Strange things happen as I age

There are many things that happen as I age that I don't (or won't) talk about.  I'll just say that my mother didn't warn me about all the things that happen with age, so surprises happen from time to time.  You finally learn to expect things popping up.

However.  Arthritis is a strange and fickle thing; when I first began having knee pain, I felt it getting steadily worse.  I finally quit walking for some years because it made my knees hurt.  Then, as I've mentioned here, I found if I walked every other day and took my time, I was OK.  Well, this morning as I walked, it occurred to me I've walked for six days straight, and my knees hurt no worse than usual.  Of course they always hurt, but it's nothing I can't live with.  But the thing I don't understand is this:  Why does it hurt less than it did five years ago to walk?  I've done nothing that would make the arthritic knees better.  I hope I'm not jinxing myself here.  

This morning I took some pictures as Gabe and I were walking:

I took this picture right out the door, the sun just coming up over the trees to the east.

This was about halfway through our walk, with the sun up a little farther.  

Gabe is really doing well on the leash.  He seems to understand he can only go so far, so he hasn't been pulling at all.  

The red rectangle is where our trailer house sits.  See that spot of red toward the top of the picture is my cabin, which was long ago hauled up here and turned into a chicken house which turned into a junk-storage shed.  I walk down a hill to the west and back where the path is hidden by treetops, then to where the cabin was and back, then down almost to the east side of our property and back.  I also walk around the pond... just above that almost-square plot of pasture... down a small hill and back.  There are a couple of steep slopes that make my heartbeat pound in my ears, and a couple of times I paid attention and actually heard my arrhythmia in action; the beat would be steady as a clock ticking, then after ten or twelve beats, it would skip one.  

United Health sent a nurse to our house to do an in-home check on us a few years back, as most of the Medicare insurance companies do. Listening to my heart, she noticed the arrhythmia; she actually called the doctor insisting they fit me into their schedule the same day, so I got a little concerned.  However, they weren't concerned, so I'm not either.  Once in awhile I'll ask them if my heartbeat is still irregular, and it is.  I'm just thankful I don't have atrial fibrillation like my mom did.  

I had one of those nights when I woke up at one AM and couldn't go back to sleep, so I got up at two and read.  Gabe has switched his sleeping spot lately:  He prefers being under our bed instead of in the kennel.  He joined me in the living room after awhile and stared at me, wishing I'd go back to bed, but he finally joined me in the recliner.  I usually go to bed at 9, but Gabe goes to bed around 8:30, occasionally getting up and standing in the bedroom doorway staring at me as though he can will me to join him.

Back to my knees:  Three years ago we went to a swap meet in Minnesota, a HUGE swap meet.  By the time we had walked around there for an hour, my knees were shot.  I was in some real pain.  I found a bench, and for most of the day I just sat there watching people.  When we got home, I decided I wouldn't be able to walk around all the events we attend, so I figured I'd buy a mobility scooter.  Seriously, at that time I felt like I'd have to have one, or else stay home even more than I already did.  Keep in mind that I was babysitting a very energetic toddler then, too.  Some days after following her around, my knees were in bad shape.  I did use the scooter quite a bit in the yard playing with Cora, and we took it to a couple of tractor shows.  Now, it wasn't a heavy-duty scooter, and it wasn't made for gravel or wet grass or huge hills.  But it served the purpose, and it only cost a little over $600.  Anyhow, for the last couple of years, it's just been sitting around in the way.  When our son was here earlier this month, he mentioned that those little scooters bring $500 all the time on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace.  "But I didn't pay much more than that for it, new," I said.  He said that didn't matter.  By the way, the same scooter is $100 higher on Amazon than when I bought mine.

First of all I put an ad on Craigslist.  For some reason, they rejected it... they don't give a reason, you just look and find out your ad wasn't posted.  So I put the same ad on Facebook Marketplace, where it posted, and got many inquiries in instant messages about it.  Yesterday it sold, so I have most of my money back.  We have learned that Marketplace surpasses Craigslist as a way to sell stuff.  The last tractor Cliff sold was listed on both, but most of the interested parties had seen it on Marketplace.  Apparently,  Craigslist is going the way of the dinosaur.  

Alrighty then!  It's about time for us to go shopping.  Sweet cherries are still on sale everywhere, and I'm still not sick of them.

Have a great day, won't you?