Ranger In Snow

Saturday, February 25, 2023

It was a good thing that my head cold mostly had passed by yesterday morning. I looked outside at the snow and recognized that ahead would be lots of barn-related work. Living on acreage with large animals teaches, as a rule of thumb, to expect in snowy weather something to go wrong. Yesterday, frozen hoses became my unexpected problem.

The frost-free pump close to my horse troughs has been on the blink for weeks, and the ground too frozen for digging and replacing. So daily, I have filled watering troughs from another pump using a 25-foot hose. A couple of evenings back, I didn’t bother to disconnect that hose from the pump nozzle, and yesterday found both solidly frozen together. I had to use a large pipe wrench to loosen the hose from its spigot and discovered both ice-packed and unusable.

Oh, why hadn’t I disconnected and drained that hose! To blame was a then-fierce onset of my massive head cold.

Yesterday, in the snowy cold, nothing would thaw. Trough filling is essential, and I could work the problem by filling from a more distant pump, which called for 100 feet of hose. There were several gardening hoses up at the house, and I went to get one.

I carried it down and hooked it up, but discovered that it leaked too much. I went for another hose, only to run into more leakiness. With yet another hose, a different problem and still it didn’t work.

After struggling with hoses for a long while, I managed to find and hook up two that worked, but both were half-frozen, and water barely dripped through. I stood at the troughs with a hose barely dripping, and hoping that slightly running water would dislodge the icy blockages. Eventually that happened, and water filled the troughs.

That’s how I spent my afternoon.

Today, I have a shopping list. If you guess new hoses are at the top, that’s correct. I now recognize that replacing items won’t be enough. I must change my draining techniques. I drain hoses when summer ends and apparently not well. Ahead, my challenge is to figure out a technique that avoids repeats of those awful frozen-hose struggles.

Dear Friends: Annually, the weather brings new challenges and lessons for moving forward. Diana

Friday, February 24, 2023

Thanks, friends, for sending well wishes. This morning I feel much better. Tomorrow, my cold might be misery past.

I slept most of yesterday while it snowed, and this morning through a window am estimating six inches. I was aware of snow falling, for periodically awakening and having to trudge outside to feed animals. The horses were blanketed in snow and stomping eagerly for hay. The goat and the chickens were hiding in their shelters. Because of my cold, it was difficult to breathe in a slight, but freezing, wind. I bolstered both my courage and sense of well-being, by reminding myself of having managed to feed my horses back in the very worst time while I was on chemo.

In the depths of my misery, upon each awakening, I sensed having slept motionlessly and dreamlessly. That probably allowed my immune system to work uninterruptedly. While I know that the brain and body interact by design, in my very deepest sense, they do so magically. Our “little kid” ideas don’t desert us.

Today, instead of driving to the DVM to correct a vehicle license issue, I’ll stay home. To clean, feed, and stay warm.

Dear Friends: I’ll search for my facemask stash, and re-start wearing one in public. Diana

Thursday, February 23, 2023

My head cold over several days has gained momentum. It began as nose dripping and offered too little warning. Last night the sniffling blossomed. Today, my whole body aches and I’ll call in sick, not go to work.

Regardless, today’s weather encourages staying home. This morning brings new snowing and a temperature of 13 degrees. So, I will feed the outside animals, bring the dogs inside, and then snuggle under warm blankets and fall asleep.

Recently, I quit masking in public. That wasn’t a good idea, so I will start masking while working. I constantly wore masks during and after the pandemic without catching colds. This bout of weeping nose with physical discomfort highlights the advantage of taking preventive measures.

Dear Friends: Have a good day, and we will meet again on a cheerier side. Diana

Wednesday, February 22, 2023

When I was a little girl there wasn’t a Presidents Day. To me, this is George Washington’s birthday. Again, Happy Birthday, George!

I’m facing today with a cold and anyway going to work. I’m hoping to make it through my shift without sneezing and offending.

Yesterday, the Big Brass came into the store. Regional managers. Each interrupted my work, introduced himself (all were men), addressed me by my name (Diana is written big on my apron), asked how I like working at HD, and explained his role and why he was in the store. They were there for a scheduled meeting with local managers.

Over the past year, I’ve worked for three different businesses. Home Depot is the only one where managers actively practice what I call “managing down.” In other words, they communicate regularly with lower-ranking staff members. The managers in Bend’s HD always speak to me, are helpful, and now I find their bosses doing the same. That’s what I know as good management in large organizations.

I’m trying to align what I understand about managing an organization with my year of experience. It’s been hard to understand why businesses lack effective new employee training and regular team meetings. I suppose they’re profiting anyway in today’s economy without having to provide valuable resources for training and development.

I hesitate to speculate more, for these times differ beyond post-Covid changes. Maybe it’s that young people are visualizing a world different from what earlier generations understood. That largely might be influencing modern management’s directions. Anyway, Home Depot seems to be sticking to what for organizations always works best: mightily communicating up and down the line.

Dear Friends: Such attention calls for responses that suggest one’s listening and serving skills. Diana

Tuesday, February 20, 2023

Yesterday got away from me.

A couple days ago, a cop pulled me over to ask why my Jeep isn’t sporting current tags. I was surprised, but on checking found him right. The cop checked my registration and let me go with a warning. The vehicle’s old tags were expired since last March. Perhaps I’d become sidetracked as for months my Jeep was away for repairs. The mechanic had difficulty finding usable parts for it, a problem that’s getting worse.

Yesterday, I couldn’t find the Jeep’s current stickers, so went online to Oregon DMV for duplicates. The online site was a mess, the system couldn’t recognize me. Come on! Who else has my social security number, my birthdate and etc.? I did the next best thing, pulled my Jeep’s title, and headed straight to the DMV. It was closed for Presidents’ Day!

So frustrating.

That wasn’t the only awful I faced yesterday. I also lost my phone, couldn’t find it anywhere. I asked my google watch to ping it, but the instrument was out of range. I struggled to remember every one of my moves since last sighting the phone and kept searching for it. Not in the Jeep nor anywhere in the house, nor in a pocket of recently worn jeans in the washing machine. Nor outside, in the barn, the horse area, or the chicken area. I was bummed. The phone with so much information is a “gotta have.”

Finally, I found it. I’m embarrassed to admit where, but “there” it was. Just a silly slip, that shook me up.

Later this week, I’ll fix the Jeep’s tags. I will make another fix, too, by swapping my Pixel phone and watch for the Apple versions. Months ago, I eagerly tried the less expensive google network, but with everything online, the process is cumbersome. I’m ready for a re-anchor to what’s worked before.

Dear Friends: Those plans for my day off from work mostly fell “on hold.” Diana

Monday, February 20, 2023

This isn’t a day at work for me. Luckily, the local temperature will climb into the mid-fifties. That encourages planning for gathering the dogs and heading to a BLM. We are overdue for a play-outing and photo shoot.

Last week, I turned down a new job opportunity. It would let me work from home and with more salary. Having long wished to work from home, I had to struggle with making a change. What finally won out was that I prefer to be among people. Home Depot meets that need as I’m assigned to the Garden Department with coworkers. Also, I get around in the larger store by helping customers locate products. I have fun, too, playing with dogs that accompany shoppers.

I’ve never had a green thumb, mainly for too little time and knowledge about plants. That’s changing as I’m involved with Garden Department plants. I water and read plant tags to learn their characteristics. Customers deeply into plants teach me, too. For instance, they’ve taught me that gro lights help flowering varieties. I’ve brought home lights and plants.

I have mixed feelings about staying the course. Working from home suggested relative independence. That’s opposed to my low spot on a large store’s totem pole and some social annoyances. Now though, Home Depot seems best. If that changes other opportunities are out there.

Dear Friends: Letting go of old perceptions and better comprehending a modern world. Diana

Miles

Sunday, February 19, 2023

I’m behind the curve this morning. Recently, I wiped and reinstalled my hard drive, and since, have been searching for and reinstalling apps. Some are huge and time-consuming, like Adobe, and my photos somewhere in the cloud.

This morning, I will share an excellent find, a cartoon essay by Roz Chast who for years has drawn regularly for “The New Yorker.” The magazine has republished (from 2014) “her take” on having to adjust to and cope with aging parents.

Chast expresses her experiences with her tightly bound parents as they enter their nineties. She uses cartoons, and does so profoundly, with insight and wisdom. Her cartoon essay is as impactful as the reality of having loved ones in the process of aging and changing in many ways.

Here’s the link: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/03/10/cant-we-talk-about-something-more-pleasant?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Classics_Sunday_HEU_021923&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=email&bxid=5be9d7b63f92a40469e7251c&cndid=48830477&hasha=fcaa975f25ad07269658faaa47d2a8c6&hashb=33f80f8787ed481dba48fac411a7fb1761572d41&hashc=70af9c3a3c0ad914a93bb24a689e2c81ecc4f13988b15cc1d6a15d5fe367ae99&esrc=OIDC_SELECT_ACCOUNT_PAGE&utm_term=TNY_Classics

Dear Friends: You will enjoy and appreciate her skillful combinations of art and text. Diana

Mitzvah

Saturday, February 18, 2023

Yesterday, working at Home Depot, I became introduced to some of the newest light bulb technologies.

I learned that creating different lighting needn’t require installing whole new fixtures. Simply screwing in a smart bulb can make all the difference immediately.

Changing lighting has become so easy.

There are light bulbs with built-in sensors that automatically turn a light on at dusk and then off at dawn. Others have built-in sensors, movement sensitive, that independently light up briefly and turn off. Who knew?

Some Bluetooth light bulbs even are standalone sound systems. Connecting a Bluetooth bulb to wifi creates a color-changing music source.

I toured the lighting aisles examining products along with Ryan, a kind young coworker. He explained the capabilities of different lighting items, adding (kind of adorably) that people in “his generation” are very comfortable using and enjoying modern colorful smart lights.

As for me, I’m wide-eyed and admittedly galore behind younger generations. Fortunately, most of our shoppers are easy to communicate with and usually are seeking products that I understand.

It does boost alertness to be reminded, in regard to everything, that change is constant.

Dear Friends: New astonishing technologies are initiating another learning curve. Diana

Friday, February 17, 2023

I spent most of yesterday wiping out my computer’s memory and then initiating a factory reset. That lengthy and tiring work consumed hours to relocate and download previously saved data. I’m still searching for photos and documents; they’re either in the Cloud or Amazon storage. I’ll find them.

The reset was necessary as my computer was continually losing its wifi connection. As a result, I couldn’t create an entire document before the system suddenly wouldn’t save my work. I went online for technical support, and experts tried to help by unloading and reloading the computer’s wifi driver. Unfortunately, that didn’t improve anything.

Frankly, what had gone wrong was my fault. I had fooled around with internet connectivity, and while clicking on keys immediately sensed having just hit what might have been the wrong one. Enlightenment came too late. I wasn’t sure what I’d done, but my wifi started failing often.

After yesterday’s reset, the system seems to be working well enough. Its wifi connection appears to be holding, making worthwhile the hefty fixing effort.

Earlier that day, I cleaned the poultry area. My pet hen turkeys like to follow me around, always making cool chattering and whistling noises. For today’s header photo, I captured one’s sweet expression.

My chickens, too, were fun to work around. Most have re-feathered and are beautiful, for wintertime is the period of reduced laying and less rooster attention.

Speaking of roosters, here’s my Cockoo Moran back when he sported a tall, proud tail. The girls keep following him around and plucking at his glorious feathers. The reason feathers are popular as snacks is that they’re pure protein.

Dear Friends: Using high technology successfully demands hesitation, caution, and courage. Diana

Thursday, February 15, 2023

My new renter, Jan, has begun moving in. Yesterday, she brought her three beloved giant chimes and hung each on different trees. She loves their sounds and understands my mixed feelings about their potential to interrupt this area’s typical quiet. I appreciate that despite my doubts, she dares to bring and hang them. She accepts that their survival in my trees depends on them being reasonably noninvasive.

Although Jan’s enormous chimes might disagreeably impact my neighbors and me, my next-door neighbor, Frank, isn’t among my worries. He’s a good guy, usually unconcerned if my dogs bark noisily or sneak onto his property and steal his dogs’ balls. Besides, Jan says that she and Frank have already become friends.

She is striking a home run with me by volunteering to train Chase, my energetic puppy. Jan is an experienced dog trainer; her breed favorites are Airedale Terriers. I’m learning about her past life, including her stint as a professional photographer for a Tulsa, Oklahoma newspaper. She also has been a licensed aircraft pilot. No doubt, there are more life adventures I’ll learn about.

Next Sunday, the floor installer will be here to finish some details. Finally, a year after I first considered changing my home’s flooring, all’s nearly done. The months have been filled with challenges: moving furniture, breathing dust, and listening to continuous sawing and nailing.

Ah, ahead, new hearing with those chimes that thankfully weren’t hanging during last Monday’s windy blizzard.

Dear Friends: A significant change with the potential to generate much good for us both. Diana