A Lovely Cold

By the artist Sandra Boynton (from her FB post)

Sunday, December 15, 2024

The department store where I am a part-time worker was busy yesterday; all good for the business and inspiring for its employees. After hours on my feet, checking out customers, and returning tried-on clothing to wherever the pieces came from, I leave to go home. I’m tired but happier if we’ve been super-busy with customers.

I’m off from work today and (speaking of super) anticipating tonight’s sky with December’s “Cold Moon” appearing. While driving home last evening, I couldn’t stop looking at that moon, bright and clear. From all indications, sightings of it tonight should be even better.

It’ll be spectacular, and here’s why.

The Cold Moon is the “longest” full moon illumination of the year. The moon’s proximity to the winter solstice (December 21st) gives it a longer path through the sky and gives us more viewing time.

This year’s Cold Moon happens to coincide with a rare “major lunar standstill,” which occurs roughly every 18.6 years. The standstill is caused by a wobble in its orbit that makes the moon reach its highest and lowest points in the sky.

I will enjoy tonight’s longer moon-viewing opportunity with unusually striking visual effects.

Dear Friends: Last night’s moon greatly hinted toward what’s to come. Diana

Journeys

Saturday, December 14, 2024

Cold, cold, cold, is what it is outside again today. Instead of complaining in my head about soon having to strap on cleated boots, get into a heavy coat, and go outside to feed my horses, I should be thankful it’s not as cold-bad as sometimes it has become at this time of year. I also need to remember last year’s bad weather here in Central Oregon, when soon after New Year’s, more freezing, longer-lasting, and just-awful weather rolled in. I stayed cleated, bundled, and complaining the whole way to springtime.

In a larger perspective, cold, snowy weather is less headachy than other, increasingly common, climate events. I’m thinking of hurricanes, tornados, fires, and floods. Beyond an actual event, coping with loss and recovery possibilities and impossibilities. It’s somewhat real to me because I grew up in Oklahoma. I recall being “on watch” for tornados that threatened often, and if I saw the air “turning blue,” sheltering became an immediate need.

Reflecting on all that is making the local weather seem less awful.

Dear Friends: Now, I’ll boot up, strap on, and go hiking in the cold. Diana

Hay, Mom!

Friday, December 13, 2024

Yesterday, we Central Oregonians coped with several inches of snow and can expect more today. That morning, I wore tall boots with cleated bottoms while out feeding my horses. At lunchtime, I came home from my outside job to feed the horses. I should say, “I crawled home.” Vehicles were crowding the roadways and barely moving. I returned late to work and felt guilty.

The weather, time constraints, and traffic stalls got me focusing on my priorities. My horses are at the top because equines must be fed several times daily. My other critters need attention and care, too, but less critically than the equines. I can’t avoid taking too-long lunch hours when conditions make that necessary. Feed the horses–damn the torpedos!

My coworkers seemed to understand and didn’t complain. One of my reasons for appreciating that outside working environment.

Long story short, weather conditions stopped me from finding and bringing home a Poinsettia. I wanted a bright red plant to punctuate the snowy landscape that fills my big picture window. Since the snow is sticking and we can expect more, I will have time to find a potted Poinsettia for the shelf of my snow-filled picture window at home.

Dear Friends: Home caring for equines is a consuming responsibility. Diana

Season’s Musing

Thursday, December 12, 2024

I’m nursing sore muscles after my first trip in years to the gym. My poor legs, hips, and shoulders were pushed to work a little harder for a couple of hours. I’ll feel them more today as the muscles move me around, generally nonstop, in my part-time department store job.

This morning’s thin blanket of snow is pretty. All that white has me imagining a Poinsettia on my picture window shelf in the foreground. Now, wishing for seasonal inspiration from a bright Poinsettia, I will bring one home after work.

I wanted to know more about the plant’s significance. I understand now that poinsettias are native to Mexico and have been cultivated there since Aztec times. Aztecs used the plant to decorate and to produce dyes and medicines.

In the 19th century, Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico, introduced poinsettias to the United States. He cultivated the plant in his South Carolina greenhouse and shared it with friends and colleagues.

Eventually, creative American growers saw innovative marketing possibilities. By employing the relatively new medium of television, they marketed poinsettias for background-coloring TV’s giant Christmas specials. Eventually, Americans saw the plant’s inherent beauty and associated poinsettias with Christmas, and now as beloved holiday decorations.

Dear Friends: “Random thoughts” don’t rise from nowhere. Diana

“Hello There!”

Wednesday, December 11, 2024

My iPhone has been upgraded with ChatGTP. Experts claim that its capabilities will make my cellphone more companionable. For example, AI can participate in long conversations with me and use a natural-sounding voice. AI has lots of potential, much that I’m not ready for. I use the technology and am satisfied; I’m willing simply to read its responses to my queries. Nonetheless, its presence on my iPhone might be a game-changer.

Another game-changing move occurred yesterday when I went to the gym and worked on developing an exercise routine to strengthen my legs, shoulders, and lower back. Two years have passed since I exercised in that gym, and it has lots of new equipment. Now, focusing on building muscle and cardio strength is easier.

For me, at this point, “easier” is an abstract. On my way home, I felt relaxed and proud of myself. I made a quick stop to search for a headset with Bluetooth capabilities. I found one; it’s now charged and ready for upcoming workout sessions.

Dear Friends: I’ll try lifting up my Western saddle on Christmas Day. Diana

Mad & Madder

Tuesday, December 10, 2024

The everlasting politics and battles in the Middle East have set the background for a very uneasy First Day of Hanukkah (on December 25) this year. I’ve been considering the chaos possible on continents far away. And now, in America too, after the cold-blooded murder, in broad daylight and on a crowded street, of a corporate executive.

The Middle East battles and general social divisiveness have made me decide not to continue wearing a visible Star of David. This year, too, I won’t publicly wear one of my “Happy Hanukkah” T-shirts.

The relatively quick capture of that competent, clever, elusive shooter might stop some would-be copycats. But the entire episode has opened dreadful possibilities that most of us wouldn’t have imagined.

Straight to here, too, the small Central Oregon city where I live, and now fear expressing some individualism.

Dear Friends: Ours is increasingly an unfunny “Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.” Diana

Dust Kicking

Monday, December 09, 2024

Yesterday, I became a card-carrying gym member. The renewal process, which took longer than I anticipated, prevented me from working out then, but tomorrow I will. It’s a day off from my part-time job; I am self-promising to drive to the gym and build muscle strength on my future days off.

Here’s why that’s happening: I was getting ready to ride my pony recently and discovered I couldn’t lift my Western saddle high enough to set it on her back. The last time I saddled my pony Western was a couple of years ago; that saddle then wasn’t too heavy for me.

Thinking about it, I realized a problem because of my part-time working schedule. It has slowed my horsey activities, which I dislike, and it’s also changing what muscles I regularly use.

That was my wake-up call; both those problems need fixing! The recognition and impact were immediate. I want to ride more and capably gear up my horses for outings. I have hurried to join a gym and will work out there regularly.

My goal of gaining strength will be achieved and apparent when, as in the past, I can saddle my pony unaided.

Dear Friends: Motivation is everything, watch my dust. Diana

Action!

Sunday, December 08, 2024

This is a day off from my part-time job. I intend to start exercising routinely. I will go to the gym today, reactivate my membership, and start on a strength-building program. I will continue to go to the gym and work out there on my future days off. It’s my best way to physically self-strengthen because of distractions at home that let me avoid working out.

Giving chunks of my days off for this goal is a huge commitment. The process will be slow but with worthwhile payoffs. They’ll be over time and incremental. But sometimes, ya’ just gotta do what ya’ gotta do, and I’ve reached that point.

Besides the motivation to be stronger physically, others start to surface as possible payoffs. I will speak more later about this. Right now, I must meet the first commitments by going, renewing, and working out–today.

Dear Friends: “Commit to writing, and then you’ll do it.” They say, and I’ll see. Diana

Hi, Mary!

Saturday, December 07, 2024

The other day, my mail brought a Christmas card with a So Cal return address but not the sender’s name. I chuckled over a handwritten note on the envelope: “Love that dog, Chase!”

I can’t guess how many people read my blogs because Google owns the writing platform and downloads blogs in response to internet queries about related topics. However, I know some readers in Southern California, where I’m from. I mentally played with possible note jotters and landed correctly on Mary Martini!

Mary and I used to work together at Kaiser Permanente. She’s one of the two best-organized people I’ve been lucky to work with, and she loves Chase!-my young dog; he’s strong, stubborn, exasperating, exhausting, and way too intelligent.

Okay, Mary, at the risk of repeating old stories, I’ll update everybody.

Since I last wrote about Chase, he’s escaped, and often again. Working almost constantly, I try to offset his diggings and keep him and his little companion, Mitzvah, from escaping. I continually drag large and heavy lava rocks uphill to my house, where they are lining the dog fence’s bottom, inside and outside. Strong and determined, Chase still sometimes finds vulnerable spots to dig out.

My standalone kennel has six-foot-high fencing and stands on a concrete base. Chase is a fantastic climber, so kenneling him doesn’t ensure his containment. I’ve (again!) worked on the fencing to prevent him from gaining footholds and to heighten his challenge. Now, escapes are on pause, but Chase keeps trying to defeat obstacles.

He wants to be with me, and I love him—he’s maybe the most intelligent dog I’ve known. But I worry about his safety, from vehicles and from becoming lost. I also worry about his responses if he’s loose and a stranger enters my property, for example, to deliver a package.

Taking him to a no-kill shelter and hoping he’ll find a better home is out of the question. First, because he’s so high-maintenance, and the shelters are overcrowded and begging for foster homes.

Mary, this beat goes on, and thanks for appreciating Chase. He will turn three years old in several months, the age that suggests a dog is mature. Regardless, this guy simply is who he is, and in somewhat of a miracle, he’s still here!

Dear Friends: My rounds of “Adventures with Chase” are continuous. Diana

Grumbles

Friday, December 06, 2024

In our hemisphere, the annual day of least daylight is the winter solstice, which occurs every December 21 or 22. This year, the 21st will bring our shortest daylight. I am already feeding my horses in darkness, around 4:30 p.m., and soon will in earlier darkness, around 4:00 p.m. We who must care for large animals feel stressed in these darkest days of the year.

Aside from having to work in too little light, December’s freezing cold also affects my fingers. Although gloved, my fingers can start feeling frozen and too painful to cooperate. There’s an infrared heater in my barn for thawing fingers, but rapid thawing pains, too.

I’m accustomed to wintertime discomforts, which helps me cope. I am wrapping my head around being in darkness with frozen fingers until the 21st. Then, darkness and freezing will continue, but daylight will increase gradually and noticeably.

January brings lighter days but might introduce very stressful weather. Last year, Central Oregon enjoyed relatively mild weather until the New Year, when everything changed dramatically and brought great cold, blasting winds, snow, and freezing temperatures. None of those eased until just before the Summer Solstice arrived.

Dear Friends: Today’s header image is the hoar frost at my barn. Diana