Welcome To The Tucker's Web Site
May 8, 2008
Added our latest cruise.
It's now been almost 8 years since my retirement from GE Aircraft Engines (GADZOOKS!). We are now residents of Leesburg, Florida. We've lived in our new home for 6+ years. It's been great! We've built our home in an Active Adult Community called "The Plantation at Leesburg." It is a wonderful community with 31 "Villages."
Our Village is Waterbridge. It is one of
the smallest Villages in The Plantation with only 18 homes on Waterbridge Court.
Our home was the 18th, the last to be built, on this street and in this Village.
The residents of The Plantation have been great as they've welcomed us to all
the activities we've joined.
We kept a journal of the 80 days it took to build our home. If your interested in that process from our perspective, CLICK HERE and you'll enter the Journal.
In
The weather here at The Plantation is great.
Our Activities 
A frequent question since we've retired and moved here is "What do you do to stay busy?" Somehow the "working class" pictures us retired folks sitting around waiting for old-age to creep up. Well - I'm here to tell you it is quite the opposite here at "The Plantation" in Central Florida.I even took the large step
of joining the Senior Softball League here at the Plantation. We play in
the "Sun
& Fun Senior Men’s Softball League"
with a schedule of two games per week from November through March. The
opponents are similar teams from the other retirement communities in the
area. We also have three general, voluntary, practices a week. It is Fun
and we get lots of Sun.
In fact, we just finished our winter schedule. I played five years and
managed a team 3 years. At the end of this season, 2007/2008, I
announced my retirement. I have such a full calendar that I had to
drop something and softball was it. So - I have become a spectator and
will attend as many games as I can.
Some general thoughts for you to consider - The Plantation at Leesburg is an "Active Adult Community." In order to qualify for that title, the community has to provide several minimum requirements.
We are Disney World Fans and bought annual passes as soon as we qualified. We can be inside any Disney World Park from our driveway in 45 minutes. The problem has been, we just haven't had time to get there as often as we'd like. We are about 1 to 1.5 hours from the major activities on either the east or the west coast. The Florida Turnpike is within a few miles, route 75 and 4 are easily accessed. Orlando Airport is about 1 hour from our driveway to inside any terminal. I could go on and on - Casual Dinner Club, Aquacize, Jazzercise, Learning and playing bridge, Mah Jongg, Bingo, Bunco, Line Dancing, Model Railroad. Everyone has to keep a detailed calendar in order to avoid scheduling conflicts. Our social life is way different than when we were working. That is - we now socialize with people that are from all over the country and from many walks of life. Dinner at home, at restaurants, movies, overnight trips to various Florida areas, neighborhood parties, other house parties. It is great. Then - there all the chores around the house that are now more fun than chores. Of course I have the SawDust Shop and Linda has quilting, knitting and sewing. This community is now complete with about 2830 homes. There are several other similar communities within 25 miles of here. All these retired people wonder "why they waited so long?"--Our Duncan--Duncan is now 7 1/2 years old. He's full of energy, especially when we have company. He loves people and often gets too exuberant. He is learning restraint as he matures, slowly but surely. He loves to travel. He's always the first to the door when we mention the van or the golf cart. He's thoroughly adapted to Florida life. He had a little trouble with the St. Augustine's grass. It's deep and thick so he has to jump through it with his little legs.
We've found a similar place here in Central Florida. This sunrise is over Sawgrass Lake right here in The Plantation. We take a short golf cart ride here and walk around the grounds of a common area.
To learn more about Duncan - click on his picture.
The SawDust Shop is a place where fine, hand made wooden products are created. The SawDust Shop has produced many pieces and many forms of woodworking. They have included New England furniture, indoor and outdoor seasonal decorations, children's toys, gift items, works of art and utility pieces. All are individually handmade and hand painted in our own shop. Everything I've made is for our own use, for us to give as gifts - or for someone who has worked on my sympathy (such as it is). As you can tell, project selection is at the discretion of The SawDust Shop Craftsman. That's Ron. Well - Linda may have a little input. The shop now is in the garage, which is shared with the Van. So - This photo shows me hard at work in The Shop. The major power tools are on wheels. They are moved out when needed and rolled back when not. This system works good
The shelves over the windows were the completed before I started the angels. Linda fills them with things appropriate for the season. I'm now able to spend a lot more time in the shop on a regular basis. The projects are not only getting done in a more timely manner, but I'm able to pay much more attention to detail. This is another benefit of living the retired life here in Sunny Florida I've produced several other projects in the new SawDust Shop. I've never made anything for sale (and have no plans to do so). To see some of my projects - CLICK HERE.Where are the Other Tuckers?
The elder, #1 son of the family, Ernie recently passed away. His wife, my S-I-L Jane, lives in Tennessee.
Son #2 is brother Bob. He and his wife Pat both retired from careers in Tucson , AZ. They spent several years seeing the USA from their Motor Home during the summer months and living in Lake Havasu City in the winter. Since then they have moved to Golden Valley, AZ. They recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with a trip on the Amazon River.We visited them in November, 2004. Just scroll down to Our Travels and check out our visit.
--Our Travels-- |
Duncan and I used to enjoy the beautiful sunrises
over the Plum Island marshes (left). He loved it there where he could roam
without the boundaries he had at home.
The latest project out of
the shop was several of these angels. This is a Christmas Tradition - that
is I make some gift for all the girls in my family.
