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About Columbia Gorge news. (The Dalles, OR) 2020-current | View Entire Issue (June 9, 2021)
Columbia Gorge News www.columbiagorgenews.com Wednesday, June 9, 2021 B3 Part time work can be worthwhile endeavor Senior Living Scott McKay N OW THAT YOU ARE RE- tired have you thought about working part-time? No, hold on. I know what you may be thinking, “Are you nuts! I’m already working part-time: Taking care of my garden, watching my grandkids, and volunteering. I don’t have time for a part-time gig!” But if you have thought about being a new “gigster” by work- ing part-time and are willing to commit the time and the employer is willing to be flexible, it can be a win-win situation. And this may be the perfect time. “We’re Hiring” signs are everywhere, and I have been approached three separate times asking if I knew any older adults who would be interested in working in hospitality or driving a bus or taxi. Many employers view us as valuable workers because of our experience, maturity and we aren’t always connected by an umbilical cord to our smartphones — well, at least not most of us. And we already have health insurance through Medicare. What a deal! So why would anyone want to work past retirement? After survey- ing older adults who are working part-time, Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies found for many it is economic. They found 53 per- cent want the additional income, and 35 percent couldn’t otherwise afford retirement. But there are other reasons too. 47% percent said they work to stay active, 39% to keep their brains sharp, 34 percent said working gives them a sense of purpose, and for 21%, it is a way of maintaining social connections. The right job can be good for your health as well as your pocketbook. But there are several aspects of working part-time you should con- sider. Working after retirement can complicate your financial situation, such as putting yourself in a higher tax bracket than you were expect- ing. It’s important to consider how the additional income fits into your long-term financial plan. You may be thinking about working for yourself such as an in- home caregiver or house sitter — or turning your hobby into a small business, selling your handmade crafts at bazaars or on the Internet. But beware. The administrative and operational tasks required to run a small business, such as taxes and workmen’s comp, may take more time — and require more money — than you expect. And that leads to the part-time slippery slope: Finding yourself working more than just part-time. If you want to spend time with your grandchildren or travel occasion- ally, you should make sure there is an understanding of what is ex- pected of you and your employer. The look of retirement has changed over the last half-century. Today many who reach retire- ment age want to keep working by finding a part-time “gig” for the personal satisfaction and addition- al income. Whether working part- time for an employer or yourself, being a “gigster” can be rewarding by keeping yourself engaged and connected while earning a few extra dollars — as long as it doesn’t become a “real” job! ••• The name of the wealthy, short-statured cartoon character voiced by Jim Backus who gets into a series of comical situations be- cause of his extreme near-sighted- ness is, “You’ve done it again” Mr. Magoo. I received correct answers from Jeannie Pesicka, Susan Ellis, Steven Woolpert, John McEwin, Emmett Sampson, Bob Thouvenal, Tina Castañares, Norma Simpson, Catherine Whalen, Marilyn Wong, Shelly Baxter, Lana Tepfer, Kim Birge, Dave Lutgens, Margo Dameier, Gene Uczen, Julie Carter, Patty Burnet, Timothy Curry- Stevens, Mike Yarnell, and Alan Winas, this week’s winner of a quilt raffle ticket. And last week I missed Steven Woolpert. I was only 8, but I remember watching Your Hit Parade and hearing this 1956 number-one hit song recorded by Jim Lowe. For this week’s “Remember When” question, Jim Lowe sings “Midnight, one more night without sleeping, watching till the morning comes creeping”, as he is deter- mined to know the secret behind what? E-mail your answer to mcseniorcenter@gmail.com, call 541-296-4788 or send it with a 45 rpm record of “Love Me Tender” by Elvis Presley - the song Jim Lowe’s recording replaced as number one. ••• Well, it has been another week watching for things that go bump in the night. Until we meet again, as Joey Adams reminds us “Don’t worry about avoiding tempta- tion — as you grow older, it starts avoiding you.” ••• “I lost my job. I didn’t lose it — I know where it is — it’s just when I get there, someone else is doing it.” — Bobcat Goldthwaite ••• Nutritious home-delivered meals and pick-ups are available for anyone over 60. For more infor- mation, you can call the meal site in your area. Hood River Valley Adult Center at 541-386-2060; The Dalles Meals-on-Wheels at 541-298-8333; Sherman County Senior and Community Center at 541-565-3191; Klickitat County Senior Services — Goldendale office at 509-773- 3757 or the White Salmon office at 509-493-3068; Skamania County Senior Services at 509-427-3990; Seniors of Mosier Valley at 541- 503-5660 or 541-980-1157. The City Council: A fictional narrative of rural life in the American West Episode 163: The Quaish Way ■ By Jim Tindall Ike Moseseek strolls near home, dreams whimsically of his eventual passing. When he reaches paradise, the Place Beyond, Wotahish, he does not want the tropics and a sweet cocktail; he wishes for snow in the trees, a cold, crisp, blue sky, and a good walking stick through Quaish Ishseek into death, into Aneeneseek, as the released ghost, a happy-go- lucky chidiseek. Winter has always been the time of awe for him, for reverence in and gratitude for the glory that is nature. He supposes he seeks to live as the tap root of the oak and pine, as well as the broad spreading tendrils roots of the fir, his personal quest for groundedness. A squirrel chitters. He walks on, mulling the Quaish fable, “Coyote and Squirrel.” Ike Moseseek considers the firm ground upon which he walks, the path packed from generations of feet and hooves up into the heart, to the peaks of the Quaish Ishseek, where the elk and berries reside. This is a place of trust. But the people, all people, are uncertain. Yes, capable of being martyrs and fine parents, but also so able to be uncertain, undirect- ed, yes, even disloyal. The trickster Coyote, the oppor- tunist, and the Squirrel, his coffers full of the hard labor and determination of other creatures. Ike laughs, “It is easier to trust a tree in a windstorm than a neighbor drinking beer,” he thinks. “The ironies in life and death! Yet Coyote and Squirrel remain im- mortal with Coyote tricking death out of Squirrel and Squirrel stealing Coyote’s death. What is the lesson of life there?” He strides further up the slope, musing, “Death is a friend, a kind of reward for good living, another portal. These dishonest beings give themselves the short end of the stick. Coyote and Squirrel are doomed to go on in flesh being devious and conniving for eternity.” Ike halts and looks about him. “When my spirit de- cides to rise above the land, leaving my body behind, it is this way I hope it travels, up to the chilling peaks of vistas, of thin air.” Ike had been inspired, or shocked, into this line of thought by a ladder mishap he suffered the day before. The ground was unlevel. He was five steps up when the ladder leaned, and he went with it, luckily landing, bouncing, on his feet, and then down to his rump onto soft earth. It was a wakeup call. Ike Moseseek knew several contemporaries who were somehow gimped up permanently from ladder accidents. Not one of them was foolish or fool hearty; luck was just not with them Illustration by Peggy Ohlson that day. They walked like veteran rodeo riders. Ike sighs. The Quaish way is a peaceful one. Theirs was not a warrior culture. The whites had been civil, not butchers. They had avoided the Spaniards. Their wander here to Quaish Ishseek so many, many generations ago came down to the living as a tale of peace and of exploration, the wave south, separating from their Navajo and Apache cousins in a wide valley, ice on the ridges to east and west. Each day, the stories said, the people found new plants, new animals, better weather. Theirs was a way of hope, a simple hope born from a continued peace. They avoided the warrior tribes; when the horse came and brought the warriors a wider swath, the war makers kept out of the mountains shel- tering the Quaish. (Lest the reader think them weak and timid, let it be known they were tenacious defenders of their domain and were masters of two battle tactics, close quarters fighting with blowguns employing darts of black locust thorns smeared with toxic herbs that made the enemy’s eyes immediately swell shut and a long-range weapon, a kind of crossbow, that from a high vantage point could hit its mark at 200 yards.) The people avoided the ravages of the diseases that came with European contact. The people believed — still do — in what the Judeo-Christians call miracles. How else might you explain such good fortune? Ike wonders, “Really, who are the chosen people? We are not a timid people, we are prudent. We are survi- vors in our own way.” He looks up into the boughs. “Is this the natural order of things?” he asks himself aloud. “Are we Quaish out- side the order? Do we walk the blessing way, or are we somehow luckily lost?” Ike walks now through a grove of wind-gnarled pines, approaching a saddle. The wind might sound as a banshee to you or me, the twisted trees appearing as ghouls on the hunt, but to Ike, he hears a bassoon and a viola accompanied by a brushed snare drum, the trees as pow-wow danc- ers, celebrating the eternal dichotomies of hopes and dashed dreams, of life and death. About ‘The City Council’ The City Council is a work of fiction that sprang from observing contentious politicians. This narrative serial was initially conceived as a radio project back in 2006. That year it began to be published in print in the White Salmon Enterprise. This creative writing is set in the imaginary western town of Warhaven, which lies at the confluence of the Rushing and Big rivers. The town was settled in 1867 by veterans of the Battle of Gettysburg, who sought to leave the carnage and duplicity of the East for a more harmonious society in the West. In Warhaven, city government works efficiently with altruism for the com- monweal of the community, which is the work’s overrid- ing theme. Hiring Hiring Dr. Cullen’s Student of the week Kramer Keegan Ku Benjamin Ku for Global Studies: as the Algebra 1 Student of the Week: Keegan comes to class every Regardless of the struggles present day in the distance learning attitude format, Benjamin has with a positive and works shown not resilience and determination in his hard, only improving himself, math studies. Thank you Ben for all your but fellow classmates as well. hard work and excellent communication! Congratulations Benjamin Ku Kramer, TDHS Keegan Ku, TDHS Columbia View Dental 1915 E. 19th Street | The Dalles Victor Cullen, DDS Wilkins, Kaiser, Compeve wages Olsen Inc. 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If interested in any of these posions plea Log Yard Operator/ Equipment Operator Log Yard Operator/ Equipment Operator apply: Millwright/Mechanic Millwright/Mechanic Forkli Driver Chain Puller Chain Puller Log Yard Operator/ Equipment Operator Cleanup Cleanup Millwright/Mechanic job Chain Puller Full descriptions and required application ffi be Cleanup can obtained at Job main posngs can located also be at found on Wind Indeed.com the office 2022 River Hwy. Carson, WA 98610 ffi • • • • • Job can also also be be found found Indeed.com Job postings posngs can on on Indeed.com 541-296-5677 | Se habla español SUBSCRIBE for less than a fancy cup of coffee per month. subscribe@gorgenews.com 541-296-2141 ext. 112 HOOD RIVER | THE DALLES | WHITE SALMON Columbia Gorge News ColumbiaGorgeNews.com
