Dear Grandma,
            Me and JM's wands need replacing. We're sorry, they both just snapped. So maybe you could some how send us new ones before Oct. 20. [school carnival] Thanks! 
                            love,
                               Jackson

OK. What's that all about? Back in July, Nancy found an article in the newspaper on how to make Harry Potter wands. We made 3 of them for our Birmingham grandkids. Two-year-old Margaret left her's in Huntsville, but Jackson (9) and John Michael (6) took their's back to Birmingham. I think now they're planning Harry Potter outfits for their school carnival, but their wands "just snapped". All by themselves, no doubt. So Jackson took a picture of both wands, which do appear to be in rough shape, and included that picture with the above email. It looks like Grandma will have to set aside that apple pie she's planning to make today and get to work on new wands.

On Thursday I found out that flu shots would not be available at the Senior Center this year, so we went to Sam's where we found an RN and flu vaccine. Well, they accepted my Humana insurance, but once again Nancy was let down by Blue Cross. They wouldn't accept Blue Advantage, Nancy's medicare plan. This was just the latest in a long list of things that haven't gone well at all when it comes to Blue Advantage. The real rub from my point of view is that the cost difference between her Blue Advantage and my Humana advantage plan is $89 a month. That includes a free gym membership that she doesn't get with Blue Advantage. We drove to Walgreen's where they did accept Blue Advantage, and Nancy did get her flu shot. She has until mid-December to decide about next year.

[Last week I was late posting my page because our AT&T internet connection was down over the weekend. Well last night, at nearly the same time as last week, it went down again. It's still down as I write, and according to the computer I spoke to on my cell, it will be down until tomorrow morning. I predict sometime on Monday. I won't even try to guess what's going on, but I do see another visit to McDonald's to use their Wi-Fi.]