No Sheep Left Behind

From the photoblog A Walk Through Durham County, Pennsylvania.

no one should die because they cannot afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick

This is what is flying around Facebook today.
I'm glad, because this is what the health care reform is all about.

I was without health insurance for 2 years.
I had a catastrophic plan, but I'm sure it was bunk - but it provided something at a time when, according to my Social Security statement, I was earning just over 125% of poverty.

I was free-lancing for a number of companies in the area - many requiring travel and all requiring a high level of physical ability: climbing 60' up scaffolding, using sand-blasters, that kind of thing.

I was thrilled when I was accepted for my masters program, because it meant I could go to the doctor again.

In those 2 years without insurance, I relied on Planned Parenthood for Ob/Gyn - they had a sliding scale - and the one time I had an ear infection, it cost $150 to go to urgent care. My health care was home-remedy websites, colloidal silver, hydrogen peroxide, a healthy dose of denial and generic neosporin - often pilfered from the first-aid kits of the places I worked.

But 2 months before I was to start school, I had a problem - on a job - in another state. My boss made me go to the hospital despite my stance that I had no insurance. It was something internal and they wanted me to have a scan. I argued with the doctor for 30 minutes about this, since I knew the cost would be debilitating, especially as I was preparing to make even less as a student.

I couldn't leave the hospital - the pain was too much - so I had the scan - luckily it was minor and I got out of there before they could even think of admitting me.

When I got home, the bills had already started - that 7 hour span of time was billed as $10,000.

That was a few thousand less than what I was making after taxes free-lancing during an economic slump.

Then I noticed that the hospital was Catholic, so I researched what it would take to get a reprieve.

Turns out, I qualified.

So I filled out the application, and explained my situation, including that I was about to start a degree in non-profit management.

The nuns... well they accepted it and my bills were forgiven.
Except for the cost of the scan - I would pay the $4,000 for the scan and its reading until a year after I finished my masters.

When I have a few extra dollars, I write a check to that hospital for the kindness they showed me - always hoping that one day we could see past our fears of change and find a new way to offer health care, because no one should die because they cannot afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick.

Weekend

On Sat'y we installed a hitch on my car so I may tow the boat - it was supposed to take 30 minutes, but instead took 10 hours and 30 minutes, because they sent the wrong bolts with it.

But now I can install a hitch on a car!

We (rather, the Physicist) played with the trailer winch that had rusted - I hadn't realized the importance of this. Apparently, as it was, if I went up a hill, the boat could have slid off the trailer and the winch would not have stopped it.

Whoops.

But we're that much closer to launching the boat - the goal is Labor Day weekend...

On Sun'y, I had the unique experience of teaching my parents to use their new computer.
Neither have used one before.
It's amazing how vast and subtle the skills required to use a computer are - from manipulating the mouse to intuitively understanding how to navigate a web page to the vocabulary: email, Gmail, scroll down, click, cursor, etc...
Today's xkcd was terribly topical to this issue.
We went through the process of powering it on and off no less than 6 times - and I am proud to boast that I got an email this morning, which meant they remembered how to do it.

My little birds have learned to fly!!! *sniff*

Issuing a challenge

If you create a roadblock, be prepared to provide a detour.

That means you Cleveland Department of Public Services, Street Engineering Division.

Each day I see a new sign decreasing the already meager street parking options in Tremont.

Should I be totally naive and assume you're about to unveil a new residents-only, parking by permit, well-lit lot in the neighborhood?

If I lived in a cartoon world

I think they both have their charms...

Cotton and paper and (of course) yarn, too.

I've been having a gloriously fun summer: rowboats and gardens and swimming and meteor showers and lying idle in the grass.

I saw a good friend last weekend and she had a project: origami. I've not done much of that before (and neither had she) so we figured it out together and made a mobile of dotty cranes in lovely colors.

I discovered that it was a gateway to a new feverish obsession with polyhedra and other vaguely mathematical objects that are truly pleasing to behold.

I recalled this pattern in Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Projects and got to work. True to it's place in the book, it took about 4 hours.

I used fabric scraps appropriate for a charming lad about to turn 1: a men's shirt, some butterfly fabric and the wee monkeys I wish I had more of.



I shan't bore you with the details of making it other than Hulu now has episodes of "My So-Called Life" and they make a very good background for pinning and stuffing...


Pin and stuff and stuff and pin...



Ta-Da!!!







BONUS~

I finished a hat I made for my father. I scored a 1/2 price ball of alpaca/merino/silk in blues and greys. Perfect for a maritime watchcap and easy-peasy.

And now, for some yummy yarn...

A washable wool natty nautical sweater for the wee man.



A delicious (but slightly bank-breaking) silk merino blend from Cherry Tree Hill - it was a purely speculative and emotional purchase. Those colors are divine... I have no idea what this will become...



Some Noro Silk Garden bought on Etsy as DESTASH... highway robbery, I tell you. Queued to become the ubiquitous Clapotis.



Have you met my swift? (I forget).
I love my swift beyond measure.



Lastly, some Malibrigo sock yarn destined to become...??? (Suggestions appreciated)