Tag Archives: retirement

1 2 3 Eyes on Me

Posted on October 24, 2012 by AnnieRie

Now, that phrase comes easily to me. The way to redirect 9 first graders from 9 different places to look, at me. Today I found how easily I have slipped into “teacherspeak”. Yeah, thirty five years ago I was a teacher. Now, I am a volunteer leading field trips.

Today, 110 first graders came to visit us at the Howard County Conservancy. I think I can say it is successful when you hear things like we did, when a first grader runs excitedly up to his teacher and exclaims, “This is so cool!”. Maybe it was petting our corn snake. Or jumping in the puddles from the well water hand washing station. Or, just everything he got to do today.

First graders are studying rocks, fossils and extinct animals in their earth science curriculum. Today, they got to identify animals, touch fossils and use magnifying glasses to study rocks.

bank barn foundation

They also got to see foundations, walls, roadways, sidewalks and all the other ways rocks are part of our lives. Oh, and they found woolly bear caterpillars, fed the goats, and some of them got to see a baby eastern worm snake (no pics, I didn’t have the camera with me).

Holly, our pygmy goat

In other words, they had a blast outdoors on a perfect fall day.

By the way, we could use a few more volunteers. Today, two called in sick. We had to expand the number of students we each had assigned to us on the hikes. Spring training takes place in March. We are a bit short on numbers, since the Howard County schools are increasing their enrollment. 80-90 students we can handle easily. When you hit 110 or 120 like some of our schools, we need 8-9 volunteers each field trip.

If you want a really rewarding way to add interest to your life, if you work at home and are flexible, or are retired like many of us, this is a no brainer. A great way to spend crisp fall and warm spring days making a difference.

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Posted in Commentary, Howard County, Nature, Retirement, Volunteering, West HoCo and tagged commentary, community, Howard County, howard county conservancy, nature, photography, retirement, volunteering, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Retiring “To” Something

Posted on October 9, 2012 by AnnieRie

Great Advice. We heard it twice last weekend. Once at the wedding, and again, while talking at the dinner at RdV. My uncle was talking to someone who was considering retirement. His first advice. Don’t retire in the winter unless you have something lined up and ready for you to do. And, I don’t consider digging out of Snowpocalypse a highlight of retirement.

blizzards 2010

Even if you retired like I did, in spring. Or summer. When there is an overload of things to do outside. Or even now, in October, while we are still activity-driven for weeks until the weather changes and days get shorter. My first winter was easy, because I did the HoLLIE training twice a week. Spring naturalist training, as well. With HoLLIE gearing up, the info program tonight at Miller Library 7 pm is a good place to hear about opportunities for active Howard Countians, who are retired or thinking about it.

Moving from a circle of work friends to that new circle of fellow volunteers, or hobby sharers. Finding people with like interests is difficult for many of us. Especially when we worked in DC or Baltimore. I found that after 18 months, even if I got together with old working buddies, we had no bond to keep the conversations going. So many changes in their offices. I knew few names, and finally knew we had to build our retirement circle.

Now, filling my hours with fellow naturalists, gardeners, wine lovers and the amateur radio community, oh yeah, almost forgot, the bird club and my fellow bloggers, I hardly have time to think.

Somewhere in there, we do get housework and yard work done, and a few home improvement projects. Traveling not as much, but we did way too much of that for our jobs. It is actually nice to stay home for a while and see the local world. And, make a difference.

nature photo program for families at Conservancy

Whether it is leading programs for families. Leading hikes for the schools. Cleaning up the streams that feed the Patapsco. Working on the watershed programs. Caring for the Middle Patuxent Environmental Area. Or any of the other activities my fellow retirees are doing, the satisfaction of a job well done keeps us feeling that we matter.

One recent example this past year. Greenfest was filled with countians who focused on their interests while having a great time.

Greenfest at the Community College

I love the work the Master Gardeners have done, creating different historical garden plots at the Conservancy.

And, all the volunteers who organize and support Earth Day. Besides the Day itself, volunteers spend hours planning and preparing materials for events.

Earth Day supplies

Many times in conversations, at clubs, or at events, we hear how shorthanded the nonprofits, and the service organizations have become. I have heard that the numbers of people who stay retired is smaller. Many go back to work due to those long term effects of a slow economy. Others, who now are supporting elderly parents, have limited free time. If you have retired, or are thinking about it, take time to consider where you might find your calling. Your thing. What makes you smile, and feel good at the end of the day.

HoLLIE 2012 class heading out for a hike at Sharps

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Posted in Adventures, Commentary, Community, Hobbies, Howard County, Retirement, Volunteering and tagged commentary, community, hobbies, hoco loco, Howard County, howard county conservancy, retirement, volunteering. Bookmark the permalink.

Thirty Months

Posted on October 2, 2012 by AnnieRie

Two and a half years. Today. That’s how long I have been retired now. April Fool’s Day 2010 was my last day of work.

People told me I would get bored. I would want to come back as a rehired annuitant, or become what we called in DC, a beltway bandit. A contractor. But, that hasn’t happened. I have no desire to return to the work force.

My retirement “jobs” are way more fun. Jobs like volunteering at the Conservancy, and completing the HoLLIE program. I spent most of my career in DC and VA, while living in Howard County. Finally, I feel like I live here, instead of just sleeping and eating, between commuting and traveling for 30 years. I experienced some lovely days at places like Sharp’s Farm, with a talk about farming, and a guided hike by Denise Sharp. My interests in local foods and farms shaped my volunteer efforts for this past two years.

Denise Sharp, leading a hoLLIE hike on the farm

What is HoLLIE? Howard Legacy Leadership Institute for the Environment. I found out in 2011, when I completed the six weeks of lectures, field trips, reading and discussion, with 12 other class members. I did my internship at the Conservancy, where I am now a volunteer naturalist, leading field trips for local schools. Getting trained for it, using opportunities like a guided history tour of the property.

learning the history of the farmhouse at the Conservancy

I also am a member of the program committee. It was part of my placement to become a part of the committee and assist in planning Wonder Walks and other events. The cool thing about HoLLIE was learning more and more about local, regional, national and global concerns. But, we could focus on what mattered to us. Like for me, working with the local farmers, to bring programs to the Conservancy about their farms and food.

breezy willow at the glenwood market

Want to help the public school system with activities like the Our Environment in Our Hands activities for fourth graders, held at the fairgrounds? Or, volunteer at Robinson Nature Center, as the Gift Shop Leader, or maybe the Discovery Room Leader? Or, help keep the Patapsco clean by volunteering with the Friends of the Patapsco Valley? Or, with Parks and Rec?

All sorts of things for those of us who have retired, and want to still be useful. To make a difference. There is an information night being held at Miller Library, on October 9th, from 7 until 8:30 pm. Many graduates of the program will be there to talk about their experience.

If you are like me, retired and wanting to give to Howard County, check out this program. You can’t say you are bored if you do. My calendar is as full as I like it, with hikes and festivals and more.

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Posted in Adventures, Community, Farmer's Markets, Howard County, Retirement, Volunteering and tagged community, farmer's markets, Howard County, howard county conservancy, retirement, volunteering. Bookmark the permalink.

Tonight We Fiddle, Saturday We Farm, Later We Look for Fairy Houses

Posted on July 12, 2012 by AnnieRie

My volunteering schedule is pretty full this week. We held a planning meeting Wednesday for upcoming events at the Conservancy, and this is the busy part of the summer.

Fiddlers and Fireflies, a picnic with music and crafts, is tonight starting at 6 PM. It costs $10/car, and the music is great. Bring a blanket, chairs and a picnic dinner. The event is held in the lower front yard, where the sisters had their garden.

This Saturday, the 14th, there will be one of the monthly Wonder Walks, that focuses on living and farming on the 230+ acre property. We will be leading groups down and around the buildings and talking about what it was like to live here from the early 1800s until the time that the sisters gave the property to the Conservancy.

Naturalists will be leading groups. The event starts at 10 am, and is no cost. I will be leading a group and we will be visiting the out buildings, the barns, the gardens, and take a walk down to the grasslands to see how the farmers used their land to the best advantage to grow crops and keep their farm animals.

A little farther out this month there will be another special event. Looking for Fairy Houses in the forest. It is on the 28th of July. Another free Wonder Walk that is geared towards the little ones, ages 4-10.

It looks like there’s lots to do around here, and I am certainly not bored in my retirement.

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Grillin and Chillin in Locavore Style

Posted on April 17, 2012 by AnnieRie

Today was lovely. One of those days you are glad you are retired. Cleaned up the grill. Did some yard work. And grilled up a locavore meal.

This is surf and turf Boarman’s style.

We bought two crabcakes Sunday. And four mushrooms. Split the crabcakes into the mushrooms with some Trader Joe’s mustard underneath and Old Bay sprinkled on top. Brushed with Trickling Springs butter. Grilled up off the flame.

The sausages are Boarman’s sweet Italian. Not the spicy ones.

As for the rest of the meal, it was mostly CSA foods. Potatoes, onions and the defrosted peppers, all came from Zahradka. The only non-local items here were the tomatoes, but they also were bought at Boarman’s. The bread. Sourdough from Canela, bought at Boarman’s.

I did not set foot in a grocery store to buy these foods. You can have lovely meals from small stores using local sources.

The wine: the Linden 2011 Rose made from the estate merlot grapes. 2011 was the difficult year, due to the hurricane and all the rain. Lots of good grapes that didn’t get to be great wines are being used to make light refreshing wines. This wine was a perfect match to compliment crab and pork sausage.

Doesn’t get much better than this.

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Posted in CSA, Food, GGSAC, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Wine and tagged cooking, CSA, Food, foodie, grilling, hoco loco, Linden Vineyards, local businesses, Locavore, real food, retirement, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Revisiting My New Year’s Resolutions

Posted on April 6, 2012 by AnnieRie

Well, it has been three months since New Year’s. I revisited my post made on the 30th of December to see if I actually am doing what I said I wanted to do this year.

Resolution #1:

I do resolve to be more creative and expand my culinary boundaries to include more baking, and more ethnic foods outside our European heritage. I do intend to continue being more and more of a locavore, and use up as much processed stuff in the pantry, and not replace it.

Well, the Dark Days Challenge was a way to expand what I eat locally. I haven’t been baking much, unless you count those black bean brownies a few weeks ago.

And, the pantry is still pretty full of processed stuff, because I am eating mostly CSA and local meats. I need to continue to clean out what is in there, and not replace it with more of the same.

As for ethnic foods, haven’t done much there either. I will challenge myself from the spring/summer CSA to use those Asian vegetables in ethnic dishes, not simple stir frying, but really trying something new. Not chicken chow mein with the bok choy. And, I resolve to not swap the peppers, like the habanero or jalapenos we get. Make my own salsas. Attempt a mole sauce, too.

Resolution #2:

I intend to can more things, pick more veggies and fruits, and process them. I need to get a freezer and buy something at the fair, from the 4H’ers. Maybe lamb, or goat, or part of one of the steers or hogs. Our friends’ children raise animals to bring to the auction. We want to support them more by making it worth their efforts.

Not there yet. This is a summer time thing. I do need to get off my butt and buy a freezer if I want to do this. Larriland for strawberries isn’t that far away. The auction at the fair is on our list to do this year as well. Last year we just observed.

Resolutions #3 and 4:

I want to build a cold frame. Will I find the time?

Not gonna happen, due to my health changes. Recovery from surgery got in the way of doing these. Plus, I need to make sure we don’t have problems with predators, and research the best coops to buy. We have a new addition to our predator community.

Not the best picture of the red fox who has been hanging around. I took it through the screen so as not to spook him. He was hunting something in the meadow and paced back and forth many times. Yesterday I wasn’t fast enough to grab the camera as he ran through our yard carrying something large in his mouth. I think it may have been one of my neighbor’s chickens. It was just before sunset, and if you leave the chickens free range too late in the day, they become dinner for the fox.

As for the cold frame, it will get put off until fall.

Resolution #5:

We still need to clean out the stuff we accumulated at our jobs, which sits in boxes in the attic and garage. That is a priority.

We are making some progress here. The shredder is working overtime. And, at Greenfest I will be getting more out of the house and garage. I have been going through old pictures and keeping those I want by scanning them into the computer. Less paper around here will be a good thing.

The Summary:

do new things including expanding what I do in my volunteering, like geocaching and giving presentations. Another priority. Looks like I have enough to do, and I’ll see how it turns out in my second year of retirement.

There are numerous programs at the Conservancy this fall where I will be doing presentations, and where I will be using the geocaching skills I am learning.

All in all, not a bad start to doing what I want in 2012. Putting them down in writing here in the blog makes it harder to ignore them, or lose them. Let’s see if I do more in the next three months.

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Posted in Commentary, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, miscellaneous, Retirement and tagged cooking, hobbies, hoco loco, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, real food, retirement. Bookmark the permalink.

Getting Ready for an Art Reception and Auction

Posted on April 2, 2012 by AnnieRie

On the first Monday of every month, the Program Committee for the Howard County Conservancy meets to plan the execution and assignments for each month’s events. Today we discussed the finalization of plans and the potential assignments for the volunteers at the upcoming Art Reception and Auction scheduled for the 19th of April at 6 pm.

I saw when I arrived that at least one piece already had a sold sticker on it, having sold for the buy now price. These SOGH pieces are amazingly beautiful, and affordable as well. They are painted on scrap lumber. They just jump out and grab your attention when you walk in.

I also love all of Greg Mort’s work, and wandered around taking some shots so one of the other committee members could show her husband what Greg had brought to the show.

This piece is one that I like.

All Things Round, the theme, ties in nicely with the nature mission at the Conservancy. While we were meeting, and discussing what should be in the bidding handout, we were already thinking ahead to next year’s date and theme.

I find that volunteering to plan events is satisfying, plus for me as a retiree, a way to continue to connect to people with like interests.

Besides, time spent at the Conservancy is just so relaxing, as after I finished in the meeting, I wandered out, talked to gardeners in the community gardens, and took some pictures of the flowering trees and the barn, inspired by a photograph in the show that is similar in composition (but much better than mine).

Spring is such a beautiful season in Maryland, and the Conservancy property showcases the flowers, trees, birds and farmland of Howard County. Just a great place to visit.

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Anniversaries

Posted on April 1, 2012 by AnnieRie

Today is a special anniversary for me. Two years ago, on April Fool’s Day I got up and went to work for the very last time. That was it. My thirty year and one day anniversary of Federal employment. I would have reitred the day I was eligible but adding one day gave me the total, including unused sick leave, needed to add another month to my pension calculation.

I always said I would only work thirty years and then walk. I wanted to work, but no longer needed to, once we got our town house paid off. We were lucky that we bought our town house before the crazy real estate market in Maryland. We were smart to keep cars for 12-15 years, and never buy on credit.

We saved like crazy to buy this place we wanted for our retirement, so we could enjoy it and our hobbies, away from the traffic and the noise. The view from the front porch alone is worth it, most sunsets are spectacular.

I know I am lucky to be retired so young. I was 57 when I retired. I started working in 1968 when I was 15 1/2, in order to afford Catholic schools. Worked through college. Became a teacher. Met my husband, and at 27 fell into a mathematician job that had me coding computer models and traveling the world. I loved what I did back then. Of course, 30 years later, I was tired of bureaucracies, but the early years were fun.

My job took me cool places, so that now people say “Are you going to travel?”, and I say “No, not for a while.” Been there, done that, as they say. I spent so much time on the road in the 1980s and 90s, I was glad to take a headquarters job at the Navy Yard and stay in my office. Working for the Navy meant cool travel. Hawaii, San Diego, Bremerton, Port Canaveral, Ft. Lauderdale, the Bahamas, Newport RI, the Arctic, and the UK. Bath Iron Works in January stunk, but the rest was pretty amazing.

Add to that, the cruises and trips with friends while we were unencumbered by a mortgage and we have hit four continents and about 60 countries.

Later, when we are finished enjoying the nearby attractions, we may go places again. Now, it doesn’t seem to matter if we hang around here for a while. We have done all sorts of projects, like the roof and the siding.

I just like staying home and tending my gardens.

Cooking up a storm.

Going to the Conservancy a few times a week.

Taking day trips.

Visiting wineries.

Whatever strikes us as interesting. Driving to Chicago for a week, for example. Or, taking trips to markets.

My recent surgery and the extended recovery is a wake up call as well. Health is something we should never take for granted. Putting off retirement if we have the means to do it is risky. I have so many old coworker friends who had health problems soon after retiring. All those years planning and dreaming, then endless doctor visits, surgeries and treatments. Life is precious and not predictable.

Today, one of our closest friends retires after almost twenty five years at the hospital. She is six months younger than I was when I walked. She knows she is lucky to get to do what she wants. She also started working at 15, and like me, worked at one place or another for 42 years. Never taking a break.

I wish her well, and hope we all have years of good times to come. Taking that big step into retirement is scary, we know. Those last few weeks test you as you keep wondering if it is the right thing to do.

I know it was for me.

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Posted in Commentary, miscellaneous, Retirement, Travel, Volunteering and tagged commentary, health, photography, retirement, travel. Bookmark the permalink.

The Final Week of the Eat Local Challenge

Posted on March 28, 2012 by AnnieRie

In November I signed on to prepare at least one meal a week for sixteen weeks using locally sourced items. Locally being defined as within 150 miles of your home. The Dark Days Challenge is the Title. Over 100 people signed up. About 30-40 of us made it through the challenge.

Highlights to me of my meals included learning to make sweet potato gnocchi, making roasted cornmeal polenta, and using turnips far more than I ever did in the past.

These ingredients produced this soup. Jerusalem artichokes, leeks, apples and turnips. Thick, rich and satisfying.

The South Region, which included participants from MD, VA, NC, SC and TX, was one of the most active regions. Not surprising because it is fairly easy to source local items year round here. The northern participants struggled more.

This last week had a theme for us. Make breakfast. So far, I did eggs one day, but I intend to finish the challenge before Sunday with pancakes and sausage patties. Not going to go out without putting forth some real effort. Eggs are too easy.

In Howard County, we are lucky to have a year round CSA deliver. We also have access to meats and dairy from local farmers. We can also get produce from Amish markets in the area, and three year round farmer’s markets in Tacoma Park, Silver Spring and Dupont Circle. A Saturday morning visit to Silver Spring yielded enough fresh goodness, plus my Friday CSA delivery, to make Giant or Safeway superfluous in my life. Like the week shown below.

Friday Delivery CSA – beets, onion, sweet potatoes, celery, microgreens, broccoli, and Angus ground beef.

Saturday morning at the market – including chorizo, bread, mustard, high tunnel grown tomatoes, bibb lettuce, and not pictured, fresh basil.

Those of us who garden had put aside some frozen or canned items to use. I ran out of almost everything in my freezer, with one pint of turkey stock left. I used my last pickles in egg salad a few weeks ago. I still have half a jar of concord grape jelly from my neighbor, and enough frozen veggie items to make one more batch of veggie stock.

It made me think about what to do in the future. I intend to use Larriland Farms and Butler’s Orchards quite a bit this year to augment my garden and freeze/can items to use. I will also make good use of the summer CSA and farmer’s markets to get items to put away.

Why, you ask? Because, for me, eating fresh foods keeps my allergies at bay. It also limits my exposure to GMO vegetables, and to meats full of antibiotics and hormones. I feel better when I do this. Besides, serving fresh food to my friends and husband, prepared by me with love, is one of the things I enjoy best about being retired. Yum, TLV Farm kielbasa with CSA veggies, Canela bread from Boarman’s, and Black Ankle Syrah. Goodness, from Howard County and the surrounding area. Doesn’t get much better.

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Posted in CSA, Dark Days, Farmer's Markets, Food, Howard County, Locavore, Real Food, Wine and tagged commentary, CSA, Dark Days Challenge, farmer's markets, Food, hoco loco, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, real food, retirement, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

A Day Trip to Breaux

Posted on March 24, 2012 by AnnieRie

About an hour from here is an amazingly beautiful vineyard, developed by Paul Breaux as one of the area’s destination wineries. They purchased 400 acres of land to the east of the Appalachian Trail near the border of VA and WV. They are six miles south of Harper’s Ferry WV. When you cross the bridge from MD to VA on US 340, turn left at the gas station and drive the six miles.

On the site, they planted 100+ acres of mostly vinifera. This was one of the few large scale, well bankrolled wineries in VA in the 1990’s. First class all the way. Paul Breaux had done well in real estate. You may know of his company, Sun Realty. If you rented a place in the Outer Banks, it may have been one of his. In an interesting “six degrees of separation” moment, it was Sun Realty that rented us a house on the Outer Banks for our honeymoon in August 1980, when they were a fledgling company.

In the year 2000, we first went to visit the vineyards with friends, after a morning hike in Harper’s Ferry. The building is impressive. Way bigger than almost any winery I had ever seen in the mid-Atlantic. Now, after a trip to Napa and Sonoma, I can put it into a different perspective. Barboursville in VA also has impressive grounds, but we never saw the other big VA wineries until years later. So, for us, this place was awesome. They had invested in much better equipment than any Maryland winery we had visited in the 1980s or early 90’s. This place even has a misting machine in the barrel storage chambers, to keep the barrels from drying out by regulating the humidity. And, they are still growing.

Coming up to the building yesterday, we saw massive construction going on. A new building that promises to add more capacity for storage of production, as well as surprises, since they are not revealing yet what all will be housed there.

We are charter cellar club members. Breaux and Linden are the VA wineries we support as case club members. Black Ankle and Boordy are the cellar clubs in MD that we also support. As a hobby, wine collecting is not inexpensive, but it beats car collecting, or having a boat, or playing golf. All those other things are money sumps, just like our winery visits are. We have become very selective about where we go and what we purchase now that we are retired. We continue our Breaux membership because we believe they provide a great value for the money. The wines for the club are not available to the general public.

Yesterday we went to pick up six bottles. We get two bottles every two months, or a case a year. It is one of the more affordable clubs, as others were requiring two bottles a month. We were last there in October. The hostess opened a bottle of one of the cellar club wines for us to taste to decide if we wanted to purchase more. We ended up getting a couple of bottles of the Cabernet Franc Reserve, and a couple of bottles of the Viognier, which has won numerous awards. Viognier is a wine that Virginia does a very good job of producing, and Breaux makes a stellar bottling.

We bought a baguette and some salami, and took our picnic lunch of local Howard County cheese, and my brownies out on the patio to enjoy the view.

Served with a bottle of Lot 10-08, a cellar selection. We enjoyed a glass and corked up the bottle to bring home for later.

As a committed locavore, I want to support local wineries as well as the local farmers. Even extending my tendencies to buy local to buying pottery, and plants, and services. Supporting local businesses puts some of our money directly into our local economy, and I feel good about that. Not to mention, day trips to wineries are a benefit of living in a very good viticultural climate.