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October 17, 2013

I Don't Believe It...



Look at the last city in Yahoo's list of the Best Places to Retire on  $75 a Day.

Once you no longer need to worry about getting to work in the morning, you're free to have a second cup of coffee, look out your window at the pillowy snow drifts and think about all the money you're saving by not retiring in a more expensive area.
Then why are so many people moving away from here? The population in Syracuse has dropped from 190,000 in 1970 to about 144,000 today. The County's population has been stagnant for the past 40 years; 14.6% are aged 65 and older as opposed to the national average of 13.7%.

My doctor has already warned me not to do anymore shoveling in the winter.
Sure, retire to Syracuse and die face down in a snow drift.

6 comments:

Doom said...

Maybe this, too, is a part of Zerocare elder planning?

Yes, humping that snow with a shovel is harsh. Even a snow blower, a big one that can handle it, is a bit of a workout. If your doctor says not, but more if you know he is right, get to someplace that is right for you or figure out how to have your snow "done".

What I did when I didn't have the money (if charges were exorbitant in that city) to get my lawn done, was offered a college kid a homecooked meal a week, sometimes twice a week. Plus I had company for a meal. All else failed, I simply ordered pizza (which greatly saddened him, ha!). Actually he did prefer homemade, but on his budget and understanding reality, almost any food was good. And I put out a healthy meal, I'll tell you.

Though, snow removal? That's harsh and unpredictable. At ~124 inches average? Youch. Unless you have lobster and steak by the fivepound lots? Just advert in a local college or 2-year college paper offering to negotiate for services. I would stay away from high schools though. Uhrm, maybe part in money, part in food?

It being NY, and NY doing what it is doing, I would have to move. But that may not be an option for you?

Gorges Smythe said...

The government wants us to die so they won't have to pay social security. Yahoo is a government suck. The connection seems obvious! ;-)

sig94 said...

Doom - my favorite dentist died shoveling his driveway. There is something about the way that shoveling exerts the heart that is dangerous to people with coronary heart disease. But I also lost a friend who died waiting in line to pay for gas - he was in his forties.

One year I remember after a few snow storms that the drifts were so high from the plows that you could only see the roofs of houses while walking down the street. Granted, I'm only 5"10, but that was a lot of snow.

Sometimes I can't see my neighbors at all, I just see plumes of snow from the snow blowers over the drifts. Those little one stage blowers don't always cut it up here. Good for the light lake effect stuff but that's as far as they go.

sig94 said...

Gorges - Obamacare is the socialist "Final Solution" to the problem of the rapidly increasing senior population.

Woodsterman (Odie) said...

I feel your pain. We get a little snow here too. They'll fine me next Spring.

sig94 said...

Odie - I still remember seeing hatchet marks on the trees around Old Forge (a bit northeast of us) while I was hunting. They were form the Storm of '66 - the marks were about ten feet above the ground. Old Forge got over 470" of snow that year. That's almost forty feet of snow! We average a little over ten feet every season.