60+ year old thread.

Morning folks

-9 and sunny this morning. Got the all clear to go back to work Wednesday so getting back to normalcy around here. Wife has had enough of the cold and took a flight to her sisters place in FL. for a few days.
Nothing planned for the day so just hang out with Maggie our yellow Lab.

Have a good one.

 

Morning Tex and all. We survived the 5* overnight here - I'm sure that is yet another record. Seem to have all our pipes, heat, and power. That is wonderful compared to many. When it gets a little more toasty out, I'm going to see if I can rig up a broom to clean off the solar panels, and contribute to the grid!
Y'all stay safe and warm everyone. We too old for this s***!

 

Thank you for your prayers. The service was small and the service was quick. We were actually able to go out to a restaurant for lunch after the service. We sat in our own groups and the tables were distanced apart. I was happy my sister was able to arrange a safe lunch.

 

I guess about now the fickle folk who left California in the last couple years might be having second thoughts. When you see them and they complain about the weather, tell them snow will melt, but trees are gonna stay burnt. Cuddle up and stay warm, kids!

 

Just lined up all of the foo for cataract surgery. The good: I'll get rid of this annoying cloud that doesn't let my left eye focus and gives me an eye ache every day. The not-so-good: I don't qualify for any of the fancy lens replacements and will still need glasses for everything but distance. I can deal with that; I've been wearing glasses since the 3rd grade.

 

I have yet to get a good explanation for all that as a Medicare guy. Someday..... I've had glasses a long time as well, but not quite that long!

 

And the clouds roll in, so no more solar gain. A little more melted around here, and off the solar as well. If we can avoid getting too much freezing rain tonight, and the low holds in the 20's, that will be wonderful. We are supposed to get above freezing a little between 2 and 5 tomorrow. Need sunshine to go with it though! There's WAY too many Texans with no power or heat, and some for a long time. I am not complaining.

I tried rigging up a blade with the corner of box the microwave came in, a broom, and two long aluminum channels. It tried to work.....





Required way too much torque for that contraption. If I could have opened up the garage a little more (it's full of the rest of the plants that never come in!), I guess I could have built a plywood blade, but still would not have much for a handle.

 

What does it take to "qualify"?

 

My wife just had cataract surgery and the fancy lense.

I'm still working, great insurance, but my insurance doesn't cover cosmetic surgery! wtf? Lasic is covered (lens correction) but since Medicaid doesn't cover cat, neither does my insurance. $7000 for the left eye. The right eye in two weeks, but simple lense so much cheaper. My wife commented the first time she hasn't had hallows at night. So worth it.

I just need to keep working! I'm hoping to retire someday, but need the health insurance and I'll keep working as long as I can.

[EDIT: My wife fessed up getting a fancy lens, basic was covered. It's been one of those weeks.]

 

I had cataract surgery on my left eye a couple years ago. Currently 20/20 vision. I do need glasses for close up/reading. But don’t need prescription just over the counter reading glasses. I’ve got cheap over the counter reading glasses stashed all over the place, in my vehicles, boat, garage , everywhere. Medicare definitely covers cataract surgery. I got the basic lens but Medicare and my supplemental insurance paid 100% of total costs. I didn’t want the other speciality lens for various reasons or I would have just paid extra for them. It’s all easy peasy. The biggest hassle is all the drops you have to put in your eyes for 3 or 4 weeks after the surgery.

 

I don't qualify for the fancy lenses because my pressures put me into the glaucoma category and that disqualifies me. I would have been happy to pay the extra amount for them that is not covered by insurance. I sure don't see how cataract surgery is "cosmetic"! The fancy lenses, I guess I could see that. But getting to see properly again seems to me to be pretty basic.

Going off to look up what to expect in terms of recovery. I've been taking care of my mom so I need to know when I will be able to drive, what it's like with one eye done and the other not done, that kind of stuff.

 

Kurt, my son and family are in San Antonio and sent me a video of 4" of snow in their yard! He's been very fortunate to not have lost power yet. Folks all over that area have been without power for days, now have frozen pipes in their homes on top of everything else. Pretty grim.

Keep your solar panel clearing rig light. PVC pipe maybe? Cut one piece in half lengthwise to act as a "plow" and glue a long enough handle onto it. Just an idea. Good luck!

 

I've got a SIL that had lenses put in and she loves them. I agree that what insurance and medicare considers cosmetic is crazy. We've lived our entire lives having to pay for vision correction and people that have other infirmities get their problems addressed as though they deserve it. About the only justification I get when I question it is, "Oh, we just don't do it like that.", so it appears "custom" is the only reason.

 

You need some vents in the roof you can open or shut under the panels so the escaping heat will melt the snow.

 

Thanks! And yeah, close to 4 million Texans with no power or heat really sucks, and I hope someone got 'splaining to do!

If I'd had any more resource room to experiment with, I probably would have. I got some PVC sticks on the side (from another story), but with freezing rain tonight, and hopefully a thaw on Wed, I am going with Mr. Sun to finish the job. OH, do we have another storm THURSDAY TOO?

 

We supposedly have one coming here then too! But then the last one was supposed to be an ice nightmare and turned out to be just rain, so I guess we'll wait and see.

 

Probably already know it. But before thawing frozen pipes open the faucets to relieve pressure inside the pipe. Hair dryer works slower but better than a heat gun for not bursting pipes.
If you have copper well lines from the well head to the house that are frozen and under ground you can hook a welder up to the line and thaw it out.

 

Remember, as our power suppliers say, "It doesn't DO that here!"

 

I can answer that question: do both of them whether they say you need both or not. I’ve had both done, was farsighted, wore trifocals. Now only dime store reading glasses. My wife had only one eye done. They said her other eye wasn’t bad enough to do. Well, she’s too old and has other complications now, so only one eye for her. She now has double vision, and colors appear different between the two. Only one eye done means reading glasses don’t work well for her. I won’t let her drive because there are twice as many cars to avoid and twice as many white lines to stay within. Bite the bullet. Pay the difference, your eyes are arguably the most important of your five senses.

 

Dave you need to talk to your doctor about all this. I was driving 2 days after surgery. But my cataract eye was after surgery 20/20 and my other non cataract eye was 20/25. My wife had one eye done and a month later the other eye done. She didn’t feel comfortable driving until the second eye was done. My next door neighbor had one eye done and he was oth driving the next day. Got his other eye done 6 weeks later. Everyone is different. Some doctors will but most doctors won’t do both eyes at the same time. Depends on the doc.
I may be wrong but I think Medicare doesn’t pay for the “fancy” lens not because they are cosmetic but because they are not medically necessary. It’s the same as you have a choice to have the doctor do the surgery the old fashioned traditional way by hand or do it with a laser. Medicare won’t pay for the laser cataract surgery because it isn’t medically necessary. I paid an extra $1200 to do it with a laser as did my wife.