For those of you over 65 and fully retired, what major goals do you still want to achieve before you die? (marriage, friend)
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Been retired 20+ years and main goal is getting my feet planted on the floor every morning when I get up. Next is trying to manage several health issues.
I had accomplished many major goals before retirement: getting my degrees, establishing my career, getting certificates/ratings for my main hobbies of flying, scuba diving, coaching rowing, taking several big adventure trips, helping my daughter to become a vet and saving enough money to be comfortable in retirement.
I don’t set goals in retirement but have many plans and projects. There are many interesting trips which we want to take (exploring many parts of Western states by air, flying in Alaska, visiting more countries + maybe taking language immersion courses to learn or become more proficient in French, Spanish and Italian, visiting few more international vineyards).
It may take a while but I would like to recruit, train rowers and form a small, informal rowing club. We bought a double sculling boat to teach rowing and a fishing boat which can also be used as a coach launch. I have several prospective students and could hardly wait to train them when the weather gets nicer this year.
We have many home and landscape improvement projects in our new home.
We cut down dozen of invasive or nuisance trees (Russian olive/Grease wood) inside the fenced property area and replaced them with native trees (Serviceberry, Hawthorn, Dogwood, Ponderosa, Douglas Fir and Spruce). We restored and expanded the flower gardens. We added hundreds of spring flower bulbs & dozens of rose bushes. We also started a mini vineyard and a small orchard (have 12 trees and will expand to at least 20). I also plan to build few more raise garden beds to quadruple the size of the vegetable garden which I started last spring.
We created several walking/hiking trails all around the property and down to the river. We had just finished the 2nd outdoor stairs and are working on the 3rd one. It takes a lot of work moving dirt, rocks, removing stumps & roots but it is also a lot of fun. We will add stones of various shapes (native or interesting ones like the ones with fossils) to part of our walkways. Our vision is to make our yard to become more like an intimate nature park.
It was not our goal or plan to become a vintner but we ran into another vineyard owner at a grape growing seminar last year. He started a small winery and invited us to become their partners. We made our first batch of wine (55 gallons Syrah) last fall. I am having a lot of fun being an analytical chemist again after almost 40 years. Our Syrah has aged only 2 months but it has already tasted great. We will be making several more types of wines this year. We will also help our partner with planting few more grape varieties.
It is also not a formal goal but we have always wanted to learn more about flora, fauna, history and geology of our new state. We took several classes last year (birding by ears & master naturalist program). We also volunteer at the nearby National Wildlife Refuge and get to know several biologists. They have collected lots of data on birds, insects, plants and lake quality/algal bloom over the years. I am thinking of working with them to analyze the data which may lead to some research reports/papers.
We have also offered our web, photography and videography experience to several nature organizations which we have joined. I was invited to become members of several boards (historian, communication coordinator and member-at-large for special projects). There are several potential documentary film projects to do.
There are so many things to do and learn. It's hard for me to understand why some retirees are bored. I enjoyed my work life but also my retirement life. While the nature of many projects that we are doing is completely different from our work experience, we find ourselves apply our 'work' skills to many of them. I still think of myself as a scientist and an engineer and always a learner.
Your gardening endeavors sounds awesome! Any photos to share? Do you have any in gardening thread?
I don't have hard goals, as in do X, Y and Z or my life was a failure.
But I have some ideas of things: keep learning new stuff, build more furniture, add to our tree farm, see more of the world, see new birds and wildlife, and have fun. All of those are works in progress that won't be done before I die because there is always more to do and see. So I just keep plugging away at it. It's all good, having tons of fun.
We’re almost 70 and 72 and our main goals are to stay healthy by having regular checkups, and promptly fixing what is fixable. Other than that, we try to only do what we want, when we want.
Right now, we each have our own separate interests, so we are out in the world, and have things to talk about besides our latest ache and pain. DH has a part time job, loves his projects and yard, and I have a few volunteer jobs.
Your gardening endeavors sounds awesome! Any photos to share? Do you have any in gardening thread?
Attached are few photos of our flowers and trees taken last May.
I have been only a reader and not a poster at gardening forum because we have a lot of things to learn about gardening/landscaping in the West. I plan to enroll in the Master Gardening next year to know more about native plants/trees/bugs and what grow best in Southwestern Idaho.
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