Sunday, April 21, 2013

4.21.2013


Yesterday I helped to lead the walk for Community Seed down at Wilder ranch. We had a small group of people only six. But it was a good group of people. The six of us took hands encircled up, meditating before we left for our walk. The beginning of the trail was warm and sheltered between two thick rows of bushes.



Further along the trail we reached the headlands where we could see the ocean, and hear the sound of the waves crashing against the cliffs. We wandered our way along the cliffs for about half an hour where we reached our side path that leads down into the Fern grotto cave. Everyone entered the cave with awe and reverence, the beauty of this place is overwhelming. We sat and shared our experiences along the walk, then shared a snack. Then we returned to the main path and headed for the railroad tracks. The tracks have been unused for many years in the greenery of mother Earth is reclaiming what is hers. There are bogs with reeds along the sides of the railroad tracks that are filled with frogs and pollywog's. And on the warm ground between the tracks with all its hiding holes is populated by a host of different sized lizards.



Our group returned to its point of departure in a little under two hours, we took hands and re-circled. Taking a few moments to breathe deeply and let the energy of earth, sea and sky fill our souls.
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Woke up bright and early this morning. The sun was up no fog to be found. I felt refreshed and ready to just bounce out of bed and begin my day.

I got dressed quietly so as not to wake up my partner. Slipped out into the quiet morning. I started by feeding the chickens, the babies were swirling around my ankles. The rest of the flock just wanted to be released into the run. As soon as I released the adults chickens the babies crowded around the feeder. After spending about 10 minutes with the baby chickens I left the coop and checked on the rabbits.

Jet looks very sullen at the end all by himself now that Bunbun has passed away, Ditto was quietly munching on her hay, Mama Say has been pulling belly fur out preparing a nest for her upcoming litter of babies, it has made quite a mess. Pappa Ghost has some pretty bad skin disorder, he looks as if he has really bad dandruff. I will need to brush him again.


After checking on all the feathered and furry babies, I went out to the front yard to check on my green growing babies. The tomatoes are getting very tall. However on one side of the garden box there was a giant kale plant that was shading the first two tomatoes. So this morning I harvested half of the kale plant after watering the tomatoes thoroughly. In the next box over, my volunteer squash plants are doing quite well. The self seeded string beans are coming back after being attacked by snails, and the brand-new corn seems to have rooted nicely in the fresh soil.

I'm excited to get started on planting in my new planter box, it's huge! My beloved built me a garden box 6' x 14' and 2 feet deep. Today he will fill one half of that with dirt and compost. Then perhaps next week I will be able to put plants in it.

With the fresh eggs from our own chickens and vegetables from our own garden I feel very rich indeed.



Monday, April 1, 2013

Catching up 4/1/13

Well then I have always been rather bad at keeping a journal, I suppose it is no surprise that I have not written since October.
The last 6 months have had a lot of ups and downs, many wonderful occurrences and a number of downers but in general life has been very good to me.

November: I started dating my sweetheart Leah and I am still just beaming with love and joy. She fits in to our family so very well and is loved by everyone in our home. I also celebrated my Birthday with a good gathering of friends and began to house/dog sit for Bill and Jeri for 3 weeks while they tromped all over New Zealand. The winter rains began just after I started staying in Boulder Creek and sure enough, the power went out, several times! Momo was an excellent puppy for me.

December: Still in Boulder Creek AND trying to keep up the household in Santa Cruz. Very tiring, lots of driving and keeping Cosmo with me all the time. I loved taking care of him but I really do not desire to have another dog.
CS Yule Celebration was a success and a whole lot of fun this year, at least 60 people.
I got to come home just before Solstice, had two vigils in a row. The Annual gathering at Matt and Jenya's then the next night the Coven got together and did another one for the Mayan rollover 12/21/12. Glad I did both since there was no sun to watch come up on the second day. But I got some really awesome pics of the Solstice sunrise. Joining us was my dear friend from DC, Neil was visiting his father, needed a break and some spiritual healing. It was soo good to see him.
We survived a decent Xmas with Skot's family. Robin seemed to be on her best behavior and the Uncles were truly pleasant to visit with. The kids made out like bandits, as usual.
The unfortunate thing was that Skot lost his job and our medical insurance. He has been pursuing new work ever since but it is a really tough market at a really hard time of year. I too started applying for work but with no success.

January: New years eve I was in a lot of pain which made the attempt to celebrate a whole lot less than groovy. But ring in the new year we did and had loads of fun with the kids while they were out of school. Sometime in January I got a hankering for higher education and enrolled at Cabrillo for a night time Psychology class on Relationships. Finding time for my own relationships is always challenging; with a household to run, a non-profit to direct, a teenage daughter to raise and a stepdaughter to assist, an elderly mother to be a companion to; as well as the garden and all the animals I must tend to. Finding time to spend with my husband, boyfriend and new girlfriend has been rather tricky. But I do feel blessed and rather loved.

February: In early February Abra went out of town so we had Aya for 10 days, it was so very nice. Early on Nancy found out she was going to have an EDD tax audit, Skot and I were hired on for a couple weeks to help organize the paperwork and do some data entry. Good to help a friend but a brutal reminder as to why I cannot stand even talking to Steve Wyman any more. He made the whole process horrible.
But the money was nice, well timed and much needed. At the same time I got my tax returns and Skot got the go ahead to claim Aya this year. Juan and I worked together on his taxes and got him a really nice refund that he plans to share with me. I began my Psych class and absolutely adore my teacher, she is a riot!

March: Spring seems to have exploded as well as a few other things. We have had quite an expensive 6 months. Since China passed away we also have had to replace the hot water heater, repair the clothes washer, repair the fridge, repair the furnace and then the dishwasher and the oven stopped working about the same week. My computer has been geting more and more glitchy as time goes on and I think there were a few other minor items...seriously I lost count!
A very good friend of mine offered me a gift that I could not even fathom, he had come in to some extra cash, saw that we were in trouble and offered it to us. Skot said he was not comfortable with it, Mom said it made her uncomfortable too. I was a little nervous about it but decided that if I gave it a goal then it would not be spent frivolously. The gift was $2500.00 and the goal was to fix the house. We bought a new stove and a new dishwasher aaaand while we have all this heavy stuff out of the way lets just replace the flooring! My kitchen wound up in my dining room for nearly a week while we fixed it up. We did most of it on the cheap so I still have a little $$ left over to replace the front door, something I wanted to do last year but ran out of funding after replacing the entire fence around the property and building a new bunny hutch.
The kitchen went back together days before Skots Bday party, which was a wonderful and fun event.
Right as he finished up the kitchen Skot got a call from a company he had been wooing since December, he got two more interviews and then offered the job! He begins April 2nd so he started building things and fixing things like no ones business! He built me a garden box 6'x14' and 2'high, we just need to fill it with dirt.

Mean while we have 9 new baby chicks (lost one during a transfer of cages) and started breeding the bunnies again. I was so proud of Pappa Ghost doing his business with our new Doe Mamma Say but I guess she lost them because there are no babies and she is 4 days past due as of Easter Morning. Since there will be so many more chickens Skot got to running wire fence for an extended run.
We also had a plumber come out and finally fix the bathroom sink! We now have a new faucet, running hot water and it drains properly! Jeez it's only been a couple of years now!


With my tax return I bought a new computer and Skot has transferred all my data. Now I just need to get used to it all. But before I get too cozy I decided I wanted to move my computer to the sewing room...why you say, well I bought myself a new program called Dragon, and I am so excited to get to use it. However it being a voice activated program I don't really want to be in the house with it, too much other stuff going on. So I went and bought 100' of CAT6 and we ran it to the garage, next I need a desk and to make some space out there. Sweet! I can finally start dictating my documents, lessons and meditations.

April
Also a continuation of things with Tymn. We have met several times over the last 6 months, kept in touch by FB and have generally been working towards peace. I am in hopes that I will even get to see Zoe this week. I should go out and get her a Birthday present, she will be 17 in a couple of days.