Chasing Ghosts: Another Hunt Story

A biologist might describe a deer as a hooved ruminant. She'd be wrong.

Deer are ghosts.

They materialize in the forest out of thin air, then disappear in an instant.

They crash loudly through the trees just a few feet away without ever coming into view.

They emerge from unexpected places, offering a fleeting glimpse, leaving you wondering if you really saw anything.

They will haunt you with their absence for days, and then suddenly a gang of them will sneak up behind you.

This year I started hunting on the 19th of October, and for two weeks I sat in the woods every chance I got. An hour hear and there, a few mornings, mostly afternoons. Oftentimes I'd get home from work with just enough daylight left to sit in my stand for 45 minutes or so, keenly alert for the footsteps of a deer. Keenly alert. There was a time or two I nodded off. Several times. But in between naps I was keenly alert.

Building a Small Backup Solar Electric System

When Hurricane Maria hit and caused such hardship in Puerto Rico and other areas, I was inspired to review our disaster preparations. Although we live in a part of the world that is much less susceptible to that type of widespread devastation, we have experienced weather events that caused multi-day power outages, and it's not hard to imagine a scenario that could have more impact. We have a small generator, but gasoline is expensive and perishable, generators are noisy, and I suspect gasoline supply chains are more fragile than we'd like to think.

The answer, obviously, was to install solar panels.

A Retirement Planning Adventure

Retirement planning is, to me, a confusing and daunting endeavor. However, recently I stumbled across an article about retirement financials from the Stanford Center on Longevity. The Center works on issues people face around mobility, financial security and mental ability as they age. There is some evidence that I fall into the category of "people who are aging." Thus, I think it's pretty cool that we have our own Center at Stanford.

In any case, here's a link to the specific article. It suggests a strategy for managing your income stream during retirement. I found it enlightening and it inspired me to embark on a...

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Retirement Planning Adventure
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In other words, I made a spreadsheet.