The Story of Lori, Chapter 2

[Lori Dee ✅]

The Fiskars brand four prong weed remover stick with ejection is really good to pull out weeds. 

It does not pull out all weeds, some weeds seem like they have little to grab onto to extract from the ground.  But it is great on dandelions and any weed that "clumps" in the ground.  An excellent investment. 

There are similar weeders.  The ejection feature is nice though as you do not have to pull off by hand from the prongs the extracted weeds. 

I had one of those, and it works well. But its weakest point was the hinge. Everything on it was metal except the plastic hinge, which broke on a particularly stubborn Chinese Elm sapling.

Today, I used a swing blade to chop the roots. I got all of the big stuff. My trash can is overflowing, so my neighbor offered me his.

Now that the big stuff is gone, it looks much better. Depending on the weather, I'll be back out there spraying everything with a mix of Agent Orange and paraquat. As I wrote to my landlord: "screw the environment and the pretty stuff. At least the weeds will be gone."

Actually, I can't get paraquat or Agent Orange, so I'll be using RM-43 this time. It is a concentrate that you mix yourself. I'll make certain it is potent enough to get the job done.

For now, I have taken my Happy Pills and am feeling no pain.
🤪

[ChrissyRyan]

I had one of those, and it works well. But its weakest point was the hinge. Everything on it was metal except the plastic hinge, which broke on a particularly stubborn Chinese Elm sapling.

Today, I used a swing blade to chop the roots. I got all of the big stuff. My trash can is overflowing, so my neighbor offered me his.

Now that the big stuff is gone, it looks much better. Depending on the weather, I'll be back out there spraying everything with a mix of Agent Orange and paraquat. As I wrote to my landlord: "screw the environment and the pretty stuff. At least the weeds will be gone."

Actually, I can't get paraquat or Agent Orange, so I'll be using RM-43 this time. It is a concentrate that you mix yourself. I'll make certain it is potent enough to get the job done.

For now, I have taken my Happy Pills and am feeling no pain.
🤪

Will the chemicals also kill the grass, or is this area not the traditional grassy lawn?

[Lori Dee ✅]

Will the chemicals also kill the grass, or is this area not the traditional grassy lawn?

It will kill everything. Weeds, grass, vines, creepers, broadleaf, and even trees.

However, I am in the desert, and we have been in a drought for some time now. So other than some yuccas, barrel cacti, and roses, it is just dirt and rocks... and weeds. I have a Summer Scarlet Lily and a Torchflower bush near the windows, but I won't spray that area. I plan to avoid the ornamentals, but I should be able to get the large dirt area, driveway, and walkways. Those are the major problem areas.

[Emma1017]

We have had the opposite in NY.  Rain all the time, mosquitos that like insecticide and weeds that burnt out my back weeding.  Looking forward to the first snow.

[Lori Dee ✅]

Today, I finally received a follow-up to my complaint filed through the VA Patient Advocates Office a week ago (Monday).

I was at my Dermatologist appointment this morning, so I had my phone silenced. Of course, that's when they called me back. Not for the week that I have been carrying my phone everywhere, including the bathroom.

The voicemail message said he would call me back today or tomorrow with a follow-up. Great. I won't hold my breath.

Sure enough, he called back this afternoon. A really nice guy named Deshaun, and from his voice, I assumed he was gay.

Deshaun, if you are reading this and you are NOT gay, I apologize so sincerely. I should not have assumed. You are a very nice man. And if you are gay, please register for a FREE ACCOUNT right here and post an introduction. If you mention that I referred you, you can get a 50% Discount on your free account.

Anyway, Deshaun said that he thoroughly investigated this SNAFU. The normal procedure is for these referrals to go through a few hands before they are sent to the provider. In this case, the Orthopedic Surgeon who needs to look at my knee.

The doctor writes the referral, and it goes somewhere for approval.
Once approved, the packet is assembled with billing information, relevant medical history, and other unnecessary paperwork.
Once the packet is assembled, it goes to a Care Coordinator, who calls the veteran (me) and asks if I have a Preferred Provider. I do, so I gave her that information.
At this point, the file is "flagged," meaning it is ready to be faxed over to the provider's office for appointment scheduling.

So, Deshaun began following the file to determine where it went, since it never made it to the surgeon's office. He noticed that the file had been flagged, so that's a good sign. Then he looked to see how many flags it had.

Between July 17th and August 17th, the file was flagged 1,700 times.  🫨😮😧
He admits that he has no idea how that happened.

But the good news is that he personally faxed the file over to the surgeon's office. He then called over to Debbie, the Referrals/New Patients Manager, and confirmed she had received it. Yes, she did.

\0/ Yay!

She also told Deshaun that spine cases take longer to schedule because surgeons require much more detailed information. That can take weeks. But for joints (shoulders and knees), patients can be seen much more quickly.

So I expect that within the next 3-5 business days, I will get a call to schedule an appointment. But I have been wrong about that recently, so we will see.

Fingers crossed, everyone, please.

🤞🏻