playin' around

[retired fella]

I'm just starting to stir, getting my kit together for todays shoot.  Will be a 50 degree day with hopefully no rain.  Been trying to tune the sights on my flinter for a while.  I love the camaraderie [been shooting with some of these guys for forty years].  The competition is good but not fierce.  Just a nice friendly gathering.

On Tuesday I will attend another shoot at another club.  More or less the same fellas of the retired variety. 

                              RETIREMENT IS GREAT!!!!!

[smylee grouch]

Hope to join you retired fella in 5 more paychecks. Going from full time to part time and am a little nervous going from regular pay to sometime pay.

[LH]

Have fun rf,  I took a 40% paycut and took on a new mortgage when I retired,  but I like retirement a WHOLE lot more than when I was working.

[Bob Roller]

I'm just starting to stir, getting my kit together for todays shoot.  Will be a 50 degree day with hopefully no rain.  Been trying to tune the sights on my flinter for a while.  I love the camaraderie [been shooting with some of these guys for forty years].  The competition is good but not fierce.  Just a nice friendly gathering.

On Tuesday I will attend another shoot at another club.  More or less the same fellas of the retired variety. 

                              RETIREMENT IS GREAT!!!!!

 Paul Harvey was asked by Larry King if he was going to retire and the answer
was "No,that's just practicing up to be dead".
The father of one of our friends retired,came home and rarely git out of his recliner
chair and chain smoked himself into a grave. Paul Harvey was right about this one.
I have been thinking about taking up flying again after a 25 year lapse but must
consider the cost and some insurance won't cover accidental death in private planes.

Bob Roller

[LH]

depends on a fellers perspective I guess,  but my job was never my life.  It was something I did to get money for the things I wanted in my life.  Since retirement,  I have lost 40 lbs and do waaay more physical type work than I ever did when I had a job.  I devote a lot more time to shooting and other activities I like and choose and am never bored.   

[hanshi]

I was sorta "forced" into retirement several years ago.  Got hit with a partly genetic autoimmune disease passed along from my father's side.  Became permanently disabled and haven't been able to work since then.  Of course it does make hunting almost impossible although I do manage to get out a time or two each season.  And it sucks. 

But I do stay busy and spend time with my flinters/cappers and go to the range when the weather lets me.  I also have time to engage in activities I enjoy that I didn't have time for earlier.  Trouble is my work was a large part of my life and I loved what did and miss it terribly.  But I now get to sleep in most days and rarely have to rush to do anything.  I gained weight and am trying to get rid of some of it.  Oh, and I get to read a lot, which I do love. 

[mab7]

My dad retired about 20 years ago and his favorite saying since then is that he has no idea how he ever had time to work...

[Standing Bear]

My dad retired about 20 years ago and his favorite saying since then is that he has no idea how he ever had time to work...

AMEN!!!!

[Dave Marsh]

My dad retired about 20 years ago and his favorite saying since then is that he has no idea how he ever had time to work...

That happens to be my favorite as well.  Been retired 4 years now and am busy every day.  Not bored at all and busy all of the time.

 Dave

[Nate McKenzie]

I retired 12 years ago. Now I wonder when I ever had time to work. I'm always busy.  Gun building, model railroading, taking care of 56 acres of groomed trails, rebuilding the stone walls, restoring oil lamps, etc.

[bigsmoke]

We sold our business about 3 1/2 months ago.
After about 30+ years of making powder horns for other folks, I had imagined that I would be able to craft a few for my own personal enjoyment.  Strangely enough, I have not found time to head out into the shop and even cut the tip off of a cow horn, let alone dig through a bag of horns to select one to work with.
We did however, spend the time to totally clean the shop, tape and mud all the wallboard joints, and prime and paint the room.  It sure is purty now.
While I haven't been making powder horns, I have been playing my accordion and tuba more, taking a Rosetta Stone course in Italian, taking a few nice walks, working on my family genealogy, etc.  All time consuming activities.
So far, I don't miss having to go out into the shop to do whatever it was that I did, and having to rush to get stuff packed up and into the mail.
Although I am glad not to be doing anything, I recall so many times standing in the shop thinking how interesting it is that here I am, doing what other people look forward to doing when they retire.  What a great job that was.
John

[LH]

I worked for a bunch of politicians.  The pay and benefits were good, and if you could survive 30 years of it the retirement package was ok,   but I DO NOT miss it one little bit.     Yesterday I plowed about 2 miles of firebrake getting ready to do some burning.  I have a bandsaw mill and am getting ready to mill five or six trees as soon as I finish the two sheds I'm building to stack the lumber in.  I'm in the middle of bedding a suppository firearm and loading/testing bpcr for a Shiloh and waiting on two barrels for flintlocks.  Need to cut some firewood.  My azalea cuttings (40) will need planting soon so I need to clear the brush where I'm going to plant them.  Change oil and service all the mowers and other small engines.   On and on.  Every day I get up and think of ten things I might like to do.  Some days I work,  some days I fish, hunt, or shoot. Whichever way the wind blows me.  Life is good. 

[retired fella]

I am happy that my thread took off.  It sounds like me all you guys seem to be enjoying retirement.  LH, you have too much time on your hands!!

Yesterdays chicken shoot was totally enjoyable.  I was introduced to the "rattle box".  This is a totally frustrating contraption the builder of which being of a somewhat sadistic nature.  I did come home with a couple of chickens though.  Good time had by all.

[HAWKEN]

Retirement started out good.  I was a law enforcement officer for 36 years, and I retired in 2009 when I discovered that with my pension and social security together, I would make more than I did when I was working.  I took my job for the high pay and good hours, LOL.  I hunted and fished nearly every day until 2012, when I received a catastrophic injury.  I developed a bone spur in my neck, pressing against my spinal cord.  When they went in to remove it, they nicked the lining of my spinal cord, with a scalpel.  Then, from the incision in my neck, I developed a blood clot that shut off my air supply, and I died for 8 minutes.  I woke up paralyzed from the neck down.  They told my wife that they should unplug me because I would be a vegetable and never get out of my bed.  Thankfully she did not, and with a great deal of effort, both on my part and of hers, I can walk some, with a walker and wheel around in a wheel chair.  I look forward to getting back in my reloading shed and shooting my muzzleloaders.......Robin   

[Roger B]

My dad retired from American Airlines at 55 at a time when they were offering early retirement in order to downsize.  He died last June at 87.  In between we hit most of the bigger rendezvous in the west and he built guns and enjoyed his stinking grandsons from birth to 25.  He also talked to everyone anywhere and some of it was true, though things got a little blurry in that regard in his 80s.  I was with him when he took his last breath, and prayed for him and encouraged him to go on over and never look back.  He must still be busy because he hasn't had time to send a postcard or anything  !  When I spoke at his memorial I told people completley truthfully that I was sad that he was gone, but didn't have a single regret about his life and really wasn't mourning his loss.   To me, mourning is for those that die young or otherwise had a bad time in life.  Thirty two years of doing what he wanted to do was a blessing that few of us get, and I would give nearly anything to get the same chance at 58.  The thing he taught me was to be active, keep learning, and ENJOY life in retirement.  If you can do that, then retirement is a pretty good deal.  I hope I get a chance to find out, but I'm not making any bets these days.
Roger B.

[SmokePole Dave]

hanshi- I feel your pain. I too have had to take early retirement do to medical issues only mine was my heart. Six years ago they told me I had heart fail er and I was a short timer. Well I'm still here! Like you I can't do the things I used to but that's OK. Now I have plenty of time to work on my rifles, reenacting, work around the house and oh  yes we can't forget the honey do list. Spring is coming and the charcoal is a burn-in. thinking of you guys -dave 

[Kopfjaeger]

Worked for the state for thirty years. I've been retired two year now and I'm loving every minute of it.  Family and hobbies keep me busy.