July 11, 2025 • 37 mins
Today, Doug Pike interviews Katie Scott, MPH about family care givers. Pike also speaks with Robbie Grainger about travel.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Remember when it was impossible to misplace the TV remote
because you were the TV remote. Remember when music sounded
like this, Remember when social media was truly social?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hey John, how's it going today?
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Well?
Speaker 1 (00:20):
This show is all about you, only the good die.
This is fifty plus with Doug Pike. Helpful information on
your finances, good health, and what to do for fun.
Fifty plus brought to you by the UT Health Houston
Institute on Aging, Informed Decisions for a healthier, happier life,
(00:42):
and now fifty plus with Doug Pike.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
All Right, Welcome to this latest edition of fifty plus.
I put out a Facebook post earlier today to talk
about what's gonna happen today on the show if the
phone lines all work correctly and everything goes according to Hoyle,
A day on which I've lined up two solid interviews
I think for what I hope to be your listening pleasure.
(01:07):
The first one a little later after this segment, actually
will pertain to family caregivers and their perpetual need. I believe,
after ten years of doing this show, and probably at
least one or two a year on this topic, perpetual
need for occasional breaks from the task that they so
(01:29):
graciously accepted. I don't think that I don't think that
anyone is one hundred percent obligated to take care of
a grown person, but man, it sure feels right if
your mom or dad, or even an anne or an uncle,
(01:50):
maybe a sibling, somebody suddenly for whatever medical reasons, needs
help that they can't provide for themselves, and maybe they
can't four to bring into the house every day, a
family member typically ends up stepping up, and those people
need help. And so we'll talk about that in a
little while, and then a little later than that, I'll
(02:12):
dive into international sporting travel. And that's just so that
if you ever get the chance someday to do something
like that, and you haven't yet, you're going to be
far better prepared to have a positive experience that includes
all of your stuff arriving at the destination the same
time you get there. I have had other experiences than that,
(02:36):
more than once on travel that I used to do
a lot more of than I do now, and there's
very little that says as disappointing as showing up. For example,
I took a trip years ago to a very remote
fishing lodge in Costa Rica. It was on the coast,
and I got to the airport and found out that
(03:00):
my rod case had turned up missing when we arrived,
and so I filed acclaim. I let them know what
they were looking for, and by satellite phone on day
four of the six day trip, I was notified that
they had indeed found the rod case and it was
(03:22):
in the airport and it would be safe there. It
would be in a manager's office or something like that.
Don't have to worry about those rods. They'll be safe
with us, sir. It's great it didn't get fish with
them for a whole week, but other than that, and
fortunately for me, I've talked about this before over the years.
Fortunately everybody on that trip was as crazy for being
(03:45):
prepared for anything as was I, and each of us
had gathered up between six and eight complete fishing outfits
for this one week trip, so there were spares to
go around, and I was glad to have them, but
it still wasn't like having what I wanted to have.
So anyway, we'll get to that with a man named
(04:08):
Robbie Granger, a guy I've known for a very long
time with whom I've actually made some international sporting travel,
and I consider him my go to guy for all
of that stuff. You'll hear from him a little later.
On the flip side to bad media experience. I got
to go to Sweden years ago, all four all four
(04:30):
of my bags that I brought well kind of a
carry on, a mini carry on that they kind of
looked at me funny, and I can remember in the
airport saying, don't make me tell you this is my purse.
And it was just some bare essentials there toilet trees
and I think maybe a clean underwear, and then the
actual carry on bag had more stuff in it, and
(04:53):
then there were two to go with. All that bottom
line was we got there, All of my stuff got there.
We were hosted by the Abu Garcia Corporation Outdoors. The
fishermen in the audience will know who that is. The
rest of you may or may not, doesn't matter. But
on the day I went salmon fishing. I love sharing
this story because it was kind of funny, just me
(05:15):
and a guy on the Baltic Sea somewhere off the
southeast coast of Sweden. Mandatory that you wear a survival
suit because otherwise you're going to go into hypothermia within
a couple of minutes when you hit that water pretty
much any time of year. And so anyway, a few
hours into this trip, on which by the way, we
caught zero salmon, because the captain of the boat actually
(05:37):
told me, hey, look, I don't really know why we're
even out here. The netters have wiped out our salmon
and it's been a while since anybody caught one. Can Okay,
I can still check the salmon fishing in the Balton
Baltic Sea box, so I was good with that. So anyway,
I get pretty thirsty, and I turned to the guy
and said, hey, man, we're by the way, we're on
(05:59):
like a seven teen foot walked through windshield boat thirty
or forty miles out into the Baltic Sea. Can't see
land anywhere. And the reason the boats are so small
is because it's so difficult to get larger outboard engines
that would be required to push bigger boats. Again, this
was twenty years ago somewhere in there, so maybe it's
(06:21):
changed since then. But the picture me and this captain
who I don't know from Adam, and we're dragging lures
in the Baltic Sea and it's hot because you have
to stay in that survival suit in case you go overboard,
which I don't know how that was gonna happen. But
the long and the short of it is, I'm thirsty, said, hey, man,
(06:43):
how about a water? Can you hook me up with
the water? No water, he says, but I got beer.
No thanks, man, just some water, to which he replied, really,
no water, just beer, yes or no. And I'm thirsty
enough and I'm okay with that. Growing man, I can
handle a beer well. In Sweden, if you don't know,
(07:05):
at least then and probably still today, they have three
alcohol levels of beer. The lowest one is legal to
drink even if you're driving. The second one's a little
closer to wine in alcohol, and the third one is
kind of like doing fireball shots. It's it's gonna get you.
(07:28):
You don't even realize it, but it's gonna get you.
So anyway, said I'll take a beer. And all he
had was level three, big can, about the size of
an old pens oil oil can. So he whips out
of church key, opens the can, he hands it to me.
I drink maybe it, maybe a quarter of it, and
I still feel thirsty, so I down a little more.
(07:49):
Still I'm okay, and then all of a sudden, it
just it just hits me like a punch to the face.
I'm stumbling drunk in the back of this little boat
on the Baltic Sea. No salmon, no nothing, Not really
much memory either until we got back to the dock.
That was That was an experience. If you are looking
(08:10):
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Speaker 1 (10:07):
Once life without a net, I suggest to go to bed,
sleep it off, just wait until the show's over.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Sleepy.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Back to Doug Pike as fifty plus continues.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Plus thanks a lot, appreciate it, I really do, and
thanks for tuning in this afternoon. We'll talk in this
segment about Care Partners, which is a volunteer led nonprofit
network of people who provide support, education, resources, an occasional break.
That's the most important thing I think, the family caregivers.
And to explain, none better qualified than Master of Public
(10:40):
Health Katie Scott, who heads Care Partners.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Welcome aboard, Katie, Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Oh you're quite welcome. So take us back briefly to
the beginning of care Partners, When and where and why
was it started?
Speaker 4 (10:54):
So, Care Partners actually started in the late nineteen eighties
around this concept of mobilizing volunteers across Greater Houston to
help some of Houston's most vulnerable. We started out providing
in home care and support to individuals with HIV and AIDS,
and as resources became more available to that population, we
(11:14):
shifted our focus to older adults, especially those with dementia.
Across Greater Houston.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
It's a fantastic thing you do. No matter how you
want to talk about it, anything you're doing along those
lines is great. What parts of the city does Care
Partners serve? Just the whole region?
Speaker 4 (11:30):
Here we cover Greater Houston. I like to say that
we go from Conrod to Clear Lake, from Katie to Kingwood.
Oh my god, I'm going to use that.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
That's pretty good.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Absolutely. Yeah, we have over forty locations across Greater Houston.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
And I saw that you guys partner with what sixty
other related groups. I'm guessing you've got connections to just
about anything any family caregiver could need or want to
get their head back above water.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Right.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
Absolutely, this is an issue that no one organization or
group can do alone, and so partnerships is how we're built.
We partner with faith based organizations, other community organizations such
as the Alzheimer's Association and AARP to really make sure
that we can get the information and the resources caregivers
(12:19):
need to them at the right time.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Katie Scott from Care Partners here on fifty plus, let's
talk about the services specifically that your group provides. What's
the number one request you get from people who who
ring you up and just say I need some help.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
You know, we actually get kind of three top requests,
and one is they need information, they need to understand
what's happening to their loved one. Number two, they say
they need connection, they want to hear from other people
that are going through the same thing. And then finally,
as you mentioned, they say they need a break, They
(12:55):
need a moment to breathe, whether it's five minutes, five hours,
or five days. And the services that we provide really
try to cover one or all three of those things.
We have caregiver education workshops and conferences across Greater Houston,
both in person and virtually to provide that information. We
(13:17):
also have care consultants. These are specialized staff members that
can do one on one coaching in consultation both in
English and in Spanish to help people kind of navigate
this journey. And then we can provide some additional group
support through both online and in person support groups. And
(13:38):
then finally, we do really try to make sure our
family caregivers can get a break, and we do that
through our volunteer based services. So these are where families
can bring their loved one to group settings at our
partner locations across Greater Houston for three to four hours,
and they can engage with our volunteers while the care
(14:00):
giver takes a moment for themselves. We can also do
this in the home. And then finally we have our
licensed dementia specific adult day center. So this really provides
the consistent care for those with more complex needs.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
And that in turn provides a service to keep the
caregivers from becoming the people who need the care.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
Doesn't it exactly? Caregivers really undergo a lot of stress,
are at high risk for anxiety, depression, physical ailments of themselves,
and so they are really struggling. And so if we
don't care for that caregiver, they are also going to
be in the place where they need care.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
You mentioned the connection and the importance of that. It's
I would imagine that almost all of these people when
they first come to you guys, don't realize that there
are other people in this exact same paddle, in the
exact same canoe they are, And I think there's just
there's strength that can come from that. And with these
interactions you have with all these people in these group settings,
(15:02):
they're going to find out things that they didn't know
they could do to help themselves or find shortcuts to
stuff that will just make their lives easier, won't it.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
Yeah. I mean in the US alone, there are about
fifty three million people providing unpaid care, and in the
Houston area looks like five hundred thousand are caring for
older adults. But it is isolating when you are often
having to work a full time, forty hour a week
job and then coming back to your twenty four to
(15:33):
seven job that you never got training for. You can
feel alone on an island. And one of the most
important things that we emphasize is finding that network of people,
whether it be friends, whether it be family, neighbors, or
through organizations like care Partners, that you can reach out
to so that you know that you're not alone and
you can get those critical resources.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Speaking of not alone, see that you have more than
twelve hundred volunteers years on the team. I bet you
wouldn't mind having twelve hundred and one, would you.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
No, we are always looking for more volunteers. At some
of our sites, we actually have wait lists because we
need more volunteers to come and help us out to
provide this care.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
What goes into becoming a volunteer, Well, we.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Will provide you all of the training and we will
undergo a background check. So all you need is a
volunteer to have is to have a heart and want
to do this service. We have commitments from you know,
one day for one particular event, two monthly to daily,
and so we work with you to find the volunteer
(16:40):
opportunity that works best for you.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
What's the fee structure for all of this? What does
this cost the people who use the service?
Speaker 4 (16:49):
So all of our community based programs, so those are
our volunteer led programs and our caregiver support programs, those
are all provided to families at no costow the only
service that we have that has a fee is our
License Dementia Day Center and we offer yeah, we offer
sliding scale financial assistance in addition to our private pay fees,
(17:15):
which are a daily fee of anywhere from eighty dollars
to ninety five dollars per day.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
We're down to just about a minute. Katie Scott from
Care Partners, what would you want to say to the
family caregivers who are listening in this audience right now?
What do you want them to know about the importance
of their roles and the importance of asking for help
when they need it.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
I would simply say, you are not alone, and you
don't have to do this alone. There are people out there, organizations,
your friends, your neighbors who really want to help you
navigate this challenge. So please reach out. We are here
to help you. You can reach out to care Partners
at care Partners Texas dot org and if not us,
(18:01):
reach out to a friend. Because you don't have to
do this journey alone.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
That's a big old amen at the end of that.
Thank you so much, Katie Scott. I really do appreciate it.
Hope we can do this again sometime. Just feel free
anytime you think you need a lot more volunteers, call
me and we'll get this done again.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
Absolutely, Thank you so much for having us on.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
You bet, Thank you, Katie. All Right, we got to
take a little break here on the way out. I'll
tell you about Cedar cove RV Resort Cedar cove RV Resort,
and I'll give you a little kind of a humorous
announcement about them in just a minute. Cedar cove Rvy
Resorts over in Baytown down Tri City Beach Road, pretty
much close to the end of the road really right
there on Galveson Bay, and with all the amenities you
(18:40):
can possibly imagine wanting or needing in a place to
park your RV your camper for a night a week
all summer. I had an email exchange with Al Kibbi,
the owner, just recently. In fact, we're going to talk
about it next week in an interview. One of the
things he is adding to Cedar Cove RV Resort, in
(19:00):
addition to all the concrete roads and slabs, in addition
to electric water and sewer at every site, WI fi
the bathhouse if you need to take a quick shower
and don't want to use up all the water in
your motor home. All that plus some pretty good fishing
over there. What he's going to add is the opportunity
for those of you who don't own a camper or
(19:21):
a trailer or a motor home to rent one so
that you and your family can kind of have the
same experience, but without having to store and wash and
ensure and take care of a motor home of your own.
I think that's a fantastic idea, frankly, and I think
a lot of people will take advantage of that. It's
kind of like an airbnb. You go stay in a
(19:42):
really nice condo for a day, a week or two
weeks or whatever with a family, and you get all
the amenities that come with that, but you don't have
to deal with it afterward. I like this idea for him,
I like it for all of my audience who might
be just looking to instead of taking get a little
vacation somewhere toward the coast and waking up overlooking some
(20:04):
grubby looking parking lot and maybe a fast food place
next door. You wake up the sunrises and sunsets over
the bay. It's a whole lot better. Cedar cove Rvresort
dot com. I didn't forget this announcement. I've been talking
about Al and his I'll wrap this in quotes his
wife Tracy. Turns out Tracy is the wife of the
(20:24):
friend of Al's who connected me with Al. And it's
Nancy who is Owl's wife. In case you're keeping score
at home, Cedar cove Rvresort dot com. Cedar cove Rvresort
dot com.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
YEA, they sure don't make them like they used to.
That's why every few months we wash him, check us
fluids and spring on a fresh coat of wax. This
is fifty plus with Doug Pike fifty plus.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Thank you for listening. I certainly do appreciate it. Thanks
to Katie Scott for sharing care partners with us too.
We'll talk in this segment about something most of us
either have done or would certainly like to do at
some point in our lives, and that is to travel
internationally to some place we'd like to enjoy the outdoors somehow.
And I know nobody more qualified to have this discussion
(21:14):
in Robbie Granger from Exciting Outdoors, my host years ago
on a trip to Argentina. Welcome board, Robbie.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
God Today, Doug Howard, thanks today.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Things are good. Let's let the travel agencies have their
little minute with people who are only packing clothes and
want to see the Louver or Big Ben or the
Parthenon or something like that. From from you, I want
to know about trips that involve sporting goods Okay rods
and Reel's guns and m skis or snowboards that that
kind of stuff, golf clubs. And that's got to start
(21:43):
with establishing trust with somebody like you.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Really doesn't it, Well, yeah, you're exactly correct.
Speaker 5 (21:48):
I mean, there's lots of people who will provide a
service once you get there, but there's so much involved
prior to your arrival from a logistics standpoint, and how
do you get those guns or those there, those those.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
Rog and reels. You really need to rely on the
people you're going with.
Speaker 5 (22:09):
If they're unwilling or you sense that they're not capable
of pulling that off, you might consider looking somewhere else
with who your have a partner is. And that's exactly
what we are as a travel partner, you don't I mean,
in our particular case, we're asking a lot of most
people to come sixty five hundred seven thousand miles to
(22:32):
a country that most of them have not been before,
and that can be daunting. And you know, we've all
cleared customs and we walk out the door and you go, okay,
I'm here.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
What next?
Speaker 5 (22:44):
Well that what next needs to be taken care of
way in advance, and you know, there's there's We've been
doing this for a number of years.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
We haven't lost anybody yet.
Speaker 5 (22:56):
We've had a few people go off and get lost
on their own and and we'll find them, but we'd
rather not face that challenge, so.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Do you so little tags into their underwear or something
to where you can go find them, Robbie, I might
want to.
Speaker 5 (23:10):
Think about it now with well, now, now with all
this technology, I guess we could just say put you know,
put your phone on, fine, find me or whatever.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
But whatever it's called, I'm ulder school. I don't know
how to do it. Half of that, half of that stuff.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
It really doesn't make sense if I've never done something,
or maybe even just done it once. It makes sense
to hand the reins to somebody who's done it a
thousand times. You know what customs wants on both ends.
You know how it all works from where you're standing
now to where you're going to be right. So with
that said, what is the biggest mistake international sporting travelers
make in your opinion?
Speaker 5 (23:44):
I think what we've run into and it's it's it's
it's a little bit backwards thinking. Entering guns into say,
where we primarily do our business in Argentina is a
little bit of paperwork which we will assist you with,
and two hundred and fifty dollars per gun. You clear
(24:05):
that gun like it's a piece of baggage.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
Once you get to bueasiras. It's it's it's not super lengthy.
Speaker 5 (24:13):
It might an hour, might add an hour to getting
through customs if you have firearms. Now where people really
don't realize, bringing those guns back is not just a
simple matter of putting them on the plane and gathering
your bags back at your home destination. You need to
(24:35):
and it's a it's a it's a one page form.
It's called a customs declaration. You need to declare anything
of substantial value, whatever that means. It's kind of subjective,
but certainly guns. If you're traveling with a bunch of jewelry,
which we don't recommend, but if you feel like you
need to, you need you need to tell us customs
(24:56):
before you leave. Hey, this is mine and I'm bringing
it back so they don't think that you've made a
purchase out of the country or trying to skate on
duties or taxes or what have you. And that happens more,
not as much now, but it still does happen. And
(25:18):
a lot of people say, look, if you're bringing your firearms, great,
I mean I'd actually rather you bring yours and shoot mine.
That way, you're not wearing mine out so to speak,
but you need to be prepared to bring them home,
and that's you can get that customs declaration for them,
and when you're leaving the country, you'll go by the
local the customs office in the airport and they'll stamp
(25:42):
it or sign off on it, and then you're pretty
much good to go.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
As a quick rule, Robbie, what's the what are the
consequences of not having the right documents or not securing
everything properly?
Speaker 5 (25:54):
I think in the extreme, they could I guess, I
guess they could come to skate that. I've never heard
of that, but you might. But you might be put
in a position where you have to prove ownership. And
to prove ownership, you know, if that gun is something
that your dad gave you thirty years ago, how do
you do that?
Speaker 3 (26:12):
I mean, do you have to find his will?
Speaker 2 (26:13):
That's a very good point.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Yeah, I mean it's I mean.
Speaker 5 (26:16):
You will be required probably to prove most of the
time they're gonna you're gonna be with a group of people.
Everybody's gonna be under the same circumstance. And if and
if you have somebody with half a operating brain, they'll say, Okay,
this guy just screwed up. You know you can pass,
but you never know who you're going to be in
front of at that time, so it's best just to
(26:38):
be prepared for that.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
For that, believe it or not, we're down to a
minute and a half. Robbie Robbie Granger from Exciting Outdoors
dot Com on fifty plus back to the personal cybeer
real quick. What are some of the things that absolutely
need to be in a carry on bag just in case?
Collection of stuff that might be hard to get if
you show up in BA at ten o'clock at night
and your check lugg is on a carousel in Newark.
Speaker 5 (27:02):
Well, certainly you know anybody who takes regular medications that
should be in a carry on bag.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
My recommendation is take.
Speaker 5 (27:11):
A picture with your phone of the of the picture
page of your passport any event, and do not ever
put your passport. It has to be on your person
and and but people lose things, and if you do
lose that passport, you're not completely out of luck. If
you have a picture, you can go to the local
(27:32):
consulate and and and they'll issue a issue of a
temporary passport in most cases unless you're on some list.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
But if you're on a list.
Speaker 5 (27:44):
If you're on a list, you didn't get on that
plot to again, you're not getting out of the country
if you're on that list.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Right, all right, partner, Well, look, it's good to hear
from you. I look forward to doing more and more
of this stuff as we get into the fall. You
and I are talking about nice big project. It's gonna
bring you a little tighter and closer to both my audiences.
I may play this tomorrow, actually, either tomorrow or Sunday,
just so people will started thinking about it. Yeah, man,
(28:10):
my pleasure, Robbie, thank you, buddy. Yeah, right, ground, you're
exciting out doors dot Com go check it out. We'll
take a little break here now and teeing it up
with Champions Tree Preservation up there. In Champions, it's the
name implies, and if you want to hurry up and
get your trees checked before something boils up in the
Gulf of Mexico, you know it's gonna happen. You know
(28:32):
it's gonna happen at some time this year, So why
don't we go ahead and get that knocked out? Bring well,
don't bring, just call them. They'll send somebody over to
your house. An arborist, not just to any old somebody.
An arborist, a specialized tree person will assess the healthier trees,
let you know whether they need pruning, whether they need trimming,
(28:53):
whether they need food, or whether they gotta go. If
it's damaged and bad and sick, they're gonna wreck command
you get rid of it. And if you do have
to go that route, they have a tree farm in
addition to owning all the equipment they need to do
anything with your trees, including lifts and buckets and chainsaws
(29:14):
and stump grinders, all of that stuff. They own it all.
They don't have to sub it out to anybody to
do any of that work. They also own a tree
form right farm right there adjacent to the shop. Let
them come out and give you a consultation, not gonna
cost you anything, and then take care of your trees.
Make sure you're ready for storm season, like hopefully everybody
around you is. Two eight one three two zero eighty
(29:36):
two zero one two eight one three two zero eighty
two zero one. Go to the website championstree dot com.
That's championstree dot com.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
Old guys rule, and of course women never get old.
If you want to avoid sleeping on the couch.
Speaker 5 (29:55):
Oh, if you think that sounds like a good three.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Fifty plus continues, here's more with Doug fifty plus.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Here as we do well five days a week, I've
got other things. By the way, really quickly back to Sweden,
because there's one important part of that trip that really
it really made it complete for me. That was the
only place on planet Earth where I actually got to
catch northern pike. Now I know we have northern pike
(30:27):
in North America farther up than where we live, but
I've never gone up that way specifically to fish for them,
and so it was. It was with great respect for
the fish that I babysat everyone I caught, made sure
they got put back their family. I guess, huh, they
(30:48):
got the same last name. It was really a lot
of fun and organized by professionals, kind of like Robbie
Robbie Granger there from exciting outdoors ah Mercy speaking of
Sweden and not related at all to the out of
doors really, I guess you could spin it to be
that way, but the bottom line is Sweden was where
(31:10):
I saw the origins of a good news story about
a small clinical trial granted it was only ten patients, okay,
but it was successful ten times out of ten with
a treatment it's a kind of a well, it's a
complex treatment. I'll just leave it at that. But what
it does is it reverses hearing loss caused by a
(31:33):
very specific condition otofn't I can't even remember what that
stands for, but I put that down there, and if
perhaps you know somebody who said, you know, I know
somebody who has this. There's only two hundred thousand cases worldwide,
so that's not something that normally would get that much
(31:54):
attention or that much research. But the bottom line is
with this treatment in patients aged from one to twenty four,
all ten experienced recovery of it at least some and
in some cases nearly all of their loss. There's still
a long road ahead for the research and trial path
(32:15):
to approval for this stuff, but definitely off to a
good start. Rare condition, like I said, and now those
people have a good shot at restoration of their hearing.
So hats off there the sad and continuing storry from
the Hill Country. It's pretty apparent now that finding any
more survivors of the floods a week ago is unlikely.
(32:36):
In full recovery mode, the first responders and volunteers up
there continue their work in search of just as many people,
as many human remains as they can possibly recover for
the families of those poor souls. I just looked at
a video a little while ago of how how rescue
will not rescuers anymore, searchers will call them are Actually
(32:57):
they're sharpening stick and then jamming them strongly down into
debris piles to create a hole into that debris pile
that might release the odor of a body so that
the dogs can more easily find it. The reason they
(33:18):
were doing it in this particular debris pile was because
there was a buzzard spotted nearby, which is it's all
grotesque to think about, but whatever it takes, whatever tools
are necessary to help these families get past the step
they're stuck on right now, I think is worth every
minute of it. My friend Scott Null, as I talked
(33:38):
about yesterday, is down there or up there in the
hill country, and he just drove up there with his
skid stare and said what can I do? And fast
forward to today. Turns out he has not only been
helping tremendously with his skills, but he has now been
put in charge of three different crews who are working
(34:00):
He's out of the skids there. He's driving around in
his truck and making sure that the three crews he's
working with now are not leaving any stone unturned. And
I just I so great greatly appreciate what he's doing
for these families. And to anybody who thinks it's their
time to make unfounded claims against anyone or anything having
(34:23):
to do with this tragedy, just shut the hell up. Okay,
how about you save it for the day after the
last victim's remains are recovered. How about that pathetic little
attention grabbers, that's all they are. Look at me, look
at me. Listen to what I say. It's important. Nah,
if you're going to bad mouth what's going on in
(34:44):
there right now while there's still more than one hundred
people unaccounted for, and just keep it to yourself for
a little while, Okay, stop it. I'm not gonna worry
about California now. They're just drowning themselves in stupidity and
bad moves. I'll fold that and put it away from
the developing story desk. I heard discussion yesterday about the
(35:07):
long ago Russian dossier that was used to smear President
Trump a while back, and the can of worms more recently,
as evidence has opened and begun in regard to who
knew it was a total hoax when they knew about it,
and how they still insisted it was real when we
know now that it was not, and in fact, it
(35:30):
was kind of home cooking that put that dossier into
mainstream media's hands and put it on their table, and
they ran with it. Boy, they ran with that ugly
lion football for years. Some of the biggest names in
American politics from that time, by the way, are being
mentioned in conversations quite aloud now as having taken part
(35:55):
and there's investigation underway to see if charges might be
filed discussion. He was pretty telling too. I really hope
the DOJAR follows through with this and forces the people
who were involved to either come clean or potentially expose
themselves to perjury charges. And those are really about the
only two choices they're gonna have, because, like I said yesterday,
at some point, there are going to be whistleblowers who
(36:20):
who have plenty of knowledge about this and other things
that have gone on in the last several years. It's
gonna be a hot mess in a frightening but Kyle
Leah not surprising turn of events. By the way, I'll
rap with this. I think Harris County murder suspect put
back on the streets recently because the DA's office failed
to file the man's indictment on time. My gut tells
(36:44):
me this guy's already in the wind, unlikely to resurface
anytime soon. For him, that was like hitting the lottery
without even buying a ticket. That's about how good that
was for him. Oh what, I don't have to stay here. Okay,
that's awesome. Today's National French Friday, and according to a
recent report, the average American eats seventeen pounds of French
(37:04):
fries per year, which means that to keep balancing the universe,
somebody one of you is eating thirty four pounds of
fries because I don't eat them anymore. I'm just not
that tough. That's it for now. Thank you so much
for listening. Audios
Remember when it was impossible to misplace the TV remote
because you were the TV remote. Remember when music sounded
like this, Remember when social media was truly social?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hey John, how's it going today?
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Well?
Speaker 1 (00:20):
This show is all about you, only the good die.
This is fifty plus with Doug Pike. Helpful information on
your finances, good health, and what to do for fun.
Fifty plus brought to you by the UT Health Houston
Institute on Aging, Informed Decisions for a healthier, happier life,
(00:42):
and now fifty plus with Doug Pike.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
All Right, Welcome to this latest edition of fifty plus.
I put out a Facebook post earlier today to talk
about what's gonna happen today on the show if the
phone lines all work correctly and everything goes according to Hoyle,
A day on which I've lined up two solid interviews
I think for what I hope to be your listening pleasure.
(01:07):
The first one a little later after this segment, actually
will pertain to family caregivers and their perpetual need. I believe,
after ten years of doing this show, and probably at
least one or two a year on this topic, perpetual
need for occasional breaks from the task that they so
(01:29):
graciously accepted. I don't think that I don't think that
anyone is one hundred percent obligated to take care of
a grown person, but man, it sure feels right if
your mom or dad, or even an anne or an uncle,
(01:50):
maybe a sibling, somebody suddenly for whatever medical reasons, needs
help that they can't provide for themselves, and maybe they
can't four to bring into the house every day, a
family member typically ends up stepping up, and those people
need help. And so we'll talk about that in a
little while, and then a little later than that, I'll
(02:12):
dive into international sporting travel. And that's just so that
if you ever get the chance someday to do something
like that, and you haven't yet, you're going to be
far better prepared to have a positive experience that includes
all of your stuff arriving at the destination the same
time you get there. I have had other experiences than that,
(02:36):
more than once on travel that I used to do
a lot more of than I do now, and there's
very little that says as disappointing as showing up. For example,
I took a trip years ago to a very remote
fishing lodge in Costa Rica. It was on the coast,
and I got to the airport and found out that
(03:00):
my rod case had turned up missing when we arrived,
and so I filed acclaim. I let them know what
they were looking for, and by satellite phone on day
four of the six day trip, I was notified that
they had indeed found the rod case and it was
(03:22):
in the airport and it would be safe there. It
would be in a manager's office or something like that.
Don't have to worry about those rods. They'll be safe
with us, sir. It's great it didn't get fish with
them for a whole week, but other than that, and
fortunately for me, I've talked about this before over the years.
Fortunately everybody on that trip was as crazy for being
(03:45):
prepared for anything as was I, and each of us
had gathered up between six and eight complete fishing outfits
for this one week trip, so there were spares to
go around, and I was glad to have them, but
it still wasn't like having what I wanted to have.
So anyway, we'll get to that with a man named
(04:08):
Robbie Granger, a guy I've known for a very long
time with whom I've actually made some international sporting travel,
and I consider him my go to guy for all
of that stuff. You'll hear from him a little later.
On the flip side to bad media experience. I got
to go to Sweden years ago, all four all four
(04:30):
of my bags that I brought well kind of a
carry on, a mini carry on that they kind of
looked at me funny, and I can remember in the
airport saying, don't make me tell you this is my purse.
And it was just some bare essentials there toilet trees
and I think maybe a clean underwear, and then the
actual carry on bag had more stuff in it, and
(04:53):
then there were two to go with. All that bottom
line was we got there, All of my stuff got there.
We were hosted by the Abu Garcia Corporation Outdoors. The
fishermen in the audience will know who that is. The
rest of you may or may not, doesn't matter. But
on the day I went salmon fishing. I love sharing
this story because it was kind of funny, just me
(05:15):
and a guy on the Baltic Sea somewhere off the
southeast coast of Sweden. Mandatory that you wear a survival
suit because otherwise you're going to go into hypothermia within
a couple of minutes when you hit that water pretty
much any time of year. And so anyway, a few
hours into this trip, on which by the way, we
caught zero salmon, because the captain of the boat actually
(05:37):
told me, hey, look, I don't really know why we're
even out here. The netters have wiped out our salmon
and it's been a while since anybody caught one. Can Okay,
I can still check the salmon fishing in the Balton
Baltic Sea box, so I was good with that. So anyway,
I get pretty thirsty, and I turned to the guy
and said, hey, man, we're by the way, we're on
(05:59):
like a seven teen foot walked through windshield boat thirty
or forty miles out into the Baltic Sea. Can't see
land anywhere. And the reason the boats are so small
is because it's so difficult to get larger outboard engines
that would be required to push bigger boats. Again, this
was twenty years ago somewhere in there, so maybe it's
(06:21):
changed since then. But the picture me and this captain
who I don't know from Adam, and we're dragging lures
in the Baltic Sea and it's hot because you have
to stay in that survival suit in case you go overboard,
which I don't know how that was gonna happen. But
the long and the short of it is, I'm thirsty, said, hey, man,
(06:43):
how about a water? Can you hook me up with
the water? No water, he says, but I got beer.
No thanks, man, just some water, to which he replied, really,
no water, just beer, yes or no. And I'm thirsty
enough and I'm okay with that. Growing man, I can
handle a beer well. In Sweden, if you don't know,
(07:05):
at least then and probably still today, they have three
alcohol levels of beer. The lowest one is legal to
drink even if you're driving. The second one's a little
closer to wine in alcohol, and the third one is
kind of like doing fireball shots. It's it's gonna get you.
(07:28):
You don't even realize it, but it's gonna get you.
So anyway, said I'll take a beer. And all he
had was level three, big can, about the size of
an old pens oil oil can. So he whips out
of church key, opens the can, he hands it to me.
I drink maybe it, maybe a quarter of it, and
I still feel thirsty, so I down a little more.
(07:49):
Still I'm okay, and then all of a sudden, it
just it just hits me like a punch to the face.
I'm stumbling drunk in the back of this little boat
on the Baltic Sea. No salmon, no nothing, Not really
much memory either until we got back to the dock.
That was That was an experience. If you are looking
(08:10):
to update your home's appearance and you would like to
experience something absolutely stunning to make your house look better,
consider an iron door or a steel door. They're slightly
different things. The big, heavy, forged iron doors are beautiful
on the right home, and the sleek modern narrow profile
doors equally beautiful on the right home. And optimal doors
(08:33):
has a showroom full of people and examples of these
doors that you could look at and begin the selection
process with someone who will help you. Because there are
so many options, you just be overwhelmed if you try
to do it by yourself, you really would. My wife
and I were when we tried to pick out our
door two years ago by ourselves. The first time we
(08:53):
went to the website, too many went over to the showroom,
sat down with somebody, actually sat down with the owner,
Joseph Jason Fordenberry, and he helped us pick out the
right door to make our house look good. The iron
doors now, they're coming in from North America, They're not
being shipped from overseas, and they are custom made to
fit the space you want fit. If you want an
(09:14):
exact size of this door you have now, they'll do
that for you. If you want something a little bigger,
a little smaller, they can do that as well. But
they're not gonna chop up your house. They're not gonna
add a bunch of wood if you don't want that.
Beautiful doors, less maintenance than would, more security than wood,
and again all made right here in North America. Optima
(09:36):
Doors available exclusively through Primo Doors. That showroom is over
there off North Post Oak, very easy to find, or
you can go to the website and start your search there.
Optima iron doors dot com. Optima iron doors dot com.
By the way, they got a big old July summer
sale going on discounts off of already low prices from
(09:58):
way back before Tariff's sou don't waste any time, go
ahead and get this knocked out. Why you can still
get that big discount at optimairndoors dot com.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Once life without a net, I suggest to go to bed,
sleep it off, just wait until the show's over.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Sleepy.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Back to Doug Pike as fifty plus continues.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Plus thanks a lot, appreciate it, I really do, and
thanks for tuning in this afternoon. We'll talk in this
segment about Care Partners, which is a volunteer led nonprofit
network of people who provide support, education, resources, an occasional break.
That's the most important thing I think, the family caregivers.
And to explain, none better qualified than Master of Public
(10:40):
Health Katie Scott, who heads Care Partners.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Welcome aboard, Katie, Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Oh you're quite welcome. So take us back briefly to
the beginning of care Partners, When and where and why
was it started?
Speaker 4 (10:54):
So, Care Partners actually started in the late nineteen eighties
around this concept of mobilizing volunteers across Greater Houston to
help some of Houston's most vulnerable. We started out providing
in home care and support to individuals with HIV and AIDS,
and as resources became more available to that population, we
(11:14):
shifted our focus to older adults, especially those with dementia.
Across Greater Houston.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
It's a fantastic thing you do. No matter how you
want to talk about it, anything you're doing along those
lines is great. What parts of the city does Care
Partners serve? Just the whole region?
Speaker 4 (11:30):
Here we cover Greater Houston. I like to say that
we go from Conrod to Clear Lake, from Katie to Kingwood.
Oh my god, I'm going to use that.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
That's pretty good.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Absolutely. Yeah, we have over forty locations across Greater Houston.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
And I saw that you guys partner with what sixty
other related groups. I'm guessing you've got connections to just
about anything any family caregiver could need or want to
get their head back above water.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Right.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
Absolutely, this is an issue that no one organization or
group can do alone, and so partnerships is how we're built.
We partner with faith based organizations, other community organizations such
as the Alzheimer's Association and AARP to really make sure
that we can get the information and the resources caregivers
(12:19):
need to them at the right time.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Katie Scott from Care Partners here on fifty plus, let's
talk about the services specifically that your group provides. What's
the number one request you get from people who who
ring you up and just say I need some help.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
You know, we actually get kind of three top requests,
and one is they need information, they need to understand
what's happening to their loved one. Number two, they say
they need connection, they want to hear from other people
that are going through the same thing. And then finally,
as you mentioned, they say they need a break, They
(12:55):
need a moment to breathe, whether it's five minutes, five hours,
or five days. And the services that we provide really
try to cover one or all three of those things.
We have caregiver education workshops and conferences across Greater Houston,
both in person and virtually to provide that information. We
(13:17):
also have care consultants. These are specialized staff members that
can do one on one coaching in consultation both in
English and in Spanish to help people kind of navigate
this journey. And then we can provide some additional group
support through both online and in person support groups. And
(13:38):
then finally, we do really try to make sure our
family caregivers can get a break, and we do that
through our volunteer based services. So these are where families
can bring their loved one to group settings at our
partner locations across Greater Houston for three to four hours,
and they can engage with our volunteers while the care
(14:00):
giver takes a moment for themselves. We can also do
this in the home. And then finally we have our
licensed dementia specific adult day center. So this really provides
the consistent care for those with more complex needs.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
And that in turn provides a service to keep the
caregivers from becoming the people who need the care.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
Doesn't it exactly? Caregivers really undergo a lot of stress,
are at high risk for anxiety, depression, physical ailments of themselves,
and so they are really struggling. And so if we
don't care for that caregiver, they are also going to
be in the place where they need care.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
You mentioned the connection and the importance of that. It's
I would imagine that almost all of these people when
they first come to you guys, don't realize that there
are other people in this exact same paddle, in the
exact same canoe they are, And I think there's just
there's strength that can come from that. And with these
interactions you have with all these people in these group settings,
(15:02):
they're going to find out things that they didn't know
they could do to help themselves or find shortcuts to
stuff that will just make their lives easier, won't it.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
Yeah. I mean in the US alone, there are about
fifty three million people providing unpaid care, and in the
Houston area looks like five hundred thousand are caring for
older adults. But it is isolating when you are often
having to work a full time, forty hour a week
job and then coming back to your twenty four to
(15:33):
seven job that you never got training for. You can
feel alone on an island. And one of the most
important things that we emphasize is finding that network of people,
whether it be friends, whether it be family, neighbors, or
through organizations like care Partners, that you can reach out
to so that you know that you're not alone and
you can get those critical resources.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Speaking of not alone, see that you have more than
twelve hundred volunteers years on the team. I bet you
wouldn't mind having twelve hundred and one, would you.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
No, we are always looking for more volunteers. At some
of our sites, we actually have wait lists because we
need more volunteers to come and help us out to
provide this care.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
What goes into becoming a volunteer, Well, we.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Will provide you all of the training and we will
undergo a background check. So all you need is a
volunteer to have is to have a heart and want
to do this service. We have commitments from you know,
one day for one particular event, two monthly to daily,
and so we work with you to find the volunteer
(16:40):
opportunity that works best for you.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
What's the fee structure for all of this? What does
this cost the people who use the service?
Speaker 4 (16:49):
So all of our community based programs, so those are
our volunteer led programs and our caregiver support programs, those
are all provided to families at no costow the only
service that we have that has a fee is our
License Dementia Day Center and we offer yeah, we offer
sliding scale financial assistance in addition to our private pay fees,
(17:15):
which are a daily fee of anywhere from eighty dollars
to ninety five dollars per day.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
We're down to just about a minute. Katie Scott from
Care Partners, what would you want to say to the
family caregivers who are listening in this audience right now?
What do you want them to know about the importance
of their roles and the importance of asking for help
when they need it.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
I would simply say, you are not alone, and you
don't have to do this alone. There are people out there, organizations,
your friends, your neighbors who really want to help you
navigate this challenge. So please reach out. We are here
to help you. You can reach out to care Partners
at care Partners Texas dot org and if not us,
(18:01):
reach out to a friend. Because you don't have to
do this journey alone.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
That's a big old amen at the end of that.
Thank you so much, Katie Scott. I really do appreciate it.
Hope we can do this again sometime. Just feel free
anytime you think you need a lot more volunteers, call
me and we'll get this done again.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
Absolutely, Thank you so much for having us on.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
You bet, Thank you, Katie. All Right, we got to
take a little break here on the way out. I'll
tell you about Cedar cove RV Resort Cedar cove RV Resort,
and I'll give you a little kind of a humorous
announcement about them in just a minute. Cedar cove Rvy
Resorts over in Baytown down Tri City Beach Road, pretty
much close to the end of the road really right
there on Galveson Bay, and with all the amenities you
(18:40):
can possibly imagine wanting or needing in a place to
park your RV your camper for a night a week
all summer. I had an email exchange with Al Kibbi,
the owner, just recently. In fact, we're going to talk
about it next week in an interview. One of the
things he is adding to Cedar Cove RV Resort, in
(19:00):
addition to all the concrete roads and slabs, in addition
to electric water and sewer at every site, WI fi
the bathhouse if you need to take a quick shower
and don't want to use up all the water in
your motor home. All that plus some pretty good fishing
over there. What he's going to add is the opportunity
for those of you who don't own a camper or
(19:21):
a trailer or a motor home to rent one so
that you and your family can kind of have the
same experience, but without having to store and wash and
ensure and take care of a motor home of your own.
I think that's a fantastic idea, frankly, and I think
a lot of people will take advantage of that. It's
kind of like an airbnb. You go stay in a
(19:42):
really nice condo for a day, a week or two
weeks or whatever with a family, and you get all
the amenities that come with that, but you don't have
to deal with it afterward. I like this idea for him,
I like it for all of my audience who might
be just looking to instead of taking get a little
vacation somewhere toward the coast and waking up overlooking some
(20:04):
grubby looking parking lot and maybe a fast food place
next door. You wake up the sunrises and sunsets over
the bay. It's a whole lot better. Cedar cove Rvresort
dot com. I didn't forget this announcement. I've been talking
about Al and his I'll wrap this in quotes his
wife Tracy. Turns out Tracy is the wife of the
(20:24):
friend of Al's who connected me with Al. And it's
Nancy who is Owl's wife. In case you're keeping score
at home, Cedar cove Rvresort dot com. Cedar cove Rvresort
dot com.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
YEA, they sure don't make them like they used to.
That's why every few months we wash him, check us
fluids and spring on a fresh coat of wax. This
is fifty plus with Doug Pike fifty plus.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Thank you for listening. I certainly do appreciate it. Thanks
to Katie Scott for sharing care partners with us too.
We'll talk in this segment about something most of us
either have done or would certainly like to do at
some point in our lives, and that is to travel
internationally to some place we'd like to enjoy the outdoors somehow.
And I know nobody more qualified to have this discussion
(21:14):
in Robbie Granger from Exciting Outdoors, my host years ago
on a trip to Argentina. Welcome board, Robbie.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
God Today, Doug Howard, thanks today.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Things are good. Let's let the travel agencies have their
little minute with people who are only packing clothes and
want to see the Louver or Big Ben or the
Parthenon or something like that. From from you, I want
to know about trips that involve sporting goods Okay rods
and Reel's guns and m skis or snowboards that that
kind of stuff, golf clubs. And that's got to start
(21:43):
with establishing trust with somebody like you.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Really doesn't it, Well, yeah, you're exactly correct.
Speaker 5 (21:48):
I mean, there's lots of people who will provide a
service once you get there, but there's so much involved
prior to your arrival from a logistics standpoint, and how
do you get those guns or those there, those those.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
Rog and reels. You really need to rely on the
people you're going with.
Speaker 5 (22:09):
If they're unwilling or you sense that they're not capable
of pulling that off, you might consider looking somewhere else
with who your have a partner is. And that's exactly
what we are as a travel partner, you don't I mean,
in our particular case, we're asking a lot of most
people to come sixty five hundred seven thousand miles to
(22:32):
a country that most of them have not been before,
and that can be daunting. And you know, we've all
cleared customs and we walk out the door and you go, okay,
I'm here.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
What next?
Speaker 5 (22:44):
Well that what next needs to be taken care of
way in advance, and you know, there's there's We've been
doing this for a number of years.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
We haven't lost anybody yet.
Speaker 5 (22:56):
We've had a few people go off and get lost
on their own and and we'll find them, but we'd
rather not face that challenge, so.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Do you so little tags into their underwear or something
to where you can go find them, Robbie, I might
want to.
Speaker 5 (23:10):
Think about it now with well, now, now with all
this technology, I guess we could just say put you know,
put your phone on, fine, find me or whatever.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
But whatever it's called, I'm ulder school. I don't know
how to do it. Half of that, half of that stuff.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
It really doesn't make sense if I've never done something,
or maybe even just done it once. It makes sense
to hand the reins to somebody who's done it a
thousand times. You know what customs wants on both ends.
You know how it all works from where you're standing
now to where you're going to be right. So with
that said, what is the biggest mistake international sporting travelers
make in your opinion?
Speaker 5 (23:44):
I think what we've run into and it's it's it's
it's a little bit backwards thinking. Entering guns into say,
where we primarily do our business in Argentina is a
little bit of paperwork which we will assist you with,
and two hundred and fifty dollars per gun. You clear
(24:05):
that gun like it's a piece of baggage.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
Once you get to bueasiras. It's it's it's not super lengthy.
Speaker 5 (24:13):
It might an hour, might add an hour to getting
through customs if you have firearms. Now where people really
don't realize, bringing those guns back is not just a
simple matter of putting them on the plane and gathering
your bags back at your home destination. You need to
(24:35):
and it's a it's a it's a one page form.
It's called a customs declaration. You need to declare anything
of substantial value, whatever that means. It's kind of subjective,
but certainly guns. If you're traveling with a bunch of jewelry,
which we don't recommend, but if you feel like you
need to, you need you need to tell us customs
(24:56):
before you leave. Hey, this is mine and I'm bringing
it back so they don't think that you've made a
purchase out of the country or trying to skate on
duties or taxes or what have you. And that happens more,
not as much now, but it still does happen. And
(25:18):
a lot of people say, look, if you're bringing your firearms, great,
I mean I'd actually rather you bring yours and shoot mine.
That way, you're not wearing mine out so to speak,
but you need to be prepared to bring them home,
and that's you can get that customs declaration for them,
and when you're leaving the country, you'll go by the
local the customs office in the airport and they'll stamp
(25:42):
it or sign off on it, and then you're pretty
much good to go.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
As a quick rule, Robbie, what's the what are the
consequences of not having the right documents or not securing
everything properly?
Speaker 5 (25:54):
I think in the extreme, they could I guess, I
guess they could come to skate that. I've never heard
of that, but you might. But you might be put
in a position where you have to prove ownership. And
to prove ownership, you know, if that gun is something
that your dad gave you thirty years ago, how do
you do that?
Speaker 3 (26:12):
I mean, do you have to find his will?
Speaker 2 (26:13):
That's a very good point.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Yeah, I mean it's I mean.
Speaker 5 (26:16):
You will be required probably to prove most of the
time they're gonna you're gonna be with a group of people.
Everybody's gonna be under the same circumstance. And if and
if you have somebody with half a operating brain, they'll say, Okay,
this guy just screwed up. You know you can pass,
but you never know who you're going to be in
front of at that time, so it's best just to
(26:38):
be prepared for that.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
For that, believe it or not, we're down to a
minute and a half. Robbie Robbie Granger from Exciting Outdoors
dot Com on fifty plus back to the personal cybeer
real quick. What are some of the things that absolutely
need to be in a carry on bag just in case?
Collection of stuff that might be hard to get if
you show up in BA at ten o'clock at night
and your check lugg is on a carousel in Newark.
Speaker 5 (27:02):
Well, certainly you know anybody who takes regular medications that
should be in a carry on bag.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
My recommendation is take.
Speaker 5 (27:11):
A picture with your phone of the of the picture
page of your passport any event, and do not ever
put your passport. It has to be on your person
and and but people lose things, and if you do
lose that passport, you're not completely out of luck. If
you have a picture, you can go to the local
(27:32):
consulate and and and they'll issue a issue of a
temporary passport in most cases unless you're on some list.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
But if you're on a list.
Speaker 5 (27:44):
If you're on a list, you didn't get on that
plot to again, you're not getting out of the country
if you're on that list.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Right, all right, partner, Well, look, it's good to hear
from you. I look forward to doing more and more
of this stuff as we get into the fall. You
and I are talking about nice big project. It's gonna
bring you a little tighter and closer to both my audiences.
I may play this tomorrow, actually, either tomorrow or Sunday,
just so people will started thinking about it. Yeah, man,
(28:10):
my pleasure, Robbie, thank you, buddy. Yeah, right, ground, you're
exciting out doors dot Com go check it out. We'll
take a little break here now and teeing it up
with Champions Tree Preservation up there. In Champions, it's the
name implies, and if you want to hurry up and
get your trees checked before something boils up in the
Gulf of Mexico, you know it's gonna happen. You know
(28:32):
it's gonna happen at some time this year, So why
don't we go ahead and get that knocked out? Bring well,
don't bring, just call them. They'll send somebody over to
your house. An arborist, not just to any old somebody.
An arborist, a specialized tree person will assess the healthier trees,
let you know whether they need pruning, whether they need trimming,
(28:53):
whether they need food, or whether they gotta go. If
it's damaged and bad and sick, they're gonna wreck command
you get rid of it. And if you do have
to go that route, they have a tree farm in
addition to owning all the equipment they need to do
anything with your trees, including lifts and buckets and chainsaws
(29:14):
and stump grinders, all of that stuff. They own it all.
They don't have to sub it out to anybody to
do any of that work. They also own a tree
form right farm right there adjacent to the shop. Let
them come out and give you a consultation, not gonna
cost you anything, and then take care of your trees.
Make sure you're ready for storm season, like hopefully everybody
around you is. Two eight one three two zero eighty
(29:36):
two zero one two eight one three two zero eighty
two zero one. Go to the website championstree dot com.
That's championstree dot com.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
Old guys rule, and of course women never get old.
If you want to avoid sleeping on the couch.
Speaker 5 (29:55):
Oh, if you think that sounds like a good three.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Fifty plus continues, here's more with Doug fifty plus.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Here as we do well five days a week, I've
got other things. By the way, really quickly back to Sweden,
because there's one important part of that trip that really
it really made it complete for me. That was the
only place on planet Earth where I actually got to
catch northern pike. Now I know we have northern pike
(30:27):
in North America farther up than where we live, but
I've never gone up that way specifically to fish for them,
and so it was. It was with great respect for
the fish that I babysat everyone I caught, made sure
they got put back their family. I guess, huh, they
(30:48):
got the same last name. It was really a lot
of fun and organized by professionals, kind of like Robbie
Robbie Granger there from exciting outdoors ah Mercy speaking of
Sweden and not related at all to the out of
doors really, I guess you could spin it to be
that way, but the bottom line is Sweden was where
(31:10):
I saw the origins of a good news story about
a small clinical trial granted it was only ten patients, okay,
but it was successful ten times out of ten with
a treatment it's a kind of a well, it's a
complex treatment. I'll just leave it at that. But what
it does is it reverses hearing loss caused by a
(31:33):
very specific condition otofn't I can't even remember what that
stands for, but I put that down there, and if
perhaps you know somebody who said, you know, I know
somebody who has this. There's only two hundred thousand cases worldwide,
so that's not something that normally would get that much
(31:54):
attention or that much research. But the bottom line is
with this treatment in patients aged from one to twenty four,
all ten experienced recovery of it at least some and
in some cases nearly all of their loss. There's still
a long road ahead for the research and trial path
(32:15):
to approval for this stuff, but definitely off to a
good start. Rare condition, like I said, and now those
people have a good shot at restoration of their hearing.
So hats off there the sad and continuing storry from
the Hill Country. It's pretty apparent now that finding any
more survivors of the floods a week ago is unlikely.
(32:36):
In full recovery mode, the first responders and volunteers up
there continue their work in search of just as many people,
as many human remains as they can possibly recover for
the families of those poor souls. I just looked at
a video a little while ago of how how rescue
will not rescuers anymore, searchers will call them are Actually
(32:57):
they're sharpening stick and then jamming them strongly down into
debris piles to create a hole into that debris pile
that might release the odor of a body so that
the dogs can more easily find it. The reason they
(33:18):
were doing it in this particular debris pile was because
there was a buzzard spotted nearby, which is it's all
grotesque to think about, but whatever it takes, whatever tools
are necessary to help these families get past the step
they're stuck on right now, I think is worth every
minute of it. My friend Scott Null, as I talked
(33:38):
about yesterday, is down there or up there in the
hill country, and he just drove up there with his
skid stare and said what can I do? And fast
forward to today. Turns out he has not only been
helping tremendously with his skills, but he has now been
put in charge of three different crews who are working
(34:00):
He's out of the skids there. He's driving around in
his truck and making sure that the three crews he's
working with now are not leaving any stone unturned. And
I just I so great greatly appreciate what he's doing
for these families. And to anybody who thinks it's their
time to make unfounded claims against anyone or anything having
(34:23):
to do with this tragedy, just shut the hell up. Okay,
how about you save it for the day after the
last victim's remains are recovered. How about that pathetic little
attention grabbers, that's all they are. Look at me, look
at me. Listen to what I say. It's important. Nah,
if you're going to bad mouth what's going on in
(34:44):
there right now while there's still more than one hundred
people unaccounted for, and just keep it to yourself for
a little while, Okay, stop it. I'm not gonna worry
about California now. They're just drowning themselves in stupidity and
bad moves. I'll fold that and put it away from
the developing story desk. I heard discussion yesterday about the
(35:07):
long ago Russian dossier that was used to smear President
Trump a while back, and the can of worms more recently,
as evidence has opened and begun in regard to who
knew it was a total hoax when they knew about it,
and how they still insisted it was real when we
know now that it was not, and in fact, it
(35:30):
was kind of home cooking that put that dossier into
mainstream media's hands and put it on their table, and
they ran with it. Boy, they ran with that ugly
lion football for years. Some of the biggest names in
American politics from that time, by the way, are being
mentioned in conversations quite aloud now as having taken part
(35:55):
and there's investigation underway to see if charges might be
filed discussion. He was pretty telling too. I really hope
the DOJAR follows through with this and forces the people
who were involved to either come clean or potentially expose
themselves to perjury charges. And those are really about the
only two choices they're gonna have, because, like I said yesterday,
at some point, there are going to be whistleblowers who
(36:20):
who have plenty of knowledge about this and other things
that have gone on in the last several years. It's
gonna be a hot mess in a frightening but Kyle
Leah not surprising turn of events. By the way, I'll
rap with this. I think Harris County murder suspect put
back on the streets recently because the DA's office failed
to file the man's indictment on time. My gut tells
(36:44):
me this guy's already in the wind, unlikely to resurface
anytime soon. For him, that was like hitting the lottery
without even buying a ticket. That's about how good that
was for him. Oh what, I don't have to stay here. Okay,
that's awesome. Today's National French Friday, and according to a
recent report, the average American eats seventeen pounds of French
(37:04):
fries per year, which means that to keep balancing the universe,
somebody one of you is eating thirty four pounds of
fries because I don't eat them anymore. I'm just not
that tough. That's it for now. Thank you so much
for listening. Audios
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