Yes, it’s “enrollment” time again. Actually, we all get Medicare at age 65, but as we now know, it doesn’t cover everything. So, we need to get a supplemental plan. My wife and I are covered by one that is subsidized by the state, because Herself was a public employee. That’s the good news. The bad news, of course, is that there are thousands of “Medicare Advantage” providers, separate, private insurance companies eager to “enroll us in their added programs, or really to snap us up in their claw traps. I know this because they all call us – daily. They come in not from the company names that show up on caller ID, but from private numbers, routed through cell phones, and often something our recognition identifies as “possible fraud”. Yes, it is.
Continue reading “The Joys of Medicare supplements”Tag: health
Returning to my routines
In the last few weeks, I’ve had to get up and out in the mornings quite a bit. My choices, of course, but reading my daily newspaper in the afternoon is a violation of, well, my routine. Definitely a violation of all things sacred. Mornings are all about starting the coffee pot, and gathering my newspaper from the front porch to be read promptly on the back porch. Along the way, I turn on the computer so that both it and the internet are nicely warmed up should I feel in the mood to write. This morning I am, inspired perhaps because a piece of mine on immigration was in the weekend edition of the local paper. And I’ve fallen behind on my blogs. (My apologies!)
Continue reading “Returning to my routines”On Getting Sick
My apologies to my readers for a gap in postings. I’ve been sick. Nothing that serious, although I can still act like it was. Our daughter, known to you as the Princess, was a presenter at a conference in Chicago in early April, bringing back with her a nice assortment of souvenirs and the flu. Apparently, it was making the rounds, some thoughtful conference attendee spreading their germs far and wide. In a slightly amusing note, she had two job interviews the next week, zoom calls, and two of the interviewers also had caught what they were now referring to as the “Chicago Flu”.
Continue reading “On Getting Sick”Oh, My Aching Back – More on Aging
Encountered a bit of bother this week. I’d been waiting anxiously until the weather broke so that I could start to tend the outdoor garden beds. I may have worked a bit too long – as all gardeners know, much of what we do is bending over to clear away the dead stuff, and thus, my back is sore. It’s been a festival of ibuprofen around here, and my whole gardening operation has come been shut down. The weather has turned colder again to accommodate my incapacitation. But Her Ladyship has been resistant to the idea of hiring an assistant or two to manage the estate. I know – penny pinching in the worst sense.
Continue reading “Oh, My Aching Back – More on Aging”Shopping Philosophy, or Peanut Butter Wars
A cartoon caught my eye this morning, and I printed it to send to the Princess. The comic strip is called “Zits”. It’s about Jeremy, a teenager dealing with his parents – particularly his mother, and them dealing with him. There was one last week in which Jeremy announced to his parents that he felt he was wasting the best years of his life. His solution was to live unencumbered, and that they should just give him his inheritance. In the last panel, he’s out talking to his girlfriend outside, and she comments that she can “still hear them laughing.” It’s a moment for all of us.
Continue reading “Shopping Philosophy, or Peanut Butter Wars”
I'm Thinking...No! 