Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[svk]

Anyone else get a huge increase in part D plans ? My Wellcare script plan was $3.70 per month it’s now $38.70 increase of 945.9459% no change at all prescriptions wise on my part take one pill daily for BP . After an hour of talking with 5 different people only one who was a licensed agent spoke without an accent I got the same canned lines . Went online and called several different insurance companies and they are all around the same price .

I am 2 decades short of having to worry about part D but I know insurances of all types of insurance (outside life insurance which is decreasing due to substantially increasing life expectancy) are skyrocketing.

The policy for my little office building more than doubled last year and my home and auto are way up too.

A lot of homeowner insurances also have a COLA in them so they increase the value of your structure every year even if the cost to replace didn't go up. When I reviewed my insurance back in 2015 they had my house replacement value at 1 million dollars. Now mind you my house is 2400 sf and built in 1982...at the time in 2015 you could have rebuilt it and then some for 1/3 of that amount or bought another house on the lake for about 500K and still had the lot and outbuildings. They are always looking for a way to squeeze a few more pennies out of you.

 

[Philbert]

Anyone else get a huge increase in part D plans ? My Wellcare script plan was $3.70 per month it’s now $38.70 increase of 945.9459% no change at all prescriptions wise on my part take one pill daily for BP . After an hour of talking with 5 different people only one who was a licensed agent spoke without an accent I got the same canned lines . Went online and called several different insurance companies and they are all around the same price .

We work with an agent to help sort this stuff out (no cost to us).

It’s WAAAY too complicated and confusing.

My wife is a nurse, who worked with medical billing, for many years, and still roils her eyes and shakes her head. Different plans / options are better for different people: including spouses!

Like a good travel agent, financial advisor, etc.: you can make your own choices, but somebody who works with this every day has more information.

‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’, . . . Pretty soon the whole alphabet!

Philbert

 

[SS396driver]

We work with an agent to help sort this stuff out (no cost to us).

It’s WAAAY too complicated and confusing.

My wife is a nurse, who worked with medical billing, for many years, and still roils her eyes and shakes her head. Different plans / options are better for different people: including spouses!

Like a good travel agent, financial advisor, etc.: you can make your own choices, but somebody who works with this every day has more information.

‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’, . . . Pretty soon the whole alphabet!

Philbert

I gave up my state insurance licenses and my securities licenses a few years ago. The continuing education became unbearable for the return . I was selling maybe 3 or 4 policies a year in my retirement. Also not many companies now will hold your license unless you sell in volume.

 

[SS396driver]

Thanks for the recommendations on buildings I have 3 quotes coming . I made them all the same spec wise 30x40x12 . Two 10x10 overhead doors one man door and four windows . All with R 16 wrap style insulation .

See how it goes

 

[sean donato]

Thanks for the recommendations on buildings I have 3 quotes coming . I made them all the same spec wise 30x40x12 . Two 10x10 overhead doors one man door and four windows . All with R 16 wrap style insulation .

See how it goes

Let us know who you end up going with and how you like the building.

 

[SS396driver]

Let us know who you end up going with and how you like the building.

Will do . It won’t happen till summer at least . Don’t like doing concrete on frozen ground it always settles and my town loves to drag out permits .
Going with a monolithic slab 5-6 inches with 12 inch edge.plan is to have at least one two post lift and possibly a four post too. Needs to be insulated since I’m doing radiant heating .
Friend who dug the last part of the well line trench built a 30x60 with radiant floor heating about 5 years ago . I’ve worked in the garage with him and it’s toasty warm and he said it’s very easy on heating cost . Only thing he would change is to use a domestic hot water heater instead of an actual boiler for the hot water heater.
My brother in law and I will be doing the electrical, he was a union electrician in NYC .

 

[Haywire]

Looks like 2025 is the LAST year Yamaha and Artic Cat will be making sno-mobiles, pretty soon Ski-doo will be the only one left!

SR

Yeah, that's a shame. Poor sales, probably. Winters ain't what they used to be.

 

[Philbert]

I gave up my state insurance licenses and my securities licenses a few years ago. The continuing education became unbearable for the return .

This guy just does Medicare, and has his hands full.
Eligible for Medicare but still working?
Eligible for Medicare but also V.A. benefits?
Medicare ‘Advantage’ or ‘Supplement’ or . . . .
Which doctors / providers can you see?
What prescriptions are you on?
Do you plan to travel out of state, or outside US?
Deductibles and co-pays.

Then the alphabet stuff . . .

Waaaay too complicated.

(* I don’t want to drag this into the P&R threads. Trying to answer the ‘Part ‘D’ question).

Philbert

 

[chipper1]

Went to cut yesterday 7910 won’t start . Looks like it flooded right out . Got good spark tried a new plug and after three or four pulls nothing and the plug is soaked . I let it sit all day in the shop with the plug out tried it again and the plug was again wet .

Sounds like your carb is leaking fuel into the cylinder.

This.
The springs are known for being weak and then they leak.

Good luck on the building, can't wait to see what you come up with.

 

[sean donato]

Will do . It won’t happen till summer at least . Don’t like doing concrete on frozen ground it always settles and my town loves to drag out permits .
Going with a monolithic slab 5-6 inches with 12 inch edge.plan is to have at least one two post lift and possibly a four post too. Needs to be insulated since I’m doing radiant heating .
Friend who dug the last part of the well line trench built a 30x60 with radiant floor heating about 5 years ago . I’ve worked in the garage with him and it’s toasty warm and he said it’s very easy on heating cost . Only thing he would change is to use a domestic hot water heater instead of an actual boiler for the hot water heater.
My brother in law and I will be doing the electrical, he was a union electrician in NYC .

Sounds more or less how I did my pad, except I broke it up into 2 pours. I did taper to 7" around the area the lift is going. I kinda wish I did in floor heat, the shop I worked at had it, and I loved working on it, but I just couldn't commit to where it needed ran and not be in the way for anchoring the loft, lift, and palette rack to the floor.
Always nice to have an electrician relative/ friend. One of my work buddies is an electrician. He's been doing most the wiring in my shop/ did up the plans for it. I've just stuck with the basic stuff and pulled wire/ done the rough in, then get him over for the wiring.

 

[.358 win]

Will do . It won’t happen till summer at least . Don’t like doing concrete on frozen ground it always settles and my town loves to drag out permits .
Going with a monolithic slab 5-6 inches with 12 inch edge.plan is to have at least one two post lift and possibly a four post too. Needs to be insulated since I’m doing radiant heating .
Friend who dug the last part of the well line trench built a 30x60 with radiant floor heating about 5 years ago . I’ve worked in the garage with him and it’s toasty warm and he said it’s very easy on heating cost . Only thing he would change is to use a domestic hot water heater instead of an actual boiler for the hot water heater.
My brother in law and I will be doing the electrical, he was a union electrician in NYC .

Column calculations.. I had to send back to the engineer that signed the plans for these.. Didn't cost any extra, but not every twp asks for them. Which relates to the pour..... Just an fyi. I went with 6ft wide rolls of 4 inch fiberglass for the insulation,, pricey... I bought one roll of 4 ft wide for the "starter" roll on the roof.. ( 3ft sheets of corrugated), Good luck on your project.. Please take pics..

 

[farmer steve]

Yeah, that's a shame. Poor sales, probably. Winters ain't what they used to be.

Don't get much snow here as of late. Every Friday I see trucks and trailers with sleds heading to Northern PA or even worse NY which is a good 3 hour± drive. Last time I was at the RV dealer I think they only had 1 sled in the showroom.

 

[sean donato]

Don't get much snow here as of late. Every Friday I see trucks and trailers with sleds heading to Northern PA or even worse NY which is a good 3 hour± drive. Last time I was at the RV dealer I think they only had 1 sled in the showroom.

15 years ago everyone had sleds around here. Last one we hung onto was a 600 triple arctic cat. That thing was a blast to ride. Hung onto it too long and lost my arse selling it. Doubtful I'll ever get another. Funny how things change over the years.

 

[MechanicMatt]

I haven’t ridden my sled in three years….

Even then, didn’t really have enough snow
View attachment 63441799849__6BC4EA4A-72C5-4DB7-BFD5-671E7A562D6A.mov

 

[Ed Penney]

I'll take the heat over freezing cold any day of the week. Once you start sweating you don't feel the heat so bad. Once you feel the cold it takes forever to warm up. I have a 55 gallon burn barrel near my woodpile for those really cold days to keep warm.

I live in the southwest desert it's suppose to be 72 today, 30 last night

 

[sean donato]

Last time I remember we had a "real" winter was back when my wife was pregnant with my daughter. First pic is my 79 f-350 37" tires for reference. Didn't clean a bit of snow off the top yet. Had the snow piled up early to the roof over the back patio. Gretchen loved it.
We've had snow since then, but hardly enough at one time to make a snowman and not nearly the total amount we had when I was a kid.

 

[JimR]

Anyone else get a huge increase in part D plans ? My Wellcare script plan was $3.70 per month it’s now $38.70 increase of 945.9459% no change at all prescriptions wise on my part take one pill daily for BP . After an hour of talking with 5 different people only one who was a licensed agent spoke without an accent I got the same canned lines . Went online and called several different insurance companies and they are all around the same price .

My United Healthcare carrier went from $56 to $78 dollars with no difference in coverage. I switched to Wellcare for $12.86.

 

[Sampson]

Lots of used sleds up for sale in my part of the east coast. It seems it's the same story everywhere. Most guys don't want to bother with the upkeep when you only get maybe 8 or so weeks to ride and that's IF we get enough snow. It doesn't seem like that long ago where we would have at least one storm a year that would dump two feet on us. Even with the way global warming is talked about, I have a hard time believing it's responsible for such a drastic change over a short period. I think we're in a cycle and things will swing back closer to what they were eventually. For the time being, I'm alright with it. I can get out to remote parts of lakes for ice fishing and do some firewood on my quad and it means I only have to worry about storage and maintenance for an ATV and a boat or two.

 

[Sampson]

Speaking of ice fishing: This pic is from a couple years ago, but I'm planning to get out and chase some early ice brookies this weekend.

 

[SS396driver]

My United Healthcare carrier went from $56 to $78 dollars with no difference in coverage. I switched to Wellcare for $12.86.

Seems different states have different prices . I wouldn’t be shocked at say a 50% price increase but over 940% is just plain stupid . I checked Cigna united health and Humana all were more than WellCare’s premium. Just sucks I have to pay 38$ to get 25$ worth of meds every month . And if you go without part D when you have Medicare A &B you get fined for every month you had no insurance for perpetuity when you do sign up for it .