Hey kids!

My little monkey in the basement. He had a grand ole time running free down there.

AHHHHH ... got back last night. Needless to say, I have several mounds of laundry and a meeelllllion things to get caught up on. It was pretty cold while we were there... we had a day or two of 10 to 20 degree weather. The wind made it kind of tough on the boys working on the cabin site.

We (Mike, I should say) had a very productive 10 days! Our family cabin in coming along nicely. The load bearing wall in the basement is in place; the sub floor is up and it looks awesome; the excavator back filled around the cabin site; we now have a great burm along a much traveled county road that was put in, right along our property line (grrr) three years ago. I have some great pictures to post as soon as I have some more time. What a view, what a view, what a view we have. The pics just don't do it justice.

Logs will be delivered this coming Friday.

Casey just called me, he was told by his insurance company that the procedure on his heart will cost him 60% of the amount charged b/c it is all "out of network". GO FIGURE!!! The procedure alone will cost around $10,000, not including the hospital charges and anesthesiologist, etc.....
so, he has postponed the repair on his heart until we figure out who else he could go to that is acceptable. You know ... you don't want a "WalMart" doctor working on your heart... you'd like a "Macy's" doctor.

I'm telling ya ... our healthcare system is just a wreck. I think it's rotten that the insurance companies can dictate where you can and can't go.

By saying it's "out of network" they are pretty much saying you can't go b/c it's simply unaffordable for the average person ~ so, you are forced to go where they say.

Back when Casey was growing up, I could go where ever I wanted ... now, there is all this "in network" "out of network" crap. Back then, only the HMO's had lists of places you could and couldn't go to, now it's the regular insurance companies. Trust me, before we ever go out of town, I'm on the phone, making sure hospitals in the area are "providers" for our insurance company.

It just stinks. Poor Casey ... he's trying to get his masters degree, works full time and has a house payment on an average wage ... now, he could be facing monster medical expenses.

Makes me want to cry for him.