Fit for Life
So I sure am glad that I stay active with stressful manual
labor and some amount of intense exercise. It woulda been
heart-attack city yesterday. (Or I woulda just gone for a vehicle.)
I shot a nice buck about a mile from our friend’s house yesterday.
I dragged it the whole way back. Took almost an hour.
I tied a rope to the horns and then to my daypack and just
started leaning into it.
I figure I got in a couple dozen superhard two-minute intervals.
I had to lean at 45-deg angle then do max leg extensions. Wow!
Pouring sweat at 30degF.
I figure it will go into my winter XC ski training! I think I’ll try to
do at least one long XC event this season.
Of course if I wasn’t such a nut, I would’ve done like my
‘softy’ (smart) brother did after he shot his deer on the same property:
he went for the wheelbarrow!!!
Then there was the couple hours of hard knife/saw-work butchering.
—That added in there, too!
And all the tree climbing to get into position that I did to shoot the deer in the first place.
Now, treestands are legal these days in Michigan. Some people poke fun of them. I do it
a bit differently. I find a big tree and climb WAY up. I figure out several different places I can get
over to, to get different views from. It’s just like rock climbing. And it feels just like hunting in a
jungle would feel. I’m just adding the vertical element. I’m a predator of prey. A cat waiting to
pounce. I don’t feel like I’m cheating. I’m trying to get some nice venison for the year in a few
days of sitting out. Plus I like the fresh air and the great views. I like the monkey work of hanging
out in that tree for a couple hours a day.
So I feel in much better shape now, after a few days of this deer hunting action.
And I’ve been doing some 15-45min bouts of leaf raking.
Oh yes. It’s back. And trailbuilding is still lurking, I’m sure.
I also just resurfaced a porch with cement. —Lots of hoe-mixing
and carrying 60-lb bags of cement.
Snow shoveling coming up….
*You guys better watch out!*
It’ll take more than doublepoling up Mt. Ranier to keep up with
this pace!
I’m also thinking of getting an Agrifab Manual Push Reel Mower for my acre
lot next summer. So I should be in even better shape next year.
I’ll take down and cut up about a half dozen sizeable trees from my lot this spring. I use a big
bucksaw. Any trees that fall in storms, I cut up this way, too. I take care of the neighboring
4.5 acre woodlot as well.
I tell ya, if a person has a sizeable woodsy yard and stays with
manual labor, that alone can keep them in pretty darn good shape.
Add a bit of weights and running, etc., in there for the base. It seems
like a yard/house can provide at least one good hard workout a week year-round
if you let it! I’m game for daily cross training!
But be sure to keep up your base or your yard will KILL ya—heart attack.
That seems clear to me. I don’t know how those people can even function
with manual labor who don’t have a base. —Hauling and mixing 10 sacks of
cement if you’re out of shape, or raking the whole yard, would drop you
quick. I can see how cocky, aggressive people might try it even if they
weren’t ready, then just keel over.
