Beekeeping Archives

Do you really need to take a statin?

Greetings and may this blog find you in great health with your Medicare insurance coverage working properly.

Remember, if there’s a big problem with your coverage, please book a time on my calendar. If it’s a quick question, email Gray@TheBig65.com and we’ll do our best to get it sorted, promise ☎️.

Well, it’s a wet, windy day here in Colorado. Plato was in desperate need of a grooming session. Q said he was bringing in too much debris every time he went outside so off to the groomer he went.

I prefer him with long hair, but life’s all about compromises, right?

I’m not a big fan of going to the doctor (or the groomer), but I am a total believer in preventive medicine, stopping small problems from becoming big ones. Clip the hair before it becomes knotted, visit your primary before uncontrolled cholesterol sends you to the Emergency Room.

Today, let’s dig in on cholesterol and statins.

According to this article, roughly one in four Americans over the age of 40 are prescribed a statin to reduce cardiovascular disease.

Many patients hesitate to take statins due to potential side effects like muscle pain or diabetes risk, leading them to seek over-the-counter supplements like plant stanols/sterols, red yeast rice, niacin, fiber, and fish oils containing omega-3 fatty acids (see Jason’s freshly caught fish above).

Now you can live a healthy life, like my little brother Haas, and go out into the Shenandoah Valley and hunt your own Morel mushroom (just remember the leading cause of death to mushroom hunters is poisonous mushrooms). Morel mushrooms do have compounds that may reduce the oxidation of cholesterol. Sadly, mushrooms alone may not be enough.

Research indicates that while some supplements may slightly reduce cholesterol, they’re not as effective as statins and lack evidence in reducing the risk of heart attack or stroke.

A study in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that statins reduce LDL cholesterol by 38% on average, whereas the most effective supplement, red yeast rice, only reduced LDL by about 7%.

Of course, I still have a cognitive bias about raw honey. Some studies say it may slightly reduce blood sugar and cholesterol. Regardless, be sure to have a heart to heart with your Primary Care provider.

You may remember that last week we split the hives and sent the Queens north to start new hives (this is done so that the existing hive doesn’t grow too big and swarm to a new location.) Once the Queen is removed, the hive gets busy creating Queen cells to produce a new Queen

I’m happy to report the hives are looking good and we should have new Queens shortly, We hope to have even more honey to share with clients this September, keep your fingers crossed! No prescription required.

I had to laugh at this picture of our Air Force son Nicholas from years gone by when he was still a twerpasaur. We’d been on a road trip somewhere in the Midwest when he picked up this moustache at some novelty store. He thought it was the coolest thing.

Fast forward eighteen years and Nicholas texts us this picture of himself working on the flightline at 3:00 AM on a US base in Britain, with the same dang moustache. No matter what you do, the young uns grow up and do what they gotta do.

Remember all of our soldiers in your prayers. They are working hard to protect our freedom.

Keep squeezing the juice out of life and look for ways to help others!

If family or friends need help… referrals are the lifeblood of my business.

If you know someone who might like to receive The Big 65 newsletter, forward this link.

Medicare questions or problems?

Book a time on my calendar or email Gray, Gray@theBig65.com.

Let us know what’s going on and please send pictures :).

Karl Bruns-Kyler
(877) 850-0211
Book a time on my calendar here
Happy with my Service? Click Here to Leave a Review.

Karl Bruns-Kyler is a Medicare insurance broker and independent Medicare agent licensed to help Medicare recipients in thirty states around the country, including:

Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Louisiana
Maryland
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
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Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Virginia
Washington
Wisconsin

The Big 65 Medicare Insurance Services does not offer every plan available in your area. Currently, we represent 10 organizations that offer 50 products in your area. Please contact Medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE to get information on all of your options.

Are you Type 3?

Happy Veterans Day,

May this note find you in great health during the madness of the Medicare Annual Election Period. Book a time here if we still need to speak.

Despite all the noise out there distracting everybody, we have so many reasons to give thanks for all those who have served and continue to serve our great nation.

Airman Nicholas doesn’t fly these bad boys. He works on the equipment that makes sure they are able to take off and land safely. He just returned from deployment in a hot spot back to his base in the UK.

He and his buddies were so excited to be photographed inside the aircraft they help keep in the skies. I sure hope you find a way to honor a Veteran in your life.

This is my busiest time of the year, but no matter what, I force myself to get outside every single day to stay grounded. I met retired cross country coach Lori on the trails behind our house.

Such an impressive woman because she never stops. Lori said she doesn’t run as much as she used to and she gives herself permission to walk for parts of her run.

Adapt, modify, improvise, that’s one of the secrets to aging well.

One of the things I absolutely had to do between client calls was to prep the bee hives for winter: ten pounds of sugar, two cups of water, and a couple of pollen paddies for good measure. The hole on top allows air to circulate through the hive.

Of course, like an idiot, I didn’t quite get the neck of my suit completely zipped. This was going to be a fun video, instead I got a Darwin award running away and about 20 bee stings. Thank goodness I’m not allergic.

Wish I had the patience and the knowledge of client Phil in Ohio, teaching his grand varmint how to capture a swarm of bees.

Life’s great joy is interacting with the young’uns. Are you finding ways to connect with young people? That’s another secret to aging well.

Of course the greatest reward of keeping bees, is honey. Congrats to Jo, Anju, Melissa, and Rosemary for correctly naming the movie and the characters our daughter and her friends dressed as for Halloween. Your honey is on the way!

We visited Sus this weekend in Fort Collins and also dropped off honey to a couple of clients. It’s always fun to see people face to face.

Honey is healthier than sugar, no doubt, but it also needs to be consumed in moderation. The topic of sugar got me reading up about diabetes.

What’s more, did you know that Alzheimer’s is sometimes referred to as Type 3 Diabetes?

While Alzheimer’s may not involve elevated blood sugar levels like traditional diabetes, research has uncovered compelling links between insulin resistance and the development of Alzheimer’s.

This emerging concept suggests that the brain’s impaired ability to respond to insulin may contribute to the accumulation of toxic proteins and inflammation, ultimately leading to cognitive decline.

Understanding Alzheimer’s as Type 3 Diabetes highlights the importance of lifestyle choices and proactive measures to protect brain health.

Eat healthy foods.
Stay active.
Manage stress.
Get enough sleep.
Keep your mind busy.
Watch your weight.
Stay social.

These steps can help protect your brain from Alzheimer’s (Type 3 Diabetes).

Of course, everything in moderation, right?

Keep squeezing the juice out of life!

Medicare questions or problems?

Book a time on my calendar or email Gray, Gray@theBig65.com.

If family or friends need help… referrals are the lifeblood of my business.

Let us know what’s going on and please send pictures :).

Karl Bruns-Kyler
(877) 850-0211
Book a time on my calendar here

Happy with my Service? Click Here to Leave a Review.

As a novice to navigating the Medicare system, I cannot recommend the services of Karl enough. His knowledge has saved my wife and I a lot of money, both on the Medicare supplement insurance and the drug coverage. Costs you nothing to listen and has saved up thousands of dollars over time.
– Robert B

Happy with my Service?
Click Here to Leave a Review.

Karl Bruns-Kyler is a Medicare insurance broker and independent Medicare agent licensed to help Medicare recipients in thirty states around the country, including:

Alabama
Arizona
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Louisiana
Maryland
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Virginia
Washington
Wisconsin

Sometimes surgery might not be the answer

May this Medicare blog post find you in great health with your Medicare insurance working properly.

Spring has sprung and I spent Saturday out in Windsor, Colorado, getting an update on the do’s and don’ts of beekeeping.

It was so much fun to get hands-on experience, pulling frames, learning about the brood, plus all the stuff I’ll need to do to keep the two hives healthy and to hopefully get some honey in the fall.

If there’s extra, I promise to share.

Trying to shoot a slow-motion video of the bees, I got a little too close and one of the bees stung me on the lip, making it look like a bad plastic surgery face lift.

Oh well, lesson learned: have a healthy respect for nature. Naturally, my wife Q thought it was pretty dang funny.

It’s finally warming up here and I hope you are getting outside as much as possible.

Whenever we walk our big fluffy dog Plato, he brings a smile to people’s faces, including Brenda who we often see in the park.

As your Medicare Insurance broker, I hear stories every week about the good, the bad and the ugly of modern medicine.

Over the years, I’ve spoken with hundreds of clients about their prostate (all guys, naturally). Their experiences as patients have run the gamut from easy-peasy to being a true disruptor of the quality of their lives.

Cancer is scary word. Sometimes the fear of a condition can lead consumers to seek aggressive treatment prematurely.

According to my older brother Robert (he is a Radiation Oncologist in Virginia), when patients are alerted to an elevated PSA score, many believe they must immediately be treated by surgery or radiation. In some situations, the treatment can be worse than the condition.

The protocol for treating prostate cancer has changed in the last ten years to “active surveillance,” not forgetting about the elevated PSA’s, but instead monitoring the situation and not rushing to treatment if it is not necessary.

DO NOT TAKE THIS BLOG AS MEDICAL ADVICE, be an informed consumer before selecting treatment. Every situation is different. Remember:

Just because a medical service is available, that doesn’t always make it appropriate for you. Here’s an article on this topic.

My wife’s French cousin, Flo, has now rounded the eighth month of living with us and working as a volunteer for the music program El Sistema here in Denver. I’m amazed she hasn’t gotten tired of us, yet.

You know I’m an evangelist for opening your home to young people (and for your kids to have exchange students).

Sharing your home just makes life better (plus it prevents me from running around in my boxers), and Quantz says that certainly makes the world a better place.

Client’s Joe and Becky got out this week and saw “Les Misérables” and they said it was fantastic. My wife Q loves musicals. Me? Not so much. They kind of make me feel like a “Misérable.”

I always try to get our daughter Sus to take my place. Q thinks I will like “The Book of Mormon” musical, but I’m doing my best to dodge the bullet, besides, my beehives will definitely need me the weekend of that show, right?

I chat with my brothers several times a week. Every time I catch my little brother Haas, he seems to be fishing in Virginia. For the heck of it, I used FaceTime to find out why he fishes so much… of course it’s beer. You see his buddy Mike in the background throwing one down?

As Haas always says, “life is good.” Keep squeezing the juice out of life.

Medicare questions or problems?

Book a time on my calendar or email Gray, Gray@theBig65.com.

If family or friends need help… referrals are the lifeblood of my business.

Let us know what’s going on and please send pictures :).

Karl Bruns-Kyler
(877) 850-0211
Book a time on my calendar here

Happy with my Service? Click Here to Leave a Review.

Karl Bruns-Kyler is a Medicare insurance broker and independent Medicare agent licensed to help Medicare recipients in twenty-three states around the country, including:

Alabama
Arizona
Colorado
Florida
Georgia
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Louisiana
Maryland
Minnesota
Missouri
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Virginia
Wisconsin

We do not offer every plan available in your area. Any information we provide is limited to those plans we do offer in your area. Please contact Medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE to get information on all your options.

We got a scare on Thursday!

May this blog post find you in great health with your Medicare Insurance working properly.

This week, the universal truth came home to roost:

If you live long enough, you’re gonna get old, naturally…

We got a scare on Thursday!

Over breakfast, Quantz casually mentioned seeing floating objects in her eye and a shadow in her peripheral vision.

Since I actually love my wife, I immediately looked up the symptoms on WebMd and called our eye doctor who said, “get her into a specialist NOW!”

That got my attention.

Our ophthalmologist diagnosed the problem: vitreous detachment (thank goodness NOT retina detachment). Normally, this particular condition goes away on its own.

Talk about relief!

As the son of two hypochondriacs who enjoyed poor health for years, I’ve always tended to avoid doctor visits at all costs, and that’s not always a good thing.

If you experience sudden noticeable changes in your vision, see a doctor immediately. Here’s an article on when to see an eye doctor.

Had a fascinating conversation with Cathy in Ohio about Prolia, the bone density injection many clients take for Osteoporosis.

This is one of those excellent drugs that is expensive as sin so I get lots of calls about this topic. Cathy inspired me to get on the phone with Amgen to get clarity.

According to Gabby in the Amgen 360 Navigation Department, the makers of Prolia, here are some things to be aware of if your healthcare practitioner prescribes Prolia:

Find out if your MD does “Physician Purchases of Prolia through a buy in bill.” This means that instead of purchasing the Prolia through your prescription drug benefit, the MD’s practice buys Prolia in bulk and the cost of the Prolia falls under your Part B Medicare Benefits. This might save you money.
Ask the billing department to do a “Benefit Verification” to find out the exact cost before you do anything and have them confirm benefits with your insurer.
Check in with Amgen (the makers of Prolia) for advice, 888-427-7478.

The devil here is definitely in the details. Every situation is different, there is no universal solution.

This was a tough year for bees. Here in Colorado, professional bee keepers lost a high percentage of their hives to mites.

I thought my hive died because it was too cold, but when I did my spring inspection, there was plenty of uneaten honey. It turns out the mites overwhelmed the hive and that sure made me sad.

The good news is, I’m not giving up.

Today, I’ll be driving up to Windsor, Colorado to take another beekeeping class and to pick up two new queens and a two boxes of bees. Wish us luck.

You can probably guess from this picture why my little brother, Haas, doesn’t keep bees on his farm in Virginia… too many of these around.

Turns out he left a bag of trash in the covered bed of his truck and this fella made a heck of a mess. Apparently bears love Gatorade and Red Bull. Remember that!

Jon & Charlotte in Florida took this bobcat picture with the front door camera.

Good thing it wasn’t …. wait, is that Mittens?

Last week, I wrote about Dave the dog trainer and his work with service animals for the police.

Apparently, he takes his work home with him. Is this your definition of a lapdog? This looks like true love to me.

Last weekend we took Flo, our French cousin, to a music festival in northern Colorado. We got to see our daughter, Sus, and her boyfriend. Good times!

You’ll be happy to know that I took a taste of my own medicine and tried something new with Flo and Sus.

Tie dye is not something I’ve ever tried before but it was fun, especially when surrounded by young uns having a great time.

Don’t worry, I won’t be joining the Grateful Dead.

But hey, now I have new shirt for yard work.

Keep squeezing the juice out of life.

Medicare questions or problems?

Book a time on my calendar or email Gray, Gray@theBig65.com.

If family or friends need… referrals are the lifeblood of my business.

Let us know what’s going on and please send pictures :).

Karl Bruns-Kyler
(877) 850-0211
Book a time on my calendar here

Happy with my Service? Click Here to Leave a Review.

Karl Bruns-Kyler is a Medicare insurance broker and independent Medicare agent licensed to help Medicare recipients in twenty-three states around the country, including:

Bee Careful About Medicare Marketers

Medicare Advertising Under Scrutiny: Bee Careful

An article in the Wall Street Journal recently caught my attention with this headline:

Celebrity Medicare Sales Pitches Are Toned Down After Scrutiny

Although Medicare advertising is under scrutiny, we are finally beginning to see a clamp down on some of the hyper-annoying and misleading advertising. BUT – Medicare beneficiaries will continue to receive unsolicited and relentless phone calls, especially as we approach the Medicare Annual Enrollment Period (AEP for short).

The antidote? SKIP the calls and MUTE the commercials.

I’ve created a new celebrity and his name is Big Head Ted (from Q’s garden). This is what Big Head Ted says about some of the celebrity Medicare advertising going on now:

“The Medicare ads from my fellow celebrities are designed to scare you into believing that you are missing out (FOMO) on all kinds of benefits. But here’s the rub: most of the huge benefits that are advertised are only available to people in the absolute lowest income levels. Where I come from, they call it the old BAIT and SWITCH.”

Now we see why Medicare marketing is under scrutiny.

Of course, it’s important to review your coverage! And starting in October, AFTER you receive your Annual Notice of Changes from your carrier, we will dig in and make sure you have what you need. “And that’s a promise” says Big Head Ted.

Life Can Be Beautiful, Wherever You Are

Q took this picture while visiting her parents in South Carolina. Yes, Colorado is beautiful, but the sunrises and marshes of the Low Country are beautiful.

Colorado may lack water, but let’s not forget Red Rocks, one of America’s greatest outdoor amphitheaters, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression. The Red Rocks amphitheater has incredible acoustics surrounded by jaw dropping beauty.

I never saw Led Zeppelin as a youth, but while Q was away, I did go see Robert Plant and Alison Krauss perform under the stars at Red Rocks. It was one of the best concerts of my life.

Hey, that’s what Quantz gets for abandoning me, right ….?

Yes, Medicare advertising is under scrutiny. But there is much beauty in the world, too.

Well, that’s all for this week.

Please remember to send your friends and family my way if they need help with Medicare. Referrals and happy clients are the lifeblood of our business!

Karl Bruns-Kyler
(877) 850-0211
Book a time on my calendar here

The Big 65 and Karl Bruns-Kyler are based in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Karl provides Medicare insurance services to the Front Range region of Colorado, including Denver, Highlands Ranch, Littleton, Boulder, Centennial, Colorado Springs, Lone Tree, Greenwood Village and throughout Colorado.

Karl is also licensed in seventeen additional states to help with Medicare insurance. Those additional states include Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin.

Karl Bruns-Kyler is a Private Insurance Broker, a Certified Senior Advisor, CSA, with no affiliation to Medicare, CMS or any governmental organization.

www.TheBig65.com