Foreclosure Next Door

3rd in a series of the perfect storm (foreclosures) surrounding my urban homestead.

Twin

Foreclosure due to Illness/Poor decisions - I'd been expecting the foreclosure of my neighbor's home since October when he had casually mentioned his bank note hadn't been paid in months. He had apparently missed the financial boat sometime within the 15+ years of home ownership to refinance @ a lower rate. Years later after smoking two packs a day for forever he came down with the big C, surviving isn't always the half of it. It is also surviving the cost of cancer. 

Without a steady paycheck burdened with a McMansion sized mortgage note, fed up with responsibilities of ownership he choose not to find a solution. Just as he choose not to have his roof replaced, or his furnace fixed, or gutters hung in times of plenty. Repairs now to the twin far out weigh it's current value. 

My neighbor's choices in life are now resting on my front stoop and my heart. My worry is that the twin can become a rental. Secondly, the value of my home has over night sunk even farther down the real estate rabbit hole. 

I had on the occasion of my marriage to Woodsrunner, made a promise - that with the last child out of high school we would move to the country (yes I would blog through that transition & no it wouldn't be a 100% happy move for me). Now not unlike a million other homeowners while not exactly upside down on my note, I have no pipe dreams of being able to sell. And I don't mean sell for a profit (no profit no raw land), I mean just selling to break even. 

The twin to my 1902 two story farmhouse built on a stacked stone foundation with a hand dug cellar in the balloon frame method is @ the widest point 13' from my own home. 

The floor plans is exactly the same with a few exceptions from remodels on both. The twin has had an additional toilet installed downstairs in what was originally a walk in kitchen closet that was then blocked off & door rerouted. My twin had a wall & doorway removed converting the downstairs bedroom into a dinning room. Not the smartest move, downgrading a home from three to two bedrooms. 

The most visible difference between the twins is exterior. 

For most who aren't gardeners the difference is house color. 

For others it's the porch designs. 

Neighbor's twin has two driveways a sweet deal where on-street parking can be the norm. 

But for me who has lived with spacial confinements and lack of life giving sun shine the biggest difference between the twins is MORE dirt for one twin, not enough for the other.

The other twin sits on a double lot, a full 60' x 90'. 

It also sits off to the right on that lot giving that extra 35' of lawn all day sunshine. An extra 420 inches. 

I covet my neighbor's lot.

~~ pelenaka ~~

Foreclosure in my Backyard

2nd in the series of the perfect storm (foreclosures) surrounding my urban homestead.

Foreclosure due to death/fraud - 

One of the memories my children have of when we first moved to our urban homestead is of the secrete whole in the fence which allowed them to cut through the neighbor's yard behind us (actually off to the right) down her driveway & on to the street. From there they would walk the city sidewalk to the corner, hang a right walk a dozen or so yards to a major intersection where a school crossing guard would greet them.   

They could accomplish the same route with a few more steps but it lacked the same ambiance as wiggling their bodies between an old chain link fence post and an even older garage. 

Have to admit that squeezing through the opening mindful of the roses & bramble was endearing. Only once on my way to shoot the breeze on her front porch did I get hung up. And yes, I could have easily just walked around the corner, past the garage to her house. 


The wonderful woman who lived in the house behinds (& off to the right) moved away a year later. Her husband received a promotion & relocation with in the prison system to an area where she had family. Children missed the invites over for cookie baking. I missed the pleasant conversations.
Secretly I hoped she wouldn't be able to sell this house with it's unique placement of the only bathroom years after it's completion. Owner builds, thick. strong and sound often don't have the best lay outs. You can always tell when a husband didn't heed his wife's constructive criticism.  


# 9 sold to an elderly couple from the sun shine state with a phoo-phoo dog in tow. He was in his late eighties the epitome of the word spry. More than once he would call over to me from his spot on the roof over the laundry room converted from a back porch that once held firewood and an ice box. 
You can't do that I would plead. I'm a nurse so if you fall I'd have to come help. I'm busy hanging laundry ... Maybe I need a naughty nurse he would yell back. 
This is why your wife dislikes me I always answered. 
An old sailor who had more children then even he knew about. Those that visited asked for funds but instead got a trail of international curse words throw @ them.  Those were the times that I hung laundry on my own without the help of little fingers handing me cloths pins.


Interesting the topics that are heard over backyard fences huh?  

In the Spring he planted a Cheery tree dead center of his little yard.  The sailor paid my 8 year old son a dollar to dig the whole good & deep. After finding broken china, a bit of a beer bottle, and clay title he would have done the job for free. For the next week it was all I could do to keep him from digging up our yard. 


"Aren't you concerned about that Cherry not getting enough sun? " I asked as I looked directly up into my next door neighbor's massive Maple tree that resembles a head of broccoli. That tree straddles four yards and two roofs. 


"Sweetheart, it don't matter", traces of Bronx accent @ the end of every sentence. 
"It's not like I'll live to see a harvest".


After the funeral the wife with her itty -bitty barking dog that mandated a gate made out of scraps to close the hole in the fence, felt a Cadillac would ease the pain of her sailor's departure. Bought with the proceeds of a reverse mortgage. Now with a new ride she was rarely home.
The Cherry tree just a year after it's planting despite the shade & lack of care gave enough to make a small pie. The neighborhood cats are in charge of the security detail. 


One day the widow just didn't come home. 


A year no two went by ... the Cherry tree thrived. 
The code man came & went. 
By now I was thankful that the Blackberry Bramble had overtaken the hole providing cover for my homesteading activities. In Winter he stands by his car never brave enough to trudge to the back of the lot. 


Then hollow pounding  of a process server every once in a while would ring out between the garage & our shed. Occasionally I'd hear a Hello ... Hello?  
I'd yell back a hello spoken like Julia Child. 


Eventually one spilled the beans to the neighbor on the right of the retro green painted house. The reverse mortgage company finally realized that the Grandma who reminded us all of Tweedy Bird's owner, had duped them. They didn't due their due diligence like so many in the mortgage housing scandal.
It was wrong of us to be proud of Con-artist Granny, but we were. 


No, we didn't know where she was but she enjoys her Bingo, check the halls start first with the Catholics then move on the the Elks. If she's not there check the Falls.
Yes, her husband is @ Forrest Lawn we attended the wake. 
No I doubt any of his children know her whereabouts. 


I could drop a dime if you want, have a card? 




~~ pelenaka ~~


P.S. - unlike the mortgage company that may or may not have acquired the house across the street from us, this one is good about property maintenance. Which is why when the crew shows up we always remind them about Pepe LaPew. 
The house is now on the market for a third of it's assessed value needing a new main roof (previous owner replaced roof over the converted porch).








                                                                         

Surrounded - Foreclosure Crisis Hits Home

1st in a series of the perfect storm surrounding my urban homestead.

 1900 - ?

Foreclosure due to drugs/divorce -
It started slow enough, in front of our own eyes so to speak.
Piece by piece, corner by corner we watched as it unraveled across the street on an almost daily basis until now the home sits vacant in legal limbo. Not so much of an eyesore because we the hood have taken to keeping the yard tidy coveting the space. Dreams of annexation sanctioned by a city auction float in our heads.

# 35 never really had good karma @ least since Nixon was president.
Years before I ever thought of living in the Queen City this typical four bedroom balloon framed home saddled with three mortgages had started in financial decline.
Neighborhood lore says the man of the castle a sheriff, wore his wife beaters proudly in the home. The lady who loved him so, she followed to the sunshine state. No doubt to wash his undershirts until her fingers bleed. Their children took advantage of the opportunity to scatter, to college where keggers were the norm not knock down spousal discord.

Then this home became a rental to a single mother with wayward teens who lowered themselves from the upstairs windows on sheets. I made a metal note to myself to short sheet my children when they became of age.

There was the family from Russia, teachers who hated Poles yet ate pirogi like candy.
Karma kicked them to the curb soon enough. Their names having gained profanity status @ the Polish Falcons club.

Then the blue house with white trim became a pawn in a privately backed note that didn't end well for the lender. After some costly repairs & a short sale a young couple moved in.

They proudly introduced themselves.
Young lovers since grade school who were to be married in the spring.
Wanderers from the rural portion of the county. Born & bred in open pastures they told us, three dogs in tow. Soon joined by another followed by a few cats.
And a mother of the bride who loved to tell me how much she enjoyed Puerto Rican food. Her crack mouth breaking into a wide smile each & every time.
And then their entourage that resembled the rejects from an open casting call of you know your a red neck punch lines, came & went running the streets like gas was 76¢ a gallon. Midnight knocking ... cars pulling away from the curb never eating where they shit.

I had asked if the house had been a wedding present, perhaps a rich uncle with a warped sense of humor. Or maybe they had won it in a lottery site unseen ?
Their city lot measures 40' x 100'.
No city shed, not much of a porch after a late seventies remodel.

By the time snow fell again their body language said it all as the came & went from this house built in 1900 on a stacked stone foundation. Four good sized bedrooms, two bath, an eat in kitchen. New replacement windows and kitchen cabinets. A fresh coat of paint to seal in that bad karma.

Soon the newest man of this house was replaced.
Then he.
Then one more maybe two.
The lady of the house grew thinner, given to bouts of housecleaning late into the night.
To fund her appetite items were sold; appliances, previous mister's belongings, then pipes, and eventually a furnace. Windows left open in rainy weather. Cats and squirrels made themselves @ home while she visited the big house. Two of her old romances came & loaded the last of the furniture that had been wedding gifts.
Eventually a few memos taped to the front door explained it all.
No trespassing by order of XYZ Mortgage lender.
No digits. No email addy.

Periodically a contractor stops by to check for human squatters. He snaps a cell phone pic of the meter then walks to the back yard. Makes a few notations on his clip board then gets in his ride unless we chat.

I always imagine the squatters wearing hazmat suits 24/7 because now the mold and native animal droppings have grown exponentially. My new neighbors would stroll across the asphalt measuring cup in hand. Can we get a cup of lye from you ? We were making a batch & ran out.

The lender's clip board holder never knows anything about when # 35 will be ready for sale.
It's not his job.
Neither is boarding up the opening were the skunks enter.
Each time he repeats that line I hear canned laughter and think of Chico & the Man. I tell him that my husband has replaced the plywood twice. Again he repeats Chico's line and assures us he will mention it in his report to them.
He plays deaf when I ask who them is.

He tells us tales of 200k homes in worse shape than this as he motions to the blue house with a quiet water stain that marks the siding were the gutters have failed. How's you like to be those neighbors ?
I roll my eyes knowing I'd die of stress with a bank note that size.
But I imagine a never ending yard to garden in. Then I realize I wouldn't have to time to garden I'd be working my life away.
200 grand.
My mind just can't wrap around the amount of debt.

Once he called the fire dept. to pump out the cellar of waist deep murky water.
As I watched fireman dig through snow, ice, gravel to uncover the shut off valve my mind wandered to the idea of growing fish in cellars of abandoned homes.

The code man tells us this house is in limbo.
If the neighbor turned metal scrapper would only sign off the powers that be can take over. He quiets when I ask if "the powers that be" is code for the city.
Call me he says handing me his card.
There's paper out on her.
I can get her to sign off.
I stifle a chuckle, thinking of him playing bad cop code man ... Sign this you delinquent homeowner who didn't give a crap about her neighbors SIGN IT NOW !

I wonder if the reason no one has seen her is she swimming with the fishes in basement ?

The neighbor to the right diligently mows the front lawn with her own weekly. She mumbles about it disappearing so she can buy the lot.
I joke that I could make it happen if she agrees to let me garden on this lot that has no shade issues all the live long day. I imagine the view from my living room window a dwarf apple orchard fragrant full of pink in May.

Every other week I join her with my weed eater and push broom.
A two woman neighborhood landscape team manicuring the front lawn of a lost cause.
Neighbor in back notifies us that he will be attending the as yet unannounced foreclosure auction.
Save us a spot I think as we both nod.
He hands us a large plastic trash bag to hold the grass clipping before going back inside.
So far I have collected almost a box's worth of bags since I compost.

With fresh snowfall it is easy to see if anyone has been peeping in the windows of #35.
I am given to fits of yelling out my front window @ people who lurk on the porch always asking if that girl still lives here, they need to find her.
Get on the list behind the dozen or so homeowners on this avenue, a bondsman who wears business attire and drives a hybrid, & the code man.

I can ask po po for you ... you want ?
No, it's not for rent it has bad karma.
Now get off the porch.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Jay oh Bee Not

Have you ever heard that news quote about how the majority of Americans are just 2 paychecks away from being homeless.
Two, dos, one two.
Husband, along with his coworkers have been downsized or in plain terms no one will have a  J O B by the end of next month. So in reality three paychecks.
While we're not gonna be homeless nor go hungry we are just 3 paychecks away from zero income.
Zip, zilch, nada, goose egg.

Hard days night or slept like a baby ?
While I would have hoped to have every last one of my mason jars filled or shelf after shelf filled with commercially canned food it's all good. We have 4 cords of firewood, no car note, and a good half gallon of elbow grease coupled with good old fashioned survival skills.

We've been practicing living on the (poverty) line. Now we just need to kick it up a notch.

~~ pelenaka ~~

Pathetic

This years 1st harvest of canning tomatoes San Marzano out of our backyard garden.

Ended up picking a market basket full of those mini San Marzano tomatoes. I removed the skins by the boiling hot water method, then threw them in the crock pot with rosemary, basil, and sage from the garden along with a few sauteed carrots, eggplants, onions, and peppers.  Also added some dehydrated parsley from a barter deal a few years ago.  Bay leaf came from a houseplant I use to have way back when.  Original recipe called for red wine so I subbed water with a few beef bullion cubes instead. 

Ended up being enough for 3 for dinner & left overs for hubby's work lunch the next day.

~~ pelenaka ~~

Amazon Bulk Oatmeal

Unable to buy the 50 pounds of Organic Red Winter Wheat Berries that I posted about a few days ago because it's no longer in stock. Next best price is 25 pound bag or 92¢ per pound an increase of almost 20¢ from the deal I posted about.
That's what happens to procrastinators, they loose out.

Clicked on the icon for Amazon to notify me when the 50 pound bag of Great River is in stock.
We have enough wheat berries (non-organic) in the short term pantry to hold us over for the year. And another two years worth in the long term preps.

In the meantime I ordered

Subscribe & Save - $21.16 for 11 & 1/4 pounds (12¢ per once) of organic steel cut oats a.k.a. Irish or Scottish depending on who's doing the cooking. Woodsrunner is of Scottish decent & I'm half Irish. Normally the Puerto Rican in me cooks Farina for breakfast. With Winter around the corner I think having a bowl of hearty oatmeal topped with my home canned applesauce then sprinkled with nutmeg would set us straight. 

Yes, I fully realize that I can't get any more boring than ordering oatmeal with my free money. What can I say knowing I have a stocked pantry makes me happy. 

Knowing that I'm prepping for free makes me extremely happy. 

~~ pelenaka ~~ 

Scent to Scent Combat

After much internet research and label reading @ the not so local big box home improvement store ($15.99 for 8 oz. of a solution containing capsaicin/chili pepper ) this is what we have come up with to deter our family of skunks.
Hot sauce as in Buffalo Style Wings, hot sauce bought @ the restaurant supply store. Secretly hubby hopes we have enough left over for a dinner.
Sprayed around the perimeter of our city lot.
So far so good.
We were able to find their den, which is directly behind neighbor's shed in a ten foot high pile of leaves he built last Fall. His son-in-law suggested we call the city to which I replied, "really you want the city back here", while I stared at his father-in-law's listing cinder block chimney. Really I was think about all the borderline homesteading activities we do ...
No we don't want the city back here replied my neighbor.
No we don't we replied.

Why is it that people are so quick to moan about government intervention in their lives but they are so quick to call ?

So far it's been one & half days without a skunk sighting although it did rain heavy this morning. Tomorrow I'll reapply to our lot.
Neighbor who's providing shelter said that he had his own methods.
Should be interesting or rather aromatic, hopefully whatever he does doesn't bring the man down on us.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Yo Pepe Le Pew

For the last few months my hood has been battling a skunk problem that was more of a annoyance personally for us. Then it became personal once I planted my raised beds as the skunks started digging up plants. Now it's become a combination of personal safety, inhibiting our use of our city lot, and to an extent food terrorism.
The skunks are everywhere. They are in the driveway preventing us from coming & going. They sit out on the city sidewalk halting the shoe leather express which has greatly curbed our neighborhood's favorite past time porch visiting. Yesterday I had to hang wet laundry inside instead of my clothesline.
We weren't able to sit out on the patio enjoying a cold beer.
There destruction of our garden equals taking food out of our mouths.

Urban skunks unlike rural have no fear. They will tread on by within a few feet of us on their way to their den or a water source. You could if your brave enough sit on my glider on my patio in the back yard and when one meanders by, reach out and pet it's head.

This is a pic I took when I went out to hang laundry on the line. The clothes line/swing set is the 6x6 post you see directly behind that black pot. The raised bed is actually on the neighbor's property. It holds 2 y.o. Red Raspberry shrubs, flats of potted strawberries and violets, along with Shasta Daisies to be used for bartering or selling.
I'm oh about 8 feet away. I had the camera in my apron pocket so I could snap a few pics after pinning hubby unders to the line.

Needless to say the clothes were hung on the enclosed front porch.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Broke

Apparently the gods realized I have moolah because everything on the homestead is breaking.
It started a few days ago and is gaining speed.

1. My oven died. And of course one only realizes it when one is ready to bake - in this case a two loaves of rye bread (still have 1/2 pound of Easter ham) and a few pies.
2. I broke my lap top. don't ask I don't want to talk 'bout it. Suffice to say that apparently I can't fix everything. Hubby's net book has a virus that he can't fix so he's seeking professional help (we'll both be offline for a while). 
3. My bicycle has a flat.

I don't no which to cry over first.
My circa 1949 Hot Point or the fact that I won't have access to the world and all that wonderful knowledge. Or that there's no fresh baked rye bread.
Or that in about another month & half I'll be broke. That what is left of income tax money will after paying the car insurance, co-pay for daughters wisdom tooth extraction (she vetoed a home procedure), and the down payment for her orthodontics, the cushion that I've been using to keep the homestead afloat will be gone.
Time to be gainfully employed.

On the backside the other half of my Amazon order came - 12 jars of Fisher brand creamy peanut butter, 28 oz. each. Expiration date is 07/07/11 but according to that website I wrote about in my last post the peanut butter is good for another 2 years - 2013.
12 jars is pretty much a year's worth stocked for free via swagbucks
I'm looking at buying a bulk order powdered milk next. Followed by tuna, then hmm what else can't we produce nor live without ? Coffee, creamer, mayo ...what other shelf stable items would u buy with free money ?
Yeah say it with me ... canning lids.

Spent yesterday in the backyard potting up seedlings for both our use and my upcoming plant sale. I also hope to have enough for bartering opps. Just as I was washing up to get ready to pick Violets for jelly it rained again.
I won't complain because the few inches in my cellar is nothing to complain about when u think about all the flooding tasking place down south.
This weekend is suppose to be dry so besides doing laundry (clothes line) I'll be working outside.
I might have a line on permission to forage for plants on a few city lots.
I also need to cobble together a solar oven. I picked Rhubarb from the garden and coupled it with a can of crushed pineapple out of the pantry. Gonna try and bake a pie using solar.

Pray that I can pay the computer guy in pie err pray that I can build a decent solar oven so I can offer pies.
Geez I need a hankie.
Did I mention my bike has a flat ?


~~ pelenaka ~~

Mrs. Kravetz

Recently a more famous urban homesteader I has had some tribulations due to her farming activities.
She got popped for selling ... wait for it, let it simmer, exhale ... selling chard.
Seems that her raising rabbits for food may have sparked the dime being dropped to Oakland's code man.
An act of food terrorism.


~~ pelenaka ~~

VLCA

This is one of my all time favorite books written in by Bolton Hall.

Assisted by R.F. Powell

Superintendent of the Vacant Lot Cultivation in Philadelphia

Published by Grosset & Dunlap - New York

Copyright 1907 March

By the Macmillan Company

Chapter IV 

Vacant City Lot Cultivation

Lessons for the the intensive cultivator - of poor land.

The effect upon physical, mental, moral health - illustrated.

A farm educator - in voluntary co-operation. Appreciation by railroads.

In Europe. In school gardens. Wonderful production. Your opportunity.

In this book, necessarily, we have to take much upon the reports of others checking them only by our own judgement and experience. The following account of what has been done and is being done on plots of about a quarter acre to each family, however can be easily re-verified by anyone who will go or write to Philadelphia, or examine the New York experiment. Both show what can be done even by unskilled labor, with hardly any capital, on small plots of ground where the soil is poor, but which is well situated.

The directors say: "The Philadelphia Vacant Lot Cultivation Association was organized in 1897, when relief agencies were vainly striving to provide adequate assistance for the host of unemployed. The cultivation of vacant city lots had already been tried successfully in other cities. The first year we provided gardens, seeds, tools, and instruction only, for about 100 families on twenty-seven acres of ground. At a total cost to contributors of about $1,800, our gardeners produced $6,000, worth of crops.

"During ten years more than four thousand four hundred families have been assisted, many old people who could no longer keep up the rapid pace of our industrial life, cripples whose physical condition held them back in the race for work, persons who on account of sickness or other misfortunes have been thrown out through sharp competition in modern business, and unfortunate beings who, though clear in mind and strong in muscle, on account of business conditions, have been forced to take the ranks of the unemployed - these have all had the opportunity to enjoy all of the fruits from natures great storehouse which an application of their own labor and skill might secure them.

I would like to extend my apologies to the Dervaes Family of Pasadena, California.

In my mind I firmly believed that Vacant Lot Cultivation was interchangeable with the term urban homesteading, and the term was in use in the late 1890's.

I see now that I was wrong.

That despite a common concept of a homesteading lifestyle in a city,

your copyrighted term shares nothing of the hardships that earlier gardeners faced in both lack of hospitable climate, knowledge, appropriate tools, or ownership of ground to say nothing of the lack of basic capital. These people were cultivators of all that is revered in gardening all that is good.

In short you sir are not worthy to lick the Vacant Lot Cultivation Association's hoes. 

~~ pelenaka ~~

who walks the talk without holding paper

Worth Dying For?

Black Friday.
Neither hubby nor I went shopping.
I'm doing a no buy Christmas for the most part & hubby is well - he gets into shopping in a frugally morbid type way. I'll explain later lets just say he torments the gift recipient for weeks.
DD#2 rode her bike out to a strip mall with a coupon for 20% off and bought new sneakers with her own money. Pretty proud of her except for the fact that it was snowing, icy, & bitterly cold. Oh yeah and peeps were out acting like fools and there she was on her bike.
Couldn't wait until I could hook her up with a ride. So from now to the day these 'neakers bite the dust they will be known as to die for.
Speaking of to die for here's a clip from channel WIVB 4 Buffalo on a stampede @ Target. It's funny now because as far as has been reported no one was seriously injured. The one guy who has pain written all over his face managed to drag himself over to electronics to find a relative, then go to the ER where they T&R'd.
Yeah it's all fun & games til some one's crushed in the door way of a national discount chain.
No word on if he scored a t.v.

Cyber Monday - hope to score a deal on long johns for myself & the girls, along with a pair of Winter boots for me. Would also like to score a great deal on a Berkly Water Filter.

On a more important note - we were able to spend a very nice Thanksgiving @ my in laws. Brought my Mom who enjoyed meeting her favorite son in law's parents fro the first time. A nice touch was my MIL bought a few plantain bananas which she asked my mother to cook for us. Mom was more than happy to show off cooking up some platanos.

~~ pelenaka ~~

Multi tasking G.A. Way

Prior to our home having a wood stove we dried cloths just like everyone in the hood who didn't have a clothes drier, that is to say we used a ghetto clothes drier a.k.a. a heating duct vent or a radiator. Now we do it the Amish way.
Yeah I know but before everyone get's their stopenfloppers in a knot I'm sitting a few feet away multitasking so to speak to the power of 5. Besides laundry there's dough raising in the bread bucket under the huge cast iron skillet which has tarragon dehydrating. Cooking on the stove as well as on a high trivet on the right side of the hearth  is dinner. Me blogging is the final task.
Big push to finish routine chores since tomorrow is pie baking. Also need to install one of my last 3 replacement windows. I can not freakin believe that after 10 years and 12 windows later I will be done!
With windows that is. When I'm actually done with the final room of this house word is that family will box me then stick a couple saw horses under the casket and call it a wake. All the while sipping rum and admiring the wonderfully refinished wood work. 
An added bonus is that I should be getting mullah back from National Grid who is sponsoring an energy incentive program. 30 smackeroos in my back pocket err under the bed. Plus there is still the Energy Tax Credit for 2010.

Catch up - on sabbatical again my home care cased ended. Total roof fund was just over 3 grand before the gods realized I had dead presidents up under my bed. DD#2 needed a few hundred for a XC meet in NYC. She fund raised the majority, is a solid B/C student, & volunteers hours @ church so I splurged. Then the car needed work. And on it went until the fund shrunk by a grand & a quarter.
Past 3 weeks been battling a dental infection which has kept me from gutting the final 3 walls of the living room. Really should have purchased the extended warranty years ago before I started breaking down.
Today we went & rented a storage space ($50) to hold a slightly (installed then returned the next day) used carpet that we scored for $35. I foolishly thought that I could wrap it up in plastic & work around it. Well that & the church pew, coffee table bought from scratch & dent for $70 along with a few other odds and ends. Hard to see the paper trail of where that $1500 went huh.
Storage deal is until January 1st.
Time is wasting anyone seen Norm & the gang from TOH ?
I'm making pie!

~~ pelenaka ~~
who has a clean dry and oh so warm stoppenflopper

Ain't No Sunshine

Blame lack of Sunshine as the primary reason behind my poor harvest this garden season.

So far I have gotten 7 quarts of stewed Tomatoes, a handful of deformed curly -q Cukes, about a dozen fair sized Zucchini and Summer squash. Peach trees had a small harvest made even smaller due to flying rats. We were robbed in both broad daylight and rhythmic calm of an inner city night. In years past playing children and hours spent in the garden posted our sent as a deterrent. Or it could be that this upcoming Winter will be a hard one. 

Early afternoon on the back half of thirtyfivebyninety.

Notice the shadows in both the foreground and the right side of the tomato plant against the trellis.

Total amount of direct sunshine in this part of the garden is > 3 hours.

Raised bed just to the right of the beds pictured above.

Same day, same time, same lack of direct sunshine.

Cantaloupe growing on trellis along with Roma toms, and a volunteer Sunflower.

Sunflower is a direct descendant of hybrid Mammoths that I planted 9 years ago. Sunflower fence along the white picket in the background. Tallest is over 18 feet high.

Interesting to note that this year is the year that all the heads were numerous but very small.

Enjoyed by Finches.

Shadows, shadows, shadows.

Too many cool nights and rainy days.

Neighbor's 100 plus year old Maple tree shaped like a broccoli stalk.

2 years ago paid out $350 to have it trimmed with moderate results. Upside was that no limbs fell on our 81 year old dilapidated garage these past few Winters.

Notice the moss on both the roof's of our garage & the neighbor's home.

Tree top right hand corner is city owned planted in the hell strip.

Yeah it's that tall that it's shadow reaches my backyard.

As much as I petition for removal neighbor petitions against.

One of two directions I can grow - don't put in a garden next year devoting efforts to foraging & gleaning, find a way to increase sunlight with artificial methods, kill neighbor's trees.

Plural because I didn't photograph the Walnut tree that blocks all early morning sunshine.That tree is located just behind my greenhouse on a vacant lot. A lot that gets 9 hours of glorious sunshine.

5 years ago DH attempted to barter lawn care for use of the lot for container gardening but the owner wasn't interested. Should have cut it down 10 years ago when it was only 15 feet high.

Lost opportunities suck.

Yeah I'm gonna need a really good alibi.

~~ pelenaka ~~

LBYM

Living below your means -
While a lot of peeps who read that phrase will automatically translate this into the concept, “self denial” it is never the less a very valuable lifestyle tool. Unfortunately like all good lifestyle tool this guiding principle takes effort. Often a huge amount of effort. More than I had anticipated I mean this is me we are talking about. Piece of cake.
Roadblocks are if not constantly then almost weekly being built on my path to saving for a new roof. It is as if the gods know that I have coin. I myself have been really good about not dipping into the roof fund even for just a taste of bread.
Items that require cash keep popping up as if I’m related to the Rockefellers.
First it was DD#3 lack of a confirmation dress. After spending a few hours in several area thrift stores no frilly frock could be had that we both agreed on. Not to mention what’s with the new vintage clothing trend so popular? The 2nd hand retail prices on ’80’s party gear had outfits costing more now then back in 1987. If I had only known I would have saved all those men’s styled pinstriped suit dresses with the huge shoulder pads. Yeah I fancied myself an uptown girl.
LSS we ended up in a retail store’s changing room trying on numerous dresses ala Miley Cyrus. Finally we settled on a nice sundress with spaghetti straps that had a cute cropped jacket to match. Right length, right amount of cleavage, and almost 100% cotton (no dry cleaning). Daughter instantly fell in love with this high priced piece of cloth.
Quietly under her breath she began the assault. Mentioning that she would wear this for her 8th grade graduation. Also any upcoming weddings or occasions. Then she began counting off the already owned pairs of shoes that would match this ensemble. Deal was sealed when she mumbled something about wearing this for her wedding.
On sale for $65.
Quick cell call to gf who was able to go online for a promotion code. Quick chat with store manager to see if she would accept the code in numbers instead of an actual bar code that needs to be scanned. Me, “I would like to buy this dress but it is over my budget without a discount. Would you be able to accept a promotion code without an actual paper coupon?”. Manager,“ Yes, if you have the code we can punch it in”.
DD#3 snarked something about if we had our cell phones online then we wouldn’t need to call around for a friend who could go online. True that but how many times do we buy retail dear daughter?
Cashier just punched in the combination of letters & numbers which took off 15%. Dress came out to $57 something tax included.
Part of the quid pro quo between us will be that she take on a greater share of chores without nagging. Good deal for me now that I am back to work.
Still wish that we had found something to our taste up in the attic stash.
My son my only son mentioned in our twice weekly phone call that he had wanted to attend a leadership camp sponsored by his high school’s ROTC unit but that his father had said money was tight ( he hasn‘t gone without cable in the last 20 years). Deal was struck - after the conference when he came home for his Summer visit he would either pay me back in cash or barter. Barter - help with home improvements such as an upcoming interior wall removal. If he’s unable to snag a Summer job then he is to volunteer @ a neighborhood hospital.
Money order for $100 to cover his camp.
　
~~ pelenaka ~~
Who is giving some serious thought to a jail house tat on her right hand - LBYM

Changing up dealers

Lately I have been giving some serious thought to alternative energy suppliers . I had vaguely considered the concept before putting the matter on the back burner until recently, thanks to National Fuel, my local natural gas company. If they hadn’t changed out a perfectly functional meter then I wouldn’t have been forced into action. Well that's not entirely true. I'm sure I would have been spurred to action when my gas rates ate a hole in our finances. We all know how I go .
A few weeks ago there was a message left on our voicemail by National Fuel that the meter needed to be changed out, because the meter reader wasn’t able to record an accurate reading. It was @ that point where the rep from the gas company's voice started trailing off and she mumbled something about water in the dials. Then she mentioned that the meter was installed in 1976 so it was due.
Yeah, made me wonder too. I immediately assumed that our new meter would be a high tech digital version of the gray metal box that was installed. Perhaps National Fuel would install the meter that allows readings from the outside. Thus no more estimated bills because no one was home to let the meter reader in !
So I trek down to the cellar.
Cell & flashlight in hand. No canary.
There on the far foundation wall about two and half feet above the cement floor stood the meter as gray and metal as the day it was installed. No rust, no damage, no dampness, no obscured dials. Just a cobweb and a bit of mortar dust from the foundation on it's shinny gray body.
Ring ring …National Fuel Service Appointments this is Jane how may I help you?
GM Jane, I received a message that my meter needed to be changed out.
Thank you for calling let’s set up a time to do that. It only takes 15 to 20 minutes to complete the procedure. Anytime between …
Jane, ah I’m actually calling you from my cellar … standing in front of the meter. I gotta say that there’s no problem reading the dials. I could tell you the current read right now. This decision to update my meter isn’t due to the low amount of gas that we consume is it ?
Ah no, the reason given was that there was water in the dials. So let’s set up an appointment …
Any chance that the new meter is that type that can be read from the outside of my home Jane?
Ah no … so anytime between the hours for 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. …

LSS it took the guy about 17 minutes to change out my vintage 1976 meter with the updated version that stands a bit higher and more flush with the foundation wall.
Before he disconnected the old meter he had me run the furnace both before and after. He handled the water heater assuring me that he would set it back to the warm setting just above the vacation setting on the dial. He recorded the make and model of the heater along with the info on the furnace. He asked three times about my kitchen range. Gas or Electric ?

He didn’t notice any water in the dial compartment nor water inside either.

For the record the hot water heater circa 2000 is wrapped in an insulation blanket. The water temp is set @ 110. Not as hot as I'd prefer but the lower temp besides conserving gas discourages long showers. In the Summer the heater is lowered to the vacation setting. As I've written before on my posts we've always kept the thermostat down in the low 60's. During the day when I was home alone sleeping I kept it set @ 56 to 58. When the children came home from school then depending on how cold it was outside the thermostat is raised.
Now that our primary heating source is the wood stove the only time the furnace clicks on is when the stove is out like when we're not home. For those periods the furnace is set @ 48 degrees (enough to keep the pipes & family cat from freezing).

Now I have to educated myself on using an alternative natural gas supplier.
Any tips ? What exactly does one look for in an alternative utility supplier ?

Jet Blue is offering 3k bonus miles if I sigh up with an alternative supplier. would be nice to go see family in P.R. soon. Will have to read the fine print on that offer.

New bill came in @ $90 & some change. I'll dig out Dec. 2008 bill to compare.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Slate & Chalk

Just a freaking rant to post about today.
No soap box 'cause remember I'm unemployed so too broke to buy a box. Also it's a few days past garbage pick up otherwise I'd score a box outta some one's recycle bin. Please post your thoughts about my rave because I want to start a national movement or at least a local one. So here's my gripe.

What makes a public school teacher decide that only certain colors in regards to a binder/folder are acceptable for their class ? Why is it necessary to be color specific ? Can't any folder provided it has the required pockets & prongs no matter the color do? Can't the subject just be written on the top right hand corner like we did old school ?
What's with cloth book covers which retail for $4.99 ? Are these covers so much better than brown paper bags ?
Are teachers receiving a kick back from manufactures of school supplies ?

I mean think about it seriously, if there are 28 students all needing a cloth book cover that equals $139.72
Now x that amount by 6 classes = 168 students / 168 cloth book covers. Total of $838.32.
That's a bit of coin by anyone standard.

So here's my beef.
Took DD#3 out to buy 3 folders to complete her list of required school supplies. She needed three folders that were in the following colors; pale purple, light orange, and bright green. I kid you not.
So after going to not only the mega store & an office supply place we finally found them, sorta. The folder were in paper not plastic.
A few years ago I started purchasing their school folders in plastic which @ the end of the year could be washed in warm soapy water to remove the plain white address label on the top right hand corner. The label stated their name,grade, & subject.
So far my children have been using the same folders for 3 years.
So far so good right? Yeah, until this school year when my 8th grader put together her backpack for school & informed me we have an issue. We did have the right colors. Not to mention the two cloth book covers on her list.

So we spent like a total of $3.67 for 3 paper folders, 2 ten packs of pens.
No cloth covers. Instead I emailed the teacher informing her I was unemployed. Also that I found it personally offensive to encourage consumerism especially when that product isn't made in America. Practically asked her if she didn't believe in being green. Then I put a spin on the how a cloth cover stifles the creative juices by not encouraging mindless doodling on a simple brown paper book cover. Add something along the lines of please call if this is a problem and I hope this won't affect her grade in your class. Thought about adding that we could contact our house of worship for financial assistance but husband thought that was over kill. Besides we really wouldn't do that.
Now before anyone comments about how hard teaching is I have to say I agree. My brother teaches 6th grade in an inner city school. It's not about the profession it's about need vs. want.
I mean back in the day it was as simple as a slate & a piece of chalk.
I understand the calculus calculator. I even get needing a lap top in certain classes.
But a cloth book cover?

~~ pelenaka ~~