Focal Points and I~Oh~Dots...

CaseyFace, 10/21/09- Ready to leave the hospital...
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Good Morning All;
And to thank you for your kind words from the last few days... I'm alright today.

As you know, Casey was twice to the hospital on Monday. 
Plus, once last weekend too. She has a hard spot that seemingly comes and goes where her pancreas pain once was.  It gives her much pain and nausea.

Suffice to say that there aren't too many doctors around here that even want to guess at this point.

This note I had sent to Kelli yesterday pretty much tells all about Casey and I...

Dearest Sick Kelli;
Should you be at work?
Or are you just getting everyone there to feel as lousy as you do?

Since I had been up since 12:30 the day before I came home as they wheeled her back to have her Cat Scan.  I slept til almost 11:30, after having gone to sleep at 2:30. Too wired from the day at hand...

Casey called a little after 1 AM- Greg and her were once again heading home.

Dr Sutherland's assistant emailed me earlier- Casey will go to Minnesota next week. Will have to keep an eye on the forecast too.

About the soup. (Tim is weird. I didn't like it at all).
I dropped some off at Randy's too. As I set it on the sidewalk, I jumped about 5 feet in the air when he came out of the garage! (He was supposed to get it when he woke up, being so sick and all).
But I stayed about 10 feet away. hehehe

*** If I get sick from anywhere, its going to be from these damned hospitals and clinics!
And I am scared;  ~not of being sick, but of fracturing any more of my spine from coughing. They (PM) told me that coughing and sneezing can be responsible for my fractures...

If I am ok come Friday then I'll be good to go from yesterday. (Incubation period being 1-4 days).

Let's see... Where was I? hehehe

A week ago, Casey had this rude ("know-it-all"), ER doctor.
You already know the kind; ~with NO bedside manners at all 

She'd asked Casey, "Do you want something to be wrong?"
Now what the hell kind of question is THAT?
(No, you idiot, she wants only to know what IS wrong)!
no I did not say it- (I should have). It will be onr of the regrets I hold when I meet my Maker.

When we went in on Monday (the 1st time), it was a long wait to see anyone. They were 40 patients behind at 4AM, but were only 10 behind when we got there.
Needless to say, even waiting an hour was good work on their part.

The PA (Physician Assistant), came in. A very, very, nice gal. To ask what Casey was normally given and at the very least to order something for Casey's pain and nausea.
She listened closely, asking and answering- She was also very straightforward about their ignorance of the procedures Casey has been through. Very kind. Very honest.  Very rare, unfortunately.
Casey even told her that she was much nicer than how she had been treated that previous weekend.

Casey's bloodwork came back OK.  She was given more zofran for her nausea and we got back here a little after 4.

An hour later, she was vomiting all over again...

Knowing that Minneapolis has always been more than helpful, I told Casey to try to call there.
She did, between bouts of nausea, and spoke to the transplant surgeon on call.
He ordered Casey to go right back to the hospital for more appropriate treatment of her pain and nausea.   -He also called to St. Mary's In Green Bay and ordered a Cat Scan for her. (They were unwilling to do this earlier; not sure of it is costs, or out of any medical concern for Casey).

When we returned, as luck would have it, she got the same raunchy doctor that she'd had a week ago.   The Dr. (and I use the term lightly), came in.

The first thing Dr. Zero wanted to know was what Casey had said about her earlier.  Hmm...  How's that for treating an obviously sick patient?

When no answer was forthcoming, she went on to say that she had heard from Minnesota, but wanted us to know that "all the doctors in the world could call, but it wasn't going to change her own course of treatment." 
(I promise this condescending bitch will be reported)!  ..."Grrrr" ...

She ordered Toradol (which is one or two steps up from ibuprofen, Advil).  Yeah, like that's going to help...
After Caseys bloodwork came back, Dr. Z. very begrudgingly ordered a Cat Scan.

My email to Dr. Sutherland was answered yesterday- Casey will be seeing him next week. Seems like a long wait, but he will only be in Mpls that one day...

We will be taking the reports from the hospital, the scans and the xray to Minnesota- Also the copies of her visits to the clinic.

So how would YOU treat this young lady with the brave face?
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Lord only knows she's seen her share of clinic ceilings with their random focal points.
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She has peed in too many cups...
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And still, she braves it out as she waits for answers...
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.Wanting to entertain her, I told her that Punk was wondering why Casey's seat was empty for so long?
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.But I didn't offer toradol... hehehe
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I told her it was warm~ish outside; and to get better so she could go out and enjoy it!
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I set the camera down while I blew up a medical glove....
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Then I huffed and I puffed, and I blew it up even bigger!.
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Didn't make her better, so I did the Macarena for her....
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OK, so I can't do the Macarena anymore.
But I would have if I could have.
And it's suppose to be the thought that counts anyway-.

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Still didn't work...

The other doctor came in and even joked around about me getting a new camera, (which is not true by the way)...
I am not that ugly..
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Nor was he-

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Even Greg was there to add levity and love..
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"Smile, Honey!"
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But the real smiles came when it was time to go home.
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I'd better close for now-

Trash day today. I have decided that my entire house will have to go. Getting it to fit into the dumpster is the problem.   hehehe    

Love to all.

XOXO
Me

Guardian Insurance Co. gets rid of the "dogs"

http://www.pnhp.org/news/2009/october/guardian_gets_rid_of.php
Insurer ends health program rather than pay out big
By William Ehart

Ian Pearl has fought for his life every day of his 37 years. Confined to a wheelchair and hooked to a breathing tube, the muscular dystrophy victim refuses to give up.

But his insurance company already has.

Legally barred from discriminating against individuals who submit large claims, the New York-based insurer simply canceled lines of coverage altogether in entire states to avoid paying high-cost claims like Mr. Pearl’s.

In an e-mail, one Guardian Life Insurance Co. executive called high-cost patients such as Mr. Pearl “dogs” that the company could “get rid of.”

“The insurance companies are cheating in order to have obscene profits,” (Mr. Pearl’s father) said.

Guardian, a 150-year-old mutual company, reported profits of $437 million last year, a 50 percent increase over $292 million in 2007. It paid dividends of $723 million to policyholders and had $4.3 billion in capital reserves, according to its annual report. The company’s investment income totaled $1.5 billion that year, a small increase from the year earlier.

Original Article found here: http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/14/ny-insurance-company-tries-to-rid-itself-of-high-c/



Comment:
By Don McCanne, MD (<----- Notice this man is a doctor)...

Although the individual private insurance market is infamous for discriminating against individuals with a potential for high health care costs, regulations largely prohibit group plans from singling out individuals for exclusion.

When private group plans prove to be unprofitable, they can often legally skirt the regulations by shutting down the entire plan or by withdrawing from unprofitable markets, often leaving the previously insured with very difficult or near-impossible choices. No matter how well regulated, the current proposed insurance exchanges cannot prevent an insurer that is failing in a market from shutting down. Even with guaranteed issue, other insurers would also shun unprofitable markets and unprofitable plans.

This problem is much more common than many realize. Look at the Medicare Advantage programs. This year many have declined to submit bids for renewal and will withdraw from unprofitable markets. Even this highly regulated option to Medicare can abandon patients, yet Medicare can’t. This is one more important reason why we should question the wisdom of Congress in insisting that reform be based on a market of private plans instead of an improved Medicare program for all of us.

Ian Pearl’s story has a couple of other important lessons for those supporting a public option as part of the reform package. Although private plans must always protect their business interests above the interests of the patients, a public option would have a mission requiring it to place patients first. The public option would be a victim of adverse selection since it would have to function as the safety net. Attempts to adjust risk would drive private insurers out of the exchange, leaving high-cost individuals with only very expensive options.

What about private co-ops instead, owned by the beneficiaries? That would prevent insurers from “cheating in order to have obscene profits,” as Mr. Pearl Sr said. Oops. Look at the profit statement of Guardian. It is a mutual company, and the profits are returned to the policyholders as dividends. That is essentially what a co-op is! Yet that did not prevent Guardian from jerking the rug out from under Ian Pearl. Private plans with their own segregated risk pools will always use any means legal (and sometimes illegal) to protect their reserves from being spent on health care.

Creating a public option and then throwing it into the amoral, dysfunctional private insurance marketplace to have it compete on the same perverse terms as the private insurers is a very sick solution for our health care crisis.

Single payer anyone?


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Ian Pearls own response:
By Ian Pearl
Posted: October 19, 2009 02:14 PM

QUOTED:
I am not a "dog." That's what health insurance executives called me because I have a disease. I'm also not a "trainwreck," another term they used for members like me.

Soon after I was born in 1972, I was diagnosed with..." (Read more at):
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ian-pearl/i-am-not-a-dog_b_326137.html





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Insurance Companies Suck.

If anyone has a good, charitable, or, in any way decent, story to tell about a Health Insurance company and their benefits, please link below and let me hear of it.

XOXO
Anne


Please feel free to share this article in its entirety...

What's YOUR Barometer?

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I took this picture (along with others), on the way back from the hospital last night, out the side window.
Thought it turned out pretty cool.






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Short, sweet, and to the point tonight...

I always know when I have a fever- My teeth hurt. (No, really they do). And all my joints hurt too... Right down to my pinkie toe. My teeth hurt tonight- as do my toes... Do you have a way to know a fever without a thermometer?

I was going to blog--> (wuzzgonna), hehehe, but after wrestling with Flicker on here, I think I will just go and relax for a while.

Casey is OK-
Her and Greg were just here to collect her car; (with respect to them, and to the way I feel I did not allow either of them to come in)!    I think that broke Punkies heart. 

Took Punk out a few hours ago, and played a bit. Tired now. (So is she).

Will write more tomorrow.  Be good. Have a 'wunnaful' night.
My love to all.

XOXO,
Me

Long Day Ahead...

They are dropping like flies...
Chicken soup is on the stove...

Casey called. I will be bringing her to the hospital as soon as she gets here. She is in pain and it is now extending to her right rib cage. She left class already- A call in to Dr. Sutherland.

Kelli sick. Flu.
Randy almost a definite H1N1.

Prayers anyone?

Love to all.

XOXO
Me

CDC H1N1 Flu Situation Update

http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/update.htm
Key Flu Indicators
October 16, 2009, 7:30 PM

Each week CDC analyzes information about influenza disease activity in the United States and publishes findings of key flu indicators in a report called FluView.
During the week of October 4-10, 2009, a review of the key indicators found that influenza activity CONTINUED TO INCREASE in the United States from the previous week.

Below is a summary of the most recent key indicators:



* Visits to doctors for influenza-like illness (ILI) continued to increase in the United States, and overall, are higher than what is expected for this time of the year. ILI activity now is equal to or higher than what is seen at the peak of many regular flu seasons.


* Total influenza hospitalization rates for laboratory-confirmed flu are climbing and are higher than expected for this time of year.


* The proportion of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza (P&I) based on the 122 Cities Report has increased and exceeds what is normally expected at this time of year. In addition, 11 flu-related pediatric deaths were reported this week; 10 of these deaths were confirmed 2009 H1N1, and one was influenza A virus, but unsubtyped. Since April 2009, there have been 86 confirmed pediatric 2009 H1N1 deaths; 39 of these have been reported to CDC since August 30, 2009.


* Fourty-one states are reporting widespread influenza activity at this time. They are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. This many reports of widespread activity are unprecedented during seasonal flu.


* Almost all of the influenza viruses identified so far are 2009 H1N1 influenza A viruses. These viruses remain similar to the virus chosen for the 2009 H1N1 vaccine, and remain susceptible to the antiviral drugs oseltamivir and zanamivir with rare exception.

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Also from the CDC: Novel H1N1 Flu: Facts and Figures
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/surveillanceqa.htm

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# The proportion of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza (P&I) based on the 122 Cities Report has increased and exceeds what is normally expected at this time of year. In addition, 11 flu-related pediatric deaths were reported this week; 10 of these deaths were confirmed 2009 H1N1, and one was influenza A virus, but unsubtyped. Since April 2009, there have been 86 confirmed pediatric 2009 H1N1 deaths; 39 of these have been reported to CDC since August 30, 2009.

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From FLUVIEW at CDC
2009-2010 Influenza Season Week 40 ending October 10, 2009
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/

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From Channel 11's (WLUK), Good Day Wisconsin program, the doctor had this to say yesterday,

"Some people are saying that they are afraid to get the h1n1 shot- They think this is a new vaccine of some kind. It's really NOT. It's a new strain of vaccine against a new type of flu. But the vaccine itself has been out there for years and years.
"I would be much much more afraid of catching the flu than of the vaccine."
In his closing he said this- "It is imperative to get the vaccine."
end quote

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One of our school districts high schools closed down this past week.
Had we had our shots already, this would never have had to happen!
This is only the first...

I have MY appointment scheduled. Do you?

XOXO
Anne

1955 A.D. (I remember penny candy).

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

Comments made in the year 1955! (That's only 54 years ago!)



'I'll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, it's going to be impossible to buy a week's groceries for $20.00.



'Have you seen the new cars coming out next year? It won't be long before $2,000.00 will only buy a used one.



'If cigarettes keep going up in price, I'm going to quit. A quarter a pack is ridiculous.



'Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging a dime just to mail a letter!.



'If they raise the minimum wage to $1.00, nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store.



'When I first started driving, who would have thought gas would someday cost 29 cents a gallon. Guess we'd be better off leaving the car in the garage.



'I'm afraid to send my kids to the movies any more. Ever since they let Clark Gable get by with saying DAMN in GONE WITH THE WIND, it seems every new movie has either HELL or DAMN in it.



'I read the other day where some scientist thinks it's possible to put a man on the moon by the end of the century. They even have some fellows they call astronauts preparing for it down in Texas .



'Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract for $75,000 a year just to play ball? It wouldn't surprise me if someday they'll be making more than the President..



'I never thought I'd see the day all our kitchen appliances would be electric. They are even making electric typewriters now.



'It's too bad things are so tough nowadays. I see where a few married women are having to work to make ends meet.



'It won't be long before young couples are going to have to hire someone to watch their kids so they can both work.



'I'm afraid the Volkswagen car is going to open the door to a whole lot of foreign business.



'Thank goodness I won't live to see the day when the Government takes half our income in taxes. I sometimes wonder if we are electing the best people to congress.



'The drive-in restaurant is convenient in nice weather, but I seriously doubt they will ever catch on.



'There is no sense going to Lincoln or Omaha anymore for a weekend, it costs nearly $15.00 a night to stay in a hotel.



'No one can afford to be sick anymore, at $35.00 a day in the hospital it's too rich for my blood.'



'If they think I'll pay 50 cents for a hair cut, forget it.'

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I have a sister born in 1955
(No, I wasn't "invented" yet).


XOXO
Me

Mama Milly, Breezie, May and Casey

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Miss Milly, with a pilfered Dum~Dum

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Miss Mama Milly being silly!
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Good Morning All;
I have been putting off writing; wrestling with my back, then my head. (They've won).
And life goes on...

I have a ton of catching up to do- Especially pictures that have grown obsolete since Autumn, and her chilly temps are here. 
Will get to those nearly outgrown first...

Back in early September Miss Milly was finally brought down to her place by the river.
Punk, and Casey (aka "Where's Waldo" in these pictures), went down- 
I only went part way-

Down to the massive grapevine

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It is huge!!!

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Casey making her way to Mama Milly's hideout...
Punk watching.
And still seeing a bit of blue in the river...

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The sprinkling of Miss Milly...

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Coming back up...
A bit of Mama Milly's ashes remaining for in her kennel.

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We then headed over to Kelli's to see Miss May and The Breeze.
Such a beautiful day for September, and Casey felt like playing...

Out to the fields... and takes off like a jack-rabbit.
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Miss May took the bait...
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And caught up with Casey very shortly!

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What did Breezie think?!?

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hehehe

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Casey by the barn...

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Punk, in the mirror-
peeking out the window as we got back home.

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Please know that unless they are a few crayons short, people dress more accordingly now.  As I type it is 47°.  We are to be more "seasonal" tomorrow, with highs in the mid-upper 50's.
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even those temps won't last too long.

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But oh there is to be sunshine too! We haven't seen that for quite a while.

I'd better close for now- My dryer keeps buzzing!
Will catch y'all up on this past week a bit later.

Love to all!

XOXO
Me

Have to go lie down a while- My head is threatening to kill me. XOXO, Me

Why the dickens do I keep getting the hiccups?!? ~ I HATE the hiccups (having them or listening to them). I have always hated them. ~Make them go away! I have had them about 20 times in the last three days...

Spoilsports and Oil.

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.♫  Some days are sunshine-
......Some days are stone.   ♫
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Good Afternoon!
I am hoping to finish this in time for Miss Kelli's drive home. I shall try to type fast.  (We all know that won't work).

Kelli comes almost every night to take the pups for a walk. But they don't walk, they run, or jog.
Coco runs about 10 miles- Punk maybe 5- and Miller about 2.  Kelli just keeps both eyes on all dogs, most of the time.


Punk spied me up at the house on their way back and began running home. Coco saw that Punk was running wide open and thought 'ARF' Which meant "what fun!" And they both were up top in record time.

Kelli and Miller brought up the rear...
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An awesome shot...
it would be, sans burn barrel...
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Looking toward the west was pretty cool too! (I do love the colors)!

 

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With our cold weather (unseasonably)-, my little sunflower finally was done in.
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It finally shriveled up yesterday morning-
hanging its sad little head.

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Out walking that night, my neighbors have a few decorations up for Hallows Eve.
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And oh do those lights carry!  Very nice!

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When I had posted this mornings blog,  I was chilled to the bone.  I have warmed up now, cooking a turkey roast (and perfecting my stew from yesterday).

Was reading online. As I read, Miss Punk began to growl. Low. Menacing.

A few seconds later, I heard the "beep beep beep" of a truck backing up...
What a surprise as Olsen's delivered my oil.
(I hadn't even called)!



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Nor had I even ventured to look at the gauge in the basement, being very miserly with the thermostat...
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   ...... Looks just fine now! Thank you Alan!
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Remember this shot?
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All hell has broken loose...
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Mother Nature is a spoilsport...

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It began, almost insidiously at first...
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The lawn between the driveways as it started coming down...
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And what it looks like now...
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Suffice to say that I am not impressed!
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Last week, the migrants helped me get that pool cleaned, dried and stored.

Today they are not having so much fun.
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Methinks they are playing hide and seek with squash!  

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So come inside with me, and peek out the window in the dining room...
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Nasty that...

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Punk is bored, and has taken to pouting...
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She does do that well.
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I'd better close.  I have an appointment tomorrow morning at 7:30 with Dr. Mario- (he's the pain doctor). My back is real bad today- Not sure why, save that it must hate this early snow too.

Hope all is well (and warm), in your little corner of the world.

Love to all

XOXO
Anne