The rumours of my demise have been greatly exaggerated

[GENESIS]

Tom - glad to see you back in the forum creative writing and always interesting story telling saddle again !.......was wondering what happened. Didn't envision you coming back live and in person wearing the red shirt and being one of the helpful hardware man/woman folks........cool !!! I do recall over the years a number of professional folks and business owners taking gigs at our local ACE stores. Always refreshing to have someone who is helpful and knows how to carry on a conversation and know what the he!! they are talking about or will get the answer and get back in touch.

Dan

Thanks Dan. Because I deem myself as the King of Kluge, I pretty much knew that store before I started working there. Now......I'm SUPPOSED to be the OPE guy. But the (ahem) ladies quickly learned that I knew a whole lot about a lot of stuff. So now it's, "Uh Tom....do you know what a nylock is? Can you help this guy?" "Tom.....can you help this person who's trying to repair a sprinkler system". "Tom.....there's a guy that said he wants you to help him cause you were so knowledgeable last time with the brass fittings." "Tom......do you know anything about nail guns?" I could go on, but you get the point. It does make me feel good when I can create a solution to a customers quandary and it's nice to be needed/wanted. But those dang chain saws ain't gonna fix themselves.

Tom

[GENESIS]

So Tom, does that mean if I bring my Stihl products to the rally they might get a tune up?

ABSOLUTELY!!!!

Just make sure to catch me before I dive into happy hour. OTOH.....me tearing into a trimmer after 3 beers might be something you could sell tickets to.

Tom

[GENESIS]

Timely post, Tom. I've been retired now for exactly one week. Haven't had a summer off for 45 or so years. Took off on a little RV vacation with friends so it hasn't really sunk in yet. I have lots of projects to catch up on and some long time hobbies. The social aspect of my job and being part of a team that affected public safety is something I'm already missing. The alarm clock at 5 AM, not so much. Like Sandi said, my new job is to discover who the newly freed me is, get reacquainted with my lovely wife who retires in a month or so and realize that "the man" I'm working for now is me.

On the surface retirement sounds easy but I think I'm going to enjoy working at it!

BTW Tom, can you get me a good deal on a Stihl hedge trimmer?

HELL! Even *I* can't get a discount on STIHL products! And here's the straight skinny about their pricing policy. STIHL sets the price. The franchise owner can sell a unit for more than the set price but not less. It's in their contract and if the franchisee does start selling at a discount, STIHL can pull the franchise without warning. It's very good equipment, but pricy. If I had a lawn care business and had to rely on my equipment - I'd invest in STIHL products. As a homeowner......uh.....maybe. I do think that Echo is a fine product as well. I realize some folks can't afford a $350 string trimmer. But if you buy a cheapy and it lasts 2 years, then buy another and maybe another and THEN invest in a STIHL or Echo, you've done paid waaaaaaay more than $350 for a trimmer.

Jeeez Tom......what's with the used car salesman routine? Give it a rest. You're not at work now.

Tom

[GENESIS]

Hi Tom,

Welcome back! . . . I was wondering where you got off to .

Retirement is a huge adjustment, as all the posts on this thread have described. It took me a good year to stop waking up before the alarm (which wasn't set anymore) thinking about a job that was not my responsibility anymore.

What I then learned is "don't try to make your hobby, your new job" . . . it won't go well. I retired from an engineering and engineering management career and was looking forward to spending time (and maybe making a little money), on my life long hobby fixing boats. (This was before RV's even crossed my mind ). I quickly realized that the people beating a path to my door to get me to fix their boats . . . had the kind of boats that I didn't want to go anywhere near. I began to think I needed a set of blinders. I would be tasked to fix some one thing on a boat and on the way to that thing, I would see many other things. That's not right . . . that's not right . . . that's not right . . . and so on.

So, then Cate retired and we discovered "land yachts" (aka RV's). So, I have our really old boat, our kind of old house and our really new 5th wheel. And, now the kids are buying houses that need fixing!! Like others have said, I don't know how I ever had time to go to work .

Rob

I'm with you brother Rob. I love woodworking and really enjoy doing trim work. When I renovated a couple of rooms in our house, I re-did and installed new trim. I had several folks look at the finished job and ask, "Wow.....who did all the trim work?" And when I tell them I did, they always say, "Man.....you should do it for a living." My response? "Uh - NO. Because I could never make any money at it. I'm too picky and too slow and will find other things that need fixing. Besides, no one is gonna sign a contract that says the completion date is when I say it's done".

And it's the same story when folks see my pontoon boat. They oooh and aaah at all the little custom touches and then say, "You should do this for a living" Uhhhh......no. I'm too picky and too slow and don't know the meaning of scope creep. To many folks, they look at my pontoon boat and see it as complete. I look at it and think......maybe I should do this or that. We Engineers are NEVER done.

BTW - looking forward to meeting you and others in Indiana.

Tom

Tom

[kevinpo]

Hi Tom,
Welcome back! Great to hear your stories but you and other responses about retiring scare the crap out of me. I'm a little ODC/ADD and a touch workaholic I'm usually up (and on this forum) about 2-3 am. I sleep in until 4-5 am on weekends and haven't used a alarm clock since I was about 10 years old. Retirement sounds so good when I hear about the fun going on's at the rallies and gatherings but on the other hand when I read these posts I wonder what might happen in a few months if I run out of projects to do. I mean there's only so many rooms you can remodel and with the short summer here, even with a greenhouse I can only garden for 4 months or so. I also do woodwork (mostly toys) but grand-kids have more than they can possible play with. I research everything to death so it's really that nice that you and others bring to light different perspectives that I wouldn't have considered about retirement.

All the best,
Kevin

[Steve7]

Kevin, those are some great looking "toys"! You have some great skills there.
When I retired three years ago it was an adjustment, but I think it was easier for me than some because I always kept busy doing things when not working. Of course much of that was for our three kids while they grew up, but also fishing, camping, etc.

We tried volunteering for a while until I had a slight health scare, so now we still volunteer, but only on our terms. At this point I want to be able to leave home if I want to. Our grown children and grand children still keep us busy enough, but there are times we don't see them for a while.

Similar to your wooden toys, one of my neighbors who is a workaholic and playaholic, taught me how to build bird houses. I think he's made over 900, most every neighbor on our mountain has one or more. I've only made three so far, but it gives me something to do when I feel like it or have a slow spell for a day.

I find the worst thing about being retired is we spend more money than when working. There's always something the trailer needs, or somewhere we want to go, and the DW hasn't yet agreed to dry camp, so the cost of the sites can run up the bill.

Here's the first bird house I made for one of our Grand Daughters. She was happy...and that's all that counts.

[kevinpo]

Steve,
Wonderful birdhouse! I'm sure your Grand Daughter will never forget it!

I find the worst thing about being retired is we spend more money than when working.

I could certainly see that happening with me.

Cheers,
Kevin

[Gold Country Livin']

Steve7,

That's a serious birdhouse. Easily a 40# snow load!

[Gold Country Livin']

Kevinpo,

That is some beautiful woodwork, especially shows with you quality up close camera and detail. Nice! You guys are scaring me about spending more money after retirement. It's already started with this trailer, and have not quit work yet. I see a trend in the future.

[WhittleBurner]

Tom nice to see you posting again. Busy is good but be careful and don't let them suck away your entire retirement.

Kevin that's a pertty truck, don't see to many toys made with purple heart. Hobbies or volunteering are so important once retired.
I was looking for a part time gig and Gary twisted my arm not to because we like to take off on the fly and a job would get in the way of using that 5er in the driveway..

The best thing we did when first retired a few years ago was to buy our 303 and wasted no time hitting the road with a few lengthy road trips then winter in FL.
My hobbies are portable so they travel with us. Gary is starting to carve too so we'll eventually need a bigger trailer to carry tools for 2.

Seeing as we're show and telling , here's a few of my wood burnings. Here is a pic of the sign I carved for the trailer.

......