Work to stay healthy

There are a few things that are inevitable. Once we are born, we begin to age. The rate which we age is kind of dependent on a lot of factors. I've known people who were really old, but they seemed to be young. Their bodies were old, but they were young upstairs. I've also known people who seemed to have young bodies, but they just weren't home upstairs. Whoever they were was gone. But we all age.

Seemed like back when I was young I could go and go and still go some more. It didn't seem like long days bothered me. When we lived in Oklahoma, we'd load up the boys in the afternoon and head to Nebraska. It was right at 700 miles home to Nebraska, and we'd drive it through the night and finish the next morning. Marge and I are lucky if we drive 400 miles or so now before we're looking for a room and a nap. Back then Marge and I pretty much worked full time and went to college. Couldn't do that now. We have aged down through the years.

Back when I was younger, I could do one-arm push-ups. I wouldn't even attempt them anymore. I kind of wonder if I could even do a two-arm, cheating push-up now. Back then a 50-pound sack of feed or salt wasn't a big deal. I can do them today, but it sure isn't as easy now as then. Concrete comes in two size bags. One is about 80 pounds and the other is about 40. I'm smart enough to get the 40-pound bags. Those 80-pound bags are downright heavy. I've lost some of that muscle I used to have.

Back when I was younger, I used to wear 34/34 button fly Levi's. I think they used to shrink an inch in the waist and two in length, or it might be the other way around. Never the less, I sure couldn't get in a pair of those jeans any more. Somehow I've added weight here and there and kind of bulged out in the middle. Sure don't have that cowboy stature where one has broad shoulders and a narrow waist. Wyatt Earp was described this way in one of the movies. That's not me. Some of it is because I like to eat. but at the same time I've aged.

When I go to my diabetic doctor, he has me hold my arms straight out and checks how steady they are. Used to be rock steady. Not so much anymore. I've got a little jiggle when I hold a full cup of coffee. Not much but a little. I have some friends who have a lot of jiggle when they are holding their coffee or tea. It can happen to a youngster, but more likely it's going to happen to an older person. I've aged.

When we used to go visit Mom or when I'd call her on the phone, we'd visit about this and that. Mom would complain about being awake several times during the night. Mom told us to just wait because when we got older this same fate would befall us. We'd wake up during the night and we'd have sleepless nights. I kind of am experiencing this same thing. A couple times a night I make that trip to the outhouse. It doesn't bother me in the least. I usually make the journey and then go back to bed. My regular routine then is to go down my prayer list. This body I have now has aged.

Back a bunch of years I bought several Estwing hammers. The two I used the most was an Estwing framing hammer and a roofing hammer. Both of them come with a hatch pattern on the hammer head. I wore this pattern off both of them. But as I aged, I found it harder to drive the nails. After a day of using the regular hammers, my hands would hurt and keep me awake. But now I rely on air hammers. It is pretty neat how an air gun can drive those 16 nails one after the other by just pulling the trigger. It's the same with the roofing hammer. I still like to drive a few nails the old-fashioned way. But only a few.

A number of years ago I saw a livestock cane advertised in an Amish hardware store so I checked it out. It was a hickory cane bent in the traditional crooked way. I figured eventually I'd need a cane so I went ahead and ordered one. So for the past 10 years or so I've lugged this cane around to use when I'm working the steers. But as I age, I use the cane when I'm gardening. It's pretty easy getting down on ones hands and knees, but getting up again is a chore. So now I drag my cane along. One of these days I'll probably need that cane to steady myself as I walk. Marge and I've been dragging some downed trees up by our wood shed where we chunk them and split them. We then pitch them under our wood shed lean-to out of the weather. We try not to overdo it on any one day so we don't get too sore. But we do end up with sore muscles and sore backs. But even though both of us are getting up in years I kind of hate to quit. We used to lug the chunks of wood to the splitter all by ourselves. I bought a device where two can pick up a piece of wood and carry it together. I also bought a deal to grab a piece of firewood and not have to bend over and pick it up. But I don't want to quit. At least not this year.

There will come a time when we need to quit cutting and splitting wood, but intil then we will just cut a little less. Same with gardening. We will simply grow less garden produce but not quit. As long as we can work and stay active, I believe we'll have better health and feel more alive. The key is to never overdo it. One thing for sure we don't have to go to the gym to work out.