BYU for the win! 11-9-24
Retired Life. Sunday.
The worst possible thing happened this morning. The alarm went off at 5:45! It was set for 6:45 so we could get to church on time. But the app apparently doesn't account for the time change, even though the phone itself does. Ugh. We finally looked at the Jesus Picture below, remembered why church makes us happy, and got up and went to church.
Once back home, we read, watched some church videos, ate leftover stew for dinner, and then watched The Chosen.
And I included a picture of tonight's Palouse sunset. No AI needed for that one.
Retired Life. Monday.
Speaking of Exciting Financial Discussions, today was that day. Don't laugh. We close our family books every month just like a business would. We adjust our accounts to match their gains or losses in the market, inventory propane in our huge underground propane tank (it is 65% full right now) and issue reports and financial statement to go over and discuss. We can see how our expenditures panned out vs our budget. And, since it is kind of important that our money last longer than we do, we have charts and graphs that show how that is going.
I took a break from acting like I was back at work to drive Hanna to her hair appointment. See the picture of her new trim. And while I worked hard in the home office, she took one of the huge pumpkins she grew in our garden and made puree out of it to freeze. And hopefully make us a delicious pie too.
It was dreary and rainy all day and even snowed heavily for a couple of hours, but didn't stick. The moisture stopped in the evening and the winds picked up. 40 - 50 mph winds they say. I'm grateful our garbage can is still upright. Winds like this only show up on Garbage Day.
Retired Life. Tuesday.
Old folks must have food day.
We planned out the next week. Created yummy menus. Prepared a shopping list. Drove to Worley. I dutifully allowed Hanna to dominate me at several games of Rummy. Ate lunch. Took Frivvy for a walk on the Trail of the CDAs in Plummer. Bought the groceries. Bought cheap Idaho gas. Drove home. Unloaded, unpacked and put away.
Today's Exciting Financial Discussion: Hanna did have a question or two about the pile of financial reports I gave her. But we are on track. And we also discussed how the bank our high-yield savings account is at got bought out and the rate is dropping to .75%. Sorry, that ain't high-yield. We closed the account and moved the funds to a better bank that is paying 4.35% right now. Romance, right?
Retired Life. Wednesday.
The wildlife and tresspasser camera is fixed. The battery was dead. Hoping the solar panels didn't stop working. No way to know without putting it back to work. So, we drove up to the Highlands today to put it back in its tree. The road was snowy, which was beautiful and fun. And Frivvy loves snow, so he had a good day. And it was the new truck's first voyage into snow. It did well, but now it needs a bath really bad.
OK. I'll admit it. Today I'm really sad because of the election. I wrote in Kalani Sitaki for Pres and Deon Sanders for VP. Given how well they both have their teams going right now, I figured they'd also do well running the country. However, it appears the folks at the polls didn't take my ballot very serious. Sad.
Other stuff I did today included topping off the hot tub. Disconnecting the hot tub hose from the faucet since its getting into the 20s now. Repairing the dog fence that had stopped transmitting. And I think that is it.
Exciting Finance Discussion: We talked about our strategy of slowly taking money out of a traditional IRA I have and rolling it into my Roth IRA, taking out only enough to keep us below the amount to trigger tax. And how that strategy is failing because the IRA is growing so fast, especially today. It's in an S&P index fund. True love from that discussion!
Retired Life. Thursday.
We ran into town and ran around all day.
First to CDA, where we topped off with Cheap Idaho Gas.
Then to the Cancer Clinic for Hanna's monthly infusion.
While she got comfortable there, I took the truck to the nearby JEEP dealer to get the oil changed. FAIL. Their "Express" Lane wasn't very express and they said to just leave the truck and they would have it done by 5. No thanks. I joined Hanna back at the Cancer Clinic where I read a doomsday novel.
Then to Spokane Valley where we had lunch at Jenny's. (Did you know the Denny's closed? Yikes!) Picture below shows Hanna's victory smirk after she smeared me at Rummy several hands.
Dropped off clothes at the cleaners.
Got a hair cut.
Stopped at Rosauers for a prescription and some groceries they just don't sell in Plummer. (Mostly Gluten Free stuff. They even had Gluten Free Donuts there this time! Hanna was excited!)
Worshipped in the temple.
Visited the bank.
Went to Jiffy Lube to get the oil change.
And then back home. Exhausted. Good thing we planned on microwaving leftover stew for dinner.
A Sister Missionary took our picture below at the temple. That is going to be our official Mission Picture. Being submitted soon.
Retired Life. Friday.
Woo Hoo!! Old people go out to breakfast day!! Great deal because I don't have to cook it. We went to Harvester. Took the backroads. See pictures below. Everything is harvested. The trip looks different every time we take it.
After Chicken Fried Steak and Eggs for me and a Palouse Omelette for Hanna, and after she whooped me bad at Rummy, we drove down to near Rosalia to rehide a Geocache that had gone missing.
In the afternoon, I hopefully eliminated that yellow jacket nest. I was still seeing signs of activity. This time I sprayed a ton of wasp spray down their hole and then ran water from a hose down it. For a long time. It must be a huge nest. I didn't see the water coming out of a different nest hole.
I moved our generator from our basement to the garage so it is accessible to the cool repair dude that is coming to get it next week.
And then I moved a ton of emergency food supplies from the back porch to the basement.
In the evening, the Sister Missionaries came over for dinner and a spiritual thought. They challenged me to share my favorite hymn with folks, so click the link below.
And the great news, we pressed the submit button on the missionary online recommendation system. Next up in the process is an interview with our Bishop, now scheduled for the 20th. Exciting!
Today's Exciting Financial Discussion: Well, the remote camera up at the Highlands is failing. It is not syncing, not responding, not sending pictures. So, our discussion was whether we should buy a new oned ($200) and keep paying the monthly fee for internet access $20) or just skip the whole thing. Need vs Want thing here. Since the only folks we have caught tresspassing were relatives of our neighbors (who do have permission to come over) and it really is for gawking at cool wildlife now, we called it a want. And decided we are done with it. But wait! But wait! Further inspection into financial documents brought to light that it is still under warrantee! Decision averted. True love, right?
Here is the Scottish version of one of my favorite ever hymns. Link here or down below in the comments. #scotsrule
Retired Life. Saturday.
Such a dreary day out. I think the sun forgot about doing its job. Frivvy agreed and refused to come out from underneath my blanket.
We stayed home (always my favorite thing to do) and did stuff around the house. I was in charge of two meals. French Toast for breakfast. Old People's Steak (aka ground beef) for dinner. Called old people's steak because it doesn't require teeth for eating.
Other mundane tasks today included changing the filter on the CPAP, adjusting the outdoor light that shines on our US Flag so it comes on earlier and stays on later, dusting the entire house top to bottom, slicing up a ham we bought into serving sizes and freezing for future breakfast consumption, looking for Hanna's blue BYU flag to hang outside and annoy the neighbors who mostly cheer for the Crimson Cougs. The search was futile.
In the evening, well, I usually don't watch football live, but when I do, it's usually a playoff or rivalry game. We watched the Holy War and it did not disappoint. See the picture below of Hanna pom pomming and screaming out Rise and Shout at her team late in the night. Along with the final score that made us both happy.
Today's ultra exciting finance discussion: I got mail from JEEP. I figured it was a reimbursement check for the break down in Rapid City. But no. It was a letter saying "..we saw that your new truck broke down. This happens. This is why you should have extended warrantee coverage!..." And we confirmed with each other that such insurance is a waste of money if you have an emergency fund set aside, which we do.
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