Credit Where Due

OK, up front I'll admit that most of this is my fault, but there's still fault enough on the part of Social Security Adminstration to warrant this rant. Well before my 65th birthday I received and mailed in the papers to sign up for Medicare Part B, which I must have to use Tricare. In due time, I received a Medicare Part A card. I called the SSA and after 10 minutes of wading through their voice directory and finally getting through to a live human, I was told to wait a few more weeks. A few weeks later, when I still had received no Part B card, I called again, and again spent 10 minutes with their automated system before getting presumably live human being, who told me I had to fill out a Part B request form, which was available on their website. On visiting the website, I learned that that particular form is NOT available on line, but has to be requested in person. I then remembered that there was a form left over in the package which looked exactly like another form and which I assumed was simply a duplicate. It turned out that that form was the Part B request form, so I filled it out and sent it in. Weeks went by with no response, so I resigned myself to visiting the Embassy in Clayton.

I was pleasantly surprised. The whole thing took less than an hour, waiting time included, and in a couple of weeks I received my Part B card. So, to the Americans Citizens Services section, I say kudos and well done!

Good Day Fishing

Last Saturday Nora and I took our Grandson Henry IV, his cousin Fernando, Mom Dayanara,  and our friend, Charley fishing at Arenosa. Right up front, fishing with three novices is a lot different than fishing with veteran fishermen. I spent the time getting to the first spot rigging up six rods, I being the only one of our crew who knows how. On his first cast, Fernando found himself holding a broken reel. Not his fault, but I was dismayed to see that my oldest piece of fishing tackle, bought in 1980 now had a broken bail. So I rigged him up with a spinning outfit that Charley had used without incident on two previous trips.

Once everyone was set up and fishing, I grabbed the little Zebco 33 outfit which I had checked out, lubed, and respooled the day before and soon encountered  a problem reeling the line in with it. I had set it aside years ago for exactly that reason, but forgotten that it had a problem. I took it apart and decided I had put too much line on it, so removed about 20 yards, after which it seemed to be OK.

Then I noticed that Fernando was enthusiastically learning to cast long distances, endangering everybody else on the front of the boat with his backswing. I explained to him that casting a live bait rig out from the boat would most likely result only in a snagged hook and that it was dangerous. He nodded and lowered his bait straight down, as I had previously instructed him. It was to be the first of many such cautionings and head noddings.

By that time Henry IV had become bored with fishing and was playing with the minnows in the bait bucket. His mother told him to stop, I told him to stop, and his grandmother told him to stop, all to no avail. This scene, too, was repeated many times.

After about three hours, Fernando had gotten his rig so tangled and backlashed that it was unusable. Since Charley had used it without problems, I decided that the line needed to be replaced, so I stripped the line off and replaced it.

My Zebco 33 chose this time to stop working again, so I found myself without a useable rod, though it hardly mattered, between asking Fernando not to cast, and keeping Henrty IV out of the bait bucket.

About noon, we could see the rain coming at us across the lake, and it hit with force, getting all of us wet, despite the overhead covering. Then lightning moved in, and we stopped fishing because some of the rods were graphite. Then we decided to move closer to the launch point. Fishing was slow all day, and we finally decided to call it quits. Fernando once again had his reel so snarled and tangled that I will have to respool it,

Even so, it was a good day. Nobody got seriously fish-hooked, and we managed to catch 30, ensuring a fish-fry.

Gas Prices Down

Gas prices went down last week. Of course, they’re not going down as fast as they went up. Nothing scientific here, but it seems to me that when oil prices were at less than $120.00 a bbl on the way up, gas prices were closer to $3.95 than the $4.20 or so we’re paying now. And stations seem to be slower to lower prices than to raise them.

It could be worse, I guess. Not many folks seem to remember it, but in the mid 80s premium leaded gasoline was $2.25 a gallon, which in real-world dollars was at least as expensive as the 4 bucks a gallon stuff today.

I’m also curious to see if we get some relief on electricity rates, since the electric companies have blamed high oil prices for the last two rate increases.

I am NOT holding my breath.