Pappa Hardy's Musings on Life.

If you ever talk to my kids, you will sooner or later hear them say that dad was always saying that variety is the spice of life. I am a person who likes variety in life. I don’t like to do the same old thing every day, and be in the same old dull rut.

I was in a mall in Las Vegas recently and noticed the huge variety that was there. Without market restrictions set by a government, entrepreneurs are free to create whatever they feel the public will buy, and they are creating a lot of different stuff. A stroll through the mall allows you to see just how much stuff there is.

Of course, I don’t have the money to buy all that stuff, nor would I want to buy that stuff if I had the money, but just the fact that it exists is kind of fun because the world has changed a lot since I grew up and the variety of stuff out there to buy is an indicator of just how much it has changed. Just walking in a Corelle Ware store was an object lesson on how much “kitchen stuff” there is you could buy. What a great place we live in.

During our recent trip to Las Vegas I was amazed by the just incredible variety of people. They came in every shape and form. They were fat or skinny, white or black, talked English, Chinese, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, or some other exotic language.

We heard in one day at least the following, German, French, English, Spanish, Mandarin, and various other languages. People were dressed conservatively or outlandishly. They covered a lot of their body, or since it was so hot, more likely didn’t cover much at all.

There were professional people, then others that were professionals of a different kind of persuasion. There were construction workers, waitresses, security people, and vacationers. The Las Vegas strip area is probably host to more varied people than just about any other place in the world. The visitors come from all over the globe, with all kinds of backgrounds, and the people that work and live in Las Vegas are as diverse as the vacationers they serve. It was truly a Menagerie of hosts of different types of people.

My IPAQ is dying. I have usually seemed to go through PDAs really quick for about a couple of years, but for the last 5 years or so my IPAQ has functioned adequately. Now, it is dying. I am having trouble with the power function and I fear that it is going the way of all good things.

I am sorry for the death of my old friend. It has served me well. I am not quite sure what I am going to do without it. I must now think of replacing it. I am not quite sure that is a correct thing to do, but I don’t know how I otherwise will live without out. I feel so badly about the death of an old friend.

Tomorrow we head back across Nevada. I couldn’t bring myself to take the way that is the shortest, that is through Ely and Tonapah. Rather, we are going to travel through Reno, Lake Tahoe, and Carson City, Nevada. However, I know that there is still going to be mile, after mile, after mile of terrain that is just not memorable. That will include 120 miles across the Salt Flats of Utah. The biggest concern for me is that we will break down somewhere on that long, long, ride and that we will regret having made this trip at all. In any event, I know we are going to be driving for lots of very, long, miles.

There are times when I am really tired, it has been a long day, and I still have things to do that this morbid thought flashes across my mind. Usually it is if we are required to use public transportation, or we have been walking for a long time, usually semi lost. I start to have these thoughts of newspaper headlines that would say,

“And They Discovered the Remains of the Hardy family in a secluded grove. They had obviously been hiking (or riding) in circles and finally collapsed from exhaustion, hopelessly lost and unable to find their way out of their predicament.”

That always seem to happen when I am exhausted and can’t seem do it anymore. Sometimes it just seems that you can’t do it anymore, and then salvation comes in some form or another.

I actually heard today, “I Feel Like I Am Going to Lick the Asphalt in a Minute, Yum, Yum” and the crazy thing is I sympathized with what the guy was saying. We were coming back down from a hike to the Vernal Falls (I only made it to the first bridge, about 1 mile). They said that it actually was only .8 miles and a vertical climb of maybe 500-1000 feet. To me it felt like a vertical climb of 5 miles and a hike of 20 miles. Jeff said early on, this steep spot is about the worst that it gets. Liar!!!!

I thought it was going to kill me and what the guy said struck me as a summary statement of what the experience was like to me. Let me say, it was a challenge for an old guy with a knee that is giving out and a ticker that works not at full capacity. I am glad I made it as far as I did. However, it was a an ordeal and a challenge and one that I won’t forget for a while. I at times felt like I was going to collapse on the trail. I could see the headlines, “56 Year Old Fat Man Dies on easy Assent up to first bridge to Vernal Falls”. I am glad I made it, but I thought I was going to be eating some asphalt today.

Today has just plain taken my breath away. We looked this morning and this afternoon at several wonders of Nature. The grandeur of Yosemite National Park is just incredible. We were up at Glacier Pointe, and from there you can see the many domes and cliffs, and all of the things that make this place incredible. I can’t believe how wonderful a beautiful it was. It took my breath away.

We went on a fun walk this morning. I still have a little bit of the old youthful body in me. We as a huge family walked up to the Chilnualna Falls here in Yosemite National Park. It was a nice walk, somewhat strenuous but easy enough that we could make it. I can tell that I am getting older. My balance isn’t what it used to be and I can tell I am getting older. I need to start doing a better job of this getting old.

Why is it that when we get in a buffet Mecca like Las Vegas that we eat until we want to die? There must be something in an American’s psyche, maybe even more a Mormon’s psyche that says, “my heavens, I am going to get my money’s worth even if it kills me”. There is nothing worse than walking away (or should I say rolling away) from the buffet feeling sick because we have eaten way too much.

Las Vegas is the worst for this, at least for me. Since I don’t gamble, I think that the “Las Vegas Experience” tends to center around some of the good food that you can find at a buffet as opposed to having to go to a specialized restaurant that may cost you a lot more. Crab, shrimp, assorted meat and sea foods for me are the ultimate culinary experience. I just need to remember not to eat as much, because if I do, I feel like I am going to be eating until I die from eating.

Old Age is Creeping Up on Me

I guess I am really getting older. Never mind that I will be 57 in August. What really defines it for me is the fact that I used to never reach my medical maximums on my insurance, and now it seems to be a race to see how early in the year that happens. I used to pride myself on my seeming good health. Now I feel like a medical wreck, waiting for another thing to happen.

Example. On medications alone, I met my out of pocket maximum (which is high now than in many years past) before half of the year was gone. I now have to have the following procedures:

1- Sleep Apnea Study-A study to see if I am getting enough Oxygen to my brain and heart while sleeping, because I stop breathing during the night (or so they say)

2- Ablation-Because of my heart fibrillation, it appears that they are going to have to go in and burn the offending nerve pathways in my heart, and if they do this, and it doesn’t work, then the next step is a pacemaker.

This is kind of disturbing to yours truly. I come from a stock of people that live to a ripe old age. My grandfather Hardy lived to be a 103. I appears that I am not on the same pathway. I have lived a good life. I love my wife and my family, and despite the challenges of life, I feel that I will probably be able to handle the challenges that come my way, given that old age seems to be creeping up on me.