Saturday, April 08, 2023

I made a toy for my Cockatoo, Peaches. He is destructive, and buying finished toys is expensive. My bird begins destroying a toy from the moment it’s hung in his condo. He can dispatch in an instant. My pocketbook feels this, as parrot toys cost anywhere (more or less) from $30 to $50. So, Peaches will begin playing with homemade hanging toys.

After bringing home a long pine board and cutting it into various lengths, I drilled a large hole in the center of each piece for assembling and hanging. Then, I painted each with food coloring and when all were dry, assembled the toy.

All its components, including construction tools, were costly; however, what’s not wood is reusable. Creating this toy was quick and generated ideas for other designs.

Here’s an idea:

Of course, Peaches is my ultimate instructor. He’ll show me which designs best draw his attention, and wistfully, too, I may discover that some designs may take him longer to destroy.

Dear Friends: This has been a time-out for the bird. Diana

Friday, April 07, 2023

This header from my Pixel camera is the result of a very distant shot. It’s a fairly good capture of Ravens perched very high in a tall dead tree. They were attending to each other and might have been an adult with a juvenile or a courting couple. The pair stayed on those branches for quite a while and their interactions fascinated me.

Ravens are incredibly smart. I never tire of hearing and sighting them. Yesterday’s sighting was a nudge, reminding me to carry a better camera. If my phone could have captured more feather details, it would have created a super bird photo, IMHO.

This will be my last day off from work this week. Having done all my needed shopping and running around, today I will turn my attention to photography. Roaming with a tripod and fine camera will refresh my image-sensing skills.

Closer to the subjects, my Pixel captured well the equines happily grazing on a neighbor’s pasture.

Dear Friends: Have a great day. Diana

Thursday, April 06, 2023

Puppy in the aisle: Labradoodle. Isn’t he a cutie!

Yesterday was super busy. It included a couple of trips to the dump with the result of lots of clean-up work. Because my neglected old trailer needed refurbishing, I visited Home Depot, and there bumped into Enrique, the Garden Center Manager. He’s also my manager, but he treated me as a customer. He guided me to the appropriate lumber for replacing the old boards in a trailer bed. He suggested that I not buy for in his home supply were two exact boards, which he didn’t need and intended to discard. He volunteered to donate them and I happily accepted.

He lives in a new neighborhood about thirty seconds from my home. As he loaded the boards, his wife, Crystal, drove up bringing their four-year-old daughter. I invited Enrique and Crystal to come and meet my equines; and to photograph their baby sitting on my donkey, Pimmy. It was so cool, Enrique’s kindness and meeting his family.

Today will extend both the property cleaning up and working on the trailer. That is if the weather holds up. I gather it’s to become rougher with rain tonight and lower temps tomorrow. Hopefully, before rain appears, my equines may spend most of today grazing on pasture.

Dear Friends: Today, too, I will take time out to relax for a while in my little new nook. Diana

Wednesday, April 05, 2023

The other day, this adorable and beautiful Samoyed pup, a year and a half old, appeared in an HD aisle. Although timid with strangers, she cautiously accepted a treat from me.

Another customer whose dog I was photographing suggested that I initiate a “Home Depot Dogs” FB page. The idea appeals as many customers bring their dogs while shopping. But an online creative notion, associated with a giant commercial establishment and without its endorsement, isn’t a bright notion. It’s best that my “photos from the aisles” stay local.

Today begins a string of three days off from work. Well, off from at-work working, but not from all work. This warmer weather opens a barrel full of needs at home, like pulling weeds and addressing small repairs. Soon after returning to work, I’ll be faced with several 6 a.m. show-up days. For now, I’ll put aside that yukky obligation and just enjoy these days off.

My bedroom has a new, cozy little nook. Next to a large window, under which are my bookcases, there’s a comfy reclining chair, a small television, and a desk. Or a retreat, where I may read and work undisturbed. Sure, not much in my home disturbs me, but it’s a comfort having a unique space that’s mine alone. I can recline quietly and read a book without the dogs sensing my location and hounding the window for attention. Otherwise, they know exactly where I am and track my presence in this long, ranch house-style dwelling.

I’m off to feed the horses and then retreat to my nook. I’m still trying to work through the thousand pages of the ancient Japanese novel, The Tale of Genji.

Dear Friends: After I tire of reading, I’ll straighten up the house and start making repairs. Diana

Tuesday, April 04, 2023

Yesterday, this area didn’t get the predicted snow. Instead, a little sunshine and lots of wind created a chilly day, and surprisingly, lots of people felt motivated enough to show up at the garden center where I work. Most wanted flowering plants, which haven’t arrived but will soon.

My manager said the large watering system will be turned on later this week. He’s devising a distribution method that lets me handle the store’s watering hose without endangering wandering customers. There’s a large outside area with plants that I’m to cover and it’s a big challenge for him. He’s a clever fellow, but I can’t imagine what he’ll come up with.

He’s a long-time HD veteran and knows the best ways to arrange this store’s outer area for plant selling. He explains, however, that the new store manager specifically wants the current arrangement. I wondered why he doesn’t advocate for a better layout, and he says, “It’s his store, and I’ll do it his way.”

“His store,” that surprised me. I have assumed the store’s management team collaborates on key decisions, but maybe the organization supports a top-down power arrangement. Or maybe its long-time employees are unaccustomed to negotiating with higher-ranking personnel and don’t speak up.

I’m a tiny cog in the wheel, inexperienced with arranging plants outside for optimal care and sales. Moreover, today is my one working day before next weekend. Then, I’ll learn how we may water the plants in that problematic outside area.

Dear Friends: A big learning curve, in re-comprehending large-organization management ways. Diana

Monday, April 03, 2023

I’m reminded vividly of a generation gap by trying to read and comprehend start-up instructions for a new electronic item.

On opening a new package and finding a small folding piece, I start trying to read and fail. My usually adequate eyesight can’t decipher too-tiny illustrations and equally too-tiny type. Even a familiar product may have new design bits, making it challenging simply to examine the item and figure out how to make it work.

Today, clearly, the kids can get it. A kid glances at bitty instructions and quickly gets a new electronic piece to start working. As for me, staring and attempting to comprehend, clearly, my sighting and brain skills aren’t quite up-to-snuff in this modern world.

Now, I find myself with an unworkable new electronic that was relatively inexpensive. So, I start coping with yet another modern world struggle. Whether to return or simply discard the darned thing.

Dear Friends: To be fair, instructions should be readable and understandable by everybody. Diana

Sunday, April 02, 2023

We didn’t get that huge snowstorm predicted through this weekend. Today’s midday is supposed to deliver several hours of rain and snow, hopefully, light and without big winds.

It’s my day off from work. My key goal is to finish The Hard Road Out. It has become, for me, a not-put-down-read. I learned of this book because Christianne Amanpour interviewed Park and Chai.

Jihyun Park, born and raised in North Korea, escaped that culture of lifelong starvation and social fear. Seh-Lynn Chai, a South Korean with cultural perceptions and expectations different from Park’s, wrote this biography. Actually, it’s two stories. One speaks to how these ladies managed to bridge cultural differences; the other is Park’s memories of growing up in North Korea, in a typical family, becoming educated, and only gradually recognizing that culture’s overarching abuse of its people.

Like many reared in Western cultures, I’m fascinated by the strangeness of other cultures. Particularly by North Korea’s pomp and circumstances, its total control by a Dictator, and stories about the nation’s inadequate financial and nutritional resources for the general population. In Park’s story, those elements all are non-fictional. Reading about her life is breath-catching, through her hardships and those of her family unit, and how the family was forced to survive.

This book provides insight into a complex foreign culture and also can tune readers into their national cultures. Indeed, almost all societies on the planet change continually in response to population and economic conditions. North Korea is an oddity, as confusing and scary as Park’s story tells.

Dear Friends: Hope you will read this one. Diana

Saturday, April 01, 2023

My farrier was here yesterday. For years he has arrived monthly from Mammoth to work on local horses. During the past year, he has planned to move to Central Oregon. His target date has been April 1, but he’s about to return to Mammoth. He explained that currently, in Mammoth, are twenty-five feet of snow blocking his living quarters. That’s the biggest snow Mammoth has ever experienced and prevents removing his belongings and moving.

Our challenge will be less in this area. There’s predicted snow starting today and falling through the weekend. Maybe we’ll receive lots, but surely not nearly what’s in Mammoth. Anyway here, my new battery-operated snowblower waits and is ready to start working at the push of a button.

Meanwhile, I’m off to work, in another, and thankfully, last such early-entry time for a week or so.

Dear Friends: Stay warm and have a good day. Diana

Friday, March 31, 2023

Today, I will enjoy being off from my part-time job. Also, I will be enjoying this last day of decent weather. Over the weekend, there’s to be a big snowstorm with bully winds that may gust to 40 mph.

Oh, where art thou, spring?

Nonetheless, I will keep preparing for nicer weather. I intend to add a structure near the barn that holds hanging flower baskets and provides color in that rather drab area. Another plan is to add a weatherproof bench near where those flowers will hang. Currently, that flower-supporting device and the bench are boxed and need assembly, tasks for today.

Although hanging flower baskets are increasingly available, the local climate remains too cold. Flowers won’t be able to survive outdoors in our area before genuine springtime arrives.

In the garden center where I work, the local lore is that our current shoppers are this area’s newest residents. Those are folks unfamiliar with our periodic faux springtimes. The warm weather spurts encourage new locals to purchase and plant. Nearly all residents in Central Oregon have personal stories of experiencing early planting failures.

In today’s early dimness, I am watching my trees responding to winds already in this area and having enough strength to move branches.

Dear Friends: I’d best start moving, and hopefully, accomplish all my plans for today. Diana

Thursday, March 30, 2023

Yesterday up close to my house, these deer were nibbling at the bird feeders. This photo captured the trio a heartbeat before it bounded away. The middle deer’s ears are turned back toward me, which lends action to this otherwise still-looking shot. The outcome is a pleasing scene that resembles artwork.

It is boosting my morning, as I must go to work, and yes, will spend today watering plants. Things will be improved, for now, I have safety glasses. Yesterday I didn’t explain, that as I watered on the previous day, a tall potted palm fell toward me and a protruding branch scratched my eye.

I didn’t report the incident, but will today. The scratch doesn’t seem serious but it still annoys me. It will be best to get the injury on record at HD, in case it should amount to more in the future.

Dear Friends: Time is crunching again; I must get going and soon on the road again. Diana