Seattle Waterfront Carousel at Miners Landing

The cavalry, in the form of Jay and Carl arrived last night, reenergizing the cabin’s Feng Shui. Unfortunately, while they are here, I am no longer the youngest person in the house, but on the other hand, I am far from being the oldest. That honor goes to Harry, followed by Bubs. Living with them brings home the necessity of planning for our own elder years. We can see through them that old age is not for sissies. In preparation, I have been paying more attention to senior issues. A recent NPR article reported that the Mayo Clinic has listed five habits that older people should adopt to help combat the onset of dementia. They are the following:

• Not smoking
• Exercising at a moderate to vigorous level for at least 150 minutes a week
• Consuming a brain supporting diet
• Light-to-moderate alcohol consumption
• Engaging in late-life cognitive activities

I think that we are in pretty good shape with these. Anne is five for five and while I am only four for five, the report also stated that that is all you had to be. I could work on trying to the make the fifth one.

Another report stated that a leading cause of elderly deaths is the result of falls. In this report, Tai Chi was mentioned as an excellent means of maintaining balance, not so much spiritually, but in this case more importantly in a physical sense. To this end, I went to my go-to educational source, YouTube U and watched an instructional video on the subject. It was only a lesson for beginners, but it seemed easy enough. I think that when we get back home, we’ll look into taking a class. As part of our new Medicare coverage, there is a rider for something called Silver Sneakers, which is supposed to cover exercise expenses.