Tell us about your favorite pair of shoes, and where they’ve taken you.
Today’s question is well timed, as I traveled back home to where my favorite shoes were waiting for me. Fair warning: I’m not feeling 100%, so I’m less coherent than usual (scary).
My shoes
These are Ariat slip-on waterproof riding/barn shoes. I wear them for at least part of most days, when I’m out with the horses. I love them because they don’t come untied, they don’t get my socks wet, and they have smooth soles with a notch in them. Once you’re around horses you quickly learn that shoes with tread get hard-to-remove poop and mud stuck in them.
If I’m riding a long time, I need boots to protect my calves, but for most of what I do, these shoes fit the bill.
Now back to travel, for which I wore my Skechers slip-ins that are comfy and practical. I had many technical difficulties that made working in the RV a challenge. My headphones stopped working (again) so calls were hard. They still aren’t playing sound, though people could hear me, so the mic works. I guess I could record if I have any time tomorrow.
I could have recorded this Bewick’s wren. It was really close.
At least I got a little walk in today. The highlight was a bald eagle flying right over me. I carefully checked to be sure crested caracaras don’t live that far north yet, and eagles live near water. And it wasn’t an osprey either. I feel the need to justify my observation! It’s a good one for the Backyard Bird Count. So was the brown creeper that Lee watched from the RV window while Merlin identified its sound. Score.
Here are Carolina wren photos, so you can compare and contrast — I do wish my camera were better.
I was glad to get home with my horses, dogs, chickens, and wild birds. Doing my back exercises by the woods and hearing a weird sound that turned out to be a migrating rufous hummingbird made my stomach and head feel better.
Good news: Lee didn’t mow the tiny bluets. He did mow my bluebonnets. Wah.
I’ll stop here and save stuff for tomorrow, when I hope I feel better and survive some tough meetings. I can DO it.
If there was a biography about you, what would the title be?
Yes, if there was a biography about me (Zzz) it would be called Still a Weird Happy. That was the name of our club of misfit hippy girls in 7th grade, which we turned into imaginary alien friends. Anita and I wrote stories about the Weird Happys (spelled that way on purpose) when we were young teens.
All of us Weird Happys were odd in one way or another, both the humans and the imaginary ones. But we embraced it. And I’ve always tried to keep that attitude. (I was trying to write something nice, but I’ve been interrupted five times now.)
I interrupt this whine with a hairy buttercup. They are so shiny.
Yeah, I’ve skipped blogging for a couple of days, because I’ve felt pretty boring. It’s been fine, just nothing extraordinary. I had a good lesson on Apache yesterday, and it was great to have him rideable again. Here he is very tired after Tarrin made him do things he didn’t want to do.
Even his new brow band didn’t perk him up.
Drew seems better, too. Today I was able to exercise him and groom him normally. He just had one little expression of annoyance when cantering. I was able to remove his burs and everything. Wow, both horses doing okay! It must be time to leave town for a few days!
I’m in love with Mabel now and let her nip me.
The other mildly interesting events this week so far were bird related. On Monday, I had the chance to hang out in the back yard and listen for birds around sunset. I was entranced at the sound of two great horned owls calling to each other. Mourning doves were also cooing away, which was so soothing!
And yesterday I was out walking when two red-tailed hawks flew right over my head, calling and calling.
Here’s one of them.
They began their love dance, and I watched the whole thing! Next, they flew over to the big electric pole and began making little cooing chortling sounds. I’d never heard hawks speaking their love language before. What a privilege!
That’s them, chatting.
Soon enough, they flew off together. I saw and heard them again today. I wonder if these are the same ones I saw a few weeks ago?
First hawk leaves Second hawk leaves
I never see these guys at the same time I see the red-shouldered hawks or harrier. That’s unlike the woodpeckers, who seem to all hang out at the same time. Today I heard a Downy, a Ladderback, and a Pileated within 5 minutes of each other.
Pretty sunset from a bad angle.
Yes, my life is calm right now. I’m loving my work and enjoying my leisure, which is pretty great. However, if you have a spare moment, please send healing vibes to my Purple Martin-loving friend, Donna, who had back surgery, as well as to family members dealing with challenges.
It’s still all rainy, but I managed to do nothing but stuff I enjoy. There was no horse fun, just slogging through mud and arguing with Apache over his medicine. I had bird and plant fun, though. Whoopee, the bluebonnets are coming in strong.
The Star-shaped leaves are them.
I indulged my boring American self and watched football coverage most of the day. I especially enjoyed the segment on the history of football on CBS. It was interesting to see the women and people of color highlighted. Jayne Kennedy also is a role model of grace and cool hair.
While I watched all the coverage and the very close game, I finished the third row of this year’s temperature blanket. I like seeing a more normal winter range.
January 1 – February 10
Today isn’t shown, but will get 4 rain chains, since it rained another inch. Luckily we just got lots of standing water, and the creek stayed within its banks.
It’s getting greener, but we can still get another freeze.
I needed to get some movement in today, so I wound some pretty yarn into cakes. It’s a soft merino 4-ply in a DK or sport weight. I’m glad it’s not sock yarn or I’d have had to double it. My friend Ray at Knitivity dyed it, and I just love the colors. Here’s what I made:
It’s mitered granny squares. They will look cool when there are more of them. Since the yarn is thin, the fabric will be light, yet warm. I think this will be a rectangular wrap, unless I have enough yarn for a lap blanket. Well wait and see.
The first one.
I’ll still keep working on the two temperature blankets, but the 2023 one for my friend will finish sooner rather than later, and I can then crochet this.
As for the Big Game, I enjoyed it. I’m glad it was close so both teams can be proud of themselves. The commercials were good. As long as a couple make me laugh, I consider it a win, and I certainly laughed enough. The music was all good, and a nice variety. I like that Reba didn’t overdo the National anthem.
And Usher was such an athletic guy, all while singing. The roller skating, too! The guest performance singers were also enjoyable. I’m sure there were famous people I didn’t recognize, but I’m bad with pop music.
I knew eventually I’d stop being able to keep up! I feel like my dad saying all my music sounded alike to him. On the other hand, I’ve never really liked pop music, dance music, or the hip hop as much as folk and rock (and classical), so I’ll cut myself some slack. Maybe one day I’ll immerse myself into the last 20 years and learn what Beyoncé, Taylor, and all those folks sang.
How do significant life events or the passage of time influence your perspective on life?
I’ll answer this question about the passage of time. The older I’ve gotten, the more I see life as a gift to be savored and enjoyed, not rushed through. I enjoy each day now, rather than waiting impatiently for some future when things will get better or I’ll achieve some goal.
These are the good old days, as Carly Simon said 50 years or so ago.
Horse butts tell you the wind is coming from the west.
Today was windy and cool, but I stood outside and savored the trees and birds anyway. My freshly washed hair did suffer.
I could not have done this on purpose.
By making even the drudgery of the day pleasant, I pleased myself very much. I had a fun discussion about horse personalities with a Tractor Supply worker while we reassured the woman around my age who was being trained on the cash register that she’ll figure it out. Why rush to get out? I met two nice people, and the horse owner told me it was great meeting me.
I then had a perfectly fine time in the local grocery store, too. It’s amazing what treating people nicely can do for your day.
This is the perspective I’ve gained as I’ve entered my “crone” phase of life. I’ve still got lots more wisdom to gain, but I like where I am now.
The long perspective.
Horse report: Apache seems happy with his boots. Drew was fine until I tried to brush his tail and mane. Out came the teeth. Puzzling. Tomorrow is farrier day. We will see what that brings.
My favorite sport to watch is, by far, American football. I’ve watched it my whole life, so it’s part of me, I guess, even with all its myriad of flaws and issues (high school boyfriend’s dad played in that last championship Detroit Lions team, and I now realize his odd behavior later in life may have been affected by blows to the head, for example). But, it was fun to watch football with my dad, and now it’s something Lee and I have in common. Note that I also enjoy baseball, which my dad played and took watching very seriously. And I actually enjoy watching golf. I just can’t believe how well people can get tiny balls into tiny holes. The only sports I’m not fond of watching are basketball and hockey. Just not part of my history, I guess.
What sports do I like to play? Well, as a kid I played football and baseball with the neighbors. If I weren’t so stubby and slow (and female) I would have played longer. I’m not exactly talented. I liked tennis in college. But the sport I do now is our version of working equitation, which is an equestrian sport. I think it’s a sport, I mean, there are competitions and prizes, so sure. So yes, my horses and I do sports.
Speaking of those powerful beasties, I got to enjoy them a lot today. That was a nice change from it mostly being too cold or wet to interact much. I took two work breaks to de-bur Drew and Apache, but I could not get them very clean. They keep rolling.
Tarrin came here for lessons today, which is always a treat. I really needed her to look at Apache and help me with his issues. Sure enough, the first thing she did was find where his abscess was hiding! It was under a flap of sole.
It’s in the white area.
She did a lot of scraping, then we rummaged through all the stuff in the tack room and found Betadyne to disinfect it, an antibacterial spray to treat it, and the mud stuff I bought to protect it. I can repeat when the mud disappears.
Tarrin also measured his feet for boots. Note the feed dish full of burs.
Once he was treated you could tell he felt better, because he lifted his other hoof for the first time in a month. That meant he could stand to lean on the sore one at last. We took him out and lunged him a bit, too. He had a harder time going left than right, but was happy to trot around. He seemed so happy to do stuff again.
And my hair looked fun.
What he wasn’t happy about is that Tarrin figured out a way to get his pills in him with a syringe. I’m so happy to have a large supply from the lady who sold us our horse trailer. Now I just have to keep shoving them in.
As for Drew, he started out acting really odd, like trying to nip when I groomed him. He seemed to have a stomach ache. That scared me. It probably was because the horses ran out of water. I didn’t know the water had been turned off again. My poor fish. Sniff.
I was too busy to photograph Drew, so here are three of the hens. They enjoyed the sunny day.
But he improved as I worked with him on the ground, and we ended up having a really good lesson. He did so well at things that had been frustrating earlier. I’m getting able to relax more when riding, and it’s almost getting to be FUN.
And finally, here’s the sofa as I found it this morning. They are exhausted from barking at coyotes.
So yeah, those horse buddies are my sport. They are also so nice to be with. They are now both patient for bur removal, so it’s our bonding time. Ahh.
First, I just can’t answer the boring Bloganuary question today, so I’ll just have to give up on that challenge. I will, of course, blog every day this month, as usual.
Or I can just put up photos of my nails every day. That would drive the readers away!
Now that it’s dealt with, I can talk about why I’m in scenic Little Rock, Arkansas. My friend, Barbara (yes, the Barbara of the comments section), lost her husband recently. We have been friends for a long time, and she was one of the best listeners ever when I was having issues with my work in La Leche League. We’ve been email friends since around 1995, so there have been a lot of memories, stories, confidences, and kindnesses between the two of us. I felt that it was important that someone come to her husband’s service just to be there for her, and her alone (and to represent our group of close friends from our years as LLL administrators).
I hadn’t seen Barbara in a very long time. It sure was good to be there today. What a hard day in anyone’s life.
So, this morning I put on some somber clothes and headed to downtown Little Rock for Gene’s service. The church is very cool. I’ve been hearing about it for years, so I was uncharacteristically (for me) excited to actually see it. What a cool old building it is, and how welcoming they’ve made it for everyone. No wonder Gene, not a religious person, was fine being memorialized here.
Wonder why I felt comfortable here?
I enjoyed talking to people at the pre-service reception and finding out more about Barbara’s kids (not much younger than me, so not really kids) and grandkids, and hearing good stories. I got to chat about knitting, listen to conversations about Gene’s work with the Humane Society here, and lots more. And on an interesting side note, people here still wear black to funerals, unlike in Texas where they wear anything that’s not jeans and a t-shirt.
So many activists were there. I’d be pretty comfortable here if I were more Christian.
The service itself was very simple and well planned. Barbara and her family did a great job on it. There were really cool hymns, after some improvisational music before the service by a talented pianist. But the very best part was the “Stories” section, in which people from all areas of Gene’s life spoke (he was a law professor, fiction writer, dog lover, veteran…etc.). Everyone was so good at speaking, especially Barbara’s sons, who she has to be very proud of. It’s so nice to hear people who know how to work a room give a heartfelt talk. Ah, smart people. Former colleagues, former students, fellow writers…dog people, all talked. It reminded me of my dad’s service, where you could get to know the person by just listening to the stories. I honestly think everyone felt like they got a hug and new memories to cherish in Gene’s absence.
My favorite part was when I really wanted to clap after one son’s story, and I was really glad when people did so. How often does THAT happen? I just smiled through the whole event and thought how lucky Barbara is to have such a warm community around her.
There was a cool set of woven pieces that represented the four seasons
Afterwards, I was invited to lunch with the family and close friends, which led to much lively discussion. But by the time that was over, my introversion kicked in and I went to a park. I didn’t get to see birds or many plants, but it was still nice to get out in nature, though of course it was STILL raining. Whoa am I ready for some sunshine.
I found a pine tree
The sun did finally come out a little around sunset, and I got to enjoy some fast-moving and interesting clouds out the hotel window.
I’m glad I came to support Barbara and hug her for all the rest of our friends. It’s worth doing if you possibly can. I know it meant a LOT to me when my friend Vicki came for my dad’s funeral, just for me. Since then, I’ve tried to repay that kindness by being there for others.
Think of me driving 6.5 hours tomorrow. I hope it’s more clear (and that it is clearer at home so I can groom the horses).
Write about a few of your favorite family traditions.
Ah, I’m sitting in a clean, quiet hotel room, with mindless television and knitting. It’s a perfect time to reminisce about family traditions.
Yep, it’s a hotel room.
My current family is a bit too chaotic to have a lot of traditions. It’s always something different every day. But my family of origin had a couple I enjoyed at the time and remember fondly.
I’m not home so I can’t scan photos. Here’s our foggy morning.
One I loved was when we lived in south Florida in a family-oriented neighborhood of little cement-block houses. We had a dachshund mix dog named Pumpkin during my college and grad school years. I thought of her as my sister, because she was great to talk to and hang out with. I’m not kidding, I often forgot she was a dog.
Ha! I found a photo of Pumpkin, Dad, and two neighbors.
Anyway, it was my parents’ tradition to take a walk with Pumpkin every evening after dinner. Whenever I was home, I went along with them and my brother. The walk only went to the end of the block, because Mom couldn’t go very far (she was sick a long time, and died when I was 26).
The front of the house, on my 16th birthday. Stylish for 1974.
However, the walks were always fun. We’d talk and joke and comment on the quality of Pumpkin’s poop, which always happened at the corner. (Dad had to go clean it up once a week or so, because they we’d never heard of poop bags in the 80s.) In the winter we’d check to see if she’d produced a “steamer.” Dad loved those.
Re-enactment?
The walks were often long in time, compared to their length. That’s because we often stopped to talk to the neighbors. My dad and brother were very social. I enjoyed listening to them. It felt so comfortable and convivial. They could talk about all topics, drink beer, tell stories, and get along. They were just nice, hard-working folks. I miss those times.
I realize that hanging out with my family and watching the dog poop is probably a weird tradition, but we all enjoyed it. It was something Mom could do with us, which was so nice. And my Dad and brother were so funny. I’ll treasure our quirky family togetherness time.
Before I left for my 6.5-hour drive to Arkansas, I did get in a little bird watching during the foggy morning. (I haven’t seen the sun since last Saturday.) I’m going to declare our resident loggerhead shrike the Daily Bird, because it matches the sky and trees. Plus, I love watching them grab bugs.
Gray bird in fog.
I’m sure the shrike is wishful for the grasshopper season to start! They go into overdrive then.
What do you enjoy doing most in your leisure time?
This answer will be pretty boring if I give the same answers I’ve given to three or four other blog prompts. Yes, indeed, I enjoy knitting and looking at birds and horses. Most of you know that if you’ve visited this blog before.
Look, a bird. It’s a loggerhead shrike.
But, is there another leisure activity I enjoy? In warm weather I hang out by the pool. That counts. And I read about horses, architecture, and home decorating. The latter helps me deal with what a jumbled mess my own house is right now.
What I’ll read when I’m finished writing this
I think my favorite leisure activity is socializing these days. After staying away from people for so long, I am enjoying seeing friends again. I want to do more of it, but I forgot a couple things this week. Lunches, coffees, meetings, etc., are so nice for breaking up the work day!
Today my friend came over and I did her nails for a party. They look good!
Keeping in touch with friends online is another favorite. Yes, I admit I visit Facebook and valiantly scroll and scroll until I find posts from friends. It’s so great to stay in touch, get advice, and learn that way. Most importantly, I can provide support to others by being available online to listen. I do a lot of that lately.
Yeah, not too exciting, is it? But damn, this is what I’ve looked forward to my whole life: a time to enjoy the little things and the people I care about. I hope it lasts a while.
Now for stories. I went out to feed the horses and saw Drew standing by the fence, staring intently. What? I went on up to get the feed dishes, and something caught my eye behind me. It looked like this:
Hello!
The horses weren’t at all happy to see Fiona wandering around eating fresh clover. I just wondered how she got there.
How come SHE doesn’t have to stand in the mud?
When I took their food to them I saw that the lower wire on the temporary electric fence had come loose. The big horses were still held in the pasture, but Fiona could walk right under the live wire. Clever donkey.
Easy exit for a short animal.
The wire is fixed now.
Speaking of wires, little Carlton got the staples out where he had a lump removed. Lee found out the biopsy results, too. The lump was a completely encapsulated stick, probably a cactus thorn. It had gotten infected, so he has antibiotics, but should be fine.
However, Goldie managed to nearly rip out a toenail today. It must have hurt a little!
And I do have daily birds today. The rain finally let up, which pleased the birds a lot. We even had two birds returning from their winter hangouts! I heard and saw a purple Martin, and I heard a whistling duck. Cameron residents better get ready for lots of trees full of chattering ducks. Love those guys.
If you could make your pet understand one thing, what would it be?
Actually, I think I communicate pretty well with my animals. But, if I could fix one thing it would be to convince Harvey, who doesn’t move unless he truly must, that he can bark all he wants to…outside. Dang, that dog watches all the other ones to dash out and bark their heads of at cattle, coyotes, or deer that dare to get too close to the fence, and he just sits on the couch and bellows his lungs out.
Who, me?
Lee then yells, “Outside, Harvey!” over and over, adding to the cacophony. It gets oh so tiresome.
Ha ha, I’m never bad. (Not true, Carlton)
Today I wished I could communicate with my horses and let them know it was me walking up to them under a giant umbrella. They shot out of their shelter like little four-legged rockets when they saw me.
WTF!
It was really wet. I needed the rain gear. Poor horses. Then I had the nerve to scare them again when I walked down the road to inspect the drainage. They all stood there with their ears pricked, ready to flee the demon who sounded like me, but looked very scary.
No longer a grassy playground.
Since the ground is pretty saturated, 2.5” made for a lot of standing water, as well as a lot of flowing water. The creek was extra wide and came close to going over the road.
I should’ve gotten closer, but I was wet.
There were 6 calves and a cow separated from the rest of the herd by the property line fence, and they were NOT happy. My Merlin recording today could also be a tutorial on the variety of sounds a cow can make. Eventually the cow led most of the calves through the water to their friends, but two didn’t follow. They yelled and yelled and ran around randomly, disturbing the sparrows.
The mama and the calves, mostly staring at me like I can fix things.
One finally realized the barbed wire is loose and escaped. The other one came up to me and said MOO twice. So I telepathically communicated with her that the could go through water or the fence. After more running around in circles, she made it. Whew. My ears were sore.
At last the app “heard” the mallard and wren the cattle had drowned out. Yeah, that was my excitement for the day!
Today’s rain chains are exciting!
Oh, and I made chickpea “pasta” Mac and cheese and it was fine. Healthy eating, here we come.
Pork loin in that covered stoneware baker thing is sooo good.
All right, your turn. What would you say to an animal if you could?
I have thoughts on what makes a good leader. I’m afraid that my thoughts are really about what kind of leader I prefer, not who meets some objective criteria of “success.”
Goldie is a firm but fun leader of her pack.
If I need to be on a team or work group, I like to be led by someone who is more of a mentor and facilitates the folks they lead to do the best they can at their job, sport, or spiritual pursuit. They encourage and support, yet provide helpful criticism. They are also willing to do hard things like take responsibility for what the group does and make decisions like who to cut from the team, etc.
I try to be that kind of leader. I’ve had some success and some painful failures at leading volunteers and paid teams. What hurts me the most is when I try to protect my team from unpleasant stuff, but it doesn’t work out. I still feel bad for the LLLOnline team.
Currently I have no intention to lead anything, ever, again, even in a token role. I have abandoned the leader ship and am now a happy team member who has way too much input sometimes. I’m now secretary for two groups I once held more responsibilities in. I like that.
Anyway, I think good leaders show respect and spend more time helping their team do well than trying to get ahead, win, or take credit.
On the Home Front
The tack room at the ranch is getting a much-needed upgrade. We’ve limped along with tarp covering its ancient shingled roof, but the winds in recent days have shredded the latest tarp and blown off more shingles.
The first day, they got framing ready
So the men of the house decided to replace the roof in a permanent way, with a lovely metal roof that matches the rest of the ranch buildings.
There’s the material.
Of course, the weather has not helped much. Both days it’s been worked on have been bitterly cold, and today the gales were coming from the north again. I really felt for those guys slapping big sheets of metal around in that wind! I’m glad they brought in professional subcontractors to do a lot of the work.
Roof in progress Thinking about how to do the front
I can’t wait to show you the finished product, but it will have to wait until I’m back home. We dragged the RV out to northeast Texas to camp on a big lake. I haven’t seen it yet, since we arrived late. I’ll talk about that tomorrow!
The Hermits' Rest 