Thoughts In General

There is not much going on after a great weekend. I must admit that I forget what day it is at times and have to look at the iPhone calendar to tell me. That is how nice it is being retired. I had a long time friend stop by yesterday and we had a rather interesting discussion. Some of that pertains to traveling, rving, hiking etc.....old activities.

As you see from the blog I have done a little 'cleaning and rearranging'. I was listing too many blogs on the sidebar, so I moved a lot of them over to my feedly account where I can read all of their updates along with my other stuff listed there. I also came close to deleting my Google+ account this weekend and I still might. I rather doubt it will take the place of the information I follow and read on Facebook. Also, what I think is concerning, is the same as Facebook, if you don't keep a close eye on your account and privacy settings ... they seem to change without anyone letting you know. Then you have less privacy than you thought you did.

One thing that got me thinking about deleting Google+ was, of all things, taking a picture on my iPhone. It was just a photo of Heidi's bad back legs. They were not photos I was going to put on a blog or pass out to anyone. They were just for me so I can see later if there is any improvement using the Dinovite food supplement. Soon after I took that photo, I get an email from Google+ asking if I wanted to share the photos? That ticked me off. I couldn't believe Google+ had moved their way into my iPhone. Isn't there any privacy anymore?

After doing some research on how that happened, I found out I now have to go into my iPhone settings and make some changes to prevent that and later I did.

I've never liked Google+ even when it started. I was hesitant in starting an account but I did because people were using their Google+ accounts to follow the blog. If I find out that anyone can follow my blog without the requirement of me having a Google+ account, then I'll get rid of if and go back to my blogger profile.

I found out this morning just how good of a watch dog Sadie is. You know, the mild mannered bloodhound, where tv commercials show the mild mannered bloodhounds laying on the porch in the sleep mode and never moving. Well the man from the electric company that rang the doorbell found out otherwise. She scared him enough that he had backed away from the door by the time I answered it. She went sprinting to the door with a very loud aggressive bark. He asked me if she would come through the door after him. It was surprising how vicious she sounded when that doorbell rang. In some cases that might be a good thing.

My long time friend and a college roommate stopped by yesterday on his way home. He is semi-retired at 62, does some part-time dentistry, but would prefer to be full-time retired. We were always biking or hiking the USA 40 years ago while in college. We have discussed many times as we got older how our attitudes were changing about the activities we use to really enjoy and did on a regular basis. In my case that was bicycling and his was backpacking and hiking all of the USA.

When he told me of his recent solo hiking/backpacking trip the Colorado last month, I could relate some of that to my thoughts of traveling cross-country in a trailer. It was interesting because over the years he had told me he had a burning desire to get back into hiking and backpacking like he use to, and planned to once he retired full-time. His desire to travel was the same as mine was when I first discovered the RV full-time lifestyle.

The interesting part of the conversation was that he acted on his burning desire to go out west and hiked. He thought it would be like he remembered hiking his 20's, but the trip had surprising results. Those results are the same kind of things I have thought when deciding to travel or not.

He was planning to be gone for at least a month maybe more depending on his desire to travel. He called a couple of days before he left and was really excited about the plans. He said it was something he had been wanting to do for years!! Yet, something happened that he hadn't planned on.

After he arrived in Colorado, he made various short hikes but nothing like he had planned. He said each time he felt like turning back and did. Instead of camping out every night like he had planned, he would return to his car and then stay at a motel. For two weeks he only camped in his tent one night up at Alpine Lake in Colorado. He said that burning desire wasn't there once he started hiking.

After that night of camping and a great day of hiking, he said that when he woke up the next morning he knew that was it ... he was finished. Here he had spent years talking about getting back out into the wilderness and then not having the urge, need or motivation to do it as much as he planned on. He was satisfied with the one day and night instead of months. He had at least done what he wanted to do.

We have always wondered if we would ever have the same past desire to get back into activities we use to live by and enjoy. So far neither of us has stayed with anything consistently over the years. Him with competitive swimming (masters division) and backpacking, me with bicycling and working out.

Had age taken away that desire to compete or remain active with hobbies we once loved?

That lack of consistency has always made me wonder about the "what ifs ....". Such as, what if I buy a RV or trailer, take off and then two weeks later you find out that is not what you want to do ... after years of indecision, research, etc ... it's over just like that. Then you have a trailer you don't want to use.

He said he had a great trip but he was somewhat disappointed that he only needed 1 day/night of camping out in the boonies after years of wanting to do nothing but this. He said he didn't think he would be taking any more trips like that .... it was over.

Is that a factor in why I never make a commitment to buy something ... anything ... and try it?

An Unproductive Week

Well for those readers waiting to see if that For Sale sign goes in the front yard tomorrow, I don't know. I didn't get anything done this week as far as my house goes. I did nothing but work overtime, came home and did nothing about getting out of here. Read a lot on the internet, watched a little college basketball ... and thought ... and thought ... and thought about what to do.

Not really doubting my plans but just wondering if I am making the correct decision ... I guess that is doubt, isn't it.

Unexpectedly my neighbor had a realtor for sale in his yard on Tuesday.  I was curious last Saturday why he had finally decided to clear a bank of brush and trees for over 200 feet. I own 13' of that bank from the top down but he had some men clearing to the top. Good, takes something off my "to do" list in April when it will be getting warmer.

Back to their house for sale, any disadvantage of having 2 houses next door to each other for sale at the same time?

I have a small 2 bedroom/1 bath, he has a small 4 bedroom/2 baths, both older houses.

The news of sequestration is going to affect me. I've been planning for it to happen when it mentioned the first time. I will be one of the many government employees or government contractors that will be forced to work 4 days per week and only get paid for 32 hours. My salary will be prorated for 4 days instead of 5...then add in the fact, I work overtime now and still cannot keep up with the pace of the schedules. Nothing like a 20% pay decrease to make me even more thrilled than I already have been. That may start around the middle of April and run into October 1.

Then my #1 Hoosiers got upset at Minnesota on Tuesday, only later that same night I find out that 2 close old friends of many years, are in a new battle against cancer. Puts that ballgame in a little perspective doesn't it.

So with all things considered ... I haven't been in a great mood nor motivated to do much this week, other than a lot of thinking.

I will say my range of thinking is consistent with the other times over the past year or so, when nothing gets done. It ranges from enjoying the various stories of some of the people I follow here that are in Arizona boondocking in some decent weather......all the way to the other end of the spectrum where I ask myself am I making a wise decision of selling a house that I own and only pay a very small amount in yearly property tax.

Questions that I have always had and won't know the real answer until I am on the road. I will not know for sure until I do it.

This week a friend says that with my 3 dogs, a 17' trailer would not be enough room for them and I, I'd need more room, even though they do it with multiple dogs that are smaller than mine. That 17' really equates to 14' and while I look at that measurement taped to my floor in the room I am currently writing from ... it really does look small for full timing. With that in mind that moves me away from a trailer that my H3 can tow, so I started looking at Class C's again and Class A's (prices are low) with towing my H3.

Back to the job situation ... currently not in a job that thrills me since I am out of the financial part of the work (Jan 1 policy change) and thinking maybe this sequestration might be the right time to pull up stakes and move out.

Yet, as I have downsized recently, I run into things that I really don't want to sell or store but too big to take with me or too valuable to want to get rid of. Then I read other bloggers who within a year have had doubts if they made the right decision to sell everything and hit the road full time. Makes me think.

My mind has always gone back and forth on this decision, as you know ... since October 2011.

Yet, for the readers that are checking back here or planning to check for that For Sale sign picture this weekend, I'm not positive that is going to happen this weekend. I still need to move my house inside from the "lived in" look to the "presentable for viewing" look in case I would have an interested buyer.

I'll keep you posted.