The more things change...

Oops, don't tell Major Nelson, but Jeannie stole something from Samantha Stevens!

Helpful Ways to Hold Down Your Heating Bill This Winter

The #1 way to keep your heating costs under control is to discover places in your home where air from the outside can easily make its way inside and fix them. That includes caulking and weather-stripping doors and windows. If you have a fireplace, keep the flue closed when you’re not using it.

Many area power companies offer free energy audits. They’ll inspect your home, alert you to any problem areas and suggest ways you can resolve them.

Make sure your HVAC system gets regular seasonal check-ups. This includes changing out the air filters in the system. Older, dirty filters can reduce your energy efficiency significantly.

Consider a programmable thermostat. With one, you can drop your homes temperature by 7 to 10 degrees at night while you’re snug beneath the covers, gaining as much as a 10% savings on your heating bill.

Medical experts agree there are things you can do to make sure your immune system is at peak performance during the coming flu & cold season. (Not to mention, the always presents threat of another bout of COVID.)

A Good Night’s Sleep – Getting a good 6 hours or more of sleep each day can reduce your risk of catching a cold by a factor of 4.

A Little Sunshine – Spending some time in the sun stimulates the production of vitamin D, which in turn, increases your protection against the flu and respiratory illness.

A Bit of Hugging – While the contact created by hugs can increase the chance of infection, studies have shown those who hug frequently experience less severe symptoms should they contract something because hugs reduce stress levels in the body, improving your disease-fighting capability.

A Diet Filled with Fruit & Veggies – Those on low-carb, high-protein diets are more likely to develop moderate to severe COVID infections compared to those who eat more fruit, vegetables and whole grains.

For a lot of male Baby Boomers, our first celebrity crush may have been Hayley Mills, who appeared in a string of very successful Walt Disney pictures during her adolescence

She's aged pretty well, hasn't she?

If you want to remain mobile for the rest of your life, make you’re staying mobile now! Experts recommend that you have your body in motion at least 30 minutes a day. Studies have shown that can do you more good than a weekly gym session. If you can hit that goal every day, at least try to rack up up 150 minutes in motion a week.

Backpacks? We don't need no stinkin' backpacks!

We’re carrying less cash these days. That means we’re actually relying on our bank more than ever. Still working? Receiving Social Security? That money goes directly into your bank account. Most of us are also paying our bill through the bank or other forms of online payments, so you need to ensure your bank is working for you.

Most banks charge a monthly maintenance fee. The average is $12/month. You may be able to get that fee waived if you keep a minimum balance (the average minimum balance for fees to be waived is $540). If you’re paying more than that, you may want to look for a new bank or talk with current bank about other types of accounts they may have that would lower or eliminate your fees.

Return with us to the days when the circus was still a major entertainment attraction, when clowns were funny, not scary and small boys were allowed to roam TV’s vast wasteland years before finding lasting fame as rock stars!

Of course, we’re talking about that TV treasure, Circus Boy, which ran for many a Saturday morning during our youth, but actually began life as a for-real prime-time series. Circus Boy was set in the 1890s which allowed it to cast itself as a sort-of Western (back when that genre ruled the airwaves). Because the circus changes very little from generation to generation, the only way you’d know we were back in the 19^th century is the folksy outfits worn by the audiences who gather under the big top as well as the old-fashioned circus wagons and horses we glimpse in those scenes when the show is moving from town to town.

Circus Boy is primarily remembered today as the launching pad for Mickey Dolenz’s show biz career. Using the stage name Mickey Braddock, the future Monkee starred as Corky, the son of circus trapeze artists who died while performing. In the true spirit of 1950s television, Corky is adopted by the entire circus family and in particular, by Joey the Clown, played by a pre-Rockford Files Noah Beery, Jr. Rounding out the rest of the regular cast were Robert Lowery as “Big Tim” Champion, owner and manager of the circus and Guinn Williams as Pete, billed as the circus’ advance man, but always exactly where the circus is playing, never in the next town, where a real advance man would be.

While most shows featured a boy and his dog, Circus Boy featured a boy and his elephant as Corky was paired with the unfortunately named Bimbo the Elephant.

Typically, the plots involved trouble with one of the circus’ acts (a lion tamer who lost his nerve, a high-wire artist whose vanity is ruining the harmony of the troupe, etc.) or trouble in one of the towns they’re playing. Corky is always at the center of the action, frequently receiving the patented fatherly advice most shows of the era were overrun with from Beery’s character, Joey.

The show ran on NBC during the 1956-57 season, then transferred to ABC for a second season. After that, reruns began on Saturday mornings back on NBC in 1958 and eventually on local stations through syndication.

The show was popular with the Boomers, spawning the usual raft of comics books, toys and other merchandise. Today, outside of the connection to the Monkees, the show has been mostly forgotten. It’s a shame because, thanks to its initial run in prime-time, the scripts and production values are higher than the typical Saturday morning fare of that era.

The mayor of Margaritaville, Jimmy Buffett has passed away at the age of 76 of unspecified causes.

While Jimmy had only one song reach the U.S. Top 10 (the aforementioned “Magaritaville”), he enjoyed considerable success with his long players, becoming a staple of album rock radio stations from the mid-seventies through the mid-eighties.

He also developed a substantial following of perpetual concert vagabonds, similar to the Grateful Dead, known as Parrotheads, who followed him from show to show. Most youngsters probably know him for the successful string of Magaritaville restaurants that now dot the landscape.

When we first moved to Florida (lo, those many years ago), we learned you could not consider yourself a true Floridian until you had seen Buffet perform live at least once.

We had that privilege a little over a year later when he was on the bill of one of the first, legendary "Rock Superbowls," held at Orlando's Citrus Bowl stadium. The previous act had been plagued by a typical summer thunderstorm (Hall & Oates, who nevertheless persevered, turning in a killer set of their own). But the rain stopped moments before Buffett took the stage. It remained sunny for his entire set. Once he left the stage, the rains returned. You may take that for whatever sort of omen you wish.

It sort of sad that "Margaritaville" overshadowed the rest of his output because he produced a great, substantial body of work. But then again, without "Magaritaville," would we even have Yacht Rock?

Do we even have to say that we will miss him and that his music will live on here at Boomtown America?