daily life – Page 96 – The Hermits' Rest

Holey, Holey Moley

Cameron, Texas is a town full of holes. Part of its fading small-town charm is that very few things are in tip-top shape, so holes are everywhere.

Now, the true banes of my existence are the holes in County Road 140, where the Hermits’ Rest is located. As a matter of fact, I even made a movie of the potholes last year. At the moment, there are a few places where no matter how hard you try, you ARE going to hit a pothole. A couple of them are so deep that I’m surprised people haven’t lost wheel covers.

Red stars are our ranch community houses. 140 is the land of the potholes.

And ARGH, never ride in a car with someone unfamiliar with the road who doesn’t know to weave right and left to avoid the Big Ones and slow WAY down on the humpy section at the hill! I thought I was gonna get sick when Mike was driving me on Sunday.

The pothole situation in the county is so bad that a couple of people have bought their own equipment and begged the city to let them maintain their own roads. I don’t think our front-end loader can cut it, though.

Ground Holes

My sister dropped by today to have lunch and see the progress on the Pope Residence, and she needs to be careful when she’s walking. There was NO way I’d lead her across the empty lot (AKA “The Old Rossen Place”), because there are so many depressions where there were once trees. I think I’ve talked about it before, but since we’ve been having so many elders and people dealing with mobility issues, these things just LOOM in my mind. Stay on the walkways, everyone! (We do have insurance, and we do plan to level that ground.)

Holes in Houses

I am much happier with some of the holes in our renovation project, though. Chris and Easton moved the back door over, to make room for the length of stairway we’ll need to give the bathroom a ceiling. He sent me this picture:

I looked at it and said to myself, “Hmph, the door is in a good place but, why is it opening that way?”

Not five minutes later, I got a text from him saying, “It opens the wrong way, but it will open right once we move the front door to the back.” How’s that for anticipating my criticisms! Smart guy! In any case, the doorway hole is a good one.

There are lots of holes in the ground and in the floors right now, too. That’s because plumbing experts showed up to repair all the lines and install the ones for the break room area and the bathrooms. Once they are done, we can put in floors! Hooray!

The installation in progress.
Old pipes were replaced here.
Bad tree. Bad tree.

They made sure to get all the outside work done today, since it’s supposed to rain the rest of the week. I like it when people are careful like that. One of the guys told me he’d get rid of the annoying sapling/weed tree growing right next to the house and on top of where the plumbing goes in. I will be sure to kill its trunk to death, since it can’t be helping the house stay level.

Here’s the framing for the stairs and bathroom. The floor has holes, for plumbing.

A final hole I’ve been thinking about is the ones caused by the tiles in the Hermit Haus cracking. We have decided to just pull them all up, remove the walls, and cover the entire flooring area with that nice stuff people put down in garages, with the little sprinkles. That should last forever, and if the ground shifts, it won’t be the end of the world.

More later. Gotta get more work done before the exciting Chamber of Commerce Banquet!

Light, of Many Kinds

Today was all about light. I am staying at the ranch this week, for the first time in ages, so I got to wake up after sunrise, though it was so foggy. Nice, gentle light.

As the only bush at the Pope Residence, the nandina, shows, it was damp this morning.

When I got to the office, my first task was to check out the progress with the Pope Residence. Behold! There’s a new window where the laundry room door was, which will light up that room!

They recycled a lot of old siding to rebuild the wall.

Back at the office, the UPS dude showed up and brought a giant box. Was it my chandelier? Nope. It was a beautiful lamp I’d ordered for my desk. It’s called a turtle lamp, for the glass shape. The bottom lights up to be a night light, too. It will look so cool!

Quite red, isn’t it? But it casts white light for reading.

So, where is my chandelier? I finally called up Lamps Plus, and they looked into it. The customer service lady kept saying how gorgeous it is. It turns out the label had fallen off and it never shipped. They were appropriately apologetic and promised to ship the new one immediately! We will see.

However, more lights appeared this afternoon! Kathleen picked up some old hanging lamps she bought from some friends of ours. They are all dusty now, but we’re really looking forward to cleaning them up.

I plan to hang one by the Grape Throne. By the way, here are the grapes.

And finally, the day ended with a light show. I just can’t feel sad when Nature keeps reminding me of her glory.

Okay, jet contrails helped with the beauty.

Good evening from the Hermits’ Rest.

Chickens Like Toys

The new chickens have ended up being a very popular addition to the Hermits’ Rest collection of animals. Even Lee has been seen sneaking out to give them some treats. Lee’s brother, Jim, who is staying in an RV in our garage area, mowed the grass this weekend, and made sure when he went by the chickens that he’d send clippings in their way, which went over very well. Jim’s been helping with feeding them, too, which gets him out in the fresh air.

Another picture of Mike coaxing the chickens to eat out of his hand,

Yesterday was a darned good day for the hens, who are just about old enough to lay eggs, we hope. Not only did they get a visit from my friend, Mike, but they got a new toy!

I’d picked out a second limb for them to climb on, but hadn’t put it in the chicken run yet. I drafted my friend Meghan to help me install it, and then I just sat on the grass and watched them check it out. (Hint: the first time you wear short sleeves in the spring, you should remember sunscreen. I did not.)

The new branch, being inspected by Elsie, plus hens looking for shade.

Indeed, they had fun. Elsie pecked a lot of things off it, which I guess were bugs, but Ginger liked it the best. She climbed up and down, flew off it, and even flew from one branch to the other (I missed getting a shot of that). It makes me happy to see them doing more than just scratching around for food.

Of course, they get a LOT of food. I gave them trimmings from salad last night, and they immediately started fighting over the radish tops. Later, they descended very quickly on strawberries. I hope all this nutrition is helping them grow big and strong, I’ve noticed the ones with combs are growing then in now, too. They are in their late teens, for hens.

Yesterday I showed how Ginger had climbed up into the little roosting area, which relieved me. Later in the day, I saw more than one of the young ladies perched on the indoor roosting area. That gives me hope that they have figured out how to get out of the rain, and will find their nests for laying eggs.

Ginger is on top of the world! Elsie managed to get on, too.

The next thing I am going to work on is providing a little more shade for them. Lee says soon we can add on to the chicken run, too! See, he likes them.

PS

Somehow, yesterday’s post got posted TWICE, which sure messes up my stats. I deleted the one with fewer hits. I have NO idea how that happened, but the internet is full of mystery.

Happy Hallmark Holiday

I’ve never been a fan of those holidays that seem to be designed just to sell stuff. Sweetest Day (what?) comes to mind. And after reading years’ worth of people saying how sad they feel on Valentine’s Day, or gloating about what they got…yeah, I’m not so big on that. Except I like reminding my … Continue reading “Happy Hallmark Holiday”

Except

This is me in my heart attire telling all you nice readers that I appreciate you SO MUCH!

I like reminding my friends and family that I am fond of them. I like seeing people smile at a little surprise. So, this year, when Anita and I were at the H-E-B (the best grocery store chain in Texas) early in the season, when there were still some “good” gifts and cards out, I picked up some little things for the gang in Cameron. It was nice-ish cards and a few little cute things.

But, where are they now? Heck if I know! At least it’s given everybody a good laugh, and we all know we like each other, presents or no. And Kathleen and her helpers DID get gifts out to all our clients and business contacts at Hearts Homes and Hands. You should just be our client for the presents!

My advice to everyone is to use a day like today to tell someone you care, do something kind for someone, or give yourself a big old hug, because YOU deserve it.

Aftermath of the Aftermath

After much discussion and many good ideas from family and friends, we decided to get some of the things you put on stairs to make them less slippery, and apply them to the area where Anita and I walk out of the Bobcat Lair house when dog walking. That’s the place we walk most when it’s rainy, since the dogs have to do their duty no matter what. We’re hoping they hold up and prevent falls until we can get the deck rebuilt with better materials.

This will help give us back our confidence walking on the deck when it’s rainy. We just won’t go out if it’s icy!

I had been all worried about my chickens when someone told me they knew of a bunch that had died from huddling together too intently during the recent very cold rain. Chris sent me a picture to prove they are alive, and Lee went out to check on them after the first freeze. I guess they figured something out!

We are just fine, Suna! Soon we will make eggs!

PS

Thanks for all the fascinating comments on Facebook about your personal prejudices. I think it helps that we realize we all have these irrational feelings about people, and maybe we can cut each other some slack about our areas for growth. I have some fascinating friends.

I got anti-falling stuff. Kathleen got little cakes! (The cup was from Lee.)

Oh, Those Animals…You Gotta Enjoy Them

I just wanted to share two little things that didn’t fit in with my previous blog.

Hens

One is those silly chickens. I realized today that their ramp up to the egg laying and roosting area was upside down, and they’d never figured out how to get up there for shelter, roosting, and such.

So, I fixed it and put little bits of chicken scratch on each step, with more upstairs, hoping to entice them to go up. I did see them inspecting it, but haven’t yet seen one go up. I think maybe Miss Fancy Pants went up, though I was watching from the house.

Poor dears. I hope they do figure it out. But, they are happy and growing away! They like spinach and clover cuttings a lot!

Dogs

I hung out with my Milam Touch of Love friends today as they held a very successful micro-chipping event at the Cameron Farm and Ranch, where there’s a really useful drive-through area. I enjoyed seeing all the dogs getting chipped, but was sad to see that some of the nicest dogs at the pound still don’t have new families.

I’m saddest that Penney’s sister still hasn’t been claimed. She is as nice as Penney, and just as soft and cuddly. But, we know better than to adopt two siblings.

There’s another dog at the pound, Ghost, who is so beautiful and sweet. He is all spotted, but has something in him other than Dalmatian. I know if I had space for another white dog, I’d be taking him home. Sigh.

It’s hard to care so much about animals and work with them, when you know you can’t take them all home. I guess that’s why they call it volunteer “work,” rather than play.

This is Rottie. He’s getting training from Mark. He was already friendly, and now he’s obedient!

I’m grateful to my MTOL friend Danelle, who not only gave me a big hug and a crystal to cling to when she saw I was a bit nerved out, but she inspired me to take some “me” time this afternoon. I’d been worrying about a situation that I can’t do anything about, but a nice bath with lavender bath salts and some orange soap Danelle gave me really has helped.

Danelle got her precious doxie mix chipped today.

And on that note, I’ll wait for Sunday dinner and all my friends and family.

How Did That Health Plan Go, Suna?

So glad you asked, self! You may recall that my health checkup last fall didn’t look so good. My waist measurement and my triclycerides put me at risk of something bad, I’m not sure what. The new doctor I went to back in November told me to go home, eat less sugar and fewer carbohydrates and come back in early February. And losing ten percent of my body weight would be just great.

If you haven’t seen it on social media, I wanted to share this photo of the sunrise today reflected in my car. No filters!

I was trying that positive body image and eat what you want method, but I had to concede it wasn’t working out too well health- or pants-wise. So I did what I could without going into some unhealthy fixation on food or weight.

It’s early February, and I go in tomorrow. I got the bloodwork done last week (and the lady tried to gouge me to death). The results are IN!

I’m still eating eggs. You have to eat SOME cholesterol! Image by *@clarebevanphotography via Twenty20*

Happy day! I have knocked those bad ole triglycerides down to 129 from 203. I am back in the healthy range, though I was 116 in 2018, so I’ll keep working on it. Since I can’t change the other types of cholesterol (HDL 63 – unchanged, LDL 104 – slightly lower), I’ll try to eat the stuff I like better, anyway. I was pleased that my total cholesterol is now even lower than in 2018.

An Aside

This image is entitled “tasty muffins” on the royalty-free image source. Rub it in! Image by@melanie_thedreamer via Twenty20

While I’m trying my best to avoid refined sugar and white flour, rice and such, every time I get home to the ranch, the house is MORE full of loaves of bread, muffins, sweet rolls, chips, cookies, cakes…wow. It’s really been challenging to be moderate with that stuff, but I’ve done okay. Lee’s in heaven, since Chris and Kathleen eat the way he does! But hey, they live at my house full time, and I’m only there a few days a week. They should eat what they like. I can find veggies and fruit, because Kathleen does get that, too!

Back to Health

One of the things I did for the past few months is up my exercising a bit. I showed you earlier how well that was going, and I am happy to say all trends are on the rise! Thanks, Apple Watch.

I know I shouldn’t compete with myself, but I am glad I’m improving.
The exercise increase didn’t start until last month, but it sure shows!
The amount of good ole movement I’ve been doing has also increased by enough to get me healthier.
Notice how much farther my walking average is in the past three months.
This shows I haven’t missed my movement goal since I started trying to do better, and that includes raising my goal in December.

And yes, I have lost weight. I can see it in my face. Not 10% of my body weight, though! With just changing to healthier eating and additional exercise, it’s coming off in a nice, slow way.

Thank You, Past Me

I was looking at this picture of me in my mid teens. This is how I picture myself in my head. Hippie outfit, hair long or in braids, looking like I don’t live on this planet.

I am grateful to Past Suna of 2-3 years ago right now. You see, more and more of my friends are dramatically leaving Facebook, declaring that they just can’t take the mean political stuff. When KB did that yesterday, I began to think, hmm. I’m just not seeing all that much. And what I see is only occasionally offensive. Why?

Past Me to the Rescue

I thought, well, I have blocked a few people who refused to be civil to others. But not all my politically volatile friends. Hmm wait!

I found the Facebook setting that let me block particular words! I had blocked the name of the current President. AHA!

The thing is, this feature doesn’t seem to be there anymore. It was called snooze keyword. It seems to still be working for me, though. Oh happy day.

Random

Also I got a picture of the old bathtub we are keeping at the Pope Residence.

And while out at my toy store, Lowe’s, we found electric heaters that look like wood stoves on sale. So, we have those ready for the new offices!

Off to empty Anita’s house so her tenant can move in. Then we get to eat many snacks. Superb Owl time! Hoot!

Well Past My Limit

I hit my limit on Wednesday. Today I surpassed it.

Work continued to annoy, mainly from being out of the loop when hard work was supposed to be done as a team. We worked it out.

And. We had been waiting to close on our Villa Park property all week. Ever so many weird delays occurred.

I had hoped for a quiet day in the Cameron office today, but nope. While I was in Austin, all sorts of…things happened on our Pope Residence project, but no one had told me.

Blah blah. Who cares. At some point I just started crying as Kathleen talked to me. I just wanted to flee. I couldn’t take any more bad news.

The bathroom window looks out on the yard now. The scary laundry room is gone.

I didn’t. Breathing occurred, and I sat through all my meetings, politely said how I felt, and did my work for all my jobs.

We actually got the closing on that house done, though our real estate agent, Carol, had to drive up to Cameron to bring the papers and our friend Liz had to rush through all the papers. Whew.

Carol and Sierra rest during their brief stop in Cameron for the closing.

I just decided to go with the flow. It worked. Sometimes that’s all you can do!

Yep. That’s an incredible number of papers for sellers.

The sight of all the work going on at the Pope Residence, along with thoughts of chandeliers for our offices helped. And some wine.

Nothing relaxes me more than decorating houses, so tonight Kathleen and I looked for chandeliers for our offices. Which one do you like best?

I’m sure things will settle down soon. I’m sure being out of the loop won’t be permanent. Challenges are part of life!

The Earth Is Trying to Tell Me Something

When the big picture is overwhelming, which lately is most of the time, I often have a tendency to wallow, playing possible scenarios out in my head (entire US Senate revolts!), and other less-than-helpful activities.

I’m really glad that I am able to put myself into situations that will snap me right on out of it, thanks to arranging for my life to have regular POPS of nature here, there and everywhere. That lets Mother Earth politely poke me on the shoulder and say, “Hey, I’m still here, as are all my minions, and we want you to breathe and be one of us.

For example, this morning, I was stressing a bit about having to go get blood drawn, and in a rush. But, when I opened the garage door to leave, I was greeted by the sight of the front “yard” of the guy across the street. Now, this poor area is the least “kempt” of the tiny yards in the NorthCat Villas. Everything is quite overgrown, and I believe that much of the vegetation is volunteer.

Still, it is full of color and texture, and the sight of the yellow flowers and nandina berries truly made an impression that our planet is pretty darned clever. That reminded me that even my messy mind can make beautiful things, too.

Then, as I attempted to hurry my way to the clinic, I had to stop and admire the deer who were casually noshing in the fancy HOA plantings. They reminded me that they are clever and reslient, and so maybe I should take that as a goal for myself. Thanks, Nature.

And finally, when work had me more than a little annoyed about things beyond my control. I had just 25 minutes between meetings, so I went out and zoomed around the courtyard for a while. A coworker asked me to slow down and I said, “No.” As I zoomed, I heard the hawks a lot. Then a sweet sound crept into my consciousness. Where was it?

The next time I came around I saw a very chilly mockingbird just “talking” to herself. There was all sorts of chirping, chortling, and the occasional longer stretch of song. After a few laps, I stopped and thanked her. She looked at me, fluffed her feathers and got back to singing.

I’ve decided this was the Earth’s way of telling me to not let all those negative Nellies and distractions interfere with my personal song. I just wish that same Billy Joel song would STOP playing in my head.

Off to hours and hours of meetings!

Whoops, I Hit a Limit

If I can’t get balanced, I’ll drop all my stuff.
(Robin Wood tarot, 2 of Pentacles)

For the past few weeks I knew I had been filling my time with too many things that take away energy and not enough things that build it back up. I know perfectly well what those things are, and usually I am able to keep a good balance, even with all my jobs, volunteer positions, and social/family stuff.

But, hey, as we all know too well, life happens. So, even though I have my nature walks, dogs, horses, chickens, and good friends to build up my reserves, some of these new things that have popped up have tilted the balance. I’m just worn out.

What’s Draining My Energy?

Well, some of the things are small and some are large. Some are at least superficially good, and some are plain irritating.

That’s my energy, serenity, motivation, and essence, just going down the drain.

I got a new job responsibility in Austin that seemed like it wouldn’t be too much, but has put at least half a day per week of meetings on my schedule. Meetings drain me (the new people I work with are great, though, and I actually want to contribute by doing this work).
Some new management strains have surfaced, too. Yet another initiative for “creating a mentoring culture” and “celebrating wins” has arrived. These things are all well meaning and “just” take a few minutes. For each direct report and your own self. And then you need to schedule some one-on-ones, which will add another few hours of meetings (with people I like, for sure, but still…I want to do actual work). And corporate initiatives drain me.
I try to schedule just two nonprofit meetings a week, but with the Master Naturalist class going on every week, there ends up being more many weeks. I thought I had it all straight this week, with one MN meeting and one day of volunteering for MTOL and all the animals at the thrift shop, but, suddenly a house closing, in Austin, popped up. ACK. I wanted to do it, but that would mean going to Cameron for a Thursday night meeting, then to Austin for a Friday afternoon closing, then back to Cameron for the thrift store in the morning. I want to do all the things…but wow. Too much driving drains me.
Many of my friends and family members, near and far, haven’t been well. I want to be there for them, too. I can’t let that go to the wayside. Sending out good energy drains me.
And I want to help Anita get her Cameron house ready for a tenant who’s going to help her fix it up. Watching her work so hard with no help drains me by proxy.

Consequences

So, I find myself having a hard time getting through days. I was just sure yesterday was Thursday. It was Tuesday.

Yesterday afternoon, after work meetings for both jobs, I was all nauseated and had one of those squeezing headaches, but powered through a 2-hour meeting. Today I had allergy symptoms and my throat has that weird feeling like it’s sore, but not like I have a cold or flu. I get it when I am physically run down. DING. I can’t even keep my eyes open.

Things, even pretty things, can overwhelm if there are too many of them. Photo by *@lostintimeline via Twenty20*

Hey, that may mean I need to STOP WRITING and go rest. Gee. Quit yelling. My head hurts. I need to be kind to myself and remember that if I don’t get my balance back, I can’t be much use to anyone.

Gonna make a few schedule changes and re-balance. Lee already changed the closing to doing it from Cameron. Now to meditate. Om.