Penna Black Bear

  Yesterday I did a pull up. For some of you that means very little, and might not sound like much of an accomplishment. Well, dear reader who has never seen me, take my word for it, this was no small thing.

  This is because I am no small thing. Let me draw some mental pictures. I’m built like a Penna black bear just before hibernation. I called myself the Amish Viking, gentle but broad. Something of a lumberjack, not really surly, but burly to be sure.

  Part of the tendency to be broad is my lineage (German mostly), but mainly I eat too much and exercise too little. I should be plowing fields or rowing through the cold north instead of sitting in front of little boxes that light up and sing for me.

  But that has been changing. If you refer back to the first sentence I did a pull up yesterday. Take that you flannel shirt, horned helmet, neutral colors wearing old self. There’s a new me breaking through, mostly in my back and shoulders at this point. We’ll see about the gut later in the year.

  And I don’t have any plans to lose the neutral colors or horned helmet, they will just fit more comfortably.