(March’s “Worm Moon,” Waning Crescent @0.7%”; New Moon Tonight; April full “Pink Moon,” rises @4/16.)
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
(March’s “Worm Moon,” Waning Crescent @3.6%”; New Moon 3/31; April full “Pink Moon,” rises @4/16.)
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
(March’s “Worm Moon,” Waning Crescent @8.3%”; New Moon 3/31; April full “Pink Moon,” rises @4/16.)
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
(March’s “Worm Moon,” Waning Crescent @16.1%”; New Moon 3/31; April full “Pink Moon,” rises @4/16.)
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.
(March’s “Worm Moon,” Waning Crescent @25.4%”; New Moon 3/31; April full “Pink Moon,” rises @4/16.)
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
(March’s “Worm Moon,” Waning Crescent @35.2%”; New Moon 3/31; April full “Pink Moon,” rises @4/16.)
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
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
Today, it’s back to work after a couple of days off with unusually warm weather. That felt wonderful and I accomplished several area goals.
A trio of new chicks resides in the dog kennel that’s inside the chicken coop. In a few weeks, they’ll join the older flock. Two sets of baby chicks in brooders have been transferred to larger brooders. Those transfers which might not sound like much were important. In a short time, all the babies again will graduate and eventually become integrated into one flock.
That flock might or might not include a rooster.
I had time to write on my magazine article. It felt finished, but maybe that’s not so. This week I’ll shred parts maybe not necessary and tighten the narrative. Writing is like bringing home a baby chick, or in other words, starting what seems easy and finding it’s not.
It’s time to wrap this up and get ready to go to work. Today, an early start with baby chickens in the store and needing pre-opening attention.
Dear Friends: Remembering Madeleine Albright, and lots, I loved her. Diana
It’s taken too long today to connect with the internet, so this is a brief hello. I hope to fix the lagging connection problem soon.
Three chicks in my garage are ready to fledge. Yesterday I cleaned the transition coop in the chicken yard, and today will move the youngsters into it. They’ll spend about three weeks interacting safely with the current chicken residents, before a release to join the flock.
A second trio of babies is ready for moving into the large brooder that today’s chicks leave behind. In three weeks, this second group will fledge and go into the outside transition coop.
Ahead, is one more group of tiny chicks, a repeat of these three-week turnovers. I might keep as special pets a couple of these babies. One is blind in an eye, the other missing enough back feathers to become a pecking target. I’ll watch, see how they’re doing, and decide their futures.
For sure, I’m making a resolution. I’ve done my share, will not rescue another chicken!
Dear Friends: Now Mitzvah runs freely, and next week will dump her hat. Diana
I brought home the only baby chicken left from the store’s last shipment. The little hen, about five days old is a Dominant Copper, a sweet breed that’s one of my favorites.
Arriving at work, I found her alone in the “sick tank,” and there because of missing feathers and looking bald in spots. I understand it’s common in her breed, that some feathers eventually might or might not grow.
Her two tank buddies were sold the evening before. This now-lone chick was energetically attempting to leap from the short-sided holder. She shouldn’t be left alone, so I decided to take her home, adding to young chickens now in brooders.
The store had sold out of chickens. This one would spend the next eight hours alone. I transferred her into a large tank in the public “chicken area” to keep an eye on her. Alone at first in ample new space, she cried loudly. To counter her calls for company, I purchased a feather duster and a stuffed animal, placed them in her tank. She explored, liked the feathers, and quietened significantly.
Before long, she could be found nestling and dozing on the feather duster. Otherwise, she was active and ate vigorously–all good. A co-worker said his wife once added a mirror to entertain a single chick, and I placed a borrowed mirror beside this chick’s feather duster. Soon, one could tiptoe to the quiet tank, peek, and see Baby at rest on feathers, pecking at her mirror.
My friend and coworker, Debbie, took pictures and videos of baby chicken and accouterments, but my phone needs too long to transfer them for publishing today. Meanwhile, the header photo adds heft to this story.
Chick was adorable, even missing some feathers. Customers saw and enjoyed her, wanted to buy her. The potential ease of selling a single chicken became a lesson for future leftover chicks.
Here at home, little chicken is holding her own among three slightly bigger hens. They didn’t pick on her, and she insisted on nestling among them. This morning, all’s well in the group brooder.
Dear Friends: Chickens are underrated beings; they’re smart and fun. Diana
