Wednesday, October 28, 2020

Recently, after proposing to a friend that we meet for coffee, it struck me that throughout this year I’ve avoided all public eateries. Plus, I stay away from public restrooms even where I work and sometimes am challenged. My self-imposed boundaries are a wanting to distance from CoronaVirus. Anyway, my friend has other commitments and later on we will arrange to meet.

I’ve come to believe in masks and that they’re essential in all public venues. I work in an often very crowded big box store where employees and customers must wear masks upon entering. The employees and most customers are diligent about mask wearing, but some customers after having entered do half- or totally drop their masks. Those if asked to re-mask may become belligerent. It’s stunning how many Americans consider the virus a totally false notion. They’re certain it’s a political inspiration that’s been strong-armed on American citizens by bad people opposed to the current top administration.

Anyway, I’m a believer of an active virus and in wearing masks. After several months working in a crowded venue among many who inadequately are masked, I and my co-workers (none of us youngsters) are healthy. This accounts much for my confidence.

It’s heartwarming to find a large percentage of others showing that they agree. Many pushing shopping carts have small children sitting inside, or little ones outside and trying to help push, or have kids simply tagging along. Their small children wear masks and try to keep them properly adjusted.

I wish that CoronaVirus were our single most major public problem. Unfortunately, this hard-fisted election season has opened many concurrent, heart-wrenching, public concerns. As individuals, our best bets are to wear masks while among others, keep a watch on events as they more unfold, and maintain hope that national issues may be resolved favorably.

Dear Friends: Looking forward to better days like, “Hey, let’s meet for coffee!” Diana

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Behind me, aren’t just any old tuchuses. They belong to my mares, Rosie and Sunni, who last week were introduced to my small horse trailer. Afterwards, I became too busy and the weather too awful to continue with trailer training. A week had elapsed by yesterday when my friend Anna came to help retrain the horses. Imagine our shock when each, at a simple hand gesture, willingly entered the small horse trailer and stood easily. Well, full disclosure, there was an incentive of fresh hay on the feeding platforms.

That they comfortably entered and stood was a big win that deserves a shout out to Noell who trailer-trained them. Ahead is more, for although while inside they don’t mind butt-chains, I’ve not attempted to lift the trailer’s ramp or close its top doors. Accomplishing those opens another challenge, that of pulling the trailer while loaded.

These horses are accustomed to balancing in a slant-load trailer, which allows for shifting from side-to-side. A straight-in, however, requires shiftings of forward and backward. Anna cautions that driving around curves especially challenges the balancing inside a straight-in.

Anna brought along a surprise, a couple of beautiful red pears from Hood River, an area that produces wonderful fruit. They’re too pretty to cut or bite into, they’re more like objects d’art.

I will try to draw them, and please no chuckling, for somewhere in my house are colored pencils. I acquired them early this pandemic season, did little about learning to draw, and sort of forgot the pencils. Thinking back, maybe there wasn’t enough inspiration, and perhaps these sudden pears are nailing it. Hopefully, and now, where are those doggone pencils?

Dear Friends: This week brings warmer weather, just right for training/riding horses. Diana

Monday, October 26, 2020

My ballot has gone into an official drop box. It’s now a short wait until there’s a national vote tally. Regardless of who wins, little will be pretty. In case the incumbent loses, the Supreme Court could wind up re-deciding the outcome. If there’s a new president, he must get rid of some key personnel who hold “protected positions”. He must rethink earlier decisions by all levels and change some of them. Those only are beginnings, for regardless of who wins there’s a bottom line: Unless the senate flips, our collective future is reduced to a matter of “good luck to us all”.

Besides voting, I’ve wished to help. I can’t volunteer the needed time to phone or knock on doors because of working nearly full-time. Here on Eight Pines Ranch are assorted, demanding animals holding me in capture. Thinking through this and drumming on my brain’s creative side, I had a epiphany: my donkey, Pimmy, could urge folks to vote.

Well, Pimmy has opinions about for whom to vote.

I offered to pay Facebook ten bucks to sponsor a distribution of Pimmy’s campaign among its uber-large reader-roster. The Facebook police rejected my contribution to the cause. That wasn’t unexpected and has to be okay with me, because they’ve leveled the field somewhat by also rejecting others.

So, for little over a week we’ll wait breathlessly for the tallies and results. My election-related yard signs are up and waving in an ongoing mighty n’western that has lowered the local temperature to twenty degrees. Meanwhile, I’ll either be at work or home in dungarees and heavy boots, staying busy enough to skip some election-related worry.

Dear Friends: Pimmy is very cool, fun, and guaranteed to lessen tension. Diana

Sunday, October 25, 2020

My buddy in the tipi, Susie, forwarded this photo of me. We were hanging out awhile and catching up on our lives, books, and activities. The guys who had been doing their own catching up joined us. They were sensitive, intelligent, relaxed. We were a foursome in a good mood, openly exchanging perceptions and ideas. It was an event worthy of writing about. I did, and now wish to speak about my friend Susie.

She’s her husband’s primary supporter for his brainchild, the HeliLadder. Working together, they sell, manufacture, assemble, and ship their ladder, designed to use in repairing helicopters. It’s shape avoids damaging complexly-shaped aircraft. The team works long hours and intently. In our catch-up, Susie spoke optimistically about the company’s progress. Here’s the HeliLadder in use:

Susie and her husband have two grown sons, one recently married and the other in a budding relationship. She’s an avid bicyclist, says road-biking relieves work related pressures. While biking, she often wears half-a-headset and listens to books, keeping her other ear open to road-related noises. In our several years of friendship, I’ve known what she reads and her enthusiasm for her book club. In short, without shirking any primary responsibilities, Susie’s activities expand the roles of wife, mother, worker.

We met because she used to ride horseback and became interested in my activities with horses. Many folks enjoy my horses and casually are interested in them. But Susie became more, first because she’s an athlete, and secondly she’s ridden with me. Horse activities that bring people together in matters of work and safety encourage individuals to know one another well. So beyond the horses, we’ve remained friends.

I appreciate Susie’s interest in people, her warm and caring manner, and my strong sense that she’s “always there” for her family and her friends.

Dear Friends: Friendship, like all that’s worthy, takes effort and is “the best”. Diana

Saturday, October 24, 2020

I couldn’t have imagined last evening’s gathering–in a TiPi!–of myself with pleasant and interesting others. We discussed oddities like poetry while sipping wines–from Costco an inexpensive cotes du rhone and from Portland a homemade and drink-worthy pinot noir. In the TiPi’s center, a wood-fire blasting from an old (found) pot covered in bullet-holes was sprouting high to a smoke-escape hole.

That TiPi belongs to my neighbors and friends, Dale and Susie Neubauer. The structure sets just outside their home. It’s the Real Deal–authentic, impressive, and primitively beautiful. All day, I’d looked forward to a little unstructured time with the Neubauers, who were hosting their long time friend, Joel Salter, visiting briefly from Portland.

Dale and Susie are manufacturers, Joel recently retired from the EPA, and there’s no telling what my presence might contribute to a gathering.

The evening was perfect, our small circle sitting around a fire and sipping wine. A great beginning, but who’d have imagined Joel’s casual mention of just having finished writing a letter to his 95-year-old, fully cognizant aunt–who happens to be a published poet!

That got us off on topics practically unheard of among casual mixed company. We talked about families and communicating, art’s impact in both visual and written forms, and our similar world and political perspectives. Joel long ago was a Peace Core participant stationed in Sierra Leone and spoke thoughtfully about the Third World.

Sometimes we stumble into situations that can reawaken our dreamiest ideas and wishes. We secret most of these from our ordinary goings-about, but in our cores cherish each and all.

Sitting inside a genuine TiPi itself reawakens imagination. So does witnessing a fire’s energy and awesomeness. Each is plenty. But add-in people who take the time to talk (really talk, even if assisted by good wine). Their in-the-moment presence and open thoughts knit together everything. Sharing our collective history, current situations, options and optimism, renews a human capacity of hope for a fruitful future.

Dear Friends: I’m deeply grateful for having participated in that kind, warm gathering. Diana

Friday, October 23, 2020

How brave I’ve felt finally to have named my little ranchero. An identifiable name changes my perception by encouraging a sense of having boosted the status of this small horse property. It’s situated in a neighborhood and near a cul de sac. Besides not earlier giving it a name, I’ve thought it slightly grandiose to name four acres. This began to change during this year’s early months.

The early pandemic ended my outside part-time job, and like others I searched for ways to stay interested and busy. It was winter and daily my horses went to a neighbor’s pasture to graze (winter grasses don’t increase their weight). I wasn’t, as usual, driving them, and hadn’t yet begun thinking of riding horseback.

For weeks, I explored online learning opportunities, bought books, tried knitting, practiced drawing using colored pencils, spent time online and texting, and of course, Netflix, et al, became buddies. As the weather warmed, I wandered onto my property and for the first time focused on its trees.

I saw many old junipers with overgrown hanging limbs. It seemed that if the tree limbs were removed, say up to about eight feet, my horses might move safely among the trees to graze here at home. A pure fantasy for this property is very rocky with little grass. But I needed a project.

I bought lightweight battery-operated long and short chain saws and went to work. It took weeks to cut, pile, load, and haul limbs away. Unlike my neighbor who counted his trees (about five-hundred of them), I didn’t count but estimated mine as around three-hundred. Bottom line, the sawing and related work got me out of the house, physically distanced me from others, and kept me busy. That work made my property somewhat park-like.

It also made me acutely aware of a few pine trees among my junipers. I had known of them but without much interest and for years had ignored them. Suddenly it seemed right to strengthen those unique trees, survivors of my neglect. I began watering, dragging hoses, situating sprinkling apparati, and paying them serious attention.

All eight trees. It was surprising that only very recently did “Eight Pines Ranch” pop into my mind. Immediately, that felt right, and also immediately, my brain battled its sense of “the place” vs. “Eight Pines”. Happily, Eight Pines won, and has trees to support an unique identification.

Dear Friends: A street address does the job, but a real name is swell. Diana

Thursday, October 22, 2020

This morning I’ve tried to set music to a video of my pony, but matching the video length with a fitting bit of public domain music has left me stymied. So with apologies to opposing perspectives, I’ll speak to another looming topic: politics.

This day will offer a couple of biggies. Tonight there’s a final presidential debate that might turn into a debacle. Today in the Senate, McConnell is determined to seat a Supreme Court next justice, and the Dems are planning to boycott.

A big part of me is very tired, wishes to avoid these proceedings and that was my plan. But like a moth drawn to flame or a bee to a flower, I’ll watch everything. Because ahead are fascinating “monkey wrenches”. First, there’s Trump angry, desperate, and who knows what he’ll do in front of a dead mike? Or if he’ll show up for the debate? Second, Democratic senators are resisting the high court nominee and won’t be present, nor vote, but their non-participation could be overridden by Senate rules.

The senate situation is most interesting. A justice cannot be elected by the Judicial Committee without at least two members present from the opposing party. Apparently, McConnell without Judicial Committee approval could accomplish his goal, by calling for a full-senate vote and getting fifty-one yesses. Romney apparently didn’t vote Trump for president, but is likely to vote for seating Amy.

Ahead today, two full dramas!

We can’t assume Trump won’t be re-elected, because a very large portion of American voters prefer bold, take-charge, do-or-die types. We can assume that Amy will be voted into RBGs empty seat by Republicans, sidestepping established Senate rules and tradition.

We can assume that if Trump is re-elected, the beat will go on. On another hand, if the Dems dominate by achieving the presidency, senate, and house, there’s no assuming what might happen.

Because it’s all new politics.

Dear Friends: I toss my lot with the t-shirt that says, “Please, end 2020 now!” Diana

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Our weather is changing from t-shirt-go to jacket-at-ready. My friend Anna loves riding my mare, Rosie, and recently joined me to ride horseback through the neighborhood.

In this lovely neighborhood it’s possible at various points to leave paved streets and enter a nearby country-like area. It’s semi-wild with dirt roads running under power lines and surrounded by unkempt brush. One sights browsing mule deer, screaming Redtail hawks, and swooping owls. There are signals of nearby civilization, like infrequent distant rooftops and dirt-impressed hoof- and dog-prints.

Anna and I have ridden through all the local streets. Each trip away from and back to my house on pavement is three miles. Travel miles are more on the dirt beneath the power lines. A couple of hours riding in the neighborhood exercises the horses for six or seven miles. Our neighbors are friendly, their vehicles pass slowly, they smile and wave. I feel lucky, able to mount and ride safely without first having to haul a trailer.

The fall offers fresh beautiful changes. The other morning Anna and I were captivated by trees in fall glory and sometimes punctuated by sparkling water features. We took photos. In the header taken from a distance, Anna and Rosie appear very relaxed. The below close up of me on Sunni isn’t relaxed, the rascal in a bitless bridle keeps trying to dive for grass.

Both fun captures show some of this lovely neighborhood.

Dear Friends: At last, my small acreage has a name, “Eight Pines Ranch”. Diana

Tuesday, October 20, 2020

It’s about trailering horses, a process that can be complicated and for years foiled me.

My beloved Quarter Horse, Dolly, on reaching her mid-twenties became arthritic and eventually couldn’t step high enough to enter my large “three-horse slant” trailer. She was rideable if one didn’t ask too much and I searched for a second trailer, with an entry ramp. I found an older trailer in good condition, a two-horse, straight-in, with a ramp. Dolly’s young years were prior to slant trailers and she traveled in straight-ins.

Dolly easily loaded into my new trailer, and I liked pulling it. Smaller than my three-horse, easier to maneuver, and best of all could fit in small parking areas. I’d unload, ride, reload, and without much effort circle the rig to leave.

Needing a healthier horse to ride in complex, somewhat strenuous areas, I went looking and wound up with two full sisters, Sunni and Rosie. Neither had been trained to a straight-in and vigorously refused to enter the small trailer. The big slant suited them, that seemed okay.

For years after I lost Dolly, her little trailer sat, parked, unused, neglected. Occasionally recalling how easily it pulled, I wished to use, but getting Sunni and Rosie inside required a trainer. I didn’t know who to ask to train my mares, especially Rosie who’s sensitive and can be challenging. Getting them correctly into a straight-in seemed impossible.

My friend, Noell, who raises Appaloosa horses, popped up at Costco while I was working. During our quick catch-up, I told her about the long-ignored trailer and my horses’ dislike of it. Noell said she could train them and that she’d do it.

For several hours split into two days, Noell worked patiently and softly, beginning with the easier Sunni. She encouraged Sunni step-by-step onto the ramp, wasn’t upset during numerous back-ups and re-starts, and taught Sunni words, like “Step forward”, “all the way in”, “wait now”, “step back”, and “okay out”. Finally, Sunni felt brave, stepped inside and stood awaiting instruction. Noell let her stand several moments before hooking a confining butt-chain. Sunni backed into it and calmly stopped. She was trailered!

Rosie was very resistant and challenging. Noell worked more insistently but no less patiently with her and finally managed to reduce Rosie’s defensiveness. We decided to pause training and to resume the next afternoon. That evening, my friend Anna and I rode both horses, and rode them again the next morning. We got home with exercised, calm horses just before Noell arrived.

She began working with Rosie as before with Sunni. At first Rosie resisted, but less so, and before long, she began to listen and enter fully before quickly exiting the trailer. Noell worked until Rosie slowed down, watched for signals, listened for commands. In little over an hour, Rosie was standing calmly in the trailer and confined by a butt strap.

I set hay on the trailer’s feed shelves and fetched Sunni. She at a hand signal entered the trailer, and the two side-by-side munched grass hay. They appeared relaxed and happy.

I’m impressed about Noell’s confidence and competence during that training. She points out to me that Sunni is a very easy horse, she’s willing to please. On the other hand, Rosie is highly sensitive and more cautious. Noell cautions me to remain very calm in working with Rosie. She responds in a heartbeat to her handler’s nervousness by becoming nervous, too.

Dear Friends: Maybe it’s less about “trailering” and more about “relationships”. Diana

Monday, October 19, 2020

The idea came from my artist friend Janet. She suggested costuming Pimmy in her July 4th outfit and creating a photo to promote our preferred candidates. This morning, I thought loosely about her suggestion but felt lazy, uncreative. Needing help, I explored the contents of my garage refrig. and discovered a single Red Bull. I downed it (ugg), and moved into action.

Pimmy’s great July 4th costume had been designed, piecemealed, and sewn by Janet and her (also) very artistic daughters a couple years ago. Since, it’s been un-piecemealed and is stored in various boxes in my garage. Recostuming Pimmy means I’d gather Janet, et al, to help unpack, piecemeal together, and redrape Pimmy. Everybody’s busy, we’re not quick ‘n easy to collect for a project.

Red Bull energized, I decided to adopt Janet’s idea and activate Pimmy in the current election cycle. Using a photo taken by my neighbor Frank a couple years ago, I wiped out its original words and substituted ones that bring alive a version of Janet’s idea.

About collaborating with Janet, there’s more. She reminds me that it’s October, almost year-end! We’ve blown both time and our wish to create a “Pimmy Calendar”! We have imagined a design that shows Pimmy outfitted in various “Janet, et al, costumes”. It includes fun photos of the donkey and her many fans. Our design in the thinking process also needs smart captions. Okay, Janet, there’s still time, if we can get our moves on!

Anyone else up for a Red Bull?

Dear Friends: We’re corralled by the ongoing struggles of dreaming-to-doing. Diana