Cortisone shots, turtles, & fuzzy dogs🐢🐕

Happy Saturday friends!

I’m back to sharing art on Substack again (click here for the newest post)! Earlier this year, a few things stalled me out: a house fire and the recovery of that, the death of my aunt, and my dominant hand’s wrist tendon staging a rebellion (cortisone shot on board yesterday!) I stepped away from sharing much of anything online. I’ve missed how art and words on social can=connection.

So, I’m beginning again! While I wait for my wrist to calm down, I thought it would be fun to share some old art and the stories that go with it. Moving back into our house after the fire means I’ve had my hands on every single thing we own. I’ve run across so much old artwork! Things from way back when I was a teen even, it’s been fun to see how things morph and change over 30+ years of being an artist.

Either my wrist gets better because of the cortisone or I have a little out patient surgery for DeQuervain's. I had it done on my left wrist in 1998 (from whitewater kayaking) and it was pretty miraculous. Also, did you know that a steroid shot only stops more inflammation from happening? I came at a good time, it turns out, my wrist was slowly getting better because I've stopped sketching for the most part—dammit :-( so it was calming down. I actually have hope that this shot might work. I asked ChatGPT (of course I did) to explain it better and it said: "With no new inflammatory cells flooding in, the swelling that's already there can be slowly reabsorbed by your body. Think of it like turning off the faucet before mopping up a spill, once the source is stopped, the mess can start to clear."

Ah. Cool.

I have done some light sketching in these past months so you’ll still be seeing horses and goats and donkeys oh my, and of course the land that I am the guardian of. You’ll also see the sometimes magical, often messy process of someone who draws and paints, runs the business of a healing ranch, and keeps trying to listen to her Inner Voice above all.

If you’d like to walk alongside me on this little journey, you can subscribe here, it’s free. And if it speaks to you, share it with someone else who might need a little reminder that all of our voices are worth hearing.

ODDS AND ENDS FROM THIS WEEK ON THE RANCH:

It’s been spider central here! This is a Carolina Wolf Spider, the largest wolf spider species in North America, and it's here, palm sized, in my barn. We left it alone:

However, these two had to be gently swept away when I found them just above my front doors. They were fine and seemed to have moved on. Another wolf spider on the left and a funnel web grass spider (probably) on the right:

I Love Lucy had a bath—I was watering the plants and Lucy of course since she loves to play in the water and then for some crazy reason when she went to dry herself off, she chose the dirt! She always rolls in the grass, what in the world? But look how cute her damp, fuzzy butt is post-bath:

She also met up with a couple of turtles. B-Rad said that one was flipped over and she was poking it with her paw. He flipped it back over. You always wonder about these things: was the other turtle going to help it? 

We have our resident Blue Heron but lately another one has come to visit and ours is feeling pretty pissy pants about it. The one that belongs is on the left, the newbie is on the right:

You can always tell which is which because the owner of the pond looks angry, all hunched over and shooting daggers at the interloper:

The interloper, head up, wandering around while slowly getting closer and closer to Pissy Pants:

Eventually Pissy Pants chases him away and it starts all over again.

Blu and I bonded over a pretty butterfly sighting:

More pretty snake plant babies popping up and making me so happy!:

The Polar Bear having a good roll:

Ponies in the upper pasture. I have to mow it down sadly! Don't want the weed flowers to go to seed plus the ponies and donkies are getting chunky:

It was pretty while it lasted with all this rain:

How about that gate back there huh? Complements of Wynter. Tori is so pretty in the flowers:

ManChild has taken over the mowing, we are thankful:

I don't know what made me do it but it sure made me laugh:

My baby Jade plant forest on my desk:

If you're a Colorado friend or live somewhere with low humidity, look what you're missing! This is what happens in the summer in North Carolina. The windows sweat (on the outside) in the morning. By mid day you can see out again:

I ordered some new grooming tools for The Polar Bear. I'm glad we got her a short summer cut but had no idea what would happen when we did! It took away all the silky guard hairs, exposing all of her cotton-ball-like undercoat—which promptly gathered every bit of debris and matted. Good God. It took me an hour but the new tools helped me get 99% of the mats out, she was happy:

One on the right is an undercoat rake, the one on the left cuts mats out:

I combed out approximately a Penelope (brother's puppy) sized ball of fur:

Look at that face LOL! And look how big she is now!

Gorgeous clouds:

Just one more spot remaining in the upcoming Women’s Circle which starts Wednesday, August 20th, 6-9pm and runs 6 weeks. $210 is the total. Come make some new friends and get some animal time, creativity time, and pony/mini donkey time!

Jaffee often puts his head on our chests, he knows how to work on our hearts:

THE MEMES:

I can attest to this 👇🏽 Icky first husband was the love bomber. I had no idea Brad was interested, everyone kept telling me and I was like, "What in the world are you talking about? We are friends!" Not a clue. 🙄😂 Luckily I figured it out eventually!

THINGS TO DO AT THE RANCH THIS SUMMER:

August/September Women's Circle is 6 weeks: Aug 20 and 27, Sept 3, 10, 17, 24, $210 is the total. Call, email, or text me if you'd like to join! I ONLY HAVE ONE SPOT LEFT IN THIS SESSION, call me!

Art Classes! Give me a text/call, I’d love to help you plan something fun! I'm envisioning this as a fun thing to do with your coffee group, friend/family group, female work friends, book club, bible study, etc. I can take a group of 9 women. Fun and easy watercolor that I walk you through step by step, and we can snuggle the mini ponies, mini donkeys, and goats, or even take the ponies or donkeys for a walk in the woods if the group is interested :-) Call, email, or text me, and I'll cater it to your group!

Equine Gestalt Coaching Sessions (these are private emotional wellness sessions for YOU not your horse ;-))

NeurOptimal Neurofeedback (keeping your mental and physical self healthy without having to dig deep like in a coaching session—as a matter of fact, you can read, write, or even nap during the session!)

If you'd like to talk about some of these, please email, text, or call me! 

OR! You can book online by clicking here!

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This is an AI free newsletter! While I love to use AI to help me figure out a piece of software I don't understand, my intention is to use it to help me with the drudgery never with writing, art, creation. All em dashes are intentional and mine, I was using them way before ChatGPT was a twinkle in Sam Altman's eye :-)

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The Mother Ranch art on Substack.

Thank you for reading :-)

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