43 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 11-2-17”

  3. Astro’s win!!! Houston Strong!
    I’m not much of a sports fan of any kind–but, I’m so happy for them–a championship 52 years in the making! The main reason I wanted them to win is b/c my 85 year old father has followed them since the very beginning and has watched and rooted for them faithfully all these years. He was fortunate enough to be able to attend Game 7 against the Yankees w/ two of his sons (my brothers). I’m looking forward to talking to him later today — I’m sure he is on cloud 9.

    Good morning, wanderers!

    Dakota actually slept from eleven until four this morning–hooray! Progress!!! I have to take him back to vet later this morning to recheck his blood, to see if anemia has improved.

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  5. Chas: “These” Astro’s are ROCK STARS here at home! Houston will be celebrating them for a long time. After the devastation from Harvey–our city needed something to celebrate. And, Altuve is all of Houston’s favorite underdog. At 5’6″, don’t you know that most people laughed when he was attempting to pursue a major league career in baseball?!? And–while I actually know very little about him–I’ve seen multiple articles stating that he has given all the credit to our almighty God for his success.

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  6. Congrats Astros fans.

    I agree that Houstonians needed something good, but why has no one I’ve heard mentioned that Angelinos needed something to celebrate after the devastating fires?

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  7. Good Morning Everyone. There has been so much going on that I haven’t been able to keep up this week. This afternoon will be the going away party for the person who hired me back to KW. As with any organization there are some things going on in the background that do not bode well for me. I am working on not giving in to worry and anxiety, but I do feel like I am waiting for the shoe to drop. They are giving someone the opportunity to be the Team Leader for 30 days. In my opinion that is setting the guy up for failure. They don’t want to promote him because he is so good at the job he is already doing. You know that my next words are going to be “that’s not fair”. Life and work are seldom “fair”.
    I am worried because it makes my position more unstable. The man who laughed about not signing my offering memorandum this summer and has yet to remember my name will be back “in charge” overseeing the 30 Day Guy. I have a back up plan because of the team I am managing and can focus on it 100% and make money, but I enjoy the teaching I do as well.
    My husband doesn’t understand what 100% commission means. He has gotten a paycheck every day of his life and will continue to receive one until he dies. I am afraid of the strain that would cause. Right now I receive a salary and then work on commission so that the commission checks seem more like bonuses.
    Never fear though, because I purposely burned the bridge with “Guy” and can not go back. I may have one other option but it would completely remove the teaching aspect of working.
    Who knows? I can’t solve it today and I refuse to worry about it next week. I can’t wait to be somewhere else.

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  8. Good morning! Congrats to Astros and their fans. Condolences to the Dodgers and their fans.

    I have to scramble to find new health insurance. I called the insurance agency I got my current plan with and was told they are no longer selling health insurance. That was Plan A. I got a referral from them but do not know if I should look there or elsewhere. My brother also has to find something else.

    Donna, if you find a good general source of info on shopping for a plan, since the across state lines rules have changed, please let me know.

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  9. Janice, I’ve been so confused about all the insurance options now that I’m eligible for Medicare that I contacted a broker last year (when i wound up decided to go with my company’s plan for one more year). He’s been calling, though, so I finally called him back in desperation as this year I really do need to make the change. I’ve had friends who have used brokers for the Medicare switch, too, they take all your info and then discuss best options for plans that will connect with your doctors and cover your medications, etc. They’re paid “by the insurance companies,” he told me which was always my question — who pays you, are you neutral?

    But for now it’s just way too much homework to do and deadlines are approaching so I’m giving him my info and he’s helping by telling me what I need to do next, giving me some general ideas of what plan options are, including prices (HMOs vs. PPOs for example). I’m used to a PPO but may go the cheaper HMO route, provided I can still use by doctor, etc. Either way it’ll way substantially cheaper than what our work plans have become. Last year’s out-of-pocket expenses and high deductibles were brutal.

    Anyway, long-winded answer, but I believe there are services out there you can tap into for help. I wasn’t even aware they’d changed the across-state-lines ruling.

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  10. Yes, the day after for the Dodgers. Sigh. Next year. 🙂

    How they allowed 5 runs in the first two innings, I’ll never understand (and I wasn’t watching when it happened so I really didn’t understand! What happened???!!). Oh well.

    Nice thing about sports is there’s always the next season. It was an exciting series, they both nearly fought to the death (until the Dodgers seem to lose heart in Game 7 😦 ).

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  11. It’s raining here this morning, hoping it doesn’t affect the foundation plans going into the weekend. We’re supposed to have off-and-on rain for the next few days.

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  12. Janice, my other 2nd post on health insurance brokers hasn’t appeared, probably because it had 2 links in it (to health broker reviews in Atlanta, but what about going that route in your situation? The health care landscape has become so confusing that I think we’ll all need to get that kind of help in the future, it will probably be a growing new job-business sector.

    Hope you can find something affordable, the costs (even for work-sponsored plans that once were so good) are all really going up.

    Like with many things, the poor and the rich will be OK, it’s all the rest of us who are trying to hang on in the middle that are really getting squeezed with health care costs right now.

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  13. So Houston won? That will make the city pastor happy – a bright spot in a very sad year for him.

    Some hopeful news on the strike front – the two sides are finally going back to negotiations today, and at least one side sounds determined to get it over with quickly.

    I’ll be playing with the worship band on Sunday, on the organ. We rehearsed last night. I was having trouble hearing myself, so I had very little idea of how I sounded, but afterwards, the music pastor came over and said that I had sounded great, and said that to do what I had done with no previous experience was impressive. I guess all that listening to different music styles has paid off 🙂 I have my father’s example to thank for that – he was the eclectic music lover in our house growing up, although my mother says she now listens to different kinds of music because her daughters taught her to experiment with different musical genres.

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  14. Roscuro, that is wonderful!

    Thanks, Donna, for all that information. The health insurance landscape is now like going into the wild, wild west. I guess I need to start with my health care provider and see what plans they will accept. That really restricted me last time.

    As for you, Donna, I do not know if it is available to you, but Art went with the optional Aetna plan which is outside of regular Medicare but is covered by Medicare, and he does not have supplemental. He has been pleased and the plan has certainly been put to the test.

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  16. There seem to be a number of options under the Medicare banner. My eyes glaze over at some point looking at all the comparisons and trying to figure it out with all the various Parts (A,B,C,D).

    For 2018, I will stick with my company’s vision and dental plans, they’re good and inexpensive, so I don’t have to worry about coverage for that. But I really need a break on those medical deductibles and soaring out-of-pocket costs, including for prescriptions. I wound up spending hundreds of dollars on just one 90-day eye drop refill that’s not yet generic this past year. Not doing that again.

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  17. The organ is a difficult instrument to play, roscuro, or so I’ve heard. I just have this picture of your cute curly hair bouncing as you work those pedals and pipes. 🙂

    I’m having to do a big load of laundry this morning (dog bedding) so I am keeping an eye on the bottom of that kitchen sink (where there’s now a bucket), bracing for more leaking, probably, once the washer drains.

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  18. My hair is currently too short to bounce much – dress codes for nursing students call for hair up off the collar, and I have to use too many clips and pins to keep it up when it is long, so I go for short. It isn’t a pipe organ, sadly, but it is a high quality electric one. The last church organ I played was a Hammond, which had drawbars rather than stops, so I’m still figuring out the stops on this one.

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  20. DJ, you said you thought the Astros might be a flash in the pan, but the Dodgers will be back. Well, next year can’t be both Dodgers and Cubs. I don’t think the Cubs are “finished” yet. By some reports last year, they weren’t expected to win the World Series until 2017 since they were a young, building team. Last year their determination got them through; this year their young mistakes hurt them. Watch for them to be a mature, focused team next year.

    I heard one commentator say during last night’s game that the Astros were a young team and we had yet to see how far they could go–which made no sense to me, since they were holding a team with extremely strong pitching at bay. I haven’t followed the Astros at all, so I have no idea how solid they are except what I saw in the World Series. Having watched the Cubs vs. Dodgers, though, I know that the Dodgers have some very strong talent that just didn’t show up in the World Series (particularly Justin Turner), so I think that made the difference. I also kept hearing how good Bellinger was, and there wasn’t a hint of that in the World Series (I didn’t notice him, one way or the other, against the Cubs, but in the World Series he had about half of one game that he was good); when he came up, I saw “easy out,” and of course the same is true of Utley now. With Utley out and Turner’s and Bellinger’s bats working, it would have been a different series, since it was breath-takingly close even so.

    I have no idea whether Astros are a team that will continue to be strong. But I would guess we will see Dodgers vs. Cubs again next year, and may the better team win.

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  21. Um, well, Astro pitchers seemed to just keep hitting Turner with the ball, which didn’t give him much of an opportunity to hit much of anything. 🙂

    Teams change, there will be trades going on. It actually is hard to predict from one season to the next. But I do think this year’s “almost” will motivate the Dodgers like nothing has in a long time to come back strong.

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  22. Cheryl – The Dodgers and Cubs can’t play each other in the World Series since they are both in the National League. They could play in the NL Championship Series.

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  23. Donna, Art does not have to deal with all those part of Medicare and Supplemental. It may be called an opt out of Medicare, but it is still paid for by the government and is a really top notch plan through Aetna if it’s available to you.

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  24. Morning! It was another foggy morn in the forest and oh so lovely. The sun is now shining and the sky is a cloudless blue…wearing to 60!
    Ann has given me a reason to be glad for an Astro’s win…what a blessing to see your Dad see his team win! My Daddy always had a smile upon his face when the Reds were winning 😊
    But yes…there’s that thing about a pitcher hitting the batter…over and over again 😮

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  25. Is the bird holding something in its beak or is that an odd sort of bird? Tired eyes want to know.

    We’ve got three youngish squirrels doing acrobatics in the trees behind our house. Is the fall mating season for squirrels? Or do they even know?

    The kitten–who is fast becoming a gangling teenage cat–goes to the vet on SAturday for shots and then we’ll let her outside. We’ve been reluctant because both the enormous squirrel (who is missing at the moment) and the crows are bigger than she is.

    That’s a sign of how big the squirrel and crow are because this kitten is a lot like my ten year-old Adorable who is 5’2″ tall and all arms, legs and boat shoes, sort of like the Scarecrow–not really sure of where he begins and ends.

    His father (whose birthday is today!) put on a pair of sandals the other day and paused. “Are these mine or his?” They almost fit–at 6’2″, he wears size 13– which has us all wondering what we’ve got coming . . .

    Another at home day, today without my husband. I’m so thankful for this pause.

    But I have so much writing to do . . .

    Later.

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  26. Peter, that was my point. DJ was saying Dodgers will be back and I was saying Cubs will be back–and they’ll likely have a match-up again next year, with only “the better team” going to the World Series. This year that was the Dodgers. Next year, who knows? I predicted (on yesterday’s thread) an Astros/Cubs match-up next year, and DJ said the Astros are a flash in the pan but the Dodgers will be back. I was being kind of tongue-in-cheek about my prediction, really just making it so that if it happens to be the case next year I can say (if I remember) that I predicted it. I have no way of knowing whether the Astros will return as a strong team, but the Cubs and the Dodgers both have a lot of history behind them and I think they will both be strong next year. So it wouldn’t be at all improbable for them to play each other again next year for the chance to move forward.

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  27. We still have our local beach neighborhood Dodger:

    When he’s not mowing down batters at Dodger Stadium, Kenley Jansen is at home in Redondo Beach

    One of our reporters pointed out that the good news is we won’t have to cover a parade.

    We’ve got to look on the bright side.

    “Flash in the pan” was also tongue in cheek somewhat, they did good and I’m sure they’ll be a force to contend with in the future. But league and team dynamics do change from year to year so it’s not always a guarantee that if a team has one standout year it’ll be the same the next. by the same token, a team that doesn’t do well one year always has hope for the next. 🙂

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  29. I just talked to the wood window restoration people, I’m so excited to have that done a week from today. He said I’d be thrilled with the work they do and I believe him. I know Real Estate Guy wanted me to replace them all with vinyl, but I’m really glad that’s one argument he didn’t win. Besides, I really think replacing all those over-sized casement (original, 1923) windows would have cost more than restoring them will. Sure took some searching to find the people who do that kind of thing, though. I had several guys come out last fall to tell me it was useless to try, just replace them …

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  30. Michelle, it looks to me like the blue jay has a peanut (in the shell). They’re big fans of peanuts.

    I don’t know enough about squirrels to know whether they have an actual mating season, but I have seen them mating in the fall. It wouldn’t seem like the best timing, since I can’t imagine that they have long gestation periods (like, say, white-tailed deer, which mate in the fall and give birth in May and June), but I don’t really know.

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  31. I have a new prayer card that I really like. Just took my camera to church on my last Sunday in Ukarumpa last June. Went outside after church where folks were visiting on the verandah and asked someone to take my picture. Then 2 or 3 weeks later I got a picture taken of me with my grandkids, all but Archie, and I included that on the back of the card.
    I just found three more of your addresses, so will send it to you. If anyone else would like one, and you get my newsletter, just send me an address and I will mail it to you. You can also private message me on facebook
    No big deal, but if you would like it…

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  32. Took Dakota to the vet today. They did more blood work and took a stool sample. His white cell count is still elevated–but vet said that’s to be expected as his body is fighting this awful virus. Red blood count has improved, but is still low. It’s supposed to be at or above 5.5. His had dropped to a dangerously low 2.4 during his hospitalization (only a few tenths away from needing a blood transfusion) and had risen to 3.5 today. There’s still blood in his stool–but the diarrhea is less frequent than it was even a day ago. Vet said he can finally say he believes Dakota will make a full recovery! He was 14.5 pounds when we originally discovered it was Parvo (last Friday), had dropped to 12.5 Tuesday and is back up to 13.3 today. He will be on a special (expensive) diet until the bleeding stops and his stool firms up.

    Dakota acts like he feels much better than he has since this all started the Tuesday after we got him on a Saturday (I think it was three weeks ago?). His eyes sparkle and he is now quite playful, while he used to be extremely lethargic.

    We are so grateful the little guy is going to make it. Thanks again for y’alls prayers.

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  35. Well, it was a false alarm, No eyeball poking today. But they did recommend it get done soon rather than later. And they cannot or willnot do both at the same time so it is two more appointments. It would be nice to just get things done.

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  38. Mumsee – I had to have my cataracts surgeries separately, but wished they could have done both at once. But since the eyes had to be covered with a shield for a few hours, I would have been “blind” for that time. Still, I think I could have dealt with that.

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  39. It pleases me greatly that The Boy is a sharer. In particular, if he has a treat, he will share some, or get some for me. He has been sharing his Halloween candy with me. Since he knows my favorite color is red, he gave me a couple red Starbursts, & he gave me a Three Musketeers bar, which he knows I like. 🙂

    Since he has not been feeling well, he has been a Mimi’s boy, sitting close to me on the couch while he plays a video game, having me put my arm around him. As soon as we came home from him getting off the school bus this afternoon, he insisted I come sit with him.

    I do wonder if (& suspect that) some of this has to do with missing his Papa. He’s always liked to sit snuggling into my side at times, but it has been much more recently. I hope he is not afraid of losing me, too.

    That reminds me. A few times, I have had the thought that I wish I could die, too. But each time, I quickly realize that Nightingale, Chickadee, & that sweet Boy need me still.

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  40. To live is Christ to die is gain. Sound familiar? We should all be looking toward that time, but keeping our feet firmly on the ground, doing what He has prepared for us to do.

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  41. That’s what I’m working on, Mumsee. 🙂

    Some people like to talk about the “great things” God can do in one’s life, & I’ve been told that God must have some new wonderful thing for my life, after the grief subsides.

    That is very possible, of course. But it is also possible that my life will merely continue on the trajectory it is already on – being here for my family, going to my church. And that is perfectly all right with me. And if He chooses to change my life in some dramatic or semi-dramatic way, well, that’ll be all right, too.

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  42. I only needed to get cataract surgery in one eye, but even if I had needed both done, I would have been glad to have the two weeks in between them that was recommended. Cataract surgery is very routine these days, but no surgery is without risk, and with even a tiny chance that I could end up losing vision in one eye, I wanted to be sure that my dominant eye (the one that had the bad cataract) was healing well before I would consider getting the other one done.

    My husband, who having trouble with hearing loss (a very unusual case, apparently – the audiologist told him today he’s never seen symptoms develop that way before, and is having him get an MRI to rule out the possibility of a tumor), said recently that if he could choose, he’d rather lose his sight than his hearing. But I’ve always felt that I would much rather give up my hearing than my sight.

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  43. Bodies. I thought tonight driving home that I wished I were young again and that my dogs were young again. Sigh.

    I was talking to my vet on the phone late today (about Cowboy) and that came up, about how things just start giving out. 😦

    Good news: I finally pinpointed the leak under the sink, it’s from a pipe, so either a crack or loose connection, easy fix. I needed a break. 🙂 Thank goodness it wasn’t coming in from a wall!

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