Thoughts on Turning 65

 

I've hit that last landmark year for our culture! Growing up it was 5 for starting school, 16 for driving, 19 for being able to drink. Then there's the informal ones like 21 for drinking in the States and 26 for getting lower insurance rates. 

Being shuffled into the seniors box has been a drawn out process; anywhere from 50 for golf, 55 for restaurants, 60 for municipal discounts. In spite of being assured there would be no CPP for me after paying into it for my entire working life, here I am on the cusp of getting it deposited into my account every month. We are very fortunate to not need any of the low income or disability supplemental funding. 

So did I/we get here as intended? Definitely on the financial end. We made a "Freedom 55" plan in our early 30s and hit that mark due to a lower key lifestyle. I retired at 58 (spouse at 55) to a debt free life. I think we pretty well hit our health goals. We have all our teeth😁and I'm on no daily medications but I do have mild tinnitus and annoying eye floaties. I did regain activity levels after my accident although I shifted away from impact and ankle twisting sports - a convenient out for pickleball.

What now? We've been watching neighbours and family navigate their 80s so we're looking ahead there. We'll be moving out of our house eventually but where is the question. In the mean time I'm looking for more volunteer opportunities. I like to have an anchor activity most days. 

I started this blog when I was 45, in spite of being a very poor at journaling. Life has actually changed very little here although the population has gotten more diverse. Income inequality is more visible as there are lots of high end vehicles like BMWs and Cadiallacs but like everywhere, there's homelessness that long term residents are trying to shuffle away. The City has tried to maintain free/low cost activities to build community as it goes through boom and bust times as an O&G town. I feel like truth and reconcilation is progressing as schools include indigenous liasons and activities, Treaty 6 and Metis fly along side Canada and provincial flags and city events include smudging ceremonies. How does this translate? I don't know. 

Post Election Vibes

Our super short election season is over and we unfortunately did not get a majority government. I say unfortunately because then we wouldn't have to deal with the possibility or another election for 5 years which gives the party leader to show their stuff.

Over all I'm ok with the results. I like the Liberal policies enacted in the last 10 years and the direction they're going. Theyre making plans, and unlike Conservatives, putting money behind their words. Immigration got a little out of hand but with all the complaints, AB and SK are still traveling overseas to try to attract workers so which is it while schools are closing programs because of lack of students. We'll see how it goes. I got the Conservative MPs I expected. I've seen them at Canada Day celebrations and they're not nearly as divisive as their leader. I plan to write them to elect a different leader at the next party review.

It's not that I'm wedded to a party. The most content I've been as a voter was in 2015 when Trudeau (Liberal), Notley was premiere (NDP) and the Starkey (PC) was my MLA even though they didn't really benefit me personally as a solid middle-income voter. Before that I had voted for Leon Benoit (CPC) because I respected Joe Clark (PC). I get the dislike for Carney coming in like a white knight because I hated Ignatioff as the Liberal leader because he parachuted in after living in the US for 20 years while being a prof. But I REALLY hate the small mindedness and divisiveness that Harper and the CPC brought to the table at the end of his Prime Minister-ship. Muzzling scientists and appealing to "old stock" Canadians. And it was obvious all through Poilievre's tenure as leader as he supported the clownvoy and refused to work with the Liberals to at least temper the refugee/immigrant influx. Emphasising his anti-woke rhetoric along with Harper coming back just cemented it for me.

Dealing with affordability will be interesting as I think it does start with housing. Trudeau was right in that crashing house prices suck for existing home owners because it means the economy has crashed and their morgages could be underwater. Someone was talking about how they're being outbid on homes when they meet asking because other buyers are offering 5-10% over asking. It's a tale as old as time of people pulling up the ladder after they go up a level so they can make more money.

I guess lenders could refuse to mortgage offers over the property assessment value or CMHC refusing to insure them. Wooing builders would be slow because they still have to make a profit. The government funding a bunch of housing with available long term leases that replace purchasing just might do the trick. Most units as 2 to 4 bdrm, 1 1/2 bath at 750-900 sq ft (70-85 m^2) units and some assisted living/senior units. Rent control on those units along with income qualifications to move in would ensure an affordable supply. Federal crown land so people living in cities in Alberta can still benefit as the UCP is busily clawing back all the Federal benefits they can (dental, disability etc.).

Interesting times. 

I've been thinking a lot about housing

Blind spot - I thought there wouldn't be much of a homeless/housing problem here because this is a pretty transient town (oilfield) and most people would just leave. This was confirmed when oil collapsed in 2015, 3 families I knew just sold up and moved away. I wanted to leave on retirement but our home devalued by 25%, which it has barely recovered 10 years later, while the places we wanted to move skyrocketed in value. Not homeless but immobile. 

Now that I've been retired for awhile I've started volunteering. Did you know volunteering is a great way to meet likeminded people AND find out about issues you have strong feelings about? Like affordable housing and homelessness. My eyes were opened - people do stay here or are from around here! We have at least 250 unhoused people (pop~ 30,000). Like everywhere, 5% prefer to be unhoused but for the rest - there's nowhere for them to go other than the streets. There are months to years of waiting lists for affordable housing. People come out of rehab with nowhere to go and - surprise - relapse more easily. NIMBY is strong along with the rumours that homeless are being bussed in to take advantage of ... what, volunteer served free meals? I'm still in the information collecting phase where I participate in fundraiser but I do want to commit time as well.

Naturally, with a federal election coming up, I'm interested in proposed solutions by the 2 major parties.

One wants to remove GST on  housing costing under $1 million. The other wants to build A LOT (500,000) of new low cost housing to flood the started home market enough to stabilize housing prices rather than push them down and open up existing rental units. 

The latter seems like a reasonable solution. I was working in construction surveying in the early 80s when the Feds had their last housing push. The crew I was on surveyed 500 homes in 3 months and there were several apartments and condos built at the same time in one small city so the goal seems doable if the capital is opened up. The Feds have released crown land, in cities, for housing so there's somewhere to build. They are talking modular housing which is quite common where I am. A wide range of houses are built on a common site then moved to their final location. When we were looking to move, one of our "problems" was we couldn't agree on how much we were willing to downgrade to enter a new housing market - it turned out to be very little and I'm sure we're not outliers.

I would like to see some caveats like a 99 year land lease or coop purchase structure and purchasers cannot own or co-own any other property in Canada and limited ownership in their home country. Futureproofing utility costs with good insulation, 3 pane windows, heat pumps and solar panels on all units. If more rentals are built, they should be rent controlled. If I can think of all these things, I would expect policy makers serious about increasing affordable housing stock to do even better. 

The key is flooding the market with low cost housing with investors prohibited. What do you think?

The curse of interesting times...

I retired from a US mulitnational operating in Canada and live in the most US of provinces🙄 Now I'm reading a CMV on Reddit  about how long it will take for relationships to normalize once the Trump administration is in the past.

I remember the first time a US colleague said something about the US protecting Canada with their military. As a poite person I didn't laugh their face. How big would our military have to be to go up against the country with the largest military in the world? More than our population for sure. Perhaps Canadians aren't really aware that the purpose of protecting Canada is simply to prevent military fallout on US soil in the case of a threat via the north pole. Or maybe I'm just cynical.

I am surprised just how active Canadians are being - and I don't think it's simply that only Canadians can harass our political reps. I hope it's us standing up for us and seeing the yellow vest->freedom convoy->CPC movement for what it is and recognizing the things being Canadian gives them. The Buy Canadian movement seems to truly be grassroots. Some people are hard core, canceling services. Some are medium buying only Canadian made products and cancelling US vacations but I think most of us will just be more circumspect in our purchases, buying US goods only if they are unavailable from anywhere else in the world.

I don't think the US will ever have the same soft power they had. You could say it's the aged politicians holding onto power but it's been shown their constitution is not robust and their checks and balances are meaningless should the leader choose to ignore it as he is. Canada also has gaps that relies on the politician "doing the right thing". I think we're all seeing that the "right thing" is like "common sense" - it needs defining.

A holiday gift for you🙂

With the new year comes retirement as I resigned from my part-time gig. I've found volunteering to be a great way to meet people and keep things real at a time when SM is really intent on making people feel alone in their challenges. 

The gift is an easy pattern for a gnome! If you are new to crocheting you can follow tutorials from Easy Crochet. I chose this site because it has directions and video links. I've included direct links for the stitches used.

This is a blend of a few patterns I tried. I like making the body first with the hat brim then joining the hat and working to the peak which I tried with this pattern from Passionate Crafter. This is a spiral style so use a marker so you know when you're starting a new row. The nose is separate. I used a 5mm hook with cotton yarn and got a 12.5 cm gnome. 

 

MC - magic circle

SC - single crochet

INC - increase

DEC - decrease

BLO - back loop only

FLO - front loop only

 download a PDF.

I can complete a gnome in an evening and plan on doing some summer colours. Enjoy and I hope they don't take over your space like they have mine. I've stuffed one with a cat toy ball even!

A Health update - getting old does mysterious things to your body. Get used to it.

 

This all started when I had this bizarrely high BP for a few days. My BP today was 111/80 but I'm used to seeing 97/68. My heart rate seems higher than it was but it's in the normal range for my age. 

I have now had a plethora of tests evaluating heart/vascular function and, adrenal glands, because of the calcium buildup on my lens. Apparently, I'm just getting old. I looked at my results and it seems one heart valve is getting stiffer, and another couple are leaky and swishy but, for now, there's nothing urgent. 

On a happy note, the buildup on my lens seems to have resolved itself after a couple of eye pain events at the end of July. I called my optometrist and she saw me the same day. She was curious because very few people have eye pain then better vision😁My neutrophils are back at their normal low level instead of "concerning doctors" low levels.

The only change I was told to make was to drink water and I finally took that seriously upping my water to 1500 mL/day. I also started adding Taurine to my morning oatmeal because ... I don't know why, I read something. I've also been food logging along with my spouse because I want to get my serving size under control and cut back on sugar. I wear a Galaxy Watch so I can see blood oxygen levels and check my BP if I feel overly fatigued.

It seems every 10 years or so I get an extended interaction with the Canadian medical system so the next go should be as I approach 75? Hopefully, I'll have the same level of care and recovery that I've had so far.

Our Ikea Journey

 

It was 1989 when we bought our first home, a half duplex in Calgary. We decided it was time for some grown-up matching furniture we headed off to Ikea for some not bulky solid pine. We bought a bed frame, side tables and a couple dressers. Furniture assembly also got up to purchase our first electric drill, As you can imagine there were a LOT of screws involved with this assembly.

Over time we purchased two more Ikea bed frames but we moved to homes that didn't really mesh with the Ikea style. Somewhere along the line, we got into darker wood in a more mission style. solid wood pieces for the bigger stuff and a lot of less expensive flatpack to fill in spaces. 

But we still have that original furniture. Turns out it's great for spare rooms and the style works in cozier spaces like our basement which has lower ceilings. And Ikea still has great storage solutions. We just bought a shoe bin and put in the the garage in an effort to keep the garage landing clear. The instructions are still as mysterious and metal bits have been replaced with plastic but the end product still looks very finished.

I also took the opportunity to assess my shoe situation. The problem is we need shoes for many weather conditions. It's hard not to have "just in case" deep snow boots. Then there's wet snow vs. dry snow. Eh bien, at least they last a long time.