DG's frugal journal

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Dgflorida
Posts: 4381
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2015 8:10 pm

Re: DG's frugal journal

Post by Dgflorida »

Very interesting about rotten manure, Gayle. Unfortunately, I have no access to any. Good to know about squash bugs. Very few here have success with squash. We are subtropical here and squash is really a northern vegetable. We rarely drop below freezing and if so, only for a few hours. And every year, it seems to be warmer than the year before, so not much time to grow cool weather plants. When my old house was built, a fireplace was useful. Now I have it covered up. Haven't used it in years.
Dgflorida
Posts: 4381
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2015 8:10 pm

Re: DG's frugal journal

Post by Dgflorida »

Sunday am

Cold outside by Florida standards, 60F. Windows are open and have been overnight. House is 79F. An insulated house cools down slowly which is a good thing in the winter. The humidity in the house has dropped and is in the tolerable range. The house humidity never gets low even in the winter since most days are too warm to use the furnace.

I was thinking that I would have to move my eye injection appointment scheduled for next week, but it looks like I will be fine. It is drywall day, not cabinet install day. I will have several days to recover from the eye shot.

Hubs has decided that he likes one counter top color better than another. I am ok with either. So I will make sure his favorite is selected when I see the kitchen planner this coming week.

I think that I will not walk tomorrow or Tuesday. Too many people coming around early.
Dgflorida
Posts: 4381
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2015 8:10 pm

Re: DG's frugal journal

Post by Dgflorida »

Sunday- thought for the day.

How will the stock market handle this "impeachment". In times past according to a stock market guy, there was a slight sell off and then a rebound. But so far, the market has seemed to ignore this entire thing. During a recent interview with CNN, a very pro Democratic Party network, even the host asked so what exactly is Trump's crime? Now that is very interesting. The answer from the politician was you will find out. Puzzling exchange. The Moody poll that many stock brokers put a lot of trust into says, Trump will be re-elected in 2020.

This has got to be exhausting to the leftist liberals to see their hopes dashed again and again. The most likely candidate at this point for the Democrats is Elizabeth Warren. She proposes a 42% tax increase to cover Medicare for all. She says she will tax the wealthy, but the wealthy will just leave. That is what the wealthy do. They have the resources to move, but the poor people will be stuck. Some liberals I know don't believe it will really happen if she is elected. So they don't believe or trust their own candidate? This is crazy thinking, the kind that gets people in ordinary times sent to the psychiatrist. Some of them are thinking of voting for a third party candidate. A couple of the democratic hopefuls are decent people worthy of consideration, but third party hasn't done well in this country. And Hilary will call them Russian assets, dividing the Democratic party even more. Meanwhile the Republicans are falling into line behind Trump. Will Trump be re-elected if he is impeached? Strange times.

Meanwhile, the Austin Texas school board has decided to teach sodomy and condom use to third graders. My grandchildren will be starting in that system. I wonder if parents will do what parents did in England where a school system attempted a program like that. 80% of the children were kept home. The school system suspended the program.

California is threatening to take over the power company. They are accusing the power company of greed and incompetence. So the politicians think they can run it better? Well, the experiment in socialism continues. See if they can do better than Venezuela did. From the time that they nationalize energy to the starving population was only about 10 years. In California, the rich live in gated communities and the poor already live on the streets. Pretty much third world already. Interesting times.

I am pleased that I have a direction for my first step into solar power. Of course, now my focus is on learning how to live without a kitchen. That will take some time. But I will be keeping my eyes open for a grow light setup that I think will work with a solar battery. It is unlikely I will do anything before Christmas since the kitchen, then a visit by my military son before deployment overseas. Then a holiday trip to see friends in Houston. Then a dance cruise. Mid January before I am home again.
Dgflorida
Posts: 4381
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2015 8:10 pm

Re: DG's frugal journal

Post by Dgflorida »

Monday am

Today the plumbers will be here to unhook the kitchen plumbing. Tomorrow the demolition people will arrive. Take out the appliances and remove the cabinets and counter top. Clean up. Friday morning, electricians come in to modify the kitchen electrical to code. Next week, cabinet install.
Dgflorida
Posts: 4381
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2015 8:10 pm

Re: DG's frugal journal

Post by Dgflorida »

Wednesday am

Demolition took place yesterday. It went off well. The only hitch was that I wasn't sure the guy would show up. He had called the night before and said he would arrive at 7am. I asked him to wait until 8 am because it was too hard for us to be ready at 7 am. I reminded him that I wanted to save the sink. He threatened not to show up at all. I think he realized that I would contact the general contractor and he would probably lose his job if he didn't show up. Nonetheless, I had a sleepless night.

Yesterday afternoon, I moved some scrap metal to the front. I have a junk guy waiting on my call to come get the old appliances and the metal junk. Do that today most likely. Meeting with kitchen planner this morning.

The week is open until Friday when the electricians show up. A lot of upgrades on the kitchen electrical system. Plumber may return because he found a problem not covered by the original specs. He has to get ok from the general contractor.

I am trying to find a new doctor. I have a call into several. See how that goes.
Dgflorida
Posts: 4381
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2015 8:10 pm

Re: DG's frugal journal

Post by Dgflorida »

Wednesday-thought for the day

I saw a video of several California people who are living in the areas affected by the fires and power outages. They are uniformly angry about the lack of power. California has a mess regarding power and regulations and green house. On one hand, they want everyone hooked to the grid. But when the grid goes down, no one has a back up. They want people to go green, but the rules on the solar power is it is turns off when the power goes out. The rational is that when the grid comes back on, there will be a power surge from the solar unit. So solar is nice, but useless. Gas generators are restricted and frankly hard to find there according to the video. A revolt may be coming from ordinary people. Revolts are difficult to manage.

Here in Florida, it is pretty much the same. The utilities hold the cards and whole house solar is expensive and not available as a substitute power. Cheap power has a drug like effect on people. Few people realize how much power it takes for what has become necessities. Several months ago, I asked here about what power using things would you give up. The answers were as expected. Essentially give up nothing. A rude awakening may be coming for many. Green power: solar, wind, hydro etc can only sustain a small portion of power demands. At best, everyone would need to use less than 50% of what they currently use. This is based on scientific analysis of power generation. So while the young scream about CO2 emissions killing everyone, they are totally oblivious to the consequences of their demands. If you have to chose between your iPhone charge and hot coffee, which would it be?

My adventure into small solar units and batteries is quite educational.
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