Don't Tell Me I've Nothing to Do

 

Countin' flowers on the wall

That don't bother me at all

Playin' solitaire till dawn with a pack of fifty-one 

Smokin' cigarettes and watchin' Captain Kangaroo

Now don't tell me I've nothing to do.

Statler Brothers -- Counting Flowers on the Wall

My brother reminded me of that song recently, when we were talking about how we keep busy in retirement.

I woke up today with nothing really pressing to do, like most days. But like almost all days, there are things that take up my time, and today I had several ideas, so I made a list:

• Postcards
• Postcards
• Postcards

This item is on the list three times, because I want to do it in three sessions. This is my big ongoing project for the next couple of months. I am writing 400 postcards to voters in Michigan, trying to encourage them to vote. I only like to do three at a time, so the plan is to do three sets of three each day, and I should easily have all 400 done before late October, when I send them out.

• Reading
• TV

I have to set aside time to read and watch TV; otherwise I will miss a few days and start to lose the thread of what I was watching or reading. I definitely do not watch TV as a habit. Right now I am reading a book by Liberty DeVitto, Billy Joel's drummer, and watching Foyle's War and season 4 of The Wire on TV, switching between the two.

• Podcast

My younger son turned me onto podcasts. I listen to politics. (Who'd have thought?) I try to remember to listen while I'm working my jigsaw puzzle.

• Bike ride

I have been pretty good about exercising in retirement, but my right Achilles tendon has been bothering me when I walk, so at least during the good weather, I have started riding instead. 

• Kitchen floor

Like a washerwoman from some movie about medieval times, I am getting down on my knees and scrubbing every spot off the kitchen floor. I don't do that often, but right now I am doing a piece of the floor each day. (If at all possible, I avoid doing any job for three or four hours at a time, but break it into smaller sessions.)

• Watering

I try to do something each day inside the house (kitchen floor today) and something outside. I have a sprinkler system to water the grass, but some plants have to be watered with a hose. This may only happen one or two more times before our short dry season is over and nature will water everything for the next ten months.

• Piano

I like being able to play the piano, but my improvement is very slow, so I get bored. But I really want to play well. Right now I am at beginner level.

• Cook sausage
• Stew

The sausage just needs to be cooked and put in the fridge for breakfasts. Stew is tonight's dinner. Jackie still does a lot of the cooking, but I do more than I used to.

The list does not include cleaning and putting away the dishes, or other little everyday things. Also it does not include checking the Internet or playing video games, because those things will happen regardless.

And here at the end of the day, I did not get to the third round of postcards, the watering, the piano (always the easiest thing to miss), or the sausage. Tomorrow, I have things for the list already.