More This ‘n That

The rain left us with some cold air, and that’s finally moved on and left us with sunny skies and warm temperatures, at least during the day.  Nightfall, which is coming along entirely too early now, brings a chill along with it.

I’ve mentioned before that we are very blessed with generally good health, so we don’t have to deal much with medical stuff.  The main exception is my blood test that I need a couple of times a year.  For some reason that always presents a challenge.  I think I’m finally getting to the “nitty gritty” of the problem, it has to do with an insurance code that my doc’s office doesn’t put on my order.  If I can get them to add that little, but evidently important number, I shouldn’t have to make 2 trips to each facility every time I need to get my tests done.  This time I found a local hospital about 10 minutes from the Plantation that could do the lab work, and took my order in last Friday so they could look at it and call my doc’s office if needed.  Which they did.  Only problem was, the doc’s office didn’t return their call, so when I went back in at 6:00 (yes, that’s a.m.) yesterday morning, they didn’t have the code.  They took an educated guess and got my blood anyway.  I have to fast for 12 hours prior to the test, and if you know me at all, you know I don’t function well until I’ve had my coffee with milk and sweetener, therefore, if I can’t just go get the blood drawn and get on with the coffee,  I get just a bit cranky about the whole thing.  Sometimes I use a commercial lab, but I found the people at this hospital to be far more pleasant than I typically find in a lab.  I think the worst experience I had was in California last fall, where I needed to have a local doctor duplicate my Colorado doctor’s orders before I could get the tests done.  That was expensive for us, since we have a very high deductible on our insurance. 

Other than getting that pesky blood test handled, we’ve been having a little fun.  On Sunday morning, we got word from Sandy that Kathy and Chuck were arriving that day, and would we like to join them for a travel-day dinner.  Sandy provided the food (we did contribute a pan of Clayton’s Beans) and we gathered at their place, along with Judy and Darrell, for a wonderful meal.

Here are Chuck, John, Darrell, and Sandy

watching Kathy and Judy fill their plates with some of the brats, burgers and salads that Sandy provided:

As always, there was a lot of laughter as we all swapped stories and enjoyed a meal together.  Kathy and Chuck are parked in the space next to Sandy and John, right behind us.

Yesterday morning, as soon as I got done with the blood test, I went to line dancing.  Every time I go, there are more people in the class, the park is definitely filling up.  We learn at least one or more new dances each time, so it stays challenging for me.

We recently found out there has been an additional recall on Norcold RV refrigerators.  When we checked ours with Norcold, we found out that yes, ours is on the list.  Jim called around and found a mobile RV service that will install the necessary part.  We’re also having some problems with our furnace, so he called the same mobile service to have them take a look at the furnace as well.  The tech arrived yesterday afternoon and got part of our furnace problem solved.  We need a part ordered, so later in the week, he will be back with both the part for the furnace and the refrigerator.  Thank goodness for mobile RV services!  We’ve found them to be very handy!

Today we decided to get out and combine a little sightseeing with some necessary shopping.  We went over to Meaher State Park near Mobile, Alabama. First we enjoyed this flyover (Terry, we thought of you when we saw these pelicans):

Here’s another view – they flew right over us:

We noticed this sign posted in a couple of different places:

As we walked around the boardwalk at the park,

we spotted this guy taking in some sun:

And we managed to avoid feeding or harassing him!

After our park adventure, we went to Spanish Fort to visit Best Buy for a camera filter, then to Petsmart and Sam’s Club for some pet and people food. 

We got back home and got our goodies put away before picking up Judy and Darrell for a dinner out at Big Daddy’s, a local seafood grill.  We had a great time getting in a visit with them, and the food was excellent!

Life is good – we are savoring every day and hope you are too!