Thursday, April 28, 2022

^{_{April “Pink Moon” Waning Crescent @5.7%; Next Full Moon, May 15.}}

Gee, Sunday will be the first day of May. We’re approaching the 2022 midpoint and summer solstice.

Where does time go?

Here in Central Oregon, that question is perpetual. Our transitional seasons, spring and fall, are short, too quickly over. We barely adjust to one transitional mode before time to get into the next. That’s one reason time seems to slip by.

I suppose today it’s on my mind because May happens to be my birthday month. Maybe a powerful reason to be mulling over the question. I could be in a transitional phase between having memory and losing it.

So far, so good, knock-on wood, and more.

So, I’ll pull up a memory. While in high school, where I grew up in Oklahoma, I became the star of my high school drama class. At the beginning of the semester, our assignment was to look for a “reading,” and edit it into a ten-minute spoken piece. The critical assignment was for students to memorize and interpret aloud, before an audience, their selected readings.

The drama instructor, Mrs. Ford, was a stickler for everything about speaking before an audience. We had to place ourselves and stand correctly. We had to limit our hand and arm gestures. Our eye contact had to be just so. Our vocalizations, including pitch and tension, had to match perfectly with our words and meanings. Mrs. Ford knew what she was doing and was not interested in being a fun teacher.

I loved drama class. I practiced and practiced, learned to do everything correctly and became the best presenter in the student group.

The high school sponsored me, with my reading, to the State Drama Championship competition at the [then] agricultural college in Norman, Oklahoma. I won, becoming Oklahoma’s designated representative to the National High School Drama Finals in San Francisco.

Thrilling for me and equally so for Mrs. Ford.

I didn’t fare as well in SF. The presenters and judges saw things differently from those at home. Those in SF liked my reading but judged it more as “acting” than “interpreting.” I’ve never agreed, but to be honest, my style was to throw myself entirely into a piece.

By the way, my chosen reading was an excerpt from a play entitled “Bury the Dead,” written in 1938 by Irwin Shaw.

Dear Friends: That’s a pleasant memory, my moment in the sun. Diana

Wednesday, April 27, 2022

^{_{April “Pink Moon” Waning Crescent @11.1%; Next Full Moon, May 15.}}

These are crazy times. Pandemic worries are continuing, and there’s Putin’s War, supply chain bonkers, and ever-higher price increases. These and more are impacting stock market averages because some of the world’s most valued companies can’t meet production and sales goals.

Our world is experiencing the post-worst-pandemic blues. Maybe ahead will arrive a hit song by someone prominent, like Dolly Parton. She for sure “gets it” and could do it right.

My little world has become confusing because I’m trying to understand modern management styles. They’re different from what my education and experience have taught me. Today, I work with and listen to young people in their sixteen to mid-twenties. They’re incredibly tech-savvy and have aspirations similar to mine at their ages, but they seem to be motivated differently.

I grew up in a low-income family. My biggest aspirations were to learn to type and become a secretary. While I did both, opportunities for women began to expand, and I could set my sights on gaining higher education. Everything was about learning and earning to create a predictably safe future.

Today’s young people I’m working alongside tend to ignore higher education. They set their sights on quicker solutions, like studying online, for real estate sales licenses or other hot ticket jobs. They’re benefitted by having tech skills usable for making gains. But quick education won’t teach the complex social skills and organization savvy needed to cope well in competitive adult environments.

Working among youngsters, I must learn more. My professional shortcoming is not having worked previously alongside recent high school graduates or college dropouts after a year to seek quicker gains.

One must not underestimate the power of changing economies. During my lifetime, they have provided and withdrawn opportunities. Changes allow for times of high-flying and times of victimization. Everyone wields an oar in the same boat except those most wealthy.

If I’m to remain in today’s workforce, learning is necessary. A youth-oriented worldview may provide a better grasp of today’s management challenges.

Dear Friends: I’ll listen, observe, learn, and keep comments to myself. Diana

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

^{_{April “Pink Moon” Waning Crescent @18.6%; Next Full Moon, May 15.}}

In the feed store where I work part-time, I requested a reduction of weekly working days, from an average of five to three only. The store’s manager said I must become a cashier again, because the store needs someone for four days to sell chickens, which has been my job. I agreed to return to the registers.

I decided for several reasons. First, I didn’t feel comfortable with the team I was assigned to work with because communications were nonexistent. The difficulty was offset by hours of working independently, which made my position feel okay.

Other problems are physical. The organization is particular about signage and won’t allow the placement of a sign to “open slowly” on a door separating the warehouse from the store. The door hasn’t a window nor a turning handle to open; it just needs a push. I’ve nearly been crushed several times by someone rushing from the opposite direction.

Last week, something totally unexpected happened. On one of my frequent walks through the warehouse, a bag of pelleted feed spontaneously slipped from a high shelf, landing and exploding exactly where my foot had left. I had been a hairline from becoming smashed. I looked up at the shelves of stored bags and saw disarrays. Bags turned in the stacks appeared dangerously not neat.

I went immediately to the managers and relayed all the discomforts. My team’s lack of cohesion, a door frightening to approach, and worst, that bag, unsafely stored and fallen.

I learned that company policies prevented doing anything about the door, not a sign or a window. They decided they’d bring up the door and falling bag in an upcoming safety meeting. They acknowledged that my team needed leadership training.

Those responses were too little.

I deeply understand management’s responsibilities and that an organization needs practical training and dedicated supervision. That falling bag was evidence of a dangerous environment, convincing me to reduce my schedule there.

Shifting to the cash registers will have me less approaching the blind door, and less walking in the warehouse area.

Dear Friends: Next will be experiencing where events may go from here. Diana

Monday, April 25, 2022

^{_{April “Pink Moon” Waning Crescent @28.5%; Next Full Moon, May 15.}}

This morning, I’m to open the store. That means leaving earlier than usual, and saying just a quick hello here.

It feels hard to get going, maybe because working yesterday was stressful. We were busy, and I was alone in the departments I had been assigned to cover. There was heavy traffic to see or buy chickens, plus multiple phone inquiries, in-person product seekers, and shelves needing frequent tidying.

I have been working nearly full-time. Today, I’ll speak to the store’s managers about changing my schedule so that I work only three days weekly.

Dear Friends: Longer daylight and summer weather change everything. Diana

Sunday, April 24, 2022

^{_{April “Pink Moon” Waning Crescent @38.3%; Next Full Moon, May 15.}}

Today’s local temperature will reach 70 degrees, and customers will pack into the store where I work. Yesterday’s warmth drew customers; they seemed to pour in, and during the busiest times, I operated a cash register helping to reduce checkout lines.

This lovely weather draws me outside, too, but not to my job; I want to ride my horses. I’m considering asking for fewer weekly workdays. It seems a tough call, for although I work part-time, the store needs its good workers, and I’m one of them.

There’s also a moral consideration. Last fall, I was job hunting, at an advanced age and without retail experience. Not a highly-desirable candidate, but the store needed more employees and hired me.

Working there has introduced me to the retail world. I’ve learned to operate an electronic cash register and grasp the concepts of inventory, backstock, warehousing, and E-commerce. I’m reminded, I’m good at selling. I’ve felt grateful for a gig that provides a leg up for seeking other work in the future.

The moral issue is that I feel indebted. I’m dithering over reducing my working hours or even departing an environment that’s provided marketable knowledge. The store needs and supports good employees. From the store’s perspective, and it’s a no-brainer, I’d be replaced relative to fewer hours or a total departure. The store will survive.

I’m asking myself what it is I really want. I enjoy working; it’s my social time. Meanwhile, the pretty days crowd in and are bothersome.

Dear Friends: All Central Oregonians are hungry for actual spring weather. Diana

Saturday, April 23, 2022

^{_{April “Pink Moon” Waning Crescent @49.2%; Next Full Moon, May 15.}}

A film reviewer for NYT, Anthony Lane, says, “Céline Sciamma’s new film taps into our secret wish to learn what our parents were like when they were young.“

Recently, I wrote about her previous excellent film, “Portrait of a Woman on Fire.” Sciamma is a genius filmmaker. The movie “Portrait” illustrates her unique applications of lighting and sounds, choreographed movement, and self-created tight scripting. Her design of “Portrait” introduced a little-recognized aspect of art, e.g., historically there have been women who achieved success as creative artists (often having fathers who were recognized artists).

“Portrait” should have received the Oscar for Best (or, at least, Foreign) Picture.

Fortunately, Sciamma has earned lots of attention. Her new film, “Petite Mamam,” receives sensitive reviews in critical publications. Sciamma does informative interviews because her genius extends to an ability to articulate details about her creations, from how they’re planned and scripted to how they’re designed, cast, and filmed.

“Petite Mamam” is a memory film inspired by Sciamma’s grandmother’s story. The two young actors are twin sisters. In the movie, in mutual fantasy, they discover each other. Eventually, they recognize themselves, while still children, as mother and daughter. Sciamma in childhood was influenced hugely by her grandmother. This film seeks to understand how that early relationship contributed to the mature director’s interests, appreciations, and artistry.

I hope to find this film streaming somewhere. Sciamma’s interviews likely are on YouTube. I’ll tune in to learn how she conceived and created her latest achievement and where its success might be leading.

Dear Friends: She’s a great filmmaker; I can’t say more or enough. Diana

Friday, April 22, 2022

Yesterday, I released three fledglings from a holding pen centered in the chicken coop. All went well except for my two hen turkeys. I’ve never seen those gentle creatures, clucking and whistling while following me around, bother a chicken. Nonetheless, each was set on killing the new flock members. I saw a turkey expertly grab one of the babies by her neck.

That trying episode conflicted with my morning plan. I wanted to fledge three more younger birds from their start in my garage.

After herding away the turkeys, I stayed watching the flock for a long while. It seemed safest to return the three youngsters to their pen. That pushed me toward a difficult decision about the garaged birds ready to fledge. Could they be penned with the current holding pen residents?

The question was, would these allow others needing release to join them? Flocked chickens are close and territorial. A flock needs a gradual introduction to new birds or will consider them intruders and fight. I decided to try adding the birds, one by one. Maybe those already in the holding pen still were immature enough to accept new residents.

One by one, I carried a fledgling into the holding pen; I held it on my lap and reassured while observing bird behaviors. On releasing each baby, all went well, except that turkeys threatened from outside the cell. After hanging around and feeling somewhat reassured, I went up to the house for a short bit. Within minutes, I heard rain. Within more minutes, looking outside, I saw a total hailstorm.

I could only hope that the first set of three were allowing the second set to join them in the pen’s single shelter.

After the storm, I went outside to the coop. The holding pen hadn’t any outside chicks. I glimpsed through the shelter door a white body; the single white chick had just been added.

Later on, again checking, I saw that all six chicks were in the shelter, nesting in deep hay. Whew!

Dear Friends, Releasing the youngsters will need adapting turkeys to change. Diana

Thursday, April 21, 2022

April "Pink Moon" Waning Gibbous @71.5%; Next full moon, May 15.

This city has changed dramatically. There’s an ever-increasing population, and everywhere, new construction. Higher traffic is causing lots of street-changing.

Twenty years ago, on first moving here, I could drive across town in seven minutes. Today’s drive takes thirty-five minutes or more because of traffic, road closures, and detours. Thus, it’s no small matter that my bank has moved. It’s no longer nearby on the east side of town, but now it is a cumbersome drive away on the west side.

Understandably, land options and high rents will cause businesses to consolidate and move. For those reasons, the local feed store where I work is the last in town. The others have moved away to nearby cities, more cumbersome drives away. So, the local feed store is a benefitting survivor.

I get it why my long-time bank has moved across town. Not enjoying having a longer, more difficult drive to reach it, I’m thinking about changing my bank. That doesn’t feel easy as banking regulations have changed. Choosing a bank or credit union means knowing which might be best.

The jury is out, but deliberations are continuing. My current bank in a high-rent area might decide to close its local branch entirely. Banking online or by phone are inconsistent, for systems fail, impeding service, causing delay and heartburn.

Maybe I’ll stop deliberating and get into action.

Dear Friends: Well, finally, and likely the best idea, is changing where I bank. Diana

Wednesday, April 20, 2022

A guy comes into the store’s shoe section, looks around, takes off his boots and tries on new ones. Here’s the thing, he loves his old boots; they’re comfortable, dependable, real friends. Yeah, they’re pretty beat up, the soles are splitting off, but they’re the best.

This gets repeated all the time, especially among men and even non-ranching types. Men love wearing old, dilapidated, and faithful boots. I’m not counting out women; many work hard wearing and loving a pair of worn boots. But men take the cake when it’s about continuing to wear awful-looking beat-ups. “New boots aren’t as comfortable, haven’t as much appeal as my old ones.”

You can’t judge books by their covers nor individuals by their footwear. Boots can tell their own stories. Their looks conjure up probabilities as to histories and wearers.

People can be teased a little about wearing old boots, but not too much. It’s a matter of personal preference and pride.

Dear Friends: In the details, we’re often unique and exciting. Diana

Tuesday, April 19, 2022

This is our last freezing day for a while; it’ll be a rainy one. Tomorrow will introduce a string of rising temperatures. I don’t complain about the wet stuff. Our area is desperate for lots of it, but a break will make caring for my property easier.

I spend many days away working part-time but in a full-time mode. My job is less interesting than in the beginning, when each day challenged me to learn. Now, knowing how to perform the necessary work, I gather knowledge while talking with customers and selling chickens.

Knowing is one thing, but understanding is another. Customers communicate from the individual perspective, with most seeking days-old baby chickens from romantic feelings. They wish to love chicks, see them grow and become a flock, and they want to gather eggs. There’s a backside called learning. Chicks can become sick and even die, which is disheartening.

Moreover, baby chicks need attention and care for weeks, with lots of cleaning, feeding, and watering. Finally, they need a coop adequately protecting against predators. I hear of chicken losses from hawks, raccoons, and, more sadly, destructive loose dogs.

Recently, a policeman came in to choose replacement chicks for someone who has lost thirty mature hens to loose dogs. The policeman said they knew to whom those dogs belonged but couldn’t prove it. I should have asked how the chicken owner planned to prevent another attack. I’ll save that question for next time.

People’s fantasies and learning experiences become a unique body of knowledge. The tiny chicks encourage imagination and anticipation. Indeed, real-time experiences may be surprising, disappointing, and disheartening. Even for me, a seller of chicks, hearing some customers planning to use adorable babies as meat birds.

Fantasies reveal an individual’s wishes for pleasure and gain. People with varying worldviews have inclinations that are agreeable or arguable. I try to avoid those that feel disagreeable.

Dear Friends: Unlikeable elements mean having to “learn on the jaw.” Diana