October 29

 Good sunny morning--it is still morning but not by much. We had intermittent rain, sometimes heavy, over the weekend. I took a break from blogging and, though I skimmed my e-mail, from commenting. Mom has been losing track of time often asking what day of the week or what month--sometimes even which year. The problem is that the days are so much the same that they blend together until we forget exactly what day it is. Well, the news is much the same. It blends to the point you don't remember lose track. I did finish the stitching on the Bavarian stitch blanket leaving only the tedious task of weaving in the threads. Also made some progress on the Tunisian stitch blanket but put it away earlier than I intended because I made a mistake and took out about a third of a row to fix it but then made the same mistake three times in the next row and had to repeat the process of pulling out and then restitching. Thankfully I caught the problem before it would have been a REAL PAIN to fix. I also got a good bit of the cross-stitch dresser scarf done. Another couple of stitching session and it will be done. I seem to be accomplishing a lot more constructive work than our politicians and I don't get six figure salaries.

On today's reading:

Bill Astore posted this on his BRACING VIEWS site. The notion that the U.S. would only be destroyed from within goes all the way back to the very establishment of our Constitution. Benjamin Franklin, according to one story some historians say is apocryphal, told a woman who asked what kind of government he and his associates had given the country said "a republic--if you can keep it."

In a rather ironic twist I just saw a story on the Weather Channel saying that a ski area at high elevation in Colorado is making snow in preparation for opening ski season but over the weekend I read a piece that noted three small ski towns in eastern France (not far from Switzerland and Italy) are closing permanently and dismantling their ski infrastructure. They have had several years where the snow falls have measured barely a third of what they had normally received. They don't expect the situation to improve in the near future.

I think I wrote about my brother's problems with trying to get some back surgery doctors recommended but the best hospital with the best surgeons to perform the procedure refused his insurance. It put him in a quandary because he has not only medicare but a Medicare Advantage plan provided by his former employer as part of his retirement package. However the insurance company was one that has been dropped by not only the hospital and its doctors but other specialists Brother used. The hospital and its doctors did Mom's spine surgery after her fall and they really are top notch. Luckily she dropped the union affiliated company several years ago after they put her medications into more expensive tiers which raised her costs nearly four times. Since then she went with another insurance company which the hospital did accept. This article found on NAKED CAPITALISM explains the problem. I concluded some time ago that that the Insurance business model is now in crisis phase. Whether in health care or in homeowners policies the costs to cover their customers is strangling them. Replacing covered property after disasters or covering covered medical procedures is simply too costly. But customers are in a quandary because we have come to depend on the insurance. My brother found a doctor who agreed to look at his situation and gave him some very different advice. He said that he could do the surgery but given Brothers medical history he doubted it would really improve his condition. Brother is exploring alternatives. If Mom hadn't had the insurance she has the cost of her surgery would have not only wiped us both out but left a massive debt we couldn't have paid off given we are both on Social Security.