Partying with the Groundhog

What a great idea: Get up at 3:30 a.m., drive through freezing rain on back roads for 45 minutes, park the car in a muddy field and then walk across treacherous ice down into a valley to find out what a groundhog has to say about the weather.

Sounds crazy but that's just what we did this past week. And it was a blast! So glad we went.

Back at home in Pittsburgh, we were suprised to find out how many friends we talked to who have not had the pleasure of meeting Punxsutawney Phil and his pals, the Groundhog Club Inner Circle. Members take great care of Phil throughout the year, prepping him for his solo in front of the world media on February 2 each year.

This is one of those crazy adventures that we should all do every once in awhile, just to say we did (and still can). When has a little inclement weather kept a Baby Boomer back from having a good time?

To read more about our experience, click here.

Punxsutawney Phil: A Shadowy Kind of Guy

You may not be aware of it yet but a Big Event is on the weather horizon, and I don't mean more snow for the East Coast. The World's Most Famous Groundhog -- Phil as he is known to his friends, is gearing up for his big day in the sun -- or the clouds, whichever may be.

On Wednesday, February 2, Phil will come out of his cozy burrow on Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, PA, the town he has called home for 120 years. The furry prognosticator will stand tall in front of friends and family and make his long-awaited prediction. If Phil sees his shadow, we will have 6 more weeks of winter. If he doesn't, well, say hello to an early spring.

If you can't make it to Punxy yourself, Boom This! will have special correspondents on the scene when Phil has his annual moment to report back on all the festivities. Stay tuned for updates.

To learn more about Groundhog Day, read my interview with an insider at BoomThis.com or visit Groundhog Central.

Enjoy the Ride Along I-75

Dave Hunter, Author of Along I 75

Remember those car bingo games we used to buy for our chidren to keep them quiet in the car on long trips? We'd have the little ones searching for cows and sheep and barns and silos and anything else that would pass the time.

Dave Hunter's book, Along I-75 is a lot like that except for adults and way more fun. Dave takes the drive from Detroit to Florida  along the interstate and shows readers what to expect on their trip and also what to look for to provide a fun and interesting trip rather than one designed to be over as quickly as possible.

We Baby Boomers often have more time now for side trips when we travel, which is what can often make traveling memorable. Dave shows you where the interesting, the odd and the necessary are located on easy-to-read maps in the book, which lays flat for ease of use. The well-marked maps are accompanied by a writen description of highlights you might want to seek out. Things like the birthplace of Colonel Sanders' Kentucky Fried Chicken, abandoned stills in Tennessee, and the most romantic place in Georgia -- Barnsley Gardens.

So if you are living up north and a lot tired of this winter, here's hoping you can jump in your car and travel the I 75 all the way to the sun and surf in Florida. Happy trails.

Life After Sixty

Guest blogger Bob Morris wrote about this experience which happened the week he turned sixty. Sound familiar?

The way my office window is situated, the sun just moved to where it's shining in on my face.

I get up and walk around the other side of my desk to pull the blind, moving for a moment into shadow, thinking while doing this about an email I just received.

I stop short, because I now can't remember why I got up.

I return to my seat. Oh yeah, the sun.

Life after Sixty? Aint' it grand!

What You Can Change....

...and what you can't. An Alzheimer's Association representative recently told an audience of Boomers and seniors that there are two things we can't control for our health: our age and our genetics. We can't fight Mother Nature, no matter how hard we try, but there are lots of things we CAN control to be healthier.

Every action we take and every thing we put in our mouths comes down to a choice. Sometimes -- maybe even most of the time -- it's easier to make those choices based on habits and routine. In the end though, we aren't giving enough thought to what we are doing and how it will affect our health.

Make choices based on a decision to better your health. Choose to walk rather than drive when you can; take the steps instead of the elevator; peel a banana instead of grabbing for a few cookies.

We can't fight Mother Nature but we can get in a few jabs.

What do you read first?

When I open our local newspaper's website in the morning, I scroll down a ways to get to the living section. I want to start the day off slowly, working up to the hard news. I have to bypass a LOT of sports stories and blogs in this town to get to the other features.

I eventually make my way back up to the breaking news and scan the headlines to see what I should read about locally.

How about you? What do you read first when you open up the newspaper or their websites ? Do you go to the videos first or the photo collages? Food or entertainment? Business or tech news?

Someone should do a study about this. I think it would be fascinating.

Learn Something New Every Day

We are bombarded with newness every day: new ways to pay for our groceries, new ways to communicate with each other, new ways to call up our favorite show on TV.

It can get a little tiresome, all this newness, but according to Lois Lutz, Education and Outreach Coordinator for the Alzheimer's Association, it is much healthier to forge ahead and learn new things than to try and keep everything the same. Healthier for our brains that is. Challenging our brains is necessary to keep them in their best shape, Lois says, which results in great rewards.

But it is SO much easier to do the same things the same way all the time. We think that our routines save time and energy and they might, but to the detriment of our brains which are just brimming with neurons that want to play too.

Give them what they want and you will maintain more of your brain power as you age.

(Note to self: There is a brand new grocery store opening near me this week. None of its thousands of regular shoppers will have a clue where anything is and this will be so darn frustrating. I mean, challenging. I'll let you know.)