In other words, priorities. In what is so far the only day this week I don’t have to go out to at least one place (been some doubles this week), I had eight must-do’s, have now completed a few should-dos, and I’m not sure yet if I will manage any want-to-do items. That definition means, I enjoy doing them, but there is no special deadline yet. Now, schedule-wise, I usually stop “being productive” between 5:30-6:00 unless I have a deadline that carries me over. This is where the “shoulds” and “wants” can get swapped around.

Anyway, it’s obvious I still have lots to do although there are some things with a closeout date approaching and perhaps I can avoid too many new items being thrown into the mix. There are people who occasionally question as if I am “really retired” and that’s an easy answer. “Retired” is what we’ll call an “administrative term” in the case of both Hubby and I. We are indeed retired from our former careers. We are now in our second careers, neither of which provides appreciable income nor routine hours. We call them our “fun careers”, notwithstanding times when the “fun factor” may not be quite as high.

The additional volunteer things we’re involved with are also areas we care about and thus can get a bit more deeply involved than intended. Every person who is part of a volunteer organization knows exactly what that is like.

I suppose it’s actually a dual love – free enterprise and entrepreneurship – as they work in tandem. The thought solidifies when I see ads for items and services I didn’t know existed. I’m not talking about big marketing campaigns for all the major products. I enjoy a lot of outdoor shows, especially fishing, and sure the Yeti commercials are always good. Then there is this incredible array of fishing equipment from the smallest of lures up to a wide variety of poles, some of which are created by individuals who simply found a new variation to design, produce and sell.

On the service side, take the Airbnb business that came about whenever. Whoever originally came up with the idea has now opened the way for related businesses; companies that handle everything for the owners; added “concierge” services that will link you to experiences as part of your rental. Now there are individuals who specialize in the management. Next up is a service for RVs where instead of a regular RV park, people who own property such as farms and vineyards are making spaces available – I don’t recall the name of that service. A few years back I did an article for the weekly paper about Swimply, where individuals can rent their personal pools (https://swimply.com/). This one came about because someone lived next door to a home with a lovely pool and they noticed it was rarely used (kind of like us). The individual approached the neighbor, made arrangements, and it worked so well, they approached others and the idea/company was born. How can you not love the freedom there is for such things?

Granted, there are lots of attempts that fail and the best one can hope for is the individual recognizes the pending failure and lets go before adverse financial impacts occurs. In fact, I know some of these failures and it can be devastating if the individual doesn’t face reality in time. The freedom to try though is what is important.

I discovered the Power Nation channel a while back and it is sort of a “default” for us. There are different shows such as “Carcass”, “Music City Trucks”, “Dirt and Trails”; all shows where vehicles in various states are rebuilt. In ;some cases they are transformed more than restored. The fascinating thing for me is to see the incredible number of actual parts there are to vehicles. Most of us take this for granted and are annoyed to devastated when we have a breakdown. The devastated comes when it is a major expense and now days even simpler repairs are expensive. This is one of the reasons policies like Car Shield have become popular.

Anyway, back to the different shows on this channel. The workshops used are also of interest in looking at them compared to what most people can have in their garages. Good friends of ours are a great example. The husband has always been into cars and for a long time restored Jaguars. He usually had three and sometimes four with only one at a time actually able to run. He later got into a regional racing circuit – I don’t recall which one – and Hubby went with him twice to help out in the pit. I went along as his wife and I are the original friends and we did “girl stuff” while they prepped for the race.

One of the other things about the shows are learning about the different companies that provide parts, services,  and supplies. Niche companies, many of which are small business, intrigue me. They are a strength of free enterprise, entrepreneurship, hard work, and often passion about a particular area.