The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

In this year of change, the changes keep coming

I should have been more prepared. The Australians warned us. The wildfires they experienced during their summer fire season were the worst in history.

But here I am. Not only staying home due to covid-19, but now, I have to stay inside due to smoky air from wildfires throughout the West Coast.

Maybe the air will clear this week. Maybe not. My daughter in California has been dealing with heavy smoke in the air since Aug. 20. The fires there won’t be out until it rains, probably in October.

See my article for tips on how to deal with smoky air.

Others are dealing with change, too:

Experiencing a funeral in the era of the coronavirus

This week Meryl Baer of Beach Boomer Bulletin returned to her hometown of more than 30 years for the funeral of a good friend. Funerals are different in a pandemic, but mourning doesn’t change. Baer reminisces about her friend and her hometown family.

Learning something new due to covid-19

Tom Sightings at Sightings Over Sixty asks: “Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?” He and his wife have learned something new and different this summer, or as Sightings claims, they've even become experts on the topic. So zoom over to “Old Dog, New Trick” to find out what all the excitement is about. 

Manifesting big changes

Is manifestation real or just the result of an overactive imagination creating connections that don't really exist? Over at A Healing Spirit, Carol Cassara muses about an unexplained coincidence that led to a big life change.

Changing with aging

“When I'm 64?” You can’t imagine how old and wretched Laurie Stone of Musings, Rants & Scribbles pictured this age when she first heard this McCartney song in 1967. She still has about a week to go, but can’t help comparing the lyrics then to the reality today.

Listening to audio books

Have you been getting any reading done while we’ve been stuck at home? Rebecca Olkowski with BabyBoomster.com has been listening to audiobooks. It’s easier for her because of her contacts and aging eyes. She discusses the advantages of audiobooks in her latest post “Have You Been Listening to Audiobooks?” 

Figuring out your wardrobe when you move to Florida

September usually makes Jennifer Koshak of Unfold and Begin start to think about fall cleaning and changing out summer clothes but since she's moved to Florida things are different. Find out more in “The Blush of September.”

This is the Best of Boomer Blogs #667. Click on the links to read the articles. And be sure to leave a comment. Boomer bloggers love to hear from readers.

Copyright 2020, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist

Baby Boomer get through Labor Day as they have other parts of covid-19 life

On Labor Day in my community, we usually celebrate Harbor Days. I go to the waterfront and take photos of the boats, people, and booths selling food and typical summer fair items.

This year, in the era of the coronavirus, we had Harbor Days Lite. No tug boat races were held.

People were encouraged to construct Lego tugboats, make a maritime display in their yard, enter a beach photo contest, see tugboat paintings online, go to an art show in the windows of a historic fire station, and watch videos of maritime music.

I didn’t bother to go to the waterfront. I took my own advice from the articles I wrote for Labor Day: Stay close to home for the holiday weekend.

Meanwhile, baby boomers are writing about:

Stop using lawn darts made by Crown Darts UK and dispose of them, the company and CPSC warn

Lawn darts are banned in the United States due to serious risks of skull punctures and other serious injuries, especially to children.

About 19,400 darts made by Crown Darts UK were sold in the United States and about 4,048 in Canada.

No incidents or injuries have been reported.

Pandemic continues to alter lives of baby boomers

One of the big things that’s been canceled in my life due to the pandemic is all the celebrations that were being planned in my community to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of women winning the vote in the United States. Events and parades have been canceled.

So, some scenes with themes were organized around town last week. A videographer recorded them and I took photos.

It was fun to get out and at least have some opportunity to celebrate this important event.

Here’s what boomers are writing about during pandemic times:

One of the problems faced by almost everyone during the past few months has been the shortage of basic household items. Toilet paper has been, perhaps, the most difficult, at times, to find. Meryl Baer of Beach Boomer Bulletin laments the shortage of toilet paper, and recalls the good old days of abundance. 

As Tom Sightings at Sightings Over Sixty explains in “We've All Canceled Plans,”  he's had to cancel travel plans this summer. Have you?

Laurie Stone of Musings, Rants & Scribbles saw a poignant sight recently. A little restaurant near her home had converted part of its parking lot to an outdoor eating space. Tables were set and socially distanced. It was about 5 p.m. Raindrops started falling on her windshield as she sat watching, waiting at a stoplight. One of the waitstaff started scrambling to gather up napkins and menus. Most likely, no dinner shift for them tonight. Her heart broke a little.

Over at A Healing Spirit, Carol Cassara admits she's had to work hard to find peace and perspective during these trying times. In "The Rocky Route From Prayer Flags to Perspective," she shares her thoughts about the need for us to manage through this together.

It’s exciting when a woman over 60 decides to get out of her comfort zone and do something she’s never done before. Tracey Thomas decided to make a documentary film in which she asked other baby boomers what they thought about aging. During filming, her cameraman/boyfriend passed away and the film took another turn. Rebecca Olkowski, with BabyBoomster.com, interviewed her about her journey making “My First and Last Film.”

This is the Best of Boomer Blogs #660. When you take a look at the articles, be sure to join in the conversations. Boomer bloggers love to hear from readers.

Copyright 2020, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist

Drownings up significantly in June at Army Corps recreation areas so use caution in July, usually when the most deaths occur

More than 30 people lost their lives to drowning in June at lake and river projects managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This a 47 percent increase in drownings over June last year. Nearly all the drowning victims were adult males between the ages of 18 and 85, who weren’t wearing a life jacket at the time of the drowning.

"With some public beaches and community pools closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are finding more people this summer are swimming, wading, floating, and playing in open water areas (lakes, rivers, ponds, etc.) not designated for swimming," said Pam Doty, manager for the USACE’s National Water Safety Program. "Unfortunately, these areas are associated with hidden dangers that swimmers may not be aware of including waves, currents, drop-offs, underwater obstructions and others."  

July is the month when the agency normally sees the most water-related accidents and fatalities so there is even more reason to be concerned this year, Doty said.

Baby boomers still dealing with the pandemic

The baby boomer bloggers in our group are located all over the United States so we’re dealing with the pandemic in different ways depending on where we live.

In Washington state where I live, things have opened up somewhat, but cases are going up. They aren’t spiking, like in Texas, Louisiana, and Florida, but are enough of a concern that the state has paused the reopening. The governor announced Thursday that groups would be limited to 10 in Stage 3 counties.

Young people going to bars, the beach, and parties are causing case numbers to increase, Gov. Jay Inslee said in a press conference.

Keeping on, boomer bloggers are writing about:

Facts and Figures for July Fourth 2020

It's an unusual year for the annual July 4th celebration in the United States. The coronavirus pandemic has changed everything, and now that cases throughout the nation are spiking, it's time to rethink things again.

The best plan for celebrating is to stay home. If you invite people for a barbecue, keep the number small and have them bring their own food and drinks. Set tables up in your yard with social distancing.

Hopefully, things will be better by next year.

Source: WalletHub

Copyright 2020, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist

How to celebrate Memorial Day during the coronavirus pandemic

Memorial Day, a day honoring the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military, is Monday. Normally, most communities have gatherings and people often travel in what has become the unofficial beginning of summer.

Last year, nearly 43 million Americans took a Memorial Day weekend trip. It was the second-highest travel volume on record since AAA began tracking holiday travel in 2000, with the highest set in 2005.

This year, AAA isn’t making a travel forecast for Memorial Day due to COVID-19 impacts on the underlying economic data used to create the forecast. AAA anticipates this year’s holiday will likely set a record low for travel volume.

What are the options for Americans for celebrating Memorial Day in 2020, the year of the coronavirus pandemic?

Visit a cemetery. See if the cemetery you want to visit is open to family members. Have flowers delivered to your home to place on the grave. Go early so you can have a socially distanced visit.

Watch Memorial Day parades and ceremonies virtually. Check the internet to see what’s available in your area.

Baby boomers struggling like most Americans to get through these covid-19 days

Today is my birthday. It’s so different to be home alone celebrating. I usually go to Madrid to spend the month of May with my daughter, who also has a birthday in May. Then, of course, in May, there’s also American Mother’s Day and Spanish Mother’s Day to celebrate.

That makes many occasions to drink cava, Spain’s amazing sparkling wine. It’s aged in underground caves for a year in a second fermentation.

I talked with my daughters today over WhatsApp, then enjoyed pizza and chocolate cake with my cava.

Spring 2020 is so different – no travel, no family events, no movies or theater performances, no eating out, no face-to-face classes, no crowds, and no long lines.

Let’s hope enough states will continue social distancing so that we don’t have a second wave of the covid-19 pandemic with thousands of deaths.

Here’s what the other boomer bloggers in our group are writing about:

• Future travel for baby boomers, which includes taking small trips before venturing too far from home.
• Good quotes and life lessons scattered among the various displays of goods and wares in tourist shops on a shopping trip before the pandemic.
• A survey that shows Americans are much more concerned about the coronavirus pandemic in April than they were in March, with Hispanic and black adults having higher concerns.
• A Bob Marley quote that points out we never really know how strong we are until it matters.
• How to prepare for walking into the unknown during pandemic times.

Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting writes about these articles for the Best of Boomer Blogs #648. Click here to get the links to the articles. And be sure to leave a comment. Boomer bloggers love to converse with readers.

Copyright 2020, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist

Baby boomers have different reactions to stay-at-home orders

During the coronavirus Stay Home, Stay Healthy order in Washington state, I’m doing well. The time is flying by. It’s difficult to believe that we’ve been doing it for seven weeks.

Why are things going well here? I’m working on my book “Follow the Money: My Life as a Financial Journalist.” Since I love blogging so much, it’s been difficult to get my book finished. Now, I work on my book first, then, I get a reward to write a blog post. It’s working. I’m three-fourths done with my book.

The photo is my dining room table stacked with articles I’ve written: well over 1,000 print articles. When I finish writing about my Tacoma News Tribune articles, I’ll pause and sent my book proposal out to interested agents I met at recent writers’ conferences. While waiting to hear from them, I’ll undertake the huge task of writing the final chapter – describing my blogging work, which includes more than 6,000 articles.

However, it’s disappointing that I’m not in Madrid visiting my daughter and her family like I usually do in May. She misses me, too, because I’m good at cleaning the kitchen. In addition, we just figured out she and the kids probably won’t be able to visit in July and my holiday trip to Spain is unlikely to occur.

Here’s how boomer bloggers are handling being at home. They’re writing about: