speaking of being sick...

Yes, I know: you're hearing way too much about Covid here, on Ocean. What can I say -- it defines our start to the New Year! Sure, we were granted a lovely day of health and good living on January 1st but the next day Ed tested positive and by January 5th I joined him in the Department of the Sick. He is way more knocked down by it than I am. He says it's age, but that theory is just one of many. I have had more infections and so probably carry greater immunity. I've also been knocked down with bugs from kids and from travel this fall. I do believe that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Poor innocent stay-at-home, sees-noone Ed. He really got a punch in the gut from this one.

He slept in, I did chicken duty this morning. Drab, cold farmette lands. This January is not very nice at all for us snow loving people! In terms of natural beauty, I'd give it a 1 out of 10. Nonetheless, the sunrise it pretty! As are the birds that chirp away as if it were spring.

But it is cold. I do my "walking" inside. Back and forth between kitchen and living room 70 times equals 1.8 miles of boring steps.

More on the topic of illness: Dance is still not her food-gorging self, even as I'm still cleaning up after her. 

At least our chickens are healthy! All we need to add to our woes is a case of the Avian Flu here! We're taking sanitary precautions (as should all free rangers!). So far so good.

Breakfast alone. No Ed, no Dance (she's taking a spin outside when I sit down).

 

(Did you now that honey from thyme flowers is soothing and works wonders for your mental health? So the French say...)

 

 

And now I'm done with health talk, right? Not quite. If yesterday I did the pleasant task of imagining some summer travel, today I took stock of all travel that's before me: only one trip has insurance protection. I need more. There really are two ways to handle this: trip cancellation with medical care protection, or just medical care protection. In the past I traveled with neither. I mean, what are the chances... But this stream of bugs and viruses and Covids and who knows what elses has made me nervous about international travel. So today I checked with my own medical insurance team and of course their international coverage is just plain silly. $20 000 max. True, in Europe that buys you a heck of a lot more than it would here, in the US, but still, that kind of expense is not what would bankrupt me. At my age, you can get really sick really quickly. So I investigate supplemental insurance programs for travel.

You have to enter that little maze of craziness with a meditatively calm mindset. (Or have a glass of wine ready and waiting, but as you know, that's not really an option for me these days...) You can't just read reviews of different companies' plans because everyone hates their coverage when things go wrong and no one has a lot of good things to say about reimbursements. Basically if you get sick and need to get your money back, you have a long slog ahead of you no matter where you purchase your protection. So yes, look at the Forbes ratings if that makes you feel better, but dont expect it to be a fun trip if you get sick.

So, I had to decide if I want just health coverage or also trip protection (the airfare, the hotels, the delays, the lost luggage, etc etc). I opt to skip trip coverage. I pay more by booking flexible hotel rates and I pick changeable (if not refundable) fares. There would be some losses if a trip got cancelled, but I just cannot see the justification for paying at least $1000 per person per trip for even minimal and arguably hard to fight for reimbursements trip protection. It's just horribly expensive. So, medical only. 

And as I spend the day on this very tedious, very boring and downright frustrating task (talking to these people to get accurate information is painful), I think -- well at least I'm not traveling to the United States! Imagine being a foreigner and getting sick here, where just passing through the ER doorway of a hospital will cost you $5000 and that's before anyone asks you your name and country of origin! 

As I take care of all this stuff, I'm thinking about the virtues of having Greenland be part of the US: I could go visit it then and maybe use my American Medicare card when I get sick, right? And will there be a golf course there for the fleeting two weeks of their summer? I understand some people like to play golf an awful lot and Scotland has not been very hospitable to them and their golf clubs lately. 

But I digress.

In the afternoon Ed comes over. It's only a half visit. We chat some and then he falls asleep once again. His recovery is so slow, that I almost insisted that he check himself into some urgent care facility, to make sure he is not in need of medications after all -- until I hear on the radio about how overcrowded these places are right now, spilling over with coughing, sneezing wheezing sick people. (And in any case, Ed never listens to me on matters of needed doctor visits.)

Evening. One of us needs to go out and pick up spinach and carrots and russian kale from our CSA farmers. I'm up for the drive, though I wish it wasn't this cold right now! 

( a glimpse of the outside world for me!)

 

 

(Sunset -- do you see the farmette silo?)

 

Ah well, it's only day 4 for me. Can't expect miracles. What I can expect is a hearty supper at home: one more day of soup, a lovely salad, a piece of chocolate. Ed has lost his sense of smell but I haven't and reheated soup smells heavenly!

As for movies? I finally watched Pride and Prejudice last night and that is just such a lovely little piece of Austen on screen. Her books lend themselves to visual representation! Love stories never looked so good! As for tonight? Well, Ed's still spending the night in the sheep shed (too loud for our small house!), so it's just me. Hmmm, there's always Austin's Emma. Or better yet -- the movie about Austen herself: On Becoming Jane. Or another one about her love life -- Miss Austen Regrets. (Did you know that England is celebrating her 250th birthday this year?) Yep, I'm set. 

with love...