Wednesday, March 09, 2022

That’s my neighbor, Johnny, helping bring the horses home. He spoils them by letting them pause and graze on grassy spots. It’s okay because I’m happy leading just one of the three horses. Walking with all of them has me pulling Rosie back and tugging at Pimmy, the lagger. Thankfully, Sunni is easy and doesn’t care at what speed we move during our marches.

I met with the manager of the store where I work, to talk about a supervisor who upsets and angers me. It looks like I’ll have to continue working with the guy, but at least I said what I had to say. And guess what, I’m to invite that supervisor to lunch today! And the Store will pay for it.

That’s the last thing I want to do, but the manager is correct. If we talk, maybe there’s a path toward working together better. I will have to be a Big Girl and do my best with this task.

An accidental outcome from the meeting made me happy. The manager mentioned wanting to create a new employee orientation. That’s my specialty, employee training, and right up my alley. I went home, drafted a slide show, and returned to the store. I could tell that the draft helped the manager and co-manager organize more, to move forward on the orientation.

Ahead, I’m stuck with that supervisor, but might have opportunities to do more the kind of work I’m trained for. Otherwise, and most of the time, I like being employed in that store.

Dear Friends: Today, I must be at the store early, as new chicks are arriving. Diana

Tuesday, March 08, 2022

Yesterday, I couldn’t write against the thundering in my head after working a rough shift with a bullying supervisor on the previous day. Conflicts with him are shared among the employees. I’m a recent hire and don’t know how to escape his abusiveness. Periodically he supervises my shift, and I can’t ignore him.

I’m a retiree, choosing to work for the benefits of extra money and social opportunities. My employer emphasizes customer service and teamwork, both attitudes are up my alley. Regardless of their formal positions, employees are friendly, cooperative, and capable.

The supervisor who troubles me means well for the store, but his supervising style doesn’t suit the social environment. He intimates underlings by bullying and harassing, verbally and physically. Most workers understand their roles in the organization, so he infuriates.

My Sunday shift under his supervision raised conflicts over continuing to work there. The following day and still feeling overwhelmed, I wrote a summary of what was happening to the store’s manager. That became an essay; it ate my window for blogging.

Today, I’ll take my document to the store to discuss the situation. I’m not under the illusion that a disgruntled wonk-employee can avoid working with a higher-ranking employee. But, if leaving my job is the only way to avoid his mistreatment, top management needs to understand why I would.

Dear Friends: Now, with a plan, my head is clear, so is the next step. Diana

Monday, March 07, 2022

Friends: I’m sorry but unable to blog today. Time is too short, and tomorrow I can explain all.

All’s well here, and I hope that’s also true with you.

Diana

Sunday, March 05, 2022

Ahead is another morning of early to work, and I overslept. This is a quick hello.

I’ll see you tomorrow!

Dear Friends: Have a wonderful day. Diana

Saturday, March 05, 2022

A kind customer shared this irresistible photo of her pet pig and baby chicks.

I hear some of the best stories while at work from people in the store to buy or just pausing to look at the chickens. Everyone has chicken stories. Sometimes there’s only one, and it occurred long ago in a person’s childhood.

My current story is about losing one of the tykes I brought home a few days ago. She had been among the shipment of several hundred infants, lost by the Post Office and “stuck somewhere” in frigid weather for three days. Many of those babies were DOA, and others shortly after arriving at the store. Of my two survivors from that group, one continues to hold on.

Last night, I added that baby to a brooder containing the two chicks I brought home last week. A young customer’s landlord wouldn’t let him keep them, and the store doesn’t accept chicken returns. I adopted the two, tiny, cold, and weak, but they rallied. Although these chicks are older and bigger than their new brooder-mate, they accepted a newbie. This morning, all three are sleeping in a little pile.

That’s all, on another early-to-work morning.

Dear Friends: Pig stories are fun, too, making me want a pet pig! Diana

Friday, March 04, 2022

I’ve been writing a magazine article early in the mornings about Lisa’s beautiful aviary populated with lively and healthy small birds. I’ve reworked various stabs, rejects that were dead-ends initially, and a narrative begins shaping. A target audience of popular magazine readers requires a logical and easy-reading piece.

Writing goals and objectives may become tangled. One scribbles, steps away, looks again and rewrites, steps away, and so on again. Soon and fortunately, Lisa also will have a say, and together we will strengthen the draft.

Whew! Writing to a specific readership has the challenge of pre-identified readers dictating everything. How people tend to read is a critical factor as a writer develops theme tones and selects words that communicate quickly.

In blogging, I write what’s on my mind for a general audience. My rule of thumb is to produce short, logical, and easy-to-read pieces. Sometimes, oops, I fail, usually from a need to say whatever was produced. Mostly, I try to improve by working carefully to structure themes and sentences.

The magazine article represents a short, energetic flight into new space. It’s hard work with goals and objectives, and also fun, excellent learning.

Dear Friends: If this blog seems a “structured oops,” call it writer’s-obsession. Diana

Thursday, March 03, 2022

I couldn’t believe that yesterday I forgot to go home although scheduled to work a half-day. After complaining of not feeling challenged at work, I received permission to take it upon myself to learn more about the organization’s needs and expand my role. Several co-workers teamed individually with me yesterday to explain the business’s inventory and stocking methods, and help me understand how to participate more.

I liked that and practiced accessing unfamiliar in-store computer sites. I spent time roaming the “back-stock” area to learn workers’ roles and locations of specific merchandise.

Meanwhile, new baby chicks were due to arrive and customers phoning about if they were in. I awaited a call from the Post Office before picking them up. Much happened yesterday to illustrate that the business of selling live animals isn’t particularly kind.

I’m facing a new challenge: balancing inner feelings opposed to boredom and unkindness against wanting to learn and work outside the home. Ironically, it’s not a brand-new condition because workplace environments always foster personal challenges.

To simplify the point, we cope in an imperfect world.

Dear Friends: Overcoming or avoiding disappointment isn’t an easy choice. Diana

Wednesday, March 02, 2022

A new moon, a new day, a short greeting. I’m due at the store an hour before it’s to open to prepare for a batch of arriving new chicks.

I’m starting to worry about myself with tiny chicks. Many are so needy and probably bring forward my own neediness. I’m worried about finding myself compelled to save passels of needy ones. That fantasy already seems to be turning into reality, for heaven’s sakes!

Peaches, a different bird that lives with me, has had a spa treatment. His flight wings are trimmed and nails shortened. We can again do something he loves, going outside together and taking walks. He’s happiest while perched on one of my shoulders or atop my head.

Dear Friends: Have a wonderful day. Diana

Tuesday, March 01, 2022

Up early to catch up on news of the war. It’s stunning to learn that Putin is spouting nuclear threats to bully a world unsupportive of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Only a madman articulates weaponry escalation in this modern age that could destroy vast swaths of humanity.

Tonight, President Biden will make this year’s State of the Union speech to both chambers of Congress and an attentive worldwide audience. I am today off from work and will be watching.

Speaking of work, I’m adopting the last two infant chicks from the store’s last batch. These are from several hundred newborns packaged and shipped by a New Mexico hatchery. Such shipments to Central Oregon usually take one day, but this package became stalled in our worst-freezing recent weather because the Post Office suffered a transportation breakdown.

The package of newborns full of chicks without food and water became lost for three days. It arrived finally with many chicks dead and many others too weak to hang on.

Today, I’ll fetch the still-tiny survivors of that incredibly rough start to life. Not wanting any more chickens, I encouraged co-workers to adopt the pair. Nobody wanted them, although days in the store’s “hospital tank” helped each gain strength.

I was opposed to selling outright these still special-needs chicks. That left me as the last best hope for their continued survival.

Dear Friends: Give a little, take a little, aiming to achieve the best outcome. Diana

Monday, February 28, 2022

This morning, I’m fiddling with the capabilities of Word Press, a powerful platform. When I try becoming more creative with images and spaces, the program’s constraints often interfere. My recent hope has been to insert images of current moon states. These days, the moon in “waning crescent” approaches its monthly transition to “new moon”.

The caption line and image don’t precisely match my vision, but the program allows and links a picture to the daily moon status. So, I’ll be satisfied.

A New Moon will appear on March 2 and be fullest on the 16th. I love the moon’s predictability and dependability. Those attributes help to guide and mollify the Earth’s inhabitants.

Those thoughts fall into a category of “stress relief” lately on my mind. I find that an interest in overhead objects, their activities, and significance, or in other words sky-watching, almost erases a person’s tensions.

Speaking of tensions, this morning I’m to help open the store. So, now it’s off with me!

Dear Friends: The pandemic years have made “stress relief” a vast topic. Diana