I have a personal policy of not talking about the experience of aging to anyone younger than 50. (This blog notwithstanding, of course.)
It’s pointless. They don’t believe a word of it. I didn’t ’til I got here myself.
I didn’t understand why old farmers all limp and shuffle. I couldn’t imagine what’d cause a gray-haired carpenter or a retired steel worker to groan whenever they got up from a chair. While visiting my father once when he was about the age I am now, I asked him how he was feeling.
“Wanna know the truth? Everything hurts.”
Seeing my skepticism, he added, “Just you wait.”
That from a man who, typical of his generation, never complained.
There’s no way I would’ve believed that someday I’d wake up every morning feeling like I’d fallen out of a tree. But here I am.
The only antidote to accumulated aches and pains, the only therapy that works, is motion. Gimpy farmers and hobbled tradesmen may not step as high or move as fast in their 60s as they did in their 20s, but they keep moving. Those of us fortunate enough to see our second half-century should follow their example.
Slowing down may be inevitable, but to stop is to die. Keep moving.
We had a pleasant 36-hour break from the threat of severe weather, but it returns this evening. The Mountain sits in a zone of “enhanced risk,” barely 20 miles south of an area being designated “moderate risk.” We’re being urged to prepare for the possibility of strong winds, tornadoes and large hail, with tonight’s threat pegged at 3 out of 5 for all three.
That’s good to know. But beyond simply acknowledging that our preps are in order, we needn’t do anything special.
The fact that I exercised our generators this morning was mere coincidence. It had nothing to do with the inbound storms. It’s a regular, scheduled task that came up on my to-do list today.
The Predator 5000 ran fine. Our Predator 2000 surged at idle more than I’d like, but under a 1,500W load (a space heater) it ran smoothly. I called it good.
When Deb took her lunch today, we tested the handheld Baofeng GMRS radios that we keep in our vehicles. Basically, we wanted to confirm that if she’s over on the west side of town and I’m up on The Mountain, we still can communicate when (not if) cell networks go down.
The result, I’m pleased to say, was “loud and clear,” mirroring the performance of those Midland radios we tested last fall. I’m sure that the county road remains a dead zone, in the signal shadow of terrain to the south, but it was cool to validate again our ability to communicate when we’re over five statute miles apart.
I saved a life today.
Smudge made a hard left turn as we stepped out of the camper this morning, and she pounced on this eastern fence lizard. I pulled her off the harmless little tick-eating critter before she could molest it.
He stuck around long enough to pose for pictures before skittering off among the rocks.
It was a warm, bright and muggy Wednesday on The Mountain. The wind was steady at about 15mph. Conditions were lining up for what promised to be an interesting night.
As recently as yesterday, forecasts had us dealing with storms from about 2pm today through 1am tomorrow, with the most serious weather likely to roll over us between 8pm and midnight. But as today went on, the stormy window shrunk and probabilities decreased.
By 6pm, the forecast was calling for “only” a 43% to 76% chance of thunderstorms between 8pm and 10:45pm. Officially we’re under a tornado watch ’til 10pm CDT.
Regardless, we’ll be here.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB