Friday, April 10, 2020

My brief research shows that America’s coronavirus lockdown started March 17, when we began officially to practice social distancing and self-isolating. So, today dawns as #25 in an unprecedented stretch of national anxiety. We follow orders to avoid contagion, while worrying about diminishing finances, confused living arrangements, postponed work priorities, and whatever may be ahead. Meanwhile, this period reveals uber-serious issues, like the neglects in health care for African American Communities, how politicians almost-easily may suppress voters, and oh, the incredible power of a bully stage. For example, where’s our other presidential contender? Or maybe: Is Governor Como potentially a shoo-in for nominee as President (assuming conventions are possible) at convention time?

I prep for every day’s worries by reading briefs, articles, and blogs, some are pessimistic and others provide solace and hope. What’s clear is that while needing others individuals must know how to fuel their own minds and bodies. Lately, I’ve began thinking about beefing-up my routines.

Sure, it’s easy to be out among my trees with a chainsaw for lots of days going forward, but physical exercise alone isn’t enough. Yesterday, I made up my mind to find a free e-book and spent hours sitting and playing online with the public library. After figuring out how, I downloaded a couple of books and went outside.

My book turned out to be an excellent choice. I listened while planting 100 iris bulbs, a bigger chore than I imagined, and “reading” countered the repetitiveness of hole-digging. (BTW, I discovered that gum-chewing which works ear muscles causes ear-buds to fall out.) Once all the bulbs were covered and watered, I gathered chainsaws and headed for trees.

I was sawing a huge limb and focused on the direction it might fall when a vehicle pulled up and parked. When the limb had fallen I looked over and there were my friends, Virginia and Joe. (I’ve written about Virginia, who suffered a massive stroke and had been near death in hospital. She went home to LaPine in an ambulance with me riding along.) Her son, Joe, is a miracle worker. He’s helped Virginia recover and get back onto her feet. Yesterday, after her encouraging medical visit, they stopped to say hello. She looks more like her old self, we social-distanced while catching up.

After they left, I put on-hold the tree-trimming, left branches and limbs laying around, and went to practice getting on and off a horse, hopefully without feeling joint pains. My dependable soulmate, Sunni, waited patiently through cleaning, combing, and saddling. She again was patient as I prepared to mount from a raised platform. I climbed aboard–and without pain! Sunni went walking over my rocky property, carried me under tree limbs high enough now to accommodate us. We traveled down the street for a quarter mile. Sunni seemed never to have seen that street, the very one on which she frequently pulls a cart or walks beside me to a neighbor’s pasture. Is it that a saddle and rider alters a horse’s perspective? Nonetheless, she was great and my ride wonderful. I’m back in the saddle.

As if that wasn’t enough fun, later while I was inside watching televised coronavirus news, my friend Grant texted. He was participating in a Zoom knitting group session and could loop me in. That was my first experience with Zoom and it was terrific. Friends in their homes, knitting, talking, and visible. One participant was in Michigan! It was fun being again among knitters. I’ll ask Fancywork Yarn across cyberspace for help in choosing a new project and providing safely the pattern and yarn.

What a fine day was #24.

Dear Friends: I’d love to know how you’re filling these days, how about starting to blog? Diana

Thursday, April 09, 2020

Yesterday, I finished trimming that tree-by-the-road which let me interact with neighbors who were out walking. The tree’s lower limbs (removed before the photo was taken) had been heavy toward the ground. They were fat and made my long-pole trimming tool work. Once fallen and needing cutting, the logs challenged my smallish chain saw. Trimming that tree took hours, and now those limbs can’t annoy by brushing against vehicle tops or interfering with someone walking.

With that aside, I began creating a garden. I augmented the soils in some existing, long-ignored raised beds and today will set bulbs. It’s a surprising mitzvah, that before quitting nearly all shopping I bought packages of flowering bulbs, designed for spring-planting in this region. Most summers, I get too busy with horses to tend a garden and would ignore such bulbs. While at the moment of purchase my bulb impulse felt whimsical, it since seems a visional purchase.

After adding soil amendments and re-learning from ebay how to start my rototiller, I rolled that machine onto the raised beds and guided it in digging back and forth. I worried about the tiny critters perhaps housed in that soil, like bitty frogs and lizards. But one does as one must. For the coming months of hanging around the house, pretty flowers will be a welcome sight.

Today, I’ll trim another of the many waiting trees, and also, practice ways of mounting and dismounting a horse that minimize joint pain. Being forced to stay home becomes a sort of no-guilt trip. By emphasizing everything local, it encourages a refocus toward set-aside dreams of doing.

Dear Friends: In this beautiful springtime, lounges in the sun’s warmth beckon. Diana

Wednesday, April 08, 2020

Yesterday was gorgeous, bringing shirtsleeve weather and encouraging lots of folks outdoors. My story on that day was a continuation. I was out with a chainsaw and going after low-hanging tree limbs. Particularly a large juniper close to the busy road that fronts my horses’ dry lot. The tree is large and healthy but long has been a problem. When I’m turning from the road onto my property, I hear low hanging limbs brushing my vehicle’s top. In winter, snows make the limbs heavier, nearly touching the ground and blocking my pathway. It was time yesterday to prune that tree.

I did so sorrowfully, for the most offensive low limbs were healthy, heavy and very green. Cutting them felt like committing murder. After falling a limb, it became huge work to lop, saw, load, and haul away debris. After the fact, I had to become accustomed to more sunlight through upper limbs. I’ll learn to like that.

Meanwhile, the roadway sported more traffic than vehicles. People were out and simply enjoying a warm day. Motorcycles roared past, bicyclists swept along alone or in groups, joggers gave me nods, and folks out strolling or walking their dogs said hello. To my surprise, right there at the roadside I pleasantly conversed with several neighborhood acquaintances.

A friend who stopped, an avid library-user and enthusiastic about its online system, encouraged a decision to find my library card. I always purchase newspaper subscriptions and books from online sellers, but actually, the newspapers, magazines, and books that interest me are available for free online. My project today will be an online look into library offerings.

A passing woman walking her dog, a cute Border Collie mix, reminded me that several years ago I helped her corral that dog–a recent rescue who had escaped her yard. I couldn’t recall that incident but remembered his interesting name, “Declan”. Her name also is interesting, Dina–close to my own and that of a close friend’s daughter, and so, easy to remember.

She reminded me that we had captured her dog by herding the active fellow into my barn and leashing him. Well, my brain had to justify its emptiness, and did I suppose, by my having rescued many dogs usually attracted to my own dogs. Most strays have had owners actively searching for them. The one that went ignored, a puppy, stayed and became my Ranger. Anyway, I digress.

I’ve described being acquainted with more of this neighborhood’s residents from being out and about with animals. Animals are friend magnets–dogs for sure, and also, the less-seen-close-up animals, like my equines and pigmy goats. Those neighborhood friends, pausing yesterday, were welcome respites from that chain-sawing. And we respected the protocol of appropriately distancing from one another.

Dear Friends: Our broken and confused routines bring new freedoms and adventures. Diana

Tuesday, April 07, 2020

The huge setting moon is round and bright, the weather is getting warmer. Maybe spring is arriving.

I hemmed a skirt that’s been coming together over the last month, tried it on, and it fits! While working on this skirt, I’ve wondered where to wear it. It’s a sewing project that arose from playing with possibilities for staying busy and with purpose. The ensuring weeks have been endless days of going nowhere. My sewing slam should have been to create sweats.

It’s spring and I’m in an optimistic mind frame. On the good side, sewing again after many years has forced me to re-learn how to work a sewing machine. This has future possibilities. My current machine, an inexpensive Brother model from Costco, is modern and computerized. It’s been a bummer to figure out threading and stitches.

I remember those big old black-bodied Singers, they were easy. One could arrange, almost blindfolded, a top thread and fill a bobbin. Then easily pop that bobbin into its space under the needle. The Singer allowed for sewing thick fabrics, and of course required learning, but a project moved along without having to interpret instructions originating from China and symbols related to computerized stitches.

The one item I’m sorry for not having taken from my sister’s home while giving it a final cleaning was her old post-treadle-model Singer, a heavy-duty machine. My sister, a do-it-yourselfer, was a whiz. On that machine she sewed fabrics of all sorts, from clothing materials to upholstery leathers. I decided to walk away from it and now could kick myself.

Here we are, in a coronavirus period that’s brought days of going nowhere, self-isolating, mask-wearing. These times force us to continue thinking creatively. So, I’m still thinking about my pretty skirt. I’ll wear it while out feeding horses, goats, and chickens, and accessorize it with a pair of sturdy cowboy boots.

Dear Friends: These days need our slowing to “one-step-at-a-time”, no need to rush. Diana

Monday, April 06, 2020

Last evening was one of high humor, following my discovery that Amazon Prime is streaming several wonderful comedy movies. I sat for hours binging on “The Birdcage”, “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert”, and “Some Like It Hot”. Other classics, too, are available for viewing. But enough is enough, and finally, still laughing I fell into bed.

Watching almost anything else beats attending daily the mind-numbing hours that our President manages to command on broadband. Even yesterday, at the beginning of serious holidays, Lent and Passover, Trump crowded the airways. I’ve tried escaping with Netflix but find myself unhappy with its offerings. Most quickly are tossed together, as mindless slams, bams, shoot-em-ups. Happily, other streamers are providing tested classic movies. (Unhappily, my internet package excludes Turner Movies).

Another diversion from self-isolation that works for me is having discovered online some superb bloggers. It’s slow-going, looking for really good blogs by experts in various fields, knowing in-depth their topics, expertly writing and communicating. They’re new great teachers who remind that there’s always more to learn, and appreciate, about creativity, wildlife, social trends, and the environment, to mention a few.

Today dawns beautifully. It’s time to start “summer work” with my horses. This means revising some of our now-normal routines. I’ll add exercising to get them slimmer and more muscular. I’ll add training, and especially for Pimmy who needs a job. Although I’ve long said this, she should learn to pull a cart. Training Pimmy means first finding training for myself. It’s that donkeys are not just like horses, they must be trained differently. I’ll look on YouTube for help, and somehow get Pimmy trained to drive.

Dear Friends: These strange times push us to expand interests and stimulate mindfulness. Diana

Sunday, April 05, 2020

Yesterday, rainy and drizzly, and today, the same with snow. This weather precedes more desirable spring-like conditions arriving on Tuesday. It’ll be lovely, the higher temperatures and sunshine that might ease tensions caused by isolating against an invisible devastating disease.

We seek whatever might preoccupy or just keep us busy. To that end, Netflix is full of bang-em-ups, shoot-em-ups, and acting in roles of clear winners and losers. I mostly re-watch videos from earlier years that I’ve seen. They seem better, maybe because producing them was slower, more careful, and based on scripts better-written and storyboards more intelligent and complex.

The majority of streaming choices equally are uninteresting on Amazon, Hulu, and the rest. They provide noisy mindless escapism. Daily, I argue with myself about whether to cancel streaming services and broadband (For example, why must we face “Trump Shows” that lasting throughout afternoons?). I phoned Broadband to cancel and held endlessly for a representative before finally ending the call.

None of this really surprises. Reduced staffs try to respond to bunches of people staying home and demanding. Until the condition eases, Ill keep the bandwidth and streaming services. There’s no end to finding changes that surprise. Here’s one, I went online to Amazon for a 3# bag of Zupreem bird food, a size normally costing $12. Amazon sellers now price it at $33, and up! Why that increase? To offset higher outlays for ingredients and shipping? Or are they gouging? (My cockatoo, Peaches, might learn to eat Purina Layena. My rescued racing pigeon, Gilbert, thrives on it.)

If today’s gloom keeps me inside, what other demands over distance might I attempt? One possibility is to place an order for a curb pick-up. Maybe from Target which carries just about everything from electronics to food. If I do, and whether the process works well or is lousy, I’ll write about my experience.

Dear Friends: It’s about balancing one’s temper, staying creative and productive. Diana

Saturday, April 04, 2020

This “coronavirus stock market” continues to gobble huge chunks of funds. I’m optimistic about the market’s recovery over time, but thinner cash now prevents shoes for my driving horses. An unhappy decision because driving is “my sport” and I’ll miss it. Pulling a vehicle stresses hooves, particularly over paved roads like those my horses travel routinely. They wear heavy-duty irons with highly-absorbent pads–all needing replacement every six weeks. It’s an investment unwise during a steadily-crashing stock market.

Instead I’ll ride horseback! Planning for this has challenges. First, getting on and off a horse is hard with my stiff joints and I must practice and hope for flexibility. Second, our surrounding forest venues are closed to visitors because of coronavirus. And so I will ride locally. Toward this end, I’ve removed many of my property’s low-hanging limbs and now a horse may carry me safely among the trees. I’m planning to mosey around the house a little and then move my horse to our neighborhood’s paved roads. We’ll head toward the power lines, a local outback with a loose network of dirt roadways that lets a barefoot horse trot safely.

I promise to the neighborhood: If my horse drops a pile, I’ll later return and clear it away.

Dear Friends: Please hope with me, that I manage getting on, staying on, and dismounting. Diana

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Friday, April 03, 2020

Tuning into YouTube, I watched as Dolly Parton, settled on a pink bed, read “The Little Engine”. As she read with the book’s pages showing, one easily could read along, too. Moving from Dolly’s video, I found one with Barbara Bain (among my all-time favorite television actresses) reading a children’s story, with the book’s pages showing so one could track with her. My favorite video happened when I ran across Lily Tomlin, reading “Hey That’s My Monster”. In true “Lily style” and so talented, she both read and acted-out the story’s expressions and feelings.

Aside from the delight of seeing and hearing those capable actors communicate classic stories, the well-known works themselves toss adult brains back into a children’s world. Oh, I remember that “little engine that could”. Its determined uphill struggles and its ultimate victory lent encouragement to my timid childhood. Lily’s way of reading returns me to my high school years, to drama coaches who tried to emphasize a stark difference between “interpreting” and “acting”. I never really “got it”, and now, find sheer joy as Lily successfully blurs that still-mysterious difference.

This is to say that, beginning now, my daily coronavirus-isolation activities will include story readings on YouTube. Most of these videos, while relatively brief, pleasant, and primarily performed for kids, will stir-up in many, our old memories and feelings.

Dear Friends: I hope you’re hanging-in improves, too, with available free creativity. Diana

Thursday, April 02, 2020

Yesterday dawned very cold but also clear and not windy. After feeding the large animals, I elected to work outside, to rid myself of a large pile of limbs from the trees most-recently trimmed. I’ve been trimming sections of trees and maybe have covered 60% of my property. Real progress is uncertain, because tree-trimming is like “fixing” anything else. As I progress, my trimming skills improve and the trees most-recently trimmed look better than those earlier worked on. This has been pushing progress both forward and backward, if you get my drift. Now that I’m more experienced, most trimming moves forward. So, figure that left-ahead are about 40% of my trees–or whatever!

Anyway, yesterday’s weather was very weird and not particularly unusual for Central Oregon, but I was in the middle of burning limbs! After the day’s first few hours of relative clarity, warmth, and light breezes, I happened to glance up and over to the west saw lurking rain clouds. Uh oh, if that rain happens to land here, how heavy, could it douse my fire?

I looked at the fire pit. Flames were bright and burning high. My work was only partly done.

First, hail hit. Tiny pellets clouded the environment, not much bothering the fire. I labored to keep the flames big by constantly adding fuel. Following the hail, a light rain didn’t reduce the flames but brought cold, high-gusting winds. I retrieved my outerwear blown to the ground, and donned it shielded by the horse trailer’s wind-blocking side.

That volley of hail, rain, and wind didn’t last long. Working throughout to keep alive the fire, I reduced the waiting discards. Finally, most of that weather died down, leaving the cold and winds. I soldered on and finished the job. Got myself through another day of self-isolation.

Dear Friends: Today, I’ll create a mask with a filter, to venture out for chicken feed. Diana

Wednesday, April 01, 2020

Yesterday, I assigned myself a challenge by looking out a kitchen window to spot the first color that might appear in that gray-drab, rainy/snowy morning. There showed one color, the red bottom of an empty hummingbird feeder. Thus, red became the color I self-tasked to look for while outside working around the large animals, or perhaps walking through the neighborhood. I would count the appearances of red, giving my eyes and brain a job, a distraction from “coronavirus ongoing-ness”.

Prior to going outside early to feed horses, my sleepy head tried unsuccessfully to imagine where to find reds, and I couldn’t think of any. Nonetheless, the game’s rules stuck me with reds and counting them. Outside in the drizzle and light snow everything resembled the colors of the gravel on which I trod downhill toward the barn.

Woops! A red-sighting!

That cone kicked awake my mind and imagination, and shortly appeared more red.

(As a note, I tried to focus on pure reds, but age-fading and such are excuses if some objects appear somewhat on the orangey side.)

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I include the following photos, one a warning-bright and the other my headless jockey with donkey, so you’ll see my wonderfully clean property after many backbreaking days of limbing trees.

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And, finally…

Dear Friends: Colors are all around and everywhere, if we keep open minds & eyes. Diana