Copper Wyre

Final count on the ducks

Penny — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 02:06:42 +0000

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.

Read more on Final count on the ducks…

AERO conference and an update

Penny — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 23:09:32 +0000

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.

Of ducks and owls

Penny — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:37:25 +0000

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.

Homegrown haircut

Penny — Thu, 06 May 2010 17:25:11 +0000

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.

Emergency Fund

Penny — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 11:17:36 +0000

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.”

Frugality and Pets

Penny — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 14:12:56 +0000

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.

DIY: Chainlink fencing

Penny — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 22:44:17 +0000

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.

Garden Update: Hillbilly Engineering

Penny — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:38:14 +0000

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.

60 in 2: Homestead goal

Penny — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 17:33:57 +0000

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.

February

Penny — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 18:25:50 +0000

Totals for the month of February can be found here.