Rich Rayburn

When using any light source if you put a regular flat mirror behind it, the light will be cast away from the mirror, and the light that would have merely been absorbed by the background is now adding to the ambience of the room
We've used this technique with kerosene lamps and candles.

I haven't looked through all the posts here, so I might be mentioning this again.
Throughout history people have taken basin baths, you get one of those white porcelain oval basins you can find at antique stores and probably buy new .
Fill the basin about 1/3 to 1/2 full of water, set it on your hopefully, wood stove let it heat up, if it's too hot add some cold water, then just proceed to use soap and wash yourself with a washcloth generally from the top down. You really don't need to rinse once you're finished, the soap will have picked up most of the dirt and oils and transfer it to the water(that's what soap does).
A time-tested simple and efficient way to take a bath. Ask any old order Amish. My family and I have done this for decades and still do.
And I get out amongst the "English" plenty, and no one ever turns up their nose.lol.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:
Good points. I find that our long, dark winters take an increasing toll on my core strength. I shovel our many walkways and long driveway by hand as much as possible, and work on firewood whenever the snow pack is light. But it's hard to maintain the intensity of spring, so it takes longer for me to get up to full speed. Maybe I need to connect up with some of the local boys just to be motivated.

What you mentioned above is the exact reason for maintaining a routine workout schedule.
No matter what, winter, summer, warm, cold, dark, light.
The routine keeps your body in the same condition through it all, you don't get out of shape during one season and then have to work your way back up to par. You're always there ready to go!
And if the locals will help motivate you that's great, don't wait too long though none of us are getting any younger 😁. Grab a dumbbell , a floor pad,  and some information on a beginners type workout.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote: I would love to have the luxury of driving an hour to a gym in town for a formal workout. But there are problems to be solved right here requiring my bone, muscle, sweat, and will. Our growing season is short, and time is of the essence. Surely there must be a away to infuse additional and useful fitness elements into the work I am already doing?

Douglas, I appreciate the reply and it looks like we both have a lot in common as far as our workloads on our homesteads, I live in Minnesota and talk about a short growing season!
I personally have never belonged to a gym, the thought of intense physical effort inside a closed building with dozens or more other people all exhaling does not appeal to me, and doesn't sound healthy.
I merely have always had some free weights, mostly just dumbbells now, and all of the other exercises don't require any equipment at all such as push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, squats and the like.
That way I just use up about an hour and a half three times a week. That schedule seems to keep my tone and strength at a level consistent throughout the decades.
The key for me is that I'm basically lazy, I think many people are and as you get older it gets easier to be lazier, so a work out routine that is practiced religiously wards off the laziness. Working out is hard to get started, however once you get into it you realize that it becomes somewhat of an addiction and you actually feel so much better after you get the endorphins flowing.
I would encourage everyone to engage in some type of regular fairly hard workout routine.
I think it will give anyone a longer and healthier life.

Actually , moving an object such as your body against a force such as gravity is the definition of work
So doing pull-ups or chin-ups does accomplish work.
And whether doing exercises accomplishes anything immediately practical they do provide the maintenance of certain muscle groups that will definitely be used in the real world.
Such as splitting 10 chords of wood every year with an axe.
And keeping track of progress or lack thereof when doing exercises it's just a convenient way of measuring where you are in accomplishing your goals.

I did a little checking, and apparently my memory served me correctly.
A pull-up is done with palms facing away from the body.
A chin up is done with palms facing towards the body.
Pull ups focus more on the back and shoulders.

So actually the pictures shown are those of a person doing chin-ups.

Marko, I noticed that you're doing your pull-ups with your palms facing you, I've always done pull-ups with my palms facing away from me
I don't know if this is a difference between pull-ups and chin-ups but I thought that pull-ups were palms facing away.
There is a good topic to research,  the difference between a pull-up and a chin up and what's the difference between the way your palms face when doing them.

Pull ups and now push-ups.
Okay, same 67-year-old guy, 70 guy push-ups three times a week, all time personal record 126, a few years back.
Jack LaLanne did this kind of stuff till he was 90, that's what I'm shooting for!