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.

sharing, cats, and wildflowers

baby blue eyes

Yesterday was a food delivery day at SHARE. I got there after it was all unloaded, truck gone, things beginning to be put away. This is what it looked like in the back storeroom.

We also got four more of the big cartons of household goods at $7.50 a carton. Here’s two of them. There was even a small sewing machine in one of them. 

We were moderately busy with food orders. This month the food bank delivered cartons of bags of the little mandarin oranges called ‘cuties’ and bags of apples. Last month we got boxes of bags of frozen strawberries. Walmart sends us marked down/sell by vegetable and salad stuff, meat, and bakery goods every week, the dollar stores give us their milk, yogurt, lunch meat, etc that has hit its sell by date.

The other thing we got from the regional food bank yesterday was two boxes of unpackaged frozen solid in one big lump of cornish hens. At least 30 hens per box, maybe more. Like the boxes of unpackaged frozen little sausages they sent us a while ago, we cannot give them away even if they weren’t all frozen together and we bagged them up because we don’t have whatever permit that would require. We sent one box to Victory In Jesus, a christian rehabilitation residence and Gary and I, toward the end of the day when the second box was still just frozen solid, put the big plastic bag in the stainless steel sink, Gary running cold water over it all and slowly separating the hens while I bagged them up two to a bag and stuck them in the freezer (they were still frozen, just a little thawed on the outside). As I said, we can’t give them out so they are there for the volunteers to take.

It’s supposed to get up to 80 today and then will cool off a bit for the next week. The indian paintbrush is coming into full bloom and pastures are filled with the little yellow wild ranunculus, creeping buttercup.

My grandgirl Robin, who already has three indoor cats she’s taking care of, her cat Noodle and the Boys, plans to adopt the wildlings and so she is starting to join me in feeding them in the afternoons so that they get used to her presence and touch. She had all three of them at her feet yesterday while she sat on the threshold of the shed putting down small handfuls of food while she pet them and even managed to pick up Handsome Boy for a minute or two while I sat farther away and watched. I’m not sure they’ll take to being indoor cats so she may have to let them come and go as they please. Our best guess is that they are about 9 months old.

family portrait

My only obligation today is dinner so I’m going to work in one of the flower beds weeding and soil remediation since I’m not getting a good return on the stuff that usually grows in there, the love-in-a-mist, larkspur, and orange cosmos

fleabane

 

a busy day and a mystery

yesterday’s sky

Tuesdays and Thursdays are my busiest days. This was my day yesterday…got up, fed the cat, took my meds, checked my email, did my yoga, read blogs, fixed breakfast, cleaned up after breakfast, took the dog outside while I emptied the kitchen scrap container on the compost pile, picked up some small branches, pulled up a cabbage, took a box to the post office, did the week’s grocery shopping, put away said groceries and then it was time for lunch, after lunch walked the dog who wanted a long walk, fed the kittens, browsed social media, fed the dog, started preparing dinner, sat down for 20 minutes, finished fixing dinner, cleaned up after dinner, took my meds, closed up the garage, let the dog out one more time, cleaned the cat litter box, brushed my teeth, and finally sat down for what remained of the day before I went to bed at 10.

We watched the first two episodes of the streaming show Mr. and Mrs. Smith (don’t remember which service it’s on). It is completely different from the movie of the same title and we’re not really sure if we’re going to watch more of it.

Yesterday when I was out in the yard I found this peculiar thing laying on the ground right in the middle of one of the pathways around the magnolia tree, which is about 8’ from the corner of the attached garage, clean as a whistle and with the filament intact. 

Where the fuck did this come from and how did it even get here? Granted it was very windy Monday but I can’t imagine how the wind could have blown it from wherever to where I found it. I did an image search and it’s a mini light bulb (obviously), 1 3/8” tall, +/- 12v +/- 5w used in automotive, sewing machines, vacuums, etc. I have never seen a lightbulb like this before. Checked both vehicles but nothing missing. I don’t have a light on my vacuum cleaner and the one in my sewing machine is much larger. Ah, the mysteries of the universe.

A friend of my daughter’s sent her a free box from HelloFresh, one of those outfits that send you all the ingredients for a meal and all you have to do is cook it. The free box contains three meals for two people. In order to get your free box you have to register and when you register you have the option of sending a free box (free except for $4.99 shipping charge) to someone else and she sent one to me. So yesterday, I registered and Marc and I selected our three meals due to arrive Saturday. Nowhere on the site while you are signing up for the free box did it say that this service would automatically send another box every week (you are able to pick different meals) for a total of $70 a week unless you went online and canceled (or if it did, I didn’t see it). The follow up welcome email had a little asterisk and at the bottom explained this part of the service. $70 a week for three meals for two people is nearly 75% of my weekly grocery bill so I’ll be canceling after we receive our box. If we’re going to spend that much per meal (and quite a few of the meals had additional charges so the price per meal increased sometimes by a little and sometimes by a lot) we’d rather go to a restaurant where we won’t have to cook it or clean up after it.

There’s been a huge flock of starlings in the neighborhood all week and they are loud. I’m in the house and I can hear them.

This afternoon when I go over to feed the kittens, the little gray tabby is getting scooped up to pet and cuddle and then shoved in the cat carrier and taken to the vet where he will be neutered tomorrow. I’m only going to do one every few weeks to give myself time to re-earn their trust. I think they might be a little wary after this afternoon.

Ten petal anemone are in full bloom

even the occasional pink and purple version.

she's back, she as in me

Success! Actually, it was really easy. When the mini was first set up Greg made me create a password to get past the start-up screen for security purposes (as if it isn’t just Marc and I here but OK) and when I would be through for the day I would just put the mini to sleep. Monday, the power flickered off and on and the mini shut down. Alright, no problem, I restarted and typed in the password. Nope, typed it in again and still nope. Tried my Apple ID password and still nope. Nope nope nope. Well, fuck. Got hold of Greg and he walked me through changing my password, restart, type in the new password…nope. So then we tried a number of things all of which were unsuccessful and then the cable went out and I lost internet access and the mini went to sleep until this morning when our schedules aligned again. So restart again, type in the original password again and no, typed it in again and no (the point being to get the response after three wrong tries to change the password) but the third time I decided to type in the new password from Monday expecting it to be rejected as it had been on Monday and, whoa! It worked. Apparently it had to sit on it for a while or who knows, maybe it was because the cable was out and we didn't realize it yet, but I’m back in.

It was actually kind of nice, I didn’t really think about it. Did my yoga routine in the mornings, finally packed up all those glass jewels and clear lenses I promised my friend in Colorado months ago, got some weeding done in the yard, cut back a lot of dead stuff, moved some of the plants out of the house and garage.

Tuesday was my annual check-up…blood sugar 3 points over the high; A1c .2 over the high so edging into pre diabetes which runs in my family but she said it would have to get significantly worse before she would recommend medication; cholesterol about 50 points over the high so not so bad and same as it always is so I’ve always refused medication in the past. Key word, in the past, but now things have changed. My father died of a massive stroke when he was the age I am now, my mother died in her mid 70s from cumulative damage from TIAs, and now my older by three years sister has died of a massive stroke. So what’s that mean for me, I asked. That you are at risk of having a stroke. Even though I take a blood thinner? Yes, even though. She recommended lowering my cholesterol, what did I want to do. I do not want to have a stroke. OK, she says and sent a new prescription in for the med.

Today was Groundhog Day and for the first time in what seems like decades the little critter did not see its shadow and so spring is just around the corner. I believe it. It got up to 73˚ today with a mostly blue sky and I saw my first crane fly today. Fitting I suppose since it's my personal harbinger of spring. Now the wind has picked up and it’s mostly overcast with storm clouds, supposed to rain tomorrow. 

I’d been collecting these photos of the few butterflies I saw this fall just before and after my sister died but there were always other things to blog about so here they are finally, taken in November and December.

monarch

swallowtail

a tattered red admiral

fritillary

hairstreak

And the 10 petal anemone and redbud tree mentioned in my last post.

no shows and no decency

Front flower bed with Cat, can you see her in there?

I just noticed that half my coral butterfly ginger did not come back. There's a big space where they should be. The cone flower ginger that Mary Moon sent me two years ago has also not come back. The bougainvillea has not sent up any new growth yet but I still have hopes for it but the gardenia is covered in new growth after I pruned it back hard. More than half of my poor struggling camellia that has been plagued with white fly died and the new growth is sparse. The main branch of the white orchid tree in a pot that I did not bring in but put in a protected corner and covered it more or less died but has new growth on the lower small branches and I already mentioned the althea that died. The old fashioned yesterday-today-and-tomorrow has finally sent up some new growth from its roots. Next winter I'll have to remember to cover it. And I've already mentioned that I'm not getting any larkspur or poppies either. On the wild side, I'm finally getting some dandelions in the yard but the lots on either side of me are covered in blooms. I've mentioned no woodland violets either when last year they bloomed profusely but also no chickweed, which is kind of astounding really, and no henbit.

One more picture of the 12 acre field behind me covered in indian paintbrush. As good as the iPhone 13 camera is, it just cannot capture the true depth of field (or it could be the photographer). The flowers look like a narrow strip when in fact they cover a good 8 or 9 acres (hard to judge) solid with color.

We are finally getting some rain! A gentle to medium rain started falling straight down yesterday that cooled things down considerably (of course it did, I put all my long sleeve shirts away the day before) and it continued off and on the rest of the day and has continued today and supposed to tomorrow. Can't do any work outside so I'm working on clearing my big work table that has accumulated way too much stuff. Or being lazy. I'm doing a lot of that too.

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As I'm sure everyone is aware, Trump was finally indicted last Thursday and as Jeff Tiedrich so succinctly put it, “the entire wingnut outrage-industrial complex is melting straight the fuck down“. Trump turned himself in on Tuesday and was arrested in NYC and arraigned on 34 felony counts connected to the hush money paid porn star Stormy Daniels to which he pled not guilty at his arraignment. No mugshot was taken and no bail required to be released for white collar crimes (and gosh golly darn, no massive protest from the cult materialized), he returned to Florida later in the day. Before his release, the judge admonished him against any speech that might provoke violence against the people involved but that didn't stop Don Jr. from posting a picture of the DA's daughter and Trump later referred to the judge and his wife as Trump haters and has called for defunding the DOJ and the FBI. Also in state politics the far right election denier and vote suppressor republican candidate Dan Kelly was defeated for the Wisconsin supreme court by democrat Janet Protasiewicz, who promised to stand up for abortion rights and fair voting districts, giving democrats the majority on the court. The loser was, of course, angry and bitter in his concession speech saying “I wish that in a circumstance like this I would be able to concede to a worthy opponent, but I do not have a worthy opponent to which I can concede” calling her beneath contempt and a serial liar. Are there any republicans running for office that aren't complete assholes?

There is so much more underhandedness going on by republicans like expelling the three democrat lawmakers in the Tennessee legislature that backed the gun control protests after the most recent mass shooting there, a bill in Texas that will require the 10 commandments be posted in every classroom (which is about as ironic as it gets considering the complete lack of moral character in today's GOP) and replacing school counselors with pastors which is blatantly unconstitutional, passing a law in Kansas that requires genital inspection of kids who want to play sports as part of their trans ban, and their attempts to curtail college student voting after having finally snapped to the fact that GenZ is woke, organized, and voting but I can only deal with so much at a time. The more elections republicans lose, the more extreme they get in their attempt to impose 'christian nationalism' ie their particular brand of fascism on the nation at large and fuck the constitution.

Edit: Tennessee republicans voted to expel the two black legislators but did not expel the white one.

more yard work, more flowers

Saturday I filled the 5^th, 6^th? bucket of walking onion stuff. I did other stuff but sitting here right now I'm not sure what. Oh, had to repot an althea, the same color as the one on the back corner of the shop that finally died, poor thing. It has been declining since the first arctic blast winter 3 years ago and this last, third one, did it in. It was old with a thick gnarly trunk so perhaps it had just lived out it's life span. Anyway, this volunteer, I have had in a pot since I knew the old one's days were numbered and fire ants had completely invaded its pot. I had to flush it out first trying to get the eggs out until I realized the entire thing was an incubator so I had to completely bare root it and even then give it some good shakes to dislodge the final ants. Apologized profusely, repotted it and so far it doesn't seem too traumatized. I, on the other hand, suffered many fire ant bites on my hands and feet.

Yesterday, Sunday, I kinda overdid it it. Walking onions dealt with so I could deal with the hay grass from the field which invaded after the flood of Harvey which had sprouted its green seed stalks. Now or never so I got out the weed eater and targeted the grass/seed stalks, tried to not cut down as many evening primrose as possible but some were sacrificed. So of course I ran out of cord and had to prevail upon a neighbor for some so I didn't have to make a green splattered run into the Evil Empire on a Sunday, Palm Sunday at that. I only know that because people talk about it, me having eschewed all religion long ago.

Anyway, we don't like to leave gas in the trimmer so when I use it I have to use it until it runs out of gas. Only I ran out of cord first and then I refilled the tank some because I still had an area to do and I should have just quit when it ran out of gas the first time. Hot and a little light headed, nothing a shower and water and sitting on the deck couldn't take care of. Before I did that though, I watered the flower bed on the east side and weeded about 75% of it. The german verbena is blooming 

but no larkspur this year (or poppies returning in the flower bed at the back either) but the love-in-a-mist is growing. It's all so screwy. I didn't get any woodland violet flowers in my yard this year though plants a plenty and no dandelions except the ones that want to grow in my flower beds though both bloomed in other yards.

Besides that stuff over the past three days I caged the tomatoes, watered the flower bed on the west side, potted some sprouted morning glory seeds I'm going to plant over at the studio, cut back more virginia creeper from in the dewberry briars which I should have done before their spring growth.

One morning early last week when I went out to open the garage and let Minnie and Cat out there were two fledged wrens in there. Just as Cat ran out I snatched her up and put her back in the house where she was housebound for the next three days which she didn't seem to mind. The wrens made a nest a decade or so ago on top of the motor housing for the other garage door that doesn't work anymore. Sometimes they beef it up and reuse it and sometimes not. Usually I know when they're using it because I see them in the garage a lot but not this year so it surprised me.

Now, blooming things... 

I know I keep showing you pictures of the evening primrose but they have just been outstanding this year.

my pink angel trumpet is starting to bloom

green beans sprouted!

I don't think I've ever seen a magnolia tree as full of flowers and buds as this one is this year

the walking iris put on another round of blooms

maroon japanese iris

amaryllis my neighbor shared with me that came from his grandmother's garden

penstemon