April 2018 Coop

[luvmymorgan]

Happy Monday - yeah right!
Hope everyone had a good weekend celebrating whatever you celebrate!
Nice & quiet here, church in the morning & laundry & a nap in the afternoon. Now back to work - yuck!

[ghostrider]

ditto!
arm is just strained, impinged. No tear in rotater! back to normal soon, already much better.
Dr. Taxes farrier hay delivery all in one day, now nap.

[horsespoiler]

Glad to hear your shoulder isn't real serious. Mine is some arthritis in the joint.We are running out of hay and we're finding it difficult to find any help in getting more. The guy that usually helps us is in jail and another one is working at the school this week. The brother of the first guy was supposed to come out last week and do some work but he didn't show up 2 different days and doesn't call until days later. We didn't really have much we needed him to do but during the winter he works very little as they aren't doing much in the woods. We know he needs money so we offered him some work. I can't stand it when people don't show up or even call. That shows me one reason these people don't have regular jobs. No employer would keep them if they did that. It's not just one person either, but lots of the people around here are the same way. I know stuff happens but come on, call at least. Two days wasted waiting for someone to show up so you can basically give them money. No more. Maybe we just need to sell everything and go somewhere else. This is too frustrating anymore.

[horsespoiler]

Ugh. I called to see about switching doctors the other day. It's a nightmare and not going to happen. You have to call and talk to the main office for the group, not the office you want to go to. They told me if I switched I couldn't go back because my drs office wasn't accepting new patients. Ok, but then when they pulled up my records with my insurance on it they told me I couldn't go to the new clinic because the dr wasn't accepting any more Medicare patients. Great. I didn't want Medicare in the first place, I had Blue Cross/Blue Shield federal through DH before but they told me I had to take it. I had read everything on it when they first offered it to me and since the BC was an employer provided insurance for DH I decided not to take it so they wouldn't have to cover my bills since we could afford to pay for our own insurance. Two years later they tell me I have to be on it to keep my secondary insurance through the VA. When I called to get it set up they dinged me with a 20% increase in the cost for the rest of my life because I hadn't taken it when it was first offered. I told them I had coverage from an employer based plan during that time, like the information book talked about, but they said since DH didn't go into work every day it didn't count. He was on a medical disability leave, receiving his same pay code salary and we were paying the same insurance costs as always, not COBRA. So I have insurance I don't like, that drs don't have to accept but I have no choice. I knew they only had to accept a certain percentage of Medicaid patients but I thought a dr in a system of a Catholic Charities hospital would accept Medicare. I guess it really is all about the money. Very disappointing. Medicare will charge you a 10% penalty for every 6 months you don't have it after they offer it to you so be careful and take it even if you don't want to. Our friend went on disability years ago, while she was married, and was covered under her husband's insurance. They got divorced and she didn't realize she needed to apply for Medicare then. When she finally did apply the cost of the penalty was about 200% and she couldn't afford that. The penalty never goes away. It would take about a third of her disability benefits to pay for it. Her benefit is too high to get any assistance on her Medicare but not enough to pay for it and live. No one had explained any of it to her, in fact she didn't know she was even going on disability and not going back to work. She thought she was just taking some time off. The drs office sent in the request for disability and it was approved immediately. That doesn't happen very often. My rant against Medicare is done. It's just very disappointing that I can't go to a different dr. I'm pretty sure my dr will once again tell me there is nothing wrong but not be able to tell me why I feel so bad.

[luvmymorgan]

HS, I need to start investigating Medicare vs my BC. I'll turn 65 in October & have great coverage through my Federal retirement, nothing through my current employer. Not sure how that will work. I'd like to keep the BC, but guess I better sign up for Medicare & hope BC will at least keep secondary coverage if Medicare is primary. I hated working with Medicare all the years I was working of Dr.'s offices!

[horsespoiler]

LMM, DH turns 65 in July and we haven't heard anything from BC about his insurance so I guess we'll need to call too. We have a neighbor with it as his secondary but we don't know what the cost will be. I'm sure it will be less than now if they aren't the primary. Most insurances go to secondary once you qualify for Medicare whether you want them to or not. My mom had one that was part of her retirement from US Bank but it wouldn't pay anything over what Medicare paid so it was worthless. She had to go through AARP to get a supplemental plan. The bank just kept cutting back on retirees benefits until they had nothing left except a checking account and they required you to have one with them to get your retirement check deposited into.

[ghostrider]

Mom and Jim have Medicaid plus Bshield Bcross as secondary. It was cheaper than the others. Problem with dr.s is they can go broke waiting for the gov to pay the dr's. According to Dr Porter they not only are slow but they make them fill out countless forms and then claim they didn't get them and it can drag out for months before they get a payment. One reason I don't leave wm is the benefits are so good. I've never paid even part of a dr bill with them. Prescriptions are normally $4 the dental pays 70% and vision is $4 for the exam and they pay forty dollars towards your glasses. I know not everywhere can give their employees such good benefits and at my age that means a lot.

It snowed most of the morning and into early afternoon. It's COLD too. My hay guy brought me another RB last Monday and told me his dad was selling a lot of the remaining hay to the amish. I told him if he found more horse hay at the other location to please bring me one more. He showed up a couple days ago on his tractor with a nice big RB and said he figured he'd better bring it up before his dad sold them all. They normally don't run out but one of our amish neighbors were burning his field and the fire got away from him and burned up 17 of his RB's. My horses are eating like pigs, They have been eating on this bale 6 days and they'll have it all gone in two or three more days...RIDICULOUS! I'll be forking the next one over the fence so they don't just stand and eat 24-7.

Oh and she said I have chronic something or other of the shoulder, basically a little wear from old age.

The dr. told me my heart misses a beat here and there? did I know anything about it?? nope. And that I have some kind of vascular trouble in my right forearm kind of like a spider vein and had I had trouble with that? nope. If my hand ever goes numb I'm supposed to go to the ER immediately...this is why I don't go to the doctor.
My next apt is in the morning in Springfield and I'm sure she'll take the restrictions off my work papers. I HATE being a door greeter. ON a good note though they pretty well left me alone most of the week and I just put returns away all day.

I've decided not to go to WY this year. The gal I was going with if things worked out ended up with some hefty vet bills after someone shot her horse Nickers right above the tail. They had to do surgery and with the bills and time she had to take off she can't go. I'm thinking maybe I'll do something else like maybe go to MI to see my sister. Mom would love to go. Or maybe just stay here and get lots of things done. I took two vac days next week just to chill.

People are like that here too HS. The guy who was clearing the trees in the woods hasn't been back in three months. I called and told him not to come back (nicely) because I have another guy who will be clearing it for me. My amish farrier asked if he could come cut trees out of the woods and I jumped at the offer. Not sure how much he'll clear it but it's more than I have now. He asked how many trees I'd like cleared and I told him leave me 4! LOL They can drag them to the mill (two down the road from us and one portable one at another Amish's) and they sell them for up to $600-$800 dollars a tree. But the guy took one load and then sent his dad to cut up some of them for firewood and then they stopped coming. If I had equipment I'd be selling trees all day long here.

[horsespoiler]

Yep. You can't go to the doctor anymore without them finding more wrong with you than you went for. But they seem to have a hard time diagnosing what was originally wrong. If they don't order a multitude of tests they seem to do nothing. Feast or famine in health care. Once they see what insurance you have that seems to decide the plan of action. Good insurance? Lots of tests. Medicare or Medicaid? Let's see what happens. My paperwork that I get shows Medicare paying pretty quickly and my secondary too. Medicare sets prices that providers agree to accept and they are lower than some doctors like. Other insurers set what they will allow for a visit or procedure and pay a percentage of that amount. Anything over that amount you get to pay unless they have an agreement to use the insurance company's price. All the costs are inflated so the ones that don't pay their bills can be written off. I'm sorry to hear that your friend had such trouble with her horse. Was that an accident or just someone being cruel? Wy is a long drive if your shoulder is hurting. Sometimes I can't stand to do anything and mine will ache and I don't always know what I did.
DH is starting to feel better. His feet aren't hurting as much and since he stopped taking his statin drug he has a lot more energy. I wish I had more so I could keep up with him.

[vsolubo]

Hi everyone! I've had my physical & I am now pre-diabetic. No meds for now, but I have to watch my diet very closely & need to lose a lot of weight to try to get my number down. My bad cholesterol is also too high. I can't be on statins, the last time I was I got really sick. Hopefully changing my diet will help with both problems. My arthritis is getting really bad, doctor tried to prescribe a cream to help with the pain but my insurance wouldn't cover it. Seems I have the wrong kind of arthritis.

The turmeric is really helping both horses. Bear is actually galloping in the pasture, haven't seen him go faster than a trot for a short distance for several years. Marie seems to be doing better also. Her gait isn't that good, but she does seem to be in less pain.

[luvmymorgan]

V, I've been classified as "pre-diabetic" for years. I pretty much ignore the term. In my book you are either diabetic or not. I won't worry about my A1C level until it gets over 6.5. I've been on pravastatin for years, but it doesn't bother me. Just have to be careful & not eat too many grapefruits. My bad cholesterol is still a little high even with the pravastatin. Do I watch what I eat? No. Should I? Yeah, I guess. I don't take anything for my arthritis except Aleve & Advil. OK, I'm going to fall over dead one of these days. I have been taking Turmeric capsules & wearing magnetic bracelets. Seems like they help as much as anything.
Spent some time talking with Blue Cross today about Medicare. I need to get in touch with Medicare in the next few weeks & try to get an idea of what it will cost. BC premium won't go down but they will drop to secondary & Medicare will be primary. With my BC plan they will pay any amounts Medicare doesn't cover and some items that Medicare won't pay at all. Still glad I kept the Government health insurance when I took my early retirement 22 years ago.

[horsespoiler]

V, DH dropped his A1C to below pre-diabetic this year. He cut out most of his carbs. His real biggie was potatoes. He grew up with potatoes at every meal and it was a hard one to break. He also dropped his statin drug as it was causing side effects like terrible fatigue and neuropathy in his feet. The day after he quit it he felt tons better. He also started eating salmon 4-5 times a week. I can't stand it myself so I either don't eat or have salad. After barely being able to make it to the couch every day he says he'll watch his diet more and take his chances.
My entire body hurts tonight. Our goat has been down for almost 2 weeks. He couldn't stand up even when we helped him up. He had been eating and drinking still but was going downhill fast. I called 2 different vets to see about having him put down. One never even called me back and the other was booked for 2 weeks out. I was a little upset to say the least, that the first vet didn't even return my call. Last spring we had her out to do the horses shots and check over Gandalf since he couldn't get in the car anymore. That visit was over $750, I would think I might rate at least a call to tell me she couldn't come. I think we'll do our own shots this year. We finally had to get a friend to come over and shoot the goat. It was very sad but he was suffering and we couldn't let it go on. I know one of us should have probably done it sooner but we just couldn't. We had someone dig a hole last week because we knew it would need to be done. We thought it would be easier to move him since he wouldn't be fighting us but he was incredibly heavy. We ended up needing to use the wheelbarrow. I wore myself out filling in the hole. It'll need some more work to level it out but he is well covered. He was over 10 years old.
GR, how is Diesel doing? I hope he didn't get in any trouble. I hope Matt is doing ok.

[ghostrider]

My SF went to a new heart doc last week and was asked WHY he wasn't on a statin drug? and did he know his BP was high? he told him no it wasn't and the doc told him that his physician would have to talk to him about the BP and drug he should be on. Here's the thing...most dr.s do not do your blood pressure properly. It should not be done for the first 5 min you enter the room because you are taxed walking from car to waiting room. Then you should always sit upright with your back against the wall and your arm resting on your leg or table. Then should be done one more time 5 min later. SF takes his BP every morning and it is not high and he will not go on a drug he does not need.

Matt is doing good, have not talked to him in a week with both of us working. Diesel is also back to himself poor boy was traumatized for 4 days or so. My shoulder is about 95% healed, my wrist was a bit sore Sat but it may be from using the computer with the wrist guard on.
Not sure if the bullet wound was done on purpose but her horse is a sorrel and white pinto. (MFT) so not like he looks like a deer right?

How much turmeric do you give Bear? mom puts turmeric in her fried potatoes in the mornings. Turns all the skillets yellow. LOL

I took two vac days this week so I'm off till Thurs afternoon. Went to town to sign my tax return and then to the church to clean it, mom had to go to the chiropractor. It was 57 at noon. I had trouble with the S-10's hinges on the drivers door so Anthony and I took it to a body shop down the road here and they're going to fix it...$200! UGH My tax return will be $300 more than last year so that will cover the 200 the truck is costing me...THANK the LORD I'm not having to car hunt yet though. I know it's coming but hoping for one more year first.

I put the last two RB's in the Round Pen so there's lots of pooped on hay built up. Spent three hours with the wheel barrow and pitch fork making it look nice again. Let the horses in the back yard to eat the grass while I was at it. Thinking about putting then down in the orchard tomorrow some of the tufts of grass are almost knee deep already. The said yesterday was out last cold day. (light snow most of the day but did not stick)

Yesterday after church was our monthly meal..I have to say we had baked taters with olive oil smothered on the skin and pretzel salt sprinkled on the skins before they baked them...AWESOME taters.

[horsespoiler]

V, have you considered CBD tincture for your arthritis? It might be worth giving it a try. John Lyons is now selling it and it is grown at his ranch in CO. Because there are so few industrial hemp farmers in this country most of what is sold here is grown elsewhere and imported so you can't be too sure of what you're getting. It's kind of expensive but if more hemp farms can be planted the price should go down in the future plus the plants can be used for a wide variety of products. There is no THC in the CBD tinctures or oils and it is 100% legal in all states.

GR, I'm glad to hear that both Matt and Diesel are doing well. I was concerned that animal control might cause problems but it sounds like they don't think it was Diesel's fault. Have you considered a slow feed net for the RB? I noticed that Horse.com had one in their new catalog and also ones to fit entire square bales, even 3 string ones. They really cut down on waste. We ran out of the hay we had in the barn this week. The pasture is still way too wet and soft to put them on. It won't stop raining, or snowing this week, long enough for it to dry out. We may be heading into a dry week though so there is hope. We got a couple of big bales at the feed store and have been adding hay pellets. Our hay people are out until the first cutting. This year we have got to get all 4 loads. We missed getting the last 40 bales we usually get between the smoke making it too hard to load and unload and my mom passing away when we could get it.

DH and I went down and got a loan to buy a truck for me from his brother. It's a nice and very clean 2006 Chevy 1/2 ton Silverado that is loaded and has less than 60,000 miles on it. He put in a back-up camera, bluetooth system for the phone,hard wired GPS and $1000 in Cooper tires. It also comes with a nice canopy on it. We are giving my Honda CRV to our pastor's family. They are badly in need of a reliable car as they have 3 people who need to be down the hill every day and 2 cars, one of which is currently not running well. The church here cannot pay a lot to their pastor but they do provide a nice house. Most of the members are elderly and we have had a lot of them in the hospital lately and goes and visits them almost every day. His wife works full time about 45 miles away and their son goes to school and works down the hill, at least 30 miles each way. He gets off work much later than anyone wants to go and pick him up as he closes at a Taco Bell. I also found out that they could use a new computer and it will be a good place for my mom's computer to go as we have no need for it. Got to move the excess merchandise.

[ghostrider]

That's great HS, I'm sure they'll really appreciate all the help in resources. Our pastor doesn't make a lot either and he is still taking extra classes at the college I don't know how he can afford the extra college he does but he is single and lives with his mom. He had to move back a year ago because she needs help and they had to put his father in a home. With the diabetis he lost a leg etc..and when they tried to move him back home they couldn't do it. So now David lives at his moms' and has an extra 40 mile drive.

Good for you, LOVE the Silverado trucks. Mom has the back up camera in the Toyota it's really nice.
They fixed my truck, so no more sliding across the hump and seat belts! OUWIE

The grass here is pretty high down by the creek so I fenced it in today and let them out for about 6 hours. I have the RB in the round pen so I can lock them out during the day and open it in the evening. They weren't too interested in hay after the time spent in the orchard area. LOL The net is something to consider next year though I think they run around 200 bucks.

It was windy all day and started getting cold again around 5 tonight. They say it'll be nice again tomorrow though so maybe winter's over.

Gotta go back to work tomorrow ugh. I did get everything done though on my 4 days off. Even opened a new bank account at a different hopefully better bank the old one I closed last week because they just kept nickeling and diming me to death with all their fees! She tried to get me to stay and I flat told her, NOPE. She said yeah she totally understood.

I started the first of three horses on my oil painting tonight, he's the stallion and he'll be a dark sorrel. I'm thinking the mare will be either palomino or a buckskin and baby like dad? depends on my mood when I get there. I REALLY like how it's coming along.

V, my mom uses Emu Oil for her aches and says it works really good. It's from the health food store not Wmart. But then she also takes a muscle relaxer and vicodon twice a day too.

HS I don't think it was reported as we don't live in town. And it was our own dog. I bought Diesel a doggy door and we laughed all night and this morn because he learned to go out but then when he sees Anthony in my doorway he gets so excited he jumps on the door and forgets all about the flap that lets him in. He did use it a couple times today though so maybe he'll figure it out yet.

[horsespoiler]

GR, we went and picked up the truck today. The roads are clear and dry up in the mountains right now so the drive was really nice. Up by Crater Lake there is still quite a lot of snow on the side of the road and most of the side roads in the forest are still unplowed and all of the campgrounds are closed. We met them about halfway and had lunch at Diamond Lake, which is northwest of Crater Lake. They have snowmobiling, a tubing hill and cross country skiing so the resort is open year round. I wish I hadn't had to drive the whole way, I would have liked to take some pictures. We are supposed to have some drier weather for at least a few days so we can get some things done outside. We need to get a few more bales of hay and my truck won't get stuck on the wet grass out back. We have some big mud streaks back there now because DH got his truck almost stuck the other day. His tires just spun on the wet grass on the tiny hill (about 3 feet high) that is on the back driveway to the barn. He had to back up onto the lawn and get a running start at it. We need to put more gravel on it. We bought 3 new big feeders that have a large section in the middle that is deep for the hay and two small sections on the side for grain or salt. The girls won't leave them be and keep moving them so I got some U bolts to clamp them to the panels in the barn. We've been feeding grass pellets and they would grab the hanging buckets and toss them around and we got tired of having to go in to get them. The girls get really excited and noses and butts are everywhere. It's not the best time to be in the pen with them.