Category Archives: My Enchanted Life

Hawk Chronicles: Unfettered Flight

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Yesterday, I looked outside and heard an unfamiliar sound so I went to investigate.

What I had heard was the struggle of a Red-tailed hawk’s wings caught in some fruit tree netting I had sort of bunched up and left on the ground.

As I quietly creeped closer, I could see the hawk was flapping her wings and laboring to break free. I was petrified that she would injure herself.

I was able to crouch down and hold open the section of netting that was attached to her wing and she freed herself.

I have NEVER been that close to a hawk before, or any predator, and I really really wanted to pet her, but she gave me an angry look and flew away. Her beak and talons are absolutely enormous.

She didn’t look very happy and I can’t blame her. Fruit tree netting is notoriously dangerous for just that reason; birds become entangled and often injured in their attempts to extricate themselves, or perish. I immediately removed the netting and put it where no creature would find it.

I’m guessing that this hawk was trying to capture an early rodent dinner which makes me happy, but I’m sad that she got caught up in the netting and didn’t finish the hunt.

When a hawk gets caught in a fruit tree net and you help it escape, it carries meaning on two levels: a highly significant spiritual or symbolic message.

Here is what this powerful encounter means:

Spiritual and Symbolic Meaning

In many cultures and spiritual traditions, hawks are seen as messengers from the divine, representing vision, perspective, and guardianship.

  • Breaking Free from a Trap: The netting represents an invisible or sudden restriction in your own life—such as an unhealthy routine, a toxic mindset, or a limiting belief. Seeing the hawk break free with your help is a sign that you are capable of overcoming current obstacles and reclaiming your freedom.
  • An Awakening of Perspective: Hawks have incredible vision. This encounter suggests you need to step back and look at the “big picture” of a situation rather than getting bogged down in minor details.
  • An Act of Interconnectedness: By stepping in to save a powerful predator, you have aligned yourself with nature. Spiritually, this acts as a karmic boost, symbolizing that you have the power, compassion, and courage to be a protector and a force for good.

Still, it was my fault and I told her how sorry I was for being careless with the netting. However, if more hawks and owls and coyotes and bobcats came to visit, I wouldn’t be inundated with rats that eat all my apples and plums, and I wouldn’t have to protect the trees from being ravaged.

I hope she returns because there are lots of rodents and rabbits and squirrels around here. Yum.

(The featured photo was taken on a different day and I’m not sure it’s the same hawk.)

Halloween Candy Confessions

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Because of my inability to stop eating chocolate once I start, several years ago I came up with what I thought was a brilliant solution: I’d only buy Halloween candy that I didn’t like.

That meant I bought Nerds, Sour Patch, Skittles, and the grossest stuff EVER, Airheads. I don’t like anything that’s non-choc, so I felt no uncontrollable cravings.

I failed myself this year because in addition to some of those, I bought mini M&Ms and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. These aren’t even my favorites so I thought I wouldn’t be tempted so I hid them, hoping I wouldn’t remember where, but obviously I failed. I can’t stop, I have no impulse control, and now I have a headache.

With a rain event forecasted on Halloween, I doubt we’re even going to have very many trick or treaters, so I’m at my wit’s end about what to do with any leftover candy.

I’ll be haunted by nightmares of individual snack size portions of yummyyummy chocolate.

Do you have any suggestions that might help me? Before you reply, don’t suggest the freezer. I tried that a few years ago, but that didn’t restrict me for very long.

Do you have a favorite Halloween candy? Do you have willpower? Help!

Obsession: Nate the Hoof Guy

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I know a lot is happening in our country and cosmically with a full moon and many planets in retrograde, but I have entered a world that I never before knew existed.

I’m talking about Nate the Hoof Guy. I have no knowledge of cows or horses or hooves, but somehow stumbled across his YouTube channel and I’m OBSESSED. I wasn’t even aware that their feet looked like this, did you?

It make no sense that I watch vid after vid of Nate grinding, scraping, cutting cow feet/hooves using a variety of other healing modalities. I’ve only seen a handful of cows in my entire life, and I don’t eat any of their flesh or secretions, but I’m absolutely fascinated.

Nate the Hoof Guy (Nathan Ranallo) is a bovine podiatrist and professional cattle hoof trimmer based in west-central Wisconsin. He typically trims about 45 to 50 cows a day, working across multiple local farms.

Here’s what he does:
Hoof Trimming: He travels to dairy farms to perform routine and therapeutic hoof care for cows living on concrete housing, where natural hoof-wearing does not happen.
Pain Relief & Maintenance: He trims overgrown hooves, corrects angles and toe lengths, treats and cures lameness, removes lesions, and applies supportive rubber blocks and wraps to injured claws.
Content Creator: Since 2020, he has filmed and posted educational videos of his work on platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok (accumulating millions of followers), using his platform to bridge the knowledge gap between modern agriculture and the public.

Friday Vibe

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I’m a simple girl, but still partially feral…

Have a great weekend!

Feral Girl

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I absolutely LOVE this!

Since I now refer to the grandkids as “The Ferals”, I need to join the club, too. It’s cool to be feral!

We were fooled again. Tropical Storm Rachel brought much needed rain, a bit less than two inches, but it wasn’t nearly the catastrophe that was predicted, which is great, but I feel slightly let down.

Curated from The Plantriarchy: “For humans growing wild — Feral Aesthetic,”

The Science of Gratitude

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Counting our blessings and creating a list of things to be thankful for has a real foundation in science and might even change the way our brains work, according to a brain-scanning study in NeuroImage.

It brings us a little closer to understanding why these exercises have these effects. The results suggest that even months after a simple, short gratitude writing task, people’s brains are still wired to feel extra thankful.

The implication is that gratitude tasks work, at least in part, because they have a self-perpetuating nature: The more you practice gratitude, the more attuned you are to it and the more you can enjoy its psychological benefits.

Feeling grateful is very good for you.

Time and again, studies have shown that performing simple gratitude exercises, like keeping a gratitude diary or writing letters of thanks, can bring a range of benefits, such as feelings of increased well-being and reduced depression, that often lingers well after the exercises are finished.

Changing our neural pathways of any old tapes we run of self loathing and lack of self worth and depression with replacement thoughts of being valuable, of deserving love and respect aren’t new ideas but they’re new to ME.

I’m grateful to all of you who read and follow my blog.

What are YOU grateful for today?

bulgariastories.com/2015/11/2612/ for JFK image

Strange and Painful Days

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This is my legacy: broken bones, shingles, split-open legs, crazy fevers, and now I have a new one to add to the list: MRSA or staph infection in my finger.

I’m not exactly sure how I cut my finger or how it got infected, which is strange since I have high standards of hygiene, so I guess I’ll never know.

It’s already morphed into cellulitis, and while I don’t have the telltale red streaks of blood poisoning traveling up my arm YET, it’s SERIOUS.

AND EXTREMELY PAINFUL.

My finger is swollen to twice its normal size and is filled with really disgusting purulence and suppuration (look it up).

At first I followed all of the home treatment methods: soak in warm epsom salts, elevate to relieve the throbbing discomfort, and bandage with over-the-counter topical antibiotics, but at some point, I realized this wasn’t helping and I needed a medical professional, so I went to urgent care.

The doc told me I got there before I needed IV antibiotics and before it damaged the tendons in my finger, which is definitely where it was headed.

Cellulitis in a finger is a serious bacterial infection that can rapidly worsen and damage the tight compartments of the hand, requiring prompt medical treatment with antibiotics.

Why Finger Cellulitis is Dangerous:

  • Fast Spreading: The hand and fingers contain tight spaces. Infections can spread quickly through these areas compared to looser tissue on other parts of the body.
  • Permanent Damage Risk: Severe or untreated infections can harm tendons, nerves, and joints, which may permanently affect finger movement and hand function.
  • Deep Tissue and Systemic Spread: The bacteria can move up the hand and arm, or enter the bloodstream, potentially leading to deep bone infections (osteomyelitis) or life-threatening sepsis.

Now I’m taking a hefty dose of Keflex for the bacterial infection, along with Mupirocin ointment directly on the open wound which is now repulsively draining.

Oral antibiotics and I do not agree with each other, but I’m willing to overlook the headaches and digestive issues because I don’t want to lose a finger or a hand, or have the infection travel to my heart or brain. I need all of my brain cells; I don’t have many to spare.

I have another appointment with the doc tomorrow to see if it’s improved and whether or not it’ll need to be excised and drained. ICK.

Weather update: Still hot, but there’s a bit of cloud cover. and that helps.

PS What’s up with WordPress tags? I’m not sure I like the changes, do you?

Every Breath I Take

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“Every breath we take, every step we make, can be filled with peace, joy, and serenity”.
Thich Nhat Hanh

Photo by Enchanted Seashells

A Bleak Start To Autumn

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I’m sick again. After my nightmarish bout with shingles, it seems as if I’m now susceptible to every virus that floats through the air.

This time it’s a bad, terrible, no good common variety cold; a rhinovirus. I think it’s called that because I’m blowing my nose so much, it’s as swollen as a rhino. Or something like that.

Anyway, I’m miserable. If my immune system isn’t as robust as it used to be, I can look forward to a winter of feeling like crap, one virus after another attacking my body, and it’s no fun at all.

It’s going to be in the 90s later this week, gorgeous fall weather for SoCal, and I’m stuck inside with a runny nose, headache, and sore throat. AGAIN. I’m drinking gallons of ginger tea and I’m wrapped up in a blanket.

I hope your week is going better than mine is, that’s for sure.

DIY Epsom Salt Potion

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Photo by Enchanted Seashells

I love to make my own potions and lotions, so I figured I’d give this recipe a try, especially since it seems really easy.

A DIY Epsom salt lotion can be made by dissolving Epsom salts in warm water and then mixing it with a moisturizer lotion. The mixture can be used as a body scrub or lotion.

Epsom salt is a naturally occurring mineral compound made of magnesium, sulfur, and oxygen, known scientifically as magnesium sulfate.

Potential benefits include muscle relaxation, skin exfoliation, and moisturizing. For years, my doc has prescribed magnesium to take, but I’ve yet to try it externally, except for the rare bath or foot soak.

Here’s a basic recipe:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Epsom salts (I used lavender infused salts.)
3/4 cup warm water
2 cups of your preferred moisturizer lotion, I used an Olay body lotion, nothing too fancy.
Optional: Essential oils for fragrance (like lavender).

Instructions:

  1. Dissolve the Epsom salts in warm water, stirring until fully dissolved. 
  2. Combine the Epsom salt solution with the lotion, mixing thoroughly.
  3. Add any desired essential oils for fragrance. 
  4. Store in a clean, airtight container. 
  5. Note: If using this as a scrub, be gentle to avoid irritation.

It’s completely simple, straightforward, and uncomplicated, sort of how I view myself, and that made me feel good.