My Morning

Every morning, as I come to life from my sleep torpor, the first thing I do (after taking a pee of course) is to open the curtain to the right of my bed.  

I love light.  I love my backyard.  I love getting up when I want to get up.  

Every time I look out my bedroom window in the morning I see something different.  This morning I saw an overcast day.  The leaves on my three river birch trees have almost gone.  The praying mantis that has taken up residence on my pink rose bush was a no-show this morning.  I hope nothing happened to her.  Maybe she had a full stomach.  Yesterday morning she was chomping away on a hapless insect when I looked out.

One of the very best things about retirement is that I get up when I want to.  No alarm to jar me awake, just when my body tells me "It's time to get up Ron.  Enough beauty sleep for you." I remember all those years (40 plus) that I HAD to get up in time to get to work on time.  Oh how many times I dreamed of the day when I could get up when I wanted to get up.  Even with my part-time job, I don't have to get up early because I work the second shift (3 pm to 11 pm).

After I check out the back yard I go to the bathroom and shave.  Then around the corner to our kitchen and breakfast.  I take my herbal fiber blend mix first.  Then the 20 minutes I have to wait for that to take effect I go downstairs to the basement to pump 25 with my weights.  Then breakfast.

My breakfast always consists of the same thing, a bran cereal with 100% vitamins and fiber with fruit.  I used to have bananas but now I go for peaches or strawberries and 2% milk.  

After breakfast I brush my teeth then I'm off to my home office and my computer.  So much to do on my computer.  I usually update my blog first but not always.  Sometimes I check my e-mails but I'm almost always behind on my e-mails.  I rarely check the news on my computer.  For that I have my TV on as background wallpaper.  Some of the news seeps through by osmosis to my brain. Lately all the news has been about they dysfunction in Washington so I tune it out.  Seen this movie before.

It's 12 pm now.  Time for lunch then a nap then off to work at the hotel.  I lead an exciting life don't I?

 

What Scares Me

Wayne helps Robert get into his locked car

Two of the really fine people I work with at the hotel, Robert and Wayne.

This is a picture of Wayne helping Robert get into his car after Robert locked his keys IN HIS CAR!

I'm telling you folks, I work with some great folks.  I am truly blessed.

I have wonderful neighbors, I live in a great state (LOW TAXES).

I have a wonderful new home.

I have a lot of space.

I have a loving and devoted Partner in Life (that would be Bill).

I have my health (so far, I'm 70 and still going strong).

The only thing that really scares me is if somehow, someway that hateful whack job Rick Santorum gets elected president.

You didn't think this would be a totally positive blog posting did you?  If you did, then you don't know me.

Visit To My Barber

My haircut this morning

Just got back from getting a haircut this morning.  I like my hair short.  The last time I got a haircut I wasn't paying attention when my barber put his mirror in front of my puss and asked me "How do you like it?"  I said "Okay" without even looking.  BIG MISTAKE.

When I got home and took a shower (I always take a shower after I get a haircut to get all the loose hairs off the back of my neck) that I realized he left the left side of my head with longer hair than the right side.

Some years ago (more than I care to remember) I used to have a LOT OF HAIR.  However, as the years progressed and my hairline receded (thanks Pop!), I went for the "buzz cut" look.  No more pompadour for Ron.  Remember those hairdo's of the Fifties?  Well, my hairline done went and gone and I had no choice.

Me and my longtime Philadelphia barber Nino - 1994

I don't like to fuss a lot with my hair anyway.  I prefer not to use a comb.  I like to get up in the morning with my hair looking the same as it did before I went to bed.  With that extra hair I had on the right side of my head the last two weeks, I was walking around with a prominent cowlick sticking out horizontally from the right side of my head.  I would like to think that I'm not vain, but alas I am.

Joe, my Downingtown barber - 2001

So it was with some delight this morning when my barber greeted me with "How are you doing handsome!"


BIG SMILE TO RON'S FACE.  That greeting always works for me.  Hey, I'll take my compliments whenever and wherever I can get them these days.  Especially at my age.  There used to be a time that such a compliment was given freely. Not so much anymore, especially down here in Gayberry, where age has exiled me to the Old Gay Guys Club.

After Dino (my barber) as finished cutting my hair he put his mirror back in front of  my puss and asked again "How's it look?"  It was perfect!  Then he said "How old are you Ron?"  I told him "70."  Bless his heart he said "What?!?  I don't believe it! Oh let me tell you I SOAKED THIS UP.

The last week or so I've been down because of some personal items plus an ugly wart that decided to appear on my left forehead (it's going off later this month when I visit the dermatologist).

The next guy up for the haircut looked at me and said "I'm 69, you must have good genes."  That I do.  He said "You don't even have white hair."  Again, good genes. My father and his ten brothers, none had white hair.  I have some gray hair, that is from my maternal grandfather who had steel gray hair.  My barber also added "His hair is still wiry."


Nice to have something nice said to me.  Nice way to start out a day.

Dino, my present barber (with the other barber in his shop)

Peaceful Sunday

On this peaceful Sunday I took Bill for a ride down to Rehoboth Beach early this morning.  I haven't "walked the boards" (i.e., walked on the boardwalk) all summer.  Now that the summer crowds are gone, I could do a straight shot down Route 1 to Rehoboth Beach, which is ten miles from where we live north on Route 1.

Bill doesn't like to walk, so while he waited in my car I walked one end of the boardwalk to the other end.  That is a mile.  I think I'm out of shape because I am now sore all over, especially in my buttocks (ass).  However, it is a good sore.  Reminds me of the times in high school when I used to go out for track.  Those first few days of calisthenics and running around the track let this 17 year old mighty sore.

After I finished my walk I drove us to North Shores, which is a beach a few miles north of Rehoboth Beach and part of Cape Henlopen State Park.  During the summer the road to this beach is lined with bicyclists and walkers all headed for a Day at the Beach.  Not today, we had the road all to ourselves.

The waves were rolling pretty good at North Shores.  Here on the Atlantic coast, we don't get the big waves unless there is a nor'easter roaring through or a hurricane.  No storms today, just an active ocean.  There is some sort of primal pleasure I get from hearing the waves roll in.  Bill says it does nothing for him, he prefers the wooded hills of Pennsylvania, our previous home.  I like the woods too but I much prefer the sights and sound of living near the ocean.  I love hearing the seagulls and the smell of the salt air.

After talking a few videos we headed home again, another day of Domestic Bliss for me and my loving partner of forty-seven years.  On days like this I think of my neighbor Don who just lost his partner Al.  They were together forty years.  We can see Don's house from our house.  We drifted apart as friends a few years ago but I still feel sorry for Don.  He's in his big house all alone now.  Of course I know a lot of gay guys who live alone but it must be especially tough when you've been with someone as many years as Don and Al were together.  I wonder how I would cope if I lost Bill.  I just don't know.

I'm feeling a little guilty about posting the "Judge Beats Daughter" blog but I felt I must post it.  For too long beating children has been an accepted part of our culture.  Maybe making this horrendous act public will cause some parents to pause and reconsider how to discipline their children.  I certainly hope and pray so.

In my blog I related my personal experiences with my own upbringing.  Of course that wasn't my only experience with children being beaten.  Bill has horror stories of his own to tell.  He got beaten so bad by his step father that he ran away from home when he was only a young child.  When he got caught his step-father locked him in a closet all day.  Bill said that was worse than the beatings he used to get.  Then there were my cousins Jackie and Charlie who had the alcoholic father.  We were visiting them once when their father came down in a drunken rage and both Jackie and Charlie went running because they knew they where going to get beat.  There are other stories that I won't go into here.

Maybe, just maybe some potential child beater parent will see now that it is socially unacceptable to discipline their child by beating them.  And for a judge to do beat his child, totally unacceptable.  That judge should be sent to jail for child abuse.  But the really scary thing is how many people still approve of disciplining children by beating them.  That has to change.  I think it will change.

So we had a peaceful Sunday here.  Tomorrow I'll try to plant my fall bulbs.  Tuesday is a visit to my VA doctor.  Then back to work Wednesday and Thursday.  I have to tell you, I'm not in the holiday mood this year.  I don't know why other than perhaps because it's this prostate Thing hanging over my head.  I get the biopsies taken on January 6th.  Happy New Year.

P.S.
Yes, that is Bill walking away from the camera at the end of the video.  He didn't want his picture taken.  He puts up with a lot from me.  He's a saint.

Bob and Ron's Excellent Adventure at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.

Yesterday my friend Bob C. and I took a senior citizen sponsored trip to Washington D.C. to visit the Smithsonian Institute.  This is a slide show of the pictures and the videos I took of that trip.

To quote a blogger buddy of mine "We had a jolly good time." 

T.G.I.F.

Clematis from the fence surrounding our ugly transformer in front of our house

Oh yes, T.G.I.F., otherwise known as "Thank God It's Friday."  That phrase has a whole different meaning for me now.  Back when I was young and horny and working full blast time, Fridays meant that we went to the bars and partied!  Those days are LONG gone, believe me.  LONG GONE.  However, I still appreciate Fridays as a special day.  Even more so now that I work Wednesday and Thursday nights at the hotel.

Last night was pretty busy at the hotel in preparation for the first big summer weekend.  School let out yesterday and that usually releases the flood gates of the parents 'getting away from it all' and going to the beach with the kiddies.  No complaints from this quarter, the tourists are our main industry and the reason I have this wonderful job at the hotel where I work in Lewes.  This weekend will be busy, next weekend even more so.

So while the hotel guests are stopping at the front desk asking "How do you pronounced 'L-E-W-E-S?"  For those of your uninformed Lewes is pronounced the same as Jerry Lewis's last name and the maiden name of my paternal grandmother Hester Lewis (I'm no relation to Jerry Lewis, that's not his real name in case you're were wondering).  Occasionally, when I'm rambunctious, I'll tell them that Lewes is pronounced "Loos".  That's always a conversation starter when they return from their walk around quaint old Lewes ("First Town in the First State" - hey, someplace has to be the first) and correct me.  A little hotel front desk humor here.

Well, as you can see I have no weighty subjects I'm discussing today.  As a matter of fact I've been thinking of doing a blog posting about how my blog subjects have been limited evolved since I have discovered that not only my gay friends read my blog, but some of my neighbors, former co-workers, and family read my blog.  Well, needless to say with this knowledge of those eyes reading my blog I'm not going to write about the Wild Nights of my Youth in Philadelphia or my current fantasies (don't you wish!)
In fact, in light of the Weiner Scandal, I'm more resolved than ever to be a Good Little Boy and behave myself as far as my blog subjects go.

Of course I have a self-imposed rule posting about the current political climate.  I think most of my regular readers know that I'm a flaming liberal ("progressive" is what we call liberals now days) so there isn't much point of me hammering home the stupidity of the current version of the Republican Party and their attempts to totally privative government and do away with all the social safety net programs like Medicare and Social Security.  Oh how I would love to jump into that contentious pool of controversy but I fear I will change no minds, only harder people's resolve in their rigid views.  So I'm not going there.

My best bet these days is to post pictures of flowers (which I love doing) and keeping you all apprised of my retirement activities.  I hope all that is not too boring to you all.  This will have to do until I can think of something more interesting to so yet not offend anyone or freak them out like Mr. Weiner did with his Twitter postings.  Oh don't worry, I don't have any pictures of moi floating around the Internet.  No way.    I'm still dumbfounded at the stupidity of Anthony Weiner.  The same question keeps coming back to me....why?  Oh well, this is a subject that will be discussed at length by folks who are a lot more articulate and knowledgeable than me about human sexuality.  All I know is what turns me on and I want to keep that private.  I have no need to blast myself all over the Internet to strangers.  Again, the question is "Why?"

Well, I have the potatoes cooking on the stove (more potato salad - I live on potato salad in the summer) and lunch time is coming up.  After a short nap I'll transplant the Asiatic lilies that I purchased this morning from the East Coast Garden Center in Millsboro.  Now there is my 'addiction'...garden centers.  Scandal!

Tomorrow we're (my friend Bob C. and I) are talking the Old People's Bus to Washington D.C. for their "Smithsonian Trip."  I'll stop by the Smithsonian but mainly I'm looking forward to walking around Washington for the day and taking pictures.  Next month I have a trip planned for New York City called "A Day in New York."  I haven't been to NYC since 1993 when I took  business trip to Chase Manhatten Bank, just down the street form the World Trade Center.  It's going to be eerie to see where the WTC was located.  I haven't been to NYC since 9/11.

On the 29th I again take the Old People's Bus (Adult Plus out of Georgetown, DE) to visit Philadelphia, my old stomping grounds.  The trip is to the Reading Market but once I get off the bus I roam around center city Philly, trying to relieve the memories of my Fabulous Youth.  I even visit my former home at 24th and Naudain.  I've often wondered how my life would have turned out had I never moved in 1980. So long ago.

Have a great day everyone!

Not Enough Hours in the Day

Brother John on FaceTime today in Greenville, SC

The title of this blog says it all, ever since I've been retired I find that there aren't enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do.  I find this especially true since I have discovered the fantastic benefits of having an iPhone, iPad and iMac computer.  Steve Jobs should hire me as a spokesman for their commercials.  But then Mac products don't need paid commercials do they?  They sell themselves.


I know I've been tardy on my blog postings and the main reason is I'm still learning all the fabulous functions that my new iPhone performs.  My friend Don V. was over again yesterday for my latest lessons in the many uses of the iPhone.  We had agreed that he would only be here for two hours (from 10 to 12 noon) but that soon stretched to 2 in the afternoon.  Then even longer when I introduced him to how to make his own blog.  I think I've created a monster here.  Don is on his new blog, "My Life as a Saga" hot and heavy.  I suspect he will soon surpass me in having a very cool blog with many followers.  Don is one of those naturally talented guys who take quickly to all the cool new technology our digital age has to offer.  Sometimes I wonder where Don (who is 70) and I would be if we were just entering our formative years with all this new technology.  I think my 43,000 digital pictures are a lot now, I can imagine what they would be if I was working on them for forty plus years instead of the past few years as I have done.


I'm going to take a break from my iPhone lessons and get caught up with my other "retirement" activities.  Like I said earlier in this blog, how did I have enough time to do everything?


Pictured above on this blog is a screen shot I took of me talking to my brother John who lives in Greenville, South Carolina.  I just had to call him and tell him that I am now ahead of him on the new toys. He has the OLD iPhone.  John and I (or is it me? I can never get that grammar rule straight) and our other brother Isaac have the typical sibling rivalry.  We always have the need to one up the other.  I'm ahead now.  


I am so glad that my friend Don V. is showing me all the wonderful things I can do with my iMac, iPad and iPhone.  The only thing I don't have is an iPod but I don't think I need one.


I'm on FaceTime (another cool function) with Don now.  And I'm about to wear out so I'll finish this posting.  


More later!

I Love My iPhone!

A big smooch for the object of my affection

Count me in among the multitudes who love their iPhone!  


With the help of my good new friend and experiences Mac user (27 years) Don V., we got both of my new Verizon iPhones hooked up yesterday.  The whole process took us several hours because I was transferring  both my and Bill's phone numbers from our TracFones to our new iPhones.  I had problems with the TracFone support folks but not with Verizon.  I was caught in a Catch-22 loop with TracFone.  I called Verizon for help and they were wonderful.  Wonderful!  A young lady named Kelly went out of the box and "pushed" my portal transfers through and viola!  Both of our new iPhones work!  And I am here to tell you cannot express how much I appreciate Don's help and Kelly's help yesterday.  Thank you folks.


I know I've been away from my daily blog posting updates and believe you me, I feel it.  I feel a little "hurt" when I don't post. But there are just so many hours in the day and yesterday I was so exhausted after those hours of being on the phone to transfer my phone numbers.  And then there is the continuing training on how to use the iPhones and all it's wonderful features.  


I am so fortunate to have Don V. share his vast Mac experience with me to show me all the wonderful features that an iPhone is able to do.  I won't go into detail here because I don't have the time.  I just got another call from work asking if I could come in today to fill in for my co-worker Lisa.  Over the weekend Lisa took a bad tumble skiing and asked to switch times with me on Monday.  That was another reason I didn't blog post on Monday.  Then yesterday I was so exhausted that I took a long nap before my company came over for dinner which I had already prearranged.  Ron is a busy little bee as you can see.


Lisa was supposed to take my hours tonight but she called in today because she had an adverse reaction to the medication she was taking for her injuries from skiing.  I don't mind going in because I LOVE MY JOB but my tight little schedule here is leaving precious little time for anything else.  


I did manage to vacuum the first floor today and I'm doing the wash now.  I got a haircut this morning and I'm washing the clothes now.  Just a busy little bee I am.


I'm going to have a little lunch now and a nap and then I'm off to work tonight.  I'm working tomorrow night too so I don't know if I'll have time to blog tomorrow.  


This is one retiree who doesn't have to concern himself with finding something to do to fill the hours of the day.


By the way, I do think I detected Spring on the horizon this morning when Bill and I were tooling down Rt. 1 to the Safeway Shopping Center where I get my haircut.  I could be mistaken but there definitely were some twinges of Spring in the air.  


Bring it on, I AM READY!

iPhone, iPad, iMac and FaceTime

Bob C. on FaceTime from Sarasota, FL to Milton, DE

We finally did it! My friend Don V. and I talked our friend Bob C. into downloading FaceTime onto his new Mac laptop.   


Now I'm talking about a bunch of guys in their advanced years.  Bob C. is the baby of the group at "only" 67 years of age.  I'm 69 and Don V. is 70.  We all have a lot of information stored in our gray heads.  I don't know how much room there is for all this new advanced technology but we're trying to keep up with the younger folk who have more empty space in their heads than we do for learning all this new fangled stuff.


Don is our computer guru.  He's been using Mac computers for 27 years.  He has graciously been teaching both me and Bob all the cool functions of our new Mac computers.  I have an iMac and a iPad.  Bob C. has a Mac laptop.


Don was over for dinner with me and Bill last night.  After dinner he picked up on his Mac tutorial lessons for me where he left off last week, when he was also over for dinner (the least I could do for Don's generosity in sharing his Mac information).  


Last week Don didn't get to leave until after midnight.  We were both exhausted.  Last night we both petered out at about 10:30 pm.  One fact of life we have to face is that we're no Mark Zuckerberg (we're better looking and we can blink our eyes).  

Larry M. and me at my Mom's home 1962

A couple of weeks ago Don got me hooked up to FaceTime which is a face to face telephone communication between users of Mac products with cameras.  I was sold on this wonderful function immediately.  Now I can talk to my good friend Lar from my school days who lives in Claymont, DE. 

Larry M. and me at 10 Downingtown Street in Downingtown, PA 2004

This morning I talked to my brother John who lives in Greenville, SC.  Prior to our FaceTime conversation I used to talk to John over his poor phone connection.  Now we have a clear phone conversations plus we have all the nuance and subtlety of conversations by face to face that one can never have over the faceless phone conversations.

Brothers Ronald and John Tipton 1948 

Don has shown me just a fraction of the thousands of apps that are available for Mac users. He has been urging me to get an iPhone and now that I see all the neat new things I can do, I am convinced.  I'm going to order two iPhones (one for me and one for Bill who is 82, we're pushing the envelope here).  I think Bill was sold when he saw me and Don playing Angry Birds last night on my iPad.  Bill likes computer games.  He finds them relaxing.

My "baby" brother John and me at his home in Greenville, SC 1994

So now I have an iMac.  On February 9th, I order two iPhones.  And this spring when the new iPad comes out with a camera, I'm ordering that baby.  I'll give Bill the iPad that I'm using now.  


Who would've ever thunk that a bunch of old guys like us could ride this technological wave?  We're doing it and I feel great about it!

Happy New Year 2011

 

A  very happy Lucy New Year to everyone!


Tonight balls will be dropping all around the country bringing in the New Year. 


Everyone will be celebrating the onset of the New Year in his or her own way.  


These are my plans:

As I sit here at my computer on this sunny, cold Friday morning on New Year's Eve, I think back to the past year and wonder in shock and awe at how fast this past year flew by.  

Each year as I get old the days, weeks, and months and even years fly by like the pages of those calendars in an old Forties movie.  That's my life flipping by folks!  Wow.  Time is running out.  This old hourglass is almost out of sand.

So did I have a good year last year?  I certainly did.  Every day I can get out of my bed and put both feet on the floor and have my wits about me, is a good day.  And last year I was able to put feet to the floor for 365 days!  Yes indeedy, it was a good year.  And for that I am very thankful.  Thank you oh Great Spirit in the Sky.

This year, for the first time in a several years I will not be working at the hotel.  So I invited our dear friend, The Retired Banker (no names please), to join me and Significant Other for a New Year's Eve repast.  I have been cooking all morning.  

What's on the menu? 

• Beef Vegetable Stew 
• Green Bean Casserole
• Corn Bread
• Stuffing
• Egg Nog Pie (made with real egg nog and HEAVY WHIPPING CREAM - sans the diets tonight)

The Retired Banker and I will probably imbibe in some spirits from the vine.  Significant Other will drink his Diet Pepsi (a gourmet diner he is not).  


For conversation we will:

• Catch up on the latest gossip
• Whine about our latest medical conditions
• Tease each other with gentle insults
• Discuss our plans for the New Year

Around 8 o'clock Significant Other will retire and go to bed.  He usually goes to bed around 7 pm (he gets up at 4 am) but will stay up "late" when his good friend The Retired Banker is over for dinner.

Usually The Retired Banker and I continue our discussion into more serious subjects in the hour or two hence when Significant Other goes to bed.  I'll ask him if he wants to stay up late and watch Dick Clark gargle through another Rocking New Year's Eve .  This year I want to check out CNN where Anderson Cooper is teamed up with D List Star Cathy Griffin.  I want to be there when Cathy finally outs Closet Case Anderson.  Maybe The Retired Banker will want to stick around for that spilling of Anderson's beads.  However, if he does he knows he will probably be subjected to me repeating some of my old War Stories again.  I'm not sure if that's a price he want to pay to stay.  Probably not.  I won't be offended if he doesn't stay

Right after this posting I'm going to take my first walk in about a week.  This cold Artic weather has been holding me back from stretching my 36" inch long legs for at least a week now.  Snow is still piled by the roadway but I do see a path for slapping my size 12 feets to the ground.

My best wishes to everyone who reads this blog and I hope you all have a very happy and prosperous (you get a lot of money) New Year!


I hope you get everything that you deserve.

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Ron's Oasis

Ron's Oasis

Pictured is my oasis.  This is where I go to get away from the world.  My "oasis" is my bedroom.


This is where I:

• Nap
• Sleep
• Read
• Watch movies
• Read

I have a home office which was a bedroom.  That is where I:

• Pay bills
• Blog postings
• E-mails
• Internet searches
• Political activity
• Genealogy research

My oasis has four big windows.  During the cold winds of winter, on a sunny day the sun warms my oasis to a toasty 80 degrees plus.  Solar warmth is so much more comfortable than heat caused by electric, gas or a wood burning fire.  On really sunny days the warmth in my oasis will last several hours into the night.  There is nothing to match a sun warmed room after darkness falls in the early winter evenings.  To me that is heaven.

I have worked many long years at many jobs, some of which I didn't like too much(and that's an understatement).  I have lived in places where I had little or no privacy.  I have endured these hardships.  Now that I am in my "leisure years," I am so thankful that I have an oasis (which is paid for by the way, mortgage is gone) where I can retreat to at the end of the day.

A fabulous mansion with all the latest expensive accouterments is not for me.  I am perfectly happy with my wonderful, comfy and secure oasis just steps from my kitchen.  I even have my own spa bathroom (not pictured).

When I got up this morning and saw the morning sun streaming through my windows, I was reminded of just how very fortunate I am to be where I am today.  I take nothing for granted.

Nothing was given to me and I've had to work hard to where I am today but I am fortunate that I am still have my physical and mental health that I can luxuriate in my oasis every day.  

And when the end comes for me, this is where I plan to make my exit.

Rain Day

My rain slicked deck this morning

Rain day today!


I love the sun.  I love sunny days.  But occasionally we get a rainy day like today.  I love rain days too!


If I lived in Seattle or the Great Northwest, where it rains most of the time and the sunny day is a rare occurrence, maybe I wouldn't feel this way about rainy days.  


If I lived in Londan, England where gray skies, fog and rain are the norm perhaps I wouldn't be so fond of rainy days either.  But I don't live where the weather is rainy most of the time.  I live on the eastern coast of the Delmarva peninsula where we have a lot of sunny, dry days.  Thus, when we get a rainy day like today I welcome it.


Today I was scheduled for an appointment with my dermatologist in Pennsylvania.  I canceled the appointment yesterday because I don't like to travel in the rain.  I don't like to travel at night or in the rain.......or in the snow. But I do like to hang out here in my cozy nest that is my home.


This is my schedule for today:

• Update my Shutterfly pictures (dates and descriptions) for reproduction of prints for Christmas gifts
• Update my blog (which I am doing now)
• Vacuum the whole first floor (no excuse now not to vacuum)
• Put Christmas candles in the front windows of the house to complete my Christmas decorations
• Prepare a lunch of Frito Lay Blazing Buffalo chips and turkey salad sandwich
• After lunch lie down in my bed and read a bit ("Hollywood Beauty - Hedy Lamarr) 
• Drift off to sleep for my afternoon nap
• Get up about 4 pm and check my e-mail and the latest news
• Watch my previously recorded "Judge Judy" episodes
• Prepare a dinner of Caesar Salad, oven fry potatoes (with skins) and chicken pot pie
• Watch MSNBC evening lineup shows of: Dylan Rattigan, Chris Matthews, Ed Schultz, Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, and Lawrence O'Donnell 
• Bedtime 

That is my schedule for today.  Tomorrow it will be different because I go to work at the hotel.  Each day is different.  But that is one thing I love about being retired.  I can do whatever I want to do.  


I often think of all those years (since 1954) that I had to go to school, three years in the Army, and then over 40 years on the corporate hamster wheel.  All those days I HAD TO get up early to catch the train to go to work in Philadelphia at the bank. 


I looked forward to the day that my life would be my own.


I looked forward to the day when I could sleep as late as I wanted to.


I looked forward to the day when my life was my own.


I looked forward to the day when I have the freedom that I have now.


I love it!

A Sense of Purpose

Dogs on the beach this morning

This morning I resumed my early morning visit to the boardwalk in Rehoboth.


I didn't go yesterday and my day was all out of whack.  


I had this brilliant idea that I would save gas and mileage on my car as well as reduce my risk for being in and accident by not going to the boardwalk every morning.  I was wrong.


So this is my new routine which I began in August when I got my new car, a Subaru Forester.


I go to the boardwalk before the sun comes up.  I walk the length of the boardwalk four times which is a total of four miles.  


The benefits are thus:

1. I'm getting my daily cardiovascular workout (also known as exercise)
2. I lose that roll around my middle (approximately five pounds of flab)
3. I breath in the fresh ocean air
4. I observe the Daily Show of the other denizens of the early morning boardwalk routine
5. I clear my mind for transcendental mediation (I do my TM on the hoof)
6. I take a lot of cool pictures
7. I might meet Somebody (only women so far, darn it)
8. It gives structure to my day - everything else I do during the day works better with this start
9. I am one with Mother Nature
10. I do some major People Watching

I measured the miles it takes from my home to where I park at the North end of the boardwalk.  To my surprise it is eleven miles one way.  I thought it was about six miles.  So I'm making a twenty-two mile round trip every morning.  No wonder I'm always filling up my tank with gas every third day.  

This is a small price to pay for the sense of purpose that I get every day now by going down to Rehoboth every morning and walking the boards.  

I love my life now.

Me by Lake Gerar this morning

Rainy Day on the Boardwalk

Walking the wet boards this morning

Just got back from a very wet walk on the boardwalk in Rehoboth.  


This weather doesn't bother me.  In fact, I like all kinds of weather.  Perhaps the only exceptions were this summer when the humidity was so high that I was soaked in my own sweat after only walking a few hundred feed.  Also, the extreme cold of winter, but that doesn't come until January and February.  All the other months and weather conditions are just fine with me.


I talked Bill into going with me this morning.  He didn't walk but he does me to take him for a ride.  He sat in my car at the end of the boardwalk and took a nap while I braved the wet wind whipping the boardwalk.  

Bill taking a snooze this morning while waiting for me

I usually take two laps up and down the boardwalk but this morning I was so wet after the first lap I decided to pull it in.  


I took Bill for a ride up to North Shores, at Cape Henlopen State Park.  Delaware is the only state in the union that doesn't have a national park but we have some wonderful state park, Cape Henlopen being one of them.


After viewing the wind and the waves at North Shores we headed home on Rt. 1.  Half way up One, my cell phone rang.  It was my brother John who is the executor of our Mom's estate  He had good news.  In fact he had WONDERFUL NEWS!  He is sending me a check in the mail today as an advanced distribution of my share of Mom's estate.  I will be able to pay off my mortgage!  


This is a very strange feeling.  It's a good feeling but a strange feeling.  I had a 30 year mortgage, that would be paid off when I'm 98 years old (I should live that long.)  My mortgage predicament was the result of me being caught in the housing crises in 2006.  I thought I would have to live with that result the rest of my life.  I feel like I've now been set free.


Free at last, free at last.  Thank God almighty I'm free at last.


Thank you Mom.  You're still doing for us.  

Morning on the Boardwalk

This morning I made another early morning run to the boardwalk in Rehoboth Beach.  This is my new routine.  I like it.

I'm surprised that it took me so long to discover this asset right under my nose.

I moved to Delaware three and a half years ago.  Our home is six miles north of Rehoboth Beach.  It was about a year and a half until I visited the boardwalk and that was because my brother John from South Carolina was visiting and wanted to see the beach.

Occasionally since then I made an early morning run on Sunday.  But I didn't consider going down to the board every day because of the crowds.  Especially in the summertime, I stayed as far away as possible.

A few weeks ago I decided to visit the boardwalk for my daily walk.  Usually I take my morning walk in the development behind where we live.  Lately the flies have been very bad.  As soon as I stepped into that development the flies would land on me.  If it wasn't the flies then it was the mosquitoes.  Thus I had to look for a new venue to take my daily walk.

I tried the boardwalk in Rehoboth Beach on morning.  The ride down Route 1 wasn't bad.  In fact, it was a straight shot.  Plus the parking is free until 10 am.  Since I get to Rehoboth Beach around 6 am, I didn't have a problem parking.

So I did it one morning.  Then I pushed my luck and did it a second morning.  Then a third.  It works.

I enjoy the walk plus I like to people watch.  My daily walks are a lot more interesting now.  If there is any downside it is the gas I'm using driving six miles down and six miles back.  That's a small price to pay for the enjoyment of taking my daily walk on the boardwalk in Rehoboth Beach.  Plus, I have another opportunity to take some more interesting pictures.

This is just another reason why I love my retirement in southern Delaware.