Hooray! Can anybody give me an idea of what sort of words to string together for a google search on the new law to find out more about it? It's very relevant to both DH with his PTSD and myself with my chronic depression, and our mutual employer has waaayyyy more than 50 employees. If, for example, counseling sessions can be charged as no more than regular doctor's office visits, maybe we can finally afford to start getting some of the help we need beyond medication.

Digit! You're looking at the situation with your hose half empty, when you should be looking with your hose half FULL! Why do you assume the "past mistakes" are YOURS!?! The one Permanent Constant in gardening is that there are LOT of things we can't control--no matter how much we'd like to believe we can. Even if you had GOD [Gardening Obsessive Disorder] you couldn't control the elements! ;-) When I bought this house and finally had room for a garden--veggie garden, I observed and pondered and put a lot of angst into what was going right--and what was going WRONG with my veggies. Now, about eight years later, I've come to the conclusion that Angst didn't help my garden at all! A couple years ago I decided that what does and doesn't work in any one year is very little related to me and very much related to the seeds, the soil, the water, the sun, the heat, the wind---and the very fine day-to-day interaction between all of those. I can help--a little bit--with a couple of those, but the Final Conjunction of how they all come together is very much out of my hands! So I plant my veggies, hopefully at the right time, and I water them, hopefully at the right time, and I watch them---very closely (they haven't boiled yet!), but beyond that all I can really do is hope I'll wind up with something big enough to eat---and hope it tastes good enough to eat! One of my best years was the very first year when I was, truly, planting everything in Potter's Soil! Since the soil has been getting somewhat better there have been a LOT of ups and downs! Go figure! I attribute it to The Conjunction! And with the tomatoes especially! Every year folks are wondering what's the "disease" with this leaf or that leaf--and [IMO] nobody REALLY knows! Even "the experts" don't know! Yeah, they'll have an answer for ya---but go to three different Experts and you'll get three different answers! I wondered and worried about my (few) diseased and dying tomatoes the first couple years too! Never did figure out what what wrong with them! Everybody had a different supposition! I still wonder a little bit at times, but I don't worry anymore! Either they're gonna be fine--or they're not! This year I had a couple with SERIOUS problems. Have NO idea what "the problem" was--I call it Failure To Thrive, but they were growing all crammed up against each other like they always are, and whatever the "problem" was, it didn't spread, at all, to the ones next to and against the "diseased" ones! I just kept cutting off more and more of the leaves as they deteriorated and kept on keeping on! And since I have nowhere to "rotate" my crops to, they're grown in the exact same spot every year, and I have never found "whatever" was wrong with a couple of them the previous year to be spreading to the "new" ones the next year. I know people worry about that, but I've never seen it happen. I have to admit I do still put a little bit of GAS into my perennials at times! Guess it just seems like since they grow from year to year I should be able to figure it out when something is going wrong--and sometimes I can---sometimes it's painfully obvious, but this year I had a couple of them just suddenly keel over, and I don't have a CLUE why! Oh, well! Will try again! Maybe with the same thing, and maybe The Keeling has given me an opportunity to try something new! It's Gardening! And it would be VERY boring if I got everything exactly where I wanted it and it was all growing beautifully, and all I had to do was look at it! That wouldn't be any fun! So, as I see it, Digit, the only thing you're Doing Wrong is that you're gardening! And you most definitely don't want to stop doing that! So just stop with the GAS and the GAC and the GAD (Gardening Anxiety Disorder) and the GOD! Be sure your hose is half full---and Garden On! Skybird P.S. And besides which, if everything went right, there wouldn't be anything at all to talk about around here! :-) P.P.S. Hello, David 52!

I am sure I have ADD. I'm not hyperactive, but I have a hard time staying hitched. For example, I have a hard time watching tv or a movie. Most do not hold my interest. I work all day long, but when I start to do something...I will see something else that needs to be done. And I will go off and do that, and then something else...in other words, a lick and a promise but seldom can I see any big results because I won't stay with one thing long enough to see it through. I can work all day and at the end of the day, you can't tell I have done anything. I do well working off of a list, but I will never do it. I damned sure am not going to go on meds or to a therapist. I don't have time to sit on my butt with a stranger telling me what to do. But, a few days ago, I made a list. My first day, had 29 things on the list, and I finished 20. Added to it the next day, and finished more. I was gone all day yesterday, so didn't get much done on it, but started back on it this morning. The first order of the day is to finish the list from the first day. I only have 3 more things to do to finish it. And they are piss ant jobs. Little things, but things I just will put off and put off. The list has 53 things on it now and I have finished 35 of them, and a couple of them were big jobs. Being obcessive/compulsive, I have been using it to my advantage now and enjoy working on the list. A lot of the jobs were things I just didn't want to do...altho I could have finished them easily enough. Seeing my progress now...I am inspired. Hope I can keep the list going. It's my only hope. :(

I am no fan of Kaiser. Agree with Elmer wholeheartedly on medical mishaps as well as delays in getting important labs and testing . But I can attest that the entire state has a huge mental health care problem. The county Elmer and I live in has a horrid shortage of psychiatrists available. It's not just Kaiser. We have excellent supplemental insurance along with medicare and have full access to any Stanford affiliate as well as most major hospitals. My DH is Bipolar and today we learned he may have another condition that may add dementia into the mix of rapid cycling of mania and depression. Let me tell you, there is no such thing as weekly visits here. Appointments are monthly and you better not miss one. Rescheduling is a nightmare. I have been dealing with this system for over twenty years. Our own personal physician is needing to get psychiatric help that is rather unique for a family member and he is finding it a nightmare to get an appropriate doctor. On the 4th of July we had a mental health crisis. I called everywhere. Our psychiatrist is in one of the largest mental health groups in the area. They were closed. I called several hotlines. Leave a message. In desperation I called two separate suicide hotlines. Both had a machine answer saying leave a message. I finally called the police for help. No help whatsoever. I requested CIT (Crisis Intervention) trained units. I got one officer who tried to help but was over ruled by his superior with a big attitude. A thug behind a badge. My friend stayed with me all night in fear for me and the house itself. So picking Kaiser out as a scapegoat is pure bull. I would never have Kaiser insurance , they have a lot of problems but what that article state is no different county wide and i have been told statewide. Yesterday I had another crisis to deal with. Neighbors called the police. I was calling for help. The police came over an hour and a half later when I already had him inside and calmed down. We were lucky to get a great team this time. I was very grateful to them for the way they handled things and understood the situation and how I handled it. Even DH didn't get his feathers ruffled up by them. I let them know I was happy to have them and thanked the neighbor who called them. I also told them I hope that they could make a change. Our force is known by every lawyer and outside forces for their bad apples. If they moved on elsewhere I would certainly understand.