summer treat

Fresh pavement on our route to work. Once we get off the back roads from our house we get on a state route which takes us to the interstate highway. The state route lost a lot of pavement this past winter, very busy bit of roadway. Road crews were prepping to pave yesterday at the far end and when we turn on to it this morning at least as far as we were both sides of the road had a smooth fresh topcoat. Nice, savor the moment and the rest of the summer as that goes.

Money I don't spend

That would be retirement money. Carol and I are still in the process of making changes in our retirement savings though it seems for all the answers we gotten in the process with our financial adviser more questions or tasks have appeared. Not only are we sorting through the money part there's long-term care insurance, an estate plan and refinancing our debt at lower interest rates. On the surface it all makes sense but looking under the hood there are things whirling around that will take some study to get a grasp of it. At the moment understanding annuities is at the top of my list – I'm leaning towards avoiding them at this stage of the tuneup, your mileage may vary.

another wet weekend

Certainly had our share of rain again. If anything the weather doesn't seem to want to make up it's mind - warm and sunny, cold and damp. Carol was away with Lois yesterday on a quick pilgrimage to Ikea. With a wet yard it was a good excuse to visit my mother. As always enjoyed the time talking with her about a variety of things, amazing how the time flies. Afterwards I swung by my sister Kathy's and helped her set up the email on a new computer before heading home. The movie for Saturday night was "The Mechanic" starring Jason Statham. It was alright, nothing special, we were in the mood for an action film so it fit the bill. Today was for taking care of odds and ends. Next weekend with the 4th of July holiday things will pick up a bit.

m u s t – w r i t e – b l o g

There, that wasn't so difficult was it? It's only been a month since my last blog post. Now then, what to write about? Let's revisit a subject blogged several times before – new cellphones. Carol and I were eligible for upgrades and for a particular reason we're going to smartphones. When was the last time you saw someone using a PDA? If you did it may have been me. Both of ours are on their last legs and though mine seems to have revived itself recently Carol's is responding erratically. We use them for the calendars, address lists and note keeping. If you go online to see what's available you won't find much because all the manufacturers have gone to smartphones so we did too. Actually there is so much more than our justifying reason to upgrade to a smartphone – the APPs. Like the jokes "there's an app for that" is a pretty accurate remark. We went the Android route, specifically the Samsung Captivate. Still getting use to them after five days, adding free apps and how to use the swipe typing. Amazing technology to walk around with in your pocket.