A Rude Awakening

In my effort to access the subterranean recesses of Instagram, and begin a new site,  I hit upon a post by #Scott Beckstead, the director for Oregon at the #Humane Society of the United States. That man will forever hold a soft spot in my heart.

In 2009 when the country was in crisis and no one wanted to buy a horse, Beckstead found a home for my two horses (one an adopted mustang from the #BLM, the other a registered Quarter Horse.) He also found at the same 64- acre property a home for Daughter Dear’s two horses, one an elderly draft who the adopter said would be a friend for her elderly horse.  We were moving to Hawaii and decided not to put them through the required quarantine and shipment. A 64- acre spread sounded preferable. Thank you, Scott Beckstead.

Nina bought Sweetums, the draft horse, from a family who had Belgium horses, and since he didn’t fit as a team with any of their other horses, they were going to sell him for slaughter. And they cruelly called him Dog Food. (Thinking it was funny I suppose, but it still hurts my heart to this day.) Trainer Pat Parelli, horse gentler, says to never use derogatory names for your animals, for it builds canyons instead of bridges. (Let’s say that goes for people too.)

 

                                                               Sweetums

 

Beckstead was in Washing DC for Lobby Day as an advocate for a #Ban of Slaughter of Wild horses, and inhumane helicopter roundup.

He says the BLM is relentlessly sending out misinformation, even the numbers of wild horses is off, saying there is more than there is.

"The BLM is driving wild horses to extinction on public land."--Scott Beckstead 

A sociologist (#Chat Hensen, book, “In the Land of Oz”) spoke at the conference, and Beckstead said it opened his eyes to the words being used by the BLM --invasive, feral, non-native, overpopulated.

 There is no mention of the beautiful wild herds that roam our country. There was no mention either that not all wild horses came from the Inquisitors, but some migrated into this continent over the Bering straight, There are powerful groups lobbying against the wild horses, ranchers and the beef industry among others who want to use Public Land for FREE.

 There is no mention either, about the characteristics of horses, that when they are in competition with other grazers, they will choose the worst forage. A steady diet of fresh green grass (it’s the sugars in the grass) can give a horse susceptible to it a painful inflammation of the feet called laminitis. Laminitis can cause a separation of the hoof from the cannon bone, and eventually kill the animal. (The Famous Triple Crown winner, Secretariat, died of laminitis. ( It can also be hormonally caused.)

Beckstead says we need to stop romancing the rulers, for they want the bears, the coyotes, the wolves, the wild horses, even the sage grouse, gone.

If you think wild horses are scruffy little beasts look at this guy, what a powerful neck and shoulder.

                                                      (A Beckstead photo.)

 There was an armed takeover of a Wild horse Sanctuary in OR.

 Let's hold them accountable. It’s entitlement, and cruel.

 I did not know that the BLM—which I thought were good guys--only say something positive about the wild horses until it comes time to auction them. I bought my little six-month old Sierra from the BLM, and look what she grew into.

 

She had a freeze brand on her neck which said she could never be sold for slaughter. (If they still honor that.)

 Call US Senators, and Congressmen, stating you want a ban on Wild Horse Slaughter. He gave this number, but didn’t specify the area code, 224-2131. Look them up.

I did it, I emailed my Senator and Congress woman. Then, I debated with myself on putting this online for I didn’t want a sad blog, but then I realized I am only one. Maybe others would join me.

 Do not allow wild horses to be rounded up and sold for slaughter. They don’t belong to anyone to sell. And to kill them? Shame on them.  Buffalos all over again. Crap!

So, there you have it dear ones. Make of it what you will.

 Hawaiian Proverb:

‘A‘ohe hana nui ke alu ‘ia.

No task is too big when done together by all.

This is a No Blog Blog

 

No blog today.

It is time for an artist’s holiday. That is to do something different to recharge your batteries.

Julia Cameron takes herself to the pet store to hold (whatever his name is. Fred, let’s say.) the giant bunny.

“Can I hold Fred?” she asks the proprietor.

“I don’t know; you’ll have to ask Fred.”

Well, she held him, so he must have said yes.

We lived in San Diego when my two girls were little, and there was an aquatic store down the hill not far from where we lived. When we wanted an outing, we would go there and look at the fish in the glass aquariums, and outside behind the shop, we would peruse the cement block ponds where they raised fish, large and small.

My youngest daughter remained quite attached to aquatic animals into her adult life, getting a job at PetSmart right out of college and working with the fish. Later she had a mail-order saltwater animal shipping service. Then, she became the store director at a PetSmart store in California.

You never know the ramifications of a fun holiday.

Who ho ho, I'm so Excited!

I got this eBook the way I wanted. After trying to send it a zillion different ways, I finally got the one I wanted.

 

It's cool, the booklet appears on the screen quickly and clearly and has a forward arrow and a back arrow, so whoever decides to read it can do it efficiently. And, guys,  you know me, I am not every long winded, so it is 59 pages, under 10,000 words...every word a gem of course.

 

Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  

You can see why I want to send it through email as I do not want to link it here. I am giving the link specifically to you guys. Non-blog readers can pay for it.

 

Here I was blogging along talking about feelings, and listing the 39 feelings published  on The Power of Feelings while in the background, I was trying to make my eBook easily accessible.

 

Hey, when you've spent the last two weeks on a project, it becomes pretty pervasive.

 

Here are the feelings: There is more to this arena than just saying, "I want to be happy."  You have a smorgasbord from which to choose.

I had begun to think technology was out to get me, but right now I'm going to enjoy the moment. I'm happy.

 

Confident? happy? Creative? Glad? Motivated? Peaceful? Content? Reserved? Restless? Annoyed? Jealous? Shocked? Stuck? Ambitious? (Enterprising—my word) Grateful? Excited? Focused? Curious? Bored? Calm? Tired? Confused? Overwhelmed? Anxious? Frustrated? Lonely? Awed? Valued? Optimistic? Inspired? Sensitive? Hurt? Nervous? Angry? Worthless? Stressed?

Now for the eBook. You read part of the story, now here's the rest.

 

 

 

 

I Was Seduced by a Red Kia

 

The Kia was from the aunt of a detailer. No wonder it looked bright, shiny, and new. 

The car is four-years-old from a little old lady from Pasadena—except she lives in Oregon, is 92, and was its only owner.

Now, a week later, it needs a bath. Just like the refrigerator-oh yeah, it froze up this week. Its fan was clanking like a Model T with a broken Axel.

We took everything out of the freezer and frig. I washed it while Husband Dear defrosted the block of ice in the bottom the size the ice man used to carry on his shoulder when I was a kid.

The fan still works. The refrigerator works. Yea! And the refrigerator is clean, but the car isn’t. Someone I will not name took it on a trip.

Garrison Keillor says, “It’s been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon,” This week in Junction City was anything but quiet. It was bombastic.

• Both vehicles croaked on the same day–Truck was fixed with a new starter. 
• The Pries died at 311,344 miles–Sold on Craig’s List—it is going to Texas. 
• My Principal Broker signed off on my Vibrance Real Estate Website after what felt like 10 million hours and 60 million changes. https://vibrancerealestate.com
• I prepared medical expenses for taxes—a moot point. They didn’t apply.
• And we bought a new-to-us car.

Much of the work initially felt like my Scuba training years ago, all classes and tests, but I never got to the fun part.

So, how are you feeling? 

Do people ask you how you are feeling and really want to know?

Or care?

Have you been feeling like you’re just holding it together?

Don’t look “Out there.” It looks like chaos. The government’s a mess. Trials are pending. Your teeth aren’t white enough, you need medication, your liver is dying, and people are pumping up their faces, breasts, butts, lips, and muscles because they aren’t good enough. People don’t know what to call themselves, “he, she, they, them, it?” What’s your pronoun? For heaven’s sake. (“Honey” would work.) We’re polluting the planet. We hear that doom is ahead and Bots are taking over customer service.

What are we doing?

We are trying to be sane, that’s what.

The bottom line is Emotional Intelligence.

“Emotional Intelligence is the ability to recognize, understand and manage one’s feelings while understanding and empathizing with the feelings of others. People with higher emotional Intelligence are often better equipped to deal with whatever gets thrown their way, whether in their personal or professional lives.”

Strangely, if you look up Emotional Intelligence, they mainly refer to the workplace, but home is where the heart is. We ought to begin there.

Health is our birthright—be it physical, emotional, or spiritual. It should be our inheritance as children of the earth, but the times we live in are not ordinary—so says my current read Dr.Hazel Parcells, HEALER—The Pioneer Nutritionist & Prophet In her own words at 106.

Was it ever?

I do think, however, that we are in transition with great adjustments and redefinitions. 

The earth’s energy has been under almost constant assault during this past century, bombs, chemicals, medicines, plastics—even our clothing. Not only is the soil threatened, but the ocean, the largest area covering our planet, is in question. 

If the earth dies—the people perish.

If plants and animals lose their vitality, so do we.

Our present time is almost like an experiment in which they crowded mice with resultant weird behaviors and reduced fertility.

Nature has been pushed aside in favor of chemicals, computers, cell phones (a computer), bots, and a fascination with A.I. (Hey folks, have you seen the movie 2001?) Many jobs are in the arena of data processing. That alone can fry the brain. 

We are separated from nature, our health care has risen to absurd heights, and we have endured the constant barrage of a pandemic affecting our health, jobs, and social lives. 

Homeostasis:

I hit briefly on homeostasis last week, which means balance. Basically, homeostasis refers to our acid/alkaline balance which the body tries to regulate–like a radio trying to maintain its signal.

All in all it does a pretty good job but can get knocked off kilter. Take, for example, two men painting a house. They work side by side, both inhaling the same paint fumes. One man keels over, while the other man is not affected. What happened?

The one man’s radio couldn’t handle a further assault of toxins, and it could be that the “fuel” that went into his body—food, water, and air, was already compromised.

It isn’t about calories. It’s about quality. And that’s what I’m concerned about.

Dr. Parcells studied eleven cases of polio—all children. This was right after WWII when governments were doing nuclear testing—I’m not saying the bombs caused polio. I’m saying what was happening at the time.

Parcells found that in all cases that while the children were excreting acid, they had paralysis, which almost always takes place in an alkaline environment. She gave them natural acid-based calcium and applied spinal massage with an electrical current. Calcium is a neutral medium but takes on the properties of any acid it is exposed to. An electric charge is an acidic medium. 

Once the deep alkaline field was balanced, all indications of polio were gone.

Those children resumed their childhoods and lived happy lives.

How many of us feel off balance?

When the body is off kilter, so are our emotions. When our emotions are off kilter, they wreak havoc on the body. When our spiritual connection is off, we suffer, and it’s hard to display kindness, thoughtfulness, and gratitude—all those characteristics we admire while enduring pain. Unless, of course, you have the fortitude of Nelson Mandela. 

What are we going to do about it? 

That’s our life work. 

I’ve heard it said that we all have holes in our underwear. However, our holes aren’t in the same places—that’s why we can help each other. 

I came across a site—yep–good things are afloat. Maybe you saw it, whatever, let’s talk about it. It’s genius. Made for kids mostly but pertains to any age.

The article is in Microsoft, “The Science Behind,” but I do not see the author’s name. The report is The Hidden Power of Feelings.*

Feelings are more complex than simply being happy or sad. Researchers believe there are at least 27 distinct emotions (with varying degrees that can be mixed). And it seems helpful to name the feeling.

For example, a young person overhears a peer saying something negative about them. Left to fester, their feelings affect how they view themselves, their attention in class, and how they relate to their peers, and probably come home sullen, go to their room, where tears can flow, anger can grow, and the parents wonder what in the world is happening to their lovely teenager.

Perhaps the trauma could have been softened or resolved if they had shared their feelings with someone. Then, apologies could be made, misunderstandings cleared up-and all emotions returned to something more pleasant.

Nope. That’s different from the way we work.

Are you frustrated, confused, irritated, hurt, or lonely—look for the 27 emotions. I don’t want to copy their contribution.

Who guides us through this landscape of growing up?

Basically, nobody. We muddle through. 

Luckily there is hope on the horizon. 

And here’s a site that’s trying:

The Hidden Power of Feelings.

https://unlocked.microsoft.com/reflect-feelings-monster/?ocid=cmmw8o09xh1&form=M402JX

P.S.

I read this yesterday that agave me a chuckle. It was a response to something Terry Cole-Whittiker said to an audience of about 4,000 when the commenter was 15. She is now 57. 

“Just shoot the arrow, and where it lands, that was your target.”

And this morning from Tony Robbins: 

“Sometimes it’s more important to just make the damn choice, commit to it, and find out.”