The newest member of the FireStation Family is Riley, a 14-week old ‘Teddy Bear’ Bichon-Shitzu. We’ve been planning to get a dog for some time, but I purposely didn’t write anything about it until after we made our decision. Whether or not to get a dog has been a long deliberation process at our house going back to when our son was little. Since the … Continue reading The Life Of Riley
It’s been a busy week since returning from Florida. The “administrivia” of life doesn’t stop because you go on vacation for 6 weeks. For the first 3 days of the week, I ran around town, made a lot of stops, and completed numerous errands that had been waiting. I’m glad that I could do them all on a weekday when other folks are working … … Continue reading ‘Administrivia’ of Life
We got home for our 6+ week Winter Summerland trip yesterday and quickly unpacked from the flight. It’s amazing how you can be away for that long with just a few bags (although we brought home 1 more bag than we left with). Some friends were surprised that we flew to Florida instead of making the drive in our own vehicle. We were a bit … Continue reading Drive or Fly?
When I rejoined the Apple Watch club last year – after 4 years without wearing a watch of any kind – my son warned me not to become “a slave to closing your daily fitness rings”. He knew that I can be a goal-oriented fanatic and closing one’s daily rings can be addictive. How right he was … I was off to the races soon … Continue reading Slave to the Rings … or Master?
Americans have been cash-poor for decades leading into the pandemic last year. It seems that using credit – mortgages, student loans, car loans, and consumer credit – have just become an unfortunate part of American life. Related: Debt Has Spread Like Virus With the pandemic, people are spending less on discretionary things like travel and eating out and the government has sent out several rounds … Continue reading A Tale Of Two Charts
You can’t go from the Midwest to Florida in the winter – for any length of time – and not have people ask if you are getting ready to buy a place down here. We’ve been down here for 5 weeks now and that has brought us 35 days closer to coming up with a more permanent Snowbird plan. We’ve really clicked with the Florida … Continue reading Kicking Off ‘The Florida Project‘
When we checked out of the condo we were staying at near Orlando last week and headed to Gulfport FL, we also made a big switch in accommodations. We left the gated & manicured 1,100 suite Hilton Tuscany Village for the causal, one-of-a-kind, Blue Hen Bungalow just off Beach Boulevard (above). On AirBNB or VRBO we can usually find a variety of places to mix … Continue reading Unique Spaces In Unique Places …
We are now starting week 4 of our extended Florida stay. We’re not sure what we should call this trip – it’s longer than a simple vacation but short of ‘wintering’ the whole season. We’re not ‘snowbirds’ because we don’t have property here, but we also aren’t tourists because we’ve spent so much time in Florida over the years. Yesterday morning we packed up from … Continue reading One Trip To Another
My wife and I first came to Florida on our honeymoon. It was only the second time either of us had travelled on a plane. I booked the trip through the travel agent at our favorite department store for about $800. That included airfare on Northwest Airlines, a Pontiac Sunfire rental car, and 7 nights stay at the beautiful Westwood Winfield Inn near Orlando. All … Continue reading Vacation Spending Without Limits
Some activities just take on a life of their own. A few years ago, a buddy and I made a game out of visiting a local ‘dive bar’ once a month for a full year. It was fun – we called it ‘Dive Bar Tuesday’. I posted our adventures on social media and got wonderful suggestions of places to visit from friends, family, and neighbors. … Continue reading Year of … Beer, Pizza, BBQ …
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