The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

What to buy a baby boomer dad for father’s day

About 17 million baby boomers are fathers.

I e-mailed six boomer dads and asked what they’d like to receive for a Father’s Day present.

Computer gadgets and a Sirius satellite radio were two of the requests.

Another boomer dad wants Bill O'Reilly’s newest book, a stainless steel sauté pan, a new putter, and a barbecue with his two daughters.

One dad said it would be great if his two sons volunteered to work for three days on clean up activities for the family’s vacation cabin.

A boomer dad with young children wistfully envisions a nice quiet day with a tasty steak and cold beer at the end of the day.

Similarly, another boomer dad wants a day at the beach on his Hobie Cat 17 sailboat, good winds, a great lunch, lots of sun, and no work.

More gift ideas

Amazon.com suggests giving your dad CDs from the 1960s and 70s. Their Web page Great Gifts for Your Baby Boomer Dad also recommends books including “How to Retire Early and Live Well With Less Than a Million Dollars” and “Eight Weeks to Optimum Health: A Proven Program for Taking Full Advantage of Your Body’s Natural Healing Power.” A Canon PowerShot S100 2MP Digital ELPH Camera Kit w/ 2x Optical Zoom is another suggestion.

You can also choose from books on a list of Books for Grownups recommended by AARP and Publishers Weekly. Among the offerings are “Do-Over: In Which a Forty-Eight-Year-Old Father of Three Returns to Kindergarten, Summer Camp, the Prom, and Other Embarrassments” and “Closing Time: A Memoir.”

If you want to give your dad electronic gadgets, the article “11 Affordable Father’s Day Gifts Dads Will Want” on mint.com offers suggestions for under $100.

A different kind of gift

Probably the most unusual gift suggestion I came across in my consumer research is from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In its article, “Top Five Father’s Tips From USDA,” the department recommends giving your dad a food thermometer to make sure food is safe.

Other Father’s Day suggestions the department offers are: visit a local farmers’ market, explore a local forest or park, plant your own garden, and cook a healthy meal with dad.

Father's Day spending

Americans are expected to spend an average of $91 on gifts for dad, down slightly from $95 last year. Total spending is expected to reach $9.4 billion, the Nation Retail Federation reports. 

Other highlights from the federation’s annual survey include:

• Consumers will spend the most – $1.9 billion – on a special outing such as a dinner or a sporting event. 

• Clothing still ranks high among gift givers who are expected to spend $1.3 billion on new socks, slacks, and ties.

• Others will treat dad to a gift card – $1.2 billion; electronics – $1 billion; books or CDs – $548 million; home improvement items – $522 million; and sporting goods – $502 million.

More Father's Day gift resources for consumers

“Perfect Father’s Day Gifts for Baby Boomers” – Associated Content

"Father’s Day Gifts Under $50” – NBC Philadelphia

“Father’s Day Gift the Cheapskate Can Endorse” – The Cheapskate Blog on Time

Best wishes with your search for a present for your dad and your Father's Day activities. I hope you'll be able to visit with or talk with your dad on Father's Day.

My next post will be "A Tribute to My Dad on Father's Day."

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Will you be growing food this year?

Gardening is such a good way for consumers to grow their own organic food and cut their food bills. It also saves energy because the food doesn't need to be transported to the consumer.

It’s time to figure out what I can get done for gardening this year.

My last year’s plans for gardening didn’t materialize as I’d hoped.

I’d also like to plant fruit trees in my yard. But figuring out what kinds to grow in the Pacific Northwest is tricky.

I live in Olympia, Wash. Since we have so much rain in Western Washington, fruit trees don’t grow as well as they do in Central Washington. The Wenatchee and Yakima areas are famous for their excellent apples and soft fruit.

Also, the soil is different here. I remember digging in the sandy soil when I was growing up along the Columbia River in the Wenatchee area. The soil in my yard is clay-like. Is doesn’t drain well.

I plan to have apple, apricot, fig, and Asian pear trees. But this isn’t the time of year to plant the trees.

I’m certainly inspired by Michelle Obama’s planting an organic garden at the White House.

How about you? Have you already planted your garden or will you or will you be planting it this week?

I just returned from a vacation. The rhododendrons in my yard are beautiful. I have about 40 of them.

The weather is great today, sunny and 70 degrees. A good day to visualize and plan my garden.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Memories of my mom and Mother’s Day

I have many fond memories of my mom, Ruth L. Slingsby.

She helped me to love school and develop a keen interest in learning. Research and writing are among my favorite things in life.

My mom was a great cook. We lived on apple ranches, and my mom grew great gardens and prepared wonderful meals. Fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn on the cob, pancakes, apple pie, lemon meringue pie. All delicious.

As she grew older, my mom admitted she was tired of cooking. However, she continued to bake bread and make the meals that my dad loved.

My mom made most of the clothes for my two sisters and me, until we were old enough to learn to sew ourselves.

I remember a wonderful black-and-white dress she made for me. The front of the top was white, and she appliquéd a black-and-white tulip on it that matched the skirt. I received many compliments on it and was so proud of it.

She made cross-stitch skirts for my sisters and me. One was blue, one was pink, and one was yellow. They all had black cross-stitch just above the hem. We wore them with black vests that she made.

My mom was a fast sewer. She didn’t take time to pin the patterns to the material. She used glasses from the kitchen to hold the patterns in place while she cut them out.

Growing flowers was a joy for my mom. I wondered when I was growing up why she took the time to do it. She had so much work to do as a farm wife and mother. Flower gardens brought her much happiness. They also helped to make our homes look attractive.

My mom liked to read magazines. When the Saturday Evening Post came in the mail, she would go to the bedroom and read it. She also liked to buy home and garden magazines. She'd get ideas for decorating the houses we lived in, which were nicely done.

Playing Pinochle was a fun activity for my mom, especially during in the winter when the farm activity slowed down. I’ve been missing her recently, and decided I’m going to have a Pinochle Party. She and my dad enjoyed going to them so much when we were growing up.

To celebrate Mother’s Day after I left home, I sent my mom cards and presents. Since my family and I lived a three-and-a-half-hour drive away, I was able to go to visit her frequently on Mother’s Day.

But the Mother’s Days I remember the most are those as she grew older. She appreciated seeing me so much. I’d bring her rhododendrons from my yard in Olympia, Wash.

She’d want a report on everyone in the family. If I didn’t know how someone was doing, I’d have to call them and get a report to give to her.

The photo above is of my mom, dad, and me in the late 1980s, just before my dad was diagnosed as having cancer.

After my dad passed away in 1990, my mom, a diabetic, lived by herself in her Wenatchee, Wash., home until she had a heart attack in 1997. After that, she spent eight years in a nursing home.

My mom passed away on July 14, 2005. I miss her very much, and I’ll be thinking about the good times we shared Sunday on Mother’s Day.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Cherry blossoms grace Olympia, Wash. capital grounds

Pesticides are harmful to you, your children, grandchildren, pets, and the environment

Since I was a child, I’ve been concerned about pesticide exposure.

Growing up in Central Washington, I was sprayed with pesticide drift from airplanes when I was walking down the road. I also thinned apples as a teen in trees that were dripping with pesticides.

My dad, Minor H. Slingsby, died in 1990 at age 80 from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a lymphatic system cancer. Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is linked to pesticide exposure. My dad was an apple farmer.

I learned about this link from a story on National Public Radio a few months after my dad had been diagnosed. A story reported increasing numbers of farm worker children, who were in the fields with their parents, were developing the disease.

If you’re currently using pesticides on your yard, you need to be aware of the possible harmful effects. In this article, the term pesticide also refers to herbicides and fungicides.

Pesticides are harmful to humans

In addition to causing short-term health effects, long-term effects of pesticides that are known are cancers, birth defects, reproductive harm, neurological and developmental toxicity, immunotoxicity, and disruption of the endocrine system, according to the article “Pesticides and Human Health” on Californians for Pesticide Reform.com.

Some people are more susceptible than others to pesticide impacts. For example, farm workers and pesticide applicators are more vulnerable because they receive greater exposures. Infants and young children are known to be more susceptible than adults to the toxic effects of pesticides.

For example, a recent study found that children who live in homes where their parents use pesticides are twice as likely to develop brain cancer versus those that live in residences in which no pesticides are used, reports Environmental Health News in the article “Pesticides Blamed for Some Childhood Brain Cancers.”

It’s well established that many pesticides cause cancer in animals, the article states.
 
People think that because the brightly colored boxes of pesticides are allowed to be sold in stores that they’re safe. Only a minimum amount of tests have been conducted on pesticides since they came into use after World War II.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the first time will require pesticide manufacturers to test 67 chemicals contained in their products to determine whether they disrupt the endocrine system, which regulates animals' and humans' growth, metabolism, and reproduction, The Washington Post reports in the article “EPA Will Mandate Tests on Pesticide Chemicals.”

Pesticides are harmful to lawns and gardens

Treating plants or controlling garden pests with chemicals often makes the situation worse because the chemicals damage the soil's natural defense system by killing off good organisms and bacteria along with the bad, reports the King County article “Chemical Use: Get Your Yard Off Drugs!”

Healthy soil is full of beneficial bacteria, fungi, and other organisms that work together to keep disease and pests under control and protect the health of plants.

Building healthy soil by using compost, growing plants that resist plant diseases in your area, and planting a variety of plants, especially plants native to your area, will help you have healthy gardens and lawns.

Pesticides are harmful to the environment

Pesticides drain into streams and injure and kill fish and wildlife. Through these environmental exposures, pesticides accumulate in the food chain.

Pesticides also damage forests, farmlands, deserts, and beaches.

These are three good reasons to stop using pesticides. They’re harmful to (1) your health and the health of those in your household, (2) your lawns and gardens, and (3) the environment.

To find out about the health effects of the pesticides you’ve used, see the Pesticide Action Network’s Pesticide Info Database.

Here are other resources to help get your yard off pesticides:

“Using Native Plants in Your Gardens Saves Time, Water, Money” – The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

“A New Way to Think about Lawns” – The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

“Green Gardening, Lawn Care Promotes Good Health” – The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

“Lawn Care: For Truly Green Turf” – Sierra Club.com

“What Does Pesticide Poisoning Feel Like” – Vegan Reader

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Organic Consumers Association offers tips on Earth Day for greener baby boomer living

I caught Ryan Zinn, 34, national campaign coordinator for the Organic Consumers Association, just before he was headed out the door on Earth Day to help a school class in his neighborhood organize a vegetable garden.

Zinn said the association is seeing encouraging trends in the organic food movement and baby boomers are an important part of that trend.

“In the last nine to 12 months, we seen consumers incorporating more ecological choices in their shopping,” Zinn said. Sales of hybrid cars, organic food, and socially conscious products are up.

Grocery outlets, such as Safeway and Costco, are selling organic food. “Safeway has its own line of organic products as well,” he said. “That’s really positive.”

Consumers, including boomer consumers, have demanded more organic products and supermarkets have responded.

Another new trend is a huge spike in the purchase of seeds and garden supplies, Zinn said. Whether it’s growing vegetables in a container or a more ambitious garden, people are interested in growing their own food.

Zinn has these tips for baby boomers who want to make more environmental-sound choices in their lives:

• Set up a compost bin or worm box for vegetable scraps.

• Leave the grass clippings on your lawn for fertilizer.

• Buy organic food at your local Farmers’ Market.

• Find out if any local, organic farmers offer a subscription plan for produce or meat and sign up for weekly boxes of food during the growing season.

• Work at the local, state, and national level for healthier food choices, such as the serving of locally grown, organic food in school lunchrooms and the labeling of genetically modified food.

He recommends the association’s weekly newsletter, “Organic Bytes,” as a way boomer consumers can learn about organic food issues and actions that are need to foster the organic food movement.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

What’s in your bright, green future?

Alex Steffen, executive editor and cofounder of Worldchanging.com, is a big, green idea guy.

Steffen tracks what’s going on in green innovations and writes essays on the possibilities for the future. The popular book he edited, “Worldchanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century,” is a 600-page tome of writings from more than 60 leaders around the world.

Tall, dressed in jeans and a dark blazer with his white shirt untucked, he addressed his audience at the Seattle Green Festival and flung ideas out at them – one after the other.

Steffen sees the possibility of the world becoming choked with people, with the demographic tilting to the old and young.

Four billion people in poverty have seen the American lifestyle on television, and they want to climb up into the middle class. The most watched TV program in the world is “Bay Watch,” and the world’s poor are saying, “I’ll take my version of that.”

Educational opportunities need to be extended to women throughout the world, he said, because when women have choices they have fewer children. If education is provided to every woman, population could see peak this century.

While the poor are “getting rich,” our job is to reinvent what “rich” means, Steffen said. Americans need to consume less of the world’s resources, reduce their impact on the earth, and develop a restorative economy.

“We can do that,” he said, adding “It’s not going to be easy.”

Changes are needed in how:

• Infrastructure is constructed.

• Transportation is provided.

• Minerals are used.

• Waste is handled.

• People live in cities.

Some things that are working:

• Mountain Dwellings near Copenhagen, where livable, suburban apartments are stepping up the “mountain” above the car parking space.

• Huge flowerboxes added to buildings that provide shade and food to eat.

• Yard sharing where people garden in your yard and share the produce with you.

• Street lights that turn off when moonlight reaches a certain intensity.

• Meters in the home so people reduce usage when they see the dial spinning fast.

• Car sharing.

• Bicycle sharing programs such as Bicing in Barcelona.

• Tool sharing through tool banks where you can checkout tools.

• High-end purses and jewelry rentals, such as Seattle’s Bag, Borrow, and Steal.

Things that are operational but need to be improved:

• Google walking maps.

• An iPhone program that will tell you when the next bus is coming.

Ideas for the future:

• A smart grid that can take inputs from electric car batteries and other sources which have extra energy.

• An iPhone readout of how much energy and materials are imbedded in a product you can receive after taking a picture of the product.

• Cell phones that pop into components when heated so all the parts can be recycled.

Steffen said the economy of the future is a high quality of life at a low ecological impact.

“We can do it,” he said, adding a better place can be created than what’s happening now with the destruction of the planet.

“We’re all in this together,” Steffen said. People in balance with the planet will make a life everyone can enjoy.

The Seattle Green Festival is sponsored by the Global Exchange and Green America, formerly Co-op America.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Baby boomer Michelle Obama planting White House organic vegetable garden

It’s exciting that Michelle Obama, a baby boomer, is organizing an organic garden at the White House.

It’s a good way to show people you can get really wonderful, organic vegetables by growing your own garden. And, it’s great way to save money during tough economic times.

Obama will also use the garden as an opportunity to talk about the American diet, according to the to the article “White House Gets Vegetable Garden” on CBS News.com. 

Obama was joined by 26 students today, as she broke ground for the White House garden, according to “White House Gets Vegetable Garden” on CBS News.com.

The group prepared the soil to plant mint, corn, squash, and beans. The students will return in June to harvest the vegetables and cook with the White House chef.

Lettuces for the garden will include red romaine, green oak leaf, butterhead, red leaf, and galactic, according to the article “Obamas to Plant Vegetable Garden at White House” on The New York Times.com.

Spinach, chard, collards, and black kale also will be planted. A patch of berries will be used for desserts. Herbs will include unusual varieties such as anise hyssop and Thai basil. Two bee hives will make honey.

Sam Kass, an assistant White House chef, who prepared healthy meals for the Obama family in Chicago and is an advocate of local food, will oversee the garden, said The Times article. The total cost of seeds, mulch, and other materials is $200.

Eleanor Roosevelt planted a vegetable garden on the White House grounds that inspired a victory garden movement, which led to the creation of 20 million gardens growing about 40 percent of America’s fresh produce during World War II.

This year, about 43 million U.S. households plan to grow their own fruits, vegetables, berries, and herbs – up nearly 20 percent from last year, according to the National Gardening Association. Saving money on bills was the No. 2 reason they gave for the increased interest in gardening.

What do you need to do to plant a vegetable garden? Here are resources to help you get started:

“How to Really Start the Garden” – Backyard Gardener.com

“Vegetable Gardening Basics: Creating Your Own Vegetable Garden” – The Garden Helper

“A Basic Vegetable Garden – Survival Food and Simple Survival Tip – How to Plant a Vegetable Garden” – Suite 101.com

“How to Start a Vegetable Garden” – eHow

“Gardening Guide: How to Grow a Vegetable Garden” – Green Daily

Obama’s efforts are encouraging to me to get my organic vegetable gardening going this year. Last year, during my first year of blogging, I didn’t take the time to garden, except for some container gardening.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

100 ways baby boomers can improve their lives in 2009

It’s often difficult to remain cheerful in these turbulent economic times. News of more job layoffs. Banks and other financial institutions continuing to have problems. Businesses closing.

Although the news can be discouraging, it’s important to think through what’s positive in your life and how to get more joy and satisfaction.

Here are 50 ways to improve your life this year:

 

Health

• Read novels to reduce stress.

• Walk, walk, walk.

• Use less toxic products, especially for cleaning your home and on your body.

• Eat more vegetarian meals.

• Plant fruit trees.

• Buy organic food.

• Talk honestly to your doctor about your health needs.

• Try yoga.

Community

• Talk to your neighbors.

• Find a rewarding volunteer activity.

• Move to a walkable neighborhood.

• Contribute to your city or county government.

• Take a walk in a park once a week.

Finances

• Compare prices before you buy.

• Pay off your credit cards.

• Complain when something you buy or a service isn’t right.

• Figure out ways to simplify your life.

• Read Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan: Keeping Your Money Safe and Sound.”

 

Joy

• Read “Finding Joy: 101 Ways to Free Your Spirit and Dance With Life” by Charlotte Davis Kasl.

• Sign up for the lessons you’ve always wanted to take.

• Say “I love you” to someone you love every day.

• Have coffee or lunch with a friend you haven’t seen in a while.

• Relax by soaking in the bathtub.

• Laugh out loud.

• Sleep in once a week.

• Hold a baby.

• Remember to get as much joy as you can from the present, rather than worrying about the past or future.

• Visit a farm.

• Watch movies that are fun.

• Stop being a perfectionist.

• Visualize daily what you’d like your life to be like.

• Surround yourself with people who are positive.

• Spend a realistic amount of time using the computer.

• Don’t think about work when you leave for the day.

• Pursue your dreams.

• Enjoy the wonders of nature.

• Give up nagging.

• Figure out ways to enjoy your children more.

• Reduce the amount of television you watch.

• Take care of yourself.

• Don’t dwell on your mistakes.

• Pace yourself.

• Be open to new ideas and activities.

• Let go of disappointments and negative people from the past.

Home

• Turn on your favorite music when you clean house.

• Organize one spot or cupboard in your house weekly.

• Use lights and plants to make your home more enjoyable.

• Remodel a room.

• Buy a pretty new bedspread.

• Organize your photos.

• Recycle.

Here are additional suggestions from the article “50 Ways to Improve Your Life in 2009” in U.S. News and Reports:

Money

• Recycle old gadgets for cash.

• Choose “Obama” stocks.

• Advance your career online.

• Put your cash in safe accounts.

• Start your own nonprofit.

• Drink screw-topped wines.

• Lose the ‘microwave’ mentality.

• Make friends at work.

• Watch television free online.

• Try that home before buying.

Health

• Bike to work.

• Use glass to store food.

• Take an afternoon nap.

• Get paid for good health.

• Walk the cravings away.

• Get a new toothbrush.

• Move to Vermont.

• Get your eyes checked.

• Add obstacles to your jog.

• Get fit as you get older.

The brain

• Read Edgar Allan Poe

• Publish your book yourself.
  

• Go back to school for new skills.

• Study philosophy.

• Save that November 5 newspaper.

• Silence noise pollution.

• Finish a crossword puzzle.

• Start using Twitter.

• Learn Russian

• Keep a “clothes hanger” journal.

The world around you

• Learn about Abraham Lincoln.

• Plant a square-foot garden.

• Hypermile when you drive.

• Help those hit by the recession.

• Switch to a push mower.

• Air dry your laundry.

• Practice spreading tolerance.

• Ditch the phone while driving.

• Get your news online.

• Buy laptops for kids.

 

Play

• Learn to play bridge.

•  Visit Alaska.

• Celebrate the life of Miles Davis.

• Take a “staycation.”

• “Geotag” your digital photos.

• Watch the Beatles “Let It Be.”

• Teach your kids to cook.

• Play a fake musical instrument.

• Read the book before you see the movie.

• Try your hand at pottery.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

How to rake your fall leaves

The leaves are turning into their beautiful fall colors – yellows, oranges, and reds here in the Pacific Northwest. And they’re falling, falling, falling.

A friend of mine waits until all his leaves have fallen to rake them. He insists it’s the best way to do it. 

That doesn’t work for me. I like to rake leaves as they fall, when they’re nice and fluffy. Also, it’s often warmer outside if you start earlier.

I have bad memories raking thick mats of leaves, in the cold and in the dark.

Which method is best?

Leaves left on your lawn can smother your grass. Learn2Grow says leaves should be removed or mulched – finely chopped – regularly throughout fall to avoid lawn damage. And it adds:

Fallen leaves create a barrier over the lawn. This leaf mat traps moisture, inhibits sunlight, and harbors insects and diseases that can kill patches of even the healthiest grass.

Leaves also can be slippery on sidewalks and driveways, and moss – also slick – can grow under them.

So, happy raking.

We’re having great sunny weather here. I raked some leaves, but need to do more so that I don’t experience that cold, wet nightmarish leaf racking experience.

Copyright 2008, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist