Week 41 - Fence and Medicare

The week started with a lovely rainy day, which ushered in much cooler weather. Hopefully the 80s/90s are in the rear view for a LONG time. I made the most of the coolers temps and spent a bunch of time outside this week, got some good news on Medicare, and ended the week with my annual vaccinations. 

Monday was a cozy inside day where I knitted, talked to Cindy about her trip, and when Monday Night Knitting was cancelled because everyone wanted to stay home, I just kept knitting. I had some plans for a new outside project that I was excited to get going on.

I ran errands in Wahoo on Tuesday with all the usual stops - bank, library, The Warehouse but ending at the hardware store for supplies. I had seen something called a permaculture fence online and thought it would be perfect for against my neighbor's chain link fence. They don't take care of their yard at all so it's a mess of tall weeds and weed trees so anything I can do to block that is good. The longest stakes they had were 2 feet but it was a start. I did a final run to the burn pile with my car loaded with sunflowers and then stopped at the carwash to vacuum out the back of the car and retire it (for this year anyway) as a pick up truck.

When I got home, I started putting the stakes about a foot out from the chain link and then started cutting brush and loading it up. I was in Lincoln on Wednesday for a goodbye lunch for Brook, the other data analyst who was leaving UNL, but was right back outside on Thursday after a talk at the lake. I was mostly cutting beside the garage and put the rest of the stakes in so the entire fence was lined except for a couple of feet where I planted a grapevine this spring. It was wonderful to be able to load the brush in my own yard rather than loading it in my car to take to the burn pile. The pic is just the first day but it's now 30+ feet long. This is supposed to create habitat for bugs and wildlife too so win win.

On Wednesday evening, I met with the local Medicare lady at the library. She has open sessions each month but I was the only one who showed, which was a good thing. The great news is that because my birthday is the first day of February, I can get Medicare on January 1st. That'll save me $700! But the rest was a chore. It wouldn't let me through the SSA.gov sign up because it wouldn't recognize my cell phone, which is the only phone I have these days. We went to id.me and it had the same issue so we had to do a video call for them to approve me. Only then could we do the sign up for parts A&B. I can't sign up for medigap and a drug plan until those go through but she recommended plans to me that will be a pittance compared to COBRA. I was there 1.5 hours and I'm not computer illiterate nor an idiot. Sheesh! I then went home for another 1.5 hours of computer frustration trying to login to the Husker Cats paypal account. I did manage to get in after a flurry of emails. I was over the computer drama and was happy to go to bed that night.

I went to Fremont on Friday because it was Estate Dispersal store weekend and I hadn't been there in several months. I only bought one thing (a skein of sock yarn - go figure) but found some stuff at thrifts, stopped at Nan's, and hit HyVee for their one day sale, which alone made it worth the drive. I had a lovely dinner of more zucchini butter pasta with a glass of wine and was ready for the weekend.

My only goal for the weekend was to get my covid and flu shots at the Wahoo pharmacy but I couldn't resist going outside to cut more brush for my fence. I went out first thing on Saturday and worked until it was time for a shower before heading to the pharmacy. They'd warned me that Saturdays could be busy so I might have to wait but when I drove up at noon, the street was empty - mostly likely because everyone was home watching Husker football. I was the only customer and was in and out in 10 mins. I got BK for lunch and headed home. I did dye a gorgeous skein of yarn in fall colors that afternoon but by evening, my left shoulder (covid side) was getting sore. I spent the rest of the weekend knitting and chatting with friends. By Sunday evening, my shoulder was back to normal.

That was a good week, right? I love my new fence project, got great Medicare news, and crossed vaccines off my list. I also talked to lots of friends and had dyeing fun in addition to my usual knitting fun. The best part was the cooler weather. I'm hoping I'm done sweating for months. : )