What No One Tells You About Retirement

The truth about being retired, traveling and living in the sunshine in the winter is surprising. I know. You are dreaming of all that freedom and exotic living and tan line in places on your body that have never seen the sun. I understand. But SURPRISE...life happens, even in retirement!

He thought we were here laying in the sun but....

My morning started with a call from our stock broker. Now, if you had told me when we were young that I would actually have a stock broker let alone one what I actually liked and calls to just chat as well as take care of business, I would have said you were nuts. No way! But call he did.

He is in awe of the life we lead (maybe because he knows how much money we really have and cannot figure out how we manage it. ☺) We talked about the weather here in Tucson and I commiserated with him about the Oregon rain.

This what we were really doing.

Then he asked what we were doing today. I hated to burst his bubble but the answer was "The toilet is broken...yikes!" I almost hated to tell him. It was like taking a toy away from a child!

See, life happens even in our world of leisure and sunshine. In fact, we find that "life happening" is very time consuming and often wonder how we ever worked and still had time to sleep. We don't even have much time to play and sleep.

When we tell people that we are traveling they are so envious. Last week I told about writing blogs using the microphone technology on my iPhone because we were on the road. It all sounded very glamorous. But those that thought that did not see the "roads" we were traveling down. We were returning to Tucson after being away for 7 months. The drive from Oregon to Arizona is very long. We have come down every road between here and there. What we once loved is not so much fun anymore. We will fly back and forth soon. We love to travel but once we have gone down a road 15 time we are pretty much done.

Traveling through Nevada the "short way home"!

I did love this...the first time I saw it!

This is only the tip of the iceberg. There is much more no one ever told you about retirement. More later maybe.

Just some thoughts from b+ on a Wednesday (I think) afternoon.

Five Little Ducks...stories played out!

The children's song about the little ducks leaving the nest to fly away has always been one of my favorites. Every mother has seen their babies fly away and rejoiced. Life comes full circle. Animals live that same cycle. Babies grow up. Birds leave the nest. Life goes on. So when the three ducks show up every year near my patio I am not surprised. But I am puzzled that it always seems to be the same three. Something just doesn't seem right. It appears the one did not fly away at all. Five little ducks Went out to play Over the hills and far away. The mommy duck went "quack, quack quack," Four little ducks came swimming back... And then Three Two and One. A drake, a female duck (a hen) and a not quite a drake but still not a hen gather here on the 5th green of the golf course. She leads and the other two follow along obediently. They eat, sleep, and guard each other. Each and every day this time of year they come. I have not named them. Jinxing them would be very pos...

How to be a 12 Month Snow Bird

Vacation Rental in Mexico I live around snowbirds 6 months of the year. I have heard those people say that they all want to live the "snowbird" lifestyle when they go home. But it just is not possible. They are isolated and cold. Social activities with friends and beautiful weather are greatly missed when they return to the realities of their "real" life. One couple I visited with lately returned to Florida this morning where they own a home. The woman is a nurse and works in the summer. They are not going home until May this year. It is too cold in Michigan in the spring so they are hoping to extend their good weather season by simply staying away. Besides that they love their Florida lifestyle a lot. Last week I visited with a woman that lives the snowbird lifestyle year around. No going home to the Midwest in the spring. They essentially vacation 12 month out of the year. And I thought their solution for avoiding unpleasant weather and keeping their lifestyle in...

If You Build It, They Will Come...Maybe!

It all began with a antique window in front of a local shop. It had been painted yellow, the glass was loose and all of the hinges and latches were gone. My old friend Betty would have approved...she would tell me it was just broken enough and damaged enough for me to drag it home. When my dear husband saw it, he wondered what he was meant to do with it. Imagine his surprise when he was presented with the plan to build a small neighborhood library exchange. It wasn't the first time he had heard me ask "How hard could it be?" Now it is six weeks later and we mounted the darling little library exchange on two posts in our front yard. I love it. Now the question is, will they come or has the time passed when people actually read something made of paper? Our association president stopped by and admired the box but left after telling me that he only read books on his Kindle. We will see. Would you bring a book and take a book? b+

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