Monday, April 22, 2019

Insurance--We Are Believers

            Never leave home without it.  In fact, don’t get out of bed without it. 

My mother spent the month of April 1943 on bedrest, hoping to prevent my birth from occurring before their insurance kicked in on May 1.  It turns out, I waited until May 31 to make my appearance.

             During college, both John and I had medical coverage through the University of Colorado.  The Wardenburg medical center was on campus and included not only urgent care but also regular doctor’s appointments and a small hospital.  Shortly after we married, I went to work for CU in the News Service and received medical insurance for both of us.  By the time I quit, John was a policeman for the City of Boulder and his insurance took over for both of us.  We may have had to pay extra for maternity coverage.  I don’t really remember.

             When we purchased the funeral home in 1976, we quickly arranged health insurance for us and our one employee.  Through the years, our medical insurance covered foot surgery,  treatments for Eric's asthma attack and both boys allergy shots, childbirth and miscarriages.We had continuous medical insurance from then on until John retired from active ministry in 2003 at the age of 60.  When our son Eric was in college, he developed appendicitis and had to have surgery.  That expense was covered.  At about the same time another family member’s son needed the same surgery.  They didn’t have health insurance and it cost a whole lot.

             When John retired from active ministry in 2003 at the age of 60, we had to pay for our own health insurance until we turned 65.  It was costing us $11,000 a year to insure two people over the age of 60.  Making those payments was a real stretch but we didn't want to worry about some major illness or accident wiping us out.  We knew it was worth it when my mother was hospitalized with pneumonia and ended up in intensive care.  Her ICU bill was $81,000.  Thank heaven she had insurance.
              We have had car repairs, RV repairs after hail in Texas and a tire blowout in New Mexico.

             When we returned from an RV trip we found our basement flooded.  The hose feeding one of the toilets started leaking and we had over 3 feet of standing water.  The final bill after the water was gone, the sheetrock replaced and all the mold cleaned up, damaged hardwood flooring replaced, plus drying out books, photos, negatives and lots of other items, our insurance paid $50,000.  Without insurance, I am sure we would have paid only for repairs to the house and given up on all the personal property.

             We make sure our house, our truck and our RV are insured.  So is the rental property we own in Colorado.  In October 2018 we stood under our carport in Arizona and watched hail assault our Airstream, our truck and our house.  Insurance has paid $3,200 for repairs to the house, $3200 on the truck and $24,000 to repair the Airstream. 

             Do we believe in insurance?  You better believe it!

Tuesday, April 09, 2019

Successful Tough Hike

Last week we went on the toughest hike we have attempted in two years. And we made it! We hiked to Fremont Saddle where we could see Weaver's Needle.


We have hiked that trail several times over the years we have been coming to Arizona. It is full of rocks that make the hike treacherous. It is uphill, but that isn't really a problem. Coming down is more difficult. I fell when I took my eyes off the ground. No serious injury but a good cut on my shin with lots of blood and a few bruises and scrapes.

Here are some of the scenes along the way.




Near the top we had a great view of the Phoenix valley.


John sat and rested among the rocks when we took a break.


We hope to keep in shape hiking so we can continue to tackle a few challenging trails.

Saturday, April 06, 2019

Blooms Everywhere

Almost everywhere we go, we see flowers in bloom and cactus plants covered in either blooms or buds. The southern Arizona desert is beautiful.  These are three of the ones we saw on Monday this week here in our resort.




This white flower is on the Argentine gigantic cactus.  They are the Easter lilies of the desert.

This prickly pear will be covered with flowers soon.


We saw these flowers a week ago when hiking.



When hiking Thursday, we saw these flowers.  The blooms in this first photo look almost like crocus until you see they are on a cactus plant.






In February and March we had an unusually large amount of rain and now we are seeing the fruits of all this moisture.

Monday, April 01, 2019

Family Comes to Visit

Our son Eric, his wife Liz and grandson John visited us during their Spring vacation in March. We packed a lot into their visit. As soon as they arrived, we went hiking on the Hieroglyphic Trail in the Superstitions. Somehow, the only photos I took were of the beautiful desert landscape.



After the hike, we had a good lunch at the Cactus Grill here in our resort.


The next day, Eric, John, Papa (John) and I went to the shooting range at Usury Mountain. Eric and grandson John shot their pistol, we all shot our pistol, and Eric, grandson John and Papa John shot Eric's shotgun. We had a good time but I sure need more practice. While we were shooting, Liz visited a friend and had lunch with her brother and sister.





The next day  we were off to hike to Wind Cave in Usury Mountain Park.  Again, the desert was beautiful and we had a good time.




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It is always good when we can get together with our family. We are so glad we had some time together. We did miss our granddaughter Kylie but she was busy at college in Houston.