So what does one do with their time?

I’m always surprised when I hear this. I’ve been retired, going on 5 years. My wife and I keep ourselves so busy, we can’t believe we were able to do all this when we both had jobs.

We go out for a 2 mile walk every morning. Just the upkeep on our yard and house alone, is a full- time job. I split wood during the winter and spring, my wife works in the garden. My wife does her artwork and I have a blog. Sometimes, if the sun is out, and it’s relatively warm in the afternoon, we’ll go outside and read and enjoy a glass of wine.
 

saltydog said:
I’m always surprised when I hear this. I’ve been retired, going on 5 years. My wife and I keep ourselves so busy, we can’t believe we were able to do all this when we both had jobs.

We go out for a 2 mile walk every morning. Just the upkeep on our yard and house alone, is a full- time job. I split wood during the winter and spring, my wife works in the garden. My wife does her artwork and I have a blog. Sometimes, if the sun is out, and it’s relatively warm in the afternoon, we’ll go outside and read and enjoy a glass of wine.
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I agree. I have less time now than when I was working 😂.
 
Did you guys actually do all this while working or are you just now doing it because you finally have the time? Maybe that's why it seems like you're always busy.
 

MarciKS said:
Did you guys actually do all this while working or are you just now doing it because you finally have the time? Maybe that's why it seems like you're always busy.
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The last 14 years of my career, I spent over 2,000 nights in hotels. Most of the time I was home on weekends. My "spare time" was spent mowing grass, etc. during the few hours at home. My golf group at that time, had the earliest tee time available on weekends. We would be on the course in the 6 a.m. timeframe. Playing our usual fast pace, I could be back home by 9 to 9:30. My wife was just getting up and around and we had the entire day to spend together. It worked for us.
With me being gone so much, my wife had developed a routine at home and a "love" for some quiet time. After about the first week of retirement, she was encouraging me to go play golf!!!! :>)
Ma'am, I'm also a resident of the Great State of Kansas. PM me if you want and we can find out if we're neighbors. If we are, I need to be a little careful so I don't embarrass myself too much and bring shame to our State!!!!
 
Patch said:
The last 14 years of my career, I spent over 2,000 nights in hotels. Most of the time I was home on weekends. My "spare time" was spent mowing grass, etc. during the few hours at home. My golf group at that time, had the earliest tee time available on weekends. We would be on the course in the 6 a.m. timeframe. Playing our usual fast pace, I could be back home by 9 to 9:30. My wife was just getting up and around and we had the entire day to spend together. It worked for us.
With me being gone so much, my wife had developed a routine at home and a "love" for some quiet time. After about the first week of retirement, she was encouraging me to go play golf!!!! :>)
Ma'am, I'm also a resident of the Great State of Kansas. PM me if you want and we can find out if we're neighbors. If we are, I need to be a little careful so I don't embarrass myself too much and bring shame to our State!!!!
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North Central Kansas here. That's really all I'm willing to reveal. No offense. I lived in Central Kansas most of my life. Moved north about 5 yrs ago I think.
 
PamfromTx said:
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Four years into retirement, I still am up and going before 5 a.m. every morning. Never set an alarm. For most of my 40 year career, I was up before 5 a.m. and it's a habit difficult to break. Now... I'm in bed and sound asleep by 10 p.m. My wife will sometimes read until midnight and she likes to sleep in. Nothing unusual for me to come home after my early morning golf game and she's just rolling out of bed... or still snoring!!!
 
MarciKS said:
North Central Kansas here. That's really all I'm willing to reveal. No offense. I lived in Central Kansas most of my life. Moved north about 5 yrs ago I think.
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The "Little Apple", here. 74 years in Kansas. Married here in the Little Apple in 1966. Wife was born and raised here.
 

So what does one do with their time?​


I'm an avid 'saunterer', and because I'm also a really nosy sod, I sort of slowly, 'saunter' around the neighbourhood seeing what folk around here are doing, or not doing.
One day, I might write a book about it, a sort of 'Peyton Place' kind of story. :)
 
timoc said:

So what does one do with their time?​


I'm an avid 'saunterer', and because I'm also a really nosy sod, I sort of slowly, 'saunter' around the neighbourhood seeing what folk around here are doing, or not doing.
One day, I might write a book about it, a sort of 'Peyton Place' kind of story. :)
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For many years I've enjoyed the glimpses of life along my path. Putting it all together in one long stream of consciousness would be fun.
 
debrakay said:
Retirement day #35 and I still do not know what I am doing. I was unemployed only once, for 6 months, in my 50 years of working, and it took me 3 months to adapt to that. That was over 12 years ago and I am even slower now. Hopefully I will have a handle on it by summertime. Who knew "retirement" would be a mental process?
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First thing you need to learn is how to relax. That was the hardest part for me.
Give it time. It was a full year before I "adjusted" to being retired. And I'm not saying I had it figured out, I'm saying I'd grown accustomed to it, got reasonably comfortable with it.
 
Patch said:
Manhattan, Ma'am.
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My older brother was stationed at Ft. Riley near Manhattan, Kansas back in 1972. When I got back from Vietnam that year, I visited him there. The main memory I have in Manhattan was sitting at some store across the street from a used car lot. A guy had just bought a car there. He drove it off the lot and immediately, the car broke down as soon as he was on the street. Typical for a "G.I. town". :) That was back in 1972, so maybe things have changed a lot since then. I remember that event not because I thought Manhattan was a bad place (it wasn't), but because it was like something out of a cartoon or comedy show.

On the plus side, Manhattan also has the University of Kansas and the Technical College nearby. Overall, I really don't have much memory of the town, but usually some event that stands out is what we remember and that car was the one for me. :ROFLMAO:

Tony
 
debrakay said:
Who knew "retirement" would be a mental process?
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I, for one, can certainly attest to the fact it IS a "mental process"! I, too, was never unemployed in over 50 years. If one job ended, I had another within hours or days. My wife did not work out of the home for the first 20+ years of our married life. I was the sole support for our family and needed to keep working.
When I suddenly did not have a "job"... retirement was almost like unemployment for me... all those questions ran through my mind. "Do we have enough put back?" "Will I have to go back to work?" "Will I become addicted to recliner and television and rot away?" The list goes on! Would wake at 3 a.m. with my head spinning with worries about "the future". It took a learning process to go from 'worry' to 'celebration'. If something hurts, I know I woke up and the Good Lord has given me another day to enjoy. I'm not going to waste that day worrying! I quickly developed an excellent social group at our golf course. Some folks do through church, a senior center, volunteering in the community, etc.
You'll work your way through it!!!!! Don't get discouraged!!! Try a number of different things until you find a "fit".
 
tbeltrans said:
My older brother was stationed at Ft. Riley near Manhattan, Kansas back in 1972. When I got back from Vietnam that year, I visited him there. The main memory I have in Manhattan was sitting at some store across the street from a used car lot. A guy had just bought a car there. He drove it off the lot and immediately, the car broke down as soon as he was on the street. Typical for a "G.I. town". :) That was back in 1972, so maybe things have changed a lot since then. I remember that event not because I thought Manhattan was a bad place (it wasn't), but because it was like something out of a cartoon or comedy show.

On the plus side, Manhattan also has the University of Kansas and the Technical College nearby. Overall, I really don't have much memory of the town, but usually some event that stands out is what we remember and that car was the one for me.

Tony
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Sir! You have just insulted me!!!!! Manhattan is home to Kansas State University... NOT... the University of Kansas!! KU is our mortal enemy!!!!:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:

We are a dynamic community! I spent many years on the road. Would rather drive in a metropolitan area than here! We have the military, the college students, farmers, geriatrics, and "regular" people. Not one of them is going the same speed or using the same driving habits!!! We hear Ft. Riley "booming" almost daily and have for decades. We call it the "sound of freedom" as our homes shake.

Been in Kansas our entire lives. Have our burial plots here and this will be our final resting place.
 
Fortunately, I was able to wean myself off of the working life by taking short term engineering contracts for the first 7 years of my retirement. The first one lasted 9 months and I paid dearly in taxes on that since I had my retirement income streams enabled too. The other 6 were only three months and three days a week. Then COVID-19 came along, so I didn't work last year. I really enjoyed the time off.

We have plenty to do because our hobbies are something we developed over the years with retirement in mind. Our interests are self-contained so we don't need to travel anywhere to do them, nor do we need to buy more stuff unless we choose to. The main thing is keeping our minds active by working on projects that require us to constantly learn something new.

Tony
 
Patch said:
Sir! You have just insulted me!!!!! Manhattan is home to Kansas State University... NOT... the University of Kansas!! KU is our mortal enemy!!!!:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:

We are a dynamic community! I spent many years on the road. Would rather drive in a metropolitan area than here! We have the military, the college students, farmers, geriatrics, and "regular" people. Not one of them is going the same speed or using the same driving habits!!! We hear Ft. Riley "booming" almost daily and have for decades. We call it the "sound of freedom" as our homes shake.

Been in Kansas our entire lives. Have our burial plots here and this will be our final resting place.
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Uh oh! The rivalry... I should have known I would "step in it" with the locals. :ROFLMAO:

When I was there, I was visiting my brother, so we didn't spend much time in the town, but mostly at the NCO club on the post. Your "sound of freedom" seems to me to be a very positive way to live with your neighbors at Ft. Riley. 🇺🇸

Tony
 
MarciKS said:
So what does one do with their time?
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After the local fitness center closed( before Covid) my two favorite fitness trainers and I joined together and formed a fitness business. We are busy streaming live video to a private Facebook audience, and have in-studio participants as well. Most of our followers are friends & acquaintances from the [now defunct] fitness center. We have fun, we get plenty of exercise doing 11 classes a week, consisting of Silver Sneakers sanctioned classes. I recently completed training to be a Silver Sneakers Enerchi flex instructor.
 
tbeltrans said:
... seems to me to be a very positive way to live with your neighbors at Ft. Riley. 🇺🇸

Tony
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For the most part, have been "good" neighbors all our life. Our son is career Army. He deployed to Korea last Thanksgiving timeframe. Made E-8 last year. Will have a fantastic retirement in another few years. I can't say anything bad about the Army. He'll "settle with me" next time he's home!!! :>)
 
Patch said:
For the most part, have been "good" neighbors all our life. Our son is career Army. He deployed to Korea last Thanksgiving timeframe. Made E-8 last year. Will have a fantastic retirement in another few years. I can't say anything bad about the Army. He'll "settle with me" next time he's home!!! :>)
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I could have seen myself possibly as career Army except that after Vietnam, I wanted nothing to do with it. One of my younger brothers retired from the Marines as a Master Sergeant.

Tony
 
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