A day in retirement

4:34 a.m. Eyes open and look at clock. Hmm ... 4 minutes until the alarm goes off. I might as well get up so the alarm doesn't wake Louise. I later found out that she woke up every hour but what else is new! I got up and headed off for swimming. It was a good morning and I swam my 1250 yards.

5:55 a.m. As I drove up to the house, I saw the entrance hall light on so I knew Louise was on the downstairs treadmill. Good for her. She is such a hard worker and takes good care of herself. I certainly married up.

6:25 a.m. I fixed oatmeal and toast for breakfast. Nothing fancy but we both enjoy that type of meal to get us going.

7:00 a.m. Louise is on her way to school. I did a quick review of e-mail (junk) then reviewed the merit badge list for the ward. I may sign up for a couple more as a counselor.

7:20 a.m. We are getting low on bread and I have never made it by myself so today is the day. I knew we had dough enhancer but it was not on the recipe so after a quick check on the internet I was ready to go. I ground the wheat, lined up the other ingredients, and away I went. I am still challenged to determine when it is done but I think it turned out OK. Note the Norwegian sign behind the bread -- "Giv os idag vort daglige brod" (Give us today our daily bread). Nice. I gave three small loaves away to the neighbors.

10:00 a.m. Time to get the pruning all done. I finished the apple trees last Friday but the dogwood and lilac still needed to be done. While I was at it I did a bit more on the apricot then topped our neighbor's pear tree. By the time I gathered it up and piled it in the front yard it was 12:20 p.m.

12:30 p.m. Lunch was home made bread covered with the leftovers from our Indian food from Saturday night. I about choked laughing at a Reader's Digest article on practical jokes. A guy saw a dead deer by the side of the road so he hurried home, got his Santa suit on, and went back and laid next to the deer. Just then a school bus loaded with kids drove by and they freaked out!! I thought it was really funny.

I also checked with two of my block captains (ward emergency preparedness) because they did not call in last night during my walkie talkie test. All checked out just fine.

12:55 p.m. I went out to the newly barbered (or butchered) trees and gave them their annual dormant spray. I want to get completely rid of that San Jose scale. I also did the neighbor's trees.

2:30 p.m. I was covered with the oil mist so once done spraying, I came in and showered.

3:00 p.m. I am low on dormant spray. I might want to give them a 2nd shot in a week so I headed to IFA and got it plus a new bag of Imidan (great apple spray -- only has to be done every three weeks).

3:30 p.m. I was going to do some things at the desk (turn piles into files, etc.) but I decided to remove two packages of zucchini from the freezer and made some soup. It will be a good supper.
I did not use MSG. No need.

4:30 p.m. I measured the garden and am now going to plan it out for the season.

Yes sir -- I sure am glad that retirement is such a laid back event. Actually, I am very thankful that I can be up and doing. Because I got the outside jobs done today, I am looking forward to spending all tomorrow morning in the temple.