This is one for Harry Flashman

   Found it here H/T daily timewaster  

11 nations in one

      Look an see how you got labeled on this map. I am about 5 miles in to the Deep South according to this map.

II nations

Money sources isnt always obviousin in retirement.

    When I had to quit working and filed for disability I knew it wouldn't be the income I was use to. Not to say I had a high income but I had a weekly income and if my expense's went up I had  the option to work a bit more. At this time my ability to earn income even off book is zero. So while I was healing I did some research on benefits we qualified for besides just SSI.

      As me and the wife never have got Married to each other and have separate addresses . I filed for each of us food stamps .At our  income we each got 102$ a month. Then we got the Phone for free that saves us 40$ each a month. The phone was an upgrade compared to what I had to. ATT has a low cost internet for those that have low income. I applied and my internet cost have dropped from 60 to 10$ a month saving us 50$ more. A lot of people wouldn't have applied for these benefits as not worth the trouble inadvgaly but combined  in our case our income increased 334$ a month. 

       My wife is 65 and had to pick an insurance provider for her Medicare . The man we dealt with was good. At her income level she qualified for our state Medicaid to . When it was all said and done the state picked up her Medicare premium's and zeroed out her co pays. This  gave her 134$ Medicare back a month plus did away with 70 or more in co pays. So with a little due diligence we have increased income by almost 550$ a month or 38% over what we had.

The news has improved.

  First of thanks for the kind words and wishes from everyone. I hope everyone had a good holiday season.
     My last post may have been a little pessimistic :) . I saw the surgeon  a few weeks back he says he got it all and my lung doctor says their clean. The surgeon says his partner is a gloomy Gus always looking for the worst . He thinks I will be fine but no guaranties in medicine . My neck is almost healed. I have one of those round inserts for my stoma hole in my neck. I find it fits best in my pocket :) damn thing chokes the hell out of me when its in my neck.

     The best news to post is I can talk a little with the valve they put in between my trach and esophagus . Its a course croaking sound but its understandable. The speech therapist says I should be talking good in 6 months with what I can do now.  I will be posting at least weekly from now on but I have to decide what direction my life and blog will be taking.

I live but the news isnt good.

      OK they didn't pull my lymph nodes out back in September . They did do another throat biopsy that came back as cancer.  So I had to have a complete larogeal removal . Its a fancy way of saying I can't talk and have a stoma hole in my neck. I have a gapping cut from ear to ear that's about half healed. My lymph nodes were finally pulled but it seem I had tentacles of cancer from the nodes wrapped around my jugular vein. Now with no lymph nodes and down a jugular my face and neck swell 3 to 4 times a day.

      While  I feel ok now I have to be a realist The cancer has Metastasized it can and will pop up somewhere else maybe in a month or a few years. So as soon as I heal and can I plan on cramming as much life in as I can . The winter allows me time to get my affairs squared away. I have decided  no new camper better to take the funds we have and go and have fun. 

Fun trip camping

        We got back late Saturday evening from our trip to the coast. This was my first trip since getting cancer treatments and it was the first real trip with the dodge truck. I learned a lot about myself and my new truck . 
      First off I am not the man I was a year ago and I had better learn to live with my limits. The scar on my stomach hurts if I lift or over stretch . I have lost a lot of muscle along with weight , just for the record I have stabilized at 164 lbs. My normal adult weight had been 250 lbs. I require more sleep and now like naps they help as I get tired quicker. Simple things like extending the awning and letting down the stabilizer legs took effort. While I did have fun and enjoyed the ocean and seafood (shrimp tasted normal)I wasn't able to ride my bike or to go for long walks .

   On the truck I was nervous as I hadn't driven it but a few hundred mile since the new motor and front end was rebuilt. I haven't posted what all ended up being done to the dodge. While it was having the motor swapped out my mechanic noticed I needed a drivers side spindle bearing assembly tie rods both inner and outer both sides upper and lower ball joints. The only good news was the transmission was good just need a fluid change and the shift cable adjusted (that was causing it to downshift). Total bill for it all was 1580$. After this trip it was money well spent it drove great!!!!! As long as I was under 60 mph. no problem. Over 60 it would start fishtailing , but that will be fixed with a load leveling hitch and sway bar. I knew it could be a problem because the truck is a short wheel base. Me and the wife will be looking for a slightly bigger camper over the next few months but we are in no hurry.

    While we were camped we noticed they had no camp host normally they have 3. Now before we left 2 camp host did pull in. Before they did I went into the office and asked for any information on becoming camp host . The park Rangers gave me a paper that had all the requirement and web site to apply state wide. They told me this year had been hard to get hosts system wide. The wife and I are considering doing the camp/work thing next year. We have a family friend that has been doing it for a year now .

Time to travel !

     I haven't post much lately because I  had a biopsy last month. I admit I have been worried . While the CT didn't show any cancer a PET scan showed abnormal cells in my throat and lymph nodes. Today I found out I have NONE in my throat!!!! As for the lymph nodes I am going to have them removed the 5th of September. If they are cancerous they will be out and a none issue. To remove them is no more surgery than to biopsy them.  But I have a 3 week window to go to the beach !!!!!!!

     This year has been all about doctors and hospitals. I need some beach time . So about an hour ago I reserved 6 days at big lagoon for the week of the 20th . While it isn't some place new it is NOT HERE. Sometimes its just about getting away.

     While we are there we plan on going over to Fort Pickens and getting a senior park  pass  so we can get half off federal camp grounds because we plan on traveling next year. This may be the last trip in our Fun finder as we are Looking at another larger camper.