Mike, I had both you and @marknmt pegged at around your upper 30’s from the spirit and enthusiasm in your posts. I’ve determined that an enthusiasm for growing fruit not only guarantees exceptionally good looking families, it also keeps the enthusiasts young in heart and mind.
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Muddy,
You’ve got that right.
When I am in the orchard I do feel like a kid…( the sore muscles only show up later in the day) and then I get giddy again and again when those buds swell and flowers open and fruitlets form and grow and at each step along the way as they fight off and grow despite all the attacks that mother nature can muster.
And then as I, the family and our friends and neighbors finally get to enjoy the fruits of our labors, I remember worrying about the peaches and plums on that -13 degree February night, and really cold night after bloom, and the muddy ground just when we needed it least, and the rains that wouldn’t cooperate with our spray schedule, and the flight of the curculio and the moth that needed anything but codling, and the beetles that definitely did not play my song, and the fungus among us…and, and, and, and despite all of that … I STILL FEEL LIKE A KID WITH THE JUICE RUNNING DOWN MY CHIN.
And I can’t wait for all the hassles to begin all over again. Crazy huh?
To all of us here… WE ARE SO LUCKY to be able to do what we do and to have found the place where we can share it all.
I want to thank SCOTT for providing the “where” and to all the rest of you for providing the how.
Pheeww! That got a little long winded, but what the hey…
MIKE
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Yup. Me too.
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Well, actually I’m 42, but I’ve led a very full life.
;- )M
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Mike, I too thought you would be in your early thirties, but from your picture I can easily tell your in your later ‘30s’. That seedling in his 1st leaf will keep you in your 30s too. We are fortunate indeed here!
Mark, Upper 30s for you too!
Make sure both of ya act your ages.
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@MES111 - Awesome post! I agree with everything you said. Here is to more juice running down all of our chins in the near future!
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Someone once told me…
“Age is like mind over matter.
If you don’t mind it don’t matter”
Mike
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Here is my wife and I celebrating my 63rd birthday. We are not nearly as drunk as we look.
I thought I should provide a representative of the African continent. She was born and raised in Ethiopia.
Our son was also there but we didn’t seem to get a photo of the 3 of us.
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Alan, you never told us you were a cradle robber. You married a very special lady. Not only has she put up with you for all these years, but she’s still smiling. Even more, she still makes you smile. That is some wonderful woman! A real keeper. 
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When we met, her ex-husband accused her of the same (I need a turtle neck shirt and a bit of make up to look her age now, but 25 years ago I looked younger than her). She’s 8 years younger than I am.
She hates being called an Ethiopian princess, but at our wedding that’s what my father called her. She went to school and was friends with with an actual Ethiopian princess. She’s lucky she wasn’t part of that tragic family.
I met your lovely wife when I was over at your place.
You are the lucky one. …You got the better deal !!!. 
Mike
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This is interesting how we perceive each other based on the handle we use and what we write. Then we see the picture and it is not at all what we imagined. I am really enjoying seeing all the photos. So out of curiosity, how do you imagine me? Maybe someday I will take the time to learn how to post a photo.
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There is an old saying about being careful what you ask for. You are male, 5’ 11 3/4" tall, age 59 1/2, married with 2 adult daughters, 3 grands, live in a subdivision, conservative, love spending time with your fruit trees, likes college football, wears a hat when outdoors, thinking about moving south when you retire because no one retires and says I’m going to move north. So, how did I do? Bill
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That is funny Bill! Right or wrong it was entertaining!
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Your wife is very pretty Harvestman. If I would have guessed, I’d have thought she was Dominican or Puerto Rican. You guys are like me lately…a pair of cheaters with me at all times
Thanks Apple. Yes, if you haven’t been to East Africa and seen Somalians, Eritreans and Ethiopians, Dominican would be a likely guess, but it isn’t hard to guess after you’ve spent some time with either group.
The glasses were certainly needed to read the menu. Very nice seafood restaurant called "the Fisherman and the Farmer. They grow their own produce but buy the seafood.
You have a wonderful looking wife and family as well.
I think people from other counties eat more fruit than people from the US so it is not surprise to me to see people from all over the world. My mom is German and she brought us up eating more fruit than most kids. They travel a lot all over the world by motorcycle and none of the other US riders eat any fruit. Morocco had the best oranges and no one touched them. Turkey, Spain, Italy, Croatia, most of the African and South American counties all had outstanding local in season fruit.
The picture below is from Columbia, SA in a fruit market, the lady that ran the place said unfortunately the local people are starting to eat less fruit and she is having a harder time selling everything.
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The red bananas are delicious. If our markets looked like that we’d all have stalls.
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