Relative Something

In an attempt to obtain my 1095-A tax form, I need to log into my Marketplace account on HealthCare.gov. It’s been at least a year since I had a reason to log in, so I referred to my password reminder and gave it a few tries. Failed. Failed. Failed. Hmm. I’m not proud. I clicked the link, admitting that I had forgotten my password even though I hadn’t.

My favorite solution is to update my password to the one that wasn’t working, yet I think it was supposed to have been. Even if they refuse that choice because their system recognizes it as a previously used password, I am more than willing to change one character just to get on with things. I never got that far.

When I clicked the link in the email sent by their system to update my password, I was met with the three questions I had chosen at the time I created my account. The instructions clearly state that I must answer each question EXACTLY how they were previously typed. Uh oh. Did I use a capital? Were my dates dashed or slashed?

I couldn’t figure it out. I’m locked out until I phone in and deal with everything that entails. I decided that I didn’t want to do my taxes after all.

Switching my attention to something less annoying, I checked the new sprout on our giant bird of paradise tree. It didn’t show noticeable growth. That wasn’t what I was expecting since all the other times, we’ve been shocked by how fast the new leaves unfurl. Closer inspection caused me some alarm because it was beginning to look like the tips of some of the existing leaves were shriveling a bit.

Maybe the time when we discovered the pot had been holding water that finally broke free and drained for days has taken this long to show up in the leaves. We figured the roots must have been unhappy, but the leaves were growing so well at the time it confused us into thinking maybe we got away with the soaking with little damage.

Now I’m thinking maybe not. I was not aware of the time-lapse of cause and effect here. Maybe we will see future improvement since we have been using a meter to measure soil moisture ever since discovering the excessive watering. We are also not certain that our two frigid weather spells didn’t cause that corner of our house to get chillier than the bird of paradise prefers.

Starting today, the forecast has us expecting six days of daytime high temperatures in the 40s(F). I’m hoping the leaves will find some comfort in that.

Seems like February is going to go out like a lamb.

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