Hello, friends. When I saw we had a day coming with a high temp in the 40's, it was time to get the flannel sheets down from the attic. While up there, I also sent Fall decorations and my winter clothes down to J. A little Fall decorating was done. A pan of GF bread ends were ground into crumbs, for future recipes. I was most excited this week about hiring a permaculture consultant, to help with our garden woes. It just felt like time to get some fresh ideas. I'm a follower of William's youtube channel, and it was a real pleasure to meet with him, and discuss strategies to address our various challenges. We'll be getting a written plan in a couple of weeks, along with several soil test results. He's such a force of positivity and knowledge, I'm excited again, to think about gardening here.
A batch of golden paste was made for Guinness. The last of the basil was turned into pesto. After I shopped at Food Lion on the 30th, I received an email notifying me of a $3 reward, expiring slightly over 24 hours from when I received it! Lately, I've been noticing they no longer carry over the rewards to the next month, which seems to be a sucky policy, especially when you receive them in the last few days of a month. I just so happened to be near a Food Lion on the 31st, so got a bottle of honey, so as not to lose the reward.
My sister and I met for lunch, to celebrate her job change. She'd been at her job for 28 years, but like much of the medical field these days, she felt the overwhelming stress they heaped on her was making her sick (due to chronic lack of staff & focus solely on the bottom line). So, even with plans to retire in 2 1/2 years, she took a leap of faith. I'm so proud of her for stepping outside her comfort zone, and looking after herself. It's very sad to see what conventional medicine in this country has become, since I began working in it, in the late 70's. Almost all the small practices, which were people focused, have gotten sucked up into merger upon merger, until they've all become an unrecognizable monster. I do have hopes for better days ahead in our healthcare, but sure wish it would come quickly.
I guess while I'm on the subject of the current state of medicine, I'll get back on my soapbox for a little bit. My current Medicare plan has been harassing me for several months, to the point of daily phone calls, plus several emails and "real" mail per week, imploring me to follow their idea of good health. I've done my research, am well informed, and nothing they can say will change my thoughts on that. Instead of using so many resources to harass their customers, which of course gets added to the cost of insurance, perhaps they could get behind things that would make a real difference in the state of health in this country, or at the very least, lower the cost. Happily, I had a phone call with my Medicare broker this week, who found a plan for me that will be zero or at most a few dollars out of pocket, depending on the Medicare hike, gives me $200 for OTC items a year, and also credit towards fitness items. I'm looking forward to switching.
We got around 1 3/4" of rain last week. Hallelujah! There's a chance we could get a little more tonight (Sunday). With the latest Windows update last week, my laptop developed the blue "screen of death". J worked on it, and somehow reset it. I'm so thankful for him. If it were up to me, and my tech knowledge, I'd be buying a new laptop. There was a big focus on firewood last week. J worked hard at it, and I helped as I could. We make a great team. When stacking it, we do something that looks like a bucket brigade, with me at the tractor bucket, handing off to him at the stack, making quick work of it. Here's to working together. Wishing you a beautiful week.
5 comments:
Wow! So many good things going on there. How exciting to have a consultant come out with fresh eyes and give you inspiration. Can't wait to see how that goes.
I have yet to choose my Medicare plan for the coming year. I dread having to sift through all of that. I understand what you mean about them pushing things on you that you don't need/want. I'm glad you found something that will work for you and be affordable.
The ceramic fall decorations in that first picture are beautiful! Did you make those?
Glad you got some of the rain. Blessings to you and yours.
You are always so busy! Good for your sister! I noticed that about Food Lion too! It's good to be able to have a scientific approach to your gardens! You will learn a lot!! I too, feel harassed by my healthcare company. They constantly call. I usually don't answer because it doesn't work to answer and say you are not interested in whatever program they are calling for you to do!! And they've sent me two colonoscopy home kits so far, which I did not ask for nor did my dr. and I double-checked my medical notes with my dr. and it is noted that patient refused (these can have false positive's...I did have a colonoscopy once and I' m done...focusing on real problems that I have). I'm glad you got rain! I think this winter might be colder than usual...time will tell! andrea
I'm excited to see how our garden changes, implementing his suggestions. If you can find one, I'd recommend a broker (I think they're called that), to navigate Medicare. It's free, and certainly makes it easier. I did not make the Fall squash in the first photo, but the leaf plate with acorn in the third photo was made by a pottery student of the gallery owner I sometimes work for.
I wonder if enough of us complained, if Food Lion would change their policy? I look forward to implementing William's suggestions, which includes soil tests and access to him from now on. I wondered if it was just me with insurance, but figured not. They started with colonoscopies, then moved on to mammograms. What an absolute pain!
Okay, I admit it, I looked at your top photo and thought "WOW! What kind of pumpkins and squash is Laurie growing?" Then I realized they were NOT out of the garden, and burst out laughing.
On the Medicare discussion, yes, talk to someone. Medicare (the gov. site) does have a site dedicated to showing you (in detail) what is available in your area and allows you to do comparison shopping. Keep in mind your own unique health situation. My only comment about insurance brokers is that if one pushes you too hard to "buy this one!" they may be getting a commission and your monthly cost is both the insurance AND their commission. This almost happened to a friend of mine and she WORKED in an insurance office; this was their in-house health insurance broker. When my friend told me what the cost was going to be, I let out a yell: "NO! NO! NO! That is an inflated price." And it was. So get as much information as you can, and then sit down and look at options.
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