Vaccinated.

We were able to get the flu 65+and Covid vaccines last week with no problem. My daughter (the nursing professor) said she had seen a delivery at the CVS in her city that Monday. I got online at the Walgreens in my town and snagged the first two appointments on Thursday, the day vaccines were released in my state.  

We normally do not do both vaccines together, but with the uncertainty of even getting a vaccine, or the possible requirement of a prescription or the uncertainty of whether Medicare or our insurance covering the cost spurred us on. Side note, you know you are old and have too many prescriptions when you walk to the pharmacy counter and the employees look past the long line and say "Hi Mr & Mrs Merry, you can sit right over there".  Yes, we are known by sight. 

It was a double whammy. Body aches, site pain, headaches, chills and sweats. But the side effects only lasted a day and we are good. Or rather, we were good. We have both come down with a fall cold and had a grandchild home sick yesterday with a high fever. And this assured us that we were smart to get vaccinated early with all the school germs that will be shared in my house. 

Meanwhile I had a long list at my church charity yesterday.  I will just mention one woman, almost 70. She received a letter from Social Security that they miscalculated the amount of her Medicare payment since her original application and that to pay what she owes her September Social Security check will be $1 and her October Social Security check will be $12. In November will return to the correct amount of $1246.  

This is not the first (or twentieth) time I have seen these letters over the years. And I mean years as decades, not just this administration.  Our clients are people that live paycheck to paycheck, or social security check to social security check, and receiving $1 to live on for a month is reprehensible. There is no system to have a payment plan. The letter is the law.  Maybe our lawmakers could focus on this, but then again it only affects low-income people so why bother. And don't get me started on the donut hole. 

Our organization is pairing with some others to help cover rent. She was current on utility bills so she will not be shut off if she misses one month. Hopefully in October we can help her negotiate payment plans with the utility companies. 

Thank you for the accolades for the charity work, but I don't really deserve them. I am part of a volunteer group of great people who all bring something to the table. I am the secretary only because I have the most readable handwriting and I do work one of the four days we are open. I am lucky that I have the time (due to Mr Merry at the grandchild care center) that I can cover other days when necessary. We also have some retired businessmen whose skills lie in fundraising which is what keeps us in business. We have a retired bookkeeper who keeps track of the money and payments, we have a newly retired investment counselor who "invests" when we have the money and also has a niece who is a tax lawyer and files our tax forms.  We have a former government aid worker who keeps us updated on available programs and implausible applications. We all attend the weekly board meeting and I can honestly say we have never disagreed on evaluating applications.  We sometimes have to vote on disagreements about amounts of help. We find the women's votes are a little more sympathetic (lol) and we do have a special spot for grandparents raising grandchildren. But I have never been a part of an organization that is so cohesive.  We all play a part and mine is a small one.

We attended a soccer game out of town last night, tonight I am attending a football game two hours away. Tomorrow morning is the retired library lunch and Sunday we are attending a Celebration of Life for one of my husband's former co-workers. Monday is my Murder Mystery Crime Podcast Club at the library and Tuesday I am going out to lunch (for the day) at a place a couple counties away. I had never heard of it, but I guess it is a collection of barns; one is a restaurant, one is a bakery, one has "stalls" which are independent operators with cute things for me to spend money to buy. And across the road is a factory that makes a well known brand of candles.  This is my monthly lunch with high school friends. And I won't be driving. 

I had posted this on Facebook and had a large collection of comments from friends, family and former co-workers and 4H advisors who verified the facts in the case.