As i sit here on the eve of the day of completion of my 73rd trip around the sun, I wax somewhat philosophical.  It is hard to believe that tomorrow is the 34th anniversary of my 39th birthday.

It will be followed on Sunday by my grandsons 18th birthday.  Happy Birthday Fisher.

I was contacted earlier in the week by my former boss and she invited me to join her and my previous coworkers and the new folks for lunch this afternoon.  It was great to see them all and to catch up on everyone’s adventures and challenges.  We had a nice lunch as well.

This has been the most unusual year of my life.  I thought 2020 was unusual….2021 seems to have said hold my beer and I will show you unusual.

For those who may not know….I finally retired with the change of calendars in January.  I had some significant leave time and so I actually stopped working on December 8th of 2020.

Right on cue on the 21st of January I had my heart attack….Dr. Rohatgi did a catheterization procedure and opened the blockage and put in a stent and pulled me through….bad news is he found three more blockages and had to go in a few weeks later and put in a couple of more stents.

On follow up testing he found signs that my right aorta had problems and sent me to a vascular surgeon who in March cut my throat and removed the blockage…..He said he could not explain why I had not had a stroke.  The vascular surgery cut a few nerves and so a lot of mornings I wake up feeling like I have been in a fight.  It is finally starting to ease up some.

But I survived that as well and on further followup with Dr. Rohatgi said my heart was normal.  That is in large part due to my new pass time….walking….I now endeavor to walk at least three miles every other day.  It has also helped me lose some weight…..but fear not I still tip the scales at about 11 stone….that is British for 220 lbs.   But now my pants are all too big for me and I look like a clown with a poor makeup job…..

I figured while I was on the downhill slide that I better ride all I could while I was still able….

Naw that has not worked out so well either…..All spring it was so rainy that most parks stayed closed and would not allow riding.  When it stopped raining it got so blamed hot that neither Dr. Condi nor i wanted to venture out.  So instead of riding twice a week we managed to get  out about once a month.  Here lately we have done a little better.  But lately I discovered that The Coggins on the equines had expired and had to have them retested.  Results came back today and we are legal again to be out in public.

And viola……it is mid October…. Inflation is sky rocketing…. Energy prices are doubled so far this year…..We wrapped up a twenty year war by surrendering and giving the enemy 89 billion dollars worth of equipment……the economy is crashing……the border is being overrun by people not subject to the covid mandates or anything else…..the government is into mandating every aspect of our lives….covid is the gift that keeps on giving…..shortages of everything are on the horizon…..you can see the ships sitting in the harbors…..jobs everywhere and no one wants to work…and why should they because the government is paying them not to work….not sure I want to work because i don’t think I can afford the taxes any more….they taxed me a lot of  dollars on social security last year  and I had to dig deep to pay it because there was no withholding….…….no one speaks english anymore as they rely on profanity and double talk….most fast food is now drive thru where there are no menu boards except at the order point so people wait in line to sit at the order point and say uuuhhh….

The Covid seems to have installed mass insanity as a side effect.

I don’t know why I am still here while so many that I have known and cared about are no longer here.  There must be a purpose….There must be something I have got to do.  But apparently I have not gotten it done yet…

I wish I had a clue

I think often about my mortality…

I have had my final arrangements made ever since losing Marie.

I am more careful now in my daily life

I think often of what becomes of my animals if I suddenly disappear.  This worries me…

I wish I had a clue.  

I hope to be able to keep riding.  It is what is keeping me sane…If I am….  

TODAY was a walking day. So I decided that I would go back to Washington Lacy Park and go back to the new trails I found a few days ago. This time I took a bag full of hand tools and some flagging tape. I did not walk but 2.97 miles but had a decent workout with carrying and using the tools.

My ambition was to mark and do a little trail work on the two new to me trails. ……. this we accomplished.

I was pleased to notice that several folks have ridden these trails since my original post. There were numerous hoof prints and other signs of equestrian activity along the trails

below is an aerial photo of one of the trails marked. This trail is actually a branch off of an existing trail that seems to be used significantly. I did not walk the existing trail today so it does not show up on the GPS generated route. I have attempted to draw in the existing trail in yellow….the location is not exact. The trail I worked on and marked with pink ribbons is indicated in red. It is not quite as disjointed as it looks on the photo….I did a good bit of walking back and forth in an effort to make sure the pink ribbons were visible from both directions. Both of these woodland paths run from the powerline to one of the crush and run roads that run across the southern portion of the park. the entrance to both is where the tire and bicycle tube hang in the tree near the powerline….there are also pink ribbons there as well. a little ways in the new pink ribbon trail branches off from the old trail…..

the net result is now there are three possible loops in this area.

farther south is the road that only needs a little bit of work to create a nice loop. There is a section of six or eight pine trees down and I need to get my chain saw and equipment back there to open the circuit. I can open it in an hour or so if I can get the equipment back there. either side is rideable now but those trees and some swamp prevent a circuit until altered…..this trail is marked with white flagging tape…..one side is right down the power line and the other is thru the woods.