Kneejerks

In many ways, Lick Skillet is a step up from Woodchuck Acres.

The house is bigger, there is a three car garage (our first functional garage in 40+ years of marriage), we have 3 acres instead of 2, the land is soil instead of rocks, we’re in hardiness zone 6 instead of 5.

But stepping up comes at a price.

We lived at WA for 10 years. That was 10 years in a one story house at ground level. Even though the terrain was hilly, my legs forgot what it was like to climb stairs.

Our Indiana home not only has a second story reached by 13 steps but each entrance requires clambering up 3 steps also.

I thought this would constitute great exercise but my knees have rebelled. I am now lurching awkwardly downward every time I go outside and avoiding the upstairs all together.  And I am shopping for cheap knee braces. If it gets much worse I will be crawling up and down.

In old age we return to childhood, as Shakespeare said,
       

        “That ends this strange eventful history,
        Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
        Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.”

And I would add, sans knees.

For now, I’m managing but starting to walk stiff-legged like a zombie, at least I haven’t developed a taste for human flesh.