Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

 Here's a picture of me from a few weeks ago, coming to the top of the ladder at the cold storage. I had just unloaded my catch of cohos and had to climb up the ladder to get my fish ticket and check. Like so much else lately, the trip up the ladder was a workout. I try not to do it much any more. I get winded, in part because I'm packing a lot more pounds than I should be. No discipline I guess. It's also part of the aging process though I think. As we get older we have less energy and slow down. We need more time to rest and we're less active. Lately I've taken to having an afternoon nap... or several. Sometimes they're planned, and sometimes they just sneak up on me while I'm in my chair watching the TV for a few minutes. I was up at the post office today and my friend John Murray, who is always outspoken was talking to a lady. When he saw me, he said-"Botts! Pull up  your pants!" He was right, they were starting to sag a little. I'...

 Well, I've made it to that magical age of 65. I wasn't sure it would ever happen. When I was younger I would pray that the good Lord would allow me to live long enough to get my youngest children through high school. I figured after that point they would be able to get along well enough to start getting established in life. Now they're in the their thirties, so my prayers were answered. When I was a young man, sixty five seemed far away, now it seems that seventy is rushing up to meet me. I've often heard it said, and I've said myself on more than one occasion, that getting old isn't for wimps. No truer words were ever spoken. It's hard work. All the things you used to take for granted when you were young stay behind as you age. I went into the bathroom today to take a shower and was a little taken aback by the old man that was looking back at me in the mirror. My gut is out of proportion to the rest of my body and I've got boobs.  I look like a P...

Over the last few months I've been experiencing chronic pain and a good deal of fatigue. I'm quite certain that it has primarily to do with the arthritis in my knees and back. I'm not sure what to make of the fatigue, except that I'm getting older and my body doesn't want to do what it used to. I do have hypothyroidism. For whatever reason my thyroid isn't producing enough juice or whatever it produces to keep things running in top shape. Frankly, I really hate the whole process of getting older. It just isn't fun. Whoever coined the term "golden years" probably wasn't there yet. In any event, I'm still alive and kicking, although the kicking is a little half- hearted anymore. Periodically I run across someone down at the dock or in the store who ask how I'm doing, and I usually reply something to the effect that I'm surviving another day. Not the most optimistic outlook, but I've never been an optimist in the best of times....