Plant Sightings – Page 16 – The Hermits' Rest

Pay Attention, Suna!

In my frazzled state of late, I’m not only being clumsy and forgetful, I’m not noticing things. That’s not at all helpful. And my powers of investigation aren’t their strongest.

For example, this morning I got up and couldn’t find Goldie. Oh no! Something happened to her! Oh, maybe she’s outside. No. Not in my office. Hmm. It took me ten minutes to figure out that she was in the other bedroom. Duh.

Take a flower break. These Mexican petunias look like they should be a painting, not a plant living in the middle of the driveway!

I got through a hectic and confusing work day fairly well, though our team meeting was moved to the afternoon and ran long, making me unable to groom the horses. I rushed out and easily got Droodles.

I’m a good boy, but I don’t pay attention either. I sorta missed the goal of standing beside the mounting block and just plowed over it. I’m so cute.

Apache was another story. It’s as if he knew we were running late. He ran and ran, galloping hither and yon, but eventually went into a pen. That was very strange. I hurriedly put on his halter and marched him into the trailer. Drew followed nicely. He was an a good mood from eating good grass.

We got to Tarrin’s and quickly tied the horses to the trailer. I saddled Apache on his left side (this matters) then we walked to the lesson area. I began lunging him over the little hill. When I turned him to go the other way, Tarrin stopped me. Look at his eye!

Well shoot. Neither of us had looked closely at this right side. His eye was full of goop and all swollen. I could have paid a bit more attention when I was rushing to get to lessons. Tarrin hadn’t noticed when taking him out of the trailer for me either. We felt bad. But we are both barely coping. Give us a break!

So, Tarrin ran and got a wet cloth and a shot of Banamine to reduce the swelling. None of that went over very well with Apache, but it did give me time to remove his burs. Tarrin said I should ride him some to get the meds in his system. I said that was fine and put my helmet on.

Sigh. I put it on backwards. That at least gave us a laugh and a funny photo. And Apache did very well. He even side passed vaguely correctly. Good boy. And me.

Believe it or not, this is a huge improvement.

Drew’s lesson was pretty good once he lined up right so I could mount him. I did a good job dealing with some reluctance on his part to hold himself straight, too. I was proud of us both.

Back at the trailer we decided Apache should wear a fly mask to go home, to protect his eye. This began an adventure as none of Tarrin’s spare ones fit Apache’s rather bulky head (hard to believe he’s part Arabian).

I liked this one best because it made him look like Batman’s horse.

We all laughed through this, especially at how curious Drew was about the mysterious headgear.

He kept breathing down Tarrin’s neck as she was trying to fit the masks. Once she left, Apache told him to get back.

We did make it home safely. But I wasn’t finished being inattentive. You see it was dusk by the time I was heading to the house. I went over to shut the henhouse door. Then I looked in on the chickens. I saw this.

Oh look, Cindy and Cathy are roosting! They found the branch I put in there.

But, someone was missing. Where was Bianca?

Turn the light off! I’m trying to sleep!

Well look at that! She was in the coop! She does remember how to get in! See, I’d never checked them this late before. I feel a bit better about how they are settling in. I just needed to pay attention.

I paid attention to my birthday flowers and they’ve made it to October! It’s a first for me. This ranch is hard on decorative plants.

Tomorrow is another day. Hope Apache is better. Otherwise, off to the dang vet.

Mental Health Break

Neither Lee nor I were feeling our best in the mental health department today. All the illness around us gets to us sometimes, and we’re worried about people in addition to dogs.

This Giant Swallowtail did make me smile.

We ended up not doing much other than going to get horse and hen supplies and watching comedy shows. Sometimes you need a mindless day.

Every day is mindless for these guys, who are getting along fine and enjoying their grubs.

It’s still really hot, though I honored the equinox by creating a splashy weird nail look. It’s either cool and graphic or it makes my nails look dirty. You be the judge.

I also still can’t get used to long hair.

There were no animal hijinks or injuries today other than birds and butterflies to amuse me. I saw two Wilson’s Warblers today, a first here at the ranch. I enjoy the migratory visitors, especially when they have cute little caps.

Hoping I feel more chipper tomorrow.

Calm Vibes All Around

This I know: if I send calm thoughts out, breathe deeply, and center myself, life’s a lot easier. It’s certainly made life with the animals better. All that nature walking really has helped!

Today I spent a lot of time with the horses. We tend to end up in a feedback loop of good vibes these days. Watching them interacting gently calms me down and me being calm makes them easy to work with. I’m very glad the period of stress and pain for us all is becoming a dim memory.

I enjoy watching them showing signs of affection. It’s mostly Drew, Mabel, and Dusty, though.

Apache seems to take his leadership role very seriously. At least he’s friendly with me. My daily hugs and exercise are good for us both. We’ve worked hard to get in synch and I can tell he’s in better spirits now.

I’ve tried giving him his medicine in gel caps. It takes away the smell, but then he goes and chomps on the capsule and tastes the pill. We will figure something out. Maybe I should stick them in bananas.

I finally got to where I could make myself clean out the chicken coop and run. The chicken killings were hard on me. But today I murdered all the cocklebur and birdseed plants that had grown up in the main section. That was a very unpleasant task, especially since it’s gotten hot again suddenly.

I also cleaned the evidence of poultry genocide in the coop building. I wore a mask, so I didn’t get sick like last time, and I used my horse poop shovel to clean the floor. It was really tricky maneuvering the bulky shovel but I managed.

There is a chance new chickens will magically appear tomorrow. I will insist on keeping them penned up. I’m not sure if Bianca will join them now that she thinks she’s a horse. Even she has calm vibes now, and she used to be a jumpy hen.

I love horse food, especially Dusty’s pellets.

No dog news. They all seem stable. That’s better than it could be, so we will keep enjoying them.

Let’s Duet

There was a funny/punny song from the movie Walk Hard called Let’s Duet that made it sound like the singers wanted to “do it,” and it always made me laugh. Today’s duets might have been about hooking up, too, for all I know.

As we all know, flowers are about sex, too. This is a false foxglove. I’d been waiting for them to bloom.

Basically, large birds of prey had things to tell each other today.

First, when I went on my morning walk, there was a Red-Shouldered Hawk making a lot of racket. As I walked down the road, it became obvious there were at least two hawks. It’s interesting to me that once they start duetting, you can tell the difference between birds. I couldn’t figure out the topic of their communication, but it did keep the other birds quiet. I didn’t hear a House Sparrow until late afternoon!

I came back to work after enjoying four different woodpeckers, including a booming Pileated hard at work on some poor tree. I enjoyed watching it go up and down as it pecked.

Digression

After a pleasant lunch with my rather giddy friends who’d all watched the same televised event last night, there was more work (including a chat with a guy in Scotland whose daughter loves horses).

Speaking of horses, look at this good boy.

I decided I feel better, so while the horses were eating, I chopped down more evil cocklebur plants. I’ve discovered that the plants eat my arms and make little cuts and peeling skin. But I did it anyway. I love watching them shrivel up. Apache and Fiona toss the stems around.

Drew, on the other hand, now asks me to spray the water hose near him so he can drink it. His lips get all flappy and I can’t stop laughing. Too bad I can’t get a photo, because my hands are full. He really can be funny.

By the time I was finished lopping, I realized it had gotten hot outside and I’m actually not completely better. I have to go a bit more slowly still.

Back to Duets

To recover from the bur attacking, I sat by the pool to watch the birds, only there weren’t many. All the cute little Cave Swallows must have been flocking the last few days, because they are gone. Boom. Safe travels, Swallows!

The other birds were lying low because of the next duet, which was between Great Horned Owls. I usually hear a few hoots, but tonight it was just like the hawks earlier, a long and complicated interaction. Again, you could distinguish the two birds. It was just beautiful. It made me feel all autumnal, even if it got again.

Have a good night or day!

Self-care-a-rama

Worrying about my sick dogs won’t help, so after getting them both to eat their medicine (Harvey eats anything and Goldie finally ate hers with chicken breast), I figured I’d better work on my own well being.

Work was a good distraction, especially if you enjoy rolling reorganizations. But I really leaned into (ooh, I finally used “lean in” on purpose) making a comfortable environment for myself. I haven’t been able to swim due to being on antibiotics and wanting to stay out of the sun, but I worked on making the pool area better by getting rid of two volunteer trees and more annoying nutsedge and spotted spurge. It was too windy to use herbicide, and besides, it doesn’t work on sedges.

The biggest improvement I made was to set up my outdoor workstation where I can keep my laptop and phone charged. My household member got us a bartered table with two chairs that’s perfect for my needs. The chairs are comfy and easy to clean.

Lee helped me get it perfectly in the middle of the back porch, where it’s always shady and there’s usually a pleasant breeze. It will get more sun in winter, I hope. At least I’ll be able to use it in three seasons.

Watching horses, birds, and cattle are really soothing for me and keep me centered. I’ll need that for the foreseeable future.

Apache points out that petting him is self care

Self care also means looking around and enjoying life around me. That was helped by discovering this beautiful new (to me) butterfly, the Common Mestra (Mestra amymone). It’s pretty on both sides. I got to watch it feeding on frog fruit for quite some time. I just found out from my friend Linda Jo that this butterfly hasn’t been recorded on iNaturalist since 2016!

There were also the usual flowers, fungi, and insects. I’m so glad there’s always something new.

One kind of self care I engaged in was getting the heck out of a potentially dangerous situation. I went to pick up a package from by the front gate, and heard a droning noise. Oh my gosh, it was another swarm of bees, only these weren’t all massed together. They were everywhere. I couldn’t tell what kind of bees they were nor if they were angry. I left after taking this picture. Zoom in and you’ll see all the insects!

Maybe Lee disturbed them when he mowed the roadside.

I also tried to take a nice walk in the woods to see the pond on the other side of the fence, but tiny and zippy mosquitoes chased me off. I understand why the cow that was glaring at me went swimming.

Between all the outdoor pampering and some great conversations with friends, I’m not too bad. At least the Covid symptoms are about gone.

Still Droopy

I’m still feeling worn out so I’ll just share some pretty and cute photos for the day and share weighty matters tomorrow. The cutest thing I saw today was this gorgeous new calf. It’s seal brown or gray.

Its mama loves it a lot. It has a tiny Snow White buddy. I hope they stay in the pasture behind us for a while.

I enjoyed the birds a lot, even the Loggerhead Shrikes, who are the current loud birds in the group. There was also a persistent Blue Grosbeak, so I’ve got that sound down now.

The late summer flowers are ramping up. I’m just waiting for the asters. And my traveling trick worked: it’s not so hot now and it’s raining!

The horses were happy to get their food and supplements today, too. And that’s enough for this worn out nature lover.

Small Packing Triumph

I had a relaxing day of laundry, packing, and watching the Paralympic Games. I really enjoyed wheelchair rugby and was thrilled when a Gold Medalist in swimming said she went off to breastfeed her baby before the medal ceremony. How admirable!

I’m happy to say I managed to get all my stuff in my luggage. It’s mostly knitting I think. Silly me. I did get a few more clothes but that’s about it. I just have so many more medications now…prescription and over the counter. I hope they fit in the carryon bag. The other good news is that I have seats way in the front so I know I’ll be able to get it in the overhead bin.

I am not fond of modern air travel.

I did get a final walk around the area in. I didn’t want to go into town because of crowds. I don’t want to get sick again though I guess I have some immunity. One thing is for sure, I’m not all better. It’s still hard going uphill or fast. I did enjoy the birds, squirrels, and flowers, though. The alpine wildflowers were just gorgeous, even though fading now.

A couple of squirrels got all in my face for intruding on their meteorological autumn nut gathering. Such varied types of chattering! I’ll miss the Fremont’s squirrels the most, though the incredibly tiny chipmunks are a strong second.

I have a tie for favorite bird. Both the Mountain Chickadees and the Pygmy Nuthatches were extra friendly and entertaining. They really are masters of the spruce trees.

Wish me luck tomorrow. More germ-filled crowded spaces. Wake me up at 4am!

Going Up and Finding Mountain Wonders

Cathy and I declared ourselves better, though I think she was more healed than me. Nonetheless I agreed to go over to Keystone, where they were celebrating Oktoberfest rather early. What’s a trip out of state without some lederhosen and oompah music?

We had a hard time getting from my condo to the Dillon/Keystone area, because it’s a holiday weekend and the gas stations were full. The one where we finally got gas had a big convoy of huge trucks towing big off-road vehicles. There were at least six of them at a small gas station. Most had Mexican license plates. Serious off-roaders!

We finally got to the resort area and plowed through the exhibits (luckily we were early and it wasn’t rocking too hard). Then we went up! The Keystone gondola goes way up. It’s fun watching mountain bikers snaking down below us.

The views at the top of the ski area were amazing. I can see why Cathy likes to ski here so much. The weather was beautiful, too, neither hot nor cold. And it wasn’t too windy.

The views of other ski resorts from Keystone.

I determined I was healthy enough to embark, so we headed out on the hiking trail, which I vowed to take slowly, and I did. It was a spectacular trail through huge trees with lots of vistas peaking through.

I enjoyed lots of the usual mountain birds, but there was one I’d never seen before. It was a big, solid gray bird with white along its tail. I couldn’t get really close to it or its friends, but I did manage to get clear enough photos that both Merlin and iNaturalist were able to ID them as a bird I’d never heard of: a Canada Jay. Yes, they live here and are birds of high mountains. I think the map of where they are found is interesting.

We rested and looked around the scenic overlook for a while and enjoyed chipmunks and scary ski slope entrances. People hike up here then ski down. It’s not my idea of a good time. Walking is good. In summer.

The walk back down was through some of the prettiest woodlands I ever saw. The wildflowers were almost done, but I found a couple of new ones.

As we headed back to the end of the trail I got tired and had to stop to breathe a lot. The only thing that motivated me was the fact that Cathy found a marmot, which we’d been looking for all day, at the top of the hill. Up up I went and I got my marmot sighting!

We made it back down on the gondola and wound our way past the German fun. We then went to Cathy and Ken’s house so I could meet Aspen the grand-dog. She is a real cutie, full of love and energy. Aspen joined us for a patio Mexican dinner and was very good. My carnitas were incredible, not like the ones at home. It was basically a delicious roast pork.

That was a long and fun day, and I’m glad I was able to relax and watch college football this evening. Tomorrow I have to get ready to leave. Oh boy, laundry and packing.

I’m Gonna Live!

It looks like I am not going to have to deal with Covid too much longer. Today I was still a bit congested and had a delicate tummy. The Pedialyte seems to have helped a lot.

This little dude was spinning that pine cone like a top.

I did have enough energy to go outside and breathe some nice fresh mountain air. I walked really slowly and enjoyed the flowers, both wild and cultivated.

There were plenty of birds to see and hear, too. Plus I found where moose had slept, which was cool.

Luckily, I found a few trails that weren’t full of people and were nice and quiet. One went gently up and up in an area I hadn’t walked before. I stopped often to look around and rest. the trail started narrow and got wider. It was so quiet.

Soon enough I found the familiar service road that leads to the horse ranch and found my way back. I wasn’t even tired and was able to complete my work for the day!

I took lots of photos of the mountains so I could remember them after I go home. It’s so pretty and the weather has been so pleasant here. I’ve had a good time despite the illness.

I guess so many Texans come here that they need the sign?

Maybe I can do stuff the next couple of days. It sure felt good to have cheerful feelings after a long week.

I even had energy to do my nails very bright, Heat Wave.

I Found Help Online

What was the last thing you searched for online? Why were you looking for it?

An easy one! The last thing I looked for was the tele-health service for my insurance. I rarely use such things, so I can’t remember their names.

Once I found it, I already had a login, so it was easy to get in queue and talk online to someone. I’ve done it twice now, and was very happy to give a $20 copay. Certainly, it was better than trying to get to an ER or urgent care in an unfamiliar location.

Yay, flowers. I can’t smell very well but I can see colors.

I don’t have many nature stories today. I only went on one short walk, where I didn’t run into anyone. It was nice to breathe fresh air. I also sat on the balcony some.

Much of the day I worked, but I fell asleep twice. The Paxlovid is helping, but it sure leaves a weird iron taste in your mouth. It also gave me strange dreams like where I kept finding really cool animals and birds, but couldn’t make my phone take pictures (because it needed film, lol). I remember the cutest bats with round smiling faces, and teeny tiny hummingbirds swarming around. Wherever I was had lots of wildlife! Thanks, brain.

I did get checked on by various friends and family members, so I didn’t feel lonely. I’m hoping my Covid symptoms are much better tomorrow. Lots of work is ahead and I’d sorta like to have some fun!