Biscuit Day #558
Random Notes from the first third of February
Man, these were good today. I must admit that Ernie is slowly luring me over to the mustard side. Great batch today, baby.
On a less pleasant note, can someone explain why dental work isn’t included in medical insurance? I mean, a plausible, reasonable explanation? Yeah, I didn’t think so.
So, Ernie’s had almost 20 years of cancer treatments and you know what that does, apart from treating cancer? It fucks you up and it takes particular delight in fucking up your teeth and your jaw.
Geesh. The estimate on dealing with it is around $10,000 and that was before we saw the oral surgeon. We saw him a few days later and he referred us to yet another oral surgeon who has more experience with cancer patients and osteonecrosis, etc. Sigh. Ernie got the ‘complicated’ and ‘unusual’ labels. I’ve truly turned Ernie into a Voelkl. First it was the love of excess, then it was the lack of skill with money, now it’s the unusual medical issues (obviously this may not apply to all Voelkls). Sigh. I’m sorry, Ernie.
We have some dental insurance, but it’s not great. I mean this damage is from drugs given him that were covered by medical insurance, but now the resultant damage is not.
Grumble, grumble, grumble.
We do love our dentist though and I loved the oral surgeon we saw (he admired Joe).
Eh, I know people are dealing with far worse. And some of them are people I love. Sending love out to you guys.
Back to more pleasant notes.
On our drive Ernie and I came up with the idea of a merry band of preservationists traveling the country, dedicated to stripping historic buildings of bad vinyl siding. We would operate silently, at night. I think there are some real possibilities here. Anybody want naming rights?
As we wandered, particularly through, southwestern Ohio we saw some wonderful early brick buildings, some with fading paint. Ernie referred to these as stonewashed buildings. It made me giggle every time.
I love the shopping list on my phone that I share with Ernie. It has started automatically sorting things into categories which is kinda delightful. The other day I put eggs on the list, because we always need eggs and it put it under Snacks and Candy. This amused me far more than it should have. I mean, maybe they just know Ernie. He does love his eggs.
And now, for your pleasure, my two favorite moments from the Emmett Otter outtakes.
I’m not sure why these make me so happy, but they do.
Another reminder, Byron’s fundraiser has a long ways to go. Here is something I posted on Facebook the other day.
This is the kind of place Byron's is.
I'd started using a walker not long before my visit there and was still a little rocky. When we got there Ernie pulled the door open for me and took my walker, Little Guy, as he does when I am doing steps. I put my foot on the step and knew I couldn’t do it. I tried grabbing onto the edge of the door to help. No go. Ernie shut the door and tried to figure out how to help me. I was just frozen at that point. He opened the door again and although rationally I know that not every person in the packed bar turned and stared at us, it sure felt that way. I tried again but I just couldn’t manage it. Suddenly there were two guys, on either side of me, “You need a little help? We gotcha.” They made sure I was comfortable with the way they were holding me and they just popped me up into the bar. Once they knew I was ok they just disappeared. I think I thanked them but I was so flustered that later I couldn’t even remember who had helped me. We got to our table where some friends were waiting. I gratefully sank into my chair. Ernie folded up Little Guy and then I got a big hug from Byron (who I had never met before in person) before he took Little Guy and tucked him away.
That's the kind of community that Byron has created.
Oh yeah, and TOP NOTCH MUSIC TOO.
www.gofundme.com/f/save-byrons-in-pomeroy
Here’s one of my favorites from our last day of the wander. A classic stop on the National Road, old US 40. Just beautiful.
Now I’m gonna do a little Biscuit Day share of videos. Click through, people, click through.
Damn. These two. They exude such joy playing together and sound extraordinarily beautiful. We love them so. If you don’t follow them on YouTube and Substack, you should.
Smitten with this. Thanks, Sasha. She saw them in Indy this week and said, “I loved how happy they were to be performing, and just mingled with everyone after the show.” She also said to listen all the way through. I always listen to my Rubels.
And last but not least, Aaron Lee gives me the power. Oh, and check the beautiful boys at 1:29.
I'm worth at least a million
And I barely have a dime
That's alright
Onward.
Love,
Cynthia
P.S. l love the Emmet Otter outtakes.
You'd think the stupid insurance would cover what they'd caused!!!!!