It hasn’t been an ideal day for anyone in my house, and I’ll just say that this is not a great time to participate in the health care system. So, no one slept last night.
There, that’s cheerful
Of course I had a 7am meeting, which ended up being the highlight of my day. And it was so pleasant outside this morning that I had visions of doing a lot of horse stuff later.
Oh what a beautiful morning
It got darker and darker outside, and I got the idea that maybe I actually wouldn’t get my new horse obstacles set up.
Maybe later.
I was writing a training outlying my head so I got the last Christmas stuff put away and added lively linens to the tables.
Some color for our beige house.
I even set up a little tea party using Lee’s mom’s china with roses on it (I unpacked something!).
The blue stuff was found in a house we renovated.
Yeah. I’d planned to write all day but got stuck. Home decorating helped me get back on track, and I did get my outline done.
This is Lee’s Bruns grandparents’ 50th anniversary china. Two big plates broke, but they were not packed real well.
As I was finishing up and getting up the energy to go mess with horses, Mandi texted from down the road. It was sleeting at her house. Oh, poop. Yes, it was sleeting here, too.
Go ahead, people still digging out of blizzards. Laugh at my tiny ice cube. (That’s it on my shoe,)
No dogs enjoyed the weather, especially the artistic Harvey. By the way, he has no more open wounds, and is shaped more like a dog and less like a burrito.
I’m thinner and have shaved spots. Brr.
Nope, these two aren’t thrilled either, and I can’t even FIND Carlton.
Alfred is fine. He’s happy that shedding season is over so I just pet him instead of pulling clumps of hair out.
I like cold.
I’ll just be flexible and glad my family are taking care of themselves. Y’all do, too. There are lots of germs and allergens roaming around right now! Maybe tomorrow I will be interesting.
Another day of horse lessons has come and gone. And while my lesson with this innocent student was enlightening, I would have come away happy just having watched Sara.
I should have known friskiness was ahead when he galloped up to me this morning, mane and tail flying.
Apache was very frisky this morning, probably because a front came through.
I’m feeling kinda frisky here.
We started out sweaty at 9 am and ended up shivering by 1! I did round pen with him before we left, and ooh he was jumpy. And once we got to the training ranch, he was not interested in human agendas.
Ready for cheekiness.
He did ok until the trainer got on, at which point he decided he didn’t want to do anything. It was so fascinating to watch her work through his stubbornness. There was lots of backing and angry horse faces. I didn’t take pictures, because I was watching so hard. She did stuff I am not capable of yet. And eventually he did fine. I even rode him better than last time and dealt with his issues.
The dogs here would prefer you pay attention to them, please.
He’s not easy. He hurts and has been ridden poorly. By me. But we are progressing. I ended my essay with a smile on my face, happy with all my progress and the support I got.
This foal wants it to be their turn.
We were all glad for the lesson to end. But Apache was still antsy. I was glad to leave him to eat some hay and deal with calmer animals. That included Christmas the bull. Sure, he looks intimidating.
Yes, I AM immense.
I had no idea he was tame, but he came up to me and licked my hand clean, then requested that he get some pets on his forehead and between his horns. Then, his cow companion came up and wanted a turn. This love fest was just what I needed.
As always, I enjoyed Sara’s lesson as much as mine. She learned some really complicated bending stuff and I was proud of how well she did. And Aragorn, too.
I’ll ignore all the dogs.
Aragorn didn’t even notice the fake bull that had startled Apache earlier. He was concentrating and throwing in fancy dressage moves so he wouldn’t have to bend the opposite way from how he was turning.
Paying attention.
I was distracted by two things: a biting wind and cute animals. Between the dogs, the baby horses, and the donkey, I had a lot of entertainment! Who cares about the cold when you have ranch entertainment?
Mmm. Stick. This is MINEAm I pretty? Yes. All dogs are doing this right now. I just peed. Heading off to visit their dad. The kids Best friends. Ranches are fun
Oh year, you’ve always got something new for us. So many of my friends have been dealing with floods and bad weather. I knew our turn would come. We now have waterfront property at least for a while. I’m just glad we didn’t get damage like so many other parts of the US have.
The front pond is at its highest.
It started to rain at 3 am and it’s still going. Some of it was that kind that sounds like a bathtub filling. We knew we’d have some fun views this morning.
Big and fast flow!
Once again we are glad we put in the overflow culvert in the dam. So far it’s preventing the driveway from washing out like it did a couple of times early on.
Thanks, overflow!
Once it stopped raining so hard, I went out to check on things. Mainly I wanted to be sure the bridge wasn’t flooded, since I have events this afternoon. Yes, I will wear a mask.
Walker’s Creek is a river again.
Luckily there is space under the bridge, at least for now. Nothing looks too bad. I’ve seen much worse!
It did flood into our arroyo from the field across the road.
The cattle seem okay, and their owners are out walking to check on them, since they certainly could not drive.
And hey, the pool and hot tub are available for wading!
Inviting!
The horses have moved out from under the shelter, so it looks like the excitement is over. Onward to what should be a challenging day.
I started work extra early today, so I got to stop before the pre-solstice sunset caught up with me. It had rained and misted much of the day, but the late-afternoon sun was shyly peeking out from the clouds. It turned the ranch into a jewel box of shining droplets hanging from every fence, blade of grass, and plant.
A twinkling world
I walked along just wishing I had someone to share this with. Lee was up working. Kathleen isn’t here. Mandi was at work, sigh. I know the little things I was enjoying so much weren’t the kind of things a lot of people would even notice. I mean, there was also a lot of holes from hogs or something, animal poop, and normal ranchy things.
For example, I was surprised to see these kernels of corn in the middle of our pasture. Did it come out in deer poop? Did a bird drop it? I have no idea. It has to be deer corn, because no one grew corn around here this year.
It came to me that these were the kinds of things my friend Christi often posted as she looked out on her own ranch. Trees, sunsets, random cactuses, weird mushrooms, corn in the middle of the field. Tears came to my eyes, because I’d just been reading about when her memorial service would be held, fittingly enough, right in the middle of Sara’s and my lessons with her trainer friend. She’d probably get a chuckle out of that.
There were a bunch of these interesting stinkhorn mushrooms in the field today.
Well, then, I said, as my heart literally began to ache, I should share the shiny and quirky things I see around the Hermits’ Rest today, in honor of her memory and her love of this part of Texas.
Willow branches
I hope you enjoy how even the lowliest blades of grass became shimmering waves of diamonds in the sun today. It’s a real tribute to a shining soul. Be sure to look at the pictures up close, so you can see all the droplets.
That’s right, blog readers, I am in yet another hotel. I had to be in Austin today for a couple of appointments, and I didn’t want to miss a whole lot of work driving to Austin and back from the ranch. The original plan was to stay at a friend’s house, but their guest room was full of boxes, and my back (and pelvic area) can’t take even a pretty and spacious couch right now. So, I booked two nights in the hotel closest to the Bobcat neighborhood.
This was quite modern in the 1990s.
I’ve looked at this hotel for what, 25 years now, but hadn’t been in it until last night. It’s an older one that has obviously seen lots and lots of conferences and workshops, but thanks to COVID has a lot of empty space. I got the corner room on the top floor, facing the courtyard, which gives me an interesting view of scaffolding.
View from my room
I thought it would be quieter, but the bartender, a fun Cantonese woman, assured me that sound travels up and echoes around. Sure enough, it does. But there are not many people around, so it’s okay. She said a month or two ago there was a film crew in the hotel, and it got VERY loud. Yes, I had myself an Old Fashioned at the bar last night. There was only one creepy person there. I ended up with two drinks, because the bartender didn’t like how the first one came out. Fine with me.
Trusses, up close and personal.
I had dinner last night with Anita at a teeny-tiny Japanese restaurant at the Arboretum, which brought back fond memories of when I first moved to Austin and the kids’ dad worked in the office building next to the shopping center. We spent a LOT of time at the bookstore and Thundercloud Subs. Hey, that’s where the Japanese restaurant is now.
We took a walk around the shops after dinner, and they were all closed except this really cool space full of things by local Austin artists. I wanted one of everything, but just got Anita a candle holder made out of tiny skulls. The place is called ArtUs Co Shop, and will only be open through the holidays, sigh. I knew I shouldn’t have put off checking the place out. If you are in Austin and need to buy gifts, go there. It’s like the Armadillo Bazaar only less crowded.
Anyway, about this cold. Wow is this hotel quirky. The staff are GREAT, though. But the hallway to my room is colder than it was in Colorado, and my room has stayed a brisk 67 degrees since I got here. It’s fine at night, since there are my beloved Hilton linens and pillows to keep my cozy, but while I have been trying to work, I’ve turned into an ice cube.
Brr.
I told them at the front desk, and they brought me a warm blanket (just as nice as the warm cookie upon check in). But, no one has come to work on the heat issue.
I do love the down comforters on these Hilton beds.
I went to get coffee to warm up, and the front desk clerk said to get nice fresh coffee upstairs. The server rolled her eyes and said they ALWAYS send people up there for coffee without pointing out that it costs $3. I got mine free because I had been downstairs earlier for a quirky but delicious breakfast. They sort of have a restaurant at the hotel, but not really. I did like the breakfast potatoes a lot, even though I think they made me sick. I ate along with an assortment of bald business dudes and younger couples whose male members wore gimme caps. Every single male under 40 had one on.
If I’m frozen to this desk, Anita knows where I am.
I think I like cold and quirky hotels, to be honest. They have character, like Valdoro Lodge in Colorado did. I can overlook the ill-fitting hallway carpet and random buzzing noises as well as the outlets that will not charge my phone. I have peace and quiet, which means I got so much work done already today that my boss is probably mentally telling me to stop. I did stop to eat a Kind bar and blog during “lunch hour.”
I look forward to seeing my old neighbors tonight, so I hope to have more to report tomorrow. At the ranch, the horses all got out of the pasture, but Lee says they are fine. Did I forget to lock a gate? I wouldn’t put it past me! And in final ranch news, I am told the pool will get worked on again Friday or Monday. As Lee’s dad would have said, “We’ll see.”
There’s always a surprise around here. Today’s surprise was a horse I didn’t know in my pens this morning.
Hello, I’m a large, black mare.
I knew that someone had come back last night after I went to bed, because the dog alarm went off. But I didn’t know who. It turned out to be the nephew and the stock trailer. I recognized Dusty, Remington’s buckskin buddy, but who was the black beauty?
I’m built like a brick house.
I finally figured out it’s Kathleen’s horse from the farm, T, who I’d only seen once before and who did not look quite so fine at that time. It turns out she’s here to get all checked out and such. How about that?
Look, I’m friendlier that Apache and Fiona!
Do you see how shiny she is? Her secret is living for 3 years in a herd of cows and eating grass (and cattle cubes). It works!
She seems happy to be around other horses, and they all seem to be getting along. And she is friendly under all that muscle.
Meanwhile
I didn’t go into detail about my lesson with Drew yesterday, but it was very enlightening to see how hard he is working to learn new habits and build good muscles.
Developing his back legs
He is now going over his little hill under saddle, backwards and forwards, and he is working on using a bit. He doesn’t like them, probably because he had a pretty uncomfortable one before I got him.
And he is developing patience.
We talked about the plan for him, and currently the thinking is to bring him back home at the new year to do ground work and grow to a more adult size. Then in some number of months he can get back for finishing. I’d still be bringing him in for lessons.
Canter practice
I got a lot out of watching Sara’s lesson on Aragorn, who had been feeling agitated for a few days after being spooked by a horse wearing a blanket. He was trying his best to annoy Sara, but she didn’t let him. We were impressed at how she kept her cool and fixated on getting the job at hand done.
Here I was trying to capture his red mane tips, but it didn’t come through.
We had a darned pleasant afternoon with our horses and our trainer.
Today was also pleasant. I walked Apache all over to build back our relationship. Yesterday he turned and walked away from me, but today he came up, eventually and we had a good walk. Fiona, of course, is the best. What a donkey.
We’re all good.
My bruises on my lower abdomen are swollen and painful. I hope it’s just healing. If it gets worse, I will have it looked at.
It was suggested that I make a giant Grandma’s Favorite dishcloth pattern as a baby blanket. It’s also been suggested that babies no longer use blankets. So, it is also a “tummy time mat” or whatever modern babies use.
It’s not plain and boring.
I had two balls of this nice, soft baby yarn, Sridar Snuggly Pattercake, in two different pastel color ways. I used the same stripe sequence as with my hexagonal blanket I just finished.
The colors lined up similarly, but it ended up looking nice, I think. It’s certainly soft and snuggly. And it can be washed by machine if soiled by normal baby activities.
This will go to one of three upcoming little ones in my friend and family circle. I like making baby things, because I can give them away! That makes less yarn in my soon-to-be-bursting yarn room.
Speaking of not bursting, my closet is less stuffed today, since I packed up 6 large bags of clothing (size small and medium mostly) and a bag of shoes this morning. Maybe I’ll have room for the remaining clothes and shoes that got moved here. The purge has begun!
It’s Penney’s turn.
Rainy days off are good for something after all. And since it’s chilly, there are more dog snuggles.
I spent all day traveling, but it was pretty good. I always like plane travel. Since I don’t do it often, I find it fun. I go back to being a little kid when plane travel was glamorous.
I still like cool planes.
I got a good bit of knitting done, and people watched happily at the Austin, Dallas, and Denver. On the flight to Denver I really enjoyed the women I sat with. We had conversations about elderly parents and wanting them to be safe and stay in their homes, about horses, and so much more. Such nice people. The one who had to put her parents in assisted living was so beautiful and caring.
This dude reflected my mood after waiting in baggage claim in Denver.
The only bad thing was that my shuttle was 4 hours after I arrived. I did a lot of walking around and knitting. I headed outside quite early, but the guy arrived early. I was the only passenger, so off we went. We talked the whole way.
Jim is a classical guitar player and teacher, whose politics and spiritual views are just like mine. So, even though I didn’t get to see much, because it was dark, I had an excellent trip to Breckenridge.
And yay, I have a new temporary home. It has a desk for my 6 am calls!
I got to the condo place at 8 pm Mountain time. That’s 9 Central, so I’m tired. Tomorrow the fun starts. My friend and her husband are going to drive me around!
I’m looking forward to the cool weather. It was 73 in Denver and 36 here in the mountains. That’s altitude!
Dateline: Austin. Today was sorta hard in a few ways. For one, I worked on so many things that my head was spinning, plus I was trying to get packed for my next condo stay. Because of that, today’s brief visit with Anita was my last time in Bobcat when I own it.
We’re looking out at the sunset, as the sun goes down on our time in Austin.
And, whoa, it was windy even for out at the ranch! Gusts were well over 40 miles per hour. It was actually hard to walk, which helped me reach my exercise goal. That’s rare. Things were banging around the chickens and the horses, so I worked on shutting them up.
I need my beauty sleep!
I got everything done in time, including horse and donkey hugs. Apache got his feet trimmed, so there was bonding time for all.
I took a picture to gaze at.
Eventually, the relatives returned from their duties at the Hermits Rest Home, as I secretly dubbed the farm in Yorktown. After watching the dogs frolic in the wind and staring at the pool, Lee and I headed to Austin with my luggage. As Lee shared how thrilled he was to never go over the speed bumps again, I got all sad about selling my house.
Maybe it’s homely outside, but it was a refuge.
Lee reminded me that we plan to come back each month for book club, so it’s not like I’ve left forever. But, I’ll really miss this haven of peace and quiet.
Anita painted the deck!!! What a gal.
I was so sad that I really couldn’t hang around long. I’ll just call Anita Saturday and really talk about her house, her job, and plans. Good thing she’s such a good friend.
My buddy
So, we headed over to the always unique Austin Airport Hilton, the one that used to be an Air Force command center.
View from our room.
They recently redecorated, and it’s really nice now. It was nice of Lee to join me. We’re enjoying some local-ish bourbon and watching some football. I’m glad we get to spend the evening together peacefully.
Quite nice.
I’m looking forward to my trip to Colorado tomorrow. I’ll get to hang out with some old friends, see some snow, and do my annual solo retreat. Of course, I’ll be working, since contractors get no vacation! But I’ll have plenty of afternoon and evening time, thanks to 6 am meetings starting my day off long before sunrise!
It will be fine. I love working in new places. I’m not so worried about getting sick, with all my vaccinations, too. It’s getting better, a bit. Maybe. Knock on wood.
I know I’m supposed to be living in the moment right now, but just for a few minutes let me digress and think about the future.
The sun will come up tomorrow!
Lee and I took a walk this evening and were looking around with the dogs and everything her. The sun was so beautiful in the sky as it was going down. The dogs were playing, the clouds were scuttling across so beautifully. Some of them were fast and some of them were slow. It was pretty cool.
Sunset dogs.
Then we decided to go sit in the hot tub and watch the sunset. Yes we could do that. We watched the sun making beautiful colors and imagined there being water in there and not dirt.
Mmm. Might be nice some day.
I did discover a problem. Do you know what? It’s really hard to get in and out of that hot tub. There are no stairs. And I am a short person. I think we’re going to have to work something out.
Trapped forever.
Ya know, with my workday being so long and so full of hard thinking, it’s great to just sit around and not do anything for a little while. I love my new job but wow, are the assignments I’m given in there complicated, and they have a lot of problems and issues. My job is to fix them! How about that? I may be tired, but it’s al good.
We also relaxed and hung out with friends.
Autumn sunsets are my favorite, and when I get back from my next trip, the leaves will be gone. So, I’ll save all these views for enjoyment when I’m elsewhere. These are in chronological order. Storms are coming!
The Hermits' Rest 