Opening the mail here is always a roll of the dice. Will it be something I wanted to receive? No, it will be bills. Will I understand the bill Ive received? Not if there is anything other than a total that appears in the ballpark of what I expected. This is probably why I only even check the mail once a week, unless Im expecting a package.
This morning I finally felt clear-headed enough to deal with the mail that arrived while we were in the US. It really wasnt much. Gone three weeks and I had about 10 pieces of mail to deal with. Most of them just got filed away or put on the stack of stuff to shred.
Among the things I had to set aside to actually do something about: the explanation of benefits from the insurance company regarding my crown. They paid zero on the temporary crown, saying that it Does not meet frequency requirements of the plan. Frequency requirements? For a crown put into a fractured tooth??? Am I supposed to have this problem more often? Its the first time Ive ever made such a claim, so I dont think its too frequent an issue. Is it? Now I have to decide if its worth the hassle of calling United Healthcare or not. I usually get really mad at those people and yell at them, so it may not be worth the spike in blood pressure.
The other matter I really cant ignore is a series of two letters from the electric company. The first, dated 31 July, tells me that the meter reader could not get to our meter because of lavande et abeillles. Lavender and bees. Two things which go together, by the way. What do they think Im going to do about this? Get rid of the lavender? Even if it was my plant to exterminate, I wouldnt. I rather relish living in the one small area of the world where real lavender grows. And it doesnt need me to do anything to it to survive: a serious plus given my amazing ability to kill a plant just by considering buying it and bringing it home. The lavender may be the only thing left living in our entire yard other than the weeds which have pretty much taken over.
And as for the issue of the bees: no kidding. Ive been saying for nearly three years now that this house is a freakish magnet to stinging insects. This year Ive simply been happy that they (mostly) arent coming inside… since we had the pompiers (firefighters) come out and kill the wasps whod set up shop in our roof. (I hope just saying the problem has lessoned doesnt jinx it.) I noticed on a walk earlier this summer that there is a bee-keeper down the street from us. That combined with the lavender and the houses bizarre appeal to them means there aint nothing I can or will do about the bees. Period. The end.
The second letter from the electric company was dated 3 August. I guess they werent going to wait long for my response to the initial one. This second one tells me that I need to read the meter and call them with the information. Which I confirmed thanks to Google translate… it seemed too crazy to me for a company to wait only three days before throwing in the towel and saying just do it yourself. But they did. That, of course, was 19 days ago and no subsequent notice or warning has arrived. I suppose thats because its August and no one has been in the office since the 3rd to bother worrying about it.
I guess I need to tell Bill that it is now his job to (1) figure out where the meter is, (2) get past the lavender and bees to read it (3) figure out what number(s) they want off it, and (4) beg someone at the office to make the call to relay that information. Ill call and make dinner reservations. Ill call the doctor and make an appointment. Ill call and order pizza. I have even pretty much gotten past my fear of calling the water heater company to have them come out. I even called and ordered heating fuel to be delivered. But there is no way Im calling this probably automated line to rattle off a series of numbers. Not gonna happen.
Take a picture of the meter and email it to the electric company. Then they can figure out what the reading is.