hqueen's collection of Far From the Usual stuff.

I don't know how much you paid for the hay, or what it's going for now, but around here, a lot of hay is going for $7.00 a bale. I've often wished I could store some I don't need and sell it in the winter, but I don't have the room.
 
I bought it for $6, so I'm thinking I could get a decent amount for it. It will be May before we'll have more cut, so anybody that keeps feeding it should be in the market for it. I guess I'll list some and see what I can get for it, I certainly won't need all of it, and I'd rather not keep it over the year into next year, especially if this turns out to be a better hay year than last year.
So that cold finally caught up with me with a vengeance. Friday I wasn't feeling great, and was really congested, so I did my volunteer duties at yoga, and then went home and crashed. I slept a lot hoping to fight it off. Friday night I slept terrible, and the longer the night went on the worse my ear hurt. I texted my boss when I got up Saturday morning and asked him for advice, and he told me to take sudafed and go to the doctor. I finally got to the doctor in the afternoon after the BF got all the chores done, bless his heart, he takes such good care of me. Turns out its an outer and middle ear infection (though my boss can't figure out how they diagnosed it that way, but all that matters is that it HURT like a mofo!). Antibiotics, nasal decongestant, and a drop for the pain. I haven't needed the drop since Sunday morning, which is good, and I'm feeling quite a bit better today, still very congested and fatiguing easily, but better. I still can't hear worth crap. I'm in the office today so I'll have someone look in my ear and check to see if they can do anything to help speed up the healing, like clean my ear out! I can constantly hear my pulse in my ears which is annoying. Lord I hope I never end up with permanent tinnitus!
I missed a yoga and essential oils workshop on Sunday which was disappointing. We had to run to my friend's place that has all the horses to help her get things cleaned out. Her house finally sold, and so she's getting ready to get everything moved. We loaded quite a bit more stuff into her trailer to haul down for her, and then she gave us a lot of farm odds and ends which was great. She is a sweet lady, but she has serious issues. I have never known someone that guys things simply because they are a good price when she has absolutely no use for them. And then allows things to pile up and get filthy and damaged to the point where there is no value left in them. There were buckets full of crap, part trash, part broken things, part useful stuff ("This bucket has farrier stuff and fishing stuff in it, they both begin with F so I figured I could find it."). I told the BF just to take things that seemed to be partly useful and we'd sort it out later. I was grateful that the rain held off enough that we could actually everything loaded and then get the things we were keeping unloaded back at home. We were able to sort everything and so now I have buckets to keep, buckets to take to the consignment shop, and all the trash in the dumpster, plus a large pile of stuff that needs to be washed come spring. We got a large 100 gallon water trough, a 50 gallon water trough, a 25 gallon water tub, a number of buckets, 3 saddle racks (plus 3 more that I'm not keeping), some bridle hooks, some fencing supplies, a 25 mile fence charger, a heated bucket, several tank heaters, 3 over the fence 4 hook hangers, a shovel, rake, and mini manure fork, a 6' folding table, plus some other odds and ends. I'll be taking 3 saddle racks, a bucket of fencing supplies we can't use, a couple of fence chargers, and a few clothes that she gave me that I won't be able to wear to the consignment shop. On top of that there are 4 saddles (including a side saddle, the second one that she had!!) and a few other things to go to the consignment shop for her. I'll have to take care of getting all that sorted out later, but hopefully it will get some cash for her, and a credit at the shop for me. We were exhausted by the time we got done loading, and she was kind enough to give us a little bit of money for lunch even though I didn't want to take it from her. We stopped at Panera and got soup and I got a hot tea, which made me feel a little better, and came home and took a nap. We unloaded everything later since we were pretty tired from all of that.
I'm feeling better today, which is a relief. Now I just need to get rid of the congestion and pressure and be able to breathe easily again and I'll be good to go. I'm feeling a little over whelmed right now since I've got to work the expo coming up which means 5 days straight of being out of the house. I'm working 3 days in the office this week so I don't lose my hours, and so that takes away some of the time that I would use to catch up on things otherwise. I just hope I feel better quickly so I can keep pushing. My friends return today from their trip so I won't have to worry about feeding their horses, which will help. Now I just have to get caught up! Of course the first problem is what the heck to fix for dinner...
 
I thought you weren't working this expo, or is it a different one?
 
She called me and asked me to come work because she had someone else that couldn't get off of their regular job to help out. So I'll be there... for 5 freaking days. I wish I had some way to stay closer so I didn't have to burn the gas, but it is what it is I guess. Getting a hotel room, even splitting the cost would just about be the same as the cost for gas, so it really isn't worth it. At least gas is super cheap right now so that helps a lot.
I'm slowly recovering. I feel much better, but I'm still wheezing a bit, and my head is still REALLY congested. I'm having a lot of trouble hearing (I swear, if my hearing goes, I'll be getting hearing aids! This is annoying as crap!!) and I can still hear my pulse in my right ear.
Despite all of that I managed to get quite a bit done yesterday. I got the chores done in the morning, and then made the bed before going to yoga. I came home, grabbed a snack and had a homework phone call with someone from my Animal Communication class. We ended up spending an hour on the phone together, but I guess that's what happens when you get to chat with a like minded person! Got off the phone with her and made some lunch, and just as I finished that the BF texted to say he was on the way home. I was excited that he was going to be home so early, and I started getting the kitchen cleaned up so that we could can the chicken stock later in the evening. I was still working on that when he got home but we decided it was going to be better to get a grocery list together and go shopping. We didn't need a huge amount, but I found several things on sale when we got to the store, so I took advantage of them. We came back home and got dinner fixed and cleaned the kitchen some more. We also managed to get the dehydrator loaded up with bananas and strawberries, so that was a good thing. At least the kitchen smelled good! We'll see how they taste later.
After we fixed dinner we cleaned up the kitchen and got the dishwasher loaded with the dishes and jars, and then prepped everything for a canner load. Got that done, but we didn't finish with all of that until about 9:00, which was later than I wanted to be done, but at least it was done. He wants to do another load tomorrow, which is fine with me if he does a lot of the prep, I'll be working again and won't be home until later. It will be good to have more stock on hand again, we go through it pretty fast. I need to clear all the chicken carcasses out of the freezer anyway, they're taking up space and I've been buying stuff to keep the freezer stocked up so I don't have room everything anymore! Hmm, I think that means we need to eat some icecream too, what a shame!
Its been raining for two days now, and is really gross. It was cold and nasty yesterday, but today its supposed to reach 62 with storms. I'm not excited about that, but at least I got all the chores done before I headed into the office today. I was late getting to work, which means I'll be late leaving and I need gas on the way home, but at least most of the chores are finished. Just the two that get fed twice a day will need to eat tonight. The good news is that this weekend is supposed to be nice, so that will give me a chance to get caught up on some outside chores that I've wanted to work on. I've got to get my tack room set up so that the new girls can actually have a place to put their stuff. I also need to do some cleaning and organizing of the shed where we store everything for the barn. We did a little sorting when we moved all my friend's stuff in there on Sunday, but it isn't as good as it needs to be, and I need to get some stuff out of there anyway. The big shed with all our other things in it needs to be straightened up, too, so we have our work cut out for us.
I should probably attempt to get the mud off my horse and start grooming him since he's begun shedding already. I need to trim his feet again before the farrier comes back in a few weeks, too. Hopefully things will be a little bit dryer by the weekend. Its supposed to be windy on Friday so maybe that will help a little bit.
I've started advertising for more boarders again. This is the part of the game that I strongly dislike. With such a small barn, my costs are tight, so I really need the barn full to stay afloat without too much struggle. Thankfully I've been keeping a really tight fist for the past few months when I thought my friend was leaving, so we'll be ok for a little while. Now that she's really leaving, though, I've got to find more people and that is annoying. I need 1, really 2 more full care boarders in order to keep things stable without too much struggle. I'm really looking forward to the day when I don't have to rely that heavily on so few customers to support myself. So send some good juju for finding really nice new people and horses!
 
EW! Just saw that the forecast this afternoon is NASTY! Storms, major wind gusts and possible tornado watches. And I'll have to drive home in this crap. Not excited at all! I need gas, but now I don't know if I want to stop. The cheap gas that I get a discount on is up here, but I'm not sure if I can make it back down this way before I get too low tomorrow... decisions decisions. I wish I didn't have to stay so long this afternoon. I guess it is what it is...
 
I haven't gotten out of mine, FEM! UGH. Its disgusting. The boys didn't get fed last night because there was no way we were tromping out through the slop in the dark to fetch them and bring them in to eat. They cleaned up their bowls this morning! Now lets hope they do it again this evening... Fussy boys. Ugh. I have never met geldings so dramatic. They had better get used to change because something is always changing around here.
Yesterday's rains were terrible. It did stop for a while in the middle of the day, and it got foggy. At one point I couldn't see the other building 100 yards out my window of the office. When I left it was starting to pour, and it was wild to see the giant parking lot snow pile steaming like crazy. Its still huge though.
Got gas for $1.19 using my grocery rewards! :weeeI hadn't used them in a while and so I was able to save 40 cents a gallon! WAHOO! I actually said that when it came up on the pump, LOL. Apparently that was my outside voice. And I managed to park on a side of the pump that wasn't getting wet in the rain. People don't like to pump gas in the rain so I had my choice of pumps. Got home and it stopped, of course. I should have fed the boys then, but I didn't realize there was such a huge line still coming. We were getting started on dinner, and the BF went outside to start the grill and I saw a weather update from a local weather group that is really accurate, and he came back in and I said, um, you're not grilling out. He said why? I said because its about to blow here like crazy, and showed him the impending radar. He said, naa, it will be ok, I don't mind getting wet. I said do you really want to grill salmon in 60 mph winds with it pouring rain sideways?! He begrudgingly said fine, I'll cook it inside. Ten minutes later he was thanking me as the rain POURED and the wind HOWLED. It was over fairly quickly, and all things considered we really dodged the worst of it. There were areas around us that had much harder winds, and tornadoes, so I'm thankful that is all it was. I have a strong dislike of storms, so I wasn't happy even as mild as it was. We were fine though.
Today the wind has been blowing pretty hard. I was really happy that the girl that feeds for me was supposed to feed tonight so I could get some stuff done and not have to feed the horses in a gale. I hate feeding horses in wind. But of course, right as I'm leaving, and way too late to be able to get to the chores, she texts me to say she can't feed tonight. I was REALLY looking forward to a night off! There goes that.
Despite that, I'm going to find a way to get to the local cupcakery tonight. They are donating 10% of sales today to the fund for the officers that were killed a few weeks ago. That's the best excuse I know of to get a cupcake. I don't indulge often, but man they are soooooo good.
Yesterday evening (not while it was storming, LOL) the BF got a call from the guy he helped out in the snow several weeks back. After helping to clear the parking lot where this guy's business is in the landlord's tractor, he was offered a job. He finally called the BF last night, and offered him not only a part time job, but potential for a full time job. I think it would be a great fit for him, and I think it would be better than where he is now. He is reluctant though, and I can't tell if he really doesn't feel right about it, or is just resistant to change (because he's majorly resistant to change... LOL). We'll see what the guy has to offer. He high balled him on a salary, so hopefully he'll come down a little, but still be above more than he's making now, especially if he can offer benefits and things like that. It could be a good leg up and shorten the BF's commute considerably. Only bad news is that it is going to require weekends and evenings as it is a part of the wedding/party industry. So we'll see how that goes. If he ends up taking it full time and is able to be home with me during the day sometimes that will make me happy and I won't mind the weekends/evenings. If he's going to be away during the day and evenings too, that won't make me very happy. But we have to get out of debt, so if this is a leg up, I suppose I can suffer for a little while.
Speaking of debt, I am feeling really good about my budget management stuff. It is tricky, and I already had to put something off because I don't have the funds for it, but the good news is that when I get paid again, I'll be able to pay all the expenses that I've incurred on my credit card since I got paid the last time. I know exactly what they are, and the fact that I can keep them covered. Now, I did have to dip into some cash I had socked away, but if it means getting ahead, then that's ok. That also includes the fact that I had to pay $30.00 for prescriptions that was unplanned, PLUS $180.00 to replace the hinges on my rear window in my truck. (What the heck, who has those break, and why the heck are they soooooo expensive?!?!) I shudder to think what that would have cost at a body shop, but thankfully we were able to get it fixed quickly and without multiple trips to the parts store, especially since that required a trip to the ford parts store and not a regular store. So I feel pretty good about things right now. I'll have a fat paycheck coming because I worked an extra day to cover the day I'm missing next pay period, so that will help me get ahead a little more. And I'll be working that expo next week which will be a BIG boost. Debt free here I come!!!!!!
Just waiting for the day to end...
 
We didn't have it quite as bad here. I was expecting it to rain all day yesterday. It didn't. But we did get T storms last night, and the wind hasn't stopped blowing. It's going to be windy tomorrow as well, and much colder than it's been.
 
Thursday and Friday were really windy, which was not fun. It did help dry out the ground quite a bit. But not enough that we could get a bale out into the feeder on Friday night. The BF played slip and slide with the bobcat until I finally told him to call it quits. We tossed a small bale out for them, and then another one in the morning on Saturday until we could get the BIG tractor out there to move the feeder and then drive the bobcat out with a bale to the fresh dry ground. It was so nice not to have the feeder in muck anymore!
We got a LOT done over the weekend!
Saturday morning we drove almost an hour up to a guy's house that used to belong to his grandfather. He and his wife just moved in and the house had never been cleaned out, so they have the task of cleaning out a 1950's house. He had some tools that the BF could use for blacksmithing (that's how he found me to contact me, through my wanted ad), and we found a surplus of awesome things. We came away with a pair of almost new vehicle ramps, a pole vice for the BF to use smithing, an old log jack, 11 quarts and 7 pint jars (complete with food still... but totally cleanable!), 2 almost new looking heavy revere copper bottom frying pans, a hand made hatchet, a couple of small hand tools, a milk can that is stainless and very clean on the inside, 2 old pulleys, and a glass carboy jug all for $170.00. I feel like we made out really well since some of the things were worth quite a bit of money. The leg vice and the truck ramps alone were worth well over what we paid for everything. That took most of the day, but along the way we stopped at TSC for more feed and home depot for a few things, so we were able to take care of those things without going out of our way.
We got home, and I got chicken stock set up, moved the hay feeder, we fed the horses, and then ended up going out for dinner because the BF just didn't want to deal with anything else.
Sunday we had a lazy morning, and then I went out and fed horses with CH and cH (her daughter) to help show them how to get through it a little better again. We went out into the pasture and hung out with the horses for a while and talked about herd dynamics and about moving horses around and how to pay attention to what is going on so you stay safe. I'm really comfortable with their ability to set up feed and such, its the handling of the horses that is concerning. They are just inexperienced and so I worry about how comfortable they are in getting out of a jam. I am hoping to work with them and their horse or another horse in the round pen to help them learn how to deal with an overly excited horse and what to do to help calm them down so they aren't amping them up worse. After I finished with that, I went into the house and caught up on my budget for the month, and then did a little cleaning. The BF ran errands, and then we worked on cleaning out the jars that we got. He opened them up and I dumped the contents into the manure pile and we buried it so that nothing would get ahold of whatever used to be food. It was amusing that the green beans were the only thing that still looked exactly like they did when they were canned. Seriously looked good enough to be eaten, which is kinda creepy!
We decided to measure the fence line to see about putting up a proper fence instead of electric, and then we spontaneously decided that since we were out there and it was a nice day (other than too much wind, still), we would get a soil sample together so that we can figure out where our pasture is at and if it needs anything this season. That was a lot of walking, and we discovered just how much water flowed through the pasture during the storm. I don't know if I've ever seen it that bad.
We finished up with that, and came back inside. The BF was voting for pizza for dinner, but I really didn't want to spend anymore money, so I pulled some naan bread out of the freezer and we made home made pizzas. It was a good feeling to be able to make something that we wanted out of simple ingredients that we had on hand. We planned our grocery list which I will shop for this afternoon after I leave work, and got ourselves set up for the week. After dinner we set up the dishwasher and got the chicken stock rolling through the canner. I've now got 16 pints in the cabinet, which is a great thing. I still have probably 4 or 5 carcasses total that I can process to make more stock, which I should continue to chip away at so that I can free up space in the freezer. The freezers are stuffed, which means I don't really have room to get anything else if it comes on sale, so I'd like to work on getting that better organized too.
I bought a few packets of seeds while we were at TSC the other day. They had Seed Savers Exchange seeds on sale, which I was excited to see. They had a lettuce variety that I want to try, plus they had some cukes that are good for pickling. I also picked up yellow sunflowers and purple sunflowers. I plan to plant them along a short fence at the end of the house where I can see them from the bedroom, it should be nice to have something blooming there through the season. If I can figure out how I'll save seeds, but I'm not sure how to do that since I've never done it before.
I need to make a trip up to the big garden place here to see what else I want to buy. I think its too early to plant things still, but I can be ready when the time comes.
This week is going to be nuts, I'm in the office today, and then tomorrow I've got my usual stuff, then the rest of the week through Sunday I'll be working the Expo. That means an hour and a half drive each way, and they are mumbling about bad weather. I'm going to go shopping this afternoon for things to eat so that I don't have to be stuck buying food the whole weekend and so I'm going to try really hard to not spend anything other than gas. All this extra money is going to go towards paying off debt! That feels really good!
 
Wow - sounds like you really scored on some nice stuff! Stick to that budget - it'll pay off in the end. Getting out of debt is the best feeling in the world! :)
 
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