Friday, April 30, 2021 (26 days before May’s full “Flower Moon” appears at its fullest)

Today’s header photo shows why my inside-outside kitty, Max, has been throughout April an inside-only guy. His status quo will continue through May. The pictured bunny is a first-time mama with a brood nesting under my barn’s haystack. Last May, after her birth beneath that stack, I spotted the teeny-tiny with big ears hopping under a hedge, and knew my Max, expert hunter of baby bunnies, needed corralling.

Max was miserable during two months of quarantine. His days consisted of sleeping, or sitting in a window and watching wildlife, or being under my feet. During Max’s imprisonment, other cats invaded his territory, until finally, time came to free my guy.

Fortunately, bunny had gained enough experience and strength to escape cats. Max frequented the haystack where daily the bunny left clear signs of habitation. He didn’t catch her, but occasionally from a distance, they’d spot one other. Both would become rock-still, until suddenly, Bunny would take off, leaving a frustrated cat searching.

Weeks ago when I saw our bunny romping with another which might forecast babies on the horizon. I corralled Max, and soon sure enough, a teeny tiny appeared. Just like its mom last year, it hopped under a bush and escaped more quickly than I could grab a photo.

Having Max sequestered offers more rewards. There’s a blossoming of small critters, more lizards, more chipmunks, and maybe more birds peck around on the property. There are questions of letting Max outside again, but he’s nearing fifteen years old, and totally was outside through his first ten years. When always inside, Max is a restless nuisance, and frankly, I’ll be relieved when he’s outside during the days.

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I’m here switching topics, and happily, because I’m realizing that I can learn!, even something seemingly way beyond my reach. I have written about attempting to repair a fence in the horse loafing shed. I had a mighty struggle in measuring and trimming wood accurately enough to fit a replacement slat into its space. Completing one slat consumed nearly three hours. I didn’t want to finish the job.

But had to. I knew that all my previously-cut boards were inaccurate for the allocated spaces. First, I promptly re-measured and re-trimmed. Next, I pre-planned by lining up the right tools and connectors. Then I returned to the job and completed it within an hour, and by the way correctly.

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Dear Friends: Maybe this story has lessons, to trust nature and capacity, and never give up. Diana

Thursday, April 29, 2021 (27 days before the full appearance of May’s “Flower Moon”.)

Yesterday, a warm shirtsleeve-type day, encouraged me outside into a horse area that’s needed repairs for a couple of years. The damage is from a time the horses were intent on damaging their environment, not from badness but because of very high energy.

Back then I drove both horses daily. Driving requires caloric intake to support hard exercise. A horse might for miles pull, on roads and up-and-down hills, several hundred pounds of cart and driver. My horses were in top physical shape from pulling, and supported by lots of hay, gain, and minerals. Well-fed and well-exercised horses.

After the driving season, I recognized that my horses had been in a condition of “too-hot”. In other words, grain fed to energize may do so excessively, beyond what a horse can work off.

These horses during years of living with me never chewed wood. Suddenly, they went after all reachable wood–stall walls, outdoor fence rails, the loafing shed’s sides and overhead beams. Their unstoppable chewing puzzled and frustrated.

After driving season, when no longer receiving grain, both horses ceased chewing. I recognized that, though in great physical condition, they’d been overfed, becoming too hot and needing more exercise than I was providing.

Somewhere along the way, I’d heard that grain generates heat, but didn’t associate driving with too many calories. Previously, I’d only ridden horseback with easy-keepers performing well on grain-free diets.

From yesterday, here’s a section of dividing fence in their loafing shed.

Notice the new board on top. Today, I’ll replace the lower chewed boards, and more that are in another divider set. Looks easy, too. Just follow instructions, “measure twice and cut once”. Inevitably my way forces another process.

Like yesterday, when after measuring once and cutting twice, my board was too long. I re-measured and re-cut, but the board remained too long. And, so-on, until usually, a board becomes the length to fit or becomes too short, when I’ll re-start with a new 2×4. The board in this photo took three re-measures and three re-cuts before fitting into the opening.

Now, about my RV garage. Until yesterday it’s purpose was to store hay. Now nearly empty of hay, it’s become a shop, with carpentry tools, and it’s a cool place, with a comfortable chair and a tiny refrigerator that holds and chills up to six cans of beer. Because we realize that measuring and cutting correctly can be throat-drying.

More about that loafing shed. Each time I entered, a little bird flew out quickly. Surprising speed made it unidentifiable. I searched around for a nest, finding one in a tiny space.

Those guest residents likely are Mountain Bluebirds. They’re not smart for often nesting in weird and unsafe spaces, but they’re loveable, cute, and they have identifiable fun calls.

Dear Friends: If warm weather holds, the horses and I soon will go playing in National Forest. Diana

Wednesday, April 28, 2021 (29 days before May’s full “Flower Moon”)

Today begins a countdown to our next super-moon. Some friends who chased the “Pink Moon” sent photos, and for me, their experiences were cool trips. Just think, super moons are free-fun with learning on-the-fly. Little else beats what a super-moon can offer.

It’s impossible to ignore a moon’s energy-pulling power. It’s the same with rivers, family, music, and many more fundamentals. Nothing alive, or seemingly static, avoids the energizing of key elements that influence physical and emotional states.

I guess that pink moon really got to me.

What’s bugging me simply is a wish to find some water body and walk, pausing periodically to consider the ways that free-flowing water influences. If dogs are along, their ins and outs interfere with natural elements. No, I’d be alone beside that river stream, to observe, absorb, and expand my thoughts.

I’ve an idea for a children’s story and want to play with it by creating plot possibilities. The lead character, a tiny mouse, becomes lost and desperately wants to find home. Its seeking becomes influenced by natural elements, the moon, flowing water, and distant music. This mouse has goals, confronts danger, and grows emotionally. It might or perhaps not rediscover its old home.

Well, real-life situations do complicate seemingly-easy yarns. Simple is a fleeting concept.

All this represents a final nod to April’s pink super-moon, disappeared now from view. Its promise of sky majesty urged many of us from our sofas, to go outside and search for sighting spaces. We were kids roaming at dusk in natural environments, responding to the pulling of a very full moon.

Always, much can arise from physical and emotional journeys, even brief ones. Yesterday’s moonrise gave birth to my little tale. Today, the idea may expand, maybe into a paper draft.

Dear Friends: Natural elements that energize physically stoke our imaginings. Diana

Tuesday, April 27, 2021 (The April full Pink Moon has reached its apex.)

April’s Pink Super-Moon is the first of 2021’s two official super-moons. Normal moons are 240,000 miles from the earth, but super-moons are only 222,064 miles away. Maybe that doesn’t sound like much, but the shortened distance makes a super-moon appear much bigger than a normal moon.

By the way, the Pink Moon isn’t actually pink. It’s named after the herb, pink moss. That herb also is known as creeping phlox, moss phlox, or mountain phlox. Pink moss is one of the earliest spring flowers appearing in the United States.

Susie and I are Moon Chasers. We wear matching jackets and go after full super-moons. Last evening, we hoped to see the moon rise at 7:51 p.m., but had doubts because the sky sported heavy clouds.

Susie, a mountain biker knows lots of interesting stuff. She had researched where the moon would rise. Using her cell phone compass, she drove directly to a location that was 120 degrees east of zero-north. We wound up where China Hat Road intersects with dirt road #200. The spot was right-on to see the moon rise. (I, who barely know what a compass is. was gobsmacked.)

Here, Susie’s about to duck under the barrier to Road #200.

We walked on this inviting path while distant coyotes yapped while hunting. The dwindling daylight punctuated that increasingly gorgeous moon.

The complex ambient lighting confused the autofocus functions of our cameras. Sometimes they caught colors and details and others not. That’s a desert territory moody with junipers, not thickly-forested and set in surreal ways. There’s a spellbinding contrast between moon brightness and arranged junipers.

Occasionally, the rising moon became lost in clouds, but it left light chains.

We played on the path of Road #200.

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We loved the surreal desert.

As Moon Chasers, we wear matching jackets. And in the background here is our team logo.

In the evening after I was home, Susie forwarded the compass position where the morning moon would be setting, and explained where from my deck to look for that location. I ventured outside in 30-degree weather and with freezing fingers captured that full Pink Moon setting behind Mt. Bachelor.

Dear Friends: This chase preps for the only other “official” Super-Moon, it rises on May 26. Diana

Monday, April 26, 2021 (Tomorrow’s April Pink Moon will be nearest earth and at its brightest.)

Tonight’s rising of April’s long-anticipated Pink Moon might not become apparent over Central Oregon. This area is experiencing weather very cool and rainy, with forecasts of probable snow. Regardless, later today, I’ll go out and search for that rising moon. If I’m lucky, my camera will make worthwhile captures that tomorrow will appear here. If my tale is an unlucky one about trying and losing, well, failure isn’t fun. But if one tries very hard to succeed failure isn’t simply awful, for good learning is a worthwhile outcome.

Yesterday day felt too cold, but a welcome light rain seemed good. While in a supermarket, I received an alert from my phone about a lightening strike only fifteen miles away. I hurried home for lightening and thunder make my dogs desperate to get into the house. In my occasional absences through heavy, noisy rainstorms, I’ve arrived home to find that dogs have ripped out window screens by trying to reach safety inside.

I drove home without hearing thunder or seeing lightening and in a light rain. The weather was causing lots of interesting atmosphere. The sky was cloudless with a heaviness that altered how familiar things looked. I stopped occasionally so my camera could record the damp atmosphere.

These images of gloom don’t represent a Central Oregon norm. Usually, we get too little rain, and generally, have lots of sunshine.

Bright sunshine appeared early on the morning before today’s story. Then, this cute critter busily was collecting mouthfuls for its new babies in a nearby nest.

Dear Friends: Wishing for good luck later today, for catching sights of that rising full moon. Diana

Sunday, April 25, 2021 (In two days April’s Pink Moon will appear at its fullest.)

A few weeks ago I quit my part-time job after years of preferring the society of some outside work. That brought an unexpected shock of readjusting my well-set brain-calendar. To offset, I had to focus on recognizing and expanding my full-time at home responsibilities.

Today is different socially and economically from anytime past. In my career days, I had a welcoming and creative home environment. In retirement I brought and nurtured that attitude which tends to be expensive. Looking back, it’s difficult to pinpoint when my thinking began changing. Maybe it’s mostly from the past year-and-a-half of pandemic worries. That period has altered much that many of us once took for granted.

These days, I’m in less in a hurry and have less spending power, so I calculate waste. The many throwaways in my kitchen, like paper towels and plastic wrap, impact grocery purchases. Recently, journalists focusing on environmental concerns are writing that wildlife are becoming trapped and bounded by discarded face masks. Throwaway masks are plastic-impregnated, not recyclable.

I’ve begun to try and reduce consumptions of typical throwaways. I’m trying to replace grabs at paper towels by grabbing cloth towels and then laundering and reusing. It’s a less easy a solution for some messy situations, but does work. Another issue is plastic wrap, a tear-off and discard kitchen helper. Instead of grabbing at plastic, I’m saving refrigerator-destined items by using pre-made and reusable coverings.

All that primes me for a brand-new consideration, wasted food. A new book, by Lindsay-Jean Hard, who focuses on sustainability in garden, home, and community, who is a commercial baker and also blogs, argues that most of the unwanted fresh food parts we discard are usable and nutritious. She’s found ways to cook with the skins of onions, potatoes, asparagus, and carrots. She cooks with most flowering vegetable tops and their tougher outside leaves.

It seems the art of French cuisine is what’s taught the world about the importance of peeling and trimming what’s to be cooked. Today’s world isn’t the same old world. It’s wider-viewed, better-informed, and very concerned about the impact on the environment of common waste.

I like the ideas behind this book along with my own small contributions to sustainability. Little steps, if adopted by a majority of consumers, will have the power to influence a worldwide economy.

Dear Friends: It’s said that a feather floating can be the source that initiates a hurricane. Diana

Saturday, April 24, 2021 (4 days before April’s full Pink Moon comes nearest to earth)

In this coming Monday’s early evening, my friend Susie and I will head east into the desert with cameras. We want to see in real time and capture in photos the Pink Moon rising. We’ve been “getting into” super moon appearances, and have begun planning ahead. We’ll try to capture May’s Super “Flower Moon”, which in exactly one month rises nearest to earth.

Susie has named our team, we’re “Moon Chasers”.

A name to act-to intensifies preparations. Susie, an avid cycler and hiker, knows the community’s east side. She has information suggesting that Monday’s sky might be very cloudy and has been exploring where best to go for a view of Pink Moon’s majesty.

I, too, am spurred on, taking a camera everywhere and trying to remember to use it. Well, not just “use it”, but to practice applying the holy grail: framing, focusing, and lighting.

So, yesterday, a couple of photos taken from my vehicle while waiting in line to dump unneeded stuff at the Landfill.

Beside the mountains in today’s header photo, here’s another that satisfies.

Yesterday’s light came from a bland sky and emphasized subject features in interesting ways. After leaving the Landfill, I paused here and there to take random photos. These didn’t need touching-up and each speaks for itself.

This one, intended to be a throw-away, instead became an instant favorite.

For obvious reasons, here’s my most favorite of all.

Dear Friends: Setting large goals forces us to prepare by handling the small related elements. Diana

Friday, April 23, 2021 (5 days before April’s full Pink Moon rises nearest to earth)

The sky’s contents are on my mind in anticipation of next week’s fullest rise of a nearing Pink Moon. I’m wondering how to rise to the challenge of capturing the anticipated moon majesty with my woefully inadequate cameras.

Yesterday afternoon, on seeing the moon’s early rise in a still-light sky, I decided to experiment. What a pleasant surprise, to discover that my zoom camera could capture decently a moon bathed in natural light.

Very early this morning while letting the dogs outside, I felt a beckoning from that same three-quarter moon, now setting and beautifully so over in the west. I didn’t go for a camera, because my past shots of moons setting in dark skies never have captured adequately all I yearn to see.

Good photos from a camera, aside from effective composition, are one-hundred percent about light. Take the photo of yesterday’s afternoon moon in daylight. Its details yesterday exactly are what my naked eye saw early this morning.

To illustrate here’s that afternoon capture, after computer software has darkened the surrounding sky. This version reflects much I’d have wished to capture in a photo of this morning’s setting moon.

These thoughts move my impressions beyond the moon and to sky-gazing in general. In thinking about watching the sky, I’m recognizing that this activity is and always has been never-ending. Aside from specific pursuits like the moon, the sky is an amazing streamer of much that fascinates.

There are general activities:

There are specific topics:

Acquiescing to being addicted to sky-watching lets me shift away, to return to that specific, fascinating, coming Pink Moon. Can’t help myself, must stay tuned.

Dear Friends: This calls for re-reading Shakespeare, who clearly and best articulated “sky matters”. Diana

Thursday, April 22, 2021 (In 5 days, April’s full Pink Moon will rise at its nearest to earth.)

This time of year brings the “squeeze weeks”, the few almost too chilly/windy that separate the coldest weather from summer’s warm days. It’s a waiting period before I start working with my horses. It gets me tackling around-the-home filler-activities. Last year, I spent these weeks trimming trees, and cutting and hauling wood to the dump. This year, I’ve begun a different project.

I’m transforming my RV garage from years-long of storing hay and creating a workshop. The area will hold tools that having accumulated clog nearly very space in my attached garage. The shop is a cool idea, but raises a question, “What’ll I do with the hay?”

For the time being. That’s a set-aside for answering later.

Most of us remain somewhat in a pandemic mode. We keep near home and try to stay busy and productive. We navigated the worst shutdown period with reading, streaming, knitting, painting and drawing, zooming, Amazoning, and sometimes venturing out to shop.

I still enjoy reading a whole book every week. I still fiddle with artsy stuff, it’s fun though I’ve little talent. These are great weeks of having time to think about and to grow a shop. Another question: “What’ll I do with this shop?”

That’s another set-aside for later.

This morning while perusing newspapers, I ran across an article about someone clever. Fighting boredom in her most confined pandemic period, she played around, scratching with a penknife on unpeeled bananas. She was able to turn those scratchings into little art pieces, took photos, and posted them on line. That has made her wildly popular, gained her a following. She’s begun teaching on line, the art of scratching onto banana skins.

Here’s her unique combat against shut-in boredom, and images of her clever art: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2021/04/21/banana-art-sketch/

Dear Friends: Creativity often just falls-out, as a by-product of just playing around. Diana

Wednesday, April 21, 2021 (Six days before its nearest-to-earth rise of April’s full Pink Moon)

The world has avoided street riots following a jury’s decision that Derrick Chauvin is guilty on all counts of murder. Most everyone immediately breathed normally again.

Achieving that difficult victory has been the easiest part of achieving social needs versus institutional practices. Ahead, America faces the challenge of reforming a long-standing key organization. Worst, it stretches coast to coast with a highly entrenched workplace culture.

Huge changes must start with top management. It requires muscle to redesign, readjust, and effectively monitor revised institutional policies, practices, and procedures. America’s leaders publicly recognize these needs. They’re promising to alter the entrenched and complex processes of policing.

Changing a long-standing institution means revising its top vision and the missions to support that vision. From those come goals for line personnel to embrace and adhere to. They must work with new hiring agreements, new methods to assess job candidates, and support clear work guidelines by ably assessing and rewarding performance.

An effective culture is circular. Goals from the top are directed to line managers. Those understand how to lead, support policies and procedures, oversee training processes, and measure and document performance fairly. Plus line managers must communicate well and negotiate actively with subordinates. Fulfilling the circle is reporting accurately up through the chain and back to top management.

Modifying America’s police work is a challenge that equals our leadership’s long-time attempts to modify another entrenched, but related, culture: America’s too-little control over sales of lethal weapons.

Dear Friends: Drawing on experience, we look forward with an abundance of hope and caution. Diana