This Friday marks the end of a nearly 30-year chapter working for the U.S. Navy, as I make my final commute to Newport and turn in my computer, phone, and badges. With the recent push to reduce the size of the federal workforce, I’ve been given the unexpected opportunity to retire almost five years earlier than I had originally planned.
The past couple of months have been a whirlwind of planning and soul-searching. Susanna and I have a full spring and summer ahead—we’re preparing to sell our home and move to Sweden, where I’ll begin the next chapter in retirement.
This fall, Izzy and I will return to the States while my residence permit is processed, and we’re planning to take a few months for a road trip across the country.
I used to write a long post at around this time each year to reflect on the past year and think about what I wanted to do in the upcoming year, but haven’t in several years. I’ve also stopped writing regularly in this blog over the past few years. I’m not 100% sure why, but I think it is probably in large part due to my ADHD (I get bored with things). But I figured I should give it a try today.
What do I think I want to accomplish this year? I started ended last year with a new job at work and I think that will take a lot of my focus. But I also have some personal goals:
I want to get outside more often and do more hiking and exercise. I started the year off right with hikes yesterday and today.
Izzy and Hoagie taking a break on our hike this morning.
We picked up paddle boards at the end of last summer and are looking to get on the water more as the weather warms up in the spring. I have been trying to explore more local trails; getting Hoagie out has certainly helped encourage me to get out more.
Will and I passed our amateur radio tests in mid-November. I’ve been building a shack in the basement. With the cold weather, I find it hard to get motivated to spend a lot of time in the wood shop. Plus it gets expensive to heat. I think that if I spend a little more time in the basement, I’ll be able to keep the basement a little cleaner.
My workbench in the basement. It will be my electronics workbench and ham shack.
I have a few family goals as well:
I’m planning a long vacation to Sweden with Susanna and Izzy in August. I plan on getting some time to just settle in and explore the area. We are planning on retiring to Sweden, so I need to figure out what I’ll do there when I retire. And yes, I have a few years before I can retire.
I’d like to rebuild our front porch. We don’t use it much, so it has fallen into disrepair. The stairs are starting to rot and the porch ceiling is in terrible shape. I’d also like to ensure that the posts aren’t rotting and possibly replace the porch floor.
In general, I’d like to spend less time staring at my phone and more time actually living life! I do think I should try to write here more often. It helps me focus a bit.
My always faithful and willing hiking companion, Hoagie.
I was finally feeling up for getting back out for a short hike this morning. I took Hoagie to the Benedict Benson Preserve to hike the yellow loop trail. It is short, around a mile and a half long, but I figured it was best to keep the loop short today.
Hoagie was also feeling better. When I took him out last weekend (before I came down sick), he seemed tired and was walking pretty slowly. Today he was back to himself, running ahead exploring.
Hoagie enjoying the woods.
The trail was nice, quiet and well marked. There are a few bridges over some streams, but at this time of year the streams were dry. We did find the rusting carcass of an older car sitting in the woods covered in spiderwebs as it slowly dissolves into the forest floor. We didn’t see anyone else on the walk, but the lack of spiderwebs everywhere save the top inch of my head, suggested that it had been hiked by someone just slightly shorter recently.
Detail of car rusting into the forest floor, Benedict Benson Preserve.
It has been a long week already, and it is only Tuesday. It feels like Thursday at least.
I started feeling symptoms on Saturday night and tested positive on Sunday. Luckily it has so far been mostly mild, but I have had no energy. I’m stuck isolating until Friday at the earliest. It has been a long journey since the first lock down in spring of 2021, and I was hoping that it had passed me by. My luck ran out this week, though as far as weeks go, it wasn’t too bad of a week to get sick and have to isolate. Will is mostly in his room in the loft above the garage. Ben is at his mom’s house. Susanna and Izzy are six hours ahead in Sweden. I get the whole second floor and my workshop to myself all day. I just haven’t had energy to do much for the past few days.
Today I’m starting to feel better, though my energy is ebbing by the time I’m writing this. It is almost time to give into watching YouTube and Netflix for the night.
My weekends started out well. I got up early on Saturday and took Hoagie for a walk. It was hot, so I picked an easy 2 mile hike in Ledyard, the Pine Swamp Wildlife Corridor Loop. It wasn’t a very nice trail, and there was a section that I had to pass through some construction by the local power company. I’ll be avoiding that trail again.
The not so scenic Pine Swam Wildlife Loop.
Over the past few days I was able to finish off a few smaller projects that I had started last week. I didn’t get any work done on the house, but I was able to get some time in the workshop. I completed the sides and brass reinforcement on the holder for my #4 smooth plane. I also made a simple holder for a try square that I put above the chisels. I’ll probably make additional wooden holders for my other squares.
New storage for my #4 smooth plane
Most of what I did when I got tired of sitting in bed and watching TV was to just clean the shop a bit. And yes, I am bored. My workshop is probably more organized than it has ever been. there is hardly any crap left sitting on my tablesaw. My goal this week is to entirely clean the junk off the horizontal work surfaces and put everything into a home.
This year we decided to head back to Missouri to visit family in the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. This time it was just Susanna, Izzy and me driving across the country. The boys stayed home. It is a long drive to Missouri, and we decided to split it into two days. Our initial plans were to make the return trip in three days, but eventually we decided we just wanted to get home and made it a two day return trip as well. Isabella did surprising well for such a long drive.
Our first day, 25 December 2022
To make the ride as easy for Isabella as possible, I made her a table that fits in the last row of the minivan. It was big enough to fit a laptop computer, mouse and a drink in the drink holder. I constructed in from scrap plywood and lumber and painted it with left over paint from an earlier project. The table made a huge difference on the trip. She could eat lunch on it, do crafts and play on the computer.
Our trip on the 26th of December
Our journey started on Christmas morning. Not as early as we had initially planned, but late enough for the weather to warm up and melt the ice on the road. The first day took us to Columbus Ohio.
The best part about driving on Christmas is that there was no traffic. Anywhere. The worst part wast trying to find food. We made it to the hotel with time for Izzy to swim and the pool opened early enough for another swim before driving on the 26th.
The first night in Missouri we stayed with my brother. On Monday morning we took my nephew, Chase, with us for a morning exploring the St. Louis Zoo. It was a good chance to get lots of pictures of everyone.
My dad’s bicycle battery testing setup. Not bad for a mechanical engineer!
After a morning at the zoo, we had lunch joined by Bill and his kids. Then Susanna, Izzy and I headed to Columbia to visit my dad. We got there in time to get settled and head out to dinner at HuHut Mongolian grill. The next two days we spent in Columbia, taking walks each day with their dog, Lily. I helped dad finish a few small projects around the house and in the workshop. I was impressed with his setup for testing electric bike battery testing setup, though we didn’t get a chance to test it out.
Both days we took a short (2-mile) hike along the Grindstone Creek, in the Grindstone Nature Area a short drive from their house. It was a park large enough to let Lily off the leash and give her a chance to run around.
Izzy making friends with Lily
In the evenings, after Izzy had gone to bed, I hooked up my microphone to my laptop computer and interviewed dad. Susanna did the same for her grandparents a while ago, and it has been on my list of things to do. It was interesting to hear about his childhood growing up in Pennsylvania, and the career path that brought him to St. Louis twice, Cape Canaveral Florida, and finally to Columbia Missouri. The next step in the project is to finish getting the audio files transcribed and put them into a book.
On Thursday morning we started our journey back home. Izzy powered up the laptop for some Minecraft time and we headed east from Columbia. We headed out with no firm destination for the day, but after lunch decided to drive to Akron, OH for the night.
On the way out of Illinois we passed a sign for the worlds largest mailbox. So, we stopped in Casey Illinois for a walk break and lunch at Subway.
Unfortunately the hotel pool was closing for the night when we checked in, and didn’t open the next morning until after we departed. Much to Izzy’s disappointment. At least they had a hot breakfast for us (and Fruit Loop cereal for Izzy).
Heading Home – 30 December
Our final day on the road – 31 December
We made it home in time to make dinner on New Year’s Eve and crash the party Will was hosting at our house.
Izzy swimming at the Residence Inn swimming pool before driving to St. Louis on the 26th of December.Susanna and Izzy at the St. Louis Zoo.
Izzy at the St. Louis Zoo looking at her reflection as a red panda.
Susanna and Izzy watching one of the elephants enjoy his Christmas tree snack at the St. Louis Zoo.Izzy looking at a polar bear through the glass at the St. Louis Zoo.Izzy and Chase on a zebra bench at the St. Louis Zoo.
The old chicken coop is starting to fall down. The roof supports have rotted, and the coop floor is nearly falling apart. We are down to three hens, none of which regularly lay eggs. Much to Izzy’s delight, it is time to build a new coop and get new chicks. Plus, I think the rats have found their way into the composting bin and coop.
The plan is to move the coop inside the last bay in the garage/carriage house. The space is just storage and has a dirt floor, but at least is under a roof, so I only have to build a racoon-proof space for the chickens. I plan on making the coop big enough to walk into, which should make it easier to clean. Which, in theory, will make me clean the space more often. I hope the new location will make it easier for the dog and cats to keep the rats away from the chicken feed.
I am experimenting with the floor. I plan on making it out of soil cement, though I put a load of gravel in that section of the garage many years ago, so I’m not too sure how it will turn out. But it is only for the coop floor, so shouldn’t really matter. I could always add a concrete slab on top if it turns out too lose and I really care about it. To make the floor I mixed in a bag of Portland cement to the first few inches of the gravel/dirt floor, sprayed with water and compacted with a 4×4 post.
The weather forecast for the weekend has temperatures above freezing (though it may drop just below freezing tonight), so I decided to do the floor today. The coop will be approximately 8 feet long by 4 feet deep, and 7 to 8 feet tall.
The soil cement floor installed.
I’m planning on a few improvements over the last coop. I’ll add a larger self-feeder for the chickens. This time, I’ll make it big enough to hold a full bag of pellets. I’ll also make the nesting boxes set up to have the eggs roll out of the boxes to a collection tray to make it easier to collect. We’ll have an enclosed run off to the side of the coop, as well as a door to the outside behind the garage. I’ll make an automatic door opener for the outside, but that will be a later post and after a trip to the pick-and-pull salvage yard with Ben to get a car antenna motor to control the door. I also need to do a good cleaning on that bay of the garage. It is time to get rid of some stuff that has been just sitting around.
Chicken coop floor covered with plastic and a blanket to protect from the cold tonight.
We should be getting chicks in two weeks, and I still have to build a brooder box. The brooder heater arrived today, I’m trying something a little safer than a heat lamp, I’ll see how it works. We will have to keep the chicks inside for a few weeks until they get feathers and it warms up a bit outside. The plan is to get 12 hens and 4 ducks. The ducks will make a mess, but the coop exit will put them in the back by the stream, so hopefully they can get enough water from the stream and keep the mud outside. Once the birds arrive, Izzy will be in charge of handling the chicks daily to get them used to humans. A chore she has no problem at all doing.
And, for the much anticipated update on the dishwasher. The repair seems to be working for now. The dishwasher is back to functioning and the basement no longer rains when the dishes are getting cleaned. Knock on wood.
This morning I dropped Ben off at the Seaport for his first day as a junior volunteer. Susanna’s dad, Dan, joined Isabella and me for a morning at the museum. It was the wooden boat show weekend, so the museum was packed. We arrived at the museum more than 30 minutes before opening to drop Ben off and there was already a line to get in the door.
Dan, Isabella and I spend a few hours walking around enjoying the show, although all Izzy wanted to do was meet dogs and throw gravel into the river.
Boats, Mystic Seaport Museum
At Mystic Seaport with morfar.
Waiting for Mystic Seaport to open.
Waiting for the museum to open
At the water table, children’s musuem, Mystic Seaport
Izzy playing with rocks at the Mystic Seaport on Sunday.
We finally had warm enough weather to visit Mystic Seaport over the weekend. Will and Ben had their orientation for being junior volunteers this summer. The rest of us got time to walk around and try to find shade.
Izzy loves finding rocks and tossing them in the river, so she was happy for most of the morning. The only real melt-down came at lunch. Susanna, Ben, Izzy, Susanna’s cousin, Anna, and I took a break from the humidity in the air-conditioned galley at the seaport while Will spent 3 hours sailing with the community sailing program he will hopefully be volunteering with this summer. Izzy was happy to just hang out until I pointed out to her that she had scrapped her knee. It had stopped bleeding, and she hadn’t noticed it until then. However for the next day and a half she kept pointing to her “ouchie” on her knee. And she spend the hour after lunch crying about her knee.
