The Hermits' Rest

Smiling So Hard and Learning So Much

The amount of gratitude I have for everyone who’s encouraged me in my horse-loving journey is boundless. That includes my family, Sara (who gave me Apache), the Parelli instructor I learned from early on, our late friend Christi…and of course, Tarrin, who you probably hear too much about. But hey, it’s my blog, and I can talk about anyone I want to (with certain exceptions). And what’s wrong with telling the world a professional is good at their job?

Drew is plotting to have a meltdown at her in this photo (just kidding, horses do not have brains that plot)

My point here is that I’m just so happy to have reached the point in my journey where hard work has paid off and fun is creeping into our lessons more and more. That’s taken a village!

Village member Lee doesn’t mind driving to lessons because he gets to drive Seneca, the motorhome. It looks a bit fancy but darn it, at least we’re using it!

Today I just smiled and smiled during my lessons with Drew and Apache. Sure, my side passing still needs work, but Apache’s doing way better at it. And we had great fun trotting around and improving our form and speed controls. I can’t believe I’m so much better. I like going fast and don’t feel out of control. Neither does Apache. Teamwork!

I think Apache never heard the words “good boy” so many times in his life. He really tries. And he pays attention to me. Meanwhile, I’m learning to ride one handed and it’s really working great. Why knew? And my posture! It’s practically good! Wow. No wonder I smoked.

Plus! Get this! We went all the way to the trailer, past a piece of loyd heavy equipment, and down to the exit gate and back. With ZERO spooks or panics. It was completely calm. Drew, on the other hand, had a big spook when Apache walked by. Too bad Tarrin stopped filming.

Apache is an amazing steed.

Drew’s lesson was more challenging but I learned a lot. He is better but decided it was a good idea to refuse to canter going right. Then he started crowding Tarrin and acting up. Much fit pitching occurred. I learned a lot from how Tarrin calmed him down. He ended up doing exercises for his sore leg like a champ.

It made me really hot and I was dubious about my bath. I ended up liking it.

After he calmed down and did his exercises, I got to ride him around a bit. We did just fine in an unfamiliar place with interesting distractions. And he’d walked right to the trailer so I didn’t have to carry his saddle.

In the end I was proud of Droodles, too. I had to smile as I sat in the shade (so I wouldn’t barf) and watched Tarrin get him in a better frame of mind. I’m going to learn a lot from meltdowns!

By the way, Apache has lost weight and looks like a normal horse, almost.

I probably have more to say but I took something for back pain ( hurt before riding) and I’ve grown woozy. So good night!

Happy for My Friend

Today was special, because my friend Pamela worked very hard to get her ceramics studio showroom ready for public viewing. Today she had the official Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting for the gallery at Neeley Fine Art Studio.

The gallery is right next to her working studio, which is one of the most fascinating places around this area. And it’s all set on her family land, which is beautiful (almost visible from the Hermits’ Rest).

I usually go over there to look at plants and bugs or to load bales of hay, so it was fun to put on nice clothing and participate in the ribbon cutting.

Ruby the hound had to check out the ribbon

It was also fun to hang out for a little while with my friends and other local artists. It is gratifying to see all the support for Pamela and her work. When the community comes together, it’s a really good feeling!

It must have been the day for honoring Pamela! She also was recognized for her Master Naturalist recertification this evening! A Renaissance woman!

There she is, second from left, with other old and new friends.

When she has her official open house, I’m cooler weather, I’ll share how you can purchase your own whimsical and elegant ceramics.

My favorite is the red stuff. It’s a beautiful red.

Thanks for all your love and support, readers, friends, and family. Remember you’re all just great, exactly as you are, and you don’t have to try to be someone you’re not just to placate others.

Anger Is Not My Friend

I don’t get angry often. My dad, who was usually funny and kind, scared the poop out of me when he got angry. And I’d cry. I ended up trying to avoid volatile people my whole life and still cope very poorly with being shouted at, even when I’m just perceiving it that way. One of my many “areas for growth.”

Birds are gathering here. Swallows on the front porch roof.

Because of all this, I’m terrible at expressing anger. I either cry or am so scary that I get criticized and berated for it. I try to let things go, breathe, and not let things beyond my control get to me. Until I don’t.

I regret to say I got angry and yelled at two people today. One person I really shouldn’t have expressed anything to, even though I wasn’t wrong to get upset. I’d repeatedly asked for something not to happen but it did anyway and I got a huge feeling of powerlessness and loss so I uncharacteristically yelled. Ugh. I should have just gone inside and cried over what I lost. Nothing will bring it back.

This kind of anger isn’t simple. Sadness and grief were I’m loved. There were underlying annoyances that I’d been keeping to myself that burst through. Not my finest moment, and I’ll have to be apologizing for not keeping things to myself better.

The second time I got angry was simpler. I was driving to lunch and came to the big four-way stop sign at a major-ish intersection not far from the ranch. This stopping place has red flashing lights, stop signs that frantically blink, and signs saying stop ahead.

I was slowing down, you know, to stop, as one does, when a big, white SUV flew through the intersection at over 70 mph (speed limit had lowered to 60 before the sign). The vehicle did not slow down one bit, and after I blew my horn, I watched it continue down the road at the same rate of speed until it finally stopped at a red light. I was glad to see the car had brakes.

That light, and a convenient slow truck ahead of the SUV enabled me to catch up to it and get a photo of the license plate. If you know this guy, tell him he could have killed someone today.

When we got to the main intersection in town, I needed to turn right, while SUV guy needed to turn left. I pulled up and saw an elderly fellow. I honked my horn and yelled “Please stop at stop signs!” Like that did any good at all.

Everyone at lunch said he probably wondered what was wrong with that hysterical old woman in the sporty car. He probably thought I was having hormonal issues.

Hmm. I do look a bit manic or like Goldie just passed gas nearby. Or like my dad. I’m angry Mr Kendall reincarnated.

I shouldn’t have road raged at the guy. I’m in Texas. He could have shot me. I have remained calm the rest of the day and will figure out how to make amends.

No one’s perfect. I’m sure not. And maybe it was the heat. 106° today. But I need to learn not to beat myself up for being human and be gentle with myself (and others). Sigh. Enough navel gazing. I can try again tomorrow.

Catching Up with Things

I didn’t get a chance to blog last night, because I had a bit of the old heat exhaustion going on. But it could have been worse, and I have no permanent damage. It was simply very hot at my lesson yesterday – as it was for Tarrin and her young helper, who had it way worse than I did. Drew helped me out a bit by still having a hurt leg issue, so there was no riding of him again. Tarrin did some exercises and said she was glad I figured out he didn’t feel good and wasn’t being “stubborn” or “naughty.” I’ll do some exercises with him after another day or two of rest.

You can see how thrilled they were to be going to lessons.

Apache and I still aren’t doing all that great going sideways, then he got a nosebleed from all his snorting in protest. On the other hand, the boy has the cantering concept down at last, and we both are improving greatly in slowing down and speeding up, even if we didn’t do much trotting due to heat and blood. What a day!

I’m still wandering around just in case there are any new birds or insects, but in midsummer, we tend to just have the usual suspects. Things will pick up once migration starts again. I did get a couple of nice photos of a ponderous spur-throat grasshopper (Melanoplus ponderosus) and a giant walking stick (Megaphasma denticrus).

I do have a little happy story to tell that I didn’t get to earlier in the week. You may recall that there was a Carolina wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) nest in a box on our back porch. I noticed that the babies were getting pretty big and took a picture of them.

I went out to do something and wasn’t around for a while. When I got home, Lee was sitting by the pool, looking (for Lee) excited. What was going on, I wondered? He then told me he had been sitting there, just looking across the pool when he saw something seem to bounce on the water, then land in it. He quickly realized it was one of the baby wrens!

Lee rushed to rescue it, which he did by fishing it out with the pool net. He set the net down on the porch near the nest, and when I showed up, it was there resting and drying off.

You can see how they inspired Angry Birds. Look at those little bits of down!

We watched it for the next half hour or so, while I was swimming and Lee was reading (this was late afternoon before the latest heat wave). We saw it start to shake its head and fluff itself up, which we took to be a good sign that the little bird was drying off and settling down. Lee thought maybe it wanted to be closer to the nest, so he picked up the pool net to move it closer.

At the movement, the fledgling decided it was time to try to fly again, and this time chose a better direction. It went over to the disc golf set and settled down there.

We could see that it moved around a lot the rest of the evening, as we kept peeking out the window. We noted that the sibling bird was long gone, so we guessed the baby would soon head out to be with the rest of the family and learn to catch its own moths and such. Sure enough, I’ve seen the family over by the woods.

I was so proud of Lee for thinking so quickly and saving our little buddy. We are good aviary stewards, I guess. Speaking of our aviary, there’s now a pair of great egrets (Ardea alba) hanging out in the pond behind us, along with the night herons who’ve been there a while.

And I found out why there are so many red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) by the driveway. There is a huge nest in the willow tree. They sure are active and loud!

Dang Horses, but Whee, a New Sedge

Not much to write about that I have time for, other than the fact that my precious horses were naughty. It’s my own fault for trying to keep them in the front pasture overnight so I could ride Drew this morning.

Drew and Mabel apparently knocked most of the fence between the two pastures down because they WANTED that greener grass. I hope they are happy. I’ll come up with Plan C.

So, I rode Apache this morning instead, and we had a fine time. We walked on the road! Briefly. Very briefly.

All these guys wanted was to hang out with me before it got hot.

Plan C was ride Drew after he ate, while the other horses were nearby. It was still 100° at that time but the sun was less intense. He was much more focused and friendly today, and even seemed glad I got dozens of pieces of dried pepper weed out of his mane. But, no riding occurred. He kept having back leg trouble. He could canter to the right just fine, but the second time he tried going left, he sounded like he hurt. Eek!

So I petted him, walked him around and told him he was a good boy. We see Tarrin tomorrow, so I’ll know more then. It’s weird, because he seemed ok Friday, though I didn’t push him. And he certainly could gallop yesterday, as seen here.

Anyway, since I had to tromp all over the pasture this morning, I also looked at plants. I was happy to see Devils Claw (Proboscidea louisianica) blooming. It is a fascinating plant with aromatic oil and edible seed pods that are beautiful dried. They’re pollinated by native bees. Thanks, Wikipedia, for that info.

While inspecting the downed fence, I saw something unfamiliar and pretty, so of course I photographed it.

I touched its stem and realized it was a sedge, which makes sense, because it was growing in a spot that stays damp longer than most of the pasture. I guessed it was a nutsedge. Two other sedges grow there, too (yellow nutsedge (Cyperus esculentus) and pine barren nutsedge (Cyperus retrorsus)). I looked it up this evening and found it was a new plant I hadn’t seen here before. Short-point flatsedge (Cyperus acuminatus) is common from here up north to Canada. It’s certainly a pretty one!

I’m glad I’m so easily entertained.

Sixteen Seconds of Thunder

Poor Drew was not happy to be asked to exercise this morning when he was out in the far pasture with his buddies. He kept stopping. And he had no interest in what I wanted to do with him.

I just don’t have the leadership to get his focus on me. I’ll work on it. He just kept looking over where the others were, while kicking and bucking and throwing his head around.

So, we walked around and visited various unfamiliar objects, but I didn’t ride. He was thrilled to get rid of me. Here are 16 seconds of Drew zipping off to see his buds.

I have a plan B for tomorrow. And at least Apache made up for it by being a most excellent horse partner this evening, even though we rode late, after eating. Sometimes a change of routine works out. Sometimes it doesn’t.

Am I an Expert?

On what subject(s) are you an authority?

I read this blogging prompt and it made me say, “Hmm.” I hesitate to declare myself an authority on anything. Why? I know perfectly well that there’s always more to learn about anything. Perhaps folks who are authorities just know a lot more than most people, and my supposition that authorities think they know it all is just a prejudice of mine. I’m no authority on authorities!

I’m an authority on the art of barking all night and sleeping all day.

I also hesitate to declare myself an authority on any topic because it feels like bragging or trying to come off as better than others. To the contrary, I’ve noticed that each of us has areas of expertise, thanks to having strong interests in a specific area. My vast knowledge of knitting is no better or worse than Lee’s vast knowledge of Stoic philosophy. We like what we like.

All right then, so what do I think I know enough about that people might consult me if they have questions? (That’s my working definition of authority.)

English grammar and punctuation. I can be quite helpful or irritating on this topic. Dudes, I studied this for decades and then became an editor. I’m trying to lighten up in my old age. And since I was trained in linguistics, I’m completely at ease with having different guidelines for different contexts. I’m not going to pick on people for making mistakes, especially on social media. I make plenty of goofy errors myself when typing on the phone.
Teaching knitting and crochet. I no longer do it often, but I’m darn good at it. No, I’m not a design authority or the greatest knitter ever, but I’m a good teacher.
Plants and animals on my property. Yes. I’m the authority on that. No argument on this one, no doubt because no one else cares as much. I’ve got this endless blog and my iNaturalist observations to back me up. I’m still learning, though.

That’s about it. If you have other ideas, let me know. I’d also be interested if you could share which of your areas of interest have led you to become an authority.

Though I have devoted many hours of my life on it, I am no authority on nail polish. I did do a particularly good job applying this set of polish strips.

Bee Whisperer

Lately I attract bees. When I’m in the pool, honeybees land on me and drink drops of water off my skin. I do provide them with bowls of water with rocks in them, but I guess I’m more fun. They do tickle.

This is a long-legged fly, not a bee (*Condylostylus caudatus*), but it has a stinger.

I occasionally get a wasp, too. Nothing ever bites, since I sit still. I’m more choosy about wasps than bees.

These will not be allowed sit on my finger. Nor do they want to.

But today I made a new bee friend. She was a leaf cutter bee. She was so shiny!

She just kept buzzing me, so I stood still and let her explore. In return, I got to look at her up close enough to see her abdomen expand and contract, and her mouth parts checking me out.

Now she’s on my finger. I was trying to catch the iridescent shine on her wings.

She preferred my right hand, which made getting pictures harder, but that’s okay. I just enjoyed the interlude of peace. There are many similar bees, but I hope she’s the pugnacious leaf cutter bee (Megachile pugnata), because that’s such a fun name. Whatever she is, I adored her yellow belly.

I even made a video (with blurry parts), so you can see her pulsating.

Non pugnacious leaf cutter bee

It’s this, folks, that makes life worth living. Knowing we can connect like this with fellow inhabitants of our planet makes me feel whole, even in crazy times. There’s something new and unexpected everywhere you look.

Grateful for Little Smiles

I’ve been needing something to smile about lately, and the Universe has provided. First, I’m grateful to have spent a few low-stress days with my household members, with lots of laughs and encouragement. You can’t beat that!

Even Lee’s ice cream bucket was smiling.

Besides that, one of my niggling worries is much lessened now. It looks like I’ll have another year at my job. Such good news! I do like my job and the people I interact with, for which I am also truly grateful.

My portulaca plants are growing, which makes me glad!

I’ve watched friends being kind and supportive of each other all week. In today’s combative climate, small things like opening doors for strangers, giving tokens of affection, and offering to help someone struggling mean a lot. I can’t be specific but it’s helpful to make the effort to notice these things, and to instigate them when you get a chance!

Lee made me this image. That was nice. It’s a scan of part of a poster.

What little things made you smile today? It’s worth the effort to try to recall those moments and appreciate them. Since I take so many photos, I can share a few more with you.

Enlarge to see the cheerful wiggly honey mesquite seed pods

Life Returns after Upheaval

I guess that gives me hope on US Independence Day.

I went out to the front pond, which we enlarged in the drought last year to be bigger and deeper. All the dirt that was dug up became a large berm that the horses just love. We call it their hill.

The horses and Fiona are always up on the hill eating…something, now that the heavy spring rains got things so soggy (though it’s droughting back up again).

Sometimes they eat at the base of the hill.

I decided to go out there and see what is growing on what was a big pile of dirt at the end of last summer. I knew there were seeds in the soil, as well as wind blown seeds. And I learned in Master Naturalist training about plants that thrive in disturbed soil, so it was time to check out the renewal process!

The clump of plants you see above is typical of what I found. At right are annual black-eyed Susans. They are all over the area, so I was pleased to see them. The green stuff in front is prairie tea (Croton monanthogynus) another annual whose roots are helping to stabilize the soil. All the pretty yellow flowers in the middle are the decidedly are the dreaded buffalo burs (Solanum rostratum) that will cover the horses’ manes and tails, as well as the entirety of Fiona if they don’t get mowed down. You will also see green antelope horn milkweed (Asclepias viridis). Those seeds are wind born. There’s even a small Dakota mock vervain (Glandularia bipinnatifida), the most common verbena here. It will be back. Whew, that’s a lot in one clump.

Elsewhere I found many plants had already passed their season, like the red seed plantain and the thistles. There were a few pink evening primrose that give me hope that they’ll be all over the slope soon, like they used to be. I didn’t see any bluebonnets. Maybe next year, but some upright prairie coneflowers/Mexican hats were ganging on. Their roots will help with runoff, too. It’s a plant that does like disturbed soil, like the plantain.

Other common plants that appear in disturbed soils include sand mats like matted sand mat (Euphorbia serpens) and prostrate sandman (Euphorbia prostrata) my least favorite weed. Here, they are helping cover the bare soil and help prevent more erosion. Prairie bundle flower (Desmanthus leptolobus) is another low-growing stabilizer plant.

Vines are also useful for holding the soil down. Two I saw were Texas bindweed (Convolvulus equitans), one of our wild morning glories, and balloon vine (Cardiospermum halicacabum), a pretty but non-native and invasive ground cover. These seeds are brought in from upstream. Some years they totally cover the creek banks, because they also love disturbed soil, like after a flood.

Vines I did not see but expect soon are the dewberries, tie vines (the other wild morning glory), saw greenbrier (Smilax bona-nox), and passion vine. Those take longer to get started. I could do without more of any of these, along with the mustang grapes, which I’m still snacking on. They are as bad as kudzu for covering trees and bushes.

Tree in center is covered with grapevines and greenbrier.

Anyway, nearly all the rest of the plants I saw are other opportunistic pioneers. Ragweed (Ambrosia psilostachya); curly dock (Rumex crispus), a common plant in damp areas here whose seeds feed birds; willow dock (Rumex salicifolius); dove weeds (Croton lindheimeri); and Carolina bristlemallow (Modiola caroliniana), which also grows low to the ground and earlier in the year had pretty flowers. And I almost forgot two flowers, the common sunflower (Helianthus annuus) and lemon bee balm (Monarda citriadora). The latter is just about done for the year.

If you’ve slugged through this you’ll finally find out what the horses are eating. I was surprised to see no Bermuda grass, but some bunch grass I can’t ID, a gramma grass, and a brome. Natives!

One of these plants, or perhaps the long stuff none of the horses like in their pasture (not sure what it is), is making Apache have allergic reactions all over his face. He’s on Zyrtec now. 21 per day for the first week. Hope it helps. I’m grateful Tarrin knew what was going on!

And that’s enough about the hill.