birds – Page 4 – The Hermits' Rest

A Meteorological Respite

Ah. Today we got beautiful rain, over 2” but I won’t measure until the morning. It was another great day to read on the porch!

I was sorry to miss my horse lesson but we’ve rescheduled for tomorrow. Let’s hope tomorrow’s rain is not between 10-1 or at least not heavy. I can ride in light rain. The horses spent the day blissfully cool. Once it wasn’t raining hard, they were out enjoying the “low” temperatures.

I didn’t take horse pictures, so here’s another porch view.

I, too, appreciated having a day without drips of sweat in my eyes and sopping wet bras. I did try not wearing a bra, but the sweat running down to my wisdom belly was also unpleasant. I’m not gonna sit inside all day like a delicate creature, though. Knowing it will be more pleasant in a few weeks gives me hope.

The other thing I liked about this respite from blazing hot sun is that sunsets are so pretty with clouds in the sky. I enjoyed today’s sunset by the pool while I watched nighthawks eliminating excess insects.

I guess the best part about staying inside most of the day was that I got a lot of comforting reading done (Braiding Sweetgrass), got my August birds added up, crocheted almost all of the August section of the temperature blanket, and got my journal ready for September. What that really means is that I played with all my toys: books, colorful pens, paper, washi stickers, and oh yes, yarn! My indoor toys sometimes get neglected when I’m outside all the time.

Looking north at sunset. The bright light is just a reflection of the sun.

Little Things Add Up

I woke up this morning struggling with some of my “areas for improvement,” and I wasn’t feeling well at all. I’m grateful that I e trained myself to find the good around me, and after adding up all that fine energy, I ended the day with a smile on my face.

This heron caught something tasty in the middle of this pasture. That’s a good little thing.

I struggled a bit with what I was working on this morning, thinking it just wouldn’t do. But I went to lunch with my friends and ended up enjoying two new people, and chatting with them about their lives helped me out of a downward spiral. Another good little thing!

It was slightly cooler, so I enjoyed my morning bird walk without becoming soaked. Small win!

I went to a meeting after lunch and was able to brainstorm solutions to a problem and then got help on what I was working on. Just a little feedback and collaboration and I felt more confident. The collaboration and support we give each other in this job is gratifying!

The soapberry trees are blooming now and they smell great. Another small thing.

I sent my draft document to the person who’d requested it, and he liked it! I got quite happy about then. Plus I heard that (after much effort by me and my nurse-practitioner) my thyroid medication was approved by my health insurance, and I managed to figure out why I couldn’t enter my expenses from my trip and got that done! Win win win!

Green Heron preening. It was joined by ibises flying overhead today! Wow!

And to top off the list of small but good things, Vicki came over and we rode horses together. The weather was unbelievable for August, very pleasant with light cloud cover. Only the horses got all sweaty.

Apache was in good form and practiced all his tasks very well. The best part for me was that because we went to the round pen so Vicki could ride Drew with some boundaries, Apache and I had lots of time to practice our walk-trot transitions. At some point I realized we were having a great time together. Drew was a challenge, but Vicki handled him very well. She is far more confident than I am on him.

I could have ridden for hours in that lovely weather, but we ended at a successful point. I even practiced getting correct bends with Apache on the way back.

Oh, one more Apache story. Today I figured out why he was refusing to jump over the cavalettis. After he refused three times again today, I went over there and found a large Yellowjacket nest. He was trying to tell me! There was also a nest on the mounting block, and I eliminated both nests. Moral: listen to your horse.

I’m glad I paid attention today! Those were so many fine little things.

Storms Aplenty

The morning was pleasant and fair.

Then it got very hot, over 100°F. Suddenly a small but mighty storm blew in. It really blew.

Here it comes, blowing that tree around.

Winds came up and I watched dust and bits of harvest debris flying around. The horses were in a tizzy. I flew around in the heavy winds until the lightning got close and I sensibly went onto the porch.

Luckily it was just a severe thunderstorm and not a tornado cell. Lee and I watched it blow through, with sideways rain and spectacular lightning. It turned out the people across the road were doing the same thing on their porch!

Cozy, since the rain was blowing away from the windows.

We only got .08” of rain, but that’s better than nothing.

Once the storm passed, the temperature went down 15° and it was lovely.

I went for a nice walk and enjoyed watching swallows and nighthawks catching bugs around sunset. A wonderful surprise was seeing a nighthawk sitting on an electric wire in front of our house. You rarely get to see a perched nightjar.

I ended up seeing or hearing 53 bird species today. Looks like some early migration is happening. We are getting some warblers and quite a few sandpipers. It’s good to have them to distract me from other sudden storms that blow in out of the blue!

This, too, will pass. Note overturned chair!

Tell the people you appreciate how much they mean to you.

Book Report: Where the Forest Meets the Stars

My friend Carolyn M recommended this book to me, because she said I had so much in common with the protagonist (and with the author). I’m glad she did, because the book is very sweet and took me down some literal memory lanes.

Where the Forest Meets the Stars (2019) is the first novel by Glendy Vanderah. She worked as an endangered bird specialist and apparently attended the same graduate school I did, in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. This also describes the book’s protagonist, Joanna. That’s where the memory lanes come in. I was taken back to my twenties when I, too, traveled up and down Interstate 57 and wandered Urbana’s “state” streets, admiring the gracefully aging Tudor-style homes of my professors.

Illinois, too, has sunflowers on the roadside, out of the reach of pre-emergent herbicides.

The novel isn’t entirely about driving through east-central Illinois and its endless miles of corn and soybeans, though. There’s a mysterious young girl who claims to be from another galaxy, Indigo Buntings, cancer survival, and (of course) a love interest.

No, this isn’t the greatest novel ever, but it’s an enjoyable read and the plot twists are fun. It was perfect for making a long plane flight feel short! And I have to say I ended up fond of all the characters, both major and minor.

I’m happy to share this book with someone local, but it would cost less to order a used copy than for me to mail it. You might find that the little girl from space provides a nice respite from whatever is burdening your mind, plus you’ll get a glimpse into the place I lived from 1980-1998.

Good night from the land of heat and humidity.

Are There Birds in Oregon?

I’m sure there are birds in this state, but I have not been able to put myself into places where birds are. Still, by wandering around the hotel this morning and searching for a neighborhood after work, I found a few, plus a new one, Vaux’s Swift.

Mostly I heard Lesser Goldfinches, Black-capped Chickadees, House Finches, and Crows. Not the plethora I’d hoped for, but I haven’t made it to any nature sights in Oregon and probably won’t since I leave tomorrow and it will be rainy. Oh well! I did see some plants!

This apple tree was bending down from its beautiful crop.

There are wild blackberries everywhere. I guess I’d never go hungry this time of year.

I did enjoy looking around at big trees and colorful flowers, though I’m in a noisy area both at work and where I’m staying. Good thing this wasn’t a sight/seeing trip!

The work part of the day was great, and there was a fun lunch with the people from the company I contract for. They gave us all nice, soft sweatshirts, too. The people part of this visit has been just great. It’s so empowering to work with people who feel like they’re working as a team to make interesting cutting-edge things.

I do need to go home and tell Drew to treat Vicki better, so I’m looking forward to getting on that plane tomorrow afternoon!

Citizens of Beaverton loved my shirt. I hesitate to wear it at home. Well, everyone has their opinions.

Investigating Near and Sorta Far

Today was hot, but otherwise a fine Sunday. I started the day by listening to birds, as usual. I felt like getting some exercise, so I took the long walk to the cemetery. It looked very spiffy, and the birds were happy with how nice things looked, both there and at the old school/church property.

I found out later that whoever the Walker’s Creek people are will be holding a picnic there next week! Maybe it’s people with plots in the cemetery—they do that at other cemeteries in the area. what a nice tradition.

While I was there I noticed many Black Vultures gathering in two of the grand dead oaks adjacent to the old “town center.”

I also heard lots of dogs barking and a familiar voice telling them to stop. Were they barking at me or the birds? I went around the corner to Vicki’s house to find out. The answer is that her dogs really don’t like those birds, or they DO and are enjoying themselves. Since I was already there, I paid a visit (so un-hermit-like) and checked out an Australian saddle she’d bought to try to use with Drew.

And, since I was there, I got to go inside and see extremely cute Sheltie puppies. They are very fluffy and bounce around most charmingly. They are destined for great things, given their lineage.

They are very wiggly and hard to photograph.

I had so much fun being a new stimulus for them. Much tummy rubbing and fur ruffling occurred. I also got to see the brand-new puppy whose mother is a national reserve champion herding dog. There was a lot of dog beauty and skill in that house!

The little black girl was too fast to photograph

I dragged my self back home for a shower and some rest. I don’t know why I showered, since I was soaked with sweat after working with Apache and dealing with the water trough Spice had managed to overturn. She, Drew, and Mabel seemed mighty pleased to have done that. At least Apache was good. He’s really getting used to the paths in the front field. He likes the Johnson grass and goldenrod and I like the shady areas.

No horse photos today, so here’s a tired Spicebush Swallowtail.

But, I’m out of sequence. Before horse time, Lee and I took one of our random drives, since he hadn’t been exploring all weekend like I had. We saw lots of crops, which we have in this area because we are east of Interstate 35. The soil is completely different on the west side, because the road follows a fault. Fertile farmland to the east, and alkaline karst formations to the west. Anyway, we saw feed corn being harvested, cotton in bloom, and to my surprise, a rice field. It was irrigated by the Brazos River.

We ended up in Calvert, Texas, which is fairly close to Cameron. Lee saw that some of the antique stores there were open, so we stopped by one, which is in the tallest building in the town. The building was erected by the first Black millionaire in this area as headquarters of a benevolent organization. This is probably inaccurate and no doubt a local person can set me straight.

Picture of a woman teaching a little girl to knit.

The shop had lots and lots in it. Luckily there wasn’t much of what I want, but I wished I had a space for this embroidered screen. It’s very cool. I’d love to restore it.

The screen is tall but I just took pictures of the embroidery.

I did end up getting a planter with pansies on it. I’ll show you once I get it set up. I didn’t get these. They had two similar pairs.

The Queen of England and her spouse as bedroom slippers. Classy.

Enough blather about my day. But I investigated many things, ranging from cute to weird!

Traipsing Around

I’m missing RV travel, I can tell. Anytime I get an offer to go do something, I try to figure out a way to tack on a nature trip. I did that today!

Nature. She is good. Maximillian Sunflower.

I stayed in College Station last night after the dinner with my friends, which provided me with the chance to visit some parks there. After a hotel breakfast with many food labels in Spanish (see, Texas IS bilingual), I walked around behind all the hotels and restaurants to find a nice, older neighborhood that was chock full of Blue Jays. They love urban spaces! I found some wild areas, so my iNaturalist needs were sated.

I checked out and went to the next place, which I could probably have walked to. It was a small nature preserve in the middle of the nice neighborhood.

I noted it had a Texas Master Naturalist sign. The park has seen better days, maintenance-wise, but the paths are still there, and there are good places to sit and look at wildlife. And if you like ragweed, it’s a great time to visit.

Still, I found some interesting plants and saw lots of birds, including this Greater Roadrunner with its catch.

I decided next to go check out Lick Creek Park, where lots of the outings at the Texas Master Naturalist meeting in October will be hosted. I’m glad I went, since I couldn’t register for the Annual Meeting until today, one day after registration opened, so all the field trips were full.

Anyway, it was already hot by the time I got to the huge park, so I just did a short loop trail. There was much to see and photograph, plus quite a few summer birds. A Summer Tanager taunted me for at least ten minutes hopping from tree to tree, but hiding. I certainly knew it was there!

I made my way home full of nature and happiness, only to spend the rest of the day enjoying nature at home. Beautiful clouds came in bearing very welcome rain, which was pleasant to observe from the shelter of the porch. Lee and I read, looked at birds, and relaxed for quite a while!

This all constituted a fine day in which I had no complaints. Well, I didn’t get to ride horses. Maybe tomorrow!

Lee got these pictures of the Mockingbird babies in our small tree. They look great!

More Spontaneous Spontaneity

This morning, Lee and I awoke in Brownwood, Texas, which was not in yesterday’s non-plan. After a reasonable hotel breakfast we went less than .1 mile to the Tractor Supply in the same parking lot as us. Odd, huh.

Proof I made it home: Indian Jute from the ranch.

I got all the horse food I needed and the cashier informed me there was a bunch of chicken stuff on sale, so I got some herbal yummies to go with the grit Connie has been hinting for. How efficient!

I had been wanting to go back to the state park nearby, so Lee looked up Lake Brownwood State Park. He was directed a half mile down the road the hotel and TSC. That was not where I remembered the park to be, either unit. I kept saying we weren’t going to the right place.

The weird shape is our hotel. The nature trail starts where the road ends. Also on the map is my favorite restaurant, which we didn’t get to go to, Katana.

It wasn’t where I thought we were going, that’s true. But we were in Riverside Park, which may be the nicest city park I’ve ever been to. I ended up thanking Lee.

Even though I still had the wrong shoes on, I was able to happily walk the sidewalks that went along a pretty bayou (Pecan Bayou) and an adjacent woods. The park has a nice disc golf course, a beautiful playground and a cool meeting pavilion. It looks quite new, but is full of old trees, mostly pecan.

I enjoyed walking the paths, other than when disc golf players yelled at me. The other interesting sight was a family who brought a confused but patient palomino horse to the park and posed their children with it. Everyone had cowboy attire, the fancy kind.

Horse photos. I assume they scooped any poop.

I found many plants, including a new one for me. There were 24 bird species in total that Merlin heard, including a loud Mississippi Kite and many Lesser Goldfinches. Here are a few plants and an insect in the park (not bad for such a well mowed area).

As I finished the walk by the bayou I saw a nature trail sign. It said it was only .7 miles, so I let Lee know I was going down it.

What a gorgeous trail it was, winding along the water. While enjoying the birds, I realized my two favorite vines were everywhere, Pitcher’s leather flower and pearl milkweed. I was excited.

There was so much more to see. And the trail itself made you feel totally alone in nature. Just perfect.

I saw too many fascinating plants to share, but here are some highlights. This is probably mostly for me so I can go back and enjoy them, though I did put them all up in iNaturalist!

We headed home after this, and just enjoyed the countryside. I also enjoyed a mango-pineapple Icee. What a spontaneous indulgence.

We had a brief but intense storm with lightning while I was feeding horses, which produced thunder loud enough to scare both humans and equines. It did lead to a beautiful sunset, so I’ll share those!

Oh yes. Card of the day was 5 of Wands, which deals with conflict. I chuckled because I drew it after thinking for a few minutes about an interpersonal conflict I need to resolve. Thanks, cards.

Don’t Complain, Spontane!

I didn’t write yesterday, even though it was a good day, all in all. I felt useful at work and had a good time doing horse stuff with Vicki (other than getting stepped on by Apache when he was in a “spooky” part of his path). Walking on the paths was a great way for Vicki to practice leadership with Drew, so I’m glad we did it, even though Drew wasn’t thrilled.

Laughing because we were trying to get Drew to look cheerful.

Today I had no plans, Lee had a sore toe, and we were just blah. So, he said, “Let’s just go!” And we spontaneously went somewhere. Spontaining has a lot going for it! We drove around Texas to see what we could find.

One thing we found: free-range cattle. That’s Texas.

First we drove to Buc-ees because I really wanted one of their sandwiches for lunch. I also got over-priced watermelon but it was so good! I got a new large water holder to replace the previous one whose straw disappeared then the lid shattered in one of my more-frequent “accidents.” I’m pleased.

Then we meandered our way through the dangerous roads between Temple and Copperas Cove, Texas. You are inevitably passed on all sides by small, audibly-enhanced sporty vehicles driven by young people with very neat haircuts. Those would be folks starting their military careers at Fort Cavazos who have purchased their dream vehicles and want to go zoom zoom. We survived and made it to our random destination, a “metaphysical shop.” There are actually TWO in the area, down from three.

My souvenir was a cutting of a fascinating pothos plant with curly leaves. The shop owner has a jungle in the back of the store.

This store has all kinds of fascinating stuff in it, like dead things in jars, homemade spell candles, and what I think were some homemade oils. This was not one of those goofy crystal stores. They are serious and have some interesting classes one could take. I liked their tarot candles, so I got one for me and a Hermit for Lee. Lee gave me a VERY nice Bridget goddess statue to go with my collection. This makes me sound very woo woo. I assure you, I’m just out here sending Lovingkindness.

After chatting about dogs, horses, and plants with the proprietor, we headed for our next destination, which we picked at random. Mostly we enjoyed the drive through rolling hills and (recently flooded) river valleys. We ended up in Lampassas. We tried to go to a nature park, but it was closed. That was a theme for the day, thanks to the floods on July 4.

My big discovery in Lampassas was a huge factory that makes Ajinomoto. That’s MSG. I always thought it came from Japan. I stayed clear due to my sensitivity.

We saw a sign for Colorado Bend State Park, so we decided to go there and check it off our list. It’s a good thing, since it turns out our RV would have no place to go there.

Flood-damaged bridge to get to the park. Had to drive very slowly.

Much of the park was closed, but I did get to go on a little trail walk in a meadow with Ashe Juniper trees and lots of silver bluestem. I was hampered by my footwear choice of shiny sandals, but remember, I didn’t know where I was going earlier today.

The weird thing about my walk was the eerie lack of birds. For most of the time there was one persistent Field Sparrow, who sang very well, it all alone. At the end I finally heard a Bobwhite Quail, a Cardinal, and a Red-winged Blackbird.

We then drove to the camping area, which was the only riverside area you could get to, and there were normal birds there in usual numbers. Whew. I’ve never been so relieved to hear wrens, titmice, and buntings.

We left the park and for no good reason drove to San Saba, another typical town of the region. I enjoy the town squares and small shops you find. The big business here is pecans. Some of the pecan businesses have beautiful buildings. Of course, a pecan plantation is also lovely. Wish I had a photo.

The nearest place we could find to get a free hotel on our Hilton points was in Brownwood, so off we went through more scenic byways until we suddenly were there, not the way we came here last time when camping. The best thing about this Home2 Suites is that it’s next door to a Tractor Supply store, where I need to go to replenish horse food.

It’s almost like we planned the day!

A good day needs no plan when you can spontane.

Tomorrow we get those supplies then see if this is the town with the amazing Japanese restaurant that used to be Pizza Hut. If so, that will be lunch before hitting a different bunch of Texas cow-towns on the way home.

Crude map of trip. We live due east of Temple 40 miles or so.

Tarot card of the day

Yesterday I drew the 6 of swords, which is about having a supportive community. I drew it right after chatting with my supportive Friday morning friends. I forgot to take a picture.

I didn’t draw a card today, but was impressed to see that the woman in the metaphysical shop was doing a good business with readings. Interesting!

Maybe I’m Not Cut Out for This

Yesterday I worked ten hours and had eight meetings, nearly all of which were challenging and some of which were stressful. Yow. I was truly wiped out at the end of the day, but managed stay online another half hour for my tarot group. My ears hurt from wearing headphones all day!

I wished I was on the porch with all the new pillows and cushions.

It has taken me all day today to recover from yesterday. Luckily today I had some nice writing to do, and lunch to enjoy, which helped. And a friend dropped by after work, which was a good surprise.

Drew and I felt similarly yesterday afternoon.

Never fear, I’m still loving my consulting job and the people I’m working with, but it’s a real job so of course there are challenges! I’m just disappointed that I didn’t recover as quickly as I’d like to have. It makes me feel my age. Ugh. I’ll have to figure out a way to ration my energy better. I want to contribute!

This is my bucolic photo of behind the house for Robert.

I spent as much time today as I could meditating and planning how to care for my energy and brain so I can be productive.

See how perky I looked with my official iNaturalist shirt and cicada earrings?

Naturally, hanging out with birds helped me clear my mind. There were so many today, which was great fun. Red-eyed Vireos were everywhere making their weird sounds, as were Great Crested Flycatchers, and not fake Mockingbird ones, either. Just identifying what was flying while I was floating in the pool around sunset was enough to bring me back to my center.

This bird sighting made me chuckle. The Great Egret looks fascinated by the cow’s rear.

I’m sure glad I live here in the peace and quiet (mostly; tonight they’re harvesting Milo or something across the road, which entails big machines, shiny lights, and hubbub.) That’s just once or twice a year, though.

Carlton would like me to go to sleep! Okay!

Tarot cards of the day

Yesterday my card was the Teacher or Hierophant. I like this image of a wise person learning in different ways. It’s better than the mean institutional guy in Robin Wood. Plus it has a Great Blue Heron!

The card was a great choice, since the spread my tarot friends and I did last night was about messengers and the lessons they had for us. I was encouraged to keep going in my new endeavors. Also I had to laugh when I drew the 3 of Cups as one of the messages, because it had happy, playful otters on it!

Today’s card was The Sun, which I forgot to photograph. It’s very summery and happy in the Gaian deck. To me it felt like celebrating that I am handling what comes my way with positivity, even through some painful times of change.