The City Mouse in the Country

My wife and I have been blessed with good luck, good opportunities and  family that has always been there for us.  However I also know that not everyone has the fortune, family or opportunities that we have had.    We have sadly learned a lot about those families in our area through the IOOF and other charities in the local area that Sue and I belong to.   So as I throw another log onto the proverbial fire and think about how lucky I've been compared to others I thought I would pass on some common sense, and not so common sense ideas to help someone save a bit of money and get through the coming winter months.   I can see no reason why someone needs to live in an icebox, or choose between food and warmth .   Sadly there is no easy solutions and everything that is worth doing takes time and energy.  Sometimes even a little money.  So what I'm offering here is advice that will help reduce your energy costs at least and can be used to help cool your home in the summer as wel

      In some ways our first garden was successful.  We did manage to grow a few tomatoes, some wonderfully sweet strawberries.  Fresh basil, rosemary and thyme are used in a more than a few fresh dishes (see our recipe page for a couple of wonderful dishes ).  Although they were small, we even managed a few cucumbers.     Sadly both insects and deer got to my Brussel sprouts.  Although our zucchini flowered like crazy, for some reason we were robbed of this wonderful fruit .  We also failed to produce a single pepper despite our plants growing strong all year.     It's easy to blame this on a lot of things.  Not having the plants watered enough or the right container or 1001 other things that could have gone wrong.   I'm concentrating on the positive.   My lovely wife Susan loves to make and eat simple tomato sandwiches.  Sadly raw tomato does horrors to my digestive tract, but I can eat them after they have been cooked in some way.     I proved to myself that I could grow som

      When we first moved out to the country, we had a vague notion of what we wanted to do.  We failed in our first year to meet any of those nebulous goals.       Sue, my wife and I have adjusted.      I've always had a passing interest in things like permaculture , we had always grown a few tomato's and other plants on our lanai when we lived in Florida.   It was, and still is to a certain extent, my hope that I have a full garden and become a bit more self sufficient.     After a year however, my plans have changed somewhat and become more focused.  We know what our limitations are.   Our original plans simply did not meet the reality of our situation.  It just being Sue and myself for example, a large garden doesn't make sense.  A container garden does.     This isn't failure, but the realization that we are always adjusting and regrouping based upon several factors.  Our plans have gained focus as the situation warrants.        However I do consider this blog to

    Well I don't consider myself a homesteader in a strict sense, I often find that homesteaders often ask questions about income and financial matters.  This article is to address a bit of confusion about how a home equity loan works and why home improvement is a secret weapon you can take advantage off.        You should always consult a tax and licensed financial advisor in your area. That being said, I am a licensed and bonded insurance agent and have over 20+ years of banking and financial experience and offer this advice freely.               I'm standing outside the house with a tape measure in my hand and marking off an area roughly 24 feet wide (7.3 M) by 24 feet long.  It's roughly the area of a two car garage.   The current garage we have is internal and used more for storage than anything else.   It's a tight space for one car.     Rates will be going up soon and it makes sense to lock in a home equality loan now while the market for homes is still high (our

    Human beings are by nature political animals, because nature, which does nothing in vain, has equipped them with speech, which enables them to communicate moral concepts such as justice which are formative of the household and city-state.  Aristotle        I came across something yesterday in INC magazine that annoyed me.   Now I admit that I generally don't read that publication but years of owning my own small company and working in banking and fiance have taught me to always be open to knowledge and inspiration ,so I expected to glean some new information from an article entitled 7 Reasons to Avoid Going Rural to Work from Home.       My job is done remotely.   I am a good 115 miles from my companies office in Cleveland and live out in the country.   The population of my town is under 1000 people for example and it's not uncommon to see Amish buggies.  I may not be "rural" but I'm damn close.     The article, which I'll let you read, is a hack piece

      I watch way to much Food Network .  When I was given the opportunity to buy some quail eggs recently, I could not pass them up. Where I have had quail in my life - it reminds me more of duck than chicken since the meat tends to be darker - I've never had quail eggs.  The hedonist in me demanded that I buy them.  Plus they came from a local breeder with a good reputation.       I am slowly but surely moving towards a plant based diet, but I'm not willing to give up all animal products yet.        Quail eggs are tiny, it takes about 2 to 5 quail eggs to equal the same amount of chicken eggs (depending on several factors) but, generally speaking, the quail egg tends to be a healthier (and more expensive) choice.      Let's talk about the cost first before I get into nutritional value and what I decided to do with these little beauties.   I paid five dollars for 24 eggs.  That works out to be roughly 21 cents per egg.     Now the average cost for a dozen chicken eggs is $

    With Thanksgiving on the horizon, many people have asked me what I am thankful for in the last year.  My glib replay is the title of this article.  I know it seems like I'm being a whiny little bitch right now but bear with me, it does get better.     It's not that I have nothing to be thankful for, I'm still healthy and neither my family or anyone I know has lost a family member to COVID.   I have a roof over my head in a house that, all though dated, has good bones and is slowly but surely becoming "our" home.  All my bills are paid on time and both Sue and I have good paying jobs which we actually do enjoy and like...most days.          I am just feeling stressed and pushed to the limit by circumstances that I can not control, for example this week alone I will have worked ten days straight often putting in a minimum of twelve hours a day for the majority of those days.  When I was a younger man working for an engineering firm in Charlotte, NC I would not h

  This is not meant to be a political post, however when you talk about the economy - even in general terms - it's bound to be political   This is meant to be an educated opinion piece and I am very aware of my own confirmation bias.  So I worked hard to keep informational and interesting.        Skimpfation .   If you have not heard of it yet, wait.   It's the newest buzzword in the media and it describes an economic condition where services are not where or what they used to be; but you are still paying the same price (or a slightly higher price) for the same product or service.  It's always been part of "inflation" but is more noticeable now as store shelves are empty and wait times become longer.    Case in point...you out to dinner at your favorite restaurant and your meal comes with plastic silverware instead of the normal silverware you are used to.  Perhaps your wait for your food is a bit longer as well because of staffing issues.       That's Skimpfa

                             Up until this moment, I had never heard of or seen a Grinder Pump.  It's actually a very common piece of plumbing equipment that is usually found in commercial businesses or homes, like mine, that are located lower than the nearest municipal sewer line.  It's designed to prevent waste water backup.                 (Sorry for such a bad video but there is so little information out there)                  Now exactly how my house sits lower than the nearest municipal sewer line is beyond me.  After all, when my house was built, it appears to have been done so in such a way that all the water flows away from my home and downhill.   So what I'm thinking is that the grinder pump is there to "push" the waste into the sewer lines that are a good football field distance from my home?  My property is the last in the boro to be hooked into the municipal lines so I suppose I could be "down hill" from them?             I might be wron