Author Archives: Sparky
I guess we will be missed
As we slowly, incrementally, tell family and friends of our retirement plans, we get two responses: “That’s great! I am SO envious!” “We will miss you.” The first response is direct and always seems very genuine. The second response is conveyed more through body language and follow-up questions, such as “How often will you be … Continue reading
My life, as seen on eBay
Our plan includes renting our home for a year or more. We will leave it furnished, but will remove all personal items. Some of the most precious – pictures, quilts made by my grandmother and the like – will go into storage. But there is a lot of stuff – “belongings” I guess – that … Continue reading
Counting the weeks
It is Thanksgiving week which, in addition to turkey and cranberry jelly (which I truly don’t like, but don’t shoot me), means a short work week. Which brings us one easy week closer to hitting the road. The current count, not counting this week: 44 weeks to departure (if we leave October 1, 2012) 40 … Continue reading
Trying out a new theme
I am trying to get self-educated on WordPress themes so that I can customize the look-and-feel to my precise specifications. But until I get smarter in that area, I can solve one problem – the lack of a Home button – by simply switching to another theme. So I am going to try “Atahualpa” for … Continue reading
Cheaprvliving.com
Having done a budget which has us “getting by” on about $5K per month, I am humbled by people who do it on much less. I found a great website for people with smaller pocketbooks: Cheaprvliving.com. This site suggests budget breakdowns for those living on $1,000 a month or even $500 a month. Yes, there … Continue reading
The insurance Catch-22
I had an amusing encounter recently with a Liberty Mutual insurance agent. It seems that Liberty Mutual has some kind of business relationship with my employer and a representative appears in the cafeteria once every couple of months to drum up business. I took the opportunity to inquire into getting insurance coverage for the RV. … Continue reading
A funny thing happened while searching for driver training…
No, it’s not the introductory line of a joke. Rather it is just my musing about how I can start out looking for one thing and find something entirely different. I suspect that this will happen a lot once we hit the road. In this case Jett decided that I needed to find an RV … Continue reading
Almost a week without a post
It was a hell of a week at work. Very busy. And at home I actually did paint the hallway. I traded posting for painting I guess. I knew that my next blog task was a page about budgeting, which is not a fun topic at all. When confronted with an unpleasant task I did … Continue reading
Well, we survived the Great October Blizzard of ’11
Actually, is wasn’t bad in Medford – just a couple of inches that melted as soon as the sun came out on Sunday and no loss of electricity (unlike 800,000 other households in the state). But Worcester was another story – a full foot and lots of downed electrical lines. As my brother-in-law, who manages … Continue reading
They weren’t kidding
That forecast of an October snow, which started out as a “dusting” – a mere annoyance – has turned into “3-to-6 inches” which goes well beyond annoying. Now I actually have to get the snowblower out of the shed and move the patio furniture into the shed – chores which are usually performed around Thanksgiving … Continue reading