Predictable or Rut?

A little over 4 months ago, I moved up to the cabin full-time (well at least for now). With all of the moving, packing, unpacking, and getting settled, I thought my life was anything but predictable.

I'm the only one in the "neighborhood" who is here all the time, and so I note most of the comings and goings. A couple of weeks back, I noticed my southern neighbor's nice big black storage trailer (where he keeps all his tools and equipment while his pole barn is being built), was gone. Not having noted anything unusual, I attributed it to his nearly finished pole barn and the fact that he wanted to get the trailer back downstate. Unfortunately, it was nearly two weeks before he and his wife were back to discover that the trailer had been stolen!

Because I was the last to recall seeing it, I became the de facto witness, telling the story over and over to police, insurance agents, and the neighbors. It was then that I realized how predictable I'd become.

"When did you last see it?"

"Well, I spend lots of time outside reading until dark, so it was about 8:30 that evening. I know the time, because there's nothing worse than turning on the TV on the half-hour because your in the middle of everything on screen."

"When did you notice it was gone?"

"The next morning before 9:00 AM. see every morning I'm up at 7, check my email, drink a cup of coffee, Shave, shower, get dressed and then go outside to check to see what the squirrels and raccoons have left in the garden overnight. Then its on to breakfast down at the little restaurant to have scramble eggs, sausage links, whole wheat toast, and some more coffee. I'm there until 11:30-noon, and return home to await the mail. By 1:30 the mail is here and then I read for a few hours, head to fish before dinner and then read a few more hours. So it had to be before 9:00 AM because my garden faces there place and its kind of hard not to notice a huge black trailer that isn't there."

And it seems, that every day is the same. Predictable. But I'm going to work to change that as fast as I can. Life is way too short to continue sitting at the bottom of a rut not even knowing it, and then lamenting all of the things you missed doing. So slowly, I'm headed up the sides of the rut-walls to see exactly what's out there in the real world.