Here is what I did yesterday... all afternoon! I've got a few acres of woods, and many of the trees are now in need of being culled- dead trees, scrubby ugly troll-trees, lots of dead limbs, and... well, you get the picture: too many BAD trees!
I got out the old John Deere chainsaw, and fired 'er up! I enjoy cutting trees, limbing them, and then "bucking up" the logs into sections. What I don't particularly like is picking up all the limbs, and transporting them into brush piles, and then loading all the logs into a trailer, and conveying them into my log pile by the campfire...but it's got to be done.
I'm still sore! All over, since loading, dragging, and then again unloading whole trees is heavy, daunting work. But, as I see it, one reason we exercise is to have strong, functional, full-body fitness. And work like this is "the proof of the pudding"- you can either do it, or you can't. The wood could care less if you can run a "sub-2 hr. marathon", or bench press 400 pounds...
either way, the wood is not intimidated or impressed. It just lies there, and waits to see if you have "got what it takes".
I did what I needed to do, and then some. It was a beautiful, sunny, Wisconsin Autumn day and I spent it as it should be spent: cutting and hauling wood!
Simultaneously, I enjoyed the development of my mind: via my ever-present companion, "Jay's iPod", I was listening to "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" by Edward Gibbon!
"But Jay!" I hear you saying, "How can that be??"
Well, Grasshopper, I will tell thee...
I went to librivoxaudio.com, and downloaded it for free!
"But Jay!" I hear again... "How can that be..."
It's easy, little one. Librivox is a volunteer organization, devoted to preserving public domain works of literature, which includes most works published previous to 1923, in an audio format.
If I, say, were to volunteer, I would read a chapter, say of Decline and Fall, and then, let's say, John e. Peterson could download the book from Librivoxaudio, and listen to it via his iPod while he did multiple sets of chins, followed by handstand push-ups! (Although he might have trouble with his earbuds staying in on the latter).
I recommend Librivoxaudio, wholeheartedly! It is the best that the Internet has to offer- the best of the best literature of all time, delivered to you freely, (and for free!), by individuals donating their time and talents for the good of ALL!
And if you hear MY voice on some classic piece of literature in your near future, I promise I'll turn the background chain saw volume way down...
J
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