Your Neck of the Woods part 13 BRrrrrrrrrr!

wow Jan!!

Oh have fun!!! Bet you could just eat him up.

We woke up early, Mark went off to the gym and his weekly job, I'm enjoying laying in bed with Lappie the laptop, Addy the dog, Chester the lap cat, coffee at my elbow and listening to that chilly rain!
Which I'll have to go out in later to go to pm work.

Sounds like a wonderful morning Sally.

Lappie, I love that it has a name!!!!

Here he is

a DOR able!!!!!

He sure is!

I made another stepping stone, started it yesterday and then finished it up this morning. It's a bit of an odd shape approx 10 X 12. Going to donate this one to the Garden Club for their Fund Raiser. It a very nice affair, Holiday Luncheon with a silent auction and a Green's sale, Saturday I will be helping put together the Green's arrangements that we will sell. Hope someone bids on this. Last year I donated one of my plate glass flowers and no one bid on it. They thought that it just wasn't well displayed and people may not of noticed what it was but I will really wonder about my handy work if no one buys this one either. LOL

Man, that looks so nice, I'd feel bad stepping on it!

I love it, Holly, especially the shape!!!!!

Thanks guys.

Cold here, too!. I don't go out of the house much because I am on blood thinners, but when I do, I bundle up. Right now Bobbin has bronchitis and I am taking care of him & trying to catch up on my rest since I am usually burnt out this time of the year. One craft show left and then we can rest. Thank heavens for dish network & our new Sony 40" HD Tv.

Calling for freezing rain in our area Buttoneer, stay inside you have had enough falls for this year.

So here is the other thing I have been working on. It's one of the leaves that Ric and I did last year. Just got around to painting this one. It is a ground level bird bath with a print of a castor bean leaf in it. Approx 22 X 19 and the water depth will be 2 - 3 inches. I am also donating this to the silent auction

Seq, I'd be afraid to step on it, too!

Ric and Holly, your leaf imprints are just the best!

That's a terrific birdbath - perfect size and depth, and beautiful too.

Nice work Holly!

I really like that one! Very nice Holly.

Holly--

I have been wanting to ask this since we all made the stepping stones.

Could the round and square stepping/patio stones sold at the HD
be used to make the kinds you do?
How would those differ from the ones you Guys pour?

They are about 1-1/2" thick and come in concrete gray and red.

Gita

I think you could use them Gita, I couldn't see a reason that you couldn't. I'm not sure if they are treated in anyway that would keep the grouting cement from adhering but I doubt that would be an issue. I just haven't tried it.

Gita, as long as they don't have too smooth of a finish they should work fine. I try to keep mine a little thinner because of the weight. The grout adheres better to "green" concrete, less than 3 months old. I also try to wet mine 1-2 times a day as they cure in a semi-shaded place to make them harder.

L O V E it, Holly!!!!!!

Good news is I'll have more money for gardening.
Bad news is, I am going to full time to get it (Library) so less time to garden.

Sort of. Truth is I've been going 'somewhere' on 5 days most weeks with my various part time jobs already this fall, even added some Sunday half days. Starting January I will have a set schedule five days a week, few more hours, less complications and noticeable improvement in pay and bene's.

The last straw was a visit to the Maryland Health Exchange to replace our private insurance that will be dropped Dec 31. Our family of five people, with virtually no current health issues, would pay 1000 $ a month premium for a bronze (not the top tier silver or gold or titanium or whatever) plan with a $12,000 deductible. I about fell out of my chair. Bronze plan only pays 60% of costs.

Thanks, Ric and Holly for the information.
I agree--the commercial pavers are way to heavy and cured.
NOT that I plan to do any more stepping stones....love the one i did!

Sally--

I feel for you! Medical insurance is so expensive--and with your 3 kids yet!
I don't know how you all, Family people, do it?????

Getting old has ONE advantage--you can go on Medicare.
Sure--the supplemental is a private insurer--and I pay around $250/month for it .
I think there is a $50 deductible.
Medicare D--for your RX can be a really great deal. You can change these plans
every year during the enrollment period--if you like. Oh, sure--these things all cost
and have a monthly premium--but it does not compare to what all this would cost if
I was younger.

As an example--the Medicare-D (Rx) plan I have now the whole last year--
and will continue--has a very reasonable monthly premium ($36/mo.) and NO annual
deductable--and I get ALL my generics FREE!!! ALL my meds ARE generics...so!
This plan is called "Well Care health plan".
I think the enrollment period is about over now....Dec. 7. Maybe a few days to go--

Sometimes I have to be grateful to be old.....Gita

Glad there will be less complications work wise, Sally. Boo for less garden time.

Having a ladies' dessert fellowship tonight. Will find out who our secret sisters are. The one I had this year is a junior in high school. A REAL sweet girl who never should have lived. She was born with a major heart defect. Surgery within days of birth and several others through the years. She is a real testimony of God's grace and watchcare.

Do your benefits include health insurance, Sally?

If not, you might check out the rates for individual plans for each of your kids, or college insurance plans if those are options.
Things have changed, I'm sure, but about 4 years ago we checked out Blue Cross Blue Shield rates for one of our daughters before the law changed so that children under 26 could stay on family plans. The rates were as low as $180/month for her with low deductibles.

Ouch Sally, I have talked to a few people that have the same type of horror stories about their health coverage and a few who only work to provide or pay for the health insurance. Just so thankful for our good/cheap policy, I keep wondering how it will change when we are 65 and must go on Medicare.

Holly--

It will be easier....The Medicare premium is auto-deducted from your SS
you will receive, Of course--your SS payouts ARE taxable as income.

But--you will need to get a supplemental--which is with a private Insurance Co.
Many Folks have it with AARP.
I used to have it wit BCBS--but their monthly premium kept going up and up,
($300+) so I changed it. Now I am with "Mutual of Omaha". You can change it
every year if you wish during the enrollment period.

You will get so much literature and "junk mail "when you get close to 65 it will make you sick.
Same with Medicare. DO read it.

How far off are you? Ric? Gita

Wow Sally, that is abysmal. It's a good thing that all the people with their hands out are getting it for free though...

Gee Gita, Holly's the old one.LOL I was 62 in Aug. I have 3 more years till I have to deal with that. I'll probably check with my uncle who is also ret. civil ser. and has great coverage. We currently have civil ser. Blue which isn't too bad, but his medicare and supplement pay more with less deductible. I think our deductible is high.

I got 2 bags of mulch down before it started raining this morning, and it hasn't stopped yet.
Fortunately, the rain coincided with something that only happens approximately every 2 years: I felt motivated to tackle the basement storage area, where stuff no one has touched in 15 years sits forever unless I'm in one of those rare moods where I feel like throwing 1/4 of the junk out and giving 1/4 away.

I'm really glad it's supposed to be sunny tomorrow, though!

please send some of that motivation my way!!!!!!!!

Oh how I wish I had some to spare.....

When I picked something up from the floor in the finished half of my basement yesterday, I found a live woolly bear caterpillar! I can't imagine how it got in there. I took it outside and put it in what I hope was a great spot at the base of a shrub.

This message was edited Dec 6, 2014 10:37 PM

Moved on to: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1382988/