2026, Automotive, home, Medicine, Uncategorized

Just Like That!

29 Comments

I continue to be amazed by the speed at which we can access goods and services here. Our town in ND was 20,000 people. Our current town is about 4,900 people. You would think it would be easier to get things done in a bigger town, but that has not been the case.

A couple of weeks ago I finally had it with the front right tire on my van losing air with sudden temperature changes. This has been going on for a couple of years. No one in ND had offered a solution. We randomly chose a tire shop here to deal with the matter. The nice young mechanic/owner explained how he would fix it, and then told us he could probably squeeze it in that afternoon. What? I didn’t have to bring it in the following week? Well, he fixed it in a couple of hours. There was a leaky pressure sensor that needed to be replaced. I then figured out from his last name that his grandmother and my mother had been members of the same sewing club, that his parents lived across the street from us, and that I graduated from high school with his aunt. The tire has behaved admirably ever since.

Wednesday I was feeling awful with a flare-up of diverticulitis. I phoned the medical clinic at 9:50 am. They said they had an appointment for me at 10:15. I took it. This was the actual clinic, not Urgent Care. There is no Urgent Care here. The clinic is a 3 minute drive from our home. By afternoon I was feeling better.

The wired-in smoke detectors on our new home were all a faded, aged yellow. They looked original to the home, which was built in 1998. They should be replaced every 10 years. When our son tried to brown the Thanksgiving turkey at 500°, the upstairs was filled with smoke yet none of the smoke detectors went off. Yesterday at 12:15 pm I phoned an electrician to get them replaced. He told me he could come over that afternoon. He was at the house by 12:40 pm, and by 1:10 pm all seven of them had been replaced. They are white, not yellowed.

What are the wait times for you to get goods and services? How are your smoke detectors? What is the longest you had to wait for a medical appointment?

29 thoughts on “Just Like That!”

  1. i think you found a perfect scenario. in dickenson 20000 people could support a storefront and keep it busy in lavurne 5000 need the service to be located in town but the business is not busy because 5000 is not enough to fill the calendar. doctors tire stores and electricianns is a nice mix tire store i found my guy. same day isually wait 30 minutes in his waiting room doctor wait a month sometimes electrician with landlord a week orctwo then second guy a week after that

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  2. 26,000 people here, and we have two competing health care systems in town – Winona Health, and Gunderson (out of LaCrosse, WI). Then there are Mayo clinics in both LaCrosse and Rochester. If I call to ask for a quick appointment, it has been weeks, but I have been lucky once or twice with being on their cancellation list.

    Other services have been reasonable wait times – plumbing and electrical can come within a few days – there haven’t been emergencies, so I don’t know about that. Our roof was replaced last year and we didn’t have to wait long.

    We have replaced one or two of our smoke detectors, so I feel pretty secure on that front.

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  3. Back in Dickinson, most of the medical specialists were in Bismarck (100 miles) or Fargo (300 miles). Some came once a month to Dickinson, but it was a wait to get in.

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  4. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    Re: medical care, I find the secret to good care is your primary care provider. Our system has an email system that allows me to contact her without phone tag. Hallelujah! She responds within a morning or afternoon. With Urgent Care I find that depends on the Urgent Care Clinic. There is one near our house that I use infrequently for something like a sinus infection. That clinic is always accessible and provides great care.

    Other services require finding the service or people I like.

    Time for Water Aerobics. More later.

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  5. When my daughter and husband lived in Rhame ND (farther west and south of Dickinson), to get to the maternity ward in Dickinson they had to drive 95 miles. When they lived in Rhame the nearest grocery stores only sold vanilla, chocolate, and sometimes strawberry ice cream, mostly in gallon tubs. The first time they went grocery shopping in New Ulm, they stood in front of the ice cream section overwhelmed by all the options.
    Clyde
    Excuse typing please. Close to blind today. I have to go to the pharmacy and a clinic today but have no way to get there.

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    1. Clyde, is there anyone affiliated with The Vine that can provide rides for seniors? I know they do help in some situations, but I don’t know if that’s an option for you. If I was closer, I’d be happy to give you a lift.

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  6. Wait times have varied, depending on what it is I need. Medical appointments are scheduled out a few weeks, unless you have an acute illness. They try to get you in immediately if you are sick and need care, but you might not get to see your own primary physician. They also have telehealth available. You have to have an appointment for that now too. I did that a couple of times during covid. The longest wait I have had is for minor dermatological surgery to remove severely atypical, melanocytic (precancerous) moles. I’ve waited a couple months for an appointment for that. Once you know that a mole is severely precancerous, you kind of want it off your body right away.

    I needed a plumber once when I moved here. There was a faucet that started leaking a lot, and wouldn’t stop. I called and told them I can’t stand it. They were here within an hour.

    This townhome was also built in 1998. Since the man who lived here before me did no maintenance on the place at all, no cleaning either, and the smoke detectors are high up on the vaulted ceiling, I doubt they’ve been checked since the place was built. I’ve looked at them numerous times, wondering how I will ever change the batteries, since they are so high up there. I had hard-wired ones at my old place. When it comes time to do that, I will have the electrician come and install hard-wired combination smoke detectors and CO detectors.

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  8. Here is a story for you. Every four months because of my pacemaker I have an extensive panel of blood tests and an ECG done. The cardiology center here carrying the most vaunted name of medicine in Minnesota emails me to call and make an appointment several months in advance. I did so in early January. Since then I have noticed on my portal showing upcoming appointments the tests will not be at the cardiology center but at a different facility entirely. I called the cardiology center to check. Their number is no longer in service. So they changed my appointment to another place without any communication with me. To check to be sure I will have to bother my cardiologist on the portal, assuming they have not closed that.

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  9. I have a bunch of mixed feelings about the medical establishment. I only see my GP once a year for my annual. I don’t get sick often but when I do, I can’t wait a week. So I go to Urgent Care. So if there are enough doctors and nurses to staff Urgent Care facilities, why not funnel some of that energy into regular practices?

    A few times when it wasn’t urgent (first hearing aid appointment, crown…) I’ve had luck with asking to be put on a waiting list if someone cancels. For the crown, they called me the day after I’d made the appointment. The gal was a little sheepish when she asked if I could get there within an hour. When I got there in 15 minutes, I was clearly as astonishment to all the office staff.

    And I always take book along.

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