Month: November 2019

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Happy Thanksgiving

IMG 1073Although it looks more like Christmas than Thanksgiving.

It’s funny for years we’ve always been able to count on Thanksgiving being cold maybe a little snow, but generally cold and clear.

This year we’ve been thrown a curve. 

It’s snowing like it’s January. And it’s showing no sign of letting up. We can use the water. But once again a lot of this water falling as rain at the lower elevations is running right into the ocean.

Probably not a bad thing since all the crap from the coastal cities that gets washed into the ocean will need a lot of water to dilute it. But there’s the other part of me that says perhaps it would be a better idea to have the ability to capture and store some of that water for periods of drought.

The California political leaders don’t see it that way and continue to mis-spend too much of the tax revenues on “Soft” things instead of infrastructure.

IMG 1075But that’s another discussion for another time.

It’s thanksgiving. I ‘m home safe and warm but will be doing a lot of work with the snow shovel today.

The only real concern I have is the accumulation on the roof. There’s a vent pipe to the furnace that can get covered. If that happens, the furnace will shut down and then it will get mighty cold in here.

I can use the fireplace as long as the wind isn’t too strong. This fireplace doesn’t draw very well and strong winds causes the smoke to blow right back down the chimney.

So I may have to get the ladder out to clear the roof around the furnace vent. I’ll dela with that when it gets a little brighter. Right now it’s twilight outside, due to the cloud cover.

We’ve got multiple winter storm warnings. It’s COLD! Last week I was running around in a t-shirt during the day it was in the upper 60’s. This week the high is predicted to be 30.

RIMG 1076eminds me of Kentucky. If you don’t like the weather… wait an hour.

The plus side is that by the time this clears I expect all the plants in the front yard will be asleep. Which means that I can do a little surgery and pot some portions of some of them for a friend.

We were worried that it would be another dry winter. It might be, evidence notwithstanding but typically lots of snow around the beginning of December means it’s going to be wet and rain/snow may last until March.

I’m glad I had no plans to go anywhere. It’s nice to sit here watching the snow and have my feet up. I’ll be cooking a small thanksgiving dinner and then maybe later I’ll bake some cookies.

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I’m a bit Bah Humbug today

Not that I didn’t have a great time with shopping for the past two days.

I had a totally great time and ton of laughs, plus a ton of walking. All of which are very good for my state of mind.

IMG 1070However, I’m dealing with car issues. My baby is at the dealership needing about $1500 in repair (Thank you California Freeways and Semi Trucks who insist on running on retreads that leave debris allover the roads) It really is time for a superfund that truck drivers MUST pay into so that the damage they cause can be paid for. 

That Superfund could  be used as incentive for all the truck drivers to operate their multi-ton instruments of destruction more safely.

That being said, the dealership has all the proper parts in stock and if I was paying for the repair, instead of the insurance company, I’d have my car back by late this afternoon.

Since the insurance company is paying for it, they’re insisting that an adjuster inspect the car adding 3 to 5 days to the whole process.

Including rental car fees and general inconvenience to all concerned. For that piddly sum, why bother? The car is at an authorized repair facility, specific to the vehicle. The Insurance company themselves prefers OEM parts. So it should be a no brainer. Alas… It’s not!

But that’s the way they want to waste their money, fine with me! Unfortunately they’re wasting ALL our money in the process.

Since I was dealing with insurance companies I figured, “I’ll deal with health care Insurance.”

What could possibly go wrong? 

LOL!

I was quoted $795.00 per month for high deductible medical Insurance with no dental or vision. Say what?

That’s more than my car payment and as much as my mortgage payment.

ARE YOU SHITTING ME?

One month of health insurance would cost me more than 1 year of the cost of my single medication for which I’m paying cash, out of pocket right now.

Uhhh NO! This speaks to a system that is so horribly broken I can’t even begin to describe it. While the Doctors and Hospitals are partially to blame. I contend that ultimately the fault for outrageous health care costs, lies squarely with the Insurance companies themselves. 

These are the same organizations that came into existence to help you plan for the worst. They were supposed to be, “you pay a little monthly so that you don’t have to cough up a huge chunk of cash IF something bad happens,” 

Clearly these companies are not what they once were and I contend that these companies should be thoroughly investigated and perhaps stripped of their business licenses. I’m stopping short of having their entire executive staffs whipped naked through the streets of every city in America.

That being said, they should be forced to return their huge profits to the individuals they STOLE from or their heirs.

I have wondered and continue to wonder what would happen if every single person in America simply refused to pay these excessively high, no, usury rates. This is no longer providing a service, this is flat out extortion. 

It’s time for our wonderful Congress to apply racketeering laws to the Insurance industry. Oh wait… our wonderful Congress is in bed with the insurance industry. Could we use the racketeering laws to clean out the corruption in congress?

Hum… there’s a thought!

You want to curb homelessness? Stop making people decide between health insurance and paying their mortgage!

That path to health insurance is a dead issue! 

I do wonder if I should get into politics. I wouldn’t run on a Make America Great Platform… I’d go for a “Fix America for All” platform.

My FAFA plan would be to take each fucked up broken aspect of our country and start fixing it. Start with Health insurance… Everybody who can pay for policies does and they pay an affordable rate, Say never more than 250 per moth per person. Streamline the Medical Professionals interaction with insurance companies making it less burdensome therefor reducing the cost overhead on the medical professionals. That should drive down costs because then it would be cheaper for the Medical folks to actually do their jobs, you know, “Treating Patients!”

FAFA could then take a look at the pharmaceutical industry and start asking why the medications cost so much in America, (Even though many of the drugs are manufactured overseas) Then we bring these drug costs into line with their actual value how much do they cost to make? How much did they cost to research? From there the costs would be normalized and the companies would still make decent profits.

Has it ever occurred to you, if we in America pay $25.00 a pill and that same pill is $5.00 in any other country, that Americans are in effect paying for all the research and development costs but 3rd world countries are reaping the benefits? In effect, American citizens are footing the bill not only for themselves and their families, but we’re also paying for the rest of the world?

Not only do our tax dollars get sent to prop up some shit hole country but with the additional costs we bear we’re subsidizing their socialized medicine too.

Moving on…

Now that I think about it.

The Mafia got into trouble for doing the same thing the insurance companies do.

One difference is that the Mafia only kills those what need killin.

Insurance companies kill indiscriminately and capriciously. 

There’s little difference in my mind between a couple of Mafia guys telling you, “Pay us and your granny’s house ain’t gonna burn down,” or an insurance company telling you, “make your payment and we’ll keep your granny’s oxygen tanks coming.”

In fact, the mafia guys are probably nicer to deal with because unlike an insurance company, they have faces.

Okay, now I’m moving on!

Time to take out my frustrations on the snow that’s piling up in the driveway.

Have a nice Thanksgiving Eve everyone.

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 I noticed a glaring error in my post. I meant to say never more than 250 per person. I I’ve amended the text. 

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It’s that time of the month

No! It’s not what you’re thinking. Pigs!

It’s the time of the month when I cycle all the batteries in my devices.

IMG 1065I run the phone, pad, computer, watch, and finally the Goal Zero down to nothing then recharge ‘em. 

Right now my Watch, Computer, Pad and headphones are recharging from the Goal Zero so I’m almost at the end of the cycle.

It’s funny though because one of the things I worry about while I’m doing this… What happens if the house power goes out?

Silly, I know. It’s happened before, once. In that case I broke out all the big solar panels and was able to keep things running. 

It’s funny when I think about it, the time of year most likely to lose power here, is Winter. Rarely is the power outage attributed snow or a severe storm. Almost always it’s because a skier’s snowboard was better prepared than the vehicle that was taking them to the slopes.

They lose control on the icy road, take out a power pole and plunge the whole town into darkness. The last time it happened, we were without power for 36 hours. The power company simply couldn’t get the appropriate equipment up the hill to make the repairs.

IMG 1064That alone should tell you the obvious. The skier from “Down Below” shouldn’t have been on the road in the first place because the storm was such a big deal the roads were being closed all the way down to the freeway. 

To top it off, the skier tried to sue the town for poorly maintained roads. He was laughed right out of the courtroom for two reasons. 1) He had bald tires, no chains  and 2) His friends testified that he’d been in a hurry to get to the slopes before the road closed.

Judge says… “You’re out of here! Please take your lovely parting gift from the clerk and I don’t want to see you, or your attorney in my court again.“

It is nice to have CHP & Sheriff’s officers as neighbors. You get all the best gossip.

Nonetheless I guess it’s about being vulnerable. During this time If the power goes out I might find myself with dead equipment, at least until I’m able to get enough sun on the panels to power back up. 

Call it routine maintenance. As with any routine maintenance, you run the risk of causing bigger troubles. It’s a sunny day, so going solar wouldn’t be that big a deal. The plus side is that it’s about 35F outside so I wouldn’t have to worry about the battery packs overheating during charging.

I may break out the panels just to have the whole cycle “Green” it would give me something to do.

Oh yeah, gotta check the charge on the HAM radio too.

No, I’m not a “Prepper” but I do like being somewhat prepared.

Okay, off to handle some other things around the house. I’ll also continue the job search. 

I’ve gotten into the habit of blogging when I need a break from the frustration.

Have a great weekend