dailyprompt – Page 14 – The Hermits' Rest

Things of Note, Sedona Edition

What notable things happened today?

Do they mean in history or in 2024? I’ll answer for today. Notably, I was surrounded by bushtits, an unfortunate name for a tiny and loud bird. They are a total hoot as they flit from tree to tree eating whatever it is they eat.

Here are two of them, one flitting and one sitting.

That was notable to me. They make such sweet sounds! As you can see, these scruffy bits of bird are quite entertaining.

I also saw my first Arizona Tan Mantis and enjoyed watching the Gambel’s quail again. That was plenty for around the condo.

We did leave the property today. Since I started work so early, we were able to go back to the Native American museum, the Verde Valley Archeology Center, which featured amazing finds from a nearby cave dwelling. No photos, because I was busy looking.

I enjoyed driving through the Verde Valley again.

We also found the historic downtown of Cottonwood, which we’d missed yesterday. It was a cute place that would be fun to visit sometime. We were told some of the restaurants are good and not so expensive.

After that, we went into Sedona to eat at Anita’s favorite restaurant, the Coffee Pot, which is next to the Coffee Pot rock formation. This is an OLD establishment beloved by locals, and serves 101 kinds of omelette. Mine came with grits and a really nice buttery biscuit, which was really a dinner roll but was good. I got Anita a new shirt from there, because her old one is wearing out.

Not too exciting in the outside, but great inside.

Then we braved the Uptown Sedona experience. It was nowhere near as bad as I’d dreaded. We looked at lots of rocks, crystals, and t-shirts. Sadly, the camera shop we were hoping to go to is no longer a camera store. But it’s named after my son’s partner! Or they have the same name.

We came back and I worked more, then the maintenance dude came to fix our televisions. He turned out to be nice and fond of birds, so we chatted away. And now the TVs work. I guess we didn’t need them earlier in the week!

Crow conference. They and the ravens are very busy every morning!

Tomorrow I hope it isn’t rainy. I have a bucket list item to check off!

A Passion for Learning

What are you passionate about?

Yeah, it’s probably the same answer many people give. But I think it’s a great passion to have. It fuels my love for nature, animals, human behavior, and science. I’m also certain that my curiosity and love of learning are what keeps me mentally sharp, healthy, and willing to stay alive in these hard times.

Today I learned about mining in Arizona…

I also learned about the importance of map reading skills. In my morning walk I went out in the neighborhood and had a plan to go about 2 miles.

Wise mountain cottontail knew my mistake

Well, when I got to the road I was going to take back to the condo, the sign said, “Dead End.” Oops. I should have zoomed in on the map a wee bit when planning my route. See, useful learning!

By the time I got back I was pretty tired, but at least I went out very early. It was extra hot here in the afternoon. And now there’s a big fire around 80 miles from here. Weather. Ugh.

Bee in a yellow bird of paradise blossom. It’s a dry heat. I’m fine.

When I was finished working, Lee and I set off to explore. I’d intended to go to a Native American museum in Camp Verde but it’s not open in Wednesday. See, now I learned to read not only the hours of operation but the days of operation for places I want to visit. Ah well, the road we went down was very wild and beautiful. And the Verde Valley, formed by the Verde River, is an amazing oasis with huge trees. No photos came out.

So, off we went to Jerome, Arizona, an old mining town with a fascinating history and incredible views.

This place is cool! We visited the state park that used to be the Douglas mansion. They had all sorts of mining equipment, samples of the copper, silver, turquoise, zinc, etc. that were mined there. It was fascinating.

We also checked out what’s left of the town, which is quirky and charming, not all polished and perfect like Sedona. That was truly fun, other than the twisty roads nerving Lee out.

So, even after my boo-boos today, I had a great time. But I must be awake at 4:45 am tomorrow. I hope someone in Europe shows up to make my open office hours worth it. The things I sacrifice for travel and learning!

A Good Life…Wherever You Are

What are the most important things needed to live a good life?

Today we drove across New Mexico and Arizona on the northern route, where I’d never been before. As I got teary-eyed with wonder, it became easy to remind myself what constitutes a good life for me.

A huge component is appreciation for every day and what new experiences it brings you. Today I had so many new things to enjoy.

Look, Field Bindweed looks like candies. So pretty.

Another part of a good life is striving to be kind to yourself and those around you, while setting appropriate boundaries. I think I’m getting there!

Finally, a good life is one in which you keep learning and keep active. These things keep me young and engaged.

I learned about cities we passed and what nations we drove through (Pueblo and Navajo).

Today I also learned a lot about Billy the Kid in one of our stops. He came across as a much more nuanced person than in some portrayals. Of course, I also enjoyed plants and animals there.

Oh I’m so tired. I’ll add captions later.

We later stopped in Gallup, New Mexico, a place I’d always wanted to visit. Lee and I both got some Navajo jewelry there that had meaning for us. Mine shows my strength and protection.

The drive in Arizona wasn’t overly exciting other than colorful rocks until we got into the mountains and forests, which was pretty spectacular. I did take a LOT of pictures of rocks, hills, and mountains.

We made it to our resort and like it so far, other than being REAL close to the pool (supposedly the quieter one) and on the bottom floor. But there is so much to do that I won’t mind. I already got new birds for my life list, so I’m happy.

I hope to go see the town of Sedona and hike some tomorrow.

Spending Time on the Road with Lee

Who do you spend the most time with?

For sure the person I now spend the most time with is Lee, my spouse. When he lived at the ranch and I spent weekdays in Austin, I may have spent more time with Anita, who shared a couple of dwellings with me. I now only see her once or twice a week and Lee every day. Good thing we get along 90% of the time

Yeah, we both get grumpy sometimes. Lee is easily frustrated and snaps. I’m conflict avoidant. But we manage. And we know when to give each other space.

Anyway, we embarked on one of our periodic road trips today, going west this time. We are headed to Sedona, Arizona, where there’s now a condo we can go to. I’m pretty excited about all the nature I can see.

And small towns. No Interstate monotony. That’s tomorrow.

Today we got as far as Clovis, New Mexico. the drive over was filled with oil wells, windmills, and cattle. There are many mega-dairy farms that have to generate massive amounts of methane gas and poop. I feel sad for the cows who never see grass or get to walk around. At least our local beef cattle get to be happy before they get harvested.

More fun was getting to see many big quarter horse ranches and some beautiful horses. Just like at home, we also saw lots of horses in trailers, all saddled up and ready to go work. Modern cowboys work that way.

One of the prettiest towns we went through was Post, where Cameron’s former City Manager went when he got frustrated. It’s quite pretty and has a big lake. Clovis is also pretty, probably because we went through the nicest part of town to find the hotel we are in. They are like oases in the desert.

I didn’t get photos of any of the things I described.

We did see some pretty geological formations in the hilly area we went through before it got REAL flat. It may be flatter than east-central Illinois (the flattest place I ever lived).

I did go outside and find two new birds, even though it was very windy outside. But hey, I was NOT covered with sweat! Dry heat! The birds were Say’s Phoebe and the Curve-billed Thrasher. Both are common here but not where I live. Cool!

I’m looking forward to seeing more new terrain and plants tomorrow.

Me by Any Other Name?

If you had to change your name, what would your new name be?

I’d go for something matrilineal. Suna ní Brighid in Irish Gaelic would be my first choice. That’s vaguely in my heritage. Daughter of Brigid.

I could be some Spider Woman, Arachne, since I know how to weave.

I’m not sure if Sweden, another background ethnicity of mine, still allows matrilineal names anymore, since they have strict naming rules. If so, I could be Ada Edwinsdottir. Uh. Anyway, I also like Maeve. That’s Irish. And Ada.

Here’s a prickly poppy. That’s its name.

I could also take on my spouse’s name like a good little child of the patriarchy. I’d be SueAnn K Bruns. But I’m not. So anyway, I’m not changing my name.

And I’m not telling long stories, since I just used my blogging time being Facebook Technical Support for my 78–year-old friend who wanted to make a page. Just like when I’m at work, I realize that things are only easy for me because I’ve practiced. Most software is mystifying when you first try to do anything. I’m sure my friend will be just fine!

So, here are highlights:

I saw three kinds of swallows at the Walkers Creek Bridge.
I also watched a very large raccoon ambling along the creek bank.
Farther back on the creek bank I saw the bobcat again! It was drinking from the creek. Aww.
Next I heard a very loud Yellow-crowned Night Heron who then swooped right over me. That is a lot of creek action.
When I went to the tack room to feed the horses, I discovered Butternut the hen had been locked inside. She had plenty to eat, since she loves horse food and there was spillage.
This all balanced out a couple of sad things around here, so all in all, it’s fine.

Tomorrow we go on a trip! Somewhere hot but less humid! Kathleen will carefully go outside to take care of horses and chickens. Luckily, Apache now takes his medication like a pro as long as it’s buried in sweet feed.

Here’s the Temperature Blanket up to May 29. You can tell it’s warmed up.

Chocolate Bars – Really?

Describe your dream chocolate bar.

Who thought of this question? But since I’m tired I’ll answer it.

My dream chocolate bar has milk chocolate, thick, covering it. The interior is a Dulce de leche caramel. Around that is cashews and juicy raisins. The end.

In real life, I love the salted caramel Milky Way.

Other than that, life is good. We celebrated my son’s birthday from last week at our usual Mexican restaurant and it was a lovely evening. It’s so amazing to see us all doing well and happy with our lives.

Life is good, at least at the Hermits’ Rest.

It’s All Black Beauty’s Fault

Do you remember your favorite book from childhood?

Surprise! As a child I was very fond of, you guessed it, horse books. I read every horse book in the Sidney Lanier Elementary School library by third grade. The last book the librarian found was Steinbeck’s The Red Pony. She soon learned that sensitive young girls should not be given that book, even if they have advanced reading skills. I cried a lot and had nightmares.

I didn’t like the thought of horses dying gruesome deaths.

I’m glad they now have books for young people with high reading levels that are still children.

My favorite childhood book, Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell, also depicted bad things that happen to a horse, but after I’d read it once, I knew there would be a happy ending, so I let all Sewell’s animal rights propaganda seep into my future Master Naturalist brain by reading my poor copy dozens of times.

This was the 1955 edition I owned. Goodness, that horse has small eyes.

I can tell you what the cover looked like, and how I regretted that I let the plastic coating on the cover peel away. I can smell the book, even. It was the most beloved of a set of beloved horse books, a few of which I still have.

No wonder it was so important to me to find a trainer who was kind to horses and understood them. It’s probably a good thing I waited until I was getting on in years to start formal lessons, so that natural horsemanship could become a “thing.” I wouldn’t have been good at the showing the horse who’s boss by beating them school of training nor the cruel bits/painful sours tack they’d use. Black Beauty didn’t like that either!

That stuff’s for the birds, says Mr Cardinal.

Today was a great example of how Tarrin Warren, my horsemanship coach and horse trainer, works with each horse and rider pair differently, according to the needs and skills of both the horse and the human.

Check this out! Me and Drew happily riding outside of the arena! Happy faces.

I had lessons on both horses, and doing the same exercise I used different techniques to bring out Drew and Apache’s talents and help with their issues, all the while building my skills. This helps me with my confidence in other areas, too.

This horse right here calmly walked by neighing horses, a loud RV, and the previously hated trailer.

Horses are good for people. And looking at Apache’s shining eyes and willing body makes me think maybe they get something from us, too.

Drew is completely back to his normal self, too. It’s like the past few months never happened. We have fun and I feel perfectly safe with him, even when his leg collapses under him. Heck, today I gave him his shot like a pro, and had ZERO issues bridling him. Those are two things I’d never have believed I could do before.

So yeah, as much as I loved learning about horses in books as a child, I’m loving it even more with actual horses. Yup, even with all the ups and downs.

Here we are, looking forward to the future. Or looking at Tarrin’s new house.

Tomorrow I promise to write about something other than horses! Or birds. I’m getting rather stuck on topics, but it helps me avoid controversy.

But we birds are fascinating, says the Red-Bellied Woodpecker.

I’m also interesting! (Giant Walking Stick)

What about me? I came in Suna’s house and she rescued me before dogs found me. That’s interesting. (Gulf Coast Toad)

What Are Friends For?

What quality do you value most in a friend?

I can forgive a lot of things in my friends. I don’t expect them to be perfect or nice or generous. What I appreciate the most is that my real friends like me the way I am and don’t put me down.

I never want any more “friendships” with conditions on them, where I have to act in ways that don’t feel genuine, or that are based on what I can do for them. I’m fine with that.

And I will remind myself that, with very few exceptions, your coworkers are not your friends. They are people you are cordial with to make getting your work done bearable. (Bear in mind that I married a coworker (twice), became a business partner with a coworker, and still call a former coworker my dearest friend.)

I just need some people in my life I can be myself around without having to walk on eggshells or pretend I’m someone I’m not. And I’m very uninterested in hearing how I should behave, why people don’t like me, or that I’m not woke/unwoke enough. Those folks aren’t in the friend zone anymore.

I don’t need many close friends for a happy life. I have just enough. And interacting with my informal friend groups and like/minded acquaintances can let me have lots of fun—I just have to be more guarded in the larger circle. That’s probably true for most of us.

And I still care deeply for so, so many people I don’t know well or who may not think all that much of me. I just care about folks.

More storms today. Just wind again, though

I am fortunate to have a few very accepting friends, though, and not all of them are dogs and horses! Thanks, friends!

Organized Religion, Unpopular Beliefs, and Such

Do you practice religion?

Have we met? If we have, you probably know I’m not a fan of organized religion. It seems like whenever some spiritual leader comes along, followers start twisting their teachings around to justify their agendas. I’ll stop there and let the reader come up with their own examples. It’s not hard to do.

No illustrations go with this blog so enjoy some bugs.

I’ve tried, of course. I always liked church as a kid because there was singing. In harmony. I liked that. The inconsistency of the teachings? Not so much.

I have tried a couple of other paths, but each started trying to say “my doctrine is better than yours” (even Wicca/neopaganism) and I got disinterested in any organized activity. Even Buddhists can start telling you how you should and shouldn’t practice. Fine for those people. Not for me. And the songs for both groups aren’t much fun.

I did stick with UnitarIan Universalism for a long time. The music was excellent and I got to be in a folk group, a choir, and a rock band. But power struggles, infighting, and most of all, the oppressive political correctness mandates got to be too much for me. I got to where I was afraid to speak, because someone would give me a lecture on how I triggered them, used last week’s correct labels, or missed a pronoun. (Note that I do my best to keep up and love everyone in all the trigger-prone communities). I’m just old and slow even as I try to learn (this statement will lead to a lecture on how I COULD do better if I tried, so I’m a sucky ally).

Anyway, my first point is that no matter who you think is the Best Spiritual Leader, I probably respect them and their teachings. My own path draws a lot from the Buddha, Jesus (his actual sayings), and Starhawk. But it’s mine, and I don’t expect you to follow it. I still respect other wise teachings as well. I will say I’m not fond of Mao or Lenin. I’m allowed. Right now at least.

Enjoy my smaller, but repaired, chicken pen.

And here’s my second point. People say things, sometimes in public, that reflect their spiritual path, philosophy, or culture. Sometimes we will agree with them; sometimes we will disagree. But it’s very important to let people say what they have to say. Heck, it tells you whose businesses to support, what sports teams to follow, or who to vote for.

Do not enjoy this large Queen fire ant that flies. Check those mandibles out.

Lately there’s been a lot of commentary about people who express opinions in public that don’t match those of their audiences. Examples include the football player who waxed on about women and motherhood, and Richard Dreyfus, who seems to have said sexist and racist things to an audience that didn’t come to hear that talk.

How should we handle this kind of thing? Well we sure don’t want to go censoring them. That can easily get turned around to where the other side feels censored because THEIR beliefs offend others(aside from the fact that I do censor myself often in my current political setting).

Enjoy my coffee mug from today. I’m running out of things to enjoy.

Nope. These people should say what they want to say, and then deal with the consequences. People will walk out of the venue, which is fine. Or they may no longer buy their products. But the speakers still get to talk.

Enjoy my creepily flesh-colored nails. Only flesh colored for white people, of course.

And those of us with different views also get to talk, even if we can’t be quite woke enough.

I worry that having uncommon beliefs, spiritual or otherwise, may be grounds for punishment in the future if we aren’t careful. Let’s treat those we disagree with the way we hope they’d treat us if we spoke out. We can respect their right to speak, but not be forced to listen.

Sigh. Here’s a dream. Wouldn’t it be cool if everyone felt comfortable flying flags with our favorite candidate’s name on it?

Goodness Gracious I’m Good

What are you good at?

One thing I’m good at is having a consistent meditation practice. I’m not good at some of my more spiritual things (not very expert at Buddhist practices or very organized as a nature worshiper). But by gosh I’m gonna meditate every day. It’s good for me. If meditation offends you, then, I’m silently praying.

My meditation view isn’t as good as it was last week, but there are still flowers.

Hmm, that’s not what I intended to write about, so let’s find something else I’m good at…observing nature! Yeah! I’m extra good at that, and sometimes wish I could have worked as a naturalist in some fashion as a profession.

Striking caterpillar of the Wilson’s Wood-nymph moth

But, I’m also good at writing and editing, so I did get to use that throughout my working years. I can even write academically, but since I became a technical writer, I’ve stuck with simpler word choices and sentence structures, so as not to obfuscate my scintillating pontifications.

That’s not funny, Apache (couldn’t resist posting another yawning photo)

Of course, I’m good at knitting and crochet. I’m crafty, but not necessarily artistic.

I also hope I’m good at supporting my friends and family. That one waxes and wanes, and as long-time readers may know (I do have a beloved child and petulant sister who I did not support to their standards). But hey, I went to see the niece Kathleen in the hospital for her latest spider bite and brought her flowers and a card (along with son and partner). I’d have visited sooner, but I kept thinking she’d come home quickly. Her body just does not deal with spider venom.

Snakes are looking for her. (Non-venomous)

I like all those positive things I’m good at. I used to be very good at putting myself down, blaming myself for everything that went wrong, and contorting myself to try to get people I cared about but who didn’t care about me to change their minds. I’m glad I stopped being so great at those unhealthy traits! I could not make that guy in grad school, my previous spouse, nor my next-door neighbor like me. Now I think it’s their loss.

Also good at overheating and doing that lip thing. Me doing both of those yesterday.

Let’s all try to get very good at cutting our losses and moving on from relationships and situations that aren’t good for our self esteem. I’m quite good at these proclamations. Hear ye, hear ye!