Cut 'N Shoot!

Welcome to Cut 'N Shoot Texas (a real town 40 mi. north of Houston)
"Where the men are tough, the horses are swift, and the women are soft, and where we take a bath every Saturday night whether we need one or not."

I kind of have an idea why they gave the town that name. The residents probably did a lot of what Grandpa and I were up to last Friday afternoon (in fact, it's what we're doing this afternoon) --- me, cuttin' up my quilt fabric...

'n grandpa shootin' at the rifle range!

Retirement, Chapter 1

On July 13, Carl officially retired, after working 40 years at the same place. After a nice send-off from his work, he was free as a bird. During the first week, some of the ground rules and routines were established. On the first full day of retirement, Carl followed me out to the yard, asking ,"what are you doing?" and "why aren't you ready yet?" We were about to go on our first joint errand as a retired couple. "Honey", I replied, gently, but as firmly as I could, "Please don't ever, ever say those words again. You are now in my territory. I'm the chief CEO of this corporation. I've been running it for more than 30 years. You are now in my territory, and you are just a peon." I thought he took it pretty well. He shrugged his shoulders, walked towards the back door, and said, "I guess I'll just have to do my own thing til you're ready". When I came back inside, here's what he was busy doing.
Our first errand consisted of getting Carl some real work-out clothes and new running shoes (see photo below). On Mon., Wed., and Fri., we hit the track at the city park first thing in the morning, putting in 3 miles, and do lap swimming at the city pool on the in -between days. I wish I could bottle how good I feel after doing this. (Unfortunately, it doesn't last all day, and I'm drooping like a wilted flower come mid-afternoon.) After a leisurely breakfast, we then do our own projects (Carl's is in the garage), meet again for lunch, and so forth. Our first two weeks of retirement have been relaxing and fun, and Carl has been great about obeying the rules, so far. To be continued...

Get ready, set, retire!

Grandpa is retiring ! We've been planning this for several years now, and had been planning on retiring in Jan., but then, the company generously offered a package deal to downsize its workforce. The timing was so perfect. Monday, July 13 is the big day! We'll be joining the ranks of the blissfully unemployed.

I'm looking forward to not getting up every morning at 5:30 to pack a lunch for Carl. Now he'll finally get around to completing the never-ending "honey do" list, the things he's been promising me for 20 years he'd do (like shelving units for upstairs playroom). Although we'll have more freedom to go places whenever we want, we'll still be grounded until "little" Carl graduates from high school next year. I do have a few concerns, such as sharing this computer, and I'm sure we'll be driving each other crazy during the adjustment period. I'm wondering how long it will take for Carl to get bored being at home. He has a car project going on in the garage that will keep him busy for a while. There are several other big projects, such as replacing the siding on the house. If he gets really bored of being a home body, there is already a company that wants to hire him part time, or as much time as he wants, to help them with stuff.

A week ago, Carl got it in his brain that he wants to get one of these for retirement.

It would save on hotel bills, if we decide to travel a bit. However, it is scary thinking of pulling into an RV park full of old retired people! I'm not too enthused when he shows me photos of these travel trailers on the Internet.

Stay tuned for future episodes of "Retirement".