With the new year upon us I am re-issuing this post about retirement being a new beginning. May the new year bring good health and much happiness your way.          A recent conversation with a friend at her nieces’ graduation party (one from college, the other from high school) provided the opportunity for me to show her that retirement is not an end but a chance to begin again and reinvent yourself. As we talked, she said she was looking forward to retiring – eventually – b

I can’t believe this is my 5th year-end post. Time sure has flown by since I escaped the corporate hamster wheel. Covid took most of the first 2 years but even those sped past me. It is certainly true that the older we get the faster time passes – and it makes sense since as we age, each year is a smaller portion of our whole life. It’s been yet another crazy year with some super highs and super lows. Thankfully more highs than lows, but throw in the election cycle and elect

With ratings, hits, and views being more important than worthwhile or accurate content, we are bombarded with “news” that is twisted to fit the core audience of whatever platform it’s on. Even once-reliably-objective sources have drifted to the right or left - a little further each year. And the advent of X, TikTok and a myriad of other platforms has enabled more precisely targeted messaging to ever more closed-minded audiences who take every post as the truth no matter how o

Those of you who have been following my blog know that I completed my quest to get to all 50 states back in 2017, visiting Oregon with my wife. As a surprise on that trip, she enrolled me in the All 50 States Club - https://allfiftyclub.com/ - which held its inaugural convention in early September in Franklin, TN a little south of Nashville.        I headed down a couple of days early to do some site-seeing in the area. Not being the honkey-tonk type, I opted to head directl

It is with great sadness but many thanks that I write this post about our local brewery closing at the end of the year - https://www.ashtonbrewing.com/        Opening just as Covid shut the country down was a huge hurdle to jump. Many regulars from the previous brewery at this location placed our orders online and queued up in our vehicles to pick up six packs and cases daily as we wanted to ensure the brewery’s success. We didn’t know it then, but we were starting to form th

Please remember those who served and sacrificed for our country, on this Veterans Day. A salute and thank you to all our veterans.               I wrote volume 1 of this post back in early November 2020 and revised it when Trump lost the election (yes, he really did). It is with great shock but little surprise that I write this updated version.     ----------------------- This is an opinion post that you may or may not agree with, but it’s something I’ve been feeling for se

With a major election upon us it’s time to think carefully about the candidates we choose to vote for.   If you watch TV or listen to the radio you are bombarded with ads for local and national candidates when election season rolls around. And if you’ve been paying attention to these ads, you’ve noticed that over time they have changed from telling you why you should vote for the candidate to telling you why you shouldn’t vote for the opponent. Those ads make me wonder what

This post was inspired by attending the recent Cowboys – Giants game at Metlife Stadium. The key word being “game”. Many fans of these divisional rivals have strong feelings for their team and perhaps even stronger feelings against the other team, so I expected to hear a lot of trash talking back and forth and to see a lot of posturing. Both were going strong in the parking lot before the game and got stronger in the stadium. For most fans, the good-natured ribbing is part of

It started out in the early spring as a way to help a neighbor who broke her ankle and couldn’t take her dog for walks. She has a fenced-in yard so the dog – Bailey – could do her business outside but needed exercise and to work off some energy. I needed both of those last things too as I was still getting used to my new hip (for those wise asses among you, we have indoor plumbing so I am good there).        I had never consistently walked a dog before as we’ve had cats that

I was recently at a meeting and started making small talk with those seated around me. As everyone had something in common – the thing that brought us to this meeting – there were many stories to hear and to tell.  One person at my table had the telling part down but wasn’t up to the listening part. He had great stories and loved to tell them, but immediately glazed over visibly when the other person in the “conversation” spoke. I was that person for a bit and actively liste

Friends are our lifeline in tough times, and we sure are in tough times right now. Whether you’ve got more friends than you can count or have only a couple of really close friends, interacting with them provides energy and lifts your spirits.        As the years go by, friends, like the tide, come in and out of our lives. We make new friends and some old friends drift away as our lives diverge. Kids make friends easily, but as we get older it seems harder to make new friends.

With companies bringing more of their employees back to the office I’ve had many conversations with still-working friends about the pros and cons of office life. The cons, other than commuting again, are, I thought, mainly about shifting from the convenience of being home. The pros are based on physically being with your team; improved communication, increased productivity, and the ability for ad hoc live sessions to address issues or work on planning.        A former co-work

Talking with several friends who are nearing retirement, the conversation quickly turns to finances and how to ensure there is enough money for the retirement they want. With that in mind, I am re-posting this one from early 2021to get the message out to readers who joined me after the original was written.        I’ve had this topic on my list since the beginning of this blog, but never got around to writing it until I was reminded of it when speaking with a friend who is re

We live in an increasingly disposable world. More and more products are made for single use then disposal or are created based on planned...

This post was originally released in the late fall a couple of years ago, but when we were recently able to open the windows for a few...

This started as a post about how we tend to become more cautious with age (I refer to this as part of the wisdom we gain through...

This post was inspired by a series of events that made a potentially bad situation much easier.        A few Wednesdays ago I was working...

Another post coming back, with a few updates, due to the current political climate as we barrel toward the presidential election with...

A few mornings ago when I went outside to get our paper – yes, we still get a real newspaper – a teenager from down the street was...

The ongoing heat wave has reminded me of the importance of listening to our bodies as we age so I resurrected this post from a few years...