It's been forever

 since I've be on. 

First

this happened... I thought Sh.., which one of the refrigerators or freezers took a crap and what was I going to be trying to can or pass to kids (it's okay with 6 kids and 10 adult grandkids). 

Nope it was the casement window Hubby forgot to finish caulking and flex sealing. I forgot I have to now check to make sure he completes jobs with his dementia, more like dealing with a teenager with ADHD been there more than once. And as big as the mess looks, the pile was my canning supplies. Tatter lids took the hit, which is nice as I can sanitize them and only lost 1 box of wide mouth metal canning lids. I lost all the empty card board boxes my  jars go in when they are empty. I am not putting anything back there until he can caulk and flex seal that window. I guess the 1.75 inches of rain we got was too much at one time.  Even with all that rain, it came down in a way the ground sucked it up.

Then I dealt with this 

 There is 6 cucumbers under the zucchini. I got 2 quarts of green beans, 9 quarts of tomato sauce, dehydrated the golden cherry tomatoes (red cherry tomatoes got toss in with other tomatoes) . I ate the broccoli, froze the grapes in the kitchen refrigerator. I shoved the zucchini and cucumbers in the frig. Onions are curing in the barn

THEN E sent the boys over with a wheelbarrow full of corn

SIGH. No room for a turkey now as the corn has taken it's spot. I got 53 meals out of this corn so we have a total of 79 meals corn. I also made corn cob stock and canned it , 18 pints for corn chowder, polenta, and mush, maybe the autumn stew from Home chef that Son 2 was doing would be good for it also. 

 (https://www.tastingtable.com/873145/the-absolute-best-way-to-use-leftover-corn-cobs/#:~:text=Perfect%20in%20sauces%2C%20stews%2C%20risottos,or%20vegan%20(via%20PBS). 

I then put the cobs on the metal table out by the barn to dry so we can use them for kindling. The sparrows have been picking at them.

THEN we had a tornado go through. It hit in town. E had a little wind damage to his one barn where the door blew off, said it must not have been shut all the way as the latch was still on the barn. We get one tornado warn a year... not something that happens much.

Then I did the finances and pointed out we are over budget. I also pointed out WHERE we are over budget. I got him to leave the credit card at home and we are working at him only buying what is on his list.  He did an escort for a wide load the other day, that hauler asked if he wanted a job as rear escort. He turned it down. He knows he would be gone ALL day and anywhere from 4 to 6 days a week. He would get NOTHING done here.  This week he is scheduled to go clean up the sawmill. He got the wood wagon fixed and was going to go until I told him how the weather was going to be. He didn't want to be driving a tractor without a cab hauling a metal wood wagon in a storm. 

Then I went down with a Crohn's attack. I probably should have went to the hospital sigh... if I had been throwing up along with sitting on the toilet for 2 days I would have. I didn't do that until day 4. FYI that's usually the day I come home from the hospital. Other than wishing morphine was in this house WE handled it. Hubby fixed me dry toast immediately and started shoving fluids. He jokes I married him because he was an EMT (retired 7 yrs ago). I got a brat patty for a meal because we don't have any dinner sausage patties, For what ever reason I can hold that stuff down.  He thinks stress triggered it... didn't help that I was using core muscles to lift a 50 lb. canner that he usually puts on the stove for me. My GI strongly suggested planks and push ups. NO sit ups as my back would have a fit over that. LOL.

So we spent a lot of time of watching the hummingbirds at the feeders and dive bombing each other

It's to rain today so he probably won't be going to the sawmill. He asked what had to be done this week... two doctor appts. and pulling zucchini and cucumber plants in the garden (I am not pulling anything) I want to do some planting for fall. I need to cut tops off onions that are cured and put them in hose  (panty hose) to hang in basement or barn until it gets too cold. Clean the front bay of the barn as I want to move the canning stuff there. No worries of water damage there. 

He looked at me and said , two doctor appts that's it. I laughed. I could do that onions I pointed out... nope I would side track and start doing something I really shouldn't... probably. Even when I spend the time in the hospital I struggle to not do anything (because I would do too much and retrigger an attack) the first week home. 

Be safe,

Prayers for peace

Blessed Be

AS OF LAST NIGHT!!!!!!

 There is no room in the 3 refrigerator freezers.

There is no room in the 3-22 cubic chest deep freezers.

There is MAYBE room for a 15 lb. turkey in the 7 cubic chest deep freezer in the barn IF I removed the ice cream maker bowl. 

At Kroger's I got on sale 2 racks of ribs and a 4 lb. box of crab legs for half price. I got yellow and orange bell peppers for 88 cents (you can barely find them around here) I picked up enough to dehydrate them also, I got red bell peppers to "fire roast" on the grill then I will freeze them for red pepper soup (barn freezer I already put their container in to save that room) I got celery for fresh and to dehydrate. I picked up some lettuce as there is none left in the garden and I haven't replanted it yet. I had a coupon for it. I got coke a cola on sale, Kroger chips, Frito scoops and bananas.

I picked up a cantaloupe and 4 fresh peaches from an Amish stand

I picked up my 27 lbs. of cherries for pie filling at Country Variety  Store and Hubby picked up 14 hand pies to freeze and some whoopie cookies. I am not crazy about that type of cookie. He got 6 that was snickerdoodle and 6 of the oatmeal.

At the Mennonite discount store ....

I found frozen brussels sprouts. I got enough for us to have for a year since no one grows them around here. I will be planting them myself next year.

I found a box of strip steaks (think New York Strip steak). For $4.10/ lb. (about half price) I got 14 steaks and they are already vacuumed bag with1 steak per bag... saved my bags. I got 2 bags of thin chicken breast and 1 bag of chicken wings, 6 packages breakfast sausage links already frozen.

I also got:  12 whole cranberry sauce, 8 canned pears, 12 mixed berries jam, 4 boxes of Stove Top turkey stuffing and 4lbs of Velveeta cheese (regular price $27 I got it for $18) and a loaf of homemade bread.  

In the gardens I know I have tomatoes, zucchini, maybe a broccoli, hopefully another round of Roma beans and maybe some potatoes to harvest. 

I need to call to see what Honeycrisp or Crispin apples start coming in. Our apples didn't do well, they are really small. 

To Answer Hilogene In AZ question of who we feed

 I usually do 1 yr of food, OTC meds, first aid and cleaning products. After having 6 of the kids and grandkids come up to get supplies twice during the pandemic, we went to 18 months  as they wiped me out to 6 months and I was getting worried... there was 2 freezers almost empty. . This year I went for 2 yrs supplies on most stuff but what I have seeds to grow. 

Why? We are already seeing issues trying to get some foods in the area. 

BUT let's look at what we  use.

I bake our breads/ sweets (not much) etc. unless I get it from Amish/ Mennonite. 

I make waffles, pancakes, muffins, cakes, noodles, wonton wrappers (just starting that), flour tortillas (just starting that), crackers (just starting that) and breading for frying. I use  on average the least 10 lbs. of flour a week. If I am making noodles, I use 20 lbs. to fill my 5 gallon food grade bucket with noodles.  So I average 520 lbs. of flour a year. 

I average 240 lbs. of sugar a year, 360 lbs. for 18 months and 480 for 2 yrs. This year it's up to 340 lbs. due to extra canning of pie filling and jams. Today I pick up 27 lbs. of sour cherries for pie filling. 

I buy 3 lbs. of yeast a year (stored in freezer) I do make sour dough bread sometimes but not often as neither of us care much for it. 

We use 4 pints of veggies a DAY . That is 1460 pints for a year, 2190 for 18 months and 2920 pints for 2 yrs. 

We use 2 pints of fruit a DAY. That is 730 pints for a year, 1095 for 18 months and 1460 pints for 2 years... that is not touching pie filling, jams, jellies and fruit butters that would add 105 pints for a year, 158 for 18 months and 210 for 2 yrs. 

I can 104 pints of whole tomatoes, 104 pints of plain tomato sauce, 104 pints of salsa, 52 half pints of pizza sauce, 52 quarts of pasta sauce and 100 quarts of tomato juice. for a year. I will try for 18 months this year.  

I do pickles... asparagus, beets, zucchini, cucumbers, onions , coleslaw and kraut. 

I can chicken broth, beef broth and ham broth. 12 quarts of each per year

I can turkey, chicken, pork and beef. 

I do roasted red bell peppers. I won't this year as son 2 found  some on sale on base and bought me 6 jars. 

I dehydrate zucchini, mushrooms, onions, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, corn, herbs and mints.

I still need applesauce, apple pie filling, apple butter, and apple jam. 

I do freeze broccoli, cauliflower, Swiss chard, Chinese cabbage, zucchini, yellow crockneck, eggplant and green tomatoes (breaded for frying). I do freeze berries. 

The last time I bought canned veggies was last year to make veggie soup. I canned enough for 2 yrs. 

I can 104 pints of chili soup a year. We also use it for tortilla chips and casseroles.

I buy 2 cases of each of condense soup, cream of mushroom, cream of chicken, cream of tomato, cheddar, fiesta cheese and Campbells chicken and noodles. I have 1 Amish if they can't get to the store, will stop for 7 cans of cream of what ever soup. She makes "pantry" soup every single day for supper and uses it for the base.

Room left in the pantry

IF I CANNED IT, DEHYDRATE IT OR FROZE IT ... I don't want to see it on the supper table for a day, ok, a week... maybe a month.

I harvested another batch of potatoes that will give us 3 meals for the winter storage.

 I canned 18 quarts of a mix of seasonings, carrots, tomato and zucchini in a vinegar sugar syrup (think pickled beets syrup without the beets LOL)

I had to actually walk to the gardens to get 2 golden cherry tomatoes and 2 zucchini to finish the last 2 jars. Hubby laughed.

I have room for 1 jar of beets (won't be filled).

I have a row space for some store canned fruit (might not be filled unless I find apricots on sale)

I have plenty of room in the tomato section (pasta sauce, pizza sauce, plain sauce, enchilada sauce, and juice).

I have one row in pie filling in case I get the cherries. Still iffy if they are coming in and if they are getting enough to get some to everyone on the list. 

Fruit/vegetable 22 cubic deep freezer is FULL.

Pork/nuts 22 cubic freezer is taking on the over flow of fruit/veggies but has just enough to handle a couple racks of ribs, a pork loin  and 2 hams. 

The beef/ bread 22 cubic freezer is go a decent hole but since I know the turkey and prime rib will be going in there I will be keeping a good size home in it. 

All 3 refrigerators freezers are full. 

I need to finish straightening up the basement, hang the cured onions and figure out a better storage for herbs and spices.   

I need a better way to store the herbal teas.

LORD I am tired. BUT I am sleeping better since my anemia has been figure out and I am on blackstrap molasses for it. Iron pills don't work to me.

Waiting

 for the dew to dry so I can go pick Roma beans, yellow wax beans and blackberries which is all that I left unpicked yesterday.  Got our first small batch of purple potatoes, enough to 2 meals also. They will go in storage for fall which is 8 weeks away. 

I will be canning Roma beans, yellow wax beans, beets (I bartered for ) and zucchini as I found 3 the size of my thigh that we missed on Saturday. I am also dehydrating zucchini.

I will then water the entire garden as we only got 1/3rd of inch of rain 2 days ago and the excessive heat is coming in tomorrow afternoon. I will also apply blossom rot meds (ha ha) to the tomatoes so I can quit throwing them over the fence towards the pond.

Hubby has put all 15 metal beds together and started filling them with dirt. He is piling the old wooden beds to the side as E said he can burn them in his one pit he has for that type of stuff, then he then cleans the metal out of it. I need to get started planting the fall/ winter crops but it's not going to be the next two days with this heat coming in.

 Today he went to go pick up a wagon that has a lift so it can dump what ever is in it. There is a part broke but he thinks he can fix that himself if not there are a couple places around here that do that type of work for reasonable $. It will help to have our own wagon for getting wood from the sawmills plus be able to dump it means I am not standing on top of a pile of wood tossing it at Hubby.

The guy said no one wanted it even though he had it for sale for 1/10th of the rest. He took pictures of it and measurements for Hubby. It has a PTO (Hum drive shaft to hook to a tractor to run) and not a motor. The guy is surrounded by Amish. E thought it  was funny as he would have picked it up in a heart beat and rigged it for a motor. Told Hubby he would help change it to a motor if he couldn't get the PTO fixed. 

It's now drifting to the back side of my arm also. It hurts to lift my arm over my head .  I caught it on a part of the 50 pound canner when lifting it up on the stove. I definitely seem to having issues with bruising easy this summer. I am NOT on blood thinner or on OTC stuff that would thin your blood also.  

Looks like the dew is drying up... back to work

In the pantry and freezers.

Starting to over run the shelves . 

The fruit and veggies freezer (22 cubic) is FULL and is now running over into the pork/nuts/seeds freezer(22 cubic) and the beef/bread *frozen French toast, pancakes and waffles* freezer (22 cubic). There is a little room left in the poultry/ice cream freezer in the barn (7 cubic ft.) But I am trying to keep enough room for M to put bacon when they butcher, she freezes it about an hour to slice it easier. All 3 refrigerators freezers are FULL.

I have half of the corn (frozen) I need for the year. IF I don't get any more, we will only have corn every other week. E's corn has not came in yet and he's thinking it's not going to make very good. So I might check at a couple places to see if I can find some more. 

I still have room for tomato stuff in the pantry.

I have room for cherry pie filling (if the cherries I ordered come in, store I ordered them from said they got a phone call stating they might not get them due to damage done to the cherries). I have room for mixed berry pie filling as I am no longer getting enough of red raspberries to make pie filling so will mix them with blackberries (which the bird that nested in as done a good job of eating the blackberries) for pie filling.

I have room for the green beans (M got ran over and sent enough to for me to get 7 quarts worth, she grows Jade green beans) and my Roma green beans and  yellow wax beans  is coming on right now. That spot might get ran over.

I have room for applesauce. I can dry apples also as that goes in to the loft for storage. I might move herbs and spices to another loft to free up a couple shelves in the pantry even though I have no shelving to put them on in that area. 

The dried beans I canned to have canned beans and the meat area is FULL.

Dried fruit area is FULL but I will find a place for dried apples if I dried some more. Maybe in the loft under a bed ??? 

The jelly, jam and fruit butter is full but I will find room some where for the apple butter as it's low. Hubby eats it on cottage cheese.

When M sent over the green beans as hers ran her over, she also sent broccoli that I blanched and flash froze as they are tired of eating it.  I will vacuum bag it today. We got enough to have broccoli every other week thanks to her. I have some side sprouts coming on my own plants for fresh eating as I had already harvested and blanched the big heads.  She also sent a head of cabbage. I turned down the green bell peppers as I can't eat them. She got tomatoes off her brother in law to make salsa with them. I don't need salsa. 

I have to dehydrate zucchini to toss in soups and sauces. I have enough in freezer for zucchini bread pancakes, zucchini pie and fritters etc. 

I have to process today and tomorrow, green beans, wax beans, berries, zucchini, watermelon, cantaloupe, apples and bag the broccoli. THEN GO HARVEST AGAIN and WATER as the storms went north and south of us SIGH. 

I'm not the only one on over load plus July finances

 Hubby has tried almost daily to start putting the garden beds together. E yelled at me from the road that they needed help hauling hay, tell Hubby to bring tractor. The tractor goes same speed as horses and that's all the faster E wants his wagons with metal wheels to go. This is the second cutting and they got 10 times more than the first which is unusual. Even with 5 of them hauling the hay, it took 2 days to get it all up into the barns. 

He had one Amish come ask him to dig post holes for another neighbor that wanted to put a deck on the backside of their house. He had 3 come ask for him to weld something. He had one stopped and asked for him to come move the Loader. (fork lift) as the Englisher that was supposed to do it never showed up. 

Then the 350 work truck is FIXED AND HOME. I pointed out that he had a small crack from stone in the windshield so he is going to get that dealt with. Then he back up and realized the back up alarm wasn't working. He also checked the estimate list and found they were suppose to replace the ball in the gooseneck and they didn't. He is calling in the morning . Will have to run it back over but he is also taking a receipt where he had to buy a wind shield wiper as the driver's side one was completely missing. GEEZE. But that can be "a sit and wait for it" not leave it.  Returned the rental.  Ended up going to McD's for a sandwich. Haven't ate there in over 5 yrs. Sandwich was good especially since we both missed lunch and it was way past supper time. 

I canned 6 more quarts of zucchini. It's in a syrup base and has garlic, dill, peppercorn, carrot, cherry tomatoes, and zucchini.  I figured one quart a month even if we hate it we can handle that amount. M told me to just chunk it and can it with hot water. She'll add a jar of tomatoes sometimes when serving it. 

I started fermenting cherry tomatoes, has garlic and basil. Has to sit 5 days and then should be ready. If Hubby likes it (he loves fermented foods) I will make more. 

I froze 2 batches of strained blackberry puree for ice cream

I froze 2 batches of red raspberry puree and some raspberries for ice cream.

I froze golden raspberries as there is never enough to do anything with them besides eat them. 

I canned 7 qrts of red raspberry pie filling. There was 1 1/2 pints left over. I shoved it in the frig. Hubby ate part of it last night over cookies and milk and said it was good. To put pancakes on the menu for Monday.

I've moved some of the pantry around to make more room as it's really starting to fill up 😁. Okay some areas are over flowing.

Went to a informal get together of high school classmates for a late supper. Was nice. 

Hubby went to store and got me garlic bulbs as I was completely out and a gallon of milk. That is the only shopping done this month. I don't see needing to stop this coming Thursday after chiro as with the gardens coming in and he just got a gallon of milk, we don't need anything.

Electric was $104 ...$71 lower than last year. We still have not turned on AC. 

I paid the school taxes for this year completely 6 months before they were due. 

Hubby said he has a couple outstanding bills to come in from the business and then he can finish closing the bank account down. He was aiming for August first, the major part of it is closed as of last week.  He said he doesn't miss it at all as the Amish have made a point of connecting to him in other ways. 

Everyone be safe. 

Prayers for peace

Blessed Be 

3 jobs and Frugal moments

 Sunrise started with fog coming across the fields. Never crossed the road. I think Charlotte "scared" it. 😂

Hubby and I was talking about how he felt with closing down his business. At first he was trying to figure out something else to do with it as  it was hauling and odd jobs, he knows he needs purpose.... then after dealing with spraying the lane for weeds, mowing twice in one week, picking apples and twice helping one of the Amish, he decided he was fine with closing it down. He also after I repeatedly nagged about going up to the sawmill and ordering a wagon of scrap wood (about 4 cords would be enough to finish what we need for this winter), he stopped and the Amish owner asked if he would be interested in doing some "cleaning up" around the mill in exchange any wood he cleaned up was free for him. He will start next week when he has his truck back. Should be hearing something about that today or tomorrow. Hubby looked at the wood that needs cleared... said he was going to have to take the chainsaw with him and the Amish guy was going to ask the other Englisher that owns the fork lift at the mill if Hubby could use it. Hubby thinks about 2 weeks of work that he wouldn't have gotten while hauling and it's FREE wood for our stove and a discount on the wagon full he ordered that will come in this fall because the Amish couldn't find anyone willing to clean it up.

HB stopped over and asked if Hubby could help him dig post holes. Hubby has a post hole digger for the tractor. Got that job done in 1 hrs. 

E stopped last night and asked if Hubby could use his red horse (aka tractor not the truck ) to pull a wagon with steel wheels loaded with hay. As E doesn't want the wagon to go more than 10 mph with that type of wheel, it would damage the road. That will be tomorrow barring rain. 

Then he mentioned I was doing 3 jobs... I asked what he was thinking of... gardening, processing the food, and finances of keeping frugal. I noticed home keeping was not on that list. 

We harvested the last of the peas and pulled them. I have zucchini, red and golden beets, red raspberries, golden raspberries and the beginning of blackberries harvested. I still have blueberries in the frig to do today and should be getting a call in next week or two that the cherries are in.

I got to thinking, after the second cup of coffee this morning that I needed to puree 2 cups of each of the berries, put in a sandwich bag, then freezer bag to freeze for ice cream this fall and winter. I already did it with the strawberries. 

I use grape jelly, about 1 tablespoon in my stir fries for a glossy sauce. I told Hubby I wasn't making it because I only have a large jar of grape jelly and I knew it would go bad before we used it up. I will use it in thumbprint cookies. I got to thinking about the small jelly and jam packages at restaurants... I ordered them through Amazon.  Hubby laughed and asked if we could have a few in the "jelly, jam and fruit butter" pan in the frig. I have a sheet cake pan to keep that together otherwise I find half used ones with mold shoved to the back.

We have not turned on the AC. Hubby wanted to a couple times at night. I told him to switch to sleeping in his "gym shorts" instead of flannel pjs. He's now complaining of getting too cool (use the freaking blanket and close down the window beside you.) 

We bought take out Chinese on Friday late afternoon (got lunch prices) we ate it Friday, Saturday and Sunday for lunch. I was either harvesting or canning 12 hrs. a day.  I have 2 cases of wide mouth pint jars left. Having to use quart jars now for everything.  Hubby strongly suggested I order more wide mouth pints.  I will have to price them first.

I best get back to the blueberries, Hubby is picking apples today.

Made today's to do list

 Told Hubby I wanted it written in some what of order of what needed done first.

He quickly started with 

3 cups of coffee and sitting with Charlotte on the kitchen porch. 

Laundry  and then dishwasher. 

I was really talking about black raspberries ( need to finish last 7 quarts of pie filling) red raspberries, golden raspberries, blueberries and blackberries. The "applesauce" apple tree needs picked as they are ready. I have red and golden beets, turnips, zucchini, Swiss chard, herbs, bolted lettuce and spinach to dehydrate, red cherry tomatoes to dehydrate, Hubby already took the onions we harvested to the barn to cure. We found some huge black radishes when pulling pea vines (got enough of peas and snow peas we won't have to grow any this fall) If they are pithy I will cut them into dices and dehydrate them. Works well in soups etc. Might fry some as that works also when pitchy.

I am behind on starting seeds for plants for fall planting. Have to get that started this week. I need to sort through the seeds for what I am planting (plants and seeds) and then list what needs ordered for next year. I would like to grow more head lettuce that leaf lettuce. But small heads so I am thinking bibb lettuce. 

Hubby had already dealt with the onions when I took these. They are in half bushel baskets. 

To the porch for Charlotte time LOL

2:43 AM.

Just became great-grandma again. Zi'liyah, family is going to call her Zi. 8 lbs. 6 oz. 20 inches long. Daddy and Mommy doing good too. Born at 3:02. Grandma Daughter 3 is still struggling with becoming a grandma but the entire family keeps pointing out her daughter followed in HER FOOT STEPS. Graduated, working full time and 18. Daddy is also. AND just like her mother, not married. SIGH. 

I would say it's a weird name but we actually had an Amish family name their baby using the initials of several family members and then had to spend a year teaching everyone how they wanted it pronounced. 

Since my back injections I am sleeping better, just not very long. I rest daily at 2 pm at the insistence of Charlotte. She wants me to lay on the bed with her for 30 minutes. Probably has been a good habit as I try hard to have my work down by then so when I get up from the rest it's prep supper and take laundry down and put it away.

Sherm found out the Country Variety store (Mennonite store) had black raspberries so we went to get some. I couldn't find them anywhere last year. I got 46 pints . Making pie filling (quart wide mouth jars) and jam (pint regular mouth jars) . We have one Amish family that is selling a little bit of them. I'll get some from them for fresh eating this weekend. Hopefully our will make enough next year to cut down on what I have to buy. It was half of stores prices.

They also had blueberries, Hubby had already bought 12 jars of blueberry preserves. But I am short on blueberry pie filling. They had a 20 lb. box for half of what all the other stores were selling blueberries for. I got it.

I also ordered sour cherries, 27 lbs. to make pie filling. Hubby had already ordered those preserves also. 

IF I have enough blackberries and red raspberries ripe I will mix some of the black raspberries and blueberries with them and make a mix berry pie filling. 

They had peaches, smaller than regular and not as juicy. I okay with what we have with peaches.  I need pears though but haven't found a supply yet.

Our "applesauce" tree is almost ready to harvest, The ones now falling are turning ripe faster than the ones on the tree. Today , Hubby is picking up the ones that fell so he can mow and is taking a bucket out with him so if there are any good he can bring them to the house for me. The bad ones Hubby tossing in the tractor bucket and take them over and dumps them at E's for their pigs. We call the other apple tree the pie tree or cider tree... because that's what the apples are good for and no one knows what type of apples they are.

We bought eggs from an Amish lady that grows beets for me. We bartered 5 gallons of asparagus for her for 5 gallons of beets for us. She was at a Sister's day so her Husband had the 5 little ones and taking care of selling eggs.  Said she had tripled her flock to have enough to sell and almost doesn't really get enough. I think it's the humidity as chickens don't lay good in hot or cold weather and they don't heat the coops in the winter.

Hubby got his hearing aids fixed and I had a hearing test. I am still good with the hearing but they noticed the left ear isn't as good as it was 2 yrs. ago but still within normal range. So him saying I am just not hearing him went out the window as the Doctor told him he was mumbling and his voice is gravelly. Told me to make sure I was getting B vitamin especially folic acid B 9, Magnesium and Zinc in our diet. So I checked what foods was needed to be in the diet. 

I know there are red raspberries, blackberries, peas, snowpeas, lettuce, spinach, mustard greens, cherry tomatoes, herbs, and maybe onions, beets and turnips to pick today to deal with on top of berries I bought. We don't have any appointments until Hubby gets his truck back, hopefully next Wed. Figure I can do some canning in the morning while the beds dry from dew, then harvest and do more canning when it's too hot/humid to be out.

The last of the garden beds we ordered are in. Got them unloaded from UPS truck before the rain dumped buckets on us and the driver. Got so bad we couldn't see the end of the porch 8 ft from the door. We want to get them in within the next week so I can start planting fall/winter crops. Our primary doctor asked us how to do that as he just started last year growing any garden, first time for him and his wife. 

Hubby mentioned that made 15 beds... I looked at him and told him I only needed 13, he forgot he still had 2 beds in the barn... Sigh... we will be finding a spot for them. He thinks we have enough weed barrier to make another row.

In the past 5 days, he has told me at least once a day, that he didn't understand what I meant when I told him something. I stopped and thought about what I said and resaid it and then asked him to tell me what he thought I said. He had it correct... that is an IMPROVEMENT as before he would just say, I didn't say that, and he wasn't catching he didn't understand what was said. I told him yesterday that was an improvement after he was laughing at my brother, who was struggling to understand the text I sent. My text was had lunch at the Inn, ran in to cuz Judy L Daddy's side and her friend whose brothers see you several times a week. She didn't give her name. Manager working floor at the Inn grew up down the street from us. You know her brother Tom P. He came back with we don't have a cuz Judy (we have one on Daddy's side and one on Mother's) He didn't know anyone working at the Inn. Manage texted her brother who just happen to be eating lunch with MY BROTHER. Hubby understood the text but he realized I am dealing with it from two sides. At least my sister in law and their kids are dealing with the issues more than I am. 

Some of Son2's test results have came back. He worked burn pits in Iraq for a solid 12 months. He has PSTD (I figure all soldiers in battle would have that) and mild to medium COPD. Still has more testing to jump through. His girlfriend is struggling to handle it and the changes that have to be made to be supportive of him. He said the only blessing of finding out now that her answer was to ignore him and not be there like she said she would is they are not married or even living together. He is glad he already quit smoking (again) He has a support system of us and several other veterans that live around him. Daughter 3 and Daughter 4 both have PSTD (both lost infants) and mild COPD from smoking so he's called them also.

I did remind him she might have PSTD herself and not know it. Her dad was a vet from Nam, he ended up shooting himself in the car in the driveway and she was the one to find him. It could have triggered her and her not understand or know  that it did. He hadn't thought about that but he was going to go talk to her mom (she was raised by her dad) to see if she would check on her regularly,

Going to grab coffee and go sit on the kitchen porch with Charlotte so I don't start rattling pots and pans and wake Hubby

Prayers for peace

Blessed be

Pantry Challenge

We  decided on what we would buy from the Amish first.

Honey, maple syrup, molasses, garlic (if B has extra when she harvests late summer and I ordered mine to grow last week, they come in mid Sept in time to plant), 6 dozen eggs a month (Charlotte eats an egg a day to keep her allergies down) and in the fall it will be butternut squash, acorn squash and pumpkins.

Meat for holidays: 2 hams, 2 turkeys, 2 spare rib racks, 2 corned beef briskets, 1 pork roast, and 1 prime rib.  

What we will buy from the store each month not spending over $175 (not including the meat or Amish)

14 gallons of milk,  will make yogurt, yogurt cheese, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, sour cream (and chip dip), puddings , gravies and whey for baking. I specified that the day after shopping is Kitchen day. Don't count on me for anything else.

3 quarts of heavy cream, will make cream cheese, whipping cream, ice cream and custards.

2 quarts of half and half, will make gelato, and mix with heavy cream for custards and white sauce.

6 lbs. of butter but ONLY if it is below $3.50 a pound.

12 colored bell peppers (I can't eat green, triggers my crohn's) or 2 bags of the mini sweet peppers.

6 lbs. of carrots (Mine won't be ready until fall)

3 bunches of celery (Mine won't be ready until fall)

4 lbs. fresh mushrooms. I use can for pizza, sauces etc. 

10 lbs. of sweet potatoes. Didn't even get one to last from last year for starts. 

20 lbs. of potatoes. Probably by October that will only be baking potatoes with fingers crossed mine will produce a good harvest.

I will be baking our own bread, biscuits, pie crusts instead of Daddy's favorite from Aunt Shirley (which I found out was Pillsbury), tortillas , tortilla chips, crackers,  crackers flavored like Ritz veggie chip, potato chips, and Fritos.

I plan to add eclairs, doughnuts (we do baked doughnuts) and cream puffs. One of the kids just gave me a scone dish and some scone mixes someone gave them . Kid took them to keep them from going into the land fill. 

Since Hubby is home for bfast and lunch I will probably add English muffins and bagels. 

Might be 2 days in the kitchen LOL.

IN the gardens.

I picked more  red and golden raspberries and 4 blackberries. Hubby asked for a pie until I mentioned pancakes with raspberry topping. He thought that was a good idea.

First batch of onions curing. I use 365 onions a year. I usually can only get about half of that and they store until January if temps hold decent.

purple grapes looks to be making for the 1st time and rhubarb that is regrowing

white grapes that we thought died, we won't get a lot but glad they really didn't die.

Herbs, rows 1,2,3,4,5,and 6

Rows 7 and 8

Rows 9,10,11, and 12

I have some pots of odds and ends but Hubby is cutting winter wood close by. I don't want to deal with ear protectors in this humidity. 

Snow peas, peas , turnips and lettuce is almost done. Any "edible leaves" will be dehydrated to be ground to add to sauces etc. this winter.

I'll be looking at what I want to plant for fall and early winter harvests. 

Blessed Be

Prayers for peace

Roller coaster

yellow rose #1

                                            Yellow rose #2

Pink rose

                                                   pale red rose

 I walked out to see if there was any more June dropped apples before Hubby started mowing. Got another bushel for E to have for his pigs.

I made a batch of caramelized onion and apple chutney using 1/2 bushel of drop apples. It's on the menu for this week.

Decided against making apple pectin at this time so E's is also getting a half of bushel  that I was going to use. 

Hubby said something about I needed to finish processing the groceries for the freezers I bought yesterday. I told him I didn't need to as it was what we were eating the next couple days. He thought I had a lot of meat... it was cheese and that was dump the bag into the bin in the freezer.

Paid the propane early, got a grill propane tank filled for free savings of $41.29 , get 5￠/ gallon off by paying in  full, got another 5￠off by paying before Aug. 1st. Put the charge on my Capital One and got $8.08 back. Total savings is $119.37.

Signed Hubby up for his Plan D (premium $5.10 month and meds are less than $5 every three months) and Supplement (through AARP is $123.36). It will cut his medical costs in half.

We sat on the kitchen porch and talked about cutting the budget, what to cut (how low can you go keeps running through my head). Figured it out including doing a pantry challenge for the rest of this year with limited (actually listed) buying.

And saw Momma with her twin babies.

OOPS Momma saw us

She took off with the babies following her but stopped at the woods to see what we were doing. Then trotted over the dip to finish grazing as E saw her as he came down the road and asked if they were up this way. 

Hubby brought in the mail, wouldn't you know the house insurance went up and that was after the taxes doubled. I already looked and the escrow account (required by mortgage)  is going to be short end of August so I need to put that in and that also means the mortgage payment is going up by $265.85. Our agent sent out notices to all his house insurance customers so they would have as much time as he could give them to get the extra money up. 

I harvested red raspberries, golden raspberries, peas, snow peas, onions for storage, lettuce, spinach, mustard greens,  turnips, last of golden cherry tomatoes, red cherry tomatoes, zucchini and beets, the beet greens went into the dehydrator. 

I got my appt. for my back injections including follow up scheduled .A group of our classmates is having an informal meet up that is also on the calendar. We are thinking of changing our chiro appts to Thursday since Hubby is no longer working so we can go in the morning, would be able to take Charlotte along when she is to see vet and/or meet up with a couple friends in that area. We would only go over on Tuesdays every 3 months as that is the only day Doc will see "couples" and that is in the afternoon. 

Have a safe July 4th . 

Prayers for peace

Blessed Be

GRRR... if it isn't one thing, it's another.

Bad news, we are in the smoke from the wild fires of Canada. I will be wearing a mask when out doesn't help we have a heavy fog.  

Good news...July 1st I will be hitting the apply button on Hubby's plan D. It's Aetna and CVS. If it doesn't change in October I will apply for the same plan D as it covers Humira pens pretty decent. Instead of the $12,000 , it is $1000 . I will still call the company to see if I can get a reduction. Never hurts to ask.

Bad news... my lettuce is running me over and Amish next door don't need anymore since theirs is coming in. I already dehydrate and ground to powder for green powder. I even gave a quart of it to a friend. 

Good news is I found Kevin Jacob's lettuce soup recipe. We had it a couple years ago.  https://www.agardenforthehouse.com/kevins-lettuce-soup. Some I will let go to seed so I have fresh seed.

Bad news ... we lost $1800 a month income from closing the business

Good news ... Hubby can use the insurance payment from the totaled trailer to pay off the truck and still have some to put in savings. 

Good news is he finally got the wrecker reimbursement and we are using it to pay for the last of the garden beds and the rest will go in savings.

Bad news... I have 2 IRA accts that was Daddy's that is now closed... I have 2 other IRA's that are sitting but I don't want to use them at this point. That's a loss of $1334.

Good news...IRA guy called , they are seeing a strong possibility of stocks going down a lot at the end of 2023 into 2024. They hope not as bad as 2008 but are trying to protect their clients as much as possible. Hubby listened and changed how he is invested, mine is pretty much safe as can be. Unlike Daddy who didn't listen and lost almost all of it before he got it changed. We will toss some savings into CD's to lock that interest in. It's good news when they call and warn you BEFORE it happens.

Bad news.... Hubby cut the withdraw by $2666.67.  That cut the income down 50%. Now I have the shakes. 

I definitely told him there is no way to make extra payments on the mortgage or replace the Silverado. Eating out and take out stops. I can pack us food if we are going to be gone that long from home. We already carry water with us.

 I understand that he is worried of losing the house as this is triggering all the feelings he went through in 2008(which is not helping the brain issues) where we lost 2 houses, ours and the one Daughter 2 was living in.

 I reminded him we have a full pantry(actually has over flowed) which we didn't in 2008 and had 2 kids and a friend putting food on our table. 

We have 4 months of expenses in savings and what ever is left in business acct will go into savings. The truck will be paid off and that is a $800 payment.

 I have garden seed, I can start my own plants and we have perennials that produce food. He needs pvc pipe to make frame for row covers for garden beds this winter.

 I also have as of tomorrow a year's supply of OTC meds except for two. We will both be on Medicare and the cost of the rest is less than what we spend on insurance now. It will actually save us $6600 a year even after paying for my Humira.

 We have clothes and shoes as we just replaced some things he wore out. I replaced my shoes and clothes last year.

I have the money for the propane (was going to lower what we order but since I will be baking bread more I will keep the order the same) and wood we get from the sawmill. E is also giving us some from his woods as he really tries to keep his woods healthy and growing more maple trees (he has 2 growing for every one he cuts down). We have 2 yrs supply of coal. 

 I need a couple things for Charlotte, will order the rest of the OTC and the garden beds today.  

Now if I could go back to sleep LOL

Saving money

 

I harvested the last of the strawberries and the first of the red raspberries and mini blueberries. Also got a couple golden raspberries but Hubby and I ate them in the garden. I do not take my phone to the garden when working. Blackberries have not turned. I finished picking the last of the strawberries unless them bloom this fall. They have done that before.

I harvest rhubarb (another that will come back by fall) and made strawberry rhubarb pie. I have some rhubarb in the freezer as I have plenty of it as pie filling.

I harvest the last of the radishes, some snow peas  and peas for the freezer, red and golden cherry tomatoes, basil, garden mint, turnips, onions and some more lettuce that is running me over. I might pull some of it and pass to M, if they don't need it they can feed it to the chickens... maybe pigs.

I harvested the June drop apples, tree is on over load so dumped 1 bushel of unripe apple (it's how it protects itself from too many). I will make caramelized onion and apple chutney and liguid pectin (first time of doing that) and give the rest to M for their pigs.

I boiled eggs for Charlotte. If I give her an egg every day she doesn't get the skin rash that the meds is $100 for 30 days. Vet said since it works he thinks it is great. This also had helped Wilbur with his dandruff. Since she is part boxer and Wilbur was a boxer I wondered if it's something common with that breed. What ever, it's $6.50 a month for her eggs compared to the $100 for a 30 day supple in which the rash would come back within a week of being off the meds. Hubby bartered 2 dozen for delivering 4 messages and then taking his cell phone over to the one Amish so she could talk to her brother as his wife's last living sister had died. 

I made a menu from what we have. We thought to eat bfast at 8 (neither of us like to eat until we have been up a couple hours) lunch at noon and supper at 4.Hubby was mowing between rains which was more of a drizzle until evening, after he finished planting the last of the trees and I was gathering the apples (so he wouldn't mow them) and the stuff in the gardens during lunch. So I fixed lunch for our supper instead. 

Hubby got the last check from his insurance, it was for the wrecker bill. Now it's wait until the truck is finished as he requested the insurance pay for the truck to be fixed instead of reimbursement. He will have to pay his deductible to the dealership.  We are looking at whether to invest what ever is left over or to pay the truck off. OR do we pay off the truck and then invest what ever is left. Our finance guy is talking to the rest of the group. He is thinking pay off the truck and invest the rest and let the interest it earns go on the mortgage since we are going to replace the Silverado. Hubby is thinking of trading his truck in for a smaller truck. So many choices. 

I need to make a grocery list as tomorrow I have doctor appt. and we will be going passed the grocery store. We will stop at our bank to get some cash (going to miss that coming from the business).  We will also be dropping off a check at another bank for E as we drive past his bank. 

Doing the budget today for the rest of the year. Fun fun  NOT

Prayers for peace 

Blessed Be

Hello

 This is Son2's. He has PTSD His lady bought it for him as he can't sleep in a pitch dark bedroom and blue lights bother him and he couldn't find a night light he was comfortable with since his died. She lent him hers and it worked so she bought him one. I had turned his alarm clock around several years ago(as I did my own) and then covered it with white cotton dishtowel so it wouldn't reflect on the wall so he wouldn't see the light but still have the alarm. His phone is in the kitchen at night. He is now jumping all the hoops for VA disability as he worked the burn pits for a solid year. He is not planning on quitting work but figures to get the disability dealt with now. He knows it took Pop 3 yrs. to prove and get his disability from Nam and Agent Orange.

Hubby got part of the trees planted. He will be finishing the rest this week. Told me to budget the peonies and daylilies I wanted planted. Wants the north flower garden changed out also as I have some Hosta that  need moved. He wants all the perennials planted this year because he is not sure he will be able to work the tractor next year. I pointed out that he was to be teaching me this year about handling the tractor. It's been a couple years since I've ran it and he has added more attachments I need to learn how to use. He decided to dig the holes for the trees by hand, said he needed the exercise plus the post hole digger makes the holes wider at the top than the bottom unless he goes deep then he has to refill the hole. He marked in the yard with posts for me to check to see if I thought his choices were right. Then he moved the one when he stepped off how far it was to the clothesline. He didn't think I wanted apples dropping in that area. I checked, it's good where he has it marked.

We are both starting on CO Q-10. I told Doc about his confusion over the dishwasher and he suggested to start it now since we both take statins. Start the MCT in August instead of now as Doc doesn't want to miss reactions and not know what is causing it. Definitely caught me off guard as he has been doing okay. 

I have an appt. on Wed in Dayton. Told Hubby I wanted to stop at Kroger's in Sidney on way home (we go through there anyways). He wants to stop at Menards to get a couple storage containers for the business stuff and some house receipts for stuff to improve house that Son2 will need when we die. Daddy kept his and it helped lower what Brother had to pay taxes on when the house sold.

Hubby asked if we could keep appts to one day a week... he doesn't care which day since our doctors have been taking time off during the summer and floats our standard time of appts.  I am fine with that. We will still use his white board he had for business as that's where he looks instead of the calendar hanging on the wall. I told him black marker is us (which is how it's been ) and blue marker is him only as the blue was business so it should help him keep track of things. 

We are still trying to figure a routine of meals since when he was working he didn't eat and I snacked.

Prayers for peace

Blessed be

Yep I broke down.

 Hubby thought she was cute.

Hubby's work truck now called the 350 (it's a F350 Ford ) to separate it from the Silverado that I drive that is falling apart at the frame. ANYWAYS I sidetracked.... dealership let him know the truck will NOT be fixed before JULY 20th. Parts are slow coming in. They also let insurance know that. Insurance will extend the rental. They also are sending the check for the wrecker FINALLY as he battled them over it for 3 weeks.

Hubby said he is going to start making the phone calls Monday to start closing down the business. Goal is to be completely shut down by July 31st. As it is we are losing $1800 a month without anything coming in. He already called about the pay off amount on truck. He got enough back from the flatbed being totaled to pay the truck off.

I was suppose to get my last IRA check from Daddy's IRAs this month... NOPE... it was last month.  My finance guy suggested he close 2 of the small accts that Daddy had to get me the money to cover this month since he could get it to me in 2 days.. So that's $1200 not coming in for now on.  

We have the same finance guy, Hubby is staying with his withdraw as he wants us to pay off the mortgage. My other 2 accts are earning almost 12 % so we aren't going to pull from there unless we have to. Finance guy suggested just pulling the earnings maybe quarterly as he knows we are trying to pay the mortgage off.

I finished stocking up the condiments, scored at Aldi's in Marion, more in that store than Sidney's. Came home to what I had ordered from Amazon sitting on my porch. As we were putting it away , Hubby asked if I had ordered a couple things as there was a couple empty spots in the loft (dry goods). I checked... we are low, not out but lower than either of us like.

I was in Urgent care as I was worried I had broke my foot again, no... just a bone spur that my podiatrist made a couple suggestions I could try at home to see if it would help before coming in. I am relieved it's not broke but I've had bone spur surgery on my heels as a child, this is actually at the base of my big toe, not hurting (yet) but I thought I had broke it at the joint (again). 

Since we are finally getting some rain *has by passed us all week*, I started moving things around in the basement pantry. 

Hubby came in and asked if he should hit the resume button on the dishwasher.

I couldn't figure out why he was asking that. Both of us are looking at the dishwasher,  light shows it is on and second light shows it is in the dry cycle. I stopped him from pushing buttons and realized it was the brain glitch.

I broke, held it together during his testing (only half of results back and they are normal), held it together through his accident (Crohn's hit though), held it through the financial crap, held it through his mother call that his dad has to have surgery to remove tumor in bowels and it might be cancer on the way home yesterday (see surgeon Monday and his sister is going with them), held it while dealing with changing the budget and still trying to pay the mortgage off . BUT totally broke and cried over him being confused over the dishwasher. He started laughing and said it that is the only thing he does that makes me cry than it's not bad. 

I keep in mind it was a blessing he held steady with the finances and with his the results of his  Dad's testing. He's right, if I can handle all the rest and not the dishwasher... it's not horrible. I have found he does better if I can print off directions or diagrams when he is working on something. 

He went out today and took grass off where the red maples are going to be planted but didn't want to do the apples and crabapple until I checked out where he thought they should be planted. He doesn't acknowledge shade when the tree has grown. He doesn't want me out in the rain, I have some congestion. He even turned the furnace back on , okay it's 68 in the house right now and the temp is to drop tonight. Weird weather for June. 

He did tell me that after I told him I wouldn't probably be buying blueberries as I am not paying $5 for a pint to make blueberry preserves... he ordered it along with cherry preserves. I checked what he ordered... it's exactly what I would have ordered but twice as much but that is okay. It won't go to waste.

He wants to put row cover on at least 2 of the garden beds for late fall, winter crops. I am thinking maybe 4 of them. Two for late fall and 2 for winter.  

He brought up that in 2007, he really was against me stocking up or gardening much and we paid for it when he went to 3 days a week for 2 yrs. He doesn't want to repeat that. SO I am thinking that since that is worrying him I would write out what we need to stock, what we want to stock including holistic and have him mark it off for me (he needs to feel useful) . Maybe he will feel more secure with where we are. 

He ran a message over to E's dad four times the other day and twice today, charged 2 dozen eggs for it. LOL. He knew we were low as I hadn't gave Charlotte any boiled as I was using the frozen like I do for baking or omelets. 

He is going to HAM radio field day tomorrow. The head guy knows he is having is having issues, they had picked up before he told them he was in testing. He assured me that at least him and 3 others would be with him. If something happened they would let me know. They already set the rule you have to younger than 60 to climb on the tower. That took the 3 that usually is the ones working on it OFF the tower. .

I am thinking of taking a nap with Charlotte.

Prayers for peace

Blessed Be

Update on accident crap... saving Money

 Truck will not be fixed until July 20, 2023 ...Hubby confirmed that. A few parts are on order...sounds like back order. The Ins. lady said they would extend the rental car.

Flatbed that insurance totaled out... 

GONE. Tow truck driver mentioned his truck was overkill since the trailer could have just been hooked to a regular truck. It was being transported to savage auction in Columbus.

Livestock trailer GONE. Got a good price out of it. Still close by so Amish still have use of it but off our insurance so saving that money.

Hubby is down to dealing with the legal paperwork of closing the business down BUT has to wait until the truck is fixed to do that. 

Hubby suggested we only turn the AC on when the humidity hits a certain level... I asked what level that was... he pointed to Charlotte and said when she is panting hard like Wilbur used to. Rascal very seldom panted but Wilbur did. Might be a boxer thing as she is part boxer.

I took the stock list with us when we went to bank to make several deposits.

We stopped at the Dollar General there and I got 4 items off the list.

Hubby dropped me off at Dollar General in town while he went to make arrangements for the 12 trees to be delivered since the truck won't be fixed until July. Owner gave him a 50% break on delivery due to the reason we had to change that part LOL.

I got 1 more thing off the list at that Dollar General.... we then went to Save-A-Lot

I got  brat patties, more coconut milk, a rack of ribs for July 4th  and frozen broccoli. I won't have to "worry" about getting broccoli for the freezer. There is enough for once every other week for $10. Rotate it with the asparagus.

I checked the prices of what was left at the last 3 stores we can stop at on Thursday. Amazon had the rest cheaper except 3 . So I am down to 3 things to stock up. We will also need blueberries and black raspberries as our NEW plants won't be making those for a couple more years. 

I picked peas, snow peas, scallions, beet greens, mustard greens, spinach, different lettuces, basil, sage, thyme, parsley and strawberries. 

We have been eating from the gardens and pantry. 

We went to nephew's graduation party on Sunday, saw FIL also. Hubby's sister sent home a plate for our supper. We ate it for lunch the next day as neither of us was hungry that night. 

I am down to 2 tank tops as I've lost enough weight the shoulder straps don't stay up and I am constantly tugging to make sure I am covered. I found some for half price as they are not the current style (I didn't know that type of top had a style LOL) I checked the clothing budget and was happy to see there was more than enough in it to get some. Daughter 2 offered to give me $ for the old ones for her to wear to work. I offered to give them to her but she insisted she buy them, if she doesn't wear them she will sell them in a yard sale and will make more than she is giving me.  OKAY. 

We are combining errands with other appts on Thursday with the store as the last stop coming home. 

Prayers for Peace

Blessed Be

Taking inventory, figuring out garden

 We will need corn, peas, sweet potatoes, Roma green beans and yellow wax beans. Broccoli and cauliflower would be nice. 

We have potatoes in the garden and if they make at least what they did last year we will have plenty. 

E is growing extra canning corn for us.

Peas are coming on slowly, I will replant more late summer for fall crop

Roma beans and yellow wax beans are up but only about half came up. I hope they make enough for at least fresh eating though I would like to have some to can. 

I do have 4 broccoli plants, not sure they are going to make as it's been slow. Four is not enough to have a lot for the freezer but it's better than none. 

I could not find cauliflower plants. So that will have to be bought at store. There are a couple local farmer's markets that I will check later in the season.

I need blueberries. I hope next year our bushes will be producing enough for us but this year like M I will be buying what I need. I need pie filling, preserves and some frozen.

I would like to have black raspberries also for the same reasons of blueberries.

After reading Pioneer Woman's blog of stocking the pantry. I checked my condiments and baking stuff... 

I am out of Arrowroot completely along with Mirin aka rice wine. Hubby was wondering how I pulled the last of the Arrowroot and not notice it. BECAUSE I store that in 2 places and figure it was in back up in the loft and it wasn't.

I am low on black olives, canned mushrooms, garlic stuffed green olives, pepperoncini peppers, pistachio pesto (the only one we eat), green chilis (I use with tomatoes instead of Rotel), roasted red peppers in jar, hot sauce, fish sauce, Worcestershire, and beef broth (the only broth I don't make myself as I don't have access to the bones to make it).

I have checked prices on line to figure out best price as we will be near several stores this week.

Dollar General/Aldi's/Save-A-Lot/ Walmart/Meijer's/ Kroger's and Amazon.

I need to refigure the finances since Hubby is closing the business plus going on Medicare that will come out of his SS. I think we will have the truck payment come out of that also... I got to play with the numbers as we see the finance guy Thursday.

Blessed Be

Prayers for peace 

Busy week

 Wide awake at 1 am. SIGH. 

What is going on this week...

Today 

Hubby is calling to check on when the truck will be done and then to see if the reimbursement for the wrecker bill is in the works. The Amish gentleman made a point of getting the message back to Hubby he had called the insurance and gave them the info they needed from him.

He is meeting the young man that is buying the livestock trailer at his bank to sign over the title and get the check . 

I am in harvesting and weeding mode along with regular Monday of dishes, laundry, clean frigs, trash to the road and fixing meals. I will add that I will be figuring out how to start my strawberries off the runners so the winds don't blow the small pots away. 

I also need to pull test results from Hubby's chart from Neurologist for primary as the primary doesn't do internet.

Tuesday 

Daughter 3 is having out patient GYN surgery. Her daughter is going to be with her since she's over 18 and a nurse. The good news is (beside this long wait for surgery is over) is while visiting with the doctor, she over heard of a job of doing computer work for medical bills to one insurance from home. She got hired and is earning 30 cents more an hour, no need to drive her car so saving $30 a week there, can take her 2 youngest to school and go get them so not paying someone else to do that. No weekend, evening and holiday work. She just has to get the daily billing done. SO she can even do it while down from the surgery as it's ALL ON LINE and she will be sitting anyways.

We will got to bank, need to update POD's and such.

IF we don't get rain I will be watering and harvesting of course

Wednesday

Son2 has an appt. with VA doctor , he is jumping hoops as he worked the burn pits in Iraq. This is the 3rd doctor and they already told him that he would have to see a 4th doctor. SIGH

Weeding and harvesting

We will have to make arrangements for our trees to be delivered it the truck is not fixed by then. Local nursery had fruit trees discounted so we stopped in to replace the 5 that died. 

We got 2 honey crisp apples, 2 bartlett pears, 2 black cherry, 2 red maple, 2 crabapple and 2 "fruit cocktail". Yes, that is what they are called because they are grafted with mixed fruit. I think it's peach, plum and pear. We spent the same amount of money we would have spent on 5 in the spring for all 12 now. Now we just have to figure out where to put them.

Thursday

Is errand day because Chiro doc is out this Tuesday, he is in treatment for brain cancer (3 yrs now and doing well) so we moved it to Thursday as we have a meeting with our finance guy that day. Hubby's Dad will have a colonoscope also and get the test results of his CT scan of his stomach. We will go the to the store then also since we will drive right by it coming home.

Friday 

Watering if no rain, weeding and harvesting.

Is open at this point but I am really hoping it is bring the truck home and return the rental though I LOVE driving the rental. 

Saturday is Field Day for HAM radio operators so Hubby will be involved with that.

Sometimes you wonder

how some people figure stuff...

 

We went to the local Medicare even though it's a bit early for Hubby as we were looking at costs. 

She did very well until she thought Hubby should go with an advantage plan....Hubby said no, his primary said that was bad because of the battles of getting preapproval for some tests. She pulled it up and showed all his doctors/ hospitals are in network in that plan (blew past the what about when he was out of state and needed care) and the out of pocket maximum would only be $4300. NOT INCLUDING the premium.  Her words were " Isn't that great to know that is the maximum?" AND she didn't want him going AARP supplement.

The look of shock was priceless when we both said at the same time, no that's not great, that is horrible and no way as would he go that way as he only pay $3,000 NOW. 

Needless to say, she immediately stopped and offered to schedule him to come back in July when he can sign up and what ever he decides is fine.  She did make note that there was one plan D he had looked at that she knew was getting ready to go away because they weren't listed anymore. 

Basically he is going straight Medicare, AARP supplement AND still is flipping between 2 of Plan D. The difference between the 2 is $50 and whether he wants to get the meds local or wait over in Sidney (actually could drop meds off, run errands, go to store  and then pick meds up afterwards. Instead of drop meds off on our way home and go back next day to pick up when half the time we haven't made it the 10 miles home before they let us know they are ready.

He asked me what I thought about me signing him up online instead of going back...

I think I am capable since Medicare.gov allows you to enroll for plan D and I am the member (he is under my AARP membership) for the supplement... 

On the side note, he picked up the check for the totaled trailer today. They will pick up the trailer either today, tomorrow or Monday. Not an issue as it is sitting where it's not in the way.

Truck is waiting on  a couple more parts and they hope finished by end of next week.

Wrecker adjuster is still trying to get around him not having a loading bill from Amish. She finally got the company to agree to her getting a statement from the gentleman even if it's over the phone.... Amish don't have phones. Hubby asked ST if he could get a message to his brother in law who lives 12 miles from the guy to have the guy call Hubby so he could give the guy info to call the adjuster. BUT she might send a letter so make sure he didn't throw it away and would need to answer it and send it back.  

Still Hubby asked our personal insurance guy if he could quote price of ins for work truck AKA 350 (since it's a 350 Ford) and he is checking on that for us. 

E knows of at least 2 people that would buy the livestock trailer. 

Hubby's goal is to have ALL of the business closed  and dealt with by July 31st. 

Prayers for peace

Blessed be