Although the lawn is often overlooked during the fall, it’s actually the perfect time to make sure everything is organized before the harsher winter elements take hold. Paul James, host of HGTV’s “Gardening by the Yard,” advises homeowners to start early – approximately six weeks before the first good freeze.
Here is a list of some of the tasks and items you should add to your fall checklist this year:
Maintain the landscape. Tidy up the lawn, flowerbeds, bushes, gardens, etc. Remove unsightly foliage, dead stems, piles of leaves and other debris. Fluff your mulch with a rake so water can seep into the subsoil.
Plant fall vegetables. Cool-season vegetable gardens can flourish with the right plants – lettuce, greens, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, potatoes and loads more. Imagine all the hearty stews and delicious soups you could make from scratch.
Keep muscles relaxed, and stay hydrated. Don’t underestimate the fall sun. Summer may be over, but hours of gardening in the sun can still leave you exhausted, strained and parched. Remember to drink plenty of fluids, take breaks and stretch your muscles. If you suffer from backaches and muscle strains, keep some relief like Absorbine Jr. (www.absorbinejr.com) on hand. The natural menthol in Absorbine Jr. helps relieve muscle and back pain to make it a must-have for yard work. Its herbal ingredients also help provide relief from sunburn and gnat and other insect bites.
Make room for indoor plants. Your potted or container plants won’t survive the winter outside, so it’s time to make room indoors for tropical plants, herbs and succulents. Potted perennials can be transplanted into a garden after trimming the roots and some top growth.
Clean garage, shed or outbuildings. Once you organize your storage space, you can neatly put away all of your summer tools or patio furniture. Plus, your newly emptied planters will have a home next to all the other stuff families accumulate.
These famous lines paraphrased from the 1976 movie, Network, flood my thoughts over and over again as I watch people close to me grow old in today’s forever young society which makes it increasingly difficult to age in America.
Like so many of my baby boomer generation, I was caught up in the youth movement- we didn’t trust authorities (due to the Vietnam War protests) and we viewed older people as frail. Boomers were the generation “that never expected to age” and now most of us are over 60 and considered old by younger generations. Today, most young people think older people retire, wrinkle, shrivel, and fade into the sunset.
We live in a youth-dominated America with doses of celebrity worship; aging is not cool. Young celebrities like Kim Kardashian are revered while the elderly are relegated to the backside of society. We spend billions of dollars on anti-aging creams and surgical procedures to eliminate the worn-look of wrinkles rather than view a wrinkled face as reflecting life’s experiences which took years to create.
I’ve witnessed the unintended consequences of America’s fetish with the fountain of youth. My heart drops every time I deliver a hot meal to ‘Miss’ Mary, an 89 year old African-American lady on my Meals on Wheels route every Tuesday morning.
Mary lives alone in a house in need of repair in Sebastian, Florida. In the three years I’ve been delivering hot meals to her, none of her five children have visited. Every Tuesday I see a frail, elderly woman sitting alone in a wheel chair watching overly enthusiastic contestants on the Price is Right on an old tube television. I don’t know why her children don’t visit but she deserves more life than this in her waning years. I guess some younger people are more concerned with their own lives than with the lives of people who brought them into this world.
A couple of blocks away, I deliver a hot meal to Ben, a 70-ish old white man living by himself in an old run down RV. Ben lives in squalor, it couldn’t be any less sanitary. Empty soda bottles and cans form a border around the living space, while cigarette smoke fills the air. Open cereal boxes, half-used plates and utensils, dirty clothes and an assortment of moldy food particles line the floor.
Ben is listless when I hand him his meal every Tuesday morning. Other than an occasional healthcare worker visiting him, Ben is a lost soul in our youth-obsessed society. His pride has been stripped away; he feels helpless, useless and ugly.
I suppose Ben is in God’s waiting room along with Miss Mary and countless other senior citizens experiencing similar fates. They are on the other side of life; standing on the sidelines watching a forever young parade go by.
The poor and destitute are not the only older people in God’s waiting room. Anti-aging attitudes have scorched a segment of the senior citizen population, ranging from the poor to wealthy, white to black and any person in between; living half empty lives in modest as well as lavish senior living communities across the nation. You can see it in their faces; it’s the same look that Mary and Ben display- a look of despair.
Many older people are ashamed and/or embarrassed to display some of the marks of aging in a ‘forever young’ society that too frequently labels ‘old’ as frail and useless. Wrinkles are ugly, wheelchairs represent helplessness, and hearing aids reflect weakness.
There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to appear young if it makes us feel good, raise our confidence and promote a healthier lifestyle. The problem with forever young attitudes is not individual attempts to maintain a youthful appearance but rather the societal messaging that staying young is superior to growing old; that young is beautiful and old is ugly.
There is no shortage of organizations helping senior citizens live better lives every day, offering health care, home care and other support services as well as representing their political and economic interests. However well intentioned, these organizations treat the symptoms not the cause. America’s obsession with anti-aging is the root cause of many of the struggles experienced by the senior citizen population; treat the cause and most of the symptoms disappear.
We need to raise awareness to the stigma associated with senior citizens and aging, particularly for those older people who are drowning in the flood of youthfulness. Public relations campaigns (television, movies, radio, print and social media) with positive messaging about aging would help accomplish this; it will be a step in the right direction.
Winston Churchill once said, “Attitude is a small thing that makes a big difference.” People may hear your words, but they feel your attitude.
Imagine how television commercials featuring older people involved in community activities or working alongside younger workers would enhance the image of older people. Imagine the goodwill that would be created by public service ads showing younger people opening doors for elders, helping them with groceries or visiting them at nursing homes. Imagine the powerful influence of celebrity spokespeople promoting a senior-friendly movement and admonishing against forever young attitudes.
Whether or not you are currently a senior citizen, you can’t escape the fact that you will one day join these ranks. Celebrating rather than stigmatizing older people plays an important role in changing the way other generations view aging.
Actress Susan Sarandon said it best: “I look forward to being older, when what you look like becomes less and less an issue and what you are is the point.”
Dr. David Lereah
First sit down and think about all the different ways your family uses energy around the house. Now put an approximate type and cost of energy used. You may have trouble breaking down the cost but try to do it. Now all you have to do is find ways to save on your resources at the same time cut your costs. You may have to think creatively but it can be done.
So here are some tips to get you started:
– Turn the lights off when you’re not using them. This is really simple and easy to do. Do you really need your bedroom light on when you’re in the living room? Do you leave lights on when you leave the house? Do you even need more than one light on in a room for what you are doing? Believe it or not it makes a big difference.
– Turn all electronics and other appliances off when you’re not using them. No one can do everything at the same time. Can you really listen to a radio watch television and use your computer all at the same time?
– Set your thermostat down a couple of degrees in winter or up in summer, to conserve energy. And dress appropriately indoors for the time of year it is. For instance in winter, put on a sweater or some extra clothing, or may snuggle under a blanket to stay warm. In the summer, wear less and stay cooler naturally.
– Only turn an appliance on when you have a full load. This is true especially for the washing machine, dryer and even the dishwasher. It is amazing how much extra energy is used doing multiple small loads in comparison to one full load.
– Do regular maintenance on your appliances. Keeping them clean means they don’t have to work as hard. Changing filters again reduces the energy needed to accomplish a task. Regular care will also mean any maintenance bills that you might come up against may well be cheaper.
– Be careful how you use your water. Like when brushing your teeth or washing your hands, use only the water you need. Don’t let the water run the entire time. Also, try and use less water if you take a bath, or control your shower times.
– Simply let your hair air dry, instead of using a blow drier every day.
– Lower the temperature on your water heater to 120 degrees F.
Don’t forget the bigger projects as well.
– Seal the cracks around your doors and windows. You are paying for your hot air that escapes through cracks all around your house. You need to make sure you are doing all you can to keep the warm air you’re paying for inside your house.
– You also need to check your house’s insulation. Though this has been done by many homeowners nevertheless you still need to do it before you pass it over. It is probably the biggest thing in reducing heating costs.
Now some of these things may seem trivial to you but let me assure you that even the small things add up over time. And really most of them you won’t even notice the difference to your life except your bills.
These tips and suggestions will make your home more affordable, and take some strain off of our world’s resources. Just think if all of us would just made a few of these changes to how we do things on a daily basis it would make a huge difference.
articlecity.com
No matter how good a golfer may be, he or she will not be any good at all without golf balls. Granted, it is a no-brainer that golfers need to have golf balls in order to play. But, the question is, which golf balls are the best.
This is a sticky situation and depends almost entirely the individual golfer and his or her tastes, what he or she expects out of the ball, and, quite frankly, how much money he or she wants to spend.
There are golfers out there who will play with nothing but one brand of ball. No matter what else happens, they will only and always use this particular brand. What these balls cost is irrelevant to them. It is this ball or no golf. Yes, this going to the extremes, but, let’s face it, there are people in this world who prefer living life at the extreme edge of sanity.
Now, let’s get down to some common sense when it comes to the golf ball. We shall start with the beginning golfer. The beginner needs to forget what he or she may have heard about any brand or type of golf ball, what it does and how far it goes. Beginning golfers are going to lose a lot of golf balls. They need to think more about price than quality. The beginning golfer needs to purchase “been around” balls, which are balls sold in bulk (around 50 to a bag), that have been found on golf courses and recycled, for lack of a better word.
OK, these used golf balls are more often than not name brand balls, but this does not matter. The beginning golfer, in learning how to hit the ball straight, keep it in the fairway, out of the woods and water, will go through dozens, if not hundreds of golf balls. Therefore, the logical thing for the beginning golfer to do is buy in bulk.
As the golfer gets better, the best idea would be to move up to a better grade of ball. This, though, does not mean to rush out to the nearest golfing supply house and buy the most expensive ball on the shelves. Again, think about the price of the ball and the level of your skill.
If a player has a tendency to slice the ball, or tends to top the ball (this is where the club head hits the top of the ball. While it gives the ball a lot of top spin, the ball does not travel far, and tends to be gashed by the club), stick with cheap balls. This does not mean stay with the bulk recycled balls, but inexpensive new ones.
In theory, players get better the more they play. As the skill level increases, the golfer can experiment with different brands of golf balls, checking to see which ones he or she may like the best. And, a lot of thought should be given to the type of course the golfer will be using these balls on.
Knowing enough about golf balls to make solid, informed choices cuts down on the fear factor. If you apply what you’ve just learned about golf balls, you should have nothing to worry about.
Stair chair lifts are valuable additions to any residential or commercial building. In fact, they can be a cost-effective alternative to an elevator, which would require the installation of shafts, cable systems, cabins, and so on. The operation of a stair lift is simple – it takes the user up and down a stairway at just the press of a button. The actual cost of a stair lift depends on various factors which are discussed below.
Stairway configuration:
The type of stairway (curved, spiral or straight) is one of the main factors that influence cost. Installing curved stair lifts would involve a greater expense than setting up straight stairlifts.
Battery-Operated:
Battery-operated models or DC models are more expensive than electrically-operated or AC stair lifts. DC models have the advantage that they can be operated even during power outages as they are battery-supported.
Additional features:
If you customize a stair lift, it would raise the price. For instance, you can have a lift that includes a wheelchair platform. You can also have it fitted with arms. These adjustments would result in a higher cost. In any case, features such as swivel seat, non-skid adjustable foot rest, safety braking system, obstruction sensors and seat belts are standard in almost all models.
Brands:
Going in for a good brand is would mean paying a higher price, but ensure good value for money. The technology and features incorporated raise the cost of stair chair lifts. Some of the quality lifts for stairs available from leading manufacturers include Electra-Ride Elite Outdoor, Electra-Ride III, Electra-Ride Elite, Step Saver, B.07, Flow II, Stair-Glide, and so on.
Installation:
The cost is also influenced by installation expenses. To get a clear idea about the expenses of the stair lift system, your buildings should be well-assessed by installation experts. If your stairlifts can be installed without much structural modification, it would cost considerably less.
Pre-owned:
Reconditioned or pre-owned stair lifts would cost less that new. Going in for a reconditioned model is a good option when you are concerned about your budget. Many dealers buy used lifts and revamp them to work like new before they are offered for sale. Make sure you look at the warranty options when you buy this lift.
Buy from a Reliable Dealer:
When you buy a stair lift, it is important to consider the service charges, maintenance and repair costs, and the warranty that comes with it. You should take care to buy the device from a reliable dealer. Established suppliers have a wide inventory of leading models of stair chair lifts and would offer professional advice on the right one for your building and the costs involved.
articlecity.com
As skin ages it loses elasticity, becomes drier, and more lined and wrinkled. Do you remember looking in the mirror for the first time when you saw wrinkles on your face? The mirror slapped me silly. How about the first time you saw wrinkles on your spouse? You didn’t dare say anything, did you?
If you are a man, be careful not to say anything about unusual growths or changes in skin texture on your wife’s face or for that matter, any part of her body. You must maintain this heightened sensitivity until age 80 or when your wife has frequent conversations with the coffeemaker.
Some people wrinkle more than others when they age. People in the Rocky Mountain States like Colorado wrinkle more than people in other parts of the nation due to climate. The dry weather in Colorado gives people more wrinkles than if they lived in a more humid state. The low humidity and high ultra-violet levels in the Rocky Mountain state because of high altitude inflicts vengeance on your skin.
People with lighter skin have a propensity to wrinkle more than people with darker skin. The color of your skin is highly correlated to wrinkling. This is the result of the varying degrees of pigment that we produce. The darker your skin, the larger the pockets in skin cells known as melanosomes, and these contain the sticky pigment melanin. In darker skin, the melanin is packed so tightly that it absorbs and scatters more light, giving you more protection from the sun’s ultraviolet rays.
When a man wrinkles he’s distinguished; when a woman wrinkles, she’s aging. That’s society at its worst. Wrinkled men look experienced and wise; wrinkled women look like they’ve been dragged through a thorny rose bush backwards. Some of us need an attitude adjustment.
I’ve read that foods such as vegetable oil, read meats, white bread and sugary processed food can hasten skin wrinkling due to chronic inflammation in your body. Foods that are believed to prevent wrinkles are high in omega 3 fatty acids, and alpha-linolen acid such as flaxseed oil, avocados, salmon and olive oil. Also fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamin C, zinc and beta caretone- nutrients that enable the body to produce collagen which keeps skin firm. So the expression: ‘you are what you eat’ applies to growing old. I need to eat a young person.
The Battle over Wrinkles
Many aging baby boomers have a ‘forever young’ mindset, postponing the inevitability of wrinkling by spending billions of dollars every year on wrinkle creams, Botox and plastic surgery. According to the market research firm Global Industry Analysts the U.S. market for anti-aging products is projected to be more than $114 billion in 2015.
A good face lift might last 8 to 10 years, while facial fillers might last 1 to 2 years, and Botox about three months. There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to appear young if it makes us feel good, raise our confidence and promote a healthier lifestyle. The problem with forever young attitudes is not individual attempts to maintain a youthful appearance but rather the societal messaging that staying young is superior to growing old; that smooth-looking facial skin is beautiful and a wrinkled face is ugly.
Plastic surgery may be common among celebrities but some refuse to go under the knife and have chosen to age gracefully instead. Here are some of the actors/actresses/models who have joined the resistance movement in the battle against wrinkles:
Brooke Shields (47) Brigette Bardot (78)
Emma Thompson (54) Julianne Moore (52)
Kate Winslet (37) Kate Moss (39)
Rachel Weisz (43) Ursula Andress (77)
Daniel Craig (45) Catherine Deneuve (71)
Brad Pitt (50) Javier Bardem (44)
Jodie Foster (50) Connie Britton (46)
Johnny Depp (49) Judi Dench (78)
Katherine Ross (74) Sigourney Weaver (63)
Julia Roberts (45):
There is a collective denial of aging in America and we need to reverse this trend. American author, Clarence Day, once said:
“Age should not have its face lifted, but it should rather teach the world to admire wrinkles as the etchings of experience and the firm line of character.”
If you decide against anti-aging treatments, here are some ways for coping with wrinkling.
Ice Cream. Eat a lot of ice cream because I’ve never seen a kid with wrinkles.
Cream and Sandpaper. Apply anti-wrinkle cream on face, followed by sandpaper for best results.
Reading Glasses. Remove your reading glasses—out of sight, out of mind.
Meditation. If you deeply meditate- you may convince yourself all that matters is your mind and soul. We just want you to believe that you are not your physical body. Because if you are not your physical body, why worry about physical rotting and the wrinkles that accompany it?
Perhaps a more important reason to take up meditation is the fact that I never met a Buddhist who had plastic surgery on his or her face. Buddhists don’t sweat the small stuff like wrinkles and shriveling. If meditation works for over one billion Buddhists, there must be something to it.
Misery Loves Company. Hang out with people who have as many or more wrinkles than you—select your friends carefully but keep your wrinkled friends closer. Or identify celebrities who are aging and showing wrinkles—the list of celebrities who have joined the resistance movement in the battle against wrinkles presented earlier is a good start.
Home Remedy. My Grandmother had a remedy for how to prevent sagging skin—just eat until the wrinkles fill out. She was always pushing food.
Final Thoughts
It is easy to become fixated on wrinkles, particularly on our face. But as long as we remember aging is something which happens to all of us, a ‘feeling of togetherness’ eases the pain.
The choice is whether we do anything about it and if so, how much are we prepared to do. People who have taken care of themselves through natural remedies like a healthy diet, exercise, and positive lifestyle choices create a healthy appearance while raising self-confidence that helps them deal with the inevitability of aging.
My Grandpa once said: “old age stinks but it’s the only way to live a long life.” A wrinkled face is a work of art that took years to create; be proud to display it.
Dr. David Lereah
With the epidemic now estimated to be costing the nation $147 billion annually, it’s a question that’s very much on the minds of health experts. And many, including lifestyle guru Shea Vaughn, are citing chiropractic care as a crucial part of overall wellness programs.
“Chiropractic care helps patients with many physical ailments. It also represents a proactive approach helping to prevent injury and relieve stress, while providing a positive influence on any individual’s mind, body and heart,” says the much-quoted author of “Breakthrough: The 5 Living Principles to Defeat Stress, Look Great & Find Total Well-Being.”
What’s more, doctors of chiropractic can also counsel patients on their diets – what to emphasize (fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans) and what to reduce (processed foods, sugar, soda and fats). “The key is to make consistent, small, positive changes,” says the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress’ Gerard W. Clum, DC.
With 149.3 million Americans aged 20 and older considered overweight or obese, check out yes2chiropractic.org for more information.
This makes Senior.com a great place for advertisers seeking to reach and influence this target audience. Don’t miss your opportunity to present your brand, products or services at the fingertips for this powerful market.
There is plenty that can be done, easily and cheaply, to make a house feel more modern though. A change of paint is always a great way to start. Finding out the colours that are currently in vogue is a great way to instantly transform a room. On top that, interesting and modern artwork and contemporary knick knacks will also instantly bring a room up to date.
Home lighting is also a surprisingly date-specific kind of thing. Older light fittings will instantly date any room, and changing glaring halogens to more subtle accent lighting can instantly change the feel of a room without anything else being needed. Altering home lighting is also easy to research and cheap to achieve, making one of the perfect places to start if a house is starting to feel jaded. The more you can spend on lighting, the better.
Wooden floors are also a great way to say modern. On top of this, utilising a wooden floor gives you great scope to include underfloor heating, an investment that will almost certainly pay for itself in terms of how much money can be saved on energy bills. Underfloor heating also helps you remove what are usually unsightly radiators and give rooms more space. It’s another way to make any room feel more modern.
If you can, make as much space as possible, knocking down walls to create more space if it is appropriate. Space and lighting combined will make even the dullest room feel fresh and new.
Another way to spruce up your home is to clear the clutter. Senior.com sells a wide variety of hanging storage racks that will help you reclaim your garage. Even better, Senior.com provides very affordable installation to make it EASY. It is amazing the emotional health that comes from organizing the space you have. Perhaps your garage could be a new room for other activities if it was cleared of clutter.
Thirty million (or one out of four) Americans age 40 and older suffer from some level of vision loss. Yet only 30 percent of Americans indicate they incorporate specific foods or supplements into their diet to help improve eye health and vision, according to the American Optometric Association’s American Eye-Q survey, which assesses public knowledge and understanding of a wide range of issues related to eye and visual health.
Six nutrients – antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin; essential fatty acids; vitamins C and E; and the mineral zinc – have been identified as helping to protect eyesight and promote eye health. Since the body doesn’t make these nutrients naturally, it’s important to incorporate them into a daily diet and, in some cases, supplement with vitamins.–
Consuming a variety of the following foods can help protect your eyes for the future:
- Lutein and zeaxanthin: To help reduce your risk of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD), eat one cup of colorful fruits and vegetables such as broccoli, spinach, kale, corn, green beans, peas, oranges and tangerines four times a week.
- Essential fatty acids: Studies suggest omega-3 fatty acids such as flax or fleshy fish like tuna, salmon, or herring, whole grain foods, lean meats and eggs may help protect against AMD and dry eye.
- Vitamin C: Fruits and vegetables, including oranges, grapefruit, strawberries, papaya, green peppers and tomatoes, can help minimize the risk of cataracts and AMD.
- Vitamin E: Vegetable oils, such as safflower or corn oil, almonds, pecans, sweet potatoes, and sunflower seeds are powerful antioxidants that can slow the progression of AMD and cataract formation.
- Zinc: A deficiency of zinc can result in poor night vision and lead to cataracts; therefore, consuming red meat, poultry, liver, shellfish, milk, baked beans, and whole grains on a daily basis is important.
It’s also important to remember that all foods are not created equal in their nutritional value. The Eye-Q survey also showed that nearly half of all Americans (49 percent) still believe carrots are the best food for eye health. While carrots do contain nutritional value by supplying beta-carotene, which is essential for night vision, spinach and other dark, leafy greens are the healthiest foods for eyes because they naturally contain large amounts of lutein and zeaxanthin.-
The AOA encourages consumers to make small dietary changes in order to experience a big impact with vision. Another good way to monitor eye health and maintain good vision is by scheduling yearly, comprehensive eye exams with an eye doctor. Senior.com also sells some fabulous vision enhancing products.