Running Bear's May 2024 Coffee Shop

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I don't know that it's a good idea to try to play the "defraud" Medicare game.
I'm not sure what that means DJ. My attorney says you're a spouse not a child so different laws apply. You don't have to wait 5 years to transfer funds. That's done in real time for spouses. I was thinking about selling both vehicles and buying a new truck. That's legal. That's the reason I pay a lawyer to let me know what's legal and what's not. This varies from state to state. When my wife was in Danbury hospital which is only 12 miles from here but in Connecticut they told me not to let them discharge her to a nursing home there, Different laws apply in CT than NY and would just complicate matters. I don't want to make any dumb moves now because all the financial experts say it's all going to collapse soon. Too much spending and bowering going on. I'm thinking after Medicaid makes their ruling, I just may have to bring her home and take care of her myself and buy one of those vans with wheelchair access so I can get her to the doctor when needed. I hope this ruling comes soon because if they rule against us then I'll be liable for the $525,00 a day fee from April 28 when her health insurance ended until now. That would be $12,000 as of today. I'll pay that and bring her home. Which I feel is better than going bankrupt.
Swal
 
Well, howdy there internet peeps, and those who wish they could flip hamburgers for $20 an hour.

When I was tossing pizzas for $3.25 an hour in the late 70s, gas was running around $1 per gallon, and big macs were about $2 each.

Remember that Tipped-Employee minimum wages (in the USA) have barely increased since the 1990s. Always tip your servers (at sit down places where the wait staff is probably pretty close to $3 or $4 and hour) at least 20%. Even if their employer pays them more, they usually have to share tips with the back of house staff.

Wife is off with her mother and sis to go put a flower saddle on Dad's gravestone. They'll take mom to lunch, and run some errands a county away where Dad is buried. After they get back, wife and I will head into Goshen to visit with my Mom, and have an update with the Docs about her current state.

Nursing Homes... yeah, I hear you. It's a bit different on our end. Mom chose this facility way back when she got her Senior Apartment in the same complex. She's known this is where she's going to spend her last days.

Technically, this is a nursing home, but they call it a "healthcare facility." Mom wants to go back to her senior apt. But it's obvious that isn't feasible, to all but her. We as children are trying to help her see that. She's exhibiting some substantial memory issues. Not dementia or Alzheimer's, fortunately. With her loss of balance, and other health issues.

We've considered having her move in with one of us, but it's not feasible for the sisters.

Wife and I would have to sell our condo. It was built in the 1970s with 32 inch doorways. Mom is close to needing a wheelchair, and they won't fit. Plus we only have a half bath on the main level. I did a quick discussion with a local contractor (back of the envelope calculations) and we're looking at $30K plus to enlarge doorways and revamp the bath for mom.

I'm not sure we have the time to get that done. Her heart (BNP) and Kidney numbers aren't good. It's obvious she's in her last year. Probably 6 months. I have an HOA to deal with, and they HATE interior modifications that aren't decorative.

Letting her move back to her apartment, with her mental decline as well as health issue, means she'd die alone, and probably aware. That's her big worry. She wants family at her side. When she realized how close to the end she was, she cancelled her DNR (Do Not Resuscitate).

So, we are facing the choices that mom set up for us to face. We're supporting the plan she put in place for us. She's existing solely on Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare. Two failed marriages didn't leave her with any retirement.

Yeah, we as a family have some tough decisions ahead. Mom's comfort is priority #1.
 


To add more insult to injury, our phones don't work. We use land-lines. We have 5 phones in the house and a pay dial phone in the garage. The phone company has been doing a lot of work in our neighborhood and they having to do a lot of rework. All of our lines are underground and they hired cheap labor to run new cables. Cheap always winds up expensive and there have been techs out in our housing tract with cables pulled up and work benches installed and they are doing a lot of rewiring. Our phones do not ring. When I was writing my first forum thread this morning, I happened to look up my phone and it was lite up. I went upstairs and asked Joan if she was on the phone and she wasn't. She looked at the number that called us and it was the A/C people. Luckily I noticed the light on the phone or we might have been in for another hot day. I do not believe in cell phones. People get to the point where they can't go anywhere with out them.
John recently the electric company put a box on the telephone pole in front of our house and I asked what it was for. They told me it reads all the meters on the block without any needed wires or personal to do the job. I just changed cable TV companies. When I returned the modem back to Verizon they told me they have a new wireless cable system that requires no wire going to the house. Would I be interested? I didn't ask about any land lines phones but maybe that also includes them. I would check it out.
Swal
 
Well, howdy there internet peeps, and those who wish they could flip hamburgers for $20 an hour.

When I was tossing pizzas for $3.25 an hour in the late 70s, gas was running around $1 per gallon, and big macs were about $2 each.

Remember that Tipped-Employee minimum wages (in the USA) have barely increased since the 1990s. Always tip your servers (at sit down places where the wait staff is probably pretty close to $3 or $4 and hour) at least 20%. Even if their employer pays them more, they usually have to share tips with the back of house staff.

Wife is off with her mother and sis to go put a flower saddle on Dad's gravestone. They'll take mom to lunch, and run some errands a county away where Dad is buried. After they get back, wife and I will head into Goshen to visit with my Mom, and have an update with the Docs about her current state.

Nursing Homes... yeah, I hear you. It's a bit different on our end. Mom chose this facility way back when she got her Senior Apartment in the same complex. She's known this is where she's going to spend her last days.

Technically, this is a nursing home, but they call it a "healthcare facility." Mom wants to go back to her senior apt. But it's obvious that isn't feasible, to all but her. We as children are trying to help her see that. She's exhibiting some substantial memory issues. Not dementia or Alzheimer's, fortunately. With her loss of balance, and other health issues.

We've considered having her move in with one of us, but it's not feasible for the sisters.

Wife and I would have to sell our condo. It was built in the 1970s with 32 inch doorways. Mom is close to needing a wheelchair, and they won't fit. Plus we only have a half bath on the main level. I did a quick discussion with a local contractor (back of the envelope calculations) and we're looking at $30K plus to enlarge doorways and revamp the bath for mom.

I'm not sure we have the time to get that done. Her heart (BNP) and Kidney numbers aren't good. It's obvious she's in her last year. Probably 6 months. I have an HOA to deal with, and they HATE interior modifications that aren't decorative.

Letting her move back to her apartment, with her mental decline as well as health issue, means she'd die alone, and probably aware. That's her big worry. She wants family at her side. When she realized how close to the end she was, she cancelled her DNR (Do Not Resuscitate).

So, we are facing the choices that mom set up for us to face. We're supporting the plan she put in place for us. She's existing solely on Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare. Two failed marriages didn't leave her with any retirement.

Yeah, we as a family have some tough decisions ahead. Mom's comfort is priority #1.
Troy, as someone that has gone through these things with my parents, mother-in-law, and spouse, I can tell you the HOA will grudgingly allow you to modify your condo if you want to. Just say the magic words "to make it ADA compliant"..
 
Morning folks

46F, cloudy, and another dosage of rain/snow in the forecast for later today. Spring in the Northern Rockies-----

My immediate task for the day is to pull the hydraulic hoses off the Bobcat grapple head and go get a couple new ones made. One previously had a small seep and I did in the second big time pulling shrubbery yesterday. Bobcat didn't do too well engineering the routing on those.

Swal: our local utility (Northwestern Energy) has had remote metering installed for a number of years and read everything from a centralized location. I suspect this is very similar to the DCC systems we use. That ability also gives utilities to do such things as charge variable rates for high/low demand periods, something that has not yet happened here but no doubt is in the future. Not that that would make much difference on our utility bill which rarely breaks $100 a month in the winter and is half that in the summer.
 
Good Morning All. Partly cloudy and 76°. There is no wind and humidity is 91%, which made for a sweaty walk at 0530 this morning. Just 2 more weeks of the "humid" season here! The forecast calls for potentially severe thunderstorms, hail, strong winds and the usual spring afternoon activity here today and tomorrow.

Finished mowing the rest of the yard yesterday, after making the trek to the closest rural convenience store for refills in the gas cans. Took some time because I had to do among other areas, the dreaded SW part where the septic tank and the tree pile are. Higher vegetation and lots of obstacles to maneuver around. So I am ready for this rain to start the cycle over again. As I previously posted, the repeated heavy rains and flooding has seemingly drowned all of the grasshopper nymphs this year. There will still be some from late hatches, but we will get a few years respite from heavy infestation.

Other than mowing yesterday, I prepared the Prime Rib last night. I didn't take a before picture because I was more interested in "digging in", but here is an after of the leftover hunk of meat.
IMG_0178.JPG

It was a perfect medium rare. In order to have leftovers without further cooking the meat, I slice up what I think we'll use, seal it in a Ziploc bag with air removed, and immerse it in 120° water for about 8-10 minutes. Warms it up without cooking any further. Of course some will make it between a couple of slices of Rye Bread for lunches.

Early chore today includes the dishwasher which I ran last night. Did all of the laundry yesterday which my wife hasn't folded yet. Outdoors, I will scour the garden for any remaining onions to remove before the rain. Sadly the very wet last three weeks has caused about a 5% rate in rotted onions that cannot be salvaged except as compost.

Not a lot going on out in the train shed right now. I did get the crossing shanty planted with all of the ground cover in place and stepped back to contemplate.
IMG_0172.JPG

I picked up the building diagonally across the intersection to do a bit of maintenance since I noted a figure laying on her side. This is what I saw.
IMG_0173.JPG

Whoops! No wonder she isn't standing. I don't know what might have happened here, as there was no foot anywhere in sight. No rodent evidence either, so I may have done something that I didn't notice.
OK, somewhat easy fix. All of those legs and lower torsos that I remove from figures that I put into vehicles end up in a container for occasions like these.
IMG_0174.JPG

Let me just cut off a foot and attach it to the pedestrian.
IMG_0176.JPG

Color isn't an exact match, but a dab of paint today will fix that. I'll change that shoe color as well.

Grizzled - Dealing with the DMV is easy here in our rural county, whether in person or online. In person is not so easy in nearby counties with Dallas & Ft Worth.
I also still prefer hard copy magazines myself, the problem is that unless you do DCC, there isn't much new about modeling, layout techniques or scenery in any of them any more.
Troy - Yep! That's a software issue with your app. Mine work exclusively through the hearing aid mic unless I specifically punch buttons for other options. But I only use the app for when I get phone calls and nothing else.
Curt - 75 minutes running a train must have been a lot of fun. I have to do that every few days just because that's what the layout is there for to begin with.
If I have an appointment card, I have never missed an appointment...yet!
John - One of the main reasons that I choose to use multiple room A/C units is that if one fails, there are backups and fans. Our ceiling fans are on 24/7 from March through November most years as well. I can generally leave some windows open during rain storms dependent on the wind direction.

I still haven't seen Karl or Sherrel in a while, I hope that all is still well.

Everybody have a great day.
 
Swal: our local utility (Northwestern Energy) has had remote metering installed for a number of years and read everything from a centralized location. I suspect this is very similar to the DCC systems we use. That ability also gives utilities to do such things as charge variable rates for high/low demand periods, something that has not yet happened here but no doubt is in the future. Not that that would make much difference on our utility bill which rarely breaks $100 a month in the winter and is half that in the summer.
We've had that as well for at least 15 years. Here at home we do not have that variable rate thingey yet, but we had something similar at the place that I worked. The power company that serviced them billed at the "peak" rate of usage. We had two buildings side by side and several zones in each. Our maintenance department turned to staggering the time clocks from zone to zone so all of the machinery in the facilities didn't get turned on at the same time; thus reducing the rate that we paid by reducing the peak. All of those electric motors required more amperage to start up than they did to actually run. Some one in accounting documented that it saved us almost 15% overall. No small potatoes either, as our monthly electric bill was in the $100K range every month. No bonus went to the maintenance manager who came up with the plan.
 
Good Morning All!

50F @ 77% cloudy with drizzle

All the Medicare, Hospice, and Nursing Home stuff has got me down. Maria and I have talked / currently talk about just this. It all boils down to which ever of us becomes the patient stays in the house and the other deals with it. Sure, heavy medical will forgo that but we are assuming that there will not be any need for hospitalization for what ever the current malady is and we should be able to handle all the little stuff. Ya, someone probably will come in once a week or whatever for baths and other general stuff. It will be a PITA for both of us, but that has to be better than allowing some unknown entity handling stuff. Maria probably will handle this stuff better than I.

Mom was deathly afraid of having to go to a nursing home. Would start crying when talked about; and that was 15/20 years before the fact. We convinced her that she would be with us to the very end. When she started downhill, it took some pulling teeth to get her to realize that she could not stay by herself in her condo and we moved her from Spo to Libby. She had her privacy in the back part of the house with her own bathroom so that worked out good. We had our privacy too. It is tough watching a loved one die. There was also a lot of joy having her around as she would start talking about stuff I have never heard before. No idea if it was conjured up or truth but it didn't matter. When Hospice got involved they made us take a 'vacation' from it all for a couple of days and brought in nurses/attendants to deal with Mom for that time. Took care of the animals too. We did not go far, Bonners Ferry for 2 nights was about it. Was good for us.

She died on Valentines Day in our house with all the animals and Maria at bedside. Funny thing was she made up some story for me to go and get something; and then passed when I was gone. They say that hearing is the last to go, so we both were whispering to her; sometimes she would grin, sometimes she would cry. Was not fun at all, but well worth it.

I wholeheartedly recommend doing just this if at all possible for any family member.

OK, so enough of that.

You know that a lowly worker bee is fed 'royal jelly' to make them bigger and stronger so that they can mate with the Queen?
You also know that the Queen kills them afterward?
Honey, Nut, Cherio!

Later
 
Swal: our local utility (Northwestern Energy) has had remote metering installed for a number of years and read everything from a centralized location. I suspect this is very similar to the DCC systems we use. That ability also gives utilities to do such things as charge variable rates for high/low demand periods, something that has not yet happened here but no doubt is in the future. Not that that would make much difference on our utility bill which rarely breaks $100 a month in the winter and is half that in the summer.

They recently put in the remotely read meters for our electrical service in the neighborhood. The utility website (or their app) allows you to log in and get daily usage reports (though they're often a day or two behind). They do offer an "EV Owner" program where they have really cheap overnight rates and very expensive day rates. I have a PHEV so they've been trying to get me to sign up. Fat chance. PHEV battery is small and the A/C is hungry during the day. Would spike my electric bill. It's voluntary.
 


I go to have another MRI done yesterday and I didn't bring my phone with me. They put me in a cold lead lined room to give me a shot of radiation for the scan. They say I have to sit there for one hour so the body can absorb radiation. I ask where's my TV so I'm not bored sitting here for an hour, they say we're working on that. After the hour is up, they strap me down so I can't move and put me in the scan. They tell me not to move you're going to be in there for about 45 minutes. I ask what about you pumping some music in there. 45 minutes is a long time. She says you know you're the second person today that requested that. I'll look into it. When they send me an email asking how did we do? I let them know not so good.
Swal
 
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I'm Back!

Forgot:

Our DMV is a piece of cake. 5 to 10 minutes and you are outa there. In fact, just about any .gov office has an open door. You can pretty much walk into the mayor's office and sit and chat if need be. County and Federal level is the same. Nothing like a small town.

Like most of ya, I also like those hard copies of mags too. Just can't bring myself to throw them away. I guess that they will hold the floor down for the time being. I do get a hair up and open one of the boxes every once-in-awhile and bring a stack inside for thumbing through when doing downtime before bed. I do make a note of the interesting stuff; usually some construction project for later. Maria picked one up the other night and went through the whole thing - which surprised me. She liked the ad stuff along with the pix of the layouts.

Later
 
The last few times I've had to go to the DMV or the Driver's License division (which are now in the same building across the lobby from each other) it's been pretty quick. Could be better but we're not small town and it's been way worse in the past. Generally for driver's license you make an appointment first so that you can bypass the check-in line. Once check-ed in they give you a number and depending your issue, commercial or not, etc you get a number in a different series, than as a desk opens up for that number you go and take care of business. My last few times have been 5-15 min wait usually.

Haven't actually had to go to a DMV office in person for about 7 years. But it was not that painful. Worst thing is I got pulled over for speeding on the way home and had not put my new plate on yet so still had the old Arizona temp plate on the car (I had bought the car in Arizona) and the guy pulled me over right before I was getting off at my intersection. (State highway with just intersections every mile or two). He thought I was trying to avoid him and had a funny plate. I didn't even see him behind me until I was in the left turn lane and when he saw I did indeed just live up the road from where I got off and did indeed have a Utah plate and paperwork sitting on the seat next to me he got a bit nicer. Still gave me the ticket but marked it as only 4 above instead of 15 or whatever. Stupid was that I wasn't even trying to speed. I was in the right lane going the speed limit but had to get in the left lane so I could get into the left turn lane to go home and the left lane was full of cars slowly passing me and they were tight so I sped up a bit just to get in front of them so I could get off. And bam, there he was.
 
Good evening all. A rum and blackcurrant please, Flo.
Back from taking Dawn to the Hospice.
She was apprehensive on seeing a new doctor, but the outcome was satisfactory and productive.
For the past few weeks we have been 'battling' against the NHS to get the correct medical items for her.. Because it comes down to cost nobody wants expenses going from their budget. The new doctor cut the 'red tape' and now we have the correct items.

A little too late to see the train room as a dinner to make. A curry has been requested. An easy vegetable curry.

Thoughts & Peace to All who Require
 
Good evening all. A rum and blackcurrant please, Flo.
I'll have what David is having; but hold the blackcurrant.

The A/C guy came and went. Apparently our unit needs freon charging. Apparently the EPA put a ban on our freon type. Apparently you can't mix freon types. Apparently we need a new A/C unit ($4K-5K). Apparently the A/C company doesn't accept cars as a down payment. Apparently John is cranky having to come up with that kind of money. Apparently the A/C guy doesn't do quotes so apparently we have a salesman coming out tomorrow. Maybe salesman will take a car as a down payment...Apparently we won't be getting an A/C unit tomorrow. Apparently it has to be ordered.
 
I'll have what David is having; but hold the blackcurrant.

The A/C guy came and went. Apparently our unit needs freon charging. Apparently the EPA put a ban on our freon type. Apparently you can't mix freon types. Apparently we need a new A/C unit ($4K-5K). Apparently the A/C company doesn't accept cars as a down payment. Apparently John is cranky having to come up with that kind of money. Apparently the A/C guy doesn't do quotes so apparently we have a salesman coming out tomorrow. Maybe salesman will take a car as a down payment...Apparently we won't be getting an A/C unit tomorrow. Apparently it has to be ordered.
John: Geesh! What we do here is remove all of the VooDoo Freon into a pressure vessel, then put in the NotSoVooDoo stuff. We have yet to hear if the various types of compressors have problems with that or not. As a side note, you may be able to handle this yourself and find some black market VooDoo freon and charge the thing on a real foggy moonless night? Do not even tell your wife.

Oh, and you might get a second opinion as there ARE some pretty seedy folks out there that will take advantage of the situation.

Later
 
The A/C guy came and went. Apparently our unit needs freon charging. Apparently the EPA put a ban on our freon type. Apparently you can't mix freon types. Apparently we need a new A/C unit ($4K-5K). Apparently the A/C company doesn't accept cars as a down payment. Apparently John is cranky having to come up with that kind of money. Apparently the A/C guy doesn't do quotes so apparently we have a salesman coming out tomorrow. Maybe salesman will take a car as a down payment...Apparently we won't be getting an A/C unit tomorrow. Apparently it has to be ordered.
That episode rings a bell here.
We wanted our gas boiler serviced. Service guy (British Gas) said he could not do the work as the boiler was too old. We need a new one, £1250.

Another guy serviced it with no problem. Three more services over the next three years. A new boiler installed (good quality make) £825.

We found out that British Gas engineers were on commission to get people to have new, whether they were required or not.
 


I'll have what David is having; but hold the blackcurrant.

The A/C guy came and went. Apparently our unit needs freon charging. Apparently the EPA put a ban on our freon type. Apparently you can't mix freon types. Apparently we need a new A/C unit ($4K-5K). Apparently the A/C company doesn't accept cars as a down payment. Apparently John is cranky having to come up with that kind of money. Apparently the A/C guy doesn't do quotes so apparently we have a salesman coming out tomorrow. Maybe salesman will take a car as a down payment...Apparently we won't be getting an A/C unit tomorrow. Apparently it has to be ordered.
 
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