These Things I Know

I do a newsletter.

It’s not a monthly newsletter. Instead, it’s a “I’ll Get To It When I Feel Like It And Have Something To Say” newsletter.

For most people that “Having Something To Say” part is not a big hurdle. One need simply browse social media for a few minutes to find lots of people with something to say, and even more people with nothing to say and a compulsive need to say it anyway.

In truth, I’m never all that certain what I have to say is worth it. It’s not modesty on my part, or even false modesty. It’s that, at sixty three, I’m old enough to know when to keep my mouth shut–a situation which arises more often–and it’s simply become a habit, both in person, on paper, and digitally (on my blog and newsletter).

But keeping one’s mouth shut goes against the whole point of a blog or newsletter, doesn’t it? You’ve got to say something!

The pressure of delivering content also comes with the risk of thinking you can write intelligently about anything. That’s when you run the risk of Dunning-Krugering yourself into overconfident buffoonery.

It’s said as one gets older, one becomes increasingly aware of what one does not know. That’s the case with me. I know a lot of stuff, but I’m reluctant to share it for fear of missing subtle nuances. Does nuance matter? Not always, but sometimes. And those "sometimes" can come with a lot of angry feedback.

On the other hand, there are some things I’ve experienced and know with absolute certainty:

• Cutting dead trees is preferable to cutting living trees because they’re already dry and easy to lift and split. I’ve heard the same applies to people (now that's what I call a life hack).
• Douglas Fir splits easy and straight. I can usually do it with a two-headed axe. Ponderosa Pine and Grand Fir usually require a splitting maul and/or sledge hammer and wedges. I’ve heard the same applies to… oh, never mind.
• Splitting firewood the old-fashioned way with axe, maul, and wedges is best because it becomes exercise and anger therapy with every swing.
• A good chainsaw shouldn’t require high-octane gasoline. It’s a chainsaw, not a Lamborghini.
• Country living is all about proper drainage.
• On a related note, I clean out the septic tank every presidential election because as Americans we're constitutionally required to replace old shit with new shit.
• Being in the woods with dogs is the closest thing to heaven on earth.
• A good lever-action rifle is never a waste of money, and there’s no such thing as “too much ammo.”
• My potato salad is better than yours.
• Nearly all of what is presented as news is merely tarted up fortune-telling. Don’t trust anyone who "knows" the future yet clearly has no knowledge of the past.
• Who needs anti-depressants when you get better mood enhancement from a good poop without the homicidal/suicidal side effects?
• You can have nice things or you can have dogs.

(I think I’ll put that last one on a t-shirt.)