Currently I sing in one group, play in two town bands, garden (some vegetable and some flower) as well as my model railroading. I’d like to set up my dad’s power tools to have a wood shop, which would be handy when ready to build the new layout.
Thought retired as a dairy farmer, couldn’t give it all up, so summers are spent haying for my small herd of beef cattle. Drive school bus to support the farming habit.
Model railroading is my main hobby at the moment. I have been known to occasionally build a sci-fi plastic model or two though, and I used to do internet streaming radio.
Honestly, I grew up out in the country and was pretty lower middle class. So were my friends. We couldn’t afford to do much more than sit around and watch TV. Not much interests me, for some reason. Its a pretty boring life.
Now I’m still largely the same because my rent is murderous.
I got my first public library card in second grade, haven’t stopped reading since. Grow a few tomatoes, and some flowers in the summer. My dog figures a day without a walk is wasted. I know the names of more dogs in this neighbourhood than I do people.
I also play games like Civilization on the computor.
Model Railroading and reading are my main hobbies, but I also do some woodworking, video gaming, and board gaming. I’d like to get a little more into photography but don’t seem to have the time. My wife and I also have our grandchildren - boy and girl, 4 and 2 - over 2 or 3 days a week. I have got him into trains. Her in another year or so.
Before I retired in 2014 it was model railroading, slot cars, weed wacker boats and computers. Now its still the model rr and slot cars but like Paul I have a grandkids 4 and 2 and we also take care of them 2 days a week. Neither into trains but love my slot cars 1/32 scale and digital.
Cudaken, nice…yea, I love it. So in my retirement years, I take it out on old lawn tractors.
I had a few friends who competed, back in the late 60’s, a county highway just out of town had a perfect 1/4 stretch, nice and flat. We even used to stop regular traffic (a very rare occurance) so a race could finish. At that time, one township squad, with one cop, covering a township.
I collect 1/24 1/25, model car kits. Diecast NASCAR cars in 1/24 and 164. Sports autographs, racing autographs, WW2 Veteran and Medal of Honor Autographs, beer cans and bottle caps. Things that go bang, bang. War Between the States Bullets and canon frags. And Donald Duck & Uncle Scrooge Figures, hard plastic and stuffed and Waly Disney, Uncle Scrooge, Donald Duck and GI Combat comic books. I think I missed a few thing to. Oh, and all the bands from when I have been in the hospital, got about 30 of those now…
Building duck hunting boats, decoys, training hunting retrievers, (Chesapeake Bay)black powder shooting, fishing, duckhunting, panning gold, (Swift River) fly tieing (most look like small road-kill- but seem to work) reading, and other sundry things as time permits.
Model Railroading is where I spend most of my ‘hobby time’ but my wife and I are also into bird watching. We are by no means experts but we really enjoy it. In the winter we spend our weekend afternoons driving country roads searching for snowy owls and hawks. Every May we spend a few days at Point Pelee on Lake Erie which is one of the primary spring migration spots in the world. We also go through a small fortune in bird seed which we buy 100 lbs at a time. That’s good for about three months, less in the winter. In fact, some of our best bird watching happens right in our back yard.
I used to be into MGs but back then (late 80s) the cost of restoration was greater than the potential selling price. Plus, I couldn’t justify a two seat sports car with two young kids in the family. I sure do miss them though!
My hobbies tend to rotate pretty evenly between model railroading, hunting, and competitive shooting, both smallbore and blackpowder. Have two English setters and love to bird hunt. Also love history so I read a lot. Secondary pastimes include messing around with a '48 Ford F-1, and we’ve also done quite a bit of birdwatching and wildlife watching over the years. Until my kids got old enough to drive, I also was their primary taxi driver. Best two days of my life were when each of them got their license. [;)]
I must admit that model railroading, combined with railfanning and studying railroad history obsorbs most of my hobby time. But I also enjoy reading a lot, mostly history, historical fiction and biographies with a bit of astronomy. I also enjoy target shooting (but not hunting), 1940’/50’s film noir, gangster, period and horror movies. Horse racing is good too and even contributes to my my modeling operations.
come to think of it, with still working a bit, I guess I do keep pretty busy after all. Still, nothing like my first love of trains.
Since I learned to control my Lionel trains before I learned to read I can say that model railroading is my longest-running continuous hobby - 78 years’ seniority.
I am a voracious reader, mainly history and science fiction. That led into writing - science fiction in the Confederation Universe, 2082-3626 and beyond. Since I make liberal use of (other people’s) real names and copyrighted material, I have never tried to publish my several novels and multiple short stories.
Health problems have put the brakes on railfanning and long-distance hiking, but I enjoyed both when I was younger. I also enjoyed watching gymnastics - until they went to the current scoring system, which is too much for my simple mind.
I can’t claim international travel. All of that was at the behest of the US Air Force. I did take full advantage of the opportunities to learn about the places I’ve been.
And then there’s my most expensive hobby - the young lady who’s been my wife for 55+ years…
When I moved round a bit and later when young family and mortgage had priority, I did a fair amount of drawing with pencils; it was cheap and depending on the subject, a good occupier of time, and satisfying when I got it right.
With the advent of model railroading I find that I’ve got far more than enough “one day” model railroad projects to achieve, so the pencils, until very recently, have been gathering dust.
Cheers, the Bear.[:)]