I'm with colleen on this one......retire? gotta pay the bills.  I do know that I want to move to Oregon and I would love to have an animal rescue up there.  But the last divorce left me financially screwed and my mom passing should have left me with what my dad had financially left but she had gone thru that and there wasn't a whole lot left.

I have a plan......work till I can't.  Retire to what?  I'd rather be up and active then sitting watching tv.

Maybe you and I should get together bluebyrd.  I would LOVE to have an animal rescue myself.  (especially dogs).  If I owned my own home I'd be fostering (and keeping them all) So I guess it's a good thing I can't afford it...LOL

ok Colleen, your on!  I started vet tech school 10 months ago so I can work with animals.  got another 3 or 4 years to go and then the plan is to work for the county for awhile, save some money and move, buy property and open the animal rescue...........dreams do come true!

I would love it.  I adore animals...just can't stand to see anyone of them hurt or ill though.  That's why I don't think I'd make it through vet school!  I would go home sobbing all the time.  I watch Animal Planet's Animal cops and would love to hang and disembow every human that neglects and purposely harms an animal.  Ex's cousin went through Vet Tech school and fosters abused/neglected animals

Retirement. Such a dream. And one of my biggest failings. Often I have lived what would be considered a dangerous life style. It never occured to me I would live this long. When I turned 40 and well past dangerous I was taken totally by surprise. And have been runiing my hiney off to fix it ever since. Maybe I'll be able to slow down at 70.

Let me add that aside from this little glitch. I have thanked and blessed every year I am given. And I gladly turn 54 next week.

I retired from my career in 1977 because of a new marriage with a jealous husband. I never adjusted to retirement. I opened my art business and did that for 5 years selling to retail stores. Got burnout doing it that way and now just paint on canvases doing what I want and not for others. I get my exposure from juried art shows so I'm happy.

The hardest thing to deal with when I retired was not having a place to go every day. I wandered aimlessly for quite a while until I realized i got to find a new meaning.

I am 8 years younger then my husband and he hoped to retire at 55 (2 more years), but he wants to retired at Lake Vermillion, Minnesota and there is no FedEx Station with in a 45 min drive so he knows he can't retire unless we can afford for me to quit work and give up all my insurance benefits, etc. He will have the resort sale to add to his pension from FedEx and I will have my pension also. We both started planning for retirement years ago.

 

Bluebyrd56 - My daughter was going to be a Vet Tech, we looked at schools and she lost her will for it after she found out she might have to euthanize an animal. She is a trained dog groomer and cries if she clips a nail too close or causes a dog to bleed for reason. She works at a vet hospital as their in-house groomer and now also grooms cats. If she had her way she would own a rescue center also but she would never be able to part with any of them.

Tammy, reading what you wrote about your daughter and euthanasia brought a memory back to me. When my dog had to be put down I was with her and my face was right next to hers looking into her eyes as she took her last breath. It was the most peaceful thing for her...and for me. I left there thinking "If only they could do that to humans". No suffering...dieing with dignity with someone who cares near you. Maybe when she gets a little older she can have a more objective view of it all and pursue her training then.

You never know what he future and more maturity will bring. She is only 22 but can be very emotional when it comes to her "dogs". She always wanted to work at the ASPCA to rescue animals but she is afraid she would hurt any human that could cause pain and suffering to an animal. Whatever she does do will always be in the animal world that's for sure.

I enjoyed the Doctor story. You told him. LOL!