Seniors, How Do You Handle "Old Man Winter"?? (quality of life, school)

[notsothoreau]

We are looking into an area with light snow. Really, you just need the equipment to handle it or good neighbors to help out when it's beyond you. I used to live at 1700 ft and knew women in their eighties still living in their homes. They did not get out and shovel snow, but they did have someone that regularly cleared the driveway and checked in on them.

[gentlearts]

Originally Posted by Zenstyle

Heh! I thought the title of this thread was going to be "How do you handle Old Man Smell."
Now, on that subject, I would love to see responses!

I have a theory of what it is. To me, it smells like dirty hair and sometimes dry cleaning fluid. I think old people don’t have much hair, so maybe they skip the shampooing. And have you ever noticed how the area behind the ears get a smell (sebum) if it’s not washed every day?

[BabyBoomers2]

Since we won’t be buying/living in a house, we won’t have to worry about shoveling snow. Financially, can only afford to rent an apartment. Maintenance takes care of snow removal in those places.

Yes, we have lived in it before, but that was then. We definitely want to move back, but wife more than me, is concerned about the winter months. However, I do have high school classmates I graduated with in 1968, that still live, and have been living, in northeastern Indiana and complain very little about the winter months.

[in_newengland]

We never entertained the idea of moving south. Hate humidity and bugs, not to mention alligators. Here's a small picture of winter for older people:

Important things are friends and family and someone to clear the driveway so you can get out. We recently moved from a small rental house where we had to do all the snow clearing (or pay someone, and that gets expensive) to an apartment complex. I don't like winter with the cold and the bleak landscape but I am not dreading it anymore.

Now, when it snows, the maintenance people are out there in the morning with plows. I don't even have to worry about calling anyone or not being able to find someone to do it. My sole responsibility is to go out and move the car so they can plow my parking place.

The big problem with the cute house we had was clearing the front steps of ice and snow, then venturing out, shovels in hands, to clear a path to the car, and then getting a foot or so of **** snow off the car, then digging out around the tires, and finally driving it out, clearing some more, and putting the car back where it was.

If we didn't clear the car out every time it snowed, the snow would thaw during the day and then freeze. Good luck ever getting the car out. Good luck even getting out the front door, not to mention the driveway. Then we would be stuck for days, unable to get the car out, not able to get groceries or to get medical help if needed. There were numerous power failures where we lived and that meant the land line AND the cell phones were useless to call for help. (No you cannot always get out to your car to start it up and recharge your cell phone--not if you can't even get out your front door, it is glare ice all the way to your car, and the car doors are frozen shut!)

Moving to the apartment complex has solved all of those problems. Much as I dislike apartment living, it's something that often comes with age. As I said, I do not dread winter anymore. Don't like Old Man Winter but I am not afraid of him now.

[JonathanLB]

Wow... if there even IS an "annual snowfall" I wouldn't move there :P I like annual rainfall about 4-5 inches, 0 snow. That's weather!

[BabyBoomers2]

Well, an average of 41 inches of snowfall per year is better than the 66 inches we had when we lived in Colorado before.

We also found out, during our visit to northern Colorado this past July, that we can breathe better at 4,982 feet than we can here at 16 feet above sea level. When we got back to Jacksonville and stepped outside of the airport, the humidity really, really hit us.

Of course, winters in northern Colorado aren't nearly as bad as Wisconsin and Minnesota or even Buffalo New York. Actually, Buffalo is known as the "ice box" of America.

[BabyBoomers2]

Originally Posted by JonathanLB

Wow... if there even IS an "annual snowfall" I wouldn't move there :P I like annual rainfall about 4-5 inches, 0 snow. That's weather!

Well, there is one thing that is fact...…….there are Seniors that have absolutely no problem handling snow/cold and those that hate it and absolutely won't live in it.

Another thing, unfortunately, not all Seniors can afford to be "Snowbirds". Actually, even if we could, which we definitely can't be, "Snowbirds", we would never have a summer home anywhere in Florida. Nope, no way.

[blueherons]

My Aunt's BFF was 85 and her boyfriend 86 and they would get up every morning in Wyoming and heard cattle by horseback.

I would imagine you just keep doing things.

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by mamasplace

This post made me smile... left the northeast 8 years ago for the South.
Southern winters, much to my surprise, have been very damp. Unexpected...
Anyway there are days here in NC that I wish it would snow because I am freezing anyway...

A lot of this is very familiar. I've observed that the common practice of taking seasonal vacations
is so common because IT WORKS! It can be a bit pricey when done without care...
but if you can do the math right then the 40 weeks in a moderate COL area will afford 12 weeks away.

Next up is to live south for 40 weeks then summer up north.
But it really doesn't cost a whole lot less.

...not a good source of heat here where I am.

The RE agents seemed almost alarmed by my eagerness to have Natural Gas service.
The anecdotes led to "lot of the natives seem afraid of it". FHA or boiler with gas it works.

[OldManWinter]

That's certainly a good question to ask me.