How do you spend your free time?

[fourfive8]

Retired quite some time ago but stay plenty busy. I don’t maintain a silly hour by hour digital spreadsheet on how I spend my time

I maintain my house, yard and property. Lots of hours on tractor in summer. Lots of hours on tractor in winter plowing snow. Constant cutting and thinning trees with chainsaw for wildfire mitigation. Flyfishing local streams and lakes in summer, if extra time allows and conditions amenable. Lots of reading- mostly history, archaeological papers and scientific papers mostly on quantum physics. Yearly travel to visit friends and family and fish in Alaska. Look out for two fledgling rugrats still here- one just got power lineman certification with class A CDL and is working Colorado, Arizona and Minnesota. Other fledgling rugrat is a college senior in BSN/Surgical Tech. I travel to Mindanao as much as possible to be with wife and our youngest rugrat , a 4 year old stray we picked up a couple years ago. I also visit friends and other family in another area of Mindanao when there. I reload and shoot quite a bit when time allows. I prefer to shoot old original muzzleloaders and BPCR guns. That’s a random account of average year

 

[Rifleman97]

I play video games, watch movies, go hunting, cut down and cut up trees for firewood and for safety, play violin and piano, do more woodworking for hobby projects (my full time job is woodworking)

For example here’s a cutting board I recently made. Claro walnut, maple, and purpleheart

 

[Beck]

View attachment 736455
For example here’s a cutting board I recently made. Claro walnut, maple, and purpleheart

That's beautiful

 

[Whit]

@Rifleman97 Wow, I second @Beck's comment: beautiful.

I work around 35-45 hours at my day job, then tack on another 3-15 hours as a drilling reservist, plus the one weekend a month meetup, which means minimum 11 hour days, and if we go to the field, that's a full 72-96 hours of continual work. Throw another 5-7 hours a week looking for a property to buy, messing around in the used gun business, and I stay very busy during the semester.

For free time? As a single guy, I have more time available, but there is no one to share chores like cooking, cleaning, laundry or grocery shopping. Throw in the pesky home repairs, etc, etc and all the perceived "free" time rapidly vanishes. Typically, 30-60 minutes of reading in the evenings to unwind... that's my main hobby. Do a little gardening in the spring/summer/fall, spend a couple hours quarterly on the charity of which I am on the board. I spend a few hours a week engaged in church or other related activities. For fitness, I probably spend about 2-3 hours weekly running, lifting or biking to keep baseline. When the marathon training was going full bore last fall, training was more like 5-7 hours weekly. But I do have complete control over the social calendar.

 

[matt85]

During the winter 50-70 hours a week is devoted to work. After work i enjoy audio books or surfing the net.

In the summer i work no more than 50 hours per week and spend my weekends riding motorcycles. I still like to get in some large bore rifle shooting from time to time, so i dont get too rusty.

 

[Scott CWO]

Bulls, bucks and babes, the rest I’ve just wasted.

 

[TaylorM456]

Im 36 years old with a wife and two kids 10 and 12. I don’t have much free time that doesn’t involve the family. What free time I do have is spent split between the reloading bench, working out, the rifle range, a bit of time on a couple different forums, and some reading and increasingly leather work.

What other formula do you enjoy? I’m 38 and busy with kids and family.

 

[Nicaburns]

When I have free time, I make knives!

 

[Red Leg]

I am retired and have been for 12 years. Fortunately, we were wise enough to go to ground on a bit of acreage in central Texas. I have plenty of quality time on the tractor, mower, or with a chainsaw - sometimes far too much following a flood, ice storm, or hurricane. I tell everyone that I have a full time half time job. I still maintain conversations, largely on line, with a group of my old professional fraternity. We do not actually solve anything, but it is a great relief to know not everyone in the country is insane.

I read a great deal. I normally keep two or three books going simultaneously. On my iPad will be a novel - usually historical fiction by the likes of Bernard Cornwell or a classic by Jack Higgins or Wilbur Smith. I work through one or two of those a week. The nonfiction book is typically military history, archeology, paleontology, or anything else that interests me at the moment. It is typically hard copy, and they usually find their way into my library. I also keep a classic to work through. For instance, I recently completed a late 17th century edition of Josephus. I once painted a great deal and even sold a number on commission back in the day - poverty is a great motivation. I have had an easel set up with a blank canvas for about three years now. May pick up that brush soon.

My lovely bride and I have been married for 44 years. She still makes me catch my breath. We love to travel. She is good enough to share that time with a bit of hunting during our European adventures. She also sends me on my way to my hunts in South America, Africa, and Canada.

In short, at 73, I don't think we could have planned out sunset years much better than they largely happened by happenstance. It is a new year, and I wish all of you such good fortune.

 

[Rare Breed]

I got the following from Amazon in an email, a summary of my Kindle reading in the last 90 days.
View attachment 736117

Made me think of other things I do on a regular basis. Here are some of them for the last 90 days.

-- 30 hours, hunting.
-- 36 hours, Argentine Tango dancing.
-- 36 hours, shooting at the range.
-- 12 hours, dry fire practice pistol.
-- 96 hours, working out (rowing and resistance training with a trainer)

What are some of yours?

Interesting I read an average of three books a week given it is my greatest past time. Take out your tango dancing and dry firing practice and not able to hunt quite as much as you and pretty close

 

[Elkeater]

What other formula do you enjoy? I’m 38 and busy with kids and family.

Mostly Long Range Hunting and a bit on **NOT**PERMITTED**. LRH for technical gun type information mostly, and **NOT**PERMITTED** for gear type info. I stay here mostly because the conduct is more gentlemanly and the conversations are more interesting and less dramatic.

Not sure how old your kids are but if they’re anything like mine they’ll keep you plenty busy! Now that mine have reached hunting age I hunt less because they hunt more and I’m Happy to accommodate that.