Hanging Out and Feeling Lucky and Grateful
It’s snowing here at 6420 feet elevation.
Having had two severe bike crashes and a bad concussion and 6 destroyed teeth in 2018, I have learned to count my blessings and to appreciate each day as it comes. I should have had my neck broken twice and yet here I am, a bit more cautious.
I mean it when I say I feel lucky and grateful. The concussion taught me a lot about both.
- My extended family has not gotten SARS-CoV2.
- I am in the most beautiful place in the world, scratching my ass when I am not making images or publishing them.
- I now have an ample supply of still wine and sparkling wine. Canned salmon and beans... are not bad at all. Nor is a whole ball of fresh mozzarella (dang it, it’s now all gone, all 3 of 'em).
- The weather in this area has been about as beautiful as it has been in decades.
- No bears have bothered me.
- No rangers have bothered me, other than mindlessly evicting me from Alabama Hills.
- I am not making much money (drawing down savings), but the shit is not yet hitting the fan, as it is with millions of people far worse off than me.
- The Mercedes Sprinter has performed flawlessly since Mercedes of Reno replaced some transmission part 6 weeks ago.
- The olfactory 'ambience' of 5 weeks in a van reaches a steady state which seems just fine (though I have no testimonials to prove that). Actually pretty darn fresh by airing out the van regularly. Bonus: one cycling jersey will almost stand up on its own for drying! (just kidding).
- I watched “The Good, The Bad, The Ugly” last night at low-res on Netflix on my iMac 5K, using up some of my precious AT&T bandwidth. What a classic. Clint Eastwood at his best. Otherwise, I avoid videos—too bandwidth intensive and the lying turds at AT&T will throttle to 11-16K/sec once out (not the claimed 128K/sec and I have verified that half a dozen times near various cell towers). That’s why I have to have two cell phones with the maxed-out plan, and I may have to get a 3rd.
I feel lucky, very lucky. I wish you all health and happiness through this trial.