football – The Hermits' Rest

Stay Tuned

I just finished reading the wonderful book, Braiding Sweetgrass, which somehow I hadn’t managed to read yet. No doubt there was a good reason I didn’t read it when I bought it, but of course I loved it, since it’s a Suna kind of book. I’ll write more about it later.

I wonder if there’s any Native American use for this? I don’t think so. Poor Santa Maria Feverfew is basically noxious and invasive, though native here.

I haven’t been feeling well today, just digestive issues, which are boring to anyone not living in my current household, where such things are favorite conversation topics. THIS is how I know we are no longer young, I think.

I tried to avoid noxious weeds today. But this aggressive vine does have pretty flowers and seed pods (balloon vine).

Much of the day was spent reading Robert Reich’s new memoir, which also doesn’t help my stomach (too many details on why the US is going to hell in a hand basket), though I do like him as a person. I also napped, listened to bluebirds, and watched a little college football. I favor no team, so I just watch young men run around and I then enjoy insurance commercials.

Another sport I enjoy is flower diving, which many bumblebees did this morning.

I did take a good walk and did a lot with Apache, who kept me on my toes. He loves to act like he doesn’t want to be caught so I have to practice my catching methods, but eventually he just stands there and puts his head in the halter. Maybe he thinks I need more exercise, not him. Hmph.

He did get a lot of exercise, including lots of muscle-building cantering, then we rode out to the round pen. I was proud of him for not having an issue walking by an unfamiliar truck and people messing with the garbage dumpster on his way to the round pen.

I was less proud trying to go on our trail when the truck started up and made a weird noise. He really wanted to make a run for the barn, throw me off, or otherwise embarrass us both in front of someone who doesn’t think much of our horsemanship. But, by golly, I let him cool off once I could get him to stop, and we were able to go on the paths and walk calmly.

I was even able to spot our first aster blossoms of the year, proof autumn is coming.

I was proud of me, then, because other than a brief moment of worry, I took the incident as a chance to practice all my Apache calming techniques. So much to learn, but we have come far enough that I’m satisfied.

Even though days are growing shorter, we still have swallows. Dozens of Cave Swallows today.

Let’s see if the rain avoids us again tomorrow for lessons…

More Excruciatingly Dull Birds

Sorry. All I have is more bird pictures. I spent most of the day relaxing, but hit all my exercise goals walking around looking at stuff.

I didn’t enjoy the Super Bowl much since we had to try to stream it on bad connectivity. I missed most of the good commercials and the game was too embarrassing to enjoy. Ugh.

This coot butt is more interesting than that game.

I did encounter 53 species of birds today, which is impressive. I especially enjoyed sitting at a shady picnic table next to a big oak tree and some scrub, and just watching bird behavior.

This tiny Downy Woodpecker must have pecked this entire sapling.

The most fun part of the interlude was when I heard a new sound and there was the bird I’d been looking for here at Choke Canyon the most, the Audubon’s Oriole. It’s so striking. And it proceeded to put on a little show of cuteness for me. What a joy.

Not wanting me to forget that it’s also cute and colorful, a Green Jay popped in for a puffing and preening session. Yep, it was indeed cute.

I wandered around the lake a while, too, seeing ducks, a pair of Anhingas, Least Sandpipers, Coots, a Cooper’s Hawk, and Ospreys.

Of course, while chatting with neighbors, I did other observations. Enjoy. I enjoyed the neighbors. Many seem as starved for friendly conversation as I am.

Red Admiral. I saw other butterflies, but they were busy.

Heading home tomorrow.

I’m Inconsistent

Here’s an admission, one we probably can all relate to in our own ways. I can embrace two conflicting beliefs and feel fine about it.

I hope Carlton isn’t judging me for this.

I’ve always been quick to smugly point out cognitive dissonance in others when I spot it. It does make you feel like you’re intellectually superior, like you’d never do such a thing. But I bet you do.

I’m pretty sure Goldie IS judging me there from her recuperation spot.

Here’s my example. I’m not at all comfortable with violence. War disturbs me deeply, as does killing of other humans in other situations. I can’t fathom why my friends and neighbors want to arm themselves so they can be ready to kill at a moment’s notice. I’ve no tolerance for domestic violence. Yeah, quite the pacifist wimp, I know.

But today I watched three professional American football games enthusiastically, especially when the Dallas Cowboys were playing. I enjoy the strategy and athleticism of the game. But there’s a lot of hitting, pushing, falling, and hurting involved. Hmm. How on earth can I love football and hate violence?

There’s no good answer. Part of it is the culture I was raised in, which is a subset of American culture that lacks the gun worship, but has the sports enjoyment feature. It’s just how I ended up.

I’m a mix of values and beliefs I got from my parents, schools, mentors, and books. Photo from Pexels.

I could work on being more consistent. Alternatively, I could just live with it, just like all those Christians who hate people who look or talk differently, or the law and order folks who are fine with electing a lying criminal as their leader. Our minds work in mysterious ways. Asking humans to be logical and consistent is probably asking too much.

Go Cowboys.

A Day of Stuff I Like

It’s still all rainy, but I managed to do nothing but stuff I enjoy. There was no horse fun, just slogging through mud and arguing with Apache over his medicine. I had bird and plant fun, though. Whoopee, the bluebonnets are coming in strong.

I indulged my boring American self and watched football coverage most of the day. I especially enjoyed the segment on the history of football on CBS. It was interesting to see the women and people of color highlighted. Jayne Kennedy also is a role model of grace and cool hair.

While I watched all the coverage and the very close game, I finished the third row of this year’s temperature blanket. I like seeing a more normal winter range.

Today isn’t shown, but will get 4 rain chains, since it rained another inch. Luckily we just got lots of standing water, and the creek stayed within its banks.

It’s getting greener, but we can still get another freeze.

I needed to get some movement in today, so I wound some pretty yarn into cakes. It’s a soft merino 4-ply in a DK or sport weight. I’m glad it’s not sock yarn or I’d have had to double it. My friend Ray at Knitivity dyed it, and I just love the colors. Here’s what I made:

It’s mitered granny squares. They will look cool when there are more of them. Since the yarn is thin, the fabric will be light, yet warm. I think this will be a rectangular wrap, unless I have enough yarn for a lap blanket. Well wait and see.

I’ll still keep working on the two temperature blankets, but the 2023 one for my friend will finish sooner rather than later, and I can then crochet this.

As for the Big Game, I enjoyed it. I’m glad it was close so both teams can be proud of themselves. The commercials were good. As long as a couple make me laugh, I consider it a win, and I certainly laughed enough. The music was all good, and a nice variety. I like that Reba didn’t overdo the National anthem.

And Usher was such an athletic guy, all while singing. The roller skating, too! The guest performance singers were also enjoyable. I’m sure there were famous people I didn’t recognize, but I’m bad with pop music.

I knew eventually I’d stop being able to keep up! I feel like my dad saying all my music sounded alike to him. On the other hand, I’ve never really liked pop music, dance music, or the hip hop as much as folk and rock (and classical), so I’ll cut myself some slack. Maybe one day I’ll immerse myself into the last 20 years and learn what Beyoncé, Taylor, and all those folks sang.

Or not. They have plenty of fans.

A Horse Is a Sport, of Course

What are your favorite sports to watch and play?

My favorite sport to watch is, by far, American football. I’ve watched it my whole life, so it’s part of me, I guess, even with all its myriad of flaws and issues (high school boyfriend’s dad played in that last championship Detroit Lions team, and I now realize his odd behavior later in life may have been affected by blows to the head, for example). But, it was fun to watch football with my dad, and now it’s something Lee and I have in common. Note that I also enjoy baseball, which my dad played and took watching very seriously. And I actually enjoy watching golf. I just can’t believe how well people can get tiny balls into tiny holes. The only sports I’m not fond of watching are basketball and hockey. Just not part of my history, I guess.

What sports do I like to play? Well, as a kid I played football and baseball with the neighbors. If I weren’t so stubby and slow (and female) I would have played longer. I’m not exactly talented. I liked tennis in college. But the sport I do now is our version of working equitation, which is an equestrian sport. I think it’s a sport, I mean, there are competitions and prizes, so sure. So yes, my horses and I do sports.

Speaking of those powerful beasties, I got to enjoy them a lot today. That was a nice change from it mostly being too cold or wet to interact much. I took two work breaks to de-bur Drew and Apache, but I could not get them very clean. They keep rolling.

Tarrin came here for lessons today, which is always a treat. I really needed her to look at Apache and help me with his issues. Sure enough, the first thing she did was find where his abscess was hiding! It was under a flap of sole.

She did a lot of scraping, then we rummaged through all the stuff in the tack room and found Betadyne to disinfect it, an antibacterial spray to treat it, and the mud stuff I bought to protect it. I can repeat when the mud disappears.

Tarrin also measured his feet for boots. Note the feed dish full of burs.

Once he was treated you could tell he felt better, because he lifted his other hoof for the first time in a month. That meant he could stand to lean on the sore one at last. We took him out and lunged him a bit, too. He had a harder time going left than right, but was happy to trot around. He seemed so happy to do stuff again.

What he wasn’t happy about is that Tarrin figured out a way to get his pills in him with a syringe. I’m so happy to have a large supply from the lady who sold us our horse trailer. Now I just have to keep shoving them in.

As for Drew, he started out acting really odd, like trying to nip when I groomed him. He seemed to have a stomach ache. That scared me. It probably was because the horses ran out of water. I didn’t know the water had been turned off again. My poor fish. Sniff.

I was too busy to photograph Drew, so here are three of the hens. They enjoyed the sunny day.

But he improved as I worked with him on the ground, and we ended up having a really good lesson. He did so well at things that had been frustrating earlier. I’m getting able to relax more when riding, and it’s almost getting to be FUN.

And finally, here’s the sofa as I found it this morning. They are exhausted from barking at coyotes.

So yeah, those horse buddies are my sport. They are also so nice to be with. They are now both patient for bur removal, so it’s our bonding time. Ahh.

Why American Football Makes Me Laugh

I wasn’t going to write today, since mostly I looked at Ruby crowned kinglets and enjoyed sunshine and horses. But I wanted to share why I laughed so much today.

There were three professional football games on television today, covered by the second tier of broadcasters on the NFL Network. (Yes, I watch pro football and yes I know it’s violent and hurts players and all the other negativity — it’s a guilty pleasure.)

The team doing the pre-game, post-game, and halftime coverage were three ex-players and a woman I didn’t know. It was like watching a family discussion of the games and players that just happened to be sitting outdoors in Buffalo NY in December. There was much bickering, bantering, and teasing.

(I finally found out who they were: Colleen Wolfe, Steve Smith Sr., Michael Robinson, Maurice Jones-Drew and Mike Giardi who was on the sidelines.)

The woman kept going on and on about how she loved the weather and was enjoying herself. The three men had endless weather comments and complaints, all of which were really funny. They kept having to remember to talk about football. It was so unscripted and natural.

Then the game in Buffalo started. The fans had needed to wipe 8 inches of snow off each seat. Some made snowmen. Others made snowballs. Many, many snowballs. It was fun to watch them toss them around when their team scored.

Of course, they started pelting the other team and the officials, so they were asked to stop. I guess the broadcasters got pelted, too. At halftime one of the guys had put on protective ski goggles. I laughed. That’s entertainment.

Was a Little Out of It

Sorry for the absence. I was limiting my screen time, and dealing with “issues”. Then, out of the blue I got a very weird headache yesterday that lasted until 8 pm. Stress? Stroke? Jostling from the car incident? No idea.

It rained, so rain lilies and their golden cousins pop up.

I was no good to anyone in the meeting I was at in the morning. I mostly worried people. But the wildflower brochure is being printed now!

Thanks to that brochure I hit the first post-certification milestone for Master Naturalist. 250 volunteer hours. That’s me and Lisa.

I managed to get some “real job” work done, and then begged out and got my nails done. Of course, Yoe High maroon and silver. Tina did a great job making up a technique!

Minor Woes and Major Warm Fuzzies

Sorry to leave y’all hanging yesterday after my big discourse on organized religion yesterday. I do have a good excuse: we had no internet or phone service most of the day, so while I wrote a lot about things I did, they got lost uploading.

My colleagues and I visited an animal shelter in Bryan yesterday. Too bad that post is gone.

I’ll get to all that eventually. No internet is just a minor woe! And I was actually too busy doing stuff to write about it.

Cathy and I being shocked that it cooled off just before game time and it was pleasant!

It was darned good to get back to high school football again, though. Cathy and I sat in our usual seats with our usual neighbors and got through a typical up and down Cameron Yoe game. They let the other team run back and forth with impunity a few times, but settled in, and we got to see some beautiful passes and runs.

Also, the band was really good for their first time marching their show. The poor other band stood there and read from their music. The drum majors didn’t even conduct. I guess it’s a rebuilding year for them.

The directions sign is rather reflective. I think you can see me and the Baptist Church better than the sign.

Today I spent all morning making signs so people can find our offices and events, because we’ve had some trouble. The Hermit Haus Redevelopment blog spells that out. I also helped a little with baby shower prep at the office.

Extremely cute baby shower decor by Melissa.

But, I have some peachy new nails that match the ginger dog nicely, and I’m happy to report Vlassic’s lump is a lot smaller.

Penney nicely offsets my orange-to-yellow sparkling nails. Yes, they glow.

Last Thing

I’d like to sincerely thank those of you who’ve posted insightful and supportive comments here or on Facebook for the past few days. I feel less alone. I guess all the people I pissed off defriended me, so all I have left are supportive people who are willing to discuss things without name-calling. I’m happy with that!

I’ll talk about other stuff soon!