New and Experienced Climbers over 50 #32

I was going to go lead climbing today but bailed. I’m really losing my lead head. I find climbing and bouldering indoors so accessible and safe and easy.

I’m getting old.

I decided to go to the bouldering gym with the intention of finishing the long Green roofy problem up and back.

As soon as I pulled on I knew I wasn’t recovered. Only spent an hour there.

It seems climbing four days a week with two of those days being back to back might need to end soon? Hurt my biceps too. I need to look after my arms because technically I have two uniceps. If I snap any more tendons I’ll be fuckded!  

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

Lori. So sorry to hear of all the suffering Tony is going through. Hope he heals up quick. 

I was very impressed with Butiligs resume. don't know anything about how good a job he is doing but based on the resume he seems very qualified. 

 Opening day of deer season. I don't take it seriously but like to use it as an excuse to explore places and get in shape for ice season. I also have a freezer and with uncertain employment situation for the winter I could use the food,  I was out there sitting at 0 dark 30 but by mid morning I had started to meander. 

I decided to get across this stream.

Did not look too bad if one was going to jump from the  right side bank to the sandbar in the middle. Looked good on paper but when I landed on the edge of the sandbar it was soft instead of firm. My boots sunk in with my momentum going forward. The middle of the sand/mud bar was frozen and stopped my shins dead causing me to faceplant into the water on the other side. Rifle was out in front of me held in both hands to break my fall. Slammed it into the water and the sand packing the action with mud and sand. Fortunately I had eschewed a fragile modern scoped rifle for my very robust trusty 81year old lend lease Lee Enfield that I have had since I was 14years old.  Bummed I didn't get pictures but I was busy.  Far enough out there that getting wet was not a good idea so first order of business was to get myself in a stable relatively dry position. Then I completely submerged my antique in clear water swishing it around until it was clean enough to remove the bolt and check to be certain that the bore was unobstructed.   Then I re assembled it and explored the new shore that I had never been to.. After A bit it occurred to me that in order to get home for some breakfast I must re ford the stream. I found a much better spot where I could rock hop. Carl will likely recognize this.

I made it home for breakfast and a proper cleaning. then I went for a drive and saw some antique chainsaws.

Then I went for another meander with my gun. 

Saw lots of moose sign. I would not shoot a moose unless I was starving to death or it was trying to kill Bernie... 

ended up tromping through my favorite beaver swamp. Its a lot easier and more fun on skis

found the top of a cliff with a view and a new memorial

sat there for a bit waiting for Bambi to jump into my freezer

then I meandered home... 

almost full moon sauna this evening, pond is wicked cold. 42f with ice around the edges.. 

I’m not really a gun guy, but that’s an absolutely gorgeous Lee Enfield.  I would take that thing for a walk just because :-)

It's tough to grow enough food to feed yourself for the winter. Much respect for anyone who can accomplish that. It's how I grew up but we always cheated and put beef, pork and chicken in the freezer to go with the root cellar and all the frozen and canned vegetables. 

Nick, I always love your pictures and am still trying to figure out you and Isa.  You just seem to fit.     Seeing the picture of your beaver pond reminded me that where I lived in Northern California at the end of my long hike was a beaver pond, and every time I walked up to the water one very large beaver would slap his tail on the water and start swimming. It never occurred to me that he could be aggressive until one day when he just kept swimming toward me, and suddenly it was uh-oh!  I think he could have hauled ass out of the water and bit me, but I’m not sure.

—-

I’m just going to drop this here and maybe delete it later but it’s on my mind. I’ve had such a beef with the medical establishment and the way it looks at the human condition. But hanging out at this nursing home in Palm Springs, and it’s a lovely nursing home, sure leaves me with chills. To visit a loved one who is sick and struggling, hooked up to every kind of medical device, and alone… This seems to be our solution for dying.  

I just finished an article in today’s New York Times about Canadian doctors who perform euthanasia legally. Pretty much if a person has an incurable problem and they want to die they just have to pass a few oral interviews, and they can be medically assisted with their death.

For the last 50 years, I’ve kept an eye on a commune in Tennessee called The Farm. in particular, one of the original hippies who started this commune learned to be a midwife and her name is Ina Mae Gaskin.  She became so good at delivering babies naturally with a C-section rate of less than 1% over a 30 years span of time. Women traveled to the farm from all over the world just to have Ina Mae and her team deliver the babies. I had three of my own deliveries via her natural midwifery.

In 1990 I attended one of Ina Mae’s lectures in Orange County to a room full of obstetricians.  She showed videos of her deliveries. There she stood with a long, grey braid and Birkenstocks holding forth to these doctors who were just astonished.  I talked to her after her lecture and asked her what she’s doing now at the farm and she said she and her sister midwives were turning their attention to midwifing people through the end of life.  Many of the original Farm members were now old and dying.  She said it had much the same principle as delivering babies.

Ina May is 84 now. I want to ask her if there are intentional ways of moving through the end of life.  I want to know how they deal with intractable pain, dementia, etc. there on the Farm.  I want to know if there’s a better way.

PS. Tony seems to have got a little life back in him. He asked me to bring him a protein shake from home. And he actually suggested that he would eat a bowl of gnocchi from Sammy‘s G’s if I would bring it to him. 

Nick, if I needed or wanted to hunt for our protein I wouldn't even need to hike.

The bucks visit us often, this big guy bedded down outside of our den window.

Nice rifle, good luck with the hunt,

Tad

While talking about animal visitors, we had this uninvited guest in our porch last night.

hunting in Vermont is not easy. I have seen more horns in 5 min in Wyoming, MT, UT, CO etc than I have seen in my entire life in VT. a coupple from WY moved into my neighborhood a decade or so ago and they had a party to use up all the venison they had brought with them. said it was bad luck to go into hunting season with left overs from last year. He was a hunting and fishing guide out there. Poor fellow did not get a single buck the 5 years he lived next door to me... 

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

hunting in Vermont is not easy. I have seen more horns in 5 min in Wyoming, MT, UT, CO etc than I have seen in my entire life in VT. a coupple from WY moved into my neighborhood a decade or so ago and they had a party to use up all the venison they had brought with them. said it was bad luck to go into hunting season with left overs from last year. He was a hunting and fishing guide out there. Poor fellow did not get a single buck the 5 years he lived next door to me... 

My hunting day is over, I’d never do it again, although I respect those who do.

At 15, I was up to my arms a shoulders covered with blood, and the odour was overwhelming. Then taking a bite out of a raw and barely beating heart was too much for me. Admittedly, the texture was good, but for the blood and all. A rare steak gives me the same pleasure without the mess.

Your weapons look cool! Classics!

I figuer that  it's good for people to know where that steak comes from. theres blood involved. something has to get killed for you to eat a steak or some bacon.  I did a five year stint as a vegatarian for those and other reasons but got over it. I am not a good hunter. Don't have the patience for it but I have processed plenty of farm animals..  It ain't pretty.  Colden. the moose here have a tick problem so they decided the cure for that was to increase the number of moose tags. result is the moose still have a tick problem but there are very few moose left. the people who do get a tag usually have a person with a log skidder on call.  Carl I thought you would have recognized that rifle from your military days.. 

T Hockingwrote:

Nick, if I needed or wanted to hunt for our protein I wouldn't even need to hike.

The bucks visit us often, this big guy bedded down outside of our den window.

Nice rifle, good luck with the hunt,

Tad

Like Tad, we have many, many deer across our property all year long. Only about one fifth of them are bucks, but none of them are particularly shy. At times I could almost take one down with a large rock from the back deck.

I tell that to the deer hunters we run into way up the hill during deer season. They seem slightly envious, but then I mention how unsporting such a kill would be. They largely seem to agree.

Turkeys here too. Lots of turkeys.

Lori Milaswrote:

I am a little embarrassed to see this thread referred to as “Lori‘s tradition”. I never thought of it as mine after my first post some years ago....

I came to this thread series many thousands of posts in and even then I quickly got the impression that Lori was a big part of it. In a good way (in the best way).

Although I haven't thought to call it your "tradition," I can picture the discussions taking place with all of us around a huge campfire - and it's your campfire.

Where's Helen BTW? I was always amused at how each sentence ended with a question mark?   

Carl Schneiderwrote:

Where's Helen BTW? I was always amused at how each sentence ended with a question mark?   

Let’s keep climbing?

Okay, this is frightening.

Biden just approved sending long range missiles to Ukraine. “Moscow warns US missile authorization may mark new level of involvement in conflict”

Ukraine is losing the war, no matter how much weaponry we send them. Russians are basically sending out foot soldiers to disable the most sophisticated weapons the West has to offer, and succeeding.

The money spent, sanctions that tanked the European economy and all the extra lives lost due to our attempt to meddle are all wasted.

Sending long range missiles to hit Moscow are exactly why this conflict began in the first place when we threatened Russia by looking into having Ukraine join NATO.

Li Huwrote:

Sending long range missiles to hit Moscow are exactly why this conflict began in the first place when we threatened Russia by looking into having Ukraine join NATO.

ATACMS have a range of 190 miles.

Brian in SLCwrote:

ATACMS have a range of 190 miles.

“Biden reverses limits on Ukraine to use American weapons systems  President Joe Biden has lifted Ukranian restrictions of U.S. weapons systems to utilize in an attack on Russia.“

That’s what’s frightening.

Apparently, there isn’t a big enough supply of ATACMS anyway, so not sure this will be what’s actually to be shipped?

Don’t get me wrong, Ukraine has every right to defend itself. It just wouldn’t have been in this position if the USA and NATO hadn’t meddled in that region. 

Biden wanted a war with Russia and pushed Russia into invading. He couldn’t wait to push his Cold War agenda.

Li Huwrote:

Biden wanted a war with Russia and pushed Russia into invading. He couldn’t wait to push his Cold War agenda.

Hmm, I didn't realize that Biden was President in 2014 when Russia invaded and annexed the Crimea.  

Idaho Bobwrote:

Hmm, I didn't realize that Biden was President in 2014 when Russia invaded and annexed the Crimea.  

Stop confusing us with facts, Bob!

Idaho Bobwrote:

Hmm, I didn't realize that Biden was President in 2014 when Russia invaded and annexed the Crimea.  

President Obama was.

American foreign policy is a tricky deal. Agreements need to be honored, or we will never be able to make any more agreements.

Li- if you don’t remember, The Budapest Memorandum in early 90’s got Ukraine to surrender its Nuclear Arms with the promise that America and The UK would guarantee Ukraine sovereignty.   So that’s a promise we need to keep. But I don’t believe NATO should encroach on the borders of Russia. That’s very dangerous IMHO. To be honest- I think NATO has long outlived its purpose and should be disbanded.
As should the UN.
George Washington warned us about foreign agreements- we should listen to his wise words.

Went climbing at LA’s latest hot spot yesterday- the temperatures only got up to 60’s . I was cold and couldn’t get warmed up- so I stopped torturing myself after 2 climbs. Getting very old, I reckon my Ice Climbing days are over. My Mountain climbing days are also in the past.
Time to focus on sunny roadside crags loaded with 5.7-5.10 slabs.

Lori - I hope Tony is improving. Thinking of both of you.

Later all