Well, it only took me six months to get to that third stage of retirement: Now What? I was finding the less I did, because there wasn’t anything I HAD to do, the less I felt like doing. But in life, you never know when a new door will open. So my wife and I are now job-sharing the community liaison position for Circles of Care in The Dalles and Hood River

You may have read about Hood River Circles of Care in this paper last week. As Amy Mallett, Executive Director of the Hood River Adults Center, pointed out, Circles of Care connects older adults with trained and caring local volunteers to help older adults stay in their homes and age with dignity.

Circles of Care’s trained volunteers can lend a hand in assisting with everyday tasks such as transportation, meals, errands, light cleaning, technology support, minor yard work, and household maintenance – and often most importantly friendly check-ins.

My mission as community liaison is to match an older adult with a volunteer. But that can only happen if there are enough volunteers.

So here is my pitch. Besides the rewarding feeling of personally assisting an older adult and often even becoming friends, being a Circles of Care volunteer allows you a wide range of flexibility. You choose how you would assist (several volunteers have chosen to share their musical talents during their regular check-ins); how often you would like to volunteer; or if you want to volunteer with others or would rather enjoy a one-on-one experience.

If you are interested in lending a hand and becoming a part of the Circles of Care community, go to the Age+ Circles of Care website https://ageplus.org/circles-of-care/ where you will have the choice of volunteering in The Dalles or Hood River.

You will be asked to create a username and password so you can log on to your Myimpactpage. Once you have logged on, you will find the application page where you will complete a questionnaire that helps me know when and how you want to assist.

Also, if you or someone you know is interested in receiving periodic volunteer assistance, go to the same Age+ Circles of Care webpage and choose The Dalles or Hood River. If you have any questions, you can email me at smckay@ageplus.org or call 541-397-0724.

AGE+ is a statewide non-profit that developed Circles of Care as one of its initiatives to champion a new vision for successful and equitable aging for all Oregonians by empowering communities and linking generations to make longer life an opportunity, not a burden. But in simpler terms, I see Circles of Care as the embodiment of the good old American value of “neighbor helping neighbor”.

Brain Tease: This is a test of your lateral thinking. I had to kick myself when I looked at the answer.

A man rode into town on Monday. He stayed for three nights and then left on Monday.

How can this be?

The name of the cartoon character created in the 1930s and is associated with the classical comedic opera Barber of Seville in the Looney Tunes episode “Rabbit of Seville” was Bugs Bunny. I received answers from Donna Mollet, Rhonda Spies, Lana Tepfer, and Patty Burnet this week’s winner of a quilt raffle ticket.  And last week I missed Mike Nagle.

When growing up, my family wasn’t into fine cuisine. I thought the only type of cheese was processed cheese which you had to cut with a wire.  And I never knew what butter tasted like until in my late teens. But we always had this artificially orange flavored drink mix at the breakfast table because it was the drink of the astronauts!

For this week’s “Remember When” question, what was the name of this drink

mix whose sales were poor until NASA used it on John Glenn’s Mercury flight in February 1962? Email your answer to mcseniorcenter@gmail.com, leave a message at 541-296-4788, or send it with the video of Walter Cronkite reporting on the launch of the first American to orbit the earth.

Well, it’s been another week, trying to keep my balance on an uneven dance floor. Until we meet again, never deny who you are.

“Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious.” Brendan Gill, writer

Nutritious home-delivered and in-person meals are available at noon Monday through Friday unless otherwise noted.

Seniors of Mosier Valley (541-980-1157) – Mondays and Wednesdays; Hood River

Valley Adult Center (541-386-2060); Sherman County Senior and Community Center

(541-565-3191); The Dalles Meals-on-Wheels (541-298-8333)

For meal sites in Washington, call Klickitat County Senior Services – Goldendale office

(509-773-3757) or the White Salmon office (509-493-3068); Skamania County Senior

Services (509-427-3990).

Answer: Monday is the name of his horse.

Well, this hasn’t been a good week! On Saturday, the 3^rd my cough started worsening, and to be safe I decided to take a COVID test. I wasn’t worried. I haven’t been infected with COVID and I didn’t even get it when my wife was sick from COVID. I figured my immune system was one part of my body that was working to full capacity. But you know where I’m headed. I did test positive! And it has been a very uncomfortable eight days: constant coughing fits, tiredness, loss of appetite.

I think I have finally turned the corner, but it has thrown my fine-tuned writing routine out the window. And worse, I kept telling myself if I’m too tired to write I can wait till the next day and the next day. And now here I am. I need to submit the column by Sunday which as I’m writing is tomorrow!

But I made it! And although this week’s topic is not one you would normally have on your list of conversation starters, it is important because it does affect many of us.

You may have had a “Gotta go, Gotta go!” moment – and from own my personal experience it can be embarrassing when you don’t make it. If you experience incontinence, you’re not alone. An estimated 32 million Americans have incontinence,

But what can you do? I found the report “Better Bladder and Bowel Control, a Special Health Report from Harvard Medical School” that you can access on the Internet. It offers a regular bladder workout that can tame incontinence without surgery. See what you think.

Doing more bladder training can go a long way toward helping with urinary incontinence. In simple terms, this workout strategy involves learning to urinate on a schedule and doing pelvic muscle exercises.

Here’s a step-by-step bladder-training method.

Keep a diary. For a day or two, keep track of the times you urinate or leak urine during the day.

Calculate. On average, how many hours do you wait between visits to the bathroom during the day?

Choose an interval. Set your starting interval for training so that it’s 15 minutes longer.

Hold back. On the day you start your training, empty your bladder first thing in the morning and don’t go again until you reach your target time interval. If the time arrives before you feel the urge, go anyway. If the urge hits first, remind yourself that your bladder isn’t really full,

Try pelvic floor exercises (also called Kegels), or simply try to wait another five minutes before walking slowly to the bathroom.

Increase your interval. Once you are successful with your initial interval, increase it by another 15 minutes. Over several weeks or months, you may find you can wait much longer and that you feel the urge less often. After four to eight weeks of improvement, you can reward yourself with a glass of wine before you start another diary.

Brain Tease. A man was walking in the rain. He was in the middle of nowhere. He had nothing and nowhere to hide. He came home all wet, but not a single hair on his head was wet. Why is that? Too easy again?

The two stars of the 1951 critically acclaimed film African Queen were Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. I received correct answers from Jess Birge, Margo Dameier, Lana Tepfer, Rebecca Abrams, Donna Mollet, and Rhonda Spies this week’s winner of a quilt raffle ticket. And last week I missed Patty Burnet and Margo Dameier.

It has been almost 40 years since the “Where’s the Beef?” commercial was televised and since then it has become a popular catchphrase. For this week’s “Remember When” question, what fast food chain introduced the phrase in 1984? And for bonus points what presidential candidate used the phrase in a 1984 Democratic presidential debate?  Email your answer to mcseniorcenter@gmail.com, leave a message at 541-296-4788, or send it with a Dave’s Combo.

Well, it’s been another week, coughing and sputtering. Until we meet again, as I’ve learned, it’s always a risk thinking it won’t happen to you.

I saw this Kurt Vonnegut quote on a t-shirt hanging in the Kurt Vonnegut Museum in Indianapolis that speaks to the value of art. “Practicing an art no matter how well or badly is a way to make your soul grow.”

Ah, the body: the vehicle that used to attract young women with such ease, that could zig-zag through the backfield of the opposing team and catch passes with a single leap; and could stay up all night and still get to class in the morning – on time. Where, my friend, have you gone?

Now because of your wayward behavior, I have another part-time job: maintenance man. Unexpected trips to the hospital, doctors testing and poking me while losing any sense of modesty; often finding not an answer but several “it-could-be’s”; and then spending weeks worrying what the “could-be’s” could actually be! Body, you were once an asset and now it’s just “patch, patch, patch”.

But I haven’t given up on you – at least not yet. Even though you haven’t been kind, I will still do my part. I will keep moving, stay active, laugh with friends, and eat well. And then will you see the error of your ways? Or at least can we just be friends?

Okay, this comes under the category, “I just don’t understand”. If you text or email do you ever use those tiny symbols called emojis? Because I just don’t understand them! I mean I do understand the heart, the thumbs up and the smile which are the only ones I use but there are hundreds of emojis just of faces: partying face, winking face, thinking face, pleading face! And when do you use each one? I just must not have the emotional depth to make sense of all of them, and I just don’t want to get myself in trouble using the wrong emoji.

If you have the same difficulty and want to learn what an emoji means, I found the website Emojipedia that describes the meaning of each emoji. Then you can show your grandchildren you know what’s “in”!

Last week when I mentioned the important contribution of caregivers, Barbara Cadwell wrote reminding me that we should not forget the nurses who often work long hours under difficult situations. As with many occupations, there is a shortage of nurses but unlike most businesses, you can’t just reduce the hours you’re open. So, a belated Labor Day thank-you to all the nurses who make our lives better.

I had a great visit with my sister and brother. We visited the sites of Indianapolis including my first professional football game which was LOUD! I also learned some family secrets which my sister said I can’t share because by some wild chance you may know someone in the family – or more importantly know someone in law enforcement!

But I can share this riddle my brother told me. I didn’t know the answer but give it a try.

Brain Tease. How many seconds are there in a year? Hint: it’s not 31,536,000 seconds.

The thoroughbred racehorse that in 1973 won the Triple Crown while setting speed records in all three races was Secretariat. I received correct answers from Rhonda Spies, Doug Nelson, Barbara Cadwell, Lana Tepfer, Rebecca Abrams, and Diana Weston this week’s winner of a quilt raffle ticket.

And for the previous week’s question, those who remembered the Uncle Wiggly boardgame were Patty Burnet, who still had the game in her cupboard, Diane Lee, Barbara Cadwell, Rose Schulz, Donna Mollet, and Ang Harr that week’s winner of a quilt raffle ticket.

I’ve watched the 1951 film African Queen several times and I still get the shivers thinking of the scene where the character Charlie Allnut climbs out of the river covered with leeches uttering those memorable words, “One thing in the world I hate: leeches. Filthy little devils.” For this week’s “Remember When” question who were the two stars of this critically acclaimed film? Email your answer to mcseniorcenter@gmail.com, leave a message at 541-296-4788, or send it with the featurette “Embracing Chaos: Making the African Queen”.

Well, it has been another week, trying to remember what I wrote last week. Until we meet again, sometimes it is harder to realize the question than to find the answer.

“If I’m ninety and believe I’m forty-five, I’m headed for a very bad time trying to get out of the bathtub.” Ursula K. Le Guin, from her book No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters.

Posted by Scott McKay

 Lily Tomlin once said, “Reality is the leading cause of stress – among those in touch with it.” And for those of us who have stayed in touch, we have experienced the various stresses in all chapters of our lives: in school worrying about exams and first dates, during mid-life while encountering family and work decisions; and now in this, our third chapter, worrying about personal health issues, caring for loved ones and facing the ultimate reality of death.

Although some stress can be beneficial, stress can have significant harmful consequences: insomnia, anxiety, depression, and high blood pressure – besides just ruining all the fun.

There are many steps you can take to relieve stress: staying socially connected, keeping physically active, and enjoying the natural beauty that surrounds us in the Gorge.

But according to Doctor Mike Evans who produced the short ten-minute video “The Single Most Important Thing You Can Do for Your Stress” (You can find it on YouTube.), the current research suggests the most effective treatment to manage stress is changing your thinking style.

He explains that stress doesn’t just happen to us, it passes through our brain. And our brain – that space between the action we experience and our response to what happens – is where we create the stress. In other words, it is our thinking that creates stress.

This idea is embodied in the 90/10 rule. Ten percent of how we do in life is based on what happens to us, but ninety percent is how we respond. And we have the ability to manage that ninety percent. (Although as I get older it feels more like a 70/30 rule.)

In the video, Dr. Evans explains in more detail how stress management can be learned through different techniques such as problem-solving, avoiding thinking traps, and reframing automatic thinking to healthier thinking patterns.

In particular, he points out the effectiveness of mindfulness training which combines increased self-awareness, breathing techniques, meditation, and letting go of distractions – being in the moment.

Okay Mike, let’s stop here. That sounds all well and good, but I and probably many others have found it isn’t as easy as you make it sound. There are many times I don’t feel like being in the moment. I’d rather be on a sandy beach on a warm sunny day in Hawaii. And my brain! It often seems to have a mind of its own and won’t listen to me.

But I get it and I’ll keep trying. I know as the famous American psychologist William James pointed out, “The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another”. I just wish it wouldn’t be so difficult!

This coming Monday is Labor Day and I want to remind all of us how important caregivers are and how they are often taken for granted. They may be taking care of a spouse and loved one, providing in-home care, or working at a long-term care facility. The work is rewarding but can also be stressful and challenging especially during the COVID restrictions. The dedicated caregivers deserve a standing ovation!

Brain Tease: Can you name three consecutive days without using the words Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday?

The name of the classic juvenile American board game first introduced in 1916 and based on the children’s stories of an engaging elderly rabbit was Uncle Wiggly. Since once again I’ll be traveling – this time to my hometown of Indianapolis, (Isn’t retirement wonderful!), next week I’ll mention those who sent in the correct answer.

This thoroughbred racehorse thrilled America in 1973 when he won the Triple Crown setting speed records in all three races. For this week’s “Remember When” question what was the name of this stallion regarded as one of the greatest racehorses of all time? Email your answer to mcseniorcenter@gmail.com, leave a message at 541-296-4788, or send it with a video of the 1973 Belmont Stakes where he won by 31 lengths.

Well, it’s been another week, telling myself, “Yes, I can. Yes, I can”. Until we meet again, keep your light shining.

 “If you hear that someone is speaking ill of you, instead of trying to defend yourself you should say, ‘He obviously does not know me very well, since there are so many other faults he could have mentioned.’” Epictetus, Philosopher

Written by Scott McKay

Answer: Yesterday, today, and tomorrow.