Back To Work Tomorrow...

History was made today when President Obama signed the new health care bill. It was sad to see all the out of control emotions that erupted by the public and politicians. To think that we actually consider ourselves a civilized nation is sometimes a stretch. In usual fashion the Republican party solidified themselves as the "Party of No" as every single one of them voted against the bill. It's really too bad that none of them have a mind of their own to think about what is best for our nation and not be posturing for their re-election bid. One website I was reading was taking feedback from readers and one guy said, "I don't understand why we needed to have this. I served in the service and I go to the VA whenever I need health care." Well...Duh ! There are 31 million that don't have that luxury and up until a few months ago Linda and I didn't have it and even now that we do have it, the insurance company won't cover Linda for certain medications or services because it's a "pre-existing condition". These are the types of things that this bill will help to correct. Doctors won't be reimbursed for how many surgeries they can crank out but they will be paid based on "outcomes". A successful outcome for the patient is the key thing. A system that has already proven great success in hospital's where it is being done....lowers overall cost of service and a better experience and recovery for the patients.  There is still opposition to the bill and talk of an appeal or to try and overturn it due to it being unconstitutional. We'll have to stay tuned to see where it all leads.

Today we took our GMC 5500 (Bertha) out to get her oil changed. Found a Jiffy Lube down around the corner from us so took it there and got it done. They weren't able to do the fuel filter though due to a local ordinance of the gas fumes posing a fire hazard to the building. Odd...ya never know what you'll find from one location to another. Last time we had Bertha's oil changed, we went to a Jiffy Lube but they were able to change the fuel filter. Was good to get it done...we'll be good for another 12,000 miles.

We're counting on spring being here to stay. In about another week, we're going to move our rig down around the corner to the spot where we should be parked so we can get our other slide out and have a little more breathing room. If we back all the way back to the curb, we should have a nice view of the pond out back from our rear windows. We'll also be able to hook directly to the water spigot instead of working off of our fresh water tank and we'll be able to use just one length of electrical cord to reach the plug instead of the three we are using now. It will also be a straight shot to the receptacle instead of up and over a doorway. That's a first for parking on-site. Have a little "London Bridges" thang going on with our power cord. In the new spot, the cord will go straight to the receptacle under the back of our rig. Wow, we'll really be living then !! It's the little things in life that have to make us happy, ya know.

Monday we went to our dentist appointment. He was a "do it all" kind of dentist...he took the x-rays, did the teeth scraping and cleaning part too. An old fashioned kind of guy although Linda nicknamed him "The Claw". I didn't think he was too bad....he was a little rough but pleasant enough and neither my gums or teeth hurt when I came out of there. That's a sign of success to me ! Ha...Linda wasn't nearly as convinced...In fact, she was waiting in the car for me when I came out from getting my work done. For the $75 deal that we got, he didn't skimp on anything either...he took a full set of x-rays all the way around and both of us got a thumbs up..no cavities ! We are good to go !!

Tomorrow it's back to work for us...temps are falling back into the normal range. The rain we've been having the last couple of days will clear out tomorrow (of course, it's time for us to go back to work) but the temps will only be in the 50's...maybe 60 on Thursday. It's headed in the right direction. Trees are budding out and the spring flowers are starting to bloom...I love spring !!

Days Off...

This area of NJ is still recuperating from the big storm over the weekend. According to the local news, many people are still without power and from our travels in this area, many trees came down. We took Boomer back to the dog park today and we were astounded by the number of trees that were toppled in the wind. There were a lot of lucky people too as most of the trees we saw fell away from their houses. A tenant, that stopped in Sunday to move out of her unit, said that travel was horrible....so many detours due to power lines and trees down. We can believe it after seeing the aftermath today.

Today we went to get our RV tire replaced...the one where all the tread came off. We were nearing the one month anniversary of when it happened and I had to get the road hazard claim turned in within 30 days for it to be valid. We didn't have to wait very long at all for them to put it on the rim. We will go back and get the other three on the rig replaced once it is time for us to leave here. It was too tough getting our rig in here that we won't take it out of here until we have to. The Goodyear shop will hold the tires for us (once they get them in) until we're ready for them. I got all the paperwork sent off to the extended warranty folks and Goodyear....The road hazard folks have approved us for a reimbursement of $346...not quite the full amount that we had to pay but it sure helps. I was sure to check the production date on the tire....4409. For those of you not familiar with RV'ing, it is really crucial that the tires you buy for your rig are "fresh". All tires are stamped with a DOT code. In the instance of ours...4409 means that they were made in the 44th week of 2009 so this tire is 5 months old. That is good....I had told him that I didn't want one older than 6 months old. If it had come in older than that, he would have sent it back and requested another one. Our current tires are the original ones, that came on the rig, so they are around 4 years old. RV tires are different from car tires in that they need to be replaced when they get to a certain age, regardless of the amount of wear on the tire. What age that is, is a source of much discussion on the forums....it can be anywhere from 4 years - 6 years. It's all in your perspective I guess or as Dirty Harry says, "Do ya feel lucky ?" When a tire blows it can do thousands of dollars in damage. We were lucky with our tire.....since we had to replace that one, we'll get them all replaced to keep the tread wear even on all of them.

Over the weekend, one of those shopper magazines was delivered here at work and Linda found a nice coupon in there for a local dentist that we went today and checked out. The deal is you get x-rays, a cleaning and an exam for $75. Says that bill of goods usually runs $200+ and since it's been a couple of years since either of us have been to the dentist, we thought it a good deal. (Not as good as our friends experience when they go to Mexico for dental work but good by U.S. standards.) I must say that the lack of dental coverage is one of the things I wish we had at this job (or any job for that matter). I had it when I worked at the college and I think it's one of those things you take for granted until you don't have it and have to pay the whole shot yourself. Nothing that you get done at the dentist is cheap ! Well, we have appointments for next Monday and since Linda is the wienie when it comes to "going to the dentist", we've already decided that she'll go first. I might have to bribe her with some Chunky Monkey ice cream to be a good girl and not fuss or squirm for the doc. LOL