Awakening at what felt like the "butt crack" of dawn (as LUSH is wont to say), I noticed that it was actually kind of late. Oh-five-hundred in Sandy Eggo is 8 o'clock in the morning in Little Rhody. No, I have not yet adjusted to the time difference. I will say this, with some authority, going east is much harder than going west, time difference-wise.
I have actually been around the world, in both directions. The recovery going west is easier. I had no issues with heading out to Sandy Eggo any of the three times I went out there for work this year. Coming back, while it is home, takes some getting used to. But as it's only three hours, it shouldn't take more than a couple of days. Which I'm taking off anyway, so I've got that going for me.
So I spent Wednesday vegetating, messing about on the computer and listening to the Foo Fighters (for those who haven't been paying attention, my favorite band). Went out for a bit in the yard to note the changes since I had last seen things in the daylight. Lots of leaves are gone, there is a perceptible bite in the air. Like I mentioned yesterday, winter is coming.
It also strikes me that I'm not getting any younger, going up ladder wells aboard ship the past few days has illustrated that quite nicely. Aches and pains aren't big, just there, all saying "Hey, remember me?" Why yes, yes I do.
Sixty-eight year old me ain't quite as limber as forty-six year old me. Nor do I recover as quickly, but hey, getting old ain't for sissies then, is it?
From the song ...
Our bones forever in stone
Monuments of life
To dust, as everything must
We fade away in time, oh¹
Not to be too melancholy, but it's the time of year where I "suffer" from that. It's the change of seasons, things are getting brown, and cold. It's the time just before the holidays when I think far too much and remember the sad things from my life.
As the holidays arrive, so do the happy memories. One shouldn't dwell too long on sadness, but it helps to look at those old memories at times. Remember those who are no longer with us, forget them and perhaps one day someone will forget us?
I don't know.
I'm not sure how much fictional writing will come out over the next few days, weeks, what-have-you, it's like Beans said yesterday, "gloomy post-apocalyptic isn't the best skull candy for the holiday." Or perhaps any time. But there it is.
Be content with my musings and ramblings, or not. I offer what I have, what I am.
Peace be with you all.
¹ From Statues by the Foo Fighters, written by Chris Shiflett, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel & Dave Grohl, lyrics from Genius.
You could always switch to Colonial-era war fiction. (Hint, hint)
ReplyDeleteI have been looking at that possibility. It ids a favorite time period of mine after all.
DeleteWell, there you go. If the Id says so, you must do...
DeleteArgh!
DeleteEverything is still very green down here in Central Florida. Overnight low was 70, and forecast high is 80. Fahrenheit, of course.
ReplyDeleteSounds pleasant!
DeleteNorth Central Florida, on the other hand, has had lots of nights in the 40's and 50's and days in the 60's and 70's, and the trees are definitely showing the stress, especially the stupid sweetgum trees, though the oaks have dropped a metric boatload of acorns (which, according to some, means a very cold winter, while to others a mild winter and to others lots of squirrel food so don't have to bait as hard when hunting tree-rats.)
DeleteAcorns as a harbinger of winter? Well why not?
DeleteOld bones and joints and chill damp weather. It sure does help to have a warm fire, of an evening. Nights here in Wisconsin have started getting rather frosty lately.
ReplyDeleteSomething about the Halloween to Thanksgiving time brings forward old remembrances for me as well. Sort of a melancholy time.
Time to get me out harvesting some meat for the larder, and get started on firewood for next winter. Always gotta be thinking a year ahead for that.
Peace be with you as well, Sarge.
Ah, Wisconsin. I watched the Green Bay game the other night, it made me feel good to see the snow. Though actually being IN it is another thing altogether.
DeleteThat Halloween to Thanksgiving time, traditionally Harvest time, is always a bad time for people from Europe who moved here. Have to get everything in at just the right time, which meant lots of backbreaking labor all at once and lots of worries about "is it too early and I won't get dry enough grain, or is it too late and I'll end up with wet moldy grain because of rain and snow and dew and and and???" Something to be said for 'racial memories' passed down through the DNA.
DeleteBit late in the year for harvests up here, but I know what you mean.
DeleteIN it is indeed another thing. Last winter we had an awful lot of snow, so much that I had something happen I've never experienced before. I apparently missed a few potatoes when I harvested. I had volunteer spuds this year, for the first time ever! You know how much insulation (snow!) it takes to keep spuds viable over a Wisconsin winter? A LOT! Some years we have not much snow, and several feet of frost, other years we have several feet of snow, and not much frost. Last year I think I had over 4 feet of snow on the yard and garden for at least a couple of months. The snow was so deep, that to be able to exercise my lab, I used the snow blower to clear a network of trails around the house and yard. Poor old feller couldn't get enough clearance for his tail pipe to get the exhaust out otherwise! Had to repeat the process a few times too, because we would get winds, and the drifts would fill the paths back in.
DeleteNow that is a lot of snow!
Deletehas any mathematician ever worked out the true differentials:
ReplyDeletethat the difference between 40 and 41 ≠ 60 and 61 ≠ 80 and 81
particularly when getting out of bed in the morning
beyond that I couldn't say
I feel that differential whenever I climb ladder wells aboard ship. Gravity seems stronger the older you get.
DeleteIt's a geometric acceleration of loss of gooey stuffs between the various bones. And the geometric acceleration of low-to-high versions of arthritis.
DeleteOf course, if you're someone like me who's been suffering from arthur-itis since a kid (really good legal drugs, really good against allergies but against the rest of the body, not so much.) Still flexible. Wife asked if I could get down on the floor to look for stuff. My answer was "Yes, I can, but I don't want to, and unless it's under the bed, I can see it just fine from bending over."
She's finally noticed when my ankles pop, from just rotating my feet while in bed, something I've been able to do since my teenage years.
I definitely will be turning this body in well worn when I retire from this mortal world. Well worn and used hard, but I've loved most every minute especially since Mrs. Andrew came into my life (well, the parts directly involving Mrs. Andrew, parts involving various bosses and cow-orkers, not so much.)
Acceleration!
DeleteMath!
How wonderful! 🙄
Sarge, when I travel West, I find my schedule stays the same as it is at home - convenient, as I have to keep the same hours. Although perhaps also to be fair, my sleep schedule is such that now, it does not matter where I am - I sleep poorly.
ReplyDeleteI do not know that a certain level of thoughts (melancholy or not) and musings are inappropriate at this time of year. The transition from Autumn to Winter almost always encourages that in me, and I think it may be natural: we are in a time where things are effectively going to sleep or dying, and it flows into us as well as we are part of that world. And truth be told, there is not enough happy musings on the holiday season at all anymore (I am as guilty of this as the rest): In a 24/7 world that rushes headlong from Halloween to Christmas to the end of the year with the focus (seemingly) on "buy more" and "complete all projects", we lose what should be a meditative and thoughtful season of both sorrow and joy. Rather Dickens-esque of me, now that I think about it.
One thought for those aches and pains: Do you do (or have you considered) weight training? Even a moderate amount does wonders for me in that regard, although yes - recovery time is greatly increased anymore.
Weight training, I don't indulge, though it probably would be good for me.
DeleteJust working on doing hated yardwork or basic motions and keeping the body moving through lower impact and making sure the joints stay lubricated is probably better for you, with some low weights in lots of repetitions rather than lots of weight in low reps.
DeleteMaybe when you finally retire you can check out some fitness classes?
Fitness classes? Oh Dear Lord, yammering instructors, idiots in gym tights? Been there, done that, won't do it again. I'll walk about, thank you.
DeleteEven without the new wind chill it's cold outside. Down to 245# (from 360#, over the last three years) and that layer of blubber isn't there. No more working or walks outside in shorts when it's 40'F. I used to say I could do that 'cause of my Minnesota blood. No, 'twas the blubber.
ReplyDeleteTaiji daily, class, home or traveling. Weights twice a week. "Use it or lose it!" I should do more running.
And a weekend now in "Shadow Intensive Training" where I'll spend time weeping, mourning, and learning to cope with losses. Probably not a "good time", but definitely good for me. Little time for the outside world, this dive is into the deep inside of me.
It's needed at times, introspection can be good.
DeleteLooking @ that pic of your backyard reminds me, are you feeding your Koi Sarge? Gotta fatten them up so they don't lose weight over the winter. I just bought some new fishing gear--can't wait to test it out this Spring! nom, nom, nom.. :)
ReplyDeleteOh Virgil ...
Delete😁
In the West we need water and water comes from big snow storms. That didn't happen last winter and this winter looks to be even drier. Yet the PNW has been drenched. We need a "four wire" winter (covering all four strands of a barbed wire fence).
ReplyDeleteSnow in the mountains is far more critical than most flatlanders realize.
DeleteAh, sounds like you need Vitamin I, or fighter candy, otherwise known as Ibuprophen. I'm on a 2-tab dose at bedtime so I don't wake up clawing at my formerly shingled face and head in pain. And it helps sooth the joint pain some so as to allow slumber.
ReplyDeleteWife, who can't do NSAIDs, should drop two tabs of Tylenol at bedtime, but she was in serious pain from a bad tooth and jaw infection and was on 24 hour doses and decided to not take any to allow it all to flush out of her system (after tooth went buh-bye and infection went away also) and that explains why she's been crying out in pain every 15 minutes or so while sleeping. Grrrr. Pain sucks. Medicate appropriately.
And stairs suck when one is older. But considerably better than ship's ladders and having to step over knee-knockers all the time. Just consider the stairs as 'exercise' and as a fitness check.
It gets harder as one ages. Which is just sucky. Oh well, as long as you are still not pushing daisies (unless you're working at a nursery or other place that has daisies) then it's all part of the business (of living that is, the other would be part of the business when working.)(and I'm rambling...)
Life goes on, I avoid pain killers. Body will heal.
DeleteSometimes a little help is necessary. Don't injure yourself being all noble about pain. Don't go overboard on pain killers, but don't deny yourself either.
DeleteSeriously, it's not bad enough to be gobbling down painkillers. Been there, done that, didn't like it.
DeleteFoo Fighters have a new album out. Heard a clip of the first single today. Pretty good for the little bit I heard.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I've been around the world and traveling gets harder as I get older. The jet lag is a bitch either way now, even if it's just coast to coast.
My last ship tour was much harder than the first. The fact that I lived 8 decks below where I worked made my knees ache for a good five years. Helped with the VA's generosity though.
I have that album, it's pretty good.
DeleteEight decks! Dear Lord, we had to mount the brow, go through the hanger, then up two ladder wells to Combat. On a couple of occasions we had to go down to where the launchers are, three decks below. Three decks made me moan, with eight I would probably need an entire day!