buckle-up

What can I say about the month of June? Well, best to admit, it was special. During our time in Munich when Margo and I were attending a conference at which I was speaking, the idea came to us that perhaps we were doing too much. There was a shared sense of being overwhelmed where the first thoughts about how best to simplify our lives were discussed. Central to these thoughts was what could we do with the Colorado condo we had acquired two years earlier? Was having a second residence, one that was very close to our grandkids, really meeting all of our expectations in this regard. At this time of year, the heat has been turned up in Florida. When daytime temperatures touch 90F with humidity hovering around 50% there’s no missing the news that pool temps are already at 90F without any outside interference. Don’t need to have the pool heater fired up although, for the spa, there will be a need to run the spa heater for a short time – we like the spa temp set to 102F. With this in mind,...

Simply stated, we are back home in Florida but only after having driven 4500 miles. A return trip to Colorado via Ohio. A mix of business – clients and yes, accountants and bookkeepers – kept us on the road at a time when weather is always a consideration. This time of year, given it is winter, it’s best to expect the unexpected. That’s exactly what happened to us midway through our journey. For those not familiar with our geography here on the Atlantic side of the country, the trip to Ohio was a straight shot north up major interstate highways whereas the second leg, our journey took us due west on another Interstate – Interstate 70. Maybe we should make this the sole theme of a future blog posting as we have now traversed its almost 2,200 miles from central Utah all the way to Maryland. After taking care of business in Colorado, it was then a simple journey back down through Kentucky and Tennessee.  Christmas and the New Year are always an exciting time for Margo and me. This i...

It’s raining! How hard can it rain? Walkways are awash and the pool is full to the brim. More than once have we resorted to stretching out the blue tube, the “blue snake” as we call it, and switching to backwash. There is a drain separating the pool area from the covered and, as best as we have seen to date, protected, lanai. Winter has descended and reminded us that we live well above the line separating tropical Southern Florida from the subtropical Florida Panhandle. Yes, it just gets colder when you drive north. We did not realize, or put much thought into, any of this when we built our house, the lanai and the pool and spa (under a “birdcage”) in the Panhandle. For comparisons sake, and for the benefit of my Australian family, the latitude of Panama City Beach is 30.22 North whereas Sydney is 33.8 South (and Brisbane, 27.47 S placing Panama City Beach and Coffs Harbor, NSW, Australia at 30.29 S equidistant from the equator. And we know how much it rains at Coffs, let alone further...

  The decision has been made. Our home beginning mid 2025 will be Florida and we will be residing in Latitude Margaritaville Water Sound (LMWS). The decision made included settling on a block of land in the community and paying down for the building of a new construction home. Hopefully, it will be completed mid 2025, so that for now, our plans for the coming twelve months are firmly set. Why LMWS? Why Florida? If you have been following the posts for this year, particularly the most recent posts going back to May, you might recall our decision to move to sea level. Our choice of Florida, as far as it is from Colorado, was influenced by the beach-focused lifestyle and the selection of a location in the Florida panhandle, smack in the middle of Florida’s most hurricane prone coastline, is something we took into consideration but came to the conclusion that the upside greatly offset any negativity or reservation we may have had about moving this far east (and south) in the US....

Shortly we will be boarding flights to take us back to Europe for a major industry event. I have elected this time to prepare a completely new presentation and when I go down that path there is always that small fear that it just doesn’t click with the audience. Following the introductory presentations by the primary vendor I take to the stage as the first representative of the independent vendor to present, so I will just have to see how it goes. But there is no escaping how at this time of year, it seems like the race has begun and the starter's pistol has been fired! Margo and I can now report that within the family there is a fully electric car. Margo’s daughter, Anna, made the brave move to purchase the Mustang Mach-E and I fear it is the start of a cycle that will see additional electric vehicles begin to pop up in our collective garages. With seven cars between the two families – yes, it is America but it is also out of necessity with family and business commitments – to h...