About

About Ash:

I’ve been a wanderer, a hermit, the crazy lady who lived with wolves, an herbalist, naturalist, organic farmer, shepherdess (yes, you can still be a shepherdess), successful online entrepreneur… a lover of canines, wild & domestic… a mother to two beautiful & talented daughters… a seeker of wisdom…

Now, I’m living with the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), Fibromyalgia (FMS), chronic Lyme Disease & other Tick-Borne Diseases, etc. that have been besieging my body for around 20 years, most seriously since January, 1999. It’s been quite an adjustment, from my active life as a modern day homesteader with huge gardens, herds of sheep, goats, ducks, and just about every farm animal you can imagine, including the horses I loved to ride.

I live in a cabin on a mountain in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, with my youngest daughter, Rhiannon and her husband, Ben. I’m blessed to be surrounded by Nature’s beauty 24/7/365, and doubly blessed to have Rhiannon and Ben here as my extra patient caregivers.

 

We share our home with our four-legged companions, our dogs, Akeelah & Kodi:

 

About Wolfdreams…

Blogs are for many things.

This blog started solely to keep my family up to date on all the many, varied, crazy, things happening with my health. So they could keep it all straight. So I could remember what thing happened when, as short term memory loss is an issue. It was a record of illness.

But that’s wrong. That’s not all a blog is, or should be.

A blog is a voice, the inner voice, telling, in this case, what is going on, inside and out.

Wolfdreams is not just about the physical crap I go through, but also about the Life I live, the inner life, and the outer life. The dreams, visions, hopes, and fears.

If you don’t like raw, open, honesty, you likely won’t like my blog. As an Aspie (person with Asperger’s Syndrome), I value truth, complete and total honesty, and doing what’s right no matter the cost, far more than others.

Blog posts have categories and tags, so you can explore what interests you:

I also have written quite a bit about figuring out I have Asperger’s Syndrome. There’s a static page for that, and it has links to both blog posts and other static pages.

You can always check out the tag cloud at the bottom, and you should see category lists either to the right or at the bottom.

Welcome!

25 thoughts on “About”

    1. I loved what you wrote Michelle – it’s good to find someone else who has the same bond with their pups as I do. A lot of people just don’t get it!
      (and your new pup is a real cutie, too!)
      Many blessing to you & wishes for peace –
      Ash

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  3. Just wanted to say hi to you today. I hope your day goes well and the weather is pretty up there.

    Also wanted you to know I added you as a link on my sidebar. Hope you don’t mind. I copied and pasted your words to describe your blog. If you want me to change it I will.

    Have a blessed day Wolfdreams!

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    1. I’m very honored you included me – thank you!
      I’ve been meaning to ask you if it was okay to list your blog on my sidebar – as much for me as anything as it makes it easier to read the blogs I want to read while on my phone.

      The weather here on the mountain has been gorgeous this week, and I’ve been trying to relish every second of it! That’s been made a bit difficult by the havoc raised in my body from the cortisone shot – I’ve had the most awful yeast (candida) flare in years, and though I’m slowly killing them off, they’re toxic as they die. I’ve been feeling very crappy 😦

      Hopefully over the next couple days I’ll start to pull out of this…

      Many hugs & blessings to you & your four-legged friends!

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      1. Wow, I came over to say hi, and wanted you to know I’ve read your latest post but I keep saying I’ve got to be awake enough to comment, and then saw our communications here in March 2011 through June! How cool my friend! That is two years!

        I hope you are doing okay as I write. I had a bit of thrush on my tongue last week. Gosh I get sick when that is happening. It is more a symptom you know. I haven’t felt well since. I have taken some probiotics, but I need a big dose.

        Anyway, I did want to say hi, send my love, and let you know I’m thinking of you guys.

        Love,
        Michelle.

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        1. Hi sweet Michelle!

          I’m sorry to hear about the thrush – chronic candida is also a problem I struggle with. I use periodic doses of diflucan to kill it off systemically, but you sure are right – makes me so sick when the yeast all dies off! You can also use oregano oil, either soft gels or the oil itself. It’s very powerful stuff!

          I’m finally recovering from my latest cold/virus, and hopefully we can get our facebook & fone communications back to normal soon! I’ve missed talking to you, and have been thinking about you a lot. I hope you and your son & your girl are doing as well as can be.

          Sending lots of LOVE and many *gentle hugs*
          Ash

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  4. Just saw that you had called by my Blog. I’m honoured to have your visit. By magic, I’m writing a post for tomorrow which, if you can call by then, will resonate with this extract from above, “A blog is a voice, the inner voice, telling, in this case, what is going on, inside and out. And in me, that means it should also be about my spiritual path. My spiritual life is as important to me as breathing. Without connection with the One, what is life? What is it for?”

    Blessings to you, Paul

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    1. I will definitely stop by to read it! I read through four or five of your posts and liked them a great deal, and love the name of your blog. Dogs have so much to teach us, don’t they?

      Many blessings to you, too,
      Ash

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  5. Merry Christmas Ash. I haven’t checked FB, so am not sure how you are. It’s been kind of challenging for me, esp., beginning last night, as if a wave of darkeness sort of fell upon me. I thought of you on your mountain top, and wished I could come visit. I nearly called. I hope you are okay.

    I nominated your blog for the Versatile blogger award. I know how hard it can be to accept one, as I did not ’til two months after first awarded. Just check my blog and you’ll see. I tried to link to you, but never know what I’m doing that way.

    With wishes of love and peace, your friend, Michelle. xoxoxo

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  6. Hello my sister! I am up late and almost falling asleep, but wanted to say thank you so much for your awesome FB message. I love what you said, and was moved to tell you here, since I just saw your link come up on my blog. Hoping you are warm and cozy as I write. Big hugs… xoxoxo

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    1. Many hugs, sweet one! Take care of yourself ~ for me.
      Hope to see you up here some day. Show you my mountain. And give you many many hugs!
      *gentle hugs*
      Many blessings~
      Ash

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  7. Dear Ash,
    I feel we are already connected by the beautiful Michelle (dogkisses) she speaks so highly of you. I read your other post but there wasn’t an area to leave a comment. I am continuing to read your blog, I love it. My puppy concerns are nothing compared to what you are going through though now. I wish you peace and happiness and good health. Your new friend, Laurie from hibernationnow

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    1. Hello, Laurie, and thank you for stopping by! I’m honored by your visit!
      You brought it to my attention that I *seriously* need to do some updating on some of these pages, like this one, and the Gallery, and probably Health, etc – pages I wrote when I started out but which have been in need of updating & fine tuning for some time now! So today I drowned my dreaded hormonal migrainal sorrows (which are less severe than before the Topamax, but the hormonal ones have always been the worst of the month) by adding a new post, and then updating this page some, with pictures of our new “pup,” who turned 2 in April.

      Believe it or not, but at 120#, +/-, Kodi is not fully mature! We found out after we adopted him that he’s 1/2 Tibetan Mastiff & 1/2 Rottie, and they don’t mature physically until they are 3 or even older. We got him at 15 months, and were really not sure we were going to be able to handle him, because of his entrenched bad behaviors & my fragile state. We were very relieved when he turned 2, the age of supposed “emotional maturity.”

      I hope I can help you turn Lexie around before it gets even worse, and am sorry about the white pants, but relieved to hear you were laughing about it! No matter how rotten Kodi has gotten, one thing we both agreed on was his incredible ability to make us laugh, sometimes until we cried!
      Wishing you wellness & Peace,

      *gentle hugs*
      Ash

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    1. You will love her all the more. Pit bulls have gotten a very bad rap, just like dobermans, rotties, and german shepherds. It’s not so much the breed that makes a mean dog as it is an owner who abuses the dog to make them mean.

      She – and you – will be fine 🙂

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  10. PS I’m not sure when you’ll read this b/c I haven’t been on FB and don’t know if you have power. You can delete this when you read it if you want to, but I wondered, how did you get the “Pick a Category” box in your sidebar. I have so many categories, as I didn’t really know what they were when I started my blog. I would like to show a few though, like yours. Thanks Ash.

    Love, Michelle.

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      1. Hi Ash, I’m familiar with widgets, but I wondered which widget. I know there is a category cloud or dropdown menu, but yours looks like you chose certain categories. I thought it was a “custom menu” widget. Nice to hear from you on here 😉
        xoxo (((hugs)))

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  12. Wow, I go & ignore my blog & both my beautiful sisters stop by to remind me of your Love & support – thank you!

    We are quite thoroughly iced in, the driveway impassable and likely to stay that way, a veritable ice hockey rink (albeit uphill to the road from the house), BUT we do have power, so we’re doing okay that-a-way!

    I am deep in my monthly hormonal migraine hell, plus recovering from just going & doing too much pre-holidays (mostly medical stuff, some shopping). Too many outings, too many days, leads to big CRASH.

    So I’m sorry I’ve been so very quiet of late! Hope you’ll both forgive me!
    Sending you wishes for a Happy New Year, but also, mostly for Healing,, Happiness, Peace of Heart, and much Love!
    And Michelle, my thoughts are with you & Tiny as he transitions. So very sorry, and here if you need me, migraine be damned!
    Hugs Laurie & Michelle!

    Ash

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  14. Hi Ash – I deleted my Facebook and sent you a message giving you my email address & cell number, but I am not sure if those messages remain on the other end after I delete my account…anyways, I wanted to keep in touch, so I will give you my email address here, should you be so inclined, I check it often!

    kr.day@hotmail.com

    Blessings!

    Kelly

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