"Warm" and Sweet Six

For the first few months after Shasta arrived we were so sure we had another Nine. Now that she has settled, BEing here at MuRefuge almost as long as she bounced around nurmorous other locations, it is clear Shasta Girl is a "Warm" and exceptionally Sweet Six, leaning towards "Counterphobic". Borage, Mimulus, Sweet Pea and White Chestnut flower essence is allowing her to BE balanced.

Shasta beneath our bed

Shasta having an afternoon power nap in our Great Room.

Below is a picture series of Shasta
entertaining herself with a ball
outside in the sunshine
beneath the drying bed linen.

BEing with our Shasta Girl does evoke us to

Wisdom of MuRefuge's Animals

The animals who share MuRefuge with us are astounding teachers, reminding us, the humans, of the "natural order" and our limitations of affecting this process.  

The oldest fawn and white Indian Runner duck had a stroke a week ago.  Dwight had to retrieve her water-logged from her pond and place her in the duck house last Sunday evening.  The following morning I found her lieing on her back flailing her legs in the middle of the duck house.  I propped her up in one of the nesting box certain I would find later in the day that she had left her body.  Not so!  By midweek she was eager to sip water from her bowl and the following day eagerly ate the slugs I found for her, managing all by herself to drink from her water bowl as well as eat some food.  Each ensuing day she willed herself to move further and further about the duck yard until Saturday evening when Dwight went out to put the ducks into their house for the night, he had difficulty distinquishing her from the rest of the flock.  Of course, she still sometimes falls over and flails her legs trying to right herself, so one of us goes out often during the day to right her when necessary.  Her seven sisters are adjusting to her different gait, seemingly welcoming her back to "the flock".  

This picture was taken last Fall.
The oldest duck is the one behind the left most blue duck.

Saturday afternoon I found them all together in bunches of twos and threes resting right near Jack.

Now Jack, 

This picture was also taken last year, late Summer.
Jack beneath the rosemary enjoying the filtered sunshine.

as some of you know, got bitten around his right eye last week, in all likelihood by another cat. He had a traumatic Friday afternoon: 

• trapping Jack and moving the cage into the car
• car ride to the vet. which elicited continuous fearful cries 
• visit to the vet. and her treatment 
• sedating him 
• cleaning and clipping all the fur around his right eye 
• washing out the three puncture holes, one of which was into his sinus so the solution washed out his right nostril 
• getting injected with an antibiotic that will last over two weeks 
• plus a gratis rabies shot 
• car ride back to MuRefuge 
• overnight stay in the garage to keep him warm within the rather large wire trap  

Amazing to me how easily the vet. and her technician handled Jack, and how on Saturday morning he did not bolt when the trap door was opened, but rather just sauntered out and sat looking up at us, ate a little food, then slowly disappear down the front path no doubt to pee.  In the afternoon Jack allowed me to wrap him up in a towel and hold him so Dwight could put the antibiotic ointment on his three puncture wounds. This morning Jack was in his regular morning spot awaiting his food after of course much petting. His eye appears to be healing nicely with no discharge, reddness nor swelling.

Jack's house with his food bowl visible in the front corner.

I would like to thank all of you who responded with love and concern for Jack!  And, thank you, Candace for your information about insulating Jack's house.  Dwight is going to see to that project.

The strength of a BEing's will and "going with what is," i.e. being flexible, is the wisdom I am gleening from the duck's determination to BE a part of her flock and Jack's ease with his injury.

Balance

Balance
Higher State Enneagram stone
for Type 4

Or equanimity, the preferential word my friend Courtney uses for this higher state we here at MuRefuge are in tune with since Rose's joining the Eternal Tao.  

I am realizing my depth of commitment to Rose’s process the longer she is absent from our lives here at MuRefuge.  Seeing the world, or wearing the lens through which she viewed the world, from Rose’s perspective provided me with an unique opportunity to experience the wild.  Those that inhabit the wilderness seem to have a very different order which is rarely muddied with emotional baggage.  The pack’s well being is valued.  Death is accepted. Rose’s Work was to merge these traits with living in a world where humans are “top dog”.  Rose died with her Work complete and rightfully pleased with her hard work.  And I am in the midst of the dynamic process, balance aka equanimity.

Now we have a dog, well puppy really, that clearly understands and accepts that humans are in control.  She is sweet so I call her “Sugar Plum” (Dwight calls her "Twinkle Toes" since is prances when when she takes walks with us) and she seems to naturally assume equanimity puncuated with bouts of rowdyness.  

When she is clear what we want from her, she gives it to us readily.  Easy is this Shasta.

BEing with Rose’s process intensely the last six months of her life left much undone or uncompleted.  Blog entries have been scarce at best.  So as we here at MuRefuge become more balanced, I would like to share some other events we have experienced.

I have never seen any offspring from the pair of foxes I have seen gamboling in the field to our South.

The resident pair of foxes

One morning, while I was sitting, this past Spring I saw something, well a few somethings, jumping in the tall grass.  Binoculars revealed offspring for this year, not one or two but five.

Mom with her youngsters

We were fortunate to watch them grow up, exchanging stories of amazement with our neighbors Pete and Dana who viewed the same kits in another nearby field.

Also, in the Spring we added to our small egg producing, snail and slug eating duck flock.  Last year two chocolate female Indian Runners were added with one of those no longer at MuRefuge.  This year two blue ones came from Metzer Hatchery.  

Our merged flock of all female Indian Runners

And now we have a resident cat, Jack, who has his very own house to protect his food bowl from the coming rains, hopefully.  

Jack's house with feeding bowl in evidence

The beautiful pottery food bowl was made by none other than Dwight.  Jack came uninvited to MuRefuge, and the ducks were stirred up upon his arrival since he liked to hang out in their duck house, but now interspecies harmony prevails with both Jack and ducks coming together at the water bowls when we fill them with fresh water. 

This year has been one filled with clearing, mostly clearing out vegetation including trees.  Those in the know cautioned on over planting trees, shrubs and other plants.  I thought I had judiciously followed their insightfulness but alas more trees and shrubs, especially, were planted.  So two rounds of clearing, first cutting down the plethora of oak trees the blue jays had planted, and second, removing the remaining Italian Stone Pine and carefully thinning of the native Coastal Oaks to allow for air circulation.  I was so focused on negating the fierce wind I ignored the health of these trees which became easy prey for predatory microbes.  

In addition to the massive clearing done this past Spring I have been focused on removing more nonnatives which has opened small patches to be replanted.  My focus has moved from individual plants and their preferred habitat to plant communities.  In that vein I have planted one area with Coyote Mint and Cobweb Thistle, another with Beach Asters and Coast Buckwheat.  I noticed while ambling with my friend Anne on the Olympic Peninsula  that beneath the Ocean Spray grows Salal and the Pearly Everlasting so I experimenting with that combination.  Traditionally rain falls in the Northwest so perhaps such a plant community may not thrive here.

Since the nonnative Curly Willow blew over in a storm now almost two years ago, many of shade loving plants planted to enjoy the protection from the midday sun beneath the willow’s boughs have struggled.  Most are being moved to more appropriate homes.

In spite of the less than normal rainfall this past rainy season, most of the natives seem to be only dormant waiting for the rains to arrive.  The state of each plant will not be know until rains arrive, cold temperatures pass, and the warmth of Spring comes again.

Abundance of delicious, ripe grapes has been a novelty this Fall.  

Each year fruit trees, berry bushes and other plants provide differently.  This particular season we have many apples: Pink Pearl, Yellow Pippin which is George Washington's favorite apple and Spitzenberg. 

Ripe Heirloom Spitzenberg apples, Thomas
Jefferson's favorite apple

The varying abundant production reminds all of us here at MuRefuge that balance is NOT static but rather a dynamic process of which Courtney was aware and suggested this higher state design for equanimity. To her this design more accurately described the ever tilting side to side as she was negotiating every day life then with conscious awareness choosing to rest in Center.  Ah-h-h-h the Higher State within; always present, available at any moment.

Equanimity
Higher State Enneagram stone
forType 4

Eckhart Tolle and Patrick McDonnell, the creator of MUTTS, have joined to produce a wonderful book:  GUARDIANS of BEING.  This book "celebrates and reminds us of not only the oneness of all life but also the wonder and joy to be found in the present moment, amid the beauty we sometimes forget to notice all around us."  

As each of us continue to live and celebrate each day to its fullest, may we

P.S.  Comments are welcome!  Please feel free to share your individual experience(s) of balance.

Sooner than Later

A very special BE-ing has come to live with us here at MuRefuge.

Her name is Shasta for the flower essence Shasta Daisy. I thought we would name her Daisy, Dwight suggested, "Shasta" so Shasta it is since that seems to suit her beautifully. She is estimated to be six months old and on Saturday weighed 31 pounds, which is about Rose's weight at that age.  Her exact breed mix is unknown but the educated guess is Golden Retriever/Spaniel mix.  A “mixed breed identification test” is on order so hopefully in a month or so her mix will be clearer.

Shasta’s Auntie T says "definitely Spaniel since Shasta looks just like my dog Tully. She was a Spaniel mix but only 20 pounds full grown."  As any of you who know Tanis would expect, she and Shasta hit it off big Sunday. She came to visit bearing a bag of gifts.  No doubt this visit was the first of many for these two!

In her short life, Shasta has been in four or more places ranging from Kern County, California to Utah. She found her way from the Marin Humane Society in Novato to MuRefuge.

We are all adjusting to one another.  AND it is just great to have a dog who is so ready to take walks plus loves to ride in the car. She is crate trained and eager to please. 

We are all signed up for a “companion dog” class which will begin later this month and continue for six weeks.  Very fortuitously the adoption counselor I worked closely with at the Marin Humane Society lives in Sebastopol and will be teaching this particular class at the Santa Rosa Humane Society.  

Dwight and I just completed reading Deborah Crombie’s book, No Mark Upon Her, recommended by my dear friend, Shannon. This particular book of Crombie's contains a plethora of information about dogs and their incredible ability to scent.  Both of us were intrigued with the power of the dog nose as well as the process of training dogs to utilized this ablity.  Along comes Shasta who is recommended for “scent training” so we will partake of just such classes later.

Our Rose, an incredible lightness of BEing

Rose                          

November 01, 2008 to July 20, 2012

“Some people (BEings), sweet and attractive,

and strong and healthy, happen to die young.

They are masters in disguise

teaching us about impermanence.”

Dali Lama

Rose joyfully embraced every 

moment of her life, right up to

the very last moment when she released

her will to join the Eternal Tao.

We have been blessed to

participate in her brief yet wonderful 

journey through this life.

We found each other on a bright, warm sunny day in late November, 2008, and brought Rose to MuRefuge midDecember in time for Dwight’s 70th birthday celebration.  People often ask if we “rescued” her? Rose says, “I was not rescued.  We found each other to form a pack of three.” And what a fierce protector of her pack! Yet she was more than willing to expand her pack . . . Auntie T, Auntie Fang, Dwight’s daughters and their husbands, Vickie, 

Meditating weeding

Coco and her grandparents, Splash and his foster parents, even a cat lover, Petra, who says she has never been greeted with such exuberance as Rose.  Her exceptionally joyous spirit was evident to anyone in her presence.  She was not one to hold a grudge nor want any pity.  "No way Jose" was her response.

In Spring, 2011, Rose became gimpy and within several months an osteosarcoma was diagnosed; subsequently her left rear leg was amputated.  Moments after the surgery she was off the operating table and ready to come home.  She found the allopathic drugs blocked her ability to find her own healing rhythm.  Rose had a extraordinarily gifted inner species communicator, Sandy Lagno, who could relay her process which was, I found, validating of my intuitions.  Her miraculous recovery astonished everyone who came in contact with her.

Rose running along the West side of Mono Lake
November, 2011

Around the Chinese New Year Rose showed subtle signs all was not okay in her hind quarters.  She went into shock as though she had just had her leg amputated and was surprised she had only three legs.  She withdrew and her Work in the physical form began in earnest.  Her process of coming out of the wild into a human world was demonstrated by growling and bearing her teeth, snapping and biting if Dwight or I did not back off.  In the wild when an animal is sick or injured, the pack drives the animal out or kills it outright.  Rose was fighting for her place in her pack and did not want to be driven out.  The dance between this wildness and her gentle, soft BEing continued right up to when she left her body.  She would growl and snap then want to kiss us.

In June it became evident that she had a tumor in her right leg which, of course,

the humans, i.e. veterinarians, wanted to x-ray.  When we checked in to get Rose’s permission, she asked, “Do humans need the information?”  No x-rays were done, but an aspirant was done revealing abnormal cells.  Rose looked at me, “Just take me home!”

Feeling the undulating waves of Mother earth

The wild/domesticated dance continued.  Rose ate less and less, but drank water right up to her death.  Of course, we checked in with her about euthanasia.  Like any Seven (an Enneagram designation), she wanted to keep it as an option, initially in the middle of the table and as time passed she pushed it further and further back, until a week or so before she joined the Eternal Tao she said, “I don’t want to be pushed out.”

Keeping the doorway open for Rose

Honoring Rose and her process was my focus from the outset.  Rose was my last Siberian Husky, Sun, reincarnated.  I had Sun euthanized before she was ready.  She, her spirit, hung around for a year.

Each animal, sentient BEing, is unique with her own path for her journey.  Allowing is my lesson and the dying rhythm of Star and Rose has brought to the fore for me that BEing in the present for the letting go of will and flowing with “the bigger movement,” aka Tao, takes an enormous amount of energy.  And participating in both of their dying rhythms, I am recovering from our culture's tightly held beliefs about pain and suffering.  Rose liked to use the word "discomfort" because that word is not so charged as "pain."  She found her discomfort "grounding" and a tool for completing her Work.  Suffering was not even on her radar, so to speak.  

During Star's last months with
us I saw this in Inqiring Minds
and realized Star was living
exactly like this equation . . .
no resistance to her life
process thus no suffering.

Dwight found this in a later issue of Inquiring Mind
speaking to him about pain and suffering.

Momentous Events

Myself and Shannon with Rose
getting her "Spa treatment" for her sciatica discomfort

My dear friend, Shannon Dirksen, and I have been planning get togethers for so many years.  Each time our gathering is postponed due to illness or something that comes up in one or the other of our lives to thwart our plans.  This time however our time together came off without a hitch.  Shannon arrived from her research presentation in Portland, Oregon to the Sonoma County Airport and departed from the same.  We had such a grand time together!

The two female blue Indian Runners are growing up.  

Babies in their veggie garden enclosure where bird netting over the top of the

chicken wire prevents raptors from enjoying them for a snack.

Getting to and from the veggie garden. 

Blue Indian Runner ducklings in their enclosure
in the garage where they are kept warm with
a heat lamp.  Organic food and fresh water
are provided with daily fresh wood chips.

Earlier this week they turned 4 weeks old.  We moved them from their box in the garage and enclosure in the veggie garden to the duck house and and enclosure in front of its upright swinging door.  

The ducklings' enclosure now allows them to go into and out of the duck house during the day, that is when there
is not a large alligator lizard nestled into the wood chips beneath the heat lamp scaring them away.

Four weeks old and enjoying the sunshine, warm weather, bugs, and fresh
greens, like baby borage plants.  They will remain in this enclosure
until they have their feathers in about four more weeks.

The big ducks were none too happy with the sharing their house.  It took both Dwight and I to get them to go into the duck house for the first night; each ensuing night is getting a bit easier.  Quaking Grass flower essence is assisting the merging of the babies and big ducks.


Rose is healing.  AND we all 

Rose and Babies

Let us be the always hopeful 

Gardeners of the spirit

Who know that without darkness

Nothing comes to birth

As without light

Nothing flowers.  

May Sarton, The Invocation to Kali

Rose, as most of you know, had her left rear leg amputated last midJune to remove the osteosarcoma, a highly malignant and painful tumor, growing in her knee.  She was a very determined Rose, ambulating soon after the operation so she could come home.  To all who have seen her the general comment is “she’s amazing” and her recovery seemed seamless.  Well, as any of you who have had physical challenges and recovered fully know, one needs to inhabit one’s body and deal with the challenge.  Rose is only now facing the realization “I have only three legs.”  She is in a Dark Place and Working so she can once again be in the “Fun (aka Bright) Place.” 

Rose deep inside herself

Before coming into physical form, aka body, Rose agreed to merge “wildness” and “domesticated”.  This Work seems to be all tangled with BEing in a body with only 3 legs.  And however simple this statement seems, the ramification are huge for Rose who if she was in the wild with a pack of wolves would be either driven out of the pack or killed.  Now that she lives with Dwight and me as a seemingly domesticated dog she had her leg amputated to remove the cancer AND now with sciatica in her remaining rear leg she is depended on us to get her into the house. She wags her tail when we approach her and then bares her teeth and growls every bit as ferociously as an animal in the wild.  To me this represents Rose’s internal conflict.

When Rose came to live with us we agreed to allow her to do her Work and to support her process.  What a learning experience, on many levels!  On the spiritual level for me, watching Rose brings evolution alive.  Humans began as single cells evolving to become a complex two legged.  When I went to church as a child, the literal interpretation of the biblical story “God created Heaven and Earth in six days and on the seventh rested” seemed, well, farfetched.  Evolution over millions of years makes way more sense to me.  And now watching Rose grapple with her four legged wildness in a domesticated setting brings me to the realization that two legged human spirits evolve from four leggeds who have completed their soul work at that level of evolution.  Then to take this further, perhaps human spirits who are just making the transition (with the global population explosion each spirit comes from some previous BEing does it not?) exhibit more aggressive behavior that is seen in wild animals.  "No wonder we have so much global unrest!" is what surfaces in my mind.

Rose Working using Mother Earth's abundant energy

While Rose is Working she is providing me with the fodder for my own spiritual evolution and for that I thank her.

On a lighter note, we have two new babies, female Blue Indian Runners.  To learn more about Indian Runners you can check out their history in the link below:

http://www.metzerfarms.com/BlueRunnerDucks.cfm?Breed=Blue%20Runner&BirdType=Duck&ID=BLUR&CustID=236102

Since we wanted only two to add to our small flock of female Indian Runner ducks, we had ours transported along with the 300 Pekin ducks Salmon Creek Ranch ordered from Metzer Farms.  Chez Panisse in Berkeley is now serving this local organic ranch’s Pekin ducks on their menu.

http://www.salmoncreekranch.com/

First out of doors experience at three days old

"Isn't this world amazing and BIG?"

A fellow California native gardner, Victoria Wikle is spearheading Riverkeeper Park which you check out with the link below:

http://www.russianriverkeeper.org/what-we-do/habitats/riverkeeper-park.php

And last but not least, do you know that the scientific research is showing Monsanto’s Roundup to be more toxic to the environment that DDT which decimated the raptor population?  I am very sad when I walk or drive by vast swaths of ground sprayed with Roundup!  To discharge this emotion I remind myself to