Cold Winter

Wednesday, February 05, 2025

This high desert is finally snow-covered. Deep winter grips us. I’ve anticipated this cold, which will stretch through February and March—weatherwise, the most demanding months.

We have cycled through the winter holiday festivities and now face the stark realities of freezing winds, deep snowdrifts, and short days. I tell myself to endure patiently these slow-moving weeks before signs of spring occur.

I also remind myself that practicing patience through deep winter isn’t passive but an active practice.

These days of biting cold, iced-over roads, and gray skies make us seek comfort in small routines. I might enjoy a warm drink, appreciate and care for my animals, and sit in a comfortable chair to read a book. Those are anchors, slowing anxieties and getting through what can’t be rushed.

I have learned not to fight winter but to embrace it as a time for reflecting, resting, and waiting for different weather energy. That’s active practicing; another is active appreciating–recognizing winter’s beauty, the silence of snowy mornings, and the moon’s brightness on freezing nights.

Winter brings gifts, if we take moments to see them. I often find myself kicking pathways into fresh snow on my property and looking up at the deep contrast of black branches highlighted with snow against a barely bluish sky.

Writing this morning makes me thoughtful about patience—less about enduring and more about appreciating. And so, we wait on days that are already a bit longer but still seem too short.

I am eager for hints of warmth to return. Meanwhile, I will heed my observations and take the rest of winter one day at a time, seeking the positives it offers until the freezing cold eventually loosens.

Dear Friends, Patience isn’t “just waiting” but trusting that change is coming. Diana

Yielding

Tuesday, February 04, 2025

Weeks ago, ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence, appeared on my iPhone. It would let me converse with AI using its male or female voice. I played with that and enjoyed the interactions. I appreciated the site’s potential but soon drifted away.

The other day, at my outside job, a young co-worker described using ChatGPT for “almost everything” and willingly paying $20/month for its stepped-up version. She described sending a photo to that AI and asking for an enhancement or a detailed explanation of what the photo suggests or represents, or sending drafted paragraphs and requesting improved rewrites, or sending complex questions and asking for detailed answers.

I know many uses of AI and have occasionally used it for writing help. AI has aided me in writing an idea or a paragraph more pointedly for improved clarity. I’ve never submitted a photo or video while asking for a description or detailed information, but my coworker does often.

She did some interesting demonstrating for me, and I decided to test the paid version with a real-time example.

I was working in the Jewelry Department. I had been showing a recent customer a set of Tahitian pearl earrings. She understood the pearl type’s beauty and value and loved how she looked wearing the earrings. She struggled over purchasing them and finally didn’t.

My coworker photographed those Tahitian earrings and sent the image to her ChatGPT version, requesting the pearls’ history and attributes. AI identified the price value of those earrings and sent paragraphs explaining the pearl type.

I recognized that by employing some of AI’s responses, I might have spoken confidentially and more thoroughly about the earrings. While my customer debated over buying, I could have encouraged the potential sale by demonstrating more knowledge about the pearl type, its history, and why its value stays high.

As my colleague and I played more with her version of ChatGPT, I saw the potential added value of using the paid version and will upgrade to it.

Dear Friends: AI is increasingly available, accessible, and impactfully useful. Diana

Unimaginable

Monday, February 03, 2025

In today’s news, the political and financial worlds we have known and depended on are being upended. Those Americans in opposition are unprepared to respond to rapidly occurring events against (and despite) our Constitution. Our current choices regarding how current events in this nation might play out include some previously unimaginable. I feel panic.

Transitioning to the local reality: Today’s weather in Central Oregon before sunrise doesn’t include the snow predicted yesterday. Interestingly, the bottoms of the Central Oregon Cascade Mountains (where I live) remain snowless–opposite the mountaintops–now snow-packed hugely. That’s making our local Mt. Bachelor ski area one of America’s top skiing destinations.

Today, another dependable reality is my being at work. Yesterday, the store had fewer customers than usual. I wonder if the current political news is causing folks to pause their shopping habits. I will be curtailing my spending throughout these challenges to our Constitution.

If America’s laws cannot control/stop what could become many unwanted happenings, we, as average citizens, will likely be harmed socially and economically.

Dear Friends: America’s great Constitution is under siege and being challenged. Diana

Givers

Sunday, February 02, 2025

Some folks consider me a little nuts for keeping many animals, and I get it. I have three equines, nearly twenty chickens, a couple of turkeys, four dogs, a few “inside birds,” and Max the cat. Feeding and cleaning up after that bunch keeps me busy.

The animals also give back. My equines are sweet and rideable, the dogs let me know anything unusual happening on or near this small acreage, my racing pigeon’s sounds are soothing, and my Cockatoo’s ear-grating (this otherwise delightful buddy sings and rides on my shoulder), Max is Max. My chickens and turkeys are the best.

Chickens and turkeys give their all to some willing to slaughter. Less than “that all” to me who won’t slaughter. Otherwise, I love gathering and eating fresh eggs from chickens and turkeys. Typically, my little flock provides enough eggs for my needs with extras to give away.

This season’s commercial eggs aren’t as available. Bird flu has destroyed millions of chickens and other kinds of animals living with or near domestic birds. Fortunately, my flock is healthy.

The other day, while loading chicken feed into my vehicle, a fellow mentioned seeing a dozen eggs priced at $12/dozen in a local market. That’s a purse-shocking price.

Eggs are essential food ingredients. A person with eggs, flour, and some small staples can cook eggs alone, bake bread, and create casseroles–among other things not yet in my mind. (I’ll learn what more is possible while shopping very carefully ahead.)

Soon, events beyond animal health will also increase product costs. For example, the new importing tariffs will force importing suppliers to pay them, which those suppliers will pass on to consumers. We will be facing ever-rising prices for ordinary groceries and household supplies.

Dear Friends, Fortunately, my chickens and turkeys will provide those essential eggs. Diana

New Day Challenges

Saturday, February 01, 2025

I must clock in at my part-time job by 8:30 this morning. That means I’m out of bed ultra early today and on watch for the first light before heading outside to feed my horses.

Yesterday, my short working hours prevented me from coming home to feed the horses at midday. I’d have done it anyway, on unpaid time, but the store is short on employees, and nobody was available to cover my time away.

Throughout my shift, I worried about missing that feeding and felt guilty.

Equines are large outside, but their stomachs aren’t because they’re grazing animals. Horses aren’t built for big meals but are designed for consistent food to trickle through their systems. A horse’s empty stomach invites colic (and other debilitating possibilities). Domesticated horses, fed regularly and having the needed trickle, can stay healthy without grazing.

I am tense and unhappy if my horses miss a feeding.

Fortunately, they are healthy and were excited to see their hay arriving last night. Today, I will feed them before leaving for work, and my shorter working hours will allow for appropriate horse-tending.

Dear Friends: I need to get moving; you have a wonderful day. Diana

Alternatively Viewing

Friday, January 31, 2025

Today’s political environment has me constantly thinking about mindlessness vs. mindfulness.

My new book has arrived; it’s the 25th Anniversary Edition of Mindfulness by Ellen J. Langer. This book was first published in 1989 and is considered the classic work on mindfulness. My version is a 2014 revision with a new introduction by Langer.

She’s a Professor in Harvard’s Psychology Department and has studied Mindlessness and Mindfulness in everyday situations for forty years. Her learning is drawn from combinations of everyday situations and institutions, like nursing homes, schools, and businesses. She finds mindlessness both as pervasive and often unnoticed.

Langer has proposed and tested an alternative cognitive process, and it has proved relevant across multiple domains. Although referring to her process as “mindfulness,” she stresses not to confuse her concept with meditation. She draws her “mindfulness” from years of studying what she summarizes now as “mindfulness over matter.”

I will explore Langer’s work and concepts and also be seeking possible relevances to America’s new political leadership. I hope her work helps me gain understanding and optimism toward American leadership in the four years ahead.

Dear Friends: For any reason(s) one may have, this should be an excellent read. Diana

“New-Olds”

Thursday, January 30, 2025

While purchasing the item in today’s header photo yesterday, I wondered how many people under fifty might know it. I hadn’t missed having one for many years, but now, working with bread dough has changed things.

Early today, my first loaf of sourdough, nearly done baking in my bread machine, releases a wonderful aroma. After this loaf has rested, cooled, and been sliced, I will know if it was made correctly. I will learn if leaving the kneading and baking to a machine can yield a good loaf.

The critical element of a strong starter appears fine. Yesterday, my newly kneaded dough ball expanded reasonably, and soon after I fed the leftover starter, it doubled in size and is holding.

I’ll leave my final challenge–a taste test–alone for a little while. I will take time out to indulge in a fantasy of having created a successful, easy-to-make loaf. I will think through the enjoyable, productive learning and creation steps and adjust them later, if needed, relative to this loaf’s quality.

Dear Friends: I will set up my brand-new, more modern bread machine today. Diana

Louella

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

I saw one-year-old cute and all-adorable Louella hurrying on awkward little legs through the department store aisles where I work part-time. The lil’ runner’s mom was trying to keep up with her and said I could take a photo. Just then, Louella–all smiles–turned and hurried toward me, reaching for my phone. That’s today’s header photo moment.

Now, it’s near 8:00 and time to publish my blog. I’ll see you tomorrow.

Dear Friends: Today, I’ll use my sourdough starter in the bread machine. Diana

Disaster

Tuesday, December 28, 2025

Today is a somber anniversary. On this day in 1986, America’s Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight and disintegrated 46,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean, killing every crew member aboard. One crew, a non-NASA employee, was a schoolteacher going into space under a Teacher in Space Project.

Because the mission included a civilian, it drew high media interest and live streaming. Adults, as well as many children in schools, watched as video captured the launch and explosion.

Dialogues followed that unveiled “The O-ring Disaster.” In essence, key spaceship suppliers rushing to meet the liftoff date ignored their engineers who were questioning anticipated O-Ring performance.

(Spin forward to Boing’s troubles today because of gross mismanagement and frantic rushing to produce aircraft.)

The spaceship tragedy was caused by failures of the primary and secondary O-ring seals in a joint in one space booster. Record-low temperatures at launch time stiffened the rubber O-rings, reducing their ability to seal joints. Shortly after liftoff, the seals were breached; hot pressurized gas leaked through the joint and burned into an external propellant tank.

The explosion collapsed internal structures, causing rotations to throw the orbiter into aerodynamic forces that tore it apart. The now-destroyed craft flew uncontrollably until a range safety officer destroyed it.

That disaster today is imprinted in memory as firmly as the horrific assassinations of the Kennedy brothers, MLK, and John Lennon.

Dear Friends, Reliving my memories of the Challenger disaster and its aftermath. Diana

New Dawn

Monday, January 27, 2025

This is Mozart’s birthday, and my eldest sister’s, too. She left this earth long ago, and I still miss her.

Interestingly, I’ve been thinking about her quite a bit over the last couple of weeks without consciously remembering her birthday. Thanks to Mozart for the heads-up about what’s been keeping her high in my mind approaching this date.

For many years, January 27 was a big deal in my life, and apparently, to my inner self, it still is. So, just now, I am lighting a memorial candle and inviting my inner self to remember and reflect more. The candle will burn this morning until I leave for work and again this evening when I’m home.

Now, I can let my conscious attention turn to today more. It’s another early-to-work day. I’ll be opening the store’s Jewelry Department and working almost entirely physically. I’ll be unlocking safes, moving trays of stones, resetting displays in prominent cases, and ensuring the whole department sparkles before the store opens for business.

Dear Friends: Have a wonderful day; it’s still cold but clear here in Central Oregon. Diana