Joining the well wishes for JayEll during the hurricane. Hope all is well.

Same from me JayEll.

Dagmar

Greetings from Florida.
At first it looked like the storm was coming straight for us, but then the track kept getting revised to landfall farther south. In any case, we left our place and stayed with friends about 10 miles away, but in a better location and house. As it turned out, the storm was not too bad here. As you can see on TV, the southern part of the Gulf Coast has been devastated, and because the storm went diagonally, several towns to the east of us (like Orlando) had trouble as well.
We came back to our home on Thursday once the power was restored. For some reason it cut out on Thursday morning when the storm was past. But the power company was good--got it restored by the afternoon.
There are places that won't have power for a long time.
We used to live down where the worst part happened, and that makes us sad. We aren't getting many reports though.
That's about all for now. We feel very lucky that the "bullet" dodged us.

I'm glad you and your partner are OK and that your home was undamaged. I hope everyone you knew from the area that was hard hit is OK too, though I imagine there will be a lot of property damage.

Dagmar

Got through our Thanksgiving without too much overeating. I ordered the entire dinner from a local meat store - 1/2 of a smoked turkey, stuffing, gravy, beet salad, and cranberry sauce. Only the 2 of us plus the pets so I now have turkey in the freezer for soup. Ordered 2 containers of frozen stock so 2 soups in the future.

I'm finding I really don't like cooking right now so I'm glad we are financially able to order stuff premade or frozen. Not as good as fresh but that's all I can manage right now.

No idea what I weigh. I'm going to give it 10 days of watching what I eat and then get on the scale. We are going away for a weekend right after that so that number will change again anyway.

Dagmar

Happy Thanksgiving, Dagmar,
some prepared real foods sound like good choices.

I've been buying and eating Halloween candy. the past couple of weeks. Probably due to stress related to retirement planning. DH has now thrown himself into it and he's going over all sorts of stuff I've already resolved. I thank him for his input and tell him we should go and see the places before further discussion but he continues to bombard me with information.

He's bored. He ended his association with the band and is currently not doing any drumming practices.

I am NOT bored - have way too much to do as usual. I don't want to shut him down because that will leave me to do everything when we do decide to leave Toronto.

Dagmar

Dagmar, does your DH still have a job? I can't remember.
What is your retirement plan? Are you going to get a house outside Toronto? Will you no longer work then?
My partner and I have decided to make a big change. We have looked at Senior Independent Living in our area. We kind of have that already in terms of having a pool, clubhouse, etc. and not having to do lawn mowing--but the difference is that the apartment complex we've chosen provides meals and cleaning. These are two things we are really tired of having to deal with!
But the precipitating factor was the last hurricane. As you know, we live in a mobile home, and although we had no damage here, it's always a possibility. If our home gets seriously damaged or destroyed, we would not get enough from insurance to replace it. And we're really tired of having to evacuate. The housing market is good at the moment, and there are always people looking for winter vacation homes in Florida.
Anyway, the place we've chosen is not cheap, but it is doable.
Today I was at the lowest weight I've seen for years. Not a huge drop--just a couple more pounds. No explanation! Fine with me.

Congrats, JayEll, for making a decision to go forward with life planning. It's a big step, for sure - one that I admire folks for taking. Knowing that I have such a decision in my future, hoping that we're not putting it off too long.

Is your intended place nearby? Still in Florida?

JayEll Congrats for taking such a big step. I hope you get a really good price for your current home and enjoy your new one.

My DH is still working. He's constantly grumbling about that but doesn't want to quit his job. He will be unhappy about any decision I make, although he keeps saying that he'll go along and adapt to any decision I make.

I am moving forward. We have to sell the house and leave Toronto as the house is our "retirement plan". Neither of us has huge savings because we don't make a lot of money. We are comfortable in a very modest way. Life will become even more modest when we move. I have a price in mind for what we can afford. I have narrowed down our choices to 3 places and we will visit each in the spring of 2023. Then I will decide.

DH will oppose everything but will ultimately go along. It's hard having only one person in your life for support, particularly when they choose to be difficult so often. but he's what I've got so I deal.

I plan to be out of the house a lot in retirement doing volunteer work and whatever free activities I can find. He can sit and stew.

Dagmar

JayEll, very nice that you have made the decision to relocate. You will be leaving a lot of worry behind! No cooking or cleaning sounds wonderful, too I get annoyed at all the time it takes me to chop veggies and do the rudimentary cooking I do. Sometimes I grab unhealthy snacks instead. My weight is up a few pounds and I'm trying hard to get my consumption under control.

I'm like you, Bill. We've thought about getting older but haven't made a real plan. It's most likely we can't stay here forever, but at the same time all the outside work I do keeps me very fit and strong. When I finally feel like I don't have the energy to care for the garden and the animals, I may talk to my DH about a move. Or I may turn into one of those old country women who work hard and complain about aches and pains until the day they die!

Dagmar, good luck with hubby's attitude. Or maybe I should say, good luck ignoring it . I have found that easier to do as time passes.

Hi folks!
Bill, we are staying in Florida--and in fact the complex we're moving to is less than 3 miles away. However, it's in a different evacuation zone, which is great. Instead of A (first to leave) it's in C. We've lived in Florida for 21 years, and in this area for 15. We're established here, so we would just as soon stay.

Some of the senior independent living communities are what's known as CCRCs, or Continuing Care Retirement Communities. You have to pay an "entrance fee" to get in, but the deal is, you can stay in the community as your needs change, such as needing assisted living or more advanced care. But the "entrance fee" is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars! They may call it Continuing Care--I call it elitist extortion! It might be different if their monthly "rent" were lower, but it's not. The community we have chosen is not one of these--you pay monthly and that's that.

I don't remember how old Bill and Alice are. I'm going to be 75 and my partner is going to be 83. We probably have waited a little bit longer than we could have. Over time, daily life has just become harder--by which I mean the cooking, cleaning, what little yard work we have. Like you, Alice, I felt for a long time that the outdoor work was keeping me strong, but in the last couple of years it has seemed like it's been a losing proposition. And it's hard to find good help with this.

Dagmar, I hope you can find a nice place! We will sell this home as well--not because we have to, but the proceeds will give us more wiggle room. I'm feeling wistful about it all because we love this home. But it's time.

JayEll,

LOL that CCRCs are "elitist extortion!" I've been leery of that model since a few of my friends have moved into a place; found themselves in the wrong place, and moved again. My understanding is that in CCRCs the mega admittance fee is gone forever regardless of what one does. I continue to send you Congrats for making your decision. Neat that it's close enough to remain in your community of friends and activities.

My DW and I are 79 and 78 years-old. So far, we're managing in our 150 year-old Victorian house. DW absolutely loves the small city yard. "Couldn't handle an acre" she reminds me. The upkeep becomes more difficult as I find myself less agile. Replacing a small part in the dishwasher is a challenge because it's best done by popping down then popping up, then down then up. I up and down less happily than I did a few decades ago.

The good news is that she finally gave in and hired a pair of superb gardeners who handle some specific tasks that have become difficult for her alone or even with me as an untrained mule. They just put in a tree for us and trimmed some Arbor Vitae that, by design, are more than fifteen feet tall. Money well spent. Not all jobs are easily hired out. The time will come when we can no longer do it and hope we don't delay too long getting into a different situation.

Bill, you are doing very well at 79 and 78! I'll be there in 10 more years, but even at this "young" age it's much harder getting down to crawl into small spaces. And even more so for DH who is 69 and, shall we say, a bit fatter than me. But we find ways, don't we?

JayEll, it's fabulous that you'll be able to stay in the same area. It's one reason we don't think about moving. DH's friends are all in Bakersfield, and we certainly don't want to move there!

Dagmar, I think you are in one of the same groups as me on FB! You wouldn't have noticed since I never post on FB except for a few animal training groups I belong to. I "went live" on FB a few weeks ago, training Greta to do a trick, and it accidentally went to my timeline, where I NEVER post. So of course all my FB "friends" and relatives saw it and commented. It was a good training session, so I don't really care, except that it just felt weird.

DH is playing golf in Palm Springs, and meanwhile frost is predicted for tonight, so I have to really scramble and find all my frost coverings for the tender succulents and cacti. It happened too soon! 90 one week and frost the next!

So heartening to see that you are/were all able to remain in your own homes for so long.

I am 65 and DH is 60. I can still "pop up and down" relatively easily thanks to yoga and something I've been doing for the past year - the "Asian" squat. I can maintain it for over 2 minutes now.

DH has knee problems and is technically obese so he is not "flexy bendy" like me. He can still do some basic home repairs and take the dog for her 15 minute night walk but I do most things. I have had house cleaners for over 25 years and that's my one main indulgence. I can't imagine doing without them but will have to once we retire. I will have a lot more time but would like to spend more of that on volunteering or learning or something a bit more interesting than vacuuming etc.

We will try to stay in our own home for as long as possible. We can't afford any type of private seniors residence and the government privatized their long term care homes and they are truly dreadful now. DH has finally realized that he's "old" and is getting a start on regaining some sort of physical fitness. I am keen to continue mine but am starting to really feel the "dog" injuries that have accumulated in 27 years of dog walking. I went for a massage a couple of years ago and had to list injuries and it was quite eye-opening. But I manage to keep going - lots of caffeine helps! LOL

Dagmar