Category: Retirement

year four of retirement

whbeebe

This is year four of my retirement. This year I will also hit another milestone in my life; assuming I don’t die before it happens, I will turn 70. The idea of turning 70 is even more startling to me than when I turned 30. An unsettling realization of the last three years (since 2020) is how everything went by in something of a fog. I attribute that to the COVID19 lockdown that we didn’t really come out of until the middle of last year.

A good piece of news is that I don’t have the genetic marker for Alzheimer’s. In October of 2022 I signed up for a study testing a then-new Alzheimer treatment. I had blood drawn and tested for an Alzheimer genetic marker, as that was the primary requirement for being in this study. I didn’t hear anything from the company until March of this year, when they called me to tell me I didn’t have the marker and I wasn’t going to be in the study. Frankly, great news to hear.

As for living in general, my wife and I have now become “full” vegetarians (not vegans). We’d already cut out all red meat over a decade ago. All we were eating was poultry (chicken) and fish. Even so, I was always horrified that I was living off the dead carcass of animals industrially raised and slaughtered for my benefit. Along with the morally reprehensible aspect of eating meat, the cost of all meat produce has grown overly expensive to the point I can save at least $50 (sometimes more) every week of grocery shopping if I don’t purchase meat produce. I’m now substituting fruits and vegetables for all meat. We’ve already cut out heavily processed foods (frozen pizzas, Eggo waffles, etc), preferring instead to prepare all our meals at home, thus knowing what goes into our food and into our bodies. This also means we don’t eat out anymore, again because of cost as well as the health benefits of not eating out. We’re losing weight as a consequence and our blood testing is coming out extremely well. Our A1C and cholesterol levels, which are bellwether health markers, are down to high normal levels, and continue to slowly drift down over time. Of all the additives we’ve battled over our adult lives, the one additive we’ve cut down as much as possible is sugar, especially high fructose corn syrup. We keep salt to a very low level as well.

My activity around the house is also picking up. More gardening is going on now, and I’m organizing a list of people to come and give us quotes on work that needs to be done to the homestead itself.

As far as the old/new Acura is concerned, after nearly three years of ownership we just turned 20,000 miles over the odometer. That comes out to a little less than 7,000 miles/year, which nets us a discount on our car insurance. I note that as I get older I find driving more onerous, less enjoyable. I try to keep to the slow lane and at the speed limit, but today’s drivers ignore speed limits and basic road courtesy.

That Series 7 Apple Watch I purchased back in 2022 is providing feedback on my sleep habits. It supposedly records how long and what types of sleep, from deep to core to dreaming. I take what it tells me with a grain of salt, but if it shows at least seven hours at night I’m happy. It’s most important accomplishment is helping me to get back into a healthy sleep habit. Before retirement and during the pandemic lockdown my sleep habits were lousy; all over the place as far as when and for how long. Sleep discipline along with diet discipline is contributing towards my overall personal health, especially as I grow even older. It isn’t about duration of life, it’s about quality of life. As I continue to age I want to be able to care for myself as well as my wife, and not become a burden on my family. I believe that all of the steps I’ve documented towards living a healthier life help contribute to that.

As for our continuing to live in Florida, that may be problematic. For the first time since we moved down in 1984 we’ve both been talking about moving away and to another area not controlled by Republicans. Right now our absentee governor is out on a world-wide book tour while we Floridians continue to struggle with the aftermath of the flooding down in south Florida, that interrupted the importation of gasoline into a major port. We’ve suffered lines as pumps (especially down in south Florida) and a spike in prices everywhere else. I don’t know who I’m more angry at, the Republicans for giving us such bad governance, or the Democrats who have been asleep at the switch all these decades and let the Republicans get away with stealing democracy away from Florida. Unfortunately, unless I fall into a large fortune, we aren’t going anywhere. So we’re going to have to live with the situation and try to help push the political pendulum back towards the center and towards political sanity.

lauren blasphemous boebert

whbeebe1 Comment

Psalms 109, To the Chief Musician, A Song of David — Authorized King James Version

  1. Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise;
  2. for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me:
    they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
  3. They compassed me about also with words of hatred;
    and fought against me without a cause.
  4. For my love they are my adversaries:
    but I give myself unto prayer.
  5. And they have rewarded me evil for good,
    and hatred for my love.
  6. Set thou a wicked man over him:
    and let Satan stand at his right hand.
  7. When he shall be judged, let him be condemned:
    and let his prayer become sin.
  8. Let his days be few;
    and let another take his office.
  9. Let his children be fatherless,
    and his wife a widow.
  10. Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg:
    let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
  11. Let the extortioner catch all that he hath;
    and let the strangers spoil his labour.
  12. Let there be none to extend mercy unto him:
    neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children.
  13. Let his posterity be cut off;
    and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.
  14. Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord;
    and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
  15. Let them be before the Lord continually,
    that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
  16. Because that he remembered not to shew mercy,
    but persecuted the poor and needy man,
    that he might even slay the broken in heart.
  17. As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him:
    as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him.
  18. As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment,
    so let it come into his bowels like water,
    and like oil into his bones.
  19. Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him,
    and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually.
  20. Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the Lord,
    and of them that speak evil against my soul.
  21. But do thou for me, O God the Lord, for thy name’s sake:
    because thy mercy is good,
    deliver thou me.
  22. For I am poor and needy,
    and my heart is wounded within me.
  23. I am gone like the shadow when it declineth:
    I am tossed up and down as the locust.
  24. My knees are weak through fasting;
    and my flesh faileth of fatness.
  25. I became also a reproach unto them:
    when they looked upon me they shaked their heads.
  26. Help me, O Lord my God:
    O save me according to thy mercy:
  27. that they may know that this is thy hand;
    that thou, Lord, hast done it.
  28. Let them curse, but bless thou:
    when they arise, let them be ashamed;
    but let thy servant rejoice.
  29. Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame,
    and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle.
  30. I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth;
    yea, I will praise him among the multitude.
  31. For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor,
    to save him from those that condemn his soul.

Lauren Boebert, Republican US Representative for Colorado’s 3rd congressional district, who won by only 500 votes in a cherry-red Republican district against her Democratic opponent, has been cherry picking quotes from the Old Testament, specifically Psalms 109, verses 8 and 9, to stir up the pagan Christians in Texas against President Biden. As usual, the grossly ignorant Boebert understands nothing of the the scripture from which she quotes.

Psalm 109 is attributed to King David and noted for containing some of the most severe curses in the Bible, such as verses 12 and 13. It has traditionally been called the “Judas Psalm” because of an particular interpretation relating in verse 8 (above in Psalm 109) to Judas Iscariot’s punishment as noted in the New Testament.

The best interpretation I’ve read of this Psalm is from Enduring World ( https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/psalm-109/ ) starting with:

This is a Psalm of David, and is thought to be the strongest of what are known as the imprecatory psalms, David’s songs that call down curses upon his enemies. It is important to remember that these are prayers, committing vengeance unto God. With the greater revelation of grace and truth that came by Jesus Christ, we understand that we are to pray for the good of our enemies, and not for their ruin.

Yet, we remind ourselves that David refused to act upon these curses; he left vengeance up to God. This is especially relevant regarding David, who knew what it was to take life with the sword. When David withheld vengeance, it was because he chose to, not because he lacked the opportunity, skill, or courage.

My own interpretation has President Biden standing in for King David, and thus the verses in green ( 1-5 and 30-31) speak to the condition of leadership in the face of relentless lying critics, such as the Magat Republican’ts. I particular point out verse 31, and the scripture “For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor…” The Republican’ts will have nothing to do with the poor, and as a consequence will stand before God in judgement as is foretold in Matthew 25, verses 31 through 46.

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