The retired life:

I thought it might be fun to just know a little more about the typical day of our friends here at Daves Garden. We visit over common interests such as our lovely feathered friends but for some our lives really consist of so much more and I for one would love to know more about you if you'd care to share. Since I can't raise birds anymore my day goes a little like this:


I generally get up and have coffee with my wife, along with a very small breakfast. After that I go to my workout room and lift weights, and do situp's along with using the exercise machines. Most often it's around ten oclock after I shower and get ready for my day.

Not always but most often I go for my bicycle ride, it's usually a ten mile ride but sometimes I get crazy and like to ride all day. Last Sept I took my bike and went to Centennial Trail which is a thirty mile bike trail, I love it because it goes through the woods and thru three different towns. The trail is blacktopped and there are places to ride horses right along with the bikes. I love the kids so I usually stop them and visit which makes the ride so much fun. That Sept day I rode the trail round trip which my odometer said was fifty eight miles. Honestly I loved the ride but when I finished I had to use my motorhome to help me off of the bike. Then it took me five minutes before my legs could respond. Seriously...lol. A lady who worked at the trailhead store was watching me asked me if I had ridden the whole trail? I told her yes and she responded by saying "I thought so because I could tell you could hardly walk" I laughed an assured her that I was fine. I loaded my bicycle on the bike rack and returned home. It took me three full days to recover fully. But I can tell you I really loved that ride and now I live only one mile from that trail and ride it almost daily...no not the entire trail but at least ten to twenty miles a day weather providing. My darling wife doesn't like to ride bikes so I usually go alone or with my grandchildren.

After my workout and daily ride, I usually go around and visit a few of the elderly guy's n gal's that are shut in and make sure they have the things they need for the day...I love these old folks...they are so grateful for the visits, and it affords me the opportunity to make their day a little brighter...I sure know it helps my day. by this time it's usually around two oclock and I love to putter around in my wood shop and build things for a neighbor, or for the wife or one of the grandchildren. Maybe once a week the wife and I will deviate by taking a short four hour road trip to one of the surrounding towns and visit the antique stores. We never seem to accomplish a lot be bless the Lord...we manage to really enjoy our retirement together. Here are a few pic's from my Centennial Trail ride of Last Sept. Please tell me about your day, I for one would love to get to know you better...and I'm sure all the chickenheads would say AMEN to that...Haystack

A few more pictures I wanted to share of the Centennial Trail ride, P.S. that ride turned into an eight and a half hour ride. Just ask my backside...lol...Hay

You sure are active Hay.My day starts out with coffee and watching my area news.Then feed my dog Tilley.Make the bed,cook breakfast,tidy up the house,shower,then out to see my chickens.My husband Billy gets up at 4:30am to go load his trailer truck and go out,sometimes he is home for supper but a lot of the time its not until later in the evening.He is usually done working by Thusday and is home the rest of the week.This morning was different because of all the snow we got,had a lot of snow blowing and shoveling.Took my chickens out hot oatmeal with some bread mixed in it. Then come back in and started cleaning,had to start putting plastic on my windows to keep the drafts out.Got four of them done,along with vacuuming and scrubbing the floor.Usually I go to town on Monday and do my shoping for the week but the roads were to bad today so I stayed home and done my Tuesday work.I kinda plan my days out so I can get everything done.In the summer Billy and I go four wheeling,and fishing,his Dad has a camp on a small lake and we go there on Sundays after church for family time.I don't do much in the winter,its to cold and my bones hurt now with the cold,lol.The last two years I have gone to my granddaughters basketball games but she decided she would not play this year,she wants to snow board and ski more,but I think she wants to spend more time with her boyfriend,lol.She is will be 16 in Jan.and my other granddaughter will be 13 in April.Well I guess that enough about me for now. Donna

I don't have set routine in winter months.
Summers are very busy here. Monday is the day to do planting & cultivating. Tuesday is a market day, so it's up at daylight to get things picked & washed & loaded for 1 PM departure for market.
I get home again around 7:30. Unload the left over produce & store it i9n the cooler. Wednesday is a repeat of Monday, Thursday is a repeat of Tuesday. Friday is very busy, getting everything ready for Saturday market. Saturday morning, out of bed at 4:30. Load the produce & be on the road by 5:30. Arrive at market at 6:15 & start setting up to sell at 8 AM. Home at around 3PM. Usually go out for a nice dinner at a fine dining place. Sunday, never know. Do some catch up things.
This summer was taking care of the hens twice a day & packing eggs. Sold the hens in October & don't plan on getting any again.
I am doing tillage in my fields now. Probably done this week. I have some cabinet jobs to do now.
So never a dull moment here!

Did I mention I am supposed to be retired.

Great information, Donn. It really helps to have that added information. I admire a woman who is a home maker, good wife, and mother...Donna you are surely all of that as well as a great friend and sister in the Lord.

Country Gardens, You pictures are incredible, I am stunned not only with your cabinetry, but your skill as a farmer, chicken caretaker and all that you do when your supposed to be retired...WOW, I'm so glad you filled us in your produce is just incredible...Thanks so much for participating...Hay.

I love those cabinets. They are done RIGHT. I have been refinishing the furniture my grandfather made in 1950 and earlier. My sis just about destroyed them in her attic, and I am hoping this will help. Originally they were finished with probably a linseed oil and we waxed with Johnsons pastewax. I am converting to a sealer and prob a tung oil hoping it will help

Country Gardens,your fields are week free!!They are beautiful! And your wood working is just beautiful to.How I wish I could grow watermelons here,tried some that said they would grown here but nothing became of them.Your veggies look so good. Kittriana those cabnet will be so nice when you get them done,would love to see after pics

It cost me an arm & a leg to get those weeds out. Actually a couple gals answered my Craig's list ad. They came at 4 PM & worked until 8 PM. About 4 days they had the whole place done.
Then I had them back later & they went through it all again. Wasn't much the second time.

First pic. Same peppers as the ones above. Plastic helps keep weeds down. I use it on everything possible.
2nd: Muskmelons
3rd: Pumpkins
Both taken August 9.

Thats not cabinet, its a dbl bed, the dressers he made come next, when my mama was a little girl she drew the patterns for him as he made her furniture, mama died in 1998, and I have NO idea where the pieces will go after my daughter, nor the pieces my sis has, I will show them off once my daughter and I get thru with them. They have no nails and his tools were hand tools. He was a switch engineer for ATSF in Albuquerque, so would pick up the pieces of wood on the trains when they came thru. We love each piece but were really hard on them growing up, chuckl.

Sitting here eating fresh eggs from my girls in my warm home with my dog Tiley begging for some,thinking how blessed I am

Indeed Donna, there is so much for most of us to be grateful for. Today I had lunch with my olderst daughter and she is such a wonderful girl...while she was here I gave her a cold weather hat from the Seattle Seahawks Football team because she loves them. After she left she sent me this pic which reminded me of how lucky I was to have her in my life...Here also is a Chinese girl that my wife and I adopted about four months ago. She is in China today and has just written to us to tell us that she will be returning to us in July of next year...to make her permanent home here with us in America...Our hearts are so filled because she is now our grandaughter and her gentle smile and spirt has captured our hearts. Thank you Donna for reminding us that we have so much to be grateful for...Haystack

Pretty girls

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=gcrWvgY8rC0 Hay this is for you,I love this song,Sue Dodge has a wonderful voice.I love the old timers music,the speer family was great

Donna, thanks...I love and know most of those people. My wife and I own about fifty of those videos from the Gaithers. and we attend their annual concert here in the Seattle area every year. Did you know Anthony Burger? He was their piano player for around twenty years and he had a heartattack on stage while performing in Israel and passed away. Anyway he was a personal friend of ours for many years before joining the Gaither gospel group. We watch their shows regularly and love their music. Candy Christmas and Ivan Parker are two of our favorites, but we really love them all...Haystack

That's awesome to know these people.Living in the boonies we don't get to see anything like concerts.I had never heard these people till an elderly lady in church asked me if I had heard any of their music and I said no,she proceeded to give me all of the v h s she had at the time.I fell in love with the music and stories.No I did not know about Anthony Burger,what a loss.We only have one Christian station here and its on AM and only get it depending on where you are in the car.They don't play any of the older music and that's what I like.I do get a couple Christian tv stations on my dish network.

Hello Hay. So nice to read about your life and all your lives. We do not have much order to our lives. We pastor a small church so things pop up all the time and change our plans. This week was a good example. We spent Tuesday in town. We bought a new Christmas tree for the church and had planned to spend Wednesday putting it up and changing the decorations at church from fall to Christmas. Got a message that the son of a member was having an emergency heart procedure so we went to the hospital and spent the biggest part of the day in the waiting room with the family. That is how it goes for us. About the only thing that is sure with me is that at some point in the day I will feed the two dogs, the one cat and the two ponies that are here at the house. We have three other horses at two different locations. We have people who feed them for us on a daily basis but we go every few days and check on them, replenish feed and hay and clean stalls. Whatever needs doing. We make more trips to town than I would like. We need to pick up DH's meds or see doctors. Grocery shopping, feed store runs etc. Two other for sure things is that we go to church twice on Sundays and again on Wednesday night. We usually go out for lunch on Sunday after church. We really look forward to that. We nearly always go to a Chinese restaurant. They greet us like family. :) Winter really knocks the wind out of my sails. I don't accomplish much at all in the cold. I have MD and the cold is brutal for me so I don't go out much. But spring and summer I stay busy in my garden. I really miss gardening in winter. Back home in south Louisiana I could garden year around. I miss that.

Hay, I still have my cart pony Max. I got a new cart and another cart pony named Jolene. She looks very much like Max and they are best friends. I have not had her in harness yet but I am looking forward to training her and Max to pull tandem. It should be fun. She is young, just four, so requires patience. My boys will help me come summer. I also have a new granddaughter. She is ten months old now and so sweet.

This message was edited Nov 28, 2014 12:09 PM

Hay, and all the rest, I too have a sort of routine of activity each day. I rise sometime around 8AM, have coffee and a bowl of oats, and then drive to the ranch to feed the barn cats and drive through and check the cattle. I taake abit of razzing from some of my friends about buying cat food, but ithas been my experience that wellfed cats do a better job of keeping down the rat and mouse population .
Plus I have not seen a rattlesnake anywhere around the barn for some time. Cats dont kill large snakes, but a snake that scents a cat goes the other way.
I was born and reared on aranch/farm about 10 miles from where we now reside, and have a healthy respect for rattlers. A single bite is seldom fatal, but treatments and recovery are slow and painful.
We sold the family ranch five years ago, and purchased a much smaller property just so I would have something to do with my time. The wife and I still do most of the livestock work, such as sorting and hauling calves to the local auction market, and feeding hay in the winter. We are both retired schoolteachers, so the ran ch is essentially a 'hobby " farm. She was reared in a city, but has become truly a country girl, Our two Sons (my stepsons) have abandoned the country life an work in the computer world'. Both boys say they remember the view between a horses ears at sunup and are not eager to see it again. They did take my avice " get a good education, find a good job,an stay with it". I at 81 am dedicated to equaling my paternal grandfather a nd livin g to be 107 years old. Robert

Robert, I agree with you about the cats. Cats don't simply hunt because they are hungry. They hunt because that is what they designed to do. If they are well fed and healthy they can do a much better job of it. Our cat is a great hunter. I do not have to be worried with chipmunks in my garden as log as she is here.

How many cows do you have these day?

Hey, guys. I took a bit of a break from Dave's due to extra work (at work). Just catching up with you all and am reading this lovely thread. I'm supposed to be semi-retired (DH keeps promising), but that is not how things seem to be working out. LOL! I don't mind being busy all day but am ready to start dictating to which projects my efforts are directed--at least for part of the day.

We moved to Texas from Illinois for the business. I really like Texas but miss the cornfields a lot!

DH and I own a family business which he loves and has wanted to do all his life. He will never retire and doesn't want to. I am the details and accounting person. Before that I worked in the research and technical services department of a library.

I get up at 5 AM. I do not need an alarm clock as Queenie, the dumped shepherd has chosen alarm clock as her duty. I feed the dogs and then head out to feed and turn out the goats. It is still dark when I turn those goats out at this time of year and that makes me very nervous as we have such a coyote load around here. But if I don't turn them out on schedule then the billy gets all upset and starts trying to let himself out of his stall. The results of his attempts often involve serious repairs. If I think I might be late I just don't shut him in as he weighs around 250lbs and is quite proud of his horns--the fences have electric runs and he can probably take care of himself. But I don't make a habit of leaving his stall door open as I still worry about those coyotes. Once everyone is where they should be for the day I turn the electric fences back on (turned off for a few minutes so I don't electrocute myself while opening and closing gates, etc.) and walk along one of the fencelines to check it on my way back to the house. Then the chickens get to take a turn at being fed and turned lose in their run. Followed by a nice shower and out the door to drive with hubby to work. We are moving our office to some land we just bought, which is closer to our house, and we are quite excited about the idea of not spending so much time driving back and forth to work.

I have always wanted to farm in some way, but my parents did not approve. So now I have chickens and goats and we are looking at starting a cow herd. Another adventure I am very excited about. Our younger son lives down the road from us and he really wants to get some cows, too, and start learning all about them. He helps out with the business and also works part time at another job. Our older son attends Univ of AK at Fayetteville. I am waiting for the day when he calls with the date for the graduation ceremony. He is a good student but he has taken to long route to graduating. Mom and Dad support his efforts but are ready for that cap and gown!☺ But I will miss driving up there for the occasional shopping weekend. It is lovely up there.

Cajun and Hay, Patrob I love you comments about cats. In fact I just showed them to DH as someone dumped a kitten outside our shop and I am wanting to keep him for a barn cat. Photo below.

Country, those cabinets are fantastic and I could look at your gardens all day. Same with your garden and chickens Green and all of you.

Kittriana, have fun rehabbing that furniture. I rehabbed most of the woodwork in our old house up north. I feel like, if nothing else, I restored that house with all the woodwork to it's former glory. In years to come someone will realize and appreciate that.

Haystack, this was a lovely idea and I appreciate getting to know a little bit more about all of you.

I really think I need to stop now and get back to my semi-retired work!

This message was edited Dec 4, 2014 3:01 PM

Semi- yes, retired? Don't think I know when to quit...terri_ why do you not have those large white dogs that guardian small animals, an Anatolian Shepherd? A friend keeps 2 for her sheep and they are hard on coyotes. She also works border collies in shepherding competitions,

Cajun, I have just arrived home from the ranch where I found two new baby calves. That makes four new babies thisweek..We have 40 cows and two bulls on our 185 acres. I feed one large roll of hay per day in the winter, and keep syrup and protein feed available year round. Those rolls of hay are selling for $75 delivered right now. Due to drouth, we made very little hay this year, but I am fortunate to have a hay merchant who delivers good hay whenever I need more.
We are overstocked, and need to cut our numbers way down, but trying to decide who must go is very difficult. All our cows were raised on our ranch, so we know them and they know us. The wife and I can do all the work, so labor is not a problem. I do have one retiree who I use for occasional feeding and tractor work.

So glad to see more people responding,it has been really quite here for a long time.Hey to all!

The farming forum is too quiet too. Aren't any of you farmers?

I guess I might be a new farmer, porkpal. I'm only just a lurker to learn what I can. The NRCS guy is due out to our place next month. He says I can now call myself a new farmer as we just got a farm number with the USDA, so now he can come out and talk to me about my soil and how I might want to plant out and improve my pastures and where I want to cross-fence, etc. I'll start checking out the farm forum. We are looking to get our first few cows in March 2015.

Once I can find a good assistant for work, I will be officially semi-retired. Half days at the office and half days on the farm. The farm part is the retirement part for me. When I was in high school I actually wrote a poem for English class about mucking out a horse stall for the enjoyment of it.

kittriana, I really don't want guardian dogs at this time, but thanks for the suggestion. I already have five dogs (four of them were dumps). Five is what I feel comfortable with as far as feeding and vet care. We don't let our dogs run, so that is also how many dogs I can clean up after in the yard (if you get my drift) and still have time for the roses and veg garden and livestock. The Catahoula (one of the dumps) does a pretty good job of staring down any coyotes bold enough to come close to the yard or pastures during the day. She has two blue eyes and that IRS stare that seems to freak out both two legged and four legged vermin. But she also knows that our area coyotes don't run alone. I've seen as many as ten out running together at dusk. She knows that her crazy friend, Queenie, can't really be counted on for back up (although she did fight off several coyotes just before I rescued her and adopted her). Queenie is a lovely dog, but has DADD. Dog Attention Deficit Disorder. And those Corgis would be no help at all. Catahoula doesn't go out at night as she is terrified of gun fire. There always seems to be someone out firing a gun after dark in our neck of the woods. Mostly the coyotes come around at night. So we just lock up the goats at night. Behind electric fence.

I have five donkeys out in the cattle pasture. They kick up a ruckus if the coyotes get too close to them. They are not goat donkeys, though. They are cattle donkeys.

Patrob, congrats on the calves!

porkp, The only farming task I do is calling the distributor to bring fertilizer for our 28 acres of coastal bermuda, and hauling the hay rolls to the stack lot after the balers have put it up. The custom farmers
who do the baling watch it and let me know when it is ready to cut. This family, now into the third generation, have baled hay for my family for better than 40 years.

I an Just a chicken farmer porkpal.lol On another note it was 8 below 0 this morning,guess the cold weather is here

What do you mean,"Just a chicken farmer" ?
I would not like it if we had no eggs to eat. All farmers are necessary!

I wish I was a farmer alas I am but a gardener. And not much space to do even that any more. But I try to make the most of what I am given and do the most good with it.

Well Hay, as always you are a blessing. Are you in Washington state now? I thought you lived in Oregon. What a beautiful area you are in, and all the bike riding. I'm impressed. I did watch Jack LaLane today. Check out this old video for all who remember him. This is his first episode, and I felt so proud of myself for exercising with him, as I have not exercised in forever. I have to take things very easy or this lupus acts up, but I am afraid I have not been doing enough and my muscles are extremely weak, and that isn't good. That isn't good at all! I thought I was just getting old, but you are older than I am and LOOK AT YOU! MAN! You are amazing.

I have plans of watching episode 2 tomorrow and exercising along. LaLanne was such a sweet and Godly man, at least he sure was on television. At five and six years old I remember exercising with him and listening to him almost every day. He said something today that made me think that I probably took in more of his lessons than I realized. He was talking about how God gave us our body and we should not mistreat it. I guess this belief I have came from him. It'll be interesting to see what my fifty-eight year old mind and body can get out of his videos now. :) Here he is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y61Bz5JxD-s

As far as what I do, it is pretty boring. The poultry show is coming up next weekend in Shawnee, Oklahoma though, and I am taking my grandson again. This will be our third year. He is seven years old now, can you believe it? I'm really looking forward to the trip. This time I looked on google for the best restaurants to eat in, and printed out the maps. We will go to the zoo, God willing, and maybe the Myriad Botanical Gardens. We've never been there before, but they look lovely.

So good to read about all of your lives. This was a sweet idea Haystack. Thank you.

This message was edited Dec 7, 2014 10:16 PM

LFJ,thank you for posting that link,I used to watch Jack and I remember when we got our tv and my mom excercising with him. I may just start doing this again with him on utube.Just found out that I am pretty close to being a diabetic and my cholesterol is way high,my doc said I need to go on a diet and change my eating habits and exercise.Watched a couple of the videos on there,brings back a lot of memories

They have me on red rice yeast to control cholesterol, not sure yet how its doing, but at least its not another script!

Hey Green. You are welcome. When I get off here I am heading for episode 2. :)

I watched this video today and think you might find this interesting. This is a doctor talking about adrenal, thyroid and cholesterol. I need to watch it all again, as I didn't understand everything. You will be very surprised what he says about cholesterol though. This is the first time I've seen this doctor, but he seems like he knows what he's talking about. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVHmm12vT_Q

I have had fatigue since I was very young. What I am learning is that this fluoride in our water and the bromide in our flour replaces the iodine. We are almost all iodine deficient.

Must be why they add iodine to salt.

I am lucky LFJ I have well water and have had for most of my life.Kittrana I did a little research of the red rice,most of what I read you have to add a few other things for it to be beneficial, sure hope it works for you,so much better than all them scripts.Would like more info from you on this red rice thing from you

We to have our own well. The water is so good we don't need a softener or iron filters. Clear as a bell.

Our house is piped for city water but we pull our drinking water up from a Han dug well in the front yard.

Flouride is bad for you- esp if you have arthritis, just deposits on ends of your bones. Not sure what extra stuff I would need for the red rice yeast, but, I have had an issue with caffeine lately, so my cup of hot choco, green tea or even just hot water has done fine. I am allergic to shellfish and most fish lately, but my mom had 0 thyroid and couldnt tolerate the synthetic drug. We were taught to use iodized salt from way back, Mortons makes an iodized sea salt and that is the one I use. Even on the road I have my spices and salt shakers.

Slept in until 9:30 this morning, then had waffles and sausage for breakfast before going to ranch. Found another new baby, and one other cow in labor. Will go back in a couple of hours and check on her.
Slightly cooler this AM, but sunshiny and comfortable with only a flannel shirt. I always look forward to
cool weather because I really enjoy the feel of soft flannel shirts.
Did not have to feed today, because I put 4 rolls in the feed rings yesterday.
Last week I went to audialist and had my ears tested, and was told that I definitly needed a hearing aid. A lifetime of loud tractors and loud firearms have taken their toll. Another of the joys of the mature life!!!
Robert

Post some pics of your babies patrob,and your farm,we love pics