Mountain Views News, Sierra Madre Edition [Pasadena] Saturday, July 1, 2017

THE GOOD LIFE

WHAT TO DO WITH CREMATED ASHES?

10

Mountain Views-News Saturday, July 1, 2017 

SENIOR HAPPENINGS

AUTO SAFETY DEVICES THAT CAN HELP SENIORS 
WITH OLDER CARS 


HAPPY BIRTHDAY! ….July Birthdays

Nina Bartolai, Mary Lou Caldwell, Louise Neiby, Eunice Banis, Betty Hansen, 
Christine Durfort, Shahrzad Azrani, Jeanne Borgedahl, Janet Cox, Dorothy 
Montgomery, Bess Pancoska, Janet Swanson, Linda Thunes, Barbara Watson, Pat 
Alcorn, Karma Bell, Alice Clark, Dorothy Jerneycic, and Betty Dos Remedios.

....................

ACTIVITIES: Unless listed differently, all activities are at the Hart Park 
House (Senior Center) 222 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre

 

 

Hawaiian & Polynesian Dance Class: Every Tuesday morning from 10a.m. 
to 11a.m. Join instructor Barbara Dempsey as she leads you in the art of Hula. 

Bingo: Every Tuesday beginning at 1:00p.m. Cards are only $0.25 each! 
Everyone is welcome to join. May be canceled if less than five people. 

Free Blood Pressure Testing: 2nd Tuesday of the month from 11a.m. to 12p.m. No appt. is necessary. 

Brain Games: Thursdays, 10:30a.m. to 11:30a.m., improve your memory and strengthen your 
brain. Activities facilitated by Senior Volunteers.

Free Legal Consultation: Wednesdays from 10:30a.m. to Noon. Attorney Lem Makupson is 
available for legal consultation. He specializes in Family Law, Wills, Trusts, Estates, and Injury. 
Appointments are required by calling 626-355-7394. 

Senior Club: Meets every Saturday at the Hart Park House Senior Center. Brown Bag Lunch at 
11:30a.m. 

Tax Assistance: Every Wednesday beginning on February 1st through April 12th from 1:00p.m. 
to 2:00p.m. - Don Brunner is available for income tax consultation. Appointments are required by 
calling 626-355-7394.

Chair Yoga: Mondays and Wednesdays from 11:00 to 11:45a.m. with Paul Hagen. 3rd Monday of each 
month, a variety of balance exercises are practiced. All ability levels are encouraged and welcomed! 

*A suggested donation of $5 at one of the classes is requested, but is not required.

Case Management: Case Management services are provided by the YWCA and provide assistance in 
a variety of areas. Appointments are required and can be scheduled by calling the Hart Park House 
Office at 626-355-7394.

Birthday Celebrations: Every 2nd Thursday of the month at the Hart Park House, share some free 
birthday cake provided by the Sierra Madre Civic Club.

Game Day: Every Thursday starting at 12:00p.m. Come join this group of Seniors in a poker game. 
Other games are offered to all. Please note time change. 

Free Strength Training Class: Every Friday from 12:45p.m. to 1:30p.m. with Lisa Brandley. This 
energetic class utilizes light weights for low impact resistance training. All class materials are provided.

Stress, Resilience, Positivity: Finding Balance - by The Kensington Sierra Madre Four Tuesdays, 
March 7 - 28th from 2:00 - 4:00p.m. Register by calling 213-821-6919 or 213-821-6908. 

Dear Savvy Senior

Do you know of any auto safety products that can 
help seniors with older cars? My 80-year-old father, 
who drives his beloved 2004 Toyota Avalon, is still 
a good pretty driver but he has limited range-of-
motion, which makes looking over his shoulder 
to back-up or merge into traffic very difficult. 
Inquiring Son


Dear Inquiring

,To help keep your dad safe and extend his driving 
years, there are a number of auto aids and new safety 
technology products that can be added to his car to 
help with various needs. Here are several to consider. 
Backup Aids 

 To help your dad increase his visibility when backing 
up, a simple product that can be added to his car is an 
AllView Mirror ($60, AllviewMirror.com). This is an 
oversized rear view mirror that attaches to his existing 
mirror to widen his rear visibility and eliminate 
blind spots so he can see traffic without significant 
neck or body rotation. It also helps during parking. 
Another option is a backup camera. These come with 
a weatherproof, night vision camera, which attaches to 
the license plate on the rear of the car. When the car 
is in reverse, it sends live images wirelessly to a small 
monitor that mounts to the dash or windshield. The 
Yada Digital Wireless Backup Camera ($140, Amazon) 
with 4.3” Dash Monitor is a good option. Or, if your 
dad doesn’t want a monitor in his car, the Auto Vox 
Wireless Backup Camera ($140, Amazon.com) is 
one that displays the images in a rearview mirror.
Blind Spot Helpers

 To help your dad see better when switching lanes or 
merging into traffic, purchase your dad some “blind 
spot mirrors.” These are small convex mirrors that 
would stick to the corner of his side view mirrors to 
improve side and rear vision. They can be purchased 
in any store that sells auto supplies for a few dollars. 
Or, for a high-tech more comprehensive solution, 
there’s the Goshen Blind Spot Detection System ($239, 
Goshers.com). This system uses small sensors installed 
on each side of the rear bumper that monitor the sides of 
the vehicle, and will alert your dad with a light indicator, 
installed inside the car, if any object detected within 10 feet. 
Safety Products

For extra safety, you may also want to consider a collision 
warning/lane departure device for your dad’s vehicle like 
the Mobileye 630. This is a smart camera that attaches 
to the windshield and will alert your dad if he speeds, 
drifts out of his lane, gets too close to the car in front 
of him, or gets too close to a pedestrian or cyclist. Sold 
only through retailers (see Mobileye.com/en-us/find-
a-retailer), this device can be purchased and installed 
by a Mobileye-certified technician for around $1,100. 
If you’re interested in something a little less 
expensive, there are also dashboard cameras that 
can double as collision warning systems. Garmin’s 
Dash Cam 35 ($129, Amazon.com), for example, 
monitors up to 130 feet in front of the vehicle, so 
if your dad is going 30 mph or faster, it will issue 
audio and visual alerts of impending collisions. 
Another product that can help keep your dad safe 
in emergency situations is the Hum (Hum.com). This 
nifty device will automatically call emergency services 
if your dad has been in an accident. It also sends alerts to 
drivers’ phones if there’s a mechanical problem and lets 
driver’s press a button if they need roadside assistance. 
Hum works in cars built in 1996 or later, and costs 
$10 per month with two-year required subscription, 
and one-time set-up and activation fees totaling $50. 


 Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 
5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org. Jim 
Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author 
of “The Savvy Senior” book.


MILKING PIGS

I highly recommend a good 
hour-long daily walk or run. 
Besides the obvious health 
benefits, being outside for that 
length of time gives your mind 
the chance to digest the events 
of the day and ponder the 
deeper questions of life. Why am I here? Where 
did I come from? And what is my destiny? But if 
you know the answer to those questions, there’s still 
plenty to occupy your thoughts, 
as I will show you.

 The other day I walked past 
the home of the late Neil, the 
pig. Surely you remember 
Neil, Sierra Madre’s beloved 
pot-bellied pig who lived at a 
house on Montecito just west 
of Lima. I was happy to see that 
his owners have a new large 
potbellied pig living in Neil’s 
old pig house. I don’t know the 
name of the new pig, possibly 
Neil II or something like that.

 I then thought how sad it is 
that farm pigs are only raised 
for their meat. We get milk 
from cows and goats, eggs from 
chickens, wool from sheep, and 
honey from bees. Horses pull 
things and can be ridden. But 
pigs are only there for one purpose. You never hear 
of cart pigs nor sheep herding pigs. Actually, some 
lucky pigs have the job of finding truffles, but for 
the most part, pigs are born for the slaughter.

 Why is this the case? Clearly pigs taste 
delicious, but couldn’t they be milked, since they 
are mammals, too? I wondered why no one has 
thought to milk pigs and make wonderful pig 
cream, pig cheese, and pig yogurt. Perhaps it’s 
because of their diet, eating slop all day. (I know 
the pigs we consume probably don’t actually eat 
slop. They probably eat some horrible formula of 
antibiotics and growth hormone. But “The Wizard 
of Oz” showed them eating slop, and that’s probably 
how it was for hundreds of years before that. So 
that’s what I’m going with.) Yes, maybe their diet’s 
to blame. But goats eat all sorts of garbage, too, 
and we still milk them. (Again, the diets of goats 
that produce commercial milk products are most 
likely controlled better than that. But for sake of 
argument…)

 At last I found what I believe 
is the reason we don’t milk 
pigs –they’re too short. You 
cannot get enough leverage to 
milk them given their stumpy 
legs. The teats are too close to 
the ground. A bucket would 
not fit. It is simply logistically 
impossible. The only way to do 
it would be to have them stand 
on something to make them 
taller or to breed pigs with 
longer legs. I doubt that I’m 
the first person to experience 
this epiphany. Somewhere in 
the history of farming there 
was probably someone who 
constructed a pig lift for more 
convenient milking. There 
were also probably herds of 
long legged pigs kept especially 
for their height. Why these innovations did not 
become more popular I cannot say. 

 But for now, pigs are still doomed to die 
all because they were not blessed with longer 
appendages. Perhaps pig lifts and long legged 
pig breeding will gain in popularity one day as a 
result of my humble article. If that happens, I 
would like rights to at least some of the profits for 
intellectual property. I even have a catchy slogan 
for the enterprising person who takes me up on my 
suggestions. “Pig –the other white milk!”


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Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com