I’m not trying to pretend I am old and over the hill, but when did a couple hours of manual labor followed by sitting at a computer desk working mean that my knees felt free to completely lock up when I try to stand? Same with driving- 3-4 hours of driving and I almost fall over when I get out of the car.
The people who want to raise social security eligibility to age 70 most certainly do not work in construction or other manual labor.
Also, somewhat unrelated, but my tomato plants (that I am no longer trimming because I got yelled at by you all) simply refuse to accept my attempts at tying and just want to go wherever the hell they want. They completely ignore my OCD attempts to bring order to the garden- don’t they know I just want them to have a structured and safe place for them to raise their young? So I can eat them.
Spaghetti Lee
Silly John Cole, punishing old people is the only way the markets will know it’s safe to invest, or something.
ellaesther
I think that happened to you about the same time my knees decided that they could feel free to make a frightening series of loud clicking noises anytime I stand up.
jibeaux
Wait a minute. You were trimming your tomato plants?
Whatever for?
As long as the fruit isn’t sitting on the ground rotting, let them go where they want to go, man.
Ruckus
Just wait. You’re not even old yet.
Waking up, trying to figure out what is going to hurt today? Taking your first steps of the day, before all that labor, hoping that everything actually works and that you won’t need large amounts of Ibuprofen or other drugs just to keep from screaming.
licensed to kill time
There’s no order in gardening! Let your ‘maters go free!
Angela
I always prune my tomato plants; sweeter and fuller fruit if you get rid of the sucker branches. Year before last, I pruned and tied them up a trellis (grape tomatoes) and I had ten feet of beautiful full on bearing plants. I had to use a ladder to prune, harvest and tie the tops.
Third Eye Open
The Walrus and the Carpenter used music. Maybe you can start a bluegrass band called Cole and the Super ‘Mater Aviators.
Brachiator
You may have to go to the horticultural Mother Ship. BBC Gardening Guides.
Aunt Moe
Glucosamine Chondroitin
It works.
Eric S.
It happened sometime after 30.
At the age of 28 I did shots of whiskey as pre volleyball game warm ups. Now at the age of 38 (39 is still 3+ weeks away) I need a full 15 minutes of actual stretching before I get in the sand.
jibeaux
Removing suckers, specifically the little sprouts that crop up between the main stem and an existing branch — definitely. When I think “trimming” though, I think something much more drastic. But I guess I must have missed the trimming threads.
Thunderlizard
NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM
I EAT YOUR CHILDREN
also, I drink your milkshake!
Politically Lost
I’m working on recovering from my fourth knee surgery…(yes on the same knee).
And, this time around I’m not in my teens or twenties, I’m on the precipice of 40. ACK!
Let’s just say recovery is not what it used to be. Three months on from the last surgical intervention and all the recovery I’ve experienced is reduction to an interesting sort of bone grinding pain that has a two part component. a.) A stabbing sensation just to the inside of the knee cap that I’m sure is exactly how a major stab wound with a bowie knife would feel. b.) A fascinating clicking/grinding sensation that feels like stuffings are leaking out the sides of the joint.
The cortisone shot with a needle the size of a ten penny nail has calmed it down but, I can’t do any serious walking and the lack of exercise is getting me down. I’m supposed to go back to physical therapy next week to see of the cortisone has worked.
Knees were badly designed. If there is a supernatural being that is responsible for the design I’m suing under the theory of design defect and willful disregard for humans.
Tonal Crow
Regular exercise keeps the joints flexible, the heart strong, the body desirable, and the libido high. Oh, and it probably delays the onset of
Republicanismdementia, too.licensed to kill time
You just turned 40, right? It’s all downhill after forty. I believe you have racked up some heavy mileage on that body you inhabit, also too ;-)
Cat
Did they still make you do PT in your combat boots? Probably the #1 reason ex-military get have knee problems in their ‘old age’.
They figured it out eventually at least and these days most of your PT is done in more knee friendly attire.
Oscar Leroy
Tell it to the president’s deficit reduction committee.
jl
I would love to help, but I can neither judge the situation nor render my ignorant and random advice without a pic. With Tunch, dogs and at least a part of Cole, in order to determine the scale.
Pennsylvanian
But you are old and over the hill.
You don’t even know what an iPad is for.
Comrade Dread
No. Tomato plants are very difficult to control, in my experience, even with ties, a trellis, or a cage.
And if your dogs are anything like mine, you better put up a fence or you won’t be seeing any of those tomatoes. (Which is why I finally gave up and dug up the damn things.)
bobbo
The people who want to raise social security eligibility to age 70 most certainly do not work
in construction or other manual labor.Fixed
Ruckus
John
The people who want to raise social security eligibility to age 70 most certainly do not work in construction or other manual labor.
Do they do any work at all? Not that I can tell.
Do they believe in the rapture so they don’t expect to live to 70 themselves?
Are they JFN?
jeffreyw
Go with the cages, John.
flukebucket
I knew when you mentioned the gray in your beard not long ago that other shit would start happening fast and furious but you have a ways to go yet. Enjoy the next 10 years because after that shit starts to seriously start falling off and your body starts producing weird lumps and bumps and shit and your vision gets worse and you can’t hear as well and you get these unnatural urges to shout out the window, “you kids get off of my damn lawn” and there ain’t even any kids out there.
It’s weird.
Corner Stone
@Eric S.:
It’s much easier to watch the in shape people play volleyball from the stands.
Corner Stone
@Oscar Leroy:
This bears repeating.
TaMara (BHF)
Vitamin D, liquid if possible. Dr.s are now saying we are all deficient. When I started taking it, my knee and ankle problems vanished. I thought I was going to have to give up cycling.
Off for my evening ride.
Chris
Fixed that for you.
Edit: dang, bobbo beat me to it.
Deborah
After 35 any physical changes you notice tend to suck. Body parts that used to be a little tricky start hurting a lot more; body parts that never hurt before take it up. I’m not saying die young, but if you’re in your 20s and mostly functional and doing shots before volleyball games, enjoy it.
But to be contrary to much of the thread, raising the social security retirement age is a sensible way to address having fewer workers to retirees as we go forward. Sure, it’d be nice if we let all the people who work on their feet retire with full benefits at 55, and then to be fair everyone could retire at 55, and then maybe we’ll make it 50, but that’s not really fiscally gonna happen. Do we let waitresses and longshoremen retire at 55, but anyone who does less physically taxing labor has to stay in until age 75 or 80 to balance them out?
Eric S.
@Corner Stone: You mean ala Shrub?
Eric S.
@Deborah:
I did.
Corner Stone
@Eric S.: 100% yes, to the aaayy-men.
Corner Stone
@Deborah:
We could also consider raising taxes.
bey
My lovely little ‘maters disappeared yesterday thanks to the charming doe who showed up midmorning to browse.
At least that what my neighbor claims.
Dave Trowbridge
In my experience, the easiest way to keep indeterminate tomato plants under a semblance of control is to raise them in cages made from foundation wire (heavy steel wire with a six-inch mesh). It comes in 7-foot wide rolls, so a six-foot piece gives you a 7-foot high cage almost two feet across. Just keep pushing the shoots back inside the cage…and do it every day.
Works great for tomatillos, too.
As a bonus, you can extend your tomato harvest well into fall by covering the cage with 4-mil transparent plastic. We get tomatoes into November sometimes, with the outside temperature getting down into the 30s at night.
RandyH
I used to have a car that would nag me if I drove for more than 2 hours without getting up and taking a 15 minute walking/stretch break. It was a nice feature. You shouldn’t remain seated in one position for longer than that. Especially on a plane in a coach seat or in any desk chair. Get up and walk around for a few. Even young folks can get deadly blood clots (Deep Vein Thrombosis) in their legs by not doing these things.
QuaintIrene
Hey, we were giving advice/personal experience, not yelling.
Jeez, you’re more sensitive than Lily!
Am I anticipating a prune-gate controversy shaping up at BJ?
ricky
@bey: So enjoy your venison steaks with a Caesar salad.
cathaireverywhere
I have had good luck with vertical trellises like these. I just use twine to tie my tomatoes to the wire.
http://www.vegetablegardener.com/item/2777/a-freestanding-tomato-trellis-improves-yields-and-keeps-the-garden-neat
This looks cool, too:
http://www.vegetablegardener.com/item/2777/a-freestanding-tomato-trellis-improves-yields-and-keeps-the-garden-neat
Also, I’m always so late to the thread (damn West Coast ) I seldom comment, but I do want to mention how much I like my Balloon Juice cap. Very nice quality, and big enough brim to shade my face when I am foolishly running in the sun. Glad to contribute to homeless animals, too. (my 2 dogs and 4 cats want other animals to find homes, too)
WereBear
For my achy thumbs, I like MSM. Worked for James Coburn!
Second on the vitamin D. Get cutting edge on that.
Corner Stone
@bey:
Tiger pits dug around the garden. Either your neighbor will be found in one or the doe will be.
Win / win.
David in NY
I find an acceptable tomato support system without too much apparatus putting up two long stakes and a cross-piece between them, planting the tomatoes under the cross-piece, and, when the tomatoes plants have some size, tie and drop a long piece of twine from the cross-piece and attach to each tomato stem somewhat loosely. As the tomato grows, twist the twine around the progressively higher stem to support it. If you don’t prune suckers, you may need to support them with twine as well. Can support really big plants that way without immense amounts of equipment. Works for me.
Ed. As usual someone, @cathaireverywhere:, in this case, beat me to it with pictures. Pics are of a more elaborate frame than necessary, if you keep rows short, but that looks really nice if you have big production, which I don’t.
bemused
Good quality fish oil is good for almost everything that ails you. Four creatures live in our house, 2 human, 2 canine, & 3 of us take fish oil every day.
frankdawg
you kids quit whining! I would kill to have the physiology I had 20 years ago when I was only 40!
My knees creek when I go up stairs & I have noticed in the last couple of years sitting in the car stiffens me up but I’m doing OK. I commute by bike 16 miles every day when. there is no snow.
I’m more worried about the fact that I am losing the use of nouns. Every other part of speech comes right out but nouns can just stop me cold. Thats weird.
BTW – if you still want to whine – 10 years ago I fell 4 feet & landed on my hip. Broke my pelvis into 3 pieces & am currently held together with 3 plates & 11 screws. & I still whine less that you kids!
fucen tarmal
i’ve had tricky knees since college, hurt them playing football on artificial turf, but practicing on dust, too much grip, not enough grip, alternatively….
now, when i used to wake up hungover and had to pee, i could at least stretch them get out of bed, they wouldn’t feel great, but i could wobble….
now i drink in a year what i used to drink in a week or two, but sometimes i have to wake up to piss with no time to dily dally
wobbly knees and an urgent need are a bad way to start a morning, or even think you are getting back to sleep. and i’m not even 40…oh joy.
Corner Stone
@frankdawg:
How does one lose “nouns”? You don’t know what to call things?
Mudge
Alan Greenspan still pontificates at an advanced age..as does Larry King. Neither has actually really worked a day in their lives. Coal miners and long distance truckers lose their edge long before 70..and get laid off..and will suffer mightily until they reach Social Security age.
It’s all about the economy, it’s not about people.
Deborah
@Corner Stone:
I totally support getting rid of the social security cap on taxes, which gets my own family a couple of hundred dollars at the end of each year. My parents are on social security and my dad had to retire early on disability and we’re helping support them. I get what the system does.
But I’d put that hand in hand with raising the retirement age and some other tweaks that admit that people live to a greater age, and are productive to a greater age, now than we did 40 years ago. A system that works for average age of feebleness at 62 and death at 70 won’t work if feebleness comes more on average at 65 and death at 90. And that “on average” stuff is a bitch, but any fair system needs to have those broadbased rules like “age 66.5” or everyone looks at their neighbor’s “special case” and asks why the hell they’re still working while he’s golfing.
I’d also open up immigration hugely to get more young workers, but I don’t think that one is so likely to fly.
JimPortlandOR
Next time you visit the doc (when your lipids and whatnot get tested), ask the doc to run a Vit. D test. You’ll find that you a VitD deficient, I promise you.
Or, just start taking Vit.D/Calcium supplements (big dose!).
As to the joints, “Glucosamine Chondroitin. It works. “. I don’t take (yet), but the oldies swear it works, and lots of docs agree.
Also, too. Stop your car (or get off you desk chair) every two hours or so. Over 40 bodies don’t work well in rigid positions.
Corner Stone
@Deborah: I don’t favor raising the age for many reasons.
But on the personal ~ my dad was a switchman for the railroad for 30 years. He worked doubles, and nights and days and all kinds of shit walking on those white rocks, and hopping on and off moving train cars. He was physically destroyed by the time he was 55. You can count seconds on your watch while waiting for him to stand up, and it’s painful to watch him walk his dogs outside.
The railroad’s a special case, thanks to their union, but who’s going to tell the other poor sombitches they need to find a job for the next 15 years after they can’t do the one they’ve had for the last 30?
And besides, fiscal decisions exist where we can resolve this issue without harming anyone in actual life. Lousy lying bastards have made many decisions, and bargains, now they don’t want to live up to their end.
That’s what this is about, not demographics.
Gina
DH just had surgery on his other knee for a torn meniscus. He had pain, swelling now and then and neat moments where the joint would just lock up or make loud snapping noises when moving. The surgery took about 45 minutes this past Monday. He’s recovering well, hopes to be back at work this coming week – depends on how much off-crutch walking he can work up to.
It was a dog-related injury, we had Tank and Mo at the trainer’s, Tank lunged in irrational exuberance (he’s really happy happy happy) at one point and DH’s body twisted to go with the lunge, but his leg from the knee down didn’t. CRACK! Yipe!! FWIW, the doctors at the bone and joint center said they get LOTS of business from dog owners, especially for messed up wrists from falling.
cathaireverywhere
@David in NY: and I am such a blockhead, I put the same link twice. This is more like what I have. I have a wooden frame with the pigwire attached to it with chicken wire staples.
http://www.joyfultomato.com/blog/236/how-do-you-build-a-tomato-trellis/
Corpsicle
If we maintained our cars the way most of us maintain our bodies, they would be lucky to last 50,000 miles.
There are three components to fitness, cardio, flexibility and strength. Most of us skip at least one of these, if not all three. Men in particular tend to completely blow off flexibility. A yoga class once or twice a week can make an amazing difference to your long term health.
Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people)
Dude, my 70 year old mother can drive seven hours with no knee-locking and does plenty of manual labor with no problem. She can also stand on her head and do full splits. I can do none of these things. Her secret: she’s been doing yoga almost every day for the last ten years. I used to laugh at her. I don’t any more.
Lolis
You need to exercise. May I suggest yoga? Anusara is a particularly good style.
mclaren
Some ignorant crank recommended glucosamine chondoitin.
That’s quackery. It doesn’t work. Clinical studies prove it.
Chondoitin claims debunked
Like “psychically magnetized water” or megadoses of Vitamin C or DMSO, glucosamine chondroitin has been shown by double-blind scientific studies to do nothing. It has the same medical effect on knee pain as drinking a glass of water — which is to say, none whatsoever.
Linda Featheringill
Was it Art Linkletter who said that old age is not for wimps?
I am finding my older years are like having a hot lover who is also crazy. They are real bitch but they are also very, very satisfying.
Enjoy.
SiubhanDuinne
@Corner Stone
@frankdawg
That happened to my stepmother. She kept losing nouns so she decided that whenever she drew a blank on a word she would simply say “farmer” and carry on with the conversation.
One night the phone rang and my dad took the call. When he came back in the room, my s/m asked who had called. “That was Susan Farmer,” he said. Without missing a beat, my s/m said “what’s wrong with her? Doesn’t she even know her own name?”
Comrade Mary
@mclaren: Well, Medline has a pretty good summary of research on glucosamine here. Pretty good results for knee pain when glucosamine sulfate is used (other glucosamine compounds are inferior), moderate results for osteoarthritis, mediocre results elsewhere. But they don’t call it quackery, being actual scientists and all and not some over-excitable git on a blog.
Linda Featheringill
BTW, Gulf Coast Nirvana is a new blog that started today. The guy who is hosting it lives in the New Orleans area. He is blogging about the current state of affairs on the coast, along with pictures, etc.
It is an interesting start. He can be found at:
http://gcn01.com/
frankdawg
@Corner Stone:
@SiubhanDuinne:
Yeah, I can be talking about something I am very familiar with and be going along just fine until I have to name a person, place or thing & then my mind goes blank. Its not unusual I guess.
ChrisNBama
It’s writing like this that keeps me coming back to this blog day after day.
snowbird42
@Angela:
I always sucker the plants and then trim off the bottom branches. I tie obsessively because my plants are now about 10 feet tall and make huge fruit.
Doctor Science
It is my scientific opinion that the warranty on the human knee expires when you reach age 35. This is with “normal use”, of course: you can easily void your warranty earlier, via dancing, football, etc.
This is *not* intelligent design. We need to get my husband two bionic knees soon — one knee has no cartilage left at all, and they say he’ll be better off if the knees match.
Litlebritdifrnt
My Huskey Cherry Red mater is merrily heading up an adjoining tree right now. I figured that if that is what it wanted to do, I should let it. I like chaos.
Ruckus
@frankdawg:
I don’t think this is age related as I’ve been doing this for years. It’s not consistent but it is regular.
ETA That means it doesn’t happen every time but often enough to be noticeable, at least by me.
CynDee
@ John Cole:
Q:
A:
Over the past 40 years. It don’t get better on its own.
However, you do have a choice: more horrors of old age . . . or
. . . Pilates.
Be sure you get a certified instructor and have an evaluation including the shoulder situation. When fully recovered from that and cleared by instructor and your docs, the instructor will probably recommend several one-one-one private sessions before doing the practice in a class or on your own. Best thing you’ll ever do for your health besides pets, clean food, and enough rest.
Common-sense muscle-control practice brings ALL your muscles to their optimum strength, instead of overloading the big ones and the joints and wearing you out.
Takes pressure off joints. Brings sustainable overall comfortable strength, balanced alignment, fluid movement, whole-body circulation, optimized functioning of nerves and organs, steady energy, increased immunity, absence of pain, good-quality sleep, and a clear, peaceful mind — teh best You for You.
I kid You not, I swear to Tunch.
Don’t wanna look into it? — Please yourself.
You think home-grown tomatoes couldn’t taste any better? They’re better when you’re not stiff and don’t hurt anywhere and ain’t worried about it all getting worse.
CynDee
@Deborah: How old are you?
1. You may find yourself to be ALIVE at 68, but a large percentage of folks who are still walking, thinking, and breathing have slowed down a lot and may not be able to work, let alone drive through all the heavy traffic to get there and essentially put in 12-hour days beginning to end. Do you know that it is “normal” to have considerable brain atrophy by your early sixties?
2. Where will all these jobs come from?
3. Who will hire all these older workers? They aren’t hiring people in their fifties right now. In our area, if you have grey or white hair, or a lot of experience, you aren’t even considered for a position. You can color your hair only so long until the facial lines don’t tone so well with the pretty hair, and the jig is up. I know a 41-year-old high school teacher with a master’s degree and achievements from here to the moon who couldn’t get hired in his own town because the 39-year-old principal was a weak bully who couldn’t stand up to the comparison. So this teacher works in a town over a hundred miles away and only gets to come home weekends. You consider it in the national interest for him to do this on icy roads until he is 70?
4. Those who can and want to work until 70 or beyond already have the option to postpone receiving their benefits until then.
5. People who are advocating no benefits until 70 haven’t thought through the situation in terms of actual human probabilities, only the sterile and hypothetical $$$ projections — no true consequences. Typical U.S. approach — money as a standalone factor. Also, they think that they themselves will be well off enough not to need Social Security. Rude awakening for them is ahead.
6. This whole idea is evil hooey, concocted and floated by those who want endless war to fuel endless greed.
Go shake yourself and get real.
Corner Stone
@frankdawg: Both of my son’s grandmas can’t ever get the name right the first two or three tries. They say the names of other people in the family til they rotate onto the right one.
But I’ve never seen them stop and point to something they didn’t know the name of.
I don’t know what this means, or if it means anything.
Angela
@snowbird42:
yum yum Snowbird.
Corner Stone
@CynDee: Anyone who considers raising the retirement age isn’t looking at this issue dead on. It’s not about anything but stealing money from the people it’s been promised to.
MikeJ
Since we’ve had no footie posts for a day or two, Anybody watching the Cup? Seattle and Portland going into a shootout!
CynDee
@Corner Stone: You are so right.
Beckylooo
It seems I’m only comfortable wading into the comments when it’s garden related. I just spent part of my afternoon with the gardner from the French Laundry who trims his tomatoes and advised me to do the same. Just sayin’…
He also built an amazing trellis using metal stakes and twine. He strung the twine to that it was somewhat loosely doubled or tripled over on itself between the posts and then gently worked the branches in between. No need to tying back. It was a truly stunning garden.
Oscar Leroy
Because so many companies want to hire 60 year olds these days.
Janus Daniels
Start some form of exercise that you can do for the rest of your life: tai chi, qi gong, yoga, swimming, etc.
Parenthetically, here’s the most recent glucosamine/chondroitin study:
NIH glucosamine/chondroitin Arthritis Intervention
http://nccam.nih.gov/research/results/gait/qa.htm
But, again, any nutrition news ranks way behind “use it or lose it” and (conveniently) using our bodies does more for our brains than using our brains.
Litlebritdifrnt
@CynDee:
It breaks my heart that when I go to my local convenience store in the morning there is a 65+ little old lady at the cash register. My mother is 75+, she works cause she wants to, she enjoys her days at the museum, but the point is she doesn’t HAVE to work, she just does it cause she enjoys it, she picks and chooses the days she works, if she feels like it. The lady at the convenience store in the morning is there 7 days a week. I am guessing she doesn;t have any choice. I am incredibly lucky that I have my WRNS retirement to support me. If social security holds up when I hit 63 I will actually be earning more than I am earning now.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Janus Daniels:
I can’t speak from experience, but my DH is on the vegetarian glucosamine (he is allergic to sea food) and he swears by it. My mother sends him it from the UK, and if he is out for a couple of days his knees (former marine) kill him. It could be all in the mind of course, but he would not be without it.
300baud
@mclaren:
And do you have a controlled study that demonstrates that being a total dick to strangers is likely to persuade them of anything? Or is just that scientists have recently shown people are hugely convinced by anonymous blog commenters linking to random web sites talking about single studies from a few years ago? Please, show us the evidence behind your approach!
The Pale Scot
@Pennsylvanian: The winner of the thread, giggle, teehee
Parrotlover77
The social security retirement age needs to be lowered to 50. Think about this. If you enter the work force at 22 and retire at 70, you will have been employed for 48 years or 2/3 of your life. After that, you can expect to live about 6 more years, if you are lucky. That is complete utter bullshit.
Lower the retirement age, change social security/medicare into a flat tax (aren’t republicans supposed to like flat taxes?) with no upper income limit. The effect of this will be to remove a lot of old farts from the work force so they can get to doing important things like golfing, then the younger generation might actually have some jobs free up.
Of course, if you want to work until you die, nothing will be stopping you.
tkogrumpy
@Corner Stone: My wife has the same problem. I call it the noun time down time. I save a lot of time by feeding her my best guess of what she’s trying to say.