I have been on vacation for a few weeks and have to think when I wake up where I am so I know how you feel. Today I'm in south central Colorado near the town of Pagosa. Last week in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Before that, Montana, Yellowstone, and Wyoming. Last month I was in eastern British Columbia. My wife and I are headed home now with a quick stop off in northern Idaho to see my brother. I thought retired life was a time I could take it easy and putter around in the garden. My wife has other plans. I hope the house sitters are having a good time. If you look close you can see the house sitter's Pit Bull. Meg is deaf and very farsighted. (Crossed with a Dalmation. Who would let that happen?!) She's a good watchdog and a real sweetie once you get to know her. My friend calls her 'Nutmeg'. ;-) In keeping with the conifer theme, the trunk on the left is a 'Hinoki' that has had the lower branches removed in the interest of more room. Mike

Late husband worked for a health insurance company, and that was the last time we had a health insurance benefit. When he left that job, we got catastrophic care insurance, with a huge deductible. We eventually opened HSAs as well. Over the last ten years, each of us has had jobs that offered health insurance plans. We looked at the cost (to the employee) of those company plans, and the benefits, and restrictions imposed. We compared them to the cost of our current plans and benefits, (when you pay yourself, you chose who you want with no restrictions). The HSA balance creeps up over time, allowing more payments, (dental, doctor's office visits, optometrist exams,) on a schedule we controlled, instead of what the company plans would allow. Employers have been hit hard the last few years, too. The workplace plans we were offered had higher premiums than our individual accounts with Unnamed Health Insurance Company, and were not of more value to us. In spite of being a "catastrophic care" policy with a high deductible, It seems to be paying for things, or making partial payments for things, every time i turn around. Tick removed from back at walk-in facility: Paid half the bill. Prophylactic medication in case I was exposed to Lyme disease: I was stunned to have the couple bucks and change it cost. I asked the pharmacist "Isn't there a minimum dispensing fee?" Yes, she said, but the insurance covers it. If I hadn't had that policy, it would have been twenty dollars or so, for two pills. As it was, I paid less than three dollars out of pocket. I'm actually quite happy with the situation I'm in: the fewer people sticking there noses into my health care (policy wonks in DC or that lady in personnel) the better I like it. And it had no bearing on Poor Late Husband's demise: He had lung cancer, quite likely from his thirty eight years of smoking two packs a day. There were unusual circumstances that contributed to his sudden death only five weeks after diagnosis. No amount of chemo, surgery etc., would have saved him. I had a cancer scare myself, actually less than three months after his passing. I asked a nurse what would happen if I had cancer, and my insurance didn't cover treatment. She said she didn't know how that worked, and she said the doctors and nurses take precautions to not know anything about the finances of patients. That way, she said, those with or without insurance are treated the same way while in the hospital. I think it's stupid to go without insurance to have more money for lattes and cell phones, but I defend others' rights to spend the money they earn in a way that they find valuable. As for people who "End up in the emergency room because they couldn't afford a doctor" I've personally known, lived near, worked with some of those people...and they abused the emergency room option so they wouldn't have to pay. I've heard them rationalize taking a child with an earache to the emergency room to avoid a $20 co-pay at the doctor's office, and the hassle of scheduling an appointment. Then in the next breath they griped that they had to wait so long to be seen.

Personally I think Michael Vick is a sociopath, and I live in Eagles country but am not a football fan. If a person can do what he did to living breathing animals, he deserves a way long time behind bars. . I'm sorry but I don't trust pit bulls either. I was surprised to read about Corgi's (Queens dogs) and collies being banned in Italy. That said I have a temperamental Dachshund who needs supervision. He adores cats, loves the dog he lives with, loves kids and people, but has issues with big dogs. It's in the breed but he came from iffy circumstances. Turned into a kill shelter because they had too many dogs. So he has issues, but I watch him carefully. It's the Napoleon complex plus his history. I try to socialize him all the time.

My much loved brother is blind to the fact that he has a dangerous dog. He's blinded by how much he loves it, and refuses to see how frightening it is. Ziggy has bitten his mother in law, who required surgery afterwards. No one else has been injured simply because no one will visit. It's a rottie. He's been untrainable and isn't even allowed at the vet any more. On the other side, I had a friend who had a gentle giant of a Rottie. My biggest problem witb him was all of the slobber, lol. One day, Thor was standing at the back patio door and whining, every muscle at alert. Steve went to see what he was upset about...he lived in a rural location and who knows what could be out there! It was a kitten. It was on the porch, rubbing back and forth on the glass right where Thor was standing! Steve opened the door and that kitten ran in and that was that! Thor adopted the kitten right then and there....or was it vice versa? Anyway, those two were inseperable from then on. That cat even went on walks with them, scampering all over the place, teasing the dog because it was on a leash and couldn't chase him. You should have seen them sleep together.