April, 2016 | Easin' Along

Easin’ Along – A Reflection on Retirement

Posted on April 29, 2016January 2, 2017 by Easin' Along

We’ve had an active year up until this week but, with nothing really noteworthy to share with readers since our trip to America’s Heartland, I thought it would be a good time to pen a few thoughts about retirement since we began Easin’ Along this path sixteen months ago. I will also observe my 69^th birthday this year and, while I’m not sure if that adds anything to this assessment, my age undeniably factors into my thinking on almost everything.

In August of 2015 I called it quits. The decision to retire was complicated by only one thing…I enjoyed the job I had at the time. After almost twenty years as a small volume home builder, I had made a transition in 2008 to doing some home inspection work for both HUD and the State of Tennessee that eventually evolved into a part time position. While home building was rewarding in many ways, it could be stressful and often required long hours under all types of working conditions. The inspection work however was like a new burst of freedom. I was given a nice truck, a list of properties, and the enviable task of driving throughout the incredibly beautiful countryside of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina without a care in the world. Nevertheless, I had an itch to travel, and I was still in good health, so I decided to take my stepfather’s advice and see the world (or at least America) before I was “dragging one leg behind me” as he likes to say.

Three days after leaving the work force, Helen (adorable wife) and I took off on a five week trip (detailed in Easin’ Along posts) just to allow us to scratch the travel itch a bit and allow me to decompress a lot. I then returned home to a “Now what?” state of mind and proceeded to stare at the walls for almost two weeks when not peering into job openings posted online. I knew that there had to be more to retirement than this. Ultimately, those instincts proved to be right.

Now, going into a new year and sixteen months after hanging it up, I have drawn a few conclusions about life as a retiree and want to share my thoughts and am eager to have yours as well. Please know that these thoughts and conclusions are unique to me so I invite you to use the comments section below to add to or expand on anything you read here.

Things I Miss About Working:

There are things I miss a little and some things I miss a lot….here’s a few of the ‘misses”.

1. A regular paycheck. It wasn’t just about money. Every check was an acknowledgement of hard work and that every penny I ever received was earned. I always had a sense of pride whenever I was rewarded with pay for my efforts.

2. I miss friends I made through working. Over my many years of building homes, I met many incredibly fascinating people. Some were not well educated, but nonetheless very intelligent, extremely skilled, and always hard working. While a very, very few were perpetually adrift, most had the same hopes and dreams for themselves and their families as I did. The vast majority were simply good people and fun to be around. After the housing meltdown in 2008 I lost touch with a lot of them…very sad.

3. I miss being required to keep up with technology. As a home builder I was exposed to computer applications, used primarily for estimating and financial data, but most of that was done by someone other than me. When I was hired for inspector work, I was in a whole new world. I was hired online, given a laptop, a smartphone, about ten passwords, and required to begin and end my day on a computer. A year passed before I met my boss…we communicated by email or text. I had to catch up quickly and took a couple of weekend courses in MS Excel. In retrospect, it broadened my horizons greatly. I now work real hard to stay connected which is why I created Easin’ Along.

4. I miss being in daily contact people younger than me. My association with younger workers helped keep me abreast of so much of what was happening in the world today. They had a vast amount of information about sports, pop culture, technology, even politics. Admittedly, I was shocked about how much of their knowledge came from television and social media and how little came from reading, but that’s the world we live in.

5. In a small way, I miss the fact that Friday doesn’t mean as much anymore. I always looked forward to Friday.

Things I Love About Retirement:

1. I love that I don’t have to be in a hurry all the time. When working, I always seemed to be in a rush whether it was squeezing in a movie, a weekend trip, or another meeting. There was an endless and pervasive sense of being tugged in another direction.

2. I love that I have time to focus on what’s really important. My health is important – I had not participated in regular exercise in years. I now go to the YMCA four times a week. My faith is important. I am able to attend church activities and enjoy them immensely. My family is most important and I am able to commit time to them without worry of neglecting some work requirement.

3. I can explore things that have always interested me…and a few that never occurred to me. Rather than endure a class required by my insurance company on “ladder safety” or a corporate mandate to learn how to avoid harassment in the workplace, I can take a class on photography; write a short story; or learn about the history of blues music, an art form that previously wouldn’t have been given a second thought.

4. I love that I have the option to react spontaneously when an opportunity for fun or for learning comes along that is too good to pass up…I can grab it and go as we did recently by visiting friends in the mountains.

5. I love it that I have finally been able to shrug off all guilt about taking an opportunity to sit, do absolutely nothing, and savor the moment. As an old Tennessean once shared with me, “Sometimes I sits and thinks…and sometimes I just sits”. I can do that now.

6. I love that Monday mornings aren’t quite as frantic as they used to be.

There are still things I need to work on. I need to make better use of my newly acquired freedom and reach out more often to friends who are important to me. I’m an introvert with an intense dislike for the telephone and avoid it like the plague. Picking up a phone to make contact with someone is not easy. I try to have breakfast with someone at least twice a month, but that’s not enough. I want my friends to know that I haven’t cut anybody off…please stay in touch. I’ll try to do better.

I also need to be more supportive of worthy causes. There are plenty out there and lack of time is not an excuse I can use anymore. Again, I intend to work on it.

From the beginning of our weekly postings we said were embarking on a “Slow Walk Through the Golden Years”. In all honesty, it took some time to recognize what a beautiful walk this can be and adjust our pace in order to slow down and enjoy the journey. Yeah, we miss a few things about working, but believe strongly that slower is better, and that retirement is an awesome gig.

To summarize it all after the first full year, there’s no turning back now…we’re truly Easin’ Along.

Fundamentals

A Blogger Needs a Writing Desk

Posted on April 15, 2016April 15, 2016 by Easin' Along

I love my man cave. Everything I need is in here—comfy chair, man-size HDTV, large desk, sound system, big windows, you name it, I have it…or at least I thought I did. A few months back however, I discovered I was one piece of furniture short.

My disk is situated so that the television is to my back in order to avoid being distracted when I am working at the computer. I may have the television on if I’m just web surfing, but if I need to focus intensely, I usually have music playing in the background as I noted in an earlier post of Easin’ Along.

Around the first of this year I had a project (can’t remember what) that was simple enough even for me, a one-ball juggler. I reasoned that I could handle whatever it was that I needed to do and still watch football at the same time. I moved a folding table into the man cave and set it up in front of the television and began multi-tasking. In my mind, this was a temporary set-up and the table would disappear as soon as it had served its purpose.

After the project was completed I noticed that the “temporary” table had assumed a life of its own. Suddenly the table became a handy resting place for a few extra papers. My camera also had found a home there while waiting for the next batch of blog pictures to be downloaded. I found that it was more comfortable reading the newspaper while facing the television instead to turning to my right as I was doing now. Removing the temporary table was getting more difficult and ultimately I waved the white flag and admitted that I needed another piece of furniture in my beloved man cave.

Fully aware that Helen (adorable wife) was not going to tolerate a Sam’s Club folding table sitting out in plain view on a permanent basis, I put it away and went looking for an acceptable replacement.

I was also aware that furniture is expensive, and since I’m too tight to buy something new, I began to scour the thrift shops and flea markets periodically in search of a two foot by four foot writing table…with character. It wasn’t easy. I found one table advertised on Craigslist that was in an indoor flea market on the south side of town, but it just didn’t have the right “vibe”. Eventually I settled for a table I found in the Habitat for Humanity Thrift Store that was the right size and came in within my price range…$25.

This table functioned well, but the top was supported by legs that crossed in the middle rather than by the usual four legs and it was unstable. It rocked back and forth a little when writing on it. Also, the legs robbed me of the space I used for a small footstool that I had become very accustomed to having. This table would do in a pinch, but I remained in the market for something else.

I continued to resist the idea of buying something new, but I had exhausted the available thrift stores and decided to visit a store that sells unfinished wood furniture. There it was. The table was exactly two by four and very solidly made. The only problem was that the table had a price tag of over $200…couldn’t force myself to do it. Man, I’m tight.

As we all know, we’re living in the digital age, and there are lots of shopping options out there so when I got back to my computer, I searched Amazon for an unfinished wooden writing table…bingo. The very same table I had just walked away from was listed on Amazon for $100 with free shipping. Admittedly, I was going to have to assemble and finish it, but, what the heck, I’m just an old retired guy, and this would be the perfect retirement activity. I pulled the trigger and the table was delivered to my front door in three days.

In our previous home I had a wood shop in our basement and I had done some wood refinishing in the past and really enjoyed it. My favorite project was refinishing a solid wood picnic table that my brother-in-law no longer wanted but is now one of my most prized possessions. I was eagerly looking forward to taking on another project and the garage would have to be my wood shop for a few days.

Assembling the table was no big deal in that it only required the attachment of four legs using eight nuts, eight washers and eight lock washers. This took less than five minutes.

There was no need to sand the table–it was as smooth as glass. According to the paperwork that came with the product, it was made in Viet Nam from the wood of the rubber tree.

Before staining, I applied a coat of Pre-stain conditioner to help the wood absorb the stain more evenly. I learned about the necessity for conditioning when I tried to stain some window trim once without it and the wood ended up looking like a piece of marble with big streaks running through it. The conditioner dries in about fifteen minutes. It was time to apply the first coat of stain.

The furniture in the man cave is a dark shade of red so I chose a stain that I hoped would get me close and picked MinWax Sedona Red. I apply stain with a cloth rather than a brush because it seems to go a little faster and I have more control of a rag than I do with a brush. I used a Q-tip for the tight inside corners. Rubber gloves are essential for this task or else your hands will be stained for several weeks.

Each coat of stain requires about three hours to dry before applying another coat. I used three coats for this table to get it near to the color of my desk, and although I couldn’t get a perfect match, I was able to get it close enough to avoid a clash.

Stain - three coats — Stain – three coats

I let the final stain coat dry overnight before I coated the table with polyurethane. Again, I chose a MinWax product in a clear semi-gloss. I like the glossier coatings over the satin because the finish is a little harder. For this application, I used a china bristle brush and applied in long, even, brush strokes. Polyurethane takes about three to four hours per coat to dry and a little light sanding between each coat to prepare the surface for adhesion. I do this with sanding sponges in a 220 (fine) grit. After two coats, I decided to apply one more coat to the table top only since the legs and sideboards were fine. This meant that the final coat would be applied the next day.

Polyurethane - first coat — Polyurethane – first coat

Finally, three days after arrival, I had a new writing table resting comfortably in the man cave with my footstool underneath where it belongs. I hope you enjoy the pictures of my latest project. Let me hear about some of your projects in the comments section below.

Every blogger needs a good writing table and every retiree needs good activity. With both of my needs fulfilled for now, I’ll be Easin’ Along.

Fun

Blues on a Sunday Afternoon

Posted on April 8, 2016May 5, 2020 by Easin' Along

One of the unexpected surprises of retirement has been my decision to fill some of the available time with music. It’s surprising because music, like math, is not something that comes easily to me. I can’t write music, I don’t read music and I definitely can’t sing music, but, in the past, I have derived great pleasure from listening to music. Upon entering retirement however, I soon realized that music has value beyond being just sound projected from a car radio.

While sitting at my computer in the man cave and crafting eloquent blog posts for Easin’ Along, I discovered early on that it’s a lot easier to concentrate if easy listening, or light classical music is playing in the background instead of Sports Center or cable news. Soon I was digging out a number of CD’s from a large box that had been stored in the attic and playing them on a decade-old CD player that I connected to a Bose Radio. Being cursed with a somewhat obsessive personality, I next found myself pouring through the racks of a used CD store searching for more melodies to marinate the man cave. A new retirement activity had suddenly, and surprisingly, been born.

Equally surprising was that I discovered that my preferences for different types of music was wider in range than I had thought previously. I have a very large collection of 60’s and 70’s music on my MP3 player that I listen to when I work out at the YMCA. This has been my usual “go to” form in the past. Now however, good Mozart piece stirs me on occasion. I am fond of classic country music, and I LOVE Bluegrass.

Thanks to the satellite radio in Freddie (my car) I have recently tuned in to 70’s folk music, bluegrass gospel, and even some disco. It’s been fun and I’m certain that I will explore some more forms as I dig a little deeper into the CD stack and move further down the radio dial.

I know what I don’t like too. That list includes the music I don’t understand like hip-hop, new age, or rap. I’ve never been a fan of hard rock or heavy metal.

About a week ago I received an email from a friend who was promoting a concert of Blues music being given by the Smoky Mountain Blues Society on the following Sunday afternoon. My only other exposure to the Blues had been a trip with some friends last year to the Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale, Mississippi which I enjoyed very much. In trying to decide if I really wanted to go, I thought, “why not”, for once a concert was being held before my bedtime…I bought a ticket.

*Blues singer – Juke Joint Festival, Clarksdale, MS*

The concert was held in an old building that had been converted into an entertainment venue in a revitalized part of town. There were about 125 people in attendance of all ages including a 30-something young lady who danced throughout the entire concert. She obviously had some professional experience and paused just long enough to take the picture shared below.

The Golden State Lone Star Blues Revue is composed of five gentlemen, several of whom are award winning blues musicians. Mark Hummel is the lead singer and blues harpist (harmonica). He is joined in the group by guitarists “Little Charlie” Baty and Anson Funderburgh. R.W. Grigsby plays bass, and Wes Starr plays the drums (a note of interest is that he holds the drumstick in his left hand between his index and middle finger).

Wes Star, Drum

Together they are sensational and Mark has to be one of the most accomplished blues harpists in the world. He can flat out play. Little Charley’s guitar rips were amazing and brought out thunderous applause from the crowd. Anson’s play was equally as good. Mark Hummel describes the group’s trademark sound as “Texas meets California meets Chicago”.

The afternoon was truly delightful and the Smoky Mountain Blues Society is to be commended for getting them to make a stop as they were on their way north from Atlanta. During a break I was able to speak to Mark for a minute and he told me that he makes his home in Castro Valley, California, but spends a lot of time on tour. He was gracious enough to sign a couple of CD’s for me and let me take his picture. R.W. Grigsby signed them as well.

The concert flew by, but I have posted several pictures here as well as a short video of their performance in the side margin of the home page. Please take the time to view it, the guitar solos are well worth the effort. I have also posted a five minute video of the concert on the Easin’ Along YouTube channel which features solo rips of several of the band members as well as Mark’s excellent harmonica solos. Be sure to increase the video to full screen size.

I’ll be Easin’ Along now, but a musical afternoon like this proved to me once again that when music and retirement come together, the outcome quite often produces great harmony.