Friday, June 14, 2019

Yesterday afternoon’s temperature was high, and as it evolved became too hot for my dogs during a spontaneous color-hunting outing. Following this high desert’s unusually frequent rains, the area is full of wildflowers in many colors and sprouting in sand. I try with a phone app to identify plants, but accuracy depends on a photograph’s clarity, meaning light’s direction and strength, and a plant’s steadiness (or not) in breezes. Often my app delivers a mixed-bag of identification–maybe right-on or way-off. This lack of total specificity is okay, for flowers simply speak for themselves.

After tossing aside specificity, I began searching for color mixes, looking for plants set naturally and inspiring a desire to frame them. There were many opportunities from some plants very tiny and others tall enough to wave in that afternoon’s mild wind.

If my wish to focus on small plants continues, there’s another and more technical consideration. Good as my current lens may be, it’s probably worthwhile to seek another that’s more capable in close-ups of capturing minute details and color variations.

If one looks at the larger area where the dogs and I hiked, the varieties of plants and colors aren’t quickly visible. From horseback in past high desert outings, I rarely focused on flowers (except Sego Lilies which pop up briefly and are stunning). But these days I’m on foot and closer proximity makes a great difference.

• 

• 

My ruminations were interrupted by quirky dogs. Osix wasn’t eager to follow, making it clear that she felt hot and insisted on returning to the car. I urged her along, until before long and realizing that Miles already had disappeared, I gave up and turned around. Almost instantly, Osix, too, was gone. As always, my loyal trail buddies, Louie and Ranger, stayed with me until the bitter end.

Happily, my camera had captured cool portraits of the territory and dogs.

This capture isn’t special, but illustrates just who he is….

A couple more favorites while heading back to my car:

• 

• 

And, finally…more monkey faces:

Dear Friends, for the next round of plants, I’ll use a more specialized lens. Diana

• 

• 

Thursday, June 13, 2019

En route to Lebanon for sessions with our driving trainer, I usually pause near Sweet Home, to enjoy a few minutes at Foster Lake, where this time, I stumbled upon an almost hidden path leading down to the water. There I found another path and felt my way along, until standing next to the water, I looked around. One feels tiny among the tall stalks of sunflowers, orchard grass, and blackberry bushes. Many times I’ve stood and admired Foster Lake without noticing a footpath that allows one closer to the water.

• 

• 

• 

Water is magical and I found myself enjoying rare tranquility. The only interruptions to this unexpected peacefulness were a speedboat, and overhead, a Raven carrying food for its young.

• 

• 

I worked my way back to the rig and continued to Lebanon where I unloading the horses and lead them to an overgrown area to let them graze awhile. I was delighted to find us literally wading in orchard grasses, plentiful and tall, like those surrounding Foster Lake. The horses pigged-out on it.

• 

• 

Afterwards, each horse had a strenuous training session, and then, received well-deserved baths. Our trainer points out that Sunni’s in such good condition, she barely sweats. On the other hand, Rosie emerged from training a foamy mess. After baths they were pretty again.

• 

• 

Each training event clarifies better to me one or more elements of handling the driving reins. Yesterday, what got through is how much driving effectively is about “feeling a horse” through the reins. In other words, noticing if a horse “drops” the bit or “is seeking” direction. Driving is a complex and subtle process. Mastering it could heighten the overall experience by tons, for driver and horse alike.

Dear Friends, A hot, sunny day in the Valley, and home again to an after-rain. Diana

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

The progress Rosie and I are making as a driving team is progressing beyond my early hopes. She’s a handful of horse, can be reactive, and I’m a relatively new driver. It’s taken courage to ask her to pull a cart–with me in it–out on the streets. But we’re doing it!

Yesterday, Rosie trotted a mile on neighborhood streets. We had to go past an asphalt crew using a noisy sprayer and she didn’t like it, but as asked continued forward. She was moving along nicely when I heard an unusual pop and could feel something suddenly wrong with the cart. Rosie stopped on command, and waited, while I tried to figure out the problem. It turned out that a bolt suddenly had sheared, releasing a tie-down that keeps the cart from rocking. So we headed home, with Rosie trotting and me sittin’ n’ rockin’.

It’s been many years since Rosie was asked to be a driving horse, and she’s stepping up to the plate. We’ve done lots of preliminary work. We’ve long-lined for weeks, harnessed her and circled almost endlessly in the dry lot, and taken baby steps in going out to the street in front of my house. Yesterday, I’d have asked her to trot the same three miles that Sunni routinely covers, but we had to quit. Cart problems aside, Rosie was a delight.

We’re on our way over the hills today for more lessons with our topnotch trainer.

Dear Friends, Now, I can say with confidence that Rosie’s gonna rock it! Diana

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Once the days turn long and sunny like now, approaching the Summer Solstice, for certain we at last know summer has arrived. There are tons of potential images that in mood and spirit capture beautifully these warm days. The season’s all about folks hanging out, getting together, participating in sports, and maybe at day’s end popping icy drinks.

Shady spaces invite us out of summer’s heat and some structures don’t look greatly difficult. It’s easy to imagine creating similar shade one’s own property. On mine, I have a mental vision of sitting in shade near the barn. That would make it comfortable and easy to hang out watching the horses as they’re hanging out.

Since summer isn’t an “alone time”, there are lots of activities designed to draw folks out into the open into “mingling spots”. Folks with pets become drawn to events, that by including animals beckon mightily, like parades.

There’s an amazing variety of available scenes to illustrate summer specifically. Consider an “old fishing hole”, a lovely garden, or window scenes from vehicle travels, a child’s swing hanging from a tall limb and drifting in light breezes, and sleek yearlings as they graze and laze.

Here on the high desert, choosing what to do from hour to hour is highly dependent on weather. This environment mostly is cool with a relative few really hot days. After a long winter, it’s a great relief to feel on oneself the sun’s heat and reassurance of another warm season. We welcome all that summer represents.

Hard work deserves a mention. Summer is a catch up time for maintenance chores, always in plenty. This essay could incorporate other kinds of highly visible summer scenes, like fencing issues, weeds taking over open spaces, rocks big enough to impede passage, and foot trails needing improvements. Suffice it to say that by winter every essential adjustment will have been made.

We folks love to look around and imagine, and equally to be outside enjoying a welcoming season, but we also recognize and acknowledge needs for hard work. We with properties both large and small, find many of our summer hours filled to the brim. At day’s ending, we salute summer, and any and all accomplishments.

Dear Friends, on any day, writing a blog represents a “pleasure spot”. Diana

• 

• 

Monday, June 10, 2019

These photos of my current “sunflower project” show the plant from its earliest days a couple of weeks ago, to now after lots of rain. When my phone app identified the little weed, I decided to let it grow, for sunflowers are one of my favorites. Some things stay with us always, and for me, so do sunflowers from my early life in the mid-west, near Kansas, where they’re common. By the way, so are Meadowlarks. Oh!, how I miss hearing the lyrical songs that bubbled from those sunny warblers in the fields.

So memories are firing my sunflower project. When this plant’s identification appeared, I felt protective, knew it had to grow. Popping into my mind was a little essay that I wrote many years ago. It described my having followed a person who was carrying a giant sunflower, so big it leaned backwards and over her shoulder. I couldn’t take my eyes from those vivid pedals, kept asking where the flower came from, how could I get one for myself. The person said she’d grown it and had a yard full of giant sunflowers. Following on that sunny day, I stared hypnotized at the bright sunflower face. That plant winked, blinked, and nodded, seemed a sheer delight, made me want to hurry and fill my yard with tall sunflowers.

Some twenty or thirty, who knows how many years later, I’d forgotten that event. That is, until my long-time friend who was in the process of packing to move away, discovered my essay tucked among her papers. Last summer, during our farewell lunch and close to my birthday, she handed it over as a surprise. Reading, I was dumbfounded, recalling that marvelous plant’s smiling face winking over a shoulder, and my own excitement.

Through life, many things strike us as meaningful and encouraging, and yet, many manage to slip away. Despite that moment which inspired an essay, I never turned a shovel-full of soil for a single sunflower, much less for a yard full of them. What happened by writing that little essay was that I planted a sunflower in my heart.

Dreams spring eternal, and this summer one of mine may be realized in the blooming of a serendipitous sunflower. Thoughts of seeing it are pleasant reminders of a distant afternoon with a sighting, conversation, and sense of joy. These still define who I am.

Dear Friends, keep an eye on this page, where I’ll share my special sunflower. Diana

• 

• 

Sunday, June 09, 2019

My friend Janet has a birthday around the same time as mine, and this year we decided to celebrate a day together, a tribute to ourselves–in which Janet’s hubby Rick chauffeured us in Ms Merlot. Rick gave this 1937 Buick Special to Janet as a birthday gift several years ago, after he and a friend spent five years rebuilding it from pieces and recreating a gorgeous hunk.

During those rebuilding years, Rick hid Ms Merlot from Janet. He worked in secret to ready it for presentation on one of her birthdays, and to accomplish this, often stayed out late nights or left super-early on mornings. Over time, Janet began wondering if he were having an affair–and confronted Rick–upon which he and his friend worked harder and faster to finish the vehicle. Rick and their children (who were in on the secret) managed to keep mum through years, until the day of presentation. This itself is a funny story, for it took Janet awhile to get her head around believing herself gifted with a fully-restored car.

• 

• 

Rick is a master carpenter with a commercial shop in which he designed and fabricated the Buick’s dashboard and created an inlaid steering wheel. The restored dash has readable gauges, clearly identifying such as “oil”, “water”, and “temp”–to me lovely, for in driving modern vehicles, I’m confused by which gauge represents “water” or “oil”.

• 

• 

Although it’s Janet’s car, she rarely tries to drive it, for the brakes are original to 1937 and need activation by a very heavy foot. Rick is planning to modify the brakes and make driving the car easier for Janet.

• 

• 

As a passenger rather than driver, I loved being able to focus on sightings, and Rick was willing to stop for photographs. Riding in this vintage vehicle was a little emotional, reminding me of childhood rides in my mother’s big Chrysler–or perhaps her car that seemed real big to a very little girl. Ms Merlot, of a similar vintage, has less interior space than I expected, but she’s a comfortable ride–and has roll-open wind wings! How I still love and often miss having those little air-controllers on today’s vehicles.

I’m thankful to Janet and Rick for that unique, unforgettable, and special outing. Finally, it felt a bit sad watching my new friend, Ms Merlot, roll down the driveway toward her own home. In terms of discovery and excitement, she represents history. And she’s right up there with Alaska’s (and Bend’s) Klondike Kate!

Dear Friends, creativity done right is ageless and magnificent! Diana

• 

• 

Saturday, June 08, 2019

This spring of frequent rains on the high desert is offering residents unusual wildflowers, they’re popping up everywhere. While walking on the little path that runs between my property and that of my neighbor, Frank’s, these brilliant blue penstomen–a small clutch of them almost hidden behind a tree–caught my eye. Blue flowers are amazing, for primary blue is beautiful–and powerful. Blue joins other colors and influences innumerable shades and variations. It’s a gift to us, finding blue natural in nature.

These sudden flowers, which my phone app identified, got me interested to learn more about penstomen. They’re in the “beardtongue family”–related to Foxglove and Lupine (and Snapdragon, a favorite of my dear friend Gloria)–all gorgeous plants.

• 

• 

• 

It’s interesting how the color blue can invite feelings of great delight. For also, there’s a long tradition that refers to “blue” as a psychological mood, way on the opposite side of joyous. There’s a phenomenon of “color psychology” which suggests that colors on the “cool side” of the spectrum (or the “calm colors”: blues, purples, and greens) can bring to mind feelings of sadness or indifference. These ideas beg a philosophical question: Could one standing in a natural environment and seeing the color blue not experience sheer pleasure?

Dear Friends, Our emotions are complex, and all stories have multiple sides. Diana

Friday, June 07, 2019

Much as we love ’em, sometimes we mutter, “Whatever got me imagining that having horses would be fun?” For sure, they’re often fun. It doesn’t get much better than being on horseback, asking for a canter, and feeling the sheer strength of sailing over a jump. Or, sitting in a buggy, several feet behind a horse, feeling its power and energy through the reins. Play-time with a large, thinking animal requires mutual trust.

Right now, my sweet mare, Sunni, has a minor hoof problem calling for days of periodic foot soaks with epsom salt. Her problem created several for me–the worst being no hot water at the barn; and the next-worse, my disinterest in spending 15 minutes hanging out while her foot’s in water. I never thought that my nearly-always willing pony might not want her foot bathed.

The pot I use to make tea–with a built-in element that heats water to boiling and automatically clicks off–became a method for heating water at the barn. In the garage, I found a bag of epsom salt (used once, about 11 years ago, for my old Quarter Horse’s hooves). Found in the barn, a rubber feed bowl became a likely bathtub. Everything together–boiling water, added to cold, with epson salt–created a fine hoof bath.

Now, Sunni didn’t want her hoof in water, so we argued. When finally, she allowed the foot to be submerged, I realized it would be unwise to leave her. So, for the next fifteen minutes, we together were trapped. I leaned against her, one of my hands on the leg that extended into water and my other softly stroking her neck. Sunni didn’t move a muscle, but her “wild eye” was prominent.

You might wonder in this situation, how long it takes for 15 minutes to pass? I focused on this every single second. I stretched time more by glancing at my frozen wristwatch. I talked aloud, explaining to Sunni in detail what we were doing and why, sang songs to her, and described my personal problems ad infinitum, until finally, our 15-minute sentence ended. And for her happily, on a good note with apple-flavored treats.

That evening, while we repeated that unearthly-long process, a cold steady wind from the west blew directly onto us, making the long episode feel harder. Thankfully, after today, she’ll need soaking, once daily, for two more days, and then finally, it’ll be back to the garage, epsom salt!

Dear Readers, In mid-June, these desert rains and cold winds? What’s it about! Diana

Thursday, June 06, 2019

Recently while driving my mare Sunni on streets at a trot, her right shoulder seemed slightly off-beat–a sense so short, it might not really have occurred. During subsequent drives, that right shoulder periodically caught my attention, but any sense she might be limping quickly disappeared. Uncertain, I asked our trainer for an opinion. We watched Sunni’s shoulder in a training arena and didn’t notice anything unusual. I shrugged off my concerns–until my next drive on the streets, when that shoulder slightly went off-beat. Here’s the problem: whatever was off lasted briefly, didn’t recur during the drive.

Yesterday, Rosie, my other mare, had an appointment with our veterinarian who specializes in horse anatomy and movement. Rosie’s recovering from an old injury and would have some joints injected to ease her discomfort while being driven. I’ve noticed in turning her that Rosie’s balance is off–her body compensates for that old injury. I took Sunni along so the doc could examine her right front leg.

He watched Sunni move and noticed immediately her leg off-slightly. He tested its ligaments, muscles, hoof, and then diagnosed a small abscess in that worrisome hoof. Confirming my observations, after her trotting leg warmed up, the brief limping quit. Our solution will mean for several days hoof-soaking with epsom salt and an antiseptic to draw out the abscess.

Soon afterwards, watching as Rosie was prepped, I asked a million questions. The accommodating veterinarian pointed to Rosie’s joints and explained what he would do. He showed me illustrations of the internal equine structures on which we were focused and explained his love of horse anatomy. I realized I’d paid little attention to anatomy unless my horse seemed off. Later, watching as the vet worked on Rosie, I was struck by how much driving a horse has taught me.

Back in the days when I rode horseback, I cared about my horses but rarely noticed problems for they did their job well, ambling along and occasionally trotting or cantering. But deciding to drive a horse called for more strenuous work. Driving safety requires for driver, rig, and the horse, an animal in top physical condition–for pulling requires being forward, sure-footed, upright, and responsive. Asking my horses to perform athletically has turned all their physical components into matters of concern. Take Sunni’s periodic slight limp. After many drives, with her “shoulders as part of my view”, I quickly noticed something off even slightly.

Now, and hopefully, Rosie’s discomforts will ebb and Sunni’s hoof will heal. I’ll increasingly ask more from these mares, while trying not to overdo for they’re not spring chickens. Although horseback riding always was bunches of fun, elevating our activities has become an amazing experience. It tests my handling, patience, and courage, and above all, demonstrates more of the incredible magnificence of those beings we call horses.

Dear Readers, small wonder that horses were the key to enlarging civilizations. Diana

• 

• 

Wednesday, June 05, 2019

On a sunny and beautiful late afternoon, I wandered to a big canal with the dogs. It was to be their outing and my chance to play with a new lens. This lens with a bigger zoom is lighter to handle and captures scenes well. I’m lazy, and so usually shoot on auto-focus, which might be why this lens doesn’t capture significantly better than others I’ve used. Today’s cameras are wonderfully easy and also very complex, depending on how they’re handled. My experimental lens should be paired with more exposure variations, so in the future, I’ll fiddle with the camera’s capabilities to create quality differences.

Overall we had a great time. Dogs led the way, and after plunking into water and shaking it off in rainbow highlights, they took off cross-country–running competitively with tongues blowing sideways, or individually to search for rabbits–periodically returning to the water to wade and drink. The only game they scared up was a mama duck with babies, and mama wasn’t about to tolerate intrusion.

• 

• 

• 

Each dog has an unique personality. Miles is a wide-ranging fellow, often out of sight but aware of my location. Louie and Ranger, my long-time horse trail buddies, check back often to make sure I’m tracking. And Osix, who likes reassurance, stays close to me.

• 

• 

• 

• 

What makes these semi-wild trails more interesting is the variety of critters one might find and study closely for a moment.

• 

• 

Capturing great memories starts by following the dogs.

Dear Friends, thanks for joining us on another cool outing. Diana