Frugal Things January

These are the frugal things DH and I did in January:

He went to the farm store for four more wooden posts needed for the third pasture we are cross fencing (corner post between pasture 3 & pasture 4, plus 2 gate posts and a brace post for pasture 3) and paid exactly ONE DOLLAR thanks to rewards points we had with that store's loyalty program and credit card.  Every time I buy bedding or feed or any other horse farm related expenses, I put it on the account and earn points which tend to add up quickly.  The account balance gets paid off monthly from part of the income I get from boarding.

We continued eating mainly from the freezers, cellar, and pantry.

I made bread instead of buying it.  (Due to muscle cramping issues when kneading dough, I did have to buy bread a few times in December.)

DH went and picked up a free cord of dried firewood from his sister's neighbor who was doing a yard clean up and decided they weren't ever going to use the wood. It wasn't the highest BTU wood, but it was free and did last a couple of weeks during the coldest weather we've had this winter so far.

I used money received as a Christmas gift to buy a waffle knit cooler for Poetess and brackets to hang halters on the stall doors.  The cooler was on sale, and I got a bulk discount on the brackets because I ordered six (planning for when we have all six stalls built and in use).

I bought DH 2 pair of Duluth jeans at 30% off.  He finds that these jeans are nice and sturdy, wear well, and are super comfy (if your guy hasn't tried Duluth Ballroom jeans, DH recommends them!)

Bought future birthday presents for Rascal and Faline for half off after Christmas at one of the farm stores I shop at.

Gave DH a haircut.

Went to a used tack sale where I spent less than $100 and came home with more than $250 worth of equipment.  Everything I bought looks like it's brand new/very lightly used and should last me longer than I actually plan to be in the horse business (I mean, I'm over 50 all ready, I don't think I'll be mucking stalls and training other people's horses 20 years from now).  Plus, since most of it is western tack, which I kept very little of after deciding my passion was dressage 30 years ago, I was in need of it for when I/we get a horse that the grandkids can ride and I can use to give beginner lessons on.

Real January Weather

 In the past week, we went from above normal temperatures to real January weather for Michigan.  Which means snow, blowing snow, single digit high temperatures and below zero wind chills.  The kind of weather where I leave the cellar light (incandescent bulb) on round the clock to help keep it warm enough that the temperature down there stays above freezing.  I actually considered swapping out the bulb for the chicken brooder heat lamp bulb (250 watt), but that wasn't needed.  The regular old 100 watt incandescent did the trick.

Meanwhile, in the chicken coop, I kept the doors shut for a couple of days; both because the chickens weren't about to come out in blowing drifting snow and so that it stayed a little warmer in there and their waterer didn't freeze quite as quickly.  Once the weather cleared a bit and we had a non-windy sunny day I shoveled the drifted snow away from the front of the coop and opened their door.  I even spread some apple peels (from canning more applesauce with the apples in the cellar) on top of the hardpacked snow in the hope of enticing the chickens outside.  They weren't so fond of the idea.

Several chickens peeked outside, but only one ventured out, 

judging from the tracks I saw later that day.

Speaking of tracks, while there was a noted absence of deer tracks in the yard and the woods, indicating they were hunkered down on someone else's property (typically the one that used to be a Christmas tree farm and still has lots of large pines to shelter among and under), there were rabbit and bird tracks everywhere.  Including many with wingtip impressions in the snow where the bird had taken flight.

The cold weather, when it wasn't blowing snow, was perfect for pruning the orchard.  DH and I spent about an hour and a half one afternoon giving a hard pruning to the pear trees, including cutting off all the vertical branches at the top of the tree to keep it from getting too tall and spindly (something we didn't get to last winter) and encourage it to grow more outward.  They look rather sheared now, but will rebound and look very nice this summer.  Another afternoon, while DH was away at work, I pruned the three apple trees from the ground as far as I could reach with the (extendable handled) loppers.  We will still need to get out our mechanical lift system (aka tractor) to finish off the tops of the apple trees.

The picture below doesn't do it justice, but one very cold morning we had a beautiful sunrise.

For the most part, horses were turned out all day everyday.  I double blanketed the Poetess (being a thinner coated Thoroughbred and all) and kept checking on the horses to see if they looked cold but despite the --to us humans--bitter cold windchills, she and the LBM seemed content to hang out in their pasture the normal length of time.  They especially liked the larger lunches I brought to them to help keep their internal furnaces stoked.

I also did something I typically don't do, and fed the birds!  Years ago I used to put out feeders, but as the flora around this little place here has grown, developed, and spread, there's a lot more habitat for them, including year round natural food sources.  With the super cold weather though, I put out a couple of suet feeders so they'd have a quick and easy place to eat making it possible to hide back in the shelter of the bushes more and spend less time searching for food.  It took less than a half an hour for the birds to find the two suet feeders, including this red bellied woodpecker on the feeder I hung from the plant hanging bracket on the front porch.  (Picture not great; it was taken through kitchen window--and window screen).

I do have to confess that part of my decision to help the birds with 'fast food' during this cold spell was brought on by the discovery that mice had found and gotten into a suet cake that DD2 had left here when she moved out.  And that not only was there one partial container of DD2's suet cakes still in my garage, but there was also an entire unopened box of them!  She has nowhere at her apartment to set up suet feeders, so we decided that I would use them up here during the nastier parts of winter.

Indoors, my amaryllis plant had four big blooms open at once.  That gave the house a little warmer touch during the really cold days.

Outside, though, there was no mistaking that we were deep in the throes of a Michigan January.  The only thing there even remotely summer-like was the wind blown ripples in the snow, which remind me of sand at the beach of one of our Great Lakes.

Horse Update, January 2024

Well, what a variety of extremes the past 30 days or so have been!  We've had a dusting of snow, warmth where horses wore no blankets for days, mud, pouring rain where horses in blankets ended up damp and chilled after a couple hours, inches of snow on top of warm wet muddy deep ground, and finally now single digit high temps and prolonged strong winds freezing the ground in lumpy ankle-killing glory under the snow.

Every day I take a look at the detailed hourly forecast--percent chance of precipitation, wind direction, wind speed, etc--and determine if horses are going out at normal time or staying in for an extended breakfast. If we're working/training outdoors that day or doing training in the aisle of the barn; if our outdoor training is going to include longeing or if it's too wet and deep and we'll be working in hand on the driveway or taking a long walk around the perimeter of the pastures or even along the edge of the field to the woods. If horses will be out until dinner time or if they will need to come in early and warm up/dry off in their stalls before the sun goes down.

Lately it's been long walks around and zero longeing.  Or, it's been working in hand in the barn aisle.  Both the LBM (Little Black Mare) and the Poetess are getting really great at reading my body language as to when to trot, or halt, or back up, or turn on their haunches.  Halting square and standing attentively until I indicate I want them to move.  Just because it's not the kind of weather that permits riding (was actually going to get on the LBM last week, then it rained and rained and rained for days on end until it turned to sleet then snow and howling winds) doesn't mean that there isn't training that can be done. 

Including, apparently, introducing the LBM to a mounting block.  I had put a 3-step mounting block on my Christmas Wish List, as I'm not about to attempt to mount the Poetess from the ground when I start riding her.  All four of my kids went in together and bought me not only a 3-step mounting block, but a green one (green is my favorite color)!  I didn't want it to get covered in ice and snow, so when the weather turned nasty I brought it into the barn.  LBM acted as if she'd never seen one before, so some of her in the aisle training sessions have focused on walking up to and standing quietly beside it after I move it to the dead center of the aisle.  Now she walks up, halts (instead of swinging her butt as far away as she can), and stands quietly while I (purposely) stomp up the steps and stand over her.  I think we're good to go on this concept indoors, just need the weather to cooperate so we can try it outdoors.

my wonderful dark green mounting block

Back before the current real winter bitter weather arrived, DH and I (mostly DH while I did other barn type chores) got the stall fronts built for two more stalls.  I need the temperature to go back above freezing so I can get the wood stained and sealed.  Maybe in a week or two, if the long-range forecast holds true.  We're holding off on building and hanging the stall doors until that's done.

DH also fixed the short pieces of siding that are between the big barn door and the little loft doors.  Years and years ago the tops of those pieces had gotten pulled away from the header and over time more and more chaff from putting up or throwing down hay fell down into the crack, making it bigger and bigger.  Well, it had gotten to the point that it was not allowing the loft doors to slide properly.  So one abnormally warm day (possibly even New Year's Day), DH decided he was going to fix it.

Rather than getting the extension ladder and doing the repair in an OSHA-approved way, he decided it would be quicker and easier if I just lifted him up in the tractor bucket (the new tractor can actually reach almost to the loft floor).  It was easier to move side to side in the tractor bucket unscrewing the two pieces of siding when taking them off and them putting them on and screwing them in again.  With a ladder he would have had to climb up, unscrew one, climb down, move the ladder, climb up, unscrew the second one, climb down to put down the cordless and get the broom, climb up. . . 

Don't look, OSHA!

Nothing to see here. . . 

Once the siding was off, he pulled out all the (yucky, moldy) built up chaff and swept the header clean before putting the siding back on again. Good as new!  Or, honestly, maybe even better than new because this time he fastened the tops of the siding pieces much more securely.

In other brand-new horse farm owning news, the water hydrant inside the barn froze over the weekend.  It's supposed to be a frost-free hydrant.  It's the exact same hydrant (brand and model) that we installed in DH's shop, behind the barn, and beside the garden shed.  The hydrant behind the barn is working fine. The one in the garden, when I tested it, works fine.  I probably should go test the one in DH's shop, but I haven't.  The one in the barn, however, looks like it's going to be out of commission until the Spring thaw.  For some reason it has frozen below the level of the barn floor, as evidenced by the frost that formed up to that point then stopped (so, no water in pipe above the frost, just below it).  DH is afraid this means it's not draining properly and we're going to have to tear up the concrete floor to get down to the bottom of the hydrant and fix it.  :(    :(   :(

Aaaannnndddd some time in the night last night the ground around the gate post(s) to the first pasture froze deeper and caused one or more posts to shift just enough that my cool gate latch no longer reaches to latch.  So I will need to use a chain to latch it most likely for the rest of the winter. WAH!  The main reason I spent money to buy these really cool gate latches is because they are so much handier and easier than dealing with chaining and unchaining a gate (not to mention removing ice from said chain in order to hook and unhook it).

As you can see from bottom pieces sticking out from the gate side and post side of the latch, things shifted just enough that those two pieces no longer line up and overlap. Which means the top part (gate side) doesn't extend far enough between the two prongs (on the post side) to get 'locked' between them and hold the gate securely shut.

That, more than the frozen hydrant in the barn, bums me out.  Ever since experiencing this style of gate latch back in 2016 at a farm I worked at (from March 2016 to Aug 2019) I've known that this is what I wanted on my gates when I finally got my pastures fenced.  All the decades of f***ing fiddling around with iced over chains or frosted up double-end snaps on gates that necessitated either sticking my face up to the offending frozen piece and blowing hot breath on it to thaw it, or taking off my glove and risking freezing my bare skin to icy metal in order to heat said icy metal, were going to be behind me once I got my own farm off the ground.  Winters and gates were going to be so much better. . . Apparently not.  At least, not if I want to use that pasture at all the rest of the season. Fingers crossed the other gate and gate posts don't also shift or heave this winter and maybe I can just keep horses in pasture two until Spring so I don't have to deal with a chained gate???

As for that frozen hydrant, as long as the one outside the barn continues to work properly (frost-free), it's not a big deal to fill stall water buckets from that.  I'll worry about the logistics and ramifications ($$$) of tearing up the concrete after Spring comes.  DH is worrying about it enough currently that by Spring hopefully he'll have figured out the best way to go about repairing/replacing it.

Sewing and Stitching, January 2024

I did not end up doing any kind of sewing for Christmas presents.  In the big picture, I decided it had been token-type of stuff (something small for each grandchild) and that they wouldn't even notice it's absence.  So I used the time I would have spent sewing to do other, more pressing, things.  Because apparently being sickish with some sort of headache/fatigue/jaw pain for four days running the week before Christmas was pressing.

This month, however, is a different story.  Because it's time to get started on a baby quilt for grandbaby #6, who will be making an appearance sometime before the end of March.  This one will be the third for DD1 and Honorary Son, and is a boy.  Interestingly enough, that makes the birth order of my grandchildren (so far): girl, boy, boy, girl, boy, boy.  Probably a coincidence, but my mind notices patterns, so I'm kind of intrigued by that fact. 

I already know what pattern I'll use in the quilt.  It will be 6" stars in novelty fabrics alternating with 'solid' squares of the feature fabric.  That is the 'theme' I chose when I made Faline's baby quilt and therefore became the pattern for all of DD1's children.  (All of DS1's kids got 6" squares set in diagonal stripes, and I have a whole different pattern in mind for either DS2 or DD2's future offspring depending on who becomes a parent first.)

What I haven't decided yet is which exact fabrics I will incorporate into this new quilt.  There need to be cats, tractors, music notes or musical instruments--all of which are in both Faline and Buck's quilts.  I also want to include soccer balls (Honorary Son played soccer all through high school) like in Buck's quilt.  And I have some Pokemon fabric that I'd like to use somehow, as Honorary Son is still a huge Pokemon fan.

I'm just not quite sure if the Pokemon fabric would be too overwhelming--and drown out the other novelty fabrics--if I use it as the featured fabric in the 'solid' squares.  Unless I fussy cut it, I don't think it will work as fabric for the stars, and even then not that well.  This is going to take some sketching up in colored pencils in order to better see which option is less chaotic. I'll know by the end of the week which way I'm going to go.

You, on the other hand, will have to wait until February's Sewing and Stitching Update to find out.  Don't you love a cliffhanger? 

Knitting Update, January

 In December, I knit a lot of dish cloths.  Enough that each household of my offspring received two as part of their Christmas present.  Did I remember to take pictures of them in a great big pile when I was done?  Of course not.

After Christmas, I cast on a pair of socks.  I'd been wanting to do so for weeks, but figured that my Mom would, at family Christmas, request that I knit her a pair of socks to be completed in February for her birthday.  This has been the case for the last six (??) or so years.  I don't know if she forgot this time, or if she decided she has enough handknit socks, but she didn't mention it.  So on the 26th, I cast on for my own socks.

I'm using a skein of fingering yarn by Chasing Rabbits Fiber Co. that was part of someone else's destash that came to me by way of either MIL or my Mom in 2022. In other words, free yarn! The pattern I'm making is Textured Lace Socks which is from the Splendid Soles book put out by Knit Picks.

So far, I've gotten the cuff and two of seven repeats of Chart A done. I honestly wasn't sure about doing a textured sock with this variegated yarn, but I really liked the colors of the yarn didn't want to knit a plain stockinette or a ribbed sock. I cast on figuring that if the design was getting too muddled with the short color changes I'd frog it and go with something more basic.

I'm not having any trouble seeing the design element, so I plan to go ahead and knit the whole thing.  And then, sock #2 of course!

Reading-wise, I started and finished one book in December. I could have read more, but I didn't get to the library to pick up a book I'd requested months ago that finally came in the afternoon before they closed for four days for the long Christmas weekend. I ended up getting the book on the afternoon of the 29th instead and then maybe read four whole pages before the end of the year.  I'll talk more about that one next month.

The one I did get read was Sisterhood Everylasting by Ann Brashares. It is the fifth book to the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, which I had read back when my daughters were in middle and high school.  Until recently, I hadn't known there was a fifth book, which takes place approximately ten years after the fourth book left off.  I don't want to spoil it, so no story-line details, but for most of this book I really didn't like the story.  It wasn't at all what I expected, and I didn't like the plot, didn't like the women the characters had become, really thought about not even finishing it. BUT, then when you're most of the way through the book there's a huge plot twist and things just start plinking into place and it became more of what I had thought it was going to be/should be before I even opened the cover.  Do I recommend this book? YES! If you've read the other four, you should definitely read this one too.  Warning: it's sad, but not entirely.

Frugal Things November & December

 November:

• Ate almost exclusively from food on hand in cellar, freezers, and pantry.  
• Did a plumbing repair ourselves rather than hire it done.
• DH got a deer on opening day. Butchered it ourselves, as usual. Yield approximately 60 pounds of meat.
• Made snack sticks and summer sausage from 20 pounds of ground venison ourselves (rather than taking meat to local processor and paying them to make the sausage and meat sticks).
• Moved Poetess home--no more paying for board!
• Borrowed a horse trailer to move Poetess (FREE!! vs paying someone to haul her).
• Didn't host Thanksgiving (big savings in meal cost!) Went to DD1's house where I provided potatoes (homegrown), homemade apple pie (homegrown apples), and home made pecan pie.
• Bought 5 quarts ice cream on sale (hoping to get through 2 birthdays, Christmas and many desserts until favorite brands went on sale again). 
• Bought hitch rings to hang cross ties from off Amazon (at 2.99 each) rather than buy from farm store (5.97 each)
• Bought DD1's Christmas present at 60% off.
• Bought MIL's Christmas present (OttLite floor lamp) on Black Friday sale for 50% off.
• Bought 3 more pasture gates on Black Friday sale prices ($30 off each)
• Bought about 6 weeks worth of cat food (4 boxes wet food containers) for the Yarn Thief on Black Friday sale for 40% off per box.
• Went to the local 1-screen no frills theater ($5 per ticket) to see a movie both DH and I thought would be worth seeing on the big screen (first movie theater visit since 2018) rather than the further away $12/ticket foo-foo cinemas.

December:

• Cut DH's hair.
• Bought DD2's Christmas present 40% off (KitchenAid mixer)
• Bought DS2 & Surprise's Christmas present at a big discount (Gorilla dump cart)
• Put some higher priced barn items on my Christmas wish list rather than buying them ASAP.  Received two of them as presents from family.
• Bought enough bales of pine bedding for stalls at one time to qualify for bulk discount. (About a month's worth).
• Did another plumbing repair ourselves (replaced pump on wood boiler).
• Bought DH some new high quality unders on sale 40% off.
• Took truck to local, small, privately owned auto repair shop to have rotors and brakes replaced rather than dealership service department ($400 difference in price).
• Received 1 dump truck load of pine mulch and 4 dump truck loads of firewood from a tree service working in our area.  DH had seen this particular tree service back in late August after the tornado and told them he would be willing to have unwanted hardwood dropped off at our property if they had more than they wanted to haul away (they are based 30 minutes away).  After three months of no-contact he suddenly got a phone call (asking him if he still wanted wood and if he was also willing to take mulch) and 5 minutes later a dump truck was pulling up our driveway!

a small mountain of mulch

• Took trailer to local gravel pit to get gravel needed to finish two more stall floors in barn rather than having them deliver it (big savings in delivery fee!)
• Did yet another plumbing repair ourselves (valve between well pump and pressure tank). Really hoping we can get through 2024 with no more unexpected plumbing repairs!
• Bought Christmas ham on sale 50% off normal price per pound.
• Made apple pie (homegrown apples) and pumpkin pie (using puree made and then frozen from pieces cut from Halloween jack-o-lantern) for Christmas desserts. 
• Made Christmas cookies from scratch.
• Bought Christmas candy 30% off.
• Served homegrown potatoes and homegrown green beans for family Christmas dinner, made gravy from the ham drippings.
• Used wrapping paper bought on clearance years ago to wrap Christmas presents.
• Rendered more than 3 gallons of lard (25 pints) from pork fat given to me from MIL (saved in freezer from pigs she had butchered in the fall.) This ought to last DH and I at least 3 years (I use lard rather than shortening).

You know, I had gotten to the point that I felt we weren't being as frugal and we could be/used to be when the kids were little.  Then I decided to start writing down any little money saving thing that we'd done during a month.  Turns out, we're still really frugal, and in some ways even more frugal, that we were 15-20 years ago.  I think I will try to continue this frugal notating in 2024.