Field Report . . .

There's been a lot going on here.  A lot.  We had another major snowstorm.  When I started this post we had at least two feet of snow on the ground.  Now that it took me more than a week to get back to it, I've been able to get out for walks most days this week and the snow is melting pretty quickly.

Here's a look at the back after the first storm.

And here are the yews by my front step after the second storm.

A few days ago it was looking like this.  It had started to melt, but there was still probably a couple of feet there - and it was heavy, wet snow.

I decided I would give it a hand.  I flung most of it over toward the house and it looked like it would have a fighting chance to bounce back.

Yews are pretty flexible, so I wasn't surprised to see it popped back up within a couple of days looking sort of like my oral surgical site - with a sort of hole still in the middle  ;-D  :-D  

Other stuff that's been going on:

First - the second Circular Sock Knitting Machine Society (CSKMS) Beginner Certification Course is now underway. I've been busy with it for the past couple of months. Now that all the participants have their course materials it will calm down a bit. This is the course I took last year to help cement my current knowledge of my circular sock knitting machine.  I really enjoyed the course and when the opportunity came up to help administer this year's beginner course, I found myself volunteering.  It's really been a lot of fun!

Second - I volunteered with African Violet Society of America (AVSA) for the Cyber convention this year. I’m the Chair of the New Introductions Committee. I’m working with a guy I have worked with many times before and we are a good team. Also have another friend on the team who will be really helpful with the social media aspect, and a fourth member just joined us who will help mostly with photos, too. This all has to be done by May 15th or so because convention jumps off on the 29th. This will be the second year that we do not meet in person. Everyone is crossing their fingers to be able to meet in 2022 in Little Rock, AR, and then in 2023 in Atlanta! Those were our locations for 2020 and 2021, respectively. Everything has shifted forward. This is not a difficult job - it’s mainly getting photos from assorted hybridizers of their new plant introductions for 2021 and getting them into galleries on the website.  I don't usually volunteer for a lot of stuff, but really, what else am I'm doing?  Pretty much just sitting at home for the past almost a year.

Next - I registered for Medicare in January.  It was easy. I was approved within about a week, and then a couple weeks ago I got my Medigap and Rx policies all set up through AARP/UnitedHealthCare. I went the traditional/original Medicare route rather than Medicare Advantage. I have heard too many bad things about Medicare Advantage and normally I travel a lot, so traditional Medicare is better for me. It was a relatively simple process and I started it online but ended up with an agent at UnitedHealthCare on the phone. He was very helpful and got me set up with both my Plans G and D.  My ID cards for everything have already arrived in the mail!!  Wow!

I continue to heal well from the oral surgery, but I discovered that private dental insurance is pretty much useless. I have been on COBRA for the past year for both my medical and dental coverage through my former employer. Because I qualify for Medicare beginning in April, I had to cancel my COBRA medical coverage as of the end of March. All of the dental policies I checked into had either 6- or 12-month waiting periods for things like implants and crowns, which are the last two parts of this entire procedure. And at least one of the two policies I checked told me they wouldn’t cover the last two parts at all because the extraction was done under my current coverage … I did some research and it looked like I might be able to keep my existing dental coverage for the remaining six months of COBRA even though I'm cancelling the medical piece. I rang the place that administers my COBRA and I filled out the form to cancel medical as of the end of March, and was very happy to learn that yes I could keep the dental coverage only for the remaining six months! Yay! It’s not like they will pay a lot, but at least they will pay something for the implant and possibly the crown if I can get it done by the end of September. Plus, it’s reasonably inexpensive to keep the dental for the remaining six months. The private plans that cover anything are all more than twice what I'm currently paying and most of them only pay out a maximum of $1,000-$1,500 a year, which is about how much they cost! It’s likely that I will do without dental coverage after I lose COBRA because it doesn’t make financial sense to pay close to $900 a year for it when it covers almost nothing.

Speaking of Medicare - I got a letter from them saying I had to have an income-related monthly adjustment for a year to what I will pay for Medicare because I made too much money in 2019. However, I had what they call a qualifying event in 2020 because I stopped working. So, I rang them this morning because they said I had only 10 days to contact them. Of course I couldn’t get an appointment for the local office, but the woman I spoke with said she sent a message over to that office and someone from the local office is supposed to call me in the next 7 days. If I don’t hear from them, I’m supposed to call the main number back. Who knows how that is going to play out. I’m following all the rules so am hopeful that it will all be figured out soon.  I actually called them back - but apparently I called too soon and was on hold for an hour and 40 minutes only to learn that I called too soon and that the message had been received and acknowledged by the local office.  I'm supposed to wait for them to call me back . . .   So I'm waiting  :-D

I just finished the quarterly newsletter for the Illinois African Violet Society. 

A lot of things landed at once! 

And probably most importantly, I got my first shot.  I am so, so grateful. 

In other thoughts of the day - I have been thinking about this Hamama system.  I struggle to get veg in, and I really need to get veg in.  I thought this might be helpful, but I'm thinking that for one person it might be too much.  Maybe I could cut the seed mats into pieces.  I just checked, though, and they don't have the greatest reviews on Amazon . . . Maybe I should try sprouts in a Mason jar.  But seriously - I got a sprouting kit from a school fund raiser for one of my cousins' kids.  Maybe I should try it since I already have it  :-D   Wheeeeeee!  I just saved myself a bunch of money.  I can buy seeds to sprout on Amazon!

I watched an R&B music show on PBS the other day and this group came up.  They didn't sing my favorite of theirs (which is the one I'm sharing here), but I hadn't thought about them in a long time.  Of course, I looked them up and was sad to learn that all but one of the original members had passed away - and all but one at younger than 64, which is sad.  But I'm grateful for the awesome music they made - I danced to a whole lot of it.  They were definitely one of the greatest groups of that Philly soul sound that was so happening back when I was a kid.  

BTW, the guy singing lead is not Harold Melvin - it's Teddy Pendergrass.  Harold is the guy standing next to him!  This was a group where some of the lead singers came and went.  So - here are Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes with Bad Luck.