Category: Retirement

notes on my retirement amidst the pandemic – 1 april 2020

whbeebe

Might as well write a post for April First. No this won’t be a joke. It’s just some basic reportage.

I went out shopping on Tuesday at my local Costco to pick up my groceries and fill the tank on the Prius. Filling the tank required less than four gallons for about $6. The price for a gallon of gas at Costco on Tuesday was $1.65. What made the fill up interesting is it’s been six weeks (mid February) since the last fill up. That stands in sharp contrast to my commuting before I retired. I was burning about five gallons of gas per week. My local Costco is about 10 miles round trip, and it’s the longest trip I normally make. All my other places I need to travel to, such as doctors, the pharmacy and other local shops, are way less than half that. With no travel due to “social distancing” my gas consumption has dropped drastically to levels I haven’t seen since I bought my very first Honda Civic in 1978.

Costco has got its social distancing down pat. I arrived at 8am Tuesday because Costco now has set aside three days each week (Tuesday through Thursday) when seniors 65 and older can go in first to shop. I never thought I’d see the day where I though being 66 was actually helpful, but this is one of those rare times. When I got in the place was fairly well stocked, and I managed to find just about everything i needed. I found a 12 roll pack of Kirkland paper towels. They covered the whole back row. They had one pallet of toilet paper stacked high, but I didn’t need any, and haven’t for some time. I purchased my last two packs back in January before all the craziness started and they had them on sale. I purchased eggs (two dozen per container), chicken, fruits and vegetables, and other basic necessities I normally pick up. I noticed that there were no sanitizers anywhere. I’m assuming they’ve had a run on them too.

I did notice some changes in the store itself. The food court is shut down and all the benches were removed. The third-party sellers that created a gauntlet on the way out the door are all gone. Every cashier is behind a plexiglass shield that separates them from you. When you hold up your Costco card they just scan it (which they should have been doing all along anyway). On the way out the door you hold up your receipt and they then wave you through. Nothing is touched and then don’t linger over your purchases.

The whole idea now is get in, get your stuff, and get out.

I waited a full day before writing this because I didn’t want to “give away” the place was stocked before others might have a chance to buy. But regardless, who knows what it’s like now.

I’ve dropped all other purchases to either drive through (pharmacy and bank) only or else deliveries. For instance I ordered all the animal’s food through Amazon and it was delivered. I’ll do this until further notice. All my purchasing is down to absolute essentials, which is great for the home budget. I don’t watch TV that much, nor do I stream music, thus I have no desire to rent and stream a movie. I read a lot; there’s plenty I have to catch up on from when I was just buying dead tree books and then stacking them up until I got around to reading them. Well now I’m finally getting around to it.

I also have discovered I have no desire to write software any more. I can write it if I force myself to if I contrive of some application or tool. But I don’t care to waste my time writing software, then going through the process of compile/test/debug, no matter how fun it may look. I’m totally no longer into doing what I had to do in my job. I’m swerving off for a while, spending my time just enjoying retirement.

recipes for the frugal – hummus

whbeebe

I’ve been expanding my home food preparation skills since January. This started in part when I picked up a refurbished (“renewed”) Vitamix Explorian blender Christmas 2019 from Amazon for the “paltry” sum of $180. The regular “renewed” price is currently $270, and a fully new item starts around $350 and goes up from there.

When I got the Vitamix I began to expand my recipes into soups and dips. What follows is a hummus recipe I found and tweaked for myself. This recipe uses simple, inexpensive ingredients and is almost too healthy.

Hummus

Ingredients
  • 2 cans Garbanzo Beans or Chick Peas, 16oz/can (or there-about). Drain the liquid out of one of the cans, leave the other can full of liquid.
  • 1/4 cup sesame seeds.
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice.
  • One to three garlic cloves (adjust to taste, we like three).
  • 1 tablespoon light olive oil.
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin.
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric (this isn’t really necessary, but we have our reasons below).
Directions
  • Add all the ingredients into the Vitamix container, in the ingredient order as listed. It makes no sense to measure them out on the side and then put them in the container. It also helps that when you have dry and wet ingredients, to start measuring the dry first, then the wet, especially if you’re reusing a single 1/4 measuring cup.
  • Since this is an Explorian, I would recommend setting the central dial mid-way at 6. The dial goes up to 10 (no, not 11).
  • Rest your hand on the container and then hit the pulse switch for about five seconds at a time, multiple times. As the ingredients mix, the texture will go from course to fine. You want it to reach a fine texture. Pulsing lets the mixture collapse and release any air between pulses. Keeping it on constantly will results in the mixture rising above mixing blades and the mixing will cease. You can hear it because the motor will whine up in pitch. Continue this between three and five times, or until the texture as seen through the container is smooth with no discernible specific ingredients.

Some recipes say salt to taste. I say don’t. Some canned chickpeas come with salt added, some without. If your cans state they have salt on the side, then you definitely don’t need to add more. Besides, there’s more than enough seasoning with the garlic, cumin, and turmeric.

We add turmeric to our hummus because we like the taste and because tumeric is supposed to be a natural anti-inflammatory (as is ground cumin). Considering we’re in our mid-to-late 60s with arthritis we can use all the anti-inflammatory help we can get.

The recipe produces at least 32 ounces of hummus, enough for two adults to enjoy for about a week, either as a complete meal at lunch, or as part of an evening meal. And if it doesn’t it’s simple enough to make more.

For eating, we use natural corn chips or bread loaf ends, toasted, to dip and eat. Sometimes we use bell peppers sliced long ways, sometimes carrots, sometimes celery, and my wife also likes to use cabbage leaves. Regardless of what we use it’s all good.

I hope you find this enjoyable.