Sunday, October 10, 2021 (Note: This month’s fullest moon [“Hunter”] rises on the 20th.)

Sometimes I leap into activities before reading fine print. That happened while entering my donkey, Pimmy, in a “cutest pet calendar” contest. Sponsored by the local newspaper, the outcome will be a slick calendar. Very cute, are all the 253 contestants, mostly dogs and cats. The candidates include a cougar and my donkey.

It’s the newspaper’s clever way of supporting the local humane society. Available for purchase for one’s favorite pet are hundreds of “yes” votes. The money goes to a good cause, the local humane society recently closed because of inadequate staffing and funding.

I’m absolutely a supporter of the humane society. I’m not a supporter of a “pet contest” that forces multiple vote purchases to promote a pet throughout four weeks.

The contest runs for a month, begins anew weekly. Each new voting round ranks pets in the order ending their previous round. For Pimmy, the upcoming round will show her near the top, at #13. To maintain her rank, I’ll have to purchase votes. Already, the pets ranking above Pimmy have very high vote counts, some have thousands.

The cost isn’t a huge deal. For $20 one adds 500 votes. That may keep keep a pet in the running and will support the humane society. How about more? Contributing $100 weekly to add 2,000 votes each round could ensure an appearance in the planned calendar.

I’ve asked friends to vote for my pet. Many have responded, and yesterday I naively cheered Pimmy’s pop in the rankings. She moved upward, from a very low #219, to a very high #13. It didn’t register that her vote count was slightly over 500, until a dear friend texted about having added 500 votes by purchasing them. Wonderful support raising questions.

Wow, there’s no need to request votes from friends. Winning by funding is simple, and it’s legal. But another three weeks of voting will invite an unending process that actually is another contest: vote purchasers competing among themselves. I’m completely for supporting the humane society, but rather to help independent of an awkward “contest”.

What haunted me all last night boiled down to, “What’s best, to play the game or not?” I massaged the possibilities all ways and finally decided to pull Pimmy from the event. I’ll hope for more wisdom in the future.

For several years I’ve planned to create a “Pimmy Calendar”. The wish gets renewed, always fades, and again is on the table. With 2022 too near, my new target must be 2023. Pimmy’s calendar will have a December image of her in that wonderful holiday costume.

Dear Friends: Newbies are neophytes to community traditions and power. Diana

Saturday, October 09, 2021 October’s fullest moon “Hunters” rises fullest to Earth on the 20th.

One of Earth’s finest creatures, my donkey, Pimmy, currently is a candidate for appearing in Bend’s 2022 “cutest pet” calendar. She needs votes!

This contest allows for “buying votes”, and the money goes to a good cause. We won’t buy, and hope Pimmy may become a winner for deserving.

Pimmy’s contest photo, of her in Christmas costume, is just right for December’s page!

It’s of Pimmy a couple of years ago while ready to march in Bend’s Pet Parade. She was an enormous hit with viewers. Afterwards with little kids on her back, she posed as families took photos.

Below is a link to the online site. With over 200 images and Pimmy’s near the bottom, please scroll down to Photo #219. And vote!

https://www.bendbulletin.com/offers/cutest-pet-contest/

Dear Friends: Bought-votes for the shelter will slim winning chances, but she’s cutest! Diana

Friday, October 08, 2021 October’s fullest moon “Hunters” rises fullest to Earth on the 20th.

Wow, listening to Hill narrate her new book, I’m experiencing big-time déjà vu.

Fiona Hill was an official at the U.S. National Security Council specializing in Russian and European affairs. She was a witness in the 2019 impeachment inquiry of President Trump, who was accused of trying to manipulate Ukraine’s president into reporting misdeeds by the son of Trump’s likely opponent in America’s upcoming presidential election.

Hill was riveting, knew her stuff and spoke confidently about world politics and conditions. That same confidence, experience, and directness have created a riveting book, much of it personal and about growing up in the 1970s and 1980s. She describes those decades of political and social transformation, the industrial and political changes impacting national and world affairs, and altering her own prospects.

The same years, heady, unique, and not repeatable, altered my life. In those days, young men were escaping drafts into the military. New birth control methods freed young women from a dedication to homemaking. The business world opened new jobs and occasionally let women wear slacks to work, and eventually, gave permission for professionals of different genders to travel jointly on business.

Similar to Hill’s experience through those years, and step-by-step I escaped a nearly hopeless future. Changes in workplaces offered better jobs, and I had the good luck to work alongside a constantly encouraging co-worker, a college-educated friend and mentor, Linda, who searched for night-time educational opportunities and pushed me toward them. Supported by her confidence, and despite having little myself, by taking advantage I learned and prospered.

Fiona Hill’s story reminds and celebrates an optimism that initiated accessible technologies, like desk-size computers and portable phones. That was before the world understood the scope and impact of a changing climate, before restless populations en mass began to depart their origins. Workers earned more, purchased sophisticated products, communicated better. It seemed that good times wouldn’t end.

Optimism slowed, however, in mid-1980s through the 1990s. There were early 2000’s worries about a new century having different digits. We were terrorized by the Twin Towers bombings. Briefly, there came a renewed optimism that ended at 2008’s economic crash.

Hill’s work reminds us of the politics, social conditions, and environmental issues that have influenced the modern world.

Dear Friends: This excellent, “don’t miss” read comes from a capable perspective. Diana

Thursday, October 07, 2021 October’s fullest moon “Hunters” rises fullest to Earth on the 20th.

For me, yesterday was back to work. The last time years ago, when I became oriented to a new job, it was a manager sitting an hour with me. She recited a bunch of do’s and don’t’s about working, explained what to wear, explained what not to wear. Immediately afterwards, I moved onto the sales floor and interacted with customers.

Yesterday in contrast, for hours I reviewed and signed forms. I read completely through, and signed off on having done so, a big employee manual. The company’s workers must dress appropriately, conduct themselves well, and interact with customers compentently. There also was online training to recognize and handle hazardous materials.

Next Sunday, I’ll start learning to operate an electronic register. That’ll partly happen in Redmond and later in the week conclude here in town.

I’m impressed by the organization and wish to perform well.

Today, I’ll attend a team meeting, a weekly event lasting a couple of hours. The store’s manager leads, and among other things introduces new products. Yesterday, that new world came more real as an environment where stock levels are critical. Equally so are concerns about slow or no deliveries and about dysfunctional supply chains.

Dear Friends: Old-world animals, like Pimmy, slow our metabolism and ground us. Diana

Wednesday, October 06, 2011— October’s fullest moon (“Hunter’s”) will rise on the 20th.

It’s official, I’m newly employed, part-time in Wilco, this city’s only remaining farm-oriented, walk-in source for feed & supplies. Thankfully, this growing store will be around awhile, and I’ll happily be part of its activities.

Today is my first working day. It’ll center mostly on becoming oriented to the store. My regular work will be as cashier, probably on weekends. If you’re in the store, I can help you check out! Whether you’re shopping or just looking around, be sure to say hello.

I’m rearranging my early morning activities. I’ll continue blogging, but they may be brief until I have a clear and workable routine.

Dear Friends: Periodically, among like-minded others who enjoy plants and animals . Diana

Tuesday, October 05, 2011— October’s fullest moon (“Hunter’s”) will rise on the 20th.

My long-time friend, Linda, sent an article from “The Atlantic”, by Marina Koren, “space writer” for the magazine. Her article, entitled, “The Moon Is Leaving Us”, is subtitled, “And we can’t stop it.” Koren combines scientific observations with her sky-watching sense.

She writes how gravity’s unstoppable forces make the moon drift away inch-by-inch and mega-slowly separate from the earth. Over eons this has happened because our small moon has gravity that thus tugs at its planets. Our ocean-covered planet responds in a shifting of tides.

The moon pulling at oceans forces oceans to pull back. The oceans then make the moon’s orbit speed-up, and so it orbits farther away. Scientists call that distancing, “lunar retreat”. They can measure distancing, and have determined that since time immemorial our moon continually has drifted away.

I’m a relative newcomer to moon technologies, interested to know more about Earth’s relationship to the wonderful small planet that lights the nighttime skies. Scientists find that over more millions of years, the moon will become farther, and thus, much smaller, having many effects on Earth, including greater heat and shorter daylights.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/09/moon-moving-away-earth/620254/

Dear Friends: Constant, tiny, incremental shifts, in a mysterious outer world. Diana

Monday, October 04, 2011— October’s fullest moon (“Hunter’s”) will rise on the 20th.

I’d prefer to keep hitching and driving my horses through this beautiful month, but today our farrier will pull their shoes. Going forward, maybe I’ll have less time to drive, and an unshod horse shouldn’t pull a vehicle. Pulling requires heavy traction that wears-down bare hooves.

We began driving later than optimal this spring, because I had mixed feelings and hesitated for too long. The year before, through the pandemic’s worse months, I rode horseback and enjoyed it. Wanted to do that also this spring, because after a couple of years without driving lessons, I less felt motivated to harness and drive.

Shoeing them this summer was a plunge that began the driving. I actually remembered all the harness parts, and the correct sequences for fitting them onto a horse and removing them. Almost immediately on holding driving reins, I had a sense of how properly to handle them. Best, the horses remembered their jobs.

It’s fun to drive wonderful horses and maintain their excellent conditioning. Regular workouts, on roads and in our dry lot, have stabilized appropriate muscling and weight. Hard exercise lets them graze most afternoons on the sugary grass in my neighbor’s pasture.

Dear Friends: Bye-bye to shoes, howdy to saddles, and anticipating next spring. Diana

Sunday, October 03, 2011— October’s fullest moon (“Hunter’s”) will rise on the 20th.

I measure the speed of passing days by the brief time between one trash pickup day and the next in a week. I seem barely to turn around before it’s time to haul out trash barrels again.

Today begins a new week. It’s when I begin imagining how quickly the next trash day will arrive. They say aging, which accustoms us greatly to normal routines, makes time feel shorter.

My current thoughts about passing time’s ups and downs is because I’m suffering through a dragging time notch. Something new in my atmosphere pounds against my perception of time.

Recently I accepted an offer for part-time work, which made me start anticipating. But the offer isn’t final until after a background check. These waiting hours drag. With less than instant full gratification, passing time equals teeth-grinding. It’s weird, that on one hand I’m busy with time seeming too short, and on the other, anticipating with time lagging and dragging.

Yesterday, I wrote about the sport of freediving and later watched freediving videos. Personally, I’d never freedive, but it’s a sport with near-magical appeal. Consider three minutes of activity that’s all-encompassing, that consumes every fiber of ones being. The action sans breathing lasts 120 seconds, and for a swimmer feels absolutely concrete, finite, real, and meaningful.

I enjoy considering time as having actual meaning. Meaningful time offsets a sense of “taking too long, and “might go wrong”. Meaningful time poo-poos too slow, above-water “three minutes of waiting without breathing”. These ideas bolster me through this time notch.

Dear Friends: The two A’s, anticipating and anxious, interfere with wholeness. Diana

Saturday, October 02, 2011— October’s fullest moon (“Hunter’s”) will rise on the 20th.

I stumbled across an article, in “The Economist”, about freediving, a sport new to me. Its World Championship is this weekend in Kas, Turkey. A Turkish woman, Sahika Ercumen, is a record-holder and will appear at Kas. She plans to make a dive of about 90 meters, putting her to a depth of slightly over 295 feet, or about 98 yards.

The 98 yards caught my eye. I’m used to viewing my property in 100 yard sections. West from the house to the horses is about 100 yards. East from the house to the street is similar. There’s approximately 100 yards between the property’s south and north boundaries.

Around 100 yards is a mega-deep diving. Besides, divers do it without any breathing apparatus..

I find that freediving equates to “breath-hold diving”. A diver without an air tank holds his or her breath as long as possible before resurfacing. Thus, a diver travels only as far as air lasts in the person’s lungs. The sport has physical and mental rewards, from the incredible pushing of oneself to the limits. For this, the most important training is learning to breathe properly.

That Turkish champion, Sahika Ercumen, is 36 years old and has degrees in Nutrition and Dietetics. She’s been active in swimming and underwater sports since she was 13 years old, and today, holds world records from national and international competitions. She’s also Turkey’s first woman freediving instructor.

Ercumen routinely plans dives to last three minutes and reach depths of 90 meters or more. She’s very capable with breathing techniques. On entering water, she can slow her heart and metabolic rates. Her breathing draws oxygenated blood away from her extremities and toward her lungs, which are being compressed to a fraction of their usual size. Her correct breathing lets Ercumen leave air, light, sound, and dive successfully to great depths.

She’s also an activist who conducts underwater social responsibility projects to demonstrate both passion and gratitude for water. She’s officially the “Life Below Water Advocate”, for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), in Turkey.

This has taken me 100+ yards into new learning, about a sport and an outstanding competitor. This weekend, I’ll try to follow competition and scoring, and of course, while greatly interested in Ercumen’s dive.

Dear Friends: The bigger world introduces a new sport and my new hero, in Turkey! Diana

Friday, October 01, 2011— October’s fullest moon (“Hunter’s”) will rise on the 20th.

It’s nearly unrecognizable, this small city where I live. It’s growing quickly, and not from industries arriving, initiating growth and bringing jobs. It’s because many retirees are restlessly moving here, and because employed individuals, also restless, can work remotely. Today, many people want a small city lifestyle.

Well, today’s small cities are very different from olden days’ smalls.

Our local traffic is heavy. We’re aware of less housing and ballooning home prices. From everywhere loud noises declare heavy construction. There’s no navigating around with ease and speed. Shopping shows many shelves empty of common products.

Yesterday, I realized that this city has only one animal feed store. Oops! This is horse country! It’s cattle, goats, and sheep growing country! There used to be several well-stocked feed stores. With all others gone, the standing store is thriving, and small wonder.

Finally, we ordinary citizens, all non-economists, can understand, “It’s the economy, stupid!” Current economics fluctuating wildly are influenced by factors out of control, like weather, population, pandemic. Almost surreal, in an established country-like environment with large animals and large-animal veterinarians, there’s a single nearby feed store.

Don’t get me wrong. Our economy has many “goods”. Great technology has improved such as health care, internet, communications, records-keeping, and creativity in the arts. We know more advances are in the planning, on the horizon.

We’ve begun aging differently. We’re seeing sixty turning into the new forty, eighty the new sixty, and one-hundred the new eighty.

Dear Friends: We early must plan for lives through longer, less predictable futures. Diana