Cycle of Life, Got It, Bleh in Everyday Ramblings

I took this shot in late April because of the light on the far tree(s), the ones that look yellow here. There are three of them, august and old on the Portland State University campus that I walk by about three times a week.

Monday night I walked by them and the area was cordoned off and most of the big limbs of the two companion trees were gone and there was a sign that said they had Dutch elm disease and had to come down.

They will plant native trees in this spot but I was so sad. These have been anchor trees for me as I experience the seasons here in my world.

As we move towards fall here in this drought-impacted land the cycle of life becomes glaringly apparent.

Much to my surprise the birdseed mix with red pepper flakes (powerful enough to make me sneeze) and safflower seeds did discourage the squirrels from my feeders. It took like three weeks.

My problem now is the pigeons. There is one very territorial pair that is now extremely well fed. They sit three stories up and watch for me to put out food and then on occasion invite their friends. I have had enough, even though they, in particular, entrance Carlo.

I thought about getting an owl decoy to put up. They have them with flashing bright eyes and swivel heads that are battery operated. They even have a solar powered one but the experts say the best thing to do is hold tight and not put any food out for a whole week.

One of my neighbors has a great feeder array around the corner and they have squirrel cages and don’t get pigeons so I at least know the smaller birds have somewhere close to go nearby.

I finally got the very low dose blood pressure medicine to try and I have the big heart CT scan next week, and then we redo the sports performance test the week after.

No surprise, as this is the theme of this year for me, I am tired. Next weekend is a 3 day one, and then I am going to take a vacation day two weeks out so I will have another three day weekend. And I have a massage scheduled in between.

I am also doing this 10-hour online continuing education course in deep relaxation from a spiritual point of view. Last night I was immersing myself in the currently available science of brain waves. It is fascinating and the great thing is I get to practice the teachings.

Last night instead of to podcasts I went to sleep listening to classical music. I found that helpful.

The news is just so disturbing. How can you not vote? How can you be a citizen and not vote? I understand that for complicated reasons it can be difficult to get to a polling place (we have paper mail ballots in Oregon) and all the voter restriction laws but goodness, never in my life have I felt it was more important to vote.

Thanks for all your responses to my previous two posts. I am exploring why it is so very hard for me to express opinions to anyone but those I am very close to.

And now I need to take my tired body past the sad fact of no trees to teach my beloved students.