Indeed!

Yesterdays mail brought the fruition of many years of work. The deed to my house, all signed and notarized was delivered to my mailbox. The culmination of about thirty-five years of payments.
If you stay the course and keep on truckin' you can reach your goal. Of course there are those that say it is foolish to tie up all your money in a house when you can cash it in and do whatever you want.
The idea of having my own home all paid off has a greater value than anything that money can buy.
Having achieved one of life's major goals, I now set me sights on the next goal: Retirement.
I have about three months left before I walk away from work. Who knows. it may be less. The target is to make it to DEC 19th and then go on vacation, never to return, except to sign my final papers.
I have a bunch of vacation saved up, sp I will go on vacation until January 23rd which is the 35th anniversary of my employment at Boeing. It is a goal that in reality means nothing, just a date. But I am a person who is very goal oriented, so I have set that goal.
That doesn't mean I can't change my mind between now and then.
I am one bad day away from walking.
It is very empowering to know I don't have to take any crap from anyone. It also gets me in trouble. Things come out of my mouth that I never would have said before, because I basically just don't give a shit any more.


WooHoo!

Yesterday I made my final mortgage payment. A day I didn't ever think would actually get here. I have refinanced my home three times because of a divorce, and twice to take advantage of lower interest rates.
O took out a Home Equity loan to  fix the roof, and do a bunch of other stuff. All paid off.
At the moment I owe about $350 in various bills. which will be paid in full next payday.
I will be debt free.
Retirement now becomes a real possibility rather than a remote concept.
It's kinda scary as well as exciting.
Now I need to start getting the house in shape to sell once I retire.
Sell the house and move to the country.
Buy a place with some elbow room and a proper shop.
Much excitement awaits.

A Nice little Hike

The two pictures are of Twin Falls, wa. This is the lower falls. It is about 150 feet tall, really spectacular in real life. And the two pictures are approximately in the right positions to show the whole falls.

The hike isn't too bad. About a half a mile from the parking lot to the trailhead, then a mile down to the falls by a switchback trail. The last quarter of a mile is so steep that they have put in stairs.

The hike back up is at least twice as long as the hike down. The dogs needed to stop several times to catch their breaths. After all, they have to take four steps to my one. All I can say is that I made it. That and my legs aren't too sore from the hike.

We need to get out and do this more often.

What a wonderful day.