Once again with enthusiasm – December 7th is the end of the Open Enrollment Period for Medicare! I want to mention this once again because there is the fear that since this date is three weeks earlier than usual (so any changes can take affect at the beginning of the new year), there will be many folks who will miss the chance to review and change their current Medicare plans.
So it is not too late. And if you or anyone you know has questions, there is still help available. You can go online at the Open Enrollment Center www.medicare.gov/open-enrollment, you can schedule an appointment at the Center with a SHIBA volunteer from 1:30 – 4:00 on one of the next two Wednesdays or you can call Jean Hockman at the Area Agency on Aging (541-298-4101). And if you are the type who just can’t ask for directions even when lost, there are SHIBA and Medicare booklets available at the Center.
Now that we all have traversed the slippery slopes of Black Friday, Shop Local Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, here are three community-centric ideas for your Christmas gift list. Do you remember going upstairs at the Original Wasco County Courthouse and viewing one of their slide or tape presentations? Those presentations have now been professionally re-mastered from the original 1970’s era slide /tape presentations including The Craft of Wheelwrighting; Farewell to Celilo; Early Wasco County; To See and To Do in The Dallles and Wasco County Cherries; and Raising Wheat by Horsepower. You can purchase one for $20 or the set of five for only $80. For more information call and leave a message at 541-296-4798 or go online at www.historicthedalles.org/wcoc/original_wasco_co_courthouse.htm.
Nowadays it seems like the safest present to give is a gift card. The School District 21 Education Foundation is selling a wide assortment of gift cards from Amazon to Wendy’s and including Cabella’s and Casa El Mirador. And here is the cool part. Even though the card doesn’t cost you anymore than buying it at Fred Meyer, the foundation receives up to 15 % on the value of each card sold. If you are interested in this win-win, PK Swartz will be at the Center during lunch on Thursday taking orders. Or you can call Marion at the District offices at 541-506-3420.
And finally, the Center is starting its 2012 Membership Drive celebrating 25 years since the Center opened its doors in January of 1987. So for that newly retired someone or that loved one you just have to get out of the house, you can purchase a 2012 membership gift certificate at the front desk for only $35 per person of $60 per couple.
Tonight “For the Good Times” will be playing your favorite country hits for their first time at the Center. Then the following Tuesday the Sugar Daddies will be making one of their once-in-a-while special appearances. And you know the song – the music starts at 7:00, everyone is welcome and donations are appreciated. Also on Friday night the folks from the Mid-Columbia Concerts will be presenting “A Pops Evening with Mike Strickland and Clipper Anderson” at the TDW High School on Friday, December 2nd at 7:00 PM.
At the Center’s 11:00 Tuesday Lecture on December 6th, Roger Wagner will discuss the basics of financial planning. And on the following Tuesday the 13th, John Roberts, Wasco County Planning Director, will discuss the importance of the county planning department and the challenges they face.
The name of the catalog (which Steve Jobs described as the paperback version of Google in the 60’s and 70’s) published by Stewart Brand between 1968 and 1972 was the Whole Earth Catalog. (The winner of five quilt raffle tickets was Rosalie Clarke who still has a copy somewhere – as does Don McAllister and Joann Scott) But this week’s “Remember When” question brings it back home. According to an article in The Dalles Chronicle on March 14th 1968, the Federal Communications Commission approved the first FM radio station in eastern Oregon with the transmitter atop the Klickitat Hills. Who was the owner/disc jockey of radio station KCIV which broadcast at 104.5 megacycles?” Email your answer to the mcseniorcenter@gmail.com, call 541-296-4788 or drop your answer off with a mint condition 1960’s SONY TFM-6100W AM/FM transistor radio – and don’t forget the original headphones.
Well, it’s been another week asking myself “How many ways can I use leftover turkey?”. Until we meet again, after thirty five years the Whole Earth Catalog’s farewell message is still good advice: “Stay hungry, stay foolish”.
