Life, Death & CAUAC, June 2012

One of the female turkeys, carrying on
today as if nothing was amiss

We are -- or were kind of sad today -- well at least Kristine felt a bit sad. The Cats.... naaaw. Nature the great teacher. I’ve been sad on one level and on another total detachment is required, because what can I do? Or not do?


SO that Maha.....


It’s a lot of fun but not that easy living with a buncha animals in the wild country.  They do what they do.  My part in it is that I make conditions nice for them to come around.  In addition to the land already being very nice and accomodating to a wide variety of wild presences.

Turkeys in the backyard,
heading over to the food garden
where I was watering

This spring there’s been a wonderful flock of 3 female turkeys and maybe a dozen little ones.  They’ve been hanging around the front hillside and increasingly closer to my house as time has gone by.  We talk to each other.  I call to them if I see them on the hillside feeding in the mornings.  Lately they were in the back yard -- quite near the food garden.  All the watering I do plus numerous little bowls around are of course an added attraction.  And I’m sure those little ones would just love to check out the succulent brassicas ...

Stalkers.  They are masters at it.

They recently started flying.  The other day some naughty cats tried to stalk the flock as they were right in front of the house.  I was relieved to see all of them take to the trees, easily out of reach of the cats. It occurred to me that they’re hanging around closer because the little ones CAN now fly.  My felines would have made short work of them if they had come in contact at an earlier stage. 


So the turkeys... they haven’t been around for a few days.  I was wondering about them.  But Maha has, I was jolted out of sleep by a single ARRRRGhfff in the night recently.  Just one of those lil ‘Hi I’m Here’ greetings.  I guess that means ‘Hi, I’m just passing thru and somewhat busy with hunting, so SHHHHHH!!!” 


                         as opposed to “AAAARRGGHHFF 


                                                  AAAARRRRGGGHHF 

                        AAAARRRGGGFFF”


                                              in the night, coming over the hillside

Lion print in the dust

“Hi I’m HERE!!!  Anyone want to go hunting over at M24?   
          Hi Krissy Lou!!!”


He left me a scrape the other night too, where I had been parking the car in the shade......

And Lo!! There they were,
right by the car later today!

Cars.  Dang ‘em.  I can do nothing with them in breakdown mode except grovel to my mechanic.  Which I had to do last Sunday morning at 10:30 am because the thing died on the way up the road.  I had to park it in the truckyard of my neighbor’s place.  

Had to park in Jack Gray's
 industrial yard when I ran out of gas

Mike’s been working on the car trying to figure it out. Many things have been replaced.  He’s a good mechanic but doesn’t have the equipment to diagnose a modern car with all their computerized this and that.  Somebody else had to do it, at a distance and quite a nice price.  So the gas gauge is stuck on F, other gauges don’t work, there are lights that stay on, and it won’t start if I turn it off and try to turn it back on right away again unless it sits for a critical number of minutes, preferably in shade. 


He had to come over and rescue me last Sunday morning.  Smart guy, he came with a 5 gallon gas can.  What can I say, the gas gauge is stuck on “F”....  


Mind you, I’ve been dealing with the car suddenly not starting for about 3 weeks now and the fun doesn’t seem to stop.  Yesterday it didn’t start at the gas station and I had to wait.  Starts fine if it’s cold.  It kind of works.  

MilkThistle going to seed, OUCHY!!!Silybum marianum

So today I was out there in the field picking Milk Thistle heads for a new tea and/or tincture I want to make.  Anyone know a good way to get the seeds out of the heads and free of the lil fuzzies?   I’ve got a big cat fud bag full of the thorniest pickiest seed heads.  One time some years ago I picked some and tried whacking the bag with a piece of PVC pipe.  It must not have worked too well because I don’t recall that I got much out of the deal for how much work it was.  But determined to try again as someone requested a tea blend.  


As I’m out there picking and puttering around, I noticed kind of an odd spot on the next terrace down, all trampled and in disarray.  To my shock I found this:

I'm going "Now what is
THIS grisly thing?"

Close up of eaten carcass,
feathers were EVERYWHERE!

Which could ONLY be the work of the Maha.  




Gawd, feathers everywhere.  WEll I.... guess we know why the turkeys have not been around lately.  Hiding out......


The interesting thing is, as I continue to get jolted by these sudden derailments of my momentum, I seem to handle it with less systemic shock.  But everything together in the last weeks and especially few days has been one bumpy little ride --  including my checking account bombing out with spiraling overdraft fees, a naughty naughty letter from the Hwy Dept for parking in a handicapped spot, and what I hope is one last nasty letter from a bill collector who will be unsuccessful at getting me to pay for an idiot phone scam I am not responsible for.  How’s that for a couple days worth of electroshock therapy?  


And on another level I understand, it is what it is.  This is what Cauac is about, getting jolted into the Unknown via 3d breaking down in your face.   I can’t respond by crying that it’s happening, it’s way more expedient to just accept ‘okay, here’s the crucible again’.   It also helps to know everyone is going through some version of upset with all these amazing things happening on this Earth.

And then there was this odd bunch of ballons
found nearby, kind of surreal

Check it out, not far from where the turkey became Midsummer Night’s Dinner, I discovered a handful of ballons on a string in the field -- how they didn’t all get popped by the milk thistle is a total wonder.  In earth/sky colors of white, green and blue.  It was like a gift from the Sylphs.  They look great in the yard.

They look like they belong in the yard,
not the field full of thistles

 And maybe the Maha eating the turkey was also a gifting.  Mom turkey offered herself as food for the Maha in the dance of life and death, her blood spilled on the land as an offering to the Earth Mother.   It’s just shocking to see the ...  aftermath of that.  I loved their presence on the hillside in the mornings and the sweet sounds they made.   Of course I love the Maha too, madly.  Fiercely.  What can I say, it’s my feline star genes that resonate so strongly with the cat kingdom.  


I will be so happy though when Nature is not in an energy dynamic where they have to eat each other to survive.


Today I also got up and discovered I didn’t have water pressure.  That always sends me a little whacky, as the ancient watering system here already has monstrous blackberries and several trees obviously feeding off a leak somewhere, no doubt seriously under the whole works, including the dilapitating barn.  They basically eclipse the barn from view in the summer.  


And then I went WHEW!!, it’s because there’s no electric power -- which is NOT my deal, that’s PG & E.  It just means I have no water, power, or refridgeration, and will have to go INto the dilapitating barn to reset the pressure tank when it comes back on.  Life in the wild country.  Never a dull moment, that is if you like plants, animals and wild nature.  I’m not too interested in the Civilization of Yuckdom too much.    Good thing, as a great portion of it is surely Babylon Goin Down.  I cast my lot with the Architects of the New Earth, wild animals, milk thistles and all.

And they sniffed...

"Hi I'm Here", a mere 30
 paces from my upper garden

And then I had to just marvel at the wonder of it all, most especially Nature.   After writing the above I went off in search of maybe a few intrepid strawberries to have with breakfast, and on the way down the lane I discovered not 1 but 2 fresh Maha droppings from probably last night. 

 "Hi I’m Here"   

Signed, Kristine Lavender Love. 

"Hi I'm Here"

And they SNIFFED....
That's my shed down there

No sooner had I come out with a bowl of quinoa in hand did I see another most miraculous site:  There, right next to my car -- which was right near the front watering bowls -- were the 3 mom turkeys with all their lil ones, hanging around as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.  Of course the naughty cats had to get in on the action.....  

Always a good idea to avoid the felines if you're a bird

I was so happy to see them!  And still sorry for the death of the other mysterious Sacrificial Turkey, but really, who am I to say, they all know their roles with each other better than I do.   

Amon Ra cools his toes in the bird bath

And I have to say I’m ....  glad it was the turkey rather than one of the cats.  Oh it’s a feline’s life of Paradise over here.

Newly planted bed in front of the Resource Ctr. 

That’s the report at the end of June -- Mimosa Blossom Time -- 2012. I am very busy with gardens, including a new little project in front of the community center in Mtn. Ranch where I work one afternoon a week.  




Also with 2 hatha yoga classes -- soon to be one if people don’t want to come -- so hey where are all you folks who said you wanted a Monday Night class in the RRFlat gym at the school?  Bring yer mat.

Mimosa trees just starting to bloom

As we ride the bumpy waves of change in to the harbors of the New Time,  I wish you all Balance.....!!! and Blessed Be! 
     from

      Kristine Lavender Love

6-5-2012 Maha's Venus Transit

The current preferred territorial marking spot.
That's my garden shed in the background.

Ah the love droppings of my lion.  “Hi I’m Here!”


He probably traces a pentagram as he pads around his route.  Well it’s the much heralded Venus Transit and Strawberry Moon lunar eclipse.  I remember the day of that last Venus transit in June of 2004 though it seems like a long time ago.  I was working in the garden, conscious of it happening, and that sometime in a few years there would be another “bookend” to complete the cycle, in the much-awaited year of 2012.  WELL WE'RE HERE.   Back then 2012 seemed a long ways off both in time and vibration to me.  Now I know why, it has been one intense uphill climb in the last 8 years for me.


2004 was before Maha came into my world so noticably.  Before I had the medicinal herb garden.  I was still growing produce for a living and selling at markets.  My 2 apprentices of 4-5 years were just leaving.  I’ve been on this ranch alone now since late 2004, almost the entire duration of the 8 year Venus cycle.  Maha has been a conscious fixture in my world since 2006.

Car Problems, YUCK!!

And then there is eclipse.  I must say I don’t particularly like these eclipses.  They can certainly stir things up.  This pair isn’t even impacting anything too much in my natal chart.  Ah well, but I’m apparently not immune.  Today my car suddenly decided to not start while in town.  Thankfully I was only 4 miles from home instead of the 50 I was maybe intending to drive.  I came out of the local grocery to a vehicle that turned over but seemed to not get any gas.  This went on for quite awhile as I tried to start it, with no luck.  Finally I went over to the nearby community center and made phone calls and sent emails to reroute my life around this latest disaster, including a call to my mechanic.  He said if I could get it running and bring it over, he could give me a ride home and keep the car to look at the next day.


As it turned out I did get it going.  HOW I don’t know..... Angelic Invocation no doubt.  I needed that car to go, at least up to my mechanic’s house.  No excuses.


Well so he brought me home and currently has my vehicle.  It’s my only car.  I’ve been in a state the rest of the day over it.  Unable to do much, I decided to take a little walk about the land and while doing so, noticed an inordinate amount of lion poop everywhere I happened to go.  Not all of it fresh, mind you.  It always tickles me a little that I seem to find it so readily.   Of course he leaves it where I will surely notice.  He doesn’t have to do that. 

Found at top of driveway,
added lavender "Hi I'm here!"

Found in orchard,
 1 of 2 piles

 

Found at pond, few days later

Found in pond area, just below a silly gate

So maybe 2 weeks ago I came across a wee pile of lion blessings right on the pathway going down to my lower garden.  Now it’s nearly 2 weeks old and has dried sufficiently so that one can see it’s made of hair fibers.  Deer hair....   Yeah, right on the lane I use to walk to my lower garden.  Maybe 50 paces to either my upper garden by the house -- which by the way is GORGEOUSNESS this year -- or 50 paces in the other direction to my lower garden of medicinal plants which is a wreck and only fit for wild animals to walk through.  

Most current offering on left, circled by rose petals.  All other petals to the right each have droppings left at different times in the last few weeks

And today on the same lane, in nearly the same spot, I came across another little scrape with some droppings in it.  Upon closer examination it proved to be MORE lion excrement on the path.  I was on my way down to the shed to get seeds when I spied not only it, but yet another lil offering as well... 

                                                            IN my shed!! 

IN my garden shed!!

Lion poop, now found in the shed.  What next.  It was a fresh one too.  So exciting!!   I had to dash up and fetch the camera and some lavender, for a picture and “Hi I’m here”. 


Yes I love to play our “Hi There” game.  I had the idea he was around last night.  Very late.  The near full moon was moving towards setting.  I heard a cat brawl out there in the night.  It always unnerves me a bit to hear that.  My babies -- of which there are 9 of the precious little darlings -- just LOVE to be out at night, as cats will do.  And being cats they sometimes act up and have scuffles.  Maybe it was my extra stray tomcat doing that, I don’t know, but last night I sat bolt upright in bed at the sound of feline shrieking coming from the lower garden.  It wasn’t Maha calling, he’s been very quiet of late, for how around he’s obviously been.  I do fret for my little ones roaming about out there, but it seems they’ve maybe worked something out, all of them.....?  I’m hoping Maha now understands that these little cats aren’t prey.  He must see them.  They must see him.  One of them loves to hang out in the shed.  It was her -- my mom cat -- I heard shrieking last night.

Nubia -- "Boobs" -- likes to
hang out in the shed

Well so he is very around.  I took a little jaunt through the orchard today too, on animal pathways.  The grass and stickers are more than knee high so it’s quite unpleasant walking through there, and at times I’ve come across snakes in the grass, which is not a good surprise.  Today I found a little dead one, the work of a cat no doubt.  

Animal watering bowl, orchard

My orchard, it’s a wild, unkempt affair of 90-some mixed fruit trees on a slope.  When it produces it’s a total powerhouse but then requires way more attention than I want to give it, so I rather like it when it sleeps and there’s no fruit.  It means I won’t have to water it.  It’s way too much work for me to deal with.  But the animals all love to traipse through there.  I see the pathways they make.  I’ve put out a little drinking bowl at a dripping faucet for them, now that hot-and-dry season approaches.  

Pond bed all dry now

My pond is just drying up.  No water any more, only some slightly damp mud that will in a few days be hard, cracked and dry.  So last chance maybe to track the lion in the mud of the pond bed.  Much more challenging to pick up his footprints in the dust, but dang I sure seem to do it.

Tracking the wild lion in the dust

Oh we loves the feel of those paw prints...

There were some EXCELLENT footie prints lately.  Within the last 2 weeks I’ve seen lots of fresh ones. Frolicking around down there, he was.   I just love to step in his footprints and feel the contours of those powerful paws with my toes, and wonder sometimes if he feels me doing that.


That reminds me.  One night in the last 2 weeks I was having quiet time, getting in touch with gratitude for the many aspects of life I’m really thankful for.  Of course I always feel it for my little furry angels.  Then I spent some time attuning to and being grateful for the Maha.  That was a particularly strong attunement, and it seems that in response I had a dream about him later that night-- in which I came across fresh foot prints on a pathway I had just walked shortly before.  


He seems to have been very around in these last 2 weeks.  But quiet.  No ‘arrrrrghhhhhf, arrrrrrgghhhhfff’ in the night.  Just droppings on the lane and in the shed.  Many paw prints in the driveway and the pond bed.


So the car.  Well as the days around the eclipse and Venus transit have unfolded, it’s working out with the car.  My mechanic determined the problem is somehow heat related and we found it doesn’t start if the engine is warm.  Starts up cold just fine, so I’m having to park in shade, give it time to cool off in between startings, and avoid driving too far until the problem can be fixed.  

Having a good ol' time frolicking and romping around down there

At least I found out I can drive it a little.  What an annoyance.  I live out in the country and don’t have a telephone. Don’t ask “why not?”, it was a whole stupid thing that went down over the last year.  I operate with some severe limitations and disadvantages in certain ways.  I guess I didn’t want to make it too easy for myself, when doing the pre-birth life planning....  Thankfully I have really nice neighbors within walking distance, and my mechanic has his shop just a mile down the road, so I can walk there.

Felines working on the car problem

What I have found though, is that the ease or difficulty of my car ordeal has been completely determined by how I posture myself to ask for help, from a whole bunch of different people.  I have needed rides.  I have needed to use a phone.   I have needed to rearrange my garden clients, and even had to gracefully flake out on the first night of new yoga class that was to start.  Mind you, I was the teacher.  I had to be dependent on others to make arrangements for me.   Who likes to do these things?  But it has been really valuable to watch myself doing this, and seeing that when I posture myself just right people respond with grace and goodness, instead of closed doors.  Ah the power of Venus.  I get it!  It has actually been mostly smooth sailing, as of mid-way through the crisis.  And I am grateful!!

Evolving food garden area, 2012

But back to the animals -- the deer were nosing around last night near my freshly planted food garden area. I’m trying to foil them with tomatoes in cages encircling some newly seeded beds.  Last night I heard rustling right outside my bedroom window, only to look out and see Madam Deer nibbling the rose bush again, in the same place I caught her last time.  The window was open, and if my arm had been 3 feet longer, I could have tapped her on the snout.  When she looked up and saw me so close she bolted, thankfully not through my tomato crop.  Ooops, didn’t mean to scare the crap out of her!  

Oh, the magnificent Canterbury Bells!!

My gardens are beautiful, full of flowers, for weeks now.  The canterbury bells have opened, as well as many roses, holly hocks and foxgloves, while a profusion of things like daisies, coreopsis, irises, nigella and calendula are starting to wind down.  The lavender and passion flower vines are just beginning too.  I can honestly say I have flowers in all directions everywhere I look, from many places in the yard and garden.  


Paradise, sign me up as head gardener, I qualify.  What, you think Paradise is an accident?  Or just happens?  Well, not in my reality.  It wouldn’t be Paradise for me if I couldn’t have a hand in creating it somehow.  Even if it means weed whacking.


The other evening the cats and I took a little walk down the driveway and we could smell a most heavenly whiff of honeysuckle wafting through the air from the large bush on the gate.  It’s growing next to one of those ‘animal doorways’ in my idiot fence -- that spits them out right into my front yard.  I know they use it because of the prominent trail in the grass leading up to it.

That open spot between the disintegrating barn
and some old fencing and trees
 is where they jump right into my front yard

Lion tracks in the dust

I wondered if Maha notices the beautiful scent as he pads up and down the driveway at night.  It’s amazing how I can pick out one or 2 toe prints or a claw mark in the dust.  It’s like my eyes seem to go right to wherever his energy has been.  Lion Magnet....


Well, that’s the report from this corner of Feline Utopia.  May your lives be full of cat blessings and flowers during this amazingly intense time on Earth, and your vehicles run smoothly!  Much love!

Nanna Bella in the succulents

PS:  It was the fuel pump on the car...  

Passion Flower Vine