Friday, October 21, 2022

Today’s NYT carries a story about the Pacific Northwest Cascades and Mt. Hood area. It speaks to how changing weather patterns are affecting ranchers, farmers, fruit growers, fishing people, and the sports industry.

It’s generously and beautifully illustrated by Ruth Fremson’s photographs, all are gallery worthy.

I felt connected to this article from my perspective near Central Oregon’s Cascades. We southern residents, like Mt. Hood’s, are struggling to adjust to changing weather patterns. Central Oregon’s conditions are worsened because of critical abuses to surrounding natural resources by earlier generations that conducted massive logging operations. This area’s now-exploding population, demanding more dwellings, pushes new home construction into the few remaining local forested areas.

Then, too, this area has water worries because it’s becoming scarce. Warming weather reduces our once-abundant and dependable snows. Historically, melting snowpack and generous natural underground storage capacities fed water throughout Central Oregon. Besides our changing weather, modern abusive water usage negatively is affecting water supplies.

I’m off on a tear, so will stop.

Check out this readable NYT piece and its wonderful photography. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/21/us/northwest-snowpack-climate.html

Dear Friends: The Cascade Range fosters vibrant and diverse conditions. Diana

Thursday, October 20, 2022

Yesterday afternoon I arrived home and found my flooring expert, Leroy, working with his sons. They were re-setting a complicated banister, removed to lay flooring in the loft. Yes, Leroy has reached the loft area, almost completing this flooring project. He has removed about 2,000 sq. ft. of carpeting and recovered the floor with engineered vinyl.

The vinyl mimics real wood. It looks good, is completely waterproof, and is easy to clean. In my household, it’s more practical than carpeting because I have inside-outside dogs. Engineered flooring makes cleaning after them a breeze.

Also, cleaning is quicker. My cordless vacuum’s fully-charged battery operates for 30-40 minutes before re-charging. One full battery handles all my now-easy flooring (including tiled non-vinyl areas).

Despite its attributes, engineered flooring isn’t perfect. At first walking on it felt a little different and took getting used to. My dogs’ feet can’t grip for hurrying, but they’re learning to slow down, a good thing. Leroy says heavy objects can damage vinyl, so I added protective pads beneath heavier furniture.

More of the good is that vinyl seems to make the house appear more open. The flooring reflects light from ceiling wood and makes art objects more quickly visible. A liking for open space has me replacing heavier furniture with minimalistic pieces.

Dear Friends: This little journey into the unknown has been rewarding. Diana

Wednesday, October 19, 2022

Here’s another day of show-up-early to work. So I’ll be brief.

The Iranian woman who climbed competitively in Korea without wearing a headscarf has returned to Iran. She deplaned, her hair covered by a baseball cap and scarf, meeting cheers from a large crowd of greeters. We hope for her safety, after she didn’t adhere to religious rules mandating women to cover their hair.

In the U.S. women feel free to wear whatever they want and to tackle whatever interests them. However, this country never has adopted, nor likely will, an official Equal Rights Amendment. For bunches of reasons, but essentially because ours is a male-and-money-dominated society.

I applaud the brave crowds in Iran’s streets demanding freedom from strict religious governance. Those people have managed for weeks to roil, and communications to the outside world haven’t been cut off. Their activity, supported by technology and compassionate individuals helping to keep communications alive, represent both local and international objecting to restrictive social policies.

It’s unfortunate in Iran’s process that individuals have been slaughtered. Let’s hope that the uprising leads toward more social freedom in the world. Maybe there will be more viral social uprisings against injustices; the world still awaits reckoning for the inhumane murder of Jamal Khashoggi by the Saudi Prince.

Those are my thoughts today while getting ready for work.

Dear Friends: Way back when, America should have instituted the ERA. Diana

Tuesday, October 18, 2022

I’ve described how busy the supermarket is where I’m a cashier. Here’s a metric: last Sunday the store grossed nearly one-half million dollars. That’s not unusual for our store. It’s one of the chain’s highest grossing outlets, within a business model focused on pricing goods barely over wholesale purchasing costs and underselling competition.

Our store is a twenty-four-hour beehive. It’s always open to customers while employees stock and restock, ensuring that every slot is full and products look tidy. Fresh produce is abundant and inviting. The overall efficiency is amazing.

So are customer savings, which I hear about throughout my shifts. Often customers say they drive many miles to shop in the store. Many are from all nearby communities. Others drive as far as seventy miles, one-way, from home. Those from great distances explain that they combine various needs by making several in-town stops, including our store, before driving home. They’re planners and accomplishers.

In our store, customers must work by bagging their groceries, a fast game. Items quickly cross the computer and head toward the bagging area, while a line of other customers await their turns to check out. Experienced shoppers quickly get their bags into position and fill them rapidly as possible.

Back when I was a shopper only, bagging work looked easy. I’ve learned that isn’t so. The efficient shoppers arrange purchases into groups for checking out, and for efficient bagging and transporting. Canned goods are easy to bag, but fresh produce and frozen items need special accommodations.

Every day teaches more about how to shop, various items worth shopping for, and options for bagging and storing efficiently. Customers explain how to use fresh ginger, tomatillos, and Mexican squash; the list goes on. I’ve begun to evaluate what I actually need and use versus what I might try out and trash. Focused grocery purchasing equates to paying less and wasting less.

Dear Friends: Jolts of awareness while in action, and learning that’s helpful. Diana

Monday, October 17, 2022

I’m trying to bolster the courage to glance at what today’s stock market might be doing. Just a quick look at what it suggests about world conditions. Maybe an upward tilt would hint at a shift toward global sanity.

There’s plenty of insanity: war in Ukraine, British political craziness, Xi’s mighty ambitions, riots in Iran, and America’s upcoming election. To name a few.

The bright spots from my perspective are limited. I have a blind faith in humanity’s wish to survive and believe in my heart that chaos will end, and end well enough. But I seek realistic clues for a forward perspective. The stock market is easy to assess. It reflects the real-time, is in the moment, and suggests the next moments and tomorrows.

Early today, the market predicts a rally. Hopefully, it will carry through this and even through its following sessions, and spark a sense that the economy is settling.

Dear Friends: Grabbing at straws to gain more optimism. Diana

Sunday, October 16, 2022

This is a quick hello. I must be at work at 8 a.m. and more of the same for another few days. So early to leave requires readjusting my morning routine, and day one always is messy.

The upside is that I’ll be home in the mid-afternoon making my evening easier. My home’s interior finally is becoming reorganized, following a complete re-flooring.

This afternoon might be an opportunity to play outside with a camera.

Dear Friends: Enjoy this lovely fall day. Diana

Saturday, October 15, 2022

It’s a day off from my part-time job. I’ve lots to accomplish from an unappealing list of to-dos.

Now, from the mundane to the ridiculous.

It’s fascinating, the war in Ukraine, Putin, Xi, and other nation leaders, ethnic conditions and conflicts nearly everywhere, and American raging politics and economics.

Along with others here in the middle of Oregon, I’m changing my shopping habits; evaluating how often and far I am willing to drive a vehicle, and re-thinking many of my long-held world views.

It’s impossible not to reflect on today’s exploded populations, technological upgrades, and educational needs. Our very human selves wish to cling to what’s already understood and accepted.

But the known world roils.

This morning, I was surprised at finding myself pursuing information about Chile’s Araucania region, home to the Mapuche, that country’s indigenous people. Chile is the only Latin American country with a constitution that doesn’t recognize its indigenous populations and their rights. The Mapuche are demanding a more egalitarian society.

New learning offered insight into that region’s terrain, the Mapuche history and culture, and how those associate to current Chilean politics. Fascinating stuff.

Similar unrest occurs in Iran, Myanmar, and Shri Lanka. All related, too, to American unrest over limited educational and employment opportunities for ethnic minorities, immigrants, and youth.

Lots of people pass through my grocery checkout line spouting old ideas about the inefficiencies of formal education, muscular changes our government needs, and etc. They say nothing or little about a genuine need to view the known world afresh.

Dear Friends: Today’s house- and barn-work might re-center my brain. Diana

Friday, October 14, 2022

The cut-rate supermarket where I work has published a 2nd Quarter report showing that sales totaled $8.4 billion, were over budget by 8.4%. Compared to last year’s same quarter, our sales rose by 17.3%. We workers in the chain almost daily feel a surging of customers.

It’s the economy, stupid.

Today we learn that Kroger and Albertson’s plan to merge. Each chain is big already (Kroger, huge throughout the country, owns Fred Meyer’s; Alberton’s is all over the West Coast and owns Safeway). Combined, they’ll be a ginormous food distributor.

The word is that they’re combining to become more competitive with biggies like Amazon and Walmart. We could guess “biggies” would include Costco.

If the regulators approve this combination, just consider its potential for negotiating and purchasing powers, and also for dominating online sales and food deliveries. Regulatory okay or none, it’s worth following in this increasingly tumultuous economic environment.

How might an outcome allowing merger impact the chain where I work? Somehow our employee-owned grocery consistently provides all the products available elsewhere and at lower prices. Customers say they save about 40% on purchases and love this chain.

(On a side note, a customer explained how to boil fresh ginger and create excellent tea. Ginger tea helps against inflammation and is recommended also for cancer patients.)

Dear Friends: We’re in economic upheaval hoping for a viable future. Diana

Thursday, October 13, 2022

So. it’s official, Costco will build a new facility on the town’s north side where RV camping existed years ago. That some forty-acre space originally was for a Super Walmart, but that store dropped out upon the city’s demands that it foot major costs to upgrade highway traffic flows alongside the site.

To be built up is more than an expanded Costco. The development plans are large and available for viewing online.

Costco will close its eastside location forcing residents on this side of town to drive farther or to shop at the eastside Safeway. Another eastside supermarket is planned for development on Butler Market Road.

I work in a midtown cut-rate supermarket. It also will become a destination for more shoppers from the eastside.

For the last couple of evenings, I’ve worked an extra hour or two. Our store is open for 24 hours and mostly slammed with customers. From the time I open my cash register until I’m off work, I’m processing a seemingly-unending line of filled shopping carts.

Like most commercial environments, our store must identify and hire hard-working individuals. New employees seeking an easy ride soon disappear, and we’re often shorthanded. The hard workers pull extra hours.

I worry that my horses need hay while I’m gone from home. I’m uncomfortable about working longer but have helped out for the last couple of evenings.

I’ll be rewarded, too. Today, the manager who asked me to stay will assign me to oversee the self-checkout area. I’ve wanted that opportunity, to keep moving around and learning more. It makes sense that future self-checkout areas will be larger in major retail sales environments. It reduces the need for electronic cash registers and employees and is more cost-effective.

The transition will be tough, as customers generally dislike and avoid self-checkout. Many trying it become frustrated and grumpy. Employees overseeing the process dislike customer attitudes.

I could work well in the environment. My long-ago formal education emphasized sales, customer relations, and teamwork. This will offer a path toward updating and relearning my skills while helping the store.

Dear Friends: Learning and adjusting require flexibility with kindness. Diana

Wednesday, October 12, 2022

Did you happen to be where you could enjoy yesterday evening’s incredible moon? After my workday, it still was low and guided me home. A perfect globe, alight and beautiful, I wished to hug it.

A coworker whose birthday is today has invited me to her party. Today I must work, but if by the time I get off her celebration’s still on, I’ll stop in briefly. Years ago, she was in the Navy and toured the world. She holds those years special.

A few nights ago, the PBS Newshour interviewed an X-Navy woman. She’s the CEO of a defense firm employing some 80,000 workers, many are x-military. She’s concerned over the high suicide rate among those who are x-military, and actively promotes making available appropriate mental health care to those in need.

This CEO used to be a career officer and only reluctantly left the Navy. She did so to care for her middle daughter, who was born with a rare metabolic disorder. She now understands that unique disorder and supports research into it. Her daughter is doing well

That special woman made made me think of my hard-working “birthday” coworker. I once asked why she reluctantly left the Navy. She said she’d become pregnant when staying in the military, while pregnant, wasn’t an option.

I think she’ll enjoy the PBS interview. I’ll find and record it as a birthday gift to her.

The news often focuses on lives gone awry. Many others also in pursuing lifetime goals become irrevocably sidetracked. What seems to make a difference is the component we call optimism. Those who maintain optimism find ways to reset their life goals. They continue to live well and productively.

Dear Friends: Thankfully, we mostly enjoy our lives, relationships, and work. Diana