2021-04-21 — ‘Nother Mental Health Day

Hey, guess what?!?! I took an impromptu day off today, spending a whole bunch of time in the woods clearing trails. And I made great progress. 🙂

Wahoo!

I… was up until 4. First with that great conversation with my dear friend. And then writing last night’s post, and then… watching YouTube videos, mostly of talent show performers (America’s Got Talent-type stuff) for like… 2 hours. 😶

I like those. The clips anyway. The heartwarming stories. Good stuff. 🙂

Not going to bed until 4, I didn’t get up until 11. 🙃 But guess what?!?! I put first things first anyway. I ignored the stress I could have chosen to feel and just… took the day off.

It felt so nice. Sooooooo nice.

Sure… stuff backed up a bit, but I really needed a mental health day (a la my hansandheather’s comment from my Signing Off post. I’m actually happy and upbeat and positive and… like a whole new person. It’s amazing what a little time off to gain perspective and rest and whatever can do. Pull me out of the tunnel vision, narrow-focused state of mind I was in, only focusing on all the really hard stuff that’s been going on.

Anyway, did first things first. Chatted with Mr. Awesome for a while. Pondered prayer a bit. And I listened to probably 1/3rd of the Book of Mormon today. It’s amazing what I learn being connected to it so constantly. I listen to it at 2.2x speed, which means it only takes like… 11 hours? to listen to the whole thing, so I’ve been through it like 2 times in the last week maybe? I’m not sure. Might be longer than a week, but it’s been super fast. I’m on my third time through in this last little while, and it’s… amazing how many things I catch. Really cool.

Spent a lot of time out in the woods, like I mentioned. Reclaiming one of the sections I created (weeds trying to take over) and getting another section that was never completed a lot closer to being completed. I’m trying to get at least one loop back to good, so it can be walked without concern of ticks and chiggers, and a completely walkable trail will be easy to maintain. Just bring a glove while you saunter, and pull a weed or two as you go. Once the leafy canopy has fully developed, it’ll be a lot easier to keep the weeds at bay. The canopy is in process. Maybe halfway there? Lots of trees still don’t have any, but most trees are well on their way to being fully leafed out.

The biggest challenge, I think, is actually the sheer power and volume of water that come down during Arkansas rain storms. Washing the soil away if vegetation isn’t covering it. So… bare trails… not so effective.

And if I put wood chips down, that creates a place for ticks to hide, though they do prefer being on plants, so they can latch onto you as you brush up against the plant instead of having to come to you across the ground. But we’ll see. I might try and contact the parks service here and see what they recommend for how to keep trails in good condition?

I’m excited a bit. I found a young man from our congregation here who, starting Friday, will be my honey-do worker. Yard work, mess cleaning, just… hey, need this done, please. Hopefully, that’ll lighten loads and provide a job. 🙂

#1. I’m grateful it warmed up and turned into a gorgeous day.

#2. I’m grateful that I chose to take the day off and enjoy the outdoors and make some progress out there.

#3. I’m grateful to be feeling so much lighter today, to have some decent perspective back, instead of being stuck in the mire of self pity.

#4. I’m grateful that I might have found a work van at a really good price, low miles. It’s just a little less convenient because it’s a CNG, and the infrastructure for CNG around here is… atrocious. So… I’ll have to be very deliberate about my fill-ups, but much longer-lasting vehicle (CNG burns a lot cleaner, so engines last longer). But it’s a 2010 E350 with only 80k miles for $4200. Great price. Middle of nowhere, 70 minutes from here, but great price, and probably hard to sell because there’s only the one station around here. Hopefully, they’ll get another one relatively soon. 🙃 Would be the perfect work vehicle. Has windows already, so it’s not the panel van. I like having windows. Safer driving. And it’s the E350, so it can tow more and handle more. So that’s good. And it’s newer than 2008, so it doesn’t have the Ford spark plug issues. Cross your fingers. We’ll maybe buy this one, sell the junker I bought before (once the title comes), and then retire once I finally have a work vehicle. 🙃

#5. I’m grateful to have only had two ticks (at least that I found 🙃) in all the time I spent on my hands and knees in the woods clearing leaves and weeds on the trails. Both Lonestar ticks, one biggie that I caught crawling up my leg, and one little guy that had already latched on, super tiny guy, so they come off easily with just the fingernail scratch. Needless to say, neither will be reproducing. I don’t like killing things, but ticks… would like to minimize the disease-carrying creatures out here if I can.

So… that’s the day. Tomorrow I’ll be back to work and perhaps will find myself with another vehicle! We’ll see how it goes. Need to find someone to go with me. Long drive.

Loves and hugs, all you wonderful people you! Thanks, again for your support and encouragement. Hopefully, I’m back on the positive track.

Lift the World.

~ stephen