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By Penny, July 7, 2010 9:06 pm

It's a bit dark in the picture, but trust me, they are lovely!

Unfortunately, since I went to Albany, only two ducks have survived.  They now go into their house at night without trouble, but it is sad to have lost the others.  Particularly, I miss the drake, so I will share a story about him.  A few days before I left, he was in a Mexican standoff with our half-Lab, half- Chesapeake retriever.  Doo-di-do0-di-doodli-doo, wha wha wha. They were staring intently at one another when he lunged forward and bit her nose.  As she beat a hasty retreat, he got her again on her backside.  Rather embarrassing for a retriever, but entertaining to watch.

Well, I am mostly back in shape after the pnuemonia, though now it is horribly hot here. Like, triple digit hot. However, I have managed to get four half-pints of cherry jam canned and six quarts and a pint of cherry pie filling.

  My kitchen is generally clean, something of which I am exceptionally proud.  It makes it so much easier to cook when the kitchen stays clean! 

Hope you all are finding ways to stay cool.  Ru, the retriever, likes to wallow in the duck pond.  Alice, a beagle, lays on her back on the bed, stretched out in front of the fan.  Twain, her brother, crawls under the bed and stays there.  I drink a lot of water, while DH drinks scads of diet Mountain Dew and iced tea.  The weather is supposed to break tomorrow, and I for one, can’t wait, considering my poor garden is wilting, thanks to all the heat.

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By Penny, June 28, 2010 6:09 pm

While not the most frugal activity, I just returned from the AERO conference.  It was one of the most singularly uplifting things I have done in a while.  My current place of employment is one sucking quagmire of negativity and hopelessness.  Thanks to educational movements like “standardized testing”, NCLB (No Child Left Behind), and Race to the Top, teachers are being forced to abuse children, by ignoring their strengths and emphasizing their weaknesses.  We aren’t allowing them to develop their own interests and inquiry.  It’s shameful.  This conference, however, had over four hundred people dedicated to changing that.  I was able to hear so many different ideas and concepts to which I had never been exposed.  It was a paradigm shift of ginormous proportions.

As such, my coteacher and I have vowed to make our classroom as dedicated to the democratic principles espoused by democratic education.  How can we expect them to become adults who participate in a genuine democratic society if they never have as children?  I truly wonder if the reason the beaurocrats discourage any cultivation of innovation in students is because they are more easily managed as citizens.  If you’ve never had your rights as a child and young adult, why would you expect any as an adult? It’s a scary thing to contemplate, but I don’t think I”m wrong, considering that our current model is based on the Prussian model that was designed specifically for controlling the masses.

At any rate, we plan to do the stupid, unimportant paperwork nonsense that the administration loves.  Beyond that, we plan to ditch curriculum and meet the kids where they are.  Allow them to choose, as much as possible, what it is they want to study. Of course, since we teach 10th and 11th graders, they are mainly either brainwashed or broken by the system.  We’ll try to heal as many as we can, though. 

We will become involved in meetings and committees, asking the tough questions when no one else will.  When others complain, instead of being sucked into the negativity, we will look them in the eye and ask them what they propose to do about it.  We want to contact parents and community members and get their support and find out what it is they want for their children. For the first time possibly ever, I am looking forward to starting this year.  Instead of selling out, I’m going to take a stand, for my students, myself, and even those children who come after.  Maybe I’ll loose my job, but at least I’ll go down swinging, holding onto what I know to be right, instead of kowtowing to people who have no idea what my students need.

On a totally different note, I just found out I have pneumonia. Woo, fun.  Makes gardening pretty difficult when you are sucking wind just walking the six feet out the door.

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By Penny, June 22, 2010 6:37 am

We, over the last three weeks, have lost most of our Khaki Campbells to an owl.  Up until yesterday, we had five khakis and one Pekin left.  Thinking we had thwarted it, we put them in the backyard over night and that seemed to work.  Until last night, that is.  It got two of them last night, so our merry band is down to two ducks, a drake and a Pekin.  There is much sadness here, because I feel like we didn’t protect them well enough.  We will start putting them in their house at night, but that doesn’t help the dead ones now.

We are debating whether to get new ones or just keep the few that are left.  We can order them from McMurray hatcheries and get a guaranteed run of females to bulk up the harem, or we could buy an incubator, but those things are rather expensive.  Sigh.  Wish my latest update was a bit more chipper, but that’s the way things go on the Copperwyre homestead.

Actually, I’ll end on a happier note:  the garden, while weedy, is coming along fabulously. We have incipient watermelons on the vine and the beets were small, though tasty. Hope things are going better on your homestead!

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By Penny, May 6, 2010 12:25 pm

A good way to save money is to do home haircuts.  Of course, it helps if you have a husband who trusts you implicitly or believes that hair will grow so it doesn’t matter.  First, I had him wet his hair.  Then, I combed through it.  Considering his hair was quite long, I cut off in a straight line all around his head. I just eyeballed it, which did not make for the best line.  Then, I divided the hair into sections and pulled the section straight away from his head.  Using the comb and my finger layed across the top for a length measurement, I cut off the hair.  After I went around his head, I trimmed up any spots I missed.  We saved about $20 by doing his hair at home.  Don’t worry, it won’t stay as blocky looking after it dries. 

Isn't he handsome?

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By Penny, April 15, 2010 6:17 am

Oh, emergency fund, how I love thee! Let me count the ways….

1. What is it?For those of you not in the know, an emergency fund is for, well, emergencies.  It is only supposed to be used in the case of dire necessity. Some acceptable examples might be a medical emergency or your house burning down.  (*smirk* considering that happened last year, I can snicker about it.) However, my husband and I will tap ours for a once in a lifetime “steal.” 

2. When should you use it? Since we are planning on living on a homestead, we might buy a piece of equipment that comes onto the used market that is such a good bargain that we might not see it for so cheaply again. As a caveat, don’t buy it just because it’s a ”bargain.” Be sure you will be using it or that you can sell it for what you paid for it.  We just recently bought an antique work bench for the kitchen, as it was a good price and I needed a surface into which I could drill holes for my wheat grinder.  Refinishing the top which was stained with oil and unidentifiable gunk will only add to its resale value, so I will actually be able to sell it for more than I paid, should the need arise.

3. How much?  Oooo, a sticky question indeed. Some professionals, such as Dave Ramsey, recommend $1,000 while you are paying down debt.  Others recommend anywhere from three to six months’ worth of expenses.  Before our disaster, we had $1,000.  After a conversation, my husband and I decided that our “emergencies” are likely to be close to the $1,000 mark, so it is unprudent to only have that amount in savings.  We have decided to first shoot for the 1 month mark, seeing how that fares, and adjusting.

4. How does this fall in with our 60in 2 plan? Well, any money above and beyond the emergency fund will be sunk into the 60 in 2 account.  Right now, we have money in there, but, short of severe injury, we will not be doing anything with that.  After we get a certain amount in the 60 in 2 account, we plan to purchase CDs with some of it. 

5. Where to keep the emergency fund? Considering that the money needs to be accessible, we keep it in our local bank. It is in a savings acount linked to our checking, which can be accessed from the ATM, the bank or the internet.  The excess funds we keep in INGdirect, because it pays hire interest rates and the money is only accessible after a two day waiting period.  Once we save an alloted amount, we will put some of the INGdirect savings account money into CDS. CDs will make the money even more difficult to access, assuring that we will only touch it in emergencies.  Because of the falling economy, DH and I have also discussed putting some of it into silver, though we haven’t taken any steps in that direction.

  Since the emergency vet visit, we have been tightening our proverbial belts and will be putting any extra funds into our emergency account in order to get it back to pre-ordeal shape. The best part of the emergency fund is that we are free from credit cards.  When I cancelled by card, way back in the fall, I was afraid that we would need it.  However, since we have our emergency fund, we rely on ourselves.  We have a great sense of self-reliance. For us, the emergency fund is the insurance we created for ourselves. An emergency acco

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By Penny, April 14, 2010 9:12 am

After this weekend, I am once again reminded that pet ownership is in no way a frugal activity.  Since getting DH’s new hunting dog, we have had all the vet bills incumbent with a new puppy, to the tune of about $300 so far.  Just when I thought that was bad, things got worse.

On Friday evening, our beagle Alice Walker Copperwyre began shaking and didn’t stop. She was having a seizure and not a short one as is normal.  Of course, Murphy’s law and all, she had it a few minutes before our vet’s office closed.  This meant that we had to go to the emergency animal hospital.  They gave her Valium and muscle relaxers, keeping her overnight for observations.  All told, this came to a whopping $680.  She needed a checkup with our regular vet, who only charged us $56.  Turns out she will need medication everyday, adding a monthly expense to the pile. 

Being a responsible pet owner is in no way a frugal activity.  Yes, you can cut expenses by shopping for the best price on dog food.  We get ours from a local feed store for $19.00/ 50lb bag.  I have also dabbled in homemade dog food from a recipe, considering DH hunts so much that we have excess meat. However, if you are going to own pets, you may want to make sure you have extra in your emergency fund just for your pets. Trust me, you don’t want to make a decision about your beloved pet based totally on finances.

To be fair, pet owners live longer and have less stress, but I doubt that you can recoup that monetarily.  Even though I am a “frugalista,” I choose to keep pets, because they are a joy to have.

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By Penny, April 12, 2010 5:44 pm

Last year, before the house burned down, my husband and I decided that having the front yard fenced in would be immensly helpful for our suburban homestead.  The front yard is mostly shady, so it is not conducive to vegetable growth. As such, we wanted to move the ducks and dogs into the front yard, using the entire backyard for vegetable and fruit gardening.

With this goal in mind, we had a representative from a local fence company do an estimate.  It came to a shocking $3,000!  Bearing in mind that our front yard is roughly 75ftX50ftX40ft, I nearly had a heart attack.  Obviously, we put the notion of having professionals do it quickly out of mind.

Scouring the classifieds, I found 150ft of chainlink with all the poles, ties, etc, for $150.  We brought it home and were waiting for spring break to put it up.  With the help of our friend, we managed to get the fencing we had bought up.  Unfortunately, it was not enough, so we had to buy more. However, that was only an extra $156.  As far as aggravation, it took two afternoons and two minor arguements. The process was a simple one, the most difficult part being the stretching, which had to be done by tying the fencing to a truck and pulling.

By doing it ourselves, we saved an astounding 90% off the professional price.  Does it look all shiny and new? Nope. It does keep the ducks and dogs in the yard, which is all I need it to do.  Plus, I don’t the the extra $2,700 to have the professionals do it was worth it.  If you look at the hourly wage for putting up the fence, we paid ourselves $337 an hour to put up fencing.  I surely can’t make that while sitting in my house on my tushie.

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By Penny, March 31, 2010 7:38 pm

I so desperately wish that I had the ability to show you lovely pictures of my seedlings, but the computer is still kaputz.  At any rate, I will give you the update without it, though it will be a sad update, indeed.

Two weeks ago, I planted some of my Brussel sprout seedlings in the garden.  In order to protect them, I covered them with “hillbilly cloches.” 

My husband drinks at least a two litre bottle of Diet Mountain Dew per day.  Rather than waste those bottles, I try to recycle them in some fashion.  I cut the bottoms off of the bottles, saving them for starting seedlings.  Then, I used the tops as cloches.  I planted the seedlings, covering them with the cloches.  To help harden the seedlings off, I put some branches from a pine tree over the cloches, to offer a bit of protection from the sun.  It seemed to be effective, as I only had two die, and those seedlings were ones I didn’t think would make it anyway.  Hooray for recycling and hick-engineering.   I would have loved to post a picture, but you will have to envision a garden plot with Mountain Dew bottles growing out of it.

Our warm weather seedlings are growing merrily away in the front windows.  Interestingly enough,  we have relied, once again, on hillbilly engineering.  A friend lent us one of his aquarium lights to use as a grow light.  We bought two L-brackets and some rope; then, we attached the L-brackets to the window frame and suspended the aquarium lights from wood flooring pieces, left from the fire, which were screwed to the L-brackets.  Not pretty, but the way I see it, my house is not a show piece; it’s the place where I work and play.  I am curious to know if the neighbors think we’re growing anything illegal.

For the last bit of redneck recycling, I planted some peas. Rather than buy special poles, we used some pine limbs that had fallen during the snow storms.  We made teepees out of them, stripping them down to poles and tying the tops together with the rope leftover from the light.  The best part: these pea teepees are in the front yard.  Good thing the neighbors think we’re “quaint.”  However, out of deference to the neighborhood, I did plant Blue-Podded Peas which, in addition to being delicious, are a lovely ornamental with purplish-blue flowers and pea pods.  After the peas are spent, I plan to sow Scarlet Runner beans which are also quite gorgeous… or, at least, that’s what the picture in the seed catalogue shows.

 In the back yard, I didn’t bother with teepees and just stuck branches in the ground. I suspect that batch will look like modern art once the peas have climbed up the branches.

With just a little ingenuity and eccentricity, you, too, can reap the frugal benefits of hillybilly engineering and redneck recycling.

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By Penny, March 30, 2010 12:33 pm

After a long silence, I am back to joyfully announce a plan to get our own homestead. As many of you know, I have been increasingly disgusted with the public school system. What you may not know is that my husband was equally disillusioned with his college education. Everyday, he would come home from class, complaining that he had learned nothing or, worse yet, that his professor had been wrong!  Looking at our goal of a homestead, we realized that DH finishing school would put us no closer to our goal, and, in fact, would put us farther behind because of the added debt from the student loans.   

 Bearing this in mind, DH came to the conclusion that it would be best if he quit school so that we could work towards a deadline for a homestead. Here’s what we’ve done.

1. Picked a number and a date. We have replaced “someday” with two years.  We are going to shoot for having $60,000 saved in two years.  Will it be hard? Heck, yeah! Doable?  We think so.

2. Budget.  Okay, seems like a no-brainer, but we have been pretty lax with keeping the totals of our spending.  I made up a spreadsheet with a budget and a running total for each of our categories.  It has only been a month, but it is up to date.

3.Reduced spending.  We examined our different spending categories.  There were several “fixed” spending categories that were not quite as fixed as we thought.  We have managed to knock off at least three hundred dollars from our monthly budget.  For instance, I applied for a loan deferment for my student loans, with the hope that I will be able to forgiven for part of my loan. That deferment will free up money for our monthly budget, even though I will still have to repay it.

4. Make more money.  Between us, we have come up with several ways of making more money. The obvious would be DH finding employment, though we are waiting until after the new puppy is housebroken.  Putting an advertisement in Craigslist, we are going to rent out one of our rooms, which will definitely help with income. In addition, I am trying new ways to increase our income.

5.  Psyching ourselves out. I hung a white board in our bedroom, behind the door.  On it, we keep the debt and savings totals for our goal.  We list every little bit of money that we get that will be added to the totals.  Also, I have posted little Post-it notes with the phrase “60 in 2” on my notebook, our fridge and even over my desk at work.  In addition, whenever we choose not to spend money, we say the phrase “60 in 2.”

 Hopefully, with all of our hard work, we will be able to reach our goal.  Having a specific goal will motivate us much better than an ambiguous “someday.” It will be much easier for me to stay at my job when I can see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.

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By Penny, March 29, 2010 1:25 pm

Totals for the month of February can be found here.