Delivery Fee???

Sorry about not blogging here for awhile but i have been entremely "busy". LOL. anyway i felt obligated to write today to show you what i have been doing as per "baybay's' demonstration and per the Schwans man's addition a DOLLAR to my box of fish as a "delivery charge"! HUH??

As Close to Socialized Medicine as I Will Get

Today marked that special day in my life! My health care is now in the hands of the Medicare System and the Office of Retirement Services of the State of Michigan! Sounds great doesn't it!
Well lets say we will try it out tomorrow with our new shipment of poison and next week at the ACU. Soon we will get our scripts filled and see how that part works as well. I do know that the cost of the new coverage is not cheap! If one figures in a dollar value (equal to Medicare B that we have deducted from our monthly checks) for Medicare A which is supposedly free my total healthcare insurance is about 20 percent more costly than the private plan I was on lately! So much for socialized savings! Wish me lots of luck with the systems! The coverage comes in handy lately!

Hey, It's 60!

I woke up this morning and while getting my coffee ready I heard what sounded like some kids noisy pickup outside! Then I realized it was coming from across the highway from the motorcycle shop! It must now be officially spring! Yup, sure enough bikes were out on display and the place had lookers a plenty! Noisy little bastards! Anyway, about 11am it was so inviting sunshine wise that i took the 25 minute walk over to Hardee's for a cup of coffee! I even took off my cap to sun the bare spot up there! One has to work on that so it doesn't burn later! Maybe I'll spread some sunscreen up there and take another walk! And it's funny how that sun and all makes me want a new summer jacket!

How Time Flies

Here we are in the final hours of March! Wow! Where did the past 4 weeks go? I guess they passed unnoticed into history. I've been putting up with the miserable climate of cool nights and not much better days. If we get to 40 I rush out for a walk! I like to see the sun pushing back the snow banks at least on the north side of the streets. Some sidewalks for what they are worth are appearing too. Strange what the melting snows uncover! Yesterday I saw a lost bike, a few hubcaps, and other odds and ends! Come on lets get on with spring with some nice sun and nice temps and a few crocus and daffodils!

Well It is Gone!

Here we are in the final hours of February! Summer is almost here! It was so ugly cold today that I took a nap instead of going to Walmart to excercise! The winter hibernation didnt cause me to loose any fat! I think I might have put some on! For spring and summer my goal is to drop the other 15 pounds and put me at the right mass for my height! That of course will require less fast food and more slow food! Slow food is stuff one has to chew like raw carrots and celery.
Well anyway enough of that! I should report that yesterday we used my new Bard Access System for the second time! Sounds like something one would need to get into the White House or somewhere like that huh! Actually its a "port" buried just beneath the skin in my chest on the right side and is connected to a tube going on to my juglar. The "port" is accessed with a needle poked through the skin and through the membrane of the skin side of the device and the dope is then fed though it rather than a vein in my hand! So much handier it is! It would be nice if they would sell food that could be fed directly to the bloodstream and I wouldn't have to eat anymore! Just go to Olive Garden and order up some contrived Italian concoction and inject it! Would save a lot of time! It could be bought from the drive though as a mobile injectable too! Well this is getting down right stupid now but one can dream right?
Enough for now!

Amateur Poet I Am I Am!

See the poem here http://www.poetry.com/voteforme/poemvote1.asp?PID=12686699

Driving Around

Well, the winter blizzards will soon be a thing of the past so the time to take a few trips is in order. The first run will be one to see the Northfield grand daughters for a couple days. I haven't seen them for a long time. Then a trip to the deep South is probably in order for the Alabama gangs move into a new house! I've been helping with their move from the old world to here and then south so why stop now! We have to keep the wheels rolling while they can still roll!

The House is in Good Order

Well after waiting a few months and then moving for a week I have things in pretty good order in the new high rise suite! I'm actually having fun "decorating" if that is the proper term! I found a place for most everything to start and then made more space when necessary! I enjoy the separate rooms and the kitchen! I don't have to stare at the unmade bed all day now. The kitchen is not stainless steel and tile but it allows me to use a stove for the first time in a dozen years! I can actually cook in pots on burners now! I need to get accustomed to the highway noise which I didn't get much of in the old house since it was in the back! All things considered I have decided I like the new house! Tonight I had a steak to celebrate!

The First Walk of Spring!

As temperatures rose to 40 at 3 pm I decided it was time to get up and get out! I toured the neighborhood on foot for about a half hour! It was nice to be out again in air warm enough to breathe! So now begins the season for those long pleasant strolls!

Melting Today!

It looks like the weather is heading toward spring! Highs will be in the 30's today! Its nice to see the white stuff starting to disappear! Soon I'll be walking again! The cold of winter has kept me indoors a lot. I have to loose another bunch of fat this summer! Sunshine please!

In Two Months

Oh my I have been delinquent in posting here on Driving Around but I guess its because in part that I've been driving around or for starters flying west to home since that last post from Gelderland! Its been a busy two months with a few major events.

1.Picked up the Ex-pats now Unexpats at O'Hare on New Years Eve and had a leisurely trip back to the U.P.
2. Spent near a week in Canada with the Staffords fulfilling some legal requirements! Had a good time with the cute little baby at a nice cozy cabin in the Canadian Soo!
3. Made a couple overnight trips to Hancock to visit with the cute little one who was staing with her mama and dada at Grandma's house.
4. Convoyed to Birmingham with the Pensky truck and the Grand Caravan and spent a few days there enjoying the sun and warmth of the South!
5 Enjoyed a morning in the hospital just Tuesday having a port put in to make infusions much easier! We already used it yesterday!
6. Moving to a new suite here in this building! A real cute apartment with a real bedroom and small kitchen with a stove! I can actually cook now! My view changed from east to west too! Does that mean I will be facing the setting sun!

I promise to enter here more often as things settle down now and we wait for spring and the melting of the snows and greening of the earth here on this cold, cold -4 degree morning!

Potpourri from an Afternooon Ride In Gelderland

It may be difficult to see but the oldtimer on the bike was wearing his wooden shoes! Yes they do wear wooden shoes but usually with leather liners to make them snug and comfortable!
A typical quaint Dutch farmstead just off the dike near the Waal River. The Waal is the Southern branch of the Rhine in the Nederland. Just in case you don't know the Rhine splits into two upstream and then sort of becomes one again near Rotterdam.
The area is potato country. Fields are plowed and ready for the spring.
The "Big Road" bridge spans the Vaal while barge traffic moves up and down the river! The water in the foreground is apparently flooded area for water control downstream.
Cows in their shed loafing and eating! I would guess this herd numbered 40 or so Holsteins.

The Sun Shone Today in the Nederland's Gelderland!

As the sunshine warmed the Dutch countryside the weeks accumulation of frost on the trees and ground melted off but the freezing temperatures of the past few days left the flooded areas along the dikes frozen stiff! Hundreds of folks were out enjoying the almost endless skating rinks there as is the tradition here. We then went through the outdoor market in Wagenining where each Wednesday and Saturday shoppers can find a big assortment of fish, meats, cheeses, fruits, vegatables, bakery, fresh and live herbs, of course, fresh cut flowers and live plants, and more and if course visit with plenty of people doing their Saturday shopping! Beth bought a bunch of budding tulips and Buga got a loaf of bread which she gnawed on for the next hour or so and ate the "whole thing" by herself!

The Last Roses of the Year!

Outside the door here in Zetten are the final attempts of the big yellow rose bush to color itself. These have survived a week of below freezing temperatures as indicated by the mid-afternoon frost on the grass and trees! Its winter here in the Nederlands!

I was looking at this egg carton the other day and thought there is something wrong with it! Could it be the Queeen's way of keeping down cholesterol levels? Or does it have something to do with the weights and measures and counts system?

Where is Sun?

Here in Holland when approching the shortest days of the year the sun has barely reached into the sky at 1 o'clock. In the picture you can see it peeking thought the shrubs! I'm guessing its shining from about 30 degrees and therefore doing very little to warm anything! This area is at about the same lattitude as Edmonton, Canada. These are the days of total darkness for those way up north! That must be a hard life!

We left the snowcovered landscape in Green Bay

Rebecca was the first of the family to see me from her vantage point on her Dads shoulders!

The Journey told as told through Saturday!

After shopping around and packing around and loading the car around and driving around to Green Bay I left the Grand Caravan in the hands of the GRB parking attendants and left the driving to NWA. We had a good uneventful trip to Detroit and then on to Dusseldorf where Rebecca and parents were waiting for me to get me and my goodie filled bags! Yesterday was busy helping the soon to be non-expats pack, taking care of the baby, cooking, and being a nuisance in general. Today was jet lag day or it seemed that way at least. I overslept to start. I think that the 9:45 am awakening was the latest in more than a year. Then this afternoon I conveniently missed being a participant in a bike ride to a nearby village while I napped! Lucky me! Then of course the rest of the day flew by and now I have been recruited to babysit while the folks go off to a movie! How much do American baby sitters make per hour?

HIPPA News

Tuesday the local needle inserters were switching over to a brand new computerized information system. The DCH lobby waiting area was packed with people as I walked in and I wondered if some epidemic had struck the area and I hadn't heard about it. Any way I got to the ACU and got into my chair and the PN comes up to me with this little tiny laptop perched atop a rolling platform and explains that she need to get my full medical history, medications, and height and weight and whatever the hell else from me and that we had to hurry cause she had to get the same info from everyone else coming in! So here I am.....however many years old with a medical history equally as long......attempting to remember all my stuff. Surgery, broken arms, suicides, immunizations, and on and on. At the end I told her that I am here now to be infused with Aralast to boost my antitrypsin deficiency. She punches some buttons, then asks me to spell that.....which I did.....she pushes some more buttons.....looks up at me and says...."It doesn't look like thats in here so we'll skip it for now"! Oh my! Any way as I was saying about HIPPA news, as I sat there for the 3 hours I was treated to hearing the full medical histories of at least 5 other folks who came in and sat on either side of me! I heard of their cancers and blood deseases, HIV infections and hepatitus problems, of their lung deficiences and stomach ailments, of broken bones and colonoscopies, and on and on. Where are the HIPPA rules here I wondered? Maybe they were suspended for the day!

I Thought I Lost It Forever

Last week and weekend C and I switched my email to Gmail and it took some new passwords and usernames and then for the past three days I havent been able to get into this blog. I finally did enough things to get to it. I finally reset my new google account password to the exact same existing new password. Silly huh? And that even gave me back my old google calendar!

Oh Christmas Tree! All set for The Clas Man to drop a new pickup truck under it!

Coming Soon to This Blog

I have some ornaments on my tree. Pic will be taken and posted soon.

Thanksgiving 2007

At my age its hard to say what and who in what order I should be offering to thank on this Thanksgiving Day. I guess the fact that I still live to talk about it is one thing. Thank you Baxter and Accredo and Drs Smoot and Bruner and DCH and the staff there for your help. Thank you Mr G and company for your support and help and for the fun we had with the horses. And thank you, family and friends, for your support during those scary times!

I've managed nearly a year now in retirement and have no regrets that I couldn't continue working. Thanks to all and everything that made and continues to make the lazy life possible.
I've been thinking about family and am happy and thankful that all of you are safe and sound and doing your things. Thanks to all and everything that makes that possible. Of course we keep Grandma J in our thoughts!
Of course there are many more thanks to give but that would take a book!

I'll conclude by saying thanks again to Mike and Lupa for today's meal and company. Knowing you two is one of life's special treats!

Large Buck Attacks and Kills Hunter

BEWARE HUNTERS is the word for the 2007 season

HIPPA News The Recap of October with Emphasis on the Night of October 31st

My "Buddy" and related wires and tubes after I was "unwired" this morning!

I know I promised you a summary of my HIPPA events for October but I am so tired of HIPPA events that I will not do it. I don't care if its a record or not and I don't care if you want to know or not but I am not doing any HIPPA entries on this blog for at least a while! After trying to sleep at the sleep clinic with 20 electrodes attached with glue and tape to my legs and torso and head and two belts around my body to measure breathing and a O2 sensor clamped and taped to my finger and a thing stuck in my nose to measure CO2 coming out and open microphones listening to me talk and snore and infrared lights shining at me and TV cameras looking at me and having to verbally call the tech when I wanted to go to the toilet and he having to come and disconnect my "buddy" as he called it from its base and hang the big box around my neck with about a 20 yards of wires and tubes trailing me to the toilet so I could go and the fact that they didn't even so much as have coffee in the morning made it even worse so therefore I am too tired to write anything today! There is however a great deal of good information for you to study at the link I provided above!

The $64,000 Question!

I had my chance at the money but blew it!