27 to new homes

Remember this photo, the one with all the wooden fish in the corner of my dining room?

Those fish are all gone, save the fuchsia one with the orange-yellow tail on the top shelf.

She was always my favorite, so I let her stay.

Then I picked through the fish on the top three shelves and chose four to take away from here.

Barbara had spoken several times of taking items to Home Again, a consignment shop.

She liked the store and recommended it to me.

So, in April, after dealing with three different house insurance companies since October, and worrying about having to sell my home and move, I decided to go ahead and release some items now.

Three of the four fish that swam free then are shown here in this photo.

I also consigned the chips and salsa sombrero dish, a tall cut-glass candy dish, a deep blue ceramic teapot with gold trim, and a large wicker basket.

The deal with Home Again is they would try to sell them for thirty days at a particular price; after that, I could come and fetch any unsold or they would keep them for another 30 days at half-price.

For sold items, I get the half of the proceeds.

After 60 days, if still unsold, I would either collect the items back again, or I could release them to the Humane Society Thrift Store.

That deal worked for me.

After 60 days, I received $18.

Near the end of June, I took more items to Home Again.

The two wooden fish shown here, as well as another four, were shown out the door.

So were the glass crab with the fluorescent blue body, a wire-mesh fish Christmas ornament, an old clay gutter-spout fish, and a glass fish which was the only one of three such that had survived the move from Panama back in 1979.

On a roll, I gathered more items.

No need to hang on to the sake set from Okinawa.

Had I ever used it?

I don't think so.

Yet, I'd kept it in the china hutch all these years.

I left Hanza in December of 1982.

How about that little jade stone teapot?

I bought that for Mama while in San Francisco on vacation in October of 2000.

I intended to give it to her for her birthday that year, but she was in the hospital due to liver failure.

The item is a constant reminder of her death.

Out, out, damned teapot.

Fine, what else should go?

The Christmas ornament made from the ashes spewed out by Mount St. Helens could certainly grace someone else's residence.

That volcanic eruption in Washington was in May of 1980.

I know I have not had this since then...

but I have had the glass ball long enough to be amazed that it has not yet been shattered.

Off it went, along with a framed Joseph Powell print, a whale painted on wood, an old glass perfume bottle, a trio of small dishes for sushi and sauce, and two decorative platters.

When I checked on them today, sixteen of the 19 had sold and netted me $46.60.

Very nice!

The three that were unsold shall benefit animals in pet shelters.

That's a winning concept, all the way around.

(smile!)

Marie told me to hold off on any other items until November.

They'll have housewares moving in and out for the holidays then.

That gives me time to make a stack of items to take there.

Good.

Fewer items for me to haul in a future move,

more items to bring joy to others.

thanks, john and ryan, for making rough seas smoother

John Avery called this afternoon

He's part of my PCP's team at the Savannah VA Center.

I've been running in circles with the Community Care team in Charleston, trying to make sure there will be no problem with Dr. Cobb getting paid in April.

Sigh.

Twits have written my latest resubmission of my Community Care Authorization with phrases such as "provisional diagnosis" and "unspecified" atrial fibrillation.

Repeated emails through myhealthva.gov have made it clear to me that the people at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Hospital were not paying attention to me.

John Avery called me to assure me that all would be well for my upcoming cardiology appointment with Dr. Cobb.

He also assured me that I had followed all the steps I should have, and in a timely manner, to allow for the resubmission to have been in place for the March 4th appointment.

I had contacted VA Community Care on February 21, they in turn had contacted my PCP on February 22, and then... the Savannah VA Center had botched the request, with Ms. Barker not signing off until February 29 and Charleston sitting on it so long that I had to cancel that March 4th appointment with my cardiologist.

Sigh.

The Charleston Community Care group had then sent the VA Authorization to me, dated March 4th... but through the mail, so it took a week to arrive here in Savannah.

Then there was that wacky wording.

I've had emails at myhealthva.gov winging to and fro ever since, trying to ascertain what the meaning of that language is, and the Charleston Community Care has been obtuse and completely unhelpful, with no explanation forthcoming.

That's why John had called, to assure me that Dr. Cobb would be paid, to assure me that the VA Authorization number was all I would need, and to assure me that he himself has been through similar hassles with the Community Care group in Charleston.

I thought all such hassles were a thing of the past, or so I was led to believe.

The VA MISSION Act of 2018 was supposed to make it a smoother process... right?

Perhaps, one day, he and I will get what was promised six years ago.

Thanks for the call, John.

 

The next friendly voice of commiseration was that of Ryan (RV6) of the Mortgage and Home Equity Division at Navy Federal Credit Union.

This time I initiated the call, after receiving a letter dated March 20 from NFCU which spoke of setting up an escrow account to pay for the house insurance they found for me.

What was that all about???

On February 29, I had signed the application to Georgia Underwriters Association to procure house insurance.

On February 29, I had paid $530.30 to GUA, using my NFCU credit card, to establish a paper trail for that house insurance payment.

On March 6, I had uploaded to the NFCU site the document sent to GUA, to establish that I was obtaining house insurance.

On March 7, NFCU sent me an email that they had received the upload.

Then I heard naught else until today, March 29, when the letter dated 9 days earlier came.

I called NFCU as soon as I'd opened it.

I explained to Ryan all I had done, that I had uploaded the application but had not yet received the policy documents, that I'd paid the first installment in a way that NFCU could track, that I had other documents from the insurance agent that I could send.

Ryan scrupulously copied down the Quote number, the payment schedule, the name of the agent and her phone number and email address.

He had house insurance woes, as a Florida resident who knew many who were dropped from their policies after getting roofs replaced from hail damage.

Fair warning, folks: once you're dropped for such a claim, other insurance companies will shun you for FIVE YEARS from the date of that claim.

That's what happened to me.

That's why Georgia Underwriters Association is the only insurance option I have, and it's a more expensive option with less coverage.

Ryan was on the phone with me for over an hour.

Thanks, Ryan, for being a calm voice of reason and patience.

The next time I call, I'm going to request you again.

Meanwhile, I've missed the fiesta at Jalapenos tonight.

Still, I'm glad I happened to be home to handle these two important phone calls.

i thank You, God.

taking advantage of an extra day

Chilly and rainy it is, but that meant I had no excuse for procrastination.

If I was going to be housebound on this 29th of February, I may as well make it memorable.

 

All of that stress-inducing rancor from the house insurance folks came to a standstill.

I'd tried three times to speak to someone at Navy Federal Credit Union about the situation and was cut off twice.

Fine.

Joy Polite of Allstate had found me a house insurance policy through the Georgia Underwriters Association, so I made a command decision and signed off on it.

That meant I had to immediately pay the first quarter cost, so I charged it...

on my Navy Federal Credit Union credit card.

That was my way of giving them proof that I was seriously working on getting coverage on the house.

Oh, and by the way... it's raining and my roof is fine...

and this thorn in my side since October has been removed, hopefully for good.

 

What next to clear from my slate?

Yet another insurance thing, this time for the car.

GEICO had sent me a letter that my "good driving" discount was due to expire.

Damn, it'd been three years already?

Apparently so.

Fortunately, the IMPROV driving course was again an option on the list of driving schools.

The course seems to have more chapters this time, but that's okay.

It still has sweet Denise as its heart, Professor Gray Matter as the voice of science, and suave Jeff with the perfect hair - believe me, there's an inside joke there between me and the ex - to lead us through the information.

I've already gone through five chapters in about two hours, and I've done so with a smile on my face.

 

That's why I went ahead and filed my federal and state taxes today.

I had already started on them earlier in the week and logged all the data in.

All that awaited was me double-checking that all was correct...

or maybe that was triple-checking all those numbers.

Today, I logged in for one last look-see and pulled the trigger on it.

Both shot out of the website toward their destinations, free of charge to me.

Now to await their acceptance... and the refund which will provide my financial cushion, for payment of property taxes and house insurance and little extra expenses.

One praise-worthy note: that cushion will be a little more plush this time.

That's because I attended an AARP webinar in 2023 about keeping my Social Security benefits from being part of what gets taxed by the feds.

No, that's a real thing.

To quote the AARP site, "The Social Security Administration estimates that about 56 percent of Social Security recipients owe income taxes on their benefits."

I've been part of that 56% ever since I started receiving Social Security benefits in 2020.

You would expect Social Security benefits to not get hit with Federal income tax, but they do, iff your other income is above a certain amount.

After the webinar, I had immediately changed the income I get from my teachers' retirement fund to a lower value to make sure I'd be below that $25,000 threshold... 

and I was this year!

So, not one red cent of my Social Security income was charged Federal income tax!

I'll be getting back nearly all the money withheld from my TIAA withdrawals.

That's a nice change of pace.

 

Now, it's time for a treat from AARP, in the form of one of their Movies For Grownups.

God knows I certainly have been doing grownup tasks all day.

As my work is done, I'm going to let Amy Adams entertain me in "Leap Year", which will abound with Irish brogues and lovely greenscapes of Ireland.

Later, y'all.

men on my roof?

Surprise!

After weeks of no word from Luxe Builders (who did my roof as Armor Exteriors), suddenly a van pulled  to my yard.

Apparently they had a job in this area today, and, when the crew finished in early afternoon, they were sent to my house.

Hallelujah!!!

Right place, right time.

Perhaps it wasn't just sheer luck that I was home.

I'd almost gone to a movie, but none of the times were quite right.

I'd almost treated myself to slunch at Chili's, but I was waiting to avoid the lunch rush.

Both were coincidences that led to me being home at 2 PM when the crew came by.

Raul - the one in the light shirt - was the foreman and he talked to me some as he took photos and examined the work of the crew from almost four years ago.

I'll be looking forward to his report.

Maybe I'll be able to get the house insurance again.

That would be a great stress reliever for me.

Now, I think I'll partake of the antics of a little bear... yes, most definitely!

house insurance woes

I received an email last week from the house insurance folks, listing external items that needed to be remedied at once.

Mind, that insurance policy renews every year on November 14, so I took this to be fairly short notice.

What were the three items that threatened my sanity?

"The dwelling siding has vine growth, builtup moss and mildew growth; fascia is missing or has peeling paint; roof shingles are curling and lifted and roof underlayment is warped."

 

Hey, those are the words of Travelers Insurance, not mine.

The first two items, about the vegetation and fascia, seem fairly minor, certainly not worthy of threat of policy cancellation, but, there they were.

As for the roof shingles, there were TWO - I had them send me the photos - that are lifted, and that rise they're calling warped underlayment has been there for years, even before the new roof was installed.

Nevertheless, I've called Armor Exteriors on the issues and am waiting to hear back.

I've also called Smitty about the fascia, reminding him that he and Tony had worked on all of that back in 2018. 

There had been a corner outside my bedroom that needed new wood, but the azaleas were in the way at the time.

Still, Tony had said he would take care of it when I'd trimmed the bushes.

Well, during the early part of the pandemic, I'd done that, cutting those bushes nearly down.

And when I approached him about that bit of woodwork, he'd blown me off.

So, now I'll have to try again to get him over here, but I'll have to cut down that particular azalea yet again.

Three years is a good amount of time for a bush to grow back to its height.

I'll tackle that on Thursday, after this latest bit has been hauled off by the city.

 

See, I've been working - yes, W-O-R-K-I-N-G - for almost four hours on the yard today.

I wanted to make some headway, take some photos, show the insurance people that I was diligently striving to make amends.

As the day was quite cool, I started in the back, where the sun was.

It took me two and a half hours to clear the rest of the vines off the back walls (I had done most of that during the summer), clear out the dead vines peeking out between the siding and base, cut other vegetation nearby, and haul it all over the fence into the side yard.

I have to admit, it does look a lot better, but my back will ache tomorrow.

And I still had the front yard to get done.

Again, I had done all that just a few months ago, but some had grown back outside and around the ocean room window.

So, I spent an hour eradicating it, as well as anything that wasn't blooming.

I spent another half hour hauling stuff that had been in the back yard to the curb for tomorrow, plus added another pile of branches and such from the front.

I may have to get started early on the lantana, but not until it has finished blooming.

No butterflies should have to suffer lack of food.

So, I took all those photos and sent them to Molly at GEICO, for Travelers, to show progress.

Then the mail came.

Travelers had chosen to NOT renew my homeowner's insurance???

What the fresh hell was this???

I pulled up the email from last week.

I had misread it.

Dated 10 October, like the letter that came today, it clearly stated that my homeowner's insurance was canceled and would not be renewed...

giving those three reasons for the decision to terminate it...

and giving me only an option to appeal, within 90 days.

To them I say: buckle up.

I certainly plan to fight this.

I have a call in to Molly right now, though I doubt I'll hear back today.

What a horrible way to treat a loyal customer.