October 2015

Rose, Essie looks so happy. Now that she'll get regular grooming and attention, she will be even happier. Her new owner looks pretty happy too.
Tell Robin to check her Paypal account.

Ark, are you going to freeze the chickens or the eggs? I didn't know you could freeze eggs. Don't you have a few friends or neighbors who would like some fresh eggs? I know if I lived near enough, I would happily pay for fresh eggs like that.

Tomorrow, I'll be off to Lowes to get the joists and deck boards. Working on that should keep me out of trouble for a few days.

Thank you one and all for the welcome comments for Ms. Essie! I never thought, in a 100 years, that I would find a horse calm and easy to ride and handle for an older woman with back, knee and hip problems, never mind a mare! Never, ever! And it was shear coincidence, because I was looking at a gelding that Hannah and Heath had. When I called, Hannah told me that she had sold him the day before and hadn't had time to update their site yet. We got to talking and I explained why I was looking at a 12 yo calm gelding (he was paso also)that would be a pretty easy ride. She invited me to come over to their place in GA to look at a couple they hadn't even advertised, mares! I hesitated but told her I'd let her know. I've not had a lot of luck with mares. Needless to say, I went and it was love at first sight!

Syd, Diane, Ellen, I cannot, nor can Robin, thank you enough for helping her bail that pretty mare, Blessings! She appears in a video on the Moores Equine Rescue site with a rider, nice little trot, with a halter and leadline! I'm keeping fingers crossed that Robin can save her............she has really fallen for her. Ya'll I didn't say earlier because I'm old and a little forgetful, but each of you are welcome to submit a name suggestion. Headed to bed, lots to do tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Rose, how about Bailey? Since she is being bailed out?

Good one Ellen, I like Bailey

I'm tossing out Honeybunz................."Honey". Her butt is honey colored.

I would help but its been a challenge here lately, bank is mailing new account numbers to me and new debit cards...taking their szweet time. I like the name anber or ginger.

Horse auctions usually have tack auctions before selling horses, you can get some real bargains there...just don't look at the horses....

Odie doesn't like thunder, it boomed and he launched into my lap...all 100 lbs of him...flipped my chair back against the wall and he was huggin me tight, thought harry was going to burst a gut laffin. he's a big baby of a bulldog....a real chicken!

This is fun. So far we have Amber, Ginger, Bailey, & Honey. Come on everybody let's give Robin a lot of choices............we're all rooting for her.

Hey, CB your dog is a riot. How's the wall? LOL

Buttercup!


I had a really nice ride on Areion today!! After her lesson with Lori, I rode Areion for about a half hour. She was so good. We did a fair amount of walking and trotting. She is so sensitive compared to Ivan. I have to take care to not ask her to do things as strongly.

Ivan was good, but somewhat stiff on his left side while turning. We worked on that.

Beautiful fall day here today.

Wow, love, love all the name suggestions! Thank ya'll so much for rooting, wishing and positive thoughts for Robin and the mare. Poor Robin and Johnny, good thing they have a lot of faith and hope and are surrounding their home with love. Remember I told you about the reorganization and massive pay cut, well Chief financial officer, for all Jim Hudson Motor Group came to Robin's office today and told Robin that the Hyundi dealership had not even shown a $4000 profit this month and they felt they would either have to move Robin to a regular accounting position or cut her pay once again. Robin said "NO", the next ultimatum was separation with regular paychecks through December. Robin told them she would not take another paycut but if no better arrangements could be made she would take separation. We are in a holding pattern until Monday or Tuesday it seems. Robin called me, in tears, and said Mom, I don't know if we can take the mare, pay for her, transport and board too........but ya'll know, I'm going to do everything humanly possible to help that. I've found a place close to Robin that nwill board the mare, and you furnish feed, for 150 a month, and I can cover 100 of that and we can manage the rest between us. Robin deserves this happiness and I'm darn sure gonna try.
Need all ya'll's positive thought please!

Now I thought we'd had enough drama for one day. I'm coming home from the grocery store, phone rings, Barn owner says her hubby thinks that Essie isn't feeling well, she coughed a couple times and it looked like she was going to lay down (as in roll). Groceries, frozen food be damned, I immediately got to the barn. Essie is walking around the arena, really not distressed at all, just like she was looking for something. I haltered her and led her into the paddock area, walked her around a bit, she pooped, nice, firm, moist........so the dreaded "c" word was not a worry, absolutely no coughing the hour I was there and no visible discomfort. She wants to stand next to the fence where she can be close to the Nanny mare and the 3 babies! She greedily took about 6 apple slices I brought with me and nuzzled my pocket for more. I think that she had been with a herd of 15-16 horses before I bought her that she just wants to be near other horses, I'm good with that, so is Nikki (barn owner)! I thought Separation Anxiety was only in dogs!!!!!! Love my mare!

Going out and check her again  before I go to bed, just to be sure! CB, Bulldogs are a favorite breed of mine, but everyone I come into contact with are darn big babies when it comes to thunder or fireworks!!!!!

ELLEN
No, I won't be freezing my hens! Just their eggs. I have had hens past 12 years old. I don't kill them, although it seems plenty of other things do.....foxes, dogs, raccoons, possums, cars, weasels....a few of my chickens' favorite things.

ROSE
I am so sorry about Robin's job. I hope something better comes along quickly. I sent you a check in the mail today, let me know if it doesn't turn up. I think my mail person may have lost the bill I sent out last month, so I am somewhat leery of mailing things from home now.

I just finished reading The Martian, the novel the new movie was based on. I enjoyed it as much as the movie, although there were a few differences. Good story!

We are going to have frost this weekend......sigh....winter is coming.

How do you freeze eggs? In the shell? That works? I've never thought about trying to do that.

Someone said you put the raw eggs, out of the shell, into freezer bags and freeze them. I am not sure they will hold their shape, so may only be good for adding to recipes or scrambling them. I got sandwich size freezer bags and will put three or four eggs in them apiece to try it out. I hope it works!

We finally got the huge load of firewood we ordered, so we won't freeze. The heat pump is still not installed, although waiting patiently. I am not quite so patient.... The hay guy finally set a date to deliver the hay, next Wednesday. Sheesh. Winter will be here before these guys get their acts together.

Ark, I get curious about odd things, so I looked up how to freeze eggs. Most of the sites I looked at suggested slightly mixing the yolk and white and putting each egg into a section of an ice cube tray so you'll know how much egg you have when you want to use them for baking. One said to pop the frozen eggs out of the tray and then into a bag of egg cubes to remain frozen.
One person said they aren't quite as good for eating as fresh scrambled eggs, but they are fine for baking.

Beautiful pictures of both Essie and "She who is currently nameless." I like the name Mulligan and call her Molly.

Market Watch is a subscription only access site so I don't think it would do any good for me to post a link to it. So I'll take up a page and do a copy and paste.

Deborah DeHoff is very proud of her frugal lifestyle.

She’s a fee-only certified financial planner at Compass Wealth Advisors in Elkhart, Ind. Our paths crossed last month at the Financial Planning Association Annual Conference in Boston. As we chatted about retirement planning and elder care for her clients and my readers, we found we were both divorced, child-free and thinking very hard about our own upcoming “third acts.”

The conversation pivoted when one of us, and I can’t remember who, brought up the subject of living frugally. DeHoff was quite passionate about saving more, spending less and the rewards of her frugal habits. I invited her to email her top five tips. I do hope Retirement Weekly readers find them as educational and entertaining as I do.



Deborah DeHoff: You asked me to come up with five ways to be frugal, and I gave this a lot of thought and started jotting down habits that I have developed. As I jotted down the habits, I started thinking about why I had developed each of the habits.

So, in no particular order, here are five habits I have developed over the years. As a society, we have become accustomed to instant gratification. Instant gratification is very expensive.
• It’s OK to go without. Life is not always a contest. You don’t have to have stuff just because others do. For example, I do not have any sort of pay television. No cable, no Dish, no DirecTV. I don’t even use any of the subscription services such as Hulu or Netflix. Watching television or movies just isn’t important to me. More than likely, if you like a program and you’re not able to catch it when it airs, you can probably watch it at a later date by going to the network website. When your friends or co-workers ask if you’ve seen [fill in the blank], it’s perfectly acceptable to answer “No,” and leave it at that. This same thought process applies to most anything, including clothing, shoes and electronics. Why spend the money on something that isn’t terribly important to your life? A good question to ask yourself is “How will my life be impacted if I don’t have this item?” If the answer is “It won’t be,” don’t buy it.
• Go shopping with a list. Not only grocery shopping, but to the hardware store, office supply store or clothing store. I am much less tempted to impulse buy if I’m working off a list. To make the list, don’t try and make it up five minutes before you walk out the door. I have lists on my refrigerator. For groceries, whenever I use something out of the pantry, I immediately put it on my list to replace it. Also, go to the store once. It can be once a week, once every two weeks, once a month, whatever works for you. If you don’t have something, put it on the list for next time. There are very few things in life that are needed now.
• Going out to eat should be a treat, not a habit. I have found that I appreciate it more when I go out to eat when I don’t do it very often. It’s also very expensive over time, even if you buy the cheap meal deals. Eating out is generally also higher in calories. The portions may be bigger and instead of taking a little bit home, you eat the whole thing.
• Be willing to give of your time instead of money. If there is a cause that you feel deeply about and want to support it, offer your time in place of a monetary donation.
• Being frugal is not the same as being cheap. Look for the best quality at a price that you can afford. Items do not necessarily have to be brand name to be of good quality. This can be achieved by thinking ahead. Buy end-of-season items on sale for next year. Watch the classified ads or Craigslist for used items. It amazes me the quality of the goods you can find at great prices by doing this.

In summary, in order to develop a frugal lifestyle, I’ve learned to be patient (“Do I really need this now?”) and plan ahead (“I’m going to need [blank], and look for it in advance”). It’s also important to protect your credit and focus on what you have—not what you don’t have.

Your thoughts? Or tips? Send to maryhgillespie@gmail.com.

These tips are nothing new, and you've all probably heard them before, but I've found that hearing them and putting them into practice are two entirely different things.

That's a good article. Other than the TV thing, that's mostly what I do. Gotta have my TV.

I'm so sorry for ROBIN. I do know a better door will open for her.

Oh goody:

Mulligan- Molly
Honeybunz-Honey
Buttercup
Bailey
Amber
Ginger

I am a serious money manager..........especially horse needs. I know exactly what each horse costs per year to support and buy supplies for each accordingly. I buy all supplies on sale. I share vet calls for dentistry etc........shoer cuts me very good deal as he comes when he is in my area every 6 weeks instead of having to make a special trip. Many times I'm not home, esp when I'm in the mountains. I don't buy tack and still wear the same chaps I've had for 35 yrs or so........you can't wear out good horse supplies or tack.

I had a funny this afternoon and will write about it later...........going back outside.

Harry is my farrier/trimmer so that saves money fcor us. he works lots slower lately but the horses we have r very patient. he does a really good job, learned from our farrier in idaho who had gone to the school in oklahoma and becuz he was new to the area horse folks wouldn't use him...we did and recommended him to everyone...he soon built up a very good business and one day told harry he was going to teach him...and he did. still love the guy who is a lawyer and an artist now.

I buy lots of stuff at auctions. we give our own shots, worm, I've even done minor stitching, anything we can.

They do take some money for sure and as we get older, we think about having horsepower that you only have to feed when u use it.....

Tough decision....

Hope robin finds another job and things go better, hope she can still get the horse. how much is the horse transport if I can be nosey and ask?

Good news, sort of, another Lady saved the precious Haffie mare.  She is going to a 40 acre farm in Wisconsin and will teach her 3 young grandsons all about horses!  For that I am delighted.  Praying that all the rest get saved.  Sad for Robin , but some way or another things will work out for her and she will get a heart horse.  Naturally, I will return checks/money to everyone, and God Bless all of you for being so good to help Robin, it means so much to both of us!  Names will be remembered too.  Darnit!  I wrote a whole paragraph to CB about the wonderful shipper I found, it went away, briefly $500 CB from Lebanon, PA to Columbia, SC, 581 miles.  I went back out and checked Ms. Essie last night, she was fine, more apple slices, stopped by this morning on my way to Noah's school for Grandparent's Day.  Guess who came straight up to the fence to claim some more apple slices.  Yep, she's gonna be spoiled!  I think Robin and Noah are going to come meet her tomorrow!

Just so Robin is O K.............everything happens for a reason. ROSE, just tear up my check............don't waste a stamp to send it back.

I'm sure Robin & Noah will love Essie............take a picture Rose.

INDYAPP
I loved your article! I am not as frugal as you, but have my moments...
Congrats on getting published!!

ROSE
Just tear up my check, too, I will void it in my checkbook. I am sorry Robin isn't getting the cute mare, but one will come along. There are so many out there looking for homes.

ELLEN
Thanks! That is what I will do with the eggs. Great idea about the ice tray. Those hens are seriously adding to the egg population here. They are good looking little red hens that drive the three big red roosters crazy. The boys are on the wrong side of the dome. The little black Cochin rooster that lives in the dome with the six red hens and his little white Cochin hen thinks he has died and gone to hen heaven. It's a chicken soap opera around here.

Rose, tell robin so sorry...

Rose, I'm so sorry that she didn't get the Haffie. But when she and her husband are better prepared financially, another horse will come along that needs her.

This isn't a great pic but just fun doing barn chores............