Sunday, November 24, 2013

Things are going well.



We're doing well and really loving our move to CO. People ask if we miss Florida having lived there for most of our adult life. Nope. Not even a little bit. Not a week passes when we don't talk about how happy we are to be here.

We had out first winter snow yesterday. From 3" to 5" depending on which weatherguesser you care to believe.  We have a little view of the Rockies from our back porch. The snow covered mountains are so pretty. By afternoon today, the temperature got up to 38* so the three of us walked over to the lake.  To get there, we have to cross two bridges over a small creek. Both were still covered with snow. I should have gone ahead and gotten  the snow plow option when I bought Carols new scooter. Looking to see is snow tires are available that would fit. Gopher just loves the snow. Rolls in it, stretches out on her stomach, eats the stuff, on and on.  She's made a couple of good friends in the neighborhood; Beau and Newton(as in Sir Isaac). Newton's "father", Eric, is a professor of electrical engineering at the Univ. of Colorado.The guy's really smart. He has a PhD from MIT in physics and electrical engineering.

This morning I went to the RV storage place and scrapped the ice and snow off the solar panels so the batteries would stay charged. I sure hope it's well winterized. A half gallon jug of water I left inside the camper was frozen solid. Next Spring I'll know for sure. We're still talking about going to "Q". Depending on the day we're having the conversation, the answer's either yes or no.  Ditto about any future RV travel plans. We'll see.

Recently, we changed doctors to the Kaiser Permanente(KP) Group. What a huge improvement from where we were.  KP is the only 5 star rated Medicare HMO in the state.  Our Medicare Supplement policy through AARP/United Heathcare was $403/month for both of us plus another $20/month for Carols Medicare Part D. With KP our monthly fee is zero($0.00).  We do have a $20 co-pay per doctor visit and a co-pay if we're hospitalized but how often will we be going to the doctor and/or be hospitalized in any given year? A few times at best or maybe never. The change keeps about $400/month in our pocket.  We both have the same primary care doctor and couldn't be happier. Our previous doctors specialty was palliative care; that's helping people die.  She was a  very nice person but we both prefer going to a doctor who specializes in keeping people alive.  The first thing our new doctor did was order a whole battery of tests for each of us.  Turns out we're in pretty decent shape.  Carol's skin cancer came back but we're dealing with that.

Another nice thing about being old? No Obamacare to worry about.  In fact, our entire family is fortunate to have health care provided through very stable, long time employers. In fact through this entire Great Recession, no one in our immediate family was affected. We're grateful. Many others weren't so fortunate.

Jennifer and Karen are coming in for the Thanksgiving holiday. Looking forward to that.  We're cooking Big Bird, making the stuffing and desert.  Suzanne and others are cooking everything else. Most are vegetarians so that means lots of good leftovers for us. 

That's about it. Put some Christmas lights on the front porch. Ho, Ho, Ho.

 

 


5 comments:

Jim and Gayle said...

Wish we could join you for your mostly vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner!
Hope you decide to come to Q in January.

TomInBellaVista said...

I think you have a medicare advantage program as we do. We get good care, good doctors and the cost to us can't be beat. You should know that the advantage plans are the part of medicare that has been subjected to $700 billion in cuts and complained about by Paul Ryan when campaigning last year. Still works pretty well as far as I can see. Ourcopays went up a bit,but I still have all my DR's, including three specialists. just FYI, so obamacare does effect us.

Ed, Carol and Gopher the dog said...

Jim & Gayle, you would both be welcomed for dinner if you were in the area.
Carol and I are about the only family that still eats dead birds so you would be right at home. I think the girls are having grass clippings for their entree.

Ed

Anonymous said...

Nice to see you are enjoying your new environs. Colorado is a beautiful state. Enjoy the family for the holidays.

Donna K said...

I'd be glad to share that dead bird with you haha!! We saw a neighborhood (perhaps feral) cat catch a little bird in our backyard the other day. I started to get upset then Russ said, "but aren't WE eating a bird for Thanksgiving?" I guess that's the way of nature. So glad you and Carol are enjoying your new home. No snow here but it sure has been cold.