Busy Thursday
My wife and I are both retired.
We're both 66.
I've been fully retired for over four years.
My wife retired from her full-time job as a computer programmer at the same time, but took a part-time job at the West Bloomfield Post-Office.
But that became a hairball, so she quit.
We've found ourselves inundated with way more errands and medical appointments than we had while working.
Used to be they were all kept track of by putting the appointment cards on our refrigerator door.
Now we have to keep a schedule.
Plus every errand takes at least 25 minutes. We live in the tiny rural town of West Bloomfield in Western NY, southeast of Rochester. About 25 minutes from everything. Rochester is at least 45 minutes, and that's just to the southern border.
Factored in are -1) walking our dog, -2) working out in the Canandaigua YMCA Exercise Gym, and -3) mowing lawn.
—Our dog is an extremely high-energy Irish Setter.
I feel obligated to walk her as much as possible.
Commit to a high-energy dog, and that's what happens.
We try to do a long walk in the woods every morning.
The dog loves it; a hunting dog.
That's the first walk of the day.
There are at least two-or-three more walks.
Each is to a nearby town park.
All it is is athletic fields, but our dog loves that too.
Often there are geese or killdeer or crows in an adjacent cornfield.
And there's always the chance a mole can be snagged in a grass tuft.
The second walk is at 12:30 or so. And whether there's one or two more additional walks is a function of when the third walk is at.
4 o'clock makes a fourth walk possible. Later, can't do it.
—Working out at the YMCA seems to be a requirement.
I have to do it to continue walking our dog, and stay alive.
I try to do it three days a week.
Sometimes it gets scotched by conflicting appointments — sometimes I'm down to one day a week, or none.
Just getting to the Canandaigua YMCA is 25 minutes.
Working out is 3-4 hours; usually four, if I can get all the exercise machines I want.
So at least five hours gets chewed up, often more if I run errands in Canandaigua after the YMCA.
Sometimes I have to get on the Thruway after the YMCA to run another errand.
6-7 hours total.
Plus my car may need gas; another 10-15 minutes.
—Mowing lawn gets wedged in.
We're mowing at least three acres.
Thankfully we use a zero-turn, which cuts mowing time in half compared to our old mower, which had to be set up for each mowing-pass.
A zero-turn is a special design with separate drives to each drive-wheel, so it can be spun on a dime. “Zero-turns” are becoming the norm.
I mow in four segments; two about an hour each, the front is about a half-hour, and the back about two hours.
But the front got away from us last week; the grass was at least eight inches high, probably more.
The zero-turn cut it, despite stalling at least four times.
My impression was that it shoulda been cut four days earlier; but things were conflicting, probably errands and appointments, dog-walking and rain.
Yesterday (Thursday, May 13, 2010) was a sterling example.
We got up about 6:45, intent on walking the dog at nearby Boughton Park, but first putting away the dishes and breakfast.
Arrived at Park about 8:30.
Returned home about 10:30 — a trip to Boughton Park is at least 10 minutes.
Various post-park processing (e.g. a shower), and it's pushing noon, when a serviceman from Lang Heating is to arrive.
“I'm outta here at 2 for a medical appointment at Urology Associates of Rochester at 3,” I told him.
“I should be outta here by then,” he said.
Off to Urology Associates of Rochester at 2:15 — takes at least 40 minutes to get there.
Back from Urology Associates of Rochester via the gas-station by 4; take dog for walk.......
Wedge nap in afterward, and thereby delay supper until 8 p.m.
Pet dog after supper, at least 10-15 minutes; do various processing until bed-time; bill-paying, etc.
To bed at 11:30.
A wild rocket-ride.
And that's the way it's been all week — wedge in a plumber to fix our kitchen faucet, something I coulda done myself, but that would have involved a journey to a plumbing supply — perhaps two journeys; that's how these things go.
Plumber Monday (May 10) and luncheon of Transit retirees Tuesday, May 11.
Today (Friday, May 14, 2010) I had to return from the YMCA, and Lowes, and Wegmans, in time to sign a contract for our giant fence-project.
We're fencing over three acres of our 4.7, so our dog can run freely, unleashed, in safety.
Shortly after the fence-contractor left our new lawnmower was delivered. A 48-inch cut residential zero-turn.
A while ago a friend younger than me, who still works, commented about retirees being lazy, no-good layabouts.
True, I'm no longer beholden to an alarm-clock; which at Transit was brutal; often 3 a.m.
“You have no idea!” I shouted. “Retire and you'll be up against the wall.”
We need a vacation from retirement.
• My wife of 42+ years is “Linda.”
• Our current dog is “Scarlett;” a rescue Irish-Setter. She’s almost five, and is our sixth Irish-Setter. (A “rescue Irish Setter” is an Irish Setter rescued from a bad home; e.g. a puppy-mill. By getting a rescue-dog, we avoid puppydom, but the dog is often messed up. —Scarlett isn't too bad.)
• The “Thruway” is the NY State Thruway, Interstate-90 from the PA state line to Albany, and Interstate-87 south to New York City. It's a toll road, and travels south of Rochester. I use it to get quickly west.
• Boughton (“BOW-tin” as in “wow”) Park is where I run and we walk our dog. It used to be a water-supply.
• Our “zero-turn” is our 48-inch riding-mower; “zero-turn” because it’s a special design with separate drives to each drive-wheel, so it can be spun on a dime.
• Lang Heating & Cooling; annual maintenance.
• Urology Associates of Rochester; a follow-up prostate exam.
• “Transit” equals Regional Transit Service, the transit-bus operator in Rochester, NY, where I drove transit-bus for 16&1/2 years (1977-1993). My stroke October 26, 1993 ended that.
• “Wegmans” is a large supermarket-chain based in Rochester we often buy groceries at. They have a store in Canandaigua. (“Canandaigua” [“cannon-DAY-gwuh”] is a small city to the east nearby where we live in Western NY. The city is also within a rural town called “Canandaigua.” The name is Indian, and means “Chosen Spot.” —It’s about 15 miles away.)
We're both 66.
I've been fully retired for over four years.
My wife retired from her full-time job as a computer programmer at the same time, but took a part-time job at the West Bloomfield Post-Office.
But that became a hairball, so she quit.
We've found ourselves inundated with way more errands and medical appointments than we had while working.
Used to be they were all kept track of by putting the appointment cards on our refrigerator door.
Now we have to keep a schedule.
Plus every errand takes at least 25 minutes. We live in the tiny rural town of West Bloomfield in Western NY, southeast of Rochester. About 25 minutes from everything. Rochester is at least 45 minutes, and that's just to the southern border.
Factored in are -1) walking our dog, -2) working out in the Canandaigua YMCA Exercise Gym, and -3) mowing lawn.
—Our dog is an extremely high-energy Irish Setter.
I feel obligated to walk her as much as possible.
Commit to a high-energy dog, and that's what happens.
We try to do a long walk in the woods every morning.
The dog loves it; a hunting dog.
That's the first walk of the day.
There are at least two-or-three more walks.
Each is to a nearby town park.
All it is is athletic fields, but our dog loves that too.
Often there are geese or killdeer or crows in an adjacent cornfield.
And there's always the chance a mole can be snagged in a grass tuft.
The second walk is at 12:30 or so. And whether there's one or two more additional walks is a function of when the third walk is at.
4 o'clock makes a fourth walk possible. Later, can't do it.
—Working out at the YMCA seems to be a requirement.
I have to do it to continue walking our dog, and stay alive.
I try to do it three days a week.
Sometimes it gets scotched by conflicting appointments — sometimes I'm down to one day a week, or none.
Just getting to the Canandaigua YMCA is 25 minutes.
Working out is 3-4 hours; usually four, if I can get all the exercise machines I want.
So at least five hours gets chewed up, often more if I run errands in Canandaigua after the YMCA.
Sometimes I have to get on the Thruway after the YMCA to run another errand.
6-7 hours total.
Plus my car may need gas; another 10-15 minutes.
—Mowing lawn gets wedged in.
We're mowing at least three acres.
Thankfully we use a zero-turn, which cuts mowing time in half compared to our old mower, which had to be set up for each mowing-pass.
A zero-turn is a special design with separate drives to each drive-wheel, so it can be spun on a dime. “Zero-turns” are becoming the norm.
I mow in four segments; two about an hour each, the front is about a half-hour, and the back about two hours.
But the front got away from us last week; the grass was at least eight inches high, probably more.
The zero-turn cut it, despite stalling at least four times.
My impression was that it shoulda been cut four days earlier; but things were conflicting, probably errands and appointments, dog-walking and rain.
Yesterday (Thursday, May 13, 2010) was a sterling example.
We got up about 6:45, intent on walking the dog at nearby Boughton Park, but first putting away the dishes and breakfast.
Arrived at Park about 8:30.
Returned home about 10:30 — a trip to Boughton Park is at least 10 minutes.
Various post-park processing (e.g. a shower), and it's pushing noon, when a serviceman from Lang Heating is to arrive.
“I'm outta here at 2 for a medical appointment at Urology Associates of Rochester at 3,” I told him.
“I should be outta here by then,” he said.
Off to Urology Associates of Rochester at 2:15 — takes at least 40 minutes to get there.
Back from Urology Associates of Rochester via the gas-station by 4; take dog for walk.......
Wedge nap in afterward, and thereby delay supper until 8 p.m.
Pet dog after supper, at least 10-15 minutes; do various processing until bed-time; bill-paying, etc.
To bed at 11:30.
A wild rocket-ride.
And that's the way it's been all week — wedge in a plumber to fix our kitchen faucet, something I coulda done myself, but that would have involved a journey to a plumbing supply — perhaps two journeys; that's how these things go.
Plumber Monday (May 10) and luncheon of Transit retirees Tuesday, May 11.
Today (Friday, May 14, 2010) I had to return from the YMCA, and Lowes, and Wegmans, in time to sign a contract for our giant fence-project.
We're fencing over three acres of our 4.7, so our dog can run freely, unleashed, in safety.
Shortly after the fence-contractor left our new lawnmower was delivered. A 48-inch cut residential zero-turn.
A while ago a friend younger than me, who still works, commented about retirees being lazy, no-good layabouts.
True, I'm no longer beholden to an alarm-clock; which at Transit was brutal; often 3 a.m.
“You have no idea!” I shouted. “Retire and you'll be up against the wall.”
We need a vacation from retirement.
• My wife of 42+ years is “Linda.”
• Our current dog is “Scarlett;” a rescue Irish-Setter. She’s almost five, and is our sixth Irish-Setter. (A “rescue Irish Setter” is an Irish Setter rescued from a bad home; e.g. a puppy-mill. By getting a rescue-dog, we avoid puppydom, but the dog is often messed up. —Scarlett isn't too bad.)
• The “Thruway” is the NY State Thruway, Interstate-90 from the PA state line to Albany, and Interstate-87 south to New York City. It's a toll road, and travels south of Rochester. I use it to get quickly west.
• Boughton (“BOW-tin” as in “wow”) Park is where I run and we walk our dog. It used to be a water-supply.
• Our “zero-turn” is our 48-inch riding-mower; “zero-turn” because it’s a special design with separate drives to each drive-wheel, so it can be spun on a dime.
• Lang Heating & Cooling; annual maintenance.
• Urology Associates of Rochester; a follow-up prostate exam.
• “Transit” equals Regional Transit Service, the transit-bus operator in Rochester, NY, where I drove transit-bus for 16&1/2 years (1977-1993). My stroke October 26, 1993 ended that.
• “Wegmans” is a large supermarket-chain based in Rochester we often buy groceries at. They have a store in Canandaigua. (“Canandaigua” [“cannon-DAY-gwuh”] is a small city to the east nearby where we live in Western NY. The city is also within a rural town called “Canandaigua.” The name is Indian, and means “Chosen Spot.” —It’s about 15 miles away.)
posted by BobbaLew at 1:04 PM
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