Annoyance Exercise Plan

There are times when I think it’s the annoyances in my life that keep me healthy. Lately I’ve been out splitting firewood at least once or twice a day. I’m burning the stuff that’s been set aside for being too knotty or twisted to spit easily. Just breaking up enough for the day’s heat can be a workout involving wedges, axes, and a chainsaw.

It got me thinking about how much exercise I’m getting just living day to day. My land is steep and hilly. A trip from one end to the other can be a hike. My house has three levels so there’s a lot of stair climbing involved. Often I’m carrying stuff like baskets of laundry.

It’s seems I’m always lugging tools around and doing projects. There’s always something heavy that needs moving. It was worse when I was collecting waste veggie oil for my converted diesel engines. A 4.5 gallon jug weighed about 35 pounds. You pump 18 gallons of fuel into your car without even thinking much about it. For me that was 4 jugs hauled from the restaurant, to my basement, then back to the vehicle. That’s a 140 pounds of stuff lugged around. Frankly, that’s one part of the whole veggie diesel thing I don’t miss.

In my home town there used to be a lot of four and five story tenement blocks. A lot of them were built back during the depression when labor was cheap. Invariably there’d be little old ladies living on the top floors. Not only did they go up and down those stairs all the time, they’d haul their groceries long distances in little two wheel carts. Those old ladies were too tough to die.

Exercise is good for us, but going to the gym is hard. If there are enough annoyances in your life you can get by without one.

-Sixbears