Just heard on the news that most people don’t like their work. OK, perhaps that is no news flash for most, but as a retired person, I find that a bit sad. I immediately flash on a sign my Dad always had up in his office:
“I like my work, but it breaks up the day!”
I was raised by a man who LOVED his work. Silly me, as a kid I thought everybody did. Obviously work gave my Dad meaning and purpose. He was a botany professor who got to interact with college kids all day long. He loved teaching and counseling them. He was one of the few who reached his goal in life, and found it completely satisfying.
Our view of the Sangre de Cristo range every morning!
As an academic librarian I always liked my work, but no, there was no love involved. I did it for 25 years. I was a dedicated employee who got there in spite of winter storms, etc. My main problem in my career was the stupid bosses, and in libraries they were often men. One especially hate-filled one finally got me in the end. He fired me at age 49, and I haven’t worked as a librarian since.
These days, when Mike and I discuss work, he always says he misses his job. He worked with some high-level engineers in areas like developments in solar inverter technology. He had to give up his career for health reasons. He says he misses working with cutting-edge technology. I wish he still could enjoy those daily challenges, but I do not miss my work as a librarian. I find that I was smarter than most of my bosses, and that didn’t work out well.
I LOVE doing research and writing. I LOVE being my own boss, although there have been times when I could be quite demanding. The Internet has given us many new freedoms and I love it all! Now I do what I want with my time and generally enjoy the process. I wish you all this future!
Save your dollars and perhaps someday you will be able to live where you want and spend your days doing whatever you choose!
I’m a newcomer to rural southern Colorado. After two years I decided to compile a short journal about the ups and downs of moving from a good-sized city to rural America to build a passive solar home in the foothills:
Please share this information with your friends if they are considering similar life changes. Feel free to contact me directly to discuss any of these challenges, and to order your own signed copies of any of my books! Cheers, Laura Lee (email me: MidlifeCrisisQueen@gmail.com)
We’re stuck in a beautiful snow storm in the foothills just east of the magnificent Sangre de Cristo mountain range in southern Colorado today. If you can think of a nicer place to be stuck, please share.
I am here today to share with you the works of a few of my favorite boomer blogger friends, and ask you a question at the end of this post.
Number one is from Linda Myers. She has a timeshare dilemma — too many to use. Go see her dilemma over at her Bag Lady in Waiting Blog.
Over at The Survive and Thrive Boomer Blog, things are hot and cold. Rita R. Robison, consumer journalist, almost had a kitchen fire, so she writes about tips for preventing kitchen fires. On the cold front, she writes about how older adults can prevent hypothermia during the winter by wearing a hat inside and keeping the temperature at at least 68 degrees.
Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting, is traveling once again this week, and discusses the difficulties of finding great eateries on a cross country road trip. Go read about some of her disappointments in Dining Along the Road, especially when traveling off the beaten path.
Near the end of this piece I ask my readers whether age 60 is too old to make new friends. Please send me a comment with your own opinion on this issue. I am really curious what others have to say about this!
We moved from Fort Collins to here in June of 2014 to build a direct gain passive solar home in the foothills west of Walsenburg. We rented a hundred-year-old house in town for 13 months while building our own version of a retirement dream home. There would be few surprises when we finally arrived in our new home, but moving to Walsenburg was the greatest culture shock.
When you decide to move to a very small town after living in the city most of your life, false assumptions can be made. After all, you really don’t know exactly what to expect, because you have never lived in such a tiny town before.
The first mistake we made was assuming that rentals would be available in both La Veta and Walsenburg in June. We discovered the end of May there were none we would even consider living in, and we were closing on our house the middle of June! We quickly made friends with Susie, the primary realtor in Walsenburg, and offered her a hefty bonus if she would find us something quick.
We also assumed utilities would be much cheaper in a small town, but we were wrong about that too. We did call the utility departments for both La Veta and Walsenburg before renting, and quickly discovered that only propane heating was available in La Veta. That would add up quite quickly in this cold part of the country, so we began leaning more towards Walsenburg in our selection process.
One thing we never would have guessed is that city water in Walsenburg would cost over $60 a month BEFORE you figured in how much you used that month! This town has lost about a third of its population in the past decade, so their water capacity is far larger than they need or can pay for, one reason why they are welcoming marijuana grow operationsat present.
We did find a decent house to rent just in time, but it was so small we had to find additional storage for some of our furniture. The local realtor helped us with that too.
Work finally began on our new passive solar home in December 2014!
One total win for us was how friendly and welcoming our new landlord Bob was. He helped us whenever he could, and even provided new music for us to listen to as we explored our new home county. He then invited us up to his commune home near Gardner, where he has lived since the 1970s. The people who live in the communes in the northern part of Huerfano county have been so friendly and welcoming!
Another total win has been the quiet beauty of this part of Colorado. The views are phenomenal down here, and the weather is just a bit milder than up north. We love it! It’s definitely big sky country!
Most of the people we have met here have been friendly at least at first, although most seem hesitant to truly welcome new people. Most don’t seem to want to be friends. I’m still trying to figure that one out. I have heard a few interesting explanations so far!
“Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.”
Sunrises are outrageous at 7,000 feet with no neighbors!
It’s been a long & winding road to this wonderful home in the foothills below those beautiful Sangre de Cristo Mountains, one I’d love to share with you!
I’m just beginning to get excited about writing my next book! This week I started collecting all that I have written in the past few years, and enjoying (in retrospect!) the process of how our retirement came about. Retirement for us was a bit of an ungraceful process, sort of like that joke about making sausage, but it happened all the same and most importantly, we survived! It’s surprisingly fun and funny reading my old entries about trips to Ecuador, renovating our old house for sale, falling down the stairs, etc. I would guess this could make for some interesting reading for those who are just beginning to consider their retirement options.
Mike fooling around down below!
I have decided to write it in journal-style, much like if the reader was reading my diary, as it happened. I have always enjoyed the intimacy of books written in this style.
This book will answer such questions as when and why did we first get interested in moving to Ecuador? Why did we lose interest? How did we decide to check out southern Colorado as a site for a solar home? How did we choose the architecture of this home? etc.
Basically this will be a summary of how this wonderful place all came about for us. How did we end up here, doing this at age 60?
I am filled with gratitude that I can now live like this forever. Please go learn more about our move from Fort Collins to here in my new memoir!
“I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring.” – David Bowie
After a few nice sunny days, we’re having a cloudy one today, with snow expected tomorrow morning. I am happy to report our first ‘winter’ electric bill was really not bad, less than we ever expected. This passive solar heating is definitely doing an excellent job of keeping us warm and happy!
It has been interesting to study and learn more about the weather patterns down here. The Sangre de Cristo mountains south and west of us, are the best predictor of snow storms coming this way. They almost always come from that way. When we see a storm up in those mountains, there’s an excellent chance we’ll also be snowing here soon.
I just released a new book about what we went through in the past two years, packing up our life in suburbia, moving to rural Colorado, and starting a whole new life.
Want to learn more about this move from busy, noisy Fort Collins to this place of silence and great weather watching? Go here!
Last year at this time, we were just beginning to see an actual home emergefrom our slab, which took us five months to produce! This brings us to my new year’s revelation.
Why not start out 2016 on a note of gratitude? We really do have so much to be thankful for!
Why not let go of the old gripes and channel gratitude for a change? Need a little help? Go here and spend five minutes absolutely FOCUSED on this video. If you absorb this video every day, it WILL change your life.
I just saw the new Star Wars movie yesterday. My favorite line?
“When searching for a sense of belonging, seek not in what is behind you, seek in what is ahead.”
It’s a whole new year! What’s in it for you?
In addition, I just received this marvelous revelation from my niece’s FB page:Drinking champagne helps you fight off Alzheimer’s!Champagne became my favorite drink during construction, and so lets raise our glasses:
Here’s to those who wish us well, all the rest can go to hell!
I am filled with gratitude that I can now live like this forever. Please go learn more about our move from Fort Collins to here in my new memoir and follow us on TWITTER!
I’m a newcomer to rural southern Colorado. After two years I decided to compile a short journal about the ups and downs of moving from a good-sized city to rural America to build a passive solar home in the foothills: 
In addition, I just received this marvelous revelation from my niece’s FB page: 
Adventures of the NEW??? Old Farts 
