What did you do today? 2017 version

[Fedup]

We went to Whole Foods and Costco after having an early lunch at a restaurant and nobody was there. Very short short line. This is one benefit of early retirement.

 

[Huston55]

Hiked around Lake Lagunitas on Mt Tamalpais (peak in background). Unusually beautiful with all the rain we've had. Lots of wildlife too: Otters, Cormorants, Heron, Woodpecker, lizards and, some sort of giant (2") ant.

 

[MRG]

Went to Mesa Verde National Park. First time we'd been there and it's awesome. Didn't hurt the Parks are free admission this weekend and next.

We didn't do any research before going and just did a half day. Next time I will have a plan and will probably do one of the tours into the dwellings.

 

[iloveyoga]

Went to Mesa Verde National Park. First time we'd been there and it's awesome. Didn't hurt the Parks are free admission this weekend and next.

We didn't do any research before going and just did a half day. Next time I will have a plan and will probably do one of the tours into the dwellings.

The tours are very good.

 

[EastWest Gal]

"He's a lumberjack and he's OK...."

Snicker....love the song.

 

[EastWest Gal]

On Monday I cleaned and brightened the hardwood deck, a long process. We did not expect to stain it this week, but then there was a huge break in the rain. So DH, DS (who had a couple of days off both jobs) and I got started Thursday morning and finished by 2:30. We then saw Beauty and The Beast. Went out to eat afterward-just Subway, actually. Yesterday and today devoted several hours to yard cleanup, and walked 2 miles each day. Getting back into the exercise part of weight loss after a short hiatus.

This is my first spring in full retirement. I love it.

 

[Music Lover]

Cleaned the garage...finally gathered all the old copper pipe I've been saving for years from leftover reno projects, cut it into pieces and filled a box to take to recycling. Added up to 60 pounds which should pay $150 or so...

 

[street]

Went hiking a cool cloudy day was a great day for high country hiking.

 

[Huston55]

Snicker....love the song.

Hmmm...didn't see anything in Seng's profile about 'dressing up in women's clothing.'

 

[Walt34]

Went for my normal non-gym-day walk of about 2 miles.

Spent more time than it should have taken to gather up some information about this computer and send it to the company that makes the backup software (Acronis True Image) because it won't make a backup any more. I have no idea why. They wanted the files uploaded to an ftp site, and I hadn't used an ftp client since I retired 14 years ago. Filezilla is fairly intuitive and I have used in in the past so it wasn't that hard. Also the directions for producing a "system report" on their web site were for another version of the software so that took a while to figure out.

 

[brewer12345]

Easter morning with the kids. We dyed some quail eggs, so the egg hunt was more challenging than usual due to the fact that the eggs are a quarter the size of chicken eggs. They dyed surprisingly beautifully, as you can see below. At Mass there was an elderly man seated behind us on oxygen who was obviously both frail and confused and I ended up helping the family getting him in and out of the pew. This set me off because this is exactly what I did all the time with FIL before he died of advanced Parkinson's in December. A difficult day.

 

[braumeister]

Beautiful eggs, brewer!

Your church story reminded me of a good friend I had many years ago. He was a WW II vet in a wheelchair on oxygen. He was an active ham and would sometimes accompany a group of us to a radio-related event. There was always someone in the group with a van that accommodated his chair.

The striking thing was that from time to time he would turn the oxygen tank off for a while so he could have a cigarette. Nobody ever said a word, since we all knew it was one of the very few pleasures he had left in life.

That's when I began to learn from watching folks like that, while keeping my mouth shut to let them retain a scrap of dignity.

 

[ERD50]

Easter morning with the kids. We dyed some quail eggs, so the egg hunt was more challenging than usual due to the fact that the eggs are a quarter the size of chicken eggs. They dyed surprisingly beautifully, as you can see below. At Mass there was an elderly man seated behind us on oxygen who was obviously both frail and confused and I ended up helping the family getting him in and out of the pew. This set me off because this is exactly what I did all the time with FIL before he died of advanced Parkinson's in December. A difficult day.

Those eggs are beautiful! In a similar vein, we helped DW's Uncle get into and out of our home to share in Easter dinner. It was a struggle, but he's doing better than he was 6 months ago, thanks to a good PT that works with him (he is suffering with Parkinson's as well). Since I knew him from when we were first married, and he was active then, it reminds of us how the years will catch up with us all. Kinda bitter-sweet.

We also learned that we will be be Grand Parents, so this was an extra special day. We celebrated with a variety of home brew beers ( a Nut brown ale, a Strong Scotch Ale, an English Mild, and a Spruce Wheat Ale), and a few commercial special brews, a Kreik and Trader Joe's 2013 Vintage Ale (I need to read the reviews, seemed like mostly allspice, clove and cinnamon at this point), and sampled my first attempt at home-made wine (a Cabernet, and it seems pretty good, we will see after more aging).

We saw Urinetown at The Berkeley Playhouse. We really enjoyed it. It was a fun musical satire on capitalism and authoritarianism which is probably preaching to the choir in Berkeley. The Urinetown name comes from a dystopian future with a long term drought where a private, for profit monopoly make all the toilets pay toilets.

We saw that as a High School play. Interestingly, I think our take on it was completly the opposite - we saw as a satire on socialism, and showed how the idea that everyone being equal results in destruction for everyone. But that's the beauty of art, you can take from it what you want. I will need to read some analysis online to refresh my memory.

Going from memory here, but didn't everything fall apart when no one had to pay for anything, they all had equal access, regardless of 'skin in the game'?

Ahh, Wikipedia seems to confirm my infirm memory:

With the town at peace at last, the age of fear is over and that the people look forward to a bright new day. The Urine Good Company is renamed "The Bobby Strong Memorial Toilet Authority" and the people are henceforth allowed "to pee whenever they like, as much as they like, for as long as they like, and with whomever they like" ("I See A River").

However, the town's newfound urinary bliss is short-lived, as its limited water supply quickly disappears. Lockstock tells the audience that, as draconian as the UGC's rules were, they kept the people from squandering the limited water supply; now, much of the population dies of thirst. I

What's the phrase, "Capitalism is the worst approach, except for the alternatives"?

-ERD50

 

[Moemg]

We also learned that we will be be Grand Parents, so this was an extra special day.
-ERD50

Congratulations! Being a grandparent is the best.

 

[rayinpenn]

What did you get done today..

So far I brewed myself a cup of coffee and as it 5:16 AM that's not too bad. The old dog scratched at 5:00 looking to go out- early for her, I'll bet the Easter roast bone, as expected, a rare treat didn't sit well with her system. Five minutes after her quick and clearly necessary walk She's out cold at the bottom of the stairs.

Yesterday I cleaned up a couple of the back beds spread the last of last years mulch. I bought ten bags of grass soil and spread six of them. Dam they were not that heavy when I was 40. Then spread seed 'like salt and pepper on your eggs' - lest there be clumps. Then the sun and heat - mid 80s proved too much for me and I retreated inside. Lots more to do getting the castle 'sale ready'.

After a great meal We watched the movie magical creatures, while not Frank Capra it left me smiling.. I like simple positive movies there's just so much gratuitous violence, sex and just plain crappy movies out there.

105 days until retirement ...time to read the companies post retirement document... I guess I'll have to open a 401 brokerage account to transfer the loot. That should be interesting - I'll think we will get one of those secure ids for that account too.

I'll go to work today and smile to myself - I won't make the 35 year anniversary in September but that isn't important. I'll be positive as suggested because that's always best and there no reason not to be.

 

[DrRoy]

Ah, yes. The wind down period. I was doing that in the late winter. Now in week 2 of RE. Still 'decompressing', and enjoying that I can make just my own choices now.

 

[Fedup]

Yesterday, after a big lunch, I watch Rick Steves special about Easter around Europe. That's very interesting. Slovenia is now a potential place to visit.
At night we watched our usual British Master Chefs, I usually like to watch Paul and Mary. I don't bake anymore but it's still nice to see delicious desserts being made.
Then at night, somehow my husband found Grammys contribution to The Bee Gees. Saturday Night Fever. Got us dancing in front of the TV. The kids thought we were weird or the music was weird. But it brought back the good time in the 70s when I was a freshman in college and my husband just started his first job. All in all it's a good day.

This morning, I went out and check my garden, there are some young zucchinis to be picked, but sadly, one of my young melon plants was chewed up by the pill bugs. Arghh!
But we did finish the collapsible melon trellis. It looks really good. Since we have a very small garden, grow things up is the way to go. Overall, my garden is getting greener.

 

[Marita40]

Just got back from the fancy shoe store where I bought my first ever pair of expensive shoes: New Balance sneakers. Over $100. even on sale. This is kind of a shock for me as I've always been able to purchase cheap, cute shoes. But now I have a diagnosis of big toe arthritis and have a pair of inserts. Ugh--feeling old.

 

[exnavynuke]

What's the phrase, "Capitalism is the worst approach, except for the alternatives"?

-ERD50

I think the original quote was "Democracy is the worst system of government, except for all the others" (Churchill is often quoted for it, but I don't think he was the first to say it), thought the sentiment has been used to describe many things over the years.

 

[Just_Steve]

Went to the NY Rangers playoff game last night, took Metro North the commuter railroad down to Manhattan outstanding train service, train broke down and had to wait an hour until we got going again. The Rangers played like crap and lost.
To top off the night the return train trip took almost twice as long due to.......you guessed it faulty equipment, had to switch trains halfway home. All in all still had a good time with son, daughter.

 

[W2R]

Just got back from the fancy shoe store where I bought my first ever pair of expensive shoes: New Balance sneakers. Over $100. even on sale. This is kind of a shock for me as I've always been able to purchase cheap, cute shoes. But now I have a diagnosis of big toe arthritis and have a pair of inserts. Ugh--feeling old.

I have been wearing New Balance 990's (or 991, 992, 993, all of which are almost the same), since 2001. They cost a lot!! Right now on Amazon women's 990's are $151, although they dropped to $116 in 2014 so I got an extra pair then and they are still good. I had to wear inserts for a while, but don't need them now. I have other shoes but when my feet are not feeling ideal, I go back to my 990's.

But despite these prices, Marita, I really believe that the right shoe is worth it. Comfortable feet can lift one's spirits immensely and can make your whole life seem sunnier and better. This doesn't make you old - - it makes you smart, IMO anyway.

 

[Marita40]

Thanks for commiserating, W2R. Arguably, my Big Toe Arthritis comes from, or was exacerbated by, my cheap cute shoe habit. So I guess this does make me smarter; certainly wiser. All I'm longing for now is to be able to do a fast-paced walk without that miserable nagging pain. Sadly, a year after the failed surgery to get rid of the bone spur (it came right back) I'm still healing from the surgery as well as the original problem. These New Balance sneakers are 928s. I was measured and assessed by the clerk at the fancy shoe store, a store known for helping "problem" feet. So I trust her that they will be good ones.

 

[W2R]

Thanks for commiserating, W2R. Arguably, my Big Toe Arthritis comes from, or was exacerbated by, my cheap cute shoe habit. So I guess this does make me smarter; certainly wiser. All I'm longing for now is to be able to do a fast-paced walk without that miserable nagging pain. Sadly, a year after the failed surgery to get rid of the bone spur (it came right back) I'm still healing from the surgery as well as the original problem. These New Balance sneakers are 928s. I was measured and assessed by the clerk at the fancy shoe store, a store known for helping "problem" feet. So I trust her that they will be good ones.

Oh good! It's important to get the right New Balance shoes for your particular feet so it was smart to have an expert shoe person helping you to figure out what you need. I did the trial and error method, and bought quite a few pairs of expensive NB shoes and other brands of shoe that didn't work for me before I found the ones that are just right for my particular feet. I probably wear them 5-6 days a week.

 

[Music Lover]

Oh good! It's important to get the right New Balance shoes for your particular feet so it was smart to have an expert shoe person helping you to figure out what you need. I did the trial and error method, and bought quite a few pairs of expensive NB shoes and other brands of shoe that didn't work for me before I found the ones that are just right for my particular feet. I probably wear them 5-6 days a week.

I used to buy cheap $20 runners until I started running half marathons and got plantar fasciitis. So, I got fitted at a local running store with a nice pair and spoiled myself and have been buying "good" runners ever since...even for general walking around. Asics and Saucony fit me best, so I keep an eye open for sales. 5 or 6 years ago a shoe store in the mall was closing and I bought the last 5 pairs of Asics in my size for 70% off.

 

[Souschef]

Today was our last AARP tax day
All told our group did over 220 tax returns for seniors and low income taxpayers.. I plan to be back next year, God willing