Sunday, May 30, 2021

Rainy days in May and the retirement countdown

 May 30, 2021


I'm on vacation from the day job, so of course, it rained yesterday. The temperature didn't rise above 60F, either. That's somewhat odd in our neck of the woods for the end of May but not unheard of. Checking the local climatological site, it shows our average low for May 29 over the last thirty years is a whopping hot 54F, with an average overall temp of 66F. So we struck an unhappy medium.

Rainy days are good for writing. Writing goes better with coffee. I sense a win/win pattern here. I completed a chapter and a half, tweaked the new cover, did a read-through to check the continuity so far, did a load of laundry, and shelved canned sixteen pints of chicken breast I processed on Friday. Not a bad day's work. 

While working on the new cover, I decided to go back and put the series name on the covers of Bored, Stroked and Blueprinted, and Memphis. At this point, Centerville Muscle is at least a trilogy, or it will be when the WIP is finished. I won't update the covers at the bookstores until I'm ready to upload the new book. I thought about giving Memphis a new cover but decided against it. Memphis is a different, deeper story so it's appropriate the cover has a different look from the other two in the series. 

Different seems to be a watchword these days. This vacation is different. This is my last May vacation before I retire. I've been talking about my retirement for a very long time, and if not for the cost of health insurance, I'd have pulled the trigger on it a long time ago. For me to go through the "Affordable Care Act" and purchase the same coverage I have through my employer it would cost me over $1500 a month. Yes, fifteen hundred dollars a month. That's not a typo. It's not "affordable" either. My choices are to pay up or to work until I'm eligible for Medicare. The safe choice is to work. 

This will influence my vote for the rest of my life. Way to screw over the middle-class Americans who work and pay for everything. 

All is not lost, at least not yet. I have a little countdown app on my phone and it tells me I have forty-seven weeks to go. That's 240 workdays. For me, I need to subtract the Mondays since I don't work on Monday, and this week I'm off, and that leaves only 228 workdays. Take off the remainder of my vacation time and holidays between now and my last day and I'm down to 192 days. It looks more doable this way. When we get down to it next year, I may bite the bullet and COBRA out for a month or two. It would be worth it to be home in March and April to get the spring yardwork done early. 

That was me thinking out loud. It's still too soon to write that chapter no matter how much I like the sound of it. 


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 KC Kendricks

My home on the web- Between the Keys: 
Visit my bookshelf at: 

Social media links:
Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com
My country life at Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com
Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the Keys





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Friday, May 28, 2021

Projects and vacations

 May 28, 2021

May is always a busy month for us, and especially so this year. We enjoy our country home, and May is the month that makes or breaks the summer. If we don't have our outside projects finished or well in hand by the end of May, they won't get finished until fall. The triple-H weather of the Mid-Atlantic doesn't aid outdoor work. 

Our major project for this summer was installing a patio work/cook area. We planned to purchase lumber and build the frame ourselves. We budgeted for barn-style doors and Formica countertops. We re-evaluated when we got to the home improvement center and figured the cost. It was substantially less expensive to purchase pre-made cabinets and paint them, not to mention it was also substantially less labor-intenstive. 

We still have a few odds and ends to finish, installing the toe-kicks for one, but the station is completely functional. A lot of my gardening supplies are out of sight as are his grilling implements. Once we repair or replace, the power washer, I'll get the concrete deep cleaned. It's all to the good. 

Today kicked off my annual vacation week. This is the only time I take off ten days straight. For the remainder of my vacation time, I take as long weekends. With this project all but done, I can kick back and relax. The most strenuous thing I'll need to do is water the peppers and tomatoes. 

At least I say that now. I'm sure we'll come up with something else to do. Maybe we'll do a little pruning around the edges of the yard, or work on the little shooting range we want to create. We should take an afternoon and detail the vehicles. I'm in the home stretch of another story, the third in the Centerville Muscle series, and now that the cover is finished, I plan to wind it up. 

But if we decide all we really want to do is relax on the patio, we have a great space to do it in. And at mealtime, we can dine outside protected from mosquitoes and with a clean surface upon which to fix our burgers. 

That's what all the hard work was for, after all.


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 KC Kendricks

My home on the web- Between the Keys: 
Visit my bookshelf at: 

Social media links:
Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com
My country life at Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com
Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the Keys
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Thursday, May 13, 2021

Amethyst Cove promo cards

 

May 13, 2021

Switching from having all my information on a .com website to the Between the Keys blog has been a lot of intense work. I'm not complaining, just stating the facts. The thing is, I've found out I like some of my reworked promo items a lot better than the originals. Go figure! 

The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted my life in strange ways. I'm essential personnel at the day job, so I've been splitting my time between the office in town and my home office. Things are shifting back to being in town more and my boredom level has ramped up to almost intolerable. Life is far from back to normal and the lack of work proves it. Why do I need to be at a desk where I've got nothing to do?

Well, your favorite author always has work to do. It may not be exactly right, but I've spent time at the day job working on some promo items, not to mention doing some blogging. And watching a few YouTube videos about gardening and canning. Let's not forget that. Anyway...

Yesterday, I reworked the little promo cards for the Amethyst Cove series and I thought I'd share them today. If you want to know more about Ian and Rick, and how they got off to a shaky start and ended up married, please visit https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/ian-coulters-amethyst-cove-by-kc.html

I think Ian and Rick's story is honest in dealing with their relationship. Sure, we all want romance, but romance takes commitment and work to last. Ian and Rick have ups and downs just like we all do. Ian is a bit commitment-phobic and Rick struggles with jealousy and insecurity, but in the end, they know life is better when they're together. It's love, commitment, and above all understanding the other person that makes it work. If that's not too close to real life for you, I think you'll enjoy this series. And yes, it's a lot better if read in order. 

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 KC Kendricks

My home on the web- Between the Keys: 
Visit my bookshelf at: 

Social media links:
Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com
My country life at Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com
Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the Keys


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