Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara logo

Retirement Locations

You will probably be seeing lots of blog posts about our potential retirement locations. Honestly, we do not have a clue where we want to be. Well, part of “us” knows but the other part says he will not move back here. I’m not convinced that he cannot be convinced but seriously, it isn’t all about me. Did I just say that? Really, he deserves to be happy wherever we are and there are enough places that we can find a spot where we can both be happy.

With old Speck gone, we may get rid of the chickens and start traveling around looking at locations.

Our first choice was either Toledo Bend Lake (Louisiana/Texas) or Sam Rayburn Lake (Texas) but, for the most part, waterfront homes are so darned expensive and in order to stay in our budget, we’re not going to be able to get a house that suits our needs/wants and a shop and even if we did find those things, it’s going to be in a subdivision or with closer neighbors than we prefer so . . we’re kinda back to the drawing board.

We have our priorities and having a water well is a big one on our list. That rules out the Nevada, MO area. There are few water wells in the area and the water is not good and it takes a lot to make it good.

There are other areas in southern Missouri that we have considered . . again, these areas rate much higher on my list than on Vince’s list.

One day this week I sent Vince an email with a few links to houses I had found that I liked and that met several things on our list (acreage, shop, stained wood cabinets, basement). Of course, of the houses I sent him, the only one he liked was one that when I went back and looked, it didn’t have a garage.

I sent him this email back:

I read more about it and it doesn’t have an attached garage. With the winters here, we need an attached garage, don’t you think? They have that shop/garage but I wouldn’t want to tromp through the snow with groceries.
 
Then he sent me this back:
 
You said we weren’t leaving the house if it snowed!
 
And I sent this back to him:
 

We aren’t but I’m talking about once it is almost melted and it’s all muddy and sloppy.

 
All you have to do is look at the trees and the green grass and I think we can put up with a little snow. Plus, it doesn’t snow as much there as it does in Nevada.
 
My argument for living with snow had been this: In southern MO, it will snow and then in a day or two, it gets warm and it all melts, then a few weeks later, it will snow and last for a couple of days. Once you’re retired, stay home when there’s snow. It never lasts more than a few days and we always have plenty of supplies on hand so just stay home. Don’t worry about shoveling the driveway or sidewalks . . just stay in the warm house and enjoy the view.
 
We will never again have two residences . . maintenance at two places is more than we’re willing to do . . keeping up a yard, paying property taxes, insurance, etc. But, finding the one place where we’ll both be happy, and that has everything we want and staying within our budget . . may mean we end up staying right where we are.
 
EDIT:  He just told me that he isn’t retiring before the end of 2019. NO!  NO!! I was all ready to do it next year. 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. I would stay where you are now. Your have a nice place and you fixed it up the way you wanted it. will you be happy at the next place when your son moves because of Walmart location. in his jobs.

  3. I thought you really like where you are now – you have everything how you want it and willing to start over? Why do so much to a home/yard to make it how you want it just to sell and it start again –

  4. I hear your pain. We’re a little further away from retiring than ya’ll, but it’s still a regular topic of conversation between us. We haven’t a clue where we’ll retire and we’re too tied down right now to take off and explore the possibilities. Good luck…I know you’ll find the right fit for both of you.

  5. A couple big questions: you’ve mentioned Chad and family moving around, but they seem to stay in the same area. Any chance that will stay the same?
    The other one is–we’ve heard your side. All considerations aside, what would Vince’s first (and second) choice be? Even if it’s somewhere you don’t even consider, it would be interesting to know what the “ideal” would be.

  7. Well I for one, am glad he is not retiring until then!! LOL Purely selfish reasons on my part! I like you in my life, you are fun to be with and I have learned a lot. But you have learned from me too! How else would you have learned of Candy Barr?? LOL Now you are going to have to explain that to all your other friends! LOL I can’t say have a great time in LA because of the circumstances, but know your aunt would not want you to grieve because she is in a much better place. No pain and no sorrows. Bless your uncle’s heart, I pray he is making it ok and can get through this. He may need to come visit you in Texas. I really want you to stay right where you are, but like I said, I am very selfish!! Safe travels and I hope to see you Tuesday at Common Grounds

  8. We retired in 2002 from Colorado to North Carolina. No regrets. We took off our watches, did NOT buy a SmartPhone and we bought a “Day of the Week” clock from Plow and Hearth. Perfect for us because we found that we really did want to know the day of the week and if we were out and need to know what time it was, , we were sure there would be someone to give us the time.

    We LOOVVEE the four seasons and found a brick home on six acres where the lots had been landscaped. Also, it was two lots in case we ever wanted to sell off half First year was an ice storm – ohwell – we just waited for the sun to come out. Then went out and bought a generator, had gas logs put in the fireplace and all was good to go. Couple years later 4 inches of snow – ohwell – the driveway was way too long to shovel so, again, we waited cause we had our generator and gas logs.. In NC you do not want to be out driving when snowing because no one here knows how to drive in snow. Good you are planning ahead … being in the right place and “feeling” that it is the right place, is what retiring is all about. JudyCinNC

  9. When I told my husband of your retirement predicament he suggested that you not wait too long to retire as you never know what could happen in the near future. He has been lucky to have survived bleeding on the brain caused by warfarin (blood thinner) in 2012 & then a tiny stroke in 2016 that has luckily only affected a very small portion of his eyesight. We are both 70 now and live every day to the fullest and are enjoying retirement by travelling and pursuing our hobbies. Whatever you two do I wish you all the best!

Discover more from Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading