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[Cyber Liberty]

There's a lesson in that somewhere.

I recall the parable of the ice skates.

One Christmas, two brothers received a pair of ice skates for each.  They were beautiful skates, with the design and colors, in the most sought-after style of the day.  The older brother was the sort who took great care of his possessions and rarely played with the skates, while the younger considered his belongings as things to be used. 

By Spring, when it was time to put away the Winter toys, the older brother's ice skates still looked brand new, while the younger's were all scuffed up from daily hockey games with his friends. 

Come the next Winter, the boys brought out their skates to get them ready for the season.  To his extreme disappointment, the elder discovered his didn't fit!  He'd outgrown them!  But it wasn't a total waste.  The younger brother's feet had grown and he could wear the new-looking ice skates!

The younger brother had new skates for two seasons, while the elder only had skates for one Winter, and didn't use them.

The moral?  Never lose sight of the fact that your possessions belong to you, it's not the other way around.

The parable doesn't fit perfectly, but one can see the futility of having things that one doesn't use.  One runs the risk of not having them when one really wants them.

[roamer_1]

I recall the parable of the ice skates.

[...]

The moral?  Never lose sight of the fact that your possessions belong to you, it's not the other way around.

The parable doesn't fit perfectly, but one can see the futility of having things that one doesn't use.  One runs the risk of not having them when one really wants them.

Great analogy... And I cannot complain. I rode life hard and put it away wet. And now I get to pay for it. No regrets, other than the things I missed 

Another one of those bucket list things is distance skating the length of Flathead Lake... So your story is a bit apropos. 

[Cyber Liberty]

Great analogy... And I cannot complain. I rode life hard and put it away wet. And now I get to pay for it. No regrets, other than the things I missed 

Another one of those bucket list things is distance skating the length of Flathead Lake... So your story is a bit apropos. 

Life is a series of these trade-offs, and it's great you don't regret them, even if it means missing some bucket list check-offs.  I wanted to hike rim-to-rim the Grand Canyon.  Didn't happen.

[roamer_1]

Life is a series of these trade-offs, and it's great you don't regret them, even if it means missing some bucket list check-offs.  I wanted to hike rim-to-rim the Grand Canyon.  Didn't happen.

That Big Ditch is one of the places I might be convinced to crawl down out of these mountains to go see... Though honestly, that would probably be "WOW!" and then "Good God it's hot! Lets go home."

 

[Cyber Liberty]

That Big Ditch is one of the places I might be convinced to crawl down out of these mountains to go see... Though honestly, that would probably be "WOW!" and then "Good God it's hot! Lets go home."

 

It's relatively cool on the South Rim.  It's significantly hotter down by the Colorado River at the bottom.  I've seen a lot of people look at the Canyon from the rim, and say "whoop-de-doo" and leave unimpressed.

Funny story about one of my visits:  There were a lot of Japanese tourists looking at it, and one remarked to my father, "It's beautiful, but so is Mount Fuji!"  My dad just stared him down and said, "I've seen Mount Fuji...in 1945."

My dad really hated the Japs, having fought them in the Pacific Theater.  To his dying day he said he could snap their necks without remorse.  He'd seen with his own eyes the atrocities committed by the Imperial Army.

[roamer_1]

It's relatively cool on the South Rim.  It's significantly hotter down by the Colorado River at the bottom.  I've seen a lot of people look at the Canyon from the rim, and say "whoop-de-doo" and leave unimpressed.

Funny story about one of my visits:  There were a lot of Japanese tourists looking at it, and one remarked to my father, "It's beautiful, but so is Mount Fuji!"  My dad just stared him down and said, "I've seen Mount Fuji...in 1945."

My dad really hated the Japs, having fought them in the Pacific Theater.  To his dying day he said he could snap their necks without remorse.  He'd seen with his own eyes the atrocities committed by the Imperial Army.

'Relatively cool' would be 'too effing hot' in Rocky Mountain terms. Shoot, I'd bet it's to effing hot there right now... and it will be too effing hot in January. 

Yeah, I get that about your dad... my uncle never got done with Korea, and the two good ol boys that raised me up in the woods hated Vietnamese. War is bound to change a man. 

[Cyber Liberty]

'Relatively cool' would be 'too effing hot' in Rocky Mountain terms. Shoot, I'd bet it's to effing hot there right now... and it will be too effing hot in January. 

Yeah, I get that about your dad... my uncle never got done with Korea, and the two good ol boys that raised me up in the woods hated Vietnamese. War is bound to change a man. 

Well, sitting on an amphibious craft with the detail of dropping the ramp offered a grand view of severed arms, legs and heads floating by does change a feller.

Right now, the South Rim is 39F.  Cold enough for ya?

[roamer_1]

Right now, the South Rim is 39F.  Cold enough for ya?

No, I'd have to have my shirt off... And nobody wants that. 

[Cyber Liberty]

No, I'd have to have my shirt off... And nobody wants that. 

 

[HikerGuy83]

No, I'd have to have my shirt off... And nobody wants that. 

Give it a month.

It snows a lot on the north rim. 

It is a great place to visit. 

I recently took the family.  One of my adult daughters walked up the viewing area.  We caught up with her...she was on her knees crying. 

[roamer_1]

Give it a month.

It snows a lot on the north rim. 

It is a great place to visit. 

I recently took the family.  One of my adult daughters walked up the viewing area.  We caught up with her...she was on her knees crying.

That touches on a thing for me... The spirit of it... If I went, I would probably just find a rock and sit there for a couple days, just to soak it in... I will likely do the same the first time I see an ocean.

[Cyber Liberty]

That touches on a thing for me... The spirit of it... If I went, I would probably just find a rock and sit there for a couple days, just to soak it in... I will likely do the same the first time I see an ocean.

Oceans are boring.  You probably have a more interesting view from your fire pit.  The last time Mrs. Liberty and I were visiting her Sister in Orange County I asked her if she regretted leaving there to be with me in the desert, and that's what she said about it.  Back in the day she loved surfing, but at this age that doesn't have the same appeal it once did.  Too stoved up.

@HikerGuy83 makes a great point.  The North Rim is significantly higher, therefore colder than the South.  I think it gets around 130 inches of snow per year.

[PeteS in CA]

Well, sitting on an amphibious craft with the detail of dropping the ramp offered a grand view of severed arms, legs and heads floating by does change a feller.
...

A relative of my wife's survived the Bataan Death March, a Hell Ship, and some of the kind attentions of Unit 731. I never got a chance to ask him how he felt about Japanese people.

[Gefn]

A relative of my wife's survived the Bataan Death March, a Hell Ship, and some of the kind attentions of Unit 731. I never got a chance to ask him how he felt about Japanese people.

Oh my god 

My dad was in a medical unit in Germany right after they surrendered giving aid to various people there including survivors. He refused to purchase any German made products in his lifetime and the last few months of his life he would have nightmares where he would sometimes cry out in his sleep “No Mr Roosevelt I don’t want to go”

[Cyber Liberty]

A relative of my wife's survived the Bataan Death March, a Hell Ship, and some of the kind attentions of Unit 731. I never got a chance to ask him how he felt about Japanese people.

That was probably because you knew in your heart that if you ever opened that tap, it would come at you like water from a fire hose.

[bigheadfred]

From the vets in my life.

My sig line.

She asked me name my foe then. I said the need within some men to fight and kill their brothers without thought of Love or God. Ken Hensley

[HikerGuy83]

That touches on a thing for me... The spirit of it... If I went, I would probably just find a rock and sit there for a couple days, just to soak it in... I will likely do the same the first time I see an ocean.

It can make you feel....very very very.....very small.

[HikerGuy83]

This thread can really wander !!!!

[Cyber Liberty]

This thread can really wander !!!!

Welcome to TBR!  It's almost a rule that when any thread that goes over 100 posts, wandering is required.  Wait until you see me "pie" a thread.  It's the stuff of legends.

Your first thread, here, is a Hot Topic already! 

[roamer_1]

It can make you feel....very very very.....very small.

No doubt, as can walking in wonder though mountain cathedrals... Knowing there are range after range after range of them... Each and every one full to bursting with magnificence. Every one with crystal clear white water creeks and rivers... Every one with endless paths through tall forests of pine and birch... One could quite literally get lost in there forever... There is nothing more beautiful to me.

But the Plains, as an instance, Are also magnificent, with a wholly different spirit. Likely so too with the desert and the big swamp, the hardwood forests, and the coasts... And I think in any of them, to touch the land, to feel its spirit, is to feel small.

[Cyber Liberty]

No doubt, as can walking in wonder though mountain cathedrals... Knowing there are range after range after range of them... Each and every one full to bursting with magnificence. Every one with crystal clear white water creeks and rivers... Every one with endless paths through tall forests of pine and birch... One could quite literally get lost in there forever... There is nothing more beautiful to me.

But the Plains, as an instance, Are also magnificent, with a wholly different spirit. Likely so too with the desert and the big swamp, the hardwood forests, and the coasts... And I think in any of them, to touch the land, to feel its spirit, is to feel small.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Great analogy... And I cannot complain. I rode life hard and put it away wet. And now I get to pay for it. No regrets, other than the things I missed 

Another one of those bucket list things is distance skating the length of Flathead Lake... So your story is a bit apropos. 

Catch the wind right and have a drogue chute...(yes, I'll hold your beer for that one). 

[Smokin Joe]

No doubt, as can walking in wonder though mountain cathedrals... Knowing there are range after range after range of them... Each and every one full to bursting with magnificence. Every one with crystal clear white water creeks and rivers... Every one with endless paths through tall forests of pine and birch... One could quite literally get lost in there forever... There is nothing more beautiful to me.

But the Plains, as an instance, Are also magnificent, with a wholly different spirit. Likely so too with the desert and the big swamp, the hardwood forests, and the coasts... And I think in any of them, to touch the land, to feel its spirit, is to feel small.

Every place I have been, from the Ocean to the tidewater creeks and marshes, to the ancient roots of mountains in the east, high deserts in the southwest, the Basin and Range, to the Rockies and the Northern Plains, has its own peculiar sort of beauty, and its own peculiar set of challenges in temperatures which range from spit freezing before it hits the ground, to drying up first. In aggregate, the experience is one I value. In each place, I'd sit down and wait for the sound of things to get back to normal, for the rhythms I'd disturbed to recover, like waiting for the ripples to calm from dropping a stone in a pond. Then, and only then, could I feel the pulse of that place, it's heartbeat, its breath.

For me, nature is easier to live with almost anywhere than the wrong bunch of humans.
It's the cities where I am least at home and most restless.

[roamer_1]

Every place I have been, from the Ocean to the tidewater creeks and marshes, to the ancient roots of mountains in the east, high deserts in the southwest, the Basin and Range, to the Rockies and the Northern Plains, has its own peculiar sort of beauty, and its own peculiar set of challenges in temperatures which range from spit freezing before it hits the ground, to drying up first. In aggregate, the experience is one I value. In each place, I'd sit down and wait for the sound of things to get back to normal, for the rhythms I'd disturbed to recover, like waiting for the ripples to calm from dropping a stone in a pond. Then, and only then, could I feel the pulse of that place, it's heartbeat, its breath.

For me, nature is easier to live with almost anywhere than the wrong bunch of humans.
It's the cities where I am least at home and most restless.

In all that I am almost envious @Smokin Joe , having been so many places... And the bolded bit is what I mean about sitting on a rock for a couple days to suck it in... Its spirit... as you said, 'its heartbeat, its breath'.

But there is a love of these mountains born of a lifetime within them. I can count on a couple hands how many times I left this place, and all those but for a few were for mere days, maybe a week or two... Only a few times have I left here for a month or more, and it did not take me long to miss it. And not much longer than that to come sailing back to where I belong... And that long living on the land, my whole self lives and breaths with the spirit here in the Rockies. I can smell it on the wind. I can hear it in the lonely cry of the loon... In the deep silence and bitter cold of the winter.

It is something my elder sister simply cannot comprehend. And most of my siblings have gone far, with only my younger sister returning. But I have always been content to be here, putting down deep roots in this rocky ground. So I am not all that envious, as the intimacy I have with this land is far more valuable to me than anything I might find anywhere else.
 

[roamer_1]

Catch the wind right and have a drogue chute...(yes, I'll hold your beer for that one). 

Don't laugh too hard. Were I any younger I might just take you up on that... And I might still on a double-dog dare. I worked a while on building an iceboat... which would be the semi-sane way of doing that... Never really got it finished before I needed to part it back out for the aluminum struts, so I didn't kill myself with it... yet.