billing confusion, baby love, and garden/yard report

Momcat sleeping in the dry birdbath over at Pam’s.

Sunday night a week ago a lightning and thunderstorm passed through, no rain to speak of, my neighbor said 2/10, but the neurotic dog kept me awake most the night. Wednesday I had an appointment with the EP and after that I went to talk to someone in the financial department about a bill they keep sending me for a procedure last July that I have a receipt for showing I had already paid it. More about that further down. I also wanted to pay a bill for the last TEE I had but I wanted to do it in person so I would get a paper receipt. And even that was confusing because at first on the 12th I got a text billing me for $375 (my co-pay for the procedure which increased by $125 this year) and then I got a reminder on the morning of my appointment that I owed $151.11 by the end of the month. The woman in financial that I talked to only found the lesser amount due in the system though she did see and printed out the invoice for the $375. So I paid the $151.11. I guess they’ll figure it out and invoice me for the remainder or not. 

As for the other matter, she could find nothing about it. The hospital switched to a new system just after that July procedure and old stuff is archived which she did not have access to. Friday, I got another bill for the July procedure so I called the number provided and spoke with someone about it who kept insisting I owed this amount. That the receipt I had was for the account ending in 7525 on that date and this was for the account ending in 7526 on that date. I told her I only had one procedure on that date and they have billed me twice for it. 7525 was archived and she would have to go to her supervisor to get access and they would call me back in about two weeks. Well, Marc and I started going through bills and receipts and trying to drag stuff out of our memories because this was about something eight months ago. I had so much done last summer it was hard to remember but finally I figured it out. On that date I did have only one procedure, a TEE pre-op to measure for the Watchman device I got later. I also had the pre-op blood work for the cerebral angiogram that happened four days later. That is the co-pay I paid, account 7525. The 7526 account is the TEE which I did not pay for at the time, they said they would bill me and by the time they did we had forgotten and were going by the date, not the account number. So yeah, I owe the $250. At least it’s not $375.

Wednesday night it rained and rained more Thursday. In all we finally got some much needed rain, about 3 1/2” by my rain gauge. So the days after have been too wet to do anything outside since it's continued to be overcast and humid. So Saturday I got a couple of hours of baby time. Audra brought Harrison over for me spend time with while she went to the laundromat. He’s two months old now and a hefty little man. He was awake most of the time, smiled at me, did all the things babies do, look around and gurgle and grunt and eat and pee and poop and nap and eat again.

Sunday still too wet to do any serious weeding but I got the last tomato plant in the ground and set up the tomato cages, got the nasturtiums in the ground and the green beans,

and planted more beans in starter pots. I’m waiting until the cucumbers and squash seedlings get a little bigger before getting them in the ground but the onions I planted earlier are starting to come up as are the carrots I planted a month ago.

So many things blooming (so many pictures)...more iris,

poppies,

indigofera,

mock dogwood/orange starting up,

all the pink roses (some red ones too),

and on the wild side this lyre leaf sage in my neighbor’s easement,

fleabane,

evening primrose,

in the field behind me indian paintbrush (bluebonnets too),

and the baby blue eyes are in full bloom.

progress on the spring garden

Well, I did not get the garden finished and planted Friday. It was still pretty windy and so I opted to dig up the sow thistle starting at the house and working my way back. Filled the wagon and then some. Made it almost to the far flowerbed and then Marc mowed Saturday getting the rest of them. What I did get done yesterday was little stuff. First I picked up all the downed limbs and branches at the back of the property and tossed it all into the wild space so that Marc could mow back there. Then I mixed a tub of potting soil, compost, and some landscaper’s mix and got my nasturtium seeds in starter pots. 

They’ll go amongst my tomato plants. Then I went to the feed store and got five tomato plants (I plan on three more) 

and another bag of diatomaceous earth because I’m still chasing ants out of a different flower bed where I want to scatter my zinnia seeds.

Then I went to Tractor Supply (yes, I know, but I have few choices here) and got a basil plant and seed packets.

By then it was time for a late lunch and I fixed us tostados with refried beans, cheese, guacamole, lettuce, tomatoes, and sour cream.

After lunch I sectioned out a spot to plant the carrot seeds turning the dirt and adding fertilizer and landscaper’s mix 

and then my grandson came over with Paisleigh just as I was finishing that. Paisleigh helped me put stuff away and then we watered all the plants in pots on the driveway and the little backyard and after that I was done and walked her across the street and back to her dad.

The goal today is to get the fertilizer and landscaper's mix turned in the rest of the garden area, get the carrot seeds in the ground, and get the squash, cucumber, jalapeño, and green bean seeds in starter pots but a cold front blew in last night and it’s overcast, a little breezy, and chilly outside so maybe not.

edit: The day warmed up some though still a bit chilly especially in the wind but the sky was blue with puffy white clouds, low humidity so I got my seeds planted in their starter pots and got fertilizer and landscaper’s mix turned into the garden area. I still need one more bag to finish and then decide where I’m going to put what in the space and in the small raised bed. I did not get the carrots seeds in though. Going to be in the 30s tonight so I brought in my trays of little pots. 

getting out and staying in

It is hot and humid out there (isn't that how I started out the previous post?) and it saps any motivation to get stuff done after about 15 minutes. I've managed to get some weeding done, some watering, so I should be spending my days over in the studio. I've been thinking a lot about my lack of motivation for making art, sculpture, starting to feel a little guilty after going through the expense of building that room out. I guess we'll see if that gets me over there. Maybe it was a mistake moving all my model making and mold filling stuff out of the house though I don't really think that's the problem.

Thursday was my day at SHARE and it was another slow day after the latest stimulus and enhanced unemployment. President Biden says he's cut hunger in half with his policies and if the number of people we are getting for food and other assistance is any indication, he's right. I didn't keep exact count but we only filled 8 baskets, possibly 10. Pre-covid I was told they serviced 30 – 35 people every week.

Also pre-covid I was going to yoga class three times a week, twice in El Campo with Abby who puts us through a 30 – 40 minute session of moderate to advanced asanas, and once here at Hesed House. Abby reinstated her classes over a year ago as we meet in a large metal building with three sides to roll up, a giant fan for air circulation, and plenty of space to social distance but Stephanie at Hesed House just restarted her classes a couple of weeks ago and I finally made it to one of her sessions Thursday night. It might seem like overkill, three classes a week but Stephanie's class is very different. Her hour long sessions focus on being in touch with your body and your emotions and how they express themselves through your body and strength building via asanas. It's a much gentler class but at the same time can be strenuous.

Hesed House had a fundraising garden party last week that Pam and I went to and I have plans to do a post about their garden (but here's a peek),

so life seems to be getting back to some form of pre-covid normal. I wrote previously that the HEB and Walmart removed their 'masks required' signs and now the library has as well. Not sure how I feel about it with the more highly contagious and more virulent Delta variant of covid making inroads here in the US though I'm not so worried about my vaccinated self.

I finally accumulated enough tomatoes, either given or bought from a local garden, to make a batch of tomato sauce, slow roasted with olive oil, garlic, and fresh basil leaves then pureed in the blender.

I went to the Farmer's Market here in town Saturday, hoping to get more but everyone is selling them for $5 a pound which is a bit pricey so I hope they'll be cheaper next week. And I got more peaches so I made another peach cobbler and still have about half to put up and I'm making beef stew for dinner tonight so by the end of the day I will have spent the better part of three days in a row in the kitchen.

Well, we just had a sudden intense but brief rain storm. I don't think it lasted even 10 minutes, just enough to make it more steamy out there so I guess it's just as well I'll be in the kitchen today.

the week in review and the Ag Life Youth Fair

It's been a full week though I haven't accomplished much. Monday, of course, was all about the new heart monitor.

3 of 5

Tuesday was movie day and we went to see Avenger's End Game because we are big Marvel Cinematic Universe fans and because the end of the previous movie Infinity Wars left the audience going...wait, what!!!? At the end of this last one two of our heroes died and one might as well have because as rumor has it those actors are totally over playing their characters. This was the end of the story arc that started 11 years ago and included 3 phases and 22 movies.

Wednesday I manicured the tomato plants pinching off the little sprouts that grow from the junction of leaf to stem and taking out some of the leaves that grow so thick so that the flowers can be more easily fertilized and I dug up a bunch of the little purple ground orchids and potted them up for the garden club plant sale that was yesterday.

Thursday I wrote out the tags for all the plant sale items I had and priced them and then in the afternoon I tagged along with my sister and our friend Bobby to the Youth Fair at the Wharton County Fairgrounds. 

The Youth Fair is a livestock show where the school kids in Ag show off their animals they have raised and hopefully come away with the grand champion or runner up. We watched the Senior group (age 14 – 18, 7 0f the 10 participants were girls) lead their cows around the arena while the judge selected the winners. Each participant had three cows to show and let me tell you those are some BIG cows and groomed within an inch of their lives, some really gorgeous animals. 

There were also sheep, goats, pigs, and rabbits but we didn't see any of the judging for those, just wandered around the pens. 

The pigs were a little scary. While we were walking down the aisle a kid came with a bucket of food for one of the pigs and he very quickly undid the chain on the pen, opened the gate just enough for him to slip through and then quickly refastened the chain. The pigs in the pens 2 deep on either side were instantly on their feet riveted on that bucket and would have crashed through the wire had they been able. This pig knew exactly what the purpose of the chain on the gate to it's pen was for and was doing it's best to get it off.

There was also a petting zoo with the usual donkey, calves, deer, goats, and sheep but also exotics...alpacas, a zebra colt,  a kangaroo,  a huge land turtle, a porcupine , and a couple of other things I didn't know the names of.

an art, craft, flower/plant arrangement, and home making skills (baking, canning, sewing) exhibition in all age groups and everyone got a blue ribbon! Just some of the many entries:

I thought this one was particularly clever, if you can't tell what it is, click to bigify

pineapple lamp made out of plastic spoons

There was an Ag Life exhibit, 

              

and of course a carnival!

Friday was my birthday outing with my sister (Pam, her name is Pam) and we went to Galveston to the historic downtown area, the Strand, and had lunch and went in all the shops (I'll do that one in detail in my next post) and we were gone all day.

And yesterday, Saturday, was the plant sale. As members, we aren't allowed to buy anything until 30 minutes before it's over which is at noon but some of us manage to be sneaky enough to get what we want. This year one of the members who has connections donated about 40 or so camellias and I definitely wanted one so a non-member who was there early purchased mine for me. There was only one other thing, a small succulent, that I spirited away before we were allowed to pick what we wanted so I ended up with two succulents, a red yucca, a pot of bulbine (I had this before but it was washed away by the flood), and the camellia because just because I have stuff I still haven't managed to get planted from last weekend's visit to the nursery doesn't mean that I don't want need more. I left a little before noon and I think everything I brought except one small confederate rose had been bought and it might have too.

It was too wet to get anything in the ground Saturday afternoon as we had a thunderstorm with 2 1/2” of rain in the wee hours of Friday night so hopefully it's dried out enough to get some of this stuff in the ground today.