Monday, June 14, 2021 (Only 13 more days until June’s full [Strawberry] moon rises.)

This little city of Bend, Oregon, is most interesting. It’s surrounded by outdoors opportunities and has an interesting population mix. Many are conservatives representing forestry, farming, and ranching, and others are modern independents, capable with technology and able to work from home over distances.

Bend’s surroundings of forest and desert, mountains and canyons, invite athleticism and adventure, and bring new resident inflows. The newbies initiate key social changes, for example, they’ve transformed this county into a liberal environment!

I recognized the changing through years working part-time in Bend’s Costco. Observing and engaging with customers revealed newly-mixing social and political views. It happens I’m not athletic, but became a horseback rider, thus experiencing many of this area’s complex surroundings. Becoming friends with neighborhood residents put me into contract with several very bright and outdoorsy individuals.

This takes my story today to specific neighbors and friends, Dale and Susie Neubauer. They’re the designers, manufacturers, and shippers of “Heliladder”, a creative and beautiful, highly functional ladder. It’s modular and stands independently on a cantilevered base. The modularity conforms to a helicopter’s curves, and the cantilevering allows repair access without leaning a ladder against and possibly damaging a ‘copter.

The Neubauers are intrepid outdoors adventurers. They described a project in which they’re involved, leading me to learn of Goeff Babb, their long-time, equally adventurous friend. In the early 2000s, Goeff suffered a couple of strokes that curtailed his participation in the rugged outdoors. He’s very creative and began dreaming about creating a wheelchair that could go wherever he wished outdoors (e.g., areas with mountains and canyons). He and his friend Dale teamed, and for years the geniuses collaborated over chair ideas and designs. Now, they’ve achieved physically a mutual vision, The AdvenChair.

This weekend, my Heliladder friends invited me to their shop. There, Goeff, Dale, Susie, volunteering friends and their ladder-builders would be crewing to assemble ten AdvenChairs. Each has a buyer waiting who’s thrilled about enabling a loved one, with action-limiting muscle and nerve conditions, to venture into the outdoors.

The excitement was catching, and here are some of my observations.

This assembled AdvenChair receives an assembly and quality assessment.

For a rider the AdvenChair has many safety features. For a team handler it has special handles to ease moving a sitting person’s weight. Beyond safety features and handling ease, the chair is adjustable to accommodate individual heights and muscular needs. It’s constructed to be among very rugged conditions and has knobby-wide tires for all terrains.

A look at safe seating, all-terrain tires, and directional flexibility.

• 

• 

Testing seat fit and locating identifying details of an assembled AdvenChair.

These hunky chairs can fit into almost any space, go through any doorway, and will travel anywhere–to and from mountain tops, and equally, to and from canyon bottoms. Goeff emphasizes that the chair is designed for a team. It’s un-motorized, requiring riders aiming toward an untamed outdoors to have team helpers to manipulate and navigate.

Goeff articulated his brand moto, “A chair that can go where no other chairs dare venture.”

The shop had an atmosphere of anticipation, fun, and excitement, in assembling and making final assessments.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Among those bringing to fruition these ten AdvenChairs: Dale, Goeff, and Susie.

• 

• 

• 

This week, the “Oregon Field Guide” is sending its production team to HeliLadder. They’ll create a Public Television presentation highlighting the AdvenChair and its life-changing capabilities. (With thanks to my friend and fellow full-moon chaser, Susie, today’s “Morning Blog” pre-scoops Public Television.)

Please watch for Public Television’s segment on the AdventurChair. The videography team for Oregon Field Guide excels absolutely.

Bottom line, Goeff’s dream is a piece de resistance of design and capability. It’s beautiful and a knockout of flexibility, comfortability, and safety. And best, for challenging the outdoors, it calls for a team of participants. Altogether a very cool product.

Visiting Goeff’s site teaches more about a very creative individual, and reveals the details and options for his amazing all-terrain AdvenChair: https://www.advenchair.com/

Dear Friends: Who’d a’thought, that a wheelchair or ladder could knock our socks off! Diana

Sunday, June 13, 2021   (June’s full [“Strawberry”] moon rises on the 24th [11 days].)

Pigeon Appreciation Day! Who knew? And I happen to have a pet pigeon.

Mine is a former racing pigeon, Gilbert, who was rescued by my friends, the Gilberts. On a summer day, they found him hanging-out in their barn and wearing leg rings that led them to his owner in California, a pigeon-racer. He explained that the pigeon had been racing from Washington State to home in California. A racing bird that stops is considered a failure. It would be fine if the Gilberts found a new home for this bird.

So, four years ago, Gilbert came to live with me.

He’s now six years old and delightful, quiet, non-obtrusive, but very alert and smart. Thankfully, Gilbert completely is the opposite in style and behavior from my other bird, a demanding parrot.

Long ago before I retired to country-like living, I considered wild pigeons as nuisances. There were too many and all very messy. Gilbert changed that perception. He’s encouraged me to explore pigeon keeping and breeding, and to understand why they’re enjoyable as pets.

Here’s Gilbert on first coming to me just after his racing days. A powerfully built and muscled-up bird, able to fly many miles without stopping.

Racing pigeons are descended from homing pigeons. After a little training of flying in circles, racers can find their ways back home from well over 500 miles away. Pigeons flying in circles learn where they are by detecting electronic pulses from the earth’s magnetic field. They use these pulses to self-orient, to work out where home is.

A pigeon that’s racing flies at average speeds of 65 mph.

Those “city birds”, pigeons people consider nuisances are good for many reasons. They help to disperse seeds and fertilize the ground by defecating which some trees need to grow their fruit. Pigeons help to control insect populations because they’re omnivores, surviving on both plant- and animal-based foods. Pigeons eat pretty much anything and remove food waste from our streets.

To many humans, pigeons are great pets.

Dear Friends: Always appreciate pigeons, and today especially, for it’s their day! Diana

Saturday, June 12, 2021   (June’s full [“Strawberry”] moon rises in 12 days, on the 24th.)

The header photo, from the Oregon HIstorical Society Research Library, shows Nancy Wak Wak, a Nez Pierce, on an Appaloosa in 1937.

After visiting my friend Noell’s Appy babies this week, and hearing about her breeding program, I wanted to know more about Appaloosas. To my surprise, the breed is tied very closely to Oregon’s history.

The first documented reports of horses in Oregon are from Lewis and Clark, who recorded having seen spotted horses, similar to today’s Appaloosas, among the Nez Perce Tribe. The Nez Pierce, with winter quarters in Eastern Oregon’s Wallowa Valley, originally bred these horses in the mid-to-late eighteenth century, from varieties of Spanish horses traded into the Northwest. The Nez Perce valued equine intelligence, temperament, sure-footedness, endurance, and speed.

The Nez Perce area, at the time of Lewis and Clark, was approximately 17,000,000 acres, covering parts of Washington, Oregon, Montana and Idaho. Their tribal horses had to negotiate treacherous trails, from Oregon’s winter quarters, through the Rockies, to summer encampments on the Plains. The horses had to be fast enough for a hunter to catch a bison, and smooth-gaited enough in full-gallop for a hunter to fire accurately.

The original Nez Pierce Appys almost disappeared after the 1875 Nez Perce War, when the U.S. military confiscated the Tribe’s herds. A few of the breed survived, and in the 1930s, eastern Oregon horse breeders began working to revive the Nez Pierce Appaloosa.

The modern Appaloosa is a distinctive and valued American breed. Today’s Nez Perce Tribal members and non-tribal horse ranchers continue to re-develop the breed’s prized traits. It’s a history that makes more significant little Asher, Noell’s month-old colt.

He’s spoken for and after weaning will go to Texas. There he’ll become a foundation stallion in a young Appaloosa breeding program.

There’s an annual Chief Joseph Trail Ride that starts in Joseph, Oregon. It’s one of the longest-running historic rides (about one hundred miles) in the United States. The Appaloosa Horse Club began hosting it in 1965, it retraces the 1877 route of Chief Joseph and his people, fleeing capture by the U.S. Cavalry. Every rider participating in this annual event must be on an Appaloosa.

This powerful painting from 1982 is by Howard Terpning, entitled, “Chief Joseph Rides to Surrender”.

Dear Friends: In America’s cultural history, Appaloosas have been intertwined and essential. Diana

Friday, June 11, 2021   (June’s full [“Strawberry”] moon rises in 13 days, on the 24th.)

The Oregon Cascades, from far left, Broken Top, followed by South Sister and Middle and North Sisters. An unencumbered panorama, it’s the view from my friend Noell’s Desert Spirit Appaloosa Horse Ranch, which faces west and sets high. My somewhat limited camera skills easily captured this mountain string.

I visited Noell’s to see the spring babies now ranging from two weeks to a month old. Some were born with spots, some without. Noell DNA tests every foal to reveal which will shed its solid color for a new coat that’s spotted, and which will regrow solid-colors. The DNA data ensures that regardless of color it’s a foundation Appaloosa.

Regardless of how eventually their coats might be colored, these babies are adorable.

A bit of history. Last year, Noell lost her beloved elderly mare, April, who had been bred by, doted on, and ridden by Noell’s mother, who long ago passed away suddenly. For Noell, loosing April (a maiden mare) was nearly sad as when she lost her own mom. Now in a renewal of sorts, Noell intends to keep the two new fillies, but couldn’t bring herself to re-use the name April. She’s excited though and eager to train, play with, and ride them.

This baby like her mom will be white, and DNA says she’ll keep her lovely dark front and legs.

Noell’s other chosen little one will grow to maturity in her current solid color, a lovely coat of rich chestnut.

This is a month-old, solid-dark colt, his topside already reaches to my shoulder. He’s bold and friendly, and after weaning will go to Texas where he’ll help to found an Appaloosa breeding program.

One who loves horses, and is among a bunch of them on a beautiful afternoon under a fabulous sky, struggles to depart empty-handed. A solution is to capture memories, and to plan periodic returns to see them growing and learning.

Dear Friends: Mama horses are protective, and among the babies I moved slowly and carefully. Diana

Thursday, June 10, 2021   (June’s full [“Strawberry”] moon rises in 14 days, on the 24th.)

Summer is rising, sun’s out and rain’s gone. At least for today.

My friend, Noell, raises and trains horses. Her special interest is the Appaloosa, a wonderful all-purpose breed. An Appaloosa usually sports a delightful spotty pattern, although some are solid-colored. Recently on her ranch were born new babies, two fillies and a colt. Today, I’ll visit her ranch and meet the little ones.

Noell and became friends shortly after I obtained my first horses. Over the years, we’ve ridden together and shared horse-and-family stories. Last year and about the same time, each of us suffered a family loss. We got together several times to work through grief.

She’s helped me understand ways to train my horses, and last year, I asked Noell to train my mares to go into a two-horse straight-in trailer. They had been used to entering a big wide horse trailer and refused to go into one little and more narrow. Patient and consistent Noell accomplished our goal in short order.

I’ve been eager to visit these leggy babies and learn about plans for their futures. And to take pictures! There’s nothing cuter than a baby of any kind. Foals are fun just to watch. And because an experienced “horse eye” can see a baby’s potential for athleticism and performance in its very-apparent early structure.

My plans for this visit have been on hold through our chilly wet weather. They’ll be realized on this beautiful day.

Dear Friends: This breed’s strength, capacity, and loyalty, have ingrained Appaloosas in history. Diana

Wednesday, June 09, 2021   (June’s full [“Strawberry”] moon rises in 15 days, on the 24th.)

This should be the last day of rains. Yesterday brought downpours, great for plants but not me. I’ve fought the restlessness from staying inside through a chilly week by binging on streaming media.

Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and warmer. I’ll start on two projects.

One is preparing the horses to drive. They’ll begin exercising on long-lines to get into shape. Driving will require shoes for them, and hopefully, our farrier will have them. He’s mentioned that material shortages and process-glitches make it difficult to obtain horseshoes. Regardless, exercising on lines is good for horses, and anyway, I can ride them. Driving is a bonus.

Another project is constructing a portable chicken coop that’s on wheels. My chicks are growing like weeds, now fluffy-feathered, and could use more space. A portable coop will substitute as a brooder and house the chicks until they’re fully feathered, ready for the great outdoors.

When it’s appropriate, I’ll roll their brooder to the outdoors chicken coop, where it’ll set allowing safe interacting with the adult hen (Welsummer) and twin dwarf goats. Once all are comfortable together, I’ll free the chicks.

In a few weeks, hopefully of good weather, I’ll achieve this summer’s key goals: horses in good physical condition for riding and driving, and a cute flock of chicks that roam with an elderly hen and two goats.

Dear Friends: I’ve been on the fence about driving horses this season, but desire wins over doubts. Diana

Tuesday, June 08, 2021   (June’s full [“Strawberry”] moon rises in 16 days, on the 24th.)

It’s the weather, stupid!

Last week our local temps reached the hottest high-nineties in recent memory. One just kept wiping away streaming sweat even while sitting around. This week it’s the opposite. Local temps are averaging in the low sixties. We’re bucking chilly winds, sometimes rain. This week returns us to coats and hats weather.

And it’s June, stupid!

My cousin writes that Southern California’s temps are hanging steadily in the rather comfortable eighties. Why, oh why, won’t Central Oregon’s weather settle?

Of course, there’s always logic to weather patterns. Nearby and to our west, a long string of mountains affect incoming weather. The west also sends our rains and winds. The incoming weather meets those ranging slopes and heights and becomes interrupted or strengthened.

It’s said that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

Years ago, I moved here from Southern California, which (arguably) has one season. My move to Central Oregon occurred just prior to winter’s onset, and quickly, my wardrobe had to expand and include coats, hats, boots. I’ve learned how to enjoy and cope with seasonal changes.

Nonetheless, one hopes to avoid changes with great amounts of fluctuation, but that’s not reality. Try an experiment, by putting hope into one hand and climate change into the other hand. Watch to see which gains prominence.

Today’s header photo is a visual for a 2012 documentary video, “Ice Chasing”. I know of storm chasing, and sometimes with a friend chase full-moon risings. But ice chasing is a “bigger fish” that documents clearly the Earth’s changes from climate fluctuations. Here’s a link to its brief trailer: https://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/chasing-ice-2012/

From childhood:

Pease pudding hot
Pease pudding cold
Pease pudding in the pot
Nine days old

Some like it hot
Some like it cold
Some like it in the pot
Nine days old

Pease pudding hot
Pease pudding cold
Pease pudding in the pot
Nine days old

Some like it hot
Some like it cold
Some like it in the pot
Nine days old

Dear Friends: Unavoidables like weather and aging, force absorbing changes one day at a time. Diana

Monday, June 07, 2021   (June’s full [“Strawberry”] moon rises in 17 days, on the 24th.)

On a chilly afternoon, Elliott brought his family over for a kids “horse day”. His little girls love horses, and they, April (9) and Zoey (7), on the day before had celebrated Zoey’s birthday.

In honor of this visit, Zoey wore her special “horse t-shirt” .

The girls were all over all the equines. Here, they say hello to lead mare, Rosie, who made sure we didn’t leave her out of the mix.

These parents enjoyed the horses as much as the children. Elliott has excellent camera skills, most of the following photos are from his phone-camera.

Right away the children were comfortable with the animals. They loved the horses, Rosie and Sunni, and maybe mostly, Pimmy. Elliott’s black and white photo captures their sheer joy.

Our plan was to seat on Pimmy both girls and go walking in this quiet neighborhood. We began by seating Zoey in front and April behind.

Since the plan included leaving the fenced area, it seemed a good idea to take Sunni, too. She’d be led with Pimmy following comfortably. Zoey was very at ease on Pimmy’s back and didn’t mind riding by herself. April was delighted to move onto big pony Sunni’s back.

When Rosie noticed that we were leaving without her, she hurried to join us. So, we all went walking. Each adult managed a lead rope with the kids riding happily. Our little parade navigated out onto the street and strolled there for a third-of-a-mile before returning.

We got back to our starting point feeling thrilled. The chldren with their rides, the adults with the kids’ sheer delight, and we all with the well-behaved animals.

This year and hopefully so, both kids might start riding lessons. They’d gobble every minute!

A note about my friend Elliott, a highly-skilled craftsman and outdoorsman. He loves (among many activities) annual outings with his friends for days of snoeshoeing and ice-camping in freshly-built igloos. This was my first-time meeting his family, each one a love and a great sport.

And here’s proof that the work of keeping equines is offset by the rewards of having them.

Dear Friends: Some of these photos will appear in a “Pimmy Calendar” planned for 2022. Diana

Sunday, June 06, 2021   (June’s full [“Strawberry”] moon rises in 18 days, on the 24th.)

Recently my plumber, installing a new frost-free hydrant, asked if I had a few feet of scrap 4×4, to stabilize the upright pipe part. I looked around and found all my unused leftovers gone, except for one piece of 6×6 halfway stuck into the ground. “That works,” said the plumber, adding, “Good that you didn’t have to go out and buy a post, considering today’s lumber costs.”

During property repairs, pieces of scrap wood commonly are needed.

A couple weeks ago, I discovered, knocked over, a tall “no parking” sign, one that long had guarded the shoulder alongside my property. The sign, of eight or ten feet of non-rotten post, clearly had been broken-off violently. I didn’t see any signs in the dirt of tire tracks, and took photos to submit to authorities.

Who are the authorities? The County? The City? Oregon Department of Transportation? And would any care about an old county sign?

The current local news was reporting a high-speed police chase through this and neighboring communities. That drunken or drug-sodden driver had caused a string of damages throughout the chase. That might have been why the broken sign, but oddly, no tire tracks.

As a side note, the spot where that sign stood for years isn’t where a sensible driver would park.

A couple of weeks passed, no indication of outside interest in the broken sign. Meanwhile, my interest had grown, and so I returned for a closer look. Extending from its broken base was a long piece of 4×4 treated lumber in good condition. I went away wondering, how prosecutable would be removing an ineffective “no parking” sign?

Soon and remembering the plumber, I bit the bullet and drove my Gater to the sign. It wasn’t much trouble ripping away a few clinging base-wood threads, but I was challenged to heft the twice-as-tall-as-me post onto the Gater bed. As I worked, a nagging worry was of road-passers perceiving a heist.

Anyway it’s done. There’s a salvaged 4×4 stored on my Ranchero, to assist a future repair.

Dear Friends: Skyrocketing prices may affect everyday behavior in ways that’ll surprise. Diana

Saturday, June 05, 2021   (June’s full [“Strawberry”] moon rises in 19 days, on the 24th.)

Netflix has added “Downton Abbey”. I’ve several times watched the series on PBS but for some reason always have missed seeing its Episode One. Not important, as one easily picks up the core issue: Save the family’s vast fortune by getting Lady Mary married, and very soon, to some mega-wealthy suitor.

I had tuned-in to Netflix, planning to re-watch for an upteenth time my most favorite Netflix series, the Spanish-produced, “Velvet”. On noticing Downton on Netflix’s roster, I paused to see its episode one and how it sets up the plot for that wildly popular series. Well, I got hooked and binge-watched the first three episodes, finally reluctantly turning off television and going to bed. Tonight, I’ll resume the series.

Downton has everything, good writing, excellent acting, wonderful costumes, and “vintage all things” related to turn-of-the-century British wealth. In a large role is the great actress Maggie Smith, who doesn’t disappoint.

The series with an “Upstairs-Downstairs” theme has a large cast of very individualized characters. It’s set in the era of significant social change, being altered by technology following the industrial revolution.

If you haven’t watched this all-sensory delight do yourself a favor, tune into Downton. If you have seen it, and even more than once, tune in again. The series has been off the air long enough to become almost a whole new experience.

Dear Friends: Very complex characters, alternately likable and unlikable, like the humans we know. Diana