Author Archive
A Centers for Disease Control report rates fruit and vegetable consumption by state and offers others measuring sticks for consumer access to healthy food. California leads the U.S. in several categories.
Known as the State Indicator Report on Fruits and Vegetables, the report can be used to show how states support consumption of fruits and vegetables and help identify opportunities for improvement in fruit and vegetable access.
The CDC report is the second of its type, with the first report issued by the CDC in 2009.
The 2013 report reveals that adults in the U.S. consume fruit about 1.1 times per day and vegetables about 1.6 times per day.
The daily median intake for fruits (times per day) was highest in California, the District of Columbia, Connecticut and New Hampshire, while the states for lowest fruit consumption were Mississippi and Oklahoma.
California also led the U.S. in daily vegetable consumption while Iowa, Mississippi, North Dakota and South Dakota shared the low mark.
Only about 70 percent of all census tracts in the U.S. have at least one store that offers a variety of affordable fruits and vegetables. The greatest access to stores that offer fruits and vegetables were California (82 percent), New York (79 percent), Florida (79 percent), the District of Columbia (78 percent) and Oregon (77 percent). On the other end of the spectrum, Vermont has the lowest percentage of census tracts (44 peracent) with a store that offers fruits and vegetables, followed by South Dakota (46 percent), Alaska (49 percent) and North Dakota (50 percent).
The U.S. average for farmers’s markets per 100,000 population is 2.5, according to the report. Vermont, Wyoming, Iowa, and New Hampshire all have more than seven farmers markets per 100,000 state residents, while Texas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah all reported less than two farmers markets per 100,000 population.
On the last day of the Bloomberg administration, city officials bought some time in their long-running effort to keep the Hunts Points Terminal Produce Market from leaving the Bronx for New Jersey or elsewhere.
New York City’s Economic Development Corporation announced on Tuesday that, after years of sometimes contentious negotiations, the market’s lease had been renewed for seven years. The agreement keeps the wholesale market and its 3,000 jobs in the South Bronx until June 2021. The market, which has operated since 1967, has an option to renew the lease for 10 years after that.
The agreement is a step toward developing a long-term plan to overhaul the market, which occupies more than 100 acres. The city agreed to reduce the maximum annual rent the market pays to $4 million from $4.5 million. In return, the market agreed to reduce the amount it can deduct from that rent for repairs it makes to its infrastructure to $1.5 million from $2.25 million annually.
Hunts Point is the world’s largest wholesale produce market. Thousands of refrigerated 18 wheelers from all over North America deliver fresh fruits and vegetables to the compound each week. The product is then distributed mostly on a regional basis, the nation’s most populated area.
By The New York Times
Here’s a round up of big-time apple shipments from New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and the leader — Washington State.
New York
This year’s expected record-breaking apple crop has left many New York growers with fruit still on the trees and not enough storage space after the harvest. Still, there should be record loading opportunities for apple haulers this season.
The bountiful 2013 growing season left many growers without enough workers to harvest the apples, not enough bins to place them in and not enough cold-storage capacity. Last summer, New York apple shipments were estimated at a record-setting 32 million bushels, nearly double last year’s harvest that was devasted by freezing weather. That figure for this season could even be low. Some observers see New York apple shipments topping 34 million bushels when all the figures are final.
New York apples – grossing about $2000 to Atlanta.
Pennyslvania
But New York isn’t alone when it comes to record apple shipments this year. In Pennsyvlania, one of the largest operations, Rice Fruit Co. in Gardners, is reporting number setting volume with its apple shipments. Pennsylvania apple shipments should continue through July, until the new crop is harvested starting in August.
Michigan Apple Shipments
Looking at Michigan, its biggest apple shipper, Riverridge Produce Inc. in Sparta is reported record setting loadings. The state should have record volume by the end of the season next summer.
Michigan apples – grossing about $3000 to New York City.
Washington State Apple Shipments
Finally, in Washington state, which ships as many apples as the rest of the states combined, should move about 110 million boxes of fruit this season. That’s down about 9 million boxes from original estimates, but it will still be one of the biggest apple crops on record.
Washington state apples – grossing about $5400 to Dallas.
Numbers are still vague, but one thing is for certain, California citrus shipments will be down this season. Florida is facing a similar situation, but for different reasons.
San Joaquin Valley citrus packers have hired extra workers for inspecting fruit as they try to separate the good from the bad after a freeze last month. Citrus industry officials are reluctant to put a percentage on the damage from nearly a dozen days of subfreezing temperatures, but some citrus packers are estimating damage at between 30 and 50 percent for the entire industry.
This year’s crop was only 15 percent harvested before the freeze hit. At the time it was estimated to be 88 million cartons, down slightly from the previous year.
California citrus and produce – grossing about $4700 to Chicago.
Florida Citrus Shipments
Florida fresh fruit shipments have declined more than 20 percent so far this season because of crop declines, smaller fruit sizes and a later start to the harvesting season.
Total fresh shipments had fallen 24.5 percent December 15, compared with the same point in the 2012-13 season and almost 30 percent compared with 2011-12. Grapefruit shipments have dropped 23.4 percent since last season, fresh oranges 25 percent and tangerines, tangelos and other specialty varieties by 26 percent.
Fresh citrus represents a much smaller segment of the Florida citrus industry, dominated by juice processing, but it is particularly important in Polk County, the top producer of tangerines and tangelos and home to three of the state’s 10 largest packinghouses in Dundee, Haines City and Lake Wales.
The first breakbulk shipment of Chilean winter fruit to arrived by boat in the U.S at the Port of Wilmington (North Carolina) on December 18th. As we get further into the winter, more frequent arrivals are occurring.
The ship held over 756,000 boxes of fresh cherries, blueberries, stone fruit, and table grapes. The imported fruit is stored in the port’s 800,000 on-dock refrigerated warehouse complex before distribution by truck to Eastern markets.
During the winter fruit season from December through April, the Port of Wilmington expects to receive at least 25 shiploads of fruit from various Chilean ports. Wilmington was the first U.S. port to receive fruit from Chile this winter.
In the 2012-13 season, the Port of Wilmington received about 18 million boxes of Chilean fruit, up 22 percent from the previous season.
Exactly how much fruit from Chile will arrive a U.S. ports, which besides Wilmington, is primarily Philadelphia, PA and Long Beach, CA, depends on a number of factors.
Naturally, Mother Nature plays a critical role and those climate conditions during the growing season in Chile has meant slower development, harvest and ultimately arrivals to the U.S. Some freezing weather at critical times also is expected to reduce total volume. Finally, depending on currency values, Chile will ship to Europe and other global markets if better profits are likely.
If you are under 35 years of age, you are twice as likely to buy more organic over the next year than older counterparts, according to new IGD research.
Some 18 per cent of this age group want to use specialist stores, like butchers and greengrocers, more in the future compared to only nine per cent of the over-35 age group.
Shoppers aged under 35 are also more likely than their older counterparts to shop ethically and cook from scratch.
And almost 30 per cent of under 35s think they will be better off in a year’s time.
Joanne Denney-Finch, chief executive of IGD, said these trends provide opportunities for retailers and food manufacturers to target younger shoppers with marketing and new products that will chime with their more optimistic outlook.
She said: “As well as wanting to do the right thing, younger people are more interested in cooking from scratch, using leftovers to waste less, and spending more on food and drink to make a nice meal if they have spare money at the end of the month.
“It’s encouraging that younger people are so optimistic about the future and also more likely to want to make a difference to the world. Shoppers under 35 are more interested in considering a retailer’s values and approach to sourcing products.”
By The NPD Group
The recently released Harvard study on the health benefits of eating nuts just confirmed what health conscious consumers already know, that nuts are good for you, reports The NPD Group, a leading global information company. NPD’s food market research finds that nuts rank among the top 10 snack-oriented convenience foods for U.S. consumers motivated by health and weight needs.
Nuts are a popular snack for breakfast and morning snack but are eaten throughout the day by health and weight conscious consumers who want a nutritious, natural, better-for-you snack, according to NPD’s Snacking in America report, which examines long-term attitudes and behaviors about snacking as well as snack selection drivers. Consumers who are motivated to choose nuts and other better-for-you snacks based on health and weight needs tend to be seniors and empty nesters, adult females, and higher income households.
The consumption of nuts is not limited to the health and weight conscious. Seventy-seven percent of U.S. households have nuts or seeds on-hand and 19 percent of individuals eat nuts at least once in a two week period, finds NPD. Nuts are consumed primarily as an in-home snack but are often incorporated into morning, lunch, and dinner meals. In addition to its choice as a healthier snack, nuts are also popular among consumers looking for a filling or a quick, convenient snack.
“Whether to meet the needs of the health and weight conscious or as an easy grab-and-go snack, nuts are a popular choice among snackers,” says Darren Seifer, food and beverage industry analyst. “Food manufacturers and retailers have a variety of options and audiences for marketing nuts.”
It’s New Year’s Day and pardon me if I reflect a bit on the past year.
As for this website, HaulProduce.com, I can’t thank each of you enough for visting the website. Apparently you are finding it useful in your business. That was my whole purpose in launcing this site nearly two years ago.
I receive calls on a regular basis, and in many cases when you are looking for produce loads. Some of you call under the impression I am either a carrier, logistics company or a truck broker – none of which I pretend to be. Haul Produce.com, much like the radio reports I did for nearly 20 years (known at the Produce Truckers Network) provided produce reports on loading opportunities, quality of product you’d be hauling and a general idea of what kind of a gross freight rate you should receive.
Our number of visits to the website continue to increase. It has a relatively new feature, where you can subscribe for free, which continues to have more people in the trucking industry signing up. With the free subscription, you receive an e-mail consisting of a paragraph relating to the most recent post. If that bit of information interests you, you can click on the e-mail link and read to the whole story.
Again, thank you for your support. If you know of a fellow trucker or someone in the trucking industry who may benefit from the HaulProduce.com website, please let them know about us.
God bless you, your family and business in the New Year. — Bill and Vivian Martin
“Save the best for last” is not only a good quote, but it is also a very good principle to live by. The idea being that you should always finish with the best. A lot of my friends have commented on how they have had more fun in life as they have gotten older. While engaging in a similar conversation recently, I paused to think a bit more about the recent comments I had heard, and then I wondered why getting older was viewed so differently by so many people.
On one hand, aging brings with it the typical aches and pains of the passing years, and on the other hand it brings with it a freedom of the social pressures that years of living in the rat race has produced. After a decade of retirement I can truly say that it has, so far, been the best years of my life. Maybe it is the freedom to do what you want when you want , or maybe it is the social freedom of not having to care or worry about much of anything, with the exception of a beer shortage of course. And another aging phenomenon is the fact that the older males of our species seem to attract younger women as we age.
Now don’t get me wrong, getting old is not for the faint hearted. It takes some planning and preparation to enter this phase of life properly. Not everybody is cut out to be a senior citizen. The first thing you have to do is deal with the inevitability of it. Regardless of how many face lifts, boob jobs, tummy tucks, butt lifts, or surgery you have, you are still going to age. And if you don’t watch out you can easily end up looking like “The Joker” in the Batman movies. Just ask Joan Rivers. You have to admit that Jack Nicholson looks better as The Joker than Joan does, even with all the help from her surgeon. Somehow I just can’t help think Joan would have been better off learning to deal with getting older.
Getting older has an enormous potential for enjoying life. For one thing, older people can get away with a whole lot more, and nobody knows what you’re really up to. The younger crowd is clueless about your motives and they think you are just senile. One of the best military tactics is to get into a position where your enemy underestimates you. Then you have the advantage.
Being the older person in a younger group commands a bit of respect. When the younger ones get in a pickle you just smile and politely say “been there, done that” and they think you have the wisdom that the years visibly show.
Advanced age provides a new set of social opportunities as well. Younger women don’t view you as a threat. You’re kind of like the old neutered squirrel who lives in the great big pecan tree. You can now hang out with the babes without getting into trouble with your wife. After all, your wife knows you’re harmless, and at your age you deserve a little change in latitude.
I have found it’s always good to take up a little drinking as you get older. This does require that you learn something about booze. For that you should join some social drinking clubs. They provide a knowledge base for social drinking that you can share with the younger folks. This gives you an air of sophistication and class that you probably never had when you were younger. Be creative in your old age. Don’t be afraid to come up with interesting things to do. Party a lot, and never take anything too serious. Nothing is more of a turn-off than a serious old codger carping about some meaningless trivia.
Always smile a lot and try to look empathetic. Women and liberals love empathy. Never mind that empathy never solved any problems in life or put a man on the moon. That’s not the point. Empathy is “in” today, so practice some empathetic facial expressions in the mirror to use when the need arises.
One final note. Always give big tips. You can’t take it with you, and you sure don’t want to leave much for your children. Too much will take away their sense of accomplishment and self worth. If you wake up some day and find yourself feeling sorry for yourself because your getting older, just follow my advise above. And if you get into trouble just remember the disclaimer in fine print….
DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME
Larry Oscar is a graduate from the University of Tulsa and holds a degree in electrical engineering. He is retired and lives with his wife on a lake in Oklahoma where he brews his own beer, sails, and is a member of numerous clubs and organizations.
About halfway through December, California strawberry shipments were already assured of another record-setting season in 2013. Mostly truck loadings have put out more than 193 million trays of berries, up from 191 million in 2012. Thus, with the year ending, California strawberry shipments will definately have its seventh record-setting year in the last eight seasons.
Shippers had loaded over 193 million trays as of December 13, topping the 191 million trays produced in all of 2012. Shipments continued an upward trend that began in 2006 with five straight record-setting seasons. A cold and wet spring in 2011 caused the streak to be broken, but growth in shipments has continued since.
A big reason has been an upsurge in acreage. Growers planted on 40,192 acres this year, up from 37,732 in 2012. Another factor was the use of new University of California-developed varieties that yield more fruit per acre.
However, what California had in quantity this year, too often was lacking in quality.
Strawberries are a year-round fruit in California, as winter harvests move south with the sun. The peak season is in the spring and early summer, when all three of the state’s major growing regions — around Watsonville, Santa Maria and Oxnard — are producing berries. About 85 percent of the nation’s strawberry shipments originate in California.
Some growers are switching to organic production. Organic acreage went from 1,776 in 2012 to 2,532 acres this year.
Most California strawberry shipments are now coming out of Ventura County and Orange County.
Southern California produce shipments, including strawberries – grossing about $6800 to New York City.
A Centers for Disease Control report rates fruit and vegetable consumption by state and offers others measuring sticks for consumer access to healthy food. California leads the U.S. in several categories.
Known as the State Indicator Report on Fruits and Vegetables, the report can be used to show how states support consumption of fruits and vegetables and help identify opportunities for improvement in fruit and vegetable access.
The CDC report is the second of its type, with the first report issued by the CDC in 2009.
The 2013 report reveals that adults in the U.S. consume fruit about 1.1 times per day and vegetables about 1.6 times per day.
The daily median intake for fruits (times per day) was highest in California, the District of Columbia, Connecticut and New Hampshire, while the states for lowest fruit consumption were Mississippi and Oklahoma.
California also led the U.S. in daily vegetable consumption while Iowa, Mississippi, North Dakota and South Dakota shared the low mark.
Only about 70 percent of all census tracts in the U.S. have at least one store that offers a variety of affordable fruits and vegetables. The greatest access to stores that offer fruits and vegetables were California (82 percent), New York (79 percent), Florida (79 percent), the District of Columbia (78 percent) and Oregon (77 percent). On the other end of the spectrum, Vermont has the lowest percentage of census tracts (44 peracent) with a store that offers fruits and vegetables, followed by South Dakota (46 percent), Alaska (49 percent) and North Dakota (50 percent).
The U.S. average for farmers’s markets per 100,000 population is 2.5, according to the report. Vermont, Wyoming, Iowa, and New Hampshire all have more than seven farmers markets per 100,000 state residents, while Texas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah all reported less than two farmers markets per 100,000 population.
On the last day of the Bloomberg administration, city officials bought some time in their long-running effort to keep the Hunts Points Terminal Produce Market from leaving the Bronx for New Jersey or elsewhere.
New York City’s Economic Development Corporation announced on Tuesday that, after years of sometimes contentious negotiations, the market’s lease had been renewed for seven years. The agreement keeps the wholesale market and its 3,000 jobs in the South Bronx until June 2021. The market, which has operated since 1967, has an option to renew the lease for 10 years after that.
The agreement is a step toward developing a long-term plan to overhaul the market, which occupies more than 100 acres. The city agreed to reduce the maximum annual rent the market pays to $4 million from $4.5 million. In return, the market agreed to reduce the amount it can deduct from that rent for repairs it makes to its infrastructure to $1.5 million from $2.25 million annually.
Hunts Point is the world’s largest wholesale produce market. Thousands of refrigerated 18 wheelers from all over North America deliver fresh fruits and vegetables to the compound each week. The product is then distributed mostly on a regional basis, the nation’s most populated area.
By The New York Times
Here’s a round up of big-time apple shipments from New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and the leader — Washington State.
New York
This year’s expected record-breaking apple crop has left many New York growers with fruit still on the trees and not enough storage space after the harvest. Still, there should be record loading opportunities for apple haulers this season.
The bountiful 2013 growing season left many growers without enough workers to harvest the apples, not enough bins to place them in and not enough cold-storage capacity. Last summer, New York apple shipments were estimated at a record-setting 32 million bushels, nearly double last year’s harvest that was devasted by freezing weather. That figure for this season could even be low. Some observers see New York apple shipments topping 34 million bushels when all the figures are final.
New York apples – grossing about $2000 to Atlanta.
Pennyslvania
But New York isn’t alone when it comes to record apple shipments this year. In Pennsyvlania, one of the largest operations, Rice Fruit Co. in Gardners, is reporting number setting volume with its apple shipments. Pennsylvania apple shipments should continue through July, until the new crop is harvested starting in August.
Michigan Apple Shipments
Looking at Michigan, its biggest apple shipper, Riverridge Produce Inc. in Sparta is reported record setting loadings. The state should have record volume by the end of the season next summer.
Michigan apples – grossing about $3000 to New York City.
Washington State Apple Shipments
Finally, in Washington state, which ships as many apples as the rest of the states combined, should move about 110 million boxes of fruit this season. That’s down about 9 million boxes from original estimates, but it will still be one of the biggest apple crops on record.
Washington state apples – grossing about $5400 to Dallas.
Numbers are still vague, but one thing is for certain, California citrus shipments will be down this season. Florida is facing a similar situation, but for different reasons.
San Joaquin Valley citrus packers have hired extra workers for inspecting fruit as they try to separate the good from the bad after a freeze last month. Citrus industry officials are reluctant to put a percentage on the damage from nearly a dozen days of subfreezing temperatures, but some citrus packers are estimating damage at between 30 and 50 percent for the entire industry.
This year’s crop was only 15 percent harvested before the freeze hit. At the time it was estimated to be 88 million cartons, down slightly from the previous year.
California citrus and produce – grossing about $4700 to Chicago.
Florida Citrus Shipments
Florida fresh fruit shipments have declined more than 20 percent so far this season because of crop declines, smaller fruit sizes and a later start to the harvesting season.
Total fresh shipments had fallen 24.5 percent December 15, compared with the same point in the 2012-13 season and almost 30 percent compared with 2011-12. Grapefruit shipments have dropped 23.4 percent since last season, fresh oranges 25 percent and tangerines, tangelos and other specialty varieties by 26 percent.
Fresh citrus represents a much smaller segment of the Florida citrus industry, dominated by juice processing, but it is particularly important in Polk County, the top producer of tangerines and tangelos and home to three of the state’s 10 largest packinghouses in Dundee, Haines City and Lake Wales.
The first breakbulk shipment of Chilean winter fruit to arrived by boat in the U.S at the Port of Wilmington (North Carolina) on December 18th. As we get further into the winter, more frequent arrivals are occurring.
The ship held over 756,000 boxes of fresh cherries, blueberries, stone fruit, and table grapes. The imported fruit is stored in the port’s 800,000 on-dock refrigerated warehouse complex before distribution by truck to Eastern markets.
During the winter fruit season from December through April, the Port of Wilmington expects to receive at least 25 shiploads of fruit from various Chilean ports. Wilmington was the first U.S. port to receive fruit from Chile this winter.
In the 2012-13 season, the Port of Wilmington received about 18 million boxes of Chilean fruit, up 22 percent from the previous season.
Exactly how much fruit from Chile will arrive a U.S. ports, which besides Wilmington, is primarily Philadelphia, PA and Long Beach, CA, depends on a number of factors.
Naturally, Mother Nature plays a critical role and those climate conditions during the growing season in Chile has meant slower development, harvest and ultimately arrivals to the U.S. Some freezing weather at critical times also is expected to reduce total volume. Finally, depending on currency values, Chile will ship to Europe and other global markets if better profits are likely.
If you are under 35 years of age, you are twice as likely to buy more organic over the next year than older counterparts, according to new IGD research.
Some 18 per cent of this age group want to use specialist stores, like butchers and greengrocers, more in the future compared to only nine per cent of the over-35 age group.
Shoppers aged under 35 are also more likely than their older counterparts to shop ethically and cook from scratch.
And almost 30 per cent of under 35s think they will be better off in a year’s time.
Joanne Denney-Finch, chief executive of IGD, said these trends provide opportunities for retailers and food manufacturers to target younger shoppers with marketing and new products that will chime with their more optimistic outlook.
She said: “As well as wanting to do the right thing, younger people are more interested in cooking from scratch, using leftovers to waste less, and spending more on food and drink to make a nice meal if they have spare money at the end of the month.
“It’s encouraging that younger people are so optimistic about the future and also more likely to want to make a difference to the world. Shoppers under 35 are more interested in considering a retailer’s values and approach to sourcing products.”
By The NPD Group
The recently released Harvard study on the health benefits of eating nuts just confirmed what health conscious consumers already know, that nuts are good for you, reports The NPD Group, a leading global information company. NPD’s food market research finds that nuts rank among the top 10 snack-oriented convenience foods for U.S. consumers motivated by health and weight needs.
Nuts are a popular snack for breakfast and morning snack but are eaten throughout the day by health and weight conscious consumers who want a nutritious, natural, better-for-you snack, according to NPD’s Snacking in America report, which examines long-term attitudes and behaviors about snacking as well as snack selection drivers. Consumers who are motivated to choose nuts and other better-for-you snacks based on health and weight needs tend to be seniors and empty nesters, adult females, and higher income households.
The consumption of nuts is not limited to the health and weight conscious. Seventy-seven percent of U.S. households have nuts or seeds on-hand and 19 percent of individuals eat nuts at least once in a two week period, finds NPD. Nuts are consumed primarily as an in-home snack but are often incorporated into morning, lunch, and dinner meals. In addition to its choice as a healthier snack, nuts are also popular among consumers looking for a filling or a quick, convenient snack.
“Whether to meet the needs of the health and weight conscious or as an easy grab-and-go snack, nuts are a popular choice among snackers,” says Darren Seifer, food and beverage industry analyst. “Food manufacturers and retailers have a variety of options and audiences for marketing nuts.”
It’s New Year’s Day and pardon me if I reflect a bit on the past year.
As for this website, HaulProduce.com, I can’t thank each of you enough for visting the website. Apparently you are finding it useful in your business. That was my whole purpose in launcing this site nearly two years ago.
I receive calls on a regular basis, and in many cases when you are looking for produce loads. Some of you call under the impression I am either a carrier, logistics company or a truck broker – none of which I pretend to be. Haul Produce.com, much like the radio reports I did for nearly 20 years (known at the Produce Truckers Network) provided produce reports on loading opportunities, quality of product you’d be hauling and a general idea of what kind of a gross freight rate you should receive.
Our number of visits to the website continue to increase. It has a relatively new feature, where you can subscribe for free, which continues to have more people in the trucking industry signing up. With the free subscription, you receive an e-mail consisting of a paragraph relating to the most recent post. If that bit of information interests you, you can click on the e-mail link and read to the whole story.
Again, thank you for your support. If you know of a fellow trucker or someone in the trucking industry who may benefit from the HaulProduce.com website, please let them know about us.
God bless you, your family and business in the New Year. — Bill and Vivian Martin
“Save the best for last” is not only a good quote, but it is also a very good principle to live by. The idea being that you should always finish with the best. A lot of my friends have commented on how they have had more fun in life as they have gotten older. While engaging in a similar conversation recently, I paused to think a bit more about the recent comments I had heard, and then I wondered why getting older was viewed so differently by so many people.
On one hand, aging brings with it the typical aches and pains of the passing years, and on the other hand it brings with it a freedom of the social pressures that years of living in the rat race has produced. After a decade of retirement I can truly say that it has, so far, been the best years of my life. Maybe it is the freedom to do what you want when you want , or maybe it is the social freedom of not having to care or worry about much of anything, with the exception of a beer shortage of course. And another aging phenomenon is the fact that the older males of our species seem to attract younger women as we age.
Now don’t get me wrong, getting old is not for the faint hearted. It takes some planning and preparation to enter this phase of life properly. Not everybody is cut out to be a senior citizen. The first thing you have to do is deal with the inevitability of it. Regardless of how many face lifts, boob jobs, tummy tucks, butt lifts, or surgery you have, you are still going to age. And if you don’t watch out you can easily end up looking like “The Joker” in the Batman movies. Just ask Joan Rivers. You have to admit that Jack Nicholson looks better as The Joker than Joan does, even with all the help from her surgeon. Somehow I just can’t help think Joan would have been better off learning to deal with getting older.
Getting older has an enormous potential for enjoying life. For one thing, older people can get away with a whole lot more, and nobody knows what you’re really up to. The younger crowd is clueless about your motives and they think you are just senile. One of the best military tactics is to get into a position where your enemy underestimates you. Then you have the advantage.
Being the older person in a younger group commands a bit of respect. When the younger ones get in a pickle you just smile and politely say “been there, done that” and they think you have the wisdom that the years visibly show.
Advanced age provides a new set of social opportunities as well. Younger women don’t view you as a threat. You’re kind of like the old neutered squirrel who lives in the great big pecan tree. You can now hang out with the babes without getting into trouble with your wife. After all, your wife knows you’re harmless, and at your age you deserve a little change in latitude.
I have found it’s always good to take up a little drinking as you get older. This does require that you learn something about booze. For that you should join some social drinking clubs. They provide a knowledge base for social drinking that you can share with the younger folks. This gives you an air of sophistication and class that you probably never had when you were younger. Be creative in your old age. Don’t be afraid to come up with interesting things to do. Party a lot, and never take anything too serious. Nothing is more of a turn-off than a serious old codger carping about some meaningless trivia.
Always smile a lot and try to look empathetic. Women and liberals love empathy. Never mind that empathy never solved any problems in life or put a man on the moon. That’s not the point. Empathy is “in” today, so practice some empathetic facial expressions in the mirror to use when the need arises.
One final note. Always give big tips. You can’t take it with you, and you sure don’t want to leave much for your children. Too much will take away their sense of accomplishment and self worth. If you wake up some day and find yourself feeling sorry for yourself because your getting older, just follow my advise above. And if you get into trouble just remember the disclaimer in fine print….
DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME
Larry Oscar is a graduate from the University of Tulsa and holds a degree in electrical engineering. He is retired and lives with his wife on a lake in Oklahoma where he brews his own beer, sails, and is a member of numerous clubs and organizations.
About halfway through December, California strawberry shipments were already assured of another record-setting season in 2013. Mostly truck loadings have put out more than 193 million trays of berries, up from 191 million in 2012. Thus, with the year ending, California strawberry shipments will definately have its seventh record-setting year in the last eight seasons.Shippers had loaded over 193 million trays as of December 13, topping the 191 million trays produced in all of 2012. Shipments continued an upward trend that began in 2006 with five straight record-setting seasons. A cold and wet spring in 2011 caused the streak to be broken, but growth in shipments has continued since.
A big reason has been an upsurge in acreage. Growers planted on 40,192 acres this year, up from 37,732 in 2012. Another factor was the use of new University of California-developed varieties that yield more fruit per acre.
However, what California had in quantity this year, too often was lacking in quality.
Strawberries are a year-round fruit in California, as winter harvests move south with the sun. The peak season is in the spring and early summer, when all three of the state’s major growing regions — around Watsonville, Santa Maria and Oxnard — are producing berries. About 85 percent of the nation’s strawberry shipments originate in California.
Some growers are switching to organic production. Organic acreage went from 1,776 in 2012 to 2,532 acres this year.
Most California strawberry shipments are now coming out of Ventura County and Orange County.
Southern California produce shipments, including strawberries – grossing about $6800 to New York City.