Category: Retirement
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Let’s Talk About the Weather
Reading Time: 5 minutesSo many people, on hearing we live in Florida, think it’s hotter than blazes down here. And it’s true that there are some days where it’s sweltering hot. The thing is, it’s damned hot in Missouri sometimes. Wisconsin too. And in both those locations when it’s that hot, the humidity is through… Read more
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Florida to Wisconsin. The Hard Way.
Reading Time: 5 minutesI have a nickname (in the vein of Native American names like Sitting Bull, Wilma Mankiller, or Crazy Horse) in the Grathen family…. Maps Are My Life. Randy’s sister, Kristine, calls me this because I love road maps. I especially like them when we’re traveling by car, which, if you’re a regular… Read more
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Age Has Nothing to Do With It
Reading Time: 4 minutesOne of my favorite memories of all time is when I was babysitting my great-niece, then age 3 or 4, and she asked me if she could play with my phone. She’s 16 now, so this was about 12 years ago, 2012 or so. At the time I still had a flip… Read more
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25 or 6 to 4
Reading Time: 5 minutesI was in the 7th grade at a Catholic school when a bunch of guys in the Chicago area who loved music found each other and formed a band called The Big Thing. Those guys, all about 10 years older than me, dressed to the nines in skinny suits ala the early… Read more
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The Unusual, Round Place We Call Home
Reading Time: 5 minutesWhen Randy and I moved to Southwest Florida in July 2021 we didn’t know a lot about the area. Today, in fact, I found out for the first time that the closest city, Englewood, is unincorporated. This means there’s no local government or police force. All governmental services are provided by the… Read more
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How Many Cars Does a Retired Couple Need?
Reading Time: 2 minutesWhen Randy and I moved to Florida we brought the 2 vehicles we had in Missouri with us. Randy’s HUGE Silverado HD long bed, club cab pick-up truck barely fit in the driveway, not to mention the garage. We did get it in there once. There were about 3 inches in both… Read more
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New Site Live!
Reading Time: < 1 minuteLive! After several weeks of cutting and pasting, and a week of the sometimes hair pulling frustration of trying things that don’t work, 68andCounting.com is finally live on the new host. It’ll live here for at least the next three years. None of the comments from the old blog transferred over.… Read more
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Trivial Matters
Reading Time: < 1 minuteWe did it! For the second time in three tries Randy and I were part of a team (called Mixed Nuts for those of you who are interested) that won the monthly trivia contest at the Rotonda West HOA Community Center. You may not think that’s a big deal, and in… Read more
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Resurrecting Thinking 2 Steps Ahead
Reading Time: 5 minutesThose of you who’ve known me a very (VERY) long time know that for the past 40 years I’ve been talking about a concept I dubbed Thinking 2 Steps Ahead (T2SA). In the early 2000s I even trademarked the phrase and designed workshops that I taught around the area to audiences of… Read more
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Where There’s a Will…
Reading Time: 4 minutesHoly smokes I’ve had a good week. My niece and her family were here most of last week and our time together was delightful. They’re a nice family who follows directions well. I asked them to treat our home like an AirBnB, making themselves comfortable and at home because I wasn’t going… Read more