“Resilience is a choice. It’s choosing to rise above your circumstances, no matter how difficult, and become the person you’re meant to be.”
-David Goggins
The last couple of weeks weren’t all 100% terrible like last week suggested (My Year So Far: Lessons in Resilience, Reflection, and Rationality).
Now that we got the bad news uglies out of the way I get to share with you the FUN stuff that has happened. These are the things keeping me going, and it’s nice to put down the black cloud and be able to smile in the middle of it all.
I have recently been scouring the Icelandic dog Facebook groups and comment on puppy pictures. Very casually considering a youngster for our home but not ready to pull the trigger. We once wanted to breed Bardi but that didn’t end up happening (and probably won’t at this point). A friend on Facebook noticed my activity and reached out to me privately. Soon after, she got me in touch with a wonderful breeder looking for a home for her pup, Kolur. She didn’t like the other families interested in him, and she knows Bardi and his breeder; so she knew he has a charmed farm dog life.
I met the breeder at a family’s house that adopted from her several years ago. We all met while Kolur played with his uncle. The home happened to be about halfway. Before long I was on my way back with a beautiful little male tri-color Icelandic sheepdog pup. Friends, I want to introduce you to Kolur, aka “Kol.”
Kol is currently about ten months old. I very much wanted another boy and another tricolor. He looks like a smaller twin to Bardi.
Speaking of Bardi, he’s doing very well and makes an incredible older brother. He is so tolerant of Kol’s high energy and even plays with him quite a lot. When Bardi is chewing a toy he growls if Kol comes to check it out but it ends up turning into a game. They lick each other and move on. He often will go to Kol with a toy and mock him with it.
Kol took about 3 weeks to get truly potty trained but to be fair there was A LOT happening at the time. Zac was traveling. Then I was traveling. Once we were on a schedule and maintained a stable routine he quickly caught on.
While Zac was traveling I forgot to grab eggs from the hens for a few days and our girls were very broody. I decided to let them sit on the eggs…I marked four of them to remind myself not to take those ones.
Three weeks later we had four beautiful babies. I was worried how the hens (and especially the roosters) would take to the youngsters and surprisingly they all have been REMARKABLE. The babies are growing up fast and the mothers are extraordinary.
On a slightly LESS fun note, we decided enough was enough with having two roosters. We never wanted ONE to begin with but two became dangerous. They attacked me daily, crowed 24/7, and it became dangerous for the hens. The boys were overbreeding them and the girls were really banged up. I tried to rehome Stu, the smaller of the two boys, and the most aggressive. No takers.
I luckily have a friend who was willing to take him with his batch of meat birds. He may be tough but now Stu will BECOME a stew. Even though he was a jerk, he was never abused, had a great life, and he won’t be wasted.
I know this isn’t totally happy, I felt bad ending his life but if it helps, our hens are now thriving. Their feathers are growing back. The hens are already more at peace. Wayne, our other rooster has been calmer. He still crows a lot but he’s less aggressive with us (less with Zac but still hates me) and only crows if we disturb him.
Now onto even MORE fun stuff.
Almost every month we get to have Andrea Waldo visit for a lesson day. I sadly wasn’t able to participate since Stanley had his health issues. Instead, I used the day as an opportunity to capture my friends during their lessons. Practice for me, auditing, and getting to watch people I care about.
I don’t always have time to stop and watch others ride. I should do it more often because the pure joy I had watching everyone’s lessons had me beaming. I felt a bubble of pride watching some pairs take their first oxers, first verticals. To see them grow and to capture the happiness was more than enough for me that day.
I really do my best to compartmentalize my bad experiences in order to fully appreciate the good around me. It’s a great escape to find your tribe and your moments of joy.
“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”
– Anne Lamott
The Green Horseman 
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