Tuesday Evening, 12/23/25

Well here we are, my first holiday season as a retired person.  I find that I am nowhere near as stressed as I used to be at this time of year.  I don't have to travel anymore these holidays, and if I need something at the store then I can go in the midmorning before the 9 to 5ers get off work and make things more crowded.  It is busy at the church I'm a member of; I am supporting most of the services we are having this month.  I will be glad when Christmas is behind me as that we seem to have this lull of a few days before New Year's Eve arrives.  My boss at Radio Shack said that New Year's Eve is Amateur's Night as that the professional drinkers stay home.

Anyway, we have been blessed with some really fine weather.  When it's in the low 80s in the early afternoon, I want to be out on the shaded back patio with a good book or a radio and with the dog.  The view to the back of me is the back wall of a public storage place that's on the other side of the wash, and that wash is gated off so the only foot traffic is that of javelinas and roadrunners.  Well, some coyotes might get back there too but I won't know for sure unless I remember that I eventually want to get a motion-sensitive trail camera to see if anything really happens back there when I'm not looking.

As for Christmas, I'm sure that the family I married into will be gathering together for some quality time.  Years ago I would usually be off to San Jose to visit my family and friends up there, but with each passing year I have less and less reason to go there as that a lot of the people I was close with have either moved out or are planning to.  As I am tracking down the histories of the families I am researching that I am descended from, everyone scatters and that seems to be a common thread throughout most of human history.

Meanwhile, in the news, it's being reported that the Powerball jackpot is up to $1.7 billion.  The drawing is tomorrow night, and maybe for grins I will pick out some numbers here and we'll see if I have "won", which I won't, because I'm not buying a ticket.  When I had to go to Albertsons for some scrip I noticed a line of five customers itching to make a donation to the Powerball jackpot, and I overheard one of them getting $20 worth of tickets.  

Well it's their money, and it really isn't a societal ill that needs addressing as long as the casual lottery players aren't robbing liquor stores to get money to buy the tickets.  The lottery addicts, on the other hand, are spending much more of that on every drawing, and those are the lottery players that have the problem.  The addicts really wouldn't be that much of an aggravation if they would stop insisting on holding up the line at the Circle K wanting to "go over" all the scratcher games................"are there a lot of winners with this game?  How long will this game go on?  How many winning tickets did you sell with this one?  How often do you see a thousand dollar winner?  What are the new games that are coming out next week?"  And on and on and on.  

As for the casual players, or maybe even the addicts, I'm sure many of them are saying to themselves, "if I win this jackpot, I'm going to do good things with this money.  I'm going to donate some of it to charities.  I'm going to give gifts to my friends and family members.  I don't want to be like one of those rich people who I hate."  The reality is, they're going to go into hiding first, and then face problems they never imagined.

All right.  Enough of that.  Tomorrow is Christmas Eve.

I want to find time to send out some emails to some people I am close to, and hopefully the day won't get away from me like some of them have been.  I have been spending a lot of time with ham radio and getting my logs caught up.  I joined six other hams yesterday for an outing at Saguaro National Park, where a station was set up and we participated in the long running Parks on the Air program.  I QSOed enough hams to be credited with my first activation, but I'm going to have to first register with POTA and get that credit.

There is also a Summits on the Air program, and an Islands on the Air program, which gets people with licenses on the airwaves and communicating.  Yesterday's outdoor operation was a great deal of fun, and we'll be doing more of these in the near future.  We're also talking about going over to New Mexico and operating from there.  

In the meantime, Merry Christmas!  

A Visit to the Land of Enchantment

One week ago tomorrow Sheila and started my third road trip since retiring.  We wanted to retrace the route we took back in August 2016, but with one major difference:  overnighting for two nights in Silver City NM.  Like the last time, day one was spent driving to Deming, where we stayed at the Comfort Inn & Suites, as we did in 2016.  For the evening meal we walked over to the family-run El Camino Real Mexican restaurant........which was of the New Mexico style, my favorite.

The enchiladas I had were almost nightmare grade, which I mean in a good way.  Beyond zing and almost rocket fuel.  In New Mexico, the custom is to have eggs served on top of your enchiladas, which I did.  The next morning it was off to Silver City, with a stop at City of Rocks State Park, which I recommend.

The next stop was the Bayard Food Basket, a local supermarket, where we got some items and beverages for our stay in Silver City.  After getting back to the truck, I kept thinking about that large package of dried Hatch chilis.  I went back, bought a bag, after we ate a somewhat late lunch at a Mexican/Salvadorean restaurant called La Mexicana.  

Our stay in Silver City was the historic Murray Hotel.  It was our first time in a historic hotel, and we liked it.  The only drawback is you have to hope there is street parking nearby and finding it was a challenge.  We fortunately landed a spot within half a block, but we also knew that we couldn't dare do any side trips or we would lose that spot.  That was OK, we wanted a full day downtown, so we booked two nights.

While there I did some online research about those chili pods.  Now that I have them, what do I do with them?  I found a recipe for chili sauce from scratch, and I thought I had better buy more bags of these.  On our way out we stopped at the Silver City Food Basket, where I picked up three more bags.  It was slow, so the cashier gave me a quick rundown on how she makes chili sauce from them.  I intend to be making a batch in the near future, with near future meaning this week.  I also picked up some hot sauce brands that I don't see here in Tucson, so as you're guessing my home cooked meals are having a Southwestern twist to them.

Saturday we drove to Willcox, where we stayed for the night.  Lunch was at Big Tex BBQ, which I highly recommend.  We spent Sunday morning driving to the Chiricahua National Monument where God's signature is all over the creation that is found there.  The rock formations are unique.......towering cylindrical shapes that reach up to the sky!  That afternoon we were back in Tucson, and I've spent today mostly resting.  

We love road trips, but it's really great to be home.  Our next trip hasn't been planned yet, but I'm guessing we will visit Laughlin NV, Oatman AZ, and if my cousin's available, we'll stop off and see her in Lake Havasu City where she and her husband now spend their winters.  

There's not very much else to report, and that's a good thing.  I have some projects to take care of, and I want to spend some time on the air.  

Retirement is great!  I miss some of my co-workers, but not the corporate crap.  I won't rule out going back next year as a part time consultant.  

11/3/25: A Warm Monday in the Old Pueblo

One great thing about living in Tucson is the mild winters.  Those of you up north or back east probably don't want to hear me tell you that we are in the mid 80s this afternoon.  The sky is clear with a few clouds here and there, and the desert is just as beautiful as it ever was.

There really isn't much in the way of news to pass along, so it's going to be random thoughts this afternoon.

One of my retirement projects has been re-reading an anthology collection of history articles back when I was taking History at Evergreen Valley College in San Jose.  We had a great history teacher, a Mr. Ron Zarcone, who was a gifted lecturer and made it interesting.  I have kept almost all of my college textbooks since, and these two anthology volumes were on the re-read list.  I haven't read these since 1977.  Although all were not assigned reading, all of them are interesting, as I am working my way thru articles of what Christopher Columbus really knew before sailing across the ocean, details about indentured servitude, and the Salem Witch Trials.  It makes me wish I had continued studying history after college, and although I have read some books about history I have only scratched the surface.  That's one favorite activity.

Another is going thru my coin collection, but that's been on pause these past few weeks.  I have had to work on two necessary projects recently, and one was taken care of last week.  The other big one?  Not much left to do on that one except for a phone appointment with a senior manager helping to get my second pension activated.  

And as you might guess, ham radio has kept me busy too.  We had really great band conditions during a major worldwide contest the last weekend of last month, and I picked up two new countries.  The 10 meter band was the best I've ever heard it in a half century of this hobby.  A total of 48 countries were worked, thanks to the sunspots and low geomagnetic activity.

I said half a century.  It isn't lost on me that I have many memories that are half a century old or more.  I was still in high school, taking electives in electronics, and fifty years ago at this time we were preparing to move from Virginia to California.  I did not intend to stay in San Jose for as long as I did, but a lot of the memories there are good too, and two lifetime friends were made there.

Now here I am in Tucson, retired, and still not missing work.  It was a great field to be in and I lived really well because of it.  I don't miss a lot of the corporate crap that I went thru.  It was fun, but there were times when it was brutal.  Now I go back to it if I want to, and this time in an advisory capacity.  The thought of doing that is intriguing, but not until I catch up on some things and do some more fun stuff.

With that, I think it's time to wrap this post up.  

To Trashcan and Back

Earlier this week I was in Las Vegas, for the first time since I left to return home in February 2016.  I was originally going to be there last week but a medical issue in the form of infection erupted, and Sheila had to go there with one of her daughters while I stayed home to get medical attention.  It wasn't serious, but it likely would have gotten that way if I didn't get a doctor to look at it.

Sheila came back, and on Monday we drove up to retrieve her son who she drove up there some days prior.  If I hadn't had the infection we would have made side trips to Rhyolite and a few other places.  As it was, we drove up Monday, I was too tired to do much of anything the next day, and on Wednesday we drove home.

While I was up there we did drive around the old neighborhood where I lived, and by Bigelow Aerospace, where I worked when I was up there.  The only employees remaining at Bigelow are the security guards who don't have very much to do unless some coyote trips the perimeter alarm.  As for who I knew when I was living up there, we've all scattered to our separate ways, and the only one I'm now in touch with is Ron S. who is on the east coast and will be retiring.  I would like to get out there and see him, he's a really great guy.

Anyway, I was really glad to be home when we got back Wednesday night.  Yesterday I had a follow-up appointment with the specialist about my infection and I am well on the mend.  Today I was exhausted for some reason and some things I needed to do were put off until Monday.  I have spent a lot of time playing radio, and Mark and I have been experimenting with some interesting modes on the ham bands.

As for Las Vegas, I think I would now enjoy a three day stay there, provided it's Downtown and not on the Strip.  I definitely want to see Rhyolite again; it was the first ghost town I ever visited and it's something I want to see on those rare occasions when I'm in the area.  I hope that on the next trip we overnight in Fallon, and then drive across to Ely, and then back down to Las Vegas before we start the trip home.

Being able to do this when we want is one of the many blessings of being retired.  I am enjoying this much more than I thought I would.  I haven't forgotten some conversations I've had with a previous employer and I have reason to believe I will be working part time next year.  

In the meantime?  I feel the need to research some more family history.  There is evidence, not  yet corroborated, that I am a descendant of William the Conqueror, thru my paternal grandmother.  There's some more research I want to do re the Parker family who settled North Carolina and Virginia.  I am way overdue in creating pages on the Bonsall and Pilkington families.  

I think with that, I'm going to call this a post.

The Lottery: Is It Really Worth It?

From time to time when I'm trying to buy something at a convenience store, I'm stuck behind what can best be described as a lottery addict.  We had one here some years back who would frequent this one Circle K, stopping there on a Sunday morning, and getting fifteen people or more backed up behind her because she wanted to run thru a whole stack, I'm guessing a hundred of them, to see if she won anything.  And I'm sure that winnings, if any, were used to purchase lottery tickets for the next drawing.  Her husband would stand by with this pained look on his face, probably not being able to afford very much fun things in their retirement because his wife was a lottery addict.  

I don't go to that store any more, due to a different reason, but a week or so ago I got behind another lottery addict.  She had a 3/8 inch stack of scratcher tickets, and I put down my items and walked out because I don't like having to be behind people with obvious gambling problems.  And now that I'm writing this, I'm going to bring up one other anecdote.

While I was in Las Vegas and working for Bigelow Aerospace, one of my more strange co-workers told us during the morning break that he was going to spend $160 on Powerball tickets that weekend.  Strange as it may seem, Nevada state law does not allow for a state-run lottery even though nearly every other form of gambling is legal.  So when the Powerball jackpot gets big, many of the residents of Trashcan will drive down to the California Lottery store just over the state line across from Primm.  Others will drive over to Dolan Springs AZ.  Anyway, when my co-worker told us this, I had a response.

"Why don't you write out a check to the lottery and mail it in?  You won't have to spend all that time driving down there and waiting in a long line, and besides, the result is going to be the same."  He just looked at me like I told him I had lunch with Elvis Presley on board an alien spacecraft in orbit around the planet Mars.  Needless to say, he didn't win the jackpot, as that he was back at work the following Monday.

Anyway, I got to thinking about the lottery, that is, the Powerball, the Megamillions, and the Arizona state lottery.  I have no recollection of ever buying a Powerball ticket or anything like that.  In years past I would buy scratcher tickets if I was out of state, so that I could have a souvenir of my visit, but I haven't done that in many years.  One reason I don't play Powerball is, is that some chump is going to win the jackpot and I won't be that chump.  A second reason is, that when I once worked out what the return would be on California scratchers when they started out in 1985, I figured that for every $100 you spent on scratchers you could expect to get $23 back.  Their lottery said that 50% would be paid out in prizes, the schools would get most of the rest, but half of that 50% was going to to subsidize the jackpot.  That's not a very good return.  And the first two jackpots went to an illegal alien and a welfare recipient who blew his entire check on the lottery.  

Now let's look at what happens to some winners.  If you google "lottery horror stories", you're going to get a lot of results.  Read thru them sometime.  There have been broken marriages, homicides, bankruptcies, and all sorts of bad things happening to jackpot winners.  Is it worth it?  Many of the winners wish they had never played in the first place.  Their lives did not change for the better.  

Now let's look at something else.  If you win the jackpot, do you really think that your life is all of a sudden going to get easy?  At that point, you become known, even if you try to hide it.  You will get hit with all sorts of people wanting handouts, and many of your family members and other relatives will turn against you if you don't share your money with them.  Sure, you could buy them houses and Cadillacs, but will that be enough for them?  

In my view, it isn't worth it.  A sudden influx of wealth will bring you all sorts of problems you're not prepared for, and repeated attempts to buy your way out of those problems can leave you in a position that was worse before you bought that ticket.

Call me insane if you want to, but the one reason why I don't play the lottery is that I don't want to the problems that come with winning the jackpot, and I'm not going to be foolish enough to think that I would be immune to those problems.  The way I see it, I am a blessed individual.  I got to do the things I most wanted to do.  I got to meet the people I most wanted to meet.  I have a neat wife, a nice house, and lots of simple pleasures.

In other words:  I have already won the jackpot, and I'm not going to trade that for the other jackpots that are out there.

If you wish to spend money on the lottery, that's your business, even if you're not one of those lottery addicts I described earlier.  If you become one, you need help, and if you win that jackpot good luck with that because you're going to need it.  

As I said......in my own way, I have already won the jackpot.

Our First Road Trip, Post-Retirement

On Tuesday of last week Sheila and I took to the road, expecting to be gone anywhere from five days to one week, and largely making it up as we went along.  We knew that the Petrified Forest National Park was going to be one destination and we knew that we would take scenic routes to get there.  Destination for night number one was Globe AZ, which I've passed thru before but did not stop.

We took AZ77 up thru Oracle (getting off to drive its main drag), with a stop in Mammoth to check out some lots that were for sale.  Sheila wants some property outside of Tucson, which I'm sympathetic to but for me it has to be a great location for ham radio.  There was a lot in Mammoth which would have been great, but it wasn't buildable due to terrain.  We eventually found ourselves in Globe, where we had a nice meal at Irene's Real Mexican restaurant.  Well, I liked the meal..........Sheila didn't like the enchiladas.

The next was a drive over to Show Low, thru some really awesome scenery, especially that of the Salt River Canyon.  Show Low is a candidate location for a second home, but its drawback is the awful traffic they have there.  From there it was up to Snowflake, which was checked out.  Snowflake looked more like a town in Oregon than in Arizona.  To me its drawback is the distance from Tucson, because I would want to be in a place I can get to within a day.  

After Snowflake it was on to Holbrook, where we put down for the night.  Holbrook reminded a lot of Needles CA.  Both out in the middle of nowhere, both with historic US 66 running thru the main drag, and both where you stop for only one night before you continue on.  The major difference is Petrified Forest National Park, which I visited once in 1986, but something I wanted to see again.  That place has some scenery that you just can't get tired of looking at.  We plan on going up there again sometime within the next six months.

We knew that when we left Holbrook, that we would take in the Four Corners monument.  We also knew we would do that after stopping somewhere for the night.  That stop was in Cortez CO.  In retrospect we maybe should have stopped in Shiprock NM, but we had reservations in Cortez.  The drive gave us lots of scenic formations to look at.  As for Cortez, I think of it as a decent place to stop, and maybe on a future trip we'll stay there again.  The next morning, Thursday, it was off to the Four Corners which was something I've wanted to see since high school.

Four Corners is way out in the middle of nowhere, but if you have an appreciation for southwestern scenery like I do then you'll enjoy the drive there.  There were a lot of visitors there.  As I was standing in line waiting my turn to stand at the quadripoint, it was weird looking down and seeing one foot in Arizona and the other in New Mexico.  I got my picture taken (Sheila did not want to be photographed), and then walked around in all four states some.  The decision had been made the night before to drive to Flagstaff, and again I loved the scenery that the Navajo Nation had to offer.

I can't say that I liked that section of US 89 some eighty miles north of Flag.  That was pretty desolate and there was a lot of traffic.  Flagstaff was something of a madhouse on Friday afternoon at 2:30, and I'm sure being near Northern Arizona University didn't help.  We stayed at a Quality Inn and loved being within walking distance of a Himalayan restaurant.

After that it was the drive home, not made pleasant by the Phoenix metro traffic, but at least it moved.  I was worn out something fierce the next day and now I am enjoying retirement at home.

I took lots of pictures on this trip, but I'm not sure that posting them here would do what I saw any justice.  I would have to download them from my phone, and right now the "to do" list in my planner has ten items, and I'll settle for getting three of those knocked off the list tomorrow.  I'm also going thru papers here; sorting, filing, shredding, organizing..........a lot has built up and the next challenge is to live long enough to see everything done.  

That said, retirement is great.  I can take an afternoon nap anytime I want to.  I can get up at 3:00 AM and go on the air.  And now I've got time to work on some family history.  I want to get additional pages up, and get caught up on email.

With that, time now to call it a wrap.

Out.

Retired!

Last Thursday I officially retired, separating in the morning as that last minute things come up, which they did.  The previous night was a bit rough with a family member needing an ER visit and I was short on sleep that night.  I popped awake at 4:15 AM, and thought I  might as well get this day out of the way.  There was some confusion about the process.  And it wasn't a great week for my boss, as that he lost two other engineers to other departments and only one of the seven offers outstanding were accepted........and he lost that person to another department.

I was not prepared for how tired I was going to be that day.  I knocked off two naps of about one hour each, and I was still dog tired after that.  My body clock is still waking me up around 4:30ish.  No big deal, I can take all the afternoon naps that I want.  That time of morning is great for ham radio as that I can get Japan and Australia on the lower frequencies, and I've been on the air quite a bit.  

As for regrets..........only one.  I should have added one more "gripe" to the exit survey that I begrudgingly filled out.  I did complain about the unsafe drivers that we have working there, and about how some managers spring the "Friday Surprise" on you ten minutes before you start what you think is going to be a weekend off.  I did remember to point out that managers who spring this on  you still get to watch their kids' soccer games or go skydiving while you have to explain to an angry wife about why you can't make that day trip to Patagonia.  

Well, the "Friday Surprise" was an almost weekly occurrence when I was at Paragon Space Development, which has struggled with high turnover in addition to business volatility.  Almost everyone I knew there has since also left, so I have no idea what's really going on there any more aside from noticing that they are hiring again.  I'll pass; I'm done with manned spaceflight.  

Which I guess now begs the question, am I done?  I won't say that I am.  All I know is that I am taking the next six months off, and I may or may not seek a part time position as a consultant after that.  The pay for that is really well, and one former employer has unofficially spoken to me about part time work.  I am in the financial position of not really needing the extra money but I can see having to feed the travel appetite somehow.

As for retirement itself, I don't feel "retired" just yet.  That might change this evening as I go out on the back patio with a radio and a cold drink, and tune in those distant stations on the AM band, and knowing that this time I can stay up as late as I want to.  Tuning in to distant stations is what got me into my career field many years ago, and I'm going to have to tell that story sometime.  

And as I'm making this transition, there are some things I have resolved to do.  One, get a gym membership going.  Two, start eating better (that starts today).  Three, go out on walks a lot more often, which heat advisories as of late have constrained that.  But, it's cool enough around sunrise to do that, and the dog likes going out on walks too.  I think the dog and cats are going to like my retirement maybe even more than I will.

One important point I want to make.  This is not an end.  It is a beginning.  And I pray for health.