Day 25 - Monday, December 23 - 3rd Dentist

 This morning was Kathy's appointment with a 3rd dentist. When I was a kid I can remember having a terrible tooth ache, on a weekend. The dentists office was in part of his home. Dad took me. The dentist pulled the tooth and we went home. By the way, you can't just go straight to the 3rd dentist. He won't see you without  a referral. 

We arrived a few minutes early for her 10AM appointment. The 2nd dentist had not given her the referral paperwork so the receptionist had to call and confirm that a set would be sent over. (We paid for everything. Kathy had told them that she didn't think our Medicare Advantage plan would cover much of the cost and that we would fight with them. Why was a referral even necessary?) Kathy went back by 10:15. Around 11:30 a guy came out to get me and I thought, "Wow, done already." WRONG! They had not even started. He called me to the back to show me how to fold a square of gauze and stick it in Kathy's mouth. It took maybe another hour before she was ready to leave.

I'm still working on getting a set of tires. I really want to buy a set from a nationwide company, so that when I have a problem I can go to someone who bears some level of responsibility to resolve the issue. How did Sears/Wards management destroy those companies. I went to Walmart, IT WAS A ZOO! The wait was ridiculous. The lady at the counter looked TIRED. When I got up to her I asked if they had a set of a specific tire in stock. She checked the computer and said they were supposed to have 4, but she said she didn't believe the computer. She was gone for maybe 5 minutes and came back to tell me that she could only find 3 tires. I thanked her and asked how soon they could get another one. She suggested that another Walmart, only 5 miles away, might have them. She called and found that they had 12 of them. She was very nice. I may go to the other store tomorrow morning, or I may wait until after Christmas.

It was cloudy and very windy today, with a high in the low 80's.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you an yours. He has blessed me.

Day 24 - Sunday, December 22 - Cowboy Church Day

Today I got to go to the Cowboy Church of the Valley for the first time this trip. Kathy was looking forward to going but her bad tooth caused her to stay home.

https://www.westernoutreach.org/index.html

If we go the back way to church we go by a grapefruit orchard. Driving by makes you want to stop and grab a few grapefruit, even if its picking up the ones on the ground. Usually by now we have been to the Don Wes flea market and have a $4 bag of fresh grapefruit in the refrigerator. 

Pastor Chris discussed the meaning of the three gifts the "Wise Men" gave to Jesus. Below is a photo of folks leaving after the service, probably a quarter of the folks had already left.

If you are interested you can find more pictures of the church facility at:

https://bertdsblog.blogspot.com/2023/12/day-21-sunday-december-24-cowboy-church.html

https://bertdsblog.blogspot.com/2024/02/day-67-wednesday-february-8-work-day.html

Today was a special day, about an hour after the service ended area kids competed in the arena across the road. Not all the kids attend the church. Age brackets for each of the events was : 6 and under, 7-10, 11-14 & 15-18. There were 2 kids in the 6 & under, 7 in the 7-10 bracket, 5 in the 11-14 bracket and 4 in the 15-18 bracket.

In the first competition riders had to weave their horses through the poles. If a pole was knocked over the rider incurred a 5 second penalty. If the rider didn't follow the correct weaving pattern they were disqualified.

One of the Pastor's daughters, in the 15-18 bracket, is in the photo below. She rode 2 different horses in each of the competitions.

This little girl was in the 6 and under bracket. I didn't get a picture of her and her Dad during the Poles event. The 2nd event was barrel racing. There are 3 barrels and the rider must go around all three in a specific pattern. Dad ran while leading her horse through the competitions. He did great. I think his time beat the times of those in the 7-10 age bracket. He looked a little winded after the run through the barrels.

This is the Pastor's son.

Definitely not helicopter parents. This little girl climbed up the pipes that made up the walls of this horse trailer so that she would have a better view. The one on the right, at the end of the trailer, was soon up there beside her.

The last competition used 3 barrels and a table with a big red basket on it. The first barrel, on the left had an apron on it, the one in the  middle had a Christmas stocking on it and the far barrel had a medium size bag on it. The kids had to ride up to the 1st barrel, grab the apron and loop it over their head; then to the 2nd barrel, grab the stocking and put it over their saddle horn. At the 3rd barrel they had to pick up the bag. After they had everything they rode over to the table and put everything in the red basket. I was impressed by their riding skills, especially one of the girls. Her horse shied violently when the wind made the apron flutter. She sat like she was glued to the saddle.

Back home we watched a little of a football game then Kathy went over and worked on a puzzle for a couple of hours. I did a 4 mile bike ride around the campground.

It was cloudy all day. The high temperature was in the low 70's. At 10PM its a humid (80%) 66 degrees.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

Day 23 - Saturday, December 21 - Tire Shopping

 I spent 4-5 hours online today, tire shopping. When we started driving the Flex around after arriving it felt like one of the tires had a bump on it. When I washed the car I happened to see what looked like a bad spot in one of the front tires. Today I took the time to do some tire shopping.

We like the Flex but it has been HARD on tires. It had good tires on it when we bought it. The Flex had about 56,000 miles on it when we bought it. At about 58,000, when in Traverse City, MI, we noticed a low tire. A tire shop told us the tire had a hole in it and since the hole was near the sidewall they wouldn't patch it. Also, because the Flex is an AWD vehicle, you are supposed to replace all 4 tires at the same time, so that they all are the same diameter. The tires are 235/55R19, not a common tire size. We had to wait around a couple of days waiting for tires to be delivered.

About a year later another low tire with the hole near the sidewall. That time I bought a pair and had them put on the same axle. I think that the damage to the tire will mean it has to be replaced. Because of the AWD at least the other tire on the same axle needs to be replace, and since the tires on the other axle now have 15-20,000 miles on them all 4 need to be replaced because of the different diameter issues. The current tires are Nokians (?) something that doesn't seem to be available in stock here.

We are excited about getting back to the Cowboy Church tomorrow. Its about 11 miles from us, but seems further. I was hoping to get the new tires on today. The other issue is that I want to buy tires from a national chain so that if/when we have problems again I can find the same type of tires. Online I was that the local Walmart had a set of Goodyears in stock. About 1 PM I bought them, online, and made an appointment to have them installed at 6 PM today. I arrived at Walmart at 5:30 and let them know I was there. I stood out by the car until a little after 6 before a guy came out to tell me that they didn't have time to put a set of tires on today. I showed him the email confirming my appointment. He did some checking and told me that they didn't even have the 4 tires I had already paid for. AAARGH!! What's that scripture about patience and endurance. More tire shopping next week.

I did get in a 3 mile bike ride between tire ordering and tires not being installed.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

PS. Forgive any typos, nonsense. I'm watching the Tennessee vs Ohio State football game.

Day 22 - Friday, December 20 - More Dentist Stuff

 Kathy had a 9:30 appointment with an Endodontist this morning. The appointment was so that he could tell her whether or not he would do a root canal. He told her the tooth root was cracked and the chances of a successful root canal were slim. The tooth needs to be extracted. She got another prescription for a different antibiotic. After a stop at Walgreens to pick up the antibiotic it was around 1 PM when we got back home. She now has a Monday (I think) appointment with yet a 3rd "dentist" to have the tooth extracted.

In the afternoon I spent an hour arguing with my insurance company questioning the way drug charges were posted against my policy. It's to confusing to even try to describe to anyone who isn't familiar with the Medicare drug "donut hole". After that I spent almost another hour arguing with the insurance companies dental group trying to find out why I had not yet been reimbursed for part of the cost of a Nov 5th dental checkup. 

In the late afternoon I got to go to the Johnny's True Value hardware to pick up some things for projects around the coach. I was in 3 different departments, hardware, paint & lawn & garden. I could have found what I needed in each place but before I did a sales person was there asking if I needed help. 

As I came out of the coach to head to the hardware store this trike was turning the corner onto our street. I gave the guy a thumbs up and he stopped to visit. He was just out looking at other campgrounds where he might want to stay. The trike was powered by a small block V8. I kicked myself for not thinking to take a couple of photos while I was standing next to it.

It was a mostly sunny day here with a high of 72. 

God is good. I pray that he blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

Day 21 - Thursday, December 19 - Stayed Home

 First I need to correct yesterday's post about Kathy's dental appointment. We were at the dentists 2 1/2 hours, as I said, but all they did was diagnose that they thought she needed a root canal. They didn't actually do anything other than X-rays and prescribe an antibiotic. Tomorrow we go see another dentist to see what that one says about a root canal, or possibly an extraction. She was still in a fair amount of pain overnight but the pain level is coming down, slowly. 

I finally washed the car and cleaned out the interior. It really needed a bath after being towed behind the coach for many miles while it was misting rain. I also sprayed the grass around the coach for bugs (ants). I'm paranoid about the ants down here. Last year when I crawled under one of the slides to get into the basement my legs felt like I was crawling over nettles. When I stood back up I realized it wasn't nettles, it was little ants that were biting the heck out of me. https://bertdsblog.blogspot.com/2024/02/day-78-79-monday-tuesday-february-19-20.html

The guy across the street from us was under one of the slides on their trailer, installing a jack. I went over to see if I could lend a hand but he was almost done. He and his wife are recently retired and are exploring living in a 27' travel trailer, with 2 slides. They still have a home in Albuquerque, NM. He is leaning towards selling the home and living in an RV. He gave me the impression that is wife is not ready to give up a sticks and bricks home. They have 4 kids, 1 down here in TX, I think 2 in the Albuquerque area and i don't remember about the 4th one. He Pastored a small church and sold real estate for a living.

I did a 4 mile bike ride tonight, basically 4 laps around all the streets in the campground. I saw license plates from Texas, New Mexico, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Oklahoma & Ontario. One couple with South Dakota plates are recent retirees from Pennsylvania. They are now full timers and chose South Dakota as their domicile. South Dakota has no income tax, its easy to establish residency and there are mail forwarding services.

Today's high was a mostly sunny 73. I wore jeans and a tee shirt while washing the car but when I sat down for a break I soon pulled on a long sleeve flannel shirt. Right now, 7:15, its 64 degrees. Tonights low is forecast to be 59.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

Day 20 - Wednesday, December 18 - Dentist

 A lady here recommended a dentist to Kathy. Kathy called early this morning. She told them that she was in a lot of pain and that made an appointment for 3PM today.

This morning was HUMID, very warm (high 70's) and buggy (mosquitos and gnats). I drug more stuff out from under the coach and out of the back of the Flex. This is about as "homelike" as its going to get. 

In the afternoon we spent over 2 1/2 hours at the dentist. The office must do a lot of work with  kids. This is the room where you enter. Off to the left were two arcade games for older kids. Off to the right was a door marked "Adults Only". It went to a nice waiting room for adults. Kathy ended up getting her third root canal on the same tooth. I think Dr. Lutz in California, MO did the second one. Whoever did it said a second root canal should never be needed. We stopped at Walgreens on our way  home and picked up prescription antibiotic. A nice thing about here is that there is a lot of stuff close. The entire home, dentist, Walgreens, home again loop was only 6 miles, 20 minutes driving time.

A couple of golf cars full of Christmas Carolers went by around 6:30. I can't wrap my head around the fact that Christmas is one week from today. I'm kind of bah humbug when it comes to Christmas. I don't any good excuse. I lose focus that the birth of my Savior is a reason to celebrate and be joyous. I need to do a better job of ignoring the commercialism around me.

Today's high was 83. Weather is entering a cool down. At 8PM its still 74 degrees with 88% humidity, but by 6AM the temperature is supposed to drop to 57. Tomorrow's high is forecast to be a mostly sunny 70.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

Day 19 - Tuesday, December 17 - To McAllen for Hearing Test

 This morning we drove over to McAllen, TX so that I could have my hearing checked and find out options concerning replacing my old Phonak hearing aid that quit working, 33 miles, 40 minutes. The test results indicated my hearing was still about the same as it was during my last test, over 3 years ago. The great news was that they fixed my old hearing aid. The hearing test and repairing my old hearing aid only cost $60. Prices for a new good/better/best hearing aid were $599/$829/1,249. If I wanted to quit using my BAHA device an aid for my deaf ear (actually just a microphone that bluetoothed a signal to my good ear) would double the cost. This was my "co-pay" prince with insurance. As long as my old one continues to work I think I will stick with  it.

After we got back to the coach I adjusted on of the "basement" bay doors, which took me at least an hour.

Just as I was finishing up with the door adjustment my new phone arrived. Doug and Anthony (our son and son-in-law) have a T-Mobile cell plan for veterans, Anthony served in the Air Force. Through their plan T-Mobile offered a free Pixel 9 Pro XL if they added a new line. They added me and I got the new phone. I wanted to keep my old number, by "porting" my number from my old carrier. I went to a local T-Mobile store and they did all the work. My old carrier gave the T-Mobile guy the code to allow porting the number but when he tried using it the old carrier just seemed to ignore the request. After over an hour he got someone higher up the T-Mobile food chain on a 3 way call with my old carrier and that person got some results.

Kathy suffered from a toothache during the night and on and off all day. She did ride over to McAllen with me but her tooth was acting up and we didn't stop for lunch. Once back home it calmed down enough that she went over and spent a couple of more hours sorting through old puzzles, determining which ones to throw away. She asked some folks to recommend a local dentist but hasn't made an appointment yet.

The day seemed to go by so fast, and I got so little accomplished. Today's high was a comfortable 81 degrees. The day was mostly cloudy.

God is good. I pray that He bless you  and yours. He has blessed me.