My Kind of Retirement?

Posted: January 7, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: geezerAdapts, geezerTrips, Uncategorized | Tags: , , | Leave a comment »

Are you over 50, retired and bored? AARP has a suggestion: Mars

Today, they suggested Mars. It appears the ideal couple for this trip is over 50 and has been married long enough to get the kinks out. And since the round trip is only 501 days, if done in 2017, it is less time than you would spend with the Peace Corps. There are probably a few risks, but the Geezer, at 73, is already facing a few risks. Old age is the ideal time for new risks, a lot like your late teens and early 20’s.

There are a lot of  plusses. Once you went through Mars “training” you would be in great shape. Your grandkids would really think you were “cool.”  All social security could be banked/invested. It beats assisted living. You would have a lifetime of stories and could not only hit all the talk shows, but could “eat” off of your experience for the rest of your life. Any dementia, could be explained by the trip. You might run into a few aliens. And, of course, after the initial phases, it could solve the problem of what to do with old people; send them to Mars.

I can’t see a downside; and, at 73, that’s saying a lot. I expect a call from the Mar’s Mission at any moment.

Outsourcing Old Age – Things You Should Consider Outsourcing!

Posted: December 25, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: geezerFinance, Uncategorized | Tags: , , | Leave a comment »

Outsourcing is all the rage; but mostly has been defined as sending out work to reduce costs. If you are old you should outsource. The reason is to cut costs, but not just in monetary terms, but also in terms of health and wellbeing. You can’t afford to fall; fail to file taxes; or, miss important deadlines.

You have already outsourced. You didn’t do the surgery to implant your pacemaker, you outsourced the job to a surgeon. When you were younger you could do more things for yourself. It was no problem to climb up on the roof on an old ladder and  lean over to get the leaves out of the gutter; but, at 73, NO! You can’t afford a fall. It will cost a lot and may be the beginning of the end.

What should you outsource?  It depends on the individual, but you should consider the following:

  1. Anything that involves climbing or balancing.
  2. Financial care including preparation of your taxes.
  3. Driving
  4. Medical care
  5. Memory related

Who should you outsource to:

  1. A spouse, unless s/he is near your age and condition.
  2. A child – hopefully you have a good relationship
  3. An accountant
  4. An attorney
  5. A close friend whom you trust
  6. A bank
  7. A  handi-person
  8. Someone referred by a friend, neighbor or family member.
  9. Angie’s list

At what point do you outsource? Sooner rather than later.

What if you don’t outsource?

  1. It may cost you a lot more.
  2. It may affect your health.
  3. It will cause you anxiety.
  4. It may be the last thing you don’t do.

The biggest problem is that you think that you are still  competent.  You haven’t taken a long hard look in the mirror lately. And, you can be stubborn and obnoxious. The  result is that you think you can do something that you can’t.

Think about it.

Think Old!!!

 old man

 

 

 

DWO (Driving While Old) – Is the geezer ready for this?

Posted: December 14, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: geezerAdapts, geezerHealth, Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

In today’s New York Times there is a very good article about DWO (driving while old) and the role of driving rehabilitation specialists. The article contains a number of references to web sites, including an informative one describing the resources available in each state. It also describes what a driving rehabilitation specialist does and provides a link to the national organization.

The article made me aware, once again, of the increasing number of old people, their driving habits, their accident rates and the steps being taken to “help” them. It was informative, but appeared to be written from the point of view of someone under 65; which is probably good, as people over 65 become very defensive about their age, their ability to drive,  and what they see in the mirrors every day: both the car mirror and the bathroom mirror.

It takes one to know one. I have discovered since I turned 65, that maybe I think a bit differently about things. Intellectually, I understand that I am getting older; as a practical matter, I fight it; helped along but any number of businesses that know just what I need. I may be more of a rebel than when I  was in my teens.  I won’t give anyone the least excuse to curtail my driving “privileges.”

I have taken the AARP Senior Driver Safety Class twice. The certificate is good for three years and you get a discount on car  insurance. It lasts for four hours,  has some good suggestions, makes you think a bit, and is a good refresher. It is non-threatening and everyone passes. It  is something positive to have in your records and you can use it as an argument as to why you should not be evaluated; and, why you should continue to drive.

The geezer worries:

  1. If the driving evaluation results are negative, and I still drive, can that be used against me in a lawsuit resulting from an accident.
  2. What happens to a negative evaluation? You can’t reason with me when I need to drive.
  3. I am very sensitive to finding out and having documented,  just how infirm I am and actually knowing what I can and cannot do. Some choices I do not want to make.
  4. In a perfect world, this would be fine, but I think I have to drive and  have no acceptable alternatives; so,  I am not about to do anything that would give anyone any reason to take my keys.
  5. Would the driving rehabilitation specialist report to DMV; to my kids; or, to my insurance company?

I

  1.  am deaf
  2.  after 40 years of driving with glasses, passed the MVD vision test and am not required to wear glasses. I am a bit nervous, as I am not sure of my vision. In an abundance of caution, I wear prescription glasses when driving; can see the road and signs much better;  but would hate to be required to wear glasses again.
  3. am unhappy that I can only get a five-year license, instead of the ten-year license that I used to get.
  4. avoid driving with my kids when they visit; I let them drive. I remember my father missing turns, stop signs and not seeing other cars. No need to alert my children, who were raised to be responsible and who would take my keys, not to mention my car,  to my increasing deficiencies.
  5. am careful about driving on free-ways, especially during rush hour or after dark.
  6. know all the side streets to get where I want to go, so as to avoid traffic and cops.
  7. am carefull about drinking
  8. am very aware that people under 65 think of me as a dangerous, but slow, old man.
  9. get obnoxious when I hear anything that might affect me just because I am old.

In conclusion, how do you convince me that I should be evaluated?

Remember, even though you are young, you are dealing with the GEEZER!

 

SENIOR INDEX

Posted: September 18, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: geezerFinance, Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

We need a “SENIOR INDEX”  indexing people over 65. There is a consumer price index for seniors and a S&P 500 stock index. Why not a single number published daily that would show how old people are doing?

How to index old people? An age index, so every morning I could track the number of people over 65. (This might be scary.) A death index charting those over 65 dying?  An obesity index for fat elders? Certainly a senior financial index charting net-worth, savings, income, and expenses of seniors. I would like to know each morning how seniors were doing. It would be the first thing I read in the paper. It could appear on CNN right after the stock market indexes.

The index should be simple; limited to  factors affecting people over 65; and have a base year. I like 2005 which was the year I turned 65. A search engine coud track the variables daily, apply a senior algorithm  and  come up with a number. I  would know how I was doing adjust my life accordingly and call my doctor/funeral director, if necessary; much as I do today when I see the S & P 500 index going up or down.

Tongue-in-cheek components of the SENIOR INDEX:

  1. Age
  2. Net  worth
  3. Savings
  4. Income
  5. Number with dementia
  6. Health
  7. Number with driver’s licenses
  8. Number of drugs taken
  9. Number of grandchildren
  10. Life expectancy
  11. Marital status
  12. Size of house

The components could be weighted depending on their importance to old people. I am looking for a number  like the stock market indexes. I want something new to obsess over. It would have exaggerated importance; and, would probably be meaningless. Someone would figure out a way to commercialize it; and then sell us something based on the change in the index.

A snapshot of people over 65 would provide guidance when those under 65 decided what to do about us. If the index went up/down laws could be passed raising/lowering social security, medicare and Medicaid. The possibilities are limitless.

I can’t wait for the SENIOR INDEX! What about you?

THE GEEZER AND DEMENTIA????

Posted: February 13, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: geezerHealth | Leave a comment »

Am I a candidate for dementia? Or, do I just need to stop reading the news? When you read this, keep in mind that The  Geezer has no hearing in one ear, even with a hearing aid; and only 30% in the other. However, with one expensive hearing aid, I can usually get by, although noisy restaurants are a bit of a problem. I am 72 and have been deaf for at least 20 years or so; whether I am demented, or about to become so, is open to argument.

The New York Times on February 12, 2013  has an interesting and scary article entitled “First Hearing Loss, Then Dementia,” by Katherine Bouton, who has written “Shouting Won’t Help: Why I — and 50 Million Other Americans — Can’t Hear You.” She cites Dr. Frank Lin who speculates on the correlation between hearing loss and Dementia. One risk factor was social isolation. Hearing aids apparently are not yet associated with lower risk for Dementia.

A couple of thoughts from the Geezer.

  • Since my deafness was severe; resulting in a 17% disability to my body as a whole, hearing aids were not an option – I had to get them.
  • Since I became deaf in my 50’s, I had no choice but to adapt and to use all sorts of compensating techniques in order to communicate; some worked and some didn’t. Maybe the ability to adapt will help me avoid Dementia; or, maybe not……
  • I noticed, once I became deaf, that a lot of people around me were as deaf, or deafer than I was, but refused to wear hearing aids.
  • The noisy rooms at hotels don’t bother me as I sleep without hearing aids.
  • The most important thing is that if I hadn’t gone deaf, I would still be doing bankruptcies, and would not have spent seven of the last ten years volunteering in Eastern Europe, an experience probably worth the deafness; not totally sure, but I think so.

This said, I enjoyed the article, hope to read the book, and am not going to worry about Dementia too much, as I think Dementia is not so much a problem for the demented, as it is for those who have to care for them. However, as a backup, there is  an article  in the same Science Section of the New York Times entitled: “Fitness May Prevent Dementia.”

Time for The Geezer to take his daily walk , hit the fitness center, adjust my hearing aids, and review my long-term-care policy.

This blog may support the thesis that there is a correlation between deafness and Dementia, at least in The Geezer’s case; who knows?

MY GUNS ARE GONE!

Posted: February 10, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: GAG (Grandparents Against Guns) | 3 Comments »

Last Saturday I took my two guns, a single shot rifle, at least 100 years old that I had bought mail order when I was 12; and, a single shot 4-10 shotgun that I have not fired in over 50 years.

I went twice. At 9:00 the line was too long, so I returned at 11:30, and there was no line, and no more gift cards. There were over 30 guys on the sidewalk in front of the police station with signs offering to buy my guns; yelling at me as I parked my car. It looked like a casting call for the remake of the movie “Deliverance.”

I chose to donate my guns; I couldn’t bring myself to sell them to the fat slobs yelling at me.

Three hundred guns were collected, among them a “Street Sweeper” shotgun.

They are going to do it again in a week.

Hopefully we saved a few more grandkids.

The Geezer Trades Guns!

Posted: February 6, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: GAG (Grandparents Against Guns) | 1 Comment »
P1010729

Geezer’s Guns!

The Geezer owns two guns. The upper one he ordered from a magazine ad 60 years ago when he was 12. It came in the mail, with bullets, and was a single shot rifle that probably dated to WW I. The second is a 4-10 gauge single-shot, shot gun used to hunt doves and ducks in Kansas and pheasants in Iowa, in the 50’s. Neither has been fired for over 50 years.

On Saturday I will trade these two guns for two $100 Visa Cards at a police station in Albuquerque. I can’t think of any reason I need them and the rifle only cost me $14 in the 50’s. I no longer have bullets for either of them. The guns will be destroyed.

This grandfather is ridding himself of guns, even though these guns are not on anyone’s list as guns that should be banned. The Geezer does not know why he bought the rifle by mail-order when he was 12; except that several of his friends were doing it, and in 1952, no one thought it was a big problem.

To be honest, I do have fond memories of dove hunting season in Kansas which started on Labor Day and pheasant  hunting along the railroad tracks in Iowa. In those days all the farmers had hedgerows around their land that provided a home for all sorts of wild birds and animals; since then, they have plowed right to the edge of the road, but I hear hedgerows are coming back; and maybe the doves and pheasants.

In any event, it is a different time and Grandparents Against Guns (GAG) mostly have no need of even these guns. The few who hunt should be allowed to keep their guns as long as they register them and keep them locked away from grandchildren.

 

 

 

IT’S GETTING CLOSE TO HOME! GRANDPARENTS AGAINST GUNS!

Posted: January 20, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: GAG (Grandparents Against Guns) | 2 Comments »

By  on Sun, Jan 20, 2013

POSTED: 9:28 am

Breaking: Five Dead in South Valley Shooting

A male juvenile is in custody this morning following a shooting in the South Valley that left five people dead.

In an email from Bernalillo County officials, a shooting took place on Long Lane SW Saturday evening. Deputies were dispatched and found an adult male, an adult female and three children dead.

All victims appeared to have suffered multiple gunshot wounds. Multiple weapons appeared to have been used including an assault-type rifle. The investigation is ongoing and the identities of the victims have not been release, officials said.

A male  juvenile is in custody and is being charged with two counts of murder, and three counts of child abuse resulting in death.

OVER 65 – SHOT DEAD!!!

Posted: January 13, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: GAG (Grandparents Against Guns) | Leave a comment »

GAG (Grandparents Against Guns) has focused on grandchildren, as it should; however, while I was looking up statistics involving children, I found numbers involving guns and those over 65.  GAG has found that those who are, or could be, grandparents die from guns at a much higher rate than children.

Today I am interested in death by gun; in the future, I will deal with injuries to the youngest and oldest from firearms.

The raw statistics on death from firearms in 2009 speak for themselves:

Accidental discharge of firearms:

Children under 15                   48

Old people –  over 65             78

Suicide:

Children under 15                   64

Old People – over 65          4248

Homicide:

Children under 15                234

Old People – over 65           361

Undetermined Intent:

Children under 15                  8

Old People – over 65           23

These deaths are only the youngest and the oldest; not included are the thousands between the ages of 15 and 65.

Suicide by means other than firearms for those over 65 resulted in 1610 deaths; thus, suicide by firearms was almost three times that of all other means combined for old people.

SOURCE:

Click to access nvsr60_03.pdf

WHERE ARE THE GRANDPARENTS?

Posted: January 9, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: GAG (Grandparents Against Guns) | Leave a comment »

GAG (Grandparents Against Guns) wants to know where the grandparents are?

Are they in Congress?

Are they in the NRA?

Are they in State Government?

Are they in Local Government?

Are they still working for the gun manufacturers?

Are they retired from any of the above?

Are they attending gun shows?

Are they working as armed security guards in schools?

Are they taking classes in how to use automatic weapons?

WHERE ARE THEY? WHAT ARE THEY DOING?

By definition, they have grandkids.

They vote more than other age groups.

They have money.

They have time.

WHY AREN’T THEY PROTECTING THEIR GRANDCHILDREN?

ASK A GRANDPARENT! WHY?

IF YOU ARE A GRANDPARENT, DO SOMETHING!

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