Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

Are these plans any doctor, any hospital?

Yes, mine is any dr, any hospital, and I do not need a referral, like when I went to Duke for the consultation appt....for the ankle replacement.... covers my going out of state (to NC) for the surgery....

 

[Baymule]

Once you retire and are no longer on concrete, it will help with the pain. Walking on the dirt versus standing and walking on concrete floors of dairy barns will go a lot easier on your joints. Nothing like some good old dirt therapy.

 

[Mini Horses]

Are these plans any doctor, any hospital?

They have a couple Advantage plans. One I have is an HMO, so a list of doctors but, will pay once you go to ANY. Mainly the PCP is one they want assigned. Specialists...any and your PCP can send to ANY. Hospitals, well all in my area are listed..and almost all doctors.

While there were slight differences in the deductible from orig medicare, since I haven't been to a dr in 20 yrs, none were a real issue for ME. She asked who my PCP was, to see if in their HMO list, heck I don't have one or even know names of any. If I don't like the one they assign, I can call & switch. I'm good. I'll interview them if I ever go to them. Orig med has me pay 20% any dr visit, this has "0". So potentially that would be most used item if sick -- dr visit. Emergency care of $50-$90 co pay, still less than full amount.

What I LIKED was the dental, glasses & OTC. I can use something that I didn't have before. I love the payback! (They allow $3K for hearing aids a yr! Don't need but noticed)

You guys with issues will need to look at those things coming up. But you are covered, just be sure the doctors you want are on there -- or can be referred if specialists. Also, the deductibles & annual out of pocket -- surgeries planned make that important.

So, now until 12/7 is the rollover. And Bay, you get to do your choices/setup during a 7 month time frame. 3 months before medicare starts, the month of, and 3 months after.

I chose no RX at set up 9 yrs ago, so now an annual penalty but, hey....I've save enough not having RX plan I'd not use to feel ok, plus my new added coverages more than offset a penalty now!

FarmerJan, do check to see if the plan you have or another will be any benefit. Can't hurt to ask. You may be as surprised as I was --- "WHAT??? you'll pay for aspirin & bandages??" I suspect you go thru as many bandaids as I.

 

[farmerjan]

@Mini Horses , I will definitely have to ask about the different plans. Especially like you said, aspirin, bandages, etc.... Interesting to see how much better you have benefitted. I think mine covers the eye dr visit, but I don't know about the dental. I pay for that through work, but it does cover 50% of crowns up to 1,000 I think, there is a 2,000 max which is pretty good. Trying to make sure I have everything done that I need/want before I get to where I won't have that. Covers 2 annuals a year and x-rays every 2 and full mouth every 5. But I will have to check on it in the next week or so, so that if anything needs to be changed before I go in for the ankle replacement.....don't want any messing up and missing coverages. Thanks for the info.

Today was a real nice day. Sunny, warm, I was in short sleeves for a good part of it. Got about 3 loads of laundry done, hung on the line. Got the thermostat, but they don't get into that at the co-op, so as soon as I get the car back, the truck goes in for the broken spring, and a brake line that is leaking, and the thermostat. Did go down and get the new tires on the front, so as soon as the spring gets done, it can get aligned.
Possibility that the car is going to get started on/done this coming friday...that is the tentative plans.... all according to how things go, as to if they will get it all done on fri . I didn't realize it but the guy doing it ( with my son's help) works a 4 day/12 hr shift, so is off on fri, sat, and sun. Sure would be nice. My ranger won't take near as much time to get it done once he gets it up to get the broken spring out, and the brake line isn't a big job to replace, just a pain. Thermostat isn't a big deal he said.
Then there are a few things on the 4x4, another old brake line leaking, and will probably replace both on the back. Muffler/ tail pipe is loud, don't know if it all needs to be replaced but that isn't critical. Neither ranger has to meet inspection as they are "farm use" tags. But they need to be "safe" .. brakes, lights, stuff like that. I do try to keep good tires on them because of all the driving in the fields. Tail gate cables....

Time to quit for the night. I had typed more, hit another key by accident and erased a bunch. Will try to update more tomorrow.

 

[Baymule]

Vehicle repairs…. We have had 3 major breakdowns on the truck this year and 1 major breakdown on the Kawasaki mule. All were expensive. It has kicked our butt. $$$$$$ Meanwhile a new truck is more than we paid for our house and 8 acres. We keep telling ourselves that it is cheaper to repair ours than to buy a new one..... but this has to STOP!

 

[Mini Horses]

Soon that truck will be "rebuilt" Bay ! I've got one & am working on it -- front end, all new control arms, ball joints, stabilizers, wheel bearing, etc.!! Alignment set for next week. Also replaced brake pads on all 4. Yeah, we're all paying dearly BUT-- in the scheme of things, better than a payment each month. Your right, vehicles are big $$$$ to buy. Probably never will buy another new. Once truck is done, I need to replace the turn signal flasher on the car, before inspection. Not a biggie as far as install except where it is!! Up under dash & far, tight corner.

We had great weather yesterday, so I moved some work until Thurs -- when it may rain -- and did things here. Got laundry done, tore the kitchen stove apart & got that scrubbed, MW above & frig next to, all washed down. Maybe I'll get to other side of kitchen in a day or two. Maybe not.

Outside I got the PITA buck moved -- will see if he stayed today -- some waterers changed out for a group of chickens, extra forage time for some others. I'm fighting with a skunk who keeps trying to get where I don't want it (or them?). I see a trap in it's near future!! Took doe herd to their fav browse area. Just enjoyed my day!

Like you, FarmerJan, feast or famine with work!! But sometimes we can juggle it.

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Got the thermostat

Miss @farmerjan,

If replacing the thermostat doesn't do the job, then you may want to consider back flushing the heater core. It is something you can do with a water hose. I owned an S-10 that stopped heating, and back flushing the heater core fixed the problem.

Miss @Baymule and Miss @Mini Horses,

I have owned numerous vehicles over the years. Some of them I tried to drive into the ground, continually repairing them until it became very expensive, and a few others I got rid of when they started giving me trouble. I don't think I ever owned a vehicle that I kept and continued to repair it that it made financial sense, after all was said and done, compared to getting rid of the vehicle. That same S-10, where I fixed the heater core, turned into a money pit, and I finally decided to trade it in on something else. But, as the commercials sometimes say, your mileage may vary.

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[farmerjan]

Most of my vehicles have been driven until they just quit. But they have given me good service, and have not become money pits. Yeah, you gotta know when to stop putting money into them. Still, when you look at the difference between putting money into them, and a payment, it can make more sense to fix it. That is something I thought about before deciding to get the engine for the subaru.
Of course, we never anticipated the warrantied engine to have a problem, or having to "re"-replace it before even driving it. As I sat and did some math, I bought the subaru from a friend for 1500. I drove it for nearly 3 years before blowing the engine. About 90,000 miles. That made it cost less than 600 per year/50 per month. Sure couldn't buy another for that and make payments. The body was in very good shape, no rust, couple of small dents. So another engine was smart. It cost me nearly 1000 with the engine and labor, no warranty, got 3 months out of it so 300/month. That was unfortunate, but okay, still figure the overall life of the car, cheap. So get a warrantied motor, 50,000 or 5 years for less than 2000 shipped to us. Another 500 to put it in. That's 2500 for 5 years of the motor, the rest of the car is still very solid. Say I only get 2 years out of the car, that is about 100 /month. STILL cheaper than a car payment. Again, never figured that the warranty would be used before it was driven a foot. Bad luck. Got a replacement motor, and now will get that put in. Gonna cost the labor again, but then we will haggle with the company for the costs; oil, filters, antifreeze, labor, and if they want the first guaranteed motor returned. Might be some salvage value in it. So that has turned out to be a bigger deal than we thought. We have put replacement motors in vehicles lots of times and gotten another 100,000 miles out of the vehicle. Especially the vehicles on the farm.

Yes, flushing the heater core is on the agenda since there are no apparent leaks, no antifreeze odor inside the truck that says the heater core is leaking and losing fluid.... but thanks for reminding me. Will put it on the little list I have in the truck so I don't forget to get the little things done.

The 4x4 ranger we bought for 400. drove it around for about 2 years. Wound up running real rough, very little power. Had the top half of the engine rebuilt for 900. Have been driving it for about 3-4 more years. It doesn't get driven alot of miles, and the 4x4 works good, so I have no regrets. I sure couldn't find another 4x4 for the 1300 I have in it.

My only new truck purchase was a 2wd 1979 ford f150 supercab as a left over, after I got divorced. Had over 250,000 miles on it when it gave up the ghost. Not one regret and I used and abused that truck.

Doubt I will ever consider a new vehicle again. Really don't even want to think about a used one that I would have to make payments on, but I doubt that the subaru will last forever. I'd like to get a few more years out of it. The thing is, the new ones have so much electronic stuff on them that a normal mechanic like us can't work on them. Plus they are so complicated to drive, and operate. I am not sure that I can get my head wrapped around all that to drive one.
I rented a new car when I went to Duke in July. A Nissan Sentra. It had so many "gadgets", and I couldn't even figure out how to turn the radio on at first. The one thing I did think was neat was that it constantly told you the mpg you were getting. But to want it for my own car, I don't think so. I think I am too old school.

Plus, one thing that I think about; all these gadgets also dumb down people.....you don't have to think or do any kind of mental calculations for anything anymore. Just like the backup cameras and such, you don't have to really learn how to drive a vehicle anymore. Sure, I have seen where they are helpful with getting back close to things, and there are times when it is helpful to not have to get out of the vehicle to look, but then we get less and less of any type of physical activity like that. I would like all my gates to be on a push button so I don't have to get out to open them, but all the in and out of the vehicle, is still some small physical activity. Sure, it hurts with my ankle and knee, but for able bodied people, the thing to do is to streamline and make easy your day to day stuff, so then you have to go to a gym????????? There is something wrong with this picture. Look at all the remote controls for everything so you don't have to get out of the chair or off the couch. All the voice activated stuff. Then you go PAY to exercise.......

 

[Mike CHS]

A friend of ours went through the same kind of math a couple of months ago. The engine on her Jeep needed major work and no guarantee that would make it cherry or anywhere near. She got a new engine installed for under $3,000 and it runs like new. Body and everything else has no problems.

 

[Bruce]

Bad luck. Got a replacement motor, and now will get that put in. Gonna cost the labor again, but then we will haggle with the company for the costs; oil, filters, antifreeze, labor, and if they want the first guaranteed motor returned.

Given the engine was DOA they should pay to install the replacement. I would for sure push them on that.

Just like the backup cameras and such, you don't have to really learn how to drive a vehicle anymore.

Kinda like the backup camera. I don't know about all you other older folks but twisting around to look out the back window isn't so easy any more. And after my 2009 was totalled (I don't recommend this as a way to decide you need to replace the vehicle), my neck wasn't close to full turn for months. Couldn't have safely backed up without the camera.