red squirrel

Some unexpected things

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Oh, how lovely today it feels outside today! As I write this, just before evening, we are at a lovely -8C/18F. the wind chill is -13C/9F, but the wind is from the north west, so the yard is well sheltered from it.

The outside cats were quite enjoying the warmer temperatures!

Creamsicle Baby even followed me when I went to change the memory cards and frozen batteries on the trail cameras.

With the cold and snow, I hadn’t gone to the corner camera in a while, but today was nice enough to finally get out there.

Oops.

Well, that wasn’t going to be much use.

The last time I’d changed out the card and batteries, I’d noticed the nut at the plate was getting loose. I also noticed a lot of thread showing. The fixture has a nut on the inside, which is supposed to be threaded as far as possible, but these are not lock nuts. Every time I had to tighten the nut on the outside, that meant the nut on the inside was getting closer to the end of the threaded post. With that in mind, I made sure I had the tools I needed to fix it. After removing the camera, I had to take the plate off completely, tighten the nuts as they needed to be, then put it all back together.

Before I could check the files, though, I had some errands to run. I discovered the end of the driveway not only had a plow ridge at the road, it was drifted over from about the gate to the end of the road. I knew I’d have troubles if I stopped in the driveway to lock the gate behind me, and I didn’t want to stop on the road, so I asked the girls to shovel out the end of the driveway while I was gone, and just rammed my way through with the van!

The dump is open only for a few hours on Tuesday mornings, so that was my first top. We were also running out of dry kibble. The outside cats are going through it a lot faster, and I was only able to get three big bags the last time I bought any, so a trip to the smaller city was in order. The difference in price is enough to make the drive worthwhile, even though gas prices jumped 12 cents per litre since the last time I was out!

Dry kibble is still in short supply. It’s been like this for months, now. I got the last two big bags from these shelves, but even the smaller bags were getting low. The really expensive brands in the big bags were almost out, too. There’s lots of wet cat food, cat treats, etc. in stock. It’s just the dry kibble that’s low in inventory.

My sister works at this Walmart. I think I should ask her to keep an eye on the inventory and, the next time a shipment comes in, maybe pick up a few bags for us!

After the shopping was done, it was one more stop to pick up some packages at the post office – and my letter from the Court of Queen’s Bench, with the conference call information I need for our vandal’s vexatious litigation against me – before I was finally able to settle in and check the trail cam files.

The corner cam had 160 files on it. Only the first 4 were right side up! Most of the others were triggered by moving shadows and branches blowing in the wind.

There is a slight down side to having the camera set to take three still shots, then video!

Still, I did find some fun shots. I flipped the images to make it easier to see. This camera goes pink when it gets cold.

I think that’s a chickadee that triggered the camera in this shot.

The internal thermometer in the above shot reads -25C/-13F, which would be a few degrees warmer than outside.

Squirrel butt!! :-D Too funny!

The camera even caught it in mid jump. :-D

There were a whole bunch of files of the squirrel moving around on the ground before it finally ran off. The next files were of me, moving the camera around to fix it. I’m actually surprised it was still recording. The frozen batteries were so low, there were many files that were completely black, except for the red text saying the batteries were too low for the infrared flash.

Oh, sweet. In the time it took me to write the above, we actually warmed up another degree. Nice!

Well, yesterday, my daughter did a whole bunch of bread baking. Now it’s my turn.

I think I’ll start with muffins. :-)

The Re-Farmer

Critter of the Day: sweet stuff

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April was when we finally started to see the squirrels again, on a regular basis. As things warm up, some of the trees began leaking fresh sap, and this squirrel is enjoying a sweet treat.

Upside down.

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Critter of the Day: windy!

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We haven’t seen much of the squirrels for months, but they seem to be back now. This photo was taken and a particularly windy day in April.

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The blowing wind reveals the different layers of colour in the squirrels fur. Hard to believe how dark it is under those red tips.

Critters, and technical difficulties

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First up, I want to share a couple of photos from our living room camera.

This one was taken a few days ago.  With the birdseed running out, there have been much fewer visitors of late.  Which means that, of the ones that do show up, they are less active and easier to get photos of. :-)

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While doing our Costco shopping, I made sure to pick up a bag of mixed bird seed.  I even figured out how to pop the roof off of the bird feeder, so I could fill it.  I also added some seed to the platform part of the stand.

The birds haven’t really rediscovered it yet, but this squirrel did!

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I know squirrels aren’t supposed to be good for feeders, as they eat so much of the seeds, but I really like these guys.  They take cat or dog kibble, too.  Back when this place still had a wood burning furnace, when it was time to gather wood from the big pile outside to throw into the basement, we would sometimes uncover a cache of kibble that the squirrels had hidden in the logs. :-D

My dad really liked the squirrels, too.  Sometimes, he would sit on the concrete steps out the main entry and lie back in the sun and fall asleep.  At least once, he woke up to find a squirrel on his chest, checking him out!

With another scorcher predicted for today, I headed out early to try and mow the lawn.  I don’t like working with loud equipment in the morning, but I wanted to get it done before things got too hot.  I got most of the lawn done, and was just doing the last couple of bits around the main garden, when I ran out of gas.  After refilling it, the mower wouldn’t start.

While I was trying to get it started, I jostled the fuel line filter, and it popped off!  I got it back on again, then got a screwdriver to loosen the clamp, push the filter nozzle as far in as I could, then tightened it again.  Then I went back to trying to start the mower.

No go.  Literally.

I ended up pushing the mower all the way back to the garage.  My daughters and I headed into town in the afternoon, then back again soon after we returned (but for good reasons… ;-) ), so I wasn’t able to try again until almost evening.

It started beautifully.

I guess it just needed a rest!

I finished the last bit of lawn.  Though it took me maybe 15 minutes to do it, it was about 30C out there, and wow am I glad I started early in the morning, when it was still relatively cool!

But at least that’s done, now.

And that’s the extent of outside work for today!!  Looking at the forecast, it looks like early mornings, or late evenings, are going to be the only times we’ll be getting outside work done for at least the next two weeks.

The Re-Farmer

The Squirrel. Sees us.

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My daughter got some pictures of a squirrel at our feeder stand today.

It would go up onto the platform, then stretch out to catch the bottom of the hanging planter, pull it closer, then climb onto it.

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It saw my daughter taking pictures.

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Now, there’s a face that can haunt dreams! :-D

Sure doesn’t seem happy with being watch, that’s for sure. :-D

The Re-Farmer

There be Cows Here!

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We had a nice rain today and, when it was down to a drizzle, the girls decided this was a good, safe time to get the fire pit going and burn down the pile of wood we had in it.

Then we had a cook out.  Because, why not?

While we were out, I could hear the sounds of cows mooing.  Not unusual, except that the sounds were much closer.

Like, really close.

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This is taken from the gate beside the fire bit.

My mom rents most of the land out to someone, including the other quarter section.  He’s had his cows grazing there for a while, and now they are here.

While we had the fire going, even though it was still kind of raining, I couldn’t help but work on the area near the fire pit, cleaning up the area next to the log cabin that’s got a collapsed roof.  There were a lot of dead branches to clean up, plus saplings to trim away, etc.  More stuff for the fire pit! :-)

The roof of the cabin is decidedly interesting.

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That is a lot of nails.

This would be the remains of one of the trusses.

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This board would have had shingles nailed to it.  They were all wooden shingles, most of which seem to be gone, now, leaving their nails behind.  !!

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We also had a squirrel go onto the roof, where it seemed to find something to eat among the pieces of fallen roof!

My head just clears that truss piece, as I walked back and forth under it, making my daughters very nervous! :-D

As I was cleaning up along here, grabbing dead branches and dragging them out, the toe of my shoe caught on something under the decaying leaves along the wall, and I almost tripped.  Going back to pick up what I got caught on, I found it was a piece of board.

With nails in it.

Pointing down, thankfully.

I pulled more boards up out of the decayed leaves, also with nails in them, until the girls insisted I stop working in there.

Cleaning up under there is going to have to be a very careful job!

After we had our cook out, I stayed outside to burn more of the wood pile.  While there, I started to hear strange metal noises coming from the barn.

I knew exactly what it was.

I got my younger daughter to tend the fire for me, while I went to check on the cows.

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Who, for some reason, decided they needed to graze around this collapsed shed, with all the sheets of metal lying about.  They were walking over the metal, and that’s the sound I was hearing.

They didn’t like me coming over and were already moving away when I took this picture.

The wire in the foreground is an electrified gate.  There are two of them the renter puts up before he brings the cows over, so they don’t go into the house area; this one by the barn, and another closer to where the cows were in top photo.

With the electrified wire there, I went through the barn to get to where the cows where.

I moved things around as best I could but I’d really rather fence this area off until we can get this stuff hauled away and cleaned up.  There’s little I can do about it.  Some of the metal bits and pieces could not be picked up and moved, so I used sheets of tin to cover them as much as I could, then adding whatever I could on top, to prevent the wind from blowing them away.

On the far side, I stepped on something that felt like a potential problem.  It turned out to be part of fence wire that was likely rolled up and left there.  Except it was there for so long, it was now covered in ground and I could not pull it up.  It was completely hidden in the grass, and a definite risk to hooves!  So I covered it with sheets of metal, then dragged a metal headboard out of the pile (I have no clue why anything like that would be there!) and tossed that on top, both to weight it down, and to make it more visible.

I really look forward to when we can start getting rid of piles like this.  It might be a few years before we get to the stuff on this side of the fence, though.

The Re-Farmer

New Birds today!

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Another sick day for me today, so not much accomplished!  My husband put out the food and water for the animals outside this morning.  Now that the snow is pretty much gone and the risk of falling is reduced, he wants to do that more often, as the pain allows.  He informed me that we were now out of deer feed and almost out of cat kibble, which meant another trip into town – our own hamlet for the deer feed, then the next town over for the cat kibble.  We can get the kibble locally, but the brand they carry is something even the outside cats don’t like.  I don’t mind going farther afield.  It gives my younger daughter and I a chance to play Pokemon Go for at least long enough to get some achievements in the game.  Still, I look forward to when I’m not the only one with a valid driver’s license!

When we got home, I pulled up near the house to make it easier to unload the bags, then we took advantage of the situation to clean up the garbage and recycling (yes, I keep recycling bags for sorting in our van, too! :-D ), refill the cooler we use to keep water bottles (that came in REALLY handy when we had to keep adding coolant the day the hose broke) and reorganize things a bit.  So the back of the van is now all open and ready for when we do our monthly bulk shopping.

It didn’t take much to clean up the van, yet it was enough to wipe me out.  I may be feeling a bit better, but wow, am I running out of energy fast.  By the time we were done, I had broken into a sweat and my chest was on fire.  Ugh.

Have I mentioned how much I appreciate that the girls are with us to keep things going when I’m out of commission?  Well, even if I have, it’s worth saying again.  I so appreciate that they chose to stay with us.  They didn’t have to move out here.  They could have stayed behind and done their own thing.  Instead, they chose to stay and help us.

I am so blessed to have such amazing daughters.

Who also happen to be good cooks.  Supper is smelling so good!

On the wildlife front, once again, we had very few deer visits.  My husband had to get up insanely early, when it got too painful to be lying down, so he was there to see a couple in the wee hours.  We didn’t see more again until about 7pm.  I had hoped all our regulars would keep coming back; I really wanted to see how the antlers on the young males are coming in.  Hopefully, we’ll still get visits from them.

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The squirrels are chasing each other all over the place, but only one seemed at all interested in the seeds.

I love those little paws!

We also got a new type of bird today!

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There was only one of this greyer one.  The rest were much darker.

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I’ve gone looking through my bird book, and there’s nothing quite like them in there.

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There were quite a few of the darker ones.  They are slightly larger than the redpolls.  Their behavior is also more… sedate, shall we say.  They seem downright chill, compared to the non-stop motion of the redpolls, chickadees and grosbeaks.

If anyone knows what they might be, please let me know in the comments!  I’d love to know what they are.

Then Hungry Girl and Barbecue showed up.

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At first, it was just Barbecue on her own, then Hungry Girl came trotting in from behind the house.  She was much more antsy, though.

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It didn’t take long before she took off into the garden area and stayed away, though I did see her grazing on the far side of the garden for a while.

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Barbecue ran off, too, then came back for a bit, before finally taking off for good.

I noticed something interesting as they were leaving.

As the more shaded areas of snow slowly melt, we now have a kind of long, narrow “river” of melt water running across the opening to the garden, and then a bit past the spruce grove.  After that, it’s still ice and snow, where it only gets sunlight for a short time in the mornings.

Both Hungry Girl and Barbecue carefully skirted around the water, to where it was still ice and snow, then cut across to the row of apple trees and into the garden.  Going through the water would have been much shorter and faster, but I guess even deer feet don’t like getting cold and wet, if they can avoid it! :-D

I look forward to seeing who shows up outside our window, tomorrow. :-)

The Re-Farmer

 

 

Almost checked off the list (plus critter pictures!)

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The goal for today: get my younger daughter’s learner’s license transferred to our new province.

2018-04-18.squirrelBirth certificate: check
Health care card: check
Something with physical address on it: ______

It was the third item that was the stickler for us.  Usually, it would be something like a utility bill, but she has none in her name.

So that meant a trip to the bank.  She had updated her information online, but it only had space for her to add our box number – the mailing address.  There were other things, like her employment status, that it didn’t have the option for her to change.

The nearest branch of her bank is in the town my mother lives in, which is a 20 minute drive away.

No worries.  We could get the letter she needed, like the one I got from my branch in the nearer town, and get her driver’s license transferred there.

When we got there, I showed the lone teller the letter I got as an example of what we needed.

Turns out, she couldn’t write up a letter like that, and her manager wasn’t in.  She could, however, update my daughter’s information and print out a statement.

It took several attempts before she could get a printout that included both the mailing address (which was part of the basic information) and our physical address (which had to be input somewhere else and was not normally included in any printouts).  It was part of the paperwork needed for direct deposits, so when my daughter is finally able to go job hunting and gets a job, she’ll have that on hand.

Great!  It took a while, but it was done.2018-04-18.deer

Next: finding a place where we could transfer her license.

We couldn’t find one.

I realize this is a small town, but you’d think they’d have a public insurance broker somewhere.  Maybe they do, but just not in the business area?  There isn’t much else to the town for us to have explored.

We did go to a department store in hopes of finding some underwear for my husband, that didn’t cost $15 for one pair!  We did find some – three for $15 – but none in his size!

Who knew it would be so difficult just to buy some gitch?

So getting her license transferred meant driving another half hour to the town we usually go to.  No worries.  It’s a pleasant drive with pleasant company.

Besides, the staff over there knows us pretty well by now!

2018-04-18.catMy daughter had everything she needed and a file was started.  She’s never had a license in this province, since she was 9 when we left it, so that actually made it easier.

The hang up?

She doesn’t have a full license.

To get a learners license in this province, she will need to write the knowledge test again.

Which isn’t done in this town anymore.  We’d have to go to another town that’s about a half hour’s drive north of our place, or a small city that’s about an hour’s drive away from home.

The main difference is that the small city has places where we can combine errands and do some shopping.

We have an appointment booked for next week, when the CPP Disability comes in.  That way, my daughter has time to go online and study a bit, in case there are differences between provinces, and we’ll have money for gas and groceries.

At least this is the only delay.  Everything else is just fine, and the paperwork she printed out for us has the file number she’ll need, and we can finish processing for her temporary license in the same place as where she needs to take the written test (assuming she passes, which I have no concerns about).

Meanwhile, they had to keep her old learners license.  Because we’re past the 90 days, she’s not allowed to drive, anyhow.

At least it should be easier for my older daughter.  Hers is just a photo ID, not a driver’s license.

Little by little, it’s getting done.

The Re-Farmer

No Deer Today!

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I saw only one deer today, and it took off before I had a chance to take it’s photo.

Sadness.

Today was a day I ended up spending mostly on the computer, though I did manage some time outside enjoying some manual labour, working clearing up the pile of wood in the garden.  It seems we can only go so far, then have to pause for the day, so that newly uncovered ice and snow can thaw, and we can get more out.

I do, however, still have some critter pictures for you to enjoy.

First up, this dapper little gentleman.

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Oh, those adorable little hands!

Then I found these pictures on the card, that my daughter took.  Too funny!

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What, after I’ve posted these, and now that it’s getting too dark, a whole herd of deer will show up. :-D

The Re-Farmer

 

 

 

I can rest now… and critter pictures

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Good news; today was the last day my mother had to go to the hospital for injections!

But first, here are a couple of critter pictures from the DSLR, yesterday.  I didn’t upload them until today.  There were very few, but a couple I really enjoyed, that I hope you enjoy, too!

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Yes, I am an immature child that loves to catch the deer with goofy faces.  :-D

I tried to snag a picture of a squirrel posing so perfectly on top of the limestone cross.

I didn’t quite manage it, but I think I like this better…

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This morning’s trip with my mom to the hospital took a lot longer, for good reasons, and she was having one of her good days, so it was much more pleasant, too!  When I got to her place, she was ready and waiting for me to put the brace on her leg, which was awesome.  She did comment on how the bump on the inside (a knob with a dial that applies pressure to her knee, to straighten it) gets in the way of her other leg, so she has to walk with her legs farther apart.  My response was good!  That’s what it’s supposed to do!

Well.  At least until her knee starts to straighten out.  The dial will need to be checked and adjusted after a while – if she keeps up wearing it!

We had a pleasant drive to the next town, with beautiful views of frost covered trees glistening in the sunlight.  She did comment again about how ridiculous it is to drive so far, every day, just for an injection.  While I understand why it’s being done, and I think she kind of does, too, she had a point.  So when we got there (this time, I gave in and used my husband’s disability placard so we could park closer to the door; the distance she had to walk yesterday was really hard on her!) and I let them know she was there, I also asked if someone was available to check on her eye and see about getting the prescription to replace the injections.  After explaining the situation to the nurse, she was more than willing to see what she could do about it.

Later, the same nurse brought the blood pressure machine to the waiting room for my mother and took her vitals.  She looked at my mom’s eye, but this was the first time she’d seen it.  Thankfully, I’d taken a picture of it a couple of days ago, which helped.  She had us go to an examination room (all of this is being done in the emergency section of the hospital) for a bit more privacy for the injection, then she had us go back to the waiting room while she got the on-call doctor.  The one that has seen my mother before was not in, so we had no idea who it would be.

I think we waited less than 15 minutes, in total.  The doctor came over and took my mom back to the examination room.  He had lots of questions, trying to figure out why my mom was on the first blood thinners at all, and why she was now getting these injections.  Had she had heart surgery?  Valves replaced?  Nope.  We explained as best we could. Then he left, and we could hear him consulting someone on the phone nearby.  A few minutes later, he was back with a few more questions, then off to consult again.

I must admit, my mother showed tremendous restraint from her usual behaviour.  Not only did we once again have a non-white doctor – Middle Eastern, no less! – with a strong accent, but one that was dressed VERY casually (I once got a long story from her that culminated in her concluding that because doctors and nurses don’t wear white uniforms anymore, it means hospitals are dirty, and that’s why we have viruses…).  However, it was a male doctor, and he asked her lots of questions, looked at her eye and listened to her heart.  The expressions on her face were very conflicted!

One thing I did notice happen a lot today; more so than other days – while talking to my mother, more and more, people would turn and start talking to me, instead.  Now, I can help by explaining things that are harder for her to explain, due to her limited English medical vocabulary, but don’t ask me what her symptoms are or how she’s feeling!  She’s sitting right there.  She may have trouble expressing herself in English sometimes, and takes a while to get to the point, but she’s not senile.  She’s not deaf, either.

I’m reminded of a time I accompanied a friend to a medical clinic.  She is a wheelchair user and drives an adapted van; she just needed someone with her for a bit of assistance.  When we got to the clinic, the person behind the counter looked right past my friend and started asking me the questions.  Hullo!  Just because she’s in a wheelchair, that doen’t mean she doesn’t understand her own care needs!  I’m just along for the ride!

Though I do have to give the people at the hospital some slack, after seeing some of the inpatients they are caring for, several of whom are younger than my mother.  It may just be what they are most used to.

The end result was, my mother got her new prescription!  No more trips for injections.

I’m looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow!

We took advantage of the situation and I helped her do some grocery shopping, and she took me out for tea at a lovely little café.  Then it was off to her home town to get her new prescription, though they could only give her a few days’ worth.  She’ll have to come back next week to get the rest.  She can do that herself, using her walker, if she has to.

I have been talking to her about getting home care to help put her brace on in the mornings.  I hope she’ll be able to get that arranged quickly.

Meanwhile, my older brother will be visiting her tomorrow morning, so he’ll be able to help her put the brace on.

We’ll still have to keep tabs on her and that eye; it’s better, but after I took another picture and showed it to her, she even commented that it still looks pretty bad!  The good thing is that there is no pain, nor is her vision affected.

Phew.

By the time it was all done, it was almost 5 hours before I got home – scaring a deer away from the house in the process!  It came back, though…

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At least I’m guessing it was Hungry Girl that had run off.  She’s been coming over by herself more often.

Excuse me while I giggle happily at her silly tongue face.  I got several of them, but that one is the best!

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This one looks like she’s having a conversation.

I also got a good shot of a male redpoll today…

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Pretty little thing!

Meanwhile, I got other good news.

First off, I got the mail before coming home and WE HAVE OUR NEW HEALTH CARE CARDS!!!!  WHOOT!!! Finally!

Or, to be more precise, my husband has two health care cards, and my name happens to be on the second half of both, along with his.

Apparently, husbands and wives still don’t rate individual cards in this province, but wives are added to the list on the second half, like dependent minors.  So he and I have identical cards, with his name and address on the first half, and both our names and individual numbers on the second half.

They still needed me to send them a copy of my marriage certificate to use my married name, though.

Arglebargle.

Whatever.   At least we have them now!

Then I got a phone call from our insurance company, letting me know that the problem with my coverage has finally been fixed!  It took them a while to track it down, since everywhere else in their system, it showed me as being covered.  It was now done, she told me, and I should have no problem!

Conveniently, my husband had phoned in some prescription refills of his own, so I headed into town to pick those up, and had the pharmacy get my insurance checked out, too.  Sure enough, it was all fixed!  So I got my own prescription refilled, too.  Just one, though.  After seeing my new doctor and going over the results of my blood work, it was decided to go with just one right now, and see how it goes.  My goal is to be off that one, too, though the doctor seems dead set on me being on it for the rest of my life, along with statins.

Not if I can help it!

*sigh*

I feel a wonderful sense of relief today.

I look forward to being home tomorrow. :-D

The Re-Farmer