Today was misty and damp, plus I had a lot on my plate between work and chores. Still, the time I did manage to steal time for firing up Merlin Bird ID and listening to/looking for birds paid off big time. I just knew I’d see cool birds this spring, eventually. Hello, nice ranch you have here! I can’t bury the lead: look who helped me feed the horses and shovel poop this evening! It’s a yellow-headed blackbird! Whoa! It was quite friendly and just hung around as I did chores (I was hyperventilating that I saw what I thought I saw). Very cool migrant I welcomed from Mexico. The morning was equa ..read more

Gee whiz. My horses and I just can’t catch a break. I get one healthy, then the other one is hurt, then they trade places. I wish it were the subtle ups and downs of a carousel, but it’s more of a roller coaster with huge highs and lows, along with high entrance fees. But we’re cute. Let’s enjoy some good news. Droodles seems to be past the side effects of the injections he got last week and is regaining his sweet disposition. His caregivers gave him good reports from the weekend and it made me really happy to see him looking like he wanted my attention when I went for lessons today. Previousl ..read more

What are 5 everyday things that bring you happiness? I’m truly grateful to be surrounded by things that make me happy. To paraphrase Maya Angelou, every day is a good day, since I’ve never seen it before. I never had a chicken inspect the tack room until today! So, five everyday things that make me happy? 1. Being near trees. Trees always feel like my protectors. Sometimes trees have birds in them. Double happiness! 2. Watching the dogs play. Penney and Carlton run and run while Goldie waits to tackle them. 3. Working on my journal. I love to write by hand, plus I get all my childhood arts ..read more

What’s the most fun way to exercise? No surprises here! I find riding horses to be the most fun way to exercise. That’s followed by grooming and feeding horses. (I also like hiking.) Now, I’m not doing a lot of riding right now, since Apache’s feet are healing and Drew is still “off.” But Drew is pretty. Today, Droodles headed off to the fancy vet in Bryan, because Tarrin said she’s not seeing the results we need with just the rehab they’ve been doing at her facility. I completely agreed, because his health is my first priority, whether being ridden or not. He went with friends, including Ta ..read more

Whew. I was so tired last night that I couldn’t write anything. But a good sleep works wonders. I’m here to share about coping with the unexpected and my favorite obsession, personal growth. Flowers are another obsession. This buttercup is white! Ha, you thought horses and birds were my favorite obsessions! I’m just so effing happy to have achieved my goals of being centered and flexible in the face of challenges and changes! That’s hard work for the chronically anxious! Me and Drew, ready to try. I’ve been mentioning that Apache, my horse who’s always on the verge of some issue, has had troub ..read more

It’s always fun to show off where you live to visitors, and there’s so much to show off these days! So today I took my intrepid visiting friends on a walking/driving tour of our small town. I also got to visit some places I wanted to go! After a peaceful morning, we headed to the bakery for what I guess was brunch. We sat up in the mezzanine to watch the “action” around the square, of which there was none. But that’s okay. All the action was at home! Next we headed to the antique shop where I got to chat with the folks there while Patty found a celluloid thimble to buy. In ZX I got some wine a ..read more

What Olympic sports do you enjoy watching the most? Two topics today: visitors and Olympic sports. Look at my house! It got weed-eated. Since the prompt is about sports, I’ll answer that first. I’m not sure I’d decided on a favorite Olympic sport, but upon reflection, I realized all the sports I like most involve twisting and flying in the air. I also figured out that I like winter sports the best. So, in summer Olympics, I enjoy gymnastics and skateboarding. I had to check to see if skateboarding was still going to be in. Yes. Much twisting. I also like equestrian jumping. In winter sports ..read more

That might be my first and last Beyoncé reference ever. Between work, running to pick up new glasses (yay for vision), and yet more horse issues, I’m tired as heck, so this will be short. The tie-dye cowgirl. Hurts your eyes. Apache seemed sore yesterday, so I put his boots on today. It’s good he’s patient, because I’m not very elegant about putting outfits on horses. I put my back out with all the bending, crawling, and tugging, so now we’re both sore. Here you can see the new glasses have a wee bit of Suna excitement by being purple. Later, he stomped on my foot with an unshod hoof. That’s a ..read more

You may remember that my beautiful gray gelding, Andrew or Drew or Droodles had some behavior issues brought on by an undetermined injury, so he had to go back to the trainer for remedial education. I’m just kidding, Tarrin and her team have been working to rehab him. Note that he is still beautiful and much lighter than last year. I’ve seen him when I take lessons with Apache, and of course I’ve been getting updates, but today was my first time seeing his progress. Tarrin wanted me to see how he’s doing and make sure I’m good with the next steps. It was very windy today, which made him look g ..read more

What are your morning rituals? What does the first hour of your day look like? Whoo-ee! What a boring question. I know that will attract readers galore. Since I did an April Fool thing on Facebook today (I said I’d given up blogging), I’ll just stick to the snooze-worthy facts. Maybe our first winecup Mallu’s of the year will be more enticing. Look at all that pollen. What do I do when I wake up? What most people do, I assume. First I find my glasses, phone and watch. Then. I relieve my poor bladder. Next, in an exciting twist, I turn on the coffeemaker, which Lee usually sets up the previou ..read more