Britesea
Sustainability Master
I've read that if you want good storage onions, you need to remove any blooms as soon as they happen. Of course, if you want seed to plant next year, you would leave the blooms and write those particular bulbs off.
hqueen's collection of Far From the Usual stuff.
- Thread starter hqueen13
- Start date
flowerbug
Super Self-Sufficient
they're strangely shaped, but parts of them are still edible after the flower stalks die back.
normally i harvest the heads for seeds long before they die back all the way because i don't want seeds scattered all over the garden.
- Thread starter
- #2,314
hqueen13
<Insert Snazzy Title Here
Thanks, FEM!
It went about as well as I expected. He did buy lunch, which was nice. We were late getting started, naturally, and he thankfully for me, blew off his appointment with the accountant to continue our meeting. I did start it out with a closed door and the conversation about compensation. When I told him that I found my original pay stubs from 2007, his first question was "how much were you making". When I told him, and told him how much I was making now, and highlighted that it is less than a 1% raise annually over the 13 years, he agreed that it was unacceptably low. Of course, as I expected, he did not immediately offer me a raise. He pulled the same stuff he pulled a while back when we had this conversation and wants to pay me bonuses for projects that are completed. He tossed out the number of $500, which in my opinion for the current project is far too low. Of course, that also says nothing for the projects that I have completed in the couple years since I last had a raise. AND on top of that to be paid less than the HIRING rate for office/clerical work is pretty bad. SO, we are supposed to have another meeting tomorrow, and I will be bringing it up again. I do understand the shakiness of the current situation, but thankfully our business is rolling along VERY well for the second month in a row, so I do not feel bad about asking him for more - or a plan for more as a bare minimum. So, we'll see.
The BF was able to get the pickup truck running again. The $200 part was the fix. On top of the $65.00 part. Of course.
Sunday we did a bunch of cleaning and the new fridge arrived. It got here late enough that it wasn't cool before the evening, and since I had my evening barn rounds to make we didn't get it reloaded. That'll happen tonight I guess.
The BF's family is still being complicated. His dad called on Sunday and said that he and his mom wanted to come up and that he and the BF could be "busy" doing something so that his mom and I had time to have a conversation. No way.
Number 1 - I'm not going to have that conversation in my own home where I can't leave if things go south. I do not want to be in a position where I have to tell you to get off my property or I'm calling the cops. Cuz I will. So I'm not even going to set that up to be a possibility. If things go south, I'll just leave their house.
Number 2 - it was NOT a good day to have those conversations. We were still waiting on the fridge delivery confirmation at the time, and still had to get the old one out, and get things cleaned up around it. The kitchen floor was GROSS, and I wanted to vacuum and mop (never got to the mopping), and I just didn't have the energy to put into a conversation.
And not really on the list, but annoying all the same is that SHE didn't bother to be the one to reach out to me. I don't know if she is afraid of it or what, but she's done the same thing with W and A, she's used another reason to get together as a convenient vehicle for starting the conversation. Instead of just saying "hey, do you have some time to chat?"
Through the call with his dad we also found out that W and A had stopped by the house and had a conversation about their formal wedding plans (they had the courthouse wedding in the fall, and they do want to do an official "real" wedding, the challenge of course is making sure it's on THEIR terms, and not on mom and dad's terms). His dad conveniently threw A under the bus saying that it was "tradition" in her country for the bride and groom to pay for things, and other things. His dad prattled on about how family is everything, and friends are great, but family will always be there for you, and even though the day is for the bride and groom, it's really for the family, too, and blah blah blah blah....
I told the BF later that he needed to make sure that when we have these conversations with his parents that he's CLEAR what HIS beliefs are. I told him if he wasn't (and even if he is...) his parents are going to throw me under the bus and blame me as the reason that he's not all over the family bandwagon, just like they are doing to A. Per the conversations that I've had with W and A (admittedly I've talked with A more than just with W, or even the two of them together), W is just as in favor of NOT involving the whole entire extended family, either. So I made it clear to the BF that he was going to have to take his own stand on it.
I also realized later that one of the reasons that I think his brothers don't care for the family thing like his parents do is that his parents continually complain about the family! Like WTH!? How can you say out of one side of your mouth that family is everything, and then in the following breath complain about every. single. thing. they do? How do you expect your sons to feel about family if that is the message they have been fed for their entire lives? I asked the BF if his dad has EVER said anything positive about the BF's uncle/his dad's own brother. And I don't think I've heard one positive thing said about him, ever. Or if it was, it was followed by a 'comma but' which totally negates whatever was put prior to it.
So that situation is no less messy than it was last week, and is still hanging around. I'd like for it to be resolved quickly, but I have a feeling that it isn't going to be. I just pray that when the conversation finally happens I can stay in my wisdom self and not my reactionary self. Even if I do stay with my wisdom self, there's no guarantee that what I have to say will sink in, either. And if that's the case, we'll just lightly remove ourselves from interactions until things settle down. I have zero obligation to have a relationship with his family, and what level of relationship he chooses to have with his family is also his business as well. His parents are known for holding grudges, and everything comes with strings attached, but at this point I just don't care to be connected to that level of neediness.
It went about as well as I expected. He did buy lunch, which was nice. We were late getting started, naturally, and he thankfully for me, blew off his appointment with the accountant to continue our meeting. I did start it out with a closed door and the conversation about compensation. When I told him that I found my original pay stubs from 2007, his first question was "how much were you making". When I told him, and told him how much I was making now, and highlighted that it is less than a 1% raise annually over the 13 years, he agreed that it was unacceptably low. Of course, as I expected, he did not immediately offer me a raise. He pulled the same stuff he pulled a while back when we had this conversation and wants to pay me bonuses for projects that are completed. He tossed out the number of $500, which in my opinion for the current project is far too low. Of course, that also says nothing for the projects that I have completed in the couple years since I last had a raise. AND on top of that to be paid less than the HIRING rate for office/clerical work is pretty bad. SO, we are supposed to have another meeting tomorrow, and I will be bringing it up again. I do understand the shakiness of the current situation, but thankfully our business is rolling along VERY well for the second month in a row, so I do not feel bad about asking him for more - or a plan for more as a bare minimum. So, we'll see.
The BF was able to get the pickup truck running again. The $200 part was the fix. On top of the $65.00 part. Of course.
Sunday we did a bunch of cleaning and the new fridge arrived. It got here late enough that it wasn't cool before the evening, and since I had my evening barn rounds to make we didn't get it reloaded. That'll happen tonight I guess.
The BF's family is still being complicated. His dad called on Sunday and said that he and his mom wanted to come up and that he and the BF could be "busy" doing something so that his mom and I had time to have a conversation. No way.
Number 1 - I'm not going to have that conversation in my own home where I can't leave if things go south. I do not want to be in a position where I have to tell you to get off my property or I'm calling the cops. Cuz I will. So I'm not even going to set that up to be a possibility. If things go south, I'll just leave their house.
Number 2 - it was NOT a good day to have those conversations. We were still waiting on the fridge delivery confirmation at the time, and still had to get the old one out, and get things cleaned up around it. The kitchen floor was GROSS, and I wanted to vacuum and mop (never got to the mopping), and I just didn't have the energy to put into a conversation.
And not really on the list, but annoying all the same is that SHE didn't bother to be the one to reach out to me. I don't know if she is afraid of it or what, but she's done the same thing with W and A, she's used another reason to get together as a convenient vehicle for starting the conversation. Instead of just saying "hey, do you have some time to chat?"
Through the call with his dad we also found out that W and A had stopped by the house and had a conversation about their formal wedding plans (they had the courthouse wedding in the fall, and they do want to do an official "real" wedding, the challenge of course is making sure it's on THEIR terms, and not on mom and dad's terms). His dad conveniently threw A under the bus saying that it was "tradition" in her country for the bride and groom to pay for things, and other things. His dad prattled on about how family is everything, and friends are great, but family will always be there for you, and even though the day is for the bride and groom, it's really for the family, too, and blah blah blah blah....
I told the BF later that he needed to make sure that when we have these conversations with his parents that he's CLEAR what HIS beliefs are. I told him if he wasn't (and even if he is...) his parents are going to throw me under the bus and blame me as the reason that he's not all over the family bandwagon, just like they are doing to A. Per the conversations that I've had with W and A (admittedly I've talked with A more than just with W, or even the two of them together), W is just as in favor of NOT involving the whole entire extended family, either. So I made it clear to the BF that he was going to have to take his own stand on it.
I also realized later that one of the reasons that I think his brothers don't care for the family thing like his parents do is that his parents continually complain about the family! Like WTH!? How can you say out of one side of your mouth that family is everything, and then in the following breath complain about every. single. thing. they do? How do you expect your sons to feel about family if that is the message they have been fed for their entire lives? I asked the BF if his dad has EVER said anything positive about the BF's uncle/his dad's own brother. And I don't think I've heard one positive thing said about him, ever. Or if it was, it was followed by a 'comma but' which totally negates whatever was put prior to it.
So that situation is no less messy than it was last week, and is still hanging around. I'd like for it to be resolved quickly, but I have a feeling that it isn't going to be. I just pray that when the conversation finally happens I can stay in my wisdom self and not my reactionary self. Even if I do stay with my wisdom self, there's no guarantee that what I have to say will sink in, either. And if that's the case, we'll just lightly remove ourselves from interactions until things settle down. I have zero obligation to have a relationship with his family, and what level of relationship he chooses to have with his family is also his business as well. His parents are known for holding grudges, and everything comes with strings attached, but at this point I just don't care to be connected to that level of neediness.
frustratedearthmother
Sustainability Master
I think you made a very wise decision not to allow that discussion with BFs mom to happen in your home. Sigh... I think all you can do is to state your expectations and let the chips fall where they may. (with your BF's mom and with your boss!) People are not so much fun sometimes...
flowerbug
Super Self-Sufficient
glad the fix worked out! 
hope the conversation with boss gives you some improvement.
hope the conversation with boss gives you some improvement.- Thread starter
- #2,324
hqueen13
<Insert Snazzy Title Here
Well, we got rain. We got about 2 3/8" in about 2 hours on Wednesday last week and then the humidity went through the roof. It's been really uncomfortable since then. Not fun. The temps have not been any less, either.
The weekend was busy, Saturday we did quite a bit of cleaning up since we hadn't done that in a while. KN was coming, and so I wanted to make sure the house was somewhat neat. Things just needed to be picked up and put away.
I had my lesson on Saturday evening, and it was fantastic. It was SO hot, but thankfully since we didn't start until 6, it cooled down a little as we worked, which was nice. I think I like that better than it warming up like it does in the mornings. Storm did stellar (thanks to the heat he isn't interested in being silly, and he puts a lot more effort into doing things well because he's already so uncomfortable being hot), and I think it was the best ride we've had in a very, very long time. I was able to ride, which was a first in about 6 months, anyway. I totally forgot my bucket that I usually use as a mounting block, so KN had to give me a leg up, which we did fairly gracefully thankfully. He stood like a rock, which also helped. It was interesting because we ended up sort of coming full circle and talking about where I began, and some of the things I have had to learn for myself through the years. She's been working with me/us now for about 13 years, and we have come a very long way. She was able to highlight some of where I started, and the fact that Storm had similar issues - namely neither one of us were really in our bodies when we started all this, and that caused a lot of issues for each other. I'm glad we are mostly past that now, and I think both of us feel better for it. We talked a lot about our patterns that we develop that keep us "safe" and how they end up hindering us in the long run. My go to pattern is to really tense up my shoulders in order to create "stability" within my body. So I balance myself from my shoulders (thanks to about 9 months on crutches in the 3rd grade this makes total sense), but that doesn't actually create any real stability in my body. When I actually find REAL stability from my core, and my shoulders do not need to "grip" anymore, my body actually feels unsafe, even though technically it is more stable. That unfamiliar feeling feels scary to me, and causes me to tense back up again. KN and I talked through how to work on unraveling that, and how to help my body find new safety in a better balanced way of being and moving. She pretty much told me that I acted like a horse, and that she has been sensitive to that through the course of working together. That was rather amusing to me.
Sunday I got up and dropped her off at the next farm for her lessons for the day and went and got my chores done. I got home and the BF and I decided to rearrange the basement. We were never happy with the arrangement that we had it in, but it was the only way to set it up due to where there were outlets (not on any outside walls), and lights (very few). He looked up some LED lights and found that he could get a box of 12 on amazon for only $100. That's CHEAP for lights that are supposed to last over 10 years. He already had most of the wiring and supplies that he needed to get it done, so we decided to go ahead and go for it. We got the furniture moved (and a bazillion cobwebs vaccumed, and that was only half the basement), and I like it better already. When you came down the stairs there was an entertainment area in front of you, with a VERY old 70's couch, a recliner, and the entertaniment center with the TV (we don't have a large TV, we don't watch it almost ever), and then to the right was the pool table on that side of the basement. The back of the recliner faced the pool table, so the two areas were sort of cut off from each other. We decided to flip flop them, and put the entertaining area in the far corner, and the pool table in the space when you came down the steps. We also turned the pool table 90 degrees, so it is parallel to the long wall, and that gave it more room around it anyway so there's more space to place more easily. Now the couch faces the pool table, and the recliner is sideways, so your back isn't to the game anymore, which makes the two spaces feel more connected and enjoyable. We moved around most of the furniture, and the BF still has to figure out how to move the cue rack, and we have to figure out how to hang a couple pictures, but otherwise it is pretty much back together. We also have a tall "apothecary" cabinet that was in the house, it is about 18" square, with a glass door and sides, and a lower cabinet in the bottom, which is where we keep our alcohol. The cabinet had been painted a billion times and was an ugly green color, so he started stripping the paint off of it (that's gonna take a while... didn't realize there were THAT many layers of paint on it!). We also got it out in the sunlight and realized it was an even uglier shade of green than we thought. Now I'm afraid that when we get all these lights installed in the basement we're going to decide that the paint color on the walls is WORSE than we thought and we're going to have to paint the whole dang room!
I told him we need to start cruising the Lowe's discount paint table and just see if there is anything that might work eventually. I know it will need to be special paint for painting the block walls, but it can't hurt to look at this point.
Since the BF is off this week he's puttering around working on those projects, and who knows what other trouble he'll get into. It's nice having him around, though he's getting annoyed that I have to work so much. I'm like, well, this is normal... I can't just be at your beck and call just because you can take vacation time.... It does reinforce that I really do want to be able to set ourselves up so that we don't have to work so stinking much. It's awful to pretty much only be able to work and come home. That's not how I want to spend the rest of my life for sure.
The weekend was busy, Saturday we did quite a bit of cleaning up since we hadn't done that in a while. KN was coming, and so I wanted to make sure the house was somewhat neat. Things just needed to be picked up and put away.
I had my lesson on Saturday evening, and it was fantastic. It was SO hot, but thankfully since we didn't start until 6, it cooled down a little as we worked, which was nice. I think I like that better than it warming up like it does in the mornings. Storm did stellar (thanks to the heat he isn't interested in being silly, and he puts a lot more effort into doing things well because he's already so uncomfortable being hot), and I think it was the best ride we've had in a very, very long time. I was able to ride, which was a first in about 6 months, anyway. I totally forgot my bucket that I usually use as a mounting block, so KN had to give me a leg up, which we did fairly gracefully thankfully. He stood like a rock, which also helped. It was interesting because we ended up sort of coming full circle and talking about where I began, and some of the things I have had to learn for myself through the years. She's been working with me/us now for about 13 years, and we have come a very long way. She was able to highlight some of where I started, and the fact that Storm had similar issues - namely neither one of us were really in our bodies when we started all this, and that caused a lot of issues for each other. I'm glad we are mostly past that now, and I think both of us feel better for it. We talked a lot about our patterns that we develop that keep us "safe" and how they end up hindering us in the long run. My go to pattern is to really tense up my shoulders in order to create "stability" within my body. So I balance myself from my shoulders (thanks to about 9 months on crutches in the 3rd grade this makes total sense), but that doesn't actually create any real stability in my body. When I actually find REAL stability from my core, and my shoulders do not need to "grip" anymore, my body actually feels unsafe, even though technically it is more stable. That unfamiliar feeling feels scary to me, and causes me to tense back up again. KN and I talked through how to work on unraveling that, and how to help my body find new safety in a better balanced way of being and moving. She pretty much told me that I acted like a horse, and that she has been sensitive to that through the course of working together. That was rather amusing to me.
Sunday I got up and dropped her off at the next farm for her lessons for the day and went and got my chores done. I got home and the BF and I decided to rearrange the basement. We were never happy with the arrangement that we had it in, but it was the only way to set it up due to where there were outlets (not on any outside walls), and lights (very few). He looked up some LED lights and found that he could get a box of 12 on amazon for only $100. That's CHEAP for lights that are supposed to last over 10 years. He already had most of the wiring and supplies that he needed to get it done, so we decided to go ahead and go for it. We got the furniture moved (and a bazillion cobwebs vaccumed, and that was only half the basement), and I like it better already. When you came down the stairs there was an entertainment area in front of you, with a VERY old 70's couch, a recliner, and the entertaniment center with the TV (we don't have a large TV, we don't watch it almost ever), and then to the right was the pool table on that side of the basement. The back of the recliner faced the pool table, so the two areas were sort of cut off from each other. We decided to flip flop them, and put the entertaining area in the far corner, and the pool table in the space when you came down the steps. We also turned the pool table 90 degrees, so it is parallel to the long wall, and that gave it more room around it anyway so there's more space to place more easily. Now the couch faces the pool table, and the recliner is sideways, so your back isn't to the game anymore, which makes the two spaces feel more connected and enjoyable. We moved around most of the furniture, and the BF still has to figure out how to move the cue rack, and we have to figure out how to hang a couple pictures, but otherwise it is pretty much back together. We also have a tall "apothecary" cabinet that was in the house, it is about 18" square, with a glass door and sides, and a lower cabinet in the bottom, which is where we keep our alcohol. The cabinet had been painted a billion times and was an ugly green color, so he started stripping the paint off of it (that's gonna take a while... didn't realize there were THAT many layers of paint on it!). We also got it out in the sunlight and realized it was an even uglier shade of green than we thought. Now I'm afraid that when we get all these lights installed in the basement we're going to decide that the paint color on the walls is WORSE than we thought and we're going to have to paint the whole dang room!
I told him we need to start cruising the Lowe's discount paint table and just see if there is anything that might work eventually. I know it will need to be special paint for painting the block walls, but it can't hurt to look at this point.Since the BF is off this week he's puttering around working on those projects, and who knows what other trouble he'll get into. It's nice having him around, though he's getting annoyed that I have to work so much. I'm like, well, this is normal... I can't just be at your beck and call just because you can take vacation time.... It does reinforce that I really do want to be able to set ourselves up so that we don't have to work so stinking much. It's awful to pretty much only be able to work and come home. That's not how I want to spend the rest of my life for sure.
- Thread starter
- #2,330
hqueen13
<Insert Snazzy Title Here
Well, there went another week...
Saturday the vet came out to do Storm's teeth, and to pull Lyme titers, and do a couple other things for RW's horses as well. So I spent all morning in the barn with them. I felt SO bad for the vet, Storm had clover slobber something AWFUL. So she got rained on the whole time she worked on his teeth. He did very well for the most part, and she was really complimentary of his teeth at the age of 18, so that made me feel good. I finally got home, and we decided to run out to grab some lunch and run a few errands. We got back and didn't do much for the rest of the afternoon.
Sunday we did some cleaning, and then W and A came over so that W and the BF could work on the table for W. They got the form set up and everything sealed so that they could pour the epoxy on Monday. A and I hung out and she trimmed my hair again and we talked about products and tried to figure out what to use to help get my hair back to a better condition.
Monday afternoon W and A came back so that they could do the epoxy pour, and that was interesting. They tried to add some epoxy to a couple small spots that they decided to fill, but they discovered that they hadn't sealed those spots completely. So there was a bit of a panic rush to try to figure out how to manage that. We were all pretty nervous since it was about 9 liters of epoxy that they poured in.
The BF got up about 3 and decided to go look at things, and discovered that there must have been a small leak because it had flowed out onto the table, and was starting to drip on the floor. He cleaned it up, and then made a dam out of more caulk all the way around that corner to hopefully contain anything else that leaked. It is finally to the point where it is beginning to set up now, so it'll stop leaking on it's own, and we can pour in more to top it back off again. There has already been quite a bit of discussion for how to handle this the next time so that it will work better. W was lamenting this morning that the videos they've watched online have looked so easy! And the BF was like, yeah, but how many pours do you think they've done by that time? And honestly, they lost probably not even a liter, so that's pretty good in my book, all things considered! I didn't wake up to 9 liters all over the floor, so that's a plus!
The BF had his discovery flight yesterday afternoon to talk about the program. The guy gave him a wild ride, and the BF was really over whelmed at all of the information that was thrown at him in a short amount of time. He's a bit shell shocked, and I reminded him that he's never really had to learn anything monumental like this before in his life. He learned to drive at such a young age that his license, and then each of the steps up to class B and class A have been really minor in the greater scheme of things. I know he'll do just fine, but standing at the bottom of the mountain he's feeling rather over whelmed at the moment. The good news is that they had positive things to say about the online ground school programs, which will save him about $200. A drop in the bucket compared to the total, but every little bit helps. I told him that the next step is to just do that, and don't worry about the rest of the steps. If he decides he doesn't like it after that, he can still quit and being out $200 is cheap risk to take. I was also pleased that the interest rate on the financing option is only 11%. It's not great, but it's not terrible, either. I told him that it would be smart to explore other options from the bank and see what else is out there, especially right now because it seems that rates are at pretty low numbers. So we'll see what kind of potential that has as well. But he doesn't even have to worry about that until AFTER he gets the ground school stuff done. One step at a time.
The kind of cool news was that as an instructor, you make $30 to $40 an hour to teach. And he learned that all of the planes that are used for training are privately owned, and leased to the program. Having a plane that is used in the program earns you $3000 to $4000 per month just from the plane use. So you could pretty easily pay for a plane, and have reasonably comfortable income doing that alone. It will be several years before he could be at that point, but still, that is promising. So now he just has to get past this wave of anxiety in order to take the next steps. We'll see how long that takes him.
He's off this week, which will be nice to have him home. Yesterday I was supposed to go to the office, but the monitors that we ordered to go with the new computers apparently didn't work, so they couldn't install them, so that got canceled. I was appreciative, though, since it saved me from having to change out of stinky barn clothes and attempt to freshen up to be presentable for the office. He had his flight, and didn't get home until just after 1, so we chatted, and ate lunch together while I kept an eye on my computer.
Today he's running my car over to have an alignment done, and then running a few errands, which is nice to have that stuff out of the way. He was cranky this morning, but he didn't sleep good, either, I think partly due to the stress of the flight, and partly due to the stress of the liquid epoxy sitting in puddle in the basement... He is also cranky about the fact that I have to work and he is off, but there's not much that I can do about that at this point. I suppose I could take a day off, but I don't really want to lose the income, either. At this point I am doing so well that I would prefer to keep it up and not end up scrambling again. I'll have to look at my numbers later in the week and decide.
The other priority this week is trying to get things sold. I'd like to start getting some cash in our pockets to put towards some of these projects that we want to do - primarily his flight school, and we need to get rid of some stuff, anyway.
LOL, the receipt just got emailed to me from the auto shop, and I'm SO glad that there was a discount, because there is a "shop supplies" fee that was added, plus the tax, and it brings it to $193. I've got some extra in the budget, but that's a bit more than I though it would be given the discount. That's ok, though, because I actually do have room for all of it. Very glad to get that done, now I just have to make sure that I get back over there on a regular basis to maintain it since I have the lifetime package.
Not much else to report. Just chugging along with things. We finally got some gentle rain, and the temps have broken, which is such a huge relief. We're down below 70 overnight, and last night it went down to 64, which was lovely. It's a relief not to feel like you are baking as soon as you walk outside. Hopefully we stay this way for a while! I'm ready to get some stuff caught up!
Saturday the vet came out to do Storm's teeth, and to pull Lyme titers, and do a couple other things for RW's horses as well. So I spent all morning in the barn with them. I felt SO bad for the vet, Storm had clover slobber something AWFUL. So she got rained on the whole time she worked on his teeth. He did very well for the most part, and she was really complimentary of his teeth at the age of 18, so that made me feel good. I finally got home, and we decided to run out to grab some lunch and run a few errands. We got back and didn't do much for the rest of the afternoon.
Sunday we did some cleaning, and then W and A came over so that W and the BF could work on the table for W. They got the form set up and everything sealed so that they could pour the epoxy on Monday. A and I hung out and she trimmed my hair again and we talked about products and tried to figure out what to use to help get my hair back to a better condition.
Monday afternoon W and A came back so that they could do the epoxy pour, and that was interesting. They tried to add some epoxy to a couple small spots that they decided to fill, but they discovered that they hadn't sealed those spots completely. So there was a bit of a panic rush to try to figure out how to manage that. We were all pretty nervous since it was about 9 liters of epoxy that they poured in.
The BF got up about 3 and decided to go look at things, and discovered that there must have been a small leak because it had flowed out onto the table, and was starting to drip on the floor. He cleaned it up, and then made a dam out of more caulk all the way around that corner to hopefully contain anything else that leaked. It is finally to the point where it is beginning to set up now, so it'll stop leaking on it's own, and we can pour in more to top it back off again. There has already been quite a bit of discussion for how to handle this the next time so that it will work better. W was lamenting this morning that the videos they've watched online have looked so easy! And the BF was like, yeah, but how many pours do you think they've done by that time? And honestly, they lost probably not even a liter, so that's pretty good in my book, all things considered! I didn't wake up to 9 liters all over the floor, so that's a plus!
The BF had his discovery flight yesterday afternoon to talk about the program. The guy gave him a wild ride, and the BF was really over whelmed at all of the information that was thrown at him in a short amount of time. He's a bit shell shocked, and I reminded him that he's never really had to learn anything monumental like this before in his life. He learned to drive at such a young age that his license, and then each of the steps up to class B and class A have been really minor in the greater scheme of things. I know he'll do just fine, but standing at the bottom of the mountain he's feeling rather over whelmed at the moment. The good news is that they had positive things to say about the online ground school programs, which will save him about $200. A drop in the bucket compared to the total, but every little bit helps. I told him that the next step is to just do that, and don't worry about the rest of the steps. If he decides he doesn't like it after that, he can still quit and being out $200 is cheap risk to take. I was also pleased that the interest rate on the financing option is only 11%. It's not great, but it's not terrible, either. I told him that it would be smart to explore other options from the bank and see what else is out there, especially right now because it seems that rates are at pretty low numbers. So we'll see what kind of potential that has as well. But he doesn't even have to worry about that until AFTER he gets the ground school stuff done. One step at a time.
The kind of cool news was that as an instructor, you make $30 to $40 an hour to teach. And he learned that all of the planes that are used for training are privately owned, and leased to the program. Having a plane that is used in the program earns you $3000 to $4000 per month just from the plane use. So you could pretty easily pay for a plane, and have reasonably comfortable income doing that alone. It will be several years before he could be at that point, but still, that is promising. So now he just has to get past this wave of anxiety in order to take the next steps. We'll see how long that takes him.
He's off this week, which will be nice to have him home. Yesterday I was supposed to go to the office, but the monitors that we ordered to go with the new computers apparently didn't work, so they couldn't install them, so that got canceled. I was appreciative, though, since it saved me from having to change out of stinky barn clothes and attempt to freshen up to be presentable for the office. He had his flight, and didn't get home until just after 1, so we chatted, and ate lunch together while I kept an eye on my computer.
Today he's running my car over to have an alignment done, and then running a few errands, which is nice to have that stuff out of the way. He was cranky this morning, but he didn't sleep good, either, I think partly due to the stress of the flight, and partly due to the stress of the liquid epoxy sitting in puddle in the basement... He is also cranky about the fact that I have to work and he is off, but there's not much that I can do about that at this point. I suppose I could take a day off, but I don't really want to lose the income, either. At this point I am doing so well that I would prefer to keep it up and not end up scrambling again. I'll have to look at my numbers later in the week and decide.
The other priority this week is trying to get things sold. I'd like to start getting some cash in our pockets to put towards some of these projects that we want to do - primarily his flight school, and we need to get rid of some stuff, anyway.
LOL, the receipt just got emailed to me from the auto shop, and I'm SO glad that there was a discount, because there is a "shop supplies" fee that was added, plus the tax, and it brings it to $193. I've got some extra in the budget, but that's a bit more than I though it would be given the discount. That's ok, though, because I actually do have room for all of it. Very glad to get that done, now I just have to make sure that I get back over there on a regular basis to maintain it since I have the lifetime package.
Not much else to report. Just chugging along with things. We finally got some gentle rain, and the temps have broken, which is such a huge relief. We're down below 70 overnight, and last night it went down to 64, which was lovely. It's a relief not to feel like you are baking as soon as you walk outside. Hopefully we stay this way for a while! I'm ready to get some stuff caught up!
frustratedearthmother
Sustainability Master
So BF is going for a pilots license? Or did I interpret that wrong?
Yay for Storm being decent for his dentist appt, lol. I've never met a horse who loved that procedure...
Yay for Storm being decent for his dentist appt, lol. I've never met a horse who loved that procedure...
- Thread starter
- #2,332
hqueen13
<Insert Snazzy Title Here
Yes, he's trying, FEM. First is private pilot, then he can start working on the commercial level, and then he has to figure out how to find a job. FIRST step is to start with ground school, which he can do online, then take the written test from the FAA, and then he can start flying. I'm really glad he's decided to commit to doing it, now we just have to work out how to fund it!
Yeah, I don't like going to the dentist, either, so I don't blame them! He's pretty good, all things considered, his size just makes it challenging. If a normal horse objected to the degree that he does, you'd hardly notice. But he's big. I'm glad he cooperates as well as he does, I appreciate that!
I got his lyme results back, too. He's showing a higher number (though not nearly as high as some horses I have seen) that indicates a new infection. Now I'm trying to sort out what to do for him. One month of Doxy costs $180.00. A retest will cost $128, plus the farm call fee, which I'll be lucky if I can split that with RW if she needs the vet out for some reason (so that would make it $27.50 instead of $55...). Since his number is a bit higher than I'd like I need to weigh the option of using minicyline (sp!??) instead of the doxy, since it is a little higher powered and has a good success rate. I might be able to get away with using less if I go that road, but we'll see. I need to check in with one more friend to see what she recommends in terms of natural options, or natural support to see what other choices there are. I guess all things considered $180 isn't that bad... it's just going to put the squeeze on my budget.
The weekend wasn't all that great, honestly. The BF was off of work all last week, which was nice, but he wasn't in the best of moods, and I wasn't either. We did get a few things taken care of, we managed to have a meeting with the financial retirement guy, and he helped us get the information organized so that the BF could get access to his prior work 401k accounts. He had 3 accounts from previous jobs, and also has one with his current company, so JC helped to get him the info to get those accounts consolidated together. He'll have over 20k in them once he gets them all together, which is really great news. He also finally looked into his current employer's 401k since he wasn't getting statements from them and found out he's already got over 14k in that account and he's only been working there for 4 years. I sent JC the info he needed to be able to consolidate the accounts, and also inquired as to whether there were any options available right now due to the panedemic to withdraw at no penalty or something so that maybe we could use some of that money to fund his pilot school instead of pulling a loan out from somewhere. I also asked about taking a loan out against the 401k instead as well, since I know that's an option that my exBF did before. Anything to save money and make it easier to pay back will help.
The weekend ended up rough because the BF and his brothers decided to help their dad out with the boat as the birthday gift to him. They went over to the marina where the boat is on Friday to help finish up what needed to be done, and worked for most of the day. He got home pretty late from that, and then Saturday got up and headed back over there again. We were all supposed to go over to his parent's house for dinner for his dad's birthday, but the afternoon wore on and they were still working. I went and did my evening chores, and spent some time brushing Coyote's tail out, since it had a rats nest in it that was the size of a softball and I couldn't leave it that way. It was really hot and humid, and by the time I got done, I needed a shower. I was also starting to get a headache, and so I came home and got cooled off and cleaned up, and decided there was no way I could go over to eat dinner with the family. I texted the BF and they were STILL working anyway, it was 6:00 by that time. I was texting with A as well, and she was equally frustrated since it was already so late, and they weren't even finished, and no one was even over at his mom's house by that time at all. She said she really didn't want to go over there for dinner at that point. Then they got the call that their uncle was going to be taken off of life support, so all 5 of them headed to the hospital to be with their cousins and family. These cousins are close to the same age as the BF (early 30's), and had already lost their mother about 10 years ago. I feel so much for them that they have now lost both parents, their mother to breast cancer, and their father to complications from chemo a few years ago that damaged his heart (and apparently heart conditions run in their dad's family). They ended up at the hospital until past midnight. I fell asleep finally, and by the time the BF got home my headache was gone, thankfully, but I didn't sleep well after that.
Sunday I got up and made breakfast, and then the BF got up before I was ready to leave for the barn. I headed out to do my chores, and came back home, and got a text from his mom asking if everyone could come up to our house so we could have cake for his dad's birthday.
Apparently she had talked to W, and he mentioned he was coming up to work on the table that the BF is helping him make. So she thought it would be a great idea if they picked up A (why she didn't assume that A would come with W, I have no freaking clue), and then M and N could come, and they'd all come up here to our house, and maybe she could bring a pizza, and we could do cake for his dad. I just wrote her back and said I'm sorry, that's not going to work today. Apparently she told W and M about her idea, and THEN decided to ask me if it was ok. The BF was REALLY mad that she had decided to invite herself, and everyone else, up to our house with no notice. Why in the heck she thought it would be a great idea to celebrate his dad's birthday the day after they spent half the night at the hospital with their dying uncle, and they've just spent 2 days helping their dad to work on the boat that never got into the water like they planned, I have no clue. She's oblivious, and then had the gall to text W and be like "she said my idea wouldn't work, but she didn't say why." She doesn't understand that NO is a complete sentence, and requires no justification or validation or explanation what so ever. So I'm sure she'll be upset about that for who knows how long. And I really don't give a crap. W got to the house later in the afternoon and told us that he directly told her that she had better as the BF and I about it because it was not ok to invite herself and everyone else over to someone's house without their permission.
The good news is that the table looks AMAZING. They pulled it up off of the form, and found that for whatever reason the caulk had not sealed at all, and that more than likely when they clamped it down, that caused the board under the table to bow, which created the leak. So now they know what to do for next time. They set up a giant rig to be able to use the router to smooth the top and bottom, and started working on that. They created the biggest mess I have ever seen. At one point I came down into the basement to get something, and when I came around the corner they both turned and looked at me and had the guiltiest looks on their faces. I started laughing so hard. They made a royal mess, but they'll have to clean it up later. The end result is going to be amazing, though. And now they're talking about how they want to plan the next ones so that they can sell these and start making money off of them. I'm excited about the idea, we just have to figure out where to get the word out there so that they can get sales and start creating them. The BF could pretty easily fund a lot of his pilot school making these. I can't wait to see what it looks like all finished, which hopefully should be later this week or weekend, depending on how much time they get to work on it. The BF spent some time last night working on it some more, so hopefully they'll keep the project moving.
Not much else to report, still plugging away at all the things. I have another call with my coach today, so that should be good. I feel like I haven't made much progress at all since our last call 2 weeks ago, but things sort of went crazy in between, so that's alright. Just gotta get my stuff back together again and keep on moving.
Yeah, I don't like going to the dentist, either, so I don't blame them! He's pretty good, all things considered, his size just makes it challenging. If a normal horse objected to the degree that he does, you'd hardly notice. But he's big. I'm glad he cooperates as well as he does, I appreciate that!
I got his lyme results back, too. He's showing a higher number (though not nearly as high as some horses I have seen) that indicates a new infection. Now I'm trying to sort out what to do for him. One month of Doxy costs $180.00.
A retest will cost $128, plus the farm call fee, which I'll be lucky if I can split that with RW if she needs the vet out for some reason (so that would make it $27.50 instead of $55...). Since his number is a bit higher than I'd like I need to weigh the option of using minicyline (sp!??) instead of the doxy, since it is a little higher powered and has a good success rate. I might be able to get away with using less if I go that road, but we'll see. I need to check in with one more friend to see what she recommends in terms of natural options, or natural support to see what other choices there are. I guess all things considered $180 isn't that bad... it's just going to put the squeeze on my budget.The weekend wasn't all that great, honestly. The BF was off of work all last week, which was nice, but he wasn't in the best of moods, and I wasn't either. We did get a few things taken care of, we managed to have a meeting with the financial retirement guy, and he helped us get the information organized so that the BF could get access to his prior work 401k accounts. He had 3 accounts from previous jobs, and also has one with his current company, so JC helped to get him the info to get those accounts consolidated together. He'll have over 20k in them once he gets them all together, which is really great news. He also finally looked into his current employer's 401k since he wasn't getting statements from them and found out he's already got over 14k in that account and he's only been working there for 4 years. I sent JC the info he needed to be able to consolidate the accounts, and also inquired as to whether there were any options available right now due to the panedemic to withdraw at no penalty or something so that maybe we could use some of that money to fund his pilot school instead of pulling a loan out from somewhere. I also asked about taking a loan out against the 401k instead as well, since I know that's an option that my exBF did before. Anything to save money and make it easier to pay back will help.
The weekend ended up rough because the BF and his brothers decided to help their dad out with the boat as the birthday gift to him. They went over to the marina where the boat is on Friday to help finish up what needed to be done, and worked for most of the day. He got home pretty late from that, and then Saturday got up and headed back over there again. We were all supposed to go over to his parent's house for dinner for his dad's birthday, but the afternoon wore on and they were still working. I went and did my evening chores, and spent some time brushing Coyote's tail out, since it had a rats nest in it that was the size of a softball and I couldn't leave it that way. It was really hot and humid, and by the time I got done, I needed a shower. I was also starting to get a headache, and so I came home and got cooled off and cleaned up, and decided there was no way I could go over to eat dinner with the family. I texted the BF and they were STILL working anyway, it was 6:00 by that time. I was texting with A as well, and she was equally frustrated since it was already so late, and they weren't even finished, and no one was even over at his mom's house by that time at all. She said she really didn't want to go over there for dinner at that point. Then they got the call that their uncle was going to be taken off of life support, so all 5 of them headed to the hospital to be with their cousins and family. These cousins are close to the same age as the BF (early 30's), and had already lost their mother about 10 years ago. I feel so much for them that they have now lost both parents, their mother to breast cancer, and their father to complications from chemo a few years ago that damaged his heart (and apparently heart conditions run in their dad's family). They ended up at the hospital until past midnight. I fell asleep finally, and by the time the BF got home my headache was gone, thankfully, but I didn't sleep well after that.
Sunday I got up and made breakfast, and then the BF got up before I was ready to leave for the barn. I headed out to do my chores, and came back home, and got a text from his mom asking if everyone could come up to our house so we could have cake for his dad's birthday.
Apparently she had talked to W, and he mentioned he was coming up to work on the table that the BF is helping him make. So she thought it would be a great idea if they picked up A (why she didn't assume that A would come with W, I have no freaking clue), and then M and N could come, and they'd all come up here to our house, and maybe she could bring a pizza, and we could do cake for his dad. I just wrote her back and said I'm sorry, that's not going to work today. Apparently she told W and M about her idea, and THEN decided to ask me if it was ok. The BF was REALLY mad that she had decided to invite herself, and everyone else, up to our house with no notice. Why in the heck she thought it would be a great idea to celebrate his dad's birthday the day after they spent half the night at the hospital with their dying uncle, and they've just spent 2 days helping their dad to work on the boat that never got into the water like they planned, I have no clue. She's oblivious, and then had the gall to text W and be like "she said my idea wouldn't work, but she didn't say why." She doesn't understand that NO is a complete sentence, and requires no justification or validation or explanation what so ever. So I'm sure she'll be upset about that for who knows how long. And I really don't give a crap. W got to the house later in the afternoon and told us that he directly told her that she had better as the BF and I about it because it was not ok to invite herself and everyone else over to someone's house without their permission. The good news is that the table looks AMAZING. They pulled it up off of the form, and found that for whatever reason the caulk had not sealed at all, and that more than likely when they clamped it down, that caused the board under the table to bow, which created the leak. So now they know what to do for next time. They set up a giant rig to be able to use the router to smooth the top and bottom, and started working on that. They created the biggest mess I have ever seen. At one point I came down into the basement to get something, and when I came around the corner they both turned and looked at me and had the guiltiest looks on their faces. I started laughing so hard. They made a royal mess, but they'll have to clean it up later. The end result is going to be amazing, though. And now they're talking about how they want to plan the next ones so that they can sell these and start making money off of them. I'm excited about the idea, we just have to figure out where to get the word out there so that they can get sales and start creating them. The BF could pretty easily fund a lot of his pilot school making these. I can't wait to see what it looks like all finished, which hopefully should be later this week or weekend, depending on how much time they get to work on it. The BF spent some time last night working on it some more, so hopefully they'll keep the project moving.
Not much else to report, still plugging away at all the things. I have another call with my coach today, so that should be good. I feel like I haven't made much progress at all since our last call 2 weeks ago, but things sort of went crazy in between, so that's alright. Just gotta get my stuff back together again and keep on moving.
frustratedearthmother
Sustainability Master
The table sounds awesome. Would love a pic when it's finished if it's possible.
More family drama - oh dang! I can't even imagine someone inviting themselves to use my house for a party..... argh! Good for you for saying no!
Hope you get Storm's Lyme issue taken care of.
More family drama - oh dang! I can't even imagine someone inviting themselves to use my house for a party..... argh! Good for you for saying no!
Hope you get Storm's Lyme issue taken care of.
