Retirement Life in Our Little Town

Hi Bill

Today I decided to give you a taste of daily life in retirement in our little town. The following is a slightly-enhanced version of last Friday’s entry from my daily journal:

5/23/2015 – Friday

I got up at 9am (as usual) this morning after going to bed at 1:30am. I put the dogs out for potty at about 9:30am. Then I ate some Mini Wheats with Silk Almond Coconut milk, a half banana and part of a Special K Protein Bar (10g of protein per bar) in the family room with the dogs.

Music: I remained in the family room where I listened to disc one of The Beatles (White Album) on vinyl. I rated each song on that disc and also recorded it (MP3 recording) while listening. I did not have time to listen to the second disc this morning and I plan to do that tomorrow. I also plan to write my comments about that album tomorrow and to post the album on my Daily Music board on Pinterest and Facebook on Sunday. I have always liked The White Album very much and still enjoyed what I heard this morning, although there are a few truly bad, junk tracks on it.

Then I (and the dogs) went upstairs and said good morning to Pat who usually sleeps an hour or so later than I do.

Lenny’s Perch: Lenny, our alpha Shih Tzu, loves gazing out the front window of our living room and barking at anything that moves or looks unusual. Every day, we place a large foot stool under the window so he can lay on it and keep tabs on the neighborhood. He also occasionally shares that stool with his brother Squiggy or his sister Zuzu (Chihuahua), who are happy to join him in “bark fests”. The barking is often quite annoying, but that’s what dogs do.

I watched some CNN (to which I am addicted and should seek help for) while Pat had some breakfast.

Walk: It was very warm and sunny today with little wind. Therefore we decided to take the dogs for a walk. Unfortunately, there were too many of those golfers on the golf course today, so we walked along the north edge of the 4th fairway to Par Lane and then to the end of the street and back. That walk is about a mile which is good for the little short-legged canines and for us aging bipeds.

I made myself a sandwich for lunch and Pat had lunch shortly after I finished.

Pat and I watched the Midday News on KELO at about 12:45pm. We always record it on the DVR, as we do for almost every show or sporting event that we watch. It’s great to watch TV shows when we want (not when they air) and to speed through those commercial breaks.

Walmart: This afternoon, Pat gave me a grocery list and I decided to drive to the Walmart on the north side of Sioux Falls instead of shopping here in our little town. We have a very nice supermarket in town and we certainly buy there, but I felt like shopping exotic today. Surprisingly, the Walmart was not very crowed this afternoon. I was able to find almost everything on Pat’s list and I also got in a lot more walking at Walmart, which is a good thing. The attractive woman at the register at Walmart was pleasant and talkative. At one point she looked at me and said: “Wow, you folks must really love your apples!” My reply was “They are a little pricy and I’d be fine eating less expensive apples, but my wife really likes Honey Crisp apples so that’s what we buy.” Then she made me use the chip reader instead of the strip reader when I paid with my credit card. Of course, I couldn’t seem to get the credit card into the chip reader correctly and she had to come out from behind her counter to help me. She also gave me a very sympathetic look while helping. Anyway, I enjoyed another Walmart sortie today.

Interstate Traffic: I was surprised by the heavy traffic on I-29 in (and out of) Sioux Falls today. Then I realized that it is the beginning of the Memorial Day weekend. Duh! Nothin’ gets by Clark!

While I was at Walmart, Pat went to pick up some things at Lewis Drug (pharmacy) in our little town. Then she went to the quilt shop in town for some fabric to make more headscarves, which Pat and Rayna sell in some shops in Sioux Falls. I got home from Sioux Falls before she got back from the quilt shop, which was really no surprise. 

Later this afternoon Pat and I watched an episode of Property Brothers, which we had previously recorded from HGTV. We are both addicted to several HGTV shows including Property Brothers, Love It Or List It and Fixer Upper.

Nap: I took a 45-minute nap, which I seem to need in the late afternoons.

News: Pat and I watched the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelly this evening. We always watched the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams in the past, but we switched to CBS after Williams' unfortunate self-promoting exaggerations of his battle field experiences. Aside from all of the tragic news stories today, CBS presented a feel-good story about an 11-year-old boy, Tanishq Abraham, who recently graduated from American River College in California with three associates' degrees (math and physical sciences, general science, foreign language studies). I told Pat that I couldn’t even be sure to get my pants on properly when I was 11 years old! 

Dishes: I put the dishes in the dishwasher after supper. That’s one of my daily contributions to the domesticity – wait maybe that’s my only daily contribution to domesticity. 

Sports – Pirates Baseball: After supper, Pat and I watched the first five innings of the Pirates/Mets game in Pittsburgh on the TV in the living room. The Pirates were leading 2-1 at the end of the 5th inning.

Sports – NBA Eastern Conference Finals Series: Then we took a break from the baseball game to watch game two of this series, which the Cleveland Cavaliers won 94-82. Cleveland now leads that series 2-0. We are rooting for Lebron James to help the Cavaliers win the NBA Championship this year. 

Sports – Pirates Baseball: Then we watched the remainder of the Pirates/Mets game on the VCR in the Family Room. The Pirates won the game 4-1 with Gerrit Cole (now 6-2 for the season) pitching eight and a third innings, earning 10 strikeouts and allowing only one run. Mark Melancon earned his 10th save with three pitches in the 9th inning. The Pirates are now 19-22 for the season. Go Bucs!

After the baseball game Pat and I retreated to the library where I typed this journal entry and we both read until about 1:30am, which is typical for us.

Book: I continued reading 14 by Peter Clines on my Kindle Voyage this evening. It’s a very interesting science fiction thriller with engaging and quirky characters. 

Dow: The Dow Jones Industrial Average went down 53.72 (-0.29%) to 18,232.02 today. 

Temp/Weather: The low temperature since yesterday was 37.4 degrees and the high temperature was 87.9 degrees. The temperature was 54.1 degrees at 11pm tonight. 

This entry is from page 1605 and 1606 of my continuing daily journal, which began on December 1, 2010.

Well now you know that retirement in our little town is not very exciting, but we are very happy here and plan to stay for at least a few more years.  

I hope you and your family are well and happy.

Take care,

Sincerely Clark

Clark (May 2015)