Aging Well in the Gorge May 13th 2020

You may be venturing out more because you’re going crazy!; or there are just some items you need: plants for the garden, your prescriptions and toilet paper (shop early).

When you do go shopping, the North Central Public Health District has several tips on how to be a more considerate shopper. The focus is grocery shopping, but most can apply to any type of shopping.

1. Practice physical distancing. – I don’t think I need to tell you how many feet you should keep between yourself and others.

2. Wear a cloth mask when in public places. As the state cautiously reopens, wearing a mask in public places may be a necessary recommendation.

3. Clean your cart with disinfecting wipes before you shop; and consider being a Good Samaritan and wiping it down after you use it, too.

4. Limit your time in the store. Create a list and stick to it. (And I suggest spending no more than ten minutes looking for that item your wife MUST have!)

5. Buy smart and don’t overfill your carts. Overbuying can prevent your neighbor from providing for their family.

6. Go to the store less often and replace items that are missing with a substitute instead of visiting a second store. And buy locally made products when possible. (The Dalles Farmer’s Market opens June 6^th with appropriate customer expectations.)

7. Avoid the WIC label when you can, because the WIC program covers some brands and not others. If you can choose brands that aren't WIC-marked, you may be helping low income women, infants and children who already have limited access to food.

8. And finally, be patient, be kind. We are ALL in this together.

If you find it difficult to prepare a healthy meal because you are staying home, the rules for who can receive a home delivered meal have changed. Now ANYONE sixty and over is eligible. Call your local meals-on-wheels program (in The Dalles it’s 541-298-8333) or call Tammy at the Area Agency on Aging (1-458-854-4100) to find what is available in your area.

A shout out to the Columbia Basin Blues Band of Rob Garrett and his talented team of musicians for playing at the Center’s first Drive-Thru Concert last Friday night. The goal was to have fun and raise money for The Dalles Meals-on-Wheels program and both were accomplished. It was a sight to see, cars parked as in a drive-in movie theater - except there weren’t the clunky speakers hanging on the car windows. And in addition to clapping, there were horns honking in appreciation. It was a “let’s do it again” kind of night.

The Freebridge Brewery is in the historical The Dalles Mint, and Sedition Brewery is in the old Stadleman Ice House which when operating was the largest ice and cold storage plant in Eastern Oregon. And if you caught the connection, the former Bonney Saddle Shop is now the location for the Baldwin Saloon. I only received correct answers from a couple of floozies: Sandy Haechrel and Mary Davis - both winners of a quilt raffle ticket.

Saturday Night Live was a must see for many of us (during those days when staying up past 11:30 wasn’t such a challenge). Some of the early stars were Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Dan Akyrold, Bill Murray, and Jane Curtin playing such memorable characters as the Coneheads, the Blues Brothers and Baba Wawa. For this week’s “Remember When” question, what comedian played the character of Emily Litella who spoke the well-known catchphrase (which I often have to use), “Oh, never mind”? Email your answer to mcseniorcenter@gmail.com, leave a message at 541-296-4788 or send it with a link to a YouTube video of Roseanne Roseannadanna.

Now it is time to put away your worries and enjoy a couple funny observations – well, at least my wife laughed.

“I was a boring child. Whenever we played doctor, the other children made me the anesthesiologist.” Rita Rudner

“As the light changed from red to green to yellow and back to red again, I sat there thinking about life. Was it nothing more than a bunch of honking and yelling? Sometimes it seemed that way.” Jack Handley

Well, it’s been another week, looking forward to being able to hang-out at my favorite coffee shop. Until we meet again, it never happens to you - until it happens.

“Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives, and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday.”  John Wayne