Sam Bauman: Live as lived at the Carson City Senior Center

If you haven’t wandered the halls of the senior center off Long Street you’re missing an important part of Carson City life. There’s a lot more going on there than seniors just sitting around and gossiping about the good old days.

The dining hall welcomes an average of 175 seniors a day as they enjoy free dining by Chef Joe. That’s in addition to the 200 Meals on Wheels that are brewed for volunteers to drive around town and drop off.

Oh, yeah, on days when Joe offers his special ribs lunch, more than 225 often show up. Dining is a major part of the center’s life, and there’s the store that sells candy and often book sales in the lobby. Twenty-five cents will get you everything from bodice-rippers to American history.

The computer room offers computers up and running as well as instruction for those of us not terribly technically skilled. There’s a room devoted to making raw stones into jewelry.

For the active seniors, there are classes in everything from Tae Chi to card games. And there’s a library with a video tape player.

In the lobby there are comfy chairs for debating the political news or just sitting.

Senior life is a lot more fun thanks to the senior center. There are about 55,000 people living in Carson City. They have a fine place to grow into.

Another book for holiday reading

It my not be as popular as it once was, but “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” (commonly shortened to “Alice in Wonderland”) is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice falling through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures. The tale plays with logic, giving the story lasting popularity with adults as well as with children.

There are several movie versions of “Alice,” if viewing rather than reading is your choice. Check Netflix.

For Senior skiers

I’ve been having knee trouble, which has weakened my skiing, forcing me to the bunny slopes. I include a ski exercise every morning in my workout (I grab my ski poles, assume the bent knee stance and go through 30 or 40 turns).

But I’m still having problems. So I decided to do something unheard of by experienced skiers, I’m going to take a beginner lesson at Heavenly. I taught beginners for years at Boulder base at Heavenly. Now I’ll look at it from a different position, probably on my butt.

Best way to take that ski tumble

Falls are part of skiing, and I must have had a thousand. Broke a leg once, sprained an ankle. Probably I would not have suffered those injuries if I knew a simple move to avoid leg injuries, including the dreaded ACL or anterior cruciate ligament injury.

Skiers can usually sense when they are headed for a fall. If nothing works and the fall in coming, make sure you go down head and hands forward. You may take a face plant, but odds are you’ll escape injury.

Falling backward causes your downhill ski to continue straight ahead. But the uphill ski is unweighted and the edges send it up and away from the other ski and the body. That results in a twisting motion, the beginning of an ACL. I’d much rather make a face plant than risk an ACL.

Blood Pressure medication

The Mayo Health letter responds to questions, and I asked about blood pressure medications, which I take. Would I ever be able to stop taking the meds? I asked.

Probably not, Mayo wrote. Most people who begin taking blood pressure meds continue to do so for the rest of their lives. Natural age-related changes affect the blood vessels and hormones lead to elevated levels of blood pressure. These changes can be linked to other factors, such as weight and diet and level of physical activity. The lifetime risk of developing high blood pressure for adults 55 and over is 90 percent, research has shown. Stopping taking the meds leads back to high levels of pressure. Complications are not good as high blood pressure can lead to stroke, heart attack, heart failure, kidney problems and dementia.

OK, so where’s the bottle of whatever it is I’m taking?

Incidentally, Mayo suggests taking blood pressure at home works better if you do it twice, once in each arm, and that the arm is level with the heart area.

Sam Bauman writes about senior affairs, among other things, for the Nevada Appeal.