You get to build your perfect space for reading and writing. What’s it like?
Not much going on out of the ordinary today so let’s answer this one. If I had my ideal setup for reading and writing, it would involve a comfy daybed with a ton of soft pillows to ensure comfort no matter what I’m doing: reading, writing, knitting, or looking at birds, plants, and animals. That’s because the daybed is in the woods! But with climate control and no way for flies, mosquitoes and mice to get in.
Mr. and Mrs. Caracara are disappointed that I’m not building my little room.
Well, it’s a fantasy.
Mrs. C leaves in a huff.
In real life, Apache still walks okay and trotted a little on the lead line. He volunteered. I made him stop. He and I had a nice time with bur removal, too. He’s a friendly fellow and so patient on his new meds. I can’t find the abscess, though.
Dusty sticks his tongue out at my inability to find an issue.
Drew got his assigned exercise today though he wasn’t thrilled. Neither horse will enjoy getting back into shape. But it will pay off.
They don’t get to loll around like Goldie.
In extra mundane news, I’ve managed to misplace next year’s journal. That was the day’s bummer. How can I write in my forest hut with no journal?
Four previous journals. Before this I used large black notebooks for about five years. They’re still packed.
Luckily they still sell them and they are inexpensive, so I ordered more. I like consistency in my record keeping, it appears. I’ll have one in time to set up my beloved bullet journal for a fourth year in a row.
I skipped yesterday because I just spent the day cooking and being with my current nuclear family. I’m proud I didn’t spend any money on gifts this year or on commercial aspects of American Xmas. I just didn’t want to be all consumerist like I used to be. I did give my son and his partner the thermal stitch hot pads I’d made, though. I hope to take Anita on a trip next year as a gift.
We can fly away, like this red-shouldered hawk.
I didn’t even buy any food for dinner. I cooked a giant pork loin that was in the freezer. Half of it will magically reappear at New Year’s. I made dressing with bread cubes leftover from Thanksgiving and served vegetables and cranberry sauce I already had in the pantry. So there! The meal was just fine, and the conversation, laughter, and low stress among our group was marvelous. Success.
I thoroughly enjoyed spending the day looking at birds, which I did a lot of today, too. I saw pairs of kingfishers and caracaras, which makes me hope they are nesting. And today I got to watch a flock of chickadees eating at the stand of trees near the creek bridge. They are so comical. I heard them make a song I’d never heard them make before, too.
Tree full of tiny birds. Honest.
A day off really goes fast if you spend much of it watching little peeping things, and before I knew it, the time for a horse lesson had come. Droodles got to go again, since Apache was on sick leave. He was much better today about bur removal and seemed in better spirits, like his old friendly self.
Not Drew, but fun chickadees.
Speaking of much better, when Sara pulled up with her trailer and Aragorn, all the horses got excited. I enjoyed watching Mabel and Dusty gallop up to the pens, calling out. But after they stopped, I still heard thundering hooves. It was Apache! There he was cantering at great speed to check things out. He didn’t look very lame at all! Maybe his abscess has burst. I’ll check first thing tomorrow, since it was too dark when I got home to look, but he was walking normally. Yay! I may have both my horses back available to ride!
We will be out stabbing our poles at that bull again in no time. (Setting sun lit up the trees.)
Drew’s lesson showed he’s feeling better, but a bit out of shape. There was some huffing and puffing in his part, which looked so endearing. I enjoyed watching Tarrin work with him and got to ride a bit myself, which I was glad for, since riding makes my back feel better. Aragorn is also making some great progress as well. I enjoy watching Sara’s lessons. We each benefit from what the other is learning.
Happy trails to us!
Bonus enjoyment came when we got to watch the sun setting right as the full moon was rising. We all got to enjoy that!
It’s funny that this prompt came up today, because I haven’t had much time to go grocery shopping and ran out of one of my most precious items: coffee creamer. I just love how long that stuff lasts, which real cream does not. And I actually prefer no sweetener in my coffee, but that Italian Sweet Cream sure starts my day off well.
Today’s sunrise also started the day off well, so well it still looked good around 8:30.
What are my other four top grocery items? They squash my self image as a healthy eater. I’m afraid it’s Coke Zero, pop tarts (fruit), cheese, and yogurt. I assure you things like salad greens, tomatoes, onions, and tuna are also present. I eat a wide variety but need my emergency pop tarts.
I could eat dandelion greens in an emergency. We always have them.
On to the good news. I may have mentioned that Drew, the gray teen horse, got kicked in the head by Fiona the donkey a few weeks ago. Since then he hasn’t liked having his head touched, which created a problem due to his habit of eating among cockleburs, which got all over his forelock, the “bangs” on the front of a horse’s head.
This is on a day when I got some of them out.
He had been picking on the other horses, acting unfriendly towards me, and shaking his head if I put on a halter or bridle. I could barely ride him, so I mostly have been doing stuff on the ground. Well, today I had extra time, so I got him some hay, groomed him, and then tried but removal again.
Nice tail.
Yesterday, while waiting for Sara to come look at Apache, he let me get all the burs out of his tail, which looked sort of like a mop in the process of being wrung before I started. I took that as a good sign.
First I did the mane
So today I started on the part of his name farthest from his face and moved upwards. There was some gnarly stuff in there, but I gently separated the mess (wearing my gloves, of course). I gave him lots of rest time and much hay. When I got to the hard part, the top of his head, he got agitated. I had carefully put a web halter on at its loosest setting, but his head still itched. Poor guy.
Note the puff on his forehead!
I eventually got ALL the burs off. I think he eventually figured out I was helping. When I was finished he let me rub all over his little fro. Burs are like tiny hair curlers. Then he let me rub on his face, where the cut had been and I’d spilled oil the first time I’d de-burred him. Wow!
His reward was getting to graze in the round pen.
He was still agitated when we got to Tarrin’s for a lesson. He was hard to lead and his ears were back. So Tarrin did some cranial-fascial work on him and slowly he stopped head tossing. He had obviously been injured and knocked out of alignment. Probably had a concussion or hairline fracture, poor guy. Maybe that has taught him to avoid Fiona’s hooves. He seemed much happier when his skull and jaw were realigned.
Fix my leg, please.
Tarrin then worked with his behavior and got him more settled after realizing his back end also hurt (I’m guessing from rearing and kicking with Dusty). By the time she was done, he was paying attention to her nicely, doing good lateral movements, and acting sweet again.
She told me that if he starts acting mean again that he must not feel good. I’ll bear that in mind. He just needs to be walked over poles for the next week.
What about me?
Yes, it’s true. Neither of my riding horses can be ridden right now. Apache is no worse, and I am to start soaking his feet in epsom salts and water to try to draw out his abscess. He does get to be set free of the pens, though, because walking is good for him.
Must I?
And he will have pain meds for a few days. That boy is on a LOT of medication!
Ow.
I feel bad for both of them being in pain, but I think Droodles is gonna be better soon. Hope Apache is just a few more weeks to get better.
It’s time for a nature post today. Nothing is better for me than some bird watching, and today was fun. The fewer leaves on the trees, the better I like it. I got to observe two large and colorful birds today, so both are the Daily Bird.
Crested Caracara
I’ve been seeing a pair of these birds a lot the past few weeks. I even saw their mating flight one day. Today they flew around and around where I was until one landed high in a nearby tree. you can even tell what it is in the picture!
Better picture
Around here, we call them Mexican eagles, as they are the bird on the Mexican flag, after all. They are expanding their range northwards. They weren’t here when we first arrived; I saw my first ones in DeWitt County, where Lee’s dad was from. I think they’re very fun to watch.
Caracara time
The other large bird I enjoyed today I heard first, before I saw it. They are very loud when they call. Then I heard the banging of a big bill and knew it was the pileated woodpecker, the one whose holes I’d seen on our last camping trip.
I listened to the pecking long enough that I eventually spotted it on a dead branch on the biggest tree behind the back pond. I watched that pointy head go up and down for quite a while. I do have photos of it, but it was so far away that I only know it’s there from the Live Photo motion.
Sure, there’s a bird in that tree.
It made an excellent racket when it flew off, which capped off my morning walk well. There was also the usual red-bellied woodpecker out today, so it was easy to compare calls, but I didn’t hear the flicker today.
My afternoon animal adventures weren’t all that fun. I went out to prepare food for the horses and ride/exercise Drew, when I noticed that everyone had come up to see me but Apache. He didn’t come to me when I gave him his medicine, either, just nickered a greeting.
When he finally did move, my heart sank. He was limping. I forgot all about my plans and prepared the pens for him to stay in. I fed the other guys and got him all settled. His feet weren’t too hot, and the sore foot looked no different than it had last time I looked at it on Friday.
Hobble Horse. My poor buddy.
Sara, bless her, came over to check, even though she was having her family holiday meal soon. Apache was pretty happy other than his foot, since he had a giant bag of hay and I de-burred him. Sara put a boot on him to help. I have a harder to use boot I’ll try tomorrow.
Lee and I checked on him again before bedtime. Apache was so pleased to see me that he peed (he used to do that a lot). He was also quite pleased with the entire bale of hay I left him so he wouldn’t starve.
Hay? For me? Don’t bother unwrapping it!
Anyway, Sara and Tarrin agree it’s probably an abscess, which happened a couple of years ago. That’s no fun, because I can’t ride him, but it’s not a medical emergency like founder would be. Whew. I know it hurts, though.
The $$$ medicine he takes now will prevent founder by helping with his PPID symptoms, for which I’m grateful. I’m sure he’ll get better but it will take time, and we’ve been doing so well!
Bonus: while waiting for Sara I got all the burs out of Drew’s tail and he was friendlier than he’s been lately. I have a lesson on him tomorrow, so I hope Tarrin can help me figure out why he’s gotten so grouchy and hormonal.
What positive events have taken place in your life over the past year?
Now this is a good question! It’s been quite a challenging year, but the good stuff has been huge. I’m actually doing very well, considering. And here’s why.
Bonus: cool skies, like this sun dog this morning, Thank you, Nature.
Progress with Horsemanship: I’ve gotten to where I can ride Drew, at least on many days. And Apache and I have made so much progress that I can’t stop smiling when I think of it. My nerves are better and he feels better, which is such a great combination.
He’s un-learning a lifetime of holding his head high.
Learning about Birds: I gave the Cornell Ornithology Lab a nice donation this year, because the improvements in the Merlin Bird ID app have made this bird lover know so much more about what lives here at the Hermits’ Rest and wherever I visit. I feel like I have familiar friends everywhere I go now, even with eight similar sparrows here at once.
Since I got no bird pictures today, here’s a Red Admiral I saw in my meditation tree.
Camping in Seneca: one of the best things about this year has been going camping with Lee. It’s been wonderful for our relationship to get away and spend time together (when I’m not hiking solo). He sure loves to drive that thing.
Natural-Lee
Making Mental Peace with My Family: I’ve worked hard at accepting the way things are with my family. I just want my son and sister happy with their choices. I’m doing much better at accepting the family members who DO talk to me just as they are. And I feel more empathy with my parents, who did the best they could. Even Mom. This kind of thing has helped bring me more peace inside.
39 years without Mom. That poor woman.
What’s good with you? Whatever it is, hold onto it! We’re in for some bumpy times, I think.
Happy Hanukkah for my Jewish friends. It’s such a hard time, especially for those close to me.
Let’s answer this prompt. It’s harmless. I used to prefer nights, back when I did a lot of music stuff and going out with friends. I think I liked the activities, like choir practice and rehearsals more than the fact that it was night.
This is here just because I thought it was pretty.
Now that I mostly stay home, I’ve come to enjoy my morning routine out in the fields and woods. It’s grounding and gets my mind ready to get stuff done. I do enjoy having morning rituals like coffee and filling out my bullet journal for the day, too.
I often meditate while looking at lichen and bark.
I have evening rituals, too, like blogging and reading before I go to sleep. I guess I like to ease into the day and ease back out.
Magazine patiently waiting for me to finish blogging
I enjoyed the distraction of a lesson on Apache this afternoon. I wanted to build on last weekend, and it worked. We are doing well together, and I’m impressed with his eagerness to learn. I’m a lot more calm, too. He’s feeling better.
He stopped nice and straight. He made a new friend, Nosy Noah. He’s losing fat. Good posture Bad postureGoodNot good Good Apache living and learning
Next lesson will be for Drew, but it’s been postponed for family stuff. That gives me lots of time to work with them both at home, though. Drew and I have lots to practice, too! He is still weird about his head but otherwise tons of fun.
Daily Bird
I think the great blue herons on the ranch will be upset (or more upset) with me if I don’t feature them, so today’s the day.
It’s about time.
At least today I didn’t scare one who was busily cleaning out the overflow pond like I’d done for two days. I just watched them flying and posing at water’s edge.
I’m watching you.
My favorite thing about these large birds is their croak. They yell when disturbed and made to fly off. Often they don’t vocalize enough for the Merlin app to catch them, but it did this week. It’s a great creaky sound.
I’m glad we have water to attract these and the other herons/egrets here. They have so many postures and look so elegant when they fly. And they’re so big! It’s a nice contrast with all the tiny woodland birds.
I say I’m a hippie, because when I saw the prompt for the day, two things popped into my head: blue jeans and t-shirts. I have had that as my uniform since the day I was allowed to wear pants to school, which I think was in 1971. It sure saved Mom money, so she didn’t argue with me. My clothing budget shrank a lot. And I bought my own shirts.
My avatar wears my usual stuff. Jeans, t-shirt, jean jacket and cowboy boots.
The t-shirts have only changed in that now there are more horses on them and before I had stylized drag racing cars. Peace symbols and flowers have stayed.
The jeans started out straight, became bell-bottoms, got high-waisted and low-waisted and repeated in various ways. Mostly I wore basic Levi’s.
I didn’t catch it, but I did see this goatweed leafwing butterfly today.
Now, on to the day off. I felt so good after a very long night of sleep, that I decided to take it easy today. I spent a lot of time birding, including being startled by the blue heron twice. It’s been picking off fish in the dwindling overflow pond, and neither of us can see the other until we’re on top of each other.
Location of heron.
The other encounter I had came when Carlton and I took a walk in the woods. Suddenly he froze. I think he was trying to point like a hunting dog. We’d come upon an opossum along the stream bed. he must have smelled it, since he doesn’t see well.
Look over there!
Carlton was a good boy and followed me so the animal could go on about its business. It was a good walk the rest of the way. I’m glad I didn’t bring the Mighty Huntress Goldie or we’d have had another bloodbath. Ugh.
Just hanging out
Other than enjoying birds, I enjoyed the horses. This morning I caught them at playtime, which involved Drew and Dusty nuzzling then running down the pasture to the pens, rearing and pawing, then running back. Dusty still has it in him! (Pictures are blurry because I was far away.)
Playing Dusty is ahead Drew passes himDrew turned around Going back Turned again.
Mabel eventually got into the running, but not the rest of it. I’ve noticed that she’s now strong enough to chase off any horse who tries to nip her.
Horse conference
Eventually Apache thundered back and forth until they all gathered around the hay bale. It’s nice to watch them play, and I’m glad they have the space to do so.
See, he doesn’t spend ALL his time staring into space.
Later I spent quality time with everyone, which is always so nice. Drew is a little pissy lately, since his head injury. But the other horses and Fiona were fine. I got all the burs off Mabel, even. I just have to wait until it’s her idea to have a petting session.
No burs!
I had plenty of time to make dinner, and was so relaxed I didn’t even get upset when Dish Network didn’t have the channel where Sunday Night Football was. Lee just went over and set up the antenna he’d bought weeks ago for just such an eventuality. Boom. TV. It comes in great, actually.
I made a potholder or hot pad. It’s very thick, because I crocheted it with thermal stitch.
And yes, I wore jeans and a t-shirt today.
Closeup of stitch
Daily Bird
I’m featuring the orange-crowned warbler today, because I’d never heard one here before, just on one camping trip. I didn’t see it, but I can sure ID one by sound now. It sounded like one of those rhythm instruments you scrape across in Latin music, usually five sets of scrapy sounds.
They only drop by here while migrating, according to the map.
A bird I saw a lot today was the Savannah sparrow. It’s a basic brown sparrow, but it’s everywhere this time of year. It and the pipit make little peeps.
No, I’m actually not the champion, but I’m very happy with myself and the beleaguered Apache, my equine partner in the last Working Horse Central show of the year. We’d been scheduled to go camping this weekend, but with no pet care, we canceled. I’m glad, because that let me go to the show.
Me and my fluffy buddy.
Apache was jittery in Functionality, the first part of the show. I didn’t think I was, since I knew the dressage pattern and knew he could do all the parts. I was ready to try to improve our performance by showing what we’d learned, but I insisted got to show how to deal with a horse that decides not to leg yield or turn right at a trot, both things he knows how to do. We were at Tarrin’s, too, the place he practices.
I think Suna projected nerves.
But after some initial irritation, I let Apache chill in a stall, and he settled down. We ended up doing our best Trail pattern ever. We even did the gate! He really didn’t mess up anything but the side pass and a bit with the garrocha pole. But we did it all! I think we were pretty calm, too.
He refused to look perky, though. Still a zombie.
After enjoying watching Sara and the others do their parts (Aragorn seems to feel great and was a superstar), we did the final event, Agility. On this one you try to go as fast as possible. And we DID. We just zipped through the curtains, over the rails, on the slalom, and everywhere. If we hadn’t made some mistake I’m not certain of, we’d have won that one, because we were fast!
This is how happy I was.
It was so much fun to do. It finally feels like we can be partners. We were turning and just plowing through. I’m so glad to have had this experience. It felt like we were really riding, not trying to ride, if that makes sense. Apache really seems to feel better now.
Sara said we look ready to canter. Ooh like the big kids. Hey, I may be slow, but I’m progressing. Everyone was happy for me, which felt great. Our little group is so supportive of each other that it’s hard to get down!
Cheering section.
After the show there were end of year awards. It was cute to see how many awards and prizes the young competitors got. I think the littlest one would have been just as happy to just play in the mud obstacle with the Rottweilers.
Generous donors enabled us to have some very nice prizes for the winners in each division. I was very happy for Sara and Aragorn, who really worked hard and attended every show. She is the actual champion, in her Novice group.
Very festive.
Apache and I were second in Beginners to our friends Jacqui and Jambo. I really enjoy watching them! We had a lot of fun with our ribbons.
Ribbons for all!
The winners of each group received beautiful belt buckles designed by one of the group moms. What a wonderful surprise. Sara sure deserves one for her effort. The big surprise was that the reserve champion in each group also got buckles. That means I got one, and it has turquoise on it!
I feel so legitimate now. I guess I always wanted to earn a buckle and work hard for it. Sara can wear hers to her next Working Equitation show! We are champions.
After last week having to abort any try at filming a virtual show entry, feeling connected and successful today was a real win. Life sure has its ups and downs! Today was up.
Apache made me proud. Even of the yellow. Other prizes, a cool hoodie, riding pants and a cleaning brushNeighbors with bucklesSara got a cool gift certificate. I got to wear my alligator boots, because Lee found them in the shipping container. So proud of Aragorn. SunriseSunset
Do you or your family make any special dishes for the holidays?
If they are referring to the winter holidays, like the Solstice or Christmas, then there’s only been one constant since my children were little, and that’s to have cinnamon rolls for breakfast. We used to eat them while opening gifts.
Something cheerful: Vlassic running at sunset.
For many, many reasons I’m not doing much for Christmas this year. It’s going to be a hard one for much of my family, and I’m not feeling very celebratory. I’m just going to go somewhere with Lee, if we can get someone to feed dogs and medicate Apache.
Speaking of horses, I caught Drew and Fiona being friendly today.
If not, I’ll stay home and eat cinnamon rolls then cook a meal for the same people I cooked Thanksgiving for. Maybe I’ll make pork loin and correct cranberry sauce. I think there will be small, handmade gifts for people.
You know, I think I just don’t want to do anything religious. I’m not happy with things being done in the name of religion these days, especially the ones stemming from Moses and his tribes. I’m disappointed in wars, book banning, misogyny, religious intolerance, and fundamentalism. All of it.
For the solstice, which at least predates Christmas, there will be candles and maybe a fire if the place we go has a fireplace. I’ll make decorations out of things from the woods and put intentions of peace into them.
Or we can watch a sunset.
It will be fine to skip materialism and shiny things for one year and concentrate on helping struggling loved ones however I can.
Daily Bird
We had some rain today, but it only rained hard briefly. It did quiet the birds down. The daily birds just have to be the European starlings.
As I went out to slog through the puddles to feed the horses, I heard sounds like tiny bells. It was a huge flock of starlings heading off to some field now that the sun was back out. It always amazes me how many there are.
I learned in a magazine that the flocks often contain the local grackles as well. Blackbirds like each other, I guess. I’m never going to love grackles, those resourceful parking lot scroungers with the incredibly annoying whistles, the great-tailed grackles. I’ll work on it.
…to have someone supportive confirm that your instincts are not off and you can do things you need to do, with the right tools.
I’m not talking about my new yarn spindle, though it’s a nice tool.
Today Tarrin came here to do the horse lessons, which was very helpful, even though I’d managed to write the time wrong on my calendar. I need a personal assistant!
I’d been wandering around looking at the heron and not realizing I needed to groom horses.
Since I got Drew to come with me easily, he went first. I got some really helpful input on not pushing myself to trot and trot if he isn’t in one of his good frames of mind. I feel so much better practicing on straightening him out at a walk. I do wish I’d gotten pictures of him doing his warmups. He was pretty spectacular cantering and jumping high, calmly. Probably the very cool weather had him perky.
He’s doing better in lots of ways. But I felt validated when Tarrin got on him and had trouble the same way I did. He took a long time to relax like he was still a bit unsettled. Maybe we’re both more settled now.
Me? Settled?
I had a really good lesson with Apache. He even came up to me in the pasture. All those “treats” (medicine) seem to help with that. I got good information from Tarrin on how to deal with his lethargy. She explained that he’s losing some of his stubborn fat and the toxins in it are going to his liver, so we’re going to give him some milk thistle for a time. And he’s changing to different supplements that will support his metabolism. Luckily most of it isn’t too costly.
As for the lesson, he had good energy for his ground work. I’d say he did the best I’ve ever seen him going over jumps and low obstacles. And he was a joy to ride. I got great information on ways to keep him standing up better, then we went out to test his “issues” with going outside his comfort zone.
Tarrin used his lead rope to keep him from flinging his head down (without constricting his comfortable head movement). Once he realized that option for making me nervous was gone, everything was better.
Since I took no pictures today, here’s a bonus.
We made tons of progress on re-settling him when he first starts to act concerned (as a helpful blog reader mentioned as well). We stopped and breathed, and we did lots of circles and figure eights to give him something to center himself on.
I did really well staying centered and calm, myself, thanks to not having the threat of him jerking the reins out of my hands and Tarrin providing helpful cues. I ended up feeling really good and like I have ways to make riding at home more fun with both horses. Whew. I sure needed the insights.
Carlton points out that he does nothing but emit good vibes. I love him, too.
I’m very grateful to have had my coach here at home for some help with my situations. Both horses are doing so well at her house. I’d like to get there at home.
Daily Bird
It was really cold (for here) so not many birds were out. But I thoroughly enjoyed listening to white-throated sparrows settling in the big tree by the pond for the night. Oh, the tweeting and chirping! It was like a mini bird concert. I was charmed.
The Hermits' Rest 