Getting ready
So, here we go. We had our first snowfall yesterday morning and I mean it was a fast and furious bout that had blown itself out in three or four hours and was all melted shortly after that. Here in the mountain west it seems to most of us that winter is never really far away. It also seems to me that I’m always getting ready to accept it when it arrives. That’s just part of the price we pay to have those beautiful mountains right out our front door.
As an older gentleman (old guy), it appears that folks like me are ALWAYS on the way to see some doctor for some ailment real or imaginary. Yup, I know it all sounds silly to you “whipper snappers,” but trust me, your time will come. So, I went and had my eyes checked for the first time in three years and good for me, they had not changed. Just the same, I needed to get that off my bucket list. Getting ready ya know for the holidays.
Then its off to the dentist to get a new crown put on a front tooth and right after that I go to the skin doc and have a piece of my right ear removed to get rid of a cancer. See! Doesn’t that sound like something that would get you excited about getting older. My remaining sister just passed a couple of weeks back and that gives me pause to think about this fairly short road I am on. Heck, I don’t have a clue if it is long or short and that’s a good thing. Like I heard a feller say, “if I knew where and when I was going to die, I wouldn’t ever go there.”
I don’t think that’s true at all. When we get worn out and tired of all that’s going on around us, we’ll be ready!
When I was just a child, I learned why being on time is not only polite but necessary in many cases. My mother was one of these who had to be noticed whenever and where ever she went. We were ALWAYS late to church so when we arrived and everyone was settled in, they would surely notice her when we arrived. Not only that, but she refused to let the usher seat us at the back of the church. No ma’am, she had to walk her family down the center aisle as if she could find us a place to be seated. That way EVERYONE in the church had an opportunity to see what she was wearing and how special she must be. NOT! Even as a little kid I was embarrassed to be seen under those circumstances. Daddy gave up long ago trying to get us there on time. He was fighting a losing battle and trust me, you didn’t want to go to war with mom. That gentle readers, is why you may find me 10 to 15 minutes early when I go somewhere. It’s funny how something so simple will shape who you are and how you travel your roads through life.
I do have my firewood in, my stovepipe cleaned out and a contract for enough propane for the winter. So, I reckon that I am ready for winter. I am not mentally ready for a long, dreary, cold and miserable winter. If I were 30 years old and great on the ski slopes, I would be tickled pink. I’m not and that’s the issue. I do have that bigger new tractor sitting in the shop just waiting for that first big drift and I enjoy my tractor time when necessary.
Speaking of getting old, I just came across an article on Facebook where this Indian was 131 years old! Are you kiddin’ me, Charlie Brown. His face looked like a freshly plowed field. Mercy. He must have forgotten to die somewhere around 100 or so. Bless his heart, but who would want to live that long. I reckon the feller that’s 130 and one half, would say, “roll on.” Not me. Well, friends, lets all have the kind of winter that doesn’t drag us down and we can live as long as we feel good enough to endure what lies in the future.
Stay tuned, check yer cinch on occasion, PLEASE GO VOTE, it is so important that you do, and I’ll c. y’all, all y’all.
