"Remember Clarke, you're 76......"

 7:48 am - Tuesday - December 9th - TWW - 26° F, humidity 31%, wind 3 mph out of the east by southeast.....partially cloudy today with a forecast high of 63° F.  On this date in 2019 we had just set up our Christmas tree.....

.....probably the most beautiful Christmas setup in the Newell we've ever had going back 14 years.

It has been a week, or two since we cut firewood for the house, and with Charles and Phyliss returning on Tuesday we needed to refill their wood box.  Since it has been getting warmer sooner in the mornings we were out just before 10 am getting set up to cut and split more wood.  TLE had started a burn pile when we first arrived several weeks ago, but on the days we talked about lighting it there was too much wind, and it was too cold.  Since someone has to watch the fire at all times the sub 50's temps were  a big deterrent, even when there was no wind.

At any rate Monday was the perfect day for a burn pile, and since we were also cutting/splitting wood about 30 feet away it was the perfect day to light her up.  While I serviced the chainsaws, TLE lit the burn pile, and began to slowly feed a mountain of burn pile material into the fire.  When I was ready to begin cutting the wood into smaller pieces fit for splitting she would come over and help hold the long pieces of dead juniper while I cut them into smaller pieces.

I kind of strained my middle back while starting the 16" Stihl chainsaw (how I don't know, but I'm 76 and stuff happens), so by noon time I was done for the day back wise.  We did manage to fill the dumper on the Yamaha Rhino, which should be enough wood for the two days Charles and Phyllis will be onsite....

Not quite full, but full enough

You can see the remnants of the burn pile in the background....the large pile of burn pile material which was in front of the burn pile is now gone

....my back was getting worse by the minute so TLE used our 'Thumper' to massage the muscles in my back, then rubbed some CBD cream on it, after which I rolled onto my back and took a 90 minute nap.  When I awoke it was feeling a little better, but not good enough to be functional so TLE got out our heating pad and I sat in my recliner for a couple of hours.  Slowly, but surely my back began to loosen up, and I was able to do some back stretching exercises.  By the time I finished it was after 4 pm, and we had planned to grill a New York and a Top Sirloin steak on the Sea-B-Que, so I headed outside to do just that.  My back felt good, and while the Sea-B-Que heated up to grilling temperature I smoked a couple of cigars, drank a little Scotch, and listened to the 'Perfectly Frank' channel on Sirius/XM....

.....it took about 15 minutes to get both steaks to 125° F (medium rare).  TLE added sides of green beans, and smashed potatoes....perfect!

After dinner we watched the MNF (Monday Night Football) game pitting the Chargers against the Eagles in L.A. at SoFi Stadium.  It was one of the ugliest NFL games I've seen this year with many, many turnovers of the interception type.  As regulation time expired the game was tied 19-19 so one 10 minute overtime period was in order.  The Chargers had the ball first, and came away with a 54 yard field goal, and then it was the Eagles' turn.  They were driving for a touchdown when the quarterback threw what looked like a sure touchdown pass that was tipped a the last second by a Charger defender, and ultimately intercepted by another Charger defender to end the game.  I think that was Jalen Hurt's 5th or 6th interception of the game.

About half way through the game my back began to bother me again, and the Tylenol was not making a dent in the pain.  I then remembered I had three pain pills left over from my left shoulder injury last Winter, so I took one hoping for the best.  By the time I went to bed at 11 pm (usually I go to bed at 10 pm, but there was the 90 minute nap earlier, so I wasn't tired yet) my back had begun to relax again, and by the time I woke up this morning the soreness was about 95% gone, and as I write it still feels good (Tuesday morning), so here's crossing my fingers that this trend continues in my favor.

As I was getting read for bed TLE stopped me and said "I'm going tell you something, and I'm only going to say it once.  Please remember you are 76 years old, and when you hurt yourself you need to stop what your doing, and sit down and relax.  When you keep going like you did today you just make it worse!".  Wise words from a wise woman....I think I should heed them.

Thanks for stopping by!