Now it's all I can do just to get out of bed
There’s more in the mirror than there is up ahead
I smile and I nod like I heard what you said every time
So run another rack
Pour another shot
You don't get it back so give it all you got
While you still got a more or less functional body and mind
— If It Don’t Bleed, by James McMurtry
The Friday before Thanksgiving, I walked Pancho’s pasture, spreading more ryegrass seed, this time with a borrowed hand spreader. It consists of a canvas sack that can hold 25 pounds of seed, a hand crank and a shoulder strap. I am trying to thicken...
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Now that mowing and bushhogging season has largely ceased — likely one more round of bushhogging around the fence line in the back 50 acres — I have turned my attention to cutting up and burning fallen tree limbs. This task ought to keep me occupied until it is time to start mowing again. Every thunderstorm or afternoon of brisk winds seem to send another bevy of limbs crashing to the ground, landing on the fence, blocking the tractor’s paths. Or that of the newly semi-acquired Kawasaki Mule.
I say semi-acquired since it belongs to my brother-in-law, Jim. The Mule, what is known as a side-by-side,...
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We just finished watching a couple of seasons of Farmhouse Fixer on HGTV. It stars Jon Knight, who first gained fame in the 1980s as a member of the boy band New Kids on the Block. It turns out Knight’s other passion is restoring New England farm houses. A recent episode featured the John Proctor home in Peabody, Massachusetts, built in 1638. Peabody adjoins Salem, which, of course, was home to the infamous witch trials. Both John Proctor and his wife, Elizabeth, were accused, tried and convicted of being witches. Elizabeth’s execution was stayed because she was pregnant. John was hanged, along...
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My favorite month has arrived. November brings fall foliage, predictably cooler temperatures, Thanksgiving and the end to Daylight Saving Time. I awake at first light unless there is a reason to set an alarm. Since I largely work an afternoon/evening shift at the library, there is seldom a reason.
That means I don’t awaken at the tail end of DST until 7:00 or so, sometimes later. This makes me feel like I am already running behind on my morning routine — working out, writing, researching — all the activities I try to get done before heading to work. Now it will get dark earlier, but sunrise...
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