Wednesday August 3, 2022

I sure hope the roof gets done today and cleanup proceeds. I dread going home for the weekend on Friday and still seeing everything in disarray. At minimum, I have a porch railing cap to be fixed and I need to try and tie up my crushed hydrangeas. Oh and hopefully all the nails are cleaned up. We ended up with a nail in Mike's tire so that has to be repaired today.

We had a nice meal out with one of Mike's childhood friends last night. Good guy: Very smart and interesting but still lives in his parents house without doing any maintenance on it so it is in very rough shape (he is 67 and both his parents passed away years ago). Must be some underlying, not obvious reasons.

Today is relatively quiet with the usual walk and some beach time. Tomorrow we are celebrating 2 years since we had our first date so have plans and Friday it is back to my place for the weekend.

Have a winning Wednesday!

Happy first date anniversary. We have friends who met online who also celebrate their second date anniversary, because that's the one that means they really liked each other. :)

Lots of spirited dog stories these days, hope all the damage is set straight at your house Shirl.

CC, hope all the appointments for your Dad continue to be good news. Will you be going to Michigan this summer?

We are on the road, driving from Madison Ohio to Madison Wisconsin, about 8 hours. Madison Wisconsin is a destination to look forward to because that's where DS is. Tomorrow is a shorter drive, about 5 hours, and then we're home. Then, on the 16th we leave for a week in Charleston, and then back to work. Lots of great colleagues, including my team teacher, are retiring this year. I'm still targeting summer 2025. But enough thinking about school, summer is going fast, but it's not over yet!

Drive carefully and enjoy the last few weeks of summer!

Well, they see something on my dad's pet scan on his remaining ureter (tube from the kidney) that they want to biopsy. So he goes back mid-month for that. Praying it's nothing. His kidney is damaged, but the wait to see a nephrologist even at Mayo is months. He's on the list.

Today I've been researching doctors and health insurance for me. Slim pickings for both!!! Insurance is very expensive here. To have the same PPO coverage I had in CA, is $400 more a month, or $1150. Most of the doctors here are on the HMOs which are $450 less than the PPO. But HMOs lack of choice when something bad is happening scares me. Ugh.

Shoot, sorry your Dad's appointment is leading to more screenings... Health insurance is so necessary, and yet so problematic. One of the reasons I'm not retiring at 62. I have decent insurance through my job. I want to keep it more than I want to retire and try to replace it. Good luck on the coverage search...

Insurance is something I took for granted when I was young and working. And I thought CA's prices were outrageous! But AZ is way worse and there are just no options. 2 PPO plans in the whole state for individuals. Both with BCBS. And now that I'm here and can read NextDoor horror stories, people really struggle to find doctors and 12 have quit from a big health group here. It is not unusual to see people having had 5 primary doctors in 6 years. I may investigate getting doctors in Phoenix...

I asked the women I met for suggestions and one said their doctor is great, but 81 years old and booked until March! Another said she is still on Kaiser in Northern CA (which I don't think you can do!).

Fascinating how costs can differ from state to state! I have a couple of friends who have been absolutely smacked upside the head with the reality of cost of living after moving to TX. All they really researched was initial home price and gas prices. What they didn't look into was property tax! A good friend went from paying about 9K in property taxes here to paying almost 30K in property taxes in Texas! I can't even imagine! But they are living in a BIG house that cost about the same as the 3 bedroom 1800 sq foot rancher they left behind in CA.

Yes, medical insurance is important. And given that you don't seem to get run of the mill illnesses, I think PPO is probably the right way to go for you!

At least you come out ahead on property taxes here! My friend's 8000 sq ft $4.4m house has $10k annual property taxes!

Here's the score this far:

State taxes 13.2% vs 4.5%: AZ wins

Property taxes don't reset on resale so about 1/4 of my old county: AZ

Health insurance $672 vs $1150/m: CA

Car insurance $1900 vs $1320/y: AZ

Car registration $794 vs $880/y: CA

Access to a lot of doctors: CA

Gasoline at Costco $5.49 vs $4.75: AZ

Sales tax 7.75% vs 6.9%: AZ

That insurance thing is the only real bummer!

Funny how I got excited that gas was so "Low" at $5.19 per gallon at Costco last week! LOL!

The $478 cost difference for medical insurance is really something, though! I'm quite surprised by the difference. But, I do think you'll find enough savings in other areas to make up the difference. Living simply is not inexpensive anymore in any location!

I hope it isn't too serious for your Dad.

Health insurance is complex and expensive. One of the only advantages of getting old is the relatively lower cost of Medicare with a robust supplemental plan. I pay less than when I was working with much better coverage. And way less than than between 62-65 when I wasn't working but not on Medicare yet. It's not something you can do without but so costly and not an easy choice.