More Musings on Retirement
I waited a long time to do some of the things I’ve done in retirement. The result is that I’m more aware today of how important it is to prepare for projects that I want to do now that I’m officially retired.
Here are more to-do projects you can play with once you’re retired.
Get Serious About a Hobby
Become a methodical, not anal-retentive, fisherman. Take the time needed to keep your tackle box organized and properly stocked. Case in point: I love fishing for halibut, which seem to congregate on sandy bottoms near kelp beds. The Southern California coast is under-fished halibut heaven. To catch halibut regularly requires practice. The problem is the only way you can acquire the skill is to actually catch halibut. Halibut have very sharp teeth and sure as god made little green wiggly anchovies, if you use a monofilament leader the halbut will cut the leader and laugh at you. They’re spiteful fish. So, about once every two months I zip over to WalMart and buy wire leader—also useful should you decide to switch species and intentionally fish for sharks. I try to keep five or six packs of wire leader in my tackle box at all times. Something else to remember when fishing for halibut is to use pliers or a hook removal tool to get the hook out of a halibut’s mouth. I’ve seen a couple of friends get chomped by flatties, that’s why I have a hook removal tool in a sheath on my belt.
Something else I’ve learned is to note the places, sea state, tide conditions and estimated depth of any location where I’ve regularly taken halibut. I have a seriously annotated map of the southern California coast with a lot of ink marks between Point Loma and Zuma Beach, showing where I’ve caught numerous halibut. Two of my favorite places are on the northern edge of the Crystal Cove State Beach in Orange County and on the north side of “Red Beach” at the end of Las Pulgas Road on the Camp Pendleton Reservation. According to my notes, I’ve had the best luck at slack water for an ebb tide following a full moon. Note, there are no facilities for buying live bait at either of these places so use either cured or frozen bait on the end of a six-foot leader. Or, a nice red and white striped spoon retrieved slowly along the bottom
2. Travel
Splurge and treat yourself to first class airline ticket to a vacation spot you’ve dreamed about for decades. When I retired, I had nearly one million miles banked with United Airlines. One of the things that’s still high on my to-do list is a trip to Turkey to see the site of Troy. I also want to spend time kicking around the foundations of castles in the U.K and Ireland. One of the subordinate things on this item is to take a train from Edinburgh to Devon and begin my castle exploration from there and then go north.
Cruise on a Freighter. Hey, it not only sounds romantic, it is. Even if it’s just the overnight run from San Diego to Oakland. I’ve done it once and now want to hop a freighter up to Seattle or Vancouver. Most freighters have nice staterooms, great chow and travel at 20 knots or more. Ask the officer of the deck if you can come up to watch the approach and berthing. It’s a fascinating procedure that begins with the boat slowing down to bring aboard a harbor pilot and ends with the ship docked against a pier. Forget about an Internet connection, life will go on without it and you can spend more time watching dolphins surf the bow wave, and gulls slipstream/speed glide behind the ship’s superstructure. Riding a freighter may be one of the best things I’ve done on retirement my to-do list.
3. Indulge yourself at a college, for credit, or not. Remember those classes you wanted to take but couldn’t because you were in hurry to complete your major? Retirement is the time to take those classes. Splurge, take an intro to painting, or drawing class. Get a good paint set, start a collection of art pencils and sketch or paint away. In fact, take your paints, sketch book and supplies with you when you travel. A high-resolution digital camera is also a must. But free yourself from technical excellence and get with the groove. Go ahead and sketch people at Shakespeare and Company in Paris.
One of the things I’ve done to have fun is to make tie-dyed t-shirts, I now have a collection of 13 shirts. Hell, make them in a variety of sizes and sell them at the local farmers market or street fair. I have yet to master making matching tie dyed socks, but, that day is coming.
4.
Stay active avoid becoming a sickly white tuber. I take a 90-minute PE class twice a week. It’s fun and it’s good for me. I also walk my studly little dog “Perro” through local avocado and citrus groves every day. I spend two-hours a day outdoors, I’m no longer a palid pink,but have a tan and freckles, and I feel very good.
5.
Volunteer your time. My own pet project is to visit and help veterans at two local Naval hospitals. I may not agree with this political administration’s views, but I sure as hell can appreciate what the young men in the wards have gone through. I donate my old notebooks and set those machines up with Internet access, a decent browser, Skype and a small headset. It’s the least I can do and it helps the returning veterans feel appreciated. I also volunteer with the local humane society, although my dog seems fearful of time I spend with other packs or unknown but obviously hateful cats.
Well, the sun is out on a gorgeous fall day. Remember, It’s your retirement, create and execute your own retirement to-do lists.—Jim Forbes on 10/29/2006, writing with the sun and future so bright, I gotta wear shades (from WalMart, alas)
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