Wednesday Wisdom

"Life is like riding a bicycle.
To keep your balance, you must keep moving."
--Albert Einstein

Rural Life

We live in a rural environment. There is a gas station convenience store a mile away and a Dollar General at about 1.5 miles. Not far from the Dollar General is a little family owned burger shop that makes fried pies that are delicious. It's about 8 miles to the nearest franchise fast-food place, larger restaurant, supermarket, or other shops, stores, medical service, etc.
Compared to our friends that live in Ozark, Nixa, or Springfield we live out in the sticks.

Not so out here in the southeast part of Missouri. We past quite a few homes (rurally speaking) on our way from the camp to the nearest gas station and town with a hardware store yesterday -- almost 20 miles away! (That's 32km to the rest of the world.)

I know how crappy and expensive satellite internet can be (ask me how I know) and I also know that the majority of these people vote for politicians that are opposed to an infrastructure plan that would address that. 
Even though I enjoy many aspects of living out and away from people, I do enjoy a nice dinner out, shopping for groceries without needing to pack a lunch, and having nearby doctors and other services.

This area is about 2 hours drive from St. Louis and about 4 hours from Memphis. The homes we passed ranged from small, rundown cabins to large homes with large fenced and well cared for lawns. It's a hard life for many, and others seem to be doing quite well. I suppose it's not much different than anywhere else. In some ways it's almost foreign. In other ways, it's like any community of people--just more spread out.

It is a beautiful area of Missouri. Living in this rural area wouldn't be so bad for a retired guy. I don't know that I'd want to raise a family out here. I feel like there is much that my kids would be missing.
Being retired makes rural living a lot easier. I don't have the daily commute that some of my working neighbors have. I also can plan my trips to town around times when most people are working and avoid the peak times when stores and services are crowded.   

It seems a little counter productive to pack up our recycling items and then drive 15 miles to a collection site. I have to plan that around another necessary drive. We live. We adapt.
We have lived in small towns and big cities. We are currently in the most rural setting we've ever been. There is still some adaptation that is necessary, but change is necessary for growth.

Sixty-one and still growing (up).
John

Rookie campers

Our first day out was okay and we survived the 40 (4.4c) degree night.

I misunderstood the "water accessible" to mean that there would be a water hookup. All of the water at the camp sites is turned off as of Nov 1, and water for holding tanks or containers is available at several places throughout the park. Only one shower house/bathroom (maybe a half mile from us) in the park is open. No worries. We'll manage.

We had a little trouble getting the electric hooked up, but finally did. One downside is that there wasn't an input for the heater/ac unit and I didn't have the proper adapter. Fortunately we brought a space heater with us and that worked out well.

We had a nice dinner of a salad and macaroni & meat sauce.

We'll run a few errands today and do a little hiking.

All in all, not a bad first day. 

John

Hello, Darkness My Old Friend

The US is back on Standard Time and the sun sets early in the evening. Maybe I'll shift my bedtime by an hour so I don't miss the earlier hours of the daily allocation of natural lighting. Today's allotment is just 10 hours, 27 minutes of sunshine in SWMO and that will continue to decrease until the winter solstice.

People don't usually celebrate darkness. I don't know of any night owls that are happy at the extra minutes and hours of darkness that the season brings. For the most part, even the fall lovers will be bitching about the early sunset tonight and every night until spring. Well light a fire and pour a cup of pumpkin spiced whatever! This is what you love, right?

Maybe I'll shift my exercise time to the evening hours. I can walk in the sun during the day, but cycling or weight-machine stuff can wait until the early evening. Exercise is supposed to be a mood enhancer, so maybe that will hold off on the winter depression (SAD).

I'm working on enclosing the screened in deck so that I can use it throughout the winter. I'm a little concerned that it might become a mini-greenhouse, so I'm going to make removable panels for the sunnier days (and to vent the cigar smoke!). On the other hand, shorts and t-shirt in the greenhouse doesn't sound like a bad way to spend the winter. I'll work on making the most of whatever sunshine I can get.

If you are a Northern Hemisphere reader, how do you deal with the longer seasonal nights? What are your hacks for maintaining a healthy mood throughout the winter months?

John

Winter Settings for Older People

...Not for "old" people, for people like me--you know, older than young people, but not really old.
Anyway, it is time to set-up winter heat settings in the house and I'm finding last year's 67 (19.4c) degrees to feel a bit chilly this year. I'm hoping it's just that I haven't adjusted to fall temps yet and the same settings of 67 in the daytime and heat off at night will work again this year. 
Even on the coldest nights the temp in the house would only be around 60 (15c) by morning and that's where we had the programable thermostat of our last home set for nighttime sleeping.

We haven't had the heat on for the past few days, and have only used the furnace for a day or two so far this fall. The house was 63 (17.2c) at wake up and I used the gas fireplace to bring the main living area up to around 70 (21.1c). By the end of next week the furnace will probably be in daily use.

Maybe I'll lose enough weight and natural insulation by January that I'll need to reconsider our settings. I wouldn't mind a warmer setting for thinner people vs a warmer setting for "older" people.
Have I mentioned that I'm not a fan of fall/winter?
#readyforspring

John

TV

I don't watch much TV. I don't get into binge watching series after series of soap opera like stories. I have watched a few seasons of a few shows, but not many. It's interesting how some shows seem to have a cult-like following and the followers are overly enthusiastic, unpaid proselytizers recruiting friends, family, and freaking strangers to join their mind numbing cult -- "Oh My God! You've got to watch it! It's soooo good!"

Chris and I watched Goliath on Amazon Prime. The final season recently released after its year+ delay due to COVID. I watched The Man in the Tower (or something like that) for a season or two, but really couldn't keep up with it. 
There was a Jack Ryan series that was pretty good (two seasons, I think) and a story on witches that I started while working the overnight shelters last winter. When the overnights ended, I stopped watching.

Do you watch TV?
Do you binge watch series programs?
What is your go-to streaming service?
What are your must sees? 

Just curious.

John

What's Your Struggle?

We all seem to have a daily nemesis, something we struggle with on a regular basis. 
It might be doing too much, or doing too little.
It might be finding time for ourselves or finding the time to take care of everyone else.
It might be being alone or it might be being around too many people.
It might be struggling to be yourself, the person you feel you really are.
Or maybe it's struggling with yourself because you don't like the person you really are.

My current struggle is with better health.
I'd really like to get to a point where I don't have to think about it. I just practice good habits. I'm not there yet.
I know that I need to move more.
I know that I need to eat better (and less).
And I know that I have to think about it ALL THE TIME or I'm likely to make bad choices.

I'm working on it. If you follow my other blog Healthy Living (by an unhealthy guy)  you already know of my struggles. Writing about it helps me to stay focused. Sometimes that's all it takes to get started--writing it down, saying it out loud, recognizing the struggle and addressing it.
So...
What's your struggle?
Did you know that you can comment anonymously on this blog?
You can write your struggles and not leave your name. Seriously, sometimes that really helps.
And since I moderate all comments, you can share with me and ask that your comment not be published.
In any case, I want to encourage you as you face your daily struggles. I know how valuable a few words of encouragement can be.

Life is a journey.
We can help each other along the way.

John

Wednesday Wisdom

 And a little bit of humor

Have a great day!
John

Irony and the circle of life

Irony
I grew up in a small town. (Cue the John Mellencamp song in your head)
I didn't want to live in a small town so I moved away when I got the chance.
It's now forty years later and I bought a home a different small town.
Smh.

Do you have some of those weird ironical incidents in your life?
Do you do or say the things your parents said or did that you once swore you would never do?
Do tell.

John

Monday Motivation and NaBloPoMo Begins

November is here!
National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo)
It's also National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), but I won't be participating in that one.

This Monday meme works both ways.
If you want people to say kind things about you, be kind.

John