catch up

 This is one of the coldest springs we have had since 2018. I am running the furnace at 70 ℉ at night at 10 PM It goes down to 60 ℉ at 5 AM. We are just at 38% in propane tank. I am crossing fingers we can stay above 30% until October winter fill. Winds are higher than usually also.

There is a possibility of Hubby having to have wrist surgery. He sees the surgeon this coming week to see exactly what is needed. One doctor thought carpal tunnel, another thinks it's coming from a broke bone repair done 40 some years ago.  EITHER way, he won't be cutting or moving wood or coal for a couple months after it's fixed. 

Son 2, who is single, is filing for medical retirement on advice of 4 of his doctors and his top boss. He's had 2 mild heart issues in last 2 months along with his feet going numb and swelling. He has to walk for his job.

I am definitely hitting the red zone of over load.Thankful for Son2 best friend willing to step in and shoulder some of the weight from the military side.

I am using the grill for cooking meat or the air frier to keep the usage on the main propane tank on the low side. Our water heater is propane. Hubby already turned the pump house propane heater off.Thankful he did it before we had a main water line break and spray every where. Thankful that our baby monitor in there let us know there was a change.

We cleaned the wood stove pipe. I want to do another cleaning of the actual stove. 

I ordered the creosote cleaner stuff, which is good as it was on sale.

I ordered our dishwasher soap as it was on sale also after checking prices locally.

We ordered our nugget coal... 1 ton, it will be in on the 14th for us to pick up. That will make 3 tons of nugget coal and 3 tons of regular coal.

We ordered 3 wagons (est 3-3 1/2 cords per wagon) of blocks from the sawmill. First wagon load is to be ready next week.

E gave us 2 birch trees that is cured, Hubby is cutting them up, there are 2 more in E's maple woods he needs hauled out when the woods dry a bit more. 

I will call Monday to see when I can order the 700 gallons of propane.

I harvested strawberries and dehydrated them. Will continue doing that.Will make some strawberry butter ( https://www.wyseguide.com/how-to-can-strawberry-butter/ ), first time for that but sounds good. We like fruit butters usually especially Hubby over cottage cheese or cream cheese.

Other berries are starting to come on.

I found a few spears of asparagus that just came up so harvested them. We have a decent amount of ferns to make asparagus next year.Hubby is talking of making a box to fit over them to cover them next year if we get hit with a cold spell like we did this past spring.

I bought mushrooms on sale and dehydrated them. We should have plenty now with canned ones Son 2 ordered for us.

I harvested snow peas , had some fresh in salads, other with stirfry. Will start freezing the rest as soon as peas are ready this week most likely.

M got ran over with eggs so sent me some. I whipped 2 eggs, then put in sandwich bag and froze them. Now in freezer bag.They will do well for scrambled or cakes or for Charlotte as her eating an egg or two a day keeps her from breaking out in rash in spring and fall. Her meds are $150/month otherwise.

I got some cheeses in bulk and am wrapping them to store long term.  Soft cheese in crisper drawer. Some hard in freezer and other is cool dark storage.

I had a person send my sweet potato plants. Purple skin with white inside and purple skin and purple inside. I will be planting them this week. 

I will finish planting the winter squash, another round of Burpee long term keeper tomatoes with in next 2 wks for late tomatoes.I will be starting head lettuce for this fall crop. 

Mint is up so I will make mint jelly (we eat it with chicken or pork) and dry some for mint tea.

I bought some blood oranges to make blood orange marmalade.

I bought some oranges to make orange marmalade. 

I plan to make apple pectin to can when we have the June drop of apples. Trying to get liguid pectin has been limited.

I have leaf lettuce, carrots,beets, scallions, radishes coming in. I harvest from the gardens in afternoon then fill in with what is already in frig before pulling from the pantry and freezers.

I went to the store 2 wks ago, removed half of what was on my list as I wasn't willing to pay that price. Got home and Hubby mentioned that 90% of what I bought was for finishing the stock list... OKAY with me as I am stocked up except with what is coming in from the gardens and SUGAR for jams, jellys, fruit butters.

I would like to get some bulk monteray jack but that's only for the right price.

Take care of yourself. Prayers for peace

Blessed be

Doing what I can

 Harvest strawberries,radishes and their greens and a few green onions. 

Fixed stuffed mushrooms, tossed salad with strawberries, radish greens and green onion tops to go with our steak and rolls. 

Set out tricolor rotini, meatballs, pizza sauce and cheese is in frig for Mock Pizza Hut pasta that I used to get 50 yrs ago for our supper tonight. Got raisin pie for dessert from M.

Having issues getting liquid pectin, got recipe from thespruceeats.com to make it from apples. Got old apples so good to go.

I dehydrated extra mushrooms,radish greens and froze banana slices. Will be adding strawberries when they over run us.

I got a recipe for blood orange marmalade, regular orange marmalade and will save zest for all. 

I have 4 more tomato plants that are sprouted and doing decent to take out later June/early July. I have more squash plants to plant this coming week when this freaking cold snap goes away.

We decided to stack wood on the front porch in June instead of waiting until Oct. Hubby took the tractor in for regular maintainence and the shop found a couple things that was going to need fixed so did it now so it won't break on me while he is down with surgery.

I bought some puzzles he can put together so he has something to do. 

Hubby was going to take the wood fencing down so he could cut down the old oak tree that stands taller than our 2 story barn.... NOPE, because it will sit there 2 years down just like the other one E gave him that he still doesn't have cut up and doubt if he does get it cut up before surgery.  He might if E helps but it's a NO GO on the old oak of sitting in my yard when I swing. 

Got it verified that the truck payment should be set to auto pay. 

Since we went shopping Tuesday and still had some things we couldn't find. I ordered them on line. Since Son2 is off without pay while he battles them over it... I will be sharing groceries. Since he likes to cook it will be more of him figuring out what he can eat alone and not have a lot of leftovers. I worry since he won't have much spending money that he won't have any one visit him. Most of his friends are still working and raising kids. 

Dog needs nails clipped, we have doctor appts next week. Regrettfully we can't take her with us like we do the chiro as she would sit far too long waiting on us as our doctor is ALWAYS late. BUT he is a really good doctor and worth the wait. He's one of those that if you need 30 minutes that what you get. Not the you get 10 minutes and then he is walking out the door before you are doing talking about your issues.

Prayers for peace.

Blessed be

With God's Grace go I.

 First the  4 ft by 100 ft Asapargus bed got hit with freeze.

Then 14 beds of garlic got hit with freeze. 

Now 2 solid months of temps 15 to 25 degrees colder than normal.

The F 350 started nickle and diming... okay it was more like $10,000 a year to keep running so got a 2024 F 250. Had it two days and found lights to connect to trailer did not work. Two trips trying to find the problem when another customer walked over and fixed it. Pin to hold it was half way out. The dealership fixed the other guy's truck for free also. 

Nephew got hurt at work, broked leg, the other leg has 15 stitches and his arm is broke in 2 places and having to have surgery. Thankfully he still lives at home so he doesn't have to worry about covering his bills. Car is paid off also. According to his mom, she must have went to be a nurse for this alone.

Son 2 was home on admin with pay to finish filing his medical retirement... he got notice today they suspended him without pay.His "old" boss got moved to another building .His doctor finished the paperwork yesterday  so Doctor thinks they are trying to get out of covering him.. Now lawyer will have to get involved. I told him to finish his SS first so he has some income coming in. 

Hubby talked to the surgeon's office. Most likely he will not be able to use the hand for 6 months, possible up to 12 months based on how long it took him the first time of recovering. SIGH. He goes in first week of June to figure out when. 

Couldn't figure out why my heels hurt... got planter warts on both feet. GRRRR.

With God's grace go I.

finances.

 Half our bills (the larger part) is due before Social Security comes in. I FINALLY got it so there is enough in the joint checking to pay those bills. It's taken a few months to get it rolled completely. 

BIG relief to look and write out where the new truck payment and increase in insurace is coming from for the next 3 months. We had to take it in to have a connector fixed for the trailer lights, still not working right so it's going back in today. 

ALSO got 3 months of mortgage put back. Goal is 6 months by the end of the year.

The tractor's alternator broke... yes broke and fell off the tractor. Hubby said he had never saw that happen but the repair shop said it happens due to metal fatigue. That got fixed. It's due for maintenances soon.  We have that money put back also.

We have school taxes coming due next month. I have that put back. I am hoping to have enough to just pay them completely off. 

I stocked up on some spices/herbs and odds and ends needed in the pantry. 

Hubby is going to have carpal tunnel surgery so he won't be able to cut or lift wood for awhile . He had this surgery our senior year. We took bets he was going to graduate with his cast that he wore for a YEAR. I really hope he doesn't have the issue of healing again. BUT we decided to prepare that he was down for the year. 

I will be ordering 700 gallons (OUCH ON COSTS but have the money for it) of propane. It's twice as much as we normally order but if he has a slow recovery, we might need the fuel.

 We will buy another ton of coal nuggets.We use "lump" coal for night (last longer) and nugget for the day time.

 We have already ordered 3 wagons( 3-3 1/2 cords per wagon) of the blocks from the sawmill. Lent the wagon to an Amish.

We have a tree cut down and waiting for Hubby to cut it, if he doesn't get to it, we will still be okay as the night wood for this year is already cut (coal will help it last longer) and I can use blocks for the day wood.

He was wanting to finish the rest of the garden beds but I told him to not worry about it. We have a good amount in the pantry.And we have fresh coming in with the garden. We will be okay. 

Son 2 is having serious health problems. He is already retired out of Army.  Looks like he isn't going to be able to continue working like he hoped . He did burn pits 2 yrs in Iraq. He has 8 medical appts this month alone. His boss is trying to work with him to keep him working until he gets disability. His buddy took him to the ER the other day, he couldn't walk, his legs and feet had swollen and was in extreme pain. 

We have rain almost daily. I pull weeds in gardens between them. Not the greatest year with gardens. 

Blessed Be 

Prayers for all

Still raining and why we bought a new truck

 4th day of rain. At least it is a gentle rain even though all day long. Yesterday it stopped through the afternoon and the sun tried to peak out. Raining again today.. suppose to until 5 pm. I remind myself that it's dreary day after day but this summer is forecasted to be hotter than normal so we need to store what we can and bless we are getting good soaker rain not down pour and the river out of the banks.

We bought a 2024 USED F250truck. It was owned by the Ford dealership.

We have been looking for over a year, didn't want a ton of this and that on it... just a basic truck. Didn't need the F350 for hauling like Hubby was doing in his business before he shut it down. He does some hauling ... like a solid metal dump wagon of our wood from one of the sawmills/pallet makers. Or soybeans to the elevator for one of the Amish. Our tractor to the shop that does maintenance.  

Hubby took the F350 in for maintenance and get the truck appraised as he started thinking of selling it on his own when one of the guys asked if he had found what he was looking for. Not yet was his answer. Head of maintenance asked what he was looking for. F250 (smaller truck won't haul our wagon loaded with 3 cords of wood) GAS not diesel. Guy came back as he went to see if they had one on the lot. Two hours later he called him. He found one that was used, owned by on of the dealerships and was a Feb 2024. Did he want to look at it when we went back over to drop off truck for a exhaust job?

We went yesterday morning, looked it over, took it for a test drive and then they crunched the numbers. I had already checked our credit score. Unfroze the credit report. Checked out different loans. I knew an estimate of what the payment would be and costs were going to be that they would have to match or be better.

They took the truck as trade in, they reembursed the charge for fixing the truck on Friday, so I put it on the truck. Got a maintenance plan so when the parts start costing our arms and legs we have a limited outlay. Got a tire/hubcap coverage as Hubby curbs the tires all the time and it's common for Amish to have nails in their driveways. As Hubby said we paid extra for the bells and whistles to keep the truck clean and looking good. For $20/month it's worth it. 

Got 6.5 % interest, 72 months (plan to pay it off in less) and finance dept told us we were one of the very few to have a credit score at any age in the mid 800s. 

We plan on having this truck at least 10 yrs , would like it to be 15 years. My Silverado is 20 yrs old.

Now to redo the budget. 

Blessed be

PRAYERS FOR OUR COUNTRY

Changes..

I planted potatoes in grow bags... not sure how that will do but at least I am trying as some of the Amish have mentioned last year was a bad year for potatoes. 

We will get sweet potato roots to plant towards the end of May to plant. 

 I stocked up some things that look to be very limited or expensive in the coming year like canned citrus and some canned tomatoes from Italy.(spoiled as my Nonna was from Northern Italy) I finally found some seeds for the tomatoes so I am trying to grow them this year.  

We are going to focus more on root cellar foods (Root Cellaring by Mike Bubel)after trying with pumpkins last year and it went well. Means I will be planting through the summer also.

 Amish family bought us a sprouter so we can have fresh sprouts from the late fall through winter to spring. I got a variety of sprouts to try.  Might try them sooner if we really don't like them I can throw them in stirfries or soups. Or just pass it back to the family that gave it to us..

I went through the pantry and freezers , what is low (asparagus, peas, corn, broccoli and cauliflower, not carrots they will go in root cellar). Meat is fine. I rechecked holiday meats... Only need the prime rib for Christmas. I was able to get 2 hams at Easter for 79 ¢/lb. Got one butt ham for Easter and a shank to make broth to can. It's in the freezer to deal with later. Son2 was in the store and found another shank ham that was marked down to 69¢/lb and picked it up and used his military discount and shoved it in his freezer for me to get later. Anytime I find meat at $1/lb or less I try to get it.

I went through the spices and herbs... need anchovies and garlic bulbs since every single one in my 14 garden beds froze. 

I went through the medications and first aid. Pretty much set there.

I am going through clothes. Hubby might need jeans. His weight is floating on him. He is trying to lose weight so don't want to buy much. He was wanting flannel long sleeve for winter but the ones we were finding he didn't like too bulky,so he went with jean shirts. I had some stored in the barn for him. 

I went through garden supplies then canning supplies. Need apple cider vinegar, 10 cases of wide mouth pints and 60 lbs of sugar. I kept track of what I used.

I have lost so much weight since covid that 2/3rds of my clothes don't fit. So they are going to donations. I will stop in thrift stores to see if there is anything I can get to replace a skirt and 2 dress pants. 

I found a cheaper place to get our furnance filters by 25%. 

Got the water softener and refrigerator filters on sale with 30% off so I bought a year's supply.

Hubby called our plumber for a pipe elbow that had sprung a leak, He sold the part to us for his cost. Hubby had it fixed in 20 minutes by himself.Another plumber would only come to fix it not sell us the part and it was $150 just to come look at it.

The silverado is at the point it has to be replaced. Hubby wants to down size he work truck  the F350 as between the maintenance, fuel and insurance it's a bit too much.  We weren't actively looking. The dealership we get the maintence(he was getting oil change and exhaust) from asked if he would like to trade it in. He said MAYBE, depends on if they can get us a F250, gas, four door truck. They found one. We look at it on Monday morning. We are still at the point of needing 2 but I think we can limit the silverado to local and make it last a bit longer.

I looked at our budget, we already know what the 2024 asking, price is, we know what our trade in is worth(they just told us before they knew we were looking) and I know what title, fees etc are going to cost along. I figured up what we can do for down payment. I checked what interest rates were, then figured what the payments would be depending on length and then with changes between down payments. The insurance rates will be close enough to the same even though the truck is newer. It's going to come down to the final payment and how long.

Mean time we decided to try tonight a radish greens,asparagus and radish salad with our chicken salad wraps. 

Back to work... storms every other day if not daily. I get my weight lifting done moving patio furniture.