ABOUT BEING 70

ANOTHER SETTING MOON THIS MORNING
Bit of a lack luster morning here I’m afraid.  Headed for Wickenburg to pick up my new glasses & was happy the blurriness problem with the left lens has been corrected.  Well as best as it can be corrected that is.  I do have an Astigmatism in my left eye which no lens can correct so I always do have a slight blurring problem especially with light points.  If I look at the Moon with only my right eye I see the Moon clearly.  If I look at it with only my left eye I see the Moon & a reflected quarter Moon right beside it.  If I look at a single point of light with my problem eye I will see 2 or three blurry points of light.  It’s just the way it is & it’s called an astigmatism.

THIS IS WHAT OUR BAYFIELD ONTARIO AREA LOOKED LIKE THIS MORNING…IS IT ANY WONDER WE PULL OUT ALL THE STOPS & HEAD SOUTH EVERY WINTER…73F TODAY
A quick stop at TSC (Tractor Supply Company) for dog food & bird seed then our last stop of the morning landed us at Safeway for a boat load of groceries.  Home before noon & that was it for us guys.  Very seldom we head out anywhere after high noon.  It’s almost like we’ll turn into big round Pumpkins if were not home by 12 every day.  Handyman Les will be here at 7:30 in the morning to finish up a couple small repair jobs & I’ll see if I can get anything accomplished after he’s finished up & left.  I’m thinking bricks & Agave plants but I gotta git er done before noon because……..well you know.

A WEE GAME OF FRISBEE IN THE BACK YARD TODAY
    
The tech savvy folks over at Technomadia have just posted a must read for boondockers.  Entitled, BACK TO BOONDOCKING: EXTENDING THE HOLDING TANKS.   They have shared tips & ideas of their own experiences while camped out in the wilds for weeks at a time.  And they do it in a big old groovy bus too:))

THIS HANDSOME GAMBLE’S QUAIL IS STRUTTING HIS STUFF
For a humorous but factual look at things learned sometimes the hard way by RV’ers on the road be sure to read this latest post from Just Wanderin: Things I Learned RVing.

So how do I feel about being 70?  Well I’m not sure as it only recently snuck up from behind & tapped me on the shoulder.  I know it’s only a number but we humans have been measuring our time here on earth with numbers for centuries.  It is an easily referenced marker point.  But aside from the number how do I really feel about it now that I’ve reached an age I once thought of when I was a teen-ager as old, feeble, & definitely elderly?

Physically, not too bad as I look around & see so many debilitating things that can & do begin to afflict people my age.  So far I have been reasonably fortunate but I am not naïve about that good fortune.  Time eventually comes for us all & I have just been lucky so far.  I have no respiratory or heart problems I am aware of.  No major illness or disease.  Arthritis in my legs causes me problems on occasion but it’s not all the time & it’s not crippling.  A couple kidney stones a few years ago, no severe back pain now for about half a dozen years & some worrisome knee & hip problems a couple years ago finally cleared up on their own.  Broke a wrist & toe in a motorcycle accident 20 years ago & that’s been as far as breaking stuff.  I am still able to run for a short distance if I had too but I’m not going to try any more headstands or cartwheels any time soon.   Gave that up when I quite drinking over 35 years ago.  Getting down then back up off the floor or ground isn’t a pretty site but at least with some swearing & grunting I’m still able to do it.  At least if I fall down I know I can still get myself back up again.  I don’t seem to walk or hike as far as I once did but I think that has more to do with laziness than any kind of physical problem.  Blood pressures always good & I think my cholesterol levels are finally closer to acceptable levels.   Haven’t lost any of my driving skills, sense of balance is intact & I can keep my motorcycle upright.  And I bet I could still do a little hot dogging on my bicycle, cross country ski, or even strap on a pair of downhill skis again & tumble myself all the way to the bottom of the nearest bunny hill. 

But it’s mentally where I see greater changes in myself.  I definitely still have a young boy, teen-age, & young adult mind-set at times but it has been toned down over the years.  The wonderment of youth is gone as is the excitable boyhood years.  It’s not often I get really over the top excited about anything anymore & I do miss that.  I’ve always had a keen sense of humor but it doesn’t seem to flow out of me as freely as it once did years ago.  And I don’t hear myself laughing as much anymore either.  I think I could laugh alright if I saw or heard something I thought truly funny but where has all the funny gone.  Guess it’s just me.   Don’t know where all my patience has disappeared to but it certainly has got up & vanished alright.  Failure of short term memory is my most antagonizing & pressing foe though.  And that’s where lack of patience with myself really becomes a hindrance.  I don’t take kindly to forgetting things & not being able to retain needed information in my memory just riles me up something fierce at times.  But of course my poor short term memory is nothing new.  I’ve had that problem all my life but now at 70 it is of course a much bigger problem.  It is one of the reasons all this new techno stuff has left me in the dust these last number of years.  My brain just will not cooperate with me in patiently figuring things out.  And if it does remember to cooperate it doesn’t seem to remember it just cooperated.  It’s the darndest thing.  But in other areas I’m happy that my mind seeks information & asks questions every day.  It’s always thinking, always trying to figure things out, always attempting to make sense where there seems to be little or no sense in the first place, always trying to tie up loose ends & find logical solutions to illogical situations, & forever looking for answers where answers are not always readily forthcoming. All & all I guess 70’s not too bad…….if you take into consideration all the Senior Discounts that is.  So in conclusion I guess I really don’t have too much to complain about in the grand scheme of things.  I’m not aware of any bad stuff going on within my body yet so maybe I’ll be good for another year or six…………Ya’figure:))

GROANER’S CORNER:(( The barn at Larry and Susan's farm burned down, and Susan called the insurance company.  Susan: "We had that barn insured for fifty thousand and I want my money."  Agent: "Whoa there just a minute, Susan, it doesn't work quite like that. We will ascertain the value of the old barn and provide you with a new one of comparable worth."  Susan, after a pause: "I'd like to cancel the policy on my husband."