Retirement community

Channelling Kermit the Frog a bit, "It's not that easy being green growing old." My wife and I are in our late sixties. We've been trying to figure out where we should live for quite a while, certainly since I wrote "I'm 65. Where's my 'Aging Hippie' retirement community?" back in 2013. (For all my posts on this subject, including this one, scroll through this blog's Retirement Community category,) We've toured five retirement or continuing care communities in the Northwest, four in Oregon, one in Washington: Hillside in McMinnville; Panorama in Lacey, Washington; Touchmark in Bend; Mary's Woods in Lake…

My wife are I are at an awkward age (which keeps getting awkwarder). I talked about this three years ago in "Too old for ten acres and a big house -- too young for retirement living." I guess you could call us tweeners. Senior citizen variety. At 65, my wife and I are beginning to find that the joy of maintaining our large 1970's era house on ten rural acres is beginning to wear thin. So we've started to think about where we'd like to move when and if we really want to. But only a year later in 2015…

My wife and I are in our late 60's. For 26 years we've lived in a 3,200 square foot house on ten non-easycare acres in rural south Salem, Oregon. We've visited four retirement communities in the northwest, and browsed numerous others online. It's tough for seniors to decide when to leave a beloved home because it's become too damn difficult to maintain. Various factors enter into that decision: health status, where children and other family members are living, how attached one is to a current location -- all kinds of stuff. We've mulled over the reasons to stay where we…

I've written quite a bit about the quandary my wife and I have -- or will have one day -- about leaving our house on ten non-easy-care acres in rural south Salem, Oregon.  (See here, here, here, here, and here.) Age wise, we're in our late sixties. Which also happens to be the decade we were in college, the '60s. So, yeah, we're flower child, ex-hippie baby boomers.  We're somewhat worried about eventually being socially isolated out here in the semi-boonies, about six miles from the Salem city limits.  What if one or both of us can't drive? What if…

After writing the title of this blog post, I thought "Most people wouldn't want to." Mow steep slopes with a heavy DR Field Mower. Like I did today. At the semi-old age of 66. But just as I said back in 2006, that mower is my sweaty hell and heaven. OK, not the same mower. I've gotten a new model. Same difference, though, as regards my love/hate relationship with it. As we get older, there’s a tendency to take things easier. I’m trying to resist it.  There’s a point when my mowing hell turns to heaven. It’s when my shirt…

Yes, that's us, Brian and Laurel Hines, displayed in all our 60'ish glory (both age and decade) in a New York Post story this month: "When I'm 64. Tie-dyed-in-the-wool hippies are redefining retirement homes and end-of-life choices." When I'm 64 story PDF After being asked for a photo of us, I'm pleased that the Post went with the one I sent them that a friend took of us at the 2014 Oregon Country Fair. We were leaving this marvelous annual counter-cultural celebration in Veneta when I spotted a perch that seemed perfectly suited for my non-humble unsoul. Laurel is clearly enjoying being…

My wife, Laurel, and I are 65. We reside on 10 non-easy-care acres in rural south Salem, Oregon. We're trying to decide where and how we want to live if, or when, we decide to move from the home we've happily lived in for 24 years. It's a tough decision, as related here, here, and here. Recently we visited our first retirement community. We've browsed online and requested brochures before. But we'd never toured a retirement community. Touchmark Bend is of the "continuing care" variety. It offers options from detached cottages to home care for those with varying health care…

My wife and I are starting to ponder our options when coping with our non-easy-care house on ten rural acres near Salem, Oregon gets to be too much of a chore for us. Some days, I feel like that day already has arrived. We've got a large early 1970's house; something regularly goes wrong. We've got a large yard in addition to the ten acres; something regularly needs attending to -- leaves, mowing, pruning, whatever. But we're healthy (albeit with a few nagging problems). And maintaining our house and property helps keep us that way. We just are looking ahead…