Our driveway, including the pads on which the cabin, camper and shed sit, is pretty crude. Most of the top layer is crushed rock, three to five inches in size with bigger chunks here and there. It can be challenging to walk on in anything but stiff-soled boots.
The plan is to bring in (eventually) a couple of loads of “fines” to tame it.
What we get with what we’ve got, however, is a surface that drains fast and extremely well. It also provides excellent traction under almost any conditions.
Almost.
Deb’s alarm went off at 5am today. While she made coffee, I took the dogs out — Scout and Dipstick together, then Smudge — and I got my first look at what freezing rain overnight had wrought. Our whole world, naturally, was encased in a layer of ice.
That reliably high-traction driveway was just as slick as everything else, and comically so. I had to be careful with each step. I kept Miss Smudge on a shorter-than-normal leash, because if she’d gotten a good lunge she would’ve pulled me off my feet.
We’d be staying put on The Mountain today.
We never lost power. By 10am the air had warmed a few degrees, the ice was melting and it continued to rain. I stepped outside around noon and again shortly after 3pm, just to take in the misty scene.
I soaked up a fair amount of rain myself. The air temperature never broke 36°F.
Walking around the homestead and down the road on a cold, damp, foggy and downright sloppy afternoon was a total pleasure. It reminded me — and candidly, it should remind you — that waiting for The Perfect Day is a waste of precious time.
A big part of what moved Deb and me to undertake our crazy cross-country adventure three years ago was the simple acknowledgment that “tomorrow isn’t promised.” That was her sales pitch — essentially, why wait for “someday” when it’s by no means certain that we’ll even see that day?
She rocked the way I looked at Life. It’s been my mindset every day since.
Don’t postpone your own happiness, your own adventure, your own principled action waiting for a better day. That day may never come. Dream your dreams, sure, but dammit, be happy where you are. And do it now.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB