redpinemountain.com

Seasons Change

I have to share a couple of pictures. Photoshopped views of our beautiful countryside. The clouds though really were that large, hanging over an incredibly green landscape. Did I ever tell you how much I love it here?

Fall is arriving. Leaves are turning beautiful colors and there is a chill in the air. I started a fire in the wood stove, grabbed a book and sat in Mountain Man’s old lounger and promptly fell asleep. Snoring loudly too or so I was told. I don’t believe it though.

Do you remember the old days when your grandpa would sit on the porch in a rocker and complain about his rheumatism and tell you he knew a storm was coming because his lumbago was acting up? I remember those days and I thought my grandpa was about the oldest person in the world.

Well, my joints are old and aching at the moment and I sure wish I had a bottle of the old fashioned Geritol or maybe Lucy Ricardo’s vita-meata-vegamin.

Yes, I ache. I discovered just how much I ache when I tried to get up on Midnight’s broad back. “What’s wrong?” Barb said as my leg hovered over the saddle. “I’m stuck I think.” as my leg joint locked up. “Maybe you can get down then?” “No, I’m stuck.” I would have done Rice Krispies proud “snap, crackle, pop” but finally I got my leg over his giant back.

“Can’t we teach him to kneel? Like a camel? So I could get off and on easier?” Midnight turned and glared at me. Guess that bright idea was out.

Midnight moves out and my neck starts to wobble. “Mountain Woman, bobble head, Mountain Woman bobble head.” I chant in time with Midnight’s stride.

Oh, no. Time to get off. Now I’m stuck to the saddle. Ouch! Maybe I could just stay here.

But I still have to unsaddle Midnight, sponge him off, brush him and make sure he’s all happy before he goes back in his stall. What about us, the poor, old tired riders? Who is taking care of us? “Barb, wouldn’t you like to turn your tack room into an after ride spa? A hot tub or perhaps a masseuse?”

Home again, 5 exuberant dogs need walking, mini horses need grooming, chickens need water bowls cleaned, geese need their pool refilled. “I can do this, I can do this.” It’s become my new mantra. I don’t dare sit or I won’t get up again.

“Mountain Man, how do you do it?” I ask as I watch him work nonstop every day.

“It’s what I do.”

“Well don’t you hurt?”

“Yes, I hurt.” That’s my Mountain Man. Never use sentences when 4 words will do. “Yankee speak” I call it.

I decide a new bed is the answer to my problems. If I just had a new bed, my aches and pains would disappear. I look at Tempurpedic’s website, at Sleep Number’s website and I drool over their beds. If I win the lottery, I’m going to buy a new bed.

“Try Pilates.” Barb has told me. I try. I reach down for my toes, yes, I can get there, no problem. I hear something pop and now I’m stuck. My dogs think it’s funny and come up underneath me. Some new game we are playing. I’m upended in a heap, kind of like a pretzel. A new yoga pose perhaps?

I call my 90 year old Mother and she doesn’t answer. I worry. I call her later and she answers. “Where were you?” I ask. “At the gym.” she says. I should have known. She goes there every day. Works out in the water, lifts weights.

“Feel the pain and do it any way.” It’s my new slogan. A slogan for a middle aged life.

I hear ads on television for all kinds of medicine that will make me pain free but then I hear the warnings as well. Notify your doctor if you have thoughts of suicide, problems breathing, strange rashes. I think I’d rather ache.

Oh, well, I’m not going to stop. I’m not giving into my aging bones. I’ll keep on pushing myself and then push myself just a little harder. If my body says no then I’ll just make it say yes.

As long as I don’t sit down.

“You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to live to be a hundred.” Woody Allen

Thanks everyone for visiting us.