I was a bit shocked when I read more about Gene Hackman and his wife's death. It was kind of a strange situation. Makes you consider what might happen if you or a loved one develops a form of dementia or Alzheimer's and what the circumstances could be.
Mysterious like a book or a movie.
So. My health insurance changed in July. I get 90 day supplies. Come to find out I only get two refills at the Pharmacy then I have to get them sent via the US Postal Mail. I guess I didn't read the fine print. I've not had meds delivered in the mail (I'm not against it, I was just in our pharmacy store quite frequently, picking them up worked for me.).
Of course I am completely out of medication when I discover this. I was just going about my business ordering my meds and the Pharmacy let me know they were ready. When I go in to pick them up, they then tell me - Can't give them to you through insurance but we can give your our Pharmacy discount. Due to the limit of 2 refills and then I have to go through the mail. At the time I turned this offer down.
So. I call my health insurance on Feb 21st to set it up. It took forever. Remember the Vitamin D2 was under Vit2 and she couldn't find it? (Feb 26th What Ever post). Nightmare. I patiently wait. I am out of the medication but I know how this stuff works and I waited. Nothing. I have no idea how long it takes to send/get medication in the mail as I have not gone that route before.
Finally, I call them back. For some reason I get the automated answering rigamarole and nothing they offer is what I need to have. I would chose "refill" and they would come back with "You do not have any refills available" - finally I got a live person. You know how it is.
We went back and forth and (since I am off my meds, I was a bit testy) she was apologizing all over the place. Come to find out my doctor would not grant the insurance company any refills because according to them I had refills waiting at my Pharmacy. You can't make this stuff up! She said they tried three times with the doctor and they never responded.
I said "Tell me this. Were you just going to leave me out here with no meds? Never letting me know?" She said 'Oh, we emailed you ...' and she rattled off three separate dates. I immediately checked my SPAM folder. Nothing. I said "I have nothing from you." She repeated the name of the health insurance. I said "Nope."
Then, I said "Let's go over the email address....." Yep. That's where it went wrong. s and f sound alike over the telephone and my email had an S as in Sierra in it and they had it listed as F as in foxtrot.
Now, I have to call my doctor's office because they are still refusing refills. I have to tell my doctor to transfer my medications to the new health insurance. Even though this doctor has all my updated health information, copies of my insurance card etc... and should know all of this.
Everything is taking four times longer than it used to. Why is everything such a hassle? Where did it all go sideways? If it isn't matters such as this, it is security on top of security. I make a list (most days) and if I have to call or fill out any forms/paperwork online, there goes my entire day.
Wait, I just looked at the image again. ALFA? I thought it was Alpha. Well, bust my buttons! It is ALFA and looks like it always has been!
I almost said something when I picked it up, but for some reason I did not. I was pumped for the get together they were astronomically busy and I knew there was not much I could do about it anyway. I did not want to say anything negative at that time because I was going to have a great time come hell or high water. I guess I will just have to spell it out next time. I had also ordered 7 cookie kits from them and I told myself I could always put the cookie kit icing on it. Of course I am kidding.
That cake was consumed like an out of control wild fire. I was cutting as fast as I could. I was more than half a bottle of wine in and I was being quite generous with the piece sizes. I did manage to bring some back to my daughter and son-in-law (they had stayed home sick). I got about two bites of left over cake this morning.
When I take a cake like this, I always share with the staff. I figure if they were nice enough to let me bring this in to their establishment (where they serve desserts) then I can at least give them all a piece. I also handed out pieces to family to take home to those who could not make it. I had it all under control until the waitress came out and said "Can the kitchen staff have some?" Of course they can! I shoved a couple of pieces in a container for my daughter and gave the rest of the cake to the kitchen. What did I care? I had more wine to drink!
My favorite wines from this place were "Coal Miners Daughter, Blackberry and Han's Favorite Blend." We just mixed them all together. A little from that bottle, a little from this one.
We have 11 birthdays in our family in March. It just seems weird to celebrate March birthdays but no other months. So I think I am going to start a Seasonal family get together. We get together in December for a family Christmas bash. March will be for Spring, June for summer and September for the fall. That should space them out.
My son-in-law came down with a very bad sinus infection so the band he plays in had to cancel for tomorrow so we moved our get together to another winery. The problem is getting people to R.S.V.P. I like to give the restaurant a "heads up" as to how many of us rascals are going to show up.
I tried to get answers the past couple of days but then I just threw up my hands and say 'Whoever shows up, shows up.' If there is room to fit us all in the same area, great - if not ... we will all just sit where we can. And it is not just the younger generation. I can't seem to get a solid yes or no from a few here and there.
Before my SIL had to cancel his gigs (he had 3 this week-end) I planned to add three more bottles to my stash. That is all my home-made wine rack will hold. He was going to play at 2 wineries and one bar. But now I'll be visiting a different place. Which is okay because I only have one bottle from there in the above photo. They sell a "Coal Miners Daughter" and I'll grab one of those for certain. Recently on Facebook they advertised that they are selling a treat where they will mix vanilla bean ice cream with any wine in their inventory. We've had a beautiful couple of "starting to feel like Spring" days but it looks like rain tomorrow. Maybe no patio, but I'll still give that ice cream treat a try.
One evening while listening to my Son-in-law's band at a winery a friend of my daughter's decided to pay our bill without telling me in advance. Well, I like to keep my wine stashed (I give them away, I'm not a big wine drinker) so I added 3 bottles of wine to my tab. Not knowing he was picking it up. I did this up at the bar and he did not overhear this as he was sitting at our table. Towards the end of the evening the waitress asked if there was anything else and I mentioned "My tab". She said "Oh, he got it." And she tilted her head toward my daughter's friend. I said "Oh no! You are NOT paying for my wine!" I laughed and fortunately had cash on me enough to cover the wine. I gave him the cash and we still laugh to this day when I could only imagine what he thought when he got the bill. He comes often to the gigs and I told him he gave me a great story to tell at gatherings. I always think to myself "What must he have thought when he got our bill? 'Why that leech...she added 3 bottles of wine'..." LOL! And I got him an Amazon gift card to cover our food bill. He goes to Florida for the winter months, can't wait for him to return to the North so we can meet up with him again at the gigs.
I'll try to get some photos tomorrow at the bash. A lot of times, I just enjoy the time and don't even think about taking pictures. I need to take more. I am slowly getting older pictures from our family albums and scanning them into a digital format and sharing them on Facebook with our Family group. So many great memories. A lot of times I'll ask various questions such as: "Who drove that beat up station wagon in this picture?" Sometimes I get an answer, other times crickets. I asked recently on our group chat - if anybody recalled us having a pinball machine in our kitchen one winter by our back door. Two people recalled but nobody remembered getting it and bringing it into the house. I know my Mom didn't do it (and my Dad had passed, I think). It is fun for me to hear their answers.
What is that funny saying the Royal Family started using? "Recollections may vary."
At the time, I recall seeing a countdown clock (like the ones you would see for how many days, hours minutes left until the year 2000, etc...). It was counting down how many acres or hectares of rainforest were disappearing. I was astounded and it made me nervous. I was ignorant of just how vast and huge the actual size of the rainforest was but it still gave me anxiety.
While perusing the news this morning I came across an article that just made me shake my head. I'm too old to be surprised by this nonsense any longer. Here is a quotation:
"A new four-lane highway cutting through tens of thousands of acres of protected Amazon rainforest is being built for the COP30 climate summit ..."
One family has had their livelihood destroyed by this deforestation. He said "Where will we go?" I'd like to know where humans will go after we have destroyed our earth. How about it Musk? Build us a rainforest on the Moon or Mars? I forget. Which one are you going to colonize?
Now, where is that satire magazine I so enjoy reading?
Gene Hackman. On Feb 7th I downloaded a couple of his books to read. I didn't get around to reading them yet, but for some reason I had been reading (Oh, I recall - I was reading about it being his 95th birthday on January 30th) about him and saw that he wrote a couple of books. Westerns are not my favorite genre but I'll give them a go. Just because it's Gene. If somebody like say - Al Pacino wrote a book, I probably wouldn't bother. I don't care much for AP. (As an actor, I don't know him of course).
I've caught a talk show or two with a celebrity on it and funny - it seems like the actors I don't care for, I end up liking them on the talk show and actors I did like ended up looking like a total ass. So - there you go. I might like Al if I ever saw him in person.
