2016

The are no happy new years.  There are happy hours for many and happy days for others.  But we live in an unhappy world with too many unhappy people.  This situation will not change until we find a way to reduce the number of unhappy people to a manageable level.  I am generally a happy person but I fear that I am in the minority.  There are too many people (in the U.S.) would did not go to college, so they did not get a good job, so they could not buy a house and could not save for retirement.  These unhappy people will struggle in retirement using their Social Security money to pay rent.  I am not happy about their situation.  [JAM 1/3/2016]

Two weeks ago, I decided to retire from golf.  I shot 89 with 7 pars (good for me) but had a raging migraine headache by noon.  I took my anti-inflammatory pill and the headache gradually subsided only to return worse than ever around midnight.  I was half-awake and dreaming at the same time with strange hallucinations.  I was barely able to remember to take another pill that finally gave me relief by 4am.  I was exhausted from the battle the next day.  To some extent, this cycle has been repeated for years.  I took the score card out of the trashcan and decided that this was a good time to stop.  My grandfather, James Orval Booth (1902-1954) suffered from migraine headaches that he treated with increasing dosages of aspiring.  My father remembers seeing Orval take a "handful" of aspirin to attack his daily headache.  My grandfather died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 52.  My mother, Nyla Booth Moore (1924-2013) suffered from migraine headaches and hay fever during her adult life.  She had several small strokes and hallucinations that eventually caused her to lose short-term memory and spend her last few years incapacitated with dementia.  My sister, Betty Moore Wolfe (1948-2014) had several small strokes and eventually died of a massive stroke at the age of 65.  With this family history, I have decided to discontinue activities such as golf before they carry me off the course.  I was never very good at golf anyway but enjoyed spending time outside with friends. [JAM 10/12/2016]

This photo was taken by our neighbor after I finished removing all grass from the yard and replacing it with drought-resistant plants.  I had to submit a plan to the city and get a permit to do this.  [JAM 6/13/2020]