FIRE Living My Way

[Retired To Win]

I am creating this thread to keep a record of happenings in my FIRE life that are not directly connected to investing, personal finance or money.  Although I am sure the lines will blur a little.  Anyway, so many still-working people seem to want to know what a FIRE'D person does with himself, that my postings may shed some light on that from time to time.

At least this will get me to think about what I am doing!

Note 1
Here's a list of my topic posts in this thread, to make it easier to scroll down and find them.
At Reply #  1...  I See An Astronomy Letdown Coming
At Reply #14...  Lunch and a Lecture: What Fun!
At Reply #19...  Chicken Slaughtering 101!!

Note 2
To give a little context, here are some quick facts about me:  66... married... no kids... lots of pets... reached FI in 2003... live in small rural VA town and drive a 1996 Dodge Dakota... hiker, personal finance and retirement blogger, photographer, history reader and book collector, civil war buff, pc strategy game player, movie fan, amateur carpenter... frugality advocate, dividend investor (with a caveat).

[Retired To Win]

I See an Astronomy Letdown Coming

One of the things I have been thinking of doing lately with a little of my surplus/discretionary money has been to get (back) into astronomy.  Waaaay back, when I was in junior high school, I actually won a national science fair prize for a project I did measuring the orbital periods of Jupiter's main 4 moons using a 4-inch refractor telescope.  I remember what a big kick that was. So I have been thinking I could get that happening again.

For 2 or 3 months, I have had my eye on an 8-inch reflector telescope rig that would cost me some $500-$700.  Which would be fine.  But I've been wondering how much I would really be able to see through that thing.  And I am starting to suspect the answer is: not enough.

You see, a week or so ago I had the opportunity to attend an open house at the UVA astronomical observatory.  They have a TWENTY-SIX inch refractor that's about 40 or 50 feet long.  And we all got to put our eyes up to the monster's eyepiece and look at Saturn.  What a disappointment!  It was like looking at an old black-and-white film negative; no depth, no color, no detail.  I could tell I was looking at Saturn because I could see its ring system.  But, hey, come on.  The image was small.  It was just flat white against a black sky.  Geezz...

So, I am keeping my money in my pocket for now.  What I am doing instead of plunking down several hundred bucks is that I have joined the local astronomy club (for $15), which is way deep in bed with the UVA astronomical observatory.  I'll attend meetings and "dark night" outings and get a better feel for what I could reasonably expect from getting myself in this game.  Maybe it will be all good.  But I want to be more positive about it than I am now.

[Sdsailing]

Option 1: By writing grants you could get time on professional telescopes, assuming your proposal was competitive. 

Option 2: there are many public datastreams from extant experiments which you could download analyze at no cost, other than the computer.

[TheFrugalFox]

I remember spending a night out far from the city and looking through a 10 inch. What a disappointment - cured me from ever wanting to buy a telescope.  I do occasionally whip out the binoculars for a peek of the moon though.

[Retired To Win]

Option 1: By writing grants you could get time on professional telescopes, assuming your proposal was competitive. 

Option 2: there are many public datastreams from extant experiments which you could download analyze at no cost, other than the computer.

Well, I am looking at astronomy as a hobby/entertainment.  So, for me, your Option 1 would be too much like actual work.  :(

And Option 2 would miss the whole point for me, which is to SEE.  ;)

[nawhite]

I See an Astronomy Letdown Coming

One of the things I have been thinking of doing lately with a little of my surplus/discretionary money has been to get (back) into astronomy.  Waaaay back, when I was in junior high school, I actually won a national science fair prize for a project I did measuring the orbital periods of Jupiter's main 4 moons using a 4-inch refractor telescope.  I remember what a big kick that was. So I have been thinking I could get that happening again.

For 2 or 3 months, I have had my eye on an 8-inch reflector telescope rig that would cost me some $500-$700.  Which would be fine.  But I've been wondering how much I would really be able to see through that thing.  And I am starting to suspect the answer is: not enough.

You see, a week or so ago I had the opportunity to attend an open house at the UVA astronomical observatory.  They have a TWENTY-SIX inch refractor that's about 40 or 50 feet long.  And we all got to put our eyes up to the monster's eyepiece and look at Saturn.  What a disappointment!  It was like looking at an old black-and-white film negative; no depth, no color, no detail.  I could tell I was looking at Saturn because I could see its ring system.  But, hey, come on.  The image was small.  It was just flat white against a black sky.  Geezz...

So, I am keeping my money in my pocket for now.  What I am doing instead of plunking down several hundred bucks is that I have joined the local astronomy club (for $15), which is way deep in bed with the UVA astronomical observatory.  I'll attend meetings and "dark night" outings and get a better feel for what I could reasonably expect from getting myself in this game.  Maybe it will be all good.  But I want to be more positive about it than I am now.

"Try before you buy."

I read a book about this where there was a man who wanted to own a coffee shop. This was his dream, to sit and drink and brew coffee all day and talk to interesting people. So he did a trial run where he got a job at an already existing coffee shop. There he learned that owning a coffee shop was 80% washing dishes, 10% paperwork and 10% those things he wanted to do.

That lesson really stuck with me and so now I always try to come up with ways I can try out something I really want before going all in. For instance I work part time at a kayaking shop in order to figure out whether or not I could run one. Or I put slicked tires on my mountain bike and then rented a hybrid bike o see if I really needed to upgrade my mountain bike or not.

[Spartana]

See if your community has an astronomy club that gets together to star gaze using their (often many and very huge) telescopes. Here in my area of SoCal we have the Orange County Astronomers Club http://ocastronomers.org/ which has monthly "Star Parties". Some people even have their own small observatories in their back yards.  Very cool place for a geek-girl like me :-)! Much better then paying out the big bucks for my own telescope.

ETA: Oops see you already joined one. Guess I should learn to read an entire post :-)!

[2ndTimer]

I will be stopping in regularly to see how your life goes.   

[EscapeVelocity2020]

Want to follow, followed back to your blog, but no 'about me' - age, marital status, kids?  Thanks for posting, but need a little context is all.

[Sdsailing]

Option 1: By writing grants you could get time on professional telescopes, assuming your proposal was competitive. 

Option 2: there are many public datastreams from extant experiments which you could download analyze at no cost, other than the computer.

Well, I am looking at astronomy as a hobby/entertainment.  So, for me, your Option 1 would be too much like actual work.  :(

And Option 2 would miss the whole point for me, which is to SEE.  ;)

Fair enough.  But modern astronomy is not about seeing in the sense that you mean.  Seems like you can enjoy the sky with naked eyes.

[Retired To Win]

Want to follow, followed back to your blog, but no 'about me' - age, marital status, kids?  Thanks for posting, but need a little context is all.

66... married... no kids... lots of pets... reached FI in 2003... live in small rural VA town and drive a 1996 Dodge Dakota... hiker, personal finance and retirement blogger, photographer, history reader and book collector, civil war buff, pc strategy game player, movie fan, amateur carpenter... frugality advocate, dividend investor (with a caveat).  More on request! :)

[tomq04]

Favorite Dividend players these days?

[Gone Fishing]

If you have anything to use it on, the SkyGuide app is awesome.  You just hold up your device and it tells you what you are looking at.  Only a couple bucks if I remember correctly.

[Jon_Snow]

I'm actually toying around with the idea of buying a 12" or 16" reflector telescope. I am not disappointed in any way with the image of such things as Saturn's rings in my current 6" refractor scope.

No astronomy letdown for me.

[Retired To Win]

Lunch and a Lecture: What Fun!

I got this routine going about a year ago and I really enjoy it.  I call it "Lunch and a Lecture" and that's how it shows on my daily planner.  Here's the deal.

Some days the first part of my day is spent on a hike.  And some days it is spent doing chores and other work.  But either way, come 12:30 you will find me with a sandwich and a beer sitting in my study recliner, ready to audit another (to me) interesting DVD lecture on some period in history.  To me, it is a great way to spend a lunch hour.

I discovered the Great Courses offered by the Teaching Company on DVDs a year or so ago.  Since then, I have taken advantage of their periodic (actually constant) special sales to compile a 19-course library amounting to over 700 lectures for a fraction of the published catalog prices.  And it has been money well spent for me.

I am a big history reader and book collector anyway.  So these DVDs fit right in with my preset predilections. And I am always picking up stuff I did not know from these lectures, even on topics I have studied pretty intensely previously.

Right now, I am doing a 36-lecture course on The Peloponesian War -- the final cataclysmic confrontation between Ancient Athens and Ancient Sparta.  Before that, I did a 48-lecture course entitled Ancient History of the World -- a Global Perspective.  And before that I did a "return engagement" to view one of my all-time favorites: a 36-course on The Vikings (because -- yes -- this is stuff I can go back to and enjoy over and over again.)

Hey, it sure as hell beats watching reruns of The Price is Right!  :O

[Retired To Win]

I'm actually toying around with the idea of buying a 12" or 16" reflector telescope. I am not disappointed in any way with the image of such things as Saturn's rings in my current 6" refractor scope.

No astronomy letdown for me.

Good for you! I actually hope that my involvement with the local astronomy club makes my attitude more positive.  We shall see!

[Elderwood17]

If you have anything to use it on, the SkyGuide app is awesome.  You just hold up your device and it tells you what you are looking at.  Only a couple bucks if I remember correctly.

This is a fun app!

[2ndTimer]

Lunch and a Lecture sounds great.  I have been working my way through all the Course in a Box audio books which I can download from my public library.  So far my favorite is Richard J. Evans three giant works on the Third Reich which finally answered  the questions I have had about how an entire first world country could apparently go mad.  I will look into Great Courses which sound similar.

After looking at Great Courses, I came back to add that they do look VERY interesting.  Just the thing for Winter evenings when we are cuddled up on the couch with cats and stove.  There is one about traveling in Turkey which would fit very well with our future vacation plans.

[Retired To Win]

Lunch and a Lecture sounds great.  I have been working my way through all the Course in a Box audio books which I can download from my public library....

Funny, it was at the public library that I first got my hands on a Great Courses DVD set.  Sad to say, though, my public library only has a few.  So, I've built up my own collection.  But being able to do a couple of courses for free let me see just how much I would enjoy them and convinced me to invest the money to acquire them.

[Retired To Win]

Chicken Slaughtering 101!!

This last Sunday I got introduced to the fine art of chicken slaughtering and processing.  Who knew!!

One of my wife's new hobbies is raising chickens for eggs and meat.  And last Sunday was the day for the 12 excess 6-month-old cockerels in the flock to give their all "for God and country."

My wife had me view a You Tube instructional on the procedure.  When it was over, I looked at her and slowly shook my head.  But we worked it out.  She did the catching, immobilizing, head cutting, feather plucking and gut cleaning.  I did the barnyard-to-kitchen transfer, neck removing, final feather plucking, gall bladder separating and discarding, carcass rinsing and damp drying, final double bagging and freezer storing.

To quote my wife: "Trying to be self-sufficient is hard work!"  No shit, Sherlock.  At least, chicken slaughtering won't come around again for another six months.

What little surprise/weird activities have snuck into your FIRE life?