Today Is Your Day Boomer

Today is your day Boomer! Short and simple blog today....I am headed into hospital this week for open-heart surgery. Check out the diagram and realize that I am getting a fancy, new metal valve on my aeortic artery that has been plugging-up slowly with calcium for the past few years. It is restricting my breathing and energy and needs a new one! At my Boomer age of 64, metal is the way to go over a pig valve because they wear out rather easily and more surgery would be needed in a few years. The metal model will last forever.....I hope. So, no blogging for awhile. 5-7 days in hospital, and then two months recovery/rest/physio at home. Thanks to all my family and friends for great support and feelings of positivity. Talk to you soon....

Today is your day Boomer! Winter officially arrived yesterday in BC's southern interior as snow fell in large quantities. This means more indoor activities for Boomers in the next four months, including reading. And if you like music, you know the long-established reputation of Rolling Stone magazine.....music and reading together, hmmmm. A new book, maybe a Christmas present....but certainly food for thought as the mag rates the best 500 albums of all time! They have been doing this since 2003 and there are obvious choices for me like "Abbey Road" from The Beatles and Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours"....and "the book's editors reached out to about 500 voters from the world of music -- artists, journalists, record label figures and Rolling Stone staffers -- and asked for their top 50 albums (Stevie Nicks kindly offered 80). They got some 4,000 albums and created a spreadsheet with weighed points". It means artists themselves, like Taylor Swift an

Today is your day Boomer! Boomers, what would you do with a million bucks? Well, this Okanagan Boomer is going to do three things: take his wife on a special holiday, give some money to his family members, and.....quite a bit to cancer research! Now, that's what I call a " good, non-selfish balance". Well done Malery! Also from Kelowna this week was another "giving" event; this time in a restaurant as a Boomer couple was having breakfast, a lady came by and dropped $200 cash on their table. They tried to give it back, but the lady refused and walked away. A good samaritan! What would you do with the money? Go for dinner....buy groceries....fill up the truck with gas?? Nope....this couple matched the 200 with another 200 and gave it to their favourite charity! Nice.....way to go Boomers. I applaude your generosity. Cheers!

Today is your day Boomer! So ends another golf season for me.....and my friends, like the jovial guy in this picture! Fifty rounds I played this year, at about $40 dollars/game....not bad. But more importantly, great time spent with buddies....all of whom are male Boomers....good food and drink after some games, great exercise as you walk over 7km in 4 hours, muscle toning, and hundreds of hours spent in nature. My course is located on a beautiful bench overlooking a huge canyon with rock outpoints and lake views, animals like bears and coyotes, birds, snakes, and a very quiet atmosphere. No wonder it is filled with Boomer golfers every day! It is fantastic recreation and is a great retirement activity. Try it!? Cheers.

Today is your day Boomer! As I prepare for open heart surgery next week, Baby Boomer "health" is on my mind. There are 76 million of us in Canada and the US, and many of us are greatly concerned with our retired years being happy and healthy. With that in mind, here are the top 10 health concerns for Boomers. According to Dr. Christopher Cutter of Scripps Healthcare, Type 2 Diabetes is the biggest concern; he says diabetes "increases the risk of serious health problems, such as high blood pressure, vision loss, kidney disease, nerve damage, foot problems, amputation and cardiovascular disease". Number two is heart disease, which is my problem and the biggest killer of both men and women over 60; "heart disease risk falls significantly when people avoid tobacco use, control their blood pressure and cholesterol through exercise and a low-fat, low-sodium diet and maintain a healthy body weight." Cancer and Alzheimers are three and four, with depression

Today is your day Boomer! Another one of those studies has come out reinforcing the importance of fitness. 200,000 people were studied by the British Sports Journal of Medicine and the overwhelming result was that physical activity improves the effectiveness of the COVID vaccine....this includes the booster shots. The study followed people and rated them in three effective exercise categories: "for those in the low activity group, vaccine effectiveness against COVID-19-related hospital admission sat at 60 per cent. The moderate activity groups’ vaccine effectiveness, in comparison, was 72.1 per cent and 85.8 per cent for the high activity group". These numbers reinforce the recommendation of the World Health Organization that states we should do at least 2 and 1/2 hours per week of moderate/vigorous exercise. Personally, I know many Boomers that do way more than that.....but, of course, many of us have the time and money to follow our fitness passions. Keep active Boom