Tour of the Nation's Dog Parks

Like many retiring boomers, we have looked forward to making a tour of the National Parks (spread over several years, not a single tour). But we actually spend more time locating and visiting dog parks. They are sometimes called bark parks, which I find far too cute to actually say, of course.

The agility course (photo above) for canines is actually not the show-off feature of the Congressman Bill Archer Dog Park in Houston. The outstanding and much more popular feature is the set of swimming pools for the dogs. The pools are well maintained and deep enough for even large dogs to get some real swimming experience. Smart dog owners come to the park armed with towels.

How did Sherman do? He visited twice across two days. The second visit was for 3.5 hours. He played non-stop among about 60 animals. And then he slept all the way home to Dallas. And then he slept all the way through the night. (That's a lot more rest than his daily 1.3-hour walk generates.) So, all we have to do to tire out this dog is drive him to Houston for a proper play day.

© 2009 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Boxes. Just lots of boxes.

My trip to the Container Store included many temptations. These mahogany boxes were among them. Wood. Boxes. Think of the fun.

But I have found in the past few years a new perspective. Those boxes now represent dusting. Collecting. More dusting. And eventually throwing out the contents.

The boxes themselves would make their way to the garage after a number of years of service (dusting, collecting, dusting, throwing out) in the house. They would be presumed as being "put to use" organizing things in the garage.

In actuality, that's where they would really become dusty, the sort of dust that doesn't wipe off so easily. Eventually, they would become coated with enough sticky residue that they would qualify to hold oil cans. You know the kind.

And so I didn't buy them.

© 2009 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Window dressing

Maybe the Container Store in Southlake (and other locales) would say this painted closet is nothing new. But it was to me. I'm still pretty much charmed at the idea of window dressing that's just an IMAGE of what's inside. It reminds of Katy Bold's explanation to me of an informal dress code communicated at a business she consulted for: if you can find the article clothing on the Banana Republic web site, you can wear it to work. That doesn't have a lot to do with the Container Store's window dressing but it's what it reminded me of.

© 2009 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Hanging around motels

Quite pleased with myself. It's taken only 5 decades to figure out how to close the view of the drapes in the motel room on the ground floor. Have you noticed that there's always a gap between the panels? And that the stick pulls just don't work?

There's one more circumstance I want to use hotel closet hangers with: the billowing drape. That's when the air conditioner is directly below the drapes.

© 2009 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Pre-Medicare Lessons

The nice thing about visiting hospitals is all you can learn from the social worker. Baby boomers are still pre-Medicare but close enough to have teachable moments.

That was our experience last week when we asked how Medicare would cover a hospital expense, which of course is a commentary on just how close we are to Medicare. The social worker's answer surprised us. Medicare patients have a pretty good deductible of just a little more than a thousand dollars. But that's good for only 60 days.

Get sick right away and land back in the hospital? Your deductible is already paid.

Get healthy for several months and then land back in the hospital? You have to pay another deductible.

That's why people carry secondary insurance and, according to the social worker, it's cheap. (We haven't checked. But I'm sure we will.)

© 2009 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Hospital Heuristic

Tip for communicating around hospital life: When cell phones won't operate, log into whatever ultra-slow Internet connection you pick up, and email messages using only the subject line. Think about it—messages in and out of hospitals can be pretty darn short and don't deserve the long wait for the message to open.

To wit:

OK?
Waiting dr.
OK?
more blood draw
OK?
Waiting lunch
OK?
bring robe.

© 2009 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Social Savings

The tabs at the top of the Smarty Pig web site tell the full story of the piggy-bank savings site. This is a place to socially network your way to savings. As in, invite others to contribute to your savings goal. It's a place for alternative wedding registry and just the old-fashioned Help Maggie Get to Space Camp campaign. For those of us who remember, it's also the old Christmas Club at the bank. I never actually had a Christmas Club but I grew up hearing women say they were going to open one next year.... That was in the 1960s.

© 2009 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Not tweets, but the same behavior

Celebrations shared via iPhone

We're not the only boomers who photograph our food... We go out for Tom Bold's birthday and take a cell phone photo of the meal and immediately email it to far-away family members. Other instant sends: while shopping, while traveling, while admiring Sherman at the dog park. It's not at the level of sending tweets but I imagine we're tapping into the same human urge.

© 2009 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

What's important to boomer women

How can I not spend one more blog entry on Sonic Headquarters? I mean, a reader actually located a pic and sent it to me. I must honor that. And also take note of what is important to boomer women in the South. It is ice.

© 2009 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.