Observing the (Not So Illusive) Snowbird

Another cold snap so a chance to get back to the post I was going to make earlier when I interrupted myself. 

Life in the Slow Lane

Tres Amigo's - my new best friends from El Paso, Pancho and Sergio                           

On a recent rare nice day while I was out abusing yet another golf course – looked like a herd of prairie dogs had been through when I got done – I noticed the large number of newly laid out lots around the course. There were a bunch more than last year. You pass through a whole bunch of new developments on the way to this course too, also with many new lots. Mostly these are destined for nice, normal, middle class 2/3BR homes; many for us snowbirds, I presume. What a relief to see homes for the average joe. 

Your new home awaits

Anyway this reminded me that I had been thinking about the whole snowbird - and "sunbirds" (people moving south full-time) - thing. 

“Mature” people, snowbirds or what ever they were called, have been packing up and heading south for many years. They'd hitch up the old Airstream and head to the first RV park where they don’t know what a snow shovel is.

As an aside, my mom and dad would have been snowbirds. He always said, “Abe, I just hate the winters.” (Yeah that was his nickname for me, don't know why.) Understandable. Pop did actual work all his life, much of it outdoors and learned to hate winter. Of course, they never had any money for such "nonsense" as heading south in the winter.

Snow birds come in all sizes, shapes and races. The vast majority, as you might guess, are white, 94% to be exact. Also, mature - very mature – 72% are 65 or older and 90% are retired. Mrs Dear Leader and I check all three boxes. Okay only first and last for her; she's calls herself a junior snowbird. (Yeah, whatever.)

From this (snicker) . . .

To this!

As with everything we do, we baby boomers have re-imagined this snowbird thing and taken it to a new level in numbers (and dare I say, extravagance?) Now we buy a $150,000 RV - and don’t forget the car to drag behind it – and head south. 

For many of us, however, there’s no more of this staying in a crappy RV park. No sir, we want a nice condo (okay, I want a nice condo) or maybe even a “little” house.  Come to think of it, we don’t want to worry about renting a place either so let’s just buy a second home! (Not for me - two furnaces, two air conditioners, two roofs, two property taxes. Ugh.) Anyway, this is the natural evolution of things, I guess - God bless America!

Hey, is the wifi free?

And, of course, the prima facie evidence of our embrace of snowbirdism is Florida, Arizona and Texas. They are jam packed in winter with big cars driven by “cue tips” (an endearing term invented by my dear friend DK, long time sunbird in FL) meaning little white heads sticking up above the steering wheel. Very apt. 

You talkin' to me?! 

Okay, this next observation - and opinion - caused Mrs Dear Leader some heartburn. Ergo I suffered heartburn too. After a quiet, thoughtful discussion we just agreed to disagree. 

(On a positive note, the couch in our condo is really quite comfy!)

Separately, this opinion is kind of related to an article I recently read about over-crowding in many well known tourists spots (for which Mrs Dear Leader and I can vouch.) Think Amsterdam, Venice, Rome - Ft Myers or Clearwater in Feb? - and you'll know what they are talking about. One of Pederson's Postulates has long been "Any place you'd want to go to or see is probably too crowded so to hell with it."  (Here's the link to the great article: Over Crowding)

Hopefully that helps you understand where I'm going with this.

As a snowbird – and babyboomer - I sometimes look around and say, "What are we doing here?" Let’s face it, we no longer produce much, if anything, yet we consume a LOT of stuff: housing, roads, restaurants, entertainment and healthcare - lots of healthcare (and don’t forget golf courses!)  So what, you may ask, we all worked hard and deserve whatever kind of retirement we can scrape together and I agree. Yet in our pursuit of our warm paradise, many or even most of the jobs to support us seasonal interlopers (snowbirds) or the permanent sunbirds are essentially low-income service jobs. (Excluding Orthopedic surgeons, of course.) It's not like we're bringing in new companies that make or do things and have good pay and benefits for their workers. 

Not to mention traffic congestion and inflated house prices. 

Home sweet home

I don't know the answer or if an answer is even needed. Perhaps this is all Las Cruces and all the other places we've already overrun should aspire to. Something is better than nothing.

Oh well, to paraphrase Judge Smails in Caddy Shack, the world needs waiters, nail salons, lawn care people and parking lot valets too. (And don't forget golf club cleaners!)

All perfectly honorable jobs

So here we are again in Las Cruces, NM, population 110,000. It’s very much a working class, affordable city with really nice, friendly people. And great weather, although like most places in the SW this year, not as nice as last year thus time to write stuff like this. A relatively few people have been wintering here for many years. With all that's going on I asked one of my new golf buddies if we should plan on Las Cruces turning into a mini-Las Vegas. (Desert, lots of sunshine and little water like Vegas but with neither gambling nor easy way to get here holding it back.) Anyway, he agreed and said, "Yup, give it ten years and a lot more (mostly old) people along with a bunch more Starbucks, Total Wines, Williams Sonoma's, Ruth's Chris steakhouse and, of course, Denny's." (Yes, he's as big a smartass as I am, maybe worse.) And, I might add, lots of knee replacements. Yup, it’s going to be real snowbird paradise.

Okay, this next observation is more of a theory about sunbelt politics. 

It's no secret that millions of people have moved to sunbelt states over the past 20 years (and it has certainly done wonders for the water issue out here!) They move for many reasons: house prices, jobs or taxes but mostly for better weather. Coincidentally, it's also no secret that many winter escapees seem to have some strong conservative opinions on things, e.g. how great life was in 1957 and how it sucks today (think The Villages in FL and Sun City in AZ.) Makes me wonder if that's related to the fact that so many formerly sane states like Florida, Texas and Arizona have gone batshit crazy. (Okay, none of them were ever really sane by normal standards but still they were saner.) That's not even to mention having a very powerful political voice – do NOT cross the AARP! 

New Mexico is a solidly blue state so perhaps if it goes red over the next several years that might prove my theory. Or maybe not, maybe that's where we're all headed rather we want to or not. 

(Remember, just a theory . . .)  

So I should grab them like this?
Pod, meet two peas - our past and future?

Back to facts, finally there is this: 10,000 boomers turn 65 EVERY DAY. That’s a lot of potential snow birds! On the other hand, 5,500 of us are also keeling over every day which means that by about 2040 my generation will essentially be like the Dodo bird – gone, kaput, extinct. (In fact, 30% of us have already gone to the Big Clubhouse in the sky.) Anyway, the smaller generations behind us have a lot of sandals with black socks to fill. Not to mention also lots of houses, condos, RVs and all you can eat buffets. (Just kidding, we boomers do NOT eat at buffets.)

So enjoy your life as a quiet backwater town, Las Cruces, because the seniors are coming, the seniors are coming! 

(In fairness, there is a LOT of room in NM, it's the 5th largest state but with only 2 million people - though most of it is desert or mountains.)

Okay, sorry, couldn't help myself about this - Monte Python Old Lady Gang)

Epilogue:

I understand that I am a hypocrite and am speaking out of both sides of my mouth but at least I know it. In any event, I vow to be a good tipper wherever we are. Also, I will only own one house at a time.

A little apropos music:

Snowbird Anne Murray

And in case that left you feeling too happy try this: 

Back When We Were Beautiful  Emmy Lou Harris

You are all still beautiful, my friends. . .