Thursday, September 03, 2020

I awoke from a dream state with a sense of having narrowly escaped a situation of “almost being shanghaied”. What scenario did that come from, shanghaied? What might it have meant? All else that had composed my dream life was gone, disappeared into a thin membrane that’s at-the-ready to absorb “sleep realities”.

Such a curious sort of lingering memory encourages me to try and free associate to it, and try to understand to what it might refer. Curiously, shanghaied isn’t a typical verb in my lexicon. In fact, I cannot recall having used it, but my dream suggests that my inner life allows the word to live in a meaningful way.

I believe that dreams usually represent extensions of concerns that we’ve deemed not important, unwanted, and have tucked away. Meanwhile, our inner under-the-surface lives continue wrestling with them. As we awake and return to reality, our thoughts retain dream fragments.

This isn’t an introduction to some philosophical limb, but to assist in explaining a key outcome from my free associating. The immediate thought that popped into my brain relative to “being shanghaied” was the Blue elderberry bush–that formerly beautiful plant located on my forest horse trail. A couple days ago, I discovered that it’s been stripped clean, its branches now completely naked. Months before, on first coming across the unexpected and lovely plant, I made it a key point on my developing horse trail map, of “The Blue Elderberry Trail”.

Dear Friends: It’s a way of interpreting weird dream elements that often helps. Diana

Wednesday, September 02, 2020

Hunting season is about to open. I must be aware that a hunter may misidentify Pimmy and shoot at her. Years ago, I brought home a red saddlebag made for llamas that Pimmy can carry. Once, we tried it out during a ride in the Badlands. Pimmy disliked that bag and in vain tried brushing it by rushing beneath the low limbs of desert trees we passed. I decided to set the bag aside.

These days, as Pimmy follows my horses in the forest, we see signs of activity during hunting seasons. The donkey is loose and will need to signal big that, “I’m not wild game”. Her old red llama pack should work fine. I must be creative to make sure it stays on her among the forest’s low-hanging limbs. If I start getting that bag ready now, she might practice wearing it in our next outing.

The horses also need a bit of non-game identification. They should be recognizable as domestic animals since I’m riding and ponying. Nonetheless, it’s best to avoid underestimating the potential eagerness of a shotgun-holder. So my horses will wear red, most likely ribbons tied to their manes. I’ll also look into food-grade sprays that safely might color their butts (and Pimmy’s).

Legal hunting will continue throughout this year’s remaining months. My horses will be out on the trails and maybe looking funny, but hopefully staying safe.

Dear Friends: In these fall months, our forest trails invite at at their most lovely. Diana

Tuesday, September 01, 2020

Today, sadly, I’m reporting what hopefully only is a near-death. Yesterday, while riding on horseback along one of my favorite trails, I wanted to introduce a riding companion to the forest’s single Blue Elderberry plant. On my trail map, it’s a beautiful key feature, as seen in today’s header photo.

This time, trying to locate that plant was challenging, and here’s why. Now, it’s a mere skeleton of stems with on the ground a few wilting leaves. That recently-healthy, flourishing plant completely has been stripped of leaves and flowers.

The image was an unexpected devastating blow to my sense of balance and comfort. Throughout this summer, seemingly the forest has little-changed. On seeing the plant, my initial impulse was confusion, wondering what so brutally might have attacked the plant. My companion, a gardner, made the logical suggestion that probably deer were responsible.

The plant’s previous and current conditions have refreshed an understanding that over time everything changes. I know that for everything various stages of existence offer a continuum from the best (or better) to the worst. This sudden change struck me as too brutal and unexpected. I’d be happier to have seen that elderberry going through a natural decline, but things are as they are. In this case, there’s yet hope.

The plant still is rooted, has its branches, and gradually might revive. May it again thrive!

Dear Friends: I know its location, have images and memories, and will be watching. Diana

Monday, August 31, 2020

Ahead, more perfect morning hours on horseback, to follow yesterday’s lovely ride.

Several evenings ago, the horses, dogs, and I traveled over two obscure forest trails that recently came to our attention. We found where they connected to create a complete horse-trail loop. It’s special beauty is being almost-entirely off-road. It loops through about three- and one-half miles of forest. A horse walking-only may complete the loop in about an hour. For me, it takes a few minutes longer. Often when I’m riding, my donkey Pimmy follows loosely, and slowly. She wears a bell and occasional pauses to listen for her skews my timing.

Yesterday, our friend Anna rode the loop, too, and had with her a spool of pink ribbon. In today’s header photo she’s across Forest Road 200 and moving Rosie into position. They will pause for Anna to tie a ribbon that shows where the trail continues.

The ribbons make it easier to identify trail points, but keeping entirely on track still means following the dogs. Parts of the trails are very faded, easily might guide humans off-course. Experience has taught that my dogs like trails and tend to stay on them. Following the dogs has solved many trail confusions.

Today, I’ll ride the trails with another friend. The more horses travel over them the more defined they’ll become. It happens that my fellow-rider, Cindy, is a carriage-driver. Maybe she can help to solve another problem, about getting a horse-pulled cart or carriage up and over a very rocky and unavoidable hill. It’s a road point that could hinder driving-access to roadways beyond which appear excellent for the purpose.

Dear Friends: Our changing weather is cool and perfect for riding in the forest. Diana

Sunday, August 30, 2020

The other day a book arrived that I couldn’t recall having ordered. It’s A Burst of Light and other essays by Audre Lorde. Soon I remembered that Lorde’s work referenced by a past-writer whose work I’m re-reading after many years. Lorde’s book is a collection of essays and speeches, and scanning a bit of her writing blew me away. She’s a brilliant thinker, an honest, talented writer, and I’m eager to return to her work.

Lorde (1934-92) was African-American, a lesbian, mother, and a civil rights activist. She primarily was a poet, having begun writing poetry as a child. Later she self-described as “thinking in poetry”. From childhood, she felt like a social outcast, was rebellious, and these fed her interests and writings. In the 1950s, while attending college in Mexico, she learned to confirm her identify on personal and artistic levels, as a lesbian and poet. In America, socially it was an early period to be a black person speaking of non-hetrosexual emotions. Lorde never backed from who she was, and her writing, compelling and brilliant, supported her presence.

My nearly-accidental introduction to this writer is exciting. She’s straight from the Great Depression era that introduced many brilliant African-American thinkers and writers. Those who migrated from the Jim Crow South made their voices heard, had plenty of issues, to speak about, be recognized, and acknowledged. Their works deserved and earned appropriate attention.

I’m certain that after reading Lorde, on another morning I’ll speak again of her work.

Dear Friends: The rough road, from a Deep south to Black Lives Matter. Diana

Saturday, September 29, 2020

Yesterday, I finished at work an hour early and rushed home to feed the horses. I was hoping for enough daylight to take them to the forest, to have a ride before dark. We’d be out long as needed to walk only a few miles, so I invited along all the dogs, including my Border Collie, Miles, who for a week has been taking arthritis-easing meds.

While the horses were eating in their stalls, I fed my other critters, prepared dinners for the dogs’ return, and readied the horse trailer. The animals loaded easily and we took off into an approaching dusk. I felt some trepidation about entering the forest on horseback just as dinnertime was beginning for wild animals. But my day’s short working hours offered this rare opportunity for an evening ride.

As hoped for, this outing had enough daylight, the weather was perfect, and our surroundings felt comfortable and non-threatening. The horses traveled on both of the forest trails that we recently had discovered, but this time, we managed to ride on one and at its end connect correctly to the other. The two trails gave our entire ride a “forest experience” by taking us from the trailhead and back with minimal road travel.

In waning light, as we approached my rig, periodically both horses’ heads turned and focused intently toward the west. That’s the direction where our trails lay. From way off, I heard bits of barking, and judging from the horses, the sounds probably were from coyotes beginning to hunt.

Those two trails together go for about three and one-half miles. Walking both takes a horse only about an hour, just right for short outings. Best of all is that lovely environment, riding totally in the forest.

Dear Friends: The dogs loved that outing, and dear Miles did no limping! Diana

Friday, August 28, 2020

After work yesterday, while hurrying to my car and hearing my name, I turned and saw Todd trying to catch up with me. He’s a Costco employee of many years. After returning to work, I’d had not seen him in the store. Turns out, he’s gone–has moved on–six months ago, to Manhattan, Kansas! He’s fit and suntanned, looks terrific and happy.

It’s rare that someone long associated with Costco simply picks up and leaves, but Todd did. He explains that his son, recently retired from the Army, came to Bend and invited Todd to join his family in Manhattan. Just like that it happened. The son is in a second marriage, and between the two there are five children, from age seventeen to five. The five-year-old is the only girl-child, and Todd (who’s very close to his adult daughter) says the little one is a delight.

Well, maybe the Universe is speaking to me. First, a surprise-contact from my long-time friend Jan who lives in Kansas City, and now, Todd hailing from Manhattan. He says that, in Manhattan, one could buy a 1700 sq. ft. home with a yard, for about $90k. Or, a brand-new 2200 sq. ft. home on 1-1/2 acres for $190k. I’m not interested in moving but really do like those home prices.

And more about The Universe. I must consider possible meanings after so many years of forgetting, to find myself re-experiencing sudden feelings of closeness to a far-away place that once figured mightily in my background. Please don’t misunderstand, I’m not a woo-woo type in any way, shape or form. But I enjoy toying with ideas, and attempting to comprehend the mysterious ways that a past may interact with one’s present moments.

Dear Friends: It’s a fun mental exercise for one who’s in-place, hawking food items. Diana

Thursday, August 27, 2020

We working in Costco and serving food samples or just talking about products are being scheduled to work five days weekly. We’ve no choice, for the demonstration organization wishes to return to action and food manufacturers are pushing more for sales. The Corvid-19 environment isn’t safe for cooking and distributing unwrapped foods so it’s a Catch-22. New hiring is curtailed just as product promoters push hard for visibility. We on the payroll must accept more working days.

That doesn’t bother me except that my animals and especially the horses need some exercise. Daylight already is shorter, horses beginning to shed. Before and after my work, too little light-time remains for hauling, riding, returning, and organizing for the next morning.

Organizing ahead is essential if I’m to arrive at work on time. Morning horse feedings require that stalls be clean, with hay in feeders and water in buckets. My chores are to bring horses inside to eat, and to set out hay to keep them busy for awhile after release. Later, after arriving home and while Rosie blares for attention, I clean their stalls, fill water buckets, allot hay amounts, and bring in the horses to eat. Meanwhile, I organize for the next morning.

It’s unending work to keep big animals, but definitely rewarding if there’s adequate daylight and free time to play with them. My changing work schedule has me striving toward more efficient horse-keeping. It’s about working smarter. Squeezing-in evening exercise might mean saddling a horse after it finishes eating and cruising neighborhood streets.

Dear Friends: Changing time and commitments force us to reorganize normal activities. Diana

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Today, I’d love to load the dogs, drive up into the mountains, and for awhile just tramp aimlessly. Something about these days, warm and somewhat overcast with smoke, calls me higher. Alas, it’s a working day, maybe also bringing that calling. Yep, I’ll be inside, standing and hawking a food item, I think it’ll be hemp seeds.

The products we “demonstrate” are standards from Costco’s shelves. Few passer-by shoppers are interested, unless they decide to make a joke. Yesterday, I was responsible for speaking about a dog food and got teased by many who asked to taste-test before buying it. Like, come on folks, that’s not funny.

No matter how often we demonstrators show Costco’s hemp seed product (and we’ve done so bunches!), we find ourselves on the receiving end of jokes, like, “will this make me high?” To worsen the situation for demo types, askers pause and watch us waiting for a laugh! Well, I’m impolite and stay quiet, simply returning their stares.

Most would-be jokesters are men, but some women pick up on the hostility thread and try being funny. Please, folks, let me stand here wearily doing my repetitive job. Don’t joke about it. If you must try to joke, don’t seek my participation.

Anticipation. That’s why those mountains call! But I gotta go to work, and funny enough, also want to. It happens I look forward to reading t-shirts, and by the way stash humors from the good ones.

Anyway, if anyone local shops today in Costco, visit me wherever the hemp-seed might be hiding. Hey, I know you’ll joke, and it’s okay. With friends, I do laugh.

Dear Readers: It’s a perfect example of a situational love-hate relationship. Diana

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Yesterday’s smoke from the nearby Green Ridge Fire made it seem rain was on the way. This morning, my weather app says there’s light rain nearby and coming this way. Soon, I’ll leave for work, hoping any moisture is too light to worry my Border Collie, Miles. He panics during thunderstorms, attempts to enter the house by ripping apart window screens. Ah, some joys of living with pets!

Speaking of having pets, yesterday the horses and I went into the forest to work on developing a horse-trail loop. I rode Rosie who wore a bit-less bridle, and we ponied Sunni. That’s my first time ponying off Rosie, she in a minimal-control device, and there was a price. Rosie jigged and jogged, rarely settling into her lovely long-striding walk. Okay, I did expect this unpleasant behavior.

Rosie recently was introduced to a bit-less bridle. She’s been wonderfully cooperative, needing little guidance, moving casually, staying relaxed. A horse in a bit-less bridle could have “the say” in a serious disagreement with its rider. Maybe one could steady a horse about to take-off by having it turn and circle. Anyway, my well-seasoned horses aren’t worrisome, but Rosie does jig and jog when she’s unhappy.

I chose to use an easy bridle and would suffer Rosie’s unhappiness, because our trio must learn to accommodate a “new normal”. These days in riding alone, I’m usually on one horse and ponying another. Sunni who’s nearly unflappable easily will lead Rosie. But Rosie’s another story, doesn’t appreciate having Sunni closely behind–or Oh Dear!–right beside us.

Yesterday, we tracked over forest trails. Rosie jigged, jogged, sometimes walked. Okay, we’re in a learning mode. I practiced sitting relaxed in the saddle, allowing freedom for her head and neck. In the end, I had to admit that, reasonably, Rosie had cooperated.

Our teamwork is in a new-beginning. It’s true, adjustments aren’t quick processes and practice makes perfect. And there’s Rosie, herself. She’s mature, has been around the block, is very-trained, sensitive, and smart. As will any horse given time, opportunity, and patience, she’ll settle into our new routine.

Dear Friends: This trio for learning–time, opportunity, and patience–benefits us all. Diana