Captain's Log #26 - A Tide of Life Around Us

4/21/18

The Job Thing

I’ve been “between jobs” for 2 full months and have applied to 18 local State jobs; I’m not doing nothing. Went on one interview at CalFire for which I was very prepared, charming and engaging. Haven’t heard back from them for 2 weeks, so it’s probably a “no.” I have learned more about how the State hires: a potential State employee, either new or currently employed with the State, fills out an online quiz which asks two question, how many college credit do you have in these areas, and how many years of experience do you have doing (fill in the blank.) I always whump the education but am too honest about the years of experience, I haven’t been including the years of working for myself. Out of those questions you are given a score which puts you in a ranking. The people doing the hiring are strongly encouraged to hire from the top three ranks, and current State Employees before others. I rank 4 or 5. My only hope is that people from the top three ranks do not apply, or have landed other jobs while they have been waiting. It is possible.

In addition, above all of the ranks are Vets. As I understand, if a Veteran applies for a job they get hired. That’s fine. Whatever. I was so frustrated about my lack of success that I called Human Resources in Sacramento. A very nice woman reviewed my application and said “it looks very good,” she gave me some information about how the people hiring pull documents that are submitted online, which makes me think that submitting a hard copy might be a better strategy. She told me about a fellow in her department with a Masters in History, he submitted 240 applications and went on 20 interviews before he got hired. I guess I can’t complain. “Just keep swimming.” It is time to hit the temp agencies and other local job openings until I land something with the State. The beauty about working for the State is they take no-age-discrimination seriously, and once you’ve passed the 6 months probationary period, they can’t fire you, and you can transfer to other departments or agencies. I would like to keep working. I’ve been retired, it’s boring. I am a slave to my Honey-Do list, unfortunately, I have a problem with authority, no one can make me do anything, thus nothing’s getting done around here.

TV!

But I got to tell you, there is some great stuff on TV! I started on YouTube with Michael Wood’s BBC “In Search of” series, stories about the Dark Ages in England, King Arthur, Beowulf, “The Story of England,” “In Search of Shakespeare.” Fascinating!  More recently, on Netflix is Benedict Cumberbatch and Jared Harris in the 3-part “To the Ends of the Earth.” A must see. And ladies, I highly recommend “North & South” it’s a sort of Upstairs, Downstairs; oh, and ‘Mr. Bates’ is in it. Watch-the-whole-thing. Let me know what you think. And please send me your recommendations. Oh, and “Detectorists” on Netflix, love it!

Wool

I have been spinning and knitting a lot. I binge-researched the international wool market. Did you know the US supplies only 2% of the international market of wool? I stumbled onto an organization, Responsible Wool Standard, that’s promoting and certifying wool growers for sustainable practices. Sustainability & certification are big business! I even listened-in on a webinar with participants from India, South Africa, Peru and Australia, loved those accents! How could I get more involved with wool? This year I am sponsoring 2 – first prizes for Suffolk fleece in the county fair, for adults and juniors. Last year’s junior winner gave me her fleece (!) well, it cost me $50 but there was no agreement that I’d get it. It was a gift. I’m combing and spinning it now and plan to make it into socks that I will enter in the fair – boldly stating it’s breed of origin. Suffolk, widely considered a meat sheep, has wonderful fiber. I think part of it’s appeal for me is that it is disdained by others…

The Habit of Democracy

A marijuana dispensary has been proposed in a former Fire House across the street from my subdivision. Some of my neighbors are up in arms about it. I have joined them and developed an online petition https://goo.gl/NKFX8T To date we have 41 online signatures and 478 page views! (What’s up with that?) There are 112 houses in our subdivision and 122 apartment units, with 400 residents less than 100 feet from the ‘dispensary.’ My hope is that we can argue that there are as many children in the neighborhood as kids in one of our smaller schools. The distance needs to be 1,000 feet away from schools.

Because I’ve had some experience with the permit process I am coaching our group on who to send their protest letters to, we are walking our neighborhood collecting signatures and educating people, it’s likely we’ll arrange a public protest event with signs, etc. as a photo op for 2 or 3 local newspapers. It’s likely that I will write one of the articles. My hope is the applicant will withdraw their application before a meeting May 23 in front of the Sonoma Valley Citizens Advisory Commission. If not, what will likely happen is that we, who don’t want it, along with everyone in the Valley who wants to purchase locally will show up and there will be a lot of unpleasant hot air generated. Fine, if you want a dispensary put it in your neighborhood.

A Tide of Life Around Us

I’m a member of “Birding California” on Facebook which should be called “Professional Photographers with Very Expensive Cameras and Hugh Lens Pointed at Birds.” Their artistry is stunning! I can barely find a bird in a tree, let alone focus the binoculars before it flies away.  This photographer, Noelle Jorge, is frequent contributor and consummate artist. What’s cool about having so much time on my hands is I’m watching and listening to the birds in our Riparian neighborhood. On this Facebook page I’ll see a post from a Southern Californian welcoming a Grosbeak or Oriole in her yard and a few weeks later they show up in mine! Truly a tide of life.

This month we have a family of Bewick’s Wrens nesting above an exterior light fixture under the eves of our screened-in porch. The Wrens make a buzzing ‘zeeeeb’ when they’re hunting in the bushes, a commanding ‘chup’ when they’re telling a young one to jump out of the nest and come here, the nestlings have a high-pitched ‘peep.’ They’ve been busy turning bugs into birds. I think they’re on fledgling six or seven. My heart melted when the daddy, perched in his nest full of eggs, sang his sweet melodic territorial song.

Meanwhile, a pair of Pacific Bluebirds have returned to their nest box in the front yard. I don’t know where they’re finding all this long, dried grass – everything’s so green now. During construction they leave bits of grass poking out through the gaps in the house or trailing out the hole, quite messy. Kevin made the comment that we share with the Bluebirds the same degree of fastidiousness in housekeeping. Boy, he got that right.

Thanks for hanging in there with me and please let me know what you’re up to.

Many blessings,

Karla, mom & k.j.

And as always, let me know if you’d like to be removed from this distribution list. This is my creative writing outlet, sometimes interesting, sometimes not so much.