Ranch Life – The Hermits' Rest

My Favorite Topics

What topics do you like to discuss?

Why, regular readers know this:

Nature
Horses
Dogs
Knitting/crochet
Home renovations/rehab
Personal growth
Spirituality (not religion)

Speaking of dogs, we sprung Carlton out of the Cameron pound 6 years ago! This is where he is as I write.

Today I got all my work items done and had plenty of time for fun. Some even involved human beings! Anita and I enjoyed a pastry break, followed by an afternoon wine break (Cameron: a place where there’s now stuff to do). And in the evening we had a birthday dinner with one of the people who live here. It was fun, because we’re getting pretty relaxed around each other these days.

Highlight: the bakery has a mixer almost as tall as Anita! Is it from Tasmania?

Most of my fun, which is probably only fun to a naturalist, consisted of taking photos of practically everything that lives on the ranch natively. It’s the City Nature Challenge on iNaturalist, and we’re trying to beat some actual city, or something like that.

Most of my photos were not this good. (Gray hairstreak on white clover)

The challenge started off with a surprise, as the guy who refills the propane showed up but did not get to fill our tank. It had a beehive in it. I hope we have encouraged them to move in by removing the tank cover.

I went all over the property finding plants, birds, insects, and fungi to record. I put on thick boots, but didn’t see any snakes or other reptiles. There are still some places to check, but after finding 161 organisms, I may have nearly exhausted this ranch. I still need to locate the silky evolvulus. It was hiding.

I wish I could go walk in Tarrin’s woods and down her road. There are completely different plants only 30 miles away!

I did stop and enjoy the scenery occasionally.

I’m glad the rain held off so all of us in our area could get our observations in. I’ll keep looking until Monday!

Most populous butterfly to day is the little phaon crescent.

Thanks for reading along as I go on about my favorite topic! I have more thoughts, but it’s been a long day. Your reward is a sampling of insects I saw, without the extra blurry ones.

Animals Are a Luxury Item

This week I’ve spent more on horse care than I earned. The mobile vet came to give the horses all their immunizations and Coggins tests. And next week the equine dentist comes, so I’ll just have to find away to finance that. Next year I’ll try not to get the annual vaccines, dental care, bodywork, and a final rehab installment all at the same time! Oh, and there’s $400 in Apache medicine getting charged next week.

Take a deep breath and think of hummingbirds, Suna.

Yep, pets and livestock are expensive, when properly cared for. And we want to properly care for our animals. perhaps I’m better with their care than mine.

Blurry but pretty. Flapping its wings like me trying to get all these things done.

Proper care isn’t easy! Poor Lee was in charge of the dogs, most of whom have to be sedated to get them still and calm (just Goldie is calm enough to get through her exam unmediated). Alfred became a barrier so we couldn’t use the front door until he woke up.

Penney fell asleep on the vet tech, so she couldn’t be very helpful for a while.

As for the horses, I was in charge of them. I spent a long time cleaning Apache poop from the dry lot since it was past due (I’d done half yesterday). Then I haltered them all, as requested by the vet. All went well, and I managed to separate Drew out, since I got him taken care of at his $2K vet appointment in Bryan. It was hard, because they’ve all been sticking together like glue since Drew came home.

Don’t believe her. I’m the one they all stick to.

Well, all went well except for Mabel. She got nervous. So I spent 20 minutes calming her down using all the horse whispering I could muster. But it worked! She settled pretty well.

She’s in such great condition now. She shines.

She had to get drugged when it came to the strangles vaccine. She’s not font of things going into her nose. Dusty, on the other hand, was quite enchanted with his nasal spray. He even insisted on doing his Flehmen response right into the vet’s camera! He made it to her Facebook page with this.

It was determined that Dusty has pinworms so all the animals will next get wormed. So many fun medical things for these guys! And wormer ain’t free, either. But they need it!

Apache, of course, was fine. I was happy to see his rain rot is getting better after his bath. And he is so calm now.

Or he’s still embarrassed by his leg wear.

We decided to get Fiona vaccinated, too. She didn’t like it much. I also realized she was a big mess with flies and burs all over her. So she got prescribed pour-over fly repellent. I should have thought of that myself. I’m going to try it tomorrow. She is also stuck in the “dry lot” with Apache now. Maybe that will help her. I have big plans to get her all groomed tomorrow, since everyone else is looking spiffy.

Yeesh. That’s a lot of medical stuff. But, the vaccines and tests plus the dentist are just once a year. Break it down by month and it’s only sort of expensive. I guess.

I’ll just have to squirrel away some funds.

At least hummingbird watching is free. These red salvias the pool guys put in were a good investment. I know the pictures are blurry, but I enjoyed the shapes. These are black chinned hummingbirds, by the way.

My blurry buddies. Males have the white stripe around their necks.

By the way, here’s a good bird article that I accidentally left at the top of the email version of this post. Oops.

Risky Moves

Describe a risk you took that you do not regret.

One risk I took was buying and moving into property in a rural part of a state full of people who don’t like people like me. I was concerned that we hermits of the Hermits’ Rest would be truly isolated, other than the folks next door.

I’d always lived in small cities or suburbs, not rural properties. I didn’t know if I’d be able to adapt to the challenges of living with no HOA to keep things tidy, no convenient shopping areas with a Walgreens and a Starbucks every few blocks, and plenty of biting and stinging creatures lurking everywhere.

Prickly pears do have thorns, but it’s wonderful when they bloom.

I’m so glad I discovered I’m quite flexible, I can adapt, and there are plenty of people here that enjoy people like me. I treasure the wide variety of friends I’ve made in this small town, rich and poor, conservative and liberal alike. And it’s such a privilege to have family in our little commune. I’d never have known this was possible without taking the risk of joining Lee in his retirement dreams.

And I’d never have learned so much about the natural world around me. That’s a green heron.

Now I’m the one taking care of livestock, understanding where the dangers are as well as the wonders, and learning new skills every day. I’m bemused by visitors in their shorts and flip flops running from every flying insect and prickly plant. Or worse, being afraid of chickens, horses, or dogs. (You can respect them without fearing them.)

Apache feels as if I don’t respect him, by washing him with medication and putting so much on his legs. But that’s stopping flies!

It takes all kinds, of course, and I’m glad there are options. I bet I could even find community and new things to learn in a downtown of a city. Maybe in my 80s…

Speaking of friends, I’ve come to view Ssssally here as a friend. Might as well.

What Treasures Hide in the Weird Areas

Our last day at Lake Whitney (or the Big Puddle as I’m inclined to call it, since it’s mostly only a foot deep) was mostly a work day, but I found time to hike around near our campsite for an hour around lunchtime. I wanted to see the airstrip that I’d spotted on the map.

The area wasn’t much to look at, since it was pretty scrubby and just had a few trees here and there (what did I expect? It was advertised as being on a prairie). However weird it looked didn’t matter. There was much to observe.

Always look at snags (dead trees). Something will be there.

I have to hand it to this area, there are lots of birds, and they love this type of landscape with mixed open and covered parts. I heard a turkey and a peregrine falcon, along with many of my favorite sparrows, and the new-to-me clay-colored sparrow. There were no tanagers (they like the woods back at the campsite), but I was lucky to experience the sounds of multiple painted buntings calling each other and flying around. Magic! Plus the woodpeckers put on a show. Downies were in mating or territorial frenzies.

More bird action occurred when I went to check out the weird but nice surprise of a whole setup for flying radio-controlled planes. It even had a memorial sign for deceased members. However, those guys weren’t present, so my buddies the barn swallows decided their shelter was an excellent barn substitute. They didn’t appreciate my intrusion. I wonder what happens on plane days?

Yesterday I was too sleepy to write about plants, but today I’m more awake! I’ll say that this scrubby prairie had many flowers to enjoy (and to entice bees and butterflies). Two that were new to me were cute low-growing Comanche Western Daisy (Astranthium ciliatum) and delicate pink diamond flowers (Stenaria nigricans) which are usually white.

Comanche western daisy and diamond flower

Of course my old favorites were also there. I just can’t stop myself from taking photos of insects on milkweed flowers. Not really weeds.

We headed home around three, and once I got the lights on the Jeep to work, all was well. Our first tow vehicle-accompanied trip went very well. We are quite rested.

I wasn’t worried about Apache, because Kathleen took great care of him and the other livestock. He is all medicated up and walking a lot better. Tomorrow he’ll get another trim and we should bring Drew home, too! I sure hope he’s back to his sweet, fun self.

Oh good, Ratty the rat snake is also doing well. She left me three eggs.

Best Birding at Home Ever!

Today was misty and damp, plus I had a lot on my plate between work and chores. Still, the time I did manage to steal time for firing up Merlin Bird ID and listening to/looking for birds paid off big time. I just knew I’d see cool birds this spring, eventually.

I can’t bury the lead: look who helped me feed the horses and shovel poop this evening! It’s a yellow-headed blackbird! Whoa! It was quite friendly and just hung around as I did chores (I was hyperventilating that I saw what I thought I saw).

Very cool migrant I welcomed from Mexico.

The morning was equally exciting. I heard a weird sound when I was out feeding chickens. Then I recalled Lee saying he’d heard something that sounded like a heron, but not like our usual ones. Sure enough, it was a green heron.

You can’t see it, but they were by this pond.

Actually, I saw them flying and realized it was a pair. We have them sometimes, so it wasn’t a big surprise, but the amount of calling these guys did helped cement the sound of green herons in my mind. They went on all day, I think.

Another bird was giving a concert as well. The great crested flycatcher had come up before, and I always figured Merlin had it confused with our common (yet breathtaking) scissor tail flycatchers.

However, the pair (or more) in the woods today sounded distinctly different from their showy cousins. I could tell exactly where they were, because they were calling repeatedly, but I only got a glimpse of two of them changing trees.

But wait, there’s more. Also among the cacophony (of course with cardinals, wrens, titmice, and woodpeckers), was another cool bird. I sure wish I’d seen the yellow-breasted chat, though hearing it was interesting enough. This is another bird I thought might have been identified in error, but when it repeatedly registered and I became able to pick it out, I believed it.

Even if you aren’t a birder, you can see why I was pretty happy with today’s variety—39 birds in all, even without all the winter sparrows. There was a gray catbird in the mix, too, and I almost got a photo of it!

I did get an excellent photo of an orange blister beetle, though.

In mammal news, the painkillers seem to be working on Apache. He had the gumption to try to get away when I came at him with his medication. And he’s eating more, too. The other horses are so good. They hang out with him a lot so he isn’t too lonely.

Oh, one more bit of bird news: there’s a harrier nest in Sara’s part of the ranch! That was exciting to me, since they’re my favorite raptor. Now, please enjoy some flowers.

Horses: Not a Carousel, More of a Roller Coaster

Gee whiz. My horses and I just can’t catch a break. I get one healthy, then the other one is hurt, then they trade places. I wish it were the subtle ups and downs of a carousel, but it’s more of a roller coaster with huge highs and lows, along with high entrance fees.

Let’s enjoy some good news. Droodles seems to be past the side effects of the injections he got last week and is regaining his sweet disposition. His caregivers gave him good reports from the weekend and it made me really happy to see him looking like he wanted my attention when I went for lessons today. Previously, he wouldn’t even look at me when I came.

Tarrin said he remembers how to canter and is now willing to move in all directions, too. I think all the help he’s gotten has made a huge difference. I’m sure grateful for all the effort Tarrin and her wonderful helpers have put into getting him past his issues. Maybe I’ll have a horse I can ride by next week.

That’s good, because my worst fears have been realized with Apache. I’d really hoped his feet were just sore from an aggressive trim. But he was not at all happy without his boots. With them he can walk at a normal pace, but you can tell it hurts. So I brought him for his lesson really to get help.

I’d really hoped the Prascend I’ve been giving him would help. It’s a real pain to get him to actually eat it, even with applesauce. He’s good at spitting it out. It’s costly as well. But, I guess it could have been worse without the stuff. As it is, Tarrin said he’d obviously suffered a laminitic episode. That was my fear.

As always, there are plenty of helpful canines helping with the diagnosis.

It looked to me like his sole was sticking out farther than his hoof wall, and yep, that was true. Dammit. Could be worse; he did not founder. That’s really bad.

This hoof was perfect a few weeks ago. Best it had ever been. Ugh.

It’s so discouraging to have worked and worked to get a horse healthy, only for grass or something to mess him right back up. I’m heartbroken. But, before someone (Sara) reminds me that I knew this was liable to happen when I took over his care. Yes, I know he’s always had PPID or whatever they used to call it. But I’ve sure tried hard to manage it. Not hard enough, though, and it’s my fault.

Well, anyway, Tarrin was able to give a good lesson to her two farrier students in how to do the kind of trim that will bring him comfort. That was at least a good service we could provide. He got all trimmed and went back in his boots. It seemed to help.

Yay, first meadow pink of the year. Cheers me up.

He also got a big ole dose of painkillers, which was not easy. Tarrin had to use all her tempting tricks to entice him to eat it. In the end, he got two syringes full of the powder mixed with water.

Also cheering me up is baby Grace. She finally came out a couple days ago. She has blue eyes and a moon on her forehead.

I’m guessing he’s feeling good now. He refused his dinner, though. Probably thought there must be medication in it. Of course he has to stay in the pens where there is no grass. Fiona may join him. They can grumpily munch hay together.

Yes, yes, I’m sure I’m doing the best I can and none of this is my fault and I should have expected it. But I was sure enjoying happy Apache. I’m allowed to at least briefly be sad.

But hey, maybe Drew won’t bite me now. He should be able to work with me soon. And if worst comes to worst, Mabel is gonna do in hand work! I’ve still got a spare, even if they’re all not rideable. I can still have fun with them.

Five Happy Things

What are 5 everyday things that bring you happiness?

I’m truly grateful to be surrounded by things that make me happy. To paraphrase Maya Angelou, every day is a good day, since I’ve never seen it before.

I never had a chicken inspect the tack room until today!

So, five everyday things that make me happy?

1. Being near trees. Trees always feel like my protectors.

Sometimes trees have birds in them. Double happiness!

2. Watching the dogs play. Penney and Carlton run and run while Goldie waits to tackle them.

3. Working on my journal. I love to write by hand, plus I get all my childhood arts and crafts joy back when I pick colored pens and washi tape stickers.

Journal of a few years ago. Not my bullet journal.

4. Putting on nail polish. That’s another simple way to be creative and play with colors. Hmm, knitting is the same kind of thing.

5. Moving around. I used to think I was a sedentary slug, but as I’ve gotten older I realize that I was always happy when moving around. I loved walking and riding my bike, then I loved aerobics and yoga, and now I love riding horses. I hope I can always walk, at least.

Horse update: Apache is still sore but can get around. He got painkillers today, though he didn’t like it much, so Mabel and Dusty are probably feeling good tonight.

Drew is still sore from all his injections, and he still has a few to go, but he should start feeling better very soon. I’m glad he’s being well cared for.

Everyone else is unhappy about flies and very happy about food.

As for me, my lower back is still unhappy. I may have to get it worked on. Ugh.

But I got my yearly recertification done for Master Naturalists, and I even went to a party yesterday, for my friend who’s retiring as the head of our local Chamber of Commerce. They will need two people to replace her! Neither of them will be me.

Oh, and today Anita and I went to a Hat Bar at a local shop. I should not have been introduced to this concept. Too much fun, again, probably because it reminds me of my childhood crafts obsession.

I’d love to know some everyday happiness YOU experience!

Maybe I’ll Ride Again!

What’s the most fun way to exercise?

No surprises here! I find riding horses to be the most fun way to exercise. That’s followed by grooming and feeding horses. (I also like hiking.) Now, I’m not doing a lot of riding right now, since Apache’s feet are healing and Drew is still “off.”

Today, Droodles headed off to the fancy vet in Bryan, because Tarrin said she’s not seeing the results we need with just the rehab they’ve been doing at her facility. I completely agreed, because his health is my first priority, whether being ridden or not.

He went with friends, including Tarrin’s very large personal horses, and Vapor, who’s been in rehab, too.

I was very impressed with how the vet evaluated Drew. He would manipulate Drew’s hindquarters then see how he trotted. It became clear that his left stifle, which is equivalent to a knee in a horse, was the problem. Drew made that clear.

After all this, Drew was taken inside for X-rays. We had his head looked at, too, to be sure his kick didn’t damage him. The vet was pretty sure the issue wasn’t Drew’s back, but they wanted to be sure.

Bonus shot: you can see his more gray mane coming in.

The X-rays showed that his head is good, and best of all, so is his spine! I saw it myself. Nice spacing. But, there’s something called synovitis, swelling on his stifle, which is like arthritis. Well, that sounds painful!

So, he got injections in his spine and stifle (I am not sure what they are) that should make him feel better until the swelling is down, which should be soon. He has a medication for equine arthritis called Adequan. Once he’s on that and gets the inflammation cycle under control, he won’t need injections again until he’s old, we hope.

Regan takes care of drugged Drew. He’s very relaxed after his X-rays and meds.

Whew. I think this will do the trick. Droodles will stay at Tarrin’s so she can administer the first doses of Adequan (by the way, $$$). He can come home in two weeks! And we should be able to resume lessons and such. Back to my favorite form of exercise!

I just hope he feels a lot better. What happened to him is the result of being ridden extensively as a two-year-old, poor guy.

Other Stuff

I picked up my Costco glasses after the vet was done. I got one wild and one mild. I love the red ones, even if my family is iffy on them. The black ones look all sedate, but I just noticed that on the sides, there are holographic stars and logo. Ha!

I didn’t get home until late, because I had to do a work meeting in the car (I have no backup) and then ran into a bad storm. Another one is about to hit. We need the rain, even if it messes with my horse schedule.

I did get to go out and enjoy birds between storms. The sparrows entertained as usual.

Best of all, I looked up to see a flock of…birds…fly right over my head. They looked like sea or shore birds, so maybe they’re the sandpipers I keep hearing as they pass through. Hmm. A mystery.

Another mystery: what causes all the white flowers along our road? These should be purple.

Thanks for reading all my veterinarian details. As I often do, I blogged this so I won’t forget it.

It Pays to Have a Backup Horse

Whew. I was so tired last night that I couldn’t write anything. But a good sleep works wonders. I’m here to share about coping with the unexpected and my favorite obsession, personal growth.

Flowers are another obsession. This buttercup is white!

Ha, you thought horses and birds were my favorite obsessions! I’m just so effing happy to have achieved my goals of being centered and flexible in the face of challenges and changes! That’s hard work for the chronically anxious!

I’ve been mentioning that Apache, my horse who’s always on the verge of some issue, has had trouble walking since the farrier came last week. The good news is that he seems to be doing a bit better and is walking normally. But he certainly wasn’t ready for a horse show yesterday.

But, I had a backup horse who is slightly less lame than Apache and who happened to already be at the trainer’s place for rehab. Drew goes to the vet to get his back worked on Tuesday and is still touchy on this right side, so I couldn’t ride him.

But we did shows in hand all through 2022, so Tarrin suggested we do that. Ok…

I woke up yesterday and realized I no longer remembered the pattern for the Functionality/Dressage part of the show. So I printed it out, put on a patently unflattering shirt, and gathered up by show halter and some food. I’d just wing it.

I studied while Sara and Aragorn brought me to the show, found Droodles, and got him ready. I did some warmup stuff and he seemed fine. I should have walked him around the arena area a bit more. I was avoiding it and the judging area, because I thought you were supposed to do that, so I just walked him through some familiar obstacles to get used to working together after two months of not interacting.

That was a mistake, as Sara pointed out later.

The new friend who was doing in hand with her beautiful leopard Appaloosa did really well with the pattern, and I reminded myself where to turn for the second big circle.

Angie and Newt do fine by the judges table.

When it was our turn, my plan was to see if he’d trot, and otherwise walk. He didn’t trot, but that was fine. When we went to make our first big circle, a gust of wind came up and he spooked. The judges’ table had Tarrin’s annoying flappy tablecloth on it, and Drew didn’t like that. We didn’t even make a circle and got a 0. We preceded to fail at the next two instructions, but made it to where we were supposed to back up.

From the video Sara took. Not a happy guy.

That was directly in front of the flappy tablecloth. I got to demonstrate my ability to calm a horse down for what seemed like the longest minute of my life. I was mortified when Tarrin started helping me rather than judging, but I kept calm, and he eventually backed up a few steps.

Off topic, but look! A huge flick of migrating pelicans flew over!

I was able to do a couple of turns with him, but then started the second circle the wrong direction, even after trying to remind myself earlier. I was very proud that I just said “oops” to myself and did it right, with Drew cooperating! We got a 7 on that, and were able to finish the course correctly.

What was so good about that? I didn’t fall apart or get upset at Drew. I just kept going. I think we actually may have done worse early on, but I was pleased with my 47% score. It means we didn’t get all 0.

I got to relax while the advanced people did their stuff.

I won’t write out the Trail part of the show in excruciating detail. The above was so I’ll remember. I put Drew away and loved on him, then enjoyed everyone else. It was especially interesting because there were a couple of new participants and one experienced rider brought a new horse. Of course, Sara and Aragorn were magnificent.

The Trail part was a fresh start, and while it remained incredibly windy, Drew was fine. I realized my old horse was back, right from the start, abandoned my plan of walking the whole thing, and went for it! We had lots of fun, and most mistakes were all mine! We got a 67% with a couple of 9 scores on obstacles, including our favorite, the jump. That’s a great score.

That just shows how much it pays to not give up. It was a great experience, plus I got to enjoy watching others, like my friend Jackie doing what I would have done with Apache as well as can be done. They are only in Beginner because Jambo can’t canter anymore. But whoa, can he walk and trot. It was beautiful and a great role model of what to aim for.

Seeing all the horses try their best, and especially watching Sara’s level where both horses have overcome health issues and are now thriving, was really a pleasure.

I was Aragorn’s “groom” while Sara called obstacles for other riders.

I like that our little group is such a warm and supportive community. It makes showing fun, even when it’s a little stressful.

Maizie showed two horses, her palomino, fresh out of rehab, and Tarrin’s personal horse.

I sure was tired, though. After being a tour guide on Friday and sitting for hours in the wind, I was a zombie all evening! Glad for a break today.

Nothing is better than looking at pretty horses.

Thanks to anyone who read this!

Wandering with Visitors

It’s always fun to show off where you live to visitors, and there’s so much to show off these days! So today I took my intrepid visiting friends on a walking/driving tour of our small town. I also got to visit some places I wanted to go!

After a peaceful morning, we headed to the bakery for what I guess was brunch. We sat up in the mezzanine to watch the “action” around the square, of which there was none. But that’s okay.

Next we headed to the antique shop where I got to chat with the folks there while Patty found a celluloid thimble to buy. In ZX I got some wine and David got an eclipse shirt, while Patty found a really cute top. They enjoyed all the art and memorabilia We peeked in the windows of the Venue to see the work our family members helped with.

I got Sherrie Jo and Patty to pose in front of the restored signage.

We wandered to the old jail, which really is an impressive building. I forget how cool it is!

Both the architecture and the grounds are quite beautiful. It’s very well kept.

Of course we visited the Chamber of Commerce, where everyone was friendly. At this point I’m sure the visitors must have thought I knew everyone in town, which was further confirmed when we went in the Bling Box. I got my yearly pair of Corky’s flip flops.

Finally we hit the museums. I hadn’t seen the railroad museum since it moved. They did such a great job on rebuilding the train layouts. The ceiling is a sky, too. I need to go back and read more about the local railroads.

Cameron and its environs. Volunteers have done amazing work.

Finally we went into the local history museum, which is a lot more fun now. We identified a strange object that looked like a bulldog holding a tuning fork as an old curling iron, and next figured out what the item pictured below is.

It was warming up, so we took a drive around town to see the sights. I got to see Anita’s house with its new paint job. It looks sharp! I’ll have to get a photo. We got food for dinner and headed home.

There I did enjoy the finished roof on the tack room. It looks quite snazzy now. I also have Apache pain meds and his normal meds. He was walking, but not yet normally. So it’s Plan B for the show tomorrow.

We had hot tub time, a fun dinner and lots of conversation through the afternoon and evening. Lee showed Patty lots about bookbinding, while all us women crafted (Sherrie Jo was embroidering pillow cases, Patty was crocheting a rug, and I finished another row on the 2024 temperature blanket.

After dinner we fired up the fire pit, which was quite beautiful. So was the sunset.

The only things that marred the evening were a big ole dog fight (in which Carlton and Harvey both got owies) and Apache breaking out of the dry lot into the small paddock. There he proceeded to call to the other horses and race back and forth along the fence line. Hmm. Racing. I guess the pain meds kicked in. He’s staying home tomorrow anyway.

I sure enjoyed having guests and hope they make it to their eclipse destinations safely. Who’s next to visit?