Friday, December 23, 2022

Heat wave today! This morning’s temperature is in the low twenties, and this afternoon’s will reach the forties.

Yesterday, I made five trips out into the blistering cold. The long-standing snow, a day before, had melted slightly and become slick. Onto it a layer of new snow disguised the slickest spots. I walked very carefully. Above, the sky resembled a deep freeze, bland and cloudless.

Each time I was ready to take care of the outside animals, I let the dogs outside. The puppies handled the cold by running and playing. Twelve-year-old, Ranger, huddled, and Miles and Osix seemed okay. The dogs were eager as I to return inside to warmth again.

Outside, a layer of snow covered the horses’ backs. They welcomed the hay-drops. The chickens and turkeys stayed in their shelters; the dwarf goat refused to step beyond her quarters. I made sure all had adequate food and water.

About outside watering devices, thankfully the trough and bucket heaters were working correctly. I worry about the horse troughs. If their GFCI fails and water heaters stop working, troughs can freeze thickly. Sometimes the water is too thick to crack with a hammer. I’ve been there! In extreme cold, if I manage to crack ice, it will re-freeze and too quickly to serve the horses.

Days of single-digit temperatures are trials for all life, wild animals, pets, and humans. One or two such days are more than enough for me. I can imagine the extensive preparations and experiences of people facing longer very cold climates. Here’s to remember though: humans are adaptable and creative. I suppose I’d figure out how to get along in more challenging atmospheres.

While reading Sofia Tolstoy’s Diaries, I was struck by her frequent references to a current temperature, like -10 degrees or -20 degrees. Thoughts of cold winter Russia cower me, but people live there and survive and thrive. It’s a sign, too, of geographical forces, that Russians are focused on destroying Ukraine’s heat sources in this deep winter.

Dear Friends: The world is larger than we sometimes pause to reflect on and wonder about. Diana

Thursday, December 22, 2022

We were warned that harsh weather would arrive. Now, it’s early and very cold outside, with new snow on the ground. The current temperature is 4 degrees, and the predicted high is 13 degrees. By the way, we are expecting rain. Today’s cold could turn rain into hail.

We are prepared, aware of key coping activities:

1. Stay warm: Have warm outside clothing, a coat, scarf, hat, gloves, and boots. Wear layers that trap heat to keep your body warm, whether outside or inside.
2. Stay active: If you can’t go outside, do indoor exercises or activities. Being active helps to keep you warm and reduces any feelings of cabin fever.
3. Stay connected: Avoid feeling isolated by connecting with friends and family, through phone calls, video chats, or other virtual means. Social support provides a sense of connection that can lift a mood.
4. Stay engaged: Keep busy and engaged during the day, by reading, watching movies, cooking, or engaging in a hobby.
5. Stay informed: Stay up to date on the weather and make sure you’re prepared for any potential hazards.

Numbers one and five are biggies for ranchers and farmers. We must trek outside several times daily and personal safety is as significant as keeping our animals safe. We are outside in freezing and rainy by having:

1. Dressed in layers and covered areas particularly vulnerable to cold: head, hands, and feet.
2. Protected from the elements with a waterproof coat, an umbrella, and a face mask or scarf against wind and cold.
3. Kept hydrated, yes!, even while outside in cold weather, drinking plenty of fluids.
4. Planned for breaks, if outside for an extended period, to warm up or to rest.
5. Remembered the signs of hypothermia, a dangerous condition when a body temperature drops too low; and knowing its symptoms: shivering, feeling tired, being confused.
6. Kept aware of weather forecasts and potential hazards, like ice on the ground and strong winds.

Remembering the rules helps me wrap my head around this day and those ahead with similar challenges. Coping with harsh winter weather stresses the values of preparation, self-care, and community. It embraces staying healthy and engaged, even in challenging circumstances.

Dear Friends: Sharing with the community, these reminders and rationale to myself. Diana

Wednesday, December 21, 2022

Tonight, anticipated winds rolling in are to measure very low on the wind chill index. We’re warned the winds could bring chills measuring -10 or -20 degrees. Hopefully, those winds won’t begin until after I’ve given today’s last feedings to my outside animals. For the dogs and me, the target is to be inside the house.

Yesterday was a bit warmer, just enough to slicken snow that’s already standing, and we’re warned of possible new snow today. Since it’s unlikely to warm up again anytime soon, this December’s ending might be bitter and dark.

Offsetting the cold and darkness are indoor celebrations. Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and others, brighten the year’s ending. A focus on the inside, family, friends, gifts, and food, makes for community warmth and shorter times outside.

I keep in mind those offsets to unpleasant weather while still preparing for whatever today might offer.

Dear Friends: It’s time to strap on my spikes and head outside. Diana

Tuesday, December 20, 2022

I screwed up yesterday. Jews aren’t celebrating Passover this week, but Hanukkah. After publishing and considering my mistake, I had to admit that my favorite Jewish holiday is Passover. Sorry, friends, ’twas a slip of the tongue, or in yesterday’s blog, of my fingers.

Today should be a bit warmer and hopefully will create some melting-off. It would be pleasant to roam without having spikes on my boots, although that wouldn’t last. The predicted weather is a new storm coming and bringing very high winds and more snow.

To me, this region’s entire November and December seem colder than in the past couple of years. Contributing to my perception are consistently low double-digit temperatures and long-standing snow. Ah, too, the spikes daily strapped onto my boots.

Today, ahead of anticipated harsh weather, my efforts will be to get ready. That means ensuring adequate supplies of feed for the outside animals, and also, good sheltering for them. I will gas up the snowblowers and have on hand plenty of spikes.

Experience always is the best teacher. From time to time, situations will differ. One learns to cope by understanding what to do, in case, and having critical supplies and tools available, in case.

Dear Friends: Prepare, stay warm, take care, and soon enjoy daylight’s lengthening. Diana

Monday, December 19, 2022

Happy Passover!

I don’t actively celebrate this holiday which was important in my past. My parents were reared in Orthodox households, and many key religious observations drifted to their children. My eldest sister was very family oriented and made sure everybody, including me, celebrated every Jewish holiday. I happily recall those events full of family generosity.

I have lighted candles for my two older sisters. They guided and supported me, to the best of their abilities. I always miss them!

Now, to tilt forward:

I know next to nothing about soccer, but couldn’t resist watching the World Cup competition, an exciting show of flexible athletes, wild fans, and barely restrained announcers. That event was a Pure Picture, of Passion on the Field!

Today, the January 6th Committee will hold a final public meeting. Its public meetings have demonstrated outstanding political teamwork, with capable leadership, bi-partisanship, professionalism, and efficiency. I’ll watch today and hope this Committee’s examples will foster other politically-oriented, public, and sensible group efforts.

Snow’s still on the ground, and this morning’s temp (slightly) is warmer. This day will be another inside, unless a melting occurs. If so, I’ll call the dogs, and we’ll go hiking, somewhere scenic.

Dear Friends: Nearing this cold winter’s shortest day (or longest night), and then, longer daylights. Diana

Sunday, December 18, 2022

Yesterday, I finished reading all fifty years of Sofia Tolstoy’s Dairies. They begin when Sofia was eighteen and first met Tolstoy. She documented her learnings through years in a complex marriage, multiple pregnancies, mothering children, and managing Tolstoy’s intellectual property and large estate. Her dairies through the late Eighteenth Century are grinding reminders of a past when women had few (if any) choices, except to marry and practice almost total submission to the husband’s decisions. Through Sofia, a modern reader sees Tolstoy as a spoiled-rotten tyrant. In her late notes, Sofia speaks to the wisdom of absorbing a genius’s words, and not living with a genius.

Today will be another cold one, and I’ll start reading a new book: In Love, by Amy Bloom. In the NYT it was highly reviewed by one (like me) who wasn’t familiar with Bloom’s writing: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/01/books/review-in-love-memoir-amy-bloom.html

Lists of uncorrectable health conditions nowadays are ever-more consuming. World populations are aging and health conditions, once estimated unique, now are common worries. The fine author, Lisa Genova, a trained neuroscientist, writes compellingly about numerous physical/mental conditions. Genova has helped populations know the ways some key diseases show up, and over time, changes that they cause.

Amy Bloom’s husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and decided he didn’t want to live through the disease. The two researched if he might legally take his own life when he wanted. They found only one place in the world that could allow that without restrictions. They traveled to Switzerland for the procedure, and Bloom’s story is of their process, emotionally and physically.

Dear Friends: As progress, most of us have made it through two years of the worldwide pandemic. Diana

Saturday, December 17, 2022

This is a bitterly cold morning. My pellet stove blasts away and hot coffee hits the spot. I’ve begun wrapping my head around having to suit up and trek outside. There, I’ll distribute hay for my horses and dwarf goat, check that drinking sources are full and unfrozen, and top off chicken feeders. Those done, I can retreat to my house’s creature comforts.

If it weren’t necessary to venture outside several times to care for animals, I’d not mind this unending stretch of freezing days of deep snow that can’t melt. We who live where snow and freezing occur know the value of keeping on hand plenty of water and food. Sometimes we face a string of housebound days. That’s me today and through more days, if necessary. No need to leave home.

Equal to planning for plenty to eat and drink, our brains have needs. I have a couple of such things in the pipeline. One is continuing to work my way through Sofie Tolstoy’s Diary, which I’ve half-finished. Interestingly, halfway through it, her husband, Leo Tolstoy, who’s much older than Sofie is unwell. Over their years together, Sofie has grown intellectually, emotionally, and socially. Maybe today, I will reach the part where her husband passes away, and then read about her own artistic evolution. Sofie authored many books herself.

Another item on my burner is the 1972 movie, “Sounder.” It’s streaming on the Criterion Channel. The cast includes Paul Winfield and Cicely Tyson, other terrific actors, and also, a Coonhound, Sounder. It’s a story of an African-American farming family, in 1930s rural Louisiana. I’ve loved this great movie forever and look forward to seeing it again.

Those are some highlights of this “snow day.”

Now, I’ll start a chicken cooking in the crock pot before heading outside and caring for critters.

Dear Friends: Always be prepared, that Boy Scout motto serves over a lifetime. Diana

Friday, December 16, 2022

Did you know that eggshells will clog a garbage disposal? I didn’t until yesterday, when a plumber came to clear my drain. His snake found in the pipe clogged eggshells, and fortunately not too many. He explained that egg shells are too heavy to travel cleanly through a drain pipe. He added, tugging on his plumber’s hat, that what’s absolutely worst to find in a drain are chia seeds. They swell and clog mightily. He’s found that if a snake works through and creates an opening in chia seeds, they will re-close it. The usual solution, he said, is replacing the section of sewer line clogged by those seeds.

Well, live and learn. For sure, no more eggshells into my garbage disposal.

I’d barely recovered from the plumber’s visit when a text popped up advising that my new refrigerator was en route. Getting it delivered has been a mess, because ’tis the season. It was to arrive a couple of weeks ago, but first there was a warehouse shortage, and soon afterwards a heavy snow. The delivery date became more pushed back, and by yesterday, I’d not been updated. It’s impending arrival was a surprise.

The delivery fellows were very nice. Although at first saying they couldn’t touch this or that because of liability issues, they relented and did help me as needed. After completing the installation, they took my old refrigerator to load and haul away.

As they were loading, the truck’s hydraulics shifted that big truck. It began sliding down my steep driveway and got a front wheel completely stuck in deep snow. The guys couldn’t make that truck move, its rear wheels just spun. I was stunned to learn that heavy vehicle wasn’t a four-wheel, but a rear-wheel-only drive. In our efforts, they put on rear tire chains and I went searching for a shovel and kitty litter. The guys did lots of digging, attempted frequently to move the truck, and despite spinning wheels, and etc., didn’t give up. They finally got the wheel loose and the truck free again.

By the time we all waved as they drove away, I was ready to be through with yesterday. Couldn’t though, for my animals needed care and I had a couple of errands. When finally that day ended, I poured a big glass of wine.

Dear Friends: Now, besides eggshells, I will avoid making any big purchase near Christmastime. Diana

Thursday, December 14, 2022

A few years ago, my artist friend, Janet Havern, with two of her creative daughters, designed a costume for my donkey, Pimmy. We dressed Pimmy in full regalia and she was so cute, that we set up a holiday photoshoot in Havern Carpentry’s parking lot, with proceeds for charity.

On the photoshoot day, folks driving by and seeing the sign, stopped, wanting photos of Pimmy with their children, and/or with themselves. Janet, her husband, and their children, greeted and processed customers, and also handled Pimmy as I took the pictures. Pimmy cooperated throughout and everybody had fun. The event created a decent charitable contribution.

Pimmy came to live with me as a surprise. She was born wild on a California BLM, and was adopted while young by a couple living in Eugene, OR. Eventually their life circumstances changed, and they searched for a new home for Pimmy. I noticed an online posting, expressed interest, but decided against adopting an animal type about which I knew nothing.

Everything changed when equine rescuer, Kate Beardsley, stepped in and helped the Eugene couple. One day, a truck pulling a horse trailer drove to my barn. Kate followed in another vehicle, got out, greeted me and helped to open the horse trailer, saying, “Here’s Pimmy, for you!” I balked, unwilling to adopt the donkey, until Kate promised to return for Pimmy if things didn’t work out.

I couldn’t say no to one of the horse world’s savviest, and Kate had guessed right. That’s how Pimmy became my donkey.

I discovered that Pimmy was sweet and gentle. She became a wonderful companion to my horses, and bonded enough with them to follow freely as I’m riding on horse trails. This donkey has been a crowd favorite in parades, and at Christmas times has stood-in as Mary’s Christmas Eve ride into Bethlehem. The donkey is a fun ambassador to my little ranch. Passing drivers sometimes stop and ask what it’s like having a donkey. I say, “A donkey makes a great pet, and Pimmy’s just the best!”

Dear Friends: Today’s header “throwback photo,” triggers events and people, fine memories. Diana

Wednesday, December 14, 2022

I’m halfway through The Diaries of Sofia Tolstoy. Notice, it’s “Diaries” because Sofia wrote over some fifty years of marriage to that very complex genius, (and from this reader’s perspective) personally-unlikeable, Leo.

Years ago, I read War and Peace. Interestingly, I more clearly recall the movie version because of the actors, Audrey Hepburn and her real-life husband, Mel Ferrer. These days, having gained insight into the Tolstoys’ partnership, I’m tempted to reread the novel.

When the two married, Count Tolstoy was in his thirties and a well recognized author. She was a nineteen-year-old romantic who immediately learned that his interest in her totally was physical. She found Tolstoy a master at isolating his emotional life. She writes about that and adopted the role of his scribe, rewriting daily drafts and providing him with fresh pages to mark-up. Those daily new markups, she rewrote ad infinitum, assisting his creativity and expanding her insight to the inner man.

Sofia became pregnant fifteen times and delivered a dozen babies, nine of which survived. Besides her work to support Leo, she was mother, housekeeper, estate manager, and eventually liaison between the writer and his publishers. Her activities included negotiating with security forces and with Czar Nicholas himself, to offset their concerns that Tolstoy’s writings suggested communistic views. Which increasingly his did.

So, halfway through the dairies, she’s fifty-three years old and he’s seventy. She’s emotional and very bright, diligent and dependable, and now drafts stories from her imagination. The children are grown and problematic; Leo is unpredictable and unlikeable, and from Sofia’s perspective, a failed father.

Reading her diaries is long and tedious; nonetheless, I rated the work with five-stars on Goodreads.

I’m thinking more and more that Sofia’s diary could be an excellent movie. I image it becoming a script but having trouble thinking of actors who could handle the roles. More importantly, I’ve no idea which director has the chops to do justice to both story and relationship.

Dear Friends: A Kindle, in my pocket, makes a long read doable in bits of time. Diana