I'm afraid I might HAVE TO retire.

I'm scheduled to have my left knee replaced come February, 2015. I'm not sure how well I'll be able to climb stairs or kneel down after that. I may have to sell my building and use that income to live on, but I think staying at home all day will drive me nutz.

I graduated as a mechanical engineer in 1978, took several courses toward my master's in chemical engineering, but never finished my master's and have been renovating and managing my small apartment block since 1986. I can see I would be a valuable employee for anyone who buys my building, but small companies in the rental business generally don't pay worth a damm. I'd be lucky to get a job as a lousy caretaker, and even thin I'd be having to show apartments all day long, cut grass, blow snow and everything I'm doing now.

I'm thinking I'd like to find a job I could do, but I can't really see any kind of a job I'd be good at other than managing a small apartment block. So, I may have to retire because of my inability to climb steps, ladders or kneel down, but I'm kinda scared of retiring and not being able to find some kind of work to keep me busy and my mind active that I'd like. I know Winnipeg well, and have a good driving record, so I could be a good delivery truck driver, but I believe I could do more than that. Driving a small delivery car or truck is something anyone could do. You don't have to have any special knowledge to do that, and I believe I've learned a lot about all kinds of stuff maintaining and renovating my building over the past 30 years.

I dread the thoughts of going to work at Home Depot or another home center.