Ordinary Time

It's hot and I am not enjoying it. Neither are the horses nor the sheep for that matter. I take care of the horses early in the morning and sweat through the first outfit of the day. At lunch I head back out, give everyone water and hay, spend some time sponging the horses off, head inside and collapse while I cool off. Repeat several hours later over and over. All I can think about is freezing temperatures where there are no bugs and I don't start sweating just walking to the barn. I am more than ready for fall.  Until the weather breaks, just read this post each day because it is what I would write. I have no margin for writing by the time evening comes. This is especially true if I have spent much of my day working on an abstract to submit for an upcoming conference which is what I did today.  So you can hope right along with me that the weather cools off and I can write interesting blog posts again. 

Or roundabouts could also have been the other title. New Hampshire has a lot of traffic circles that I drive on to get to the barn I'm working at. You know what's really wonderful? People here know how to navigate these things smoothly and easily. I have experienced a little bit of joy at each one.  To understand why, you need to know that the powers that be have been installing traffic circles in our area at home, so it is a near daily occurrence to drive on them. But while there are an ever growing number of traffic circles, it seems the general population is slow to figure them out. I find it frustrating. My children will confirm this because I am often loudly saying that they are not 4-way stops. Too often I get stuck behind a car that is stopped at a traffic circle entrance waiting for there to be no cars in the circle. Even worse are the drivers who stop in the circle to let another car in. This is so not helpful and is just begging to create an accident. And every so oft...

This won't be a terribly eventful post as life has been pretty calm lately. Last week when we were driving to church we came across a helicopter sitting on top of a truck looking as though it was being refueled. It was a very odd sight.  Coming home we heard a helicopter and realized it was crop dusting instead of the small plane we're used to seeing. Suddenly it all made sense... both why we saw a helicopter in what felt to be a very random area and what they were doing with it. It wasn't refueling, but filling the tanks to spray the crops. Basil likes to sit in sinks. The other day as I was coming in from the barn I heard a weird scrambling sound behind the chicken coop. I was worried it was some sort of predator so went to check it out. No, not a predator, but a hen who had been hiding from the sun under an old towel that had been left out. When I disturbed her she poked her head out from under the towel.  When it was so smoky here a week ago, P. shared this picture from...

I have mixed feelings about the holiday. The current state of our country is horrendous and terrifying. The hand basket we are all traveling in seems to be getting closer to its destination every single day. I am beyond angry that those who could turn things around refuse to do so. I am baffled that there are still people who support the evil that is being done. And on days when I can manage to read the news I despair for our country.  My family and J.'s family have very long histories here in the US, with family from both sides arriving before 1776. If family lore is correct, one of my ancestors was part of the group who dumped tea into Boston Harber. Both of our families have ancestors who fought for the North in the Civil War. I am in possession of my great-great-grandfather's fife. My ancestors fought for freedom and for their country who was on the side of freedom. Freedom from tyranny, freedom from slavery, freedom to speak openly, freedom from abuse. They would not recog...

It is too hot to think. If I could just stay holed up in the air conditioning, it wouldn't be so bad, but having outside animals means you have to go outside to care for them. I dislike sweating through multiple outfits in a day.  Since I can't think, I thought I would link to some of my more... opinionated... posts. Some newer readers might have missed them. And what's a little more heat when it's already so hot? In no particular order and certainly not all of them, just what I could easily find.  On disabled people as community service projects More unpopular opinions, the thin-skinned may want to move along On parenting trans children  Another episode of very unpopular opinions  A parent's worst nightmare  On homeschooling  A kvetchy list dealing with homeschooling misinformation  Let's talk homeschooling curriculum  I may have lost my temper a bit today Things NOT to say to a homeschooled child  Take it slow... warning great kvetchyness a...

I spent some time talking with an adult child today who needed to vent about trying to use AI to do a task at work. I won't go into the why's because that's not my story, but I am fully up for listening to venting about AI, so was all in. I'm not even going to try to explain what this child was working on because I only vaguely understand it, but there were a couple of things that stood out from our conversation and I haven't been able to get them out of my head since.  The bottom line as I see it, is that AI is really nothing more than a sassy teen who is smarter than is good for them, but hates to work harder than necessary. Why do I say this? Well, if you give Frederick or Charles or Pierre or whatever name the not-human-but-plays-one-on-the-internet set of connections has been named, if you give it instructions that are too long, Pierre (as we'll call it for simplicity's sake) will do the instructions, but the output will be wrong. When you asked Pierre ...

And we protested. Some of us went to downtown Chicago, some of us went to out smaller, local protest. J. and I both wore out Melt the ICE hats (there were quite a few). The wind was cold and wicked, so wearing a wool hat was good in a couple of ways.  Our local protest: It's harder to see numbers because this protest stretched for nearly a mile.  And the Chicago protest. It is good to protest inhumane policies. It is good to stand with others who also believe current policies are inhumane. My favorite sign from today, which I didn't get a picture of, was: Peace is not Quiet.  We can stand up, we can make noise, we can speak goodness to evil, we can protest peacefully, but what none of us can do right now is be quiet. 

A friend of mine texted yesterday and asked if I would be home this afternoon because she had something to drop off. Look what it was... My very own Emotional Support Chicken! And do you want to know what's even better? She's weighted so she feels doubling soothing sitting in your lap.  (Thank you, Amy! I love her!!)

I'm two days through a three day weaving class, but it's not the class I want to talk about. It's this plant.  The flower, with its little curlicues  The spiky seed pod And the cool looking purple-ish stems It is growing outside Find Line Creative Arts Center where my class is and I have become a little obsessed with it because it's so cool. I didn't know what it was, so I did what I always do... send a picture to HC, my daughter-in-law, who knows a lot about plants. It turns out that this is thornapple (or jimsonweed) and it is incredibly poisonous. And invasive. And also has unpleasant hallucinogenic properties. It's also been tied to witchcraft in previous centuries. But it's still a really cool looking plant.  I couldn't figure out why it looked so familiar even though I was sure I'd never seen one before. And then it came to me. This flower is on the cover of our Georgia O'Keefe book of her paintings. Evidently I am not the only one to be sm...

The blog hit a rather large milestone yesterday in that according to the analytics it hit three million page views. That's a lot of views. I've been wondering recently if the blog had run its course, but that probably says more about the weird transition phase I'm currently in than anything else. I don't have young children anymore. Heck, we're coming pretty darn close to only having adult children now. Technically we're still homeschoolers, but the learning has shifted to the community college. We're definitely not empty nesters since there's still eight people living in the house. Not unlike most of my life, I don't easily fit into typical categories. Maybe that's the direction I start to aim my writing?  In the meantime, once again thank you to my faithful readers. It's so nice to have you along for the ride. Because having an audience means I can share exciting content such as the fact I'm writing this post from the laundry room where...

It's just me binge watching the Great British Sewing Bee (because I have teens who know how to find these things), compulsively making things, compulsively reading non-demanding books, with maybe a bit of rage cleaning thrown un for good measure. Sometimes I read the news because I should stay informed, but an never very happy to be informed, so go back to my previous activities. On the plus side, I've been very productive... many things made, many books read, and my house is generally tidier than it usually is. But, boy, I really wish I did not feel the need to keep the state of the country out of my mind. How are all of you holding up?  And for the curious who are not on Facebook, here is where I found a home for my new spinning wheel. I only had to find a home for the table which used to be in this space, and I was able to do that since it was a little smaller. 

It was a good day, but a lot of peopling. Enjoy a few past posts if you need something to read that makes you smile. Gretel locks  You must like to cook Block City

It's been a full day. The horses' feet got trimmed. I had a consult with R. with a new specialist that ended up going very well. Luke worked with his first client. And I am pooped. I'll stick with sharing pictures of a couple of the plants that are blooming around here and some K. took at a local forest preserve last evening. 

I was taking a weaving class for much of the week and tonight was the Inclusive Game Night that our church hosts once a month. This means I don't have a lot of extra energy for writing. The weekend also promises to be busy, so I'm not sure you should expect too much for the next couple of days, either. Maybe Monday things will go back to normal and I'll have brain space to write.  I did get some nettle leaves dehydrated today, though. 

The right to due process... the knowledge to know what you are charged with and the right to a fair trial is a cornerstone of our freedom. It was one of the causes of the American revolution because Britain was not granting due process to colonists. Yet we now find ourselves in a place where due process has ceased to exist. Innocent people have been taken by force by unidentified men, then shipped out of the country to concentration camps. The Supreme Court has unanimously declared that at least one of these men must be returned to US soil, but what does Felon47, who imagines himself a dictator do? Ignored the courts verdict and instead tells the so-called president of El Salvador to build more concentration camps because more will be arriving, including homegrown citizens. If that doesn't chill your blood, them I suspect you don't actually have a heart. At this point neither your citizenship nor your color will protect you. A line has been crossed.  You cannot look away from t...

I'll dive right in. I actually have no idea how long or short this will actually end up being  I've been thinking more about my experience in the self-driving car , especially in light of having having used a Lyft the month before. I realized I actually felt far more comfortable with the car driving itself. There were a couple of reasons. The first is that as a woman travelling alone it is always odd to be in a vehicle alone with a male driver. The drivers I had in San Antonio did absolutely nothing to make me feel concerned, but I was not 100% comfortable just because of the situation. The self-driving car was more relaxing. The other reason I found it more comfortable is that the car is programmed to drive safely. This would be unlike the driver who got me to the airport in record time because I swear he was going 90. If I were flying into the Phoenix airport and didn't have someone picking me up I would opt for the self-driving car over a ride share.  The sugar snap pea...

I am spending the entire day tomorrow judging at a piano festival, so there is no way I can join a protest. But what I can do is walk around with this card hanging out of my purse. One of the things that my clients find so interesting in the summer while we're in the pasture working with the horses, is watching the little song birds protect their nests from the red-tailed hawks that are prevalent in our area. The little song birds, often sparrows, will join together to badger and pester the hawks until they make them fly away from the area where their nests are. The hawks are many times bigger and many times more powerful than the little sparrows, but time and again, I've watched those sparrows chase away tye hawks. Being purposeful together is powerful, even if the thing attacking your family and home and well-being seems huge.  We must join together. Our families, lives, and well-being are at stake. 

This will probably be a bit brief because there really hasn't been anything unusual or noteworthy going on here. I'm not complaining, mind you; I strive for boring. It does make finding blog topics a wee bit more challenging, though. The weather has been gorgeous. Today I sat in the sun and did nothing for an hour, just enjoying feeling warm while outside. I had brought a stack of magazines out to read, but really I just wanted to sit.  Earlier this week, I headed out to the horses to give them breakfast. As I was walking by the sheep pen, I realized that Everett had a bucket around his neck. Somehow, he had gotten his head through the handle of the bucket and was wearing it like a necklace. Then I noticed G. trying to lure him over with food. Now little Everett is the most skittish of the three and knew something was up. He was not going anywhere near that food. I when and gave Buddy his medicine and then went to help G. We ended up putting all the sheep in the trailer and clo...

Wear it out Make it do Or do without I think we need to acknowledge that all is us, as a society, are somewhat complicit in where we are today. This is not about who you voted for, but for ultimately what we created through our spending. The only way corporations can be as big as they are today and to have the outsized influence they do is because we fed the monster.  We bought into the marketing that said newer, more, better, faster, shinier, cooler, different, easier, and fancier was what was going to make our lives happier and less stress free in order to have time to do fulfilling activities and cultivate our relationships.  Has it? Are we happier? Do we have closer relationships? Do we have easier, less stress-filled lives? Not from where I sit. Even before the continuing coup, I saw people who were nearly frozen with stress and anxiety. People who never had time to do what they really wanted to do. People who mourned relationships that no one had time for. And the remedy...

On Friday morning, I fly out to San Antonio, Texas to the Horses Helping Humans Research Foundation conference. It's been so miserably cold here that I was looking forward to heading south and being able to warm up a bit. When I checked the forecast this morning, though, it did not look as warm as I had hoped. In fact, it looked a little chilly. Now, I know that it will still be more than fifty degrees warmer than we are currently, but I was hoping to enjoy weather that didn't require a jacket of some sort.  I've lost track of the number of times this has happened; definitely more than a few times traveling to Arizona. You know, the Phoenix area which is in the middle of a desert and breaks heat records as a hobby? A few years ago, I had to run to the thrift store to buy a couple of sweaters because it was bizarrely cold. Yes, it warmed up as soon as I left. This is a definite thing for me. So I suppose it shouldn't really surprise me that I'm not going to be enjoyi...