Thank goodness winter is coming to Washoe Valley. My lawn mowers are getting the best of me. My lawn mower starts about 40 percent of the time. When it doesn’t, I talk to it using motivational interviewing techniques. I ask my lawn mower how its day is going before I …
Here is the question of the day: How often do you wash your dogs’ food bowls? We have four dogs, and Sherry and I wash their bowls after each meal. We feed the dogs twice a day, so that’s eight dog bowls to clean each day. That’s where I got into trouble. Over the …
It’s so simple. It works for me. However, I keep forgetting to do it. I’m talking about mindful breathing – paying attention to my breath while I’m active. When I walk, when I climb the stairs, when I ride my bike – whatever I’m doing, I do it better if I stay mindful of my …
The first home Sherry and I purchased was a tiny one. It sat on a dusty lot. It was all we could afford, and we loved every square foot. On Sundays, we took off to the desert in our 1971 Oldsmobile Delta 88 (purchased for $200) to search for stupendous boulders to decorate …
Back in the 1950s, at Saint Cecilia School in Ames, Iowa, a dedicated team of nuns attempted to teach me how to write in cursive. They had their work cut out for them. Even with special paper that had five faded lines to help me uniformly attach one letter to the next, …
Rarely do people ask me for advice. But two weeks ago, at a meeting with young business men and women in Reno, I was asked to share one thing I would do differently over the last 30 years. Since this was a rare occasion, I didn’t want to mess up my answer. So I …
Yesterday I did battle with an overgrown wild rose patch in my backyard. It was a thorny job. I could have protected my arms from getting bloodied as I trimmed back the invading bushes, but there was something courageous about wearing short sleeves. Later in the day, …
Kate Calhoun is my daughter, a psychologist and one of my closest friends. She recently suggested I may be too self-deprecating in my blog. She says she sees her dad as more capable and wise than I let on. In a weak moment, I promised her I’d do one Aging blog that covers …
I’m blessed with a talent for finding the “blind spots” in other people. Some of my friends act in the weirdest ways – which can be unhealthy or self-destructive. For example, Robert gets too involved with his son’s sport programs. He wants to coach his son’s coach to help …
My mom played a cool trick on me when I was a little boy. She would pretend she couldn’t get a jar of peanut butter open and then ask me to give it a shot. To my joyous surprise, I was able to get the lid off every time. I took this special talent into …