The retirement thread

Brothers of Briar

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After four decades with the same entity i said good bye and now realize i should have done it at 55. Its the first time in memory i can plan my life without the cell phone ringing and telling me my plans have been ruined again and they need me in bunghole AK for two weeks training indigenous personell in the use of the co.'s latest wireless breakthrough and or corp. brain storms.
I now check with the Pres. and if she doesn't have any natl. emergencys i plan my forays without any detours unless, of course the states digging up the same road they have dug up last year at this time.
 
Hello from sunny Arid-zona. Briefly-

The move went off without a hitch. Everything got down here OK and am now unpacking. This will take a while.

Hot and a bit humid. Had a big thunderstorm last night with plenty of lightning. Might be showery for a few days with daytime temps around 100, 80 at night.

Love the area and already feeling very comfortable here. Met some of my neighbors and they all seem like nice friendly folks.

Must get back to unpacking now. More later.


Cheers,

RR
 
Hussah! He's only gone and done it! Well done Rande, made up for you mate! This is what you've spent your life working towards so get unpacked (recommend starting with all things piping, well, this is a pipe forum so must fly the flag), and take full advantage of not going to work each day. The world's your lobster, or something like that.
 
hobie1dog":lcxdw5r7 said:
Post up a picture of your new place for us when you get a chance. :)
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I'd love to but do not have a digital camera.

Just took a break from unpacking for a pipefull. I've decided to only smoke outside in this new house and it was a little warm on the back porch at 102F! Might cut down on my consumption during this summer.

OK, break is over. Back to it.


Cheers,

RR
 
Got the music room set up today so I can finally start playing my guitar again. It's been 4 days and I need to keep up the calluses! Decided to move the pipe and 'baccy section to the Arizona room (say what?) -

An Arizona room is a semi-outdoor recreational room found frequently in homes in Arizona, based on similar concepts as the Florida room. The room is often a patio that has been covered and screened-in, creating an outdoor feeling while preventing excessive heat and keeping insects and animals out.

DSCF0481_web.jpg" style="width: 600px;height: 400px


No this is not mine, but does serve to give you an idea.

Initially I thought the music room could be combined with the pipes/'baccy area but that would be too crowded. In fact the only other boxes to unpack are the pipes/'baccy. I set out enough to last me through the transition but will need to start re-organizing. I've decided to downsize the 'baccy significantly so there will be a thread in the Trading forum in due course. Things got a little outta control and need to reign this in a bit, along with some pipes! Also have started re-organizing the files for various home office essentials. Made good progress and should finish tomorrow.

Hit Home Despot today and picked up various and sundry items I'll need in the new digs. I left behind a great deal of personal items for my home buyer in WA (nice guy that I am) but now have to replace those. NBD.

This coming week I'll be hitting IKEA and buying a bed frame and box spring, and then will order a Casper memory foam mattress on-line. Heard good things about these. I left my queen bed behind for my home buyer since I wanted to downsize to a Twin XL. Right now sleeping on an inflatable aero memory bed I kept for overnight guests. It's not your usual blow-up camping air mattress and is quite comfortable, however one has to get up from the floor which makes it a bit inconvenient when nature calls in the middle of the night.......

One major bummer though - yesterday my AC went tits up and the inside temps got to the 90's making it a bit uncomfortable inside as the outside temps were above 100F. Good thing I brought down my box fan and rotating fan.

I called in a service order, but seeing as this was a Saturday and the techs don't work on the weekend I need to wait until Monday for service. In fact I got an e-mail saying that the service has been scheduled for Monday between 9AM-2PM.

When I purchased this house I got a 1-yr home warranty with it (the seller paid for over 80%) and this covers any major appliance issues. I have to only pay a nominal service charge even if the unit needs replacing. At least that's what is in the contract. We'll see tomorrow!

Good thing I can tolerate heat pretty well. Now 91F inside with 30% humidity. It was pretty toasty outside on my back porch when I had my afternoon pipe and had to come inside before I finished it.

Beyond that I'm really loving the area. The folks I've met are very friendly and eager to help a newbie. Have yet to hit the local brewpub, but though it's only about a mile from me the prospect of walking there and back in 100F+ heat has no appeal, and I sure ain't driving! Maybe a job for the 3-wheel recumbent bike I'm gonna be checking out.

Really digging this retirement lark. More later.............



Cheers,

RR
 
Thanks for the updates. Bummed about the air conditioning though, so find out what the issue is, as I did that for 25 years.
 
The tech just left. Now have cooling. Inside temps got to 96F today! 110F outside.

He visited earlier and found the coil frozen with 3" ice. Shut down the system and allowed it to defrost.

He did say the system needed a little charging and there were no leaks. What caused it is a mystery. But I now have AC again and hope I don't have to call them back tomorrow.

I can tolerate heat pretty well, but 96 is pushing it inside the house!

Hope to sleep well tonight.

:!:



Cheers,

RR
 
So good to have the AC working again!

The house cooled down pretty quickly yesterday and I slept better than I had for the past 3 nights. Have the inside set to 82 and that's plenty cool enough for me.

The bedroom and  music room is 87 but that's due to the way I have the ducting set, so will close down some of the other ducts to improve this. But 87 isn't uncomfortable for me so may not opt to do this. The rest of the house is 82. It easily got to 105 outside today.

Played guitar for the first time in like 6 days and did that ever feel great! I don't normally go a day without playing at least a little, and now that I'm retired I can play whenever the fancy strikes.

Bought a bed and got it all set up. Tempur-Pedic memory foam Twin XL floor model with new box spring, new heavy duty basic frame, new mattress pad, and floor model pillow. (Bedding from Target as they didn't sell that).

Got a huge discount on these as well as the other items. Found a place that had discontinued/used/floor models and got the whole works for just south of $700. In one of their regular stores this would have been like 3X the amount. "Mattress Firm" is the chain if you're interested.

Prior to this I had been considering a Casper memory foam mattress, but just the mattress alone is like $600+ and I'd still have to get in all the rest. So think I did pretty good. Looking forward to a great nights sleep tonight. Think I might have mentioned that I left my Queen bed for my buyer in WA state.

Got in some other odds and ends as well. Will hit the AZ MVD tomorrow for my AZ driver's license, as well as registering my car and getting new plates.

Took in a great little walk around the new 'hood this AM before the sun came up. Will plan to do this going forward. Need to keep active. Also will be checking out the rec centers shortly.

Love the area. Can't say enough about it. Think I'm going to enjoy this retirement adventure!

:sunny:


Cheers,

RR
 
Don't know what happened to my first response, but..... an air conditioning system is no different than a tire, if there's a leak you have to find out where the source of the leak is, repair the leak and then add more air, or in this case freon . There's only two things that will cause an air conditioning system to freeze up, the first one is low air flow, second one is low on freon . If the air conditioning technician added Freon without using an electronic leak detector capable of detecting a leak that is only 2 oz per year and then added refrigerant without finding the leak then he was not conscientious about repairing the unit the right way the first time. ...so just keep us informed on how long it is before you have to get it serviced again that will tell us how big the leak actually is.
 
Sounds familiar. Some folks I know in Republic MO had to add freon to one ac unit for the upstairs system, but the downstairs tested fine. Until two weeks or so later. Then the downstairs one was empty. The next repair man put some test gases in, and though he couldn't find the leak, pressure was dropping. The top of the compressor tank was pretty rusty, so he figured the leak was from there. At $80/lb, and the system holding over ten pounds, he figured it might be best to replace the compressor before throwing eight hundred bucks into the atmosphere.

It's a bit warm downstairs now until they decide what to do....
 
hobie1dog":rmknp7uz said:
Don't know what happened to my first response,  but..... an air conditioning system is no different than a tire, if there's a leak you have to find out where the source of the leak is,  repair the leak and then add more air, or in this case freon . There's only two things that will cause an air conditioning system to freeze up, the first one is low air flow,  second one is low on freon . If the air conditioning technician added Freon without using an electronic leak detector capable of detecting a leak that is only 2 oz per year and then added refrigerant without finding the leak then he was not conscientious about repairing the unit the right way the first time. ...so just keep us informed on how long it is before you have to get it serviced again that will tell us how big the leak actually is.
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I mentioned that I asked him if there was a leak and he said no. I didn't ask if he used a leak detector and took him at his word. We'll see what happens going forward.


Cheers,

RR
 
Ozark Wizard":z6et997t said:
Sounds familiar. Some folks I know in Republic MO had to add freon to one ac unit for the upstairs system, but the downstairs tested fine. Until two weeks or so later. Then the downstairs one was empty. The next repair man put some test gases in, and though he couldn't find the leak, pressure was dropping. The top of the compressor tank was pretty rusty, so he figured the leak was from there. At $80/lb, and the system holding over ten pounds, he figured it might be best to replace the compressor before throwing eight hundred bucks into the atmosphere.

It's a bit warm downstairs now until they decide what to do....
Click to expand...
I've been listening to the same story for the past 20 years, it's always the same as they always say" I just can't find the leak " but all of them show up with almost a nonexistent leak detector and they naturally cannot find a leak. The HVAC business is filled full of incompetent workers who are untrained and unconscientious, and they make millions replacing equipment. S.S.D.Y.
 
I hear what you're saying hobie. Loud and clear. Time will tell.

All I can say is that the AC is doing what it needs to do in this 110 heat. And I'm very pleased. What goes on in the future is the future, and I have another 11 months on the home warranty. And I can renew it if I choose.

Not intending that statement to sound cavalier but it does give me some peace of mind.

In any case it seems as though you were one of the conscientious practitioners of the discipline. The field needs more of you!


Cheers,

RR
 
One full week here in sunny AZ now and am getting comfortable with the area.

Yesterday I visited the Musical Instrument Museum, a terrific venue and one well worth visiting. Spent over 4 hrs there and didn't see half of what they had. $20 admission gets you a headset where one can tune into the exhibits that have vids going, sometimes 4 or 5 which help one get a better sense of the subject.

All manner of musical instruments are represented, from the conventional to the unconventional. All countries are represented, with in-depth coverage of their development. Got exposed to a whole lot of new ethnic music I never knew existed.

One hall was devoted to famous artists and their instruments. Folks like Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carlos Santana, SRV, Sting, George Benson, Steve Vai, and many more. I spent a lot of time there!

All manner of percussion instruments were also featured. And the drum set was well represented by the likes of Buddy Rich to Neal Pert doing solos. Fantastic!

I'll stop now before I write pages, but really if you're in the Phoenix area and love music you owe it to yourself to visit. I guarantee you won't regret it - but plan to spend all day there as there's so much to see and listen to. Very friendly and helpful staff as well. It was only about a half hours drive from me and easy to get to. Here's the website-

http://www.mim.org/?utm_source=local&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=gmb

Had a lazy day at home today. Up before dawn and took some exercise before the sun came up and it got too hot. Hope to continue this practice. And also will be getting in the 3-wheel recumbent bike before long.

Got my AZ drivers license last week, and will register my car this coming week and get my AZ plates. Also registered to vote.

Played lots of guitar today. Also wrote 3 new tunes recently - 2 just before moving and one new one a few days ago. So I haven't dried up yet! When will I record these? No clue right now.

Still have most of the pipe/'baccy stash to unpack but since I decided to only smoke outside in my new house the ambient temps have not been conducive for the most part. All to say that this activity has been going down recently. But I did find a Tobacconist nearby that allows smoking inside their store and will be visiting soon. "Ye Olde Pipe and Tobacco Shoppe" has several locations in the greater Phoenix area and they have a pipe club which I will surely join.

Just signed up for their newsletter which will inform me of the details. Looking forward to meeting fellow devotees of the briar here. This particular location seems to be only about a half hrs drive, so very convenient.

That's the news fit to print. Over and out..........



Cheers,

RR
 
Ahh, retirement. I retired from the A.F. in 1996 with the early out program after 18 years. After a three day weekend of retirement I was hired by the department of transportation as a road designer which morphed into a computer support and programmer position. On February 1st, 2019 I retired from the highway department after 23 years.

The wife retires in June and then we are off, traveling in our truck and camper to the westside of Wyoming for a month. The next trip in the fall will be to visit relatives in the Phoenix \ Avondale area of Arizona. After that trip we may sell the house and live in the RV full time. It is nice to have options on that crazy idea.
 
peanubutter":iqo3qcgo said:
The next trip in the fall will be to visit relatives in the Phoenix \ Avondale area of Arizona.
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If you have the time when you're in the Phoenix area pm me and we could arrange a meet up for a bowl or two.


Cheers,

RR
 
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