E  S  S  A  Y  For boomers anyway. Manufacturers in the U.S. depend on baby boomer labor and they are doing whatever it takes to keep us on the job. Around 27 percent of manufacturing workers are over the age of 65.

What’s so great about baby boomers in the factory? For starters, they have experience and knowledge that younger works don’t have. They are loyal. And the best part is they need/want to work.

As enticements to stay on the job, manufacturers are offering flexible schedules, reduced work weeks, and job sharing, along with mentoring and consulting opportunities. Even the ergonomics of the shop floor are being retrofitted to reduce the physical wear and tear on older workers who want to avoid knee and back issues.

The scary aspect of this looming labor shortage for manufacturers is that it’s not just happening in factories. Think about where the next generation of plumbers and electricians are coming from. Or auto mechanics. If you think that plumbing, car engines and the household electrical systems can be engineered to be so simple that expert repair personnel is no longer needed, you are dreaming. If anything, some of these systems are going to get even more complicated as the technology behind them gets more sophisticated. That faucet that comes on automatically when the infrared sensor detects motion? It still can leak under the sink or the sensor can go on the fritz. Millennials don’t even know the meaning of “on the fritz” never mind how to replace a worn out faucet washer.

You might be thinking that robots can pick up the slack but I don’t think that’s the solution. Robots can only intuit so much and a simple short caused by worn wires in a light switch may be beyond their capability.

The solution is to keep boomers on the job and start a serious program for knowledge transfer. Not every millennial wants to be a computer programmer or app inventor. It’s time to give tradespersons the status they deserve, along with better compensation. When a plumber can make as much as a doctor, with a lot less stress, the problem may solve itself. Until then, stay on good terms with your trades people and hope that they keep on keeping on.

Jay Harrison is a graphic designer and writer whose work can be seen at DesignConcept. His mystery novel, Head Above Water, is available on Amazon and Kindle.

E  S  S  A  Y   I recently stumbled across a list of things baby boomers can’t let go of…I’m guessing it was composed by a millennial. There were supposed to be 25 things on the list but it ran closer to 45. Maybe boomers have trouble letting go but we did learn how to count.

So what kinds of things made the list you might ask? It starts off with diamonds, golf, the mall, plain toast, 24-hour news networks, Yahoo and Crocs. Honestly, I know many boomers  would be OK with losing all those things.

From there the list moves on to Reader’s Digest, ironing, jorts (which I had to Google to know what they are), airbrushed t-shirts, cruises, messages in all caps, and Mrs. Dash spice. Once again, many of the boomers in my circle would have little trouble walking away form these things forever.

Racquetball, patterned wallpaper, those fuzzy rug matching toilet seat covers, potpourri, buffets, metal detectors, juice from concentrate, infomercials, Avon, knickknacks and chain restaurants? It’s all good man, if I never see any of them again.

The entire concept of boomers being unable to let go of these things was starting to smell funny. Fossil fuels? Most of the boomers I know want us to promote alternative energy sources so that we can fend off climate change for future generations. Maybe the 70 year-old oil company executive wants to keep drilling but that would put him in the boomer minority.

Was there anything on the list that I did want to hang on to? How about meatloaf? I’m okay with that. It’s not my favorite but it still ranks very high on the all-time comfort food list. Retirement funds? Millennials are so cynical about the future that they think saving for retirement is pointless. That’s harsh. Catalogs? I like catalogs in moderation. Sure it’s a dead tree product but sometimes you just want to see something printed on paper rather than on a monitor.

Somehow this list comes off as just another Buzzfeed tease. I’m ready to battle back with a list of things millennials can’t let go of. Start with bashing baby boomers by blaming them for everything that’s wrong with our world. Then add Starbucks, YouTube, smart phones, yoga pants, Chipotle, Pinterest, Snapchat, Netflix, and more. You can see where this battle of the lists is going, and it’s pointless. The stereotyping does not work. Let’s try to spend more time focusing on what all of us agree are things that are worth hanging on to. Someone second that motion!

Jay Harrison is a graphic designer and writer whose work can be seen at DesignConcept. His mystery novel, Head Above Water, is available on Amazon and Kindle.

E  S  S  A  Y   I killed a scorpion in the bathroom today. How many people you know can say that? And don’t give me that “living thing” rebuke. Did you want me to put this stone cold killer in the scorpion relocation program?

Okay, they don’t often kill you. I’m exaggerating as usual. But within a few hours of being stung by a scorpion you can experience pain and swelling, difficulty swallowing, drooling, muscle twitching, respiratory problems and sometimes death. Does that sound like fun?

This was an Arizona bark scorpion and they, like most scorpions, prefer to hang out in dark and damp places. Hence, it’s no surprise I found one in the bathroom. People here advise one to shake out their shoes and damp towels before using. One advisory notes that scorpions can climb any surface except glass and plastic, which comes as little comfort since houses are made mostly of wood, plaster and tile. They have some impressive survival skills due to their ability to slow their metabolism. It allows them to use little oxygen and live off as little as a single insect per year. You can freeze them overnight and put them out in the sun the next day only to watch them thaw out and walk away. We’re talking hardy.

The stinger is in the tail but I didn’t feel the need to get up close and personal with this cousin of the spider family. Experts suggest you hunt for them at night when they are most active. Dig out your old black light if you have one because they glow in the dark. A flashlight with a black light bulb will work just fine. They also suggest you have a long-handled tweezers or a knife and boots. They don’t say it but I think the implication is that if you don’t want to tweeze them you could alternatively give them the boot. You can also use Raid ant and cockroach spray which has the fastest activation. It’s a good idea to check the perimeter of the house at night with black light in hand to see if you can find them before they get inside.

Cats and chickens enjoy hunting scorpions so if they are persistent, it may be time to get a cat or keep chickens in the yard. Ground cinnamon is a natural scorpion repellent but it can get pricey sprinkling that spice all around the baseboards.

My defense plan? I’ve only seen 2 scorpions in the house in 8 years so I’m going to do nothing unless a third one shows up.

However, I will shake out my shoes more often.

Jay Harrison is a graphic designer and writer whose work can be seen at DesignConcept. His mystery novel, Head Above Water, is available on Amazon and Kindle.

I lost a sock. It was one of my favorites and I did the usual search in and around the dryer with no success. I saved the mate because I loved this pair so much and I felt confident that it would turn up, as lost socks usually do, stuck to a towel or a pair of underpants or some such item.

This happened about eight years ago. Until yesterday the missing sock had never surfaced. I’d kept its mate all this time, stuffed into a corner of my sock drawer. I’d look at it every once in a while and wonder what its more adventurous partner was up to. I’d touch it sometimes and remember how cozy the two of them felt on my feet. But I was resigned to never seeing them together again, unless maybe when I moved and all the furniture left the house. Or if I bought a new washer and dryer and found the sock under the old machines as they were carried out of the house to make room for new ones.

And then yesterday morning I walked into my kitchen and there was the sock, right in the middle of the floor, looking exactly as it did the day it went missing. Okay, so had I been stepping over this sock for eight years and not noticing it? No way. I would stake my life I hadn’t even stepped over it the night before. I should point out that I live alone in my home. No other humans, no pets. My first thought was that there must be an animal in the house. Probably a mouse. It found the sock and was moving it to a convenient place to tear it apart and use the strands to feather its nest. Something made it drop the sock and run, maybe my approaching footsteps.

Did I say that was my first thought? Actually, it was my only thought. What else could it be? So I reintroduced the sock to it’s long estranged partner and dropped them both in the laundry so they could be washed together and continue to look alike. I set a trap for the mouse. Next morning: no mouse in the trap, an outcome met with relief and dismay. Still, I tried again the next night, with even more food in the trap. Nothing. So do I have a roommate I haven’t vetted? And here’s another thought – what if I do the laundry with the newly reunited pair in it, and only one of the socks appears in the basket after I empty the dryer?

Norma Libman is a journalist and lecturer who has been collecting women’s stories for more than twenty years. You can read the first chapter of her award-winning book, Lonely River Village, at NormaLibman.com.

Billy Donahue was a Florida native, five-foot-two, 130-pound former jockey. Billy had traveled all over the U.S. on the horse racing circuit. His only family was a brother from out of state, who wrote often and sent him spending money. Billy mostly stayed in his room watching TV, but he enjoyed talking to me about his career as a jockey and was particularly pleased to learn that I used to visit the Ak-Sar-Ben track in Omaha .

He was a low-talker , real quiet, and so I would always have to lean in close to hear what he was saying . The closer I leaned in to hear him, the farther back he would lean until he started to fall, and I would have to rush around behind him to make sure he didn’t fall to the ground .

I remember Petersen as loud, grumpy, in his late 70’s, still proudly wearing a chip of the financial industry on his slumping shoulders . He would park his wheelchair at the entrance to the dining hall where ladies became victims to shouts of “BITCH” as they neared the door. Petersen was served in his room whenever a prospective resident or family member came on a tour at meal time.

Mr. Smiley we called “Sarge.” He served with the U.S. Army in Korea right out of high school and again in Vietnam . My military experience created some common ground for the two of us. He was very personable ; always smiling; in good physical shape.

One afternoon we heard a pounding on the office door and a voice shouting, “Man down. Man down. Ass in a bucket.” I opened the door to find a very excited Mr. Smiley repeating his man-down refrain several times and gesturing for me to follow him. We hurried through the courtyard and along one of the residence hallways where I discovered Petersen , our resident “curser,” with his butt wedged into a large mop bucket.

A staff member driving home after work noticed Mr. Smiley walking beside the road some distance away from our assistant living facility . Like all of our residents, he was restricted to our property . Smiley was AWOL , heading to the separate facility where his wife resided. They had been married fifty-five years, and he missed her, even though , according to his daughter, they could not get along well enough to share the same space for an extended period of time.

Jack Ferrell is a retired farmhand, janitor, factory worker, intelligence officer, college professor, corporate officer and innkeeper, who has witnessed more events and heard more stories than he can begin to recall.