60+ year old thread.

My mother worked for ma bell all her life.
I may or may not have run a switchboard when I was very very young. I.E. Plugging and unplugging connection cables.
I do remember the headsets weighing like 30 pounds.
I also may or may not have connected to the wrong party by accident.


On Edit:
No Roller Skates

 

So morning diag and Christmas present prep.

Mower for boy for rough , rocky section of his house.

not going spend 3 or 400 for a mower to ruin.
First one had a blown motor. Got money back.
This one, compression release not working.



Valves way out of adjustment and decompression arm sticking
In run mode.

so adjusted valves and filed the cam groove and slightly bent the arm.
Now releases to start position.
Spins over like it’s supposed to now.
Couldn’t pull it through before.
Pulled recoil and reset the rope and cleaned and lubed fingers.
Now retracts like it’s suppose to.
Back together but has to wait for sealant to dry.
I’ll find out if it starts and runs in an hour..



If anyone is curious, up at an angle to keep oil away from from sealant until dry.

Varoom Varoom…… Maybe….I Hope.. LOL

 

Good morning/afternoon (location dependent). As I sit here at my computer getting beat up by everyone wanting a piece of me to solve their problems, I am highly motivated to just throw in the towel and start the new year UNEMPLOYED. I have everything in place. Government pension I could start drawing at 72% of my last year's salary for life (+ a yearly inflation increase), 10+ years of health insurance that I've saved by not spending 2,000 hours of sick time, no debt from anything, and a half year of income they own me in banked vacation/comp time. I'm nearing 63 but I don't need Social Security to survive so I'm waiting until 66+ years old to collect. I am just scared to make the leap. I've been doing this for 36 years at the same agency. One day I'll tell exactly what I do in the IT field and you'll understand the stress.

A friend of mine has a remodeling business and has asked me to help with electrical, plumbing, and cabinet installation. I've worked for him in the past and I really like it. He'll pay me pretty decent even though I don't really need the money. I'll be working about 20-25 hrs a week.

For those that have left their career, what advice can you give me? The wife isn't too happy mostly because she want's to still work but hates the fact that I won't be working 40+ hours a week.

Thanks guys.

 

I've worked since I was 14. Lots of jobs for lots of companies. For the past 16 years I've been among those who keep the internet working for "a major cable provider". On call 24x7x365 until very recently. I have 4 weeks left, 1 of which will be vacation. Nowhere near a 72% pension! I would have stopped working a looonnnggggg time ago if I had that. But I've saved and contributed to retirement plans and all that, and so now it's time. I'm not the least bit worried about no longer working on someone else's schedule. But I have been warned by more than one retiree to be sure and have things to do to keep your hands busy, and I'm ready for that too. At first it will be projects around the house and playing with toys in the garage but I want to find a charity and volunteer my time as well. I've been fortunate -- time to pay some back.

 

Mom started out with Bell Canada and ended up in Ct.
Me, in my 39th year and one-ish to go till the finish line.

Was a Lineman and Splicer for most of those years...
(No Hardhats in 1949)

 

My wife has 17 more months to retire.
You earned your retirement if the number work.
Get the fuck out. To many family members have died just after retirement or
Suffered a stroke and they could have retired earlier than they did. Never got the chance to enjoy it.

You had Better get that work part sorted out cause if she is going to resent you for retirement
and she still wants to work and she expects you to then it’s on her…
I saw a couple divorce over this stuff expecting the guy who was older and killed himself all his life to keep working way beyond retirement because she still needed to work. She set up a honey do list which would make a young man cry from the physical work.
That being said.
My wife knows the stress I was going through at the shop. Extremely physical and mental.
The place went to shit.
I couldn’t stand it.
She supported me 100%. Got love her..

I’m busier than a one arm paper hanger. I have so much stuff going on I can’t figure out
How I got all this stuff done before.
She never leaves for work without me being dressed. Waving to your spouse in your robe and slippers
Does not make for a good start to the day for them.
I never tell her I’m not going to do anything today.
I may tell her I’m mowing the lawn and trimming some trees after I go
fishing in the morning.
Lots of times when she comes home food is being cooked.
I never throw it in her face ,,,even kidding.
I took 6 months of “fuck you all” time off. Kinda like hibernated.Now, like I said, I’m busy as hell.
I even started back up at the gym…
YOUR GONNA LOVE RETIREMENT AFTER YOU ADJUST. IT’S A MAJOR, MAJOR, MENTAL
SWITCH..
It’s so fuckin sweet to say no to anyone and anything…
Cause now YOU CAN…

 

AMEN... PREACH it Brother!!!

 

I’ve been retired for 8 years and I’ve been happy as can be since I took the step. When I was looking into retirement it was a scary thing. I’ve worked my entire life and the thought of being with out a job and earned income was tough , it was scary. I worked out our finances a dozen times and it all looked great but pulling the trigger wasn’t easy. As it turns out I have more take home disposable income now that when I was employed. My wife and I for many years were putting 50+% of our income into our investment portfolio. We stopped doing that after retirement so our after tax income was more than when working. My job which I liked had become more and more stressful , to the point where it was affecting me emotionally and physically. So I retired. Wife said I was like a different person, much happier. We have income from multiple sources and don’t need to touch our investment portfolio. If we do take $$ from the portfolio it is to pay cash for a large expensive purchase such as a new car, boat, luxury vacation etc etc. so the financial aspects of retirement have worked out just fine. Get yourself a good financial planner, they are invaluable.
Everyone makes a financial plan for retirement but a lot of people don’t make what I call a life plan, in other words what ya gonna do in your retirement. If you don’t have a life plan you may waste your retirement sitting around watching tv or something. For me it was easy. I have numerous interests and hobbies. I hunt, fish, go boating, I love gardening (vegetable gardening), we travel, I love reading, I have lots of social activities I’m involved in, I love cooking and entertaining, love building small projects, and the list goes on and on. I’m busier now than when working and I’m as busy as I want to be (and I’m happy)
If you don’t have hobbies and interests, plans and dreams then retirement may just turn out to be a case of waiting to die. For some you’re better off continuing to work. I have a friend who was a engineering VP, retired age 65 and had no interests or hobbies. Sat around arguing with his wife. At age 67 he went back to work for a different company as a head engineer and is quite happy with that. Making a life plan for retirement is as important as a financial plan.
In your case if your spouse doesn’t want to retire that shouldn’t be a problem. If she wants to continue working more power to her as long as you are financially set. Her plan to work shouldn’t drag you down. She may change her mind after she sees how happy and how much fun you are having.

Lastly no one when they get to to their last day on earth says they wish they would have done less. Everyone regrets things they wish they would have done and didn’t. So make a bucket list of things you really want to do and start doing them. Do not put them off, if you do you’ll end up regretting it when you are older and decrepit. Life throws a lot of shit at us. One day you may be healthy as can be and the next a stroke, heart attack, cancer, dementia, and a zillion other impairments that can come on sudden without warning. My best friend for fifty years died 3 years ago.
He retired early and was worth millions, had tons of money. Lived in a dream home on 10 acres in the country and spent his time just puttering around. He and I hunted and fished together but he didn’t do much else. He and I came back from a week long fishing trip and he went to see a doctor due to fatigue and some abdominal pains he was having. A couple weeks later he was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. I spent a lot of time with him and he told me of all the things he wished he had done, the places he wished he had visited and seen, and easily could have done but put off and didn’t do. So pursue your dreams in retirement, don’t put them off. Just do it.

 

Well said Mike!

 

I worked a total of 59 years before retirement, only the last 11 of which I really enjoyed. I did bucket list stuff for 5 years, but that list is growing again now what with health issues getting in the way. I've always been a landlord as well as having a career, so I could never be too far away from home port for that reason also. You might say my landlording has been my hobby all these years, and that would really be true. I take pleasure in the knowledge that I've provided a roof over the heads of hundreds of good people over the years.
Having a hobby is most important, heed this advice: Have something to keep your sanity, to keep you from joining that most dreaded army of totally useless beings, the Couch Potato Brigade. The scariest part of every Senior Citizen's future, that damned recliner chair has a gravitational pull that grows stronger the older you get.

 

"I have everything in place." -- This is the most important part of the equation - security, it is always fear that keeps us in situations, you have that covered.

I allowed my job to crush me for the last 15 years to the point that I pretty much lost track of everything except work for the last 10. I was a fool.

The healthiest and most enjoyable thing I have ever seen in my life was the Company sign in my rear view mirror, I drive past occasionally and grin like crazy. My blood pressure dropped an average of 25 points the first month.

It is important that you don't retire from something but to something, guys who don't have outside interests retire to the living room chair -- danger.

This is your time to follow your interests, your passion -- work if you want, or not -- fill your days doing something you want to do.

Not to be overly dark, we all have just so many days left -- why not enjoy every one of them.

RE: Wife... If she genuinely wants (not needs) to work - well, more power to her.
It sounds like you have fulfilled your responsibilities and have family security covered.

Give notice tomorrow! (Believe it on not "the company" will get along without you!)

 

Good morning, fellow Porchies!!

Not much I can add to the retirement advice - lots of great stuff from the crew. All I will say is that life is way too short not to enjoy what time we have - it's not just a matter of quantity but also of quality time where we're able to do those things in retirement that we want to do. If you have the financial piece in place, do it!

 

Well, mower runs.
However the recoil is worn to much to keep the locks secured.
So new recoil.
Decompressor works 25% of the time. Better than 0% but it should
get a new cam. 2 choices but no idea how to diff between the two.
No info that I can find yet.
So imho the cam took out the recoil cause if the effort to pull through
Compression stroke..
So it won’t be done for Christmas but I’ll be able to show it to him. Lol

 

All good retirement advice. Every situation will be different. If you're confident you have everything in place, do it. Things will change, so make sure you have the ability to change with them. Look what's happened to the economy recently, and it's not over by any means. SOP won't be standard tomorrow. It will be easier to adjust, if you've planned ahead.

 

My sister started out as a switchboard operator ended up as a Verizon Data technician in the central office. I have seen pics of the supervisors on roller skates, really great pics. I hope you sister has one with her operating the cord board.

You already have great advice. I will add that you can help out more around the home now by doing simple things, laundry, cooking and shopping. easy to do and means a lot to the wife.

I understand the stress. I worked for a Mental Health and Substance Abuse provider managing technicians that took care of all the phone systems for my company, basically a suciside hotline with over 5,000 toll free numbers. All calls had to be answered with a myriad of call routing depending on the situation. The early morning phone calls happened all the time. I do not miss it at all.

I started out as an Installation and Repair technician for the C&P Telephone company of MD.

Thanks for all the posts about phones in general. Phones were always good to me in that I really never had to work two jobs.

Parts came for my EX6 repair late yesterday afternoon. Yesterday I took apart the affected area of the grill and did a deep cleaning. Today is reassembly time and a cook to see if the problem is fixed.

 

All this effort over an old mower... and I have one I've been trying to kill since '06 and the damn thing just keeps on, keepin' on. I bought a cheap Wally World mower to beat up on the ranch, mowing tall weeds and brush and anything else I couldn't get at with the brush hog, and I haven't changed the oil or sharpened the blade more than three times... and the thing starts on the first pull and runs great. If it would die I could try out one of the new battery options and quit storing gas. At this point it's gotten to be a point of curiosity to see how long I can make it last while neglecting it.

 

I bought a Briggs and Stratton lawnmower around 1983. Been used every year since then and my son used it to make some extra money back in the late 90s. Still original plug and haven't changed the oil in 8 or 10 years. Wheels are wobbling, deck is rusted out, and governor is foot operated but it never fails to start and mow grass. Don't rattle, smoke or use any oil but I refuse to replace till it gives out! Hell, I even scout around on my weekly dump runs for a donor deck.

 

Good Morning Porchites!
Finally got cold enough, early enough for me to see the heater "pilot" light in the greenhouse turns on. I mean, I know it works, just have been wanting to see it turn on!!!



All this retirement talk....YAY! I might have gotten mine by surprise, and I had been fretting about planning it the next year. My plan wasn't "great", but I found out that with some severance and bonus to get me through the shock, I had more than enough to do what we do. After goofing off a month or two, I decided that I wasn't going to live with all my "third world" yard efforts, and got real busy with a shed, new greenhouse, pool work, etc. Haven't looked back, and don't want to. And don't tell her, but I have a new set of petite golf clubs in the garage to get someone out of the house and more active for Christmas! Heck, Rex the dog can come and ride on the cart. She hardly will go out in public, so at least we can get out!

Have a great Tue-Fridaysday!

 

Not much effort
I’m tinkering.

 

Morning all:
Lots of advice on retirement, I'm also in the group that says go for it and don't look back, it's all up to you as for what you make of it. I know quite a few people, as well as everyone else on here, who had plans after retiring and never lived long enough to see a single day of retirement. Of course you need to be able to pay your bills and cover other expenses, I also know people that retired and are struggling because they never could manage money, in those cases maybe they should have just kept working.
Personally, I'm glad I retired, for the most part I do what I want to, when I want to, and there are those days that I don't want to do anything, life is good