Ranch Life – The Hermits' Rest

A New Farm Worker?

Busy times and many surprises at the Hermits’ Rest today. I had 5 hours of meetings through early afternoon, so I took a break to relax and enjoy the animals. I didn’t relax, though.

Darryl certainly doesn’t seem relaxed, either.

First I took a big hunk of chickweed over to the poultry pals. They had a little plant party and tossed it all around. That was cute. Not so cute was seeing little moving shapes in the supposedly sealed storage bin for the chicken feed…again.

There’s no denying it. House mice are cute.

I went ahead and fed the birds, dreading having to remove more mice. I left the lid of the bin open to encourage a voluntary exit.

I went back to the bin and removed the four bags of feed. I was happy to see that there was now only one mouse left. The other had flung itself out. They literally flung themselves at the sides of the bin hoping to get high enough to escape. I tried to get the remaining mouse out with a feed scoop, then almost got it to run into a more cup-like scoop. Instead, as I leaned over to encourage it to enter the cup, it jumped on my shirt and ran up my arm! Cute as that was, I admit to flinging it off me. Last I saw it was climbing the screened enclosure to get away.

Soon as we’re finished eating we will look for mice.

I hope it didn’t go near the turkeys and chickens, because they are doing a great job keeping rodents out of their area.

Next, I thought I could go enjoy more peaceful time with the horses. I saw that either Terry had left the tack room door open yesterday or the wind had got it (it no longer latches). That made me a little more cautious as I entered. Good thing I was ready, because I apparently have a new helper in the tack room. Tipper, the black-and-white cat who’s been hanging around for over a month, was lounging in my pink chair.

I thought about it and decided the kitty is welcome there. It certainly will have enough to eat. Maybe at least one of my mouse/rat problems will be lessened. Thanks, new farm worker!

I did get my horse relaxation in, finally. Apache wanted me to rub between his ears and got so relaxed that he started yawning away. He kept it up for five minutes!

Then I looked over where Drew and Spice were hanging out and realized Spice was yawning, too. I guess it’s contagious in horses as well as humans!

We did a Year of the Horse tarot reading in my group tonight, and I got three cards with horses on them!

Equine Encouragement

Good news, the lymph nodes are behaving themselves again. Just a slight hiccup, and that’s all good.

I’d been worrying a bit about the horses’ health, especially since I no longer have anyone to consult when there’s a problem. I really miss having Sara next door when something happens, and not having anyone to help with Apache’s usual spring grass issues is very hard.

So, I was glad when the farrier came today and trimmed all their feet and declared them good. It’s true, Apache has no redness or signs of lameness, and both Mabel’s and Spice’s hooves are less cracked than in the past. Maybe I can take care of them with no help. And I do have Vicki down the road with all her many contacts. I feel reassured.

The best part of the morning was that I let Terry work on Drew alone, and got to spend quality time with Fiona while I watched. Now, I do make sure she gets plenty of interaction, but I hadn’t just hung out with her in a while, thanks to my job lasting later in the afternoon and not feeling a lot of horse joy in the past few weeks.

Today, though, I felt her breathing on my hand and then her little body leaning lightly on my hip. I just rubbed her fuzzy forehead and silky ears and relaxed. She’d tell me where to pet and I’d keep going.

When we moved on to work on Apache, I went in the pen to hold his lead and pet him more (I’d already groomed and hugged on him). Sure enough, I heard rhythmic breathing, then there was a tug on the rope. Fiona had found her way into the next pen for more affection. I indulged.

The years I’ve had with Fiona and Apache sharing their kind hearts with me have been a privilege. Just listening to Fiona breathe calms me (she’s always been a loud breather). And leaning on Apache’s neck while he reaches his head around is just the ideal hug.

The best neck for hugging (Goldie was #2)

I’m encouraged that perhaps I’m ready to get back into more horse activities without feeling sad. I need to get there!

Pain in the Head

I have one of those headaches that nags you all day. Sleep is all that will fix it.

So, no chatty blog today. Tomorrow should be interesting and perhaps pain free.

Good night.

Phones. Can’t Live without Them. Wish I Could

Ok. I’m just about wiped out from my “day off.”I could use more wine but I hit my limit. I do want to sleep tonight, after all.

Empty glass, ready to watch Deep Space 9 and rest my brain.

I spent hours and hours today just trying to make my iPhone Air go away. It had good and bad points, but mostly was long. I spent the first 45 minutes or so chatting with Al, a Vietnam vet with 7 remaining fingers and an attitude that made Lee seem a dream customer. But I got him so settled down that by the time it was his turn, he pleasantly agreed tech support could help him out. I learned a lot about his preferred firearms, his friends with issues, and his precious great grandchildren. It certainly passed the time.

Then I discovered I had to wait an hour to deal with some theft prevention thing. So I went to the lovely Thai restaurant across I35 from the phone store. If you’re ever in Temple, try MeeMee’s Authentic Thai Cuisine. It IS authentic! It has an interesting menu, too.

I only had another hour or so after lunch to figure out every password I’ve ever had and make the proper incantations to the gods and goddesses of cellular networks. I finally have the phone I should have ordered three months ago coming my way.

Really all I want is the macro lens. No more blurry photos…speaking of which, all the sparrows came back today and I got blurry photos of them!

I had so much fun after I got home watching the sparrows bopping around, joined by two rabbits who didn’t care that I was there. That’s exactly what I needed after the stressful phone store ordeal. Nature to the rescue!

Too bad I need a decent phone camera to record all that nature? The joke is on me. I can’t live without them.

Encouraging News Tidbits

I was too tired last evening to write anything, then I didn’t get much sleep last night (Lee lost his phone and used his watch to find it, soon after I fell asleep—that got me wide awake for a few hours). I guess I should have blogged then, huh?

This is what I would have blogged about. My friend Phyllis found it at the thrift store. I guess they aren’t as popular as they once were.

Things have been pretty stable, at least for me and Lee, the past few days, which doesn’t lead to exciting essays. No complaints, though! It gives my mind space to send good thoughts out to others. Bonus!

There have been more signs of spring showing up, like this beautiful early Pipevine Swallowtail that I got some blurry photos of. Hmm, maybe the Presidents’ Day holiday will prompt me to trade my phone in for one with a good camera.

I’ve been seeing sulphurs and a couple of whites, too. I just hope we don’t get another freeze and set things back again. It can happen this time of year.

Most of my weekend will be spent counting birds, as it’s Great Backyard Bird Count time again. I got 60 species today, mostly because all the sparrows are still here.

I’m still here. Enjoy my singing while you can.

Yesterday I would have had over 70 species if I’d believed Merlin. My last capture had parrots, flycatchers that aren’t here this time of year, and some European something. I smartly checked the recording and realized it hadn’t gotten the location from the GPS and was identifying birds of the world. I discarded all those fancy non-Texan birds.

I’m encouraged, nonetheless. I’ll get some real birds, even though it’s going to rain tomorrow (also good news).

Dream Home Thoughts

Write about your dream home.

I’m surprised the prompt writers don’t have me down as having responded to this one. But I’ll give it a try, with a bonus.

So my dream home is probably right where I live now. At least I have all I really ever wanted here, though I could dream of being somewhere with less cow poop and more forest. But I cannot complain about this house I helped design and picked all the materials for, inside and out. I have an office, a den, a yarn closet, a big bedroom, a kitchen with red tile, and a screened porch. Outside I have my very pleasant swimming pool for hot summers, a birding hut, a hut for actual birds, and a pasture full of beautiful horses. Plus we have plenty of dogs and space to house family members.

I’m very privileged. And oh yes, there aren’t other houses crammed all around me. I mostly see fields, trees, and a couple of neighbors.

I admit my house in Austin on the hill surrounded by greenbelts was sort of a secondary dream house and I really miss it. But you can’t have two at my pay grade.

As for the bonus, I wanted to talk about the avian dream house where the fowl here live. I think they don’t realize how lucky they are to have a hen house, a turkey hut, and a big run where someone tosses fresh greenery to them daily.

These gals love greens. And chicken scratch.

But I do know that Darryl Junior, my favorite pecker, thinks his water dish is a dream come true. That giant white behemoth can’t stop himself from poking it, stomping on it, and trying to break it.

Today I finally got the hose unhooked from it and replaced it properly so the automatic waterer feature would work again. That’s no thanks to Darryl and his “helpful” urges.

Clinton eating dinner next to the functional water dish.

At least the horses didn’t bust out again like they did yesterday. Someone undid the chain holding the gate shut! I’m pleased that they’re so obedient that when I call them and look like I might have a food dish, they gallop right back into their pen. See, this ranch is a dream come true.

Book Report: The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus

I got this book when I was looking for something different and not all bloody and violent. It said it was in the Barnes & Noble book club, so I figured it wouldn’t be awful. And it’s true! The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus, by Canadian author Emma Knight, is far from awful. It’s just what I needed.

It certainly has a cheerful book jacket.

It’s Knight’s first novel, but she’s obviously an experienced writer. I loved the fact that the writing was so good that it allowed me to focus on the characters, very nice young people going to university in Scotland. (One odd gaffe was that she asked for a bathroom and was laughed at in Scotland, but I know they say “washroom” in Canada.)

The main character is a young woman named Pen, who has a lot of family mysteries to work through, which introduce you to the other interesting characters, young and old, mostly a bit posh.

There’s a lot of discovering one’s sexuality in the book, but as I recall from the olden days that’s what you do at that time. All the people screw up, mean well, and learn. It’s quite entertaining to witness it all developing and to mentally cheer everyone on.

I liked that this book takes part in the not-too-distant past, so current events don’t creep in. Escaping to a familiar time, with familiar problems, and featuring satisfying solutions was great for me. I could use another light but satisfying novel like this.

Today’s color of crocheted squares was a pretty blue.

Warning: it takes a long time until the title makes sense, so just go with it.

A Little Good News Means a Lot

After my deep funk last night, I wasn’t all that well prepared for today, but by the time you get to be a senior citizen, you know that “fake it ‘til you make it” is a real life hack. So I hacked my way through the day and have emerged unscathed. The day was fine, successful even!

I got through my long webinar like a seasoned veteran (oh wait, I AM a seasoned veteran). My colleagues helped out with questions and I think everyone was happy enough. And I spent the rest of the day cheerfully doing my things.

And I finally heard that my contract was being extended until June, which pleases me very much. I’d been recruited by another company to do a similar job, but I was more interested in staying where I am, because it’s such a collaborative environment. So, good news there. We will see how I feel this summer about taking a break or what.

Lee and the dogs vote for taking a break.

The other factor that’s encouraged me today was that I realized I’m not waking up every day to worse and worse news in the US. It’s now like 50/50 ratio of disgusting to encouraging! I just hope we can someday go back to not being “led” by lying pedophiles and their amoral puppeteers. Feel free to disagree on your own blog!

Humor break. I set my phone down on the bed with the camera on. I noticed a camera icon on my watch and used it to take a picture from the bathroom! Nice ceiling, huh?

The weather is warming up, too. Birds are singing love songs and Apache may well be starting to shed. Between him and Alfred, the birds have lots of nesting material!

Just a Bit o’ Nature

I’m so tired. Trying to work and take in the negativity in the world takes a lot of energy.

The best part of the day was that it warmed up enough to go sit with the birds for a half hour after work. Bluebirds were singing and singing for some reason, which was heavenly. And so many woodpeckers, including Flickers, added to the chorus.

That helped.

Tomorrow is a long day of stressful meetings. At least there are few days like that in this job.

Just keep doing your best. That’s my goal.

Sometimes You Have to Do Chores

Today I did so many items on the to-do list, but at the end of the day, I didn’t feel very accomplished. I was trying to get my chores done so I could spend some time in contemplation, which is what I usually do for this time of year, Imbolc or Candlemas.

One of the things people did in the past was sweep out the house and clean the hearth, as the goddess/saint of this time of year is Brigid, patron saint of Ireland, fire, keeping house, and spinning. Among other things.

No wonder I’ve been in such a frenzy of tidying up (though it may not look like it everywhere In the house). I usually light a bunch of candles, but I will tomorrow night.

Commemorative rock. I’m making one for each sabbat this year.

Chores are things that repeat over and over, just like cleaning your living space, so it’s appropriate I spent so much time getting my journal ready for a new month, cataloging all the birds I’ve seen in January, getting food ready to cook…etc., all of which mostly matters to only me.

Kestrel was bird of the month. Photo by Adam Bowley.

The fowl were happy that one chore was buying a new supply of feed and scratch, along with new meal worms. I wish I could trust the local feed store, because I hate having to drive to the next town to get this stuff and horse feed. It took forever to organize the food, because somehow mice had gotten into my supposedly sealed food bin, so I had to chase them around and scoop them out. Plus there was a rather bold field rat who I had to chase out (not one of the cute cotton rats, a BIG one. I’m about tired of rats. Why don’t those cats I keep seeing eat them?

I also eat mice. And when I run, the earth moves beneath my feet.

And to top it off, lifting the heavy feed bags messed up a nail. Oh yeah, weekly manicure is also a chore, though fun.

At least I was able to get the horses fed and watered while it was above freezing. They are eating like, well, horses. I’m glad I have a lot of hay and that mice can’t get in their food bins.

When I finally got to be indoors, I had to do minutes of the Master Naturalist board meeting from Thursday and put up a blog post. By the time I was done with computer work, my contemplation time was no longer available. A bit of yarn work was all I could fit in. I was disappointed to not finish my hat tonight, but I’ll make it (and finishing January on the temperature blanket) a priority for tomorrow.

Chores never end. Still, stop and acknowledge the change of seasons when you can. The light is coming back!