Old Sayings

If it's not one thing it's your mother. Money makes fools of men. Don't put off till tomorrow what can be put off indefinitely. 

Ok, the first one is a humorous spin on an old saying I heard from my friend, Maxie. I came up with the adjustment to the third adage about procrastinating, which is a good reminder that not everything needs to get done right now. History has proven over and over that some things are best left undone...period.  

Now don't think I've gone all philosophical or have decided to become a philosophical intellectual (for the record, if you think you're an intellectual you're probably not). I'm no intellectual, but do find myself from time-to-time in a state of curiosity, or, as the self-appointed intellectuals like to say, intellectually curious. 

Intellectually curious; now that's funny! I've never known one person in my life who wasn't intellectually curious. That goes double for our little friends under the age of 9 or 10. I'm guessing the intellectuals came up with "intellectually curious" as an inside attempt to elevate themselves even further above us regular folks. If so, C'MON MAN!

Thankfully, it takes all kinds to make things work. If everyone was self-aware, there wouldn't be much left to do for most entertainment industry celebrities. Not that I have anything against the entertainment industry. If not for those folks, the divorce industry would have to completely restructure.

C'MON MAN; that's enough poking fun at Hollywood and the super-smart. Let's get back to focussing on barns, creeks and the great outdoors. You just can't go no better. I'll keep you posted...

 

 

Sitting in the Woods

Put a comfortable chair in a public place and it won't set empty for long, providing there are any men around. Put a chair or six on a cabin deck in the middle of the woods and they'll set empty until some guys come around who are intent on sitting.

It's kind of funny when you think about it; sitting. I don't recall ever going to a friend's house for a visit and have them say, "Hey come on in and have a stand; I'll put on a pot of coffee!"

No, we definitely have a proclivity toward sitting. Sitting is one of the handful of things nearly all adults are good at. I guess it's because we spend so little time sitting during the first part of our lives that it takes the last half or so to catch up. 

Ever suggest to a friend that they come on in and have a seat only to have them respond with something like, "That's OK, I'll stand...I've been sitting all day." I've heard that a number of times and have always thought it sounded funny. Even if you've spent most of the day sitting it doesn't take a lot of standing before you're ready to sit down again. I guess that's one of the primary reasons we were designed to bend at the waist. Otherwise, the only option to standing would be lying down...which would often times be inconvenient if not down right awkward. That too is something to think about.

Thanks for tuning in and catching up on the latest information available on sitting in the woods. If the fine folks at Harvard or Cal Berkeley conduct any new studies on sitting and/or standing, you'll hear it here first. Why these ivy league educators insist on contacting me first when they have new information to report remains a mystery. Maybe I should check in with  "Nick Nick-Nick-Nick" and see if he has any ideas on this subject.

 

Have a great day, evening, weekend, vacation, or flight and I'll do my very best to keep you posted.

Post Post: I just realized I've never been very good at sitting. That's somewhat ironic.

Oh, and if you stumbled across this site in a drunken stopper while trying to find a good deal on a new pair of snow shoes, my friends and I are glad you're here!  

   

Outside In

The great outdoors? You cain't go no better! 

It's the author's intention to spend even more time outdoors this year than I spent out doors last year. That won't be easy considering I was "in the woods" most of last year.

 Once it became evident that covid wasn't going away any time soon, I decided to work our County Barry (Barry County if you don't speak Irish) property like it was my full-time job! Turned out I got a lot accomplished and had an enjoyable time doing it. 

I suppose about 10 or 12 of our 87 acres is open and I spent at least a few weeks brush-hogging, mulching, mowing, hacking, hauling and dumping weeds and brush in an effort to get it all to a point that it could be maintained with a mower. Got that done. I also spent significant time and energy "de-rocking" around the cabin and barn. In the process of that I discovered that the Armadillo is a prolific uprooter of rocks. About the time I'd get an area mostly rock-free I'd wake up the next day to discover that over night these diplopods (I keyed "dillopods" which was a made-up word and it autocorrected to diplopods, which is apparently an actual class of critter...I like the sounds of it even though I suspect it's not the correct term from a taxonomy standpoint) had uprooted about as many rocks as I'd picked up the previous day. Dang: that's frustrating but I suppose they're just doing their job. 

The barn/shop also got substantially rearranged and organized, although that's more of an inside job than outside. I cleared a lot of brush, cut down a few dead trees, processed a fair amount of firewood and so on and so forth. 

One thing I've become better at as I move ever closer to the golden years era is taking time to enjoy my surroundings. As a result I've seen some cool sites and sounds that are easy to overlook unless you're intentional about it. If you spend most of your life in front of a screen you miss alot of stuff. Had I been face-first in a device this past late summer I wouldn't have seen my first Missouri black bear wondering around in back of the cabin (I have probably already shared that in a previous post). Now that was completely unexpected but very awesome!

Maybe I'll report more on this subject as time moves along. Since this isn't set up for comments and likes or dislikes, I'm not really sure how many folks are reading my postings. That's OK though since my goal isn't followers, rather, sharing everyday life experiences with the few who might be interested. If that's you, thanks for taking time to read this stuff and I'll keep you posted:)