THE WEISS CHRONICLES

Helpfully, the IRS sent us forms for use in paying estimated taxes for the estate of Ann's mom, who died in 2012. We didn't get a similar letter in 2024 or for many years earlier. .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... The instructions also had the helpful advice that we should not send the IRS a check for over $100 million. If we owed more than that we should pay with two or more checks. That's good to know.

We had a leak fixed two months ago. It was near the washing machine in the hot water intake valve. Our washing machine hadn't worked since the leak was fixed. We had George look at the machine several times and the home health workers (who take care of Ann) looked at it too because they wanted to be able to wash some towels at one point. I didn't look at it because I don't like using the stairs to the basement. I finally called an appliance repair company. ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... It turned out that when the first leak occured, the repair guy left the cold water intake valve in the 'closed' position. When this was changed, the washing machine worked. However, there was a new leak in the cold water valve itself. Just a drip leak, but a leak nonetheless. Leaking cold water isn't as bad a problem as leaking hot water but we will have to have that fixed also.

Tamar's daugher arrived this morning (local time in Israel). She arrived at the hospital about 4 am and the baby was delivered within 30 minutes. ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... While Tamar was recouperating, Oz went to a wedding of the son (from I think a previous marriage) of the husband of the baby sitter. 6 pounds at birth. Meira Chen Weiss

It was windy. Power out about 630pm. According to posts on Next Door, Cabin John Mall also lost power as did a few other neighborhoods, all because of the high winds. .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................k Power restored about 1130pm. .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................=ON 16 February there was another wind storm. About 100k customers in the DC vicinity (served by PEPCO) lost power. Even as late as am on 18 Feb a few thousand customers were still without power.

This is from a Tu b Shvat party. Image was sent by Tamar. I don't understand the decorations. ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... I don't know if Oz is being honored by being at the head of the table or if that is just the way it turned out.

The snow started about 3pm or so. By 8pm it was about 2-3" in our yard. The first image is of the White House grounds at around 6 pm on 11 February. The second image is of our back yard this morning. By this time We had about 5" of snow. In this storm the higher snow totals were from Arlington south toward Richmond where some places received about a foot of snow. Almost all the schools in the DC area have cancelled classes for 12 February ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Some schools also closed early on 11 February. At the airports, 6.3" at DCA, 4.9" at IAD, 3.8" at BWI.

We had a bit of an ice storm last night. As ice storms go, this was about as gentle as you get. I went outside about 830am. Traffic was moving at normal speed. The sidewalk and driveway weren't slippery. There was a thin sheet of ice on the car. As seen in the images (click on image to enlarge), a bit of ice was on trees and bushes. In Frederick county, it musk have been worse as schools in that county were closed (in Montgomery County it was a 2 hour delayed opening). ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Heard a funny story. Apparently it happened in Frederick county where there were some power outages. Somebody tweeted, "Darn, our electricity is out. It is just like the 19th century."

In Rockville the am temperature was in the single digits F. This has been an anomolously cold January. Many days have had a minimum below freezing and some days have had a maximum below freezing. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Yesterday we had two electrical outages. Both were fixed within 5 minutes or so and the WiFi came back on by itself. The image is from the edge of the tidal pond near the Jefferson Memorial.

Ann went to Suburban hospital on 11 January with Covid and Pneumonia. Ann was discharged from there and came home from Suburban on 17 January. We have home care from a private company (Senior Helpers) and are working with the hospice service part of the Jewish Social Service Association, JSSA. Both the Senior Helpers and the JSSA personnel have been pretty good. The only real problems have occurred because of odd circumstances or because of me. For example, today, I forgot to get Ann her morning medicine and didn't remember until about 5 pm. We are also still working out some of the details. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. This is pretty depressing to write about so I may not be doing much detail.

We received a statement and billing from Johns Hopkins. It was for Cardiolological exams in April 2024 and the Suburban Hospital (part of Johns Hopkins, hence JH) work September and November 2024. All this was for Ann. It included all the charges, the Medicare reimbursement, the co pays, the Blue Cross Blue Shield adjustments and reimbursement and the remainder that we need to pay. The total charges were about $31k. Apparently, Medicare waits until after Blue Cross makes the adjustments before they reimburse. Some of these adjustments were significant. For example, FH charged about $900 for MRIs in September. Blue Cross adjusted that down to about $100. There is no total of the adjustments but looking at the various pages (there are 8 pages), it seems to be about $8k. ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... In addition to the various co pays we have already had we owe JH about another $1k. Its pretty complicated but then so is the entire system and it does seem to work.

We had a fluffy snow event. It began late night on Sunday 5 January and ended a bit before midnight on 6 January. Probaby about 6" at our house. Reagan National Airport had 7.2", Dulles International had 5.1, Baltimore-Washington Marshall had 6.6". Prince Frederick county had some totals over 11". The totals at Dulles and BWI were calendar day records. Since was cold all thru the storm, the snow was pretty fluffy. It was also one of the best forecast storms lately, with the NWS predicting 6-10 inches starting Tuesday last week. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. The first image is in DC at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (Kevin Ambrose took the photo). The second image is from Annapolis showing docks near the Severn River as the sun rose on the day after the storm. The third image of the Washington Monument from a park nearby (Robin on flicker)

Had some coughing and a runny nose. Decreased appetite. Low grade fever. So I tested myself for Covid using one of the home tests. I had a kit with two tests but spilled one of the vials. I was more careful with the second test. The test was positive with one blue line and one pink line. ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... I'll call my doctor in the am to get an anti viral. Jan 7 update - my fever is almost gone. Yesterday, I was 101F, today 99F. May not need an anti viral. Jan 8 no fever. Ann also tested positive but with no fever. They tested everyone on her floor at the Hebrew Home (where she was for rehab) and she was the only one who tested positive which points to me as the infecting agent. Update 22 January - I spoke with Hebrew Home people today - there were others who tested positive the day after Ann tested positive so I may not have been the COVID vector.

Back on 12 September, Ann was weak and disoriented. I called 911 and after some discussion they recommended hospitalization. I agreed and she went to Suburban Hospital (part of the Johns Hopkins Network of Health Care). It was quickly diagnosed as a Urinary Tract Infection. She was discharged on 16 September but was too weak to make it into the house. She was readmitted at Suburban, then discharged to rehab at Montcare of Potomac (a place right near the Washington Country Club Golf Course) on 17 September. She was discharged on 10 October to our house. On 18 November, she had the weakness and disorientation symptoms with tremors as an additional symptom. I called 911 again and they took her to Suburban again and she was diagnosed with UTI again (diagnosis took a while and it wasn't until later in the afternoon on 18 November that she was diagnosed). On both occasions they did an MRI to see if there was a stroke and decided that it wasn't. We planned another rehab. Ann was admitted to the rehab section of the Hebrew Home on Friday Nov 22. It came as a surprise to me as I was told that same morning to plan for her to be at Suburban a few more days. The transfer went OK and we got some supplementary assistance for the nights of the 22nd, 23rd and 24th. She had her first rehab session on Monday 25 November. Irwin visited her on the 25th and I met him there at the Hebrew Home .............. ......................... ............................................................................ The disorientation can be somewhat scary. I would have been very frightened if I hadn't looked up 'causes of delirium' on Mayoclinic.org and saw that infections cause this and followed that up with additional searches. Interestingly, at one time during the first UTI she thought she was in Canada and one time during the second, she thought she was in France. We had an appointment on 30 December to see a specialist in preventing UTIs but they canceled, calling us just an hour or so before the appointment when I was already getting to Ann's room to pick her up for the trip. Rescheduled to 13 January. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Discharge from the Hebrew Home was 8 January. It was a confusing morning but she did make it home and we began home care. Today it was 4 hours of a semi skilled care giver. Tomorrow 8 hours are scheduled. The home care person provides assistance as needed, e.g., rest room, shower, medicine.

A donation request letter came for Ann's mother, Kathleen Byers Lindsey, who died in February 2012. The letter contained address labels and a notepad. So we get letters meant for my mother and father, Ann's mother and assorted people who I've never met. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... None of them have lived here (except for my mother who stayed with us for a few weeks in 1999).

. I was at the Blood Donaton Center today to give plasma. However the plasma machine was out of order and they asked if I would give whole blood and I agreed to do it. I was called to the interview. They asked me my weight but didn't ask me to get on the scale (they have previously asked me to do that). I asked why they weren't weighing me. The interviewer said, we calibrate the spin machine when you are giving platelets or plasma and we want to be sure of your weight. However no spin machine is used for taking whole blood (First thing I learned). After the first part of the interview, the interviewer took my pulse (66 bpm). He said it had too many missed beats (they need it to be fewer than 10 per minute -- this was the Second Thing I Learned). I never had anyone tell me I had missed beats (perhaps because they were fewer than 10/minute). He took my pulse again and again I had more than 10 missed beats He apologized, suggested I come in again as maybe I was under stress. I agreed. Then he asked me if I would like one of the free shirts they were giving to donors that week. So even agreeing to donate gets you the shirt. ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ That was the third thing I learned. Shirt pattern is in the first image. Missed beat cardiograph is in the second image.

I dreamt that I was at a political convention. Food was being served (I might have been there as a mashgiach but that's a might, not for sure). Everyone was having a great time. There was lots of beer being served and being consumed. There was sign that said, "Beer Party" (I think as opposed to Democratic or Republican Party). In the middle of it all was a dog with a party hat (party hat not shown on the image). ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... It was Spuds MacKenzie who was featured in Budweiser advertising in the 1980s. Good years for Bud Light which overtook Miller Light in the 1990s in total sales.

I was on my way to the mincha/maariv minyon at Beth Sholom. The atrium was decorated for what I think was a wedding. It was really nice with all kinds of nice lighting and music. But I was particularly impressed with the very large tree that was brought in for the event .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... The tree even had southern moss hanging off the branches. Wow.

During a mashgiach shift, the outgoing mashgiach was bringing recently checked vegetables to the meat and parve refrigerator. He notice that on one of the large carts (they are about 6 feet high and hold up to 15 trays on which food is placed) there was both meat products and dairy products. After some discussion we came to the conclusion that the cart only held items lefts over from two events (the left over food was brought back to the cooking area). One of the food trays had left over baklava from a dairy event. The outgoing mashgiach said he was shocked that the clean up crew could make that mistake. The baking specialist said she thought the clean up crew was probably badly behind time and had to rush. They asked me what I thought.... ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... I said I was shocked that there could be such a thing as 'left over baklava'.

..For about a week or so I haven't been able to make or receive facebook messenger video calls. Today I got an email saying someone tried to call me and couldn't leave a message because my voicemail was full. I deleted many voicemails. Some time after the email deletion, I got a facebook messenger video call and it worked well. ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ I looked on the internet to see if deleting voice mail is supposed to fix anything. I couldn't find any information to that issue.

I had a dream that there was an earthquake that affected where I was living. It didn't seem to be my current neighborhood because the style of housing was differnt (roof was more pointy). For some reason I decided the best thing to do during the earthquake was get on the roof. Why? Perhaps to hold it together - just a dream. .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... I was pretty happy to wake up and realize there wasn't an earthquake. It did show pretty poor judgement on my part however.