What a Coincidence!

Said no one today.

I spent the full day at the first annual Wellness Faire hosted by my favorite local vegan restaurant, Salud Raw Food. Corrine put the idea out there and she drew in some 30+ wellness practitioners with everything from gong immersion to Reiki, to natural soap, massage and of course, Angel Card Readings.

My day started by helping my neighbors turn their canopy around.  As it turns out, my neighbors were Judy Petullo and her partner, Barb, of VegNet Bend.  Judy and I are friends on Facebook, like each other's posts, share interests, but have never met in person. Check.

At 11:11, we all gathered in a circle for an opening celebration which included a singing bowl, a beautiful spoken word of gratitude and a sweetly sung mantra, one of my favorites.  That felt right.

A woman came to my table before I had finished setting up just as I was realizing that the pretty sign I made was at home on my scanner. It was quite breezy so my candle wouldn't stay lit, neither would my sage.  She graciously offered to come back in ten minutes.

The day started out quiet, for which I was grateful, because I really needed to pull back and get grounded in why I was there.  And then the day started rolling.

One woman, a Queen of Swords, told me some things about just saying what needs to be said, saying what people may not want to hear, getting it done and how sometimes it sounds harsh, but she has incredible compassion for people. She is a Sagittarian and did I know what she means. Her reading had the Eight of Swords, referred to as the Victim Card.  I told her I didn't get the sense that it was referring to her but more to people around her.  She has ten people in her care, two are soon leaving, and just this morning she told them they have a choice to either play the victim or take control of their lives.  She also told me she took herself out last night with friends and they went to dinner and dancing at a place called Maverick's and asked if I had heard of it.

The young woman she brought with her, a very at risk gal, sat down for a reading.  She was new to Tarot but used some of her counselor's oracle cards. What powerful cards appeared for such a delicate question.  When I told her that as The Magician she has every tool she needs to bring about the change she wants to see, she beamed.  And then the Ace of Fire appeared followed by The Wheel of Fortune. In this deck, The Wheel is represented by Archangel Michael and when I asked her if she ever works with him, she pulled her medallion out from under her sweatshirt and she was radiant with hope.  She told me other people had told her it's up to her to make changes in her life, but "to hear it from you, you don't even know me" really hit home for her.

A very patient man waited for the people ahead of him and he told me he had to come over.  He wondered if he should but this morning he had seen a bluebird and when he looked over at me, there was a Western Scrub Jay hopping around beside me, and I was wearing blue.  He told me he keeps being drawn to the area near Smith Rock; he's looked at other areas, but keeps coming back.  I said, "because I live near Smith Rock?" He didn't believe me at first and then realized I was serious.  All four cards were of the suit of Water. He said, "well, you shuffled them!" and I said, "yes, but you cut them."

The readings went on and for those who know about the cards, it was one aha! moment after another.

My last reading was with another practitioner.  We were the last two in the parking lot and the sun finally was shining right over us, a little warmth to an otherwise cool day.  She mentioned living in another country, learning to speak another language and making a new life, living in several other places, being drawn to Oregon for some reason and finding Bend to be the place she couldn't find on the East coast, and as a Sagittarius, moving and starting again is exciting.  "Do you know what I mean?"

In my world, coincidence, as is typically defined, is to be expected.  Every one of those connections enriches the journey for each of us.

Sunday Accomplishments

While repairing the perimeter fencing was high on the priority list, I'm not sure it was on my list for this day.  Like most days around the ranch, what is on the list of things to do often gets replaced by what the ranch decides needs to be done.

That very generous snow storm we had a couple of weeks ago really did me in.  Not only did I have to turn off my perimeter electric fence as the "hot" lines were buried in snow, I couldn't do anything about poop scooping with that much snow.  Once the snow melted off, the rains came and the dry lot was a mud bog so scooping any poop was impossible because it would be more like scooping mud and besides, I couldn't pull the cart through the boot sucking quicksand!

As things have been drying out, I've started to catch up on 3 weeks of neglected poop management.  For the past week, I've been keeping up with the daily output and grabbing up a bit more.  Having the dry lot fully cleaned out again will take some more work.

Today, Bodie went chasing something out the back of the property, which is an odd place for anyone or anything to be, except the deer.  When I went back to look, I noticed entire sections of the top line of my perimeter fence were down.  This immediately interrupted my attempt at cleaning the dry lot.  So, I took Shadow with me, gathered up a bunch of yellow baling twine strands and out we went.  Shadow browsed as I tied twines together and started replacing the fence.

The top line is what the deer take down so I have already replaced a few sections with baling twine and have discovered its benefits: 1) super cheap because I already have it on hand; 2) recycling material; and 3) for the most part, the deer don't rip it.  Rather than just replace the sections that had come down, I went around and replaced it all, converting the string to twine.  It was a good time to check the electric lines of the fencing, clearing away any debris.

The hot lines had a few spots that needed to be adjusted.  The snow had pulled on the lines, causing a couple to cross one another or touch the ground, thus causing unsteady current around the property.  I set out to adjusting the lines, turning the fence back on, and walking around testing the lines.  The goat pen is now hot again, for which I am grateful, you never know with those two.  I found one spot that needs a different connection but that is for another day.  At least 98% of my fence is hot again.

I went back to the dry lot and got one entire section of accumulated poop cleaned out.  I dragged the water trough out and scrubbed that down for a clean refill.  In between projects, I was switching out laundry.  In one trip to the house, I managed to clean the guest bath shower.  It had been driving me nuts.  The guest bathroom had become my horse blanket dripping and drying station during those wet weeks of weather.  The bath itself was a muddy mess and the floor had its share.  Done.

One of my neighbors rode by on her bike and we managed to squeeze in an enjoyable five minute conversation.  Earlier, another neighbor texted me that she wanted my coffee order and she came and delivered me a decaf latte!  And all animals have been completely kissed, loved and given fruits and vegetables in addition to their breakfast.

There is still much to be done.  I have to head out soon to teach a private lesson so that will break my stride, but I am quite satisfied with today's accomplishments.