Who Are You?

Who Are You?

I can’t believe I started with that. But it is fitting. Long ago when I could stand to listen to the radio; The Who and Queen were two of my quickest channel changers. Now that Shania is appearing on Classic Country stations; I am pretty much radio free America. I learned a long time ago that if you don’t like what you are hearing; you don’t have to listen.

Really, who are you? I know what many of you are thinking right now. Why I am a __. That isn’t what I mean. I’m not referring to what you do to eke out a living. Everyone has to do that; although some find a way not to. I mean who are you in reality? What do you enjoy doing? What do you sit and daydream about while eking? What do you do for relaxing and relieving stress? What do you find interesting?

We were not built to quit learning once we walk out of whatever we graduated from. I know many who quit right at that point. They quickly settled into a routine that they will never leave and they think that is the way it works; forever. I really feel sorry for them. You have heard the saying many times that you learn something new every day “you should. It isn’t really that hard.

Have you ever actually taken the effort to find out what that funny looking bug crawling on your milkweed plant is? The resources are there for all to use. It isn’t really that hard to find the right answers anymore. The only requirement needed is a little effort put forth. First you find a closely matching photo and go from there. Inquiring minds will not stop at just a name. They will wander to native or introduced and then to life cycles and habitat. Before you know it; you just learned something new today! Keep on going.

My mind tends to wander from day to day and season to season. Primarily it functions in two stages. Getting ready for winter and getting through winter. Producing and procuring food is pretty much number one. I always have something else going on too. I need to do something other than eke and watch tomatoes get ripe. That is where birds, bugs, damselflies and wildflowers come in handy. There is always something out there that you have never taken time to identify and learn about. You don’t have to go far.

Some believe that the outdoors is only hunting and fishing. That is so untrue. Besides hunting and fishing have seasons and limits. I need to do something interesting every single day that doesn’t cost much of anything. How about you? Recreation does not have to cost, neither does learning. I’m old and I have stuff to make alone time more enjoyable, It was all acquired over time and really as the big picture goes was not that expensive due to the enjoyment it has given.

The photo with this article is the stuff I had behind my truck seat on June 10. That is my stuff. Let’s face it we are all just getting older and poorer. So who are you? I guess I am a real outdoorsman and life-long learner.

This is my August 2016 article for Two-Lane Livin

(c) 2016 High Virginia Outdoors  Photo (c) 2016 High Virginia Images ALL RIGHTS RESERVED