Tag: Nature

Cardindal 

On By AveryIn Faith, HorsesLeave a comment

I have always loved cardinals. For one, we have many of them at the farm. They also have the most vibrant red plumage, set off by their yellow beaks. Their song is chipper and distinct. It is more than that, though. They always seem to fly into my view in full wingspan, forcing me to not only notice them, but to take note. AHAmoment. I do take note. 

I saw a cardinal at the farm today. To me, it was and always will be a God wink. 

I had been feeling anxious all morning. Not quite sure why. I was yet again de-buring all the horses’ manes in preparation for Cousin S and her daughter to come out (I really need to go chop those plants down). Not so ironically, none of the horses wanted to stand still for me. Chance in particular was giving me the hardest time. It frustrated and confused me at the time. This was not normal behavior. I wasn’t getting what they were trying to show me, dense human that I am. 

I was sitting on the deck later stuck in my circular thinking when I saw him. It felt like someone snapped at me in my face. I watched and listened until he flew to a different tree. I walked away feeling completely different. 

What do you always see as a God wink? 


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Walk in love, dear readers. 

Our Love & Our Souls

On By AveryIn Faith, Life, MusicLeave a comment
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Breaking news, it is warming up. We are out of blanket territory for a while. Now I can buckle down for Christmas.

Your AHAmoment today is brought to you by Sean McConnell. His song ‘Our Love and Our Souls’ is what IT is all about. He says it better than I ever could. Have a listen below. It is an amazing feeling when a song like this pops up on your shuffle and just speaks to your soul. You may not have been paying attention before, just looking out the window, lost in your thoughts or following that long white line. Then all of a sudden, you snap to and realize He is speaking right to you. If you are me, you listen to it on repeat, so grateful to listen and be receptive to the message.

“Sometimes it all comes down at once
Sometimes when it rains it pours
But I wouldn’t trade my troubles for any one of yours
Cause money’s just money
It comes and it goes
And things are just things baby
So breakable
Ain’t nothing lasts forever except our love and our souls
Cause I ain’t that hungry
And I have a home
I ain’t fighting for my life
And I’m not alone
So may I pray every morning
As I make up the bed
‘Lord, all I need today is my daily bread'”

Thanks, Doug Morrison, on YouTube for the vid.

Walk in love, dear readers.

Grocery shopping today after work for Christmas! Wish me luck! Cranberry sauce, Pomegranate cake, and pumpkin bread. Then wrapping all the presents for my loved ones.

Sweatpants on my head?

On By AveryIn Life, Uncategorized1 Comment

I am sure you all know by now, it is COLD. Before we get into that, here is your dose of happy for today. I was able to snap these pics before the cold came. I had a very hard time keeping that hat on in 20 mph+ winds. Merry Christmas from Petunia the donkey! She seemed to like being a Christmas donkey. I was also able to fit in a short ride on Cheetah when the wind was not as bad. I am working on a plan to get me riding more. It is still in progress.

Darcy was a happy pup this weekend. Look at that smile!

The blistery cold for us started late, late Saturday night/Sunday morning. It was almost 80 deg. F. when I went to sleep Saturday evening. I woke up in the middle of the night to blanket Apache and throw extra hay for everyone to stay warm. I woke up this morning to 28 deg. and 19 deg. wind chill. Darcy’s new favorite game is to play with the broken ice from the water troughs. I will let your mind go with that one as it was too dark to get any photos…and this Texas gal felt like she was going to loose her fingers!

I also forgot to pack real winter things. You know, like a beanie and scarf, for starters. Not sure what I was thinking. Clearly I was not. It got cold and I needed to do something, so I took the pair of sweatpants that thankfully I did pack, put them on my head, and wrapped the legs around my chin and neck. I will pause for a laughing break…no, I do not take selfies…finished yet?…how about now? It worked quite well and the horses do not care when I look like a loon. Have you ever had to improvise like that?

Anyway, I told a friend about my packing flaws and she laughed as she told me she did not think I would do something like that. Out of character for someone as ‘organized’ as me. It reminded me, out of the blue, of this story.

My brother in law…brother in law B (eldest sister’s husband) is a man of many talents. One of those many talents is building fishing rods. I am not talking your average, every day rod. These are beautiful, extremely light pieces of art that have extreme feel and technical precision.

When I graduated from undergrad, my father gave me one of his rods as a gift. It had my school’s colors and symbol on it. I loved it and could not wait to wet a line. My first chance to try it out was on a family trip to the place where we grew up fishing. The first night we fished under the lights off the dock. We caught and released several little trout before I finally caught a nice sized keeper. Bubbling with happiness, I all but bounced down the dock to store the fish in the cooler on our boat. This is where it gets…interesting. As I was stepping onto the boat, the fish lurched in my hand and caused me to throw my rod carrying hand out for balance. Just as I did, I smacked the tip of the rod on the t-top of the boat and broke it in two. It still hurts my feelings to think about it! By admonition, I almost began crying.

A little while after, I was catching up with a friend from school. I told him the whole story, in riveting detail and that I was still upset about it. I am sure you can imagine it. When I was finished, he turned to me and told me that he was happy to hear that things like that happen to a person like me.

What does that even mean? A person like me? He went on to explain how he actually thought that ‘things like that’ did not happen to ‘people like me’ that ‘have everything together.’ Like I do not have hard times. Protected by some mythical force. I always thought he knew me better than that! I am apparently not as open of a book as I thought.

Everyone has their own trials and tribulations (me included! Just read back!). Stuff happens. Big and small. To everyone. AHAmoment. No matter who you are, where you are from, or what it looks like on the outside. It just goes to show you how our subconscious tries to make people think that we have everything together on the outside and that everything goes the way we planned. Everyone gets wrenches in their plans! Fear of judgement. Our focus is on the wrong thing! It is the same on social media, but that is another story for another day. It is not our place to judge. Only one has that right.

Until next time, walk in love, dear readers.

Stay tuned for Christmas baking and cooking! It is going to be a busy week!

Donde esta el sol?

On By AveryIn Horses, Music2 Comments

Winter. What is this winter? Tap, tap. Is thing thing on? OK. I know everyone who has ‘real winters’ is rolling their eyes at me as we do not have ‘real winters’ here compared to everyone else. It is also a dull subject because everyone is talking about it. It is just that I am always surprised at myself that I get…surprised when the seasons change…like they do not change every year. It is an interesting conundrum. I also have not seen the sun in DAYS.

I have to tell you though, it was down right cold this past Thursday to Sunday morning. An odd mix of humidity, low temps, solid cloud cover, and wind. A down to the bones cold. We will be lucky if we get any sun in the near future. The horses were feeling it too. They practically never left the barn. I spent two or 3 times as much time mucking than normal. When I was younger, I would have been riding in it, no matter what. What has happened to me? Why is it hard to do? This is one of the most frustrating things in my life right now.

I round penned or lunged everyone on Saturday after I finished a myriad of stacked up chores and my various feed store runs. (Does anyone else have to go to multiple feed stores this time of year to get everything you need???) Also, I spent probably 2 hrs de-burring everyone’s manes and tails. Too bad I do not get paid by the bur. Their bur game is on point.

At least the wind stopped Sunday and it got a little warmer. Here is the real news: I FINALLY RODE! Sorry, was I yelling? I am not really sorry. I hopped on my Cheetah girl for a great bareback ride on Sunday morning. I did not want to waste time on grooming and tacking. She is the best even when my riding is less than stellar, which at the present moment it feels that way. I focused mostly on my seat and position the whole time and staying out of her way. It is hard to do much else when my ridding is so sporadic. Relaxation and consistency is all I can ask of her. Nothing fancy or complicated.

This whole not riding thing is messing me up, both mentally and physically. At least I still get to see them at least once a week. I am hoping that I can get some more ride time over Christmas and haul to some places. I would also like to get to a couple clinics after the new year. I would like to also include some shows in that list, but Lito is just not ready for that. I have not ridden him enough. It hurts my heart a little to admit that. I am going to have to sit down and get a schedule going to get people out there with me so I can ride him and not be alone. I know I have said that before here, but it just has not happened yet. Between work, holidays, family obligations, and my Uncle, it just has not happened. I am going to make it happen. I have to.

We did have three new calves this week. One was born Sunday morning. I watched her labor from a far. New life. It is amazing to me how they just know what to do. Nature is such a beautiful thing. AHA moment.

Anyway, that is my weekend recap. I am sorry for the ramble. The pre-work Monday blues were strong this morning. I would rather be riding, but I also have to pay the bills. I hope all of you got to do what makes your heart’s smile in this wintery weather.

If you did not get to do what makes your heart smile, let these doe eyes warm your heart. The slay me.

Stay tuned for my next blog hop! We are talking off the track Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse pedigrees! It is going to get interesting. I know I am a little late to this one, but I still like it and want to keep it going.

Walk in love, dear readers.

Feed Your Flame

On By AveryIn Faith, Horses, Life4 Comments

Your AHA moment for today is brought to you by The Exquisite Equine. I have mentioned Emily’s blog on here once before. This where IT is at. What IT is all about. I could not have said it better myself. Can you see the metaphor and message for life itself?

Be yourself. Do not compare yourself to anyone else. Do not try to fit yourself into a box. You are uniquely and divinely made in His image. Speak to your intuition. Feed your flame.

Horses have shown me their flames to have me see mine. I see God in them and He teaches me through them. The horses feed my flame, show me my true self, and keep me honest. When everything appears to be blowing up in life, like it feels right now, they remind me what is important.

What feeds your flame???

“When you connect with yourself and nature, you can see that you’ve had everything all along. Everything: the answers, the peace, the harmony, the joy, the happiness, the love…it has all been inside of you all along. What other people say and do and think, well it just really doesn’t matter much. Trust your horse to be your wisest teacher, trust your gut to lead you in the right direction, and trust yourself that everything you need is already within you.” Thank you, Emily, for being you!

Connect with nature and yourself, for they are things that He has made. I trust the horse because they are God’s creatures. I have everything I need within me because He put it there. I am grateful for it.

I can not wait to get out to the farm after work today. I need all the time with them I can get. The cold weather is coming in and I have to put extra feed out and blanket old man Apache.

Walk in love.

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