Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Balance





By many if not most definitions it's a miserable day here. Its cold and blowy with a stiff northeast breeze driving 29 degree air temps to hover in the teens with the wind chill index. To top it off, a thick freezing fog is knocking viz down to 1,500 feet and causing a rime of ice to adhere to nearly everything, even the dogs.

I like the weather. Sure, it makes working outside miserable, but that's just an opportunity to excel. Suck it up, drive on, and be better for the experience. There's also a great deal of beautiful majesty in nature's wintry weather. And finally, you can't properly (at least I can't) enjoy nice weather if there's no not-nice weather to measure it against. Nature provides us with a healthy balance. It's up to us whether we enjoy and appreciate. Or not.



My next youngest brother has been out here for several days working his ass off on the ranch cleanup project. Together he and I have done a lot of good work, on his own he's done even more.

We installed new LED lighting in the shop, got the tractor running right, rehabilitated various other pieces of equipment, and did a lot of cleaning and straightening.



With my nerve pain and pending time in the body shop I had a bit of a struggle to do my share, but it was a good struggle and far better than shirking work because "pain." There's a lot to be said for working through pain, and at my advanced age the work means testing mobility and functionality. That's a good thing because it encourages the body to do its healing thing with a mind toward being active and mobile rather than sedentary and recliner bound, which leads only to a miserable end so far as I can tell..

It's tricky striking the proper balance between effort and recovery. That's okay, it's the way reality works. Nothing on the tee-vee or intermanet holds the answer. Every person has to seek and find their own balance. Mine isn't yours, and yours isn't mine. The choice for me is seek or not seek, and I come down on the seek side. It hurts, but pain is weakness leaving the body, or perhaps more properly, the mind.



As for the chore of cleanup and maintenance at the ranch, each of us also face the challenge of striking a balance. Are we going to do a half-assed job of things on the seemingly countless list of jobs, simply to get done as quickly as possible? Are we going to be meticulous perfectionists with every detail and therefore not get anything done? Or are we going to find a broad middle ground which will likely yield best results over time?

I don't know. The jury is still out. We'll keep plugging away though.



Be well and enjoy the fruits of Liberty!


20 comments:

  1. Couple of pretty old trucks in the workshop! And checking the cows is a requirement, regardless of the weather... sigh

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    1. They're pretty on the outside (kinda) but need a good bit of tinkerin' to make 'em run right.

      Thank goodness for cow checking. Keeps me centered. Or at least it helps.

      Thanks for stopping by and commenting!

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  2. Wow, you guys clean up pretty darn good!
    Loved ride'n through the cows in the mountains in summer. Rode with one kid behind & one in front, and a fly rod cause the best trout where in the river on the other side of the cows...

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    1. It's a work in progress, the cleanup. Glad you enjoyed the ride, hope my narration wasn't too irritating. It sure was to me when I watched the video. I should mostly keep my yap shut! Sounds like an idyllic dream, riding through the cows with your kids with a bit of fly fishing to top it off. :)

      Thanks for stopping by and commenting Brig!

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  3. Replies
    1. It does look good, kinda, and from the left side. Right front fender is crunched, and it's got a replacement motor after Dad forgot to actually replace the old oil when he did an oil "change."

      Thanks for stopping by and commenting!

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  4. Thanks again for sharing. I have lived in that part of the country, but I hanker for land that is a bit more wrinklier land. So that's one of the reasons I live where I do. Each to his/her own.

    Thanks for the post.
    Paul L. Quandt

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    1. I don't think there's a place on Earth that isn't beautiful and majestic, and that includes all the "horrible" places featured on the tee-vee (mostly shown as an argument for the proposition that all enemy people should be sent to the camps for conversion to carbon).

      Thanks for stopping by and commenting Paul!

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  5. Kinda got interrupted in the middle of that last comment and didn't go back to proofread it. That's why the second sentence reads so poorly. Iffen I followed my own rule on proofreading, I wouldn't be writing this second comment.

    Paul

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  6. Replies
    1. Thanks Sarge!. Gray days are the bomb!

      Thanks for stopping by and commenting.

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  7. Is that a KB-5? I had a green '47 KB-1! Are you gonna make one of those two story oil drum wood heaters for your shop? I have never used one, but am told they work most admirably.

    Did you check the battery in the Deere, it see if it was dead? Or just low on charge? In the winter, I kept a trickle charger on Dorothy, my little Deere, so her end loader was always ready when the snow came. I don't know how practical that would be, for you.

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    1. Also, thanks for stopping by and commenting Scott!

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    2. I answered via my phone and screwed the whole thing up!

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  8. I'll have to look the wood fired heater up. The problem we face is my siblings all are permanent government employees and are ducklings when they venture into reality. Plus they are middling bright and know it. Bad combination to mix with actual flames. We'll figure something out.

    Both batteries were dead as hammers. $300 put it right in short order.

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  9. The ones I have seen have two oil drum stacked horizontally, one above the other. The bottom one is the firebox, and it's exhaust goes into the top drum, as a heat chamber, and then to the exhaust flue. One ofbthose, with a shop fan, could keep the shop at tolerable temperatures.

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    1. https://www.stove-parts-unlimited.com/us-stove-double-barrel-stove-kit-bkad500-p/bkad500.htm?sku=BKAD500&msclkid=ebdf4b3747ac14a84ef816f3a7c4412d

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