fun – The Hermits' Rest

Funny? Weird? Fun? Today Was All That

Where to start? First, I laughed SO hard yesterday at my dear cousin, who was kind enough to call and wish me happy birthday. The problem was that she wished me a happy 67th birthday. No, I correct, I’m 68. You can’t be, she exclaimed, because I’m older than you and will be 68 in November. No, you turned 68 last November. Now, we have known each other since infancy and can’t figure out how old we are. Finally I brought up an age calculator and asked it how old I was. It said 68. My cousin wailed that she had lost a year. That was so dang funny.

Also funny. The hopeful looks on these two faces as Dusty’s morning food was being prepared. They can’t believe he eats and they don’t (we have a new fattening up Dusty campaign and he eats feed twice a day)

Now for the weird. Kathleen spent all day today cleaning the tack room as only a Kathleen who’s feeling better can clean. When she has energy, she really has it. There’s a distinct lack of mouse and rat poop in the room now.

But, she discovered weird/icky things in her deep cleaning. First, Tipper has created a litter box area under a chair, sans litter box. So, suckers that we are, we’re getting the cat a litter box. And food. And water.

The tack area also sparkles. I wanted to take the ribbons down because they remind me of Tarrin, but Kathleen said I worked hard for them and should keep them out. Okay.

But what was weird was what she found under the desk. It was someone else’s poop! Our best guess is a raccoon, which it kind of resembles. But we aren’t sure. Guesses?

Maybe Vlassic? But why? He has many acres to poop in.

Another weird thing happened at work. My colleague and I were trying out all the possible voices to use in a web-based training I’m making (so they won’t have to rely on my voice after I’m gone). We found one that sounds quite real. It’s so real that I think it’s Captain Ake from Star Fleet Academy (Holly Hunter). Of course we chose her so I can chuckle as I hear Ake talking about project management software.

Now for the fun part. My friend, Melanie invited me to share wine and a cheese board with her after work. We had fun picking out cheese from Wisconsin, “the cheese capital of the US.” Then we got a lesson in the use of cheese utensils from the shop owner, who plans to give classes. It all made us laugh.

The “interesting” wrapper of one cheese.

It was lots of fun sipping prosecco and munching on snacks. I learned a lot about the history of this county (in sum, everyone really IS related) and got to chat with a few other women who were there. It was a great way to end my extended birthday, and everyone else got barbecue for dinner, so they didn’t miss me at all!

I will now snuggle into my side of the bed just like my sleeping partner (Lee has Penney in his sleeping chair)

Joy! Twice in One Day!

The world is so complicated. There’s a lot of negativity going around. So the fact that I was able to feel real joy twice today is a sweet and precious thing. What does it say, about, well, everything, that the source of my joy both times was birds?

It’s because birds are tiny (or larger) packets of joy.

I’m sure thankful for my animal friends, my birds and horses especially, for helping me get through the weirdest of times! Today was a great example.

I took my morning hike today to a part of Nail’s Creek (Lake Somerville) park I never made it to before. It was pretty in a dry, post-oak Savannah kind of way.

I followed the path of Cedar Creek, which was mostly dry, and saw lots of wetland plants and hog damage. I saw hogs there last year, so I wasn’t surprised. I was hoping to get a better view of the pelicans and snow geese we’d seen earlier (and heard—much honking).

I heard snow geese, but when I zoomed in I realized that both geese and pelicans were flying around

I did find them, but still couldn’t see them much better.

As I was taking pictures of ducks, sandpipers, yellowlegs and such, some big birds showed up. They were black, but I had a hard time figuring out much about them, even through binoculars. Were they Anhingas? Black geese?

Finally I got close enough to see their bills. They were ibises! They eventually started making sounds, so Merlin confirmed they were white-faced (there are other dark ones). They dug in the shallow water and hung out on a snag in the water. It was most entertaining, and I was thrilled to get to watch them up close. By the time I heard Sandhill Cranes again that weird feeling in my chest that could only be joy burst forth.

A friend asked me if I felt any other emotions along with joy. Yeah, there’s a poignant sadness when I realize joy is just a momentary feeling. I had tears looking at the birds. But that’s what makes joy so special — its rarity and fleeting nature.

Phlox brought happiness! That’s good, too.

Anyway, the day continued and we took a drive around the area. We visited Yegua Creek Park, where Catherine from the comments section’s husband was camping. We missed him but did enjoy checking out the campsites and views.

We then drove to where the dam for Lake Somerville is, which has many camping areas. After going over the whole dam, we took the scenic route back. There are some nice properties in the area.

Back at our campsite, I wanted to take the good camera out to try and get better pelican pictures. We went to the day use area, where lots of birds were gathered. I helped a young man find his first Northern Shoveler ducks, and his excitement was fun to observe.

Then I got all excited because I spotted a Black-necked Stilt. The second joyful moment.

I jumped up and down and made happy noises, which Lee enjoyed. He said that’s why he likes to go with me sometimes, just to see me all happy. Aww. Here are a few more photos from the day.

The day ended with salmon patties made into sandwiches with really good potato salad. Lee got to cook on his little grill outdoors, so he had fun, too.

Thanks to all of you who’ve been reading the last few days. It’s encouraging to think I entertain you a bit. At least it’s a brief diversion!

Yes! I Can Have Fun!

Yes, there was fun to be had on this chilly, blustery day. Did I say chilly? Well, the high didn’t get above 70°F, which is welcome. However, the wind made it feel colder, prompting a friend to ask if it was too soon to ask for summer back. Um, yes, I’m afraid it is. Tomorrow will be fairly cold, so I’m hoping the wind will die down.

As for fun today, discovering the horses in the driveway again wasn’t part of it. I had to brave the gales to go shut the main gate, all the while wondering how in the HECK the gate got open, since I strongly remember fastening it. No photos. They looked just like last time.

Verifiable fun occurred during my birding time, when I plopped my chair on my unfinished birding station and watched a parade of geese, ducks, and cranes fly over, followed by a cat creeping to the pond and making the Kingfisher and Great Blue Heron upset. (Kingfisher seems to have moved in for a while).

Plus, I finally saw some migrating Monarchs. None of my better flowers are blooming, so I’m not seeing as many as Austin friends are. I hope the wind didn’t mess them up.

I also had fun at work, because I like both projects I’m working on, one writing and one helping folks. I enjoy the conversation.

The real fun, though, came when I opened the huge collection of acrylic markers I just bought. A whole new world of things I can doodle on has opened up, along with the possibility of ruining many things. So far I put flowers on a pair of glasses that needed some rejuvenation. They look better than I feared, thought not “fine art.”

This tones down the silver in the frames.

I sat there wondering if I could decorate my ugly plastic headband. Yes, I could. It ended up looking nice with my blue hair.

I also put identification in a subtle silver on my new binoculars and their bag, hoping not to have these wander away.

The decorations were fun to do. I just have to resist the urge not to decorate every object in my home. I’ll try to just decorate rocks or something. Many people paint rocks.

My final fun was crocheting away while watching Elspeth so far this season. I will next watch Matlock. I like shows with quirky older protagonists. I feel okay not boycotting CBS, since Colbert was on Elspeth. So there.

Speaking of crochet, I finally have my temperature blanket through September. I look forward to months with more green and yellow…maybe even blue?

More thoughts on why I’m encouraged will be shared tomorrow. Ooh, passive voice! Reminds me to go finish reading The Language Puzzle, my current book.

You can see I have a new horse book coming up!

Oh My, Software Training Can Be Fun?

I’ve created or delivered software training for a long time now. Sometimes it’s a mental challenge. Sometimes it’s drudgery. Sometimes you have to make things up and hope they work. Sometimes you have to create lots and lots of stuff in a format you’re dubious about. Sometimes you get to decide.

Sometimes it’s rough and scary, but great when it’s over, like climbing mountains. Photo by Pexels.

And yeppers, sometimes it’s fun. After a week and a half training a curriculum that was still being developed and re-thought while we were teaching people, I was supposed to switch to part two, which I’d never led before. It looked pretty intimidating, had little structure (intended to be different for each student), and had lots of “rules” to follow.

But as I watched a colleague do the first one today (she’d done others), it came to me that I could make some general guidelines and recommendations so I’d have a structure to follow. I wrote it all down and stopped worrying about it. I figured I’d just do my best, even if I had eleven students rather than the three or four we’d hoped for.

It worked. I ended up with four students, one just observing, and we followed my plan. It ended up being lots of fun figuring out how to get projects set up, and we all helped each other. When you get a bunch of engineers interested in a task, it’s a hoot watching them figure things out. We finished in plenty of time to ask questions of one of the admins, and all learned things. They even thanked me!

Maybe the memory of that one will get me through another week and a half of this stuff. It’s nice to be reminded of how rewarding it can be to facilitate people as they gain new skills.

My day was topped off by a wonderful session with Apache, who seems to have benefited from me keeping him moving yesterday and today.

Also! Check out two Red-shouldered Hawks that flew over me this morning!

In fact, if I hadn’t had any exposure to national news today, it would have been perfect. My little bubble is good, though.

Human Bodies, So Frail

I’d avoided it all summer, but today I finally got overheated. I should have know there’d be an issue when I couldn’t even take sitting in my birding chair more than a half hour this morning. Ugh. At least I managed to see the pretty white rain lilies that appeared today.

Brazos rain lily *Zephyranthes chlorosolen*

Vicki and I had a horse lesson today, and of course we worked to stay hydrated as we groomed Drew and Apache. I got through my lesson and felt a bit tired but okay. I think what got to me was that Apache acted like he had to pee and so I just sat on him with the August sun bearing down on me and got too hot.

An earlier pee time when he made us wait.

By the time I was trying to unsaddle him I felt bad. I HATE getting all messed up by heat and having to make people stop and take care of me. I ate into Vicki’s lesson time, too. Human bodies can really let you down sometimes.

Trying to look perky after I cooled off.

Sorry to whine about my body not doing my bidding. It could be a LOT WORSE and I know that. But I really do try to not overheat, though that’s a challenge in August. That’s one reason Apache and I are trying to stay in shape but not overdo it. It’s a fine line.

The moon cheered me up again, as it will.

Still, I’m feeling my grief over losing our friend Gail settling down to a more reasonable level, but I remain saddened that someone I admire has gone into hospice. I know I’m at the stage in life when friends start to pass on, but it’s worth honoring them all and sharing stories.

While I try to regulate my thermostat, I’m glad I have flowers to enjoy.

I’ll continue with memories as I get through another travel period starting tomorrow.

The tarot card of the day is the 3 of Cups/Water.

I’m happy to see more fun otters from the Gaian Tarot. The card tells us to have fun with friends. I did that today, with both friends and family. I’m so relieved that I’ve been drawing happy cards except on sad days!

I Can Have a Theme if I Want To

The freedom is getting to me. I may have mentioned that I randomly decided to have a color theme for each month this year. January was black. I was pretty sad that month. The rest of the year is more cheerful, with pink February and purple March.

I had written orange down for April, but all last month I was planning for green. So I switched to green for April. Because I’m my own boss! Yes! I just wish I paid me more.

But not just nails, oh no! It’s hair, too. I’ve never had green hair before. It’s, um, green all right.

I will wear a lot of green, but I’m not gonna go nuts. Just some touches for whimsy. I just need fun right now to keep me going. This doesn’t cost much and I no longer care what people think about how I look (not that I ever did).

I indulged myself today by taking all the time I needed to tally up the birds I saw in March. I have a spreadsheet, you know. I keep track of birds I see at the Hermits’ Rest, elsewhere in Texas, and other states I visit. I share the findings for each month on the blog, too. You can see for yourself what the 84 birds here in March were. You can also see last year, too. I discovered that the only other time Merlin heard a Short-eared Owl was last March. This information alone spurs me on to make it until March 2026!

I really should see them in winter. Maybe they’re migrating in March. Photo from Pexels.

Speaking of green stuff and our ranch, the whole property other than pastures was mowed and trimmed today. It looks very neat. They accidentally mowed the wildflowers on the roadside, which made me sad. Maybe some flowers will come back. The wildflower strip that’s not mowed still looks pretty ragged, so we may just need to try again next year.

There’s good news, though. They moved the round pen to the little field in front of the house, so I’ll have a lot more space for horse training equipment. I can have a gate to practice on, my own cowboy curtain, etc.! Note that, as set up, the round pen is sort of a trapezoid. We will fix it.

I introduced Apache to the new location today. The goal was to just get him over there, but we made it in and did some circles and figure eights. He was not thrilled, but I handled it fine. Then we went back and trotted in the circle-ish area where the pen used to be. He’s such a creature of habit. He still balks at the higher jump. It’s okay.

No photos of the horse today, but, look! I have a blurry photo to show the Northern Harrier does exist here!

What’s the point of all this babbling? I want to encourage you to go and find your fun and indulge in what you love. It’s more important now than ever. The joy we can bring to ourselves is ours and ours alone. I’m not going to let my right to do silly things get taken away, because these little things strengthen me to keep fighting for my rights and the rights of people I care about. I think that’s true for us all.

I declare April to be not only the cruelest month, but also the greenest. So mote it be.

Luckily, It’s Raining

Finally we are having the kind of rain that might refill our ponds and creeks. We are very lucky to have been only a few miles south of the “wintry mix” section of the precipitation band, and well removed from the snow that has blanketed North Texas.

I meant to get a screenshot earlier today. Oh well, I had lots of meetings today so not much time for extraneous activities.

I’m so glad we just got rain, because that let me get to my Master Naturalist meeting tonight. I always enjoy them and tonight was quite fun. First, I was kind to someone who needed some kindness, and he just beamed with joy and gave me some stew. It’s very good stew.

Pretend it’s this stew, only with olives, not pomegranates. Stock photo.

Then I said something funny and almost made water come out of someone else’s nose. I consider that a triumph, but am sorry she got her drink all over her shirt. We all made the best of a very rainy night.

It makes me feel good to see the group being enthusiastic about our training class, bats, and other activities. It’s taken a long time to recover from the loss of the group’s leader followed by COVID, but I think they’ve done it.

Carlton would like me to stop writing and go to bed. I guess I will.

That’s it for today. Both dogs are healing well. Sending love to friends near the LA fires and to my cousin/friend. So many out there needing support right now with illnesses, stress, etc. send out your spare good thoughts!

Hiking with Someone Can Be Fun

To be truthful, I get irritated at people who talk and talk as they go down trails, ruining my precious silence and bird listening. That makes me a hypocrite, because given the chance to talk to someone I hadn’t talked to in a good number of years, I’ll talk my butt off, even on slippery rocks.

Yes! I went on a nice hike with a friend! Rebecca was the choir director when I sang at Live Oak UU Church, and we also sang together in other choral groups over the years. She’s one of the people I’d missed most when I left Round Rick for weekends at the ranch.

The gray sky made the red leaves more vivid.

After seeing each other again at the recent memorial service, we decided to do stuff together, and decided to hike at Cedar Breaks Park on Lake Georgetown. It took us the same amount of time to get there, coming different ways, so Rebecca made a good choice.

There is a lot of confusing construction around the park, but the trails weren’t very crowded, thanks to a misty drizzle. But it wasn’t too cold and the fall colors were striking. It WAS rather slippery on the limestone along the trail, but we were careful.

It was great catching up with each other and identifying plants. She’s a Master Gardener now, so we’re both all educated. I was surprised at how many plants were still blooming or budding out.

There weren’t very many birds in the oak/juniper forest, but hearing a Canyon Wren made up for it. That was only my second one. you need a canyon to find them, and we had them on the lake.

After we got back, we headed into Georgetown for a nice lunch at the Sweet Lemon Cafe. It was cute and the food was very nice. We wished it wasn’t rainy, so we could visit nearby shops, but maybe we can try again.

So, what caused this tree damage? It’s fresh.

We already have an idea for another adventure. I sure feel good about breaking out of hermit-hood a little. As a matter of fact, I’m going to keep trying! Tomorrow I drive up north and hope the rodeo traffic is confined to the west side of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.

I Got Enough Exercise

I wonder about me sometimes. I ended up working weird hours today, because I intended to walk for an hour and ended up taking a long horseback ride on it. It made for a long day all right, but it was worth it. I can sure be spontaneous!

Yesterday, I talked to the concierge at the condo place, who really didn’t seem enthusiastic about the idea of me walking up the mountain to the local riding stable. That annoyed me. I know I’m not 20 anymore. But I’m in better shape than I was then!

It’s just a mountain, not the highest one or anything.

So this morning after my first meetings, I wanted to get away from the loud construction trucks (they are rebuilding the road), so I headed up to the ski slope service road and hoped I’d hear some birds and see some flowers. I did, indeed! There were loud Steller’s Jays and crows, and some truly gorgeous flowers dotting the ski slopes.

It was a bit of a climb to get there, and there were more loud trucks, but when I saw horses, it was all worth it!

I decided that, while I was there, I might as well ride. It turned out the only other people there at that time had booked a private ride, so I got one, too. I’d been afraid that I’d be in a big line of horses. But no, little palomino Dreamer and I just followed one butt, that of Ethel, a young draft mare just learning to lead groups.

Both nice horses, though a little scruffy.

Kayley, the young woman leading us, was very personable and fun to talk to about our horses. I did spend a lot of time alternating between enjoying the beautiful woods and mountain streams and trying not to look down when we were in the edges of the steep trails. At least Dreamer did respond to my aids and keep to the inside of the trail.

The horses were so sure-footed. I was thankful! It was a lovely experience and exceeded my expectations. We crossed water, went between trees, and had a blast!

I’m glad I came when I did, because the next ride was full of people. There was a tiny kid, too. He probably wouldn’t even realize he should be cautious on the rocky slopes.

I truly enjoyed the walk back down. I went on the little paths by the woods. Boy did that disturb the squirrels!

When I got back I was quite tired but felt great. I had time to take pictures of tiny, vocal birds.

After working, I roused my tired body to go down to the cozy lounge and had a glass of wine and some conversation with nice folks. It’s fun to meet all these travelers! I’m glad I left the condo to get some new scenery!

Work at 6am tomorrow! Off to snooze!

Five Fun Things on a Soggy Day

List five things you do for fun.

Sure, I can list five things I do for fun. But let’s make it more interesting and find five fun things to do on a very wet and soggy day.

1. I can listen to birds. Ha, I do that fun thing most days. Today my phone survived listening for birds in light rain, for which I’m grateful. There was a heck of a lot of singing and calling, along with flitting and swooping. Even the owl and kingfisher joined in the chorus in the late afternoon.

2. I can inspect the creek to see if it’s flooding, really flooding, or the floodiest. It was really flooding. The water didn’t go over the bridge, but it sure spread out. All sorts of islands had formed.

I also had fun seeing how the water flowed. I discovered that the big cedar elm I enjoy is so big because it’s in a springy spot.

3. I can hang out with wet horses. Oh my, I have a lot of grooming ahead of me when it dries. But everyone was friendly and didn’t mind that they all got the same food and supplements this one time.

Apache had been refusing his medicine, but I tried burying it in a new cranberry apple pill pocket treat today and it went in. I wish I could talk to him and explain how much he needs the meds. I should have mentioned that yesterday.

We still don’t trust you after that umbrella incident.

4. I can cook warm and nutritious foods. Yes, I am trying to cook more. Today I made a thick bean soup with beef and veggies. The beans were some dried kind that started with an “a” (I discarded the bag too soon). They had a creamy texture I liked. But wait, I found them. They’re Peruvian beans or canary beans. Peruano Mayacoba in Spanish. They do not start with “a” after all.

I used some of that new-ish “Better Than Bouillon” stuff for the base. It’s quite tasty and doesn’t appear to be full of harmful ingredients. I’m figuring out recipes that don’t use sugar and carbs that my household will eat. It’s a fun challenge, especially since I’m a big fan of carbs. But I also eat anything, so I can adapt.

5. I can knit. Knitting is always fun, especially the temperature blankets. The soggy day had so little temperature change that I almost ended up with a solid colored square today. But I got two greens! 50-56°.

This isn’t a very imaginative list of fun things. It’s stuff I do most days, if you categorize looking at floods as analyzing the weather. But that tells me something: I have fun every day, rain or shine, summer or winter. Simple pleasures for the win!