Day One-hundred-and-sixty-two: Real boots

I finally have a pair of real deer hunting boots. They are both warmer than my snow boots, which I didn't bring, and better suited for mud. Their only problem may be that they are warmer.

We also played more cards, at which I lost more than I won. It seems that whenever the three of us play, one of them wins. My father really gets enjoyment from winning.

We drove the Prius out on the one errand we made today, to pick up a couple of rebuilt John Deere mower tires, and my boots. On our outing, we went by Stouts Mills, where my grandmother and I used to walk to over the hill to go to the general store. Quite a few trips involved me carrying five gallons of blackberries with us, which I sold for $0.50 a gallon. I mostly picked them myself for sale but my grandmother helped more than she should have.

My fatehr attached the grading blade to his tractor and scraped cown the county road where the state had just dumped gravel, in the middle as well, building it up so high in places that it was easy for normal cars to drag. Three quarters, or more, of the road is essentially their lane. There is now only a deer hunter's cabin above tehm. That has residents very infrequently.

I have a new seater. My father had one he claimed was too large for him. I've worn it all day. They may get tired of their gift before I leave. It is the perfect weight for running out in the cold for short errands, like to the loft above the detached garage/shop. It may be too large, but it also may have been too warm for him, as hot as they keep their house. For the evening, I went and changed into a micro knit T-shirt I accidentally brought with me. It's good that their gas is free. Some oil company ran a gas line across their land without a right of way.

A couple of first cousins, once removed to me, came to visit. One of them used to baby sit me and one stayed with us for a brief time when I became old enough to remember her.

It was some time since I last saw them. They didn't show up when I was last here and I can't remember when I last saw them before 2004.

Now that I have the boots, I need to go walking. I haven't done any this trip. I used to walk five miles one way to play with one of their nephews when I came out over the summer ostensively to help my grandparents in the hay.

Except for the ability to drive or ride in a car, my times out here with my grandparents were all of the freedom I'm having now in my Life after Layoff. Maybe even more freedom because then I didn't have any money worries or future worries. In fact, I was living in the moment better then without the meditation I'm now doing to be fully present.

I've been reading Dr. Dean Ornish's Reversing Heart Disease. It has a section on meditation that I'm going to try tonight.