Friday, September 6, 2024

This week has been sad, with yet another school-ager mass shooting and another of the stock market shrinking; plus, today is predicted to be downtown LA’s hottest this year, ~100 deg.

I was saddened by that mass murder and by watching my holdings shrink. It happens, too, that I can imagine being in 100-degree weather because it occurred locally this summer. Whatever and wherever something happens, we’re all in it together.

Thanks to ever-improving technologies and communications, our world becomes smaller daily. Years ago, I casually followed early attempts to create AI and couldn’t have dreamed it would develop as it has or that I would frequently use and appreciate what it offers and brings. Going forward, my imagination is significant but also primitive regarding AI’s full potential and ultimate impact on our social lives.

This week ends with me feeling out on a limb, so to speak, or perhaps in limbo. I know my brain can adjust, and later today at work, I will feel confident about finding myself in the company of generally kind and non-threatening others.

Dear Friends: As children, we’re urged to “hold on tight” while riding a merry-go-round. Diana

Thursday, September 5, 2024

My hours schedule in the jewelry department has been changed, and I’m not expected there today. That makes me free to work at home. Here, a broken fence post needs support, and several bags of concrete hardened by rain need hauling.

My donkey’s new anti-grazing muzzle has arrived. Wearing it, she may follow the horses freely on open trails but can’t graze on grass. Grass is sugary, and keeping her healthy requires avoiding excess sugar.

Donkey training is not as easy as horse training. Pimmy has followed me and the horses loosely on trails. She’s been adorned with a new piece of equipment and has the unending determination to get rid of it.

Today, Pimmy’s new training will start with an introduction to the muzzle. We will walk in the neighborhood and she might challenge being muzzled. She must be accepting or otherwise wait home alone until her friends return from open trails.

Dear Friends: Enjoy this lovely day early in the transitional month. Diana

Wednesday, September 04, 2024

We’re approaching a time change, another round of inner shock. Manual time changes, referring now to Daylight Saving Time (DST), affect all living beings. I wish for more citizens, thus more states, to strongly resist them.

The sudden change in daylight hours affects natural bodily rhythms. This season, with naturally reduced daylight, my chickens lay fewer eggs. As occupants of the natural world, we understand light patterns as closely related to wildlife migrations, mating seasons, and feeding habits.

When we transition to daylight savings time (DST), the sudden shift in daylight length disrupts our natural circadian rhythms. Natural light changes are disruptive and might cause difficulty falling asleep, poor sleep quality, and more daytime sleepiness. Also, the artificial disruption of our body’s internal clock can trigger negative emotions like depression and anxiety.

DST was originally implemented to conserve energy by extending daylight hours into the evening. Longer daylight hours in the evening would encourage people to spend more time outdoors, potentially increasing physical activity and improving well-being.

Daylight savings time is fine and fun, but it does not last. Soon, we will manually shift our clocks back one hour to start standard time, which also won’t last because later, we will resume DST.

Observing my chickens makes me recall semi-annually wishing to resist artificial time changes. I already feel the dread of another required change on the horizon.

Considering the horizon, I have watched with delight some newly rising moons. The episodes have illustrated one of our little planet’s most lovely elements: the moons behave routinely, precisely as expected, and with constancy despite our unpredictable earthly times.

Dear Friends: Why won’t everybody agree to dump semi-annual time changes! Diana

Tuesday, September 03, 2024

Yesterday, there was clear evidence of my donkey Pimmy regaining a healthy appetite. After leaving work, I stopped at the barn and checked her feed tub, finding that she had eaten almost an entire flake of hay–great news.

Last week, Pimmy left the hospital; her lack of appetite was a big issue. Her health team stressed that Pimmy’s full recovery would include consuming one and a half flakes daily. At home and watching her, that eating goal seemed light years away, if ever, until yesterday’s evidence that Pimmy is beginning to make significant dents in hay allotments.

She will remain separated from the horses. This will ease my medicating and let me more accurately know that she’s eating enough hay.

Yesterday at work, I found the department store busy with shoppers. That final day of the holiday weekend seemed a turning point for retail. Kids preparing to return to school are sending shoppers out, and the upcoming holidays are on people’s minds. Some customers were seeking Christmas gifts early while there still were many choices.

Our store doesn’t have enough employees to cover the upcoming holiday needs. I have offered to help fill the gap and work more hours. I don’t know if that will happen, but I would roll up my sleeves, so to speak if it does. Our relatively small store must do a landslide business this holiday season to remain viable in the brand’s chain.

The retail business is changing dramatically and must be creative. Sellers are working hard to attract more buyers and to keep their interest. Sometimes, our store environment seems a whirlwind, even if the place isn’t busy. There’s lots of pressure in the air.

Dear Friends: Some customers are very interesting and make my work fun. Diana

Monday, September 02, 2024

Happy Labor Day!

A Pimmy update: She’s better and appropriately alert, eating (but not enough of) her always-available hay, and seems more normal overall. In two weeks, she’ll get a checkup and blood draw, and if we have her diabetes in control, she may start taking Cushing’s meds. Her experienced veterinarian is supportive and welcomes my updates.

Pimmy’s diabetes has made me want to know more about bodies and sugars. Looking for an appropriate book, I ran across a classic: Bill Bryson’s The Body (A Guide for Occupants), published in 2019. The book offers intelligence and knowledge but not about sugars.

Yesterday afternoon, I sat on my deck sheltered from a light rain and read Bryson’s first four chapters. His unique take on human physicality becomes fun (and challenging) learning. Finally, I reluctantly set the book aside. Bryson’s viewpoints encouraged me to actively rethink the most typical perceptions about human beings–entirely–physically and mentally.

I’m due at work early today and haven’t enough time to encapsulate Bryson’s point of view. Eventually, I will, as his premises are high in my thoughts. I’m eager to finish this book.

Dear Friends: Pleasantly reading while hearing raindrops and being protected. Diana

Sunday, September 01, 2024

I am prepped for today’s entry into my favorite month, where I live in Central Oregon. Going forward, our weather should be cooler without becoming too cold. Perhaps it’s realistic to be aware that in current times, the behavior of oncoming weather could be anybody’s guess.

Anyway, I intend to enjoy this month’s beauty. Today, I will ride horseback, take the dogs along, and capture some early September sights with my camera. If my employment schedule allows, I will do the same all month as each week begins. Later, my compared images should reveal this area’s changing flora and fauna.

I enjoy capturing springtime breakthroughs, but this will be my first time recording fall’s slide toward winter. Fall’s seasonal changes might be more subtle and thus newly challenging.

It would be easier to go and wander alone, enjoy and consider the sights, and take home pleasant memories. But I aim to achieve maximum mileage with every effort. Today’s outing will combine physical exercise for me and my animals and let me exercise camera skills.

Dear Friends: May this first day of fall be cozy, sweet, and memorable. Diana

Saturday, August 31, 2024

September unofficially starts the holiday season. I feel the changes coming in my part-time jewelry-selling work. We are shipping out aging merchandise and preparing for incoming replacements. I’m eager to see the new stuff and hope for creative pieces. Realistically, highly innovative jewelry probably isn’t coming to our traditionally oriented department. I think that’s a mistake, and nobody cares what I think.

In reality, customers have been changing alongside the changing times. Their bodies often are adorned with tattoos, and they sport real or fake diamond ear studs. Most prefer one color of gold, yellow or silver, and few want rose gold. Customers can articulate, with specificity, the jewelry types they seek.

Traditions are changing. Many customers are looking for alternatives to traditional engagement and wedding rings. Women with big diamonds often want alternative rings with smaller stones to reduce the knocking around of their big diamonds.

(I’ve fallen for lab-created diamonds. They’re the “real thing” and slightly less expensive than mined diamonds. The lab-created are almost flawless, and their sparkles are incredibly bright.)

My vision is to introduce customers to some creative and nontraditional choices. Many might not choose creativity, but looking and discussing breaks up the monotony of traditional displays.

Dear Friends: Who’s asking? For sure, not the organization that employs me. Diana

Friday, August 30, 2024

My biggest thoughts are about my donkey Pimmy. Yesterday evening, I was excited to see her, on her own, beginning to eat her hay. She came home from the hospital four days ago after being diagnosed as a Type 2 diabetic with Cushing’s Disease. She has been demonstrating a lack of appetite, listlessness, and overall disinterest at home.

A body requires sugars, and average bodies distill sugars from foods. A diabetic body has unique needs. Pimmy was receiving helpful medications but not eating. My options were (1) returning her to the hospital for IV infusions (glucose) or (2) keeping her at home, hoping she eats and remains viable.

Option one is mega-expensive, and the second perhaps very disheartening. Last night, seeing Pimmy voluntarily eating her hay was sheer happiness.

Dear Friends: Maybe today will be more evidence of a shift toward wellness. Diana

Thursday, August 29, 2024

I awoke early today because my dog was becoming noisy, which she does often. Instead of rolling over and ignoring her, I got out of bed, surprised to feel alert, and decided that all the dogs could go outside for a few minutes. I welcomed that early hour as an opportunity to catch up on my reading. However, now I want to return to bed for a little nap.

This morning is crowded with commitments—perhaps my early energizers and the disturbers of my sleep. I will try to ease a time burden by rearranging a little. A conundrum for one wishing to do everything is making tough choices about what to push aside or eliminate entirely.

When it’s useful, I like to fall back on Scarlett’s old line, “I’ll think about it tomorrow.” Or, here’s another of her’s that’s good, “Oh, fiddle-dee-dee!” Thinking deeper, maybe I will start mulling over the idea of re-reading Gone With The Wind and gathering more of its satisfying avoidance lines.

I’ve avoided thinking about this morning’s obligations as long as possible. What’s happening is that Pimmy is eating too little—her veterinarian needs to know. I’m meeting a friend who will teach me something new. My dogs are due at their veterinarian for inoculations, and a local online order is ready for me to pick up. I cannot be “thinking about it tomorrow;” it’s decision time right now.

Dear Friends: First up, the unresolved problem of Pimmy’s reluctant appetite. Diana

Wednesday, August 28, 2024

That’s Pimmy vigorously rolling, her first activity on being released at home. For the next fifteen minutes, she wandered and rolled repeatedly and happily. Best of all, she eagerly ate the hay offered. Last night, I managed to medicate her with a syringe. She must have those meds twice daily and via syringe going forward.

Administering the meds will be a challenge. Pimmy will anticipate what’s coming and avoid me. To counter that, she’s now sporting a short “catch rope” for me to grab when she’s close enough. Something else new is her high-tech grazing muzzle. Wearing it will let her roam freely on horse trails along with her buddies and prevent her from grazing on grasses too sugary for her health.

I plan to for Sunni to wear that style of muzzle when I pony her. She’s a grass-grabber and big-time–sometimes stopping quickly and unexpectedly, challenging me to stay on Rosie’s back.

This whole family will head for a horse trail on my days off from work next week.

Dear Friends: Finally, we’re all “back in the saddle,” so to speak, and happily. Diana