Not much excitement is going on here, because we’ve been getting nice, steady, light rain for two days. That’s atypical, because usually we go directly from severe drought to severe flooding, which means most of the rain runs off. This time the water has had a chance to soak in.
Damp hummingbird
It is flooding down at the other family property in Yorktown, though, and in many places south of us. We just lucked out. The rain will continue this week, but I hope it stops in time for us to travel to our final camping destination for a while.
We’re going to leave Seneca at a motor home repair place when camping is over to get all fixed up for more adventures. The lack of hot water, a kitchen faucet, and a bedroom slide-out has all become tiresome.
The RV carport will be empty while Seneca is gone.
But if it rains, it rains. I’m just glad I haven’t had to drive a lot in it, like all the rest of the family have. I go out and obsessively check the rain gauge to get my steps in. And of course, the one time I forgot to put on rain boots is when I had to go in the muddy chicken house to fetch a turkey egg.
Dramatization. Yeah, I know…just wanted to try this.
I was surprised to get over 50 bird species on Merlin today, even with the rain off and on. It’s very convenient that my birding phone can sit on the back porch and not get wet. That enabled me to confirm to Lee that he truly did hear a flock of seagulls fly over. Franklin’s Gulls are on the move, heading to central Canada.
Note that this is the only week in the year that these gulls are likely to!
Let’s see what tomorrow brings! Woo hoo! Maybe more rain.
It’s fashionable to declare one’s sweeping disdain for social media and disgust at all its flaws. People who enjoy their favorite apps are looked down upon by those who choose to abstain. I’m not sure the disdain is warranted. After all, you’re reading social media right now, and no one’s nefariously trying to steal your information or convert you into believing some propaganda.
A pearl crescent
That’s my point. It’s not all bad, nor am I so naive as to think social media is an entirely benign way of sharing information, either. All media have the potential open your mind to new horizons, educate you, or lead you astray, depending on circumstances. Just as with books, magazines, newspapers, radio, television, movies, etc., caution and common sense help distinguish between what’s appropriate and what’s not.
A tan jumping spider
And that’s what I try to do. Just as I select reading material carefully, I choose social media outlets that meet my needs, and put others aside. I admit to strongly disliking Tik Tok or anything featuring frenetic and loud videos. If you enjoy it, I’m not going to look down on you! (I might frown a bit if you are a big Truth Social fan, but hey, I’m a well known left-leaning individual.)
Over the years, I have managed to select among blogs, Substacks, websites, and (a very few) YouTube channels that bring me interesting perspectives, knowledge about topics I love (yarn, horses, birds, the world). I rarely run into offensive content because I choose carefully and only take recommendations from people I trust.
Ladybug larva (it rained lightly all day, which didn’t provide many photo opportunities)
Facebook, which people seem to love or hate, is mostly a safe place for me, because I take care to be friends with and follow kind, smart, and funny people and institutions. I do have friends from many backgrounds and with whom I disagree on important topics. The ones who aren’t respectful to me and my friends don’t last long, as are people who expect me to tiptoe around their beliefs. I’m done with that kind of prison.
I love hearing from friends and family who I don’t get to see often, and I appreciate the perspectives I get from people who are smarter than me. This makes Facebook a positive part of my life, though I acknowledge that the way too accurately targeted ads and unneeded AI stories do make for less pleasure. Scrolling past that stuff quickly has become an art form.
Of course, social media gives me pleasure because I can contribute my thoughts and feelings to share with others. Believe it or not, I don’t share everything, just things I hope my friends and followers would enjoy. It makes me happiest when things I write get people talking to each other or sharing their own ideas.
There’s no way I’ll ever be a social media star, which is good, since I haven’t wanted to be famous since I was very young and didn’t know the consequences of fame. Shudder. I just want to be a friendly (if opinionated) voice who sounds like a real woman pondering about issues and observing the beauty in the world. That’s what I do with social media.
The last day of camping didn’t lend itself to hiking, since it kept raining off and on. So I did more friend chatting and snuck over to the shore of Lake Somerville to see if I could find any of the birds I hadn’t seen yet. I knew those Pelicans had to be somewhere!
Nope, just us vultures.
I saw some Ring-billed Gulls. Oh boy! Perhaps that wasn’t what I wanted.
Hey, there’s a Forster’s Tern, too.
I turned my head to the right, and there was a lot of white. Ooh. That was promising.
I see white by that spit of green!
I moved closer and saw a Great Blue Heron and some Great Egrets. That knocked one white bird off my list.
I finally got close enough to see the distant birds (binoculars were in the motor home). Yes! There were some American White Pelicans! They haven’t all migrated (I have seen some flying over).
They’re the big ones.
Looking more closely, I realized there were bonus while birds—Snowy Egrets!
The ones at right with black legs are Snowy.
After enjoying all these guys and the fun sandpipers for a while, I was happy with my bird sightings.
Birds at the lake
I found a few more pretty plants, too. It’s always lovely to see raindrops on flowers!
Buttonweed Sandy land Bluebonnet Pale Smartweed (it’s usually pink)Fragrant Flatsedge Partridge PeaStemless SpiderwortCursed Crowfoot
I left the campsite mid afternoon to try to avoid hard rain, but didn’t. I was a bit shaky by the time I made it to the airport Hilton. I’m not bad at driving in the rain, but it takes concentration. We still need more rain, so I’m not complaining. Naturally, it’s flooding in some spots. I just hope the plane takes off on time and I make it to rainy Portland tomorrow morning!
There’s an old sappy song going through my head right now.
Where are you going, my little one, little one? Where are you going, my baby, my own? Turn around and you’re two – turn around and you’re four Turn around and you’re a young child going out of the door.
It came up when I was watching my friend Ellie, who’s going to have her second baby next month. I met her when she just started college, and now she’s got a career and beautiful family. I’m so happy to have watched her grow and mature over the years.
Look at that face!
And to see Ellie and her husband, Jimmy, with their older daughter just warms my heart. They’ve done a great job raising a polite, intelligent, and charming little girl. I enjoyed spending time with her, drawing, problem solving her strange pen, and trying out the child’s binoculars I got her. The binoculars came with a whistle. She really liked the whistle.
Lord of the Rings themed decor. Baby Charles Christopher has a LOTR mural in his room.
Ruby can even read already! My heart burst from pent-up love, I guess. I don’t know how I’d cope if I had grandchildren and could see them all the time. To get to watch the child of your own children grow up is a real privilege. (I respect my children’s decision not to reproduce, so I’m glad to have bonus grandchildren.)
I want those hair things. I didn’t want to share Ruby’s face, but you can see her hair! That’s what mine looked like—same color and curls.
I also made a new friend and got two new friends on my Finch app. All in all, I had a good day, and didn’t mind one bit driving to Round Rock in the rain. Yes! We got 1.8”! The ponds filled. Joy!
Yes! It finally rained more than a few drops today!I’ve grown weary of the crunchy dead stuff underfoot (though as a bonus, most of the crunch was bur clover that never formed seeds!). Lee, the dogs, and I enjoyed sitting on the porch and listening to the welcome raindrops.
See, we’re all watching.
Morning coffee and rain are a fine combination, though we’re hoping the predictions of more rain come true; only ,75” doesn’t raise the ponds/tanks at all.
Carlton spent much of his morning “fleaing” Lee, the ottoman, and me. Plants got a little windblown water.
By mid afternoon the rain had stopped, and it honestly seemed like the fields were already greener.
Still some brown but better.
The sun had peeked back out and I was talking to my colleague when the dog alarm went off. It was the UPS truck, featuring the dogs’ favorite visitor, the Treat Man, who also happens to hand Suna boxes before doling out the treats.
The dogs were poised to dash out the door and bark frantically for the Treat Man to get out of the truck, but they stumbled over another humble visitor who was scratching at the door.
It’s a red-eared slider.
Most of the dogs jumped over the turtle, but Alfred was torn. Should he investigate the intruder like a good guard dog or go get his treat? To my relief, he chose the treats. I was able to get back to the door, pick up the displeased reptile, who seemed intent on going in the house, and deposit it on the other side of the dog fence, pointing the way it was headed.
My guess is that the rain got the usually sedate pond turtles in the mood to switch ponds. This one was heading towards the back pond, but the house blocked the most direct path. I hope my visitor made it to the destination and is now enjoying new insects and such behind the house. I hope to see it sunning itself on the tree limbs in the middle of the pond soon!
Goodnight, pink moon.
I hope your weather is the kind you need right now!
How have you adapted to the changes brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic?
Since I’m avoiding telling other people’s stories and not much is going on with me, I welcomed this question. It gave me a chance to evaluate what’s changed, my struggles to adapt, and the positive and negative results.
I found one sad, small wine cup today. Usually we have quite a few. Hope the prediction of rain soon is correct.
Positive: the people we were staying with and became our “pod” are still with us much of the time. We have gone through significant ups and downs, misunderstandings, illnesses, and job changes, but we now support each other and have learned to deal with each other’s idiosyncrasies. There are a lot of idiosyncrasies to go around, but the fact that we’ve made it through a series of pretty impressive challenges and remain supportive says a lot about me, Lee, Kathleen, and Chris. We’ve done a lot of growing and changing for the better.
We try.
Another positive that didn’t feel that way at the time is that I finally figured out how to lose my conception of what was happening in my life and keep living in the moment rather than dwelling on the losses. There was a period when I realized friendships and family relationships weren’t what I thought they were. That hurt. And thanks to Covid I lost my beautiful workspace I’d put so much effort into and didn’t get to fully enjoy living in Austin in my beautiful house. I had to leave by the time we were no longer masked and distant.
But I got through it all. It may not have been pretty, and my heart broke and rebroke, but I came out so much stronger and more resilient. I have a much more accurate perspective on the people around me, friends, colleagues, and society.
Lesson to remember
Covid truly taught me that attaining personal growth, gaining wisdom, and developing inner strength is a journey that does not end. I’m better prepared now, though.
A negative is that I’m still not comfortable being in large groups where people might cough all over me. It doesn’t help that the only time I actually got the disease was after flying to a vacation. I have to fly again week after next. I have come to terms with the fact that there are germs out there. I do still have to live my life (and symptoms of the virus I got when I went to that event recently are finally almost gone).
Covid has kept me and Lee even more hermit-like, though I do a few things, still! And Lee goes grocery shopping where there are many people, something I avoid these days.
My favorite positive to come out of COVID is that I don’t have to commute to work and can stay here at the Hermits’ Rest or even work from campsites. At first I really missed being with coworkers, but now I’m so happy that I can be home where it’s less distracting (other than dogs) and work with so many people around the world. Thank goodness for online meetings! And when I quit, I can go hug a turkey, pet a horse, or go for a hike.
I think my life changed for the better, even considering the downsides. I’m sure a lot less anxious (as long as I do deep breathing during the news).
Happy April! Here’s 1/3 of the year’s temperature blanket, featuring the hottest March ever.
My mom would have been in a tizzy by today’s end. She really hated wind. She said it made her hair hurt. I’m not fond of it either. Fine old lady hair and wind are an aesthetically unappealing combination.
Artistic rendering of annoyed me in wind
The wind wasn’t as horrible as yesterday, but since it was uncharacteristically cold for mid March, going outside was a brutal experience. Even the birds were hiding—only 26 species today were heard over the wind by Merlin. Needless to say, my exercise goals were not met!
This little friend is safe indoors.
The best thing about today was that it made for crazy colors in the temperature blanket. Yesterday was red (90s) and Kelly green (low 50s). Today the green was the high temperature. Tonight it might freeze! This is not usual.
Yesterday and today. Sweat followed by chills.
Being indoors all day left me a little grumpy. It didn’t help that I spent 2.5 hours trying to get my monitor situation for work under control. Two IT guys and much brainstorming later, I’m all set, though I changed to a different monitor. It turned out that it didn’t need new drivers (but has them anyway). Instead, the setup I had where each monitor was attached by an HDMI cable, which had worked since last June, suddenly was no good. I guess a recent update changed it. So I had to find a Display Port connector and use it. Lucky for me I have many extra display cables gathered over by the extra work monitors. The right one was there.
Stock photo of correct cable.
I have to give IT guy #2, who was in Oregon, credit for troubleshooting with me. I sent him many photos and screenshots for diagnostic purposes. He liked that I understood all his questions.
He promised not to laugh at my docking station. But it showed the problem. That empty slot should be attached to a monitor.
I’ll spare you the story of how I muddled up my web-based training file. But at least I had two giant monitors to screw up on!
The weather was pretty weird today. Low in the 50s, high in the 90s, and so much wind! If I ever complained about the wind before, I was being wimpy. This wind is not a gale but is pretty close. All our poor new porch plants are getting buffeted.
Before the buffeting.
Of course we got all these new plants, only to realize that it is getting cold again tomorrow, maybe a freeze. I guess it all gets to come back in tomorrow. Sigh.
While the wind has been annoying, it’s otherwise been a beautiful weekend full of getting things done at home. Yesterday the chicken house got all cleaned out. That was about time! Kathleen had a fancy mask so she didn’t get sick like I did the time I did it by myself.
Partway through
The turkeys were not happy with all that stuff going on. Darryl Junior was all puffed up and glowing in turkey colors.
Click to see him in all his glory
Today I’d hoped to spend lots of time with the horses. They were so lovely out in the field this morning that I wanted to make them prettier.
It wasn’t so windy but still too windy to do the flower photography I’d hoped to do.
Kathleen and I did the best we could, but she wasn’t feeling well and I got overheated. So, Mabel got nothing and Apache just got a little currying. Spice really needed grooming and was so grateful for the attention that she kept nuzzling me. I even gave her a little workout that she seemed to enjoy. She’s a very good horse and so well trained. I’ve enjoyed having her with us.
Slightly less hairy.
I also managed to get Drew all shiny and pretty. He still has stains from rolling in poop, but he’s already starting to get shiny. He’s much whiter now, and even his mane is lighter. Now that we are working with him more, he’s behaving very well. I’m glad he’s still here.
He only had one bur, on his forelock.
Kathleen got Dusty looking most excellent, too. She’s giving him some new supplements that even have his hair shiny. And we think he’s putting weight back on. What a lucky old man he is.
You can see the wind blowing everyone’s tails in the photos.
Okay, back to the wind. We went to eat with friends tonight and noticed the sky was so weird. There was so much dust in the air that you couldn’t see the clouds or sun. It was eerie.
Photo out the car window doesn’t do it justice.
The wind gave me time to get some reading done as well as some nice family time. I hope there isn’t too much damage. Stuff is really blowing around and we saw pieces of metal lying around and downed tree limbs on our drive to and from the restaurant.
It was a good weekend, even if I didn’t do all I’d hoped to.
Not much went on today, since it’s my busy work day and we had a reasonable amount of rain. Wish it were a bit more.
The colors are so vivid after the browns of winter.
There’s been a bit of danger this week. Harvey got bitten by a snake and swelled up. Then when he was all numb and swollen he managed to bite through his lip. As if having a bad liver, going deaf, and dealing with stroke after effects wasn’t enough! He is healing though.
Showing it from the least icky angle.
And today when we were walking my horses (we alternate between Kathleen’s and mine, apparently), I was trying to convince Apache that cantering in mud isn’t smart, when Drew erupted and started jumping and acting afraid. Apparently it was his first snake encounter, because he was really scared. Kathleen did a great job holding on and settling him back down, but that was enough danger for us. You’d think Drew would have seen snakes in the pasture or pens before. I certainly have.
It was a beautiful day to make a hasty retreat (Kathleen IS in the photo, but the bulky gelding is blocking her).
Still, it is always good to see that we can help the horses out, and as a bonus Kathleen didn’t get bitten. Maybe the tide has turned and she’s not a magnet for venomous creatures anymore!
It was raining all around us, and thundering. More danger!
Need proof that we had enough rain to make mud? Look no further than Muddy Mabel. She was gleaming and clean yesterday.
I hope she rolls in some dewy grass tomorrow and cleans some of her mane.
Other excitement of the non dangerous type? Today was Lee’s birthday. We are the same age again, whew. I hate those 6 days when we’re a year apart. He got mini Bundt cakes and a banana pudding cake, which we all enjoyed. I still like lemon the best.
He’s a good guyAnd a good sportI like the vanilla wafers sticking out of the cake.
Today I just had to take it easy, so other than listening to birds and feeding animals, I didn’t do much today.
I felt like this little one. Just resting.
It was a good birding day, which always seems to happen after rain. I’m waiting for the sparrows to go, since the swallows are back. My most exciting sighting today was this tiger moth. I’m not quite sure which species, but I’m hoping it’s an “agreeable tiger moth.”
Pretty and fuzzy
I read a lot today, then Lee and I watched most of the new Young Sherlock television series. It’s quite good, with excellent sets—more lovely English countryside. The weirdest part is that Colin Firth plays a bad guy, and with his 1800s beard and hair, he resembles Senator Ted Cruz, a lot. I would not have imagined that before.
Mostly, I’m pretty tired, I guess from Daylight Savings Time. But I sure like having more time to play with horses in late afternoon!
I think I’ll take a cue from Harvey, seen here sleeping off a snake bite. He’s ok now.
The Hermits' Rest 