In the case of my first wife, I think I'd take my chances of changing the course of my life by avoiding her hometown entirely!

Cary

I don't think 20 is the right time to talk about getting old.A

I don't think 20 is the right time to talk about getting old.At 40 maybe.

Said like a true teenager... I bet I've got shoes older than you!

Heck, at 40 I still thought I was 10 feet tall and bullet-proof!

I didn't start feeling old until a couple of years ago when I turned 57. That's when a crazy horse did a double-back flip and threw me into a mesquite tree, which I promptly bounced off of and rick-o-shayed into a prickly pear cactus; got snake bit; got stomped and hooked by a wild cow, and fell off of a shredder while filling a deer feeder and screwed up my shoulder. Ain’t life wonderful! Since then, I’ve made a concerted effort to quite trying to kill myself and am slowing down trying to reverse the trend, although last week I went chicken-snake surfing….but that’s another story, and I won’t get into that unless someone want’s to hear the details.

Cary

Stuntman Cary wrote:

"although last week I went chicken-snake surfing….but that’s another story, and I won’t get into that unless someone want’s to hear the details."

Ok mate...out with it...you have me intrigued now....Chicken-Snake surfing eh.

Cheers, Vince

20 old, yikes. I spent the weekend at the Mudfest here and discovered that at 31 I'm old in this country where the other english teachers are concerned. Old is 10 years older than my grandma, so I guess old is now 93.

And what is a daughter for than to remind people that her dad is getting older. He's worked hard with us kids for all those gray hairs, which I think there are more of in the lastest picture I saw.

I've decided that the 30's is the new 20's (or I'm trying to tell myslef that) and I'm gedtting to see things i never thought I would. While all I saw of Japan was the Embassy and subway I was still there for more than the airport. Korea is great this time around, and Oz this summer will rock.

So to the younguns, and yes I'm one of them I guess, get out and see things beyound your town limits.

Once you hit around 20 all of your biological growth functions stop, your as tall as you'll ever be, you don't need any more time for your reproductive system to develop, and none of your internal organs will ever get stronger then they are. Only thing from then on is a clock ticking, some will have it tick faster due to alcohol, fatty food, and drug use, others slower by leading healthy lives, but the clock is on a count down and one day it will buzz and it will be all over.

So yes once you get to around 20 years old you start getting old. I want to have fully grown and out into university kids by the time I hit 45, with alittle luck I'll have teenage grandkids by the time I retire.

Dimitri

Muscle mass and endurance continue development far beyond age 20, Dimitri. At some point, your comments about diet and lifestyle truly have more to do with physical ability than chronological age alone. IOW, many of us are choosing how we are going to die.

Ours is not a society that venerates old age and is on a constant quest to deny aging or its affects. We have even formed catagories for older people such as "senior citizen" living in their "golden years", all euphemistic for "out to pasture". Yet, some of the most vibrant minds I encounter are those that are in their "golden years". Life experiences begat perspectives lost on those that haven't yet had the chance to live long enough. As a result, one of society's most valuable resource is squandered and, as a nation, we make serious errors; we rush to elect a loud mouth, unsavory, corrupted politician from Chicago for President, for example.

Me? I'm proud to be the age I am and would not wish to be any other.

Vince,

Last weekend I went out to the chicken house to check on 25 half grown chicks. A little history first….. I bought 25 day-old chicks after building a snake-proof chick nursery. I then spent last weekend building a snake-proof, intermediate nursery, to finish raising chicks prior to releasing them into the main chicken pen. The reason for this is that I lost every chick that I’ve ever tried to raise, to snakes. They even kill half grown chickens. They will catch them and swallow them up to their shoulders, then spit them out and go for another one, until they’re all dead. I’ve always had to buy grown chickens to have any luck at having fresh eggs. Anyway, I’ve been paranoid about losing my chicks so every morning; I walk down to the chicken pen to check on them. I have this vision of snakes crawling all over the snake-proof pen trying to figure out how they can get in, while the chicks are plastered against the wire in terror. Last Saturday, I found a large (about 5 or 6 feet long) chicken snake (the correct taxonomy is Rat Snake) exiting the main chicken pen. He took off across the field, heading for the brush. I didn’t have a stick, so I ran up to him and leaped into the air, with the intention of landing on his head with my boot heel to finish him off. Well, with a down hill slope on the terrain, in combination with the slick snake hide and my leather soled boots, my feet shot out from under me and I skidded to a stop about 10 feet passed the snake, flat on my back. When I turn around, the snake (in a pissed-off mood) was coming at me with his mouth wide open, as fast as he could. In self-defense, I hopped up and soccer kicked him in the head, to keep him from biting me, but he still kept on coming at me. I kept kicking him off until we worked our way (by accident) over to my truck, where, with the help of a walking staff I keep in the back, I knocked a homerun with his head.

One down, seven hundred million to go!

Cary

Just me thinking aloud hear !!!
If I’m headed to check on possible snakes in/around the chicken coup............ .357/.44 with snake shot comes to mind.............a hell of a lot easier on the tail bone !!!

Thanks for the great story, your still 40, 10 ft tall and bulletproof !!!

Snake shot sounds pretty good. I've killed 3 down there this week.

Cary

Handloader wrote:

Ours is not a society that venerates old age and is on a constant quest to deny aging or its affects.

I know Handloader, however why deny something that happens?

How I see it, even as early as 150 years ago or so (1850) life expectancy for me would have been a mere 38 years, now my life expectancy is double that. Currently do to medicine and the much better quality of life we live longer, healthier lives in general, we push our bodys much farther then ever before in history.

We live long healthy lives, and the old people I know do have very valid points about life I will not deny it, but I do see what happens with older people over time. There is a point where the body and mind start giving in.

I don't know, biology was never my best science subject, so what do I know. What I do know is that a while ago I decided I wanted to find a good wife, marry her and have kids by the time I hit 25, it probably wont happen but none the less, at near 22 years old and no where near that goal I feel like I am getting old.

Dimitri

Cary wrote:

One down, seven hundred million to go!

I woulda loved to have been there Cary...I reckon it would have been an absolute scream to see...not just you goin' base over apex, but then watchin' you and the snake doin' the Watusi

So the bugger chased ya to the truck mate I have this vision in my head of Cary hoppin', steppin' and jumpin' in order to avoid the snappin' jaws of the snake, tryin' ta grab his shillelagh ta whallop the snake. Woulda been like watchin' a cat on a hot tin roof.

Cheers, Vince

You got the vision about as accurate as I could have described it. When the episode was over, I was wired with adrenalin. I"ve been snake bit, way too many times in my life and I didn't especially want to add to that list.

Cary