Friday, April 08, 2022

A physical problem slowly is becoming more frequent. I am awakened from sleep by leg muscle cramping, commonly called a “Charlie horse.” It’s a painful condition. Managing to get on my feet and walking may fade the cramping. I understand that cramping may arise from drinking too little water and eating too few bananas.

I’m attempting to head off the cramps by adding electrolytes to water, and making a point of drinking loaded water instead of sugarless soft drinks. Electrolytes are okay, by giving the water a reasonably good taste, and hopefully hydrating me better.

Yesterday at work, I spent my shift working at a cash register. A familiar customer came through my line, and we talked about muscle cramping. She said, “I coach baseball and basketball teams, and travel. Frequently, my muscles start cramping.” She opened her bag, produced a jar of green-looking fluid. Holding it up, she said, “Here’s your solution, and right from your refrigerator. Say hello to pickle juice!”

“Huh!”

“Yes,” she nodded, “Works every time! The instant I start feeling a cramp, I swallow a couple of big slugs, and immediately, the cramp disappears. I always have pickle juice with me, everywhere, whether or not I’m actively coaching, because I get lots of cramps.” She shook the jar, “This stuff keeps me going.”

“Must it be refrigerated? Would it still work if overnight it’s on a nightstand?”

“Sure! Just make sure it’s dill pickle juice.”

Who argues with an experienced athletic coach? I remembered long ago buying dill pickles, but where could they be?

After work, I discovered an unopened jar of Claussen Dill Spears in a back corner of my refrigerator. I ate a spear and tasted the juice, not bad. I set the jar in front on a shelf. Around midnight, I awakened, feeling a tiny business occurring in a leg muscle. Ordinarily, maybe not enough to worry about, but I went to the refrig for that jar, ate a pickle and sipped some juice.

Immediately, I forgot the tiny cramp.

Dear Friends: Suggesting again, a brain’s incredible power over how a body feels. Diana

Thursday, April 07, 2022

Two days off, busy and productive. My taxes have been completed well before this month’s deadline for a change. I won’t get a refund, but neither will need to face quarterly estimates. I dislike having periodic tax obligations.

The horses, or one of them, chose a wooden fence post to rub against often, breaking the aging post at its base. The sagging affected a neighboring post, putting an essential gate lock out of whack. That’s a key gate needing a lock that clicks quickly and securely into place.

High need forced me to focus on fixing the post and lock. I had to study the problems and experiment. My learning required multiple dashes to the hardware store for cement and tools. The fixes needed completion before today when I must return to work. A significant factor was adrenaline, helping me do whatever (including pounding in a t-post). Once the damaged post seemed stable, I turned to the gate lock. Now all is done, and I’ll not worry about the horses knocking over a fence or opening a gate.

Rosie’s colic wasn’t severe, and she appears normal, on her feet and eating, eliminating, and bullying Sunni. I will watch her closely and take her to Bend Equine for an exam and meds.

There’s no pet relationship like that with a horse. They’re around for a long time, are big, fragile, expensive, need bunches of attention, and are always on one’s mind. They also teach us and are enormous fun.

Dear Friends: Next week will be warm; I hope to saddle up and find a trail. Diana

Wednesday, April 06, 2022

Almost twenty-five years old, Rosie has been with me for nine years. She’s carried me in every local mountain and forest. An elegant mover, she arrived here already an experienced driving horse. I wanted to learn to drive, and she’s been a fun partner.

Yesterday afternoon, Rosie seemed a little strange. I saw her lying in one position and then shifting to another. Unusual, so I watched her. After a bit of rolling, she stood. Well, maybe okay. I went into the house and wasn’t away long from the barn. On returning, I saw Rosie again lying down. Now she was making me worry.

I hung a bag of hay which Rosie ignored. A horse that won’t eat is A Red Flag for serious concern. All happening pointed to colic. Rosie wandered, looking for another spot to lay down, and I followed with a halter and lead rope. I haltered her hanging head and gave a little tug, “Let’s walk, Rosie.”

We walked around and around in the dry lot. At first, although reluctant, Rosie didn’t try stopping to lay down. To my joy, she had a bowel movement and afterward seemed to lead easier. Eventually, in promising signs, she snorted and licked her lips. I had no medications at the barn, nor would I have left her for some, fearing she’d lay down and not want to get up. My ear against her body picked up slight gut sounds.

We walked nearly for an hour, and my iWatch recorded 17,000 steps.

She wasn’t showing an interest in the hay bag. I led her to it, and she nibbled. I watched until she was eating with vigor. The evening was darkening; I felt exhausted.

I’m waiting for the light to dawn and will check on Rosie.

Dear Friends: Horses are powerful and also fragile. Diana

Tuesday, April 05, 2022

I have the honor of being one of a very few women who’ve ever ridden behind Dale. Susie accompanied us on her bike. It was great fun.

Many years ago, I’d ride behind my neighbor, Reiko, on his Harley. We traveled on Pacific Coast Highway, ignoring passing “Ninja bikes” and making “special salutes” to Harleys. Our destination was in Malibu, at an eating spot where bikers accumulated. That place specialized in seafood, and I recall it simply as Fish House.

It had lots of light through oversized windows and large in-common tables. We’d eat fresh crab or whatever while watching the Pacific rolling toward us. Afterward, we’d walk across the highway to the water’s edge and drink in that big ocean world.

These days and similarly, I’m awed and in love with a “moon world.” Central Oregon’s dryness doesn’t hinder moons from encouraging in watchers strong senses of joy and mystery. In my experience, moon activities are as motivating and strength-delivering as ocean activities.

Dear Friends: Following a motorcycle ride, fond memories and reflections. Diana

Monday, April 04, 2022

Late in the afternoon, on arriving home from work, I found MOTORCYCLES. Dale and Susie had left their HeliLadder Company early, and after taking a ride paused at my barn, to help with chores. We hung hay bags for hungry horses and filled a bunch more that I’ll hang today, before leaving for work and during my lunchtime.

We didn’t forget the goats and chickens. Entered their area while watching out for my two roosters; they didn’t bother us. A customer at the feed store where I work said to start carrying a broom into the chicken coop and that roosters fear brooms. I’ve not tried that but shall.

We took a motorcycle ride through the neighborhood. Susie has come a long way in the few months she’s been riding. I’m proud of her progress, for in the beginning she was wary. I rode behind Dale, a motorcycle-lifer. Their bikes rolled as a smooth pair, and our little ride exhilarated, woke me up, as if I’d not worked that day.

Dale made us laugh, said I’m one of very few women who have ridden behind him on his motorcycle. Susie said there might have been one or two before they got together. The couple are very close, and (miraculously still so, from my perspective) despite years of collaborating to their bones to make HeliLadder a success.

I did a little business consulting back in the old days, and a key objective was to avoid working with family-owned businesses. There’s a problem in that decision-making in families differs from decision-making among unrelated individuals in typical workplaces. With family businesses, consultants are essentially outsiders and often receivers of decisions they didn’t help formulate and might evaluate as unworthy.

So guess what? I’m going to do some “Facebooking” for HeliLadder. Maybe that will make better known one of this area’s unique and growing businesses. A successful venture could inspire other creative minds to move their ideas forward. Who knows, without trying?

Dear Friends: It’s cold and blustery out, and I must go to hang hay bags. Diana

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