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Just starting the process of finding a 2 bdrm townhouse to buy with my youngest daughter … my hardworking cardiac ICU nurse. Right now she is renting @ $2,750 per month. The gameplan is we go in as equal partners, me with cash for my half and she would take out a loan for her half. My goal is...

Mountain bike race earlier in the week. Allergies got to me. Placed 5th. First gravel races of the season coming up quick. Last week I put my big boy (cycling) shorts on and ramped up the training mileage. Got to show that old guys can still bring it!!!!

it’s been an emotional week. Mom (84) … she has Alzheimer’s … can no longer live independently so we moved her into assisted living. Doing our best to make it a smooth transition and support her and be with her all along this journey. But my eyes got a little watery when as I was leaving...

Just saw this post. Adding my 2 cents. Be aware that the pacific coast highway south of Monterey is frequently damaged by winter storms and can take months to re-open. (Made my living designing and repairing winter storm damage … and business repairing highway 1 damage continues to be good!)...

Got out on my gravel bike for a 45-miler with 4k ft of climbing. Ramping up weekly mileage and hill climbing as start of gravel race season is coming up quick.

Mountain bike race yesterday. Since my bike is in the shop, I borrowed and raced a factory demo. Super nice ride (with a price tag north of $10k) but racing something you’re not so familiar with its handling, gearing and shifting isn’t such a good idea. Finished a sad 5th. With fingers...

Got out on my gravel bike for a 44 miler today with 4K feet of climbing. Training up for gravel race season which starts in June. In other news I’ve been signed up for a golf tourney …. and I don’t golf much anymore. Gotta hit the driving range so I don’t look like a fool at the first tee!

Love reading about all the activities everyone is involved in. The key is to find something you enjoy and just keep moving.

Wife and I (married 37 yrs) act like newlyweds! Does this count as Romantic Relationship Post Fire? (Sometimes she says I act like a 7th grader but that’s probably a different subject). We’ve been keeping it fresh with weekly date nites and quarterly honeymoon trips since 1987. Love you...

Gravel road bicycle race today. Although distance wasn’t all that much, a little over 40 miles, the race course had over 5k feet of elevation gain. Finished mid-pack. Not bad for a 60 y.o. hack. This was the inaugural shakedown race of my new BTD gravel race bike for the season. Sweet ride...

SWEET! I have an oval window 1955 VW Beetle. Converted it to 12 volt and has a 1835cc powerplant with dual carbs. Don’t take it out much though.

Worked my part-time retiree job yesterday at the construction materials lab. The young guy who goes out to job sites to grab construction material samples (the “sample runner”) for testing quit, so I drew the short straw and filled in. And right as I was wrapping up for the day one of my other...

Flying across country to the East Coast (Charlotte) soon to escort Mom to sister’s house for a couple week stay. Would love to hang out in the Caribbean during Moms time with sister and grab Mom on the way back. This avoids having to fly back and forth across the U.S. four times. Wife and I...

No way would I go back as an employee, under any scenario. I’m much happier … and better paid … as a consultant. As a consultant I get to decide what work I take on and how it gets done. And I’m OK if my client (AKA former employer) wants to go elsewhere to get their work done.

Headed over to the vacant rental home with Sawz-All in hand! Previous owner of the home bought and installed a very large decorative water wheel in the backyard. It was driven by an electric motor and had flowers in all the buckets. It’s now rotten, a hazard and has to go. If house gets...

The last third of my career was spent developing a very large network of colleagues across the U.S. as part of my job of developing funding sources and plans for very large infrastructure project. In retirement I’m getting called by former employer as a consultant on similar assignments. This...

Wrapped up winter mountain bike points race series this weekend. Ended up in second place in this year’s series. This weekends race course was very muddy … and very fun.

Hauled a couple loads of junk today out of the backyard of our now vacant rental. Two sheds full of old rusty garden tools, some long unused power tools and an array of other rusty junk. Sheds are still standing, but not for long. They’ll go to the dump tomorrow! It’s a good house for a...

Have to get serious and make plans for next Winter travels. I don’t do cold very well so we usually chase warm weather destination, departing after Thanksgiving, coming back early February. Thinking Panama, Columbia and Brazil might hit the mark next winter.

Spent the day working on one of our now vacant rentals. Light electrical repairs, painting and a little plumbing too. House has a huge back party deck … which consumed 10-gal of Home Depot’s finest stain! Now trying to get the stain off my hands and then will get geared up for a workout on...

Replaced brother’s mail box yesterday. Snow plow took out the mailbox a couple weeks ago, post and all! Brother wanted to reconstruct new one with masonry block and make it “indestructible”. We settled on a simple box sitting on a 4x4 post so that if an errant driver … Or snow plow … hits it...

One of my rentals is now vacant so spent the day on yard clean up. We have a mow-blow-go front yard mtce but nothing in the back. What a mess back there! Everything is overgrown and a mess. And the house has a large back deck that needs a coat of stain. Will get that done on Sunday...

Early morning bike race today. Just didn’t have the horsepower to keep up with the two guys in front of me. Third place. Some days are just this way.

After a morning of work out in the orchard, Picked up new gravel race bicycle from the shop. Got out on the new steed for a quick ride. She’s a fast one for sure! With the right motor sitting on the saddle could even be a podium bike!!! Knocked the crud off my mountain bike from last weekend...

I bring the laptop on trips. I’m still doing a couple hours a week of post-retirement on-call consulting and need the laptop for that work. I also bring a dress shirt (no jacket or tie though). Need to look half-way professional in the Zoom meetings … I do however let the background be...