Posts Tagged ‘aging’
Passing Middle
As long as I am writing about calendar days, it occurs to me that, not only are we passing the middle of the month of January, we are essentially heading into the second half of our long winter.
There are several ways that I can gauge this. We have almost devoured the first full rack of firewood that we stacked on the deck.
We are about halfway through the hay stored in our hay shed.
We have filled just over half the space where we store composting manure during the cold months.
In terms of weather, this weekend we are due to receive the coldest blast of Arctic air of the winter. There are warnings posted about dangerous wind chills on Sunday through Monday morning.
After we get through this, it is expected to warm up to El Niño-driven-warmer-than-usual temperatures for this time of year. I’m okay with that. Even if I live a long and healthy life, by conventional standards, it is reasonable to think that I am past the middle of my years on this planet. I am growing more satisfied with mild weather than I was in my younger days.
I checked the level of propane in our big tank yesterday, to make sure we don’t need to order more yet. It is less than half full, but there is enough to get through the winter at the rate we use it.
I have a sense of being on the downhill side of things, which provides an impression things should be easier. We get to coast.
Could it be that we are even passing the middle of a change in our climate? Thinking about the coldest possible temperature of the winter reminded me of the remarkable graphic posted by Paul Huttner in his weather blog, “Updraft.”
Look at the trend line of the oscillating minimum temperatures recorded in the Twin Cities in my lifetime. If this keeps going, I could live during a year when temperatures here don’t even dip below zero.
That would seem like coasting through a winter.
In my advancing years, I think I will enjoy the ride. In the mean time, bring on today’s deep freeze.
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Leading Legacy
I have devised a way to check whether you are aging, or not. It is nothing particularly complicated, even though the subject in and of itself can often be ridiculously complicated. It doesn’t hurt to have the availability of someone approximately 40-years younger than you to aid in setting up for this check, but it’s probably not required.
All you have to do is go outside and engage in routine outdoor winter activities like you have done your entire life without difficulty. Next, go back inside and sit down for period of time, something along the lines of how long it would take to eat dinner. At this point, you should be well prepared to run the aging check. Simply attempt to move your body from one place to another. If you have lost the ability to move, that is a strong indicator that you have aged.
Much of the day yesterday can be described as being an acclimatization day for our guests. We had a pretty short night of rest on Tuesday evening and they had traveled all day long to get here, so they deserved a day of rest. We found a few activities to do in the snow and cold, but we also did some lounging inside, watching a movie, playing guitars, and doing some napping.
The back yard is now a series of sled runs that have been firming up all night. I expect that today will present the opportunity to crash into a few trees, as we test whether the sleds which resist being steered will follow the routes we have laid out.
Our animals seem quite pleased to have company giving them good attention. I have already learned some new skills for communicating to Legacy that although he is the “alpha” leader of the herd, he does not lead me. It was insightful, causing me to recognize where I have been neglecting to assert my authority and allowing him to behave in ways that might give him the wrong impression.
He tests his herd with some frequency, to communicate his dominance. One way he might do this is to chase them off their food. It seems like much ado about nothing to me, but the horses accept this message easily, and then just as quickly as the fracas starts, they all calmly return to eating. Message sent and received.
I have not had any such urge to chase Legacy off the food I just delivered for him to eat. It would be very horse-like of me if I did, to let him know that I am in charge. He wouldn’t hold a grudge. He would go right back to eating, message received.
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Relative Something 