The roofers are here!

Despite a damp morning, the roofers showed
up and are now working away on removing the
crumbling shingles. What a relief.

I've been mending some fences this morning
and I let Secret out to graze. Her coat is
getting shaggy and fuller for winter. Penny
stood at the fence and nuzzled me. I moved
some fencing around so she can get some fresh
grass as well.

My dad is putting up a for sale sign on his
place. I had a good cry about it in private,
the bf held me while I cleansed the loss from
my heart. Such a tumultuous year, and the
changes keep coming. Yet, I'm happy.

~M

Credit . . .

Well I've done it. I canceled my last Visa card
last week. They wanted to offer me an attractive
adjustable rate linked to the prime rate and I
sadly had to opt out.

I ran the card up a bit, I bought some dog houses
and paid for some repair work on my home. Then I
made the call. Opting out of new terms means simply
that I can't use the card anymore and the old terms
will be in effect until it's paid for. My prior
arrangement was a lovely fixed rate.

So how will I cope? What if something happens?
First, I've made very simple holiday plans. I'll
be paying cash, less of it, and to less folks.

Second, I have a wee bit in savings. It will stay
there during lean times as some insurance.

Third, I'm slowly stocking up on essentials and
re-examining where/when/how I can save here and
there. I'm taking the lads to the library tomorrow
instead of the mall or a fast food place.

Lastly, I'm cultivating a "thrift is cool" philosophy.
Anyone can spend themselves into the ground, only
cool folks can have more fun, and do it on a dime.
I know wat day hiking at the park costs zilch, and
when the movie only costs a buck.

More later.

~M

Sorry for the lack of pics and posts . . .

Life is really rather busy, I rarely
see a keyboard these days outside of
work.

I've picked out a dark green color for
the roof, and am going with a 25 year
shingle. There are more rotten bits
that need to be fixed, but that may
wait til spring. The roofer is *hopefully*
going to be here next week.

The propane tank is full.

My hay barn is full, I've upped the mares
to all grain and add oil for extra
calories.

The dog houses are on their way for my
hounds, so they will have at least some
shelter when I'm not home to let them in.

I've been looking at garage doors as well.
Mine are held together with duct tape and
bubble gum.

~M

Deferred maintenance . . .

 

 

 

When we bought the place over
a decade ago, it appeared solid
enough. Little did we know what
lay ahead.

So now it's a gorgeous October
day and the sound of a hammer on
wood is wooing me. Finally, we're
getting some work done on the place.
(We = my kid, myself and our
critters.) The house was put togther
rather badly and is already rotting
here and there. The capenter is
fixing the rotten bits and the
problems that caused the decay.

Hopefully, next week the roofer
will come and finally put a solid
covering on my home.

I'm having to max out a credit card
to get ready for winter. I have yet
to buy propane and dog houses. I'm
closing the card out at the end of
the month, opting out of the term
changes.

I'm financing the roof with a one
year loan. Money is going to be very
tight for a while. But I can't help
but get the feeling that time is of
the essence, and that consumer credit
is drying up. It's now or never.

On the other "home front", my courtship
is going exceedingly well.

Cheers,

~M

Random pics

 

 

 

 

I'm having a fat day and can't
seem to blog. Carry on.

~M

Food . . .

 

 

 

 

The dust is still settling around here.
I get the eary feeling that I'm quickly
running out of time. I's going to get
harder to prep, let alone get by. I
keep feeling that the days after Christmas
may be the turning point many of us are
dreading.

It's coming.

I actually started to work on my food
pantry the other day. I found a lot of
stuff that needed to be tossed or re-
puposed. Old cans of eadibles were fed to
the dogs. I took some oats out to the
horses. I'm using old baking soda on
the cat boxes.

I took some stuff to the bf's house.
Then I bought $90 worth of groceries
from Aldi's and restocked.

$90 doesn't go as far as it used to.

I need to start making a list of what
to buy, to avoid getting too much of the
same thing.

~M

Our vacation pics are great I swear . . .

The only problem is I can't find the camera cord.

Grrrrrrr.

On the other hand I/we've been very fortunate of late.
I've had 3 girlfriends give us bags of clothes. I've
been washing and hanging stuff up for 2 days. I've run
out of hangers. This recession turning depression is
starting to make me very noodgie and having extra
stuff to wear is a blessing indeed.

My home refi went through just before we left. The foot
of rain that we got caused my roof to leak, and my ex
got flooded, about 7 feet high. He had to rescue our
daughter's cat and dog by canoe. The critters came to
stay with me and I got the cat neutered yesterday.

The winter supply of hay arrived yesterday. I got it
for about 1/3rd the price of the prior supplier. I had
the farrier out last week to give my mares a much needed
trim. I wormed the hounds and as long as everyone is
fed separately, they seem to be getting along at the
moment.

I called a gf's bf, and he gave me an excellent quote
on some "deffered maintenance". He's going to start next
week. His work is great and he took the time to explain
why things like eaves and posts rot and how he can
fix them. I got a one year loan to fix my roof. I'm
hoping to have all the repairs done in the next 5-6
weeks.

Special shout out to Jock of ye olde forum for fixing
my borrowed laptop for me. He worked tirelessly. I'm
so thankful.

Left to be done:

The BUDGET.

Get the propane tank filled.

Loose 5 pounds.

~M

Next up . . being brutal with food storage.