Saturday, July 15, 2022

Many people dislike chipmunks but not me. One of the best things about feeding birds is sitting quietly and watching as nearby chipmunks fill their jaws with dropped seeds. Those moments may become even more enjoyable by also indulging in a cold beer.

It’s summer!

Down at the barn there’s a young cottontail growing. Not yet any good photos of that illusive creature which I see often. Soon, I’ll come up with a worthwhile image.

Often, the horses’ watering troughs are hosts to perched Ravens. They’re fledglings, drinking and just hanging out until mom and/or dad reappears with food and instructions. Every summer it’s exciting to watch Raven parents training and protecting their offspring. Watchers learn quickly that those birds are very smart. Raven parents are excellent managers of family groups, and their babies are well-behaved.

This summer, despite that I’m less at home for working at an outside job, there are nearby easily available, highly enjoyable “small pleasures.” So many, under foot and in the air.

Dear Friends: A deep breath ending in “Ah, summer,” to a world of pleasure. Diana

Friday, July 15, 2022

That hurrying pony is Sunni (pronounced “Sunny”). She’s coming to grab a nibble from a full hay-net bag I’m shouldering for hanging from a tree branch. Yes, it’s Sunni’s hay, she can’t wait. Daily, we replay this scene often.

Next week, I’ll have a string of three days off from my outside job. The first is enjoying not having to work, the middle is for horseback riding, and the third is doing whatever is needed before resuming “cash register days.”

I’m considering which dogs may join my horseback ride. The only two savvy with horses and un-arthritic enough to run with them are almost twelve-year-old hound-dog, Ranger, and nearly ten-year-old Border Collie mix, Osix. It’s a mystery why these two after years of trail running haven’t succumbed to joint pain. I’m happy for experienced dogs still having the strength to join horses and me.

I’ve not introduced either puppy to horses. There’s evidence that Chase could become a trail dog. He’s enthusiastic, strong, and dependably stays nearby. Less so Mitzvah. Although a fast-running Jack Russell, she’s quirky and sometimes reluctant to do as asked. Because these puppies aren’t herding types, their full potential needs more time to surface.

Dear Friends: Now I must prepare to go to work, that store’s a busy place. Diana

Thursday, July 14, 2022

Today, I face another super-early (from my perspective) call to work. It’s nice getting off from work in a mid-afternoon. If about which might be best, it’s a guessing game. Go in earlier and leave early, or go in late and leave later.

My preferences are related to tasks of feeding my horses. Early-to-work means feeding them early and late-to-work means they must wait a bit. All horses hate having to wait. While in the process of preparing hay and supplements, I feel much pressure from Rosie. She’s kicking against the fence, snorting, demanding entrance.

Rosie is my lead mare, the trio’s head honcho. She can be sweet and yielding or belligerent and irritating. Over the years, she’s made it clear: the longer she must wait, the pushier she can become.

This morning is easy, a no-brainer. I must leave soon for work and Rosie, et al, may dive early into their hay allotments.

Dear Friends: Amazing creatures, horses, always teaching us more about ourselves. Diana

Wednesday, June 13, 2022

Hot ‘n hotter! Yesterday afternoon was a blast furnace. In the morning, my twelve-year-old hen, Welsummer, got to go into an outside pen to scratch and dust around. In early afternoon I found her panting, parked in a tiny spot of shade. The old girl shouldn’t be so stressed and was returned to inside quarters. There she perched and appeared more composed.

Puppy Chase is growing rapidly and suddenly he’s standing tall as Louie. To boot, that tough little monkey is good humored, loves people, and plays constantly. I try to avoid his busy mouth with sharp teeth that break my skin. It’s almost embarrassing, working at a cash register with hands and wrists nearly covered by scabs; but that’s how it is.

Speaking of work, I must be at a register this morning, and tomorrow, at 7:30 sharp. This is a quick hello and goodby.

Dear Friends: Full Super Moon rises tonight! Keep cool, stay awake, and enjoy. Diana

Tuesday, July 12, 2024

I went online to check an item at Costco. Its website has a totally new appearance. Exploring products available for shipping from Costco is similar to doing so on Amazon’s site. About time, Costco!

Recently while in Costco, I saw an interesting item but didn’t purchase. On rethinking, later I checked for the item online, not expecting to find it but did. A surprise. Costco’s website is revamped. Now it reveals all stock similar to any item and offers choices, with descriptive information. an item’s sales numbers, and customer ratings.

Costco’s site resembles Amazon’s.

I usually check what interests me on Amazon, wanting to see sales numbers, customer ratings, comparative items, and prices. That’s helped me decide whether and what to buy. Often, I’ll just order from Amazon for quick delivery to my door. On heavier items, I escape having to load and unload my vehicle.

I wonder why only now Costco is becoming a more worthy online competitor. It delayed that move, and I know from my years working within Costco. The website didn’t have enough online quality, pricing, and availability. Maybe it became an essential business move post-Covid to support ever-growing online commerce.

Covid has caused a yanking and renewing of many services. Even massive Costco’s website.

My work in a busy supermarket makes me aware of too few staff and lots of closed cash registers. Those open are swamped with lines of customers pushing full carts. Grocery shoppers are impatient, wanting to hurry home, store the ice cream, and head off to their kids’ sports games. Plus, in a high-traffic store, cash register work is highly physical and tiring.

I’m estimating that ahead is a time when few, if any, cash registers will exist. It’s logical that instead most people will self-check out. I mention this to customers and hear great resistance. Many like to receive services, and fewer prefer to self-check.

Maybe a factor is Oregon itself where people aren’t allowed to pump their own gasoline. They receive that service instead of doing themselves. Well, many from California know how to pump gas and prefer to. As a cash register operator, I witness long lines with inefficiency and dissatisfaction. Already, most large product-based businesses offer self-checking; they essentially have been transitioning shoppers.

Dear Readers: Bet me, more ahead will use technology over human labor. Diana

Monday, July 11, 2022

I’ve a lifetime fascination with movies. Hollywood produced many musicals that I loved and still do. The studios didn’t produce many non-musicals that particularly interested me. It were foreign offerings that taught me to see, feel, and understand films. They usually appeared in “art theaters” and still today might represent cinema-making’s most creative years.

Enough of that now, because comparing filming styles and artistic technique is a huge discussion. It’s not possible to speak with justice of artistic styles within a quick blog. Today’s technology lets us discover. We can stream old movies and be transported back in time.

The Criterion Channel and other venues are reminding me of films maybe worth watching again. While not a huge fan of Hollywood productions, there are titles emerging that deserve attention and accolades. I remember one from 1973, entitled “Oklahoma Crude,” directed by Stanley Kramer, written by Marc Norman, and acted superbly by Faye Dunaway, George C. Scott, Jack Palance, and John Mills.

I didn’t watch “Oklahoma Crude” when it was new but years later saw it televised. I remember being struck by the fine directing and acting, and the excellent, memorable script. The film’s spoken ending consists of a single word, spoken by Dunaway’s character. The word is astonishingly clever, summarizing the story’s action and firing up imagining the possibilities ahead.

I won’t reveal the word. It’s most valuable being heard in context.

Dear Friends: There’s likely value to be found by re-exploring old Hollywood. Diana

Sunday, July 10, 2022

My floors are transitioning from carpet-covered to manufactured vinyl. There’s no continuing with a carpet after almost twenty years of living with dogs–wonderful pets but imperfect housemates. Dogs get old and have accidents; or they are young and have accidents; or worse, simply don’t care and have accidents. Lots of dogs living together at once compound the issue. They’re active and interact by arguing and playing and accidents happen.

My capable flooring person, Leroy, already has removed bunches of carpeting. Our arrangement has him working on his own time. I’ve a bit of waiting between his returns. Leroy is one of the best in the flooring business; we’ve been friends for years (his wife is one of my horsey buddies).

For me, it’s not so bad looking at the original ugly tile squares this home’s original owners glued onto floors. New vinyl will cover such ills.

What’s tough about this is having to move everything so Leroy may work without bumping into fragile pieces. I quickly stashed such stuff anywhere space allowed. Now there’s the problem of living in confusion. It’s confusing as to where something/anything might be located and searching isn’t always successful.

It’s also difficult to housebreak my puppy, Chase. He’s about five months old and a quick squatter. On catching him in the act, I can’t find quickly a newspaper, or a leash, to help move him outside. He’s little but compact and too heavy to lift and toss. Meanwhile, Chance has not a sense of being punished, is happy-go-lucky, affable, and sure to squat again soon.

Dear Friends: All this, too, will pass. Diana

Saturday, July 09, 2022

Recently, I read an article suggesting techniques to help retain good memory by a physician specializing in Alzheimer’s. One of his key suggestions is to read fiction. He finds that preferring to read nonfiction over fiction often accompanies reduced memory capability.

He points out that fiction requires higher reader engagement with words, sentences, and ideas. For example in a novel, page 135 might require a reader to recall something mentioned briefly back on page three. Both the creative writing and visual arts call for fully engaged responses.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve fallen away from fiction. Not thinking it’s too hard to follow, but for too little interest in contemporary stories. Recently, I’ve written about having “discovered” fine writers, now unknown, who created during the second half of Twentieth Century. I intended to read their books and ordered them.

When new books arrive, I often set them aside and plan to read later. Sometimes (I don’t know why) not returning to them. This time, on receiving the books with creative short stories, very soon after reading the doctor’s article, I made a priority of starting to read immediately.

This reading is rewarding. The stories by relatively un-remembered American authors were created during a cultural period I understand well. They make me recall cultural changes over the years–say, from the nineteen sixties through about 2000; they revive experiences and memories of my own.

These stories speak to a shift in cultural norms by refreshing old social conditions large and subtle. They increase an understanding of why it’s difficult for older generations to comprehend more fully today’s youth culture.

Dear Friends: More later about these stories, what reading them offers. Diana

Friday, July 08, 2022

Yesterday, a chef for one of the restaurants at Sun River checked-out through my register line. She described a key dish that this weekend she’ll prepare for guests at her home. She will use a sous vide for cooking. I claimed little knowledge of sous vide. She said it’s a cooking method that consistently creates very tender and delicious outcomes.

I felt curious and did a little research, learning that sous vide cookers are designed to heat water in which a bag floats with vacuum sealed food as a pouch for cooking. The sous vide heats the water bath at a precise temperature. The cooked outcome relies not on perfect timing but on precise temperature control. According to experts, just set a sous vide and walk away; the cooker consistently delivers perfect results.

That chef alluded to all these goods describing sous vide.

I will consider obtaining a sous vide cooker. They’re relatively inexpensive, and there are many choices to comb through. I’d also need a vacuum sealer and appropriate plastic bags.

I’m thinking about it, while weighing the kinds of foods I’d cook against the worthiness of adding kitchen tools. Easy and delicious eating would be nice, and it would increase counter-space clutter.

Dear Friends: Another episode of learning while working in a busy supermarket. Diana

Thursday, July 07, 2022

The header photo captures several of my chickens enjoying a “flock block” right after watching me set it down. I push such a block tightly against the pen that houses babies being introduced to the flock so they too may enjoy the treat. Oh yes, my goats also like blocks. They’re fifty-pounds of compressed feed destined for brief existences.

Speaking of feed, yesterday while checking out supermarket customers I saw much fresh broccoli passing my register. It dawned on me that being in the store anyway will let me bring home just enough fresh veggies for an evening’s dinner. That’ll curtail my usual habit of storing fresh food for later and forgetting its existence.

Collecting dinner could be quick and easy, like collecting fresh eggs!

I’ve appreciated that easy-steam packages now are available. Pop one, packaging and all, into a microwave for minutes, and presto, cooked veggies. They’re pretty good tasting, too.

Well, yesterday I shopped. Had a Fresh Broccoli Dinner! After popping crowns into a microwaveable bowl and adding a little water, I covered and steamed the veggies a few minutes. Better tasting than those from frozen, less expensive, and I’m a convert.

It helps to be inside the store anyway. I’ll start routinely getting what’s needed for a moment and using it while in the mood. It helps to know, for speedy selecting, the store’s layout, and how to identify products quickly and self-check out.

Another thing about being a checker. One notices what’s available, newest and freshest. Fun!

Dear Friends: Now after I clean the fridge, keeping it unclogged will be easy. Diana