I got my first piece of advertisement for a Medicare advantage plan in the mail yesterday. It wished me Happy Birthday! That was last month. It stated that it is time for me to think about Medicare, even though I won't be eligible until the end of the year. The mailer did give one two piece of valuable information. Namely, I can enroll for Medicare three months before I turn 65, nine months from now. Unless things change between now and then, the only reasonable and, thankfully, affordable option for me is the Medicare advantage plan that the Husband is already on. Five Facts about Medicare Medicare, established under Title XVIII of the Social Security Act, was signed into law by President Johnson in 1965. President Truman and Mrs. Truman were the first Medicare beneficiaries, receiving the first Medicare cards. In 1972, President Nixon signed a bill to expand coverage to persons under 65 who have long-term disabilities. In 1982, hospice services was added as a Medicare

This post ends my time writing movie reviews on the Missus Lady's blog. At least for now. Maybe I'll do more reviews, now and then. The Missus Lady would like me to do book reviews for some future ABC Wednesday round. I'll think about it. It has been fun being part of this round of ABCW . Purrrrrrrrrrr. The Zookeeper's Wife (2017) Setting: Warsaw, Poland during WWII, 1939 to 1945 This movie is based on the real-life story of the husband and wife caretakers of the Warsaw Zoo, Dr. Jan Zabinski and Antonina Zabinska, during World War II. The couple defied the nasty Nazis by hiding over 300 Jews in the zoo during the war. It is a sad and horrible, yet uplifting, tale. The movie begins with the bombing of Warsaw in September 1939, the start of the war, during which many of the animals died. Dr. Lutz Heck, an actual Nazi commander and a big-time zoologist for Hitler, transfers the best of the surviving animals to German zoos, after convincing the couple that it

Mmmmm. I'm sipping a mocha with a big splash of Kahlua as I tippy tap my thoughts on the keyboard. Mmmmmm. Today's adventure was a solo trip in the rain to Freedom for food for Molly the Cat. She ate the last acceptable can of victuals yesterday morning and the final crumbs of the dried food that she deems edible. Hence it was necessary to take the 90-minute round trip drive over the hill and through the pass today. Although the Husband is feeling better, he still felt spaced out with the virus to ride shotgun. I can't recall the last time I drove by myself a far distance. Definitely years. What can I say? A long time ago, a bicycle repair guy who tuned up our beach cruisers asked us, "Do you do everything together?"  After which he told us that each of our rear wheels had a bent spoke in the same spot. I was in a solitary frame of mind this morning so I didn't feel at all anxious, even when it began to rain and the windshield wipers did more smudging at fi

I made some yumminess for breakfast this morning—cinnamon blueberry biscuits and apple-persimmon compote. Both were made with what was on hand and because I didn't measure precise amounts, we shall not ever taste this exact delightfulness again. The biscuits were made by crumbling three tablespoons butter in three big spoonfuls of unbleached white flour, a good enough shake from the baking powder tin, and a nice dose of cinnamon. To that, I added honey yogurt (almost two weeks beyond the purchase date) and probably half-a-cup of dried blueberries. I squirted icy water from the dispenser on the fridge door to get the dough to combine, which yielded seven big drop biscuits. They baked for about 15 minutes at 400 degrees. The compote may not really be a compote because I didn't make it with some kind of syrup. If I wanted to make a pie, which I might, the concoction would be a delicious filling. Five small somewhat shriveled apples and six small slightly mushy persimmons got

This first day of 2018, I'm taking Molly the Cat's cue and making like it's a holiday. Of course every day is a holiday for Molly. "Hey!" says Molly. Purrrrrrrrrrrr.  Okay, Molly. Being retired, every day is essentially a holiday. For that matter, every day is the start of a new year. Hmmmm. "There you go," says Molly. Purrrrrrrrrrr.