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Good morning everyone! It's 5:15 on a Monday morning and it still amazes me that instead of getting into my work clothes and heading off to work, I'm heading out the door to walk for a few miles, listen to the birds, and enjoy watching the world wake up. It never gets old.
Welcome to the July thread for Everyday Life in Retirement. This is the place to discuss that age old question of what retirees do every day. This is also the place for exercise journals, daily photos, anything that has to do with how we spend our time.
But right now, before I post too much, the morning is beckoning and I want to see the sunrise from the trail. Spent too many years seeing it while stuck in traffic, LOL--this is so much better. Better get going if I want to beat the rain, though. Today I'm taking a 2-mile walk to Heron Lake, but dh is sleeping in. "It's raining today, let's enjoy sleeping in," he says. Not my style--I've always been a person who wakes up early and to me retirement is all about seeing sunrises and then being free to take a long nap in the middle of the day.
It is raining in Kentucky - again. What a wet few weeks we have had - and really it has been a wet spring. On the rolling farmland that accompanies our drives nearly everywhere we go, the corn is about a third as high as an elephant's eye and the soy is barely visible. We are going for our walk regardless of the weather - hoping that there is no major downpour. We have gotten stuck in those before and that is no fun at all - especially when you are 3 miles from home on foot - make that soggy feet.
We primp in the yard every day, deadheading the geraniums, cutting armloads of hydrangea, pulling out the occasional weed. Lately there is no watering needed - even the pots remain soaked....small mushrooms are popping up everywhere and the fleshy petals of some of the flowers look bedraggled. Laundry always every day, hanging antique Imari plates today in the living room, grocery shopping for organic veggies at the farm store, ironing, service, exercising.
We fill the bird feeders almost constantly (we seem to buy sunflower seeds by the carload - make that boxcar load, LOL). There is a large fluttering chirping congregation of birds at the feeders each morning (we hear them singing in the dark before the sun rises). Fun to see the different personalities of each of the species. There is one particular blue jay that has managed to figure out how to open sunflower seeds - he gets a seed out of a feeder and hops to a long iron bar on the feeder and as he holds the seed in his mouth, he jack-hammers it against the iron bar until it opens then puts his head back and swallows the little seed...other jays try to mimic his method but can't seem to get the jackhammering correct and they fly off in a huff. Unlike the finches, cardinals, sparrows, cow birds and others, Blue Jays can't open sunflower seeds with their beaks but they are known for their problem-solving capabilities. Cardinals are the most territorial and cantankerous while yellow finches are the most skittish....robins take the longest, splashiest baths of all birds.
We have been catching baby chipmunks every day and transporting them to the nature park where they can join their relations....we call them Alvins and we have caught 56 Alvins since moving to Kentucky....they are so destructive in the garden! But really cute so we give them a long ride to a new home.
Monday always lunch out....this is our day today....actually this is our routine most days :-)
There is one particular blue jay that has managed to figure out how to open sunflower seeds - he gets a seed out of a feeder and hops to a long iron bar on the feeder and as he holds the seed in his mouth, he jack-hammers it against the iron bar until it opens then puts his head back and swallows the little seed...other jays try to mimic his method but can't seem to get the jackhammering correct and they fly off in a huff. Unlike the finches, cardinals, sparrows, cow birds and others, Blue Jays can't open sunflower seeds with their beaks but they are known for their problem-solving capabilities.
This reminds me of a Stellar Jay in Capitol Park, Sacramento, CA. He hung around in one particular spot in the park as did a number of squirrels. Occasionally I'd pause to feed the squirrels peanuts on my morning walk to get coffee then proceed to work. One day I held a peanut over my head and sure enough, he swooped-in and plucked it from my fingers, much like many of the squirrels did. That became a part of that early morning routine and he would swoop around me to get my attention whenever I stopped there.
This reminds me of a Stellar Jay in Capitol Park, Sacramento, CA. He hung around in one particular spot in the park as did a number of squirrels. Occasionally I'd pause to feed the squirrels peanuts on my morning walk to get coffee then proceed to work. One day I held a peanut over my head and sure enough, he swooped-in and plucked it from my fingers, much like many of the squirrels did. That became a part of that early morning routine and he would swoop around me to get my attention whenever I stopped there.
Isn't it great the ways we become more connected to the world around us after we retire? There are all sorts of things I see now that are becoming part of my everyday experience that I never even noticed when I was so busy busy busy with work.
This reminds me of a Stellar Jay in Capitol Park, Sacramento, CA. He hung around in one particular spot in the park as did a number of squirrels. Occasionally I'd pause to feed the squirrels peanuts on my morning walk to get coffee then proceed to work. One day I held a peanut over my head and sure enough, he swooped-in and plucked it from my fingers, much like many of the squirrels did. That became a part of that early morning routine and he would swoop around me to get my attention whenever I stopped there.
Aren't they something though...pretty smart aren't they? I have a friend who swears that starlings are as smart and capable of talking as parrots.
Isn't it great the ways we become more connected to the world around us after we retire? There are all sorts of things I see now that are becoming part of my everyday experience that I never even noticed when I was so busy busy busy with work.
So true Caladium - we know that we could never live any place where there weren't lots of trees, birds and open spaces....this soothes our souls and adds much to our happiness. The deer on the other hand.......pests
Isn't this repeating efforts since there is already the OTHER thread about the very same thing? Or are you going to do this for every month?
I'm glad you asked.
Yes, we are going to be posting a new thread every month. The reason is that a few people are using this for daily inspiration and have made a commitment to keep it going for 100 days. If these posts are successful and we meet our goals, we might keep it going a lot longer than that. One challenge with having a single thread to handle a daily, ongoing topic is you can end up with one really long thread that becomes cumbersome (especially considering the number of photos we'll have). So, we're solving that by starting a new thread each month.
I suppose each month we should probably post the links to the previous months. It's easy enough to do and might be helpful to those who want to know about daily activities in other times of the year.
2 mile hike to Heron Lake
Mini golf for an hour (lightweight exercise but every little bit of walking around helps )
Tai Chi
Stretching and maybe some situps later today
Notes:
Went on a sunrise hike this morning. The rest of the morning was spent with houseguests. My sister's family stopped by on their way to a week at the beach. We took them to minigolf, and then to a market to stock up for their trip. We had planned to also go to the Air & Space Museum out by Dulles Airport but this evening's forecast has them nervous, so by noon they decided to drive out ahead of the storm.
That's ok by me, it's fun to take little kids to a museum but it's even more fun to go on my own. That way I can take my time and read every single inscription if I want to.
Other activities for today include a long afternoon nap, the Nats game, and Book Club at our local library. This month we read "Beautiful Ruins." Interesting book--I highly recommend it.
I greatly amused the kids by taking photos in the market. But aren't they cute? They look like little pac-man figures!
Yes, the kids thought the squashes were photo-worthy, but then they said it was a little bit silly to take photos of peppers. I took it anyway because I thought they looked colorful. And hey, it coulda been worse! At least I didn't start singing "I'm a pepper, you're a pepper, wouldn't you like to be a pepper too...."
This photo and the next one are for people interested in the "Do You Look Your Age" thread. The man in this photo is 65, and his wife is 62. Do they look young for their age? Beats me, to me they like two people in great shape but I also think that they look their age because (after all) that is the age they are. I don't really know what 65 is supposed to look like anymore, anyway.
These are two of my family members, and I took this shot at Pt. Reyes National Park two weeks ago, after we had all gone on a long hike. Everyone in my family goes on daily walks and exercises more or less about as much as I do. And I think we look pretty fit for people our age, as a result. Now, don't get me wrong. We don't look like body builders. And some of us are heavier than others (though none of us are obese). Still, beefy or not, we all look like people who can easily hike ten miles without gasping for breath.
So, why mention this? Because I really do believe that if you want to have the vitality of people like this you can achieve it by doing things like taking a daily brisk walk and maybe doing a few other little bits of exercise every day. The thing is, you have to get a little bit aerobic about it (brisk walks, not just a stroll) and you have to do it day after day. You won't get much benefit from exercising just once or twice.
OK OK I don't want to have this turn into some sort of fitness lecture. I guess I just wanted to make the point to not be intimidated by the people who spend hours at a gym--or even by people like me who walk long distances. Do what you can and do a little bit more every day and most of all KEEP DOING IT and if you do keep doing it, you will eventually see results.
This family member is 59 and is making fun of the tai chi that I'm doing just a little bit down the beach. Which is fine by me--her bogus tai chi gave her plenty of exercise, too and we all got a good laugh. It was windy, by the way--no she is not super busty a la Dolly Parton, she just has a breeze blowing up her shirt.
And just in case you were wondering.... today is:
Creative Ice Cream Flavor Day
Zip Code Day
Gingersnap Day
Build a Scarecrow Day
Vitamin Day
Early Bird Day
It's also:
National Hot Dog Month
Cell Phone Courtesy Month
Eye Exam Month
Woman's Motorcycle Month
National "Doghouse Repairs" Month
A Question To Ponder:
It's Cell Phone Courtesy Month. Do you think seniors tend to be worse or better than the average person when it comes to cell phone courtesy?
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