of shiny feathers from her dad, Bruce. Some of the ones on her wings are bluish, while the rest glow green. She also got a really pretty double comb from her dad. And I guess she got his height.

She also got her dad’s ear tufts. They are so cute. With her white feathers at the base of her tail, she is spectacular

From Buttercup, her mom, Peeper got the beautiful patterned brown feathers on her head and body. She should also lay dark eggs, and I’m hoping Bruce will have made them green. In any case, I’m happy with her robustness and tenacity. She handles the cold well.

Click those images to see her glory. By the way, photographing chickens is hard. They are busy animals.

Spiders are a little easier. This is a dark fishing spider who was living in the chicken food box. I emptied the bag, but put it back so she could go home.

I just wanted to share the happiness raising just one hen from an egg. Thanks to Star for setting on her.

Horse Heaven!

Blog readers know that I’ve been struggling with my goofy and issue-filled Paint horse. He gets better, he gets worse, I do better, I do worse. He goes lame, he feels better, he gets adhesions, Trixie works on him…

…and by gosh, he gets better. Last weekend was a big step. I’ve been doing what I can with him with it so cold. Today, though, it was so chilly Sara and I decided not to go to our lessons.

Still we wanted to do something, so she came over with Aragorn to work on things. I got all our horses put away, and even managed to move Drew and Apache at the same time.

But the best happened after I mounted. Who is this horse? We walked, we trotted, he tried to misbehave, I corrected him. He settled down and started doing everything I asked him to like a normal horse. It was so nice.

So we went out of the round pen and lo and behold, he acted like a normal horse. Round and round behind or in front, walk or trot! Comfortable trot!

Ta-da – this may look boring but that’s what we want!

I asked Sara if she could lead us to the barrels! In the direction where he used to get squirrelly. Aragorn didn’t want to, so WE led! Straight to the barrel and around. We went all over my messed up playground, including over the little jump.

When I figured we’d had enough success, we stopped and grinned and got emotional at each other (the humans). This was such a great point on our journey. Sara knows how hard I’ve been trying, so she was happy with me. It was great to have a friend and witness to our progress.

Aragorn says he’d have been a leader if Suna’s pieces of metal by the gate hadn’t unnerved him.

Like she said, the horse is feeling much better thanks to Trixie, he’s understanding what we are asking thanks to Tarrin, and I’m doing so much better with the support and wisdom of Tarrin. It takes a village. I’m so thankful for this. It’s really helped me through the other challenges.

Now on to new skills, or a setback. I’m ready for whatever. I’m in horse heaven with both my guys. It sure makes up for working so hard.

Knittin’ and Readin’ and Regerts

Today it is windy as all heck. All my chairs, all the barrels in the horse area, and everything else that isn’t tied down has blown to new and interesting locations. Lee and I had tried to put together a storage shed yesterday, and placed it against a wall, where we thought it would be safe. It took a little jaunt around the corner of the patio.

Nothing here is where it was yesterday except the lovely water trough.

Even worse, the wind blew the satellite dish around so we can’t even watch something on television. But Lee says it’s a good opportunity to get the dish moved and bring in wiring to let me have a television in my office/den for when I want to cocoon. No complaints about that!

The show “Window Reflections” is not very entertaining.

This is the LAST day I wanted to be trapped inside. It is my annual Day of Regrets (or “regerts” as the apocryphal tattoo someone got said), where I mourn the loss of my older son on his birthday. He’s 31. Happy birthday to a person I still love.

Distraction from regrets: These barrels blew about 50 feet. They are not light.

Obviously, I need to have stuff to do to keep my mind busy, but I sure as heck am not going out there to mess with horses. I did go out and stand in the shelter with them and provide some love, even to Mabel, who stood with me for five minutes! And, of course, the chickens are taken care of. I just don’t want to linger.

So, this morning I got out my hair toner stuff to make my white ends more silvery. And you know I was bored, because I took pictures of the entire process using Snap Chat filters. The good news is that the bit of longer hair in front that was somewhat discolored now looks beautiful, and the dark part sparkles.

This was my goal hair, the 60s diner wait staff look.

Well, that wasted a whole half hour or so. I needed more distraction. I decided to find something to knit. What I truly want to work on is some unspun beautiful Icelandic yarn my friend Mike brought me from Iceland (duh). It’s all natural sheep colored and everything. But, I do not need a sweater. So, I spent an hour looking through Ravelry for ideas, then gave up. I think I have an idea now, which I can do next. Stay tuned.

I decided to make something with two beautiful yarns that were hiding in my closet, instead. They are a gorgeous wool/silk hand-painted yarn in coral tones and a natural-colored baby llama yarn. Baby llamas! Crias! They are so cute. And their first haircuts lead to dreamy softness.

So, what to make with those? That was easier, because I am making my favorite plain striped shawl that I have made before using Noro Silk Garden (it’s a hand-painted Japanese silk/wool blend all the knitters will know). I got a slightly different version off Ravelry and started going.

It will look better when it’s farther along and the Freia starts changing colors. Who cares what it looks like, anyway, because it feels so good on my hands, which have been hurting lately. I can look forward to finishing this quickly and sitting by the pool wearing it (keeping it away from dogs). Speaking of whom, of course they are always with me when I’m doing my projects.

The rest of the day of super-confinement will be spent reading my wonderful book, listening to music, and making a nice dinner for my sickly family and Lee. (And not rearranging the holiday closet; sorry, that brings up regerts.) Please continue to keep our ranch residents in your thoughts! The COVID is hard on them.

Celebration, a Little

I haven’t been going on about blogging achievements much (mainly because the blog is mostly for me…more on that soon), BUT, I am happy to see that I now have 800 WordPress followers! That combined with the 1500 or so people who get the blog by email, means somebody’s out there! So, thank you for reading, however you receive the blog, and that goes for you Facebook fans of the Hermits’ Rest, too!

I’m aware some followers aren’t actually people. But I appreciate the real people a lot.

I appreciate your comments more than I can express, whether here, on Facebook, or in person. I am always surprised when someone brings up reading this blog as I’m talking to them. I’d love to follow YOU, too! I need stuff to read when the wind is raging and I’m trying to block out my regrets/regerts!

Poo on Pandemics

It’s been a rough week over at my house, with half the occupants down and out from the coronavirus, and the rest of us staying home, since we weren’t sure if we were asymptomatic but sick or not. It’s made me really glad we got some flowers last time I was at the grocery store, since I’ve needed the cheering up.

I’m glad there’s so much to see and do here, because it’s made things a little easier. We even have separate seating areas by the pool for the sick and the non sick. And to think I thought those areas were for basking in different angles of the sun.

I have some things I really want to do this weekend (outdoor things), so I went to get a COVID test yesterday at the Cameron Fire Station. So did most of the rest of the county. I’d say by the time I arrived, the line was half a mile long or more. It took about 2.75 hours to get through the line, which seems a lot longer when you have to pee, I assure you. Plus I got sunburn on my nose and arm! I had not planned ahead with sunscreen. If there is a next time, I will remember, but I hope my home tests arrive before the next time I need to test.

Lots of cars in front of me (and behind)

But, I did get in, finally, and endured the nasal swab thing. Ugh, now I see what people were talking about. That’s right, I hadn’t had a test before this, since I just stayed home the couple times I was exposed. The best news is that they called me less than 24 hours later to tell me I’m negative. Woo hoo. That probably explains why I feel fine. I guess we’ve done a good job separating ourselves, or my vaccinations worked. I’m relieved, in any case.

I am NOT the Germ Police in this neighborhood. Just the Coyote Patrol.

The book I’m reading, which is called Phosphorescence, talks about the importance of being in nature for your physical and mental health. I’m so glad to have so much woods and water to spend time in here at the ranch. (I was also lucky at my Austin house, since it was surrounded by greenbelts and had a view of the pool.)

Today the whole sitting around and looking at nature thing got a lot better, because we now have two lounge chairs with cushions on them, which makes sitting by the pool and blogging a heavenly experience. It helps that the temperature is perfect, in the low 70s. What could be better?

I’ll tell you what! It would be better if I had a hot tub to sit in (not while typing). And there’s good news on that front. I called the propane company myself and talked to the woman there (who was chatty and fun to talk to about heavy equipment we each own). That got us ON the schedule to get the hot tub all hooked up on MONDAY! It’s conceivable the pool will be completely finished by then.

Until then, I can just enjoy the animals. Vlassic and Gracie Lou look so cute together. Our small doggies deserve some time in the spotlight, or sunlight.

Lunch hour is over, so I have to drag myself back in and work on some training material. Then Drew gets to jump over jumps and have some fun. This is not a bad place to endure a pandemic at all, nope. Not at all.

Bonding with the Funny Equines

It was a horsey day yesterday, which is good, because we are now quarantined other than outdoor stuff. I’m so glad the horse work is outdoors!

Right. As I was saying the horse day started early. I’d asked Lee to put the bale of hay that was on the tractor out, since the horses need it and he’s the only healthy person who can drive the tractor. Well, he went in through Drew’s paddock but didn’t realize Drew was there (because no one knows my horse schedule but me).

Drew made his escape, but didn’t go far, since he found green grass. All I had to do is put his pretty new halter on him and lead him back. He was curious about the “this is an equine facility and you might get hurt” sign. But then he said bye and headed to the hay, where T chased him around.

Back to work I went until late afternoon when Trixie was due to work on Apache and his body issues. I spent quite a while grooming the filthy Apache, which took longer due to Fiona also wanting grooming.

She also had lots of those giant burs on her front legs and was trying to get them out with her teeth. I found the hoof pick was a great tool for getting those out. She now has nice, smooth, hairy legs.

Apache did great with his body work. He seemed really happy with his head and neck treatment, and made such cute faces!

He was less thrilled with the work on his adhesions near his hips, but wow, it made a difference. I’m hoping this will make our training easier on him and help him develop good posture. Enjoy some fun faces now!

This morning I went out to let Drew back into the big pasture. It’s cool but sunny out, so I shouldn’t have been surprised to find him napping in the sun. But of course, I thought he was dead.

Of course, he’s fine and in a playful mood.

He happily walked with me to the gate, but not without stopping to play with Vlassic. He wanted the squeaky toy, but not enough to fight the dog over it! That just made my morning.

It’s good to have these sweet animal friends to bond with while you’re confined. And writing about them gives you something to do in an endless line to get a COVID test.

Try to stay safe, friends. It’s hard, but we can get through this!