Category: Living in Society

Politics mostly social commentary.

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Home Life

Rainy Weekend of Apples and Michael Twitty

Freshly picked Honeygold, Bert’s Special, Crimson Crisp, Jonagold, Daybreak Fuji and Alvin Gilliam’s Seedling apples.

My Saturday and Sunday shifts at the orchard were cancelled because of almost continuous thunderstorms during the weekend.

I’ll miss the income, although will get by.

Saturday I canned the next batch of tomatoes. With the pantry containing 24 quarts of whole and diced, 24 quarts of tomato water and 48 pints of whole and diced, there should be enough to last all of 2020 and then some. I didn’t mention the quart bags of tomato sauce in the freezer… or the four dozen fresh on the counter… or the next wave ready for harvest. We’re good on tomatoes.

Sunday was a punk day. To get out of the house and take my daily exercise I returned to the orchard and picked the apples in the photo… in the rain… wearing the wax jacket I bought in Stratford, Ontario during one of our summer trips when our daughter was in high school. The wax jacket worked as far as keeping the rain off goes. The plastic lining made it too hot for humans by the time I returned to the sales barn to pay for my apples. I lost count of how many varieties of apples I tried thus far this season, maybe two dozen. The Robinette and Alvin Gilliam’s Seedling were astoundingly flavorful. It would be tough for me to return to supermarket apples.

Every once in a while we are reminded of how little we actually know about our daily lives. While it rained I made it halfway through Michael W. Twitty’s book The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South. It is one of few books I know like it. Twitty presents expository words about his genetic history and how that influenced the culture of slavery from a culinary perspective. He brings together something worth studying if interested at all in the local food movement.

There is a lot in the book. Although I don’t consume much meat and no fish or seafood, I’ve been thinking about my approach to growing and cooking since I started the book. Twitty provides new insight into the idea of a kitchen garden and using food that’s found or produced locally. There is a lot of discussion of greens, the liquid they are cooked in, and staples like corn, rice and root vegetables. I consider my own culinary practices and it’s a hodge-podge of dishes, techniques and ingredients rather than something coherent as Twitty recounts.

Culinary times have changed since the 17th and 18th century through increased urbanization. If everyone that lives in the nearby cities of Cedar Rapids and Iowa City trekked out to the country to forage nuts, wild plants, fish and game on a subsistence basis, the land would soon be stripped clean. That’s not to mention land in private ownership with prime foraging areas and posted no trespassing signs. In that sense, only a small percentage of the population can return to that lifestyle. When the oceans are over-fished, and marine ecosystems are collapsing there is no reason to consume more fish and seafood. When poring over a menu that contains sushi, I shake my head and end up explaining to diners at my table why it shouldn’t be consumed. It doesn’t always go over well.

At the same time there is an ecology of food. If the cultural elements have changed, the instinctual behavior hasn’t. There’s a lot to learn and think about in The Cooking Gene. That’s part of why we read books.

Next I need another walk near the lake or through the orchard to let the ideas ferment. Only then will I see whether it is fleeting enthusiasm or something from which to make structural changes in my kitchen garden.

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Living in Society Writing

Summer Presidential Candidate Weekend

Elizabeth Warren not speaking for a moment at sunset. Iowa City, Iowa, Sept. 19, 2019

Even a grumpy Gus takes in the hoopla of the 2020 Democratic presidential nominating process going on in Iowa this weekend.

Ann Selzer’s Iowa poll, released last night, shows the top tier of candidates has been reduced to two: Elizabeth Warren with 22 percent, and Joe Biden with 20 percent. Warren’s lead is within the four percent margin of error for the poll.

The next nearest competitors begin with Bernie Sanders at 11 percent and results rapidly descended from there. If these results persist, and I believe they will, the two tickets out of Iowa, arguably the most important ones, belong to people who are definitely Democrats, and could be supported by rank and file.

The reason I get grumpy about Iowa presidential politics is it’s the rank and file that matter most. Despite thousands who traveled to the Polk County Democrats fall steak fry, and largely felt positive about our prospects in the general election, most rank and file Democrats don’t attend these sorts of political events.

A study of my precinct election results reminds me President Obama just barely won his 2012 re-election campaign here, and Donald Trump won in 2016. In 2018, Fred Hubbell beat Kim Reynolds by a handful of votes. I don’t know if this is a swing district or one that is steadily turning more Republican. While I work toward the former, it may be the latter and I’m just in denial.

To put the weekend — with its multiple forums, town halls and the big speeches by 17 presidential candidates at the steak fry — in context, there was enough news for rank and file to be aware of the activities. Hopefully there is or will be engagement in the selection process.

Elizabeth Warren’s rise to Iowa poll leader is due to the smart and challenging work of a campaign organization led by Janice Rottenberg. Rottenberg led the effort that gave Hillary Clinton the nod in Iowa in a close 2016 race. Her experience is paying dividends for Warren. My interaction with Rottenberg has been limited, but she is the type of person who makes the campaign interesting, engaging and sometimes fun. She knows how to “dream big, work hard and win.” Her campaign staff and volunteers have been enthusiastic, smart and accommodating whenever I encountered them. They listen.

I heard Warren speak in public twice this cycle. A key reason she is gaining traction in Iowa is her ability to frame the campaign as one of people first in a way that is meaningful. She is an excellent speaker with an engaging personal story to tell, one that includes her fight against corruption in politics and her plan to fix it if elected president. Because she has been in the public eye at least since 2012 when she was elected to fill Ted Kennedy’s U.S. Senate seat, we know she is as good as her word.

Warren stayed after her speech in Iowa City on Thursday to meet with individual voters and take a photo with anyone who wanted one. That meant an evening with voters (and staff) that continued until 11 p.m. This type of personal campaigning has been hard to do for presidential candidates spread thin over the four early states and the immediately following Super Tuesday ones. The only other candidate I’ve seen stay around like this to shake hands is Joe Biden. A personal connection with voters contributes to Warren and Biden leading in yesterday’s poll.

On the last day of summer I feel good about backing Elizabeth Warren in the February Iowa caucus. Because of her smart work and persistence, she seems increasingly likely to win the most convention delegates. With yesterday’s poll it seems clear she will get one of the tickets out of Iowa.

My comment from Facebook account: “IMO a single poll doesn’t mean much this far out, even if it is Ann Selzer. As I mentioned in my post, Warren’s lead is within the poll’s margin of error. It is accurate to say Sanders has slipped, not only in the polls. He began with a very strong list of 2016 supporters (~ 70,000, I heard), some of whom have become refugees to other candidates, including Warren, Buttigieg and likely others of which I don’t have visibility. I don’t see him picking up new support. I am skeptical of the “different kind of campaign” because when I discuss with Pete organizers and supporters, I don’t see much different about it. I will say Buttigieg’s supporters are very enthusiastic. As I said in my post, I’m more interested in rank and file Democrats than in people who engage in all the forums, speeches and events of this past weekend. What they do will determine the two or three tickets out of Iowa in February.

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Living in Society

Signing the Card

Tomatoes with Bumper Stickers

SOLON, Iowa — Without fanfare I signed a caucus commitment card for Elizabeth Warren at a friend’s home last night.

The occasion was a meet up with our area’s new Warren organizer, Allison Hunt, with whom I’ll be meeting one-on-one later in the week.

I don’t want to make a big deal of it, but it is important to lay out why.

We need the strongest possible candidate to take on the Republican nominee in 2020. I believe that is Elizabeth Warren because she understands the the problems of money and corruption in our governance, she knows how to address it, and has the will and drive to do so.

I will support the eventual nominee at the July 2020 Democratic National Convention. I respect most of the people running for different reasons, especially the U.S. Senators who threw their hat into the presidential ring. Signing the card for Warren means I will work to make sure she emerges from the Iowa Caucuses on Feb. 3, 2020.

Elizabeth Warren is a woman and I’m not sure the American electorate is ready to elect a female president. We will never have a female president if we don’t elect one, so that is a non-issue for me. Her qualifications are as good as or better than any of the ten candidates who appeared in last week’s Democratic National Committee debate. We have to base our decision on qualifications and experience which Elizabeth Warren has.

Elizabeth Warren has organized for the early states as well as anyone since I became active again in 2004. With compression of the primary schedule between our caucuses and Super Tuesday on March 3, 19 states will hold presidential preference caucuses or primary elections. That means a candidate must scale up immediately, and campaign everywhere to capture a winning number of supporters. Early voting in California begins the Monday after the Iowa caucuses. The Warren campaign in Iowa set the standard and seems scalable.

Thursday, Sept. 19, Elizabeth Warren is holding an event in Iowa City near the Iowa Memorial Union. Hunt said Warren would stay until everyone who wanted to speak with her individually had an opportunity to do so. I won’t be in that queue, but I don’t need to be.

The challenge will be supporting Warren without disenfranchising Democrats who support another candidate. Like most everything, where there’s a will, there’s a way. The process begins by picking a candidate.

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Living in Society

Democrats Ready to Unite?

Before the Poll Opens

Democratic presidential candidates are roaming the state like a swarm of termites seeking an entry point into an American dream.

Thus far, Julián Castro found his way to Solon, although to my knowledge, no one else has.

This presidential election cycle seems different from 2008 and 2016 when there were open races among Democrats. What makes it different is Democrats tell me they will support the candidate who wins the nomination at the July 2020 Democratic National convention. Period.

A lot is at stake in our general elections. In Iowa with our unique caucuses? Not as much.

Things were different when the Democratic Party emerged from the disastrous 1968 Chicago convention. I could see from my perch in high school that Hubert Humphrey emerging from smoke-filled rooms was not a good thing. With leadership from George McGovern, Democrats changed the nominating process for the better, bringing, among other things, the importance of the Iowa caucuses.

While Iowa got the attention of presidential candidates this year that may not always be the case. What was Iowa and New Hampshire added South Carolina and Nevada by 2008. Now Super Tuesday on March 3, 2020 with Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Democrats Abroad, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia holding their presidential primaries compresses the whole schedule.

I haven’t picked a candidate to support this cycle. I may not before caucus. What I have embraced is a caucus process likely to change by the next presidential election.

~ Published in the Sept. 19, 2019 edition of the Solon Economist

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Juke Box

Juke Box – Wide Open Spaces

I’m going on hiatus from this blog until after Sept. 9. In the meanwhile, here’s one of the songs we chose for Mom’s funeral. Hope to see you mid-September.

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Living in Society

Trying on T-shirts

Trying on t-shirts

It’s been hard to figure if I should campaign for a Democrat for president before the February caucuses or whether I should remain neutral until the last minute to help our Big Grove precinct caucus go more smoothly.

Based on previous caucuses when there was a presidential preference, the precinct will not be close in 2020. Obama was a clear win in 2008, and in 2016 we had enough extra Hillary Clinton supporters to send a delegation over to Martin O’Malley’s group to make them viable and deprive Bernie Sanders of an extra delegate. At the convention, the O’Malley delegate came over to Clinton after the candidate dropped out of the race.

2008 got a bit ugly. I was the John Edwards precinct captain and was asked to be caucus secretary as I was in 2004. Throughout the difficult body counts and recounts people got impatient and things got a little heated and personal. It is a case for the temporary chair not to identify for a candidate until the last possible moment.

There is the issue of the work. In 2016 Team Clinton door-knocked and phone-called before the caucus like there was no tomorrow, hitting every part of our area, in cities and rural areas equally. I no longer do much of this work outside my own precinct but want to help. If I wait to declare, I’ll help a campaign in other ways.

In the run-up to the 2020 caucus most of the 20 or so candidates don’t have the management structure to canvass the way we did for Hillary. If we pick someone to support without adequate campaign infrastructure we’ll be on our own. That was the case in 2008 when hardly anyone caucused for Bill Richardson, Chris Dodd or Joe Biden. Between them there were about eight people in a caucus of 268 Democratic voters.

Local politics aside, I have been trying on t-shirts… it seems pretty clear Elizabeth Warren will be my pick if I do declare before the night of the caucus. Here’s my run-down of the field. Nota Bene: I will work hard and unconditionally to elect the eventual Democratic nominee regardless of who it is.

Based on Iowa polling, and according to 538.com, there are currently only five possible candidates who could win first place in the delegate count: Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. If they had a breakthrough, which is possible this early in the cycle, Corey Booker, Julián Castro, Amy Klobuchar, Beto O’Rourke or Tom Steyer might be contenders for viability. My hunch is the first five could be viable and the top delegate getter will be one of them.

Narrowing it down, here’s where I land on the five most likely to be viable candidates in February 2020:

One knows there is trouble when Joe Biden’s campaign is weighing whether to scale back his public schedule so he won’t make so many gaffes. He is past his prime and every minute he stays in the race, he blocks others from advancing. I look around my precinct and don’t know who, except the 3-4 people who caucused for him in 2008, might do so now. One of the 2008 group died.

I like Pete Buttigieg but don’t feel he has the right kind of experience to be president. I heard him speak twice in person and each time I marveled at his oratory, but felt empty when he finished. He is clearly an up and comer in Democratic politics and his generational message is important. Sorry Pete, not this time unless you win the nomination.

Kamala Harris is the only one I haven’t heard speak in person. When she came to Iowa her campaign exhibited tremendous energy, of the kind one expects from a presidential campaign. She hasn’t been to Iowa that much. Friends of mine are ardent supporters and that matters in the caucuses. I have a few things to investigate, particularly her idea of privatizing Medicare, but specific policies don’t matter as much as the whole package. She gets positive marks for having won the U.S. Senate in the most populous state in the nation. I have no doubt she could scale her campaign to win the primary.

I haven’t liked Sanders since I met him in 2014. He’s more liberal than most and his policy positions haven’t changed much since he entered politics. I like some of his policy positions. We just didn’t click when we shook hands as he stumped for Bruce Braley. I also don’t see enough support as people who caucused for him in 2016 are finding their way to other campaigns this cycle.

That leaves Elizabeth Warren. I’ve been following her since she was elected from Massachusetts to the U.S. Senate. If she had run for president in 2016 I would have supported her. While concerned about a 70 year-old white woman president, her performance in Tipton allayed my concerns. She has a lot of policy statements and that matters little or not at all. I’ve watched her in the Senate and she supports legislation with which I mostly agree. Is the United States ready to elect its first female president? I have my doubts, but may be willing to throw in with Warren and try it again.

I’m trying on t-shirts, but the only one I bought has Warren’s name on it. If I declare, I’ll do it shortly after Labor Day. What I’ve found this cycle is there aren’t as many choices for president as it appears.

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Milestones

Lorraine Anne Deaton

Lorraine Deaton at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Mother died at 2:45 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 15. I wrote this obituary for the newspaper with input from my sister. Here is a link to the funeral home site with details about the service.

Lorraine Anne (Jabus) Deaton, 90, died Thursday, Aug. 15, at Genesis Medical Center in Davenport.

Born at home on July 28, 1929 near LaSalle, Ill., Lorraine moved with her family to Davenport where her mother joined several sisters at a coat-making plant supporting the World War II effort. She graduated from Davenport High School, and then worked briefly for the telephone company where she established relationships with people who would become life-long friends.

Family relationships remained an important part of her life. Family included her husband, brothers and sisters, in-laws, three children, and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins, many of whom lived in the Quad-Cities Area.

She married Jack H. Deaton from Glamorgan, Va. in 1951 at Holy Family Catholic Church, eventually settling in Northwest Davenport where they established a home. She was active in the church where she participated in community organizations and worked in the school lunch program. She was particularly proud of her volunteer work with the Girl Scouts where she mentored many young girls.

After her husband died in an industrial accident on Feb. 1, 1969, she found work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. She made a career at the Corps, retiring in 1990 as Equal Employment Opportunity Officer for the Rock Island District. While there she was named Woman of the Year.

In retirement Lorraine remained active in the community. Among other volunteer positions, in recent years she worked at the public library where she helped staff the used book store.

Lorraine Deaton was preceded in death by her husband; her parents, Mae (Nadolski) Jabus and William Dziabas; sisters Winifred Plantan (Hank) and Catherine Nash (Vince); and brothers Richard Robbins (Dorothy) and William Jabus (Marilyn).

Survivors include son Paul Deaton (Jacqueline) of Solon, daughter Patricia Deaton and son Jack Deaton Jr., both of Davenport, and a granddaughter Elizabeth Deaton of Orlando, Fla.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to a local Girl Scout troop or Girl Scouts of America at https://www.girlscouts.org/en/adults/donate.html

Funeral service was Monday, Sept. 9, at Halligan McCabe DeVries Funeral Home, with interment at Mount Calvary Cemetery in Davenport.

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Living in Society

Addicted to Politics – Three August Things

Tomatoes on Everything

I often forget myself when talking about politics. My mind enters a narcotized, dreamy, transcendent world where rhetoric and action translate into distraction searching for a reality. In such conversations I articulate long-carried ideas and get them out with others. I listen and learn as much as a person with a driving social style can.

It is rarely a good thing. It is seldom a bad thing. It is part of living in society.

Couple things about August 2019 politics.

Iowa Starting Line

Iowa Starting Line has been able to hire a comparatively large number of people to cover the Iowa caucuses. This, combined with a unique editorial viewpoint, enabled them to provide coverage of events the Des Moines Register and others can’t or won’t. Recent stories include a piece by Elizabeth Meyer that compares Burlington visits of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris; a piece by Paige Godden discussing how the Iowa State Fair enabled voters to narrow the presidential candidate field; and coverage of presidential candidate appearances at the Meskwaki settlement in Tama by Nikoel Hytrek. If these three stories were all ISL posted, it would be great. They posted a total of eight articles on Saturday and Sunday. Hats off to Pat Rynard for what he built at Iowa Starting Line, including fund raising to hire staff and a uniquely Iowa editorial viewpoint.

The Biden Narrative

There is a narrative about Joe Biden that focuses on his front-runner status in the polls. Erin Murphy ran a story in this vein in Monday’s Cedar Rapids Gazette, writing, “Biden, the former vice president, has been the leader in most polling on the expansive field of Democratic presidential candidates, both in Iowa and nationally.” While this is journeyman reporting, it misses the point about Biden.

The key question is whether Biden’s showing in polls will translate into wins in the early states. The Biden Iowa campaign was not viable in the 2008 caucuses and little about his campaign seems different today. Compared to others, he got a late start in Iowa and hasn’t established a ground game to compete with Sanders, Warren, Delaney or others.

Just yesterday the Asian and Latino Coalition of Iowa endorsed Kamala Harris for president. They are a group Biden should have won over. On Friday, Sue and Bob Dvorsky announced their support for Kamala Harris. Dvorskys were key Barack Obama supporters and Sue was chair of the Iowa Democratic Party during Obama’s re-election campaign in 2012. What happened there? Biden gets the respect due to being Barack Obama’s vice president but I can’t figure out how he gains supporters over his performance in 2008, or 1988 for that matter. This aspect of his campaign isn’t readily apparent in the news.

The continuous repetition of the narrative of Biden as poll leader may be true, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. It poisons the well. The longer the narrative continues unchallenged, in the media or from other candidates, the more detrimental it becomes to the Democratic party. Biden is blocking space other, more talented candidates could occupy.

An Electorate Re-made

Who are “real people” in the political discussion? Since my first retirement ten years ago I spent a lot of time with them in society, mostly at lowly-paid temporary or part-time jobs. They don’t show up at political party events or usually talk about politics in public. Most don’t like Trump… or the Democrats either. Will they vote in 2020? Many I know didn’t vote in 2016 and won’t vote in 2020. This is a key problem that few seem to be working as Democrats spend time in the boutique-style shopping for “my candidate” in the run up to the caucuses.

The Secretary of State voter registrations are public knowledge. No preference voters outnumber either party’s registrations and have for a few election cycles. People try to make something of these numbers and I shake my head when someone mentions Democratic registrations in a discussion without mentioning the majority of voters in Iowa don’t identify as Democratic. The Secretary of State’s information may be accurate, but it is useless in aggregate when building a campaign. Political parties are not what binds most voters.

The problems Iowans face are common ones. Key among them is the American idea of building a sustainable structure in which to live our lives, including adequate food, shelter and clothing. It also includes modern add-ons of health care, transportation, insurance, education, banking and consumer debt. Real things assault this structure. I mean government policies like the president’s trade policy, climate change, changing demographics, and the hegemony of rich people and corporations. A person doesn’t have to be a Democrat to hate the Walton family which makes more money in a minute than the average Walmart employee makes in a year. Determining the commonality of such an electorate is ever-changing hard work.

My sense is few campaigns are working on this in the long run up to the Iowa caucuses because in those contests being a Democratic voter for the night is all that matters. There is plenty of common ground to be found when the view takes in all of the electorate.

There is no treatment or cure for the political addict.

Categories
Home Life

Trail Walk

Lake Macbride State Park – Aug. 9, 2019

A main feature of the vacant lot we bought in 1993 was its proximity to Lake Macbride State Park.

When we need exercise, or just want to get away from the house, it’s a short walk to the trail that runs five miles from our nearby city to the main park entrance. In August the park is filled with wildflowers, insects and other flora and fauna of living in Iowa. There is as much to observe as there is to escape in quotidian life.

A trail walk can reset our lives each time we venture out.

Two weekends into my seventh season at an apple orchard I continue to enjoy the work and its customer engagement.

A family drove over from Chicago, one stopped on their way back to Rochester, Minn., and regulars return with the micro-seasons within a procession of a hundred apple varieties. Every chance we have to converse is a window into lives where with at least one common interest. It is the beginning of something positive.

A trail walk can get us centered and ready for such engagement.

Categories
Home Life

Lifestyle Changes

Breakfast – Aug. 9, 2019

I took five sessions with a nutritionist and wellness professional, once individually and four times as part of a group. I email her questions and she quickly emails answers back.

Based mostly on blood test results, the clinic diagnosed me with Type II diabetes in May and like many, I immediately went into denial.

Listening to the professional — a person with lots of letters following her name on the business card she handed me — I’ve been able to lose 10 percent of body weight, exercise more, and feel better. Monday is a reality check as I have blood drawn for another test and a meeting with my care-giving team the following week.

Whether my diabetes can be controlled through lifestyle changes is an open question, the answer to which is I hope to avoid diabetes’s advancement and physiological deterioration. By finding it early, the diagnosis may be beaten back. Included in this sentiment is a bit of lingering denial that I have it, but I am less worried about that than other things.

When my then septuagenarian grandmother was diagnosed with diabetes I was in the U.S. Army, stationed in Mainz, Germany. One day without warning I received a large box from her with all of the instant pudding and gelatin desserts from her cupboard. She accumulated a trove of these small boxes during her food stamps shopping trips and felt she could no longer eat it and I could. Cookery was not my specialty then. I made and ate some of it, favoring the pudding. I don’t remember how much. I am about ten years younger than she was when she had her diagnosis.

The physician’s assistant made a short list of things I should do. I followed them as best I was able: a diabetes screening from an ophthalmologist, the nutrition classes, more exercise, and regular checkups. I avoided taking regular self-administered blood tests and medication, except for a daily low-dose aspirin. Based on the nutritionist’s recommendation, I started taking vitamin B-12, which seems to have improved my sleep. As a mostly ovo-lacto vegetarian I probably get enough B-12, but the supplement is inexpensive and the downside of taking it minimal. The nutritionist taught us about the USP label for dietary supplements and what it means.

The focus of counseling has been to count carbs and establish a carbohydrate budget for each meal, snacks, and for each day. Enjoy food more, including things culturally favored, but stay within the budget. That means one ear of sweet corn, two ounces of pasta, smaller portions of rice and noodles for meals. Nearly complete avoidance of simple sugars is recommended. When one of the group asked about something else — BMI, protein, weight loss or whatever — she steadfastly returned to the need to control glucose when diagnosed with diabetes. She acknowledged there were other weight and nutrition aspects to life, but we were there to learn about how to eat with our diagnosis. I’m trying to own “my diagnosis” but am not there yet.

I’m modifying my behavior although I could relapse at any moment. It hasn’t been easy. It may continue to be not-easy. As a gardener I have access to fresh vegetables that can fill my plate as in the photo of Friday morning’s breakfast. When I returned to work at the orchard, I told my supervisor I had to refrain from eating almost everything we make with the exception of apples. What will I do when winter comes? Near yesterday’s anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, I’m thinking if it’s a nuclear winter I may not have to worry about it. However, using that as an excuse for denial of my diabetes diagnosis is pretty lame.

I’m pretty sure this won’t be the last impactful lifestyle change I have to make as I age. Big picture? I’m okay with that. It’s better than the alternative.