November Hill farm journal, 227

 

Keil Bay has been close in spirit this week. His card pops up regularly for me and always makes me smile. 

My big farm news is that something - I am not yet sure what - is putting nest material into my owl box. I it’s a deep box so the fact that the opening now shows something in there means (I think?) that it would have to be a larger bird than songbird. I use my binoculars to spy on it multiple times a day and it doesn’t look exactly the same any of the times, so it appears to be a work in progress. If we have an owl moving in I will be beside myself with joy!

The songbirds are flocking all over the native beds and our backyard with the snow we had two nights ago. It was a dry snow, less than 2 inches, but pretty and now melting away. We are in a warming trend right now with highs up to 37 today and then 40, then 50s, and I believe there is a 60-something on the fifth day out. I do love winter time but I am ready for a milder span of days for sure. 

I’m into my winter CE time and am completing training this week on using EMDR with children, couples, and then will be doing a more advanced course in EMDR which I’m so excited about. My work in this modality has been very rewarding. I’m going to be setting my sandplay studio up this spring which might allow for some work with children again and also with adults. I still have a little dream of a mobile psychotherapy vehicle with EMDR and sandplay that can go to where it’s needed. 

Writing wise I am moving along with the novel. In this case it’s at a turtle pace but it’s adding chapters and furthering the storyline in good ways, so I will not complain. I have a number of short-form pieces which are ready to submit, and in some cases re-submit, and that’s on the side burner for a day when I am in the mood to research submission places that will be good fits for this work. 

The horses and donkeys are soldiering through this cold spell. It’s on my list to get 16-gallon heated water buckets and a couple of good waterproof blankets for the donka boys. They have never seemed to need them and they of course always have shelter and nicely bedded stalls with hay, but as they get older (!) I want to have blankets on hand for them in case either shows signs of being too cold. 

I can see Rafer Johnson being very amenable to this idea, but suspect Redford will not be on board with this at all. We’ll figure it out and maybe just practice some with clicker and treats. 

Bear Corgi is 15 this year and he is now taking previcox in the mornings for arthritis and gabapentin at night to help him sleep. He has mild-moderate dementia and was marching around all night long. The meds have helped a lot and I hope will keep him happy and rested for more years to come!

Baloo turned 8 this month and Clem has just turned 6!

In February Redford has a birthday (as do I) and then we roll into the spring birthday domino game - March and April are our biggest birthday months. 

Can I already be talking springtime? 

I can’t write anything at the moment without noting the chaos of our country with the people who are perpetrating it. If you’re feeling stressed, fearful, angry, upset, these statements might be useful. 

We’re all in the same boat with this. Let’s sail forward together. 

Oak and Ice

 

November Hill farm journal, 226

 

It has been real winter here the past few weeks, with horses in blankets many nights and ice on troughs and now predicted snow tomorrow evening. 

I’ve been able to stay warm and have been working a lot seeing clients and puttering along with writing projects and other things. 

I haven’t done a thing in the garden beds for the past few weeks but thanks to so many native plantings the birds and bunnies and squirrels are staying busy foraging. It makes me happy to see the wildlife loving the messy but well-stocked gardens I’ve put in over the years. 

The herd is also keeping busy, grazing the hay we put out for them, enjoying warm feed tubs, and resting in the warm sun on the days we have it. Our truck is in repair right now and we missed the last hay co-op pick up as a result; it’s been like very old times going to get a few bales at the time from the feed store. I remember the first 9 months when Keil Bay and Little Man came into our family and were boarded, we were responsible for purchasing and storing our own hay on a pallet with our feed bins. This meant being able to stack up to around 10 bales at a time if I’m remembering correctly, and I would drive our minivan to pick the bales up. When you don’t buy more than that, you are always on the lookout for the hay you want/need. We’re not quite back to that but close enough! I hope the truck is back home soon and we can stock up the hay room again. 

The cats and dogs are also staying warm and cozy. If the power goes out with this coming snow/ice we may be returning to times past in another way and that’s the woodstove. We haven’t used it in recent years but we do have wood ready in case we need to heat the house!

I used to love snow and find it beautiful still, but I would be fine without it, and I am secretly/not so secretly hoping the forecast bombs and we get nothing. 

It’s also writing weekend on Zoom with two dear writer friends this weekend, and I don’t want to miss it. In the end though we’ll get what we get. 

Sending lots of love and light to southern California and all impacted by the horrific wildfires there. One of my dearest friends is there and is okay - hosting families who have lost their homes - and I’m so grateful she and her family have been spared that, though she says the air quality is awful. I hope this ends soon for them. 

Oh, the pure beauty of a second Christmas with precious beloveds…

 

The days on which we celebrate matter not at all, it’s what happens in the room, when we’re eating delicious food, enjoying one another’s food as much as our own. Tasting new things, having new favorites. It’s the little table waiting, earlier in the day, for its occupants to arrive, christened by Violet, who always christens everything new in the house. 

It’s the arrival itself, coming off a day of play and hugs and laughter, coming off the looking together for the birthday gift for dad, the drive through the gate to the farm, which itself knows how to welcome the family who loves it so.

It’s the run up the stairs to the living room, the instant seating at the little table, then playtime, the food, more play, the gifts. 

It’s when every person in the room loves everyone’s gifts as much as they do their own. The way everyone in the room exclaims with smiles and satisfaction and joy. The pure absence of awkwardness and tension. It’s the way the gifts become immediate activities, shared, delighted in all together. All the smiles, all the hugs, the Christmas basket monster who makes everyone laugh. 

The stockings, such delight in tiny things, treats and little gifts. The sharing, the trading. 

And it is the gathering of things to take home, the dogs, the cats, the leavetaking that is not goodbye but simply until tomorrow, until our next time together, such fun to pack the car and give second and third and fourth hugs. 

The bird call I do not recognize in the darkening forest beside us. It occurs to me it could be the phoenix. 

ATTENTION NC HORSE HAY BUYERS: DO NOT BUY FROM TREY WALLACE IN ST. PAUL’s NC

 He is reportedly employing and covering up the fact that two known horse abusers, whose trial is still pending in NC, are not only working for him but handling horses. They should never be allowed to be in the vicinity of horses again. 

This is just one of the people posting about this on FB today, sharing personal experiences with Trey Wallace, Austin Wayne Simpson, and Kylie Lenore Parker. These two people are known to be using fake names, accounts, and information online to hide their identities because so many people will have nothing to with them knowing what they have done. 

The foal they maliciously abused died from those injuries after months of rehab and professional vet care in the hands of reputable rescuers. 

It is tragic but not surprising that their young son is acting with the same abusive behaviors they have been videoed using on foals and horses. 

If you have or witness any abusive behaviors from any of these people call 911 and report them to the authorities.