Will you move when you retire???

Seems sometimes that people who like to work, outlive those who are relatively inactive. When I was a kid I used to frequent this Italian deli in my neighborhood, the owner was sharp as a razor with math, here we were in the age of Electronic cash registers and this guy had one of those old typewriter style registers, he calculated everything by pencil and pad and would ring it up. I never saw him make a mistake, he used to work in the back too keeping stock and keeping his store clean. Then he decided to sell the store & retire to Daytona at 65yrs of age.

Well 3yrs later he came back to visit and I happened to be in the Deli at the time, he was but a shell of the man that he had been. He had suffered a stroke in Fla and had lost some of his speech and memory part of his face was paralyzed and he had difficulty walking. This man who had built a successful & respected business over decades was now reduced to this pitiful condition. A couple of years after seeing him again I heard he had passed away down there. I still think if he wouldn’t have retired or at least kept a business in FL he would have lived a couple of decades longer, but then again who knows, maybe it was the drastic change of environment, a lot has to do with whether you can adapt, or maybe it was just 'his time' and that’s it…

Maybe all that salami and cheese.

Great thread everyone - so interesting to hear everyone's thoughts.

Hey Frank65 - you are down south in the "densely populated" part of the state. I agree - it will take dynamite to get me out. I plan to stay - forever - ashes in to the cove and the garden - tomatoes need calcium right? ;-/

I have a cell phone for communication - Maine's land line phone company "Fairpoint" leaves a lot to be desired and they are in bankruptcy. Satellite for Internet. No cable, or over the air TV here anymore since the digital switch over. Might be nice for people in the larger towns where the population centers are - but not much to offer rural people in valleys. I would need a 60 ft antenna (according to the FCC - )

Greenhouse-gal - VERY NICE greenhouse! Enjoy. I have a hoop house that had a hard winter, but survived.... harvested enough lettuce for a salad last night - yes from an unheated greenhouse in down east Maine! It can be done!

Picture taken down by the cove this afternoon.... Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor in the distance, 5 miles by water, 32 miles by road.

Nice! Love Acadia.

I don't think so, he wasn't fat, short normal weight guy about 5'5' and 150, probably knew what to eat & what not to. I think it was the sudden change of climate & pace, he got sold on one of those Florida retirement properties and made the wrong move...

You go to FL to die, as people say.

Yeah, since I left I've only gone there to change planes!

Ledgegardener, no wonder you like it there - what a glorious spot! I take it that this view is fairly close to your home? We live on a little river and can never get enough of the great blue herons and osprey and bald eagles and kingfishers that we get to watch.

I have a friend who moved here six years ago and is now relocating with her husband to Florida. But she has advanced arthritis and needs to use a scooter, now, and there are just no sidewalks here to enable her to enjoy any mobility. The place they're buying has sidewalks and a small commercial center nearby, so I can see the attraction.

Have all those critters here too - part of the attraction, and deer and bear and moose. In that picture, in the large view, at the right hand side, about in the middle you can see a crane. It is at the marina for putting boats into the water. Every year a pair of osprey build a nest on top, the working crane does not seem to bother them.

Greenhouse-gal - Yes, a very short walk. I am about 150 ft back from the shore, but with dense woods inbetween. When the leaves are off I can see the water sparkling from my house. I checked on the summer homes of my neighbors and took a walk around last night with the camera. We get very strong winds coming off the ocean and things happen in the wind.

Have been thinking about keeping an eye out for a used adult tricycle - would be handy for getting the mail. Mail box is a half mile away on the paved road. Anyone had experience with adult tricycles?

Maine is a rival to Florida for the percentage of elderly in the population, not because people move here to retire (some are attracted to the romance of living on the coast of Maine - hardy souls they are), but because the young people leave to find work in other states. Maine also has the oldest, most energy inefficient housing in the nation.

Onward! Off to the feed store in Ellsworth to get supplies to start the tomato and pepper seeds today!

Isnt it too early to start?

Especially tomatos as I can remember the romas were almost 2 feet tall before the normal planting time last year. Peppers were tall but not that bad.

started my t's the on monday

Here is when I went out to sell last year. 1st year I kept "records". I can remember the the tomatoes were flopping all over the place leaning up against each other. I started to plant in the veggie garden the weekend of May 15th. The tomatoes were so tall I would water them and lay them down on the flats. Jalapeno's I could not get those buggers to grow at all.

The green bells I soaked in hydrogen peroxide and water to start breaking down the hull. Also last year I can remember my friend started to PLANT MAY 1st (I told him he was nuts), anyways he had to cover the plants 2 times with a chance of frost. I started May 15th and had to cover once. I think its a tad early for tomats. This year the jalapenos will get the hydrogen peroxide treatment.

and you will being doing this where you are retiring?

No

:)

"You go to Florida to die"........Hey, wait just a minute, Victor! The median age for adults here in this town is 40! I ain't plannin' on dyin' here anytime soon!!! LOL
But if I go soon, don't quote me!!

And the median age of seniors???? ^_^

Seniors are adults, even though some of us don't act like it. LOL Actually, I know there are areas of the state where mostly older people live, but this town has more young professionals and young families, it seems. It is funny how people have misconceptions of places. Hank and his girls thought that Florida was just for old people, and many of our friends who come down for the first time are always surprised that most people here are of working age. That's why the roads are so awful during the commuting hours. You just can't win! Our area of NH has FAR more older folks than we see here. Of course, I'm not counting ourselves as older. LOL I'm a middle aged Boomer.......still. Maybe I have my head in the ground.

I tell ya ledgehedge I like where I am. This area is not rural nor "big city". Nice amenities, close to a hospital. Live next to the Kennebec River where we see all the fowl mentioned above too, plus an occasionaly deer. Even had a moose in my yard once -- thought it was a horse at first. Anyway I was stationed in Florida for 6 years and the natives can keep it. It may get cold up here but I can always put on more clothes and I can never take off enough when it gets too hot!!!!
Plan to start my tomatoes and peppers (plus some perennials) the first of April. I use a heat mat and grow light. It always seems to work out for me when it's time to plant'em. Peace

Frank said "It may get cold up here but I can always put on more clothes and I can never take off enough when it gets too hot!!!!"

Hee hee he, you learned fast!!!!!

Yeah, but then you look and feel like this.

But think of the calories you burn, it's a work out to go out. ^_^