I woke up this morning feeling like I had been trampled by a herd of Woodland Caribou. I guess I got feeling a little too rambunctious and invincible at the thought of finally being rid of the stone. I have slept and lounged around all day, and barely had enough energy to type this blog entry up.

I'm back to work tomorrow, so I guess it's good to rest.

What the hell am I saying? I shouldn't be feeling this old yet. I'm not even forty for the love of Pete. Wait, am I forty now? No, I'm pretty sure I'm thirty-nine still.

Holy shit, time is starting to gain ground on me, and I don't like it. Two weeks ago I was riding my bicycle with my brother on what we thought was the longest bike ride taken by man. We got to pack a lunch, and ride to the gravel pit, where we set up camp and ate our sandwiches, hand picked apples and cookies. We had a wineskin full of Freshie and a few survival tools in the backpack (I think there was a compass and a jackknife).

We were adventurers on a hard journey, and we wouldn't have believed that four miles could easily be cycled in an hour or so.

Okay, it might not have been two weeks ago, but it certainly couldn't be have been thirty years, could it?

Every once in a while I'll notice it in the mirror. The lines, age spots, tired eyes, etc... I wonder what we do it all for? Is this what life was intended to be like for the human race? I have a hard time believing that from the dawn of existence, (I'll let you all figure out what that means) we were meant to work our asses off, just to be able to possess some "things".

I love Thoreau's outlook on life from the shores of Walden Pond. He realized that there is more to life than keeping up appearances and slaving your life away for someone else. He wanted to live his life deliberately, and so he did, at least for a couple of years.

There is a life to live out there, and we shouldn't go to the grave with any regrets, so call your brother up. Ask him if he wants to go for a ride or a beer and talk about how you miss those days. Maybe that gravel pit is still there, or the offspring of that apple tree. Eat a couple of apples while you throw rocks at nothing and think back to simpler times. Cherish these moments, because you can, and because you never know if you'll get the chance.

Enjoy what life has to offer my friends,

Birdman

P.S. Don't have too many beers when you get together. There are few things worse than staving drunk assholes, crying about how they need to spend more time together, and vomiting up beer and apple chunks.

This is also from Sept. 2011 with updated photos from Pixabay and the last one is a screenshot from my Walden game. If you have any interest in it at all, it's a pretty cool game. You can find out more at https://www.waldengame.com/