The aging homesteader

Thekla McDaniels wrote: That’s a good idea.  I have a hard time with passwords.  I think I could remember them if I made an effort, made a memory tag of some kind, but it seems like so much work!

A song might do it!

A sentence or phrase may help, but now some passwords are not only long, but they demand special characters, or numbers, capitals as well as lower case, and it's a PITA if you have intermittent memory issues.

Too many people give up and let the computer remember their password, then the computer has a problem and they can be locked out.

John F Dean wrote:How come I can’t remember my passwords, but I can remember all the words to Ronnie Hawkin’s “Mary Lou”? ....  

Out of curiosity, can you recite the words as text or do you sing the words inside or outside your head?  I ask because my mother, deceased last fall at 92, had sung in church choir most of her adult life.  Age finally took its toll on her voice and energy to participate, but she was still singing in the choir up into her 70s.  What is interesting is that a stroke put her out of work in her early 60s and for many years that followed she had difficulty remembering things, forming sentences, and grasping certain words (aphasia).....while speaking.  But she remained in the choir because none of this impacted her ability to remember song lyrics and string words together uninterrupted in her singing.  Whatever neurological blocks that appeared due to the stroke were competely bypassed when she sang.

Hi John,

It is pretty common for people who stutter to be able to sing.

While I am still active and in pretty good health I have been doing safety inspections and corrections around my homestead. I am checking hand rails on stairs to be sure they are in place and will bear the weight of a serious fall.  In some cases this have involved a serious rebuilding.

I took the time to watch both myself and my wife as we moved around the house and property.  The house was build according to code.  Unfortunately humans don’t always travel about their property according to code.  So, with that information, I identified spots that needed a little more attention safety wise.  

To explain a little further. One of my discoveries was that when my wife gets out of bed, she stands by the bed for a few seconds. ..to get her bearings and to get circulation moving.  If she should fall, she has the bed to fall on.  But what if she does not fall in the direction of the bed?  We now have a grab bar mounted on the nearest wall and within her reach.

Safety is important.  So is humor

John F Dean wrote:To explain a little further. One of my discoveries was that when my wife gets out of bed, she stands by the bed for a few seconds. ..to get her bearings and to get circulation moving.  If she should fall, she has the bed to fall on.  But what if she does not fall in the direction of the bed?  We now have a grab bar mounted on the nearest wall and within her reach.

I’m getting physical therapy for strengthening and balance.

The one of my current assignments is:

When I stand up especially from a long period of sitting or lying, first stand up, then gently draw my bellybutton towards my spine, not a lot just about an inch, then tighten both right and left glutes, and just stand there half a minute (or more).

I have noticed a big difference after just a week, doing this and several other exercises, but probably many can benefit from it.  For one thing, people with orthostatic hypotension ( feeling dizzy when you first stand or sit up) will still be safe when they get dizzy.