Finding the Way

I may have mentioned all ready that my wife and I are in a bit of a pickle. My wife's job is slowly winding down. It may not be long and she will not have enough hours to get benefits. Since we live in the state of New York (read unbearable taxes) we won't be able to stay here. We are desperately working at finding the way.

Finding the Way

I know I talked before about moving to the South. The snow and cold of upstate NY is something I no longer wish to endure. It's just too much! That coupled with the situation with my wife's work leads us to try and find a way to live that isn't working as a greeter at Wal-Mart. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

Don't hate me greeters!

My wife is an artist first and a healer second. Instead of doing either of those things, she works in a credit union. She hates her job, although she won't admit it. The question is, how does she promote her art? What sort of things will sell? How does she promote her energy healing skills and where will that sort of thing be accepted and wanted?

For me, I'm a musician, performer, writer, and ebook formatter. I do all those things to some degree to bring in money, but if you lump them all together, I might be able to buy a bag of groceries.

Now I understand that our dilemma is not unique to us. There are tons of retired folks out there who are not ready for the grave, but don't want to be a part of the corporate world either. I know that is also true for a fair amount of young people who just don't feel like they belong. Finding the way can be hard.

I just read something this morning about living with intention. That's one of those buzz words that sound all new agey to me and doesn't mean much. This morning when I read it the thought hit me that maybe it means getting up each morning and doing whatever it is you feel you want to do in this world to the best of your ability.

If you were going to dig a hole out in the yard, you'd get up, eat some breakfast, collect whatever tools, and go out and dig until you were satisfied with the hole.

Why not do that with things like selling your art, or your music, or your whatever it is you do?

There are thousands of people the world over who get up each morning and do the thing that makes them happy. There are millions of people who get up and go to work at something that is not satisfying or lucrative. Which one are you?

How can you change?

Reefer Madness

Recently, I have been reading quite a bit about marijuana, both the good and the bad. What is all this reefer madness?

Let me first say that back in the day, I smoked a lot of pot. I did very little other drugs, but was fond of smoking a bowl or three. When kids came along, I quit. I didn't want to go to jail and have my family grow up without me. In the last thirty-five years, I have probably smoked ten or twelve times when offered from someone else.

I know someone with severe back pain and has a prescription for medical marijuana. If he takes enough pills to ease the pain, he becomes a zombie. A couple of hits of pot, and the pain is tolerable.

Do I think medical marijuana is a good thing?

Yes, I do!

Now, what about recreational use?

I know several people who use marijuana in a recreational way. Do I think they are horrible people? No, they are all productive members of society. Some are medical professionals, some are teachers, some are even policemen. They don't take other drugs, although they will often drink alcohol, usually a beer in conjunction with their smoking.

I do not believe that marijuana use leads to other drugs. In some people, it may, but generally it does not. If a person is going to take hard drugs or abuse any substance, it doesn't matter what the gateway is., they'll go there. I do not believe that getting high is any worse than getting drunk.

In fact, I don't think it is near as bad.

I had a conversation with someone just the other day about this. The woman I was talking with was saying how marijuana use contributed to violent crime and traffic accidents. My experience has been that when high, I am not in the frame of mind to be violent. Certainly there are exceptions to the rule, but most people feel mellow, not aggressive! Personally, I would rather not even be in a car, let alone drive one. I know my reactions are slow and I have no desire to be in an accident.

It seems that many of the people who are against legalizing marijuana, have a fair amount of alcohol on hand and maybe even a collection of guns. Now, in my humble opinion, Marijuana is not near as harmful as alcohol or guns. Still, those things are legal and marijuana is not. That just doesn't make sense to me.

Another reason for legalizing it is economic. By legalizing it's sale, marijuana would be a revenue gain to those selling it, but more than that, to the government. There are taxes to be gained! The illegal sales of anything harms the government. Not only does the government miss out on the revenue, it often spends vast amounts trying to stop the illegal sales. Look back at prohibition to see how well that worked.

It isn't working with marijuana either.

All that's happening is illegal growers are making huge profits and, if they are in this country, assuming huge risk. Along with that, the consumer, depending on the state, is at some risk as well. What happens if the grower and/or the user are caught? Why we the tax payer gets to support them with our tax dollars while they are incarcerated. Gee, what a deal!

The days of reefer madness should be long behind us. Let's grow up a bit and see that marijuana use is not something brought on by the devil; at lest no more so than alcohol. Let's understand that legalizing the sale of marijuana would provide jobs from the farmer all the way down to the sales clerk. It would produce tax revenue for a government that is out of control in its spending and debt.

As Willie said, "The whole world's going to pot!"

Moving South

We have been thinking hard about moving south. Not just that direction, but to the South. We currently live in Upstate NY. In case you were wondering, this is about the worst state to retire in.

The taxes here are horrible and the winters are worse. 

The problem is, we don't know where we would like to go. My brother lives in South Carolina and that gives us some connection there, but it is a long way from our children and grandchildren who live up here and in Michigan

We have also thought about Kentucky. We don't know a soul there, but it is right in the middle of a bunch of people we would like to remain in contact with. We are going through there on our way to Tennessee in June. At least then we will have a better idea of the landscape.

At this point in our lives, we feel we need a new adventure. We have lived here long enough. I personally never really wanted to move to New York, but the job demanded it. Now that I'm retired, I want to go someplace warmer and meet new people.

My wife feels the same way.

It will be hard to leave our grandchildren behind, but staying here in New York really doesn't seem to be an option. If my wife should lose her job, we couldn't afford to live here. Better to sell the house and go somewhere less expensive.

It isn't necessary or a rule that as you age, the adventures have to stop. They may take on a different hue, but they are still out there.

Time for me to have one I think!

Leave My Food Alone!

Okay, so maybe this is "Rant Thursday. I can't help it. I am so pissed/frustrated/mind-boggled, I just have to let it out. Leave my food alone!

This morning I read a post from Grist. Now I really like Grist. I read it often, but this one got me going!

A little back ground.

In 2012, I had a heart attack. I went Vegan. It wasn't because I didn't want to eat animal products. It was simply wanting to stay alive. I hat factory farming and all that it implies, but I am not an animal rights person to the extent that I don't ever want to eat meat.

After a while, we slipped to more vegetarian meals with occasional fish. The problem with being vegan was that I just didn't feel very good. Eating small amounts of fish and a bit of chicken now and then seemed to help.

A few months ago, I read a book called Primal Body, Primal Mind. Basically it is about a Paleo diet. I was impressed with the depth of study and research. About the same time, the first blush of the new guidelines can out and what they said seemed to go along with much of what I was reading. Dietary Cholesterol is not harmful and we need fats in our diet.

Then someone came along and said what a bunch of baloney (pun intended) that was and eating meat and dairy will give you cancer and a heart attack. Maybe at the same time!

Then I discovered the Weston A Price Foundation. They didn't go the way of the Paleos, but they leaned that way. I wound up joining them mostly because they had the balls to sue the FDA. At least somebody was doing something other than bitching!

Well, we moved our dietary routines to more align themselves with the Price Foundation and away from the Vegan side. For me, I felt a hell of a lot better. My wife, who suffers from acid reflux, had a huge reduction in her symptoms.

What really pisses me off is the fact that you can't really believe anybody. Everyone has some agenda and push their particular point of view. Most of them do this, not because they give a damn about you or your health. They just want to line their pockets with your money. The meat producers want your money. The soy association wants your money. The corn industry wants your money. The wheat industry wants your money. None of them give a rip about your health. At least that's my opinion.

I'm not trying to tell anyone how to eat. Eat what your conscience and your body feel good about. If you're a Vegan, more poser to you. If you're a full out Paleo, great. I don't care if you eat your neighbor's cat. I just don't want you telling me what I can't eat, especially when I know you're saying it just to get me to buy your product.

Earth Day

So here it is, Earth Day. As a Pagan, I should be all up about Earth Day, but to tell the truth, I'm not. Oh, I certainly care for the earth and think we could all do a lot more to make sure the earth is healthy. As a person with a nature based spirituality, I get a real connection with the Divine in my forays into the wild.

So why no big whoop over Earth Day.

Like so many things, when we make something routine, like Earth Day or Christmas, or anything else, it becomes bland. At least that's how I feel about it. Mother's Day. Get your mom a card, but don't think about her for the next three months.

Maybe it isn't that it has become routine, but that it has become accepted by the general public, but not in any meaningful way. It's like celebrating President's Day. When was the last time you really just partied down on President's Day?

Earth Day seems like another reason to buy some chintzy card to send someone who will hardly read it and throw it away; polluting the earth. Earth Day seems like another reason for politicians to jump on the band wagon and tell us all how they care for the earth and want to make sure it is clean and healthy. They don't really give a shit, they just want your votes.

The good side to Earth Day is that it does give pause to those who rarely think about it at all. Maybe it gives someone a chance to think about maybe working a little harder at recycling. Maybe they think a little more about turning off lights. There is a good side to it.

I just don't get that excited about it.

Playing the Music

I mentioned that my wife and I are musicians. My wife loves music, but it is my passion. I have been playing some kind of music for as long as I can remember.

When I was about five, I used to go to our neighbors. They were an older couple without children. They sort of adopted me. The had a beautiful baby grand piano. I started plinking on that thing and pretty soon they were paying for me to have eight years of lessons. There was a small problem with that.

I loved music and would listen to my mother's classical records for hours. When I went to lessons, my teacher said, "What would you like to play?"

I of course picked something I knew. Since it was a classical piece, my teacher was delighted. Only thing is, I play by ear. I didn't need music to play the piece. Whether my teacher ever knew that I wasn't actually reading the music sitting in front of me, I don't know. I can hardly read music at all.

Yesterday, I started a Soundcloud account. Soundcloud is a way for folks to get their work out there for others to listen to. I posted one song so far. It is a song I wrote a long time ago. We had a neighbor woman with a little baby. The baby had the most enormous swollen big toe. I said it was an ingrown toenail and she should have a Doctor look at it. She didn't want to go to the Doctor, so I wrote this song to encourage her.

Jeremy Nine Toes

I/we make a little money playing out, but not near enough to live on. I would love that, but life got in the way of my musical career early on. Besides, people kept telling me that it was impossible to make a living that way. Damn! I wish I had never listened to them!! Well, now we do make a bit of money and we are getting better at it all the time. The money, however, isn't the point. The point is that we are doing our music!

I guess my point here is; don't let your dreams fade away. Chase after them. You may not become world famous doing whatever that is, but you'll be a damn sight happier!

Charelston

A couple of weeks ago, we went on vacation to Charleston, SC. We met my daughter and her family, and my brother and sister-in-law there. My daughter has a popup camper and my brother has a 33' motorhome. We have a teardrop trailer.

Our Teardrop

We love our little trailer! My brother gave me some grief about having such a dinky RV, but after we compared mileage on our drives to the campground, the comments sort of died down.

Charleston is a great place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. It was great being in the warmth of the South, but the bugs were a bit much. Also, Charleston is EXPENSIVE! You have got to be rich to live there, and rich I ain't.

We visited a huge oak called the Angel Tree. I think it was the highlight for me on the trip. My wife and I both follow a nature based spirituality and connecting with this tree was great!

The trip cost us a bit; about $800, but it was a lot of fun! We could have saved a bit by camping in a state campground instead of a private one, and not eating out so much. We could have saved a bit on gas if I had kept my lead foot out of the gas peddle, but I was in a hurry to get there and then a hurry to get back. It's one of the things I have to work on in this stage of my life.

Don't be in such a hurry!

Hello

Hello there. This blog is about our lives after gaining our second wind. We publish books under the name Second Wind and we write and perform music as Second Wind.

This blog isn't just about those things though. It is about living our lives after the kids are gone and careers are winding down. It is about travel and about day to day living.

We are interested in Permaculture, Spiritual things, Music, Writing, and having fun.