Much Ado About Something

Whoever said retirement means rest and leisure was never retired. I have been "retired" for five years (yep, since June 2004) and my weekly "To Do" lists still fill most of a page. My electronic version on Google will only allow me to list 13 items, so I have reverted to pen and paper and a clipboard that I carry around the house and yard. I made this list three days ago. I have completed 14 of the 32 chores, tasks and projects all begging to be done. (Only one of these was penciled in by my spouse!, the rest are mine.) The marvelous thing is that I walked around our property yesterday and found seven more jobs ... but I didn't have my clipboard, so they are still in my head, awaiting memorialization or something like that. It is great to be busy. But it is also great not to have to report for work at a certain time at a certain place. It is nice to have a small amount of discretion as to when things have to be done! I like being retired!

Ribs

So, we enjoyed pork spare ribs for our Memorial Day meal. I only wish I had also taken a picture three hours after this one ... when the ribs were a mouth-watering golden bronze. They tasted great!

Expired but Not Forgotten

My UK driving licence expired on my birthday a few days ago. I have carried it since returning from England because it was rather hard to come by. In the United Kingdom an American citizen may legally drive on the driver license (notice the spelling differences) issued by his or her state of residence for one year after entering the country. In the England Manchester Mission the senior couples from the US would travel to the Isle of Man (a sovereign nation within the mission boundaries) just before their year was up and thus restart the 12-month clock, thus avoiding the need to obtain a UK licence. About a year after Maureen and I arrived in the mission field, the Church's local legal guys decided that our little loophole wasn't legal after all, so we all began the process of getting a new licence. This involved driving lessons, passing a written exam and passing a driving test. The process takes about three months and costs about $500. Two of the men in our mission failed their tests and couldn't drive anymore. I was the first successful candidate; our mission president was the second. He gave me a high-five when I got mine; I gave him one when he got his.

So I Guess I Am Old

Grandson Keaton Steck had a spelling test a few weeks ago. He was to use his spelling words in sentences. His words were "old," "fold," "told," and "cold." For the first word, he wrote: "My Grapa is verry old" (sic). I celebrated my 70th birthday yesterday, so I guess the kid isn't too far off in his estimate of me. (btw: as of yesterday, my definition of old moved out a bit. It was 75; now it is 95! ' Except for a little of what my rheumatologist calls "overlap syndrome," I am feeling pretty good (well, when I take extra strength Tylenol, that is).

Picnic in the Park

Our tummies began rumbling as we passed through the sleepy town of Clairemont this afternoon on our way to Provo, so we asked our GPS to find us a place to have a picnic. Here is the place she picked out ... less than a mile from the I-210 and practically deserted. We enjoyed forty minutes of pleasant solitude AND a yummy meal prepared by my sweetie: roast turkey, avocado and cheese sandwiches, chips, and a tomato. (I ate the tomato; Mo ate the chips.) A man could not have a better wife!

Time to Rest ... again

So here's where we decided to spend the night on our way to Provo. I think the last time we were here was back in, maybe, 1978 ... before the Winnebago. The young man doing the desk clerk job tonight did not remember us. Oh, well. We are having fun anyway

Time to Plant

Last year my son Roger furnished a day's worth of hard labor in helping me ready my 8' x 8' x 2' vegetable garden. This year all I have to do is transfer my fall and winter compost pile into the box, till the soil, reinstall my sleek irrigation system and plant the seeds. Here's me rototilling the compost pile and moving it to the box. And here's a picture of our seed packets after we opened the storage can: corn, peas, beans, turnips, radishes, squash and rutabaga!