Wednesday, October 20, 2021 (October’s full moon [“Hunter”] will rise this evening.)

Surprise! Five of my six young hens now are laying. Newest egg is speckled, and might be from the Rhode Island Red or the Cuckoo Maran, neither of which I’ve seen in the community’s nesting spot. Observing the nest has led me to estimating which four are laying. A couple lay consistently, another couple lay off and on.

They’re lovely pets, chickens. Each with an unique personality, generous and fun.

It feels delightful daily, gathering eggs. In our modern world, some human activities still offer a sense of being back-in-time. Some are being out and riding or driving horses, or navigating a canoe or kayak on a river, or foot hiking and maybe searching for mushrooms in the natural wilds. Or being in one’s own yard, gathering eggs and enjoying live chickens.

This summer I rescued a baby Robin. It had fledged early and still needed care. It lived with me three weeks before achieving a sense of its own being, becoming strong physically, and flying to another life.

As to “back-in-time”, my little companion brought the strong true sense of birds as winged dinosaurs.

I’ll update our friends on Old Welsummer, my nearly twelve-year-old hen, the last survivor from my first flock of baby chicks. She’s another cool pet.

She transitioned nicely into a house chicken, lives in a roomy pen, has a perch beneath a heating light. She has excellent energy and appetite, enjoys kibble, salads, fruits, and just about everything. In nice weather, she gets to spend time outside. There in another roomy pen she finds plenty of scratch and dried bugs. She loves having dust baths!

Now, to figure out which is the fifth young hen that’s laying. There will be eggs until there’s an initial deep freeze, and afterwards, laying will pause until it’s again spring.

Dear Friends: More back-in-time will be seeing Hunter’s Moon, rising and lighting a sunless world. Diana

Tuesday, October 19, 2021 (October’s full moon [“Hunter”] will rise tomorrow.)

In the last few evenings, I’ve been awed by the nearly-full and beautiful Hunter’s moon. In the eastern sky that rising globe, fuzzy at the edge seems a little soft, and oh well, I’ll add, it seems emotionally huggable.

I’m curious about moon names, and find that the name, “Hunter’s moon”, originated about four hundred years ago. In October, this moon rises during periods of leaf-falling, when wild animals are fattened for winter, and with daily periods of sunlight becoming shorter.

The previous month’s Harvest Moon oversaw the harvesting of fields. Now, the Hunter’s moon lights nights, eases the spotting of wild animals–those coming out to graze, and those following to prey on the grazers.

Tomorrow evening, my friend Susie and I will go out hunting. Our sights will be set on spotting a dark and very clear horizon. That’ll become the line to watch while we wait for the new full moon’s rise. Each time we’ve gone to sight rising new globes, piercing light into total darkness, it’s as if we’re witnessing the known-world’s re-birth. On seeing full moons breaking total darkness, we’re exhilarated, and each sighting is an unique adventure.

Dear Friends: It’s turning colder, so we’ll be bundle-clothed, maybe will tote a propane heater. Diana

Monday, October 18, 2021 (October’s fullest moon [“Hunter”] rises on the 20th.)

This morning froze for me on learning that Colin Powell has died. It feels like having lost a family member. He died from Covid. Media report that he fully had been vaccinated–that strong-looking, straightforward, fine person.

I follow politics loosely and dislike intensely today’s Supreme Court. But some players in both realms seem as familiar as folks in my neighborhood. This morning, I’m imagining how it might seem to learn that a Clinton or an Obama died. Wouldn’t feel so good, and not solely because histories make people special, but because today’s media bring them closer. In a sense knowing of them seems very personal.

There’s also the confusing factor of age. Powell’s age, 84, today “seems younger” than it used to be. In addition, as an ex-military he always appeared a picture of health and vigor.

These days, human ages in years seem changed. The elderly seem younger and the younger seem older. The elderly now living longer are finding time to explore their inner selves. They formerly didn’t do much self-exploring, were very busy earning livings in narrow and demanding environments. The new youngsters, many highly educated, and all aware, through schooling and media, are sophisticated about social conditions and politics.

I will think more about this later today while catching up on ranch work. I brought home several fence panels to reinforce the horses’ loafing shed. But they’re wrong, must be returned, and replaced with correct panels. Then the reinforcing will begin, along with the thinking.

Dear Friends: If humans can create a “metaverse”, we someday could manipulate our realities. https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/18/tech/facebook-metaverse-10000-european-jobs/index.html Diana

Sunday, October 17, 2021 (October’s fullest moon [“Hunter”] rises on the 20th.)

I was supposed to be off from work until next Friday, but the boss asked if I could fill-in today in for someone with an unavoidable commitment. I’ll be a little relieved of worries about having forgotten by Friday much from the first days in my new job.

Working at a cash register has easy parts. For example, straightforward sales, paid for with credit cards, are a piece of cake. There however are many sales variations that require pushing specific, non-intuitive keys. My concern is from doing my work by using a computer screen with a typical word processing layout. The keys on that screen don’t work as I expect. For example, one key opens a cash drawer, and most others perform non-text functions.

Different sales conditions require knowing which keys trigger appropriate responses. For example, tapping an asterisk might bring up a customer’s purchasing history. Tapping a minus-sign might bring up a return-for-credit screen. A plus-key will yield yet another image. Customers stepping from a waiting line to a check-out expect we at the registers to be quick and accurate.

Even over the two days since Friday (the last day I worked), I’ve forgotten what those keys–the asterisk, minus, and plus–bring up on the register screen. I’ll be starting over. My hope is for today to ease yet another re-beginning, next weekend.

My coworkers at the registers are young, quick, and bright. They’re very helpful, have smoothed my learning curve, but coaches have expectations. I must rise to the occasion.

Dear Friends: I will believe in myself, but as a writer do prefer understanding keys as initially designed. Diana

Saturday, October 16, 2021 (October’s fullest moon [“Hunter”] rises on the 20th.)

The Moon’s in the news. Tonight NASA and lunar enthusiasts will celebrate “International Observe the Moon 2021”. There will be live-streaming.

Today’s header photo is a NASA image showing rocks, looking as familiar as shoes on our feet. We Oregonians know fused rocks as bedrocks. In fact my house stands on solid bedrock, which disallows digging, say for a garden. An ongoing chore, to improve my property’s pathways, is digging up and moving lava rocks. It’s work often stopped cold upon bumping into bedrock. Today’s header image could be of a spot almost anywhere in Oregon.

It’s of bedrock, but on Mars. It’s in that planet’s Jezero crater, as taken by NASA’s Mars rover. Those rocks are layered in ways that prove to scientists that the crater once held liquid water. The photo reconfirms that Mars way in its past had rivers and flowing water.

I’m always looking at night moons. Today, I learned there’s a scientific field, called selenology, which studies the moon and strengthens NASA’s Moon knowledge. The latest knowledge comes from China’s sample-return-mission, which last December landed on the Moon’s largest lava field, Oceanus Procellarum, or the Ocean of Storms. After samples were returned to Earth, selenologists confirmed that the Moon’s lava field once was very stormy, and such so that storms created liquid rock. It covered the crater, eventually solidified into a dark plain.

To our naked eyes, that storm-formed dark plain is visible, in the Moon’s northwestern quadrant, a section that forever has been an object of human dreams and fantasies. In my childhood, that dark section had me nearly believing in “a man in the moon”. I always try to conjure my own theories, for surely the dark area has meaning. Now we understand, it’s a lava field.

Chinese selenologists have calculated the age of Moon’s lava field, as about two billion years old, or less than half the age of Moon itself. Throughout the existence on Earth of living creatures, those evolving with brains have been awed by the Moon and beheld it in admiration and wonder.

So now, although planets in our solar system like Mars and Moon, might not altogether be unfamiliar, our fascination with them continues. Tonight’s webcast offers both a scientific and cultural expedition to the Moon, with close-ups of the lunar surface.

NASA will host the hour-long event, starting at 7:30 p.m. EDT. We can watch on youtube, here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlvHN18NQUM

You may go to that link early and sign up for a reminder. Here on the west coast, the event begins at 4:30 p.m.

Dear Friends: Hunter’s Moon still is waxing, and in five days will rise at its fullest. Diana

Friday, October 15, 2021 (October’s fullest moon [“Hunter”] rises on the 20th.)

At the register:

Me: What a cute toddler-shirt, it’s a sleeveless turtleneck. Who’s going to wear it?

Customer: A chicken. I have one with a wound and this might protect the spot.

Answering telephone:

Me: Good afternoon, Wilco, this is Diana.

Caller: Can your fresh crab legs be purchased with food stamps?

Me: Maybe you want to call Winco? This is Wilco.

At the register:

Me: What a cute dog!

Customer: Yes, he’s a mix, and mostly King Charles. Soon after we moved to Bend, my husband left me for another woman. I won (she smiles), got the dog!

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Dear Friends: I’m on today’s opening shift, leaving soon for work. Diana

Thursday, October 14, 2021 (October’s fullest moon [“Hunter”] rises on the 20th.)

Soon, I’ll be off and running to Redmond, for Day Two (final one) of my job training. That and working this afternoon at a cash register will get me closer to being a certified register operator. Might not seem like much, but actually it’s stepping on a path toward a modern form of job security. Many of today’s part-time entry jobs call for cash register operators. If ever again I’m job searching, I’ll give a wave, “Here I am!”

I like where I’m working for many reasons. It’s near home, for dashing during lunch to toss hay for the horses. There’s generous employee price-discounting for necessities in attending to animals and property.

Yesterday I winterized. Pulled and drained hoses, stored warm weather equipment, connected trickle chargers to batteries, and cleaned areas that might become snow covered. Not that we’ll get much snow.

My online weather calendar shows that historically at this time of year Central Oregon has been very wet, rained-on nearly 50% of the time. Although now we’ve no rain, there are rains scattering to the west and north. On radar they seem on their way here, but so far only damp mornings.

I’m about to head into today’s damp darkness and feed the horses. First, the dogs will raise a ruckus because I’m taking only my hound, Ranger. He’s the most likely to be quiet this early, but would sound off if something seems unusual in the darkness.

Dear Friends: Thanks so much for your encouragement, and have a wonderful day! Diana

Wednesday, October 13, 2021 (October’s fullest moon [“Hunter”] rises on the 20th.)

Yesterday, the first full day working at my new job. That afternoon another first, operating a cash register, in real time, and working through challenges.

Some challenges were learning which register keys do what, how to check-out products by looking up names and sometimes confirming quantities available. Of course, handling cash accurately is critical. The day was Tuesday, “senior discount day”, with lots of buyers offering cash.

Cash transactions are no-brainers with registers that compute how much change to provide. It’s a boon because brains sometimes “don’t do” numbers accurately. The most essential brainwork is memorizing. Before operating another register, I’ll be skipping a day and trying remember correctly enough details to re-hop into the process.

Aside from technology and memory challenges, the day was fun. On Tuesdays, the store is crowded with buyers seeking price discounts. Register operators must keep check-out lines short, to under three buyers. I waved waiters forward with confidence but stumbled sometimes, and customers were kind and encouraging.

The day went quickly, my co-workers were terrific, confident and smart. They were quick, and kind when correcting and answering questions. Getting to know them was pleasant, and same for the customers–fellow animal lovers and patient as a newbie checked them out. Some were leading dogs, freshly-groomed or their good buddies accompanying all possible.

For this post-retiree, going back-to-work seems like a moving-ahead. Ain’t it something, that getting through early challenges might introduce new opportunities!

Dear Friends: Scrambling today, to finish winterizing against periods of freezing. Diana

Tuesday, October 12, 2021 (October’s fullest moon [“Hunter”] rises on the 20th.)

These are glorious days despite that they’re chilly and windy. Yesterday, there dropped on my side of town light snow and tiny hail. I say, “my side”, because other sorts of weather occur simultaneously on this small city’s other side. Over on the west, rain could be coming down like cats and dogs, while on the east all’s bone-dry. If in a mood to ditch unwanted weather, I simply slip across town.

In real time, I’m hurrying to winterize the barn area while the weather swings aggressively toward freezing. At least now my animals are drinking water from heated containers. Tomorrow, I’ll refresh the goat shelter, will remove old straw and replace with new. The fence surrounding the horse area has me fixing spots here and there and discovering unexpected weaknesses. There are constant needs for attention that push me to stay involved. I carry tools.

But, these are fall months heady with strength. How will I focus on work, long enough to complete enough, while limitless beauty surrounds? How will I avoid staring at leaves, now fabulous with color, on trees and already fallen? How about ordinarily-ugly lava rocks, damp now and revealing unusually vivid shapes and colors?

Finally, in the southern sky, last night’s waxing Hunter’s Moon was a quarter-full. Already special-looking, it set me dreaming of days ahead when it’ll completely be waxed. Venturing out to greet that moon rising means being bundled-up against a cold evening, while hopefully, blanketed by trillions of stars under a clear sky.

As usual, I digress.

Dear Friends: Suddenly, an inner voice says, “Whoa! Get ready for going to work!” Diana

Monday, October 11, 2021 (Note: This month’s fullest moon [“Hunter”] rises on the 20th.)

Yesterday’s weather too-suddenly turned downright cold. I went to work early in a warm afternoon and in late afternoon emerged to freezing winds and dropped temperatures. Hurried home, changed from jeans to snow pants, added cold-weather gear and went out to feed horses. They dashed happily into the barn.

Although our water hasn’t frozen, the weather was right for setting new water heaters into the horse troughs. After plugging them in, I checked the GFCI (ground fault circuit controller). If it’s still working correctly, that’ll become a certainty this morning when I’m visually reassured of heaters producing warming bubbles.

Training for my new job has had me watching videos, about teamwork, customer service, and what to do in potential instances, like a store robbery, suspected off-the-shelves thievery, and various other work-related conditions. It’s interesting to find, so many years after my initial rounds with similar introductory trainings, that basic human interactions haven’t changed. What has is the manner in which they’re addressed, which is updated. For example, I’m hearing delicate situations spoken to with greater sensitivity.

This week, I’ll turn to Zoom for introductions to modern register systems. Online videos show register displays as very complex. In reality, they couldn’t be too daunting, for many sorts learn and operate registers. I’m looking forward to learning modern technologicies, how they improve communicating, sorting, and computing.

On the topic of cute pets, friends tell me it’s easy to create personal calendars with user friendly software available online. Some of my photos have captured terrific animal images, and a calendar would be a fine way to share them. It’s not too late to pull pictures together and play to create a 2022 calendar. It’ll be on my plate this week.

Dear Friends: This new job has me breathing in a known and likeable world. Diana