Single Digits Temps and Spitting Snow

Every morning here at Rabbit Run I get up, put on my coat and go out to get the paper. It is only a couple hundred yards from the house but I face a north wind on the way there. I get a pretty good idea what the weather is going to be for the rest of the day. In normal weather and without a cloud cover you can usually depend on the daytime high to be about 20 degrees warmer than it is early. Today it is only single digits and not predicted to clear 20 degrees. This isn't the weather that lays down a heavy snow. Those snowstorms are warm fronts meeting cold fronts and the air was pretty dry when this Arctic blast got here. This weather is the kind that just spits and sputters snow that is light and fluffy.

After I read the paper at the dining room table, I wonder downstairs to my computer to read and write. Here, I get a view of the south side of the house and the birds. My bird buddies show up in large numbers and I really enjoy watching them queue up to get seeds. Only the juncos show up in mass and seem to sweep the ground for seeds dropped by those messy finches. I swear the finches will pick seeds out of the feeder tubes and throw at least half of the seeds on the ground. I think the woodpeckers will work on the suet blocks to dig out some seed nugget and make a mess the juncos also like. I made the mistake of buying the "Wood Pecker" suet blocks at Tractor Supply Store because they were cheap. They have been getting eaten but a lot slower than the kind I normally buy. Walmart has one that is peanut flavored and has some berries in it. They don't last anytime. I will be at Walmart today or tomorrow and I'll restock on the best kind.

Last week I was reading about cooking cabbage on DYLN's blog and just had to jump in and make some. Everyone tried it but not with the desire I showed. There was about a bowl full left over and I put it with some smoked polish sausage. Barb didn't even try it and I cleaned it up. She made a sandwich with some left over meatballs I cooked. With only two of us here we normally have leftovers and manage to graze a few meals each week without cooking. I love the microwave where you can hit a leftover bowl of beans for three minutes and chow down. In fact, I think that beans just get better each day for about a week, Not that they last that long, as I love beans of about any type. I know it will come to my southern friends that I don't really care for black eyed peas. Can't say that I care for boiled peanuts either.

Yesterday I'm not sure that I really got it clear that budgeting your money should support your goals. Make sure that with every paycheck you put a little aside for the long term goals. Unless it is a need that shows up today, never buy anything on credit. If you know that your washer is not doing a great job, save $10 a paycheck until you can afford to replace it. I was with a young couple one time and they went into a jewelry store. They picked out their wedding rings and the guy got out his credit card. The young lady just pushed it back to him and looked the jeweler in the eye and asked him what it would cost if she paid cash. he discounted the sale by a significant percentage (greater than 5%). Only once in your life should you buy a new car. A gently used one is about half of the cost of a new one and you truly can pay off the debt in three years. Your house is about the only really long term investment I recommend. Then I tell my friends to pay for it in 15 years. Sometime sit down with one of those on line calculators on a real estate site and compare what a $100,000 loan costs if paid for in 15 or 30 years. At 30 years, you will pay off the value of the house twice. Unless it is a real crazy market, that is profit to the finance company and you won't get it back. Right now you won't in almost all markets.

Drink some hot tea, coffee or hot chocolate and stay warm. See ya' later Alligator.

MUD