Retirement is GREAT! I am living the dream!
Mornings no longer starts with a blaring alarm. I wake up gradually with the sun and the sound of the birds, or with the sound of our cat Boo squeaking at the bedroom door. Once Sue lets Boo in, the time for sleeping is over. Aggressive head butting, a purr with a decibel level of a jet engine, and a propensity to bladder stomp, encourage me to get out of bed.
I like to start my day with a shower (as opposed to Sue who likes to stay in her bathrobe for an hour or two before showering). I take a quick look at the headlines on my computer and then head outside to put out my bird feeders. I used to leave the feeders out, but last summer a bear came into the yard and destroyed them, so now I keep them inside the shop at night.
Once the bird feeders are reinstalled, I wander down our road for a couple hundred yards to the main road to pick up the local paper. Once back inside, I make myself a single cup of coffee with my French press and settle down with my computer to find out what’s happening in the world. I eat my breakfast standing up and surveying the view out of the living room window and feeling so fortunate to live in such a beautiful place.
After breakfast, it’s time to read the local paper and then do a little more surfing on the computer. Around 9:30 or 10:00, I’m ready to start my day. Typically that means I head out into the yard. However, since we got a Roomba last week, I’ve spent a lot of time just watching it roam around the house (strangely compelling). Perhaps it will lose its appeal after a few weeks...
Eventually, I make it outside. It doesn’t matter if it’s cold - I just bundle up. This winter I built the greenhouse and all the raised beds for the garden. Now that it is spring, I spend most of my time outdoors, mowing, edging, weeding, and anything it takes to try and keep the dozen or more planting beds looking as good as possible. Last week I installed a drip irrigation system in the very large bed in front of the house (I did the fruit trees and vegetable garden last month). It’s a lot like Tinkertoys for adults. I had fun doing it.
Lunch is usually between 12 and 1:00. If the weather is nice, we eat outside on the deck. After that, it’s back outside or into the shop. There are also critters to care for. Last month I made some bird houses for the yard and this one is now occupied!
Also, the hummingbird feeders need to be refilled regularly, and now I have new critters to care for.....bees!
Also, the hummingbird feeders need to be refilled regularly, and now I have new critters to care for.....bees!
Got my box of bees the last weekend in April. I got about 10,000 bees and one queen. While they have begun to forage, I also need to supplement their feeding with sugar water so the hive can grow to its expected size of 50-60,000 bees. Just watching the bees around the hive and coming back with pollen is also compelling. I may have to move a chair down near the hives so that I can observe for longer periods of time. It will probably be a year or more before I can harvest any honey, but hopefully the bees will help in the pollination of our garden.
Quitting time is somewhere between 2 and 4 p.m. The earlier time is when I just can’t resist the urge to sit in the lounge in the garden or in the hammock chair under the deck. After I finish my work for the day, I pour myself a cup of hot tea, some cold, artificially sweetened, reconstituted juice-like like product, or a beer. I sit down with a book and read until my eyes start to get heavy. I may close my eyes for a minute or 30, but I don’t actually take a nap. (Sue disagrees) Sue curates book recommendations for me, so I always have something good to read with very little effort on my part.
I was supposed to attend a week-long class at the Port Townsend School of Woodworking in April, but that was cancelled due to Covid. I’m hopeful it will be offered again soon.
While we haven’t done a lot of activities outside of our yard, we usually go for a walk on the Olympic Discovery trail a couple of times per week. Last week we drove to Fort Flagler and took a nice hike. We’ve taken a couple of bike rides and hope to do more now that the weather has gotten warmer. Golf courses are now open, so that’s on the agenda as well.
We usually watch a bit of TV in the evenings. While I’m a fan of everything dark, Sue likes to occasionally view something that’s not scary or creepy. In that vein, we both recommend Upload (10 episodes on Prime) and the movie Incredibles 2. We also both enjoy The Voice, even though my favorite - Zan, did not make the finale. Another series we just found is called Friday Night Dinner. It’s a British comedy on Netflix and it stars the woman from Episodes (another great choice if you’ve never seen it).
I go to bed exhausted and sore, but I love every minute of it. Next day I get to do it all over again. Ahhhh...life is good!
I’m Doug Lambeth and I approved this message! -DL
Quitting time is somewhere between 2 and 4 p.m. The earlier time is when I just can’t resist the urge to sit in the lounge in the garden or in the hammock chair under the deck. After I finish my work for the day, I pour myself a cup of hot tea, some cold, artificially sweetened, reconstituted juice-like like product, or a beer. I sit down with a book and read until my eyes start to get heavy. I may close my eyes for a minute or 30, but I don’t actually take a nap. (Sue disagrees) Sue curates book recommendations for me, so I always have something good to read with very little effort on my part.
I was supposed to attend a week-long class at the Port Townsend School of Woodworking in April, but that was cancelled due to Covid. I’m hopeful it will be offered again soon.
While we haven’t done a lot of activities outside of our yard, we usually go for a walk on the Olympic Discovery trail a couple of times per week. Last week we drove to Fort Flagler and took a nice hike. We’ve taken a couple of bike rides and hope to do more now that the weather has gotten warmer. Golf courses are now open, so that’s on the agenda as well.
We usually watch a bit of TV in the evenings. While I’m a fan of everything dark, Sue likes to occasionally view something that’s not scary or creepy. In that vein, we both recommend Upload (10 episodes on Prime) and the movie Incredibles 2. We also both enjoy The Voice, even though my favorite - Zan, did not make the finale. Another series we just found is called Friday Night Dinner. It’s a British comedy on Netflix and it stars the woman from Episodes (another great choice if you’ve never seen it).
I go to bed exhausted and sore, but I love every minute of it. Next day I get to do it all over again. Ahhhh...life is good!
