Ranch Life – Page 2 – The Hermits' Rest

Book I treasured

Which book have you read more than any other?

Still on yesterday’s book theme, I guess. I thought about it a while, and there are two books I re-read so many times I lost count. One was Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell. She was a very good horses’ rights advocate, and she sure convinced me that horses should be treated kindly, even working horses.

I have a feeling I wrote about this before, and I did, a whole blog post two years ago. So go read that. Obviously the blog prompt writers repeat themselves!

The repetition did give me a chance to think of another book I read so much it fell apart. It was a book about Star Trek (TOS)* that listed every episode, its name, the cast, etc. Allow me to go find out its name. It’s not on the shelf next to my James Blish novelizations of each episode. Yes, I had all those beauties, mostly first editions.

The best I can come up with is The Making of Star Trek. That was by Roddenberry and someone else. But it was 1976, too late.

I don’t have book cover photos so here are the fish again. Three of four goldfish.

Or perhaps it was the World of Star Trek by David Gerrold. I had both, but this one came out in 1973 at the peak of my fascination. I do remember I annotated the book extensively and kept it by my TV chair (which is still with me, in my office). Yep, that book probably got read more than even Black Beauty.

Well, I hope someone found this interesting. My one Trekkie reader, I guess.

Oh. We have been given Benny the brown chiweenie or something related to that. His owner says he obviously seems happy here. Yeah. He’s not in a cage outside. I woke up this morning with him and Carlton sleeping sweetly beside me. Anyway, we can get him neutered and updated on shots now.

I just kept coming back until you got the hint.

And I had a very complicated day at the dentist. A simple crown replacement turned into an extraction, prep for another root canal, and something or other on a third tooth. This leads to the need for expensive repairs. Glad I have a savings account and pain meds.

Book Report: Steve Martin Writes the Written Word

I find Steve Martin funny, charming, musically talented, and a fine actor. As a writer I give him a solid B/B+. He’s not a bad writer, but not one whose words would get published as hardback books if he weren’t already famous. So, you don’t need to run out and buy Steve Martin Writes the Written Word: Collected Written Word Works by Steve Martin. You can get it when it comes out in paperback. Or I bet it’s better with him reading it as an audiobook. You’d get all that wryness and tongue-in-cheek-itude better.

There are short stories, odd lists, and two novellas in this collection, including Shop Girl, which became a show or movie or something. I found it okay, but didn’t really like the characters. The Pleasure of My Company, a story written from the viewpoint of a very neurotic but likable fellow, I enjoyed more.

It occurs to me that much of Martin’s ability to make you laugh comes from tone of voice or slapstick, neither of which come across very well written in written words works.

I left the book at the condo so someone else could read it, though they tried very hard to return it to Anita.

Fish update

I did promise yesterday to show you the rosy red minnows that went in the fish pond yesterday. They all came up at feeding time, so I could get photos in the murky water. They’re busy chowing down on that algae.

I got another couple of goldfish photos. One is not a fantail, so it’s easy to ID!

Animal comings and goings

While I was on the East Coast looking at waves and birds, there have been shifts in the population here at the Hermits’ Rest. One is a familiar friend/nuisance (depending on behavior that changes moment to moment).

Yep. Apparently Lee woke up Thursday night to find Benny in his lap. He no longer has his collar on, but still is a fully functional manly dog. So much for the people 2 miles away promising to fix both their fence and the dog.

He’s still madly enamored of poor Carlton, who patiently rebuffs Benny’s attempts at fathering very ugly puppies with him. Benny is apparently an example that yes, dogs can be gay. He is Carlton’s constant shadow. At least he’s settled in enough on this visit that they have started playing more and mounting less. That’s very welcome.

I assume at some point the teen girl will come home from Grandma’s house (or whatever) and ask about him. Then her dad will have to come here and listen to another lecture on neutering and keeping track of pets. Until then, we will take care of our guest, unless he decides to go home. He’s a nice dog other than the boundless energy when I’m trying to sleep and his Carlton fixation.

Also while I was gone the population of the fish pond went from 0 to four. Kathleen bought me four pretty goldfish and had Lee put them in.

We needed them since the algae is creeping in.

They are my favorite kind, so I’m pleased. They are all still alive. Kathleen predicts they’ll die on day 15, since they have a 14-day guarantee.

She tried to get minnows yesterday, but the pet store didn’t have any and didn’t appear to be caring for their other fish.

Same fish. The other two saw the camera and fled.

However, today she was at College Station and found healthier minnows. I’ll get photos of them tomorrow, but they look like minnows, and they will be in this green water. Just imagine it.

We still have the same number of birds and equines, so that will have to do for the animal report.

Book Report: Mona’s Eyes

I finished this novel/art history textbook before I left for South Carolina, but needed to find time to write it up. Mona’s Eyes is a masterpiece that will live on for many generations. Or so I think. It’s by Thomas Schlesser and was originally published in French. The translator did a superb job capturing Frenchness into English.

The plot sounds really strange when you describe it. The grandfather of a young girl who might be going blind takes her to museums in Paris to view a piece of art per week. She learns and grows. The end.

There’s more to it than that. It’s more fun to discover it for yourself. The bonus is that you get a free Art Appreciation 101 class along with your novel. It’s great. The book jacket is secretly a key to all the art discussed, so you have a reference point. I rearranged the cover many times for handy viewing.

Mona is a bit strange and eerily smart for her age. She also has super vision, other than that impending blindness. And the grandfather is a warm and emotionally complicated guy, too. All the characters are nicely developed and it’s fun to watch the plot unfold while simultaneously learning to analyze art from ancient times to this century.

The only caveat I have about Mona’s Eyes is that it assumes some degree of cultural literacy and a bit of understanding of French history. I had to look up a couple of references, though Schlesser does a pretty good job of working in historical context and art terminology as the action unfolds. I found the educational part really fun.

If you have some time and a place where you can focus, you’ll treasure this book like I did.

Driving to the Coast with Pamela

My friend Pamela and I traveled to Corpus Christi today to go to a convention, because somehow we got elected delegates. It was such a pleasant drive! We went the back way, which was really pretty after all the recent rains. We stopped for lunch in LaGrange, where there was a new restaurant we happened upon.

Look at that spinach soufflé and squash! oh and some meat stuff.

The meal was delicious! I’m so glad I could find a local spot. We happened to meet some woman from there at the convention, and they said the place was brand new.

I was very happy to find our hotel, which is right on the beach but has a weird very steep driveway. Yet another construction site hotel. But where we are seems new and beautiful.

And you can see the Gulf of Mexico from our room, kind of.

We got a ride to the convention site, wandered around, and ended up meeting fascinating people who live part-time in our county! And they were with a musician I’d known from my past in the Austin area. We had a great conversation and ended up knowing many people in common. How random!

Next, a guy walked up to greet them. It was my former singing partner, Austin. Dang. He didn’t recognize me. I look different, especially with my crazy hair and weird glasses.

It was great to see Austin and his wife Connie again after a good number of years. They were kind enough to give Pamela a ride to and from a “fun” event that ended up way too crowded for our taste.

Pamela was pretty zonked after that excitement so we ordered Thai food delivered to our room. It was excellent! We were pleasantly surprised. Tomorrow’s an early day of caucuses and I don’t know what. I hope I have time to look at some birds and water.

Ooh. I almost forgot. We got new gutters today, in preparation for hooking up our rainwater collection system. The guys worked 14 hours! Lee was impressed.

Getting started. Last photo with nice red gutters.

There are no finished photos because they finished after dark.

Birds of radically different feathers

My day today started off with spending a good while just watching a pair of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds flitting around and hanging out.

Usually if there are two males, they chase each other to defend their territory, but this male and female were just hanging out and maybe flirting. It was very calming to observe.

Bunnies were hard to distinguish from Lee’s mowing clumps.

The day (very long) ended with Kathleen presenting me with one of her diamond painting crafts. I knew she made them, but had never seen one before. I guessed (correctly) that she wasn’t surprising me with beautiful flowers, because she was suppressing a laugh as she came up to me, holding something behind her back. What was it? Well, she knows how much I like birds, so she tested my love of my avian friends by making me a bird I couldn’t like.

He’s watching me from the fireplace now.

I laughed so hard. It’s so nice and sparkly! It’s just the perfect gag gift! I love how we can poke fun at each other and enjoy stuff like this. We can all use a good laugh to keep us going.

Meanwhile, I did my nails all patriotic in preparation for a weekend trip. This polish looks like those rocket popsicles.

I’ll try to write tomorrow. I’m stepping out of my comfort zone.

Little joys for girls and boys

Today was pretty darned pleasant. I got some items on my to-do list done, and enjoyed a day of less bad news surrounding me. Woo hoo!

The knockout roses Lee bought that I thought were doomed are both blooming. One little joy!

I went with Lee and Chris to Lowe’s to pick up supplies for the pool house project behind our house. I remembered to ask them to get a new air conditioner for my she shed, which will certainly improve horse feeding this summer.

I also finally remembered to get an American flag to go by our front gate. I’d been intending to do it for quite some e, but I rarely go anywhere that would have one these days. I want to be clear that everyone on our property has hopes for a better future here, no matter the details of our beliefs.

When we got home I hurried to do barn chores, and the flag was up by the time I got finished! What a joy.

I met an interesting man who builds furniture mostly out of 2x4s at the checkout line at Lowe’s. I enjoyed looking at his creative ideas and techniques. He reminded me very much of the creative builders in my family!

After Lowe’s Lee and I went to the pet store and got some “rosy red minnows” to put in the horses’ water troughs. That’s another to-do item I kept forgetting to do. I didn’t remember to take any pictures before I put them in. Let’s hope enough of them survive to do mosquito and algae control.

Apache and Spice always are fascinated by fish. Let’s hope these hide under their cement blocks well.

We got canna lilies to plant near the pool, too. The variety name cracked me up. My mother’s first name was Canova. Close. No humans by that name are authorized in this property, but innocent sale bin plants are.

Plus, I gave my nails a rainbow manicure and finished May on the temperature blanket. April and May were fairly pleasant. June is rather red so far. Red is over 90°, wine is over 95° and hot pink is over 100°. I’m hoping for very little hot pink this summer.

I wish you little moments of joy and much peace. Thanks for reading.

People can be rejuvenating

If you’ve read my writing before, you’ve probably realized I’ve gotten more like the hermit in our ranch name as time goes on. I get pretty drained in crowds nowadays, even Master Naturalist meetings. (Yet I am going to a convention soon, which I may regret.)

However, one-on-one interactions lift my spirits so much! Today I had many opportunities for good conversation. I’m thankful to all!

I’m even grateful for this large bold jumping spider who entertained us this morning.

This morning I spent a good while talking about some complicated stuff with Kathleen over our morning coffee, but soon the topics veered off into what an odd little family dynamic we have over here at the compound. For example, we keep repaying each other similar amounts of money, so it’s just floating around in circles. Much laughter ensued. Penney also found it funny.

Next, Terry the farrier came to trim the horses and Fiona. We had good conversation with him, too. I enjoy learning his stories of his interesting life and his own odd happenings, like someone just giving him a Jeep. He also found a weird thing growing on Spice, near her tests. Our guess is that it’s a skin tag or little melanoma. I need to find someone knowledgeable to look at it.

After a nice, quiet afternoon of work, Terri from Master Naturalists came over to get a blog software refresher so she can help on the Master Naturalist blog. We are supposed to have a backup for all our roles. We fed the horses, looked at all the ponds and outbuildings, and yes, practiced blogging. I tried to explain our family arrangements here, and once again realized how weird it sounds when you say it out loud. I enjoyed her stories of living on a sailboat with young children, too.

I know I share a lot of egrets. But they are so beautiful.

It was a very pleasant time with no deadlines or big agenda. The whole day was like that. Very little negativity and much supportive interaction. I wish you similar days!

It’s dragonfly season

For the past week or two, I’ve been enjoying my friends in the order Odonata, the dragonflies and damselflies. They’ve been darting around the ponds and zipping around the driveway. I always look forward to the brightly colored pink, purple, orange, blue, and green shapes, especially when they hold still.

Of course, even the less colorful ones are fun, since they tend to make up for it with interesting patterns.

Common whitetail, female. ***Plathemis lydia***

I didn’t get any photos as pretty as the one yesterday, but I thought this backlit Roseate skimmer was artistic. These are gloriously pink in sunlight.

What the heck, here are more pictures of yesterday’s Blue dasher.

I got to wondering how many different Odonata species we’ve observed here at the ranch. Luck is with me, because I have an iNaturalist project of all observations on our original property and the one next door. Turns out there are 24 species so far. Look at all the variety!

I know I’ve seen some of these more frequently than it appears. But those skimmers are hard to get sitting still. I’ll have to try with the good camera. It doesn’t help that dragonfly season is also mosquito season, which means I also don’t want to hold still very long. I do see many amber wings and Halloween pennants, but they are quite busy so not so many photos.

And no, I can’t tell one blue dancer from another. I do know powdered dancers. They hang around the swimming pool with me.

I’d love to know what dragonflies and damselflies some of you see elsewhere. I’ll have to look up their ranges.

It’s nice to be nice

Today was good. One of my friends had asked our chat group if anyone had certain essential oils. I thought to myself, why, I have a considerable amount of essential oils. I could give them to her so she wouldn’t have to spend all the money to buy them. Then I realized I now only use one or two oils, so ten years’ worth of collecting was just sitting there. I decided to give it all away.

I could barely carry the bag full of oils in boxes, bags, etc. into the restaurant for lunch. I laughed as my friends descended on those bottles of oils like magpies spotting shiny objects. The one who needed the oils to tend to her llama went first, and she found all she needed.

I got joy out of everyone’s chatter and discussion of where and how they were going to use their aromatic treasures. It all went to someone, including the boxes, one of which was a humidor. One friend only took a box! I was just so pleased to know that this stuff I’d spent a lot of money on would get used by people who’d enjoy it. I’m so happy for them.

Later in the day, I gave the phone number we’d been using for our late lamented Air Bnb house to my son’s partner, who is about to lose their previous number. I’m so proud of myself for remembering to hold on to the number for just this kind of occurrence. My reward was hugs and smiles, which made my heart soar. All I want is to make life a little easier for them!

A different topic

This still relates to being nice, but in a different way. I finally got an equine dentist to come out and float our horses’ teeth. Kayli at Walking K Equine Dentistry is charming and enthusiastic. She’s also one strong cowgirl.

It’s always fun to watch the horses get worked on. They always feel better with sharp edges removed and irregularities smoothed out.

Dusty wanted to share a story with Kayli.

The best part is when they’re done and recovering from the sedation. It’s pure relaxation. I really enjoyed listening to Spice snoring as she recovered.

I’m glad we found someone who lives nearby to do this work, since it needs to be done yearly and our previous dentist has had trouble with appointments (she’s still very good at the job). Mabel needs to be seen again in 6 months because she has a loose tooth. Or Spice. What a fine memory I have. Good thing Kathleen was with me to remember things and tell fun stories about cattle. We are an interesting team.

I’m thinking that, since I hear often that I need to have fewer objects, I should keep my ears open in case someone else needs something I can pass on. It’s uplifting to think that my unused items could be just what someone else needs!