How to Stay Young

I received this as an email this morning.  It bears repeating to those of us who are "somewhat over the hill."

HOW TO STAY YOUNG

1.. Try everything twice.
On one woman's tombstone she said she wanted this epitaph: "Tried everything twice. Loved it both times!"
2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.
(Keep this in mind if you are one of those grouches!)
3. Keep learning:
Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever...
Never let the brain get idle. 'An idle mind is the devil's workshop.' And the devil's name is Alzheimer's!
4. Enjoy the simple things.
5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath. And if you have a friend who makes you laugh, spend lots and lots of time with HIM/HER.
6.. The tears happen: Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with you  your entire life, is yourself. LIVE while you are alive.
7. Surround yourself with what you love: whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever.. Your home is your refuge.
8. Cherish your health:
If it is good, preserve it.
If it is unstable, improve it.
If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.
9. Don't take guilt trips..
Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county, to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is.
10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.
11. Forgive now those who made you cry. You might not get a second chance..

Peace,

JE

Ale, Beer, Whatever!

I bought a Blue Moon limited edition Fall selection case of twelve this afternoon.  Drank one of these already.  Pretty good stuff.  Would have been a bit better if I had let it get a might bit colder.

Ah,

Peace,
JE

October in August??

Yesterday it never go above 68 degrees out there.  It was a bright sunny day, too.  Today looks like it might be the same way, only a bit warmer.  I was amazed when I let the dog out how cool it is. It even smelled like fall!  I put on my long lay-around-the-house sweats and a long sleeved shirt.  Maybe it will be warm enough in a while to officially get dressed in my shorts and flip-flops. 
   This is unseasonable for Indiana.  Usually, August is blazing hot and dry.  If this is a precursor to fall and winter, I had better get out the long undies in preparation.  LOL!
   I know this is just a respite and that the hot stuff will be back in short order.  Meanwhile, I intend to get out and enjoy this.  This is my kind of weather.  If there was a place in the USA that was like this year-round, I think I would consider moving there.

Peace,
JE

Along Came a Spider

Since my son and his family have moved, both he and his wife have had spider bites.  Or at least that is what the medical pros seem to think.  Son had a bite of some sort on the back of his left calf.  It didn't seem to heal or get any better.  He went to the doctor, finally, last week and the doc sent him directly to the ER at the local hospital.  The staff there took one look at it and began prepping him for surgery.  A few hours later, he had a two inch wide, three quarter inch deep "hole" in his calf where the insect, think brown recluse spider here, had burrowed in.  But now it is healing, yet he has had to miss a bunch of work and be laid up for over a week now and is off another week.  Daughter-in-law was luckier.  Her bite was in the tissue right where the arm meets the torso.  She caught hers in time, got an antibiotic, and it began healing.  She was lucky.  It looks like it might scar a little, but otherwise is almost healed.
Where did they stir up a spider nest, you might ask?  Well, they just moved.  That involved moving several, and I mean several, boxes from their garage to the new house, which they brought into the house and stored in one room until unpacking began.  I swept out the cleaned out garage as they moved, and I can testify that they had LOTS of spider nests and nits out there.  Glad I was wearing gloves and a hat that day.  Secondly, since moving, they have had the whole house rewired from spindle and tube wiring to today's code-worthy wire.  That involved having electricians there every day cutting holes in walls and floors, and dragging new wires in and old wires out.  In a house that is over 100 years old, think of how many spider nests have been stirred up there.
Son claims that at his work they have numerous spiders.  That's okay, but his wife is never there, so it is my opinion that the spider bites had to be gotten at home.  My hope is that they will get an exterminator to come in now that the wiring is done, the holes are patched and the electricians are gone.  I also hope that they get all the boxes unpacked, and out of the house.  I fear that the spiders are lurking in the corners just waiting to pounce on the children.  Makes my skin crawl just to think about it.  And believe me, knowing now that they might have spiders lurking, when I go visit I will wear shoes, socks, long pants, and a hat!

Peace,
JE

50 years? Really?

Note:  This post might sound a little harsh in spots, but really, it is meant in the nicest way.


This past weekend was my 50th year High School reunion.  I was reluctant to go, because as I have stated before, my HS years were pretty miserable. I wasn't well, had lots of social issues, and quite frankly, my peers treated me pretty miserably.  I went to a very small county school.  That was back in the day when every township had a school, grades 1-12.  Sometime during either my Freshman or Sophomore years, the county decided to consolidate schools into 3 bigger schools.  Parents were in an uproar.  My mom, being an educator, and my dad being a manufacturing executive,(even tho he graduated from that school 30+ years previously,) were all in favor of the consolidation.  It would save money in the long run, and offer so much more education-wise.  By the time the new schools were built, and the actual move took place, I was a senior.  I went from a class of 26 to a class of 110, (which was large back in those days...not so much now).  It was a big adjustment for all of us.  Most of my  25 classmates had heard from their parents that it was going to be awful, so they didn't make much of an effort.  They remained in the shadows, stuck together, and were generally a miserable bunch.  Mom and Dad convinced me that I could really have a better education there, and that I should join in and have a fun, yet productive Senior year.  So I did. I didn't ignore the other 25 classmates that came along, but I did join choir, the drama club and became a member of National Honor Society and joined the yearbook staff.  I made pretty decent grades and also had fun.  Still, to this day, those, or what's left of the other 25 classmates resent me for becoming "one of them." (Like I was one of the Pod People!)
     I wondered how the reunion would go.  Well, I didn't go!  I went to an informal gathering at a local watering hole the night before and had a great time.  The "full blown" reunion was on Saturday night and was very expensive.  I couldn't see spending a lot of cash to spend the evening with people I didn't care that much about any more.  Does that make me a bad person??  Hope not.
   At the informal gathering, it was interesting to sit back and watch the classmates in action.  I sat, beer in hand with some classmates, and just people watched.  I decided that the more things change, the more they stay the same.  The "social cliques" were still the same.  The snotty gal that thought she was hot stuff in HS, still thought she was hot stuff, and was just as snotty.  But, she still looked GOOD!  At age 68, she must have been living right some way or another.  As a matter of fact, most of the women that showed up looked damn good for their age.  Us guys...not so much.  (My friend Curley says that's because of all the "look-good" products out there for women.)  Wow!  Even my old "flame" looked REAL good!  And, no, I was leering, just noticing!  LOL!
     Most of the classmates that attended that gathering were, of course, classmates from the "other" class.  They were kind and friendly to me, and generally, I think everyone had a good time.  I am glad I at least did that part of the reunion.  And, you know, as I sat at home on Saturday night, I wondered who showed up and who didn't, but that part of my life is gone, and somehow, I really don't care that much anymore.

Peace,
JE

32 Truths For Mature Humans

Some things never change!

For the past week I have been fighting a summer cold.  UGH!  The worst part is the racking cough.  I have coughed until my lungs feel like they are going to leap out of my mouth any time.  Finally, I resorted to some flavored cough syrup.  The taste is foul.  Just as I remembered from my looonnnggg past childhood.  You would think with all the technology and advancements in medicine in the last 60 years, that the pharmaceutical industry would have improved the taste of cough medicine.  NOT!  And as for cough drops, they are still nasty.  Maybe the whole "nasty taste" thing is supposed to be there to chase away the germs!
One of the wonders of modern medicine is the "daytime" and "nighttime" meds.  Yes, they too are foul tasting, but they do help with the symptoms.  At least they are helping me.  I will survive, despite the nasty tasting stuff.  Is this modern chemistry at it's finest?

Peace, (soon, I hope)
JE