boomerblog

Growing Lychee trees at home can be a most rewarding hobby. Mainly, because you can eat the fruit of your labors. Lychees are a Chinese fruit that are fast catching favor with the mainstream. Taste a few fresh homegrown lychee and you’ll quickly understand why the fuss over this fickle fruit. The exterior is rough and bright red or greenish pink and is heart shaped. But the rough outer layer guards a soft luscious juicy white interior that has a unique sweet exotic taste.

This year I was lucky as we had a great crop on our 10-year-old Brewster tree pictured above. This tree just sat there for ten long years and suddenly is full of bright red lychee.

Lychee trees come in many varieties and can be grown in most climates where the winters are above 28 degrees on the coldest nights. But they are a slow-growing tree and may require ten years or more before they blossom. Then the blossoms often require water to pollinate. I’ve found that sprinkling the flower-laden blossoms with a hose helps to simulate rain and raise the humidity enough for them to pollinate. I’ve heard that during droughts in Asian countries, the fruit won’t set. By using a sprinkler or hose, you can fake out the blossoms to set.

Variety of Lychees:
Brewster: A great taste but giant seed. It is bright red, juicy and large.
Mauritius: A steady producer, flavor is not quite as good as Brewster in blind taste tests but has many fruits with a smaller seed.
Hak Yip: Slow grower that does well in containers for those with cold winters.
Bengal: Rose flavored and slender.
Kwai Mi: Like Mauritius with a pink fruit and a small seed.

I’ve only grown the Brewster and Kwai Mi. But if I can grow them in the thick adobe soils of Southern California, anyone with average soil should have better results. You may not want to try it in the North East unless you plant in containers and bring them in for the winter.

Here are some other websites that offer information on lychee:
http://www.lycheesonline.com/index.cfm
http://www.tropicalfruitnursery.com/lychee/index.htm

When I was young, having a tan was a must have in order to look healthy. We never used sun screen. In fact, I don’t think it was invented yet. Those long days at the beach were spent collecting vitamin D, a tan, and a good feeling from being in the warm sun all day. It was either enjoy life or stay hidden in our fallout shelters afraid of nuclear annihilation. No wonder we lived in such bliss then.

As they grew older my dad, mom and sis developed skin cancer. It recently happened to me. As I write this, the stitches on my forehead from the removed squamous skin cancer are beginning to throb. The boil on my head that never wanted to go away tested positive for cancer and was removed.

If you’ve never had skin cancer it begins like this. When you’re young, you enjoy your time in the sun. As you get old, your skin starts looking downright motley. Like different colors of white, tan, and dark brown. Then you may get a sore or something like a boil that just doesn’t go away. In my case there was skin around the boil that felt numb. That was my clue that something was wrong.

The most common kinds of skin cancer is basal cell cancer. It affects 800,000 Americans each year. Basal cell cancers arise in the basal cells, which are at the bottom of the epidermis (outer skin layer). Until recently, those most often affected were older people, particularly men who had worked outdoors. Although the number of new cases has increased sharply each year in the last few decades, the average age of onset of the disease has steadily decreased. More women are getting basal cell cancer than in the past; however, so far this has been a mostly man’s cancer. Basal cell cancer may look like a sore that just doesn’t want to go away.

Squamous cell carcinoma is the second most common skin cancer after basal cell carcinoma. It affects more than 200,000 Americans each year. It arises from the epidermis. Although squamous cell carcinomas usually remain confined to the epidermis layer of your skin, if untreated they can penetrate the underlying tissues and spread to distant tissues and organs. When this happens, they can be fatal. Squamous cell carcinomas that metastasize most often arise on sites of chronic inflammatory skin conditions or on the mucous membranes or lips.

Melanoma is the most serious form of skin cancer. But, if diagnosed and removed while it is still thin and limited to the outermost skin layer, it is almost 100% curable. However, if the cancer advances and spreads to other parts of the body, it is hard to treat and can be deadly.

During the past 10 years the number of cases of melanoma has increased more rapidly than that of any other cancer. Over 51,000 new cases are reported to the American Cancer Society each year, and it is probable that a great many more occur and are not reported. If you have a strange-looking, irregular shaped mole, don’t mess around. Have it looked at by your doctor.

Melanoma comes in four flavors:
Superficial spreading melanoma is by far the most common type, accounting for about 70 percent of all cases. This melanoma travels along the top layer of the skin for a fairly long time before penetrating more deeply. You can identify it by the appearance of a flat or slightly raised discolored patch that has irregular borders and is somewhat geometrical in form. The color may vary, and you may see areas of tan, brown, black, red, blue, or white. Sometimes an older mole will change in these ways. Or a new mole may arise with these attributes. Melanoma can be seen almost anywhere on your body, but is most likely to occur on the areas of your back or stomach if you are a man. In women it usually appears on the legs or upper back.

Lentigo maligna is similar to the superficial spreading type, as it also remains close to the skin surface for quite a while, and usually appears as a flat or mildly elevated mottled tan, brown, or dark brown discoloration. This type of melanoma is found most often in the elderly, arising on chronically sun-exposed, damaged skin on the face, ears, arms, and upper trunk. Lentigo maligna is the most common form of melanoma in Hawaii. Lentigo maligna melanoma is the insidous form.

The third type of melanoma, acral lentiginous melanoma, also spreads superficially before penetrating more deeply into your skin. It is quite different from the others, though, as it usually appears as a black or brown discoloration under the nails or on the soles of the feet or palms of the hands. This type of melanoma is sometimes found in dark-skinned people. It is the most common melanoma in African-Americans and Asians, and the least common among Caucasians.

Unlike the other three types, nodular melanoma has usually spread by the time it is diagnosed. The malignancy is recognized when it becomes a bump. The color is most often black, but occasionally is blue, gray, white, brown, tan, red, or skin tone. The most frequent locations are the trunk, legs, and arms, mainly of elderly people, as well as the scalp in men. This is the most aggressive of the melanomas, and is found in 10 to 15 percent of cases.

If you know of anyone who has a strange-looking mole—talk them into having it looked at by a doctor. Better to have a slight scar from early removal than to be taking chemotherapy because you put it off.. Here are some websites for learning more about skin cancer.
http://www.skincancer.org/self_exam/spot_skin_cancer.php
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/skincancer.html

Surfing USA

As you get older and your time becomes more precious, your priorities change and you are unfortunately forced to give up the things that once brought you happiness to new things that bring you financial rewards.

This is my excuse for not surfing as much. Because there are few things on life as enjoyable as heading into a calm sea of warm water with a group of friends and gliding down the sides of perfect waves. It is one of those experiences that makes you giddy. You start to act silly and babble to perfect strangers about the joys of the day and the moment of your time out there beyond the waves, sitting on your sufboard and peeing in your wetsuit. Watching the dolphins and the fish and the pelicans.

It’s when you have one of those days that you feel as though even wiping out is fun. Every wave is a thrill you can enjoy to the maximum—even if most of it ends up your nose. Sometimes you’ll even be competing with your friends for the hairiest wipeout of the day.

But as you get older your priorities become tilted towards the “money” thing and the “fix the garden” thing and pretty soon you’re getting to the beach less and less. Then you go once and have a bad experience, or a scary experience and pretty soon your friends are not so eager to go surfing either and you become happily married, bald, and adding a few inches to your belt size.

Don’t let that happen. Schedule a surfing holiday today. A few are avalable at:
http://www.purevacations.com
http://www.bajatravelvacations.com/surfing-baja.html
http://www.prudenttravels.com/surfing.htm
http://www.quiksilvertravel.com/
http://www.topsurfsites.com/index.htm

If you can’t schedule a surf vacation, grab the boogie boards and a pair of fins and get tubed at your local beach while the kids are watching. Show them that even geezers can have fun.

Being in the tube still has that same hollow ring to it—whether you’re on a boogie board or a surfboard. And remember, it’s not necessarily how good you look, but rather how much fun you have in the process.

Pretty soon you’ll be babbling to perfect strangers about the joys of the day and the feeling of warm pee in your wetsuit.

“But First, Are You Experienced?”

A colonoscopy is the most dreaded and despised initiation rite of arriving at your 50’s. But, humbling as it may be, it has been found to identify 65% of pre-cancerous polyps in women.

So a colonoscopy experience can have redeeming features. A colonoscopy is like an advanced sigmoidoscopy. The most painful part of the procedure for me was the preparation. I had to drink a witches brew of a laxative that caused me to spew orange-colored burning water like a fire hose from my anus for 5 hours straight. During this time I wasn’t allowed to eat (as if I’d want to). I could only drink water. By the time I headed into the doctor’s office I was pretty loopy, and my butt hole—pretty droopy. But I had that strange clean tingly feeling inside. I had lost about 50 pounds of excretion.

Once you get to the doctor’s office you sign in, change into one of those robes where your butt hangs out into the wind. Then you are escorted into a room of nurses staring at a large television monitor in anticipation of the next big show. They insert an I.V. into your arm and in the next movement your wife is driving you home. You get the really odd feeling that you were abducted by space aliens who inspected your rectum and stole your memory. Or you were date-raped by camera.

However troubling the colonoscopy experience is, a multi-center study found fecal occult blood testing and sigmoidoscopy identified more than 70 percent of advanced pre-cancerous polyps in men, but would have missed detection in 65 percent of women with the same condition.

Women’s pre-cancerous polyps tend to grow deeper in the colon, beyond a flexible sigmoidoscopy’s reach, so a colonoscopy is the preferred screening method for women, according to an article in the May 19 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

A colonoscopy is the most invasive of the three main diagnostic procedures. The colonoscopy requires insertion of a lighted tube into your rectum while a group of giggling nurses watches the show and videotapes the highlights.

Maybe it’s good that we don’t remember it.

Exercise Your Brain.

According to Michael Merzenich, chief scientific officer with Posit Science in San Francisco, the key to memory longevity is lifelong learning. (Exercising your brain.)

“Often, as people age, they engage in less and less learning,” Merzenich told United Press International. “They rest on their laurels, and their environments, even if stimulating (such as a job or hobbies), do not drive new learning.” Apparently, their brains become weak and in need of exercising.

Merzenich’s company is pioneering brain-training exercises for aging adults that, like calisthenics, keep the organ flexible, in good physical shape and functioning well into the golden years. The company’s computer-guided exercises—which are being marketing to assisted-living and retirement communities—aim at augmenting memory and improving visual acuity and hearing. The memory exercises should be practiced five days a week for an hour a day for eight weeks—a demanding regimen, but one that researchers think may mitigate memory loss.

“As the brain gets into ruts, it is not challenged with new learning, and without crucial stimulation, the brain’s function can gradually erode over time, leading to decreased memory and cognitive function,” Merzenich explained.

Undertaking a rigorous “brain fitness” program later in life may be only part of the answer, said Dr. Thomas Crook, former chief of the National Institute of Mental Health’s Geriatric Psychopharmacology Program. Diet plays an absolutely key role in determining brain function later in life, he said, and establishing healthy eating habits early on can deliver dividends in old age.

“Diet is very important. A generalization would be that those things that are good for the heart are good for the brain as well,” Crook told UPI.

Likewise, exercise appears to contribute to better brain health, he said. A lot of research is showing that aerobic exercise is particularly helpful. Even 30 minutes of walking per day can help. Apparently, vascular changes in the heart also apply to the brain, and exercise benefits both. The worst thing you can do for your brain is to sit on the couch watching TV for hours.

According to a 2005 study by Harvard University researchers, fruit and vegetable intake is inversely related to cognitive decline—the more fresh foods you eat, the better your chances of maintaining brain health.

The Harvard group followed a cohort of female subjects from 1976 to 2001 and tracked their eating habits along with mental function over four decades. They found that the women who ate the highest amounts of green leafy vegetables (such as broccoli, greens and spinach) had the slowest mental decline.

“The finding with cruciferous vegetables, we believe, may be because they are nutrient dense—good source of vitamin C, beta carotene, B vitamins, which have all been found in some studies to be associated with better cognition,” said Jae Hee Kang, lead author of the Harvard study.

So— now that you’ve finished reading this don’t you want to go for a jog around the block and finish it off with an extra large glass of carrot juice. After all, you’re investing in the health of your brain.

Now, where the heck did I put those car keys?

To find out more information on avoiding a lazy brain go to http://www.boomer-books.com/health_page/healthpage.html

Avoiding Alzheimer’s disease can be as easy as drinking fruit juices and flossing daily— according to a new study by the New York School of Medicine. What they found was:

1. Drinking fruit or vegetable juice at least three times a week makes you four times less likely to develop Alzheimer’s. So mom was right. Carrot juice and orange juice really IS good for you.

2. Keep your teeth healthy. Fight gum disease, which can lead to brain inflamation, which can lead to Alzheimer’s. Keep your mind active and learning new things.

3. Keep socially active. A new risk factor was decreasing social activity in old age. So even though it may become a hassle, think of socializing as a brain exercise. Force yourself to be social by convincing yourself that you’re avoiding Alzheimers!

So if you have an aging parent who is, or has, suffered from dementia or Alzheimer’s, you probably already know that your chances of developing dementia or Alzheimer’s are higher than the baseline population. However, if you develop a “brain-healthy” lifestyle you can counter the genetic code you may have inherited. And besides, drinking fruit juice and flossing daily aren’t really that bad. And maybe even socializing can have hidden benefits. These are not hard tasks to undertake—especially if they help you to avoid Alzheimer’s.

To find more articles on avoiding Alzheimer’s go to:
http://www.boomer-books.com/health_page/healthpage.html

Ever suffer from a brain fart? That momentary lapse of brain function where you can almost feel the gas passing between the folds of your aging brain while you stare into space?

You can now overcome brain farts by taking folic acid. Taking 800 micrograms of folic acid a day improved the memory of older adults, in a study by Dutch. This was the first study to actually demonstrate a vitamin pill might slow the mental decline of aging.

The research adds to mounting evidence that a diet higher in folate — a B vitamin found in grains and certain dark-colored fruits and vegetables — is important for preventing a variety of diseases. It’s already been proven to lower women’s risk of devastating birth defects of the brain and spinal cord, and research suggests it helps ward off heart disease and strokes, too.

As people age, some decline in brain function is inevitable. It is normal to suffer from “CRS” (Can’t Remember Shit). The Dutch study tested whether otherwise healthy people could slow their brain farts by taking double the recommended daily U.S. dose of folic acid — the amount in 2.5 pounds of strawberries.

The study divided 818 people ages 50 to 75 to take either a vitamin containing 800 micrograms of folic acid a day, or a dummy pill, for three years.

The folic acid protected users’ brains, according to lead researcher Jane Durga of Wageningen University.

On memory tests, the folic acid supplement users had scores comparable to people 5.5 years younger, Durga said. On tests of cognitive speed, the folic acid helped users perform as well as people 1.9 years younger.

The study involved healthy older people, but not those with Alzheimer’s. So there’s no proof whether folic acid can ward off dementia. That’s a subject for future studies.

Still, folic acid offered significant brain protection, said Johns Hopkins University neuroscientist Marilyn Albert, who chairs the Alzheimer’s Association’s science advisory council.

Scientists have long thought that folic acid might play a role in dementia. Previous studies have shown people with low folate levels are more at risk for both heart disease and diminished cognitive function; clogged arteries slow blood flow in the brain.

“We know that Alzheimer’s disease, begins many, many years before the actual symptoms show. We ought to be thinking about the health of our brain the same way we think about the health of our heart,” Alpert added.

Folate is found in such foods as oranges and strawberries, dark green leafy vegetables and beans. In the United States, it also is added to cereal and flour products. The recommended daily dose here is 400 micrograms; doctors advise women of childbearing age to take a supplement to ensure they get that much.

To read more about ways you can prevent dementia in yourself and those around you have a look at http://www.boomer-books.com/health_page/healthpage.html

Painting doors can be very rewarding. A new color can really spice up the color of your old stale door. Doors separate the space we share. A new color on a well painted door can make you feel like you’re entering a new dimension. Here’s how to paint doors like a pro.

1. Remove the door knob. This only takes two screws. Yes, they are really long screws but it makes the job go so much easier to remove the knobs.

2. Sand the door. Sand off all those greasy fingerprints. Sand the whole door really well with a fine grade sandpaper, then wipe it down with a dry cloth—an old pair of underpants works great. Get all the dust off the door.

3. Carefully tape off the hinges and the latch assembly with masking tape. This is going to be a professional looking job so do a good careful job of masking—don’t get sloppy.

4. Put old newspapers under the door. They are flat enough so that they won’t “bunch up” against the door if someone moves it after you paint it.

5. Put your favorite Doors CD into the portable player and break out the weenie roller with a knap roller, the weenie roller tray and a quart of your selected paint.

6. As you’re dancing to the Doors start the weenie roller at the ledge at the very top of the door, then work your way down. Don’t expect full coverage with the first coat. Relax. We are going to let it dry a little before applying the final coat. After you paint the outside go down the outside edge and paint down it with the weenie rooler. Be happy that you taped the latch so well. Paint the inside of the door the same way. Start at the top and roll in “X” type. Actually, it doesn’t really matter. You can roll in a “D” type if you want. You are leaving a “tack” coat to help the finish coat stick to.

7. There will be areas that you just can’t get with the weenie roller. Save these for later when you can break out your big expensive sash brush and finish them off. Right now you have a door to paint.

8. Go back to your starting point. This time the paint goes on thick. As thick as you can get without causing runs or drips. Go all the way down, along the outside edge and when you finish get the other side.

9. With weenie roller in hand, stand back and look for imperfections. After you apply your final touches, take a break.

10. The next day you can re-apply the knobs (remember those two really long screws?) Pull the masking tape, break out the sash brush and get any areas that you may have missed when you were dancing to the “Doors”.

Stand back and take a look at your masterpiece. A pro probably could have done it faster. For timed estimates in painting a door go to:

http://www.get-a-quote.net/QuoteEngine/costbook.asp?WCI=CostFrameSet&BookId=5&Pattern=Doors

And, if you can figure it out, you’ll find prices that pro painters charge for just about all work on this site. http://www.get-a-quote.net/QuoteEngine/costbook.asp?WCI=CostFrameSet&BookId=5&Pattern=Doors

Painting rooms can present some of the most boring work imaginable. It can wreck your marriage. At one time in my life I was a professional house painter (suggested reading: Secret Wigwam of Chappaquiddick.) I painted a lot of rooms. In this post I’ll try and share some tricks I learned to help you almost enjoy painting rooms.

1. Always, always, have the woman of the house decide on the color. No matter how it looks to us men, women notice the subtle variations of colors in other people’s home. Thay are often likely to be anxious to apply those colors to your own rooms. So empower them here—or pay the price! If the color combination they chose appears really wacky, find one on those little card board sheets at the hardware store where you’ll be buying the paint. The little samples often show recommended color combinations. While these recommendations may not be entirely original original, they’re usually proven as esthetically-pleasing combinations. And are great tools for supporting an argument against an “unproven” color combination.

2. Prepare the surface and the floor. If you are painting over semigloss paint (usually used on trim, kitchens, and bathrooms) wash the surface of the wall or trim with TSP. It eliminates grease as well as etching the surface of the old paint. It’s great for preparing kitchens—where grease has a tendency to stay in hard to reach corners.

If you feel like you’d like a little more stick power, a fine sandpaper can be used to help prepare the surface. Sand paper is especially good on preparing doors for painting as they are large and flat. Once you’ve sanded or TSP’d your surfaces, you’ll need to take those hard-to-get areas where you just know that you’ll be making a mess. Be careful with the tape. It can make the job better—or a whole lot worse—especially if you are trying to create a smooth seam from one color to another.

3. Use a good drop cloth. Sometimes buying the cheapest, thinest plastic is not the best idea. You might actually be better off with newspapers. Cheap plastic is slippery and rips easily and if you’re not careful you’ll fall on your ass. Sometimes old beach towels work as well and they’re not as slippery.

4. Buy the very best paint that the store offers. Buying cheap paint usually means that you’ll be painting the same area twice. The job is not much fun the first time, and usually gets worse as it ages. Best to do it one the best way possible by buying the best quality paint.

5. Buy at least one good 4” brush (expect to spend around $10), as well as one really good sash brush (ditto). Buy a weenie roller and tray for painting in small places and “in place” hanging doors. Buy a traditional roller with an extention pole for walls and ceilings.

6. Making work pleasureable. Get a boom box portable style radio and either find music on the radio that you enjoy and can sing to, or play CD’s that you haven’t heard in a while. The importance of music is that it helps to sing during difficult and boring painting jobs. If you have any left over pain pills take 1/2 of one to alter your mood and steady your hand. Avoid alcohol or coffee. One makes you sloppy and one makes you jittery. That’s not where you want to be while painting a house.

Get your spouse or kids to help paint the walls. You can finish up behind them and get what they miss. This gets everyone involved and you have the final say as you’ll paint over their mistakes.

Prepare your work, look over the work to begin and see the completed project in your mind’s eye. Know that you can do it. Any one can paint. But not everyone can enjoy it!

Next: Painting doors.

What do you do when your aging parent dies?

Taking care of an aging parent is hard enough. But what do you do when they die? You’re likely to get lots advice from well-meaning relatives and neighbors. But a lot of the work you’ll be left doing yourself, or with the help of close family or siblings.

You still have to deal with your own emotions which won’t make your job any easier.

I won’t be able to help you with the emotional end—other than to say that I’m sorry, and that I’ve been there. But there are a couple of forms I’ve posted on the Boomer Website that might help you with the task at hand. You can download them from the Boomer Website.

The Memorial/Funeral Planning Service Checklist
and the Post Death Checklist