Poor Janet and all the other 9-5'er's who need the week-end to tend the gardens. Let me explain this phenom to you from the hubby is retired, perspective.

Before he retired, I did my housework while he was working. He never saw the cleaning, etc. needed to run a house. Learning to do housework with a body in the house was the most difficult part for me. Eventually I learned to deal with it.

About a year into his retirement I got out the vacuum to do a little of the dreaded chores. His comment to me - it is Saturday, you don't clean on Saturdays. I looked directly at him and said "every day is Saturday, Sunday since your retirement, so this day is no different to me than a Wednesday"!

This is what all of you non retirees have to look forward too. You don't need the week-ends to get everything done, you have every day. You don't have to cram all your extracurricular activities into a two day period. It has taken him two years to get over the "gotta get it done today" and to learn to spread things out.

Now for the downside of retiring - you are too old and get tired too quickly, to get it all done. You can't remember what you wanted to accomplish for the day unless you make lists. Then you can't find or read your list because you can't remember where you put your glasses. When you wake up in the mornings, you try to remember what you watched on TV the night before so you know what day it is. Works fine unless you watch a rerun of something that normally is on Monday nights but now is on seven nights a week on some of those rerun only stations. When shopping and writing a check, you always have to ask the date - it's OK if you write checks every day which helps me keep track but the husband really doesn't like that kind of record keeping. In fact, he REALLY frowns on it.

I am waiting for the temp to get above 52 because I need to move a hosta about 2'. If it doesn't get done today, there is always tomorrow.

Today is Monday - I know because 60 Minutes was on last night.

Brooke

Lucky Brooke :)
I'll take all those points on the downside as opposed to cramming everything into 2 days when I really should be catching up on sleep.
RETIREMENT........I CAN'T WAIT, CAN'T WAIT, CAN'T WAIT!!!!!

Did I mention I can't wait?

A very tired Tammy

LOL--I can't wait either, Brooke. Right now I'm doing the two-day 'get everything done' window also. But come next spring, look out! I won't care what day of the week it is, unless there is something I want to watch on TV :-)

Janet, you know what they say about time passing more quickly as we age...I think it's true!

What's a weekend? Moms don't get weekends off either. The rhythm of the chaos and work just changes a little.

Laurel (who is looking forward to a weekend trip with her sister, WITHOUT THE HUSBAND OR KIDS, in June)

Another downside to retiring is that you don't get holidays. Workers get all these nice holidays and for retirees it is same old, same old. I don't watch much TV, so can't determine the day or date from that. Have discovered that Windows XP has a clock on the lower right of the monitor screen. If I put the cursor over the clock, it will usually show the day and date. If my computer breaks, I won't have a clue as to what day it is. Brooke has given a good description of the other things about retirement. One other thing, after a few years, you will be amazed when you see friends or classmates your age and realize how much they have aged, while you have not.

Oh, just thought of another thing - you catch yourself doing wierd things sometimes. An example would be posting on the discussion side of a forum, when you intended to post on the conversation side.

Yes, I can HARDLY WAIT to retire! Course my job is pretty flexible so it's not too bad, but there are some days I JUST WISH I DIDN'T HAVE TO GO TODAY!

ROYCE....I am CRACKING UP here over your last remark! I wonder if Ellie get's that one?

Nancy : )

Royce - I can't see the day or date when I put my cursor over the clock. I need that! How do I do it?

I just learned a new computer trick. It's very useful when trying to read small print or you don't have your glasses handy. If you hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard and turn the small wheel in the middle of your mouse, the print size will change - it will either get larger or smaller -depending on which way you turn the wheel. I thought this was very cool. Why isn't this stuff in the manual you get with the pc?

Janet - Sorry to get so far off topic. But it's just after 4 in the morning...the paper isn't here yet...and I'm trying to figure out when I saw 60 minutes last so I'll know what day it is. I do remember it was about Mike Wallace. I'm gonna miss Mike.

Kathy

Ohmygosh, another great tip or two on this thread also.

Kathy - I am now looking at print four times larger than normal. During the day my computer screen will have a glare if the sun is out and I have to move my head to see the screen - super big print now!

I must have a super duper computer because when I looked for the little clock to see the date, I found not only the time but the day of the week and the actual date. Now part of the problem with being retired will be to remember to look at the lower left hand corner of my computer screen to see where I am in my life.

Yes, Royce, those holidays for the work force don't mean much to us retirees except to increase traffic on a Monday.
The local news weatherman was on last night and he mentioned the great weather for the holiday week-end - I looked at hubby and asked what holiday. How did Memorial Day sneak up on me? I bet everyone in the work force knew about this.

Brooke

Well, we sure can tell who is retired around here! Talk about rubbing our noses in it! Yes, I DO know that the Memorial Day Weekend is coming up. Three days to make weeds fly in all directions, dig like a groundhog and work like an idiot.

At least I don't have to increase the size of the print on my computer!!!!

Janet

Boy, now that is hitting below the belt!!!!!!! I only have to increase the print size on my screen because of the nasty glare from the window in back of me - on days when it shines around here - like today. Now if you want to get in a rubbing contest - try this on for size -

I am going outside - RIGHT NOW - to spray a few weeds. After that, I'm going to cut off the landscape fabric from the walkway my hubby installed around one of the beds. By that time, it will be lunch and I can check the forum. After lunch, I don't know what it will be - a little of this and a little of that. By the time I get the this and that accomplished, it will be shower time, and then I put my feet up as I sit on the deck and view the garden.

I figure that will be about the time you are driving to the farm and work 'til dark, so you can then go home and tackle dinner, kids, husband, etc. About the time you get to the house, I will have completed my evening piddlin'. The only downside to my being able to do this while you slave for a paycheck, I am about 15 (?) years your senior.

In a perfect world, I would remain this age and ya'll could jump to this age and enjoy it too.

I am off to destroy some poison ivy that refuses to die and this time, the mix will be very strong.

Brooke

Try 2,4-D with a little diesel fuel in the mix. That should drop that poison ivy by tomorrow morning....It sure works a number on nodding thistles.

Janet

I'm obviously in for lunch and as they say, the best plans, yada yada. Another downside to retirement, just because you make plans to accomplish something by lunch, sometimes stretchs into all day affairs. Why did I volunteer to cut the landscape fabric off the one side and to bury it in the ground on the other side. I DON'T EVEN HAVE ONE SIDE DONE YET! I got the 6 or so inches buried next to an existing bed - not that hard. THEN I started cutting off the fabric next to the RR tie - I have been through two different razor blade knives and will need to change the blade again, before I start. Boy that fabric is tough.

Janet I tripled the strength for the poison ivy. This is growing up a tree with vines as thick as my wrist. Hubby cut the vine and I sprayed the stump while it was wet. I also hit the viburnum again we are trying to kill between two beds. I hit it a couple of weeks ago with double strength and it took a big hit but it is still fighting for his life. After I do the real strong stuff, I then dilute the mix and use it regular strength for other areas. Because I had so much more than I needed I actually went to the field and took my vengenance out down there.

Sandwich is done - landscape fabric is calling.

Brooke

Well Brooke, did the retiree finally get her job done?

Last night it was time to dig some plants that I'd promised two weeks ago, get the last of my Trademart plants dug and ready to ship, cut asparagus and pull monster weeds from about three fourths of a daylily block. I know the blocks of four rows are only about 200 ft. long but by 7:30 in the evening they look like they can stretch on forever.

When I got back home at least the kids had the meat for supper cooking. Got that going and then decided that the 25 ditch lilies that the Baptist camp wants for Thursday had better get dug because it's supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow. I wasn't sure why they wanted to buy ditch lilies since there's so many of them growing on the roadside but hey, it gets them out of my yard and I've got so many that you could barely tell that I'd dug any so no problem. By that time it was time to call it quits. The only thing I can say about all this is that it's my therapy after work and it keeps me from killing my kids....

Janet

If the back breaking work is your therapy, then you must be the most relaxed person in KY. There is no way your husband or kids lives are in danger, you are too tired to be dangerous by the time you quit.

I did get the landscape fabric done about 2:15 - silly me for thinking I would knock it out by lunch. I dulled the last blade on the knife and resorted to dog scissors to finish. I cut, pulled, cut some more and finally got it done. I used the end of the knife to shove the tacky, shredded edges between the paver and RR tie.

My this and that I was going to do after I completed that job ended up being shoving gravel around in a 12x12 area of a small patio type area in the woodland section. Hubby had been talking about adding a seating area down there for the last year. For some reason, he started it that day.

Without the chance for this and that during the afternoon, I ended up doing that in the evening which cut out my piddlin' time. Janet does back breaking work for therapy and I do piddlin' - I had no piddlin' that day.

Brooke

Brooke,
NO piddlin' that day? Isn't that breaking some type of retirement commandment?
Like "Thou shalt not let a day go by without some piddlin"?
Oh no, our queen of piddling has let us down :(
You best get back on track now :)
Tammy

Ooh, shoveling gravel instead of piddling was MY bad a few weeks ago! Moving gravel is definitely not related to piddling - too sweaty and intentional. (But AMEN to the hard labor being a new lease on life for the kids and husband! Hmmm, what does that say about the new stone retaining wall, new stone terrace, two gravel patios and two gravel pathways, and one stone raised bed I've put in almost solo since last October?)

Laurel

Nope, Tammy, no piddlin' that day but I am on my way out to piddle this evening. Being a proud retiree, I piddled most of yesterday so I guess I did catch up. The hardest thing I did yesterday was plant about a dozen annuals. Today I did the this and that I missed the day before when I got hung up fighting with landscape fabric. Nothing hard or time consuming, just those little things you put off while you do projects.

Laurel after all that building, moving of gravel, etc, you earn the title of most relaxed in NY. Me, I would just be exhausted.

Brooke