"I finally found out how priests get holy water. They boil the hell out of it." - Phyllis Diller

It's not even 7 p.m. and I'm already having trouble staying awake. But I got a lot done today in a wide variety of areas so I'm not feeling guilty.

I often fall back asleep for a bit when I come out to my chair, but since getting home from Seattle last Saturday that hasn't happened. The upside: I'm getting even more stuff done. So I was already on a roll when I went to the coffee shop to write.

Before sitting down to my laptop I talked to Dave, a retired timber man who still keeps his fingers in the business, about my tree problem. I'll have more to report after Robin, the State Dept. of Forestry rep has been here next Thursday to look things over and tell me what I can/cannot do about it.
Dave told me that a Douglas Fir sapling will grow 8"-12" the first year, about 16" the second year, and 24" every year thereafter until it's fully mature. I had no idea!

The storage unit business where we rented a 5'x7' bay is next door to the coffee shop. There wasn't much in there once I got all my books out, so today I brought the rest of it home. I still have to find a place here for a few of those things, but that won't be a problem.

That was today's first step on my mission to save money.

We're still learning about the realities of living on our S.S. income alone. We knew there would be some up-front costs as we got settled on Baker Rd., but we're far enough into this life that it has become clear we need to tighten the belt a bit. One of the most effective ways for us to do that - we already live pretty carefully on a day-to-day basis - is to pare back regular monthly expenses, like the rental on a storage unit at $39 a month.

The next step was to call our insurance agent. I cancelled coverage on the truck and won't restart it until it's actually ready to hit the road. And that's looking like it's a ways off. (I'll explain later.) I also changed some of the coverage details on the Kia and the teardrop  so our total savings will be $58 a month.

Then to the gym. Especially this time of year I'm getting plenty of exercise working outside. Soon cutting, splitting, and stacking firewood will be added to the routine. Boom! Another $45 a month saved.

Pam's cancelling the paper - $16 a month - and tomorrow I'll talk to DishTV about our internet plan. A few months ago we raised our data level, but I think that we can go back to the original amount without a problem if we're careful about our usage. Add all of that together and I think we'll be close to $200 a month in savings, and except for the gym I don't think that we'll notice the difference in any significant way.
I'm going to make a point of building a regular time of exercise into my daily routine here at the house. I've got a pull-up bar in the garage and a good jump rope. I can do most other calisthenic exercises easily enough, and I'm going to get my bike road-worthy for the aerobic part of it. This will require a little more self-discipline than going to the gym, but I should be up to it.

We really don't feel at all bothered or discouraged by this. Because we had no experience at retirement and living on this amount of money we knew going in that we might have to make adjustments. For 43 of our almost 45 years of marriage we've been committed to living within our means, not using credit. The mental & emotional benefits of knowing we're not dipping into our savings far outweighs whatever inconveniences we have from cutting back.

But wait! There's more!

Besides all of that work on the budget I got the bookshelves installed in Fred. OK, I have to get another piece of rail to install the two smaller shelves on the other side of the window, but 90% of my books will go here. The barn wood got damp in last night's few sprinkles (I thought I had it adequately covered but obviously didn't) so I'll wait until it's completely dry before I put the books on there.
I like the way it turned out. (click to enlarge)



While I was working in Fred I opened the door to the chicken pen to see if the pullets would venture out and be truly free range. It took them all of 10 seconds to decide the grass was greener. OK, there isn't any grass inside, so the decision was pretty easy.

About an hour later Lucky, the rooster, was headed toward the road. I didn't ask why, I just figured it was time to heard them all back into the pen, something that was easy to do. As soon as they felt any pressure they headed for home.
Now we know we can let them out and go about our business while they forage for whatever it is chickens forage for.

I also worked on my desktop. Yeah, this is gonna work! I trimmed the 4' x 21" x 3" thick glue-lam that George gave me to clean up the edges, and then gave it a light sanding with the belt sander, just enough to clean and smooth it without taking off too much of the patina.
I then got three of the four sides edged using 1x4 poplar on its edge with 45 degree cuts at the corner.
I'm bad at math, which is why I'm going into Lowe's tomorrow to get another piece for that fourth side.
Then I'll add a border outside of that made out of the weathered 2x4's I got yesterday at the salvage yard. A semi-gloss varnish over the whole thing.
I held everything in place and ... this is going to look cool.
But no pics until it's done. That just wouldn't be right.

Tomorrow while I'm in town I'll go see a welder about making the base for this top. It will be very basic, just a three-sided frame made out of 2" square steel that I'll paint black. Simple and cheap (I hope).

I've got other thoughts, but my brain is dying and there are brownies in the kitchen so it will have to wait until tomorrow.