Insect Sightings – Page 16 – The Hermits' Rest

Drew’s Reform School Report Card

You may remember that my beautiful gray gelding, Andrew or Drew or Droodles had some behavior issues brought on by an undetermined injury, so he had to go back to the trainer for remedial education. I’m just kidding, Tarrin and her team have been working to rehab him.

Note that he is still beautiful and much lighter than last year.

I’ve seen him when I take lessons with Apache, and of course I’ve been getting updates, but today was my first time seeing his progress. Tarrin wanted me to see how he’s doing and make sure I’m good with the next steps.

It was very windy today, which made him look glamorous.

One good thing about today was that, since I didn’t have an Apache lesson, Sara was able to bring Jhayati, who’s now 11 months old and learning manners. I arrived early for my lesson with Drew so I could watch how they work with the filly.

I’m pretty sure she’s as tall as Drew. Still mostly black, she’s getting gray.

They’re making lots of progress with Jhayati, who had a lot of stimuli and new experiences today, like being in a stall alone, wind and dust blowing, and other fillies to neigh at. I was happy to see how she’s doing in lead line and impressed with how well Sara is dealing with childish antics. It will be fun to watch her in the coming months.

As for Droodles, his report card shows that he’s improved a lot, but still has back pain that causes difficulty in turning right. His neck is much better, and he had another bodywork session today, which confirmed continuing issues.

He can relax while walking, but still snaps his head around sometimes.

He received a dose of a horse anti-anxiety drug whose name I can’t remember. It helps with serotonin uptake, and should let him be calmer around other horses. The combination of pain and horse hormones was making him quite annoying.

Tarrin rode him today and explained it’s mainly walking in straight lines with a little trot, to keep his muscles in shape. Turning right he had issues, and his left leg still shows signs of weakness, but he wasn’t pawing and asking to stop today, which he had been doing.

Because he’s still not 100%, Tarrin has made him an appointment to see the fancy vet in Bryan to look into whether he needs a shot in his back to ease pain until his damaged vertebrae fuse (damage caused by being ridden by heavy people at too young an age). She will also get his head looked at from where Fiona kicked him, and get his necessary vaccinations and Coggins test. That sounds like $$$$$. But, it may be what we need to get him to graduate back into a rideable horse.

Mostly I want him happy and comfortable. I e missed being able to groom, stroke, and ride him. He’s not going to be a hunter/jumper candidate, but Tarrin thinks once we get past this hurdle, we can have a long relationship. I hope so!

Meanwhile, I have Apache, whose feet seem a little sore after his trim. Tomorrow I’ll put his boots back on. It’s always something!

By the way, did you know grapes have flowers? Of course they do! But also, they smell wonderful. The little things mean a lot!

All Grown Up

When you were five, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Ha, I’m pretty sure I wanted to be a horse when I grew up at that age. I know I tried eating grass, and spent time practicing my whinnies. I also wanted to be a dog herder. I would gather up all the neighborhood dogs and try to get them to follow me (no leash laws back then).

We want to herd cattle. Or play with them.

After that I wanted to be a veterinarian or Supergirl. As you see, I haven’t changed much, except now I write all those ideas down.

Things are good here:

Monarchs are here, plus I saw a big zebra swallowtail.
Our niece is not too badly hurt from getting kicked by Big Bag Betty B**** (a cow who m, deservedly, leaves for the sale barn soon) even though she was life flighted by helicopter to a hospital pretty far from her farm. (She posted the story, so for once I can do more than vague hinting.)
I had a great session with Apache the Paint today, better than usual, even. He sure has energy and joy now.
Tarrin has a plan to get my gray horse Drew better, which involves some expensive veterinary stuff, but gives me hope for our future.
There was time this afternoon to watch the dogs play with cows (nice ones) and to hang out on the patio with Lee. We are much less stressed than yesterday!

My herd, minus Harvey, who doesn’t play with cattle, and Vlassic, who was in the garage.

I wish every one of you at least one beautiful spring day to spend with those you love, and I hope your childhood dreams came true, at least a little. I can’t BE a horse or herd dogs, but I can hang out with them!

Saying Yes to No

How often do you say “no” to things that would interfere with your goals?

Yet another item on my endless list of good things about getting older is that I finally realized that I always agreed to do things just because I was so flattered to be asked, combined with a deep desire to feel like I was a part of something. That has led me down some doozies of rabbit holes.

There’s probably more than one rabbit hole hiding in this photo.

I now realize I joined the nonprofit organization I used to work for mainly because I desperately wanted friends. I have never been passionate about the cause, though I did and still do respect it. I just never was a fanatic. So why I sacrificed my mental health and self esteem because I couldn’t say no to any of their requests is still puzzling to me.

I should have stopped and smelled the bluebonnets.

On the other hand, I did end up with lifelong friends. I have, however learned to say no to them when a request conflicts with my goal to remain safe from cultish behavior. I can help out a reasonable amount without harming myself.

I’ve also learned my friends still like me if I say no occasionally. Aha!

Recently I’ve said no in a lot of subtle ways that maybe only I notice. But wow, it feels great to go out after a long work and horse day and just relax rather than cooking or cleaning. I’m saying no to self-imposed obligations.

It’s more fun to look for verbena than count verbs in my writing.

Back to the original question, I have many interests, and to do any of them well has meant setting some aside. You can’t do it all. So I’m not starting quilting again or trying to garden. You won’t see me doing extensive meal planning , shopping, and prepping, even though I admire those who have the time. I’m not writing a book even though I could. And so on.

Why look, vervain! Who needs to garden when this stuff just shows up.

Learning your limits and narrowing down your passions to something manageable can lead to less stress. That leads to contentment and appreciation of what you can say yes to. So I say.

Don’t worry, bee happy (only that’s actually a soldier fly)

What do you think?

Speaking My Truth

What’s a secret skill or ability you have or wish you had?

I often wish I were better at expressing myself, especially in the heat of the moment, when under stress, or when surprised by an unexpected turn of events. These are the situations in which I tend to do a particularly poor job of expressing what I want to say or reacting gracefully. I also, conversely, tend to get too lax with my words when I’m feeling very relaxed or comfortable. I can then make jokes that don’t go over well or say things I intend as friendly that I later find out were interpreted as rude or condescending. Yuck.

It’s easy to be misinterpreted and also easy to misinterpret others. That’s why I attempt to assume people have good intentions when something awkward comes out of their mouths, and ask for clarification.

This Texas vervain says let’s slightly change the subject.

Speaking of misinterpretation, I may have mentioned hearing weird sounds in the woods lately. First I heard some while camping, but then I started hearing eerie sounds like a sad animal calling out.

It was a spooky day in the woods, anyway.

The sounds were happening this morning, so I bravely decided to go find the source. As I got closer, I kept seeing icky worms, tent moth caterpillars, and slimy mushrooms. The wind was also howling and it was very cloudy.

The caterpillars are jumping around in there

Eventually I got to where I could tell where the sound was coming from. And from that spot, Merlin Bird ID finally piped in and said it heard a crow. Earlier, no ID was given for the sound, which had made me think it was an animal. I looked up and saw I was under a large tree. And in that tree was a very large nest. Aha.

I was hearing crow parenting sounds! Eek! I recognized the nest, because I used to see them in Chicago between O’Hare and Schaumburg, when I worked there. There was a large green belt with a huge rookery I loved to observe.

I won’t be quite so creeped out by the sounds from now on and will leave the crows alone to raise future corvids. You just never know what’s out there.

Though today was gusty, I got to see new blossoms in addition to the creepy stuff.

Found where the baby blue eyes are hiding!

Since it was my rest day, I had time to cook a nice meal for family and friends. It was a nice end to the day.

Tomorrow, dental fun. Just a cleaning, but my insurance is messed up. My fault, too.

I’m Not Sure Who I’m More Proud Of

Hard work and persistence can pay off, and Apache and I learned that today. It’s been challenging and hard, but the two of us have actually managed to learn some things. We can communicate, we can rely on each other, and we can have fun.

He had been standing sort of funny this morning, so I was worried about his feet.

We rocked today’s lesson after Tarrin worked on his shedding soles.

This is after over an hour of me working on his shedding hair. He’s so soft now.

Tarrin was giggling like a kid and telling everyone how happy she was to see Apache shedding sole on his feet. He’d never done that before he started his medication. And the feet are white, not yellow! She found evidence of some bruising, which could explain why he hasn’t been to keen on picking his feet up. Now he should feel really good!

He got his boots back on so he can heal.

Anyway, once the hoof business was complete, we did our lesson stuff. Somehow, in the past month I’ve learned to ask him for a nice, soft trot, and he’s gotten enough muscles to do it. A few weeks ago he could do two or three steps in a rounded trot. Now he can do circles, and circles within circles, and slaloms…wow. It was so unexpected and good that I laughed aloud and snorted in a most undignified manner.

Apache seemed pretty pleased, too. And I feel somewhat competent. I’m even looking forward to doing a little better in the upcoming show. At least I now know how to do a rounded trot! If we execute it, so much the better. It will just be good to have a little more of a clue as to what we’re supposed to do, with different trot and walk speeds, good turns, and subtle cues.

And hey, it’s spring. How do I know? This guy showed up.

My magnificent tail and I have returned!

I am always happy to see scissor tail flycatchers each spring. And the barn swallows have taken over the porch from the house sparrows. Go bug eaters!

Suna, turn off these lights. We’re trying to pair bond here!

Yes, today was glorious. All the butterflies are back, plus more favorite flowers. I’m ready to enjoy a few more days of pleasant weather!

I’ll Take the Motorhome or Walk

You’re going on a cross-country trip. Airplane, train, bus, car, or bike?

I’m getting pretty used to traveling with my own house. Once we get the towing straightened out, we can set up Seneca to leave it as a base, and go explore any area. It’s no less expensive, but it’s comfortable and fun! Who needs planes? And passenger trains no longer go most places. Not for Nature Girl here.

Today, though, I walked. With over 22,000 steps, I think I made up for yesterday, when I was stuck indoors half the day. I realize walking 8 miles is nothing to some people, but I impressed myself. And it was all through thick, clay mud, so it was tough slogging. I regret not taking a photo of my boots, which looked like clown shoes from all the mud.

Speaking of shoes, this is an elf shoe stink bug.

In fact, when I tried to recreate the walk I was supposed to go on yesterday when the storms came, I came to an abrupt stop when the next trail marker turned out to be underwater. It rained a lot.

That stick shows where the equestrian trail usually is.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed the big hike I went on, even though there was only one new flower and not much bird excitement, either, just towhees.

I did see a lot of fungi, though. This seems to be a trip that emphasizes moisture-loving life.

Cooper Lake State Park does have lovely woods, though, and all the bright green new foliage made me feel appropriate in my St Patrick’s Day green! Who cares about the mud on a day with perfect weather and lots of nature?

I did a bunch of walking around other parts of the park, and it was mostly calm. But there was one part of a walk when some creature kept yelling at me. It wasn’t a bird, because Merlin didn’t register it, and it wasn’t a squirrel. I know all their sounds. It was creepy and loud, but I never saw it. Eek. So let’s look at butterflies, moths, and caterpillars instead.

That’s about it for this trip. We’ll still be here tomorrow morning, but I have a lot of work to do. If it’s quiet, I can sit outside, though. The change of scenery might inspire more creativity! If I was on a cross-country trip, I’d also probably still be working, like I do at the condos. I like to keep busy.

Rainy Rain That Is Wet

I had a fun day of hiking and birding activities planned for today. However, it rained starting around 1:30.

We brought everything in on time. Well, Lee did.

Luckily I’d gone out earlier, when the skies were blue and the temperatures perfect. I enjoyed the short nature trail nearby, which had signs by all the different types of trees. They’d be more interesting with leaves, but the spring season seems about two weeks behind Milam County.

Trees. Some exemplars are no longer there due to bad weather up here.

I found a few fun things, such as my favorite spring beauties and some excellent fungi. One thing I found I’m still not certain what type of organism it is.

I headed over to the equestrian camping area, where there were zero equestrians, to meet up with the quite fun park interpreter and a volunteer. There was supposed to be a guided hike. However, there was advance notice of the thunderstorms coming, so it got cancelled.

I did enjoy talking to the two women about working at the park and met another camper. But, I briskly walked back (making my exercise goal). Rain didn’t start until I had Seneca the motorhome in sight, so I got every minute of outdoor time I could!

It turned out that the rain and lightning slowed down around 3, so I donned my rain boots and got out the golf umbrella for a walk around the camping loop. I am not used to sitting around for long periods!

I did, however, enjoy a nice long nap! How decadent. Otherwise Lee worked on a photo album and I wrote up all my Master Naturalist notes and knitted. Of course, I ran out of a color. Sigh. The next skein of lime green is sitting on my desk at home.

Never fear, I came as prepared for crafts as I did for rain, so there’s more yarn here. While watching a movie, I started a boring yet practical little bag to hold my phone when we’re on the road. The truck chassis has no helpful pockets or holders other than a cup holder, in which I tend to put cups, of all things.

It doesn’t look like much, but it’s bright.

I’m glad it should be drier tomorrow, because we only get three TV channels here and the cell signal probably isn’t good enough to stream. I’ll go on that hike tomorrow in the mud!

Break Time

Not much happened today that was exciting, but that’s fine with me. I was able to refresh the Hermits’ Rest Red on the mailbox stand and gate posts, because it was finally calm enough outside to spray paint. I also added house numbers that are reflective, which should help 911 find us in case of emergency. I feel like we might need it at some point.

Sadly, we need a new mailbox, since after only 12 years, the hinges rusted out.

I’ll eventually repaint everything. You need to do it every few years, except for the gate, which is powder coated.

I had lots of birds to keep me company. My son drove by and asked where my shoes were, because I took them off so no red paint would get on them. Of course I got red paint on my manicure, but it blends in with the flowers.

I’ve been spending lots of time with the horses, which is nice and calm these days. I have Dusty and Mabel looking pretty good in mid-shedding season, but Apache still has lots of hair left. Today he’d apparently napped in a pile of burs. It turns out it’s harder to get them off his belly than his mane or tail. He’s back to normal in every other way. We’ve enjoyed riding and he’s enjoyed his cantering. I think it makes him feel strong and powerful.

I forgot to take a picture of the King of Canter, so here’s a mama cow.

Mostly today (other than Master Naturalist stuff) I looked at butterflies while the phone listened to birds. The first scissortail arrived, as did another hummingbird. It’s not summer yet, guys! The low today was 37°! But my face did get pink from being outside in the pleasant weather. Best time of year here.

Plus, I Met a Horseman

Today didn’t go quite as planned, but it ended up okay. After an enjoyable rainy morning chat with Kathleen about what’s going on and her plans for the immediate future, I got some work done.

Isn’t this moth beautiful? It’s apparently a blackberry looper moth.

The sun came out soon enough, so I went out and found some more newly emerging wildflowers and a very cool fungus in the woods. I love my nature breaks.

The afternoon was supposed to be spent looking at potential four-wheel drive vehicles to tow behind Seneca the Motorhome, then some grocery shopping. Indeed, much car and truck looking ensued.

Truck that is $120K new. It has a built-in cooler.

I guess we lucked out, because exactly what we wanted was at the dealership, which was a used two-door Jeep Wrangler. Best of all, it was a 2023 with, get this, 1700 miles on it. The previous owner probably didn’t want such a low-frills vehicle. But for bopping around campgrounds and exploring nearby sights while Seneca stays parked, it’s ideal.

Though small, Lee can get in it easily. That’s good, because it will have to be his daily driver until we get a farm truck or something to pull the horse trailer. The trade-in on Lee’s previous vehicle was more than the purchase price of the Jeep (and that was way off its original price), so we aren’t out anything, either.

A Suna-sized car. No weird graphics or exterior bling. Good.

And, we enjoyed talking to Mark, our salesman, who is our age and has more horses and dogs than we do! That commonality helped pass the endless car-buying hours. His paint horses were so beautiful. I got his business card. Also there was knitting. Thankfully.

We still have to get the towing hitch put on the Jeep and finish some things up, so Lee will get to talk to ole Mark more tomorrow. I tell you, I was pleasantly surprised at how quiet and comfortable the car is on the inside, compared to ones I’d ridden in before. And it’s pretty peppy. I never was a huge fan of these cars, but this one will be just great. It’s a bit rough in the suspension department, but it’s an off-road vehicle. It’s supposed to be rough.

Another thing I’ll tell you is that I do NOT plan to take the thing apart. Maybe the front roof panels, but that’s it. I’m not mechanical enough to put pieces back together correctly!

By the way, we never made it to the grocery store.

I Learn a Lot

What is the last thing you learned?

Since I fell asleep before I could blog last night, I figure I should answer a question today. If only I could remember the thing I learned at dinner tonight. I remember saying, “I didn’t know that!” But what I didn’t know has fled my brain. I guess that’s another hazard of getting up there in years.

Speaking of getting older, we broke into the tres leches birthday cake last night. Mmm.

But I learn things every day, so I’m not surprised it doesn’t all stick. This week has been particularly “full” of intense interactions at work, along with horse stuff, so there’s less room in my brain today. It’s all good and fulfilling intensity, though. By gosh a lot more people know how to use Planview Portfolios software today than last week.

If only I could train animals as well as I do people.

I’ve been concentrating so hard at work that when Kathleen came into my office to surprise me I jumped a mile. Scared the person I was in a meeting with, too. That’s concentration!

Speaking of Kathleen, we know wherever she goes, scary creatures follow. When we came home from a lovely steak dinner this evening, what appeared in the driveway? A snake. My first sighting on the year. She really seems to attract reptiles and thugs that sting.

I did get out to see some harmless plants and insects today. I get such a kick out of looking at them closely, even if the photos end up not too great.

The spring flowers have another great value: they’ve made the air smell wonderful here. Both the dewberries and the bluebonnets have delightful scents. Today was excellent because the wind was from the north. That means the smells of cow and horse poop were blowing away from me. And the tenants have stopped feeding fermented hay. Ahh.

I’ve been wondering how Drew is doing. Today Jackie was coming to Tarrin’s to do bodywork on him. I keep checking my email for her report. However, she did come here yesterday. She helped Apache deal with soreness from the last few days of hard work. His back feet weren’t moving right when he turned. She sent a video of him turning better.

A horse turning

Most interesting to me is that she also took a look at good old Dusty. He’d been looking painful lately and I wanted to be sure it wasn’t anything serious. And it wasn’t! It’s just his fused spine makes him uncomfortable sometimes. Otherwise he is in good shape and his muscles are working right. I was relieved. Plus Jackie said he was a sweet guy who tried to do everything she asked him to do. Aww.