The “to-do list” I often talk about isn’t anything formal. Oh, it used to be, when I juggled professional and personal and employed a Day-Timer® to keep myself on track. Now, the most structured I get is setting up recurring tasks in my phone’s calendar, or occasionally sending myself a text message.
Fortunately, I still have the mental capacity to maintain the kind of order I prefer.
Dealing with the bird feeders has lingered on my list for quite some time. They’ve been neglected, honestly, and The Mountain’s resident birds never really liked where I put them anyway.
Seed had become packed in the bottom of all three feeders. Taking them down and cleaning them was a job long overdue.
I took care of that after coffee and breakfast yesterday.
A strong stream from the garden hose flushed out the caked seed. I set the clean feeders in the sun and fresh air, and once they’ve dried thoroughly, I’ll stow them in the shed ’til late fall.
If you’ve bought bird seed lately, you know that feeding gets expensive. I simply can’t do it all year long. I’ll bring them back out when Nature begins to provide less.
July already. Tuesday was the first of the month — time to pay (some) bills.
Notably, the Ohio storage unit that my friend helped me vacate on Saturday sorted itself out quickly. Management waived the two-weeks requirement in the rental contract and moved me out (administratively) with only two days’ notice (and over a weekend at that).
Starting yesterday, that chipped a chunk off of my monthly bills — equivalent to ten days’ groceries, to give you an idea. That’s huge, and the timing couldn’t’ve been better.
I was watching coverage of the Israel-Iran dustup recently when I heard a pundit, a retired US Army officer, invoke a truism — “Generals are always fighting the last war.”
More than just a military maxim, the phrase highlights a particular human frailty — our inability to let go and move on.
We walk away from our failures with lessons, but we don’t have the first clue about what to do with them. We revert, then, to what we know — the past.
And we keep fucking up. We fuck up our jobs. We fuck up our marriages. We really fuck up our kids.
The reason, simply, is that we insist on imposing our past on our present. That’s not mere “baggage” — it’s the source of all unresolved issues.
“Unresolved issues.”
That’s how a trusted friend chose to describe the conduct I have to contend with these days. An unfinished past — relationships, childhood, whatever — has been dragged into the present.
I can’t change that. Under the circumstances, I can’t escape it. It is what it is ’til it’s done.
I live in the present. My past and any issues arising from it were dealt with long ago. If you join me here and now, you’ll find a good and honest man, an emotionally and practically functional man whose humanity is intact.
I can’t imagine living any other way.
Smudge will never be a hunting companion — she’s way too excitable. When she sees a deer, a squirrel, random birds or whatever, she commences barking and wants to give chase.
I’ve made the decision to leash her at certain times of day. As much as I don’t like to do it, that’s my call.
We were out yesterday morning when she spooked a small whitetail yearling from down by the woodpile. It darted across the road and then paused in the brush, apparently thinking about whether to keep running or resume grazing.
I parked my Heeler on the picnic table and sat down with her. She was quiet and still, just watching.
The deer went back to eating.
Today may be my birthday, but I intend to devote my attention to the true significance of the day.
You should, too.
We celebrate the Fourth of July, when 56 men committed high treason by putting their hand to the Declaration of Independence. But it was 249 years ago today — July 2nd, 1776 — that our Founders first formally asserted the Colonies’ independence from the Crown.
The Lee Resolution, also known as the “Resolution for Independence,” was simple and unflowery:
“Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved. — That it is expedient forthwith to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances. — That a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the respective Colonies for their consideration and approbation.”
America was born on the Second of July. This is the real Independence Day.
Celebrate that.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable