Season’s Musing

Thursday, December 12, 2024

I’m nursing sore muscles after my first trip in years to the gym. My poor legs, hips, and shoulders were pushed to work a little harder for a couple of hours. I’ll feel them more today as the muscles move me around, generally nonstop, in my part-time department store job.

This morning’s thin blanket of snow is pretty. All that white has me imagining a Poinsettia on my picture window shelf in the foreground. Now, wishing for seasonal inspiration from a bright Poinsettia, I will bring one home after work.

I wanted to know more about the plant’s significance. I understand now that poinsettias are native to Mexico and have been cultivated there since Aztec times. Aztecs used the plant to decorate and to produce dyes and medicines.

In the 19th century, Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico, introduced poinsettias to the United States. He cultivated the plant in his South Carolina greenhouse and shared it with friends and colleagues.

Eventually, creative American growers saw innovative marketing possibilities. By employing the relatively new medium of television, they marketed poinsettias for background-coloring TV’s giant Christmas specials. Eventually, Americans saw the plant’s inherent beauty and associated poinsettias with Christmas, and now as beloved holiday decorations.

Dear Friends: “Random thoughts” don’t rise from nowhere. Diana

“Hello There!”

Wednesday, December 11, 2024

My iPhone has been upgraded with ChatGTP. Experts claim that its capabilities will make my cellphone more companionable. For example, AI can participate in long conversations with me and use a natural-sounding voice. AI has lots of potential, much that I’m not ready for. I use the technology and am satisfied; I’m willing simply to read its responses to my queries. Nonetheless, its presence on my iPhone might be a game-changer.

Another game-changing move occurred yesterday when I went to the gym and worked on developing an exercise routine to strengthen my legs, shoulders, and lower back. Two years have passed since I exercised in that gym, and it has lots of new equipment. Now, focusing on building muscle and cardio strength is easier.

For me, at this point, “easier” is an abstract. On my way home, I felt relaxed and proud of myself. I made a quick stop to search for a headset with Bluetooth capabilities. I found one; it’s now charged and ready for upcoming workout sessions.

Dear Friends: I’ll try lifting up my Western saddle on Christmas Day. Diana

Mad & Madder

Tuesday, December 10, 2024

The everlasting politics and battles in the Middle East have set the background for a very uneasy First Day of Hanukkah (on December 25) this year. I’ve been considering the chaos possible on continents far away. And now, in America too, after the cold-blooded murder, in broad daylight and on a crowded street, of a corporate executive.

The Middle East battles and general social divisiveness have made me decide not to continue wearing a visible Star of David. This year, too, I won’t publicly wear one of my “Happy Hanukkah” T-shirts.

The relatively quick capture of that competent, clever, elusive shooter might stop some would-be copycats. But the entire episode has opened dreadful possibilities that most of us wouldn’t have imagined.

Straight to here, too, the small Central Oregon city where I live, and now fear expressing some individualism.

Dear Friends: Ours is increasingly an unfunny “Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.” Diana

Dust Kicking

Monday, December 09, 2024

Yesterday, I became a card-carrying gym member. The renewal process, which took longer than I anticipated, prevented me from working out then, but tomorrow I will. It’s a day off from my part-time job; I am self-promising to drive to the gym and build muscle strength on my future days off.

Here’s why that’s happening: I was getting ready to ride my pony recently and discovered I couldn’t lift my Western saddle high enough to set it on her back. The last time I saddled my pony Western was a couple of years ago; that saddle then wasn’t too heavy for me.

Thinking about it, I realized a problem because of my part-time working schedule. It has slowed my horsey activities, which I dislike, and it’s also changing what muscles I regularly use.

That was my wake-up call; both those problems need fixing! The recognition and impact were immediate. I want to ride more and capably gear up my horses for outings. I have hurried to join a gym and will work out there regularly.

My goal of gaining strength will be achieved and apparent when, as in the past, I can saddle my pony unaided.

Dear Friends: Motivation is everything, watch my dust. Diana

Action!

Sunday, December 08, 2024

This is a day off from my part-time job. I intend to start exercising routinely. I will go to the gym today, reactivate my membership, and start on a strength-building program. I will continue to go to the gym and work out there on my future days off. It’s my best way to physically self-strengthen because of distractions at home that let me avoid working out.

Giving chunks of my days off for this goal is a huge commitment. The process will be slow but with worthwhile payoffs. They’ll be over time and incremental. But sometimes, ya’ just gotta do what ya’ gotta do, and I’ve reached that point.

Besides the motivation to be stronger physically, others start to surface as possible payoffs. I will speak more later about this. Right now, I must meet the first commitments by going, renewing, and working out–today.

Dear Friends: “Commit to writing, and then you’ll do it.” They say, and I’ll see. Diana

Hi, Mary!

Saturday, December 07, 2024

The other day, my mail brought a Christmas card with a So Cal return address but not the sender’s name. I chuckled over a handwritten note on the envelope: “Love that dog, Chase!”

I can’t guess how many people read my blogs because Google owns the writing platform and downloads blogs in response to internet queries about related topics. However, I know some readers in Southern California, where I’m from. I mentally played with possible note jotters and landed correctly on Mary Martini!

Mary and I used to work together at Kaiser Permanente. She’s one of the two best-organized people I’ve been lucky to work with, and she loves Chase!-my young dog; he’s strong, stubborn, exasperating, exhausting, and way too intelligent.

Okay, Mary, at the risk of repeating old stories, I’ll update everybody.

Since I last wrote about Chase, he’s escaped, and often again. Working almost constantly, I try to offset his diggings and keep him and his little companion, Mitzvah, from escaping. I continually drag large and heavy lava rocks uphill to my house, where they are lining the dog fence’s bottom, inside and outside. Strong and determined, Chase still sometimes finds vulnerable spots to dig out.

My standalone kennel has six-foot-high fencing and stands on a concrete base. Chase is a fantastic climber, so kenneling him doesn’t ensure his containment. I’ve (again!) worked on the fencing to prevent him from gaining footholds and to heighten his challenge. Now, escapes are on pause, but Chase keeps trying to defeat obstacles.

He wants to be with me, and I love him—he’s maybe the most intelligent dog I’ve known. But I worry about his safety, from vehicles and from becoming lost. I also worry about his responses if he’s loose and a stranger enters my property, for example, to deliver a package.

Taking him to a no-kill shelter and hoping he’ll find a better home is out of the question. First, because he’s so high-maintenance, and the shelters are overcrowded and begging for foster homes.

Mary, this beat goes on, and thanks for appreciating Chase. He will turn three years old in several months, the age that suggests a dog is mature. Regardless, this guy simply is who he is, and in somewhat of a miracle, he’s still here!

Dear Friends: My rounds of “Adventures with Chase” are continuous. Diana

Grumbles

Friday, December 06, 2024

In our hemisphere, the annual day of least daylight is the winter solstice, which occurs every December 21 or 22. This year, the 21st will bring our shortest daylight. I am already feeding my horses in darkness, around 4:30 p.m., and soon will in earlier darkness, around 4:00 p.m. We who must care for large animals feel stressed in these darkest days of the year.

Aside from having to work in too little light, December’s freezing cold also affects my fingers. Although gloved, my fingers can start feeling frozen and too painful to cooperate. There’s an infrared heater in my barn for thawing fingers, but rapid thawing pains, too.

I’m accustomed to wintertime discomforts, which helps me cope. I am wrapping my head around being in darkness with frozen fingers until the 21st. Then, darkness and freezing will continue, but daylight will increase gradually and noticeably.

January brings lighter days but might introduce very stressful weather. Last year, Central Oregon enjoyed relatively mild weather until the New Year, when everything changed dramatically and brought great cold, blasting winds, snow, and freezing temperatures. None of those eased until just before the Summer Solstice arrived.

Dear Friends: Today’s header image is the hoar frost at my barn. Diana

Old English “Hoar”

My Border Collie-X, Osix, in a recent outing

Thursday, December 05, 2024

Yesterday, Central Oregon was covered in hoarfrost. The beautiful and delicate ice crystals were on all surfaces, from grass, leaves, and trees to fence posts and wire fabric. This whole area looked magical. I took pictures without effectively capturing the delicate white gleaming on feathers, weeds, and knobs. Today is dawning and cold enough again for new ice-imaging opportunities.

I borrowed this image of a Canadian brush with hoarfrost from the internet.

Hoarfrost is delicate enough to coat spiderwebs, enhancing their intricacies. Here’s an example from the Science Photo Library.

Another, of hoarfrost covering trees, from the Science Photo Library.

My attachment to hoarfrost is deep because I lived for many years in Kansas City. That area hosted annual thick coatings of ice–on everything, everywhere. The freezing and lasting winter weather created gleaming structures, thickly coated roads, and shining trees.

Beauty was everywhere but treacherous underfoot or beneath a vehicle’s wheels. Oh, how I remember those days. This image, soon after an ice storm in Kansas City, was my “old winter world.”

Today, I am happier, seeing and enjoying hoarfrost! I understand that “hoar” comes from Old English, meaning “showing signs of old age,” referring to the frost’s white, hair-like appearance.

Dear Friends: Today, I will try again to capture images with bright sparkling. Diana

Dawkins-Struck

Wednesday, December 04, 2024

I am still roiled by America’s election results and the President-elect’s nominees for key leadership roles. I will become a turtle, withdrawing into my shell and focusing on the physically nearby. I will let the world turn as it may and hope for minimally noticeable impacts where I live, here in mountainous Central Oregon.

I’ve been taking more time to sit quietly and read books–a related topic because all are authored by Richard Dawkins. Dawkins is a prominent British evolutionary biologist and ethologist who’s made significant contributions to science. He has unique, learned, and outspoken views on the meaning of life.

I discovered Dawkins recently, for the first time, by following a newspaper suggestion and reading his latest book, The Genetic Book of the Dead (subtitled A Darwinian Reverie). Dawkins’ perspectives awed me. I obtained several of his previous books, finding his views consistent. His research and learning are built upon Darwin’s theories and provide logical and reasonable ways to comprehend the living world.

Reading Dawkins has me rethinking and reconsidering the meanings of reality and life. His work melds well with my lifetime of learning. Going forward (while inside my turtle shell and somewhat insulated from the larger political and social affairs), I will continue reading Dawkins and reworking how I might wish to view current and future events.

Another note on coffee beans: I’m enjoying some El Salvadorian coffee this morning.

Dear Friends: Dawkins is very woke and not everybody’s cup of tea. Diana

Sampling The World

Tuesday, December 03, 2024

I began this day by grinding coffee beans for a French Press. The Yeimini Coffee I ordered arrived as whole beans. I didn’t expect that, but I did grind to accommodate a French Press, which wants rough grinds. To me, the rougher grounds seemed easier to press.

The output was a surprise, weaker than I expected. I’m accustomed to strong-tasting coffee and like that, but regardless, this regional coffee is smooth and drinkable. To its credit, and as its bag suggests, I found that a cup without cream offers distinctive flavors and hints of flowers. I will learn to adjust bean strengths to my preference.

I discovered this coffee by searching online for a consensus of “best coffee” and found an answer—that from Yeimini (coffee’s historical birthplace). Today, while sipping and assessing this coffee, I couldn’t help but reflect on the internet and the potential of AI.

I’d never even dreamed of having a pound of coffee beans from the Middle East. Ordering one suggested my widening perspective. It’s because of continual access to online information in general and pointed learning from AI. Those available flows are similarly affecting many individuals. More widely, they are revolutionizing communications, connecting people across geographical boundaries, and fostering global communities.

Dear Friends: This thread began while sipping coffee and fiddling with the internet. Diana