Retirees or Working folk?

My job is a crazy one. I work for a large US multi-national implementing payrolls and doing other HR computer projects in several European countries.

I just moved from NY to Ireland in April and now live in a house with a tiny yard and no time to garden since I am gone at least 50% of the time. I miss the days when I lived here in the US and was able to come home from work - still in my work clothes and weed. I love weeding *how pathetic* :)

I think I am going to plan my spring trip back here so I can do that first HEAVY weeding of all of the maple nasty propeller seeds before they turn into the little 8 inch trees I have to yank out now. Doug still lives here in the US - he does a great job with the yard, mowing, shrub trimming, etc. - but he's not a weeder.

Soooooo, I work too much and will have to take vacations to come home and weed! :) That's what I will be doing here this weekend - pulling weeds and loving it!

Earthling, I heartily agree with yoiur post: As I read these posts, I am saddened by how many people are still being forced to take early retirement or face layoffs. Its unfortunate that soon there will be no jobs (other than the minimum waged service jobs) for anyone living in the US..once the country looked up to by the world. Too many of the better jobs are being sent overseas where the wages are lower..I understand the need for companies to make a profit, but I wonder if they understand that if no one has a job, who will be buying these products or services that they want to make such profits on.

In fact, I posted a response earlier but the Watchdogs deleted it, thinking it might have 'political' implications.

How about not retired, unemployed, bad back and wishing I was retired, lol!

Retired for almost 14 months now. Have never been so busy in my life. I wonder now how I had time for work all these years. Still get up around sunrise (stupid chickens) and after drinking a pot of coffee and reading the paper, head for the garage to work on all the unfinished projects I have started the past 30 years. Retired union sheetmetal worker and tired of hanging over the edge of a roof to hang gutters made me call it quits at 57. The garden is now my full time job and seems like it never gets done. My advice is to turn the TV off, pick up a book and enjoy life the way it was meant to be lived. Forget the flowers, plant something you can eat. I have landscaped completely with edible stuff, except for the front yard grass which is for the neighbors amusement. Keeping active will keep you healthy.........

Nadabigfarm... haven't seen any posts from you until now (I don't see all the forums) but a BIG Welcome to DG.

Seems sensible to grow edibles, but I still need flowers for my soul.

Darius.......Thanks for the welcome. I have been on a few forums, there are so many here. Don't get me wrong, I love flowers too and truely admire onions when they go to seed. The artichoke flower is simply beautiful and unique to me. A wall of sunflowers looks great. For a security wall, I use blackberries and natal plum. I made a covered trellis for string beans which resembles more of a tunnel than anything else. I do like ferns, Australian and Tasmanian and have a little table full of unusual succulents on the porch. Keeps me busy along with so many other unfinished projects. Retirement is great and I am fortunate to have a 12 month growing season. Zone 10

earthling...you must be from "outer space!" ;-)

I've said that for years...come to think about it, maybe we're *both* from outer space! The big companies have no idea about what will happen when people have no money to buy their products. (julie shakes head and signs off)
~julie~

I'm a stay at home mom, mother to 1. I also homeschool my DD. We are owners of our business and I am a vendor at our local Farmers Market. I juggle my time wisely (most of the time). I wake up early, usually around 5:30 and that is when I do most of my long stays at DG, before everyone wakes up. I do pop in and out during the day, reading a minute here and a minute there, then I am gone. Some folks take smoke breaks, I take DG breaks..lol.. I am also on at night when DH is having father - daughter time..which is usually playing video games, since we don't have cable t.v.

Retired or working? Seems like I do both. I am retired...and as you all know...I travel A LOT! I also volunteer at a National Park...and at a Widow's Support Center (working with the US Army Chaplains office), and do a bit of volunteering with the VFW Aux. Other then having tendionits in boht heels I am in good health for some one that will be 70 VERY SOON...unless I decide to lie about my age...again! LOL

Nadabigfarm, welcome to Dave's...my next trip is to visit some DG folks in your area.....Jo

Lisa says, "Some folks take smoke breaks, I take DG breaks..lol"

Same here, except I have to be very careful. You apparently can take all the smoke breaks you want where I work, but if you're on the 'net too much, you'll get fired with no warning. There is no definition of what is "too much", either. (And they wonder why morale is poor...)

I retired 7 years ago at age 66. This is a second marriage for both of us, 43 years so far. I have 6 children, my wife 3, for a total of 8. All are grown, the youngest is 42 now. He is the only one living close now, about 500 feet North of us here on the farm. I have worked as an Electrical Engineer my entire adult life after growing up on a farm in Southwest Oklahoma. My Father and worked together for many very happy years. He died too early at 72. I am now older than he was when he died. I had spinal surgery last October, woke up without pain for the first time in years. I thought it was going to be a hip replacement. Thanks for MRI testing! I was up walking 2 hours after I woke up and went home the next morning. No pain! No further problems, except frobidden to lift more than 50 pounds now. I have Type 2 Diabetes but take no medication. I walk a lot every day, with a camera, and eat a low starch diet, no sugar. My last blood test showed Non-Diabetic. (Hemoglobin A1c).
I worked for years setting up communications for Oil companies in remote locations. I took notes of places to return to for vacations. It seems like I travel a lot, but I just make use of where to go from my notes to make the most of the trips. I worked for 12 years in this job, averaging over a hundred hours a week. The first 5 years 120 hours a week. Sleeping on choppers, boats whenever I could get a chance. I have never slept much, most of my life 4 or 5 hours. I am almost always up and walking before sunrise and again around sunset. I usually get to bed about 11PM and read for an hour. I spend the heat of the day on the computer, processing pictures and on DG and never have enough time, or ever have had so much fun. I do not miss working, although I always enjoyed it at the time. My last 8 years was working as a Microwave Engineer, (similar to Oil Field work) for a large group of schools, Region 4, in Texas, setting up and operating 8 channels of Broadcast Classroom Television (distance learning), which allowed remote schools to have Languages and other classes for the few students at each with desires to learn things not normally taught at the smaller schools. I traveled to every school in the Region. I have less free time now and enjoy it more.

Trois

It's really interesting to read all these posts, and what people either do, or did before they retired!

My career was in many diverse fields before I retired, and here's more tyhan you wanted to know about me, LOL:

I did R&D developing the first implantable variable-rate cardiac pacemakers and went from there to Johns Hopkins Univ. School of Medicine where I worked in open-heart surgery, running the heart-lung machine and doing R&D on prototypes for artificial hearts and heary valves.

I was fortunate to be on the team that did the first heart transplant there, and along the way got to meet Dr. Christiaan Barnard, Dr. Michale DeBakey and Dr. Denton Cooley.

Then I moved up the ladder and sold peritoneal dialysis equipment all across the eastern US and Canada before I got tired of so much travel.

During that hiatus from sales and marketing, I became a licenesed general contractor and was the first woman builder published in Fine Homebuilding Magazine.

Later moved to the country and raised Arabian Horses, qualifying and taking a mare to the Nationals in just 3 years in the horse business. Raising horses is very expensive so that didn't last long, LOL.

Moved back into sales, architectural this time, and enjoyed a wonderful reputation in the narrow field of architectural ornamentation. I was pleased to be selected to work with the White House Architect for a week on a study for The First Lady.

Never saved a dime, retired poor and became a gardener.

This message was edited Jul 25, 2004 3:15 PM

My husband & I met later in life, and have been married for about 13 years now. He worked as a merchant seaman for the first 10 years or so of our marriage, so he was gone from home about half the time. A few years ago, we decided we'd rather live with less money and see more of each other, so he began a little oil heater business and I began taking my little nursery business a little more seriously. His heater business is the the main income, but I make enough from the nursery to support my gardening habit! LOL!

I don't know if we'll ever be able to 'retire'. Neither of us has a job retirement plan... heck, we can't even get health insurance. We'll probably be plugging away at one job or another until we keel over!