I am so

 TIRED...SORE ...ACHY. 😜 OVER LOADED 😮

The garden is coming off ... 1st frost in forecast.

I picked all the tomatoes and will cover the green ones that are on the picnic table.

I covered the last 2 heads of winter lettuce.

I tucked my flowers and basil in next to the house.

I covered the celery. 

We dodged the frost but wouldn't be shocked if we get an early freeze. Next chance is next Thursday. 

Hubby pulled all the tomato plants including cherry tomatoes. I have a couple small cherry tomato plants in pots we can get a few off at a time. 

The crockneck and zucchini are still producing, slowly. 

Peas are still producing slowly. 

I have 2 heads of winter lettuce. I have some green onions. Both I will need to pull this coming week or cover.

Carrots are really slow. We might end up covering them with straw to keep them going.

I had already started the potato harvests. Yukon gold was done( 5 meals) and started on the russets (3 meals).

I got Purple majesty harvest done

This will make at least 5 meals for us. 

Red luna is done , 

Another 5 meals.

German butterball are done

at least 4 meals, might be 5.

We went back through the sweet potato beds.

smaller but almost doubled what we had pulled the first time. With both harvests we have enough for 30 meals.

I harvested more peas. Another 2 meals in the freezer. I will be harvesting again this afternoon. I have dehydrated peas to add to soups and such. I would like another 8 meals for the freezer but know I will be lucky to get another 2. I need Brussels spouts. I have zero of them and Hubby really likes them. 

I have pears to can today. Thinking of  vanilla bean pear pie filling. Have never ate pear pie filling. 

Zucchini to peel and shred for freezer for zucchini pies through this winter which we both love. 

Zucchini and crockneck squash to chop up for freezer. 

Cantaloupe and watermelon to put in freezer.

Tomato left over skin and seeds to grind that I put in dehydrator yesterday. Should be done to grind.

Tomato juice to cook down to sauce to can today.

Broccoli I blanched (stems diced and blanched for soups) that I flash froze to be vacuumed bagged today.

Cauliflower needs blanched and flash froze today, and vacuumed bag tomorrow.

Tuesday I have 1/2 bushel of red delicious apples coming in to make applesauce and 1/2 bushel of golden delicious apples to make applesauce or pie filling. I will use the cores and peeling to make apple butter. In October there should be fuji and honey crisp apples.

I might pick up more pears. I will know after I can this 1/2 bushel. OR I might just pick up some canned pears at Aldi's.

I washed all the summer bedding and curtains and line dried them and then packed into rubber maid. I have 1 container to take back to barn.

I washed and lined dried all the winter bedding and curtains. Beds are now made with winter bedding (except one that Charlotte decided she wanted to take a nap on, so that's for later) 

I NEED to finish washing the windows and hang the winter curtains. I did lock them so there is not much air coming through them (old windows).

We are out of bread but still have tortilla wraps. I can make corn bread or biscuits if needed as I won't be baking bread while canning.  

Days keep rolling, to do list gets longer. We write what we think about needing done down but right now it's more of "what HAS to be done today?" mode.

Blessed be 

Prayers for peace because insanity is running wild.

Plans for this week.

 On left is Mr. Cuddles... because he likes to cuddle

On right is Miss Bailey... Miss I don't want anything to do with Nonna unless she's giving treats.

Sucks up when I came in to drop Son2's and his lady's birthday cards off along with the magazine he had lent me. She ran straight to the cabinet where the canned cat food is (that's a treat). I split the can between them and figured I would get a chew out for giving it to them since they are on diets LOL. But didn't. 

I had a doctor appt at noon, almost 2 hrs. drive SOUTH  so routed everything to do the following: 

Stop at Meijer's as we don't have one near us. Got coke a cola and sprite on sale. If I do what I used to ...divide the amount of each bottle into 3rds. I have enough to go 162 day... I can add the Vernor's ginger soda (the only canned pop I drink) to stretch it farther.  I also got broccoli and cauliflower on sale.  

I drove across the street and had the doctor's appt.

Then drove to Son2's...15 min. drive a bit SOUTH of my appt. Dropped off his birthday cards (he is 40 today and next week his lady turns 43)and gave treats to the 4 legged grandkids.

Then drove NORTH 25 mins. to Daughter 2 and dropped off bday cards for 2 of her kids(26 and 22) as she will see them this coming weekend. Gave me a chance to see her also even though she was at work (bartender) and give her a hug.

Then drove NORTH 25 more mins. to Daughter 1's to drop off her bday card (50 SIGH, not sure which one of us is feeling that more).

Then drove NORTH 15 mins. to the Mennonite store and got a half of a bushel of Honey crisp apples and a half of a bushel of bartlett pears 

Within 10 mins of being home Hubby let me know to pick up a prescription and Subway sandwiches.

It really worked out at I only went out of my way of coming home by 10 miles. 

The guy that was ordering saw blades for him let him know it wouldn't be in until Jan but ordering them now froze the cost so he ordered them. If his blade on the buzz saw breaks... he will be using the chain saw again. 

We started taking down the gardens. I have zucchini, yellow egg zucchini, crockneck squash, poblano peppers, yellow wax peppers, cantaloupe, and tomatoes to process.

Autumn is arriving in full force on the 22nd... morning temps in low 40s or high 30s. I am getting the winter curtains and bedding washed and dried HOPEFULLY today. I won't worry about clothes until next week.

Blessed Be 

Prayers for peace.

Sunbathing ..grid down update and gardens

 Charlotte... 

At least she waited until after I brought the tomatoes in from the deck table so I didn't have to step over her.

I showed Hubby these pics I took while walking the perimeter. It's our east maple tree. Usually the west maple turns first on the south side. It's still green completely.

If we go by old timer's weather, we will have 20 snows (we had 20 fogs in Aug) and a colder winter as the apples skins and corn husks are thicker. Waiting for Oct. 9th, if it's sunny the winter will be very cold, if cloudy then mild. Hubby is hoping for cloudy as it's his birthday also. BUT with Alaska getting hit with Hurricane type weather we can see that affecting what comes our way and when we get hit with colder weather.
 

I am definitely not ready for the weather to turn. Looking at the Weather channel and seeing I have about 10 days before the weather goes down to the 70s. Nights are already in low 50. Slows down tomatoes ripening. We don't usually see orange leaves until after the first frost which has not happened yet but the nights are cooler than normal. 

A mini celebrations... 

The solar water pump batteries are in  and less than budgeted.

The jumper boxes for the truck (so you can jump the truck/car without another car) are in and less than budgeted.

Oil for lamps is in so Hubby can go get that. It's under budget also since he is the one that hauled it he knows what the price set is. He forgot to take our can to get filed. Not a big deal as E's dad is the one that sells it along with the guy we ordered our wood/coal stove from.

2 sawblades for buzz saw (Hubby uses to cut firewood) is being ordered today so that cost should be in later this week. Another English driver for Amish offered to order them and pick them up when ready as he is in the area of the dealer every two weeks. Saves Hubby the trip across the state as they only do in person orders. The Amish gave Hubby estimation of the costs as they buy that size also.  

The wood/coal stove $$ is in Ally savings earning interest where our local bank interest rate sucks but I like my checking local( or should say was local as they closed that branch but we can use the one every 2 wks. when we go to Chiro) and not online only.

I have 1/3rd of our 2023 medical out of pocket/co pay in Ally also.

I reworked the budget. Our electric average has raised $25 due to increase of kWh costs. I just bumped everything to costing 25% more than it does now. Still will be able to reduce pull from Hubby's IRA. 

We started clearing the gardens. We have more baby butternut squash curing. Sweet potatoes curing. We pulled 1/3rd of the tomato plants. I have a 6 ft round patio table full of  green tomatoes and very few ripe tomatoes. Hopefully today when we go for just the ripe ones, I'll get enough for a canner load. We have more crockneck, yellow egg zucchini and green zucchini to eat. Peas are starting but not getting much... maybe 1/3rd of a cup was ready. I'll take what ever I can get since I freeze them.  

M sent over a pumpkin pie (Amish pumpkin is NOT orange, it's tan when cooked.) She makes a meringue and adds cooked pumpkin... she doesn't use much spices and she forgot the sugar this time... We liked it... wasn't sweet at all. She called it squash pie. It ended up a good laugh. Also let me know I could leave the sugar out of our pumpkin pies LOL.

Sitting down today and figuring out what still needs done before we get hit with autumn weather. 

Blessed Be 

Prayers for peace 

In a day

 I found 2 gift cards we had bought 5 yrs ago... didn't completely use... $24.64 lost due to cards out of date. I need to put gift cards in a different spot in my wallet so I see them when I get in my wallet.

I hung laundry on the line even though the day before was not dry yet. Now I have laundry hanging on shower rods and drying racks. Told Hubby I was not washing until it dries. We had 2 fogs back to back that didn't go away until almost noon and then no sun until after 5 pm. 

We went to CVS. I bought $119.41 and between coupons and CVS extra bucks and only getting what was on sale and had the coupon. I paid $63.77.

Hubby needs a "lift" to finish the chimney and he wants it for the weekend (E is helping) that wont' happen until the end of this month or going into next month between their work schedules and when the lift is available. WHICH is okay as Hubby found he was short 4 pieces of the connecting pieces. Won't rent lift until those are in. BUT he at least has the price.

While out he checked at 3 places about his hauling.

We bought 2 meals from our small local store. Scalloped potatoes and ham with a roll. Fed us lunch and dinner. Hubby added a bit of the ratatouille to get more veggies in. Owner told him that she sells out on Wed (meatloaf) and Thurs. (beef and noodles) and Sat is always some sandwich (buyers choice) but the rest of the time she almost has leftovers to figure out what to do with.

After eating I wiped down the pasta sauce jars and Hubby took them down to the pantry. My cerebral palsy is flaring so I am stumbling.

We dropped off the propane contract for winter fuel. So that's off the to do list and to pay list.

Then while he went to deliver messages to Amish ( he now charges for that) I harvested. The chimney bill will be in by Saturday for Hubby to pick up. He asked if it could be ready Friday as he would be in that area then... they were okay with that so he wasn't making a special trip for it. 

Hubby also harvested 6 tan pumpkins. AND there is at least 6 more out growing in his compost garden. 

Cherry tomato vines are breaking when you bump them. 

A&W called about the stove not coming in until Nov. But the coal was in and the next load would be more expensive. So Hubby arranged to go get it after supper as A isn't home until after 6:30  our time. 

We ordered 1 ton... A had extra come in and was expecting another semi to come in with more next week with more expensive coal. Asked if we would be interested in taking 2 tons if he gave us a discount, took 15% off. Yep we took 2 tons (4000 lbs.) of coal. Then had to unload it off the pallets on the trailer BY HAND as our tractor will not lift over 500 lbs. REALLY need a small pallet jack. Especially when the stove comes in. A offered to loan his as long as Hubby brings it right back.

Wasn't bad until Hubby dropped a 40 lb. bag of coal on top of the back of my right hand. He thought I had already adjusted the bottom bag and was in the move up pick up, turn and drop. Terrified he broke my hand... just really smoushed... not even a bruise, just tender this morning. He told me to make a fist and then decided he didn't want me to do that because I might use it on him LOL.

Since A got us a discount on the stove since it's not delivered like promised ... we have the total saved for it.

SO the only things we need to save for NOW is the 2023 medical and down payment (or total payment ) of what ever we buy to replace the truck . Everything else is either paid for or the money is in savings. 

To keep from spending money I shouldn't... When we ordered something on the credit card that is off the grid item,  I wait until I see it has been sent, then I go in and transfer the money to the card as a payment. No worries of getting hit with a high credit card bill and no worries of spending money on one thing when it should have went for something else.

Plans for today.... shred squash for freezer, make eggroll filling for freezer. Might make egg rolls if I make the dough up. Can red cabbage and apples, start pizza sauce as I have enough tomatoes to finish that and what ever is left I can add garlic (the only difference between my pizza sauce and pasta sauce) and can more of that. 

Back to work for me. Have a blessed day

Blessed be

Prayers for peace (and common sense would be nice also)

 

keep just rolling along. Wood stove delayed

 I got 12 jars of plain tomato sauce, 12 jars of BBQ sauce and 12 jars of pasta sauce over the weekend

I still need 34 jars of tomato sauce, 17 jars of pasta sauce, 25 jars of pizza sauce and 12 jars of tomato juice. 

Also at least 16 cups of summer squash,10 cups of peas, 26 jars of applesauce , 42 jars of pears(probably won't happen unless E ends up with extra from someone else)... red cabbage *with apples (what ever I get as I have 4 red cabbage) eggroll filling (using the last 2 green cabbages) along with noodles, eggroll wrappers and dumpling wrappers. Ham and Turkey... chicken thighs if I ever find them.

I have potatoes that are cured that I need to brush off and put in baskets so I have room to put the next batch to cure. I have herbs to be cut and dehydrated

We took a walk out to the fruit trees in the rain (off and on all weekend actually made me feel cold) that are in pots as Hubby is going to transplant them this month and on the way back to the house we toured the gardens and it took both of us to carry 4 of the tomatoes (they would almost make half the pizza sauce as I can 6 oz jars). Goat bag tomatoes are turning red LOL. 

Peas are blooming. Hubby point the blooms out and that he needed to go ahead and pull the Brussels sprouts and kalettes that did NOTHING. First time that happened. Depending on price is I buy any Brussels sprouts. for the freezer. 

Sweet potato vines are starting to turn yellow so it won't be long that we will be harvesting them.

The last piece of chimney is in. Hubby is going to find a lift to rent so E and him are safer that standing on a ladder or the roof reaching out.

Chimney came in under budget so did propane so the "extra" will go to the medical fund for next year. 

The manufacture let A know the stove was waiting on 1 piece to come in, since it's the piece to hold the top , it's kind of can't go around that issue.  Won't be in until Nov.  

I rechecked for the millionth time where we would be with propane. If it comes in before the end of Jan (worse possible in my mind) we would be okay. Worse would be we order more propane and pay the going price. We could use a gas buddy heater in the pump house instead of the propane on the main tank. Will lower the thermostat more than last year.

The coal is in and ready for pick up. A said to come get this load not wait until stove is in because it will be increasing by 10 %. This was also under budget at we figured the inflation would have already been added in.

We have 2 things Hubby had not ordered that I told him to order now. The stove is going to be the last to save for instead of the medical and these last 2 items.

Other orders for grid down items has came in UNDER budget ( I would rather over budget than under budget) that money WAS going to be shifted to medical $$. 

Now I am finishing paying for the items not ordered and transferring the medical to savings and then finish saving for the stove since I have 2 months to do that.

Now to go to CVS and use my extra bucks before they expire.

Have you heard about the tomato shortage!!!!!!

 Drought hit tomatoes hard. 

I decided to look at what all that would affect...

shortages will affect

Restaurants with salads, sandwich toppings, pasta, Mexican and other dishes that use tomatoes or tomato sauce.

Pizza places and BBQ joints would get hit also.

On the home front if you don't can it yourself...

tomato soup

tomato juice including V8

some veggie soups.

pasta sauce, pizza sauce, salsa

tomatoes fresh , diced canned, whole canned.

tomato sauce canned, tomato paste canned

BBQ sauce, some steak sauces, cocktail sauce.

Another thing I have noticed is in short supply/cost raised a lot. Campbells Fiesta nacho cheese soup and Campbells cheddar cheese soup. I noticed it when an Amish lady mentioned she was going to have to change her pantry soup because those two were hard to get. So I checked .... none of the stores around here have it...said it is on back order and it's through the roof in cost on Amazon. 

It's not HERE WE GO AGAIN... it's more of HERE WE ARE STILL.

Sept 3rd....wrapping up August. Checking finances.

 I know we will have a bill from the Urgent care for Hubby... but it should be the last bill we have to pay out of pocket, being the first time he has finished paying his out of pocket deductible. I can imagine what the Xray and lab will run let along the Urgent care bill 

BUT

Solar water pump is paid for

The money for the chimney, coal, wood/coal stove, propane for this winter, 2 jumper boxes for trucks, 2 solar pump batteries , and 2 saw blades for the buzz saw are now in the savings.

We STILL need to save for next year's out of pocket. The company Hubby retired from puts out the health ins for their retirees mid Oct. about the same time Social Security puts out the COLA raise. So we will also know what we need to pay for health ins.

IRS is trying to change how those that inherited IRA's 2020 and after withdraw the money. If that changes I will have to withdraw more...and that is okay as Hubby will just not withdraw as much. 

End of Dec 2018 Hubby retired, three months later we bought this house and as of Jan 2019 was pulling enough to cover doing this house  (Amish no electric, running water or heat) to ADA wheelchair accessible with propane, electric, running water, water heater, and internet. IF money gets bad we could slap plastic up on the windows in winter (like AMISH HA HA) and call it done.

At the end of the 1st year starting 2020 we reduced withdraws by $2000. Even with supporting Daughter 4 while fighting cancer.

2021 we cut it another $1000. 

2022 we cut it another $1000. even while supporting the business when the work wasn't coming in and buying the off the grid items.

2023... even with adding 25% increase in our costs as things are already up 10%( we aren't pulling more) and our financial guys are worried it will go up another 15% next year ... we will be cutting the withdraw by $3000...worse will be cutting by $2500 if we have to replace the truck sooner than later. Mainly it's only being used once a week if that. We really try to make everything on the Tuesday our chiro is on. 

I am down to needing ham and turkey for stocking.

I am finished as of today with BBQ sauce. 

I still need 26 of pasta sauce. 26 pizza sauce, 26 tomato sauce and 12 tomato juice. 

Garden is still coming in so there is plenty of tomatoes to gather.

Sept 1st Urgent care and update on daughter 4

 and it was weird to drive Hubby to Urgent care (this is Wednesday)

He thought he broke it at joint of big toe, I thought gout. NP thought both.

Was neither... still don't know. Put on steroids and to call his primary who he had called but couldn't get in to.

Primary got him in after hours on Thursday... thinks it's the beginning of gout so put him on gout meds. Hubby started them today(Saturday as Primary warned him they cause diarrhea and hubby is hauling during the week). It's only meds for a couple days. We think.... too low of carbs triggered it as it helps flush uric acid out of your system. He was eating less than 100 grams instead of the 225 he wasn't to go under. 

Daughter 4 went to Urgent care for stomach pains. Found she had fatty liver , Type 1 diabetes, and gallbladder on top of her lupus. Her cancer screening results(test is the 14th) will be in Oct 21st, the day before her birthday. She had surgery for the cancer ON her birthday....said it was the gift of healing from herself. Diabetes runs thick in our family.  Her job is working with her right now, figures crossed they will continue to do so. Helps she works 2nd and can get appts done in the morning. BUT  it put a hold on her getting a promotion in the dept she is in (welding).   

Frugal post...instead of what I did

 it's going to be what I am going to do. 

Garden is coming in. Monday harvest 

orange tomatoes

zucchini, yellow egg zucchini and yellow crockneck

Rest of the harvest that Hubby helped gather.

Lots of food to process. I have a list of what I am low on. I did pull the last of the jade beans, roma beans and yellow wax beans and this is the last of the cabbage. I am canning the red cabbage with apples. Not sure what to do with the other cabbage as the kraut crock is already full. Might make more canned cole slaw. 

Email my IRA guy to make sure I am pulling the correct amount of RMD from my inherited IRA since IRS made it clear over the past week they weren't clear how they wanted the money to come out. He is on vacation so it will be sitting there for him when he gets back.  The original rule was it had to be taken out in 10 yrs... so most finance suggested leaving it there. Now it's you have to take a certain amount out each year which is what they meant but didn't say. SIGH. No sense costing me with a penalty from the IRS. BESIDES... if I am not pulling enough I will of course pull more but that means we pull less from Hubby's IRA.

I won't say no to any food offered to me even if I am buried in it from my own gardens. This is with the acknowledgement we might not have much of a garden with having to rebuild most the beds (lasted 4 yrs) next year due to costs of building raised beds. M just sent over a bag of corn. Believe me I don't need any more corn as I now have enough corn for 2 meals a week for a year. We didn't grow corn this year. I didn't say no to cucumbers, beets, zucchini or corn. I now have canned goods in the north and south lofts as over flow from the pantry.

I am almost out of Bunn coffee filters. Son 2 bought the first Bunn coffee pot for Hubby 7 yrs ago. Hubby bought me one 5 yrs ago (we don't drink the same strength of coffee). Both are going strong with a cleaning every 6 months. Son2 splits cost of the filters. I automatically went to Bunn website to order the filters... store filters are too short and allow grounds to come over the top. THEN decided to google the filters. Found them at Amazon for the cheapest. So went through The Prudent Homemaker /Brandy website and ordered them saving $. AND it helps Brandy. 

Errands are Tuesday. We will drop off bday card to Son 1 as his bday is the 10th of Sept. and we won't be back over there before that. Grocery list is milk... I will check to see what chicken thighs/wings are running. IF in my price point I will get that also. I might get coke a cola and sprite if that is on sale. PLUS a couple of 2 liters of store brand 7 up/sprite for doing apples and maybe pears if I find them. We like them better if I soak the apples/pears in the pop before canning or dehydrating.

 Chicken thighs and wings, ham and turkey is the last of the meat to stock. I might pick up bulk sausage later this fall which is when the ham and turkey prices should be the lowest. I do check freezer depts for turkeys as last year I found some for clearance for half of the normal price. The rest I need to stock is coming from the gardens. EXCEPT apples and pears. I will be canning most of the ham and turkey.

Hubby noted the only things he is tossing in the compost is odds and ends from where I am canning/freezing/dehydrating. Mostly tomato cores and ends of peppers. E offered to add manure this fall after everything in the gardens are done. I reminded Hubby his garden was there so I wasn't tossing much on it. E's hay field has gotten some of the "compost" items LOL.

The only "night light" we have on now is the basement light with that door open so we know/remember that Charlotte is sleeping there. Otherwise we shut the door and she scratches the crap out of the door as she won't bark to be let out or in. Wilbur would bark, Rascal was more of a scratcher. 

I am using the grill to "blanch" tomatoes, actually I just cut the core out and toss them on the grill, light the grill, wait about 3 minutes, turn off the grill and wait another 2 minutes. Put in bowl and cover, Usually the skin comes right off (and gets dehydrated) after they are cool enough to touch. 

I will be reworking the budget. Had a couple finance people tell me to figure on 10% increase of everything this year with a possible 15% increase on top of that for next year. That is on top of possible colder, snowy winter. 

We have debated of how much propane to order. Wood/coal stove was supposed to be in and got bumped a month. We decided to order less than last year.... and if the stove doesn't come in we use our emergency heaters if necessary.

I ordered faraway cages for computers, ham radio, vehicles, and phones. A faraway cage protects from EMP and solar flares. The house already has a protector at the breaker box... Won't be my fault if Hubby loses stuff due to solar flare if he doesn't put his stuff in it. He is a Ham radio operator and part of a home land security in the local area. They try to prepare for the worse and then avoid it.

Have a good week. I will be buried in produce LOL

Blessed be

Prayers for peace 

  

future plans for the house

 Tomorrow E is coming over to help carry some furniture upstairs from the front room and then help Hubby put the wood stove chimney on the house so that's already done when the stove comes in during Sept. 

Hubby wants one more cord of hard wood and a cord of soft wood for kindling. We might not need that cord after I get done cutting the limbs that have been sitting for over a year.

Hubby was going to lower the ceiling in the pump house but now needs that height for the solar pump so that job is off the list. We are going to put some cabinets in it as its a good place to store some veggies like potatoes, squash and such.

Hubby still plans to replace the steps on the front porch and kitchen porch and add a set of steps to the south end of the kitchen porch (railroad ties are there now, E will take them afterwards). All of it is here.

The paneling is here to finish the south bedroom loft that will most likely be a winter job 

We were going to fix the garden shed... now that's for next year as we are debating on tearing it down or fixing it. 

On next year's list is windows... highest cost is $16,000 as they would have to be custom built to fit in the same space.

Building and buying what ever to organize the barn. 

Redoing the garden beds. I want to redo strawberry beds also. Blackberries need extended fencing.

We are still debating on a dormer shed over the north/south lofts. Will depend on costs. IF we decide to do that ..insulation/crawl space will get bumped a year.

The following year is to be foam insulation  and crawl space encapsule. I will have another energy audit done before we add insulation. We were doing decent on the first one, but we've done a lot of gap closing since then. 

The following year is siding.

Somewhere along the line we will have to redo the wood floors. We will either build more closets or buy a couple more wardrobes.

A lot will depend on money. I do have certain windows that need replaced so it might only be replace the bad ones and make due. 

on the financial side after coffee

 Because finances at 4 am isn't possible as that is Charlotte time on the porch with my first cup of coffee so I can function.

rained for last 2 days so the chairs were damp so the towels were for the chairs

She heard H, the Amish on the back side of us talking to one of the kids while doing chores. 

My view of the pond with the neighbor's security light. Fog was pretty heavy this morning.

Finance report:

Sept 1st is one year from refinancing the mortgage. We have a 30 yr. loan (was the cheapest interest). We have paid 4 years of payments. saving $23,814.87 in interest. 

The money for the wood/coal stove and1 ton of coal is in savings.(Sept)

The money for the chimney for said stove is in savings. (Sept)

The money for propane is in savings.(Sept)

The money for propane for Sept 2023 is now in a 1 yr CD.

I paid the estimated school taxes early. 

The bills for August and the health ins and mortgage for Sept are paid. 

We still need to save for another vehicle. 

We still need to save for 2 batteries for the solar deep well water pump.

We still need to save for 2023 medical out of pocket/prescriptions/ etc..

2023 will be a weird year as Hubby goes on Medicare in Oct. and I the following Jan.2024.

 We usually pay the bills from the SS and the health and extra's from the IRAs. I am going to have to flip that.  I will probably still put the out of pocket until things  settle in that area. 

Blessed Be

Prayers for peace

Checking on the Get It Done List

No highlight means it is now done.

Green is working on it.

Yellow is not even touched.

STOVE AND COAL AND FRESH OIL FOR OIL LAMPS COME IN MID AUG. NOW MID SEPT

PROPANE IS 5TH OF SEPT.

SOLAR PUMP COMES IN MID SEPT.

Save for next year's health insurance co pays and deductibles

Continue to do deep cleaning (good for rainy days) WE NEED FARMER SOAKER RAINS. Slow going , watering a lot.

Clear garden shed completely. 

Repair garden shed floor and add ventilation. (Hubby) 

Load firewood into garden (now wood) shed.  This has changed to load in dog kennel in barn . Hubby did that so we could use the garden wagon to bring wood in from the barn  to the ramp at the deck into the kitchen and then front room.

Split any that is too big for stove.(Hubby) Might pay a could of Amish kids to help put the wood in the barn. But I think he is using the "have to stack" as his break from the saw.

Continue to get wood for winter. Need about 1 more good load and that's a maybe.

Deep clean/ caulk if needed/ install insulation covers on outlets and switches if needed wheel chair bathroom. It got caulked.

Remove wardrobe in front room by Hubby's desk (Grandfather's clock will go there).Take to East bedroom (both)  It's unloaded but Hubby hasn't had time to help me get it up the stairs.

Straighten 1st bay of barn to store garden stuff. 

Put garden stuff in 1st bay of barn. Which will clear a lot in the front room. 

Start moving front room furniture around for stove to come in. 

E has offered to help Hubby install the chimney and move the furniture at that time if we haven't already moved it up stairs.

MAINTAIN GARDEN

EAT FROM PANTRY

HARVEST, PROCESS AND REPLANT GARDENS.

Remove dresser from front room and take to east bedroom upstairs

Move Garry's (late husband) crate shelves to front room 

Move mirror and wall oil lamps (not to use) to other wall.

Burn stumps (use old oil)

Move dirt pile (fill in hole by yard clothes line)

Install steps on front porch

Install steps on kitchen porch both ends

Install strips on kitchen porch ceiling

Install 2 ceiling fans on kitchen porch

Fix lattice on south end of front porch

Set up wood/coal stove

Install chimney for stove

Fresh oil  for oil lamps

coal stored at garden shed

Reorganize the dry goods

Reorganize the pantry

Finish stocking pantry. 

 E is getting us 25 lbs. of ground speltz in the coming month or so. 

Right now E is building a 20 x 40 addition to their home. M let me know I can get some speltz off her if needed before he goes after speltz.

This morning's harvest

 

Charlotte checking harvest out

not quite ripe yet... it's a goat bag tomato. Amish around here have taken to growing them and red oxhearts as it doesn't take many to fill the jar. FYI, my hand with fingers spread like here is 7 inches wide and 6 inches from wrist to finger tips. 

Also have 3 gallons of beets from M to can today. 

Off to the canner ... 

Hope you are doing well.

 She woke both of us up itching at 4 A.M Monday morning.

Days are flying by....

Monday, Charlotte got her nails clipped and a different shot for her allergies. The vet had noted last year that the injection she got didn't do as well as hoped. We forked out the higher $ to get a different shot. She slept solid on the hour drive back home and then curled up on the same chair as pic and slept another 2 hrs. Came in, ate, went back out and played, KNOCKED ME ON MY BUTT AND INTO HALO BUSH, gave kisses to make up for it, came back in and slept from 8 pm until 5:30 this morning. Hubby said she woke him, went out to potty, came right back in and went back to bed. 

I ordered some items on the stock list I keep on the frig going through The Prudent Homemaker's site at Amazon and used my cash back points to pay for it. We are now set for winter with filters.  I got popcorn and breath right strips also. There is enough points left to pay for my monthly kindle charge.

I ordered my FLYLADY calendar (2 ...one for household the other for pantry) through Amazon instead of Flylady.net. Saved $20 on shipping. I ordered File It calendar through Calendars.com that I use for finances. Keeps the bills together. Daddy and step mom and Mother and step dad used this type of calendars for the bills.

I baked bread (need to bake again) made wonton wrappers and some dumpling *pot sticker* wrappers for the freezer. 

I refilled everything in the kitchen, started to reorganize it and found what I thought would work , made it worse so I will have to undo that this week. 

I took stuff to the pantry, realized I didn't have a place for it so had to move stuff around.  I mylar bagged my corn meal , one bag for  2 lbs. and put it in a 5 gal. food grade bucket with gamma lid. 

I put the odds and ends coming in from the gardens into a freezer bag I call the stir fry bag. I will use that for stir fry and 123 pasta. 

These are goat bag tomatoes. Very slow at ripening but when they are ready it won't take many to fill the jar. 

We went to a friends' annual summer get together. I made almond flour pastry cups (friend has diabetes) filled with orange and red tomatoes and a pinch of cheese, I took a loaf of bread, and made pinwheels using cream cheese mixed with a pinch of garlic powder and small dices of cucumber and tortillas and  bowl of cherry tomatoes. All was in house so no buying anything. M gave me a crate of cucumbers that I canned but had a few left.

While at friends' get together, they were complaining of how high their electric bills was. Figured out that their electric price went up and they were talking about buying electric from one company and having the old company just transfer it. I pointed out that they would then have 2 bills and the old company would be charging distribution charges. That them might find that the distribution charges were what raised more than the actual kWh price.  When the husband sat down with me with his bill. I pointed out my house is twice what his is, my kWh is double what he is now paying with the increase.  That almost 2000 kWh   for that house was way higher than it should be. They said they had cut back on what they had one (just the two of them) and walked me through everywhere. I pointed out several things that was on and no one was using them. Phone chargers, tablet chargers, 2 tvs that no one was watching, desktop computer no one using, a laptop no one was using,  several garden water features, that wasn't where they would actually sit and enjoy them.... THEN their younger son walked through and pointed out that the garage fluorescent lights... all 6 of them was on and had been when he pulled in at 9 am. It was NOT dark in the garage. They have a pump on the swimming pool and the pump and heater on the hot tub. Their 2 sons started about they use the dryer for a iron. They use the oven to reheat leftovers instead of the microwave. .... We left, I figure the sons were going to finish back through the house as one is worried he is going to end up with them living with him as they run through money like tomorrow is never going to come. 

I did a thank you from the sons and the Husband for sharing our electric bill. He realized that high of a bill is NOT normal and that he hadn't thought about split billing. His electric company told him this morning that the distribution charge would be the same and that was what had went up not the actual cost of electric and they warned everyone 3 months ahead of that bill. Guess they didn't bother to read insert or notice on internet bill.

Going to doctors this afternoon and then store to use Menards rebates.

Blessed Be 

Prayers for peace 

Monday morning... goals for this week

 Hubby widened the drive way (finally after 2 yrs of looking a gravel hills in the driveway) and moved what was left of the gravel at the garden shed to behind the fence. Now there is a good area at the garden shed for the 1 ton of coal to be stored since it can sit out in the weather. So he got 3 things done that was on his list for this week as he picked up 2 out of town hauls that will take all day.

Daily: laundry with clothes line or drying rack.

            dishes including pots and pans that don't go in washer

           harvesting, weeding, and processing from gardens. Should have jade beans,             roma beans, yellow wax beans, banana peppers, poblano peppers, orange                 tomatoes, red tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, dill seed, basil, red cabbage,                     kalettes, and some other herbs. MAYBE white pumpkins.  

          COOK LOL

This week

Bake bread. Make and dry noodles. Make and freeze wonton wrappers, eggroll wrappers, and dumpling AKA pot sticker wrappers.

Reorganize pantry... fill in items low in kitchen... take things to the pantry (looking at 22 jars of pickles on the roll cart amongst other stuff)

Mylar bag cornmeal and take to pantry (5 gal food safe bucket)

Finish cleaning east loft bedroom and move the last of the furniture out of front room moved up there to make room for wood stove.

Clip and store shallots that are cured

Clip and store onions that are cured

IF I get that done I will check the get it done list. 

Had pot stickers and egg rolls Saturday, homemade pizza Sunday.

Tonight is pasta as Hubby getting home time is iffy. Wednesday will be frittata as that is another iffy night of what time he gets home. 

Tuesday, Thursday and Friday are still up in the area. Probably a BLT  at least once.

Saturday we are going to an annual get together that I am taking odd and ends for our share of the meal. The hosts provide meat and a couple sides from their gardens. 

Blessed be Prayers for peace 

Sunday dragging butt

All day Friday I kept telling Hubby I wished Saturday was Sunday. Friday and Saturday was harvest between rains. 

Friday and Saturday in the pantry/freezers

16 lbs. Lg elbow mac.  

7 meals of breaded zucchini

5 meals of breaded green tomatoes

4 meals of broccoli

1 meal of broccoli for soup (stems only)

4 meals of banana peppers

3 meals of corn on cob

5 meals of shredded zucchini mixed with yellow crookneck squash (fritters, pancakes, cake, bars and dessert ... cake like )

7 qrts. dill pickles

7 qrts. bread and butter pickles

8 pts. spicy pickles.

Refilled the bowl on the table with cherry tomatoes we snack on.

Sunday was the day of rest... which was good since my readiness score on my Fitbit was 1 meaning I over did it.. today is 3 but it's raining so I won't be out in gardens until they dry up a bit. 

We spent most of Sunday sitting on the kitchen porch watching the rain

You can just barely see the violet on the inside 

Then Hubby noticed the reflection in the pond

Charlotte decided it was Sunday nap time. She doesn't sleep much on her back. 

Not enough energy and too many hours in the day. and some bad news at end

Yesterday I had 42 items on do now list. Last night it was down to 27...my allergies are really affecting my breathing. Doc is at wits end as I have never had them this bad. Limited on what I can take as a good part of allergy meds triggers my Crohn's and shots don't work for me.

Hubby's garden is growing 3 varieties of pumpkin, a cherry tomato plant and a muskmelon. And some type of squash that isn't far enough along to ID. He had one of the Amish he hauls for that grows veggies for the auction to come over and look and get advice. He was told to level the hill off after harvest and have E bring a load of manure and dump it on it. Don't turn until next spring.

 The green pumpkin should turn orange but if not it is still edible.

The white pumpkin is almost ripe, it will be like a butternut inside. 

 Blackberries have finally ended. I have 2 gallons marked to jam making this coming fall. 

Jade green beans are cranking down, Roma green beans and yellow wax beans are cranking up. About every 3 days I get a canner load.

Hungarian peppers AKA banana peppers are every other day. I need to process today. I have enough pickled so am slicing what isn't eaten and freezing. Should work well on pizzas and subs.

Cherry tomatoes are running us over, froze a gallon of them, will be roasting some with olive oil and garlic powder to put in freezer today along with going out to pick more.

The baby butternut squash is making babies... lots of babies LOL

The Yukon gold potatoes are almost ready for harvest and curing. 

I need to finish cutting the tops off the onions that cured to make room for the potatoes as we have 59 bags/crates planted of different varieties . 

We ate a cantaloupe that was a volunteer... the wildlife ate the other one. 

I harvested and froze our first harvest of white grapes. I think the birds are going to eat the purple ones before they get ripe.

I hope to have enough red tomatoes to can today. I have orange tomatoes that I can do 2 pints.

M gave me 6 zucchini that needs to go in the freezer also.

I found chicken breast on sale putting it in our price point range . We got the limit. I need to vacuum bag them today. IF I find another  sale I will pick up more but if I don't , it is okay we have enough for once a month for a year. 

I found ground pork for less than $2/lb. Got the last 5 pounds they had. Now have 7 meals of cooked crumbles, 6 meals of patties (need vacuum bagged) and we ate one pound that I used a DIY Bob Evans sausage recipe. I regret there was NO grease so I couldn't make sausage gravy with the left over 2 patties. 

I have tricolor rotini to change from the box to jars to put in storage.

The good news was we were paid back from a friend  so we have all the money for the grid down items and was able to stock... we thought KEY WORD THERE thought all we had left to save for was health ins out of pocket for 2023... WRONG.

Took our personal truck to get it's 6 month check over by our mechanic. Thought we had a brake messing up as we heard a crunch, grind noise. NOPE 

THE frame is rusted almost out and we need to replace the truck, probably by winter. We already learnt the lesson of buying something just to have something (hated the car but Daughter 4 loved it so bought it off us). We know we need a truck as we haul a small trailer behind about half the time and we don't want to use the work truck for personal use(nightmare with taxes).  Hubby said something about used... I checked those prices and decided we would save for new. If we don't have enough save when the truck goes down, we might settle for used. BUT I am thinking if we can manage it I would rather buy one that is 1 yr. old so we are not replacing it for 10-20 yrs. 

We will see how this one goes.

Update on Get it Done list

NOT highlighted is DONE

Green is working on it.

Yellow is not even touched.

ADDED in teal .

STOVE AND COAL AND FRESH OIL FOR OIL LAMPS COME IN MID AUG.

PROPANE IS 5TH OF SEPT.

SOLAR PUMP COMES IN MID SEPT.

We have 4 out of 5 Saturdays booked and 4 out of 5 Tuesdays with doctor appts. 

I have the song I Will Survive running through my head 

Stay focused on saving for Grid down items (stove and pipe and solar water pump especially) Pump is paid for, still need $$ for 2 batteries.

Stay focused on saving for winter propane. 

Save for next year's health insurance co pays and deductibles

Continue to do deep cleaning (good for rainy days) WE NEED FARMER SOAKER RAINS

Clean outside front room windows so Hubby can put on full size screens. All the rest take adjustable window screens. 

Install front room window screens (Hubby) 

Finish washing summer bedding and put on beds 

Finish washing summer curtains and hang up 

Finish washing summer furniture throws and put on furniture 

Wash last of winter bedding and put in barn 

Wash last of winter curtains and put in barn 

Wash last of winter furniture throws and put in barn 

Wash summer clothes and put in drawers 

Pull winter clothes and put in barn. 

Finish planting the garden by Memorial day.

Take grow cart to barn.

 Take grow lights to barn.

Clear garden shed completely. 

Repair garden shed floor and add ventilation. (Hubby) 

Load firewood into garden (now wood) shed.  This has changed to load in dog kennel in barn . Hubby did that so we could use the garden wagon to bring wood in from the barn  to the ramp at the deck into the kitchen and then front room.

Split any that is too big for stove.(Hubby) Might pay a could of Amish kids to help put the wood in the barn. But I think he is using the "have to stack" as his break from the saw.

Continue to get wood for winter. Need about 1 more good load and that's a maybe.

Store large drying rack in east bedroom 

Unload Hubby's wardrobe in wheelchair bathroom(me) and move to front room( hopefully Hubby but probably me) I did it alone...

Deep clean/ caulk if needed/ install insulation covers on outlets and switches if needed wheel chair bathroom. It got caulked.

Build closet where wardrobe was (Hubby) in wheelchair bathroom.

Put Hubby's clothes in new closet. (Should be Hubby but I can guess it will be me)

Remove wardrobe in front room by Hubby's desk (Grandfather's clock will go there).Take to East bedroom (both)  It's unloaded but Hubby hasn't had time to help me get it up the stairs.

Remove wardrobe in front room by wheelchair bathroom. Take to West bedroom.(both).

 Move Hubby's wardrobe that was in wheelchair bathroom to front room by wheelchair bathroom door. ( Probably me but hope Hubby) I did.

Mark off area that wood cookstove will take and space needed around it for safety. (both) I did.

Straighten 1st bay of barn to store garden stuff. 

Put garden stuff in 1st bay of barn. Which will clear a lot in the front room. 

Start moving front room furniture around for stove to come in. 

MAINTAIN GARDEN

EAT FROM PANTRY

HARVEST, PROCESS AND REPLANT GARDENS.

Remove dresser from front room and take to east bedroom upstairs

Move Garry's (late husband) crate shelves to front room 

Move mirror and wall oil lamps (not to use) to other wall.

Burn stumps (use old oil)

Move dirt pile (fill in hole by yard clothes line)

Install steps on front porch

Install steps on kitchen porch both ends

Install strips on kitchen porch ceiling

Install 2 ceiling fans on kitchen porch

Fix lattice on south end of front porch

Set up wood/coal stove

Install chimney for stove

Fresh oil  for oil lamps

coal stored at garden shed

Reorganize the dry goods

Reorganize the pantry

Finish stocking pantry. Beets and cauliflower did not grow well, I don't know if the Brussels sprouts are going to make either.  E is getting us 25 lbs. of ground speltz in the coming month or so. 

UGH.

 I told Hubby I was tired. Breathing was messed up through the night, probably allergies since I spent 8 hrs. each day in the gardens yesterday and the day before.

He told me to take the day off . THEN as he walked out the door to his hauling job, mentioned the dishwasher still needed unloaded and reloaded and he had 2 items needing pretreated before they were washed and they were on the floor of the laundry room and we were out of boiled eggs and he forgot to put the blackberries in the freezer. 

Work done this week:

Helped widow two houses down with charging her dead battery, spraying her driveway for weeds and going through so legal paperwork that was confusing her. Hubby dealt with the battery and weeds. Since I dealt with that paperwork before (I was widowed in 1989) I got that part. She was making it harder than what is was. 

I updated our finances and we went over the get it done list.

Cleared 2nd wardrobe so we can take it upstairs from front room.

I canned green beans, broth, turnips, and beets and froze blackberries, angel food cake and a handful of red raspberries.

I loaded, dehydrated and unloaded 27 trays twice.

I put over a dozen dill heads (for dill seeds) in paper bags.

I harvest and have curing 50 onions.

I planted 50 more onions.

Hubby checks his "garden" daily. He thinks pumpkin, maybe a zucchini and he's not sure if the other is cucumber or a different zucchini. He doubts if the corn does anything unless the field across the road in corn pollenates it.

I harvested, weeded and replanted 32 (actually 34 as 2 are 16 ft long instead of the 8 ft of the others) garden beds . I watered all of it (will have to water daily where I planted carrots until they are up) and the 59 potato bags/crates.  We got 5 very small (golf ball size) peaches. First time our tree fruited. 

I fertilized 2 dozen pots of flowers, herbs and cherry tomatoes.

Hubby spent so far 20 hrs. removing cow poop from our pond. E feels horrible and would love to help but Hubby is using a trash pump (think septic tank pump of a smaller size) to remove it. He has gotten it clear 3 times now and then it rains and brings more up from the bottom. E said he will never put a cow anywhere near a pond or stream again. We are trying to get it clear so they can use the pond to cut ice for their ice houses. Otherwise several families are not going to have ice next Jan/Feb. when they usually cut. I would add the geese, duck (first time for that) and heron have been in the pond fishing... that's a good sign.

I have one room completely deep cleaned. I thought maybe 4 hrs. since it's a small room... took 2 days. SIGH . Old age sucks. 

 Still needed to be done:

I have grapes to harvest, zucchini to deal with, cucumbers to deal with, cherry tomatoes and a few red oxheart tomatoes to deal with.  A large head of cabbage was given to us that I need to deal with. I need to blanche the last of the broccoli. Our cauliflower did not make so I will buy some and process it for the freezer. Apple trees took a really bad hit with the freeze that came in after the blooms were on so we will need to buy apples.

I rechecked the need to stock list. Instead of getting sausage dinner patties I want to get some ground pork to cook up for eggroll in a bowl. I can use part of the cabbage we have in that along with the carrot I already have. 

We still need chicken thighs, breasts, and wings. Still need turkey and Jif peanut butter.

How is your week going? 

Blessed Be

Prayers for peace

Stay safe. 

done this week

 

She makes sure we sit outside with her every morning... we are wondering if this is going to be a winter thing also and need our insulated bibs. It's nice to see the sun rise and enjoy coffee just looking across the land and not really thinking about what needs done like the pond needing another cleaning of cow manure. E is trying to borrow a small boat from his brother to help get it cleaned out since it was HIS COW.  Which is a lot of stuff to not think about aka house work, garden work, yard work, cutting wood. 😏

Windows are open and the AC has been off. That will change tonight with the humidity being high along with temps and Hubby putting in a 600 mile trip tomorrow hauling so he definitely needs a good rest tonight.

I harvested broccoli, cherry tomatoes, leaf lettuce (that came where I cut the head lettuce) green tomatoes, green beans, banana peppers , a small handful of red raspberries and a couple cups of blackberries.  I am trying to not use the veggies and fruit from pantry or freezers except for meat at this point. Makes for so weird meals as I did a quick stir fry on cherry tomatoes, banana peppers, and green beans with onions and garlic. The night before it was cherry tomatoes with ramen pasta and diced up shrimp in garlic butter sauce.

We didn't go to the store on Tuesday as normal after chiro since the truck was making creaky noises we went to our mechanic instead. Truck goes in Aug 2nd for work. We have blood work, chiro and voting that day also. Friday will be grocery day including stopping at Amish road side markets.

This week I have read The Puma Years (Kindle Unlimited) by Laura Coleman and 3 books by Ted Riley (Kindle Unlimited) Grid Down Situation, The Prepper's pantry and When Crisis Hits Suburbia.  FYI, Hubby is HAM radio operator, his group is connected to Emergency Services and Homeland Security. All the "solar flares" that NASA is warning about does trigger anxiety some what it could take out in the Emergency Services. I think the grid going down for almost a week just east of us taking out phone service along with the power also has  bumped up the concerns. 

Speaking of Grid down.... 

The Heco 520 and the 1 ton of anthracite coal  is to be delivered mid August. As of last week we had the final amount put in savings to pay for it. HUGE sigh of relief.

The chimney for stove ordered and money in the savings.

Solar deep well water pump will be in during the last of Sept. It's paid for but the batteries for it not ordered yet. When that amount is in savings then Hubby will order them. 

Propane due in Sept. We decided to cut the propane down to 800 gallons, might bring that up to 1000 if the Heco stove doesn't come in during Aug. That money (even if goes up to 1000 gallons) is in the saving as of last week.

Hubby thinks he has enough wood for this year. He just has to finish cutting it.  We wanted 3 cords hard wood and 1 cord kindling (soft wood and twigs) . He hasn't had much chance to cut wood with the rain. 1 cord is 4 ft by 4 ft by 8 ft or 128 sq ft. Any time the temperature goes down to 32 degrees and holds there we will be burning coal. We have paid $40 for the wood, the rest of it was free. Going rate around here is $300 to $500 for a cord of seasoned wood cut to order. 

The oil for the oil lamps will be in also in Aug. The money is in savings. The guy that will get the stove and coal will have the oil also.

Finances got a lot easier when a person owed us money finally paid it back. 

I put the money back to pay what we ordered plus extra for emergencies.  We are staying on the grocery budget and keeping the stock up separate with extra money so I pulled cash for the stock up so it's not tempting to get more than we have 

Then we looked at the stock up list that was a want if we had extra $$. 

I got pasta we were low on. We will be checking prices on chicken, peanut butter and dinner sausages (or bulk sausage to make dinner sausages since we don't eat a whole pound in one go) when we go to the store.

I rechecked the pantry to see what I have coming in and what I will still need to process, I will need to check with a couple of the Amish ladies about beets. I probably should have had Hubby plant them in the compost pile LOL 

In the garden... tomatoes have bottom rot, treating that and it seems to be getting a lot better. I think I caught it before it got bad. Second planting of green beans are blooming, some of the potato plants are blooming, the baby butternut is blooming , cabbage is doing good. I hope to make kraut this year. The red cabbage is slower but it seems to be doing good. Don't think the cauliflower it going to do well. 

There are blooms all over on Hubby's garden aka compost pile. The majority is definitely winter squash of some type.

Blessed Be

Stay safe

Prayers for peace