Friday, March 27, 2020

Today will be another of tree-trimming. After deciding to ride my horse on this property, I looked more closely at the trees. Even those already trimmed had too-low limbs. I got myself outside with a chainsaw and trimmed higher. All went more slowly than anticipated, and so, I must go to it again.

If this were any time other than this Coronavirus stretch, I’d be less among my property’s trees. This trimming work has required dedication and lots of effort but has beat staying inside for hours. I suppose if we were in deeper winter, there would be fewer opportunities for adequate physical activity.

The battle beginning to rage among leadership is whether to put the nation back to work soon, or to promote longer periods of self-isolation and social distancing. We understand too little about this virus, but have learned that it’s serious and often can result in death.

It’s troubling, that people might be forced soon to return to populated workplaces to renew national productivity, but that might happen. This virus supposedly tapers off as warmer weather arrives and it’s almost summertime.

Recently, the “New Yorker” offered a link to one of its classic articles, “Crisis in the Hot Zone”. It’s about viruses and focuses on Ebola. Written in the 1990s by a very-knowledgeable Richard Preston, it’s informative, readable, and teaches. I’m passing it along:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1992/10/26/crisis-in-the-hot-zone?mbid=&source=EDT_NYR_EDIT_NEWSLETTER_0_imagenewsletter_Classics_ZZ&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_source=nl&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Classics_Daily_032520&utm_medium=email&bxid=5be9d7b63f92a40469e7251c&cndid=48830477&utm_term=TNY_Classics

Dear Friends: What do you think about returning to work, or continuing to distance? Diana

Thursday, March 26, 2020

I spent most of yesterday burning juniper limbs previously cut and piled. The work awaiting my attention looked huge, and was. Creating those piles had taken several days for trimming, loading, and hauling. Finally, now a fire (I’m getting better at starting one), and ahead, more hours of dragging brush.

My primarily motivation has been being outside, physically active, and at least maybe beautifying the place. It seemed that something else, too, might be behind these activities. Later, while drinking a beer and watching my fire burn down, more ideas surfaced. In the beginning, I had fantasies of creating a driving trail that would follow the property borders. But much of this place is rocky, in fact, bedrocked. Pulling a cart over bedrock might wear too much on my horse, and certainly, bumping along in it would be the end of me.

The burning fire, cold beer, and a bit of hanging out encouraged my new plan. I will ride horseback on the property! With most of the invasive limbs removed, my horse can take me anywhere–along the border, through the middle, and wherever. She will move easily under limbs, and best, no branches threatening to knock me from my saddle.

It’s pleasing to know various motivations for doing all the hard work, and especially, figuring out that the results needn’t simply be cosmetic.

Dear Friends: Ahead, in another day of Coronavirus-capture, let’s stay motivated! Diana

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

My adventure in Costco yesterday won’t be repeated soon. I was anticipating that seeing a crowded parking lot would send me home, or that once inside the store I needed assurance that social distancing was being practiced. Well, so much for anticipation, beginning when I arrived. The parking lot was jammed. A line of seniors began at the tire section door and wrapped around the building. We seniors marched in lockstep. One guy sneezed once, and although straight into a handkerchief, I felt myself cringing. Inside the store, many shoppers made social distancing impossible.

All of us were in food sections with clothing and appliance areas left empty. We found purchasing limitations, like only one rotertossorie chicken and just one organic raw chicken per customer. I wanted whole raw chickens and bought several. Like everyone else, I pushed through aisles for more, like beverages, bread, cheese, salad, avocados and oranges.

Costco has been a friendly place where folks were meeting, greeting, chatting. Yesterday, none of that existed. People were focused, stone-faced, quietly pushing past one another. Many wearing face masks and gloves made visual and more possible infection spread.

Certainly, there’s no doing things as normal. Yesterday, a mobile veterinarian called to cancel her visit to my house. My farrier has asked if I want to postpone his visit to trim hooves, and I’m thinking that might be wise.

We retirees might feel less pressured than folks younger–still working and facing layoffs, trying to manage after becoming cooped with restless children. But for every one of this this situation stinks.

Dear Friends: Today I’ll try to be more creative and turn captivity into advantage. Diana

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

I drove past Costco and looked for a posting about possible new special shopping hours for folks 60+. It’s so, as the store has set aside for seniors Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. According to the posting, age must be verified before entry is allowed. Hopefully, that’ll be so.

I’m creating a list of items I want that usually are available from Costco. In the early morning hours, the store should be well-stocked, and the environment having been sanitized overnight hopefully is relatively safe for gatherings of early shoppers.

I could use a little adventure, even just a short time out and among. Setting aside best-advice to continue self-isolating, I’ve thought up some shopping criteria. For example, if outside the store its early-hours parking lot is packed with vehicles, I’ll turn and head home. As another, I want to sense once inside the store that people reasonably are practicing social-distancing.

Under today’s threatening clouds of disease, everybody is doing their best to accommodate and cope. Everything that’s in planning ultimately must ensure the safety, productivity, and optimism of people worldwide. Much depends upon our regaining of viable economies despite disease-fears and self-isolations.

Underlying everybody’s wishes to be out and about are deep concerns about possible near-future cash shortages. Societies that sustain populations, willing to work full- or part-time for income, must have and maintain-well the viable triangles of products, consumers, and cash.

As I write, it seems that American leaders have begun to talk better across the aisle. They seem be about to make some kind of deal that will ease our currently-failing economics.

Dear Friends: Anyway, I’m about to check-out the new early-morning shopping. Diana

Monday, March 23, 2020

This photo from yesterday shows my Gater loaded with juniper limbs for transporting to a staging area. That load was one of many from hours I spent sawing and lopping. Each filling of the Gater’s hydraulic dump made me forever grateful for acquiring this vehicle years ago on a whim. It’s a major workhorse.

I’m escaping Coronavirus-caging almost daily by trimming trees. It’s work that corrects long-ignored limb tangles, but is never-ending, not fun, filled with bending and lifting. Handling a 14′ long saw especially is wearing. Balancing that saw works my back muscles until standing straight is difficult. On starting to feel my head and shoulders leaning and leading, I force myself to self-straighten by positioning my head and shoulders straight over my hips. It’s a too-short fix.

This long overdue trimming that makes my place look cared-for, neater, is saving me from feelings of cabin fever and stir-crazy shpilkes. Outside, there’s more work needed that over a long stretch could keep me active and productive. For one thing, only half of my trees have been trimmed, and for another, this warming weather makes wooden steps and decking call for cleaning and protecting. To this end, and with thanks for online suppliers, in my garage a new pressure washer awaits assembly.

Dear Friends: This stressful downturn is more physical than any other in recent memory. Diana

Sunday, March 22, 2020

Current status in America: 24,000+ Coronavirus cases, and ~300 deaths.

News that maybe welcome to some of us is that big stores like Costco, Whole Foods, and Target, are planning to reserve hours for senior-only (age 60+) shoppers. It appears that most stores will reserve for this purpose their opening hours. They will have been sanitized in overnight closures.

Early-hours shopping could be a bonus for seniors as stores will have been freshly stocked. So far, people have been able to find online adequate staples, and avoid great needs to shop. There are other sorts of items, however, very popular and in too-short supply. In early reserved hours, shoppers might obtain quicker-moving products, like bananas, chicken, and fresh carrots.

I’m interested in “safer-shopping” opportunities, and hopeful. If I decide to take advantage of reserved senior hours, it makes sense to self-adorn with disposable gloves and a face covering, like a surgical mask or scarf of some sort. One out and about can’t ensure absolute self-safety, but it’s excellent to be aware of safety measures that might preserve health.

Dear Friends: I don’t want to write about Coronavirus, but it is hugely invasive. Diana

Saturday, March 21, 2020

We’re stuck trying to create a palatable lemonade from that weird lemon: Coronavirus: Cart…Oregon…Ranch…Obstacles…News…Athletes…Vital…Inspired…Rosie…Utilize…Sunni

Major newspapers are filled with stories about the ways Americans stuck indoors are coping, and guiding us to links offering online learning and respite opportunities. Front page stories highlight the booming of online sales as buyers seek board games, puzzles, books, and sanitizing supplies. Reporting has found that some lawmakers are profiting mightily from this economic downturn. There’s speculation about whether and how much major drug and food manufacturers ultimately may gouge consumers.

Through generations of Americans, our economy has made it possible for families and individuals to live increasingly better than in any past times. Suddenly now, our government’s lack of preparedness for a possible pandemic, that became real, has made every American vulnerable on all fronts. Each of us is impacted negatively by the current failing economy, shortages in medicine of skilled providers and equipment, and production and distribution inadequacies of standard supply-chains.

We’re accepting a need and leadership orders to stay indoors. For awhile we’ll obtain supplies from online distributors, be entertained and educated via computer, socialize over the internet.

But, for how long?

I’m beginning to want more to go into a grocery store and stroll through it aisles. I think about finding attractive items, selecting fresh produce and fruit, and maybe bringing flowers home. These feelings aren’t because of “not having”, they’re wishes for “being out and about”.

How long will “going out and being among” seem a dream instead of a return to reality?

We are good citizens, well-schooled through our activities and education, hard-working, and tax-paying. We have earned the right to expect an intelligent government that can lead wisely, is well-prepared for potential or predictable downturns and emergencies, and frequently communicates, intelligently and truthfully.

Dear Friends: We hold hands in cyberspace, hoping for the revival of good economy. Diana

Friday, March 20, 2020

Care…Online…Real…Outside…News…Active…Vivid…Internal…Rose…Unity…Share

During this unknown length of time, while we’re forced to limit outside contacts, we must be creative. Staying healthy mentally and physically requires that we keep a positive outlook. This could mean exploring our minds, to search out ideas and activities that might inspire pursuit. A pursuit could be an original or renewal.

It’s been years since I’ve attended an opera or listened through one, but I’m familiar with much opera music and have loved it. These days the Metropolitan Opera offers free streaming, and so, maybe it’s time to renew my seeing and listening. Steaming is a lovely opportunity, but few of us could sit for of hours before a computer streaming music, art, and Broadway shows.

Computer learning for most of us would be part-time activity. Maybe we could designate one or two hours for learning via streaming. Beyond that, it’s about planning for more activities during daylight hours. We can reach again inside to an “old me” and seek a physical interest.

One who once enjoyed a team sport, like basketball, can start working again at the skill by installing a hoop and practicing. For one who enjoyed gardening before becoming too busy to dig in dirt, start a garden. Grow items you love to eat, avoid having to shop for favorites.

This advice is for anyone who wants it and primarily for me. This morning with Coronavirus on my mind and knowing I’d write about it, I wondered how to speak to the situation agreeably. After all, it’s a real situation. Defining each letter of the word in a positive manner helped to lift me out of the “self-isolation doldrums”. In writing today, I’m trying to remain creative. To be honest, it’s helping, and I’m coming up with new ideas for daily activities.

Dear Friends: We’re complex beings, not intended to be isolated, but will navigate this. Diana

Thursday, March 19, 2020

One can sit inside a house only for so long before its walls start closing in. Yesterday morning, I worked on my knitting and a skirt I’m sewing while watching television. By early afternoon, I felt consumed by needs for several items for knitting and fabric-work. I began thinking of chancing a brief buying expedition.

Instead, I rose from my chair, switched off the television, and marched outside. I gathered chain saws, revved up and rolled the Gater onto my property’s rocky southside. That’s an unused area usually forgotten, and yesterday, I had to move rocks and create a vehicle pathway. There, through the afternoon, I sawed-off low-hanging limbs and cleared brush.

I’m grateful for having outside space that can support my wish to self-isolate much as possible. In the beginning of this, I figured that creating, and working with yarn and fabric, would be satisfying. And it’s so for long periods, but also, there arise needs for greater physical activity.

Mostly, I satisfy these needs by going out to the large animals, and feeding, grooming, or tidying their areas. But yesterday, the horses had gone early to “day care” (my neighbor’s pasture), and so, my first idea for more activity was to shop. Considering this, it’s true that shopping is a physical activity, and also social, as my frequent shopping at Costco where I work part-time.

Our common period of self-isolating, beside interrupting ordinary behaviors and habits, encourages us to self-reflect. Paying attention to this teaches more about ourselves. For example, my new insights will help me continue to avoid going among strangers, and perhaps over-shopping. I will start to practice refocusing, by staying active with the animals and working on the property.

Dear Friends: Coronavirus will fade & leave, after having altered our lives significantly. Diana

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Current massive amounts of Coronavirus information has me revising my usual concepts of routine and status quo. I’m rethinking the ways I plan and behave. In likelihood, more social distancing won’t dramatically alter my life, for living alone means embracing some social distancing. Typical distancing isn’t meaningful or noteworthy, but can be useful. For example, I prod my brain’s sleepy side to awaken cells that may inspire creativity. This may create pleasant adventures that produce and satisfy.

Yesterday, my neighbor and friend Annette stopped by and we chatted a few minutes. I then left home, and before heading to LaPine, picked up another friend, Iscella. We were going to deliver an item to our friends Joe and Virginia. At LaPine, we didn’t enter the home and visit Virginia who’s recovering from strokes and still is weak, but chatted with Joe before leaving for home.

Striking about all our “contacts among us friends” was a common avoidance of hugs and touches. Physical contacts are becoming no-nos.

Yet, my memories don’t suggest that we communicated poorly and somehow mitigated a mutual appreciation and enjoyment. Yes, it’s the beginning of creating and adjusting to a new normal. For one thing, maybe boosting our language arts would replace some physical spontaneity.

There are possible elements of change worth reconsidering. One could be in fashion design. By thinking way back to when it was considered inappropriate in public to show intimacy, we can try to visualize “how untouchably” contemporary clothing was designed. Back in those olden days, fashions forced people to stand some distance from one another. Think about ladies sporting sporting bustled bottoms and big-hooped skirts, and men, equally off-standing in powdered wigs and high heeled shoes, maybe carrying an oversized walking stick.

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Dear Friends: Maybe societies ultimately evolve somehow “Back To The Future”. Diana