December 15, 2023 (Friday)
On this day I had my annual Medicare Wellness Exam. I’m happy to report that I did better with that than with solving Wordle or figuring out Connections. Medicare offers a free annual health check for its members. Your primary care doctor checks your vitals, medication and asks if you are thinking of killing yourself. They give you three words to remember and ask you to draw an analog clock face. This is a screening for cognitive decline. If all the numbers are scrunched up on one side, you have some issues. My numbers were neatly spaced around the dial. The time was set for 11:10. That is usually the time they ask for. I remembered the three words but quickly forgot them, just as I forget where I put my glasses and car keys.
The exam is not mandatory for Medicare benefits but I appreciate the chance to ask questions. As I drift into decrepitude doctors have become an integral part of my social life. I enjoy speaking with them. After the exam I celebrated with a second breakfast at the Monadnock Country Cafe. Bacon, eggs, hash brown and coffee. Those food choices give the statin something to do.
Tractor Supply Company
Over the years the bears have destroyed most of my suet holders. The woodpeckers love suet. The bears pry them open to eat the cake. Usually they break the hinge. I was looking for a replacement and I knew the place to go was our Tractor Supply Company in Rindge, NH, Their tag line is “Life out here” and they specialize in agricultural and animal husbandry products. As you walk through the doors you hear the country music and immediately you feel like you are a rancher or farmer. I was tempted to pick up a pair of jeans and some new work gloves. I headed over to the bird seed section.
I spoke with a very helpful sales woman about my problems with bears and she suggested I heat up a suet cake and rub it against a tree so the bears will go for that instead of the feeder. Bears have a very good sense of smell and they love clawing trees. Good advice. More importantly she told me that I could find mealworms in the chicken feed section of the store for less than the puny bags in the bird seed aisle. I’m stocking up.
Daily Picture Theme – #Sparse
I’m a New Englander. I’m used to seeing trees. When I saw that todays theme was #Sparse I immediately thought that “sparse” for me would be a lack of trees. When I drove across the country in 1972 I learned a lot about wide open treeless vistas. This was “Big Sky Country”. It was also no tree country. I took this analog photo on that trip probably in Wyoming. I don’t remember seeing any trees, they were definitely sparse.
Great post!
The journey to decrpitude!!!!!
When my son was stationed at the Madigan army hospital in Washington we drove across the US including Wyoming. We packed a lunch and I told him to stop at the next tree and we’d picnic in the shade. It took an hr of driving to find 1 tree. On the medicare exam I remembered the 3 objects because of this trick. As the PA mentions the objects picture yourself gathering them as you walk a path. In my case a car was one of the objects so I entered my car carrying these objects. Don’t ask me what they were, I’ve long forgotten.