First Monday

Hearing the term "First Monday", someone involved in the legal profession will likely think of the Supreme Court term, which begins on the first Monday in October.  This week, I was not thinking of that or the first Monday in June,  but rather, this past Monday was my first day of "retirement."  Officially, I am still employed, but my last anticipated day in the office was Friday, June 8.  Hence, I thought of Monday, June 12 as my first day of retirement.

My wife at camp fire, covered not due to cold,
but for mosquitoes

From a summer weather standpoint, Monday was rather uneventful.  It was mostly cloudy and humid.  It certainly was not the type of beautiful summer day (as was last week Wednesday) that makes summer so enjoyable.  But, the weather does not make a day.  My wife and I went camping at Lake Kegonsa State Park from Sunday to Wednesday late morning.  My wife's walking partner and her friend were camping at Lake Kegonsa and invited us out for dinner.  We too decided a short camping trip would be a good way to begin our new adventures. 

Chicken dinner on the grill

Our Monday began with each taking a long walk, although my wife took a much longer walk, with her walking partner than I.  I think she had 9100 steps in by the time she got back to camp. I guess we did sleep in, as we got up about 6 am.   A nice breakfast of bacon and eggs provided sustenance for most of the day until dinner.  Monday, is the day we went over to my wife's walking partners campsite for dinner.  It was a good dinner and fine companionship.  I learned a great deal about curling, and the make up of the US high performance, (i.e. Olympic) team.  Curling was one of the few bright spots for the United States in this past February winter Olympics. The companion of my spouse's walking partner retired just a couple years ago as a curling coach.  He coached a few U.S. Olympic teams some years ago, and is very familiar with US Curling.  Interestingly, he is originally from Canada, and arrived in the United States in 1980.  

In between the late (for us) breakfast and dinner, we spent time at the beach, where I did some swimming, and my wife read and relaxed.  Yes, dear readers, my wife actually spent some time relaxing.  I know that is hard for some to believe, but I even have some photographic evidence of her relaxing.

My wife relaxing, with sweatshirt to protect her from the bugs

Actually, while this was our first week of retirement, it seems more like a week of vacation.  We got back from our camping trip on Wednesday and had to clean and store the camping gear.  Fairly standard practice for when we would get back from vacation in the past.  Taking down our tent we found that small ants were building a nest within the top tent poles, so I used some diatomaceous earth to help stem the problem.  First time we have had that problem in all our years of using the tent.

One of my roses

Thursday morning I had a meeting of the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District.  With the opening late last August of the Lower Yahara River Trail and longest bike bridge in the nation, I realized, when I retired, the trip to MMSD was now bike-able.  So, this morning I decided to bike the distance, which using Google Maps is about 5.6 miles one way.  Not a highly trained, much less a regular bicyclist, the ride in took about 35 minutes.  I left the house about 7:10 am, and my wife joined me on the trip as far as the Lussier Heritage Center, which is about 1.3 miles from MMSD,  As we were leaving my wife, showing either that she misses her children, or she thinks of me as one of them, said "I (her) feel like I am biking with one of the kids on the first day of school." 

Corpse flower

After returning home from "school" on Thursday, we made a trip to Sun Prairie so I could hoe and roto-till the garden.  Wet and warm weather grow weeds better than many plants.  We also racked up some grass and spread it on part of the garden to use as mulch. Thursday evening saw a quick trip to see the Corpse Flower at Olbrich Gardens.  This rare flower blooms about once every 7-10 years which bloom lasts only 24-48 hours.  The appropriate description is arrived from the smell of decay--I likened it to a dead animal. 

Corpse Flower

Friday, we spent all day looking at new vehicles.  Besides the price on new vehicles, the infotainment centers are packed full of applications that they function as a small computer.  If one has the version satellite link (e.g. GM's On-Star), you can access a great deal of information from weather to travel.  While the new safety devices may make the wife-app obsolete, I think that position could well morph into the person in command of the infotainment centers. The array of complexity is such one would not want to drive and try to find something on the infotainment center.  Honda, thought they were being cute by removing the volume switches or buttons for the radio to make persons use the touch screen on their infotainment center.  One problem arose, not anticipated by the esteemed Honda Engineers and designers:  touch screens do not work with a gloved hand.

Rose bush at Olbrich Gardens

Saturday was spent on the shores of Lake Poygan with a boat ride and conversation and dinner with relatives.  It was interesting watching a thunderstorm move southwest to northeast just to our west.  Summer rain events are always interesting and variable.  Saturday morning, we had over 4" of rain, and sad to say some leaked into the basement.

What will this Monday bring?  What will next week have in store for me as I move into the second week of retirement?  I think it will seem more like a retirement week than what I had last week, which felt like a vacation week.  Time will tell.