c_hereticus

Did you?

It makes a lovely whooshing sound, you know, that sound you hear when you look away and suddenly it's damnnear next year.

Lovely autumn here in Fredneck, but dammit. Where'd the year go? Time for hot mulled cider and/or mead; god's own paint palette on the hillsides, crisp, frosty mornings and the scent of leafsmoke in the air.

Time to settle in and get ready for winter.

Originally, I'd planned to put in my year here and start working my way back to Europe, but in the meantime, I bought a house, Em's in the advanced Rolfing course for two years, and suddenly I seem to be committed to staying here for a while.

Times are a'changing, and me too, I guess. Maybe times are changing for the country, too.

Fascinating election this year. Time'll tell whether either of those bozos are wrth the paper a ballot's printed on. The lesser of two evils is STILL evil, dammit.

Time for a reality check: Go read this (http://whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/03/being-poor/). I re-read it about once a year to help me remember myself, where I came from, how I got here and how damn many of us there are still living there.

Um ... bought a house. HOLY FRAKKING SHIT. I just bought a house. What the hell was I thinking ...

Are we there yet? 

Are we there yet?

Are we there yet?

Are we there yet?

How much longer???

We now return you to your regularly scheduled weekday ...

Hedgewitch has seen a sudden upswing in interest in her practice (www.katsujin.com) since the Frederick News-Post article (http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/art_Life/display_features.htm?StoryID=78679). She's almost-famous again!

I've made connections with a rheumatologist and GP, getting set up for a 50K check-up (over-50 physical).

Household is mostly unpacked and we've held a yardsale to divest ourselves of lots of junk.

Getting ramped up to go to Detroit to visit friends and review the Shinto Hatakage Ryu iai kata; and in mid-September, we'll start an 8-week course in Shinto Muso Ryu jodo.

Still no firm plans or possibilities for local dojo space, but I'm pretty happy studying something else for a while, despite HW's gentle pushes to nudge me into starting my own dojo again.

Work's a bit quieter (for now), and I'm still trying to decide if I like it here or not ...

 

Been a while, but if you've been following the news (and know I'm working at Fort Detrick, MD) you know I've been busy lately ...

Update time:

Well, it's been a bit over a year since the hip replacement. In that year, I've had an attack of reactive arthritis that set my rehab back about two months, and in January, discorvered that I had a: a cataract in my right eye, and b: a detached retina in that same eye.

Two major surgeries in six months and the arthritis, which is mostly under control, but still an issue, AND a trans-Atlantic move, and the short result is that I haven't spent as much time on the mat lately as I'd like.

Em and I do some veyr light training once a week or so, but I'm not up to taking ukemi, which sort of puts a damper on my teaching style ...

However, we do sword and staff when we can and we've signed up for an 8-week course in Shinto Muso Ryu jodo locally, and will be getting to know some of those folks soon. Looking forward to that!

Otherwise ...

We did about 10 miles today on the C&O trail, an old canal stretching from DC up into W. Va. Got onto the trail just south of Frederick, went east past the Monocacy Aqueduct and Lock 27, turned around and went back toward Point of Rocks a bit, before calling it a day to retire to Brewer's Alley in Fredneck for a late lunch and beers.

The Trail handled well on the mostly gravel and mudholey trail, did do a little x-country here and there, but it was mostly flat and pleasant.

Very comfy, responsive and agile. If I do much trail riding, I'll replace the tires with something a bit less street and more knobby.

It's wet. It's more than wet, it's sideways.

Basement's got water seeping in, despite the four 60 gal. rain barrels Hedgewitch installed under the downspouts last week.

The barrels overflowed, and one actually overturned, dumping all 60 gallons right at the worst of the seepy corners.

Blerf.

We spent a goodly part of yesterday afternoon getting drenched whilst rearranging barrels, ensureing overflow hoses worked and routing drain hoses away from the house.

Fortunately, we got in a nice hike at the local state park before it started raining yesterday afternoon. It was my first actual hike sine the total hip replacement last July. We'd walked around town(s) quite a bit, and my walking to work every day is strengthening the hip nicely, but this was the first actual in-the-woods, on-the-trail hike.

We put in about 2 miles, a moderate trail, with about a third of it decent up and down grades.

I was tired after, but in no pain, and am in no pain today.

Cool. The science (mediccal science in this case), it i your friend.

Speaking of science:

This I believe: I Am Evolution
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90311455

by Holly Dunsworth

   I believe evolution. It's easy. It's my life. I'm a paleoanthropologist. I study fossils of humans, apes and monkeys, and I teach college students about their place in nature.
   Of course I believe evolution. But that is different from believing in evolution.
   To believe in something takes faith, trust, effort, strength. I need none of these things to believe evolution. It just is. My health is better because of medical research based on evolution. My genetic code is practically the same as a chimpanzee's. My bipedal feet walk on an earth full of fossil missing links. And when my feet tire, those fossils fuel my car.

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