blueberrypatch

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Location: Clearwater, South Carolina, United States

Monday, October 26, 2009

splitting

Today was a day like many others but only in the respect that the sun came up and was actually visible for a short while until it clouded over again. It started out with the taking of nourishment of physical and spiritual natures. Then I loaded up the trash and ‘trucked’ it to the gathering station. I stopped by the post office for the mail then it was on to Wally world. Upon arriving I tried to find a cart without bumpy wheels – almost did.

Picked up several odds and ends and a few grocery items – came to over 30 bucks – cheap from the usual. Back home the Spice and I dined on leftover chili – still very good. Then I kicked back in the recliner, had a dessert of vanilla frozen yogurt with walnuts and apricot preserves on top – yum! Then I had a cup of hot Ovaltine in their chocolate malt flavor and gathered my thoughts and energy for some outside adventures.

I decided to split some firewood – I do this by hand – or more correctly said, I use a manually operated splitting maul and wedge. This went well but the stack was getting tall and a bit shaky, so I went to find a scrap pipe to drive in the ground to steady the stack. I found one with the diameter of 1½ inches and picked it up to see if it was long enough. To my great surprise and shock, a snake fell out the other end!

My brain instantly recognized that it was non-poisonous but my feet were not listening to the message sent to them and they were doing their weird little escape dance. By the time I had got them under control I was unable to find the snake and was never able to see it face-to-face to identify it – if they really have faces. With the heartbeats back to normal I drove the pipe into the ground and it braced the stack nicely.

With the light nigh unto fading, I quit this effort, went in the house, changed to walking gear and went for my evening walk. With a near perfect temp for this endeavor, I put the legs in nearly top gear and finished my three miles in a second under 45 minutes. Exercise of this nature helps keep a person active – even if it does take a few minutes to recover from it. A little later I went to the basement for exercise of a strengthening nature.

FYI – The Spice’s Mom is still in the hospital and still needs prayer. She seems to be slightly better but has a long way to go to get back to where she was. If you didn’t know, she is living with us now and went to the ER last Wed. Not a fun time but a part of life and you never regret the time spent with loved ones like this. Even in this God is still good, all the time. ec