Last year it was skipping! An old coot visit to a childhood memory, from a time when it was common to see a kid skipping down the street, an efficient way to cover a lot of ground with little effort. It was an era before skateboards and jogging came into vogue. I went to Hickories Park, found a secluded spot, and skipped. It was fun! It was freeing, so much easier than the jogging I did for 18 years, but stopped two decades ago to save my frame from destruction. Every so often I\u2019m lured back, and take it up again, but a knee ache quickly reminds me why I quit in the first place. Skipping, on the other hand, felt good; it was uplifting as well. <\/p>\n
This year it\u2019s a whole bunch of things. I started with chin-ups! All I could do was one, and even then, it took a violent kick to get my head above the bar. I call this attempt to reproduce a series of physical skills I once took for granted my \u201cLast Call\u201d list. I\u2019m going to skip my once famous (in my head) a running, two-handed front flip. I tried it thirty years ago, showing off for a bunch of kids at a birthday party, and didn\u2019t make it all the way around. It took 12 visits to a chiropractor to straighten out my back. <\/p>\n
Old coots often get an urge to revisit dormant athletic skills. Emergency rooms across the country will attest to it. I switched to some easier stuff after my chin-up debacle. I dug out my old yoyo and went to town. I successfully performed Rock the baby, Walk the dog, Thread the needle<\/i> and twenty Loop-de-loops<\/i> with a \u201cdiamond\u201d encrusted Dunkin yoyo I won in a contest when I was eleven years old. Next, I went for something a little more athletic and resurrected my jogging past. I cheated. I gently trotted down Mountain Road in Owego, letting gravity do most of the work. It doesn\u2019t matter how I did it; I crossed it off my Last Call list. <\/p>\n
I plan to check off a few \u201cfeats of athleticism\u201d by the end of summer: stand on my head for three minutes – build up my arm strength so I can do three chin-ups (without any kicking) – ride my bike three blocks and yell, \u201cLook ma, no hands.\u201d I\u2019ve tried it several times, but failed, blaming it on the bike. But, I know better; I\u2019ll have to work at it. It\u2019s a balance thing; something old coots don\u2019t have much of. I also want to see if I can shinny (*) up a pole or a thin tree and swim the length of the high school pool under water. I could do two and one\/half lengths at one time, but will be happy with one length now. If my Old Coot articles are missing from time to time this summer, you can bet I\u2019ve had a mishap and am getting to know my doctor, the emergency room staff and a team of physical therapists a lot a lot better than I\u2019d like. What the heck, it\u2019s worth it. It\u2019s the Last Call<\/i>. (Until next year.)<\/p>\n
(*) Some people say shimmy, instead of shinny, but shinny is the correct term. You don\u2019t dance (shimmy) up a tree; you climb it by pulling yourself up with your hands and then clamping to it with your shins. Then, move your hands and pull up some more. \u201cShin climbing\u201d ala shinny up a tree. <\/p>\n