Information and Inspiration for the Solo Retirement Community
Sherry
Sherry L. Christensen is a retired high school teacher. She designed and built this blog site to inform and inspire others in an effort to build a community of solo retirees. You can reach her at livingliferetired16@gmail.com.
by Dr. Holly L. Thacker, Healthy Living Made Simple
September/October, 2017
“Every woman’s experience with menopause is different. One may breeze through ‘the change,’ barely realizing it’s happening. Another may suffer debilitating symptoms, such as depression, anxiety, sleep loss, hot flashes or night sweats. One woman may feel the effects of fluctuating hormones at age 40. Another may still be having monthly periods at 55.
How can you be sure when the change is happening to you? And more importantly for some, how do you know when the change is over?”
This is a question I think about from time to time. I have one married daughter. Her mother-in-law (mom of three) and I are both divorced, so we will be aging alone in our homes. Our siblings do not live in our state. Health care and financial support are already issues for both of us. When I read the following article I couldn’t help but think of those of us who are solo seniors…
As Baby Boomers Move Into Old Age, Who Will Care For Us?
by Jody Gastfriend, Forbes.com
August 10, 2018
“My high school buddies and I recently got together and reminisced about old times. “Can you believe we’re 60?” we howled. “That used to seem really old!” Many of us are still caring for parents who have crossed the 90-year-old threshold. As we joked about our aging bodies—the creaky knees and achy joints—we mused about another topic too. Who will care for us as we grow old? Will our adult children with their busy lives assume the role of caregiver? And will the childless among us rely on nieces, nephews, friends or neighbors to step in?
When it comes to the growing demand for caregiving, the numbers just don’t add up. The United States, like many industrialized countries, is looking down the barrel of a looming care gap. As my fellow Baby Boomers move headlong into old age — we are now retiring at a rate of about 10,000 per day — there may not be enough caregivers to go around. The potential pool of family caregivers, whose stories I tell in my book, My Parent’s Keeper, will not sustain the growing demand for care. An estimated 117 million Americans will need assistance of some kind by 2020, yet the number of unpaid caregivers is expected to reach only 45 million. The caregiver support ratio, the number of potential family caregivers relative to the number of older Americans, is projected to decline sharply by mid-century.
We all know HOA stands for Home Owners Associations, but to many they are just a Harassing Overbearing Authority. We’ve all heard horror stories of selective management, rude violation letters, etc.
I have been a member of no less than five different homeowner associations over the years. All had an outside management company with a homeowner based board of directors, except the one I am now in.
When I moved into my home in 2013, I got a rude awakening as to the function, or should I say malfunction, of a self-managed HOA. The board had been in place for over ten years and its members were all from the same click. Board meetings were not publicized, minutes were hastily taken if at all, checks were written by the treasurer to the treasurer, communication with homeowners was lax or nonexistent, governing documents were out-of-date, tax returns were not filed, the reserve account was low without any deposits made for years, delinquent accounts existed for over ten years without trying to collect, dues kept going up, board elections were not held, and management of covenant violations was selective at best. Basically, there was a we they attitude in place that is until 2017.
Picnic Table Outside of Glen Haven Cabin, Photo by slc
Without a proper place to sit at the cabin to eat lunch, I decided to buy a picnic table. I didn’t have a truck so I wasn’t really sure how this plan would work until I found a picnic table kit at Lowes for $98.
Forest View from the Picnic Table, Photo by slc
The customer service people did not believe the kit would fit in my Subaru Legacy, but the reviews and specs said it would, and it did!
All of the pieces are precut so all I had to do was sand, stain and poly them. After that process, I put all the pieces back in my Subaru and took them up to my Glen Haven cabin. My son-in-law and I assembled the table and set it in place. Now we have a comfortable place to sit and enjoy the beautiful forest view while we eat our scrumptious cinnamon rolls or sandwiches from the Glen Haven General Store. A picnic table with a view! What could be better?
A three hundred pound cast iron bathtub sits propped on a large granite rock on the east side of my rustic cabin. While it has a few pine needles and rain water in it in the photo, the inside porcelain finish is in really good condition and just needs new paint on the outside. This vintage tub didn’t have any feet or hardware attached.
I’ve raked up and removed brittle pine needles and cones pretty much since day one of owning the Glen Haven property. While cleaning up around the cast iron tub recently, I surprisingly unearthed three cast iron claw feet for the tub.
Close up of two of the three cast iron claw feet, Photo by slc
Since finding the three claw feet I have searched for the fourth to no avail. Do you think it is still out there somewhere? I have found similar ones in antique stores for about $15 each. If I don’t find the fourth one, I may buy one so I no longer have a three-legged bathtub. Or is it three-footed?
Now the decision I have to make is whether to keep the vintage cast iron tub to reuse it in the cabin remodel. It may cost more in the long run to restore it as I know the hardware alone can be expensive. They take a lot of water to fill one. Another concern I have is whether I would be able to get in and out of it when I get older.
What would you do? Keep it or sell it and use the proceeds for a new shower/tub? Please let me know your thoughts.
What does Old Crow, I.D. Harper, Waterfill and Frazier, Bellows, Old Taylor, Yellowstone, Old Forester and Old Grand-Dad have in common? They are all Kentucky straight bourbon whiskeys. They were also evidently favorites of a former owner of my 1938 cabin. Especially Old Crow.
My son-in-law and I recovered 26 intact but empty whiskey bottles from under the cabin in May. Several others were broken. We knew they were there but couldn’t reach them until we demolished the addition’s flooring. While finding old whiskey bottles is pretty cool, these were even more special.
Old Grand-Dad Bottle, Photo by slc
These vintage bottles were made with the words, “FEDERAL LAW FORBIDS SALE OR RE-USE OF THIS BOTTLE” embossed in the glass. According to Whiskeyid.com, “Following prohibition, from 1935-1964 th(is) text was required by the government.” The labels say they were “BOTTLED IN BOND Under U.S. Government Supervision.” The bottles are from the 1950’s and early 60’s. The oldest is from 1954.
Some labels read, “This bottle has been filled and stamped under the provisions of Section 2903-9. inclusive Internal Revenue Code. Any person who shall reuse the stamp affixed to this bottle or remove the contents of this bottle without so destroying the stamp affixed thereto as to prevent reuse or who shall sell this bottle, or reuse it for distilled spirits will be liable to the penalties prescribed by law.” Others read, “…provisions of Sections 5008 and 5243 Internal Revenue Code. …without so breaking the stamp.” Again, according to Whiskeyid.com, prior to August 1959 the bottles would have the Sections 5008 and 5243 labels. Interestingly, I was born in August of 1959.
I plan to display a few of these vintage whiskey bottles once I restore the cabin. The rest I will sell. Anyone collect vintage bottles or want one or more for your “man cave?” Afterall, the former cabin owner kept them in his man cave under the cabin for us to find 60 years later.
Since becoming the neighborhood’s HOA board president last year, my blog kind of went into moth balls. The work on the renovation of my old, rustic cabin and property in Glen Haven slowed with the onset of winter. When I returned to the cabin in April to ramp back up my work, I began to see little signs of life where once stood tall, dry grass. Hummingbirds swept past my head as I walked the property again as if it was my first time. Spring wildflowers were everywhere.
Wildflowers were springing to life since raking off the crispy, brown pine needles and cones last fall. What a wonderful surprise. John Keats was right. “The poetry of the earth is never dead.” My side of the mountain was coming to life. Enjoy my pics!
