This week I began my eighth decade.
I was worried that somehow it would feel different than decade markers that came before.
I am looking forward to what lies ahead — mostly.
Anytime debilitating events can occur at our age.
So the truth is each day I awake, especially to the sun coming over the Eastern hills, I can say “what a beautiful world”.
Not everyone can say that, especially people from areas of unrest and that is coming closer to our Canadian home.
Wine, Mescal, books a new saddle, a vice and a drill sharpener.
I really did not expect anything because I think I have everything.
I should be decluttering and shedding “things and stuff.”
However, there are some nice things to have. New equipment fits into that category.
Now the vice is nice because it has a swivel base and the handle slides so one an tighten the jaws with one hand.
My vice experienced young hands and hammers pounding to tighten it for some reason.
At least 10 times I have tried to smooth out the handle so it slides nicely: filing and using emery cloth to shine it.
To no avail. So nothing I do will restore then old vice.
Drill bits have become almost disposable. The ones you buy by the dozens, often on sale, do seem to dull and break more easily and it has become the practice to replace the bits rather than to sharpen them. So I am pleased to have, finally, a bit sharpener.
The message is: dad, keep working in the shop and get prepared for grandchildren honing their mechanical skills there.
OK, I get it.
Now the new saddle custom built locally is a treat.
Made for me. I won’t wear it out but maybe it won’t wear me out either!
Cariboo Saddlery, Mark Denny is the saddle maker.
Good quality stuff from there.
His dad taught me some of the art of leatherwork when I was a kid.
We really hope if he sells his business, that someone will pick up the torch and keep us repaired and supplied in the leather department.
About this new saddle, I will do my best to break it in gently.
Who will inherit it will be a mystery for some time.
Now all I need is that horse that is a little bit shorter than the horses I am used to riding.
You know, so I can get on easily and quickly and the horse doesn’t get impatient with the time it takes to swing the leg over the cantle and land the right foot in the stirrup.
I am a thankful for the books and the booze.
Mescal is the new Scotch you know. How smokey do you like it? You do need to adjust your taste buds for a while if you are not used to it.
In addition to the stuff above, I am grateful for the friendship of many people for many years. It does not get any better than it is when surrounded by friends whose years of friendship add up to over a thousand years when taken together.
David Zirnhelt is a member of the Cariboo Cattlemen’s Association and chair of the advisory committee for the Applied Sustainable Ranching program which started at Thompson Rivers University in Williams Lake in January of 2016.