Water news and bear sightings

Have you noticed the flyers from our Ruhenstroth Water Resource Planning Committee posted at the mailboxes? The committee has updated our Web site with some very important information in a frequently asked questions link. The questions and answers give you a background on how our water situation got to where it is today as well as some of the options we have to consider for the future. They also outline the pros and cons of some of the possible solutions. It is in a PDF file so you could print it out for reference if you like. The Web site is geocities.com/ruhenstrothwater. If you would like to contact the members of the committee by mail, the address is Ruhenstroth Water Resource Planning Committee, P.O. Box 218, Minden, NV, 89423.

We have had several bear sightings in the last month. Our newspaper delivery person, Virginia, told me that she has seen bears on Colt Lane, Mustang Lane, and remnants of them by the number of overturned garbage cans with lids ripped off throughout the neighborhood. Our neighbors found bear tracks leading into their barn from the same bear. Fortunately no animals were injured. Eve Garcia said that they would be putting deterrent boards with nails through them so if the bears step on them they will not go farther. Hopefully the cold weather has sent them into hibernation. Please secure your garbage can lids and don't leave potential food out for them to find. The results could be disastrous.

How many of you know of an elderly person living alone? According to www.nursinglibrary.org, one out of every three elderly women living in rural areas are living alone. They want to be independent and don't have any major health problems, but accidents can still happen. We have been dealing with this for my husband's mother who lives in North Carolina. It is hard enough when you live close but 3,000 miles apart creates a bit of a challenge. She also lives in a small town, population 5,000. She has fallen a couple of times over the last year, nothing serious until this last time. Thankfully there were no broken bones, but she had to drag herself to the phone and could only get one word out when her sister answered the phone, "Help." Talk began of getting someone to move in with her or of other possible options. At 83, she still drives to church, her meetings, her volunteer work, etc. and was not thrilled with the idea of sharing her space with anyone. Single people of all ages, but it seems to be magnified in the elderly, get very used to doing things their way and get very upset at the slightest change in their routine. Then I remembered Life Alert, a monitoring service that was designed for this situation - alone in the home and unable to talk or get up. The service provides a pendant worn all the time. It is waterproof, very small and all they have to do is press the button to activate communication between the monitoring center and the client so that professional help can be called. It offers valuable peace of mind to the person, their family and neighbors. We were concerned that Mary might consider it an invasion of her privacy but it turns out one of her friends has it and loves it. Now she is sold on the idea and everyone can breathe a little easier.

Have a ramblin' good week!

-- To reach Gail Davis, e-mail RuhenstrothRamblings@yahoo.com or call 265-1947.