“What goes on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon, and on three legs in the evening?”
Finally we had some rain, last night and this morning. It has made for a day dark and dreary. I went out for my usual Sunday breakfast and brought some bacon to the car for Gracie who was patiently waiting. When I got home and got out of the car, I turned to get her and found she had jumped into the front seat, a spot she seldom likes. Well, the bacon was now on the back seat cover and no longer in Gracie so she had decided the front seat was the better option. I put her in the house, cleaned the car and then went back inside. What did I find but another dead mouse, this one on the floor of the bathroom. Back outside I went to fling the mouse into the brush next to my house. This has been an interesting morning.
The last week was a busy one for me from Thursday on through Saturday. I was a social whirlwind, at least in comparison to my usual schedule, and it was exhausting. This week looks to be quiet. That’s fine with me.
When I was working and much younger, the weekends were always busy with meeting friends, a little bar hopping, dinners out and all the chores like laundry and the dump. I’d fit everything into Friday night through Sunday afternoon then I’d spend that afternoon getting my teaching plans in order for the week. Sunday night I’d decompress and get ready for Monday. My energy seemed limitless back then. I was up early every day and up late every night and none the worse for wear. I now nap before I go out.
I always understood the Riddle of the Sphinx, but it was just a clever riddle to the younger me. The older me is part of it, closer to the evening than the afternoon; however, that hasn’t stopped me, but it sure as heck has slowed me down.
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March 25, 2012 at 11:50 am
Luckily, I am still going full speed with work and family. I always consider old to be at least ten years older than I am right now. Next month I will turn 65 and I don’t even think about retirement. When I was a kid people were given gold watches, a nice pension and then were kicked out the door of the companies they had served their entire working life. Today the pensions are almost a thing of the past and no one, except for the CEO, gets the gold watch. Today many of the baby boomer generation will have to work until their mental or physical conditions prevent them from doing their jobs. We are all living longer and healthier due to modern medicine.
The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) had a regulation that required airline pilots to retire at age sixty until four years ago. Many pilots fought for years to raise that retirement age to sixty-five. The regulation was put into place in the early 1960s when more people smoked, ate poorly, were overweight and became incapacitated at an earlier age. The story goes that C.R. Smith, the legendary CEO of American Airlines, told the first FAA administrator in 1959 that he would never get onto an airplane with a pilot older than sixty. The FAA then made the sixty year retirement age into a regulation. So much for scientific research. The retirement age was raised to sixty-five when our European friends raised their retirement age. How could we say that it is not safe to fly at sixty-five when their older airline pilots were flying just fine in our national airspace? However, the regulation prohibits having both a Captain and a First Officer both older than sixty on the same airplane. In this country the rule only applies to scheduled airlines. Private flying can be conducted by pilots of any age as long as they can pass the FAA medical. When private corporations fly their airplanes to Europe they have a problem because the Europeans, generally the French, don’t understand the concept of private flying and require that one of the pilots must be younger than sixty and both must be younger than sixty-five.
Kat, you are very lucky to still be alive and well in retirement. The statistics of retired airline pilots showed that many of them died within the first five years of retirement. Many died of boredom, some were murdered by their wives who didn’t enjoy having them at home under foot daily and others just drank themselves to death ;-).
I don’t ever want to retire. I will probably change my employment status to part time after I turn seventy and just keep on working, even if I need to walk with a cane, at a reduced schedule until I am lowered into the ground.
March 25, 2012 at 9:42 pm
Bob,
I’ll be 65 in August and thrilled I was able to retire 8 years ago. I have thoroughly enjoyed my life in retirement. I used to get up at 5:00, leave for work by 6:20 and was seldom home before 4. I never seemed to get enough sleep and could never do anything on weekdays because I needed to get up so early.
I think that you never need to be bored. There are so many things out there to do, and my friends and I get together often for dinner and a night of movies or games.
I figure it is my time to enjoy a life without work, and I have never regretted retiring young.
March 25, 2012 at 10:05 pm
You are fortunate to have a pension plan provided by the school district. This type of retirement benefit is a dying breed. If the former governor of your state and his like regain power in November, then our Social Security will be transferred to private investment vehicles similar to 401k plans. Unfortunately, these employee plans took a huge hit in the recent recession. But the Wall Street brokers got their commissions.
March 25, 2012 at 12:03 pm
It became a very nice and warm day here when the wind finally calmed down. I’ve been busy in my garden all weekend so time has just flown away 🙂 But this week has been a crappy one otherwise. But things look so much brighter now since my step son is getting better and even can eat without puke it up again 🙂
We’ve had very few mice this winter, I think I’ve heard two or three between the ceiling and the roof but that’s it. No signs of them inside the cottage though, but both cats and Nova eats them when they have caught one 🙂
We had so much more energy back then. I remember missing the last bus or streetcar home at night and thought it would be a great idea to walk home, a distance of 6 miles 🙂 🙂 today I’d rather stay at home 🙂 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
March 25, 2012 at 9:45 pm
Christer,
It was rainy most of today. My kitchen floor is all dog paw prints.
I haven’t done a thing in the garden, still early. I was thrilled with all the flowers which came from the bulbs I planted last fall. There are so many, and they are beautiful. Two falls ago the squirrels got them and few bloomed. The garden right now is alive.
I used to walk to and from school, a round trip of 8 miles.
March 25, 2012 at 5:01 pm
The sun was out today, but it went in again. I’ve been retired a long time. I miss the energy I had before I “retired”. Jewels is asleep, and I am hoping to get enough energy to work on some pastels later on. When I look around my home it’s hard to believe I had the energy to do so much painting and photography.
Waving,
Lori
March 25, 2012 at 9:46 pm
Hi Lori,
I have had a busy week so I’m taking tomorrow off to do nothing. Tuesday I may go to the movies to see The Hunger Games, but I really have little planned for the week.
Waving back!!