Things change…

I am sure my voluminous amount of blog readers have noticed that my retirement countdown clock has changed.  Some of you may even have your own version of this on your computer desktops, like I do, because you are SO worried about our retirement!

Some thinking has changed.

Our initial thinking was to retire as soon as I could from work and draw PERS retirement.  This would be 55 years of age which will happen this year (7/21/2015).  However to get the maximum health care benefits from my employer I had to be there for 30 years.  This would make the retirement date at 8/26/2015.  But to squeeze a bit more out of the retirement I should wait until the next quarter came around which then made the date 10/22/2015.  This was my carrot for years.

As the post title says, Things change…

The current thinking is to push the retirement date back on year to 10/22/2016 and the countdown now shows it.

Why push it back?  It will give us a bit more time to pay off some more debt to make retirement easier and more fun.  It will allow me to retire at a higher dollar amount due to being a bit older, having another year of service and maybe a higher base salary if we get a decent COLA this next fiscal year.

But there is one other factor.  I started working at my job in 1985.  I am still working in the same building and on the same floor as then.  Currently our office is in the middle of building a new location and I would like to see that project through and have some time in it.  Here is a picture of the building at the time of the blog post (click on the picture to get the current view):

 

Admin

So we hope all this will work out.  We will retire one of these days, with any luck it will be on the day the counter to the right of this page says!

A supremely useful gadget

I will start trying to blog about items that I have purchased that I really like, and also ones that I don’t.  This one is something that is well worth the investment.

When you have a trailer you need to connect it to your tow vehicle.  This is done with the hitch.  On our previous truck we had a Reese setup, I believe.  The hitch head was not too heavy.  However with our new trailer we have an Equalizer.  This hitch head seems much heavier, which is a good thing.  There also appears to be less places to grab it.  Here is it in our truck:

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The removal procedure is to unbolt the lock pin and remove the hitch.  The shank, the bar that inserts into the truck, is an easy place to grab but can be rusty.  There is no real good other, relatively clean, area on the hitch.  Therefore I have reverted to this:

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Ah, yes, a Costco microfiber towel.

This works OK but I look like an older man than I am carrying this hitch being bent over so the grease doesn’t touch anywhere.  What is the solution?  This:

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The HitchGrip!  If you go to their site, via the link to the left, they show an Airstream and an Equalizer hitch head!  That is purely coincidence.  The claw portion fits over your ball and grabs it.  You lift up and slide the hitch out.  It is very balanced.  You may also notice that mine is not really clean.  That is because I use it!

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Much nicer.  Still heavy but easier to maneuver.

I know they sell these at Toscanos RV in Los Banos.  I also see them at Camping World.  Run right out and get one now!!