It Was Just . . .
. . . the other day
that I mentioned I couldn’t remember
the last time I had a cold.
Now I remember.
I caught one yesterday and still have it.
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All we hear about Humpty Dumpty is his great fall.
He musta had a lousy summer.
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Fish Fight Arthritis
The omega-3 fatty acids in fish bolster your body’s ability to battle inflammation that autoimmune rheumatoid arthritis causes to its victims’ joints, heart and lungs.
A couple of fish servings a week can alleviate the pain and discomfort as can a daily dose of fish supplement.
Vitamin C-rich foods, such as citrus fruit, also can help. Two CCs – celery and cherries – can alleviate the pain caused by gout, a form of arthritis that flares up without warning to attack joints. Cherry juice also can help.
If you’re prone to gout attacks, you should avoid carbohydrates, such as white bread, and commercially prepared baked goods as well as processed foods.
Nice Quiet Week . . .
. . . but prepare your questions
for the Town Hall meeting at
4 p.m. Tuesday in the 2nd Floor Theater
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I don’t have to be patronized
by physical-health nuts
who show off their six-packs.
I just pat my tummy
and point out I have a keg.
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Penny Earned No Longer Worth It
The penny may soon be only in our thoughts, to paraphrase an old adage.
The wisdom of producing pennies is being questioned because the coin costs more than 2 cents to produce.
Canada quit making pennies a decade ago because it was costing 1.6 cents to produce 1 cent.
This relinquishing of the penny is a reminder of the pressures being exerted to do away with cash.
British lawmakers are mulling laws that would make sure that the less-than-20 percent of their population that relies on cash will receive their change in cash
Promoters of a cashless society argue that maintaining automated teller machines (currently paid for by the banks) is costly. Retailers and other businesses report accepting cash takes more time and costs more than payments made by store card, debit card, credit card or cryptocurrency.
And don’t forget that handy-dandy contactless-payment tool in your hand – the cell phone.
The pressures for change are not going away.
Next in the line of sight of those who want to abolish coins is the nickel. Their argument sounds familiar. It costs more to make a nickel than its worth – about 7 cents.
Britain is abolishing checks slowly but surely. They originally planned to dump checks in 2018 but it’s taking a bit more time to smooth out the wrinkles caused by their demise.
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Got Wondering . . .
. . . while waiting for breakfast the other morning,
where do they get the seeds
to plant for seedless watermelon?
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Inflation is a Four-Letter Word
There’s a lot of talk about inflation these days.
No one can pin point its cause nor can they really explain what it means. One generally accepted description is “Too Much Money Chasing Too Few Goods.” An economic term describes it as a general increase in prices and a fall in the purchasing power of money.
How ever you say it, it means things cost more than they used to while your money’s purchasing power has declined.
But just because the price of air fare goes up because everyone’s going on vacation doesn’t mean we’re being hit by inflation.
Money mavins are interested more in why prices rise. A rainy season can ruin a crop, boosting its price until regular seasonal supply can resume. Supply-chain breakdowns can cause sudden but short-lived surges in the price of certain products.
Those events are not to be confused with inflation.
Money supply is important, but so is the demand for money. If you lose confidence in the future of your currency, you’re likely to seek something else that will maintain its power to purchase what you need and want. Dumping dollars for gold and silver is one common practice, as is buying another country’s currency.
Like so many economic theories and multi-syllabic words, inflation is not easy to define.
When prices rise when consumers change their behavior or supply chains get snarled, that’s not inflation. But when prices climb because there’s a shift in the supply of and demand for money, that’s when inflation starts to become a problem.
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Early Warning!!!
Folks relying on
Mary Weaver’s constant support
will have to make adjustments while she’s on
vacation March 13 – 16.
She’ll be back in time to lead our St. Patrick’s Day celebration.
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Do it now.
Bookmark
maturelifefeaures.com
so you can give it a quick check every morning.
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Snore No More
Snoring can ruin your sleep as well as those sharing your dwelling. Almost half the population snores some time. One out of four people snore regularly. Only half of the people who snore admit to snoring.
The sound of snoring has been reported to hit as high as a car horn or low-flying jet.
Folks who snore regularly are five times more likely to suffer heart disease than those who only snore now and then.
It’s the third major reason given for getting a divorce, following infidelity and financial issues.
A little exercise can help you avoid snoring or, if you’re already a snorer, cut down on its effect on you and those around you.
You don’t have to get any special equipment or join a gym. Developers of these exercises call them throat sit-ups. They report that patients who face surgery or have been wearing mouth guards to curb snoring have been able to discard the devices or avoid surgery after doing these exercises, which take about five minutes, three times a day for six weeks.
The first is a simple tongue press. Push the tip of your tongue firmly behind your upper teeth and drag it tightly back along the roof of your mouth as far as you can. Try saying the five vowels – a,e,i,o,u – at the same time.
While saying the vowel sounds again, suck your entire tongue up against the roof of your mouth. Now try raising it to the back of the roof of your mouth and, if you can’t get the vowel sounds, say aaah.
Repeat each of these throat sit-ups about 20 times.
You should also discuss your situation with your primary care physician, who can recommend therapies or specialists if these exercises don’t work.
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Why Is It . . .
. . . that people who maintain
they don’t believe everything they hear
feel they have to repeat it?
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Contributed by Kathy F.
Father Murphy’s parish was poor so he asked his parishioners for suggestions on how to raise some money. He was told that the owner of a race horse always seemed to have money so he decided to purchase an equine. His lack of experience and budget led him to buying a donkey, which he proceeded to enter in the races at the local track.
If finished third in its first a race and the local sports page ran the story with the headline, “Father Murphy’s Ass Shows.” The bishop reportedly was was not pleased. The donkey won its next race, which was reported with the headline, “Father Murphy’s Ass Out Front.” While the bishop was said to be highly displeased, he didn’t take any action. Until its next race, when it came in second and the headline read, “Father Murphy’s Ass Back In Place.”
The bishop ordered the priest to take it out of its next race. The headline on that report was, “Bishop Scratches Father Murphy’s Ass.” That did it. The bishop told the cleric to get rid of the animal.
Father Murphy couldn’t bring himself to sell it, so he gave it to Sister Agatha who’s rural convent had a lot of grass-munching space. The editor who printed that story wrote, “Father Murphy Gives His Ass to Sister Agatha.” The red-faced bishop told her to get rid of the beast anywhere, as long as it was out of his diocese. She managed to sell it to a rancher in another county for $10. Which was reported under the headline, “Sister Agatha Peddles Her Ass for Ten Dollars.”
And the bishop was buried three days later.
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Bocce Ball Fans . . .
. . . who wish to revive their skills
should grab a jacket and meet at Verena’s front door
at 11 a.m. Friday
to leave for the courts at Chandler’s Tumbleweed Park.
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Have You Ever Noticed
that the reward
for a job well done
is more work?
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What’s In Any Name?
In an earlier post, I discussed several versions people have of offered of my name over the years. During all that time, I’ve saved clips of names that must have given their owners interesting moments during their lifetime.
The Troy (NY) Record is the source of this submission — the Rev. William Knight Gown. It also provided the name of Elizabeth Streetman Oberhellman Hickenlooper Duttonholter.
In Nevada, a Pansy Spicer married a chap whose last name was Garden. In Chicago, Liberty Banister reportedly married Charity Stairs.
Rachel Harr wed Daniel Hardy in Maryland for a Hardy-Harr ceremony and celebration that sounded like a lot of fun. A Denver dude named General Pancake exchanged marriage vows with a gal named Farina.
A Florida bank whose president was Jerry Banks had a cashier named Golda Counts. Employed in a downtown San Diego bank at one time was a staffer listed as A. Dollar.
The following were collected by a professor at Yale: Shady Banks, Crystal Chanda Lear, Will B. Muchmore, Quigg Newton, Purdie Good and Dr. I. M. Sick.
Long-time-ago Texas Gov. Big Jim Hogg had a daughter named Ima Hogg. I unearthed a Jack Daniels in Chile and a Christian Guy in Britain.
And Dr. Whet Fartz attended to patients in Pittsburgh while Ben Dover sold real estate in Butts County, GA.
A Longtime Colleague . . .
. . . just returned from a trip to China.
I asked him what is was like
when he was over there.
He said he couldn’t complain.
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You Folks at Verena
can learn how to make in-home medical appointments
at 2 p.m. tomorrow (Thursday) 2nd floor theater.
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Not All Seniors are Senile
Our current day culture still emphasizes the glamor of youth while blowing the dust off of people considered old who function at a level somewhere between a chimpanzee in diapers and a toddler with a hearing deficiency.
This myth of diminished capacity is being eroded somewhat by the more than 70 million baby boomers moving into the aged cohort. But there’s still a great need for communication between the young and old. In underlining the seriousness of the situation, David Solie draws on the German proverb:
“Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is.”
“Bodies don’t work as well when we age, so it seems reasonable to assume that brains don’t work
as well, either,” he writes in his book, “How to Say it to Seniors.” While the book was put together as a tool for consultants working with seniors, his insights also have applications for family and friends. Examples of successful seniors he cites include Verdi’s “Otello,” the founding of the Christian Science Monitor by Mary Baker Eddy, and the design and construction of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum in New York City. These achievements were attained when those individuals were aged 70 and 71.
“Our love of the biological model of aging has duped us into believing that ‘slowing down’ is synonymous with diminished capacity,” he states about the segment of population “that Tom Brokaw writes about in ‘The Greatest Generation.'” So there is no excuse for the communication gap separating children, parents, and grandparents, especially when it comes to money matters.
You should know, for example, if your parents have enough money to live on in their retirement. If they have never discussed it with you, then you can use a variety of tactics to broach the topic.
For starters, vital for everybody is the need to maintain control over their lives. So if your parents are already retired, Solie suggests you ask them for some help by explaining how they came up with their retirement plan. This can lead to exploration of both your financial situations – yours and theirs. The discussion, once opened, can expand to medical and health coverage, estate planning, and wills.
Parents can use the same strategy by asking their children for some book-keeping help to refine their retirement financial plans. Then they can both work on a program. Look over all insurance policies, tax returns, pension statements, property deeds and mortgage documents, loan papers, bank and credit-card statements, and any other pieces of the paper trail that led them to their present position.
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A Reminder . . .
. . . to y’all.
Bookmark this:
maturelifefeatures.com
and give it a quick check every morning.
I’ll try to keep posting reminders and updates
along with some other copy that might entertain.
It’ll take just a minute.
If you have a comment or observation,
send it to me at
cecilscag@gmail.com
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I learned a quick lesson
after I questioned
some of my wife’s choices
and she pointed out
I was one of them.
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Like Apple a Day,
Telemedicine Keeps Doctor Away
Your best health tool may be your cell phone.
Call it telemedicine or telehealth, it’s the future of doctor-patient relationships and it’s already arrived.
Telehealth exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns and there no longer is any question within and without the medical community that telemedicine is here to stay.
While face-to-face visits with primary-care physicians and specialists are expected to continue for critical cases, chronic-care no longer will call for a patient to get a ride to the doctor’s office. It can be handled by phone or computer.
Which could also be part of a growing problem because it’s difficult to reach a real person by phone anymore, even to make appointments.
After an annual visit to a specialist monitoring his liver condition, a relative was told to make appointments for an ultrasound reading and a blood test. The blood-test appointment had to be made online and it took several sessions with a computerized voice to get called by a person to make the ultrasound appointment.
A computerized phone call notified him the results of the test were posted on the patient portal in his computer. He had to read — and translate — the results himself. He assumed everything was routine because the doctor, or his assistant, would call if there were any problems or peril.
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Chorale Call
Verena Voices is still open for,
and will continue to seek, more voices — both female and male.
If you enjoy singing in the shower,
take you talent to
the weekly choir practice
2 p.m. Tuesdays – 2nd floor theater.
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Something You All Gotta Check Out
Save yourself the trouble of trundling through airports
and visit your hometown, favorite city or international landmark you’d like to see
by typing in your search engine
“drive and listen” or “live webcam (and the city you’d like to visit)”
and enjoy the trip. It’s captivating and fun.
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Do dyslexics get . . .
. . . get depressed
when life
gives them melons?
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Smaller Bulk Buys Also Save
Even if you’re living alone, you can save money by buying the family size packages of such meats as beef, pork and poultry, which are usually cheaper per pound than the smaller packages.
At home, you can divide the pieces into meal-size portions and keep them in the freezer.
The same, of course, applies to large packages of frozen fruit and vegetables that are much more economical than smaller individual packets.
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Mature Life Features 