Fat of the Land
Stepped on the scale in the bathroom this morning. Didn’t like what I saw. Gained 20 pounds since moving fulltime to the mountains nearly a year ago.
That’s on top of the excess weight already on the frame, pounds that add up year after year until the scale screams enough, the knees cry out for help, the ankles groan under the load and the hip goes on strike.
Get Over It
Rob Neukirch, owner of Oddfellas Cantina in Floyd, is in the midst of a public pissing contest with a delusional, opportunistic rabble-rouser who still holds on to the archaic belief that the confederacy is something to be proud of and promoting that sordid period of our history is, somehow, beneficial.
Chilling Out
Meteorologically, winter doesn’t arrive for another two months.
Tell that to the thermometer that read 30 degrees this morning or the frozen leaves that crunched under my feet this morning. Even the dog, a mix of Chow and something else that is supposed to love cold weather, looked out the open door of the porch and then back up at me as if to say: “You expect me to go out on a cold morning like this?â€
Excuse Me, What Happened to Fall?
Seems we moved straight from summer into winter with only a brief stop at fall. Temepratures predicted to fall below freezing tonight and, yes, that was spitting snow that fell on our SUV as we drove back up Francy Gap Mountain from North Carolina this afternoon.
Did anyone get a chance to wave at fall as it breezed by?
Timing
Walking with the dog through the swirling leaves on a cool, crisp fall morning. Good time for thought and contemplation.
At this time a year ago, boxes surrounded us in our condo in Arlington. After meetings with a Realtor, our home for the previous 23 years would go on the market in a few days and she expected a quick sale, driven by a hot condo market where two-bedroom units smaller than ours commanded seven figure prices.
Gulag
Last week, we tried letting Chewy run free. She’s old enough, we thought, and never strays far from home. Besides, she has a tag and other dogs roam free in the neighborhood without problems.
Freedom lasted only a few days, though, after I walked out in the front yard one morning and saw her playing in the middle of Sandy Flats Road – a good target for cars that come over the hill.
So she went back on the front-yard tether, a 100-foot stretch of cord that allows her a wide circular, but limited, territory. She hates the tether and yelps her displeasure constantly.
News Junkie Confidential
Hello, my name is Doug and I’m a newsaholic. It’s been 11 months since my last newscast.
Of all the changes involved in moving from the city life of the National Capital Region to the country life in Floyd County, none have been more difficult than shaking my news junkie habit.
Tradition Loses Again
Like many kids, I idolized baseball. I cheered the Yankees and remember the year Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth’s long-standing record of home runs in a single season. When we lived in Farmville, Virginia, I would deliver papers and then pedal my bicycle to the top of a hill east of town to listen to the Yankee games on a transistor radio. We considered the Yankees our team because the Richmond AAA club at the time belonged to the Nw York farm system.
The Right Move
During my day trip to Northern Virginia last week, I sat in the office of a friend I had not seen since leaving a year ago. He asked a question I get often from those who still live the urban life.
“Why Floyd? What on earth motivated you to move way out in the country?â€
The same question comes up here. Some who have lived here for years still wonder if they made the choice.
Crash
Crashed this weekend. Crashed hard. Too many long days, too long on the road, too much exhaustion took their toll. Body and mind had to recover.
Went to the Citizens Telephone annual meeting Saturday, came home, and slept. And slept. And slept some more. Same for today. Those who know a thing or two about human phsyiology say you can’t make up sleep. Maybe not. But my body didn’t study phsyiology in school and it feels a lot better this morning.
You reach saturation points in both body and mind: physical and mental, exhaustion and stress. You have to take time to recharge.