Life on this last Monday in June

Posted on June 25, 2018 by Judy@NewEnglandGardenAndThread

I could put you to sleep describing weeding, mulching, trimming and such so I’ll just cut to the chase and say I’ve been working outside a lot.

The weather is going to hit upper 90’s this coming week, and I’ve tried to get all things growing ready for that as much as I can.

I’m holding over 60 plants  for next year’s plant sale so I had to dig them into the ground or face a couple of months of multiple daily waterings.

Things are doing well, but with nature there are always interesting things to observe. Two of my five Knockout roses are not blooming, and someone is eating holes in the leaves, the red Clematis have holes as well, and one tank of tomatoes are almost three feet tall while the tank next to them aren’t a foot yet – same soil, same watering. Hmm.

I went on a Master Gardener field trip last week to Squam Lakes Natural Science Center and Kirkwood Gardens in the northern part of the state. It was my first visit, and I found it interesting. A friend asked if I thought my twelve-year old grandson would like it because she has grandkids visiting this summer. Uh, the answer to that would be ‘no’ because there were a lot of things for a gardener to observe but not a lot of action.

Today, before I start any other projects, I have to renew a prescription and thought I’d share an observation. I discovered something by reading the fine print on the documentation, at least in my case, that is stapled to the bag that contains the prescription. Typed on the documentation is a field entitled ‘Days Supply.’ For the 90 day prescription it reads 68, and for the 30 day prescription, it reads 21.

I think I can safely say that most of us only use and pay for prescription medicine if it is required to maintain our health. I’m wondering what big pharma thinks I’m suppose to do for those 9 or 22 days or how they explain a co-pay for medicine for which I don’t receive a full allotment. I’ve sent a letter asking for clarification, but so far no answer – big surprise.

Dealing with holes in plants is certainly easier than trying to understand insurance and pharmaceuticals so I think I’ll go get another load of mulch – that I can handle.

Happy Monday and remember to check the fine print. 🙂

About Judy@NewEnglandGardenAndThread

Master Gardener who enjoys gardening, quilting, photography, and traveling.
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57 Responses to Life on this last Monday in June

  1. cupcakesandmachetes says:
    June 25, 2018 at 7:37 am

    Here to try to answer your pharmacy question! (There are a number of unknowns on my part so bare with me.) One, it may depend where you get your prescriptions from. If it’s mail order, I have no idea why they do it that way. If it’s from a retail pharmacy and it’s something like insulin, it will be based on both the units you use daily and how many pens/vials the doctor prescribed. Many times, it’s mathematical error on the doctor’s part. This happens more times than I can count. Let’s say you’re taking 1 tablet four times daily but the doctor doesn’t take the time to do proper math and writes for a quantity of 150. 150 divided by 4 is 37.5 days supply. (IF your insurance will even pay for a weird days supply like that.) Pharmacies cannot change how a prescription is written unless they take the time to call the doctor and ask for their permission to do so. If you go to a big box pharmacy, they most likely won’t take the time to do this. As per your letter, if you sent it to your insurance company or mail order pharmacy, I doubt you’ll get a response. If you use a brick and mortar pharmacy, you should be able to ask the staff why it was billed that way. Hope this helps! Any further questions, I’ll do my best to answer. 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

  2. the eternal traveller says:
    June 25, 2018 at 7:42 am

    That’s weird – where did all the rest of the prescription go? While you’re in for some hot days, we’re expecting some good rainfall later this week. I can’t remember the last time it rained. It was November I think. My roses would love a good drink.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. stitchinggrandma says:
    June 25, 2018 at 7:43 am

    My hubby had AETNA insurance, and he always got odd numbered doses too. Drove him nuts because it was another way to squeeze out more co-pays from him. Once he started using Blue Cross, 30 days = 30 days. I guess maybe they figure you won’t really take all your meds? Good luck with the heat! It has been brutal the last couple of days here, but cooling trend coming our way. My garden is sad…..I refuse to work in it in the humid weather.

    Liked by 2 people

  4. Murphy's Law says:
    June 25, 2018 at 8:22 am

    Sorry about the bugs feasting on your plants. And the approaching heatwave is only going to add to gardening nightmares!!

    With regard to the prescriptions….l’ve never encountered that. All our prescriptions are for 30 days supply across the board. And we’ve used the same brick and mortar pharmacy for the past 26 years. Occasionally I get an Rx that might say, “20. We owe you 10.” I would want that straightened out yesterday !! Good luck!

    Hope you and Dennis plan to take it easy in the heat . This would be a good time to run sprinklers in the garden…..although they can be a pain sometimes changing their position. Nothing’s easy any more my friend. It’s called ‘old age’. Lol.
    🔹 Ginger 🔹

    Liked by 1 person

    • Judy @ NewEnglandGardenAndThread says:
      June 25, 2018 at 8:28 am

      I must admit I don’t think I’ve ever read the fine print on the paper attached so maybe it has been different at other points. Interesting though. We’ve used soaker hoses before but the reality is by the time you count the time to hook up, wait and unhook, you can be done with the watering. Yep – nothing is easy. 🙂

      Like

  5. Almost Iowa says:
    June 25, 2018 at 8:38 am

    Dealing with holes in plants

    Something has been eating the leaves on my apple trees, so I cut a couple of holes an old plastic milk jugs, filled them with lemonade and tied them to the branches. The critters love it to death.

    I wonder if you could do that with an insurance company.

    Liked by 2 people

  6. joyroses13 says:
    June 25, 2018 at 8:57 am

    You are so right about the fine print. I was trying to get a airline ticket for my daughter to fly to Georgia. I saw a very cheap price compared to the others I was looking at and was happy at first, That is until I read the fine print! She was going to have a 9 hour lay over in Colorado!!! We live in Pa. and she was headed to Georgia, but they were going to fly her to Colorado first and then to Georgia. CRAZY! I had never heard of that before, but I talked to a travel agent then and she said that yes there are flights that do that.
    Hope you get an explanation about the fine print with your prescription!
    Have a good day!

    Liked by 2 people

  7. Laurie Graves says:
    June 25, 2018 at 9:18 am

    You bet! Few people take medication for the fun of it, just as few people visit the doctor for the fun of it. There are exceptions, I’m sure, but most people would rather not take medicine and would just as soon not visit their doctor. Health care in this country is maddening. Also scary if you have to buy your own health insurance, the way I do. I could go on a full-blown rant here about law makers who huff and puff about affordable health care while never having to worry about their own. Time to change the subject. Keep us posted about the tomatoes. Very strange. Also, lovely statue of the girl with the bird.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Judy @ NewEnglandGardenAndThread says:
      June 26, 2018 at 6:34 am

      I understand because I almost didn’t mention the pharma issue because I didn’t want to submit everyone to my pharmaceutical rant. The cost of some drugs that large numbers of people need is so outrageous it sends you off the edge. Yes, those who have full medical service paid for by us don’t seem to be too interested in our issues. Geez, I got that out fairly nice. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  8. Joyce says:
    June 25, 2018 at 9:39 am

    Interesting! Last year, my MD doubled my BP daily dose to two pills, updating the scrip. My mail orders say there’s a 45 day supply (90 pills) in each bottle, yet I have ended up with one stray pill at the end of nearly every cycle. I’ve never counted them (yet!) but I suspect 89 instead of 91 were sold to me! I read a consumer article once that alerted people to florists who use 11 stems in funeral bouquets, thus netting them a bonus profit after dozens of arrangements are sold. Whether by error or design, I think these shortages are more widespread than we realize!
    I love your blog! So many interesting topics – I like the travel accompanied by the historic background info and the day to day exchanges on topics like this. Your readers are intelligent and well spoken and I enjoy the comments as much as I do your posts! I wonder if everyone knows that you frequently reply to our comments on past posts? I look forward to checking back on those every time I’m here!
    Best wishes on your gardening challenges! I can see you going after that “failure to thrive” tomato with a “helicopter mom” vengeance and solving the problem in a jiffy! Please let us know what happens!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Judy @ NewEnglandGardenAndThread says:
      June 26, 2018 at 6:41 am

      You are one of those wonderful folks who visit and leave wonderful comments that we all learn from. Thank you, friend. 🙂 Your florist example and the pill count sure makes one wonder how much of that goes around that we don’t realize. That’s right – I’m on tomato patrol. 🙂

      Like

  9. carolee says:
    June 25, 2018 at 10:14 am

    How can it be the last Monday in June already??? It hadn’t even occurred to me until I read your post!!!

    Liked by 2 people

  10. Marilyn Armstrong says:
    June 25, 2018 at 1:30 pm

    We actually mowed the hip-length grass in the backyard yesterday and the wild garden is growing like crazy. I think we’ll have an insanely beautiful garden for July and by August, it will look like a brown patch of weeds. We have no late-bloomers except the straggling roses. All the “perennials” I planted died. But at least, right now, it looks GREAT.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. tonytomeo says:
    June 25, 2018 at 5:20 pm

    Medical industries are like good healthy compost, . . . . full of . . . that special ingredient.

    Liked by 2 people

  12. gardeninacity says:
    June 25, 2018 at 6:43 pm

    Holes in plants are usually less aggravating than holes in insurance.

    Liked by 2 people

  13. Oddment says:
    June 25, 2018 at 8:53 pm

    You nailed it: the fine print. It’s everywhere! Insurance is among the worst, but even their big print is nasty. And how about that fine print in “Terms and Conditions” for email and other online mysteries? The mysteries in a garden are ever so much healthier for us to tackle. We too have brutal temperatures coming by week’s end, and I give thanks I don’t have 60 of anything to care for! You and your clone are a wonder!

    Liked by 2 people

  14. joey says:
    June 25, 2018 at 9:17 pm

    I can’t get over how much scrip costs vary from pharmacy to pharmacy. One of them is literally $120 less at another pharmacy. No brainer. Sucks to call around, but it’s worth the savings.
    I, too, prefer dealing with actual, tangible problems, and particularly of the growy sort.
    Good luck always 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  15. Old Herbaceous says:
    June 25, 2018 at 10:28 pm

    We have visited the Squam Lakes Natural Science Center many times with our kids when they were younger, and they actually loved it! But we did the animal exhibits and trails, not Kirkwood Gardens. Seeing the river otters and the mountain lion in their habitats were probably their favorite things. You can combine the walk through the animal exhibits with a boat trip, which your friend’s grandchildren might enjoy too.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Judy @ NewEnglandGardenAndThread says:
      June 26, 2018 at 6:47 am

      I really enjoyed the exhibits and trails. There were a lot of children under 6 or so that seemed to enjoy the animal exhibits, but I couldn’t quite imagine teens today being engaged. We tried to add the boat trip, but they were sold out that day. I guess that would be a good reason to return. 🙂

      Like

  16. KerryCan says:
    June 26, 2018 at 7:20 am

    We spent yesterday doing catch-up weeding and mulching, and I am so sore and creaky! You garden consistently–do you get past the sore stage because you’re in good shape for gardening or is it simply part of the bargain?

    Liked by 2 people

    • Judy @ NewEnglandGardenAndThread says:
      June 26, 2018 at 1:31 pm

      I have to space certain tasks out like mulch. I did a truck load Friday morning and unloaded another one on Monday. Two days in between and a couple of ice packs, and I’m good to go. My challenge is with 4 acres, I don’t seem to get to the end of the to-do-list, and I could weed five days a week. Weeding really kills my back so that is why I use so much mulch. But, I have to admit I do carry a bottle of spray weed killer for those certain places where I can use a little of it to kill the weeds like along the driveway.

      Like

  17. Ally Bean says:
    June 26, 2018 at 8:27 am

    I recently noticed the same odd number of pills in my 30-day supply. I sighed realizing that I was going to be inconvenienced, forced to bear the financial burden of getting more pills– thereby taking the meds in the way that my doc prescribed. I’m glad you mentioned this topic here because I wondered if my experience was a fluke, or a trend. Happy mulching! Now that’s something that never changes.

    Liked by 1 person

  18. Tina Schell says:
    June 26, 2018 at 2:01 pm

    Yikes, June is almost over——I’m not ready!!!! Weird about the script Judy. Dumb question—did u count the pills? I’d talk to the pharmacist about it. Something isn’t right!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Judy @ NewEnglandGardenAndThread says:
      June 26, 2018 at 7:07 pm

      I talked to the Dr. today at a regular appointment. The pharmacist is my next stop. It seems that a Dr. submits a script in a certain format, then the pharmacist may fill it in another format. 90 days may be interpreted differently by the pharmacist because of bottle size, milligrams, or count. Interesting for sure.

      Like

  19. Marilyn Maxwell says:
    June 26, 2018 at 7:50 pm

    I found little black worms on my rioses. They had eaten all kinds of jokes in the leaves. Sorry, but I fed them with and sprayed them with Eight. Worms are gone.

    Liked by 1 person

  20. Joanne Sisco says:
    June 26, 2018 at 8:09 pm

    I don’t take any prescription drugs, but if I did and discovered discrepancies, I’d be looking for an explanation. Even worse, from other comments it sounds like this is a normal practice!!
    Does your local TV station have a segment where they investigate consumer issues with business practices? They may be interested in this story.

    Liked by 2 people

  21. Mother Hen says:
    June 27, 2018 at 12:57 am

    One never knows when it comes to gardening.. If it’s not one bug it’s something else. Lol!

    Liked by 2 people

  22. Joy says:
    June 27, 2018 at 7:20 pm

    Hi there .. first time here .. sorry about the holes in the plants but that red clematis is a beauty .. I used to have Niobe and I am thinking I have to have it again after seeing your red one.
    I’m sorry about the script thing .. I’m Canadian, no .. we don’t get our meds for free but they are a lot cheaper than yours I am told (but we do have insurance for most of what cost we do incur)
    I have to say .. I shake my head over your country’s predicament with Trump right now .. I think better left unsaid ? LOL
    Good luck with the plants and the scripts though .. I can understand the stress of it all.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Judy @ NewEnglandGardenAndThread says:
      June 27, 2018 at 8:38 pm

      Thank you for stopping. 🙂 Yes, there are a lot of us shaking our head about lots of interesting things going on right now. My husband actually purchases some of his prescription meds from CN because they are exactly the same thing but at a more cost effective price. I stopped over at your blog, and you have some beautiful plants, gardens, and hardscape. Your clematis is gorgeous, and I grew Kiwi vine for a couple of years – their leaves are lovely. Blogger and WordPress don’t play nice so if I try to follow you, I’ll never get post notices, and it won’t let me comment. I really like another blog you follow, Nadezda’s Northern Garden, and I have those same problems trying to follow her. I sure wish they worked together to allow us to enjoy good blogs regardless what platform they are on. Again, thanks for taking the time to comment. 🙂

      Like

  23. debrapugh says:
    June 28, 2018 at 7:23 pm

    I love open windows and fresh air and we’ve had 2 heat waves in the 90’s where I did NOT have my kids install the A/C window units due to cooler weather coming along behind the heatwaves. After a look at the following week’s forecast I gave in and requested that Scott install all units prior to them going on vaca for a week and me having their having their dog here ( LOL he does nothing but huff and puff with tongue hanging out if it is over 75 degrees! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  24. Karen says:
    July 8, 2018 at 10:58 am

    Curious about what you found out from the pharmacist about the pill predicament.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Judy @ NewEnglandGardenAndThread says:
      July 10, 2018 at 7:14 am

      I am going to do a follow up post but I’ll cut to the end and tell you that it totally depends upon how the prescription is written. The Dr’s assistant called in a new prescription and they gave me twice the amount because of how it is packaged. I wish I had known this years ago. Interesting, huh?

      Like

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