For crying out loud, YES!
I had my Medicare exam a few days ago and the doctor recited all the questions that Medicare decided were pertinent for old people, us wrinkly bits. Do you have throw rugs? Do you have trouble walking? Can you bathe yourself? Do you have enough to eat? Can you hear the phone ring? You know the gig, making sure everyone is safe and sound in their homes, as if I would tell her the wrong answers, even if I had a bunch of throw rugs and too little to eat. But then, she got to the kicker: Do you feel safe at home? Wow, now that’s a question, isn’t it. Cowboy Bob is as safe as they come, but there are a few more issues that Medicare might not realize.
Montana is a beautiful state, as pretty as I have ever seen. Mountains, trees, snow, rivers, quaint names, like Fishtail, Red Lodge, Wolf Point, Cut Bank, and Roscoe (steaks to die for!), but I recently realized some of its other issues. We live in Stillwater County, backing up to Yellowstone Park, which everyone knows is America’s premiere National Park. If you only see one national park in your lifetime, make it Yellowstone. Teddy Roosevelt loved it and I do too. But Yellowstone has its issues, as it has the largest super volcano caldera in the world, smoldering underground and it could blow at any time, wiping out this Marine and all her life’s treasures. Dang. But that’s not all.
Because of its wide open spaces, and possibly Costner’s movie Yellowstone with the ever-evil Dutton clan, Montana is the home to 150 nuclear silos, which could wipe out most of the earth, according to Google, with smoke, cold, and perpetual darkness, oh happy day.
And now, the balloon at 60,000 feet hovering overhead. Now, I love balloons, they make any party a party, but what’s with the Chinese balloon shadowing over our range? At least no one told me to hide under a desk like in the old days.
But I digress, Doc, I gotta tell you, I feel as snug as a bug, not afraid of anything except this old age creeping up on me. The TV may tell me all those things, and I have lived for three quarters of a century, had a pretty good life regardless of those dire warnings. As I sit here, drinking my third cup of coffee, looking out over the beautiful Beartooths, the cowboy greeted me, “Woke up on the right side of the dirt, it is another great day, let’s get going.”
Take that, Medicare. Throw rugs aren’t gonna get this old girl.
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