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| Resolute in the doldrums on the Equator Henry John Douglas-Scott-Montagu Source |
Becalmed, in the doldrums, adrift, or heck, maybe I'm just lazy. I tried, hard, to capture something to write about today, some new fiction, while I maintained the chase, for a while, eventually the idea ran off. I couldn't quite get ahold of it. It's still there, will probably be there tomorrow. But for now ...
Warmer today, supposed to get some weather over the weekend, more snow I'm told. Could be a couple of inches, might be nine inches, depends on where the rain/snow line lies. Being on the coast of a big body of water (i.e. the Atlantic) really affects the weather in these parts.
Frontal systems with moisture push up from the south, those with cold air push down from the north. The fronts collide and do battle. Along the front (if you will) one side is snow, the other rain. It's interesting to read about, sometimes not fun to be caught up in.
Checking the mail today (our neighborhood counts as "rural," which means the postman doesn't have to come to your door, they leave it in your mailbox on the street) I noted that the wind was howling. It does that a lot along the coast, nothing to stop it from sweeping in off the sea. I had the thought that the wind here blows almost as much as the wind in Wyoming.
Note I said almost, the wind in Wyoming seemed to always be blowing.
I went to college in Fort Collins, Colorado. We did most of our military shopping up in Cheyenne, at F. E. Warren AFB, home to a missile wing at the time. Fifty miles separate the two places along I-25. It could be nice in Fort Collins but with blizzard conditions in Cheyenne. Never seemed to be the opposite though.
Driving to Cheyenne back then was interesting. You'd see a herd of pronghorn antelope out on the plains. Sometimes you'd see a helicopter in the distance, a military bird, traveling to one of the missile silos out there. Living in a peaceful landscape beneath which lurked the end of mankind. I grew up in the 60s, the threat of nuclear war was drilled into us.
Sometimes we'd be at the commissary late and head home after sundown. Way across the plains you could see a line of thunderstorms at night, lighting the horizon. It was peaceful, the kids nodding off in the backseat, me and The Missus Herself just enjoying the light show, good times.
I think my lack of writing as of late has a lot to do with being retired, I don't seem to have any impetus to do anything, other than relax. Having this freaking cold doesn't help, but that'll pass.
I have some ideas for some new fiction (and continuing the old) but those take time to percolate, if you will. Need to do some research which, while interesting, feels an awful lot like work. I'm just not ready to buckle down and do that, just yet.
Bear with me, it's a process. One I don't fully understand and don't care to, I'm a big go with the flow kind of guy, I move as the spirit bids and right now the spirit says, "Chill, you've worked for fifty years, time to relax for a bit."
So I am.
Author's Note: Watching 1883 has also put me into a bit of an introspective mood. It's a great series, I highly recommend it.
It's quite an adjustment to be able to just "not." That enormous pressure that we didn't really notice is suddenly gone.Those walls of time that hemmed you in, controlling your activities are gone. Sort of like the video we see of an animal that was rescued really young and then being set free in the wild....it wants to go out of the cage but has no idea what to do. It takes time.
ReplyDeleteRe: wind. It was late '70s or early '80s, gas station near Mojave, CA, wind blowing a right gale as is fairly normal there. A person with out of state places asked the station worker "Does the wind always blow like this here?" "No Ma'am. Sometimes it comes from the north."
That's what it feels like, released into the wild, not quite knowing how to deal with it.
DeleteHave a good Saturday, I'm going to go visit some friends at a pre-1840 Rendezvous. Those rendezvous are always interesting from a visitors stand point, getting an old tent and some linen or buckskin clothes together and cooking over an open fire never got a hold of me past the "gee, I wonder if that would be fun" stage. It is nice to visit and see some friends.
ReplyDeleteI understand the motivation for that sort of thing, did some reenacting back in the day. I enjoyed it but it was an expensive hobby.
DeleteIt is fun, until it isn't. Fun in good weather but sucks rocks during bad weather. And so much to worry about. I was at one SCA event and watched the wind destroy a guy's brand new $2,000 pavilion like it was one of those stupid popup things you see at craft fairs. And the time it rained so hard so fast my tent couldn't shed it and, yeah, kasplooosh inside the tent. Sweating in wool during unseasonably hot weather. Freezing to death due to high winds, high humidity and low temperatures no matter how many layers you're wearing.
DeleteFun as a kid to about late 40's. Now I can't even think about it.
Hear, hear!
DeleteWoke up to a new layer of white, somewhere between one to two inches with the northern suburbs receiving more. Still coming down although the flakes are tiny. It takes time to adjust from waking up when you HAVE to, to waking up when you WANT to. Enjoy the process Sarge, this is the reward for that half century of work.......:)
ReplyDeleteThis morning I awakened and said to myself, "I need to get my butt out of bed." Then I asked myself, "Why?" The answer was, "I want coffee and a bagel." Good enough answer, so I got up.
DeleteHopefully that meant just going downstairs and not having to go out into the world.
DeleteAll within the sweet confines of home.
DeleteAs you experienced living in Ft Collins, there are dozens of micro climates along the Dakota Hogback. This winter most of the action is from Longmont to Trinidad and Cheyenne to Montana. Greeley/Ft Collins has been dry and temperate (relative). Last winter was a hard one.
ReplyDeleteThat's how I remember things. Golf in Fort Collins, blizzard in Denver, and vice versa sometimes. Wild.
DeleteRetirement is when the cage door is opened, and you don't have to go out and fight the world all day. Tasks become optional, rest becomes something that doesn't have to be stolen, and introspection becomes a pastime without interruption. It's a new perspective; sometimes alien and sometimes unbelievably pleasant.
ReplyDeleteWhich is my experience so far, just takes time to get used to I suppose.
DeleteMy first days/months of 'retirement' were busy. Sell the 'crushing burden of debt' (IYKYK), pack-up the household goods , and travel cross country to begin anew.
ReplyDeleteThat is busy. I thank the Good Lord I'm not in need of doing that. At least, not yet! (Knock on wood.)
DeleteSpent a lot of time in the mid 2000s in Cheyenne, working with the ANG wing. Only two things I remember about Ft Collins on the drives to and from are the Bud facility and drinking Flat Tire (yeah I know the real name :) ) . Loved 1883! Was much watch TV. Like 1923 much less. Liked how Yellowstone ended with a narrative from Elsa, really tied the whole series together. One gets the idea that Taylor Sheridan knows what he is doing, though to me there were too many loose ends left at the end of Yellowstone. From a fellow double retiree, you'll get in a groove, just takes time to adjust to your new reality.
ReplyDeleteFort Collins has changed drastically since I left in May of '87. I hardly recognize the place!
DeleteLoved 1883, excellent series, sad ending but hey, that's life.
Started watching 1923, can't get through the first episode, so many characters I care nothing about. I'll persist, but if it stays like what I've seen so far, nope, no thanks.
I'm sorry to hear that, the characters all have a role to play in the greater story, which I will admit is slow to reveal. I think Taylor Sheridan knows that his popularity will allow for him to not be so abrupt with his storytelling as in some other series. The Spencer's storyline is quite good.
DeleteI'm into it now, up through three episodes. Spencer and Alex are good characters.
DeleteI grew up in the 60s, the threat of nuclear war was drilled into us.
ReplyDeleteSchools in 1948/49 were doing drop and hide under your wooden desk drills in the midwest as area was 3rd likeliest to get bombed . I'm in 3rd/4th grade and said to the nun Sister why do that, wood isn't going to protect us. Good grief, kids all talking, girls screaming, crying. Sister points me to the door and basically says get out now! Me asking questions was frowned upon from then on.
We were still doing that in the '60s. It was just as futile then.
DeleteI believe the drills were for anything the soviets might have dropped on us, -nuclear or otherwise. I must say that communists have not changed much looking at China today
DeleteNope, they're still assholes.
Delete