Category Archives: Current Affairs

Greater Good

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There are a series of Greater Good websites that I click through every day.   Each click represents a unique donation toward a cause.  In this case breast cancer, literacy, rain forest, autism, veterans, animals, child health and finally hunger.

I just noticed for the first time today that the head line on the hunger site reads "Your Actions Here Fight Famine in the Horn of Africa & Combat Hunger in the U.S."  I am appalled that we have dropped to third world country status in regards to hunger.  I'm appalled at our status for uninsured adults and children, at our science and math test scores, at a lot of things.

I have a low simmering rage directed at politicans who put politics before people.

Bought and paid for and other stuff – redux

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Let's try this again.

It appears that Wisconsin in now a wholly owned subsidiary of BIG BILLIONAIRES.  The fact that an election can be purchased sends chills down my spine.  It makes me wonder if Romney will be able to purchase his way to the presidency to say nothing of senators, representatives and governors.

In other news we're still waiting for 30 of our 40 acres to sell.  We, mostly Larry, have done a tremondous amount of work getting the property in shape.  He's made numerous trips to the dump in addition to filling a huge dumpster with junk from one particular unit.  It's the one I've written about before.  The one that I needed to rake the rug to get the first level of garbage removed.

My tomatoes are growing by the minute and 2 have blossoms already.  Speaking of blossoms my lime tree which is 3 years old has finally produced what appears to be a nice crop of limes.  The mandarin orange on the other hand has yet to realize it's a fruit tree.  The seeds in the mini greenhouse were kind of a bust but I will have a bumper crop of lemon cucumbers and asian eggplant.

Last but certainly not least I went 2 weeks inbetween visits to Dr. Sanity.  I was a bit worried afterall I've been sitting on her couch weekly for quite a long time but I sailed through.

Declinging

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I've been referring to myself as Dr. Sanity's clinging vine since the first day I sat down in her office almost 4 long, grueling, painfilled years ago.  In the beginning I was seeing her 2 or 3 times a week and talking to her on the phone when I wasn't with her.  If she went out of town I would literally fall apart.  It's been a long strange ride let me tell you.

About 6 months ago I went from twice a week in her office to once a week and not falling apart every time she had to leave town.  It was a great step forward.  Now I'm taking the next step seeing her only every other week.  It feels so good to be stable and standing on my own sanity.

I can thank Dr. Sanity enough for her support, persistence, love and guidence.  She has been my rock while I was regathering myself into some semblance of a human being.

 

Purged

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I've been on a purging streak the last couple of weeks – the pantry, the spice cabinet, the stairway bookshelves and the living room bookshelves.  It's been very cleansing.  Kitchen stuff and duplicate spices given away, a carton of books to go to the used bookstore and a large bag to go to the friends of the library.  Left in the house to tackle the bedroom bookshelf and the huge pile of books on the floor in front of it and my closet.  I've lost almost 30 pounds so I know there's stuff that will no longer fit YEAH.  

Then comes the big tackle outside.  The great wall of Mill Creek is covered in wild blackberries yummy to eat but not pleasing on my gardener eye.  In fact the entire area around the house is full of blackberries.  That's what comes of living in the forest.  Any time you rest the blackberries invade.  Little does Larry know that he's going to weed eat the hill so I can Round Up the lovely berries.

I'm able to do all this because I've spent the last four years on Dr. Sanity's couch reclaiming my life after the nasty depression.  Yes for talk therapy and psych drugs.

Medicare part D and me

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I'm on medicare and take multiple medications.  I am one of those people who fall into the dreaded "donut hole" in drug coverage.  It's a scary place to be and it happens fast.  You get there once your drug spending gets to $2930.  However it's not when YOUR drug expenses get that high, it's when you and your INSURANCE company's spending hit that target.  Medicare picks up again at $6,657.   Yes you have to spend $3737 to get back into what is referred to as catastrophic coverage. 

While you're in the donut hole, thanks to Obamacare, you only have to pay 50% of the retail price of a brand name drug.  In my case that means that I pay $785 for a 3 month supply of a single drug, $1006 for 4 prescriptions in addition I pay a monthly $99 premium.  I can't imagine what people do when they have multiple high expense drugs. 

Yes I want Obamacare fully implemented asap.

I can …

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oh wait I can't because we lost our power again.  Twice in one week because of downed trees.  So I can't

do the laundry, check that recipe on the computer, check that knitting pattern on the computer, cruise facebook, etc., etc. etc. on the computer

Fortuantely today the power was out in the daylight from 7:34 am, I was looking at the clock when it went out, until 7:55 pm just in time for Larry to watch the end of the Ohio State game in the Final Four.

And while I'm no big fan of PG&E or their policies I do appreciate the fact that my power was restored in hours not in days as has happened in the past.  Our record outage was 8 days.

Little house in the forest

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Yes it was like the 1700's here last night.  We got 6.6 inches of rain yesterday which had a detremintal effect on a number of trees so it was lights out.

Larry was trapped on the town side of the downed trees until this morning.  Once I established that he and Colin were OK by driving down to the fallen trees and talking to the PG&E crew "Is there a guy in a white truck with a dog?"  "Yes"  I came home and settled in.  I had my propane lantern, my knitting, a glass of wine at my side and a cat in my lap.  I had a fire going, not to say it was roaring but it was going.   All in all quite cozy and safe.