How on earth can I be worn out on a day when I couldn’t do much due to drizzle? That’s easy. I wore my mind out.
Yet another bluebonnet photo will help!
I lost my detachment from current events and got angry. It’s a good thing fewer than 30 people read my Substack, because I went off on the concept of “improper ideology” for many paragraphs. You can read it if you want to. I just blathered. It will bite me in the butt someday, but I’m old and have no employer to defer to, so who cares?
Bluebonnets and slightly more full pond.
I got my stuff ready for our in-person horse show tomorrow, though Apache is filthy and I’m not sure how great he feels. My shoulder still hurts a lot, but otherwise I’m okay. I have all sorts of wound care and cleaning stuff for him. I just hope I have time to get him ready.
That black-and-white blob is a Mournful Thyris moth.
Ah well. I’m glad for the rain. It’s much greener already. Maybe more will come, after tomorrow.
Weirdly, the temperature range today was just five degrees. That made for an interesting square in my temperature blanket with two shades of yellow for the low and high temperatures Fahrenheit.
We had a couple warm days this week (Orange is when I start to sweat (85-89°)).
The reason for this stasis is that we finally had a good rain front come through, which hadn’t happened since last month. People south of us got much more, but we are closing in on an inch here, which will at least moisten the parched wildflowers and raise the levels in the ponds/tanks a bit.
More is predicted for tomorrow, so I’m hoping Mother Nature will be kind to us, even though the rain made Dusty and Drew go into wild stallion mode all day. So much rearing, kicking, and neck snaking has to be hard on them both.
Drew does not get the message
To top the day off, we lost power right as I was getting ready to cook dinner. I set the last pot on the stove and was about to cut up onions when the power started to flicker. After about ten minutes of that, the lights went off for a couple of hours. I’d say that forced some downtime but that’s not true. I took a walk in the rain with the big umbrella and was rewarded with the haunting sounds of Upland Sandpipers, followed by much ado from a Greater Yellowlegs, another shore bird with an unforgettable sound. The rain had it pretty excited.
The horses were quite concerned at the sight of me with the unfamiliar umbrella. High alert!
After a candlelight hamburger dinner, the power came back so Lee could get back to bookbinding and I could finish my crochet squares. This domestic tranquility reminds me that there was a good event this morning.
It involves me.
Yes, this morning I was reading email in bed, when I heard dog footsteps. I looked, and Carlton and Penney were both in the bed. What?
I was being good. Just like this, only in bed.
It was Harvey. He’d made it upstairs, which he’d only tried twice before, since his stroke or whatever happened. But there he was, happy as he could be. The important thing is that after I got dressed and went downstairs, he came down in his own. Lee heard it, and he said it sounded more graceful than last time. I guess his liver medication is helping (it costs more than any of our human medicine).
It’s good to see Harvey helping Alfred guard the premises.
I’m hoping for more rain, then for a nice clear Saturday, assuming Apache and I are healed up enough to do the show. He seems fine. My shoulder is messed up, which may have something to do with the hoof-shaped bruise on my upper arm. I’ll live, I’m sure!
No wonder my arm hurt yesterday.
My shoulder isn’t too bad, anyway. I managed to lift 40-pound bags of alfalfa and salt that the previous horses needed. I’m a strong older person!
Enjoy this bonus ground cherry, which is undoubtedly happy with Ma Nature tonight!
After all the horse hugging yesterday, I did not expect the weather to be nice to me today, but it was! Now, it’s still windy as heck, but I guess that’s typical March coming in like a lion stuff.
Spring, the elusive season.
I’ve been unhappy with the weather, because all the flowers are coming up late, but it turns out it’s not just here. Friends elsewhere report similar late spring plant activity. I did go wander through the property today to check for flowers coming up, and they are there, just not up as far as usual. Whew.
Bluebonnet with a bid. Prickly sow thistle Field madderWood sorrelAnemone Dewberry Dwarf dandelionTiny bluet
The weather even blew a Barn Swallow into the house when a door blew open, which I’m sure was no fun for it. Luckily it found its way back out and the house isn’t all poopy.
What did you do with my wife?
The day was so lovely and sunny, though, which was a gift after so many days of angry clouds and dust. Imagine my surprise when we got a severe thunderstorm warning just as I was finishing a call with my financial advisor (depressing).
Can you see green leaves forming on the trees?
I went out to feed the animals and get everything all cozy, and even had time to ride Apache before it got ominous out. The rain that came was pleasant and didn’t last too long. Afterwards I noticed the sun came out while it was still drizzling. I knew was warm fuzzy gift that would bring!
It was one of the fullest rainbows I’d seen here in a long time. It was very intense, which is hard to tell from pictures.
Double
Little things like light refracting on water droplets can make one’s day!
Pot of gold location
But more awaited me. The nearly full moon rose and peeked over some leftover rain clouds and was so pretty I had to stop my errands to watch it.
There were no clouds in the west, so all the color you see is from the setting sun hitting the clouds.
Right now, when our horizons are quite cloudy, pausing to enjoy gifts like rainbows and sunsets can make all the difference.
All the ideas I got from reflecting on my tarot reading last night swirled around me today. With the nudge I got that maybe I CAN get through these times and help others if I do what it takes to keep me centered, I decided to up my grounding ante.
I got enough time in today to enjoy nature, meditate well, and really see the big picture of what I’m surrounded by—the natural world and its order. Not always peaceful or perfect, but adapting as things change. Thanks, birds and clouds!
The clouds and sunset were gorgeous today.
After all the warmth and grounding I got from Apache and Dusty yesterday, I decided Mabel from the Stable needed a turn. She’d been looking at me with kindness and interest lately.
She looks happy, not worried.
So, after Apache did his workout, I haltered Mabel, which is her least good skill, and gave her some extra alfalfa while I groomed and de-burred her. Neither was easy. She had mud dried into clay on her coat, which even with my nails I couldn’t completely eliminate. And while her tail is a breeze to get smooth, her mane is another story. For one thing, it’s way up there. She’s a tall Thoroughbred-style mama. And it’s very fine. But I did it, and noted that she was pretty patient.
At least her tail finally grew out.
As her “reward” I took her on a walk, and just for fun, did some longe-line work in the round pen. She was fine, other than getting a little excited toward the end. Her ears were always forward and she stayed focused. I got her to back up and side pass a bit. Well.
That was a lot more fun than working with Drew has been lately. I think we will pivot and play with Mabel while Drew gets a break and maybe finds a home with someone who can work with him the way he needs. If not, he may be the pasture ornament for a while. An expensive one. But I still love him! He’s just too much for my skill set.
I’d look much better without the burs. Yes, I’ll working on him tomorrow.
On the other hand, I feel very calm and centered working with the other three, so that’s good!
Another bucolic scene of nature and peace, brought to you by our back pond.
I am feeling a bit better today, probably because after a misty morning, we had a beautiful day to enjoy.
Caracara found a dead opossum I made it leave.
After work, I went out to sit outside, but something caught my eye. I saw four horses and a donkey in front of the house, where the unmown grass is. Horse heaven.
I figured they’d finally noticed their fence along the driveway had only one strand of wire and it had mostly broken fence poles or whatever you call them. So I took out some new posts conveniently located in the garage, (ah, yes, we call them posts) and found a random piece of wire I could use to repair the broken wire-attachy-thing. This is not a permanent fix, because it’s a temporary fence and the original plastic posts are deteriorating. But it looks better.
The orange things are new and I “repaired” yellow the top attaching hook.
I got it all fixed, then as I was walking back I surmised that the horses (most likely Apache) had opened their gate to get out. I thought I must not have done as many tricky chain things as were needed to thwart him yesterday. I was all fine with that, since I knew they would come back in for dinner, and that field has some nice older grass for them.
There were little flowers to distract me, too. This is crow poison.
I went over to the bird-watching chair to write down what Merlin heard during my fence repairing (Purple Martin and Lark Sparrow were highlights). When I took a refreshing swig of my fancy soda I found in Kathleen’s refrigerator, i discovered something non-liquid and buzzy in it. I sure spat that bee out fast!
Fancy bee soda
About 20 minutes later, I hit ANOTHER bee, got more drink all over myself, and gave up my reverie.
Bee #2
I lured the horses out of the grassy field with some food, which rude Drew tried to knock me over for until Apache pushed him away and escorted me to the pens. What a gentleman. As a reward, Apache got all cleaned up before his daily workout. Burs. Yuck.
Two old friends. I’m grateful for these two.
After the other horses were finished eating every morsel in every dish, I noticed some teamwork going on. Drew and Mabel marched right up to where the broken fence was, ready to head back to the grass. The new fencing didn’t please them at all. I realized they had indeed broken out and also opened the gate!
Grr.
They went all the way down to the pond, testing for weak areas. They even pushed a bit. Whew, the fence held. Disgusted, they fetched Dusty for help.
We’re getting Dusty.
Then I just had to laugh. It’s like Dusty told them to chill out, and the three of them took a nap. They really had eaten a lot!
Zzzzz
I’ll probably find them out again tomorrow, but we closed the gate and the guy that is fixing Seneca the motorhome knows how to use it. Yes, all the yearly service is done and some things are fixed! There’s just a water issue to remaining to take care of. The cold was not kind to any of our couplings, it appears. But that’s for tomorrow. I hope I don’t have to disappoint the horses again.
The recent cold spell has taken a lot out of me. Combined with mourning from losing Goldie and being sad that the Red House on Fannin got rented out, I’ve been not much fun. I’m glad we will get income from the house, but it was fun fixing it up to be the Airbnb. Another failed enterprise. We’re racking them up.
In good news, I unpacked these pretty things from boxes we’d stored at the Red House.
I’m not going to be a part of any more joint ventures with friends and family from now on. Hold me to that. I really stink at such things, and sitting inside in the cold gave me too much time to dwell on past mistakes, knowing perfectly well that beating myself up over past errors and regrets in judgement is not productive. Learn from mistakes and move on, I’ve been repeating that.
I also found my really good bowls and gave away many things to my son and his coworkers. That felt good.
The cold was hard on the birds I usually hang out with, too. For two days in a row I only observed a few birds on Merlin. Yesterday, it saddened me to find one of the male Barn Swallow scouts had died on the porch. I put it safely to rest and then washed my hands a lot in case he had bird flu.
Poor little guy.
The chickens and Connie made it through the cold snap by staying in their house. They didn’t stop laying eggs, though. Today they were back to normal outdoor activities and Connie finally laid a big ole turkey egg. Here it is compared to her first egg (I saved it).
This one won’t fit in the egg carton.
Today it finally warmed up and I was able to spend my usual amount of time outside. It made a big difference, since I started the day really dragging and ended up with stories to tell Lee.
All the chairs now have cushions, making for good patio time.
I was able to pull some burs off the equines and do more than stick food under their noses and flee. That pleased everyone but Drew, who just isn’t in a good space.
Since I was out a lot, I got to hear and see fun bird action. The Barred Owl was hooting much of the day, which is always fun. There were ducks flying around, too, at least three kinds. Of course, the sparrows, chickadees, and Cardinals entertained a lot. They all seemed glad it warmed up.
Birds of Today
I was walking along the fence line listening to a Red-tailed Hawk making some of its weird calls when something white bounced off my head. I looked up to see all the mistletoe above me was full of round, white berries.
Zoom in and you can see berries.
Did one just fall on me? No. It quickly became obvious that one of the Mockingbirds had dropped it. It hopped over to the fence then into the bush next to me, scolding me with mistletoe still in its beak. I understood that I was on his territory (must be a male, because he’d been singing earlier) and retreated with a smile on my face.
See the green in his mouth?
Hooray. I need my bird observation and horse time to keep me out of my funks and remind me about that living in the moment thing I’m supposed to be aiming for. Darn those polar vortexes.
I don’t think I’ve been as cold as I was today in a long time. In fact, it was ten years ago, the last time I worked in Canada. They can really do a good polar vortex there!
Toronto, 2015
The wind chill was around 6° when I was feeding the chickens, but my insides were warm all day. It’s absolutely astounding how friends and supporters show up when you need them, and I sure got a lot of help after my earlier post today. Maybe I should remember to ask for support more often.
Support meeee!
Never forget that there are many kind, smart, and thoughtful folks out there in social media land, not just bots and trolls. Thanks to comments, messages, and memes sent my way, I now have great ideas on what I can do to make positive use of my concerns and insights into how recent events affect others. Even the posts from thoughtful people I disagree with helped me gain perspective.
Hmm, this is jittery, like me.
So thank you, all of you. You make the world more positive, and keep me more grounded.
First. It’s extra cold with a big helping of icy wind to top it off. Gotta love those polar vortexes right when the leaves are getting ready to bud.
It was a two-dog night. If Harvey could get upstairs, it would have been three.
If Hell hasn’t frozen over, at least Texas has. When I looked out the door this morning, a Dark-eyed Junco hopped up as if to ask if she could come inside.
I braved taking off my glove to capture these chilly White-crowned Sparrows.
Second. Perhaps it’s a good thing it’s so cold, because it cools the white-hot rage burning inside me since I woke up to read that the head of the Executive Branch of the USA issued an executive order stating only he and the Attorney General can interpret US law. I think that pretty much completes the coup.
Not true anymore, o protester.
Truly, I hope the voters who approved this administration remain happy with how things are going. Some of the developments have to be hard for Faux News to put a positive spin on.
Irrelevant (except Second Amendment)
Perhaps I’m living in Hell. Hell is, after all, other people (according to Sartre, who wasn’t American and was an intellectual so no longer matters where I live).
PS: I read this soon after writing this blog post. It’s by Rev. Jim Rigby, my hero in Christian thought. I hope it helps you.
This provides me with a perfect excuse to sit outside in my chair for hours and track what birds show up. I needed that healing time, and the peace of being outdoors. Since there was a break in the weather and the sun came out, I got a lot of healing time out of the break.
It was so green! But frigid air is returning.
Plus, I found 46 species of birds today, which will be great for the count. We’re so lucky here that I can see water birds, woodland birds, and meadow birds (like Meadowlarks!). Even a duck flew over, an American Wigeon. I wish ducks liked our ponds more, but they mainly attract shore birds. At least mostly all the winter sparrows and the Pipit showed up: White-crowned, White-throated, Savannah, Vesper, Field, Harris’s, Song, and House (technically an Old World species). So many little brown birds. I just love watching them, the Cardinals, the Chickadees, and the Titmice searching for tasty morsels.
Chickadee eating
Okay, so when I wasn’t birding I did my nails, which always distracts me for an hour each week as I try not to wrinkle the polish or put them on wonky. These look pretty cool.
Pink, the February theme color.
I was writing up the Master Naturalist meeting minutes in my office and kept thinking I saw Goldie on the sofa. Or couch. I had to make it look different and not remind me so much of her or I’d dread going in there. So, I washed the cover I’d put on to try to prevent more damage to it. But, then I remembered how filthy she had gotten the upholstery by getting on it when dirty or skunked or bleeding.
Hey, I helped with that and am still here!
So I got out the upholstery cleaner stuff and went to town on that grime. I guess that was the equivalent of our nephew digging a giant hole for her burial yesterday —I poured my sadness into scrubbing. And it worked. The fabric looks way better and smells less “doggy.” I now remember how I’d decorated the room, too.
Hopefully tomorrow I’ll take my grief out on the muddy and bur-covered horses. They were pretty icky looking when I fed them.
Muddy buddies
Anyway, thanks for your good thoughts and kind words. I’m feeling very cared for today. If you ever wonder whether words of sympathy after a loved one (human or not) passes are helpful to the bereaved, I can tell you they are.
