Question about retirees - how do you stay busy?

[not5150]

Hello,

I'm curious about folks who have retired from the CHP. How do you stay busy after all those years on the force? Or... do you really wind down and try not to stay busy?

It would seem to me that retirees posses an incredible amount of street knowledge and experience (war stories!!!!) that could help younger officers. Is there any type of volunteer program for retirees or do most guys make a completely clean break from CHP?

I guess this question could really apply to all agencies and not just the CHP.

Thanks

[retchp]

I have a part time job, but I am not working today. Typically I work 20 to 25 hours a week.

Since I have "nothing" to do today I have decided to:



go to the gym
go to the store
mow the yard
water and weed the flower beds
watch the NBA game(s)
read for awhile
Walk the dog
watch some tv
When I work it's a little harder to fit all of that in, but that's a fairly typical day. Yesterday I drove to Klamath Falls just for the ride and had lunch and did some shopping.

I used to worry about it when I first retired, but the day ALWAYS rises up to be filled with whatever I need or want to do.

Don't let the "job" be your life. I gave almost all my CHP stuff away to other officers the day I retired and have never really looked back. The only thing I sometimes miss is the camaraderie of fellow officers who know the same things I do, but then I get that on here, don't I?

[BT]

wow that is a cush life..

My dad always says he is 100x busier now than when he was a cop. I suppose it has something to do with the honey-do lists that pile up over the years.

[WannaBeCHIPPIE]

watch the NBA game(s)


That sounds good to me.

[x MAIT]

Expert witness in the field of Accident Reconstruction. I work part time consulting in civil and criminal cases.

[PapaBear]

For the first eight years following my retirement I was a teaching golf professional for four years, taught EVOC at a nearby academy, worked as a supervisor of ground transportation for a local airport and then, when my wife retired, began working on my genealogy and spending far too much time in these forums trying to offer a positive reflection of a moss covered, old asphalt warrior.

My wife and I did some traveling and found we would rather stay near home and invest our time making life comfortable for one-another during this period of our waning years.

[Speedbump]

Unlike the others, I have become the kind person I used to look down on. In retirement, I am a complete flake.

I go to bed when I feel like it and I get up when I feel like it. Except for paying bills and going to the doctor, I do things on my time schedule and not someone else's. I dress to please no one but myself. I do what I feel like whenever the mood strikes me and I travel whenever I get the urge. I get to live as I please and am beholden to no one.

Now in all fairness, every so often this makes me feel like I have no self worth and when that happens, I start to think about getting a job or volunteering my services somewhere. But then I realize that if I do that, others will depend on me, I will have to be responsible, I will have to be accountable to others and I will have to keep to someone else's time schedule. That's when I realize that being a flake is far more important to me than my sense of self worth, so I go back to business as usual. :biggrin:


In short, during the four years I've been retired I have done absoultely nothing and I have enjoyed every minute of it..

[PapaBear]

Unlike the others, I have become the kind person I used to look down on. In retirement, I am a complete flake.

I go to bed when I feel like it and I get up when I feel like it. Except for paying bills and going to the doctor, I do things on my time schedule and not someone else's. I dress to please no one but myself. I do what I feel like whenever the mood strikes me and I travel whenever I get the urge. I get to live as I please and am beholden to no one.

Now in all fairness, every so often this makes me feel like I have no self worth and when that happens, I start to think about getting a job or volunteering my services somewhere. But then I realize that if I do that, others will depend on me, I will have to be responsible, I will have to be accountable to others and I will have to keep to someone else's time schedule. That's when I realize that being a flake is far more important to me than my sense of self worth, so I go back to business as usual. :biggrin:


In short, during the four years I've been retired I have done absoultely nothing and I have enjoyed every minute of it..


Hey, L-1! Good to see you aboard.

[Chippysgt]

I was only 51 when I retired and we were not into the golden era of mega retirements yet. The first year off I was on 4800 time so I did spend time weighing my options. I got very involved in several community organizations and pretty soon I was in leadership positions and pretty soon I was saying, this is harder than real work.
I tried the PI thing for a while since I had the license but I hated it. Not that much business and it was like being a cop again but working for the bad guys. Not my cup of tea.
I was thinking short hours, high pay and low stress so when the opportunity came up, I went to work as a distict field representative for a member of Congress. Interesting work and I was there for 8 years which allowed me to build up some deferred comp in the federal system. I also bought my four years of military so I had enough for a small federal retirement when he screwed up and got unelected.
Next came working for FEMA. A retired Lt buddy of mine, who had been my classmate, got me interested and I got a part-time job as a congressional liaison officer for FEMA. It was interesting work for about 5 years. I traveled all over America working at major disasters.
In 2007 my wife and I fulfilled a life time dream and moved to our new ocean view home in Cambria. I looked out from my living room, at the ocean and decided I no longer wanted to be going to work on TDY for 1-3 months at a time so I resigned from FEMA.
I found a fun part-time job here doing security for the tours at Hearst Castle 5 miles up the road. I only work about 1 or 2 days a week but it is fun and a very interesting place to work. Back on the state payroll.
I just went on Social Security at 65 and even though it is slashed by WEP it is still $300 a month extra, I got my 2% raise to my state retirement this month, my CAHP Blue Cross dropped from $75 a month to $12 a month so I have a net gain of $450 this month. Better than a poke in the eye.
I am involved in a few community organizations here in Cambria but I am trying to control how involved I am.
I do enjoy sleeping in, watching GMA and Regis, working in my every growing garden, walking on the beach, playing on my computer, going to have coffee with the old farts. I miss fishing, hunting and camping but I can't seem to figure out how to fit them in.
My wife and I are slowing down but we are still enjoying at least one cruise a year. This year it is 13 days in Sept up to Fairbanks and Denali and then a 7 day cruise to Vancouver.
We are not doing as good as some but we won a few hands and we are doing okay. You won't find me on that list of CHP retirees getting over $100K a year but I live in a new house on the ocean in Cambria with no mortgage so we did something right.

[Speedbump]

Hey, L-1! Good to see you aboard.

This place is too calm and sedate compared to the other one. :lol:

[Mac]

Unlike the others, I have become the kind person I used to look down on. In retirement, I am a complete flake.

I go to bed when I feel like it and I get up when I feel like it. Except for paying bills and going to the doctor, I do things on my time schedule and not someone else's. I dress to please no one but myself. I do what I feel like whenever the mood strikes me and I travel whenever I get the urge. I get to live as I please and am beholden to no one.

Now in all fairness, every so often this makes me feel like I have no self worth and when that happens, I start to think about getting a job or volunteering my services somewhere. But then I realize that if I do that, others will depend on me, I will have to be responsible, I will have to be accountable to others and I will have to keep to someone else's time schedule. That's when I realize that being a flake is far more important to me than my sense of self worth, so I go back to business as usual. :biggrin:


In short, during the four years I've been retired I have done absoultely nothing and I have enjoyed every minute of it..
Good on'ya, El-Tee - that sounds like the proper way to do it!!!

[bcjack]

Retired from the FD in Dec 2007. Lasted 4 months and 2 weeks and took a job as a Safety and Quality Control Supervisor for a CALTRANS Contractor out on Hwy 166. That job lasted 5 months and I got roped into being a part-time Fire Chief on a 3-week contract that has lasted 7 months and will most likely be indefinite...Still serving as a member of the HWY 166 Safety Task Force also...

16 hours a week, a vehicle, fuel, oil, tires and a pager...Life is not too bad!!!:popcorn: