Aging Parents

Well, I did it. I got my parents back in the Medicare provider that Mom and Dad's old Doctor uses. Two years ago a Medicare provider's salesman sold them a lie. He told them they could continue to use their doctor on his company's policy. Mom and Dad ran up $2000 in bills at their doctor's office before the clinic realized the insurance had changed and they didn''t take Mom and Dad's policy. Dad also messed up getting their medicare provider changed that fall. Then another medicare provider sold them another policy that they couldn't use with their old doctor. Last November I made sure to attend a provider meeting to get Mom and Dad registered back with Texas Health Springs. They got their new ID cards and I made an appointment with their old doctor, only to find out their old doctor isn't taking any medicare patients he hasn't seen in over a year. So now they just go to my doctor. At least they know him.

Dad and I are trying to get Mom into a nursing home, as Mom's memory is just too far gone to have Mom do anything but eat and dress herself. We have to tell Mom everything else to do including sit down and relax. It is sad, but that is what Alzheimer's does. While I am trying to get Mom and Dad into Medicaid, our doctor is getting home health care for Mom. I had thought Medicare pays for long term nursing home care, but it is Medicaid that pays for long term nursing care. If I would have known that, I could have applied last year.

Last week I had the chance to take the Big REDBeast's loader bucket in for some straightening and reinforcement. The upper lip had been abused and bent by either a stump or large logs while making a burn pile. I thought when the welder finished straightening the lip it would be nice and straight. When I picked up the bucket, I was shocked to see the bend in the lip was still there and the 3/8 inch 2x2 angle was welded on. Talk about a sow's ear out of a silk purse. Well, I took the bucket back home and reattached it to the loader. I cringe every time I look at that bucket. But it will do what I want and being clean and pretty looking isn't for a tractor that works to earn it's keep.

After almost a year I finally got back in the barn building mode. Numerous things including 2 on the job injuries kept me from working on it. Last weekend I started adding the siding, only to realize I needed to install the sliding door rails first. This weekend I bought the rails and door wheel hangars. I then realized the 2x6 door header wasn't wide enough to mount the rail and have no gap with the door. So I removed all but 4 feet of door header and installed 20 feet of doubled 2x8s. The barn poles are round and slightly tapered, as in not machined straight, causing parts of the barn frame to be off. I went with round poles to save a few dollars over treated 6x6 timbers. I will never cheap charlie barn poles again. The round poles are not quite true. So this makes some interesting shims in the structure. The door header needed a 2x6 shim added under the header on the center barn pole, which includes longer bolts and some major tugging and prying 10 foot up off the ground. What should have taken a day to install the door rails took a day and a half. Never again.....will I build anything with round poles. Never. Today I installed 24 feet of the door rail. The last 3 feet really needed about 3/4 inch of shim. Instead of shimming, I just sucked it down with the bolts. I think the door will handle the slight deviation. If not, I can add shim after I hang the door.

While working on the barn last Saturday, my neighbors, Von and Lori rode up with a spare horse and wanted me to ride with them. I tried to explain I just got in the groove and was on a roll with the barn siding. I didn't convince them. They forced me to ride with them. We took a quick ride around the subdivision. Wow, that sure brought back memories. The horse I was riding had a hackamore on him. I never have rode a horse using a hackamore. Only bridles with bits. The whole time it felt like I had to hold back rein on him. All seemed fine until we turned for home. I tried to stop, but he kept going faster. I then turned him and stopped and waited. Telling him all along that he would have to think about standing still instead of getting home. That always did the trick in the past and it worked with him. So I think hackamores have a place, but give me a bit to rein in a horse.

I had planned on going to Tulare, California this week for the World Ag Expo, but instead I will be paying Rebecca's apartment rent. Ouch! She is still looking for a job, but hasn't had any luck. I am still taking the week off, so I should get finished with the barn siding on front and back. I don't have the siding for the sides yet. But the sides have a 12 foot shed added on one side where I park my gooseneck trailer and 12 foot shed on the other side for two future stalls. So the sides do not get rain with the shed roofs keeping that area dry. It suppose to rain this week, so I will just build the sliding doors. That's my plan at least.

As of February 1st, I got my weekends off,...back. I won a permanent bid to leave my Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights off and now have Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights off on the same crew. Now I won't have to remove and replace landing gears! Starting February 16th, I won a temporary bid position on my old crew of 14 years. I have this bid as long as the mechanic I replaced is off work with his injuries. That might be 2 months or the rest of the year. Please check back sooner than that to see what else has happened or will happen. Check out the pics I uploaded also.

hugs, Brandi