Spring Has Sprung
By
Cognitive Dissonance
My apologies for being absent for the last week or so, but we have a lot going on at the moment. As you can see from the picture above, things are finally greening up here on top of the mountain. While we may by just a dozen or so miles north of the North Carolina border, living at an elevation of 3,000 feet means we experience a climate similar to locales several hundred miles further north and much nearer to sea level.
Mrs. Cog has been busy with her crafts while juggling the planting of early lettuce, cabbage and kale. While our weather has turned decidedly warmer of late, with daytime highs in the 60’s and low 70’s and lows in the mid 40’s to low 50’s, Mother Nature can still throw us a curve ball with one last killing frost.
The USDA tells us to wait until May 6th before planting anything frost intolerant. The local expert a mile over on the paved road informs us it’s better to be safe than sorry and wait until May 10th. We have experimented in the past with different dates with mixed results. The bottom line is Mother Nature is Queen and we her Pawns, so now we wait and plant when the natives do. When dealing with such things, local knowledge is usually the best and almost always free for the asking.
I would normally be running at top speed right about now getting brush cleared, winter debris raked and cleared, the first tall shoots of grass (weeds really) cut and my spring chores begun. And while I have accomplished quite a bit, my pace has been significantly slowed by persistent back issues. When the back ain’t happy, nothing is happy.
A mix up at the referring doctor’s office, combined with my negligence in not quickly following up, has delayed the beginning of physical therapy for my back by several weeks. Now finishing up week two of my twice a week torture sessions, in some respects little progress has been made when measured in pain. In fact, late this week I took several steps back when the therapist twisted me into a pretzel, then sat on me to hold me in place.
I’m a big guy and, relatively speaking, so is the male therapist. But at one point when the Cog pretzel was just about to be tied, I managed to glimpse the therapist’s feet lift off the ground as he wrestled me into the perfect bow tie.
This is no exaggeration. Well, the bow tie is, but not the elevated feet. The flying nun never reached heights my therapist achieved in mere seconds. And to think I actually pay the man twice a week for all the pain and suffering.
All kidding aside, I trust this man to be working in my best interest using a more unorthodox method whereby we may create more (and new) pain in order to discover the root of my problem. Most important to me, he carefully explains what he’s doing and why, then seeks my consent before proceeding.
He fully understands the healing process must be practiced with my full agreement and participation if it is to be effective and long lasting. My problems are ultimately posture and range of motion, both of which have been degrading over the last two decades since I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis.
What this means is everything physical is changing, and with it pain levels are higher and just about constant. This situation is not conducive to thoughtful writing or even cheerful banter, though I do try my best while recognizing I’m simply in a transition phase from one physical state to the next. I suspect ice feels the same way when it changes back to free flowing water. Ultimately I can sense better times dead ahead, thus my consent to being hog tied and pretzeled.
Moving on I have been working on a long form article. A rant really, something I dabble in with decreasing frequency. Most of my rants never see the light of day since their purpose is to release internal pressure and not to make a public spectacle of myself. Sadly I am seeing an increase of unreasonableness in the world, particularly by those who feel they are being perfectly reasonable and have succeeded in being so in the past…at least on the surface.
It is clear to me now that much of what I have perceived as fair and open-mindedness in others was for show only. It’s easy to be honest when no temptation presents or need is unmet. Stress the system though and suddenly the true colors show through. So be it. My rant on this subject will be completed and posted for members only.
04/22/2017
Cognitive Dissonance
