I read an article...

last week that said one in every seven people over age 65 is depressed and up to 90% of these people do not receive treatment. The overwhelming reason they don't receive treatment is because their symptoms are attributed to physical woes.

I'm no doctor, physician, psychologist or anything even remotely medical but come on, give me a break. Physical woes??? What kind of medical practitioners are these people seeing? Veterinarians?

No, I'm not disparaging veterinarians in the least. I'm wondering out loud if their doctors have relegated their senior patients to animal status.

Geez, even happy go lucky me gets clunked with depression every now and again. Not the debilitating kick ass type but the sit and stare type. The kind that says we are all doomed and going to hell in a handbasket.

When I feel myself starting to see the world as dark and dreary, I literally shake my head and say, "Tom, count your blessings." Why this works for me I'm not really sure but I think it is because I am one of the luckiest guys I know.

With some of the goofy situations I've put myself into and not have a scratch or broken bone or a permanent disability or be bankrupt marks me as lucky. So, I count my blessings and the world all of a sudden brightens up. Well, at least the part I occupy.

Years ago I used to have a pair of sunglasses with rose colored lenses. As you might guess, I was always asked if I was looking at the world through rose colored glasses.

In more ways than one, my friend, in more ways than one.

Having said all that, here's the question: What do you do to battle the blues? Blues is defined as depression by the way. If I get enough answers, I'll make a free ebook for downloading. Who knows, we might be onto a helping hand.

Cioincidentally, a magazine to which...

I subscribe arrived yesterday and one of its articles was titled, "The Pet Cure". The author cited studies done at the University of Buffalo, UCLA and Cornell showing pets help people who are feeling lonely, are depressed or stressed and have positive effects on emotionally and developmentally disabled children.

The author of course mentioned dogs and cats but cited white rats, chinchillas, rabbits, hamsters llamas and camels as therapeutic pets. I can add goats to the list.

When we lived in California, we (actually Maureen) raised goats. I was the stable boy <LOL>. I'm a city boy so when she first proposed raising goats, I chuckled but after a few months, I warmed up to them pretty darn fast.

You can go into the field and their natural curiosity will draw them to you. Once they reach you, you can start talking away and as they graze they listen. I'm sure both Maureen and I gave them ears full. <chuckle>

Just writing about depression...

is depressing so I am changing the subject. I haven't done anything on this site:

http://www.wikihow.com but visit. However, it appears one can write about any topic one chooses and it'll become a wikihow. If my assessment is correct, you and I now know one more way to have outside links to our site. Google should love us. <wink>

I've expanded Short Takes©...

into its own program. I've been told that was a stroke of genius. If you go to:

http://www.senior2senior.org/newprogram.html

you can read the information page and decide for yourself if it was genius or idiocy. And, if you buy the manual for $7, I will rebate $3.50 the moment you send me a copy of your paypal receipt.

Send the receipt to: sandalwood@reno.com with the subject - Rebate. Don't forget to tell me your paypal address so I can send your rebate.