Tripper's Day

Tripper and Dad

Tripper is in spirit and he is 23 years old today, May 15.  We all celebrated him today, even the few who didn't know him on this earth.

He was a noble horse, so stoic, proud, full of horsepower and full of incredible love.  Tripper was my first horse.  He taught me to love in a fuller, richer and more open way.

I have said many times before and I most certainly will say it again, he was my friend.

My Friend (and Jess the dog)

When I brought Shadow home, his eyes looked up at me and they were alive with old souls.  I could feel them and I could see them in his eyes.

On occasion when Shadow and I are walking, he will come beside me and put his nose in my hand, just as Tripper used to do. Aside from the 1,000 pound difference between them, I sense Tripper.  Tripper is so present and Shadow is the generous host.

Tripper and Alibi

Alibi and Tripper were good friends.  When Alibi became my horse, I moved him and Tripper to the same pasture.  It was anybody's guess who would be the dominant horse.  Tripper gave Alibi a good run for his money and hung in as the alpha as long as he could.  Eventually Alibi moved in, as he does.  But there always remained respect.  Today, Alibi sighed a birthday wish to Tripper.

In my bedside table drawer is a braided heart of Tripper's tail hair.  It's beautiful and lasting.  Fitting for my friend.

1,000 Words Does Not Make a Picture

It is my favorite time of the month: the waxing moon.  It will be full today, April 6.

This month it is the Pink Moon, named for the wild ground phlox that we see in early spring.  It might also be called the Full Sprouting Grass Moon, the Full Fish Moon or the Egg Moon.

When I drive around the ranch at night and see the snow white Cascades glow bright as day under the light of the moon, I wish my phone could take that picture.  Then I realize, that picture is priceless, impossible, not as it really is.

The horses are lit up, especially Hy Note, such that I can see their eyes looking right into mine.  The cats are especially cautious, being more visible as they scout the ranch for nocturnal nibbles.

The pasture is almost bright green.  I could walk out there easily avoiding the holes of the sage rats.  The crisp, defined shadows of the porch posts, the junipers and the towering Ponderosa Pines are quite theatrical.

This morning at 4:30am, I woke up to my heavenly night light, turning my previously darkened room into a reading room.  The moon hangs low enough directly outside my window so that I can see it from my bed as it drenches me and my dreamy pillows in its angelic energy.

The full moon symbolizes endings and completion.  The things we set out for ourselves at the new moon, we can celebrate at the full moon.

Maybe this Full Pink Moon is about Easter eggs, pretty bonnets and colorful Peeps?  After all, Easter is determined according to the full moon.  Did you know this?

This is why the date of Easter changes each year.  The Council of Nicaea, back in A.D. 325, determined Easter would fall on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox.

The Full Pink Moon.  What picture would you paint?

Cherry Rainbowfrost

My friend Jill posted a link on Facebook where you could get your fairy name.  Cute and silly, I thought at first.  Then I started liking the idea of a fairy name and wanted one of my own.

http://fairy.namegeneratorfun.com/F/noelle/haggerty

Click this link to read about the fairy me, Cherry Rainbowfrost.

From there, you can get your own fairy name.

It's fun to read these things.  They spark your imagination.  They break us of the habitual thinking.

She brings good fortune.  My farm fresh egg business is supplying many with a delicious breakfast while funding my need for hen feed.

She lives in fruit orchards and vineyards.  Certainly that explains my enjoyment of a good wine.

She can only be seen during the first snow of winter.  Well yes, because if it snows more than that, I'll hibernate with the bears.

She wears red, cerise and purple berry colors and has multicolored wings like a butterfly.  A true red is flattering as is a purple or blue.  My wings guide me around the ranch all day doling out little butterfly kisses to all my animals.  They lend air to my smooth glide across the dance floor.  They bring me back home safely so I may recharge my battery to glow like a firefly, a welcome beacon for living creatures.

So, as I bid adieu, I am lifting my satin satchel of prosperity upon my gentle wings of the rainbow.  I shall gradually empty my satchel of prismatic dust flakes on the shoulders of those with space to catch them.

Ahhhh, what a better frame of mind to have when leaving the house!







 

Put Some Spring in Your Step

It's funny how this one hour time change can really make you rethink your daily routine.  It seems a luxury and a burden at the same time.

Opting for the luxury and in light of sleeping in until 8:10am, now known as 9:10am, and the weather that is changing on the hour, I'm officially declaring today as my day off.

As much as one person who must feed and care for 2 dogs, 1 cockatiel, 4 horses, 2 goats, 12 hens, a rooster, 6 cats, 50+ Mallards, and countless wild birds, can take a day off, I am.

My day off began after the morning feed, putting rain sheets on the horses because the next few days call for on and off wet weather, washing out a hoof wound on Kenna (no easy feat,) defending my friend Duncan from my spring-bitten goats, selling another dozen of eggs, and cleaning Pooker's cage.

I came in the house, lit some calming Indian incense, and sat down to an enjoyable bowl of hot cereal with fruit and walnuts, a hard boiled egg, prune juice and delimateliciouslatte.  Pooker sat on my shoulder chirping to let me know when she wanted the next bite of her cereal.  I looked out onto the pasture, watching my animals pick at the greening grass under the changing sky. My breakfast was accompanied by the gurgling sound the hens make as they get comfortable in the sun under my window and by the songs of the Red Winged Blackbirds visiting the feeder.  Pleasant.  I am liking this concept of a day off.

On a day off, one has so many options.  Where do I start?  Feed the hens some cantaloupe.

Then, as it is my day off to do decadent things, I would try out the DVD drive for my new MacBook Air so I can load the new Microsoft Office and transfer files from my ailing HP to the Mac.  As a result of this silly choice,  New Rules #43 started brewing.

The product key for Microsoft Office used to be on the box, remember this? 

Now, I must go on-line to Microsoft's "getkey" site and use the PIN code on the back of the box, cleverly hidden under a scratch off box, coin required, which after I enter a long series of letters and numbers brings me to a Windows Live window, which I only logged in to one other time long ago when it was required for something I can't remember, so then I have to go to my old email account and search for a Windows Live email which would have my password information, which I can't find so I must request a new password, wait for that email to come, then log in at Windows Live to change my password, but I must log out and log back in from the Microsoft window otherwise it does not bring up the product key that I have been trying to get for the past 10 minutes.

Whew.  Product key found.  Now to the Mac to enter the long code, a series of numbers and capital letters, using the top row of numbers because the wireless ten-key pad that I bought hasn't been installed yet. 

Time for a nap.

New Rules: #37

Companies must agree on a standard format for on-line log-ins and passwords.

Today, while attempting to recharge my Starbucks card on-line, I had to register.  Do you remember when registering used to be just entering your email address?

Now, registering requires your name, address, birth date, city of birth, a list of "click here if you don't want to receive" a variety of inbox fillers and then of course, a unique log-in and password.

Unique makes using your standard log-in impossible.  The Starbucks log-in has to be at least 6 characters and contain at least one digit.  (I'm holding back an urge.)  So, I create a new log-in different than my usual, hoping that I will remember it for the next recharge.

Now to the password.  Again, my standard password format, that I can remember, does not work.  It must be at least 6 characters, including a capital letter, and as you guessed it, at least one digit.  (I'm struggling to hold back the single digit urge.)

With a standard log-in format, we can still achieve the goal of not using the same password for all of our on-line accounts.  We will have a better chance of remembering our log-in and password without having to remember if this is the company that requires capital letters and a single digit.

And what if we do want to use the same password?

Calling Me Back

The snow covered mountains glowing under the moonlight on a clear crisp night is magical.  I witness this luminosity every turn of the calendar page as the moon waxes full.

I squint and stretch my neck forward, wondering if I'm really seeing

These rugged heaps of rock and earth

Light up like beacons

Guiding me back to the serenity of my animals.

Strengthening the Arab Voice

It's horse fever, I'm certain.

When you read the title of this post, what did you think?

I was perusing a back issue of my Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly magazine and saw an article with this title.  I flipped directly to page three.  There I found a photograph of a man standing beside a horse in a web halter.

I looked at the horse's face first, naturally, and didn't see the typical Arab characteristics, such as the dish.  The nostrils and eyes didn't look very Arab like and the body seemed larger than most Arabs.

Curious, I proceeded to the text, after all this was an article.  The article was about Mohammed Jiyad, a senior lecturer in Arabic language and literature at MHC, and how he has seen the interest in Arabic studies change over the 25 years he has been at the college.

When he first started teaching, he had about six students in his class.  This past year he had 30.  He talks about the need for Arabic speakers in government, banking and business and mentions students studying overseas.

Mohammed grew up with horses in Iraq and has several Arab horses of his own.   Aside from this brief mention of his horses, no more than those few words, there was no discussion or question about horses in this article.

Here I am thinking the article was about strengthening the interest in Arabian horses somehow by showing a man with a Quarter Horse, when it was about the Arab language and its role in global affairs.

The piece was interesting.  I prefer my interpretation of the title.