Ranch Life – Page 45 – The Hermits' Rest

Congratulations! It’s a Pipit!

I’ve been trying to ID a brown bird I see every autumn for years now. It’s got white on the sides of its tail and is found in our pastures. Why has it been so hard?

There are LOTS of those tricky little brown birds here in the middle of Texas in the post oak savanna. In addition to the easily spotted house sparrows, there are savannah sparrows, vesper sparrows, lark sparrows, swamp sparrows, white-crowned sparrows, Harris’s sparrows, and maybe more. Some are easy, some are hard to ID visually.

This is the bird. A bit lanky for a sparrow.

That’s why I must once again praise Merlin Bird ID. It’s helped me figure out what I’m seeing SO much. And yesterday and today I was able to figure out what that mysterious brown bird of autumn is, and it’s not a sparrow.

It’s also not a meadowlark, which also has white along it’s tail feathers and a brown back. It does have a beautiful song, like the meadowlark, though.

Meadowlarks are this color in the front, though.

It’s an American pipit. Or it’s a Sprague’s pipit. They aren’t even related to sparrows, which is obvious if you look at their bills. They have the sharp bill of an insectivore. I know that because Merlin heard them calling.

I then read the description and had a “doh” moment. That’s exactly what I’ve been looking at in the fields.

With my love of identification and categorization of what’s around me, I’m quite satisfied right now. Pipit. Yeah. Turns out they’re not even uncommon. Huh.

This snail seed vine isn’t uncommon either, but it’s pretty.

It’s a good bird time right now and will only get better. I’m sad to see summer birds go, but meadowlarks and all those sparrows fill the air with song. Plus the phoebes are screeching and the shrikes are shrieking. The kingfisher is back, too!

It’s a great time of year. Flowers glow in late afternoon light.

And hey, only one bur today on Apache’s man bun and zero on Drew. I want to credit my braiding, but I think the new hay has kept them out of bur world.

Tiny crow poison looks like stars in the grass.

Who Says Neigh and Deserves Some Hay?

I know, I know! My horses! And after a lot of effort on many people’s part, they have some round bales to enjoy when the cold weather comes.

The horses seem pleased. They should be.

I had just washed my hair when I went out to figure out where to put the hay. I now wish I had a wind like today’s to style my hair with every wash! It made my hair look great!

By the way, I may deserve a treat or pampering like the horses get, too. It’s the dreaded cocklebur season. I’ve probably mentioned this multiple times already this autumn. The horses seem to think the grass under the bur plants is the BEST, because each of them has a fine collection of burs in their manes, with bonus tail burs…or had.

I took an extra half hour getting Drew and Apache ready for their lessons today. Some of it involved getting mud out of their hooves, but most of it was bur removal. Drew, whose new hairstyle is shown above, had about 15 burs in his made and a bunch in his tail. His hair is smooth, which makes it easy to get burs out. When I was done, I did the braiding you see. I hope it makes for fewer burs and easier removal. Plus, it’s cute.

Yes, eventually Apache got braided, too. First at least 38 burs had to be removed. He has fine, frizzy hair in his mane, so the burs stick way more and are much harder to remove. My poor hands! (I’m careful not to use my nails.) I ended up making his forelock into some kind of horse-man bun. That should help. The rest of his braid is longer than Drew’s, but at least it won’t fall forward and may get fewer burs. We will see. Too bad I never was a girly-girl or had a pony and learned to do fancy braids. But Tarrin said the style I did might work.

He also has lots of wisps and at one point his braid flew up like a kite.

But I can’t be annoyed at the guys. I’m still kind of shocked at how well Apache’s been doing in lessons. It’s so very fun to get more skilled at riding as he gets better at his form. We did slaloms today and ran out of things to criticize. And we did three barrels correctly, at a trot.

These are things I never expected. Heck, even his side passing is borderline okay! Quite an improvement! Obviously he isn’t built to be a high-level dressage horse and he started out way late, but as long as he’s healthy and interested, we’ll keep working on things.

Drew and I are both improving, too. Bridling is coming along, and I’m getting the hang of helping him get straighter on slaloms and barrels. He’s where Apache was last year. But I think he can do great things if we keep working away. He deserves hay, too.

And I deserve hay. Duh. Even though I bray rather than saying neigh.

Lots of us deserve a reward right now. I’ve solved some problems and helped people at work, for which I’m proud. Lee’s buying us a house to renovate! Go him! And others in my circle are being amazing caregivers. Teamwork!

Lessons Learned, Respect Earned

Today was full of ups and downs. I’m dealing with internal drama that has nothing to do with anyone else, but it’s making me impatient and snappy. I’m not at my best.

But guess who doesn’t care about any of that, as long as I leave it all back in the house? The horses. I just read a blog post by my trainer, Tarrin, who reminded us to only bring joy to our horses, not our baggage. That’s such good advice! And I did that today, because the moment I set eyes on my little herd, my stress fell away and was replaced with warmth and happiness.

It’s a pleasure to check in with each horse and Fiona the donkey, seeing how they’re feeling after a recent escapade with locking themselves in a small pen, noticing how calm and loving Mabel has become since starting supplements for ulcers, how irritated Drew is with his hurt head from the pen episode, and how happy Apache was to get loved on and de-burred.

It was Apache’s turn to be ridden today, and we are doing an exercise about going to the edges of his boundaries. It was going fine until I headed him in his “bad” direction just as Lee sped by in Hilda the utility vehicle. He threw his head down to shake the reins out of my hands and started to take off. But, hooray, I was prepared and did the correct version of a one-rein stop and he did, indeed, stop.

I swear I could hear Apache thinking, “Dang, that trick doesn’t work anymore.” He was a fine fellow the rest of the ride, including trotting around the outside of the round pen. Much petting and praise ensued. I’d gained his respect a bit more.

That’s the power of learning lessons from those who have more experience than you do. I’m lucky to have mentors and teachers in my life like Tarrin to impart these lessons in ways I can best hear them and use them.

Thank whoever’s helped you get through your challenges and empowers you to keep going. These are people to treasure! Thanks, Tarrin.

And thanks to Carlton for being goofy in his zest for unearthing hidden tissues. Hard to be sad watching that.

I Had a Party and Didn’t Stress Out

Here’s the key to not getting stressed when hosting an event: do it away from your house. Our little Airbnb, the Red House on Fannin, is a great place to hold a small gathering. It is so convenient to have a kitchen and lots of space for “stuff.”

So, some of my friends had asked me to tell them how I do my nails with the Color Street strips. It occurred to me that we could have fun doing it in a group.

When I mentioned it to Rebecca, who actually sells the stuff, she volunteered to send along a bunch of the nice accessories, like nail files, orange sticks, cuticle pushers, and more. She sent so many goodies! I really enjoyed being able to give them to my friends.

I wrote up a tips and tricks document for the attendees, too. At the party, I just answered questions and did one friend’s nails. That was hard, because sadly, some of the old ones dried up. We Zoomed Rebecca in from Washington, which was an added treat.

My chair is the empty one. We filled the room.

The best part, though, was the snacking and chatting and laughing. It ended up being a really congenial mix of women, and it felt good to introduce people and hear them say they made a new friend. I’m smiling just thinking about it. I agreed with my friend Jeannette that we’ve both made more friends here than anywhere else we’ve lived, even though this is a small place.

What a great feeling! I enjoyed seeing Anita meet more new folks, too. In the end, we agreed to get together again, with or without nail polish.

I’ve sure enjoyed all sorts of friends in the last week. It sure helps even out feelings of hopelessness and helplessness about world events and tragedies closer to home. I’m sending out lots of love, though.

A Prickly Day

Today would have been prickly, no matter what. I am still a bit hung over from all the traveling and activities. Conferences and numerous nature stops are a lot more busy than our usual relaxed and leisurely camping or condo trips.

I had a ton of fun, but I was extra tired. Too bad, because I’d scheduled the farrier for today and Sara had scheduled Jackie to come do bodywork on her horses, so I had to take this day, too, so Jackie only had to come out here once. That’s fine, but sure made me feel prickly and testy by the end of the afternoon!

I was happy to spend time with the horses, though. I’d missed them so much. They’d been busy while I was gone, though. Each and every one of them had been into the evil cockleburs.

Trying to get those out was the source of the rest of my prickles. Getting them out really eats at your fingers. Drew was the worst culprit. I bet he had 20 in his forelock. Jackie thought it was so funny she had to take pictures.

I finally got all the horses cleaned up in between body work and the hoof trimming. Everybody got their manes and tails cleaned up, which some enjoyed more than others. The best part was seeing how happy Mabel was to get all brushed and prettified. She’s come so far.

I was too tired to take more pictures, but here’s Vlassic, who was enjoying Hoof Treats.

Speaking of progress, absolutely zero of my horses nor Fiona was problematic getting trimmed. It was great. Apache and Dusty were perfect angels. So was Fifi. She picked up her little feet and just leaned on me to be petted. That sure pleased Terry, who works with some challenging donkeys.

I was pleased with Drew, too. He had some leg soreness worked on, but even so he only complained a little. And Mabel lost her balance a couple of times, but got through her trim the best she ever has. I know I didn’t cause all that good behavior, but I was proud of my little herd.

But my hands are all torn up. I even tore an edge off a fingernail that I’d just manicured. I fixed it, though. Ugh. It’s just the beginning of the bur season.

I cleverly used black tops to cover the damaged nail edges. (The polish is called Coffin Break.)

But even though I’m super grumpy and tired, I enjoyed the beautiful day. It was incredibly pleasant, though very windy. I’m glad the shipping container blocks the wind so well. We’re all relieved about the weather.

Art. Love.

Who are your favorite artists?

I love art. It’s hard to say who my favorite artist is, because I like different things from different eras, in different media…all delightful to me.

So I’ll be selfish and say my mom. Her water colors looked like they were from another world. Or my stepmother, Florence. Yes, my dad married two artists.

I had a book report to write, but it’s been a long. But good day. Apache was a champ at his lesson, and Drew has a sore leg again, but we helped him. It was fun!

I’ve had such a great week or so with the horses. Mabel has turned into my biggest fan. Today I called her when she was at the far corner of the back pasture, went in the tack room for a moment, and when I returned, there she was, in her pen looking at me like she was saying, “You rang?”

Her reward? Dinner! She always turns her food dish over and eats off the ground.

And Dusty had me really worried for a while. He started to get real thin.

Here he is running toward dinner with Drew as Fiona patiently waits for them to go by. We hope he puts on weight and isn’t dealing with a condition.

He’s looking better and seems to appreciate his increased rations.

With all the turmoil in the world right now, it’s nice to have both art and animals to keep us grounded.

Tired, but a Good Kind of Tired

It was a fun day with a good balance of exploring the hidden corners of the ranch and being a people person. But I’m so tired I’m afraid this will end up as one of those typo-filled collections of gibberish.

I really enjoyed the coolest morning so far after the horrid summer. I went all over the more inaccessible areas of the Hermits’ Rest Ranch. I was looking for butterflies and certain specific plants. I succeeded in finding monarchs, a few other butterflies, and passionflowers (plus passion fruit). That’s a lot of beauty. Ooh do those passionflowers smell nice.

I’ll share more later. But I made good contributions to the iNaturalist 2023 Texas Pollinator BioBlitz. That felt good. I even got observations at the place where I went this afternoon!

I found the most interesting insect, the large-tailed aphid eater, or bird hoverfly (*Eupeodes volucris*)

And where I spent the afternoon was being a vendor at a showcase at the Little River Event Center, one of the two nice local venues that recommend our short-term rental, the Red House on Fannin. Anita joined me partway through the event.

We met some very nice folks, and I really enjoyed the young woman with a Photo Booth next to me. There were all the usual wedding vendors like photographers, event planners, florists, and caterers. They were mostly younger women with small children, but not all were.

The first thing I learned was that colors should be neutral. We were the only red thing in the venue. The second thing was that I need a sign. Otherwise it was lots of fun and we made good contacts, along with visiting with some friends.

This beautiful ranch is just outside of Cameron.

I appreciate the opportunity to get out and introduce people to our little house. It’s working out pretty well! I’m glad there are places like these event venues that will promote us, and we can return the favor.

Now to crash. Sorry if there are more typos than usual.

Change of Mind, Change of Weather

What’s a topic or issue about which you’ve changed your mind?

I was going to be flip and answer this one with “golf.” I thought it was boring and elitist when I was young, and getting my head cracked open by a golf club in bad ole 8th grade didn’t help (when I mentioned this earlier I forgot to add that as I stumbled my way alone and bleeding to the school nurse, I rubbed blood all over the exterior of Plantation Middle School, to express my disgust with my situation. They never did golf again in middle school PE. However, I’ve come to enjoy watching golf on television and have fun at Top Golf.

No golf photos, but here’s a painted lady.

My more serious answer is that I’ve changed my mind about Christianity. I have gradually come to realize that I am not fond of institutional religion in general, not just Christianity. Also, I realized that what upsets me most about certain Christian sects is how bizarrely they’ve distorted the message of peace, kindness, and caring that the historical Christ preached into a war-mongering, cruel, and disdainful way of enforcing power over the masses in favor of a privileged few.

It turns out that there are Christians with whom I agree very much and whose ideas I’m happy to incorporate into my life, along with wise people from other traditions. So, I am still quite unimpressed with many versions of Christianity, but I’m very comfortable with the teachings of Christ (not Paul’s version).

A bee I’d never seen before. ID not confirmed.

Enough of that. Huzzah! Today was the day! Pleasant weather arrived! I even had to wear a sweatshirt getting Drew ready to go to a horse clinic. I just basked all day and couldn’t make myself stay inside even after I got home. I wandered around taking pictures for the pollinator BioBlitz that’s going on.

Texas nightshade (*Solanum triquetrum*) is a pretty plant that only grows in one spot on our property.

The nice weather made the clinic lots of fun, even though Drew was not on his best behavior much of the time, because he was very distracted by a beautiful mare (I don’t know what makes a mare beautiful to a hormonal gelding, but she is very pretty.

Eventually he settled down, but not after I had to trot him in a circle so many times I was getting dizzy. He was distracted. Once we switched to obstacles, he did better. We jumped! And we went around a corner backwards. There were challenges due to my lack of skill, but I got through the day.

It was funny that all three horses in my group were gray. Drew’s the tiny one that doesn’t cost tens of thousands of dollars. But he is just fine.

Brilliantly, we separated Drew from Luna for the photo.

Hanging out with the horse gang again was just great. I’m glad summer is over so we can have fun and learn more. There’s lots to learn!

Sara got this picture of Drew not grasping the concept of sharing space with Aragorn.

Life without a Computer Is Like Snow White in the Forest

Your life without a computer: what does it look like?

Now, y’all may be surprised by my answer to this question, given that I have made my career in online activities and teaching folks about software. I made websites when there were no images in them, after all (1993).

First, I’d still be outside a very often, hiking, playing with horses and dogs, and observing plants, birds and other wildlife.

You can see my house way down this hill.

Second, I’d still be knitting, crocheting, doing needlepoint and all that. I’d just have books to learn from and go to the library a lot, just like I did in the blissful 70s and 80s.

I think I’d do many of the same things in person that I now do online. I’m a writer, so nothing will stop me from writing. I used to be a great typist, too. I typed a book on Catalan using three different IBM Selectric type balls, which you young folks have never even heard of, probably. I also have excellent handwriting in cursive, that ancient indecipherable script.

I could also still teach adults. I guess I’d teach at a community college or vocational school. From books. Books are good.

Book I’m reading. I prefer real books, but use the Kindle when traveling. I’m not an auditory learner by preference, so I’m not as fond of listening to them.

I’d create communities, too, just like I used to do with email groups and chat software, but (gasp) in person. I do that now, anyway, or try to. I love being with like-minded people to learn and support each other. Who needs Zoom?

But mostly I’d wander around listening to birds and watching butterflies, just like Snow White or whoever it was that had all the forest creatures flocking around her in a cartoon. Ah, it was Sleeping Beauty.

I think I’d be very happy. I was certainly happy outdoors among nature today. It rained 1.5” overnight, so all the living beings were happy. I even recorded two new birds on the Merlin app, a gray catbird and house wren (both birds I’ve seen before but never recorded). And it was only up to 84° today!

I didn’t hear these vultures, but I saw them, along with a crested caracara and a red-shouldered hawk.

The only sad part was finding a beautiful leopard frog that had gotten caught in the shredder last night when all the front field got all smooth and pretty. But that means there are probably more of these beauties!

Yes, autumn is actually here. It’s even going to be chilly this weekend! Enjoy my nature photos from my pleasant nature walk today.

A Skill I Need

What skill would you like to learn?

I’m so tired that I don’t have much in me tonight. I had a earache all last night, for no reason I can discern. I’m not someone who gets ear infections and there’s no water in my ears. Anyway, short blog today.

Also, no exciting photos. I was trying to get good pictures of my horses. I didn’t really.

I thought about skills I’d like to learn, like painting, machine sewing, spinning yarn, or playing piano. They are all artsy skills.

The skill I NEED to learn, though, is hitching a horse trailer to a vehicle and safely conveying said horses to their destination. Oh, and parking competently. I think what’s stopping me is that I could probably drive fine, but I’m not strong enough to change tires or deal with mechanical issues, so I like having a companion.

Lee points out that two hours of horse lessons usually wipe me out mentally and physically, which is why he doesn’t mind taking me to Tarrin’s. After getting the horses and their equipment ready, the ride over lets me recover enough to do the lesson, and the ride back home gets me cooled off enough to unpack and feed everyone without keeling over.

I’m running out of hay. Not good. Need rain. Hoping for tonight.

I’m more athletic than I once was, but now age is creeping up on me. It’s better than the alternative. My financial planner says I will have enough money to make it to 2051. That should do, though I did want to live to the age of 100, if human civilization makes it to 2058.

I’m rambling.