Found the Phone 10-19-24

Retired Life. Sunday.

We were so tired this morning after the campout! And that stupid alarm went off way too early so we could get up in time to go to church. It was hard. But after looking at the below Jesus picture, we both got up and got going.

Now, Frivvy usually, as is typical of dogs his age, sleeps 20 hours per day. He did not do so on the campout. No where near 20 hours. And he was so, so tired. (See the picture below.) And he didn't really even care much about the Jesus picture. sigh..........

Sacrament Meeting. Men's Meeting. I was hoping one of them would walk up and say "hey, here's your phone, we found it on the side of the trail..." But nope. No such luck.

Back home, we ate lunch, took the Sacrament in to Hanna's mom, then took a huge long nap. (All three of us. Me, Hanna, Frivvy.)

In the evening, I BBQed up some pork chops. Lots of leftovers so we can get away without cooking later on one evening.

And now the amazing news. Frankly, the lost cell phone caused a lot of praying. Real whining prayers even. "Please give me back my phone...." After a bit, I started wondering to myself what I would do if I found a phone out in the woods. Locked, I wouldn't be able to get in to even see who it belongs to. So, I would probably try to figure out who I could turn it in to. And then it dawned on me, or I was prompted more like, to call the Beaver Lodge Resort that is there by Camp Baird and ask if per chance someone turned in a lost cell phone. And.............THEY HAVE MY PHONE THERE!!!! Whiney prayers answered.

So, tomorrow, in addition to driving Hanna in to her lung CT, we will also trek all the way to near Camp Baird to get my phone. CDA via Ione/Tiger. The Scenic route. 4 hours out of the way.

Camp Baird pics will be posted soon.

Retired Life. Monday.

After the morning's routine of reading, meditation, etc. plus walking and basketball, we made up sack lunches and drove to Beaver Lodge. The reunion with my cell phone was sweet! And I missed nothing important.

Drove to CDA from there where Hanna got her Lung CT scan. Dinner at Elmer's, then back home.

Real exciting day. The drive of the Pend Oreille River was amazing. Lots of colors.

And here, have a bunch of pictures of the campout at Camp Baird this past weekend.

Retired Life. Tuesday.

Grocery day. Plan week, create scrumptious menus, make up grocery shopping list, drive to the Casino at Worley, eat salads, drive to Plummer, take Frivvy for a walk on the Trail of the CDA, buy the groceries, drive home, unload the truck, put away the groceries. Then take the nap.

In the evening, we watched a prerecorded football game. WSU v Fresno. Go Cougs!

And a couple of comments as things relate to the entire "lost my phone" story....

Truth is, if I found someone's cell phone on the side of the trail while I was near the shooting range and there was no way to figure out who it belonged to, it would likely become a target. Just what does a Samsung Galaxy S24 look like after it has been shot at least a dozen times by a semiautomatic .22?

And the whole ordeal is proof that it was indeed time to retire. "Sorry Mr. & Mrs. Client. I have no idea where your tax return is. I put it on the back bumper of my truck and accidentally drove off with it there. I'm sure it will show up somewhere though." I think we retired just in time!!

Finally, they had Pork Hocks on the freezer shelf at the store today. I had to not only take a picture of them, but also had to get on my newly-found phone and google what that is. Apparently it is the bone that attaches a pig's foot to it's leg. An ankle bone I guess. And it appears they use it to make soup. The things you learn when you are retired and have time to look at stuff and google it.

Retired Life. Wednesday.

We didn't go anywhere today. Miraculous! And it actually felt like we were retired!

What did I do:

Slept in. This is an important part of retirement.

Fixed Omelettes for breakfast. (More like brunch).

Played Basketball.

Took Frivvy for a walk.

Read.

Wrote.

Changed out the HVAC filter.

Cleaned the hot tub.

Put away all the camping gear that was still out from the weekend.

Paid bills and did the bookkeeping.

I didn't take any pictures of any of that. So I had AI draw a picture of me cleaning the hot tub. It obviously got my image perfect as you can see. The hot tub is a bit off though.

Retired Life. Thursday.

After a morning of walking, basketball, reading, breakfast, lunch, and all that, we drove into town and worshipped in the temple.

Afterwards, we went over to Luigi & Brooklyn's where they treated us to a nice salmon dinner and we spent time with Baby August.

Visiting our grown kids and grandkids is always a treat and highlight of retirement.

Retired Life. Friday.

Old folks go out to breakfast day. Because we're old. And we can. And we're tired of cooking by this time each week. We went to the Gateway and had omelettes.

Afterwards, we hiked on the trail of the CDAs. Frivvy saw four different dogs, two steers, and some chickens. He was quite happy.

On the way home, we stopped and checked on and fixed four Geocaches that we own.

In the afternoon, I spent a significant amount of time on the phone with JEEP trying to get reimbursed for our expenses from the break down in South Dakota. Give them 30 - 45 days and a check may show up now.

Spent the evening watching a movie. Movie and date night.

Retired Life. Saturday.

I stayed home and worked on the old project list. In the evening, we watched some shows (Lincoln Lawyer is back!!).

Here's the list of exciting things I got to do. (Note that any time one of the various football games got to within 3 minutes of final and was close, I took a break and watched the ending. None of them turned out to be as good as BYU's ending though....)

- Changed the filter on the CPAP.

- Adjusted the timer on the light that beams on our flag, daylight is disappearing fast.

- Changed out the brushes on the Sonicare. (This must make my dentist very happy.)

- Set up an appointment to have Frivvy's nails trimmed.

- Pulled out the electric mobile air compressor and battery jumper from the truck and recharged their batteries. (Be Prepared.)

- Ran an analysis of taking retirement at age 62 and investing it until age 70 vs just taking it at age 70, as recommended by Dave Ramsey. (We'll wait until 70 in our case, but everyone's situation is different, so don't take this as advice.)

- Dusted the entire house top to bottom.

- Changed the summer picture in our entryway out to a fall one. (I know. I'm late. It shows a John Deere Combine busy harvesting on a side hill.......yet harvest is over now.)

- Changed the battery in the closet automatic light sensor.

- Voted. (It's a secret. But if you want to know who and why, send me a PM and I'll discuss it. I try to keep my public posts politically friendly.) (How's that for a new term?)

- Spent some time educating myself on Medicare.

Possible vent here: For the past decade or so, we have covered our medical bills, including Hanna's cancer treatments which have now exceeded $300k, via a Sharing Ministry (Christian Healthcare Ministries). In addition, Hanna's 40k per month Chemo Drugs have been covered by grants from two different Drug Company Foundations. Everything has been covered and been smooth sailing. But now, they (the bureaucracy) automatically enrolled Hanna in Medicare, effective next February. This is not optional. She can't opt out. And having Medicare coverage changes everything. She will no longer qualify for full coverage with the Sharing Ministry. She will no longer qualify for the grants. And worse yet, we will lose the ability to freely choose our doctor, treatment center, and treatment options. So far, such decisions have been made by our Medical Team and the two of us, which accounts for a lot of the success she is having beating cancer. Now nearly everything cancer-related will need to be approved by some bureaucrat sitting at an expensive desk in the Nation's capital. To get everything fully covered, we will have to enroll in Plan B and get a Plan D. And still pay deductibles in addition to the premiums. (Wait, haven't we been paying for Medicare since we first started working? And now we still pay for it?) (Now I'm starting to sound like some of my clients I had. I feel their pain even more now.) We estimate our medical costs to go up by 8k next year as a result of this change. Paying more for less coverage and less freedom. Sigh....................... Vent over.

I tried to get Frivvy to help me with some of my chores or at least console me as I studied the Medicare stuff. All he did was lay on the couch and sleep all day. I'm jealous.