Jalapeno Sky Raisins

I've been thrown off all week by the July 4th holiday falling on Monday! What day is it today? Who am I?

We did go to a downtown festival and honestly I think our favorite part was this:

Isn't that a great idea?! Even with the humidity the firefighter's cool mist was welcome :-)

I'm happy to report that with some extra planning, the animals were okay on the 4th! Little Lucy put herself to bed in her crate when the popping started and I left all the lights on in the bedroom and added a sound machine on high with the white noise setting. She was able to cope fairly well. She must not have heard the noise because when we would go in to visit her, her whole body wasn't jolting from the booms. She came out a couple of hours after it stopped, ate her dinner, had a drink and asked to go outside. Of course that was about 1:30am lol

The horses, mini donkey, and goats all fared well too. Last year they were in the upper pasture and that pasture is completely open, no trees or shelter. We only use it at night or when it's cool. The fireworks that were close sent them into a frenzy and they were running around in a panic. This year we put them in the lower pasture with hay bags stuffed full. They are surrounded on 3 sides by the noise dampening forest. When I went out to be with them around 9pm they were all standing on the unforested side, looking out at the fireworks in the distance. I wondered if they were smelling the smoke and wondering if there was fire. In 2020 in Colorado we had a 3 month long wildfire in nearby mountains. It was scary. I wonder if they remember? Once I arrived the boys, Wynter and Sweetness the mini donkey went into Zen Mode: standing very still, eyes half mast. When they do this in a coaching session they are working on grounding the client. I think they were helping Rayn cope. My Raynie has uveitis (kinda like glaucoma in humans) and is slowly losing her sight. She was jumpy and even bolted off once while I was out there. So I joined the boys in grounding myself, breathing and quieting my body and mind. Then I started blowing out my breath (like you would blow bubbles under water) you can often hear horses do this. Rayn came close to me and lowered her head, more relaxed. I told them a story about why people were setting off fireworks and what was being celebrated.

iPhones and their crazy ability to light a nighttime scene! There was light from the outdoor house lights but it wasn't this bright out there!

This week was full of coaching, neurofeedback appointments, and even a Reiki session thrown in. I haven't done Reiki with a client in a good 6 months and it was nice. We thought about doing it in the barn but it was so hot (110º with the heat index) that we decided to set up in my air conditioned office instead.

Thank you friends for your emailed thoughts and comments from last week's post. I received emails that were from people who were for and against what happened with Roe v Wade a couple of weeks ago. I appreciate you sharing!

ODDS AND ENDS

I belong to a bunch of Facebook goat groups and this idea popped up:

Goats, like any farm animals, poop and pee inside their barn. The typical way to clean a goat barn is to treat it like a big cat box. Scoop out the wet spots and piles of poo. Sadly the rest of the poo just gets mixed into the shavings. At least they are little dried balls. The idea of the kiddie pool is to put the shavings inside it and leave the rubber stall mats bare. Would you rather pee in shavings or pee on rubber and have it bounce back onto your legs? LOL, exactly. Everyone who had done it was raving about it in the groups so I decided to give it a try. A good time too, train them to pee in the pool and when the winter comes I can put down shavings for warmth and they will be in the habit of peeing in the pool so the shavings stay dry.

So, how has it worked so far? Well, it seems they are sleeping in the pool full of shavings and peeing outside. Haaa! The poop is everywhere as per usual but that's easy enough to sweep up. What does this mean for winter? Hopefully it means they will still pee outside but we'll see.

Who are the cutest animals in all of the land? Baby Dancer and Sweetness of course!

And who is the hottest dog in all of the land? I'm down to the last part of grooming: razoring out the old undercoat that has gotten stuck and matted. This comb is amazing! Razor blades on one side but not on the other so you don't cut your dog—it's much more gentle than combing out mats. Princess Dog is a fan:

For my fellow big sky lovers—it really is possible to move to a treed area of the country and still see the sky. Look for lakes and ponds nearby to give you the view:

The openings of the fence are 2"x4", this is the littlest spider web!

Facebook gave me a great memory this week—from our first week at our Colorado ranch. This still makes me laugh! I didn't know that the umbrella base has a screw to keep this from happening—probably wouldn't have mattered in those crazy prairie winds anyway ;-)

MEMES OF THE WEEK

My new favorite, it makes me snort-laugh! Thank you Mary! My Midgie girl used to snatch flies, honey bees, wasps, carpenter bees, and yellow jackets right out of the air and eat them. Gawd. Crazy that she wasn't allergic.

It's true. NOBODY notices.

GIVEAWAY

My next giveaway is July 30th, forward to your friends!

You can find prints and originals in my Etsy store!

If you are in my area (Apex, NC and surrounding areas) I'm offering a special deal for you to come try out neurofeedback and/or coaching!

Half off your first neurofeedback session ($35 for 45 minutes instead of $70)

$25 off your first Equine Gestalt Coaching session ($100 for an hour instead of $125)

Half off your first Reiki session ($45 for an hour instead of $90)

Please take me up on these—and yes, you can use all three, in fact I encourage it! Doing neurofeedback or Reiki before a coaching session puts you in a regulated state which the animals love and is ideal for the work. Doing neurofeedback or Reiki after helps you process your session :-) so it works either way. The coaching setting is beautiful with the horses, donkey, and goats and in my air conditioned neurofeedback room you have a view of the pond and the wildlife that surrounds it. We are in a covered barn for coaching so are in the shade and out of any rain or weather. Reiki can be inside or outside in the barn, depending on weather and client wishes.

You can read about neurofeedback here!

Thank you for reading :-) My blog is reader-supported—that's you my wonderful friends! The best way to support my work locally (Research Triangle area of NC) is:

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Or, schedule a NeurOptimal Neurofeedback session.

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