The Hermits' Rest

Quiet Weekend Other Than Wind, Skunks, and Hippos

I didn’t get a lot accomplished this weekend, but now that I think of it, I got stuff done. I probably got amnesia from inhaling skunk odor from Goldie, who still thinks she’s a mighty hunter despite her cancer and missing leg. At least she didn’t get hit too closely and didn’t try to eat it.

I did finish the first week of the 2025 temperature blanket and even started a little scarf. I hope I can get it done quickly.

I’m sort of glad a huge cold front is here, because I ran out of Caution, the bright yellow that’s 70-75°. I’ve ordered more, and I’m pretty sure the replacements, and a lot more black, will get here before it warms up again. I get a bit over-excited when I get to use green, blue, and maybe purple in my blankets, because it sure hasn’t been cold this year.

The last three days of December (black) and January 1-4. You can tell it was warm yesterday because the high temperature on Wednesday was the low yesterday (lime green).

Today it rained a teeny bit but mostly the cold front brought wind. It was a biting one, too. Still, I’d planned to take Apache over to a horse show friend’s place for a holiday party/riding fun. But the rain made Lee rethink pulling the trailer with no brake controller in bad weather. I resolved to reluctantly stay home.

Then Tarrin texted asking if I was coming and reminded me I could come without a horse. Well, duh. So I jumped in the car and drove over to the nice setup my friend has on her property.

She has an arena and it’s quite comfortable.

They were all waiting for me to get there, so I’m glad I hurried. I sure appreciated being there for the big reveal of the Christmas gift we all chipped in for to give Tarrin. It’s what she always wanted for Christmas but her husband just wouldn’t get her.

She really did want a hippo and one of our horse show group knew where to get this cute and very heavy statue. It weighs over 500 pounds. One help in finding a hippopotamus in central Texas is to know that the mascot of the town of Hutto is the Hippo, so businesses all over there have statues in front of them.

We all enjoyed discussing names for it, potential outfits (how to make a hippo hackamore was an unexpected topic), and whether to paint it or not. And of course, Ziggy the dog had to show his hippo love.

It was lots of fun to laugh and tell stories together, and Tarrin reading her family’s reactions when she texted them the news was just great.

So glad to have made it to the gathering.

Later on Tarrin told me she could have come and got me and Apache. Why does it never occur to me to ask for help? I’m so intent on getting more self reliant that I forget I’m not alone. I guess I need to work on a balance between not being a burden and not missing out on things from not asking for assistance.

Oh well. On to a very cold week. I’m glad I have a lot of warm clothing!

Learning, Learning, Learning, Persistently

Persistence! That’s what I’m practicing these days, and today was a good example of how it helps. Maybe I keep learning the same lessons over and over, but I keep at it!

Another day, more lessons. Lovely sunrise.

My first lesson in persistence was a work thing. There was an issue with my working hours, and I instantly assumed I was at fault. But, I didn’t give up as I once would have, and instead persisted in talking to my contacts, plowing through emails, and believing my own memory. I said I believed there had been an email saying I should work all week except Wednesday, and my contracting contact found it when I couldn’t. They were wrong; I was right. When will I learn to trust myself? At least I keep trying!

That’s supposed to be a picture of a timesheet.

All the patience and persistence I have had to put into my horsemanship journey is another area where I need to learn to trust myself. Today, my faithful partner Apache and I hit another new learning milestone and gained some understanding. We both have needed a lot of encouragement from Tarrin, but we’re making so much progress.

This was my example of him standing better when he stopped. But he rested his leg.

I learned to do some work on his poll (area between his ears, roughly) and to do some stretches for his hind end. He started out disliking it, but ended up so blissed out that we had to wait for him to get out of his trance. It was fascinating to learn how it all works.

And our riding partnership is finally where I’d wanted it to be. Riding is fun at last, not frustrating. Persistence! We can do more than just start, stop, walk, and trot. Yay! We CAN do subtle changes and go sideways and all that. We are slow, but we keep at it.

There’s nothing going to stop me from trusting myself to keep going until I succeed at things that matter to me. Other stuff? I’m just letting it fall to the side. That’s going to help with my mental health. Hmm. That sounds suspiciously like a goal. Do I do those? I’m setting my intentions, that’s it!

Black-eyed Peas at New Year’s

I was asked how I cook black-eyed peas for the big meal on New Year’s Day. Now, if you’re used to reading monetized blogs, you’re probably ready to have to read a long story, scroll past many repetitive ads, and suffer through much blathering to get to the recipe (or knitting/crochet pattern, etc.).

In 2021 I had added deviled eggs because a relative liked them.

This blog is for me and random people who care about nature, horses, and/or anxiety, so no monetizing will occur. And I just have a brief story about black-eyed peas at New Year’s.

I have mentioned that this is my favorite meal probably every year since 2018 and no doubt I mentioned it in my two earlier blogs as well. I like to blog and eat peas, usually not simultaneously. I love this meal for the flavors, but also because it’s one of the few connections I have with the past few generations of my family. Rural families in the Deep South always must have their peas for good luck and greens for money (the meaning varies).

In my family growing up, that meant black-eyed peas cooked with ham hock, rice to put the beans on (not cooked together), collard greens cooked with more ham hock or bacon, cornbread, and green onions sliced up for garnish. You were encouraged to put homemade hot pepper vinegar or something similar on the beans. I thought this was a gourmet meal, not very inexpensive ingredients combined to be delicious. I did realize it was also what Black people ate, since we exchanged dishes with black friends (in the 60s that was my grandmother’s maid and her extended family).

I still make the same meal, carefully passed down from grandmother to mother to older sister to me. Its ingredients vary depending on what’s available, but it’s always good. I do. Now I have to add a pork loin or ham for people who insist on a slab of meat at each meal. Traditions change! It’s all good. Okay, recipes, or guidelines:

Black-eyed Peas as I Make Them

Note: ideally start this the night before

Ingredients

1 package dried black-eyed peas
4 cups broth (your choice; we can’t use chicken unless one family member is absent)
1 onion chopped
1 smoked ham hock OR package genuine andouille sausage sliced up OR leftover Christmas ham OR bacon (least favorite option)
Cajun seasoning OR Oh Shit seasoning
Optional bay leaf if your spouse doesn’t hate it
Additional salt and pepper

Night before or early in the morning, rinse the peas and cover with a lot of water. Soak overnight in a large pot or at least four hours. Beans will expand.

Next day drain and rinse the peas and return to the pot. Cover with the broth (this adds flavor; vegetarians can use vegetable broth and skip the meat). You will probably have to add water to keep the peas (really beans) covered. Add onion, meat, and seasonings.

Bring the liquid to a boil. Do not be concerned if there’s scummy froth; just stir it back in. Turn down the heat and let cook until you have the right amount of delicious liquid in with the solids, then cover and simmer a long time.

The key is to cook them to the mushy stage. So I cook at least three hours. The longer it cooks, the more the flavors merge.

Serve over rice and top with green onions and any hot sauce you like. But taste it first. It’s so good.

Bonus: Collard Greens

2 or 3 bunches of collard greens. They have huge dark green leaves. Mustard greens are good, too, but more bitter.
One chopped onion
Broth to cook in )amount varies). I also use Better Than Bouillon sometimes.
Meat for seasoning—the same meat you used with the beans or something different. You don’t need much; add it to taste.
Salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar (my mom said to do this to cut bitterness)

Chop the greens. Important: slice off the thick stems. Fold the leaf over and you can quickly eliminate them, so your chickens can eat them. Greens are more pleasant to eat without stems. But some people like them. Chop them enough that people won’t get huge long strips of them on their forks.

My previous chicken flock with their stems. I didn’t take pictures yesterday.

This will look like a lot of greens. It isn’t. They shrink.

Put them and the onions in a pot big enough to cover them. Add 1-2 cups of liquid and cook covered on high, stirring a couple of times until they are wilted and you see there really aren’t that many.

Add the meat and seasonings. Simmer a ridiculously long time. You can eat them after an hour or so, but the flavors develop during the long cooking time.

Serve along with the peas and rice. Use cornbread to soak up extra cooking liquid (pot likker).

If you are lucky enough to have leftover cornbread and greens, pour warmed up liquid over a slice of cornbread and eat it for breakfast.

Yeah. That was concise…not really.

So Far, So Good

I’ve probably mentioned it before, but I love cooking traditional Southern US food at New Year’s. Today I cooked black-eyed peas, rice, collard/mustard greens, cornbread, and a pork loin (because Lee needs his meat).

Not this year’s meal. I forgot to take pictures.

I had my oldest friends and my family over for the meal, and it was just wonderful. I’ve missed our meals since I’ve been so depressed. We have vowed to do better from now on.

Maybe I’ll invite a few newer friends, too. It’s just so overwhelming with all the dogs and the mess around the house from our unpacking and such. Perhaps a potluck?

It was a good day of starting new things, like a new journal, a new temperature blanket (photos tomorrow), and new energy. I’m not sure where it came from. Maybe it’s Connie the turkey, or Apache’s new zippy mode.

I hope you had some good experiences today. Every good day is a treasure.

Zoom, There Went Another Year

Years really do zip by the older you get. I like that they’re all a blur now. It makes living in the present easier.

Calendars are human inventions, but years happen regardless of whether people are around or not. Years are “real.” Since this is the time my culture marks the start of another year, then, I’ll go ahead and say that I wish you all the best possible 2025 that our combined positive perspectives can create.

Hey look, Gemini can’t spell. I love these AI things.

I’ll rely a lot on small acts of kindness to keep me going. For example, today I was taking my morning walk when a pickup truck approached from behind me. This happens about every ten minutes here. To my surprise, the truck slowed down and stopped beside me. A young-ish man leaned over and told me he’d just stopped to wish me a good day from him and his daughter. A little girl said, “Have a good day!” from her car seat. How kind! I told them happy new year, and the little girl thanked me and waved hard as they left. Ah. That started my day off well.

The day remained good, too. I remarked to Lee that it was the first day in a couple of months that I felt free of anxiety. I’ll take an occasional day like that!

I was so calm I didn’t scare this Mockingbird.

Just little things cheered me up. I got some work done, then I got my journal ready for next year and tallied my December bird sightings. I felt so organized.

Of course I sat and listened to birds. White-crowned Sparrow.

I even got to go out a little earlier to work with the horses, and ended up having one of the best sessions with Apache that I’ve ever had. The stuff we are learning is sinking in! We both had fun and got exercise.

Neither of us wanted to go back to the pens when we were finished, so Apache got to eat good grass and endure my hugs for a while.

Oh, and Connie and the chickens are doing well. I fed them some fresh chickweed and curly dock, and they even stood near each other. I turned on their heat lamp, since it’s finally cooling off tonight. They will keep each other warm.

This has been a hard blog to write, because it’s New Year’s Eve and the locals are compelled to shoot off fireworks. That means Penney is trying to merge herself with me. Luckily she eventually crawled under the bed, so I didn’t have to fake a sneeze to send her away. I love her anyway.

Thanks for being here.

A New Avian Relationship

What relationships have a positive impact on you?

Sure, my relationships with many people have had a positive impact on me. But I don’t know how well I’d be doing right now if I didn’t have my relationships with animals.

Many humans have forged strong positive bonds with their dogs and cats, as have I. Our animal companions give as well as take love and more. Just being with our pack and seeing them interact makes me happy.

Goldie’s relationship with us is very special.

And the horses also have had a huge positive effect on me, as well as leading to some angst and doubt. But no relationship is 100% positive! I’m just glad to have the chance to be a part of the lives of these very different animals.

I think I was under the impression that humans didn’t really have relationships with birds, at least for much of my life. Birds were (and wild birds still are) for observing and keeping my distance.

After getting chickens, I began to see their distinct personalities and let myself get attached to them, which is why losing all my flock but Bianca was so hard. I really was attached to Bertie Lee and her friends.

I’m enjoying Bianca’s new friends, especially Clint, who is the friendliest of the current chickens.

But I’m trying to not let myself get smitten by our newest bird, Connie 182 Gobbler. She’s a turkey, a white meat turkey. 182 was one of a dozen turkeys my friend Heather’s son raised for FFA this fall. She was always very friendly and cuddly, even as a chick (poult).

I told Heather I’d take her when show season was over, since she was too small to show, but so sweet.

Today was the day of delivery, which had to be very confusing for 182. She had never left the barn before, never seen grass, etc. then she rode in the back of a truck! Then she was in a weird place where people kept trying to make her eat and drink.

We wanted to be sure she was okay. Um, and pet her.

Heather explains that she will like it here.

After doting on 182 and telling her that her name was now Connie (in honor of my friend whose mother said her face looked like a turkey egg when she had the measles), we left her alone. The first time I checked she was still in the coop, but walking around and eating chicken seed.

When I went to feed the horses I looked over and saw something large and white in the chicken run. It was Connie! She was walking in the part that used to have a bunch of plants in it when we only had Bianca and she was outside. That turkey was taste testing everything. She discovered millet on the stalk, wild melons, and burs. It was so much fun seeing her act like a wild turkey.

The chickens aren’t acting too upset, but they stay on whatever side of the pen Connie is not pecking away in. I’ll be interested to see if they develop their own positive relationship.

I’m completely charmed by Connie, myself. She’s so soft and warm, and she has such big eyes. I hope she sticks around!

Sporting Fun

If you started a sports team, what would the colors and mascot be?

I’d start a coed flag football team whose mascot is an angry vole, and their colors are periwinkle and butter yellow.

This image is better, but periwinkle didn’t happen.

Timely Political Question

How have your political views changed over time?

My political views haven’t changed much, though as I learn new information, there have been slight moves one way or another. My basic point of view is that I’d like everyone to have meaningful work, live somewhere safe and comfortable, and to be their authentic selves. I want people to be free from violence and to practice whatever spiritual path is meaningful in their culture. Old hippie me.

Over the years I’ve grown less fond of wars and bigotry, though I didn’t like them from the start. I have, however, come to respect the rights of people who want to live differently from me. I just can’t figure out how those of us who want to eliminate other religions or political groups can live with the people who don’t. It’s that paradox of tolerance everyone was talking about not too long ago.

Makes me want to fly away, like this guy.

Since I’ve always enjoyed meeting people from different places, cultures, and backgrounds, I know that everyone believes they are correct, and I think it’s worthwhile to take the perspective of people who differ from me. That’s been my focus lately. So, my political views have not shifted much, I am gaining insight into how people come to such radically different conclusions from me.

Or I could move far south like these Sandhill Cranes. They’re running late.

Currently I’m figuring out what will keep me relatively stable as I observe how the USA and other countries handle things. I’ll continue to do what I actually can do to help when I can.

Laughing at this guy helps. He’s chowing down on the food he’d rejected two minutes earlier, after realizing another horse wanted it. All that cantering works up an appetite.

Anyway, the weather has been weird, hot to cold rain to sunny to calm to windy. We lucked out and missed the latest round of unseasonable tornadoes. It feels like I’m living in science fiction from my childhood.

Apache Smoke Signal: Superstar

What? That’s my superstar horse’s whole name that he’s registered under. If I’d named him, it would have been something more culturally neutral, like Gary or Fred. He doesn’t care, though, and also answers to Patchy or Patch.

I digress. It’s been a long but good day. Life is back to normal, with my bird friends, my chickens, and business transactions taking up a lot of time. I’ll explain all that soon. I keep putting it off.

The rest of the day involved horses, mostly the 19-year-old superstar to whom I referred earlier. First, he will now take his new powdered medicine in “horse crack,” which he wouldn’t before. This is GOOD. If I can avoid the applesauce routine, I’ll be pleased.

I want to keep him healthy and pretty. Photo is not from bur season.

Second, he was incredibly patient as I got him ready for his lesson this afternoon. It has been rainy. That means muddy horses. The hay ran out. That means horses spending time looking for delicious grass among cockleburs. Ugh. I could not finish getting him cleaned up in the time I allotted, so I had to finish de-burring after we got to Tarrin’s. Luckily, I didn’t miss much of Sara and Aragorn’s lesson, which was interesting, because they were doing the same exercise Apache and I worked on last week.

Note burs in mane. It was much worse today.

But the reason I say Apache is a superstar is that he is doing so well with his development and cantering on the ground, and is really working well with me under saddle. It feels like we’re both learning at a similar pace, and doing well, despite our ages. I can’t believe how he is responding to my cues and that I’m capable of giving them! He is very close to being able to canter under saddle.

Yes, he should have been able to do that when he was young, but he, Sara, and I had to learn a lot before that could happen. Here we are now, though! We are both enjoying ourselves at last. That was my hope for us, to become partners and have fun.

I’m so full of gratitude that I’ve been able to go on this journey with my buddy, and that Tarrin’s patience and dedication to our success has paid off. Plus, I’m grateful that Sara let me have the opportunity to work with Apache.

It’s been fun learning together, at our very different levels.

Next? More cantering and slowing down/speeding up, plus continuing to get Drew back on track.

Drew: I’m happy just hanging out with my buds and collecting burs. Don’t mind me.

Tomorrow back to non-equine topics.

Simply Having a Wonderful Christmastime

That’s humor directed at my son, who doesn’t read his mother’s Boomer ramblings, so he won’t laugh. Apparently, Sir Paul’s ode to the season is poked fun of by people in his age group. Good. We can all use a laugh that won’t harm the target of the humor.

Our sweet dog sitter sent us messages from the dogs this morning!

I can see why I don’t blog as much lately. I’m weirder than usual. The good news is that weird or just a bit kooky, I enjoyed spending time with my son and his partner for the last two days. They are funny, smart, and interesting people to hang out with.

No photos of them, so here’s the fiery sunset from yesterday.

Yesterday I went on a very long (for me) hike that got delayed by all my bird watching. It was beautiful to walk in woods between two canyons, then climb to the top of a hill to find a geological area I’d never seen before, karst, but with desert plants.

One plant there was a large group of, but I’m not sure what it is. I’m not sure if it was covered with fruit or galls. I tentatively have it down as sandpaper oak, which grows in the Chihuahuan Desert, of which I was at the northernmost edge.

Another plant looked like a fern, but was growing out of dry limestone. When I got home, I found out it’s Hybrid Cloakfern (Astrolepis integerrima), a fascinating and rare plant that has all the genetic material of two plants of which it is a hybrid. It only grows on rocky hillsides and rock clefts, which is where I found it.

The second half of my hike was spent power walking back to the car, because I’d somehow messed up my son’s reservation for the campsite across from us (no parking spaces were close). By the time we got to the park office we found out I hadn’t messed up; the system only lets you book same-day camping in person. I felt less foolish then.

I took our guests to the bird blinds, then we built a Yule fire and enjoyed the perfect weather. That was so pleasant.

This morning we went back to the bird blinds, which were restocked with food. It pleased me to share my hobby with them.

We then went on the Overlook Trail, which has steep parts. I hadn’t wanted to tackle that alone, in case I slipped. There were desert plants on this trail, once we got above a certain height, but here it was mostly sotol. The vistas of their stems with red oaks and junipers below were striking. At the highest point we reached we could see our RV way below us.

After a break, we trooped back out and wandered towards the river. We took a different path than I’d taken before, and were rewarded by many pecans, river views, and an osprey in a tree.

By that time we were hungry, so I made ham with mashed potatoes and mixed veggies. It was adequate for what I can prepare in the RV. It felt festive eating outside with my flowers on the table and “real” dishes and flatware.

Just being with my little immediate family for Christmas in nature made for a fantastic holiday. I hope you got some pleasure out of whatever you celebrated today or will celebrate this week!