Since we are planning on moving back to Colorado (northern this time) or to Wyoming (Cheyenne area) we'd really like to find out how other "older" (70+) Seniors handle winter...…….if they live in an area where "Old Man Winter" is. At the time of our move, it will have been 11 years since we moved from Colorado. We know what we are in for during the winter months there and have plenty of home video to tell us about the snowstorms and blizzards we went thru. Unfortunately, if we don't move to one of those two states, we really have no idea where we'd move to and really have no interest in any other states and definitely don't want to stay in Florida, the South or any East Coast state. Don't want Texas either. So, if you are a Senior of 70 years old or older, and live in a winter snow/ice area, how do you survive? We will both be in our early 70's at the time of our move. When I worked in Senior Healthcare in Denver, CO, I was pretty surprised at how many Seniors do live in the Denver area, as well as all up and down the Front Range of Colorado. Any help?
Although I personally don't live in a cold area now, I know and have many friends and family that are seniors that do live in cold climates. A lot depends on if you live in an apt or your own house etc. Main problem would be driving and if you're retired then you really don't have to go out when roads are icy. I don't see why this is even an issue except that you've gotten used to the no snow and ice. There are probably more seniors living in states with snow than not. I was only about 53 when I moved to Fresno but prior to that it was all cold, snow and ice and I loved it. All our UK members have winter and Don lives in Alaska and Ken in Maine...
We have gotten use to the "no snow and ice", but we were totally shocked at how cold it can get here. Actually, I read that people who are considering moving to Florida, to escape "Old Man Winter" should move further south into Florida, not necessarily here. We have seen mornings here, in Dec and Jan, when the temp was 25 degrees and where the daytime temp high was 45 degrees. We have a video of it actually snowing, but not sticking, in our complex on Christmas Day 2010. It was coming down pretty hard. I really want to hear from both Don and Ken about this, since they live right in the middle of "Old Man Winter" when it hits.
If you search the forum, you'll find Ken has lots of posts and photos about snow. Although Ive never seen snow in Fresno except in the mountains, we do sometimes get some very chilly days....I love those!!! Probably about 48- 50 for a high but that's rare. We even have a couple nights when we hit freezing, then agriculture is scrambling covering trees with plastic and burning torches...this too is very rare. I don't see any issues with winter if you are retired....it's different if you have to drive to work. Here is one by Ken that goes on for pages.... http://www.seniorsonly.club/threads/ugh-snow.5437/
We were told that there have been a few times here that it rained, then turned cold-to-freezing and all of the bridges were closed down. In doing that, Jacksonville would be pretty much shut down. There are lots of folks here that use the bridges to get to work. Bridge closures here are also monitored for tropical storm and hurricane winds.
I'm pretty sure that I've already mentioned this somewhere in this forum, but we still have our winter parka's that we bought while living in Colorado. Due to a little weight gain, they are a little tight on us, but can still definitely be worn. My wife still has her snow boots from there as well. They fit fine. Gloves also. Guess we truly knew, somehow, that we we'd return to Colorado or go up into Wyoming, someday.
I actually have been working on a plan for my future. Have been talking to my sister in Colorado. By next year I'll probably move to my daughter's house but don't want to live there all year, so was thinking of using my daughter's house as my base and then spending months with son and sisters. I would do Colorado in the winter. A few months. Living at my daughter's I could save $1,000 + a month which would cover my airfare to Colorado. Although my sisters always offer to pay I wouldn't accept that and I'd contribute to my food there. I'll probably make a separate post about this eventually...it's a work in progress but I like it!!
Get a snow blower. Shoveling snow gets to be a real problem after 65 or so. There seems to be a correlation between shoveling snow and heart attacks too. That's assuming you're thinking of a house. In an apartment, you won't have to worry about much of that.
Well, we won't be buying a house. Won't have the finances for that. Can't get a loan either. Have to be on a job a certain amount of years for that. VA won't help either for the same reason. If we do get an apartment that has a detached garage, like we have now, we could buy a small snow blower. We had one at our last house, but I blew it by putting gas only into it. It required an oil/gas mixture. We were able to use it a few times and I did have a gas container designated for it, but grabbed the wrong gas container. Used the one that was used for the lawn mower. IOW...…...end of snow blower.
In an apartment, a snow shovel might do okay. Here, I have a sidewalk, a parking area, a driveway that is about eight car-lengths long, and a path to our oil tank that I have to keep clear, and sometimes the snow is high enough to completely cover the car, so that's a lot of shoveling.
What can I say about where I live.. We have winter about 7 months a year and when it is the heart of winter, it is really winter up here.. I live just on top of lake Huron in Massey, Ontario where it is common to have snow storms up to 60cms or more with a violent wind causing total white-outs.. All this with a wind-chill of about -45c.. We love it up here and we wouldn't think for one moment to move where there is NO WINTER..... We dress appropriately for the weather.. We drive vehicles with 4 studded snow tires and almost everyone has either a 4X4 or like I do, All Wheel Drive with locked wheels.. Living where there is winter is healthier than living in extreme heat all year long..
It sounds as though the bases are pretty well covered. As Ken said, get some way to move snow and get good cold weather gear (of which you already have some). I bought my wife an insulated skirt several years ago, and she really likes it. She wears it with pants and slacks, as well as wearing it to church with dresses and skirts. (It is also handy if you attend football games at the local high school). For snow blower, I had a garden tractor with a snowblower attachment for years, but now I use the "big" tractor and blade to do my 600' driveway--probably more than you need. Since you are VA eligible, I would find a place close to a VA hospital or clinic. As Steve mentioned, 4-wheel or all-wheel drive vehicle is almost a must (with a plug-in or garage and studded tires if allowed. We have hectic summers and sedate winters. Ice cleats for the footwear is a great thing for us since the risk of falling on the ice is a real danger. I learned from sad experience that you should hire someone to do the dangerous tasks that you could do easily by yourself when you were 40. I would also make some kind of provision for auxiliary heat should you lose power for any length of time. The type of back-up will be determined by your living circumstances.
There are always trade-offs, regardless of where a person lives; so I think we each have to decide what are the important things and what would just be nice, but not essential, in deciding where to live. I miss the beautiful summers we had in north Idaho, but I sure do not miss the icy roads, cold weather, and having to shovel snow every day. We lived in the country and had a long driveway, so sometimes we had to pay someone to have it plowed out, and sometimes a friendly neighbor would just come along and do it for us. It was a lot easier to breathe up there because the humidity was not as high as it is down here. It seems like we have hot and muggy(humid) all summer, and cold and wet all winter, and just a little while in the spring and fall where it is actually nice weather to be outside. The reason we live here is to be close to my daughter, Robin; so that is one of the non-negotiable reasons to stay here. If that were not a consideration, then I think that Bobby would like to live in Florida, and I would like to live somewhere close to the ocean. The Atlantic is warmer than the Pacific; but there are seldom any dangerous hurricanes in the Pacific, along the West Coast of the US, so that would be considerations. If I were going to live in cold and snow again, I think that I would maybe want to have an apartment, where snow removal was not an issue, and shopping was nearby. But I would never move anywhere just to have a winter season, that is for sure !