Another beginning.

It's January 1, 2023 and my first thought upon waking was... "My book will be published in 2023. This year!!!"

For the remainder of the day, I accomplished nothing. Well, not nothing. Nothing of global importance. There was breakfast with family, a quiet drive home, putting away clothes and feeding animals that had missed our presence over night. A reassuring pat on the dog's head, a hurried sort of whites and colors for tomorrow's first load of laundry, a muddied bucket of mop water where the cats had spilled a planter box and always, loitering in the background of my mind, a persistent question, "how can I make 2023 better than 2022?"

The single truth that's been steady throughout my life was that I was born a member of the horse nation. No, not in body but certainly in spirit. Horses have always brought peace to my soul, whether alive and breathing softly on my hand or gracing a colorful piece of paper or a sweeping curve of steel. Being in a horse's presence lowers my blood pressure, slows my breathing and calms the racing thoughts of my mind.

But, for today, my accomplishment has been to ponder the past and the present. To clean a little of yesterday's mess and run my fingers through the mane of my favorite mare, pulling the tangles gently apart and smoothing her muddy coat with a stiff brush.

That's enough for this year's beginning.

#firstnations #horsepeople #horselover #horsenation #indian

The beginning of the end.

"Despite his life with the traveling show, Sitting Bull was considered a great leader by many, both Indian and white, but I believed he was conflicted deep in his soul. He fought the white settlers for many years yet sent his own children to white schools and encouraged his people to farm like the white man. He met with President Cleveland, acknowledging him as a great leader but continued to speak against the selling of Indian land. He encouraged the Indians to make peace with the white soldiers yet condoned the Ghost Dance and invited some of the followers of Wovoka to come to Standing Rock. I knew it wouldn’t bode well for peace. As it turned out, it was the only excuse the soldiers needed to accuse him of instigating trouble. "

#woundedknee #nativeculture #turtleisland

From MY PLACE AMONG THEM - Chapter 1 - Carter’s Journal - December 18, 1890

Wet as water....

It seems like it's been raining forever. It hasn't. In fact, the weather lady's still talking about the drought we were in until all this started, It just seems as if the sun's been gone for a whole year. No wonder farmers are never happy about the weather. It's either dry as a bone or wet as water.

I can't show pictures of the cattle......they're belly-deep in mud. We feed hay every day.......bales that weigh nearly a ton each. Sometimes we stack them 3 or 4 deep in big steel wagons for the cows to eat. Sometimes we unroll one across the pasture, making a thick pallet of dry grass for the calves to lie on. At least they can be dry for a little while. Until the rain starts again and drenches them and their beds.

It's almost Christmas, but the sky is a leaden gray that overwhelms the lights in town. Soon, I"ll have to head there to pick up horse feed...maybe cat food as well. It seems the cats have no desire to hunt mice in the rain. I don't know where the mice hide. The birds are fighting over the suet and seed blocks I hung from the branches of the trees out back. No need to worry about the cats...they're sitting inside, watching from their warm, dry windowsills.

I hope and pray I've put the finishing touches on my book. I know the professionals will make a few more changes, but I've done all I can. I sent it to be printed, Not a "bookstore" copy but a professional copy that looks and feels like a real book. It will be nice to hold a copy in my hands, not a big 3-ring binder with single-sided pages but a bound book with words printed on both sides all held neatly together with a binding. And pictures.

I'll carry a copy to my mom tomorrow. I want her to make sure it all flows and makes sense and draws the reader in like a good book should. After all, she knew one of the characters personally.