Ready, Set, GO!

I saw this on Twitter this morning. Even though it was a Tweet posted by an educator, it reminded me of the thought process some people have about retirement.

Did you feel like you had "arrived" when you retired? Or did you see a future beyond the gates of retirement and a whole world on the other side? It could be that what we see after that work life will simply be a self fulfilling prophecy. I do hope that you have or had many ideas to chose from. I think that is the key.

I suppose if you have always been an armchair kind of person you will not change now. But you can! That is the point.

The Point:  Don't ever feel that you have arrived...believe you can reach even higher! It just gets better and better.

Ready, Set, Go! Have fun!

Just a thought!

b+

Related articles

• Bringing a New Meaning to Retirement
• How Do You See the Future You?
• After All...What are Bucket Lists For?

Is there an Expiration Date?

My husband made plans with a funeral director this week for what we want when we die. It is all taken care of so I will never think about it again. By the way, this is not a sad thing at all. It is just doing a bit of planning so someone else won't have to do it years from now. I am sure I will have a lot of funny things to say about the plan in the future! Stay tuned!

Everyday living is how I would describe my life. There are many ordinary days strung together. I truly am in love with my way of life.

In an article called Everyday Miracles on  Retirement-Reflections, the writer asked the question:

What would you do if you believed you had less than five years to live?

She was given a possible diagnosis that would limit her life to just 5 more years. The fact that she is a newly retired woman living as though she had many years left. What would she do?

I paused for a second and it crossed my mind that, at our age, we really should be living as though we only have 5 more years to live. We should not waste time. That fact that we are taking care of those things that people of our age take care of is an indication we know life is finite.

I thought the writer of that article saw the possibility of only 5 more years in a whole different way and I like that. See, she was talking about living for 5 years not dying in 5 years. There is a big difference I believe.

As it turned out the diagnosis was wrong. She was not given an expiration date. But, in a strange way, that time she waited for her test results changed her life.

My first thought was, how hard would that be and then I remembered that I am living that stage of life where time is getting short. I am going to live my life as though I have 5 years to live even though I think I have a lot more...I have a lot to do.

I will let you know how it goes.

Be well.

b+

Related articles

• There are only 7 rules...how hard could it be?
• Just When I Thought NO ONE Was Watching!
• What Are Friends For?
• Why Should We Change Lanes?
• What can you control in your small world?
• How Do You See the Future You?

What does a snowbird's life LOOK like?

I know, it all sounds so wonderful...retirement, travel and maybe even a second home in Arizona or Florida. But don't you really having a hard time visualizing the life? If you have a great deal of money, it will look one way. If you don't, it will look another.

Our Tucson Arizona home...a park model on the corner!

Then there are those of us that live like we want to live. We probably even make choices that are less costly than they need to be but just fit our personalities. I thought maybe today I would give you a little glimpse into a very simple lifestyle. That is the one we live.

If you have any questions, just leave a comment! I you chose this lifestyle, how would you want to live?

b+

Our park model front porch after dark.

Flower Garden in front of our park model.

A special treat...golf at the Tubac Resort

The historic Presidio District near downtown Tucson

Outdoor plaza in the Presidio District

Just because!

Golfing with friends

My hand-me-down table and chairs...spray painted

Bocce Ball Tournament 

Taken on Arizona National Golf Course

Sightseeing in Tubac

Yes, it does snow and rain in Tucson Arizona

Rodeo Week Dance at the Elk's Club

Pink Martini concert, the Tucson Symphony

Our RV resort pool

Please DO-NOT Urinate on the golf course! It's creepy and illegal!

This really made me laugh. We received this email from our golf course in Arizona. It seems that some of the men cannot make it around 9 holes of golf without urinating so they have chosen the 7th hole as the designated unofficial urinal. The residents with homes on the course don't like it. It might even be a little creepy

This was not the first email has been sent out explaining to the men that they should not do this...it was one of those "once again with feeling...don't do that!" kind of messages. It went like this:

To all golfers: 

Again, it’s come to our attention that some members have urinated on the golf course. Please note we do have rest rooms available in the clubhouse and on hole #14. 

Arizona Golf Course...so many trees and
so many rules!

As before, if nature is calling please head to the closest facility. The folks who live on the course with their family do not want to see people relieving themselves in public.   

Here is the law regarding exposure: 

Arizona’s Laws on Indecent Exposure 

According to A.R.S. 13-1402: 

“Is peeing in public indecent exposure in AZ? 

Peeing in a public setting constitutes indecent exposure. An officer can arrest someone who is urinating by the side of a road because they are exposing themselves in an inappropriate manner. Although the offender may not know they are committing a sexual offense, the law still constitutes the exposure as sexual and indecent. 

Please DO-NOT Urinate on the course.Thank you!

I can tell that the golf course official writing the email was really mad...I corrected the misspellings and punctuation because that is what I do.

So, as you can see, it is not only creepy to pee on the golf course, it is also illegal! Wow...both creepy AND illegal.

We have the same problem here in Oregon on our golf course. Signs are posted asking the golfers to respect the neighborhood, etc. It has been an ongoing problem forever.

I recall an older lady calling the pro-shop to complain about a man peeing on a tree with in plain sight of her back window. She didn't know who it was but she could give them a vital piece of information...the man was left handed. I am sure that narrowed it down!

Is this a problem everywhere? I wonder.

b+

Related articles

• There Is A Rule for That!
• Lois, Let's Go to Bed So These People Can Go Home

I Would Like to do That But I Just Don't Want To

We were sitting with neighbors last night talking about wine and other important things. The conversation turned to retirement and how we all worried about filling the days without a schedule and a job. Would we be bored? How would it feel to be without deadlines and big responsibilities?

Many people move from a work schedule to a very busy life full of "stuff". I am even told by women of my age that they would like to read or walk or even have coffee with me but they are simply "too busy". Isn't that interesting? How could that be?

As I was reading an article on a blog site called Your Entrepreneurial Spirit this morning, it finally all came into focus for me. In the introduction I found this paragraph:

He drew me a picture! What a wonderful day.

Sogyal Rinpoche, author of “The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying” coined the term “active laziness” to describe how we attempt to live life to the fullest by filling the hours with too many unimportant activities.... Your Entrepreneurial Spirit

In today's world we are encouraged to live a full life brimming with activities, exercise and volunteer work. If we are to be fulfilled we must always be living in the moment and savoring the experience...or so I am told. If we don't do that, we are not worthy!

That is all very good but here is the thing...I would really like to do that but I just don't want to...so there you have it.

My days are filled with joy and the best day is one that has some contact with another. I simply love that part of my life. And I think because it makes me happy, it actually lifts the other person up too.

I do not fill my day with "active laziness" now. I suppose at one time or another I felt a tiny bit of panic because I woke and looked at a day with a lot of empty space. On this blog I have talked about the importance of a routine when the days loomed long. But, if something better presented itself, I would drop that routine in a second. I am never "too busy" for someone that is interested in spending time with me.

How about you? Do you fill your day with unimportant details just because...? I am interested in how you feel about your life?

b+

Related articles

• Have I Been Telling the Truth About Retirement?
• Bragging Right: Success in Retirement

I've Got This

The Oregonian posted their funniest cartoon today. Todays favorite was one from Non Sequitur. It features a group of people gathered around a grave with a tombstone that says simply "I've Got This". 

We have all walked up a path we knew nothing about. In the search for for a solution to a problem put before us, we have volunteer blithely. We put on a smug smile. After all we are sure that "We've got this". Then we journey to the brink.

Jeff in the cartoon above set out to find out how far one had to gone before a task turned from one demanding courage into the one that was just plain stupid. Jeff died in the quest. His tombstone tells it all. It is funny but it is also a little sad.

Boy do we have to be careful when we put ourselves into the line of fire with "I've got this!" because "not having it" can be a very bad thing.

The one that I have used many times before is "how hard could it be?". I remember heading out to see a cousin. He and his wife lived in a small community of about 900 people. I didn't have his address but I thought "how hard can it be?" Surely the gas station guy would know where Dale and Renee lived. Well, believe me, it was a lot harder than I thought it would be.

I said the same thing when we added a porch to our park model, when we added an Arizona room to the same structure, when we poured concrete (many time) and the list goes on. My husband runs and hides when I say "How hard could it be?".

I think Trump thought the same thing about being the President of the United States. After all, being President can't be complicated..."How hard can it be?" he thought. Then before long we heard him say "This is a lot harder than I thought it would be". I know how he feels.

...it's wireless. How hard could it be to not install wires?

I have learned that going on a quest without a plan is not a good plan and I should never say "how hard could it be?"

It is Friday and it is just a thought! What do you think?

On Gardening

I have always found a connection between growing a garden and raising my family. It may be that only a gardener would understand. It seems to me that taking care of the garden requires a love of gardening and a certain instinct for what the flowers and plants really need.

My husband and I share a garden so it sometimes becomes a tug of war. For many years he was sure that I was watering too much and was giving the plants too much food. I was positive that he let plants get stressed and hungry before he would give them what they needed.

In spite of our different views our garden did grow. Somewhere between the different philosophies was the perfect plan. In the end it seems we share a brain and it goes very smoothly now.

Auntie and Brayden

Family many years ago when
every grandchild was a baby!

We have raised a family and now have grandchildren and a great grandchild. It could that what we learned and took into our hearts during that time is why our garden grows with great gusto now. Like my children, the garden blooms and produces things that make us proud.

I like that.

So how does your garden grow?

b+

Oh How I Love Mother's Day (and my gifts)!

You have got to love children that know you so well that they actually read your mind. Those are the kind that get you things you didn't even know you wanted. You just really have to love those children.

I am now the proud owner of 3 (three) sleeves of brand new golf balls. Wow. They are all different brands so that makes it more fun...kind like doing a wine tasting experiment. I am happy.

I also received the cutest birdhouse/planter. I will hang on my back fence. I am sure it will have a nest in it before we know it. I like it a lot!

Then I got a cute black wire basket that will hold more junk...how did they know I had more junk than I had baskets? Pure genius you will have to admit.

Echo Dot

Then, as icing on the top of the cake I got an Echo Dot. (Yes Andy, I can order from Amazon now just by talking to Alexa. That is not such a bad thing actually.) I didn't know I wanted this device until I had it in my hands.

Remember when I was talking about forgetting blog ideas before I could walk across the room. When I sat down at the computer they would vanish. Now Alexa will keep those ideas in a to-do list for me. Plus I can build my grocery/shopping list just by telling Alexa to save it for me. This morning I told her to play jazz on my Amazon Prime account. It was wonderful. The sound is actually very good.

Oh my gosh. I am so happy.

How about you? Did you score big time.

b+

What do you have on your bedside table?

It seems like a foolish question but I wonder what your bedside table reveals about you. Do you even have one or are you one of those people that reserves their bedroom for sleeping?

Family Pictures?

My husband and I like our bedroom a lot and we spend time in that space not sleeping. You might find a cough drop, an iPad, remotes for TV, Apple TV and the cable on our stands. But there is also a book, crossword puzzle magazine and Kleenex. The Kleenex is on my husband's side even though he doesn't use it. My side has an inhaler. I would like to have a plant on my side but I haven't found just the perfect one. Maybe an African Violet...I like those a lot.

Do you have magazines on technology or shortwave radios or golf or design or hiking or living healthy or even your will? Is your book a murder mystery, a biography or a Harlequin Novel?  Does it have plans for your future or connections to your past? And what do those things have to say about you?

See what I mean? So...what do you have on your bedside stand?

Have a wonderful day.

b+

On Preaching to the Choir

My husband observed this morning that he must be hanging out in the wrong places online. When I asked him why, he told me that he just didn't see anyone saying anything good about President Trump. He loves Facebook because so many of his former students are following him. Maybe everyone that disagreed with him unfriended him back in December.

That comment got me to thinking about how we feed on our own ideas and opinions. We are simply blown away with our wonderful reasoning and thoughts. And we love preaching to the choir.*

A business in Hood River Oregon
posted this sign in front. I admired
their courage.

Could it be that by simply avoiding the views of other people we become lopsided in our opinions. In our own little world no one disagrees, we are saintly and kind and good and sure of our own place in the universe.

So if one day along comes a stranger with a different opinion, not a bad opinion yet somehow not the same as ours, we are shaken and surprised. We can forget about that other world, the one where people don't agree with us. We don't even realize that on those Facebook pages we do not see or cannot see, we are not considered to be correct.

I think there is a danger in that. My Facebook followers are people that feel like I do about pretty much everything. If they don't agree, they hide their opinions. When I post an article there, I can be almost certain that no one will disagree with me...it is very safe. In my personal life, we all agree to disagree and never talk about politics or religion.

I think that the reason we don't hear or see people saying good things about Trump is because we simply don't want to discuss our ideas with people that do like him...see what I mean? We avoid the experience even in our online life. I personally find it pretty hard not to disagree when I am among them and disagreement makes us all feel bad.

So would it help if I went outside my comfort zone and spent more time with those that don't agree with me? Could I change anything...perhaps even my perception of those that hold opposite views? Maybe I need to quit preaching to the choir and endure a little pain.

What do you think?

b+

*'Preaching to the choir' (also sometimes spelled quire) is of US origin. It clearly refers to the pointlessness of a preacher attempting to convert those who, by their presence in church, have already demonstrated their faith.

Related articles

• Just When I Thought NO ONE Was Watching!
• Fighting for My Good Barbara

Related articles

Do you get your news from me?

If you do, don't do that anymore. I am not a news agency. I am a blogger. Of course you all know that...except for a troll that climbed out from under a bridge somewhere.

It was a very good day over here yesterday. Someone that disagreed with me, a Trump supporter I suppose, told me I should be banned from the internet. I think that might be like not being allowed to travel if I am a Muslim but I am not sure. That line of thinking is going around these days.

The fact that I was called out for posting "fake new" made me laugh. I do not post the news. I just comment on what I think is a very scary time in history. And I am allowed to do that in America...saying what I think is alright isn't it.

And I still think the joke is on the conservative Republicans because I remember very well what their take on Affordable Healthcare Plan was at the beginning of the Obama era. But, having a short memory or even calling the truth a lie is okay these days too.

I have done a little extra digging (not depending on the News media stories for my memories) and I did find a "sorta" healthcare plan that the Republicans sponsored. The winners in that plan was the insurance industry with the focus being on limiting lawsuits. In an article written on Politifact I found the following information:

House Republicans offered an amendment in November 2009 that -- if it had passed, which it didn't -- would have replaced the House Democratic health care bill. It was much smaller (219 pages, compared to roughly 2,000 for the Democratic bill) and had a more limited scope. It relies on bedrock GOP principles: consumer choice, no tax hikes, limited government involvement and caps on lawsuits.

See, that is what I remembered happening. I thought at the time the Republicans were somehow lobbied to death by the insurance industry and I still believe the same thing.

I also looked up Consumer Affairs, the website that posted the information on the insurance industry raking in the money on the back of the consumers after Obama Care went into effect. Consumer Affairs has been reviewed and rated and does seem to work for a lot of people. The article called Health insurance industry rakes in billions while blaming Obamacare for losses! explains what happened after 2010 when the Healthcare Act became law.

But getting back to the comment. This is how it went:

AnonymousMay 9, 2017 at 4:17 AM

You're a friggin' liar. You should be banned off the internet for promoting fake news.
The pre-existing clause stays in Trumps new health care.
Go get a fuckin life, you loser.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/30/politics/trump-health-care-pre-existing-conditions/index.html

Sorry for the f#$% but still  you have got to think. WOW! Now this person could have made an argument for his take on the new law. Maybe he/she is right in a lot of ways. Yes, the pre-existing conditions are covered but...the cost to the insuree could be astronomical.

Republicans would have states set up "high-risk pools" for those with pre-existing conditions. There is no Congressional Budget Office score of the proposal yet, but the AARP has projected that premiums in high-risk pools could cost as much as $25,700 per year. CNN

So I want you to know,

1. I do not cover the news...I give my take on what is happening.
2. I love to get comments from those that disagree with me.
3. I have learned that those comments can go either way...I can get new information or I can be call a liar or worse.
4. You need to know that, if I am totally wrong, I will admit it. 
5. Hence, I had better have a back-up plan. :)
6. and I do have a life, thank you very much!

Have wonderful day.

b+

Dear Donald Trump and the Republican Party, The joke is on you!

English: Donald Trump speaking at CPAC 2011 in Washington, D.C. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Please be sure to read the article about insurance companies and healthcare insurance under Obama Care:
Health Insurance Industry Rakes in Billions While Blaming Obamacare for Losses.

See, the deal is a little over 8 years ago the Republican party and all those that supported a very conservative cause (the Freedom Caucus?) did not think that an Affordable HealthCare Act was even possible. It was communist/socialist in their eyes and evil. "What is the world coming too?" they asked.

Now look what is happening. They are not repealing the plan...they are replacing it! Even at its worst, the country will still have a healthcare plan and the joke is on them. I don't think that is what they had in mind.

However, the bad thing is that insurance companies and those that are unwilling to admit that we need to take care of each other want to do away with one of the most important clauses in the original plan in the new plan. They are putting cost cutting ahead of citizens with pre-existing conditions seeking coverage. They want to do away with the part of Obamacare that did not allow insurance companies to up insurance costs when you had a pre-existing condition. Discrimination against those people with major health issues was forbidden after Obama Care went into effect.

I talked to the wife of a man whose insurance would go up to $96,000 a year if the new plan goes through. He is suffering from heart problems and has cancer. Even though he is fairly young he has been retired for a couple of years. He will need to go back to work. She said that they had a very good retirement plan and then the Trump administration moved the goal line!

Let's hope that the joke is not on us in the end! Those people that have no idea what real health care is all about may be as heartless as we suspect they are. It is really frightening isn't it?

Oh and I might add...I don't understand why they are "replacing Obama Care/The National Affordable Heathcare Act" when they could be reworking it. Are they that frightened of the name Obama? Are they really that chicken? My oh my!

One more thing...I think that the culprit in the high insurance cost is the insurance companies. They may have made out like thieves for quite a while. I said this at the beginning of the article and I am saying it again. Read this article and think about it!

b+

Related articles

• In My Humble Opinion...Trump, Black Lives, World Tumult, Gun Control, Abortion
• Being "honest" in politics must be very hard! Photograph to prove it!
• Guns and Mental Illness: The View From My Front Porch