Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Around OakMeadows


JMM and Angie change the oil in the mower. 

Around OakMeadows
     It has been hot and humid but that is only to be expected for mid-September.  The big weather news is the number and strength of hurricanes this year.  We had Harvey here on the Texas Gulf Coast and that was bad enough but Irma created havoc in Florida and now Maria is destroying Puerto Rico. And now Mexico City is digging out from a major earthquake. It's been a month of disasters. We are fortunate not to have been harmed by it so far. 

      All the hurricanes have me planning to purchase a propane generator. My thought is that if we survive the hurricane, we still have to endure a week of no electricity. With a gasoline generator, you are in need of gasoline at the very time that all the gas stations are closed because they have no electricity to run the pumps even if they have gas. Since we have a huge propane tank anyway, that seems a better solution. 
     
     I wish you could see all the hummingbirds we have been feeding as they migrate through. We have two feeders hanging on the back porch. With twenty or more hummingbirds at the time, some days we needed two cups of sugar water every eight hours. It has slowed down the past few days to about six birds each day. 

      I have one Quilt top and backing ready to take in for machine quilting.  In addition, I am working on another quilt top using fabric from my scrap box. I'm not sure what to do with the scrap quilts. I have plenty. I am thinking about sending them to Jon Katz's nursing home for the residents at The Mansion. Or I may give one to each of my housecleaners and one to Earlene, our mailman. Not sure. 

     This afternoon I made the October budget. Finances are going to be tight because I am paying $1100/month to get the flooring paid off, car insurance of $700 is due in October, and I need to save $1000 each month to pay the property taxes when they are due in January. In addition to that we will be going to visit DDin Washington, D.C. in October but since I have already paid the airfare and room rate, all I need is money for eating out. 

      Angie has fitted her little spirit right in with us. It is so surprising because I had no intention of getting another animal companion and certainly not a dog. But we are just crazy about her.  Even the. Cats have decided not to kill her.

    Well, the budget went to hell in a handbasket as they say. JMM broke a crown and it will cost $1200 to get it fixed. That's why I keep an emergency fund. This definitely is an emergency. He has a temporary crown now and will get the permanent one in 3 weeks. 

2 comments:

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Angie is a great little helper I can tell! A generator is a good idea I think -- we read the Fort Myers paper on-line and there are still lots of people there without electricity.
The national TV news stops talking about it as soon as it isn't interesting for one of their "brave' reporters to stand outside in the storm.

It seems like there is always something unexpected $-wise ... we used to have double coverage dental insurance and of course we dropped it when we retired, thinking 'self-insure' and besides that 'what could go wrong .... we're all up to date on our work.' ha ha!! That's been proved wrong several times already as per your experience -- still I think we're ahead by not paying the high rates for insurance when you aren't in a big pool like we were when we worked.

eileeninmd said...

Hello, the propane generator is a great idea. We have a gasoline generator, which can be a pain.
My prayers go out to all the victims of these disasters. I still saw one hummer yesterday, but most of my hummers have left. It is hard to stick to budgets lately. Happy Wednesday, enjoy your day!