I'm nearing another birthday, reminding me of the inevitable eventuality of my demise on earth, which brings up the subject of "wasting time".

The question is: What constitutes "wasting time"? First of all, what is it? Idleness? Watching TV? Rocking on the front porch? Blogging? It's probably undefinable, but I have my ideas about it.

To be honest, I don't like being idle. I don't like sitting for long stretches of time, although I often do (reading, computer, conversing). I feel I need to be "doing something".

That "something" needs to be productive. Again, how do we define productive? I like to walk and jog. Is an hour of running productive? I like to think so, healthwise. I'm not getting anything done, but I know it's good for me. If I want to live to 100, I must exercise daily. That's my rationalization for spending three hours golfing--I don't take a cart, thereby getting my walk in.

I spend countless hours cracking hickory and walnuts during the long winter hours. Why? Well, nuts are a healthy food, so what I'm doing is beneficial to my well-being. Besides, I'm saving money (and it's hard to find black walnuts commercially). So I don't consider this activity as a waste of time. It helps those long winter days indoors pass.

Working crosswords and other puzzles could be considered wasting time, but I think of it as brain exercise. They say that's important. Even napping and sleeping are vital ingredients to a healthy well-being. I don't feel I'm wasting time taking a 15 minute after lunch nap.

I have plenty to do work-wise, at least for three seasons. I've blogged enough about my yard and garden, farm, wood cutting, etc. Perhaps that's part of the problem. If I'm not tending to my "chores", I feel guilty about sitting around doing non physical things. Heck, even my vacations are work oriented (see Hawaii blog).

Don't get me wrong. I CAN relax. I do enjoy reading and playing the piano and watching a ball game. And I certainly love golfing. It's just that I can't help but think I'm not pulling weeds or splitting wood, and that I'm "wasting time".

At my age, every day, every hour, every minute counts. They add up, ticking away moments of precious life. I want to make good use of them. They are not to be "wasted". That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!