What's Your Livability Score?

     This is a short post to refer you to a site I found on the AARP website called the Livability Index. It was developed by the AARP Public Policy Institute as a "web-based tool to measure community livability."

     You can search the Index by zip code or the name of your town to find an overall score. The total score is an average of scores for seven categories: housing, neighborhood, transportation, environment, health, engagement, and opportunity. You can click on each category to see what criteria they use.

     Presumably, the livability quotient is relevant for everyone; but there's extra focus on older people. For example, the housing category is based on affordability, but also on availability of multi-family housing and accessibility in terms of wider doors and hallways and fewer steps.

      I realize these kinds of rating systems have limits when people are trying to decide where they might want to relocate in retirement. For example, this Livability Index does not take climate into account, which is an important factor for many of us. My daughter lives in Buffalo, and her neighborhood rates an enviable 62 -- but you wouldn't find me living there through the winter.

     My own town scores a 51, which is okay, not great. It rates low on housing (27) and transportation (31) -- housing is expensive and geared toward families not retired people, and we have no public transportation other than a train that's a 15-minute drive away. But my community scores high on health (81) and engagement (63), and reasonably well on environment (53).

     Even if two communities score at the same level on an overall basis, they may show very different profiles. My sister lives in Florida. Her zip code also rates a 51; but housing and transportation in her area score higher while health comes in lower.

     So, I guess you have pick out what's important to you, and be happy where you are. But even if you're not thinking about moving, it could be fun to check out the Livability Index for your own community -- or those of family and friends -- to see how they rate on various measures.

Weekend in Washington

     We spent two days in Washington, DC, and thoroughly enjoyed the wonderful weather, the friendly crowds, and a visit with my two sisters. The bonus: We didn't have to see one politician!

     We did see the Capitol, then took a tour through the Newseum, a news museum that "champions the five freedoms of the First Amendment." In case you don't remember, the five freedoms are freedom of the press, of petition, religion, speech and the freedom to assemble peacefully.

to champion the five freedoms of the First Amendment - See more at: http://www.newseum.org/about/#sthash.BEFQBr0o.dpuf

to champion the five freedoms of the First Amendment - See more at: http://www.newseum.org/about/#sthash.BEFQBr0o.dpuf

mission is to champion the five freedoms of the First Amendment - See more at: http://www.newseum.org/about/#sthash.zAKbipQb.dpuf

The 150-year-old Capitol Dome is being restored

The Newseum on Pennsylvania Ave., opened in 2008

A reminder of big events

A piece of the Berlin Wall

One of the East German guard towers

A news helicopter

Guess what embassy is next door to the Newseum

The National Art Gallery is across the street

Later, we walked over to the Dunbarton Oaks gardens in Georgetown

The terrace with its 100-year-old vines

Do you remember the story of Diana?

Actaeon sees her naked, so she turns him into a deer and his hounds kill him

Union Station

     We took the Amtrak train home. Fortunately, for us, there was no accident. But unfortunately, as you may have read, an Amtrak train derailed last night outside of Philadelphia, killing five people and injuring scores of others . . . a reminder that even in this day and age travel has its dangers. So be careful, be safe, and lets send our thoughts and prayers to those affected by this latest tragedy.

Whirlwind Tour

     I haven't posted for almost a week, because B and I took a quick and exciting trip to Europe. We started out in Ireland . . .

Irish step dancing

Is that an Irish face, or what?

We got a demonstration on the Irish national sport of hurling

    Then we proceeded to Latvia . . .

Seal of the Baltic country of Latvia

Girl in traditional costume

Singing local folk songs

     Then on to Portugal . . .

Fishing is important to the economy

     And Romania . . .

Romanian folk dance

     And the U.K. . . .

English Morris dancing on Dupont Circle

     And so you're thinking, we really didn't go to all those countries in one weekend. But actually, we did better than that. Because when you enter the embassy of a country, you are legally in the country. We spent Saturday at the European Union Embassies Open House in Washington, DC, and we really did cover five countries in five hours.

Waste Money ... Who Me?

     Last night I saw B in front of her computer. I went over, and as I approached she quickly clicked off the page, and her email account flashed onto the screen.

     "Whatcha' lookin' at?" I queried innocently. I thought maybe she was searching on Homeaway, because we're starting to plan our summer vacation.

     She looked at me. Her face flushed a little. Then she sighed. "Well, actually, I was shopping."

     She clicked back onto the first page. I saw a pair of earrings, kind of spangly, probably made out of gold. I didn't really look very closely, because . . . well, because I don't know a thing about earrings.

     Then I did a double-take. The earrings cost $174.99. No wonder B was looking a a little guilty!

Waste of money?

     But I don't care. B has a job. She has her own money. She can spend it any way she wants. It's no business on mine if she wants to blow close to $200 for little shiny things to hang from her ears . . . that no one will even see because they'll be hidden by the hair that she's been growing out lately.

     Recently, B came home from work at the library and was amused to tell me about a woman who'd been asking for some tax forms. The woman confided in B that she filed her taxes separately because her husband gambled, and she didn't want any part of his finances.

     My sister also keeps her finances separate from her husband. This is her second marriage (and his third), and they got married late in life, so they'd been used to doing things their own way and they thought they'd keep it that way -- besides my brother-in-law fancies himself a day-trader in the stock market, so he has complicated taxes with a lot of short-term gains and losses. And my sister doesn't want any part of it.

     My brother-in-law sometimes brags about the money he's made. But my sister told me that he actually loses about $5,000 a year. "I don't let it bother me," she says. "After all, for him this is entertainment, and it costs less than owning a boat, or taking a vacation."

     So anyway, like I said, what business is it of mine if B wants to squander her money on jewelry. Or shoes. Or little knickknacks for the house.

     I guess, being a  (ahem) fiscally responsible person myself, I don't understand why people want to throw away their hard-earned money on useless stuff. I spend my money on more substantial goods and services, ones that are socially responsible and contribute to the greater good of mankind. For example: golf.

     No, wait! Seriously. By playing golf I help employ a dozen or so American workers -- mostly senior citizens -- who help run the course. The golf course provides much-needed green space in my overcrowded suburb. And it also provides an inviting environment for wildlife, such as deer, raccoons, skunks, snakes, ticks, mosquitoes. And geese. The geese provide lots of fertilizer.

Good investment?

     I play on the public courses and pay about $40 a round. B has never once accused me of wasting money on golf. And why would she? I'm actually saving money. After all, I could join a fancy country club. It might cost me $10,000 a year. At that rate it would cost me $300 or $400 a round. So by going to the public course, I save $250 to $350 every day. The more I play, the more I save!

     I've been eyeing a new driver down at the golf shop. It costs $399.00. Does that seem expensive? Maybe. But on a cost-per-pound basis, it's a much better deal than the earrings.

     This is just one example. There's my new car . . . I could have gotten a Mercedes like my friend Joe, so I saved a lot of money in buying a Honda instead. My gym membership . . . okay, I don't use it that much, but I save $15 a month because I'm a senior citizen. At the rate I'm going, we'll have saved up enough money to pay for vacation in no time.

     Anyway, after our little encounter at the computer, I went into the kitchen and got myself a snack. A few minutes later I saw B was still at the computer. I wandered over, and saw . . .  she's still looking at earrings. Only these earrings cost $224.99!

     However, being the suave, debonaire, cool-as-a-cucumber guy that I am, I didn't even react. I just nodded thoughtfully. "Those are nice," I mused. "But, I think I like the other ones better."

     She looked up. "Yeah, I agree," she said. "Besides, I'd be saving $50. That'll help pay for our vacation." 

Remember Him?

     He was born on a farm in Indiana. His father died when he was a child, and his mother went to work in a cannery, so the young boy helped out with the farm and took care of his two younger siblings, learning how to prepare food, how to cook meats and vegetables, and even bake bread.

     His mother eventually remarried, but the boy didn't get along with his stepfather, so he left home, and at age 16 went to live with his uncle who worked for a streetcar company. The young man got a job as a conductor -- and thus began his lifelong love affair with trains.

    He did a brief stint in the army, then moved to Alabama, where he lived with another uncle who got him a job at the Southern Railroad. He worked his way up to fireman, and along the way met Josephine King, the girl who would become his wife. They had  three children together.

     The family moved to Tennessee where he worked for Illinois Central and started taking correspondence courses to become a lawyer. He lost his railroad job after getting into a fight with a colleague, and then moved over to the Rock Island Railroad. When he completed his law courses, he started practicing law in Little Rock, Ark., but that career soon blew up when he again got in a fight -- this time in the courtroom, with his own client!

     Perhaps you're starting to see a pattern. He went to work for the Pennsylvania Railroad, then quit to sell life insurance for Prudential, but he was soon fired for subordination. Then he co-founded a ferry company on the Ohio River, and when it proved reasonably successful he sold his share of the business and started a lighting company. The lighting ventured failed in the face of competition, but the young man happened to meet a executive with Standard Oil who signed him up to run a gas station in Nicholasville, KY.

     By then it was the middle of the Depression, and the service station was forced to close down. But he soon made a deal with Shell to run another gas station, in Corbin, KY, and in order to boost sales he began to serve food -- chicken and ham and steak -- at first in his house next door to the station, and later opening a real restaurant. His popularity grew, until the food critic Duncan Hines stopped by and included a mention of the restaurant in his book Adventures in Good Eating:

     "Corbin, KY. Sanders Court and Cafe. A very good place to stop en route to Cumberland Falls and the Great Smokies. Continuous 24-hour service. Sizzling steaks, fried chicken, country ham, hot biscuits."

     About this time Sanders received a commission from the governor of Kentucky as a Kentucky Colonel, in recognition for his contribution to the state's cuisine, and so Colonel Harlan Sanders started to expand his culinary world. He acquired a restaurant/motel in Asheville, NC, and later, when his Corbin place burned down, he rebuilt it as a motel with a 140-seat restaurant. By 1940 Sanders had developed his own "secret recipe" for frying chicken in a fast-cooking pressure fryer.

     During World War II, gas rationing dried up business, and Sanders went off to manage cafeterias for the government in Tennessee. After the war, as he was pushing 60 years old, he got divorced, then remarried, and then he took his first venture into franchising -- signing up a restaurant in (of all places) South Salt Lake, Utah. Sales at the restaurant quickly tripled, and other restaurants began asking to be a Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise. Sanders hit the road to spread the word, often sleeping in the back of his car. He would stop at a roadside restaurant, offer to cook his chicken, and then if workers liked it he would negotiate franchise rights.

     The concept caught on, and soon KFC outlets were opening all around the country, and in Mexico and Canada as well. But by the mid-1960s Sanders decided the company had grown too big for him to handle, and so he sold out to a group of Kentucky businessmen. He arranged to take a salaried position as a "brand ambassador."

     In 1965 Sanders moved to Mississauga, Ontario to oversee the Canadian KFCs, which had not been part of the sale of the company. He lived in Canada for 15 years while continuing to make appearances and film commercials for the U. S. company, even while publicly criticizing the company for changing his secret sauce.

     In his later years -- and after the governor had recommissioned him a Kentucky Colonel -- Sanders dressed the part, wearing a white suit, and growing a goatee and bleaching it white. He referred to himself as Colonel, and never appeared in public without his get-up -- a heavy wool suit in winter and a light cotton suit in summer.

     Harlan Sanders died at age 90, in 1980, leaving a legacy of over 6,000 KFC restaurants . . . and his familiar visage that still adorns the logo of the company, from sea to shining sea.