This Made Me LOL

Actual headline at cnn.com today:

"37 items you need to add to your summer vacation packing list"

Uh...INCLUDING underpants, sox, and what I'm wearing for the flight/drive, I don't think I pack/bring 37 items.  I mean.  JEEZ! Are you moving or traveling?

Wear:

Shoes (2 items)

sox (2 items)

undies 

bra

jeans

tshirt

sweatshirt or buttondown

belt

reading glasses

IF it is winter or will be when I get there, i wear a coat with a zip out liner that turns into a jacket

 So far...12 items.

Pack:

2 undies

2 pairs sox

2 t-shirts or tank tops

yoga/jammy pants 

That's 8 more items for a total of 20.

Toothbrush

comb

epi pen set (3 items: 2 pens and a little bag for them)

Current count: 25.

Misc: 

notebook

pencil

Phone

ipodthing

1 charger

2 cords

backpack (which is what I carry the stuff in)

wallet (1 item even though there is a credit card, ID and spare car key in there...I mean...give me a break on this one.  There is probably a melted linty chapstick in a random pocket too but that will get thrown out)

corded headphones

small shopping back with lunch in it.  I am not counting the lunch items because they get eaten before the plane takes off.  Sometimes before I even board the first flight.

Water bottle

That's 11 items for a total of 37

Optionals:

If I'm goin to santa fe, then about 12 items of jewelry which makes 49 (ooo...gettin' fancy)

Elsewhere: 2 items jewelry which makes 39

Midwinter: hat and mittens/gloves which makes 40.

So how would adding 37 more items...nearly doubling my count...make my trip better?

Most of the items are extra fancy chargers, cords, various bags and inner stuff/pack bags.  I've lived without them so far!

Anti-Inflammatory April Update 2: Cauliflower Stem Soup Recipe

 So, it's going really well.  Guts are sorting themselves out.  Arthritis less annoying, still there, I mean, it's not a miracle cure but I did a whole workout at the gym with weights this morning without thinking about my arthritic knee or my owie toe (pro tip--do NOT drop logs on the joint between your big toe and your foot and then ignore it because it doesn't bruise.  Damaged all the tendons/ligaments which froze up and now I'm like 3 months in to trying to get the mobility back to what it was.).  The toe mobility is coming along, I suspect the lower inflammation level is helping.  Maybe it is placebo effect and I don't care.

Also, not as itchy.  I have the driest skin on the planet according to a healthcare provider and it is often itchy.  Less so now.

I've made my own chocolate treats like mochas with dehydrated coconut milk powder, just coconut bits, home brewed coffee (drinking 1/2 as much as before...2 cups per day rather than 4), and cocoa powder.  No sweetener.  It's quite good.  So that helps with the skipping candy bars at the store even when on super sale.  I stocked up on cocoa powder just for this.

The chickens are laying well now so eating more eggs.  Some people find them inflammatory but I seem to do fine on them.

Eating a tiny bit of whole wheat organic flour.  About a cup a week cooked into things like chocolate service berry bannock made with no-sodium baking soda or no-sodium baking powder.  I have a bit of vanilla extract, organic real stuff, if I want to kick it up but so far haven't bothered.

Having banana eggs or just eggs and anti-inflammatory spice mix for breakfast most days.  

To support my good diet, I'm buying more produce, while keeping it frugal.   Last Saturday I had to be in town for a thing so I combined that with my grocery run and laundry duties to minimize trips.   

I got organic purple and green cauliflower heads, one each, for $1.50 each!  Since they each weighed over 1.5lbs, I hit my "Dollar a pound all year round" (that's a Jeff Yeager guideline for saving $$ on groceries...buy what is cheap and use it all).

I made a critical error when cooking up the first head, the green cauliflower.  I cut out the stem and leaves and put it in the chicken bucket (a pan that holds food scraps that the chickens can eat...then I add water and let it cook on the wood stove if that stove is going, because chickens don't eat raw onions).  OOPS!  I Don't keep that pan clean enough for human consumption of contents so...darn it!

I had forgotten that the stems are fine diced up small and put in soup or mashed potatoes or whatever!  Even fried up.  Same with the leaves and the ribs from the leaves!  It was like 1/2 the weight of the cauliflower.  

SO, yesterday I had the purple cauliflower florets for lunch with some boiled eggs and a dressing made from the dregs of fancy mustard, vinegar and olive oil.  It was good.  

I KEPT the stem and leaves in a bag and took them home.  Last night I diced them up into a pan.  There was about 1.5 cups of usable food.  The chickens just got those dry hard nubbins from where there were cuts/trims.  I added water, a chopped onion, a couple of carrots (saved the top bits to regrow the greens in little cups of water because that is fun and carrot tops are my go-to version of parsley), a 1/4 cup of dry green split peas.  This is my first attempt at cooking split peas. Seasonings: marjoram, thyme, fennel (the stuff I have the most of...that's how I chose)  We'll see at lunch today how it is.

Brought it to a boil and simmered it until I got sick of simmering it.  No, I did not fry the onion. I could have but then everything I own stinks of fried onion. It's in a jar in the work fridge.  Most of it.  There was like 3/4 of a cup of soup that would not fit in the jar so that's at the house (which was 34degs F when I lift this morning, basically the whole place is a fridge today) waiting to become tomato soup tonight.  I'll add more water and a can of (low sodium) tomato paste.  Again, tomatoes inflammatory to some but I do well on them.  That usually makes a decent tomato soup.  Pepper and vinegar can fix most crappy soups.

Lesson:  cook up the stems.  If you want, you can peel them.  The peel is usually the hard, fibrous, bitter part.  ALSO full of vitamins and whatnot.  I left it on this time.  Of course I wash my veg too.  If I don't care for the skin in this soup, I might leave it out next time.

My groceries, being INGREDIENTS and PRODUCE was cheap!  I threw in some probiotics which were on a rare 20% off sale and might encourage the guts to improve.  My Dr. (jesus I'm old...I still BLOG and I quote my Dr...) approves of them.  Also stocked up on the powdered coconut milk.  It was on the same 20% off sale and I don't tend to binge use it if I stock up.  Unlike nuts and dried fruit...I don't dare have a back stock of nuts, nut butter or dried fruit because apparently that is my kryptonite.  I just eat the entire stock way to fast and throw my guts out of whack.  

Groceries, for 2 weeks plus some restocking, was about 27$.  That is being used with my pantry staples like the flour, cocoa, coffee, tea, and fresh eggs.  I spend about an hour in the evening making something for the next few days lunches if need be.  That keeps me from spending that evening sitting in a chair spiraling down a youtube rat hole.  And of course it saves me running to the store for something for those lunches which happened now and then before.  

Slow Fashion October

 OK, I know if my sister happens on this she will question the term "fashion" in anything I write.  I don't have any fashion sense at all.  Which, for slow fashion October, works perfect in reducing clothing waste.

I watched a youtube...which I do too much of late.  But then I fact checked this one and it was correct.  Dang it!

I had heard the term "fast fashion" but since I have no fashion interest and am of an age where "fast" is moot, I ignored it and filed it under run of the mill consumerist BS that was probably wasteful.

But...I had no idea HOW wasteful.  Wow.

Here's a link to the youtube:  https://youtu.be/F6R_WTDdx7I

And here's a link with some background on slow fashion October:

https://www.interweave.com/article/knitting/slow-fashion-karen-templer/

Interesting stuff.

I no clue how many clothes people in 1st world countries have!  Good lord.  Throwing out over 80lbs per year in the US????   I don't have 80lbs of clothes.  Probably 50 to 60lbs.  About 20lbs of that is boots.  I should count my garments.  It's not a small number.   But clearly I am behind most of the US population.

Anyway, according to various studies you can link through the above links, in the US in 1990 80-90% of the clothes Americans bought were made in America.  After NAFTA (which for the record I thought was BS when it was put in place...different rant) jobs in the textile industry moved to other countries where people are paid less.  Less than a living wage.  And human rights are violated in the sweat shops.  But it's cheap!!  

What percentage is now made in America???  2.5% roughly.  That's a loss.  Big loss. I have trouble finding clothes made in  the USA.  Even my hippie dippie zero drop shoes from a company based in Portland OR...the actual shoes are made in china.  The company claims they couldn't find a manufacturer in the US.  ONE of my pairs of boots IS made entirely in the US.  Actually, the leather may have been tanned overseas.  Apparently that's a thing we do.  Ship hides overseas for tanning and have them shipped back to make stuff out of the hides.  That is BONKERS.  Anyway, I traded a pair of boots with a friend.  The boots I got from him didn't fit me super well but better than the ones I gave him (which passed on to a dude who was fixing his roof and I think that dude is actually wearing them).  I traded that 2nd pair of boots to a neighbor who gave me a pair of used White's Boots!  Hand made in Spokane, WA.  So not only in the US, but in the same region as me.  Nice.  I'm working on learning to wear heavy boots again.  They are awesome.   

The other garment I have that I know was made in the US is a t-shirt I bought this year.  One of the first "new" items, like actually new from a retail store, I've purchased in ages (other than sox, undies and some shoes) at full price.  I paid a higher price because it is made in the USA.  Also, because the design on it is the bomb.

Of my used items, the vast majority are made elsewhere.

Now for another factoid...apparently we wear our clothes a few times and throw them out as "old".  The studies claim people in the 1st world chuck the clothes (or forget them but don't chuck them) after an AVERAGE of 7 WEARINGS!!!  WHAT!!!  I wore the aforementioned t-shirt 3 times the week I got it and 2 times the next week. It's already over 7 wearings.   The sweatshirt I have on was purchased used, then a couple of pieces of a previous sweatshirt (That I wore until it fell off me in shreds) are applique'd on it (thanks Anne!!).  My "good" black t-shirt with long sleeves that I wear under button downs and sweaters was purchased new but at a deep discount (5$) literally years ago.  Like 5 or 6 years ago.  In Portland at Powells Books.  It made its first outing of the season this week and I noticed that the cuffs are so worn they are splitting into two unrelated layers instead of a coherent folded over ribbed edge.  I will keep wearing it until it is in tatters. It won't even be demoted to non-office wear yet.

The shirt I wore with it, an orange button down REI fishing shirt with vented pits...love the vented pits, I bought at a thrift store a few years ago and wear about once a week 6 months of the year. 

I wear my jeans (which I get in the 100% cotton version because 1) better quality 2) don't stretch out and make it look like I crapped my pants, 3) without the plastic stretch crap in them I can use the scraps of wornout jeans in the garden as weed mat or tomato ties and it will just dissolve into the soil eventually) until they fall off of me in shreds.  Then they are diced up for the rag bag.  Then end up as kindling or in the garden.  I haven't bought jeans new in probably a decade or more.  I've tried to buy all cotton workpants new but I can't find any that fit because only a few brands do all cotton anymore, and then pretty much only in men's sizes and then they don't carry a long inseam with the waist size I need.  So, I comb the thrift stores and try to have 3 jeans and a few workpants in active rotation and a few in backstock for when something falls off me in shreds.

I wear my bras and undies until I can't figure out which hole is for a limb and which is for the torso.  Sox get mended (and are cotton or wool, but sadly rarely 100% cotton or wool because that is almost not a thing anymore...I keep looking) until there is more darn than sock.  Then they go in the rag bag.  Sock tops are great for lots of things and the feet make reasonable cleaning mitts.

More factoids...cost per wear.   With fast fashion, even a dress at 30$ that is worn the average 7 times, that's about $4.28 per wearing.  If you are a chump and buy one that says "dry clean only" (and extra chump points if you take that on faith rather than trying to wash it by hand and block it) then it will be "cheaper" to throw it out rather than clean it and wear it.   If you are me, you didn't pay $4.28 to start with!  I might pay 10$ for jeans if they are all cotton and fit really well and have lots of wear left and the pockets are actually deep enough to put sh*t in.  Then I wear them ...let's see....a pair lasts 1-2 years for me, and I have 3 pairs in rotation at a time.  So...1/3 of a year I'm wearing each pair.   That's 122 wearings (roughly) per year per pair...but I do wear chore pants on the weekend usually so we'll call it 100 wearings per pair per year.  Even if a pair only lasts the one year, that's 4cents a wearing.  Since I usually wear a pair of jeans for a week and then put them in the wash (they go in sooner if they get sweaty or grubby), I spend less on laundry than most.  Less washing makes clothes last longer and puts less microplastic waste in the water ways.

There are more horrifying factoids like how much fast fashion is thrown out before anyone even buys it!  It is produced, shipped, put up on display, and thrown out!  Wasted clothing, resources, effort.  And still the companies selling this crap make money hand over fist.  So how much is thrown out?  60%  MOST of it.  Cripes.  You can read 20 of the more horrifying factoids here:

https://goodonyou.eco/fast-fashion-facts/

How to reduce clothing waste at the consumer end:

-Inventory what you have.   You will be surprised.

-Don't buy crappy clothes.   They don't last.  Buy clothes that last.  You can do this new or used.  

-If possible, buy clothes produced in a first world nation.  

-If you can, buy local.  

-If you can, make your own!  (I can't sew clothes or knit or crochet.  I am hoping to learn to weave.)

-Buy natural fibers (thereby not contributing to microplastic waste AND enhancing recycling/reusing options)

-Wash judiciously.  I have written about doing laundry well, also do it infrequently.  A good airing is the old febreeze (don't use febreeze). 

-Use the dryer sparingly!  Line drying is better or hanging on hangers or a drying rack.  The sun kills germs for free.  Dryers are hard on clothes and all the "lint" is what used to be the fabric in your clothes.

-Wear what you already own.  Go shopping in the dresser, closet, wherever you keep clothes.  Try them all on.  If something feels good, fits right, looks decent and suits the tasks you expect to do in it, keep it.  If not, donate it or do a clothing swap with friends and neighbors.  Everyone brings clothes that are in good shape and fresh washed, but they don't want anymore.  Best to sort them by garment type and/or size.  Put the clothes around a room, then people can pick what they want.  Try it on, take it to a relative/friend it might fit or work for.   After that, check with a shelter or other social service agency to see if they an use any of it.  

-Try new combinations of what you own.   We get in ruts.

-Remember that people are so worried about themselves they really don't give a crap what you are wearing.  In 2014/2015 I blogged about wearing the same 5 sweaters to work everyday for a month.  It turned into a winter's worth of wearing those sweaters because it was comfy, easy, simplified my morning.  I had a few choices, but not dozens.   And, since I wore an undershirt with the sweater, I washed them once at the start of the season and once at the end of the season.  See above "launder judiciously."

-Borrow clothes if you need a specialty item.  Like a party or wedding or something.  See if you can borrow an item. 

-Thrift and redonate for a special occasion item if you can't borrow something or wear something you already own.  I've done this for the odd wedding.  Like one in the summer when it was SUPER hot and all my "formal" clothes (you know, the ones without holes) are for cooler weather.  So I ran to a thrift store and got a doable linen outfit and sandals for about 10$, wore it, washed it, and redonated it.  

-Change your clothes before you do dirty chores.   Change into older stuff that you are wearing out.  

-Learn to mend clothes.  Good brands of shirts with buttons give you a couple of spare buttons.  They are sewn to the inside of one of the side seams or hooked to the tag at the top along the neckline.  Keep those.  Really good quality clothes come with a bit of spare thread too.  Keep that as well.   Designate a box or drawer for mending thing and put the buttons in there.  When one pops off, watch a youtube and learn how to sew it back on.  (Get your sewing kit at thrift and get cotton, linen or silk thread...polyester and nylon thread are crap.)

-Pick styles and colors and things that YOU like, not what is in fashion at the moment.  Like broom skirts in shades of mustard and puce?  Knock yourself out.  No one really cares.  

-When shopping new or used, check the seams, washing instructions (only chumps buy "dry clean only"), and fabric content.  Pull on the fabric a bit and see if it is sturdy.   Anything weak, frayed or hard to wash isn't worth it. 

-Be willing to reformat a garment to get more wear.  I mentioned my tendency to wear through the cuffs on t-shirts above.  I also wearout the cuffs on sweatshirts.  By the time the cuffs are work to tatters, the shirt is generally too raggedy to wear to work anyway and is a chore shirt or pajamas.  So, cut the cuffs off.  You still have over 90% of the shirt and it is still wearable.  You can cut the sleeves off a hooded sweatshirt when they get too worn and frayed and wear it as a work smock (with cozy hood) for dirty chores like butchering.

There's more but this is a good spot to stop.  

101 Money Saving Ideas: The 1st 11

I'm copying this from Censtible Living with Money Mom, a youtuber I get a big kick, and good ideas, from.  From whom I get kicks and ideas?  Well, let's let the grammar go and move on.

Money Mom is a sweety with a cute supportive husband (as far as one can tell from youtube...I thought that about another youtuber until she got a divorce and talked about the magic of editing!).

Anywhooo, she is doing a series working up to 100 money saving tips.
I am going for 101 because I like prime numbers (asperger spectrum anyone?  anyone?)

These are not in any order other than how they occur to me each time I try to blog them.

1  The MASTER LIST.  This is on my ipodphone (an old iphone from my sister with the sim card removed so now it's more of an ipod than a phone).  It's with me all of the time.  I have subcategories for groceries, hardware, thrift, gardening, etc.   If I'm in a store or at a yard sale or on craigslist or whatever, I can check the list.  I recently, during the 'rona times, added a category of "stock up" items that I don't need immediately BUT could get if they are on an incredible sale

2 Price point list/idea.  I know that if I find organic peanut butter (or other nutbutter) for under 2$/lb, I should get it.  This feeds into that "stock up" part of the master list.  I may have other proteins in stock e.g. beans, eggs, BUT if the peanut butter (shelf stable, long storage life) is on sale that low, I can get a jar or two.  Not more.  Do not overfill the storage space.  I keep an idea of prices on things like chicken feed, shelf stable proteins and grains, hardware bits and pieces (staples, philips head screws, nails, hinges), undies, sox, and other consumables.  But if they aren't on the master list, it's better to go home first and see if I need them.

3 Job market awareness.  I have a job and I like it.  Not looking to quit.  Times though, they are always a-changin'.  So, good to know what's out there, what I could make here or on a move to elsewhere. 

4  Check my supply stock regularly.  I'm better at doing this for food and clothes than for other things but I try to keep up with the other bits like seeds for the garden, hardware odds and ends, lumber.  If you don't know what you have, you don't know what you need or if what you are thinking is a good deal will fit in with what you have. 

5 Put out the word!  Got this one from The Tightwad Gazette years ago and it works.  If there is something you need/want but don't see often or have a pretty low pricepoint on, put out the word.  I have friends who go to flea markets and things more than I do.  If I go, I will buy.  So instead, I let these friends know what I would like and my TOP dollar price.  This worked great when I wanted a row tiller (old fashioned garden thing that is super useful).  They found one at the price within a couple of weeks.  I always look myself for a while first and then wait to see if I really really want it because when you put out the word, you usually get it and you must pay for it.

6  Check the recycling center.  There is a free book bin, cardboard (good for gardening and things), free metal bin, big cans, glass (got 3 perfect 1 quart mason jars a while ago).  Before I go there, I think through things that I can actually use.  Truly this is more of a "projects I'd like to do" than specific things I need.  I want to do more paper bricks for the woodstove in winter but need something to dry them on.  Also I'm selling at a farmers market and need something to put a sign on.  Last time I went to the recycling center I thought through this.  When I got there I found a circle of metal about 2' in diameter painted yellow, in good shape.  Will make a fine sign holder with a bit of wood and a hinge (see above harware bits and bobs).  There were also wire racks out of a fridge or something.  Those will work to dry the bricks on.   A couple of times I've taken things that looked super useful but I didn't end up using.  Those go back for the next person or to someone who admires them.  A half-bucket with a flat side went to a neighbor with horses.  It's made for horses but just looked useful to me.

7 Maintain the vehicles.  I change the oil and check the tires and even check the torque on the lug nuts.  Boring, but keeps them going and keeps me from getting in preventable trouble.  Also keep the tanks full-ish.  (Which reminds me...gas up the truck!)

8  Know the gas prices!  I keep an eye on gas prices each time I pass a station.  I know where it is usually cheapest, but that can change. If I'm in a pricy area and really need fuel, I may get 5 gallons and then fuel fully next time I'm near the cheaper gas.  There is one super cheap station I do not go to because I always lose 10mpg when I buy gas there.  They'd have to be MUCH MUCH cheaper to make it worth it and I don't know if the gas is watery or what. 

9 Be nice.  It's not in my nature, but it gets you cheaper stuff and referrals to cheaper stuff.  Like I was in the hardware store and even though the dude at the counter drives me bonkers, I am nice to him.  He used his own membership card on a purchase I was making and saved me 5$ off 30$. 

10 Shift $$ into the higher yield savings account each paycheck.  I now have the paycheck auto deposited.  The day after payday I go online and check my accounts and shift any extra in checking over into the higher pay savings account. I don't do CDs or longer term things other than retirement right now as I need the liquid cash for paying off construction costs.  That available liquid cash is going to save me about 10% on this phase of construction which is much more than a CD or other short-mid range investment would in my income range.

11 Keep track of spending every day.  I write down my spending every single day.  I reconcile it at the end of each month.  Sometimes I do a mid month check to see how things are going.  Boring but it works.

New Bees for 2020

I have 1 hive of bees that did well over winter and are still surviving.  They were "saskatraz" breed, supposedly...bees are notoriously and necessarily promiscuous. 

I tried to order caucasian breed bees, but that got nixed even before the quarantine and travel discouragement, so I went for a local bee source.

Waller Apiary out  of Clarkston, Washington.

The order process SEEMED fine but I did have to follow up on my own initiative to find out when and where I could pick up the bees. 

Today was the day and Clarkston, Washington, was the location.  I combined the trip with a social distance visit to friends in Lewiston (adjacent to Clarkston), a pick up of an order at the hardware store in Moscow, Idaho (and grabbed 2 bags of cheap hinges and one of cotter pins...both things on my list), a bit of gas for the subaru and a pre-planned treat of iced cold brew coffee.

Now to the bee report.
The bees were advertised as 5 frames, a "nuc" in the bee biz lingo which seems to be short for 'nucleus hive', full of honey and brood from a fresh 2020 queen who has been through 1 full brood cycle.

Uh..."full" would not be my term. 
There is precious little honey.  Maybe 1/2 frame total if I put it all together, more likely 1/4 frame but I want to estimate generously. 

ZERO capped worker brood, about 2 dozen capped drone cells (drones are the dudes and only there to mate with some other hive's new queen, they are not what you want to see),  NO eggs, no larvae.

I could not spot a queen and she should have had a big blue dot on her back and been double the size of the other bees.  Hmmm...

There ARE plenty of bees in there so that's good.

Being me, and being old, I sent these pictures and the above info about the lack of eggs, brood and honey to the seller   Beekeeping is a crap shoot, but taking 150$ for something that might croak in a month is not cool. 
I'll give it a week.  I  fed them heavily and will keep up with sugar syrup.  There is plenty of pollen around for their protein source.  If there are no eggs by next Saturday, it will mean the hive is queenless.

There ARE signs that they have a queen.  Those are:
1) they are calm
2) they are organized not randomly running around or flying willy nilly while the frames were moved from the "nuc" box to the real hive box in my beeyard


Only time will tell.

Happy New Year!!!!

It is December 22 as I type this (yes, with ALL my fingers and my thumbs because I am old and learned to type in school....with a typing teacher...Mr...what the hell was his name?...anyway, he had a horrible case of cradle-cap and chunks of his bald pate would fall on your keyboard if he came over to tell you what you were doing wrong or to type faster. It was a great motivator...type fast and accurately and DON'T get scalp skin chunks all over the keyboard and your stuff) and Dec 21 was Solstice!  Woot woot.

I had dinner out with friends to celebrate.
All holidays should involved binge eating.  We had fantastic Thai food and candy.  Then more candy.  And more candy.

Here's a surprise, I don't feel good.  Oh well.  Maybe that whole tube of instant crescent rolls I made in a skillet on the wood stove will make me fill better especially topped off with the burnt percolator coffee. 
Or not.

For me, today is the first day of the new year.
Here are the resolutions.
But first...my resolution theory.  This is the current theory.
A FEW resolutions that I can probably keep.  I used to do a litany of resolutions that mostly reflected how much I hated myself.  That didn't seem to get me anywhere.  My first attempt, years ago, at this was swapping "lose weight" out for "change weight"...you can't lose if you decide to "change" your weight.  It's bound to change.  I actually lost weight that year.  Or so I choose to believe.

This year:
1)  Breath work.  I'm taking yoga classes on breath work and it helped the asthma and the night time teeth grinding so I intend to do some breath work each day. 
2) Drink 2 cups of water first thing in the morning.  Drinking all my water later in the day means I am up and down the ladder all night peeing.  Perhaps shifting that to the morning will help.
3) No Amazon in 2020.  I don't like their labor practices or the new enormodome of crap people don't need that opened by Spokane and will no doubt provide a few crap jobs for people who need a job.  I doubt my dropping the 5 or 6 orders I was still making each year will change much.  I think I ordered 3 things from there this holiday season and I could have gotten them elsewhere if I'd tried harder. 
4) Donate weekly to the food bank or Kiva.  I like Kiva a lot and have given kiva certificates as gifts to various folks.  It is microlending so you usually get the money back and a bit of interest. I re-invest or donate to the organization to cover their administrative costs and keep it going.  It's like simple investment training for me.  I have had 1 loan go bad.  The country fell into civil war and obviously basic survival should take precedence over paying back the loan on that cow that probably got blown up.  I've already been donating pretty much weekly to the local tiny free pantries in Moscow.  I buy 10$ of food and put it in there.  Folks who might need it take it without any administrative oversight.  You walk up, leave or take food as you like.  I personally like to put together something that makes sense...ingredients for tuna casserole, or oatmeal-sunflowerseeds-raisins.  A meal.  There are lots of random cans of outdated olives that are "food" but not terribly nutritious.  I think the whole canned chicken (5$) with noodles (2$), cream of celery soup (50cents), mixed veggies (50cents), canned pears (1$) and cobbler mix (1$) is my favorite.  It's a meal I wouldn't mind eating.   Chicken noodle casserole with veggies and pear cobbler.  Anyway, I get my grocers and drop and extra 10$.  I can usually shave my own grocery budget by 10$ so it's not an extra expense.  Last weekend I took some dry white beans in a ziplock out of the free pantry as I dropped in my food.  It had been there for WEEKS and clearly no one wanted those nasty beans.  I'm going to plant them and see if they grow.  Maybe they will give the gophers gas when they eat the shoots. 

There it is.  Minimal resolutions that are easy to keep.

Happy New Year.

Super Food: The Food Formerly Known as Food

What is with labeling regular food as "super food"?  It's FOOD. Just FOOD.
What isn't food?  Doritos, anything at Dairy Queen, etc. 

Greens:  Just food, not a super food.  Not even kale.  It's just kale.  Just eat it.
Vegetables, fruit, grains, meat fish.  100 years ago, even 50, these were called "food" and you got them from the garden, market, or super market.  You can still do that.

It was best said on The Onion




It isn't designer.  It doesn't have to be fancy.  Just eat it. 
Even Weird Al knows. 



My dinner yesterday was EITHER crazy poor people red neck yokel food....OR crazy hipster wild crafted extreme local food.  Whatever, it was good and I had it so I ate it.

Any guesses on ingredients?

Anyone?

Beuller?

No? 

Coconut oil (not local)

6 guinea hen eggs 

lovage from the garden (stem and leaves because I have a ton of it)

sour sorrel  (AKA sheep sorel...aka, weeds from the garden and land)

nettle leaves (or maybe monkshood...pretty sure those were nettles)

dandelion leaves

horseradish leaves

Why did I eat that?   Because I had the eggs from a friend who traded them for a plastic pallet I found behind a thrift store...she also gave me ship shit.

I wanted something in the eggs.  Greens.  I had purple kale too but that's going to seed and I want to keep the seeds (the kale produced all winter with very little protection) so I didn't care to bother it.

So, I picked what I had and what was around.

Pretty sure the whole thing was made of "super foods" which are of course, just food.

Combined with the compost toilet...I may have achieved a new level of localization of my meal.

Seriously Safeway?

So, I don't usually shop in large chain groceries as part of my attempt to shop more locally.  I shop at farmers markets, veggie stands, the Moscow Food Co-op, local chain "Rosauers" and sometimes Winco if I need a GIANT bag of sugar (for the bees...hi bees!), or some Zevia pop.  (That's right POP.  It's not SODA.  It's POP.  Baking soda is "soda.")  Anyway, not usually you're safeways or albertsons.

Alas, last week, I needed a few burger buns (cooking up some elk that I was given into pulled elk sandwiches) for people unaccustomed to the sorts of breads I would eat (organic, sourdough, dark rye, 78 grain sprouted whatever with extra fiber so I poop).  I was near a safeway so I stopped there for some reasonably healthy but familiar looking buns.  I mean, how hard could it be?

HARD.  EVERY SINGLE TYPE OF BURGER BUN in the store had some sort of "deal" on the price label that made it very difficult to decide the cost per bun.  It was things like "3 for 2 deal" with 4 buns a pack, a 2 for 1 deal with 8 buns a pack, a percent discount for people with a loyalty card (making me do higher math for stupid mediocre buns does not buy MY loyalty and certainly does not get you my email or phone number).  The combinations were endlessly varied and the bun sizes varied independently from the number in the pack.  It also turned out, when I finally found a "deal" that would apply to me without my handing over personal contact information to prove my loyalty, that since I bought 1 package, not 3, of that type and a package of another type (seeds vs no seeds), the 2 for 1 deal DID NOT COUNT.  Cripes.  By then I'd spent 15 minutes on damn buns. 

So, safeway, if you can't just tell me the damn price and let me have the product at that price, then you confirm my opinion that giant chain stores are not a value for me.  I'm not going to play "price roulette" at the check out on every item. 

In summary:  bite me.

Growing Food From Scraps

This kind of thing is fun, but cuts into my wormbin scraps supply, but still, I want to try to do more of it.  This year I started ginger for myself and another person.

When asked how long it would take before it was harvestable I said "10 years" because I didn't know.

According to the chart below, it may only take a year.  Nice.

Below are things you can regrow from grocery items or scraps from grocery items.   A warning on the potatoes:  often they are treated with a "no-sprouting" chemical and won't want to sprout.  Buy those organic.  In fact, you could by everything organic and regrow it.

More after the chart...

I have regrown celery.  I got mostly leaves and dried them for winter seasoning.  I've planted organic/local garlic and potatoes that sprouted and had great results.  You don't have to wait for the garlic to sprout.  Just stick it in the ground.

10 ways to save $10 a Week!

If you do all of them, you'll save 100$ a week. 5200$ a year.

If you do half of them, 50$ a week. 2600$ a year.

A half assed job at all of them, also 2600$ a year.

A half assed job at half of them...still 1300$ a year.

These aren't in any order and are because I'm doing a frugal touch-up and rereading The Tightwad Gazette. I don't know how many of these I can do but I'm going to try.

1) Make 2 homemade coffees instead of buying 2 fancy coffees per week.

Assuming $5.25 and a tip per fancy coffee, you could even use those spendy pod or cup thingies for the coffee.

I am already using my thrift purchased travel french press stainless steel mugs and a thrift purchased thermos of hot water (heated upon the butane burner I found for free in a former apartment like 3 years ago and using the cheapest butane I can get my hands on)

To cut that EVEN MORE, I asked for coffee for my birthday and my favorite Aunt...well, one of my favorite aunts...sent not the 1 lb I asked for, but 2 full lbs AND several little fancy roast samplers that I can get 3-5 cups from. Nice. I figure that's 3 months of coffee. After that I still have an lb of chicory blend coffee I bought for 6$ in Louisiana (I was there for work) as a gift for someone but ended up not needing. So there is a few more weeks of coffee.

AND I need to cut back to just one cup per day. More than that gives me hot flashes anyway. I do make a 2^nd cup from the same grounds. It's not good, but I don't want to waste the last of the caffeine.

2) Cut out 1 restaurant work-lunch per week. 

 It's hard to get a restaurant lunch with a beverage for under 10$. In the past few weeks I've been invited to work lunches repeatedly.  I go because people expect me to be minimally social.  The trouble is, it costs $$.  The other trouble is, I eat too much and get fat and salty and tired and have hot flashes. I guess that's several troubles.

I am retrenching personally on this one.  I texted the colleague who most likes to do lunch, and knows the VERY best lunch spots.   I suggested that since I need to save $$ AND the delicious food was undermining my health goals and making me sweaty...we should meet up in the conference room with salads or whatever. Perhaps we could share lunch preparation.  We've tried to help each other in the past with cutting sugar content in the diets so this is someone sympathetic to at least the health part of the equation.   It's much cheaper to even buy bag of salad and some fancy tuna than to go out.

3) Cut 100 miles of driving.  

For reals.  At the current price of gas, a 50 mile round trip is costing me about 5$.   Actually a bit more. I drive 25 miles each way to work.   That's not very cuttable. I use my car for work during the week and am “on call” from the office to field sites so can't really share rides with people unless they want to not know what time they will be home at night. I could cut one trip to town (25 miles each way) and try to consolidate work trips each week. I can also walk more once I get to town for errands. This one is a challenge in the summer when I'm called out more. But, worth a try.

4) Cut food waste by eating what I have and eating all of what I buy.

Food waste….On the “Dollar Stretcher” website there has been a forum called Food Waste Friday where those who choose to participate can post what they wasted each week. Despite my efforts, I still chuck some of the fresh food I buy. Convenience foods tend to get fully consumed, but cost more. Buying fresh or at least not convenience and eating all of it would save the most money. Making the effort! It doesn't take much waste to add up to 10$. Since I try to spend 200$ a month on groceries, 40$ (4 weeks at 10$) is 20% of the budget! That's worth the effort and will more than offset any extra groceries needed by not going out to lunch.

5) Shop in my stuff before I shop at the store. 

 I have more often than I wish to admit bought a duplicate of an item that I already own, just because I forgot I had it. So, before I buy a clothing item, I will go through the clothing back stock and really see if I need the exact item or if something will work just as well. E.g. today I say a nice raincoat at thrift (5$), but thinking through it, I have a rubber rain coat (also from thrift) that works fine. Just doesn't look fabulous. Ultimately, not worth another 5$ to me to have a nicer looking less rubbery raincoat that might not be all that waterproof.

I've also bought medical supplies when I already HAD that medical supply (bandaids, elastic wraps, creams, etc). So, a few weeks ago I went through the box in storage marked “meds” and got out the aspirin I'd forgotten I had. I was out of aspiring at the homestead. I also went through the first aid kits at home and in the vehicles and made sure the stock was evenly distributed instead of all the bandages in one case and none in the other. This way, hopefully, everything will get used up at a fairly steady rate.

I periodically go through my clothes to see what really isn't getting used and can be donated, chucked, recycled, or in several instances...put back into circulation. E.g. I have too many pairs of lovely knee high wool skiing sox. I can't store them all in the homestead. So some are in storage. When the ones in full rotation get tatty, I try to remember to go through the stored winter clothes before buying new socks. In trying on all my pants to see what did/didn't work I found that one pair that I hadn't worn in a while, was actually presentable and fit reasonably well. They aren't my favorite pants, but no reason not to wear them. An old pair of work pants is just too big, but also pretty tattered so may be turned into a set of pouches with the waist band and belt loops still attached so I can use it when gardening to carry pin flags, seeds, tools, etc.

6) Cut back on entertainment expenses. 

 Mine are pretty well cut, but there is always more to be done!

I used to do a movie a week at 5$ (2^nd run theater...1st run theaters are too expensive to even be considered). This year, I bought a 10 movie pass for 50$, which is a better deal than it sounds since their basic movie rate went up to 7$. I was also buying the 1$ popcorn. I can skip the popcorn. The 10 prepaid movies means I can see how many movies I want to spend on this year, it's already spent, and prioritize which ones I go to.

I get most movies from the library. I rent a few from the local video co-op. I will be cutting back on co-op movie rentals.

I also rarely spend on books anymore (says the woman who spent 20$ on a plant guide this morning….more on that anon). I get them from the library. Even audio books. Library. With interlibrary loan I can get pretty much anything. Today I asked about a book I wanted but could not find in the system. The librarian put in a “purchase request” for the book. If they don't buy it, they will look further afield to interlibrary loan it. If I find I check a book out over and over, I put it on the list for things to find used, at thrift, or ask for when it's gift time (holidays, birthdays). Just this year I got multiple books I'd been coveting (including a different plant guide than the one I bought) as gifts.

I don't go out to clubs or bars so that saves but that means it's also a spot I can't cut from the entertainment budget...already cut to 0.

Radio: don't under estimate it. I listen most days to get the weather and news. I don't have internet at my place or a smart phone. The radio is the basic info stream. No TV on the premises (movies watched on the laptop). One day I couldn't get the weather I wanted on the radio so I called information...that's a thing we used to use all the time and DOES cost a buck or so, and got the number for the local national weather service office. Sure enough they have a phone line where you can get the weather forecast for your area. NICE!! No need for a TV and cable to watch the weather channel. I programmed the number in the phone so it's a one-time cost for information.

7) Review car insurance coverages.

I recently did this and saved over 400$ per year. I had full coverage on one vehicle, including rental car. This made sense when I had one vehicle given how dependent I am on it (life choice that costs $$ but one I made with my eyes open). I would need a rental vehicle. NOW that vehicle is worth much less and I have a 2^nd vehicle. I don't need the rental. Should I decide to make a long distance road trip, I will look into adding the rental coverage back in. You can do that. You can also suspend the insurance on the vehicle you aren't driving at the moment. I don't have the attention span to turn the insurance on and off depending on which rig I'm driving on a day, and often drive both in one day for different tasks. So, cutting insurance made sense. See what you can personally tolerate and see if you can cut back. Also, compare companies. That's my next step.

8) Use the discounts or coupons that you have AND that you need. 

 I won't use a coupon for an item I wasn't buying anyway. I won't go somewhere or buy something just to get the discount. I keep a list of what I need or choose to buy, then watch for a coupon or discount that will apply to that.

Today, I knew I had a 10$ off customer appreciation coupon for a local hardware store. It was good yesterday and today only. Yesterday I wasn't going to be in town and gas to town and back is about 5$ so ...not worth a specific drive to use the coupon. TODAY I was in town for multiple errands and tasks. I took my list to the hardware store. It included the above mentioned plant guide (it is specific to local native species and I am trying to restore native species on my property). I also needed a ground tamper and had compared prices during other trips to hardware stores. This store had one in stock and at the same price as elsewhere. So, the cost of the book and the tool met the minimum amount to use the 10$ coupon which maximized the value of the coupon. I went in, spun the wheel for a free gift (which turned out to be a free sample of dog treats...I don't have a dog but I can use them as bait in traps), grabbed the two items I had already identified as the best things to buy there with the coupon, and hit the check out. Then it was off to the next errand.

9) Keep a list and keep it on you. 

 I have a master list of things I need or want and have chosen to buy. I don't go to stores without it. This morning I had to get out of the car and go back up the hill to the homestead on foot (no driveway up there...too expensive) to get the list. No point in going to town to do errands without the list.

With the list, I can go to thrift stores and yard sales I may pass, and see if things on the list are available for cheap. Just yesterday I stopped by a yardsale and found a ground squirrel trap! That was on the list. I have a ground squirrel problem and have chosen not to poison them. The trap was 5$ at the yard sale. In full working condition. I looked online and new it would be 56$. I would never spend that much. I'd suffer with squirrels. For 5$ I will try it and if it doesn't work the way I like, I can resell it or trade it for something else.

At the farmers market and grocery stores today (walking from one to the other to save on the gas noted above) I carried the list and got things at the best price without duplicating or having to go back and return something when I found it cheaper elsewhere. TP at the co-op. There is cheaper TP but the co-op TP is one roll in paper, not 4 or 36 in plastic. I have limited storage and store things in tins. I can store 3 or 4 rolls, not 36. I also don't like to buy things in plastic if I can avoid it. I wanted stevia sodas this week as I get off the sweet restaurant food. Those are cheaper at a grocery store. As was mint tea. There was a 3^rd grocery store. That one has the best “discontinued” or “discounted” food rack and the cheapest allergy stuff that was on my list. It is also near the recycling center with the free book bin. I got a free book and next time I'm through I will drop off a free book I'm done with.

10) Free stuff! 

 I love those little free libraries and the free book bin at the recycling center. I use them. A few times I year I actually find books on my list. That's always a treat. Sometimes I find awesome antique books like the vest pocket dictionary from the early 1900s that I have now been using for more than a year. It's tiny and handy and antique and free. I've found a few books from a home designer that I admire and have used ideas from them in designing my next home. The free book bin also yielded a honey cookbook that I've been using and may pass on if I ever stop using it. Today, I got a multi-cassette audio book about how to be a winner...I can't wait to find out how I can be a winner. The brand new used pickup has a cassette player.

At the community garden, in exchange for helping them while I learn new things, I am given greens and a few eggs. That's a win-win-win. They get help. I get educated. I get food.

Next to the community garden is a 2^nd harvest food distribution center. The manager there is happy if we take pallets. Many pallets. I do take pallets when I need them. I try to remember to drive that brand new used pick up that day and load up on the pallets I can use.

At work, people open lots of boxes of stuff. Big boxes. When I'm setting up new garden beds or smothering thistle thickets, I take boxes. Leave them in the rain a day or two and the tape and other plastic peels right off. Then they go down where needed, often held in place with pallets that haven't been used on their assigned project yet.

Beware of free stuff with strings. If it's new and free, you may be the product. I don't sign up for free stuff on the internet if it requires my contact info. That means someone is selling my contact info and/or trying to sell me crap for NOT free. I hate that.

I don't take free things I don't also need.

Today at the library I used the free seed exchange. I took 6 asparagus seeds. I could have taken enough seed to grow a market garden feeding dozens of people, but I don't need that much. I want to see if I can start asparagus in a newly tilled up garden bed. 6 seeds should give me an idea about that.

I Did NOT Change My Mind

This is a rant.  Because I am SICK OF IT.

To the many doctors who would not tie my tubes in my 20s because "You will change your mind" or "your husband will want kids" and to all those others who told me that I would change my mind, or die alone and sad (as if people WITH kids don't die alone and sad), or that I am selfish (that's rich!) for not having or wanting kids:  BITE ME.

I did NOT change my mind.  I didn't spawn and I'm glad.  I love it.  It's my favorite thing.

Those doctors sentenced me to 23 years of birth control pills and condoms.  I always use a minimum of 2 birth control methods.  No mistakes.  No accidents.  I spent thousands of dollars and untold hours to avoid pregnancy and unwanted children.  As if the world needed more unwanted children.  The world does not need any more children. 

What made those doctors think that I would marry a guy who wanted kids? And that it would be MY JOB to have them just because some asshole wanted some?  There are plenty of breeders out there for those guys.

What made those doctors assume I would get married?  To a guy?  I didn't.  And I'm fine.  Quite happy.

As for dying alone and sad; well, I suppose I COULD die happy in a a group but that's pretty rare.  Most people are the only one in the room croaking at any given time and very few are happy about it.
I know many people who did have kids.  Most of those kids don't want their mother or father dying in the living room in a hospital bed full of feces and urine.  Most of those kids moved on and are trying to lead their own lives (selfish little bastards...if one follows the above logic anyway).

How selfish is it to have children in order to avoid your own fear of death?  More selfish than me NOT having children and just dealing with the idea that some day, I'm going to die and that at some point before that, I will probably crap my pants and have no one at the ready happy to wash me down?  According to my accusers, I should have had a kid and made it super dependent so it would stand me up in the shower and hose me off  (Mom:  I will totally hose you off if you need it because I know that is NOT the reason you had me.  You were young and stupid, that's why you had me).

One woman in particular who accused me of being selfish and of changing my mind later (mind you, I was WELL into my 40s at the time so that ship had seriously sailed) had gone to great lengths and tens of thousands of dollars in infertility treatments and adoption procedures in order to make her family.  Good for her.  She invested in getting what she wanted:  children.  She did not see that as selfish but me NOT bringing unwanted children into the world, she does see that as selfish.  To her I say:  BITE ME. 

To the fish and other beings poisoned by the decades I spent peeing out excessive estrogen from the birth control pills:  I am sorry.  I did consider this when going on the pill.  The other option was destroying you through bringing kids, who may have produced ever more generations of children to decimate the limited resources of our planet and kill you that way.  If I'd been given the tubal ligation when I asked for it in my 20s, I would have saved enough to retire on and saved the planet. 

Instead I was patronized and told that I would change my mind and it wasn't reversible and on and on and on.  Even at Planned Parenthood where they were happy to prescribe the pills or an IUD or jam tubes of estrogen in my arm.  Anything but tying the tubs.  To them I say: BITE ME.  BITE ME. BITE ME.   

BITE ME.

I declare today, the day before mother's day to be
"Happy People Who Did Not Overpopulate the Planet Day"

A series of cheesy/sappy cards will be coming out soon.
Appropriate gifts include anything but a giant vase of dead flowers.

New skill! Cedar Baskets

My baskets are wonky, but sturdy. 

One piece of cedar bark folded, laced with cedar.  

There was a workshop going on where I work and I was allowed to jump in and learn.  Very fun.
And a great skill for the self-reliance quest.

Self-Reliance: Solar System

I went with solar to run the well.

There IS a power line crossing part of my property, and yet it would mean paying to set poles and run line to the homesite or well head or somewhere to get hooked in to that.  It was going to be  extremely expensive.  And then I'd be paying a monthly bill.

So, I skipped it.  As I plan the real cabin to live in properly, I'm planning to stick with stand-alone solar.  Not grid tie.  Grid tie here means paying to set those poles and hook up, and then having a more expensive solar system to avoid feed back and meter it and etc.  So, skip it.  I might get more panels.

Right now the system is 2 panels (I forget the size, but biggish, not crappy little ones), 8 batteries, a 24volt system into the inverter which runs the well and has an outlet on it.  There is also a charge controller, The panels are on a pole that can turn and tilt them.

I have learned that I should have gotten a 220/240V well pump, or a DC well pump, or a special one that can run on any power (220, 110, DC, whatever).  I got a 110.  Oh well.  We can't get it all right the first time.   It draws much amperage especially at start up so one scraped wire dropping volts meant it didn't work right for about a year until I found the right solar guys to figure out the issue.  That wire will be replaced when the real cabin goes in and the solar is moved and that portion will need to be re-wired. 

IF I wanted a fridge and washing machine and freezer and to live like someone on the grid, the solar would be too expensive or too high maintenance for me.  I will have lights, a bathroom fan, a few outlets, the well.  That's about it.  I may get a couple more panels to keep the charge up and I'm exploring microhydro and microwind for the not-so-sunny times, but that will probably end with exploration.

I'm not "self-sufficient" with the solar since someone built the panels and other components and I don't do my own wiring etc. I am self-reliant in that with this system in place, I am currently fulffilling most of my electrical needs.  I did bring the electric weed whacker and battery to work today to charge, but that was because I didn't want to leave the charger unattended, and yet I want to weed whack tonight while it's cool out.  I COULD have charged it at home.

Having the solar run the well pump, even the poorly chosen pump, is pretty darn self reliant.  The whole well/water system is pretty cool but I guess that's another post so I will save it.

Here is a picture of the solar panels and the well pump controller (power thingy) stuck on a post by the spigot.

Self-reliance: Reference Library

1) Reference library.  I can find stuff out without a smartphone or even the interwebs!!!! OMG.  I'm rocking it 1990s style.
 


First: REMEMBER TO CHECK BOOKS OUT OF THE LIBRARY BEFORE YOU DECIDE WHETHER TO ADD THEM TO YOUR HOME REFERENCE LIBRARY.  

I didn't do this every time, but lots of times.  Once I decide I want something, like the Tightwad Gazette, I then start keeping an eye out at the free book bin at the Moscow, Idaho, recycling center, yard sales, and thrift stores.  If something is 25cents, I may get it and then feel free to donate it to a thrift store or little free library or the free book bin if it's not quite what I want.



Here are a few book types in the library:

--Budget/Thrift/Frugality manuals
        My favorites are The Complete Tightwad Gazette (from a thrift store) by Amy Dacyczyn, The Ultimate Cheapskate's Guide to True Riches by Jeff Yeager, various olde tyme housekeeping and thrift books from the recycling center free book bin or 25cents or less at thrift and yard sales.  I try to cull these every year or two.





--Cookbooks (real ones) and recipes
         Old cookbooks are better for me in general.  Ones where the recipes start with flour, milk, eggs, rather than "a box of cake mix."  Others might like something else.  The classic Better Homes and Gardens cookbook with guides on roasting meats, making bread and cakes from scratch, how to cut up a whole chicken, etc, is a great place to start.  I got two excellent reference cookbooks from a friend (Hi Jon!) who got them at thrift.  Debra Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and Cooking Under Pressure by Lorna Sass.  Both have guides to cooking many many vegetables.  I use these as guides once I've learned how to deal with a meat or veg product.  I also check out cookbooks from the library and copy out the recipes I like.  A collection of recipes from family, friends, and events needs culling right now, but often serves as inspiration.  I also have a couple of solar cooking cookbooks that I found in the free book bin at the recycling center.
         Food preservation books on fermenting, canning, dehydrating and root cellaring are also in there.

--First Aid and Home Healthcare References
       I found both at thrift stores.  The first aid manual is an scouting one.  The healthcare is based on nutrition and herbs that probably grow in the garden.          

--Basic carpentry how-to
       This mostly lets me know that something is beyond my skills, but good to have.

--Various low cost and energy efficient housing design books (Alex Wade is my hero!!!!)
       These were and are used for planning my "real" house that I hope to have built eventually.


--Beekeeping book (Thanks Hilch and the girls!!!  Great gift)
         This one is a nice basic reference.  There are tons out there so I don't know if it is the best but it is very good.   I am on the look out for an old version of The ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture partly as useful reference and partly for the history of beekeeping.


--Dictionary.  Actually 2.
          One basic new one and one vest pocket type from 1906!  Both found at thrift for about 25cents. 

--Manuals for my appliances, tools, systems, etc
        These come in SO HANDY when something breaks or I get the question "what is the model number?" or "when did you buy that?" from a repair person.  Write the purchase date, or at least year, on the cover and store them either all together in a good sturdy box, or in a protective bag/cover and on the wall right by the appliance/tool/system.

--Plant/Animal Identification guides
        I have wild plants (medicinal, food, and otherwise), wildlife, birds, and would like a good mushroom guide.  I also have free e-books on weeds and local native plants.   I may print them out so I don't have to turn on the computer to find the info.



--Gardening/Orchard guides
         From the free book bin at recycling, I got the Sunset Western Garden Book from the 1970s.  Excellent!  I recently found a newer hardcover version at a thrift store for very cheap.  Currently deciding which to keep and which to put in a "tiny library" for someone else to have.  I also have a second gardening techniques book that is similar and may cull down to just one or the other.  I have an old copy of the Square Foot Garden, Let it Rot (composting), and a set of handouts on various plants from gardening classes.  I keep the notes from the garden/farm classes I attend in a hardcover notebook (that I got at a thrift store), so these notes are all together and I can find them.


--Repair and Maintenance and Hack guides.
      I haven't settled on the ones I like, but these are books on how to refinish furniture, fix household items, mend clothes, and the like.  An old housewife's guide from the 1800s has been extremely useful and was a gift from my gramma years ago.  I found a new general fix it guide at thrift that is being auditioned.

--Guide to my garden/orchard
     This is one I am putting together myself.  I haven't settled on a format but I'm thinking one page for each type of tree/shrub/cane-berry to record when/where I got it, when/where it was planted, and how it is doing.   I'll put in notes on annuals in another section or another notebook.


I switch out books now and then.

Take that MotherFlicker!...White Trash Craftery™

No, a FLICKER.  The bird.  The bird that is destroying me wee shed.

It, or they, has/ve been pecking holes in the cabin for a while.  I covered the first batch of holes with the bits of metal I had on hand...muffin tins from the thrift store.  That looks sort of cute actually:

THEN the stupid motherflicker (I'm assuming it's a parent trying to bring home the bacon/beetles to wee ones), moved to another side of the cabin and spread out the damage.

I was out of muffin tins.  Didn't want to move to loaf pans.  Or baking sheets.

I thought perhaps SHARP would be a benefit.

I had a couple of #10 cans from the recycling center that I'd had plans for.  Plans that were never executed.  So I though perhaps I could use the tin snips to cut strips from those and hang them (White Trash Craftery Rule #1: use what you have).  As I am cutting up the first can, I figured out that hanging 10 strips from the eaves would be complicated and I would never get around to it  (White Trash Craftery Rule #2: plan for your inherent laziness).  The remaining can got flattened out.  The seams on the sides cut off.  Then I cut it as though making a garland out of a sheet of paper. I couldn't find a diagram of this on the internet so I made one for you special.  Just like the actual product, the cut lines (shown in green) are unevenly spaced and crooked.  I'm not bothering with neat work for a stupid motherflicker.












Once you make the cuts, you just pull the ends apart...voila, instant sharp jaggedy metal garland for free!

It was definitely sharp.  I wouldn't stand on it to bang my face into a wall, but I'm not a flicker.  
To put it up, I started a nail through each end, stood on a slippery metal cooler on the weakening boards of my shabby stoop, and tried not to let anything hit my eyes (the safety glasses were clear down in the car...like a quarter mile away (White Trash Craftery Rule #3: Safety is secondary)).

Here it is:

It's blocking the view of the worst holes but you can see a smaller one above the Flicker-B-Gone™ garland and how it has been stripping a few of the battens on my board-n-batten siding.  As it happened, the #10 can had a coppery inside and a silvery outside so this turned out to be more interesting looking than I'd planned.

Of course when the wind blew I was awoken in the night by a mysterious metal rattling sound.
I think that means the Flicker-B-Gone can also be labeled as Wind Chimes.

I'm thinking that putting a few of these along the top of the fence between me and the rest stop might deter ne'er-do-well types.  That makes it both a "Flicker-B-Gone™ " and a "F...er-B-Gone™ ."  With a side of Wind Chimes.

Some of the Worst Frugal Advice I've Been Given

We all know that there are many ways to save $$ or cut costs or make more money.

Frugality in my view, as part of working toward simplicity, has to do with deciding what I value, what I want out of life, and what makes me "happy."  It's also about having the money to put it where my mouth is when need be.

So, given those things, I like to keep my money life simple.  No complicated financial deals.  No high risk investments that I have to keep track of.  I don't have a natural understanding of those things and taking the time to get that understanding would cut into time doing things I enjoy...depressing foreign films and staring at bees or the creek or sledding.

All that as a disclaimer.  Perhaps for YOU (dear imaginary reader), the following would be good advice.  For me, it was the worst.

1)  Don't pay off a mortgage! 
This is based on the assumption that I would take the money I could have spent paying down the mortgage (which was at 6.75%) and invest it and earn MORE than 6.75%.  I didn't have those skills or knowledge of financial investments.  Those skills don't interest me. 

There was also the argument that I would lose the tax deduction.  About 1/3 of the mortgage interest payment did come back to me as a tax deduction, but that's chump change at my home buying level.  2/3 of the interest payment went right into the pockets at whatever company owned my mortgage at the moment.

Let's add into all this the fact that gainful employment is not a given.  If you, I, miss a mortgage payment (or a HELOC...ugh), you, I, can lose the house.  At that point, you, I, would be out all the money paid in on interest and equity, lose the deduction, AND have to find a place to live.  A job loss can mean much more than a job loss if one has a mortgage or HELOC (which is just another name for mortgage)

And then there is peace of mind.  Without a mortgage, I now have much greater peace of mind.  If I lose my job, that is all I have lost.  No worrying about finding the mortgage payment, liquidating other assets to save the house, or the like.  I still have a home.  I can decide to sell that home but I can't lose it to the bank for nonpayment.

2)  You can pay for ______ with a HELOC and SAVE MONEY!!!
OR...I could NOT put my home at risk for whatever I'm paying for.  How about that?  See #1 for how I feel about mortgages and I can't see anyway that a HELOC is not a mortgage.  The house/home is at risk over a missed payment.  That is the key element of a mortgage to me and I'd rather buy a car with a car loan (miss a payment, lose the car), than a HELOC (miss a payment, live in the car).  Or better yet, save up and pay cash for the car.

3)  Just buy it! You'll feel better!
Uh...right.  If you are buying something to feel better, perhaps solve the emotional trauma THEN go shopping.  Also, personally, I don't really make choices based on feelings.  Feelings change.  Thus, they are not a basis for choices.  Then again...I do sometimes buy things just because they are awesome but it's a mistake, hence, bad advice.

4)  You don't need to read all the paperwork, just sign here!
This was said to me by the mortgage broker.  I informed her that I would indeed be reading the ENTIRE document before I signed it.  She said I could sign it, take it home and read it, and then call her if I had questions.  Right........NOT.  She acted like I was wasting her time.  Good thing I didn't care.

5) Buy the extended warranty.
Now, there may be a case where this is a good idea, but in my view, it is rarely a good idea.  Do your research ahead of time and hope for the best.  In researching actual repair rates I've often found that I could pay for a major repair for the annual cost of the extended warranty. No gain.  In reading the fine print, the extended warranty often has so many holes in it, that it wouldn't cover the most common repairs...unless I upgrade to the gold-plated extended warranty.  Nope. 

6)  Do things for the next owner of the house/car/whatever
Not for me.  I had a car hit by hail.  LOTS of hail.  Tons of hail.  Big a$$ hail.  Every single metal panel was dinged and dented.  The glass survived.  I was advised that rather than pay off the car loan, I should get the hail damage fixed so I'd have a better trade in value.  Um...the math.  I paid about $6000 for the car.  The hail damage was for $3400 and change. And, I drive cars until the wheels are about to fall off, or in a few cases did fall off.  That is more cost effective for my lifestyle.  I have no need for a pretty car.  I took that check to the bank and paid off the car.  I drove it for many more years.

When building or fixing up a house, I also believe in doing what is right for me, not what some imaginary future owner might want.  Screw them.  They may not exist and how do I know what they would want?  I am planning a new home right now and it will be what I want.  I did that with my current lodgings and you would not believe how much other people think it is "cool" and offer me cash for it.  Had I listened to those who talk about "resale" I would have had a bland standard boring plan, not the unique interesting fun one that I do have. Stick to your own style or the place will have no style.

Six is a good number so I will stop now.

2017! Off to a Good Start

Because I live in a freaking Christmas card...which is funny because I don't even do Christmas, but "Solstice Card" isn't a "meme."

Here is a recent pic:

Cool!  Those are the trees by the creek.

Here is the homesite from the road where I park:

These are the beehives with my white trash windbreak:















I do love pallets.  They are backed with thrift store window blinds that were meant for a different task (not windows though).
You can see I've dug out the wee doorways in the bottom of the hives.  That way the bees have ventilation.  There is another door under the lid that you can't see.  You can see how much snow.  And honestly, that is two snows ago.  The mounds on top are even taller.  Instructions are to leave the snow on as it insulates the hives.  The bees are eating their way up through honey in the 2nd big box.  The top box, which is smaller, is holding dry sugar for them to eat when they run out of honey.  I hope it lasts! I have more sugar and some "bee candy" (basically sugar made into patties) to put in there as soon as the outdoor temp is 50F or higher.  It just has to hit that for one day and I throw in more sugar as fast as I can.  I have heard them buzzing a bit a few days ago so hopefully they still are hanging in there.


The parking situation.  Even days like this when I cave in and spend the night in town (due to COLD), I try to go buy and shovel.  And shovel.  And shovel.  Thank goodness I've been working out or I would be immobile now.

It was pretty funny yesterday.  I was shoveling a few inches of snow, after I went ahead and parked on it.  A nice young man stopped his truck across the road and ran over.  He asked if I needed help digging my car out of that hole (again...that is a few snows after this pic was taken).  I explained that I actually park in this hole and was just putting on my snowshoes to get up to the homestead.  He looked around for a while...presumably searching for a house.  Here's a hint:  There isn't one!  HA!  I said, "I've made some unique life choices and this is where I live.  Thank you very much for your offer."  I wonder if it was a story he found worth telling...

This is a picture of the highway to work.  That's Plummer Butte in the distance.  It is super pretty here when it snows.  

And finally: A look to the ESE from the shed:
















You can see the bee yard windbreak, the big tree with the shower room and living room under it.  Just to the left of the big tree you can make out the shape of the camper...or as I like to call it, "my 2nd home."   ...two homes and 36 acres owned outright...and yet...I count as "homeless."  Only in America.