Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, August 3, 2019

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Mountain Views-News Saturday, August 3, 2019 

SENIOR HAPPENINGS


HAPPY BIRTHDAY! …August Birthdays*

Bill Nelson, Karlene Englert, Juanita Fernandez, Jeanette Francis, Joseph Kiss, Jacquie 
Pergola, Maury Whitaker, Pat Miranda, Phyllis Chapman, Jerry Burnett, Margaret 
Aroyan, Phyllis Burg, Beverly Clifton, Rosemary Morabito, Susan Poulsen, Joy Barry, 
Marcia Bent, Joan Spears, Ruth Torres, Jane Zamanzadeh.

 * To add your name to this distinguished list, please call the paper at 626.355.2737. 
YEAR of birth not required

HART PARK HOUSE MONTHLY PROGRAMS: 

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 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. 
Join the class with Instructor Barbara Dempsey as she leads you in the art of Hula!

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

Free Blood Pressure Testing: 2nd Tuesdays Monthly from 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. No appointment is necessary.

Brain Games: Every third Thursday of the month at 12:45-1:45pm Join us for Scattergories, a creative thinking game by 
naming objects within a set of categories; or Jenga, a block-building challenge that keeps you stacking and bal-ancing your 
tower. Everyone is welcome, and no experience is needed. A great way to strengthen your mind and make new friends... 
Games are facilitated by Senior Volunteers. Will Resume in September 2019

Free Legal Consultation: Wednesday, August 14th from 10:30 a.m. - Noon. Attorney Lem Makupson is available for 
legal consultation. Specializing in Family Law, Wills, Trusts, Estates and Injury. Please call the Hart Park House for an 
appointment, 626-355-5278 ext. 704.

Senior Club: Meets Saturdays, Weekly at Hart Park House Brown Bag Lunch, great company and bingo at 11:30 a.m.

Chair Yoga: Mondays & Wednesdays 11:00 - 11:45 a.m. with Paul Hagen. Classes include Yoga and balance exercises. All 
ability levels are encouraged and welcomed!

Birthday Celebration: Every 2nd Thursday Monthly at the Hart Park House. Share free birthday cake and ice cream 
kindly provided by the Senior Community Commission!

Game Day: Every Thursday Monthly 12:00 Noon come into the Hart Park House and join a lively poker game with 
friends!

Free Strength Training Class: Fridays 12:45 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. with Lisa Brandley.light weights, low impact resistance 
training and body conditioning. Class equipment provided.

Gentle Yoga for Active Seniors: Every Monday & Wednesday from 8:15 - 9:45 a.m. with Andrea Walsh at the Hart Park 
House. Classes include complete floor relaxation, standing and floor postures, balancing, and featuring extended 
meditations on the fourth Wednesdays of the month! Call (626)-355-5278 for more information.

August Craft with Lawren—August 19th 12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m.

Come on into the Hart Park House Senior Center and create one of a kind tea cup bird feeders. Paint a design of your 
desire or use one of several stencils that will be available for use. Then we will glue the two sections together and attach a 
chain or twin to hang from your favorite tree or display at your favorite outdoor seating area. 

8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Senior Cinema - 1st & 3rd Wednesday Beginning at 1:00 p.m. 

 LAKE ARROWHEAD QUEEN (Arrowhead) 

$20.00 

August 15, 2019 9:00 am – 4 pm Level of Walking: Medium

Lunch will be on your own and spending money optional.

A Visit to Lake Arrowhead isn’t complete without seeing the view from the water. The Lake Arrowhead 
Queen Paddleboat Tour lasts about an hour and takes you around the entire perimeter of Lake 
Arrowhead. The notoriously hilarious tour guide has a reputation for his jokes and one-liners and 
always has the entire boat in stitches as he points out celebrity homes and tells the fun facts of the area.

 Lake Arrowhead Village is the area’s main commercial hot spot for both visitors’ and the locals, with a 
variety of unique fashion boutiques, outlet stores, restaurants and their excellent shopping and dining. 
Resident Registration Now Open and Non-Resident Registration starts August 4th. 

Registration closes Wednesday, August 14, 2019.


IS PET INSURANCE A GOOD 
IDEA FOR SENIORS ON A 
BUDGET?

Dear Savvy Senior:

I own two dogs and a cat that I would do almost anything for, but expensive veterinary bills put a strain on my 
budget. Is pet insurance a good idea? Older Pet Owner

 

Dear Pet Owner:

If you’re the kind of pet owner who would do anything for their furry family, including spending thousands 
of dollars on medical care, pet insurance definitely is an option to consider. Here’s what you should know.

Rising Vet Costs

The cost of owning a pet has gone up in recent years. New technologies now make it possible for pets to 
undergo sophisticated medical treatments for many life-threatening diseases, just like humans. But these 
treatments don’t come cheap. That’s why pet insurance has gotten more popular in recent years. More than 
2 million pets are currently insured in the U.S. and Canada, according to the North American Pet Health 
Insurance Association.

How Pet Plans Works

Pet insurance is actually very similar to human health insurance. Pet policies typically come with premiums, 
deductibles, co-payments and caps that limit how much will be paid out annually. But unlike people coverage, 
you usually have to pay the vet bills in full and wait for reimbursement from the insurer.

Pet policies vary greatly from basic plans that cover only accidents and illness, to comprehensive policies that 
provide complete nose-to-tail protection including annual checkups and vaccinations, spaying/neutering 
and death benefits. You should also be aware that pet policies typically don’t cover pre-existing conditions, 
and premiums are generally lower when your pet is young and healthy.

Costs for pet insurance will also vary by insurer and policy, but premiums typically depend on factors like the 
cost of veterinary care where you live and the age and breed of the pet. The average annual premium for basic 
accident and illness coverage was $516 per pet in 2017, while the average claim paid was $278, according to 
the pet health insurance association.

Shopping Tips

Major pet policy providers include the ASPCA, Embrace, Healthy Paws, Nationwide, PetFirst, Petplan and 
Trupanion. To help you shop and compare coverage and costs from pet insurers, go to PetInsuranceReview.
com.

If you’re still working, one way to pay lower premiums, and possibly get broader coverage, is to buy pet insurance 
through your employer, if available. Eleven percent of employers in the U.S. offer pet health insurance 
benefits, according to the Society for Human Resource Management, and these plans are usually discounted.

Alternative Option

Many animal advocates think most pet owners are better off forgoing pet insurance and instead putting the 
money you would have spent on premiums into a dedicated savings account to pay for vet care as needed. 
Depending on the policy, pet insurance can cost $1,500 to $6,000 over the life of an average pet, and most pet 
owners will never spend that much for treatment.

Ways to Save

If you can’t afford pet insurance or choose not to buy it, there are other ways you can save. For example, 
many local animal shelters offer free or low-cost spaying and neutering programs and vaccinations, and 
some shelters work with local vets who are willing to provide care at reduced prices for low-income and 
senior pet owners.

 There are also a number of organizations that provide financial assistance to pet owners in need. To locate 
these programs, visit HumaneSociety.org/PetFinancialAid.

 To save on pet medications, get a prescription from your vet (ask for generic is possible) so you can shop 
for the best price. Medicine purchased at the vet’s office is usually more expensive than you can get from a 
regular pharmacy or online.

 Most pharmacies fill prescriptions for pets inexpensively, and many pharmacies offer pet discount savings 
programs too. You can also save by shopping online at a verified pharmacy like 1800PetMeds.com, DrsFosterSmith.
com and PetCareRX.com.

SENIOR CINEMA - 1st & 3rd Wednesday 1:00 pm

August 7th “Instant Family” PG-13; 1 hr. 57 min. 

Idealistic couple Ellie and Pete find themselves overwhelmed when they 
open up their home to foster teenager Lizzy and her two younger siblings, 
Juan and Lita. With the help of fellow foster parents and agency workers they learn to navigate 
the joys and pitfalls of parenting to become a modern family. 

Aug. 21st Fantastic Beasts the Crimes of Grindelwald 

 PG-13; 2 hr. 14 min. 

Magizoologist Newt Scamander agrees to help Albus Dumbledore thwart the plan of Gellert 
Grindelwald to raise pure-blood wizards who would reign over the muggles. Together, Scamander 
and Dumbledore face new threats as they try to take down Grindelwald


MEALS - ON - WHEELS PROGRAM

The Home Delivered Meals Program provides healthy meals to homebound Seniors 60 and above. Seven 
frozen meals, milk, bread and fruit are included and delivered once a week. $3 Donation per meal is 
suggested but remains completely anonymous and voluntary. Clients must be eligible and we invite you 
to contact YWCA Intervale Senior Services at 626-214-9467. SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT 
NOTICE SUGGESTED DONATION $3.00 1% LOW FAT MILK INCLUDED

OUT TO PASTOR 

A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder


DID I TELL YOU THE 
STORY…?

1 Aug 2019

I was having a rather down day 
recently. You know how it is; 
you are going along 100 miles 
an hour and finally you crash. I 
was experiencing one of those reality crashes.

 Reclining in my chair, drinking coffee, I thought of 
one of my old friends. Oh my, he has been gone for 
almost 5 years now. How time flies by so quickly!

You know you have friends and then you have those 
who are really friends. He was without a doubt one of 
the latter. In fact, I do not have any friend that quite 
equals him as a friend.

Thinking about him, I began chuckling. The Gracious 
Mistress of the Parsonage came in about that time and 
said, “What are you laughing at?”

She knew I was going through a rather busy schedule 
and to find me sitting in a chair chuckling was a little 
strange.

“I was just thinking,” I said while still chuckling, “of 
my good friend Brother Lloyd.”

As soon as I said that, she started chuckling herself 
and sat on the couch. We knew Brother Lloyd for 30 
years. In those 30 years, we have had some great times 
with him and his wife. The last five years of his life, he 
was a widower.

It seemed like nothing got him down for long. Oh yes, 
he had his issues and would give you a commentary 
on his issues. He never was afraid to speak his mind. 
He had an opinion on every subject under the sun 
and some over the sun. He must have had a great 
mind because he always gave people a piece of it.

I knew anytime I was struggling with something, all 
I had to do was call and he knew how to solve every 
problem in the world.

We talked on the phone quite a bit, but also we met 
for lunch at least once a month. He lived about two 
hours from me and so we met in the middle at a nice 
little restaurant.

Thinking back on him, I cannot say how much I appreciated 
our monthly lunches. It got me away from 
my world and I enjoyed being in his world, even 
though it was a short time. We almost could order 
each other’s lunch and sometimes we did.

Of all the friends I have known down the years, nobody 
had more stories to tell than good old Brother 
Lloyd. He had a story for every subject you could 
think of at the time.

I would be talking about something in my life and 
he would interrupt, “Did I ever tell you the story 
about…?” Not waiting for my reply, he would go on 
with the story.

I have heard all his stories, and could tell them almost 
as good as he did. They must have been true because 
every time he told them they were almost word for 
word as before.

Because I admired the old brother so much, I listened 
to each story as though I was hearing it for the very 
first time. I must admit, they always had a great application, 
particularly concerning the subject at hand. 
How he was ever to do that I will never know.

Looking back, I wished he‘d put all his stories in a 
book. They would have been a fascinating read for 
anyone.

I must confess I did something once rather naughty. 
We were talking about some subject, I can’t remember 
what now, and I said, “Brother Lloyd, did I ever tell 
you the story about…?”

Without giving him an opportunity to respond, I 
went on with the story. The story I was telling him 
was one of his stories he told me probably 100 times. I 
tried to tell it from my perspective, but kept it almost 
word for word.

I was sure he would catch on but he never did. When I 
finished with “his” story he said, “That’s quite remarkable 
because something like that happened to me.” 
Then he went on and retold that story as though he 
was telling it for the very first time. As far as I knew, 
he never caught on. I simply listened as though I was 
hearing it for the very first time.

Occasionally, I will think of one of his stories and it 
brings a certain sense of encouragement to my heart. 
Although he has been dead these many years, his stories 
still live in my heart to this very day. I only wish I 
was as good a storyteller as he was.

One thing he taught me was that everything that happens 
in a person’s life, whether good or bad, is seed for 
a story. I am quite sure that there was a seed of truth 
in every story he told me. I never could tell where the 
twist was in any of his stories. He was such a wonderful 
brother that I really did not care.

Sometimes when my wife and I are talking I will say, 
“Did I ever tell you the story…?” To which my wife 
will always respond, “Yes, you did Brother Lloyd.”

I chuckled and then thought of what David said. “Let 
the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my 
heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, 
and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:14).

Everybody has a story, but God’s story is the only one 
that really matters.

 
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