Cutting your expenses/trimming your costs

[sgeeeee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BUM Concerning lawn mowing, Pop used to say, "We have an arrangement, God waters it I cut it".

Apparently God doesn't make that deal with those of us who live in Arizona.* I have to depend on Roosevelt Water Conservation District for the water.*

I just got back from a week-long trip to Illinois and got home to a freshly mowed lawn.* I was guessing that my neighbor did that for me (I have really nice neighbors who always seem to stay one favor ahead of me), but maybe God decided that since she didn't water it, she would mow if for me.* *

[Martha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ol_Rancher PLEASE refrain from posting such large jpegs ... some of us use dial up ... yes you have a vute baby and Martha thinks he is cute too but you are killing the ability of some of us to use the site. How about you loser the resolution ? As for me and lawn mowing, I least the acreage to my neighbor and his buffalo and llama do a fine job plus they fertilizee too!

Sorry, I will be sure to try to downsize the resolution as much as possible and won't "quote" pictures. I am so used to cable and DSL that I didn't think about the potential problem for those on dial up.

[Ol_Rancher]

th, Martha. BigMoneyJim,
Thank you for your efforts to help with the jpeg /bandwidth issue. This type of response is but one of the elements that make this forum the best on the web.

I hope I didn't come off as an old grump, but I suspect that the age demographic here would indicate that there should be more than a few of us like that. If the problem was not addressed quickly this forum and its new format had a real possibility of defeating its purpose. Many forums elsewhere that have less courteous membership degenerate into a personal show and tell when they are not flaming each other.

You guys like so many others here, are great contributors to this wonderful effort making FIRE possible for many more people and easier for those of us who ER ed. Again thanks.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Glad some good options came up for ya. Its been a long time since I suffered at the end of a piece of string and orange juice can!

Hmm...show and tell/flamers...? Can I show you a few thousand 5 megapixel baby photos ya old #^$%#?

[laurence]

Ol_Rancher, you epitomise quality over quantity as evidenced by the fact that you have only 70 something posts on the board, and I just crossed over in to full time job posting here!

[P.S.]

Martha:

That's a beautiful bed of flowers! Have you heard of Andre Viette's nursery? They have gorgeous plants that grow wonderfully when transplanted. They also mail. Even better than White Flower Farm in my experience.

[Martha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by P.S. Martha: That's a beautiful bed of flowers! Have you heard of Andre Viette's nursery? They have gorgeous plants that grow wonderfully when transplanted. They also mail. Even better than White Flower Farm in my experience.

Haven't heard of them. The only plants I currently buy mail order are spring flowering bulbs. I find I need to give more perenials away then add them at this point. Most of my perenials I acquired through barter with other northern gardeners.

I do annuals for flower boxes and do some veggies. I have thought about buying a small greenhouse, maybe 6 x 8, to grow veggies because our season is so short and to start annuals. With about 30 flower boxes and pots, my cost for annuals is too high and I need to get it down somehow. My other alternative is grow lights in the basement.

[LovesLife]

I don't know if it is appropriate to butt in on this post for this little announcement but it was friggin' 22 degrees here this morning in IA. I am sure that my lilacs are lost to the frost. Just within the last 2 weeks we had 80's.

LovesLife

Sorry about the hijack

[Dawg52]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LovesLife I don't know if it is appropriate to butt in on this post for this little announcement but it was friggin' 22 degrees here this morning in IA.* I am sure that my lilacs are lost to the frost.* Just within the last 2 weeks we had 80's. LovesLife Sorry about the hijack

43 this morning in MS. Kind of cool for here.

[Caroline]

We're having changeable spring weather here in Northern California -- moving from winter to summer.

Only going to reach 71 today, apparently.

Caroline

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Quit whining about the cold or I'll post more pictures of myself in shorts.

Had to trim all the shrubs yesterday. Got so hot I had to take off my shirt.

Its ok, in 2 months you can enjoy giving me a hard time when its 95 here every day. But its a dry heat...

[bow-tie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LovesLife I don't know if it is appropriate to butt in on this post for this little announcement but it was friggin' 22 degrees here this morning in IA.* I am sure that my lilacs are lost to the frost.* Just within the last 2 weeks we had 80's. LovesLife Sorry about the hijack

I hear ya... that's too cold for May.* Planting corn this weekend wasn't much fun with the cold and wind.* But take heart, we're supposed to be in the mid-70s by the end of the week.* I hope...

[Martha]

Still regularly 20s at night, upper 30s to 40s during the day. Our last frost date is June 15, so not unexpected.


OK, TH, we are waiting.

[LovesLife]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bow-tie I hear ya... that's too cold for May. Planting corn this weekend wasn't much fun with the cold and wind. But take heart, we're supposed to be in the mid-70s by the end of the week. I hope...

Hi Bow-tie.

I hope for warmer weather soon. Didn't it seem really wierd to you to get the warm weather that we had so early in April? Usually Spring is wet and cool.

Martha,

Too cold. Brrrr...

Th,

We are still running our furnace here.


LovesLife

[sgeeeee]

It hit 89 degrees here in Phoenix yesterday. It will hit 90 tomorrow. It's a nice, dry heat.

I did 6 years in Iowa and over 20 in Illinois. I figure I'm out for good behavior now -- or at least for some kind of behavior.

[LovesLife]

-SG,

Where did you live in IA and whom did you work for?

LovesLife

[sgeeeee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LovesLife -SG, Where did you live in IA and whom did you work for? LovesLife

LL,

I lived just outside of Shueyville, IA. I love to say that. Nobody knows where Shueyville is. So when they ask, "Where's Shueyville?", I can answer, "Right across the highway from Swisher.

Shueyville is located about 1/2 way between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. I worked in Cedar Rapids for Rockwell Collins. There's a lot about living in rural Iowa that I really liked. The people were great. They had a real handle on work/life balance. And the pace of life was less hectic than is typical of a lot of cities. Plus that part of Iowa is nice -- rolling hills, rivers, lakes, woods. . .

But my DW and I really love the Sonoran desert in Arizona too. We opted to come back to Arizona for retirement largely because of our 14 year history here and our interest in archaeology.

[LovesLife]

-SG,

I think you definitely have to live in IA to appreciate it. To some it would sound like a hick place with nothing going on (and that may be true !) You lived in a nice area and worked for a good company though. Well, maybe you'll come back and visit someday .

LovesLife

[P.S.]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martha Most of my perenials I acquired through barter with other northern gardeners.

Hmm...the best kind of plant...free. Gardening definitely can be not cheap...but I look at it this way- for some types, two happy hour drinks....or...for me, ten bags of mulch?

[Martha]

I use two truck loads of compost a year. No other mulch. Our city has a compost site and sells it for $15 a truck load, or $20 if they load your truck or trailer. Great deal and the quality is good. They seem to successfully compost very "hot" so I don't have much of a problem with weed seeds. I could use double that amount but I can only convince DH to go twice. I also use probably 10 to 20 drywall buckets of beach sand a year in my beds. My soil is absolutely worthless clay and it is taking me years to try to build it up.

In the fall I used to mulch with several bales of straw and then compost it in the spring. I quit a couple of years ago because I always would have asthma attacks removing the moldy straw in the spring. We have enough snow cover here that I really haven't suffered much winter losses.