Sunday, April 03, 2022

So much is on my mind; I don’t know how to take off while keeping ideas short for a blog. I’d choose a simple topic, except there’s no simple topic. So here goes.

We who’ve lived in wealthy democratic nations are fortunate, despite our many complaints and grumbles. Most of us have enough to eat, can become educated, and can choose preferred working environments. We can see our children grow up healthy and with opportunities to live in relative safety.

Trying to follow what’s happening in other parts of the world where philosophies are different is excruciating. Where people often live in hiding and fear and are hungry. Where the powerful want more power and often achieve it by suppressing those weaker than themselves.

Heartbreaking stories coming out of the Middle East are being told by brave people. They do so eloquently, but seem to lack realistic hope for visible improvements.

Equal heartbreak occurs in the free nation of Ukraine. People fleeing, hiding, hungry, fighting. But there, the little guy who’s standing up to a big guy is an inspiration.

What’s best seems to be believing in a worthwhile process, and allowing free choices for its leadership.

In America, a country of wealth and opportunity, a vast portion of the population worships leaders that seek to remain powerful by expressing primitive ideas. Their goals are to keep equality unequal. Butter versus guns, so to speak.

I wonder what about human nature limits a sharing of all that’s good and best. Any ideas?

Dear Friends: If a busy brain’s rants make no sense, here they are anyway. Diana

Saturday, April 02, 2022

Last night, I enjoyed some desperately-needed R & R, sitting with Dale and Susie in their teepee before a roaring fire. Ah, yes, wine and eats, too.

Best of all, there was talking! We really talked, shared, and pushed back. We were us, and ultimately, with complicated brains and experiences

They got me caught up on the goings-on in their incredible world of beautiful HeliLadder (https://heliladder.com/). Dale and Susie created HeliLadder only seven years ago. They’re now shipping that specialized ladder to nearly everywhere in the world.

Best, they’re a terrific couple, inviting, intelligent, and caring.

Not much is better than friends sitting in a teepee and feeling deeply connected by articulating and discussing ideas and perceptions. Warm environment and generous moments.

That evening reminded us, that we are how we work and how we play. Having fun saved us from the brink of overwork, at least during the event.

Taking our selfie was a team effort. Dale, being the tallest, held the phone so it could capture us all. Susie, our director, saw me as positioned best to reach out and push the “take” button. Voila!

Dear Friends: Sharing, intelligent, creative folks, just down the road, I love them. Diana

Friday, April 01, 2022

I have today off from work and much to catch up on. Summer is here, but I’ve lived too long in Central Oregon to think there won’t be at least one more hard freeze despite the drought conditions.

I fear thoughts of what hay may cost this year. Last year, I nearly fainted on receiving a hay bill, too high for a limited delivered amount. My hay guy comes into the feed store where I work and is good at dodging questions about how much I might expect to receive and the potential cost.

Today, I’ll put all that aside by attending to other things. That’s called refocusing my brain, a big topic these days as I work at replacing useless worrying with productive activities.

About productive, I feel close to finishing a readable draft of the “aviary article.” It’s been a long grinding road. Makes me feel for Hemmingway and Didion, careful writers and my role models, despite that my skills in no way resemble theirs.

Writing creatively is a hard job, even if working with the best of ideas. Language rules are rigid, although somewhat influenced by popular culture. A reader’s eye should go from a first sentence to a conclusion in a logical line of thought that’s not over-wordy. Good luck! Writing is easy; editing becomes torture.

Even my tiny blogs. Although short, it takes lots of time to edit and make them optimally readable, or at least as optimally as I can manage. A short blog can take a couple of hours to “whip out,” although reading it might take only moments.

Anyway, I digress. Later, I’ll look again at the article draft. Now, I’ll go out and care for waiting animals. I’m sure that today also I’ll use a camera, and this time a tripod, too, for creativity.

Dear Friends: A day off is a beautiful thing, so is earning money for new hay! Diana

Thursday, March 31, 2022

Tonight, at 11:24 p.m. (PT), a New Moon will rise. New Moon, known as the “invisible phase,” occurs when Sun and Moon are aligned, with the Sun and Earth on opposite sides of the Moon. This leaves the side of the Moon that faces Earth in darkness.

Night skies without moonlight are the best for stargazing. We know that the New Moon’s gravitational forces affect ocean tides. It’s easy to assume a New Moon affects all bodies in ways little understood by humans. (Note to self: think about this if awake near midnight.)

One who starts reading or writing poetry on a New Moon night might be feeling its effect. Perhaps creativity is one of its high forces. Maybe I’ll wait for the New Moon with a pencil in my hand, writing whatever comes to mind.

All that’s fun to think about and a little mind vacation from everyday matters.

Dear Friends: We’re moving into a new month; give a hello to spring. Diana

Wednesday, March 30, 2022

Yesterday, I hauled my tax stuff over to Nancy in Redmond. If I had been on my toes, I could have internet-sent the documents. Sad to say, the early 2022 months have zipped by in a blaze of busy-busy. I’ve missed many opportunities to be efficient.

To read books, newspapers, online articles. To take photographs, play with editing software, toy with art projects. To play with my animals in the great outdoors, ride my horses on warm days, to take Lil’ Mitzvah everywhere as my buddy.

Now, I must figure out how to get rid of two roosters. They are doing their jobs well but neither want me around. I used to love them, but now I’m wary. While in the chicken coop, I try to look bigger, holding my arms upright and waving my hands (a co-worker taught me that).

My horse, Rosie, rubs her chin against the top fencing. She has managed to loosen a post. That sagging post affects its buddy, a gate post, by putting it out of alignment. In other words, the gate no longer snaps into its locking mechanism. So, I am chaining the gate shut. Actually, I have a fix for the situation, but not the time and energy to tackle it.

Speaking of the horse, my three equines have enjoyed their last day on Bobby’s big pasture. The grass is growing in this warm weather, and now, there’s too much green, e.g., sugar, in the sprouts. Green pasture isn’t good for my easy-keeper horses. Starting now, they’ll be in a dry lot or for brief periods (maybe) across the street in John’s little pasture.

I won’t drive the horses if I keep my outside job through the summer. It wouldn’t be cost-effective because they’d need shoes and some bodywork by veterinarians. Instead, I’ll ride them. That’s always fun.

I look forward to riding again in the Horse Butte Forest. We’ll look for the old, now obscure trails we tried mapping a couple of years ago. And I’ll continue making the map. I’ll see my beautiful friend, the Blue Elderberry, which might be reviving about now.

Tomorrow night’s sky will offer a New Moon, a thin sliver, a Renewed Beginning.

It’s time to charge up my cameras.

Dear Friends: Elderberry, moon, and me, bloomers in early spring. Diana

Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Old Moon’s leaving and New Moon about to enter. The moon and sun offer some sense of stability in uncertain times.

I have today off and will be busy. Must take tax stuff to my accountant. She’s giving me a deadline this year, as sometimes I do forget.

I’m trying to finish writing about Lisa’s Aviary. Each tackling of it forces more editing, and sometimes that means having to work in new ideas. Or means developing better the old ideas. I’m printing what is now, to give me a sense of how it reads. More later.

Anyhow that effort, which often makes me go skidding to arrive on time to work, has gobbled up this morning’s blogging window. As soon as I have my thoughts in order, the draft will go to Lisa for hers.

Little Mitzvah is released from her Elizabethan Collar. Today, if there’s time, I’ll take the dogs out. It’ll be her first run with the pack, will test her recall, and decide our future activities. My guess is she’ll be fine.

Dear Friends: Thanks for being patient through the challenges of writing creatively. Diana

Monday, March 28, 2022

I frittered away this morning’s writing time by watching one of the most terrific videos I’ve ever seen. A 20-minutes long, true story about a young woman basketball player, Lusia Harris. She in college played the game well and became famous. The NBA offered to draft her.

Her successes occurred early in years of opening opportunities for women in sports. She was 6’3″ tall and a natural for basketball. A great player, she also became an Olympian winner.

The video won this year’s Academy Award. And deserved to, with a well written story, superbly shot, with excellent time-layering. I couldn’t quit watching, and will again.

Now, I love Lusia Harris. She is among my heroes.

I’m out of time to write. Enjoy for yourself Lusia’s story.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/29/opinion/lusia-harris-basketball-nba.html

Dear Friends: She passed away last January. What are your thoughts? Diana

Saturday, March 26, 2022

Yesterday, I received a surprise check tagged “secret shopper.” Asking why I learned that secret shoppers anonymously enter our store and interact with employees. The “shoppers” score employees’ performance against a set of criteria. Someone “shopped me” and scored my performance high.

Surprise money is a nice-to-have. Better is receiving good feedback. Interesting is that afterwards I tuned more into real-time feedback offered by customers, actual or otherwise.

Yesterday afternoon, several customers who wanted to keep chickens for the first time said how much they appreciated my time and the information I offered. I often hear this and don’t give it much thought because it’s how I work.

My philosophy is that anyone willing to shop and spend in our store (i.e., its purpose for being) deserves attention and information. Essentially my understanding of sales is “old school.” I’ve worked as a sales trainer, have owned a business and done cold-calling, and it serves, too, that I enjoy talking with people.

Ahead, while working I’ll think about sales behavior, and tune-in more to spontaneous feedback. It bothers me that sales performance couldn’t much improve by secret shopper scores alone. Salespeople need hands-on training and real-time feedback. Assistance and encouragement from supervisors is what improves performance. Not occasional anonymous bonuses, or as must be too, no bonuses.

On those notes I am going to say bye-bye. Today, it’s early to work.

Dear Friends: That check triggers the vast field of social interactions. Diana

Saturday, March 26, 2022

A lovely family walked into the store. Three little girls eager for chickens and their parents caring and accommodating–the kinds of people who make my work very pleasant. Each family member picked out a special chick. They took home half-a-dozen babies with accoutrements.

Here at home, the earliest hour in my mornings still has me working on the “aviary article.” I actually thought it was done, and then decided not. While looking at the same paragraph repeatedly, I find that each reading sends me hunting for different (better) words.

Happily the major portion is on paper. The current phase of micro-adjusting doesn’t sound half-bad, huh? But it’s challenging, because one little adjustment here or there means more adjusting ahead. The ideal is to weave a “clarity of direction” in chains of thoughts and activities.

Dear Friends: “The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on….” Diana

Friday, March 25, 2022

Reading Madeleine Albright’s obituaries is stepping back in time. Too many events and names to count but were familiar long ago. They’re either pleasing or disturbing, popping up and recalling.

She was a powerhouse mentally and even physically with all her four-foot eleven inches of height. She was an accomplished writer who could speak multiple languages. Every inch of herself communicated clearly through the clothing she chose and the jewelry she wore.

I saw her in person, in Florida, on stage and discussing foreign policy with Henry Kissinger. That was long ago before I understood much about diplomacy and world events. Since then, I’ve wished to turn back the clock to reattend that event and listen more closely to what those world influencers said.

Her early life in Prague was difficult because of aggressive Nazism and Communism, forcing her Jewish family to flee several times and change its religious identity. Nonetheless, she had been born into an educated and influential family and was encouraged to become well-educated. She learned the power of influencing and how to use it.

A similar powerhouse who comes to mind is Golda Meir, Israel’s first woman head of government. She was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, and immigrated with her family to Wisconsin as a child. She was educated at the University of Wisconsin and, after graduating, became a teacher. After marrying, she and her husband, in 1921, moved to then Palestine. Much later, after serving as Israel’s Labor Minister and Foreign Minister, she was elected Prime Minister in 1969. Meir is considered the “Iron Lady” of Israeli politics.

Other influential women on the world stage include Aung San Suu Kyi. Her story is evolving and unpredictable. She’s been a politician, diplomat, author and has received the Nobel Peace Prize. She currently is imprisoned by a military-controlled court. It’s a blow to democracy in Myanmar.

Just think, only since the late 1800s have women become educated, finally achieving voting and financial rights. Before then, they couldn’t own anything, nor make independent decisions about social, financial, and family matters. As slaves to their husbands and bearers of children, women often died young. For Black women, their lives were the same and worst.

Dear Friends: Here’s a toast to growing equality, despite an uncertain social future. Diana