Elder CareTips:
Mastering The Eldercare Maze™

Happy New Year and a hearty welcome to all our new readers. We're glad to have you along on this sleigh ride! Remember, there's no such thing as a dumb question, and none of us is smart enough to know what we don't know.

During the past year several thousand people downloaded the "What You Absolutely, Positively Need To Know When You're Planning For Eldercare" workbook. If you were among them, have you read it? Have you filled it out?

If so, my sincere congratulations. You're in the minority group of people who've actually used it.

If you just downloaded it and let it sit there, it's never too late to get started...until it's too late. It won't do you one bit of good just sitting on your hard drive (or wherever you put it after you printed it out).

If you haven't yet signed up to get a copy, go get it now. It isn't long. The information you'll have at your fingertips when you've completed the worksheets may save you a ton of grief some day. If you're already on our subscriber list you received the download link in today's newsletter alert. If you aren't already a subscriber, just put your name and email address into the form here (scroll to the middle of the page) and I'll get the link out to you right away. It's 100% free and of course there's no obligation. Here's that link again...

Since it's a bright, clean new year, and I know we've all made vows to be more organized this year, here's a short list of simple things you can do to get started. Individually none of these will take much time. Do a little now, and a little later. With this approach you should be much more in control by the end of January. Then it will be a small matter to keep it up.

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January and February are the cruelest months for our birds and other small wildlife. Most of the berries are gone from our trees and bushes, nuts and seeds are buried under ice and snow. It takes lots of fuel to stay alive when you live outside in the winter cold. You and your loved one can help the birds at the same time you spend a cozy afternoon together (or 15 minutes in the case of a short attention span).

Find some sturdy twine and some Cheerios®  or store-brand O-shaped cereal, preferably without sugar coating. Cut a few nice, long pieces of twine and dip the ends in glue. Let the glue dry so the ends won't ravel. Then simply string your cereal pieces on your twine, tie the ends together, and you'll have loops of strung treats to hang on a bush or a tree branch.

If your loved one strings cereal onto one end and loses it off the other end, tie something big like a button or a spoon on the bottom end to act as a stopper. You'll take the stopper off before you tie the ends together.

If you'd like to make something for the squirrels and the bigger birds, use a long needle and dental floss to string peanuts in the shell. Obviously, needles and dental floss are appropriate only for those who have the ability to use them safely. You might have just as much fun cracking and eating the peanuts as you do stringing them. That's OK - it's the activity and the togetherness that count.