Death By a Thousand Cuts

I walked out to the mailbox yesterday and got the mail out.  As I walked back to the house, I opened a letter from our electric company.  We had just received a bill.  What could this be?  I'll share it with you:

I'm not picking on the electric company.  All of their costs have risen.  They are in the business of making money.  They must pass along the increases.  There's several issues at play, though.  First, I love my job, but wages aren't keeping up with rising prices.  Not just my company but others that I talk to.  Our company just had open enrollment for benefits for 2025.  Health insurance is up by $60 per month.  Deductibles and co-pays are higher and if your service provider is out of network, you'll owe even more.  And yet, our local hospital in our small town just announced a $23 million expansion project.

Homeowner's insurance has increased substantially over the past several years.  I'm understanding that with the renewals coming, it will be yet another double digit percentage increase.  You can shop around, but from what I'm hearing, it's of no benefit.  Every company has increased.  I know of three people that have canceled their property insurance because they cannot afford it.  They can't make their budgets work.  These are widows and retired people that I know.  Imagine that!  People who worked and paid taxes their entire lives and now live on a fixed income and live very frugally and yet, the cost of living has risen such that they can't afford to insure their home.  If a storm comes through or they have a house fire, they have no home.  Our little church can't afford property coverage and we have opted to self-insure, setting a percentage aside each month to fund damage repairs when a hurricane comes through. 

Although we don't grocery shop much, Tricia did shop for ingredients for "Dinner on the Grounds" at church Sunday, and she came in with four little bags and was flabbergasted at the price of their contents.  I've listed a few items, but really, every good and service has increased.  Sadly, many people have run up the balances on their credit cards.  Where does it end?  When does it end?

The wealthy can afford to pay the increases.  The poor are subsidized by the government for food, shelter, medical.  It's really hurting the middle class, though, who don't have disposal income to draw from to pay for the increased costs.  

Families can't print money.  Families must live within a set budget.  Families cannot give away their money prior to making sure that members of their family are taken care of.  Families must make hard decisions.  Make a budget and live within its boundaries.  Live on a cash basis.  If you don't have cash to purchase it, don't purchase it.  Get out of any debt.  Cut out the "fat" in your life.  Do I really need those subscriptions?  $5 coffee?  Gym membership?  With each purchase, ask yourself, "Can I afford it?"  Grow your own food.  Get in shape - physically, mentally, and financially.  Hold your loved ones tight.  Last, but not least, find a small country church and attend regularly.  Read God's Word and grow, living by the wisdom found therein.  Trust in Him.  He'll see you through.

After 50 days

 

After 50 days of no rain, on October 30th, finally the clouds opened and 3 inches fell.  It took a long time for any rainwater to show up in any puddles in the yard and pasture, but finally you could actually see water standing.  It didn't take long, though, and the ground soaked it all in.  

We had a drought last year, but it was during July - August and it was a lot hotter than it was during September - October of this year, so the effects of the dry spell didn't seem as pronounced this year.  The grass in the yard died in some spots, but that was about the extent of it.  We kept the garden alive by irrigating every single day.  Rainwater is SO much better than tap water, but if we didn't water, most of the garden would have died.  Our water bill over the last 50 days was double the cost of our normal bill, but that's okay, we'll enjoy fresh vegetables and that makes it all worth it.

I began walking around the house to check on the rain barrels that we have positioned along the drip lines in the back.  They were all filling up with water.  With a two inch rain, we maximize our rain-holding capacity at 700 gallons of water.  As I was checking out all the buckets and barrels, I made a grim discovery.  On the southwest corner of the house, we have a rain barrel that holds 70 gallons of water.  That's what we call the bee barrel, because the bees go there to drink water and bring it back to the hive.  As a result, we never pull water from that one for irrigation.  In fact, we don't go near it because there's so much activity around it from the honeybees.  As I got close to it, I saw a dead, bloated squirrel floating in the barrel.  I figured that during the drought, there wasn't much drinking water around.  The squirrel must have tried to get a drink and fell in the bee barrel and couldn't get out and drowned.  Rest in peace, Peanut, Jr.

We're hoping that since the temperatures are still in the 80's, that this rain will give a little boost to the grass in the pasture and give the animals some new, tender growth to eat on.  I walked out to the garden and was amazed!  The rain seemed to make the plants jump out of the ground overnight.  I could visibly see a difference in the growth.

It also softened the ground in the sweet potato patch which will make the ground conducive for the sweet potato harvest.  I'll be showing some updates of that annual process a little later this week.  I think we have a little more rain coming in the forecast.  That's a good thing.  We can further fill the water troughs for the cows and goats that are under the drip line of the barn.  If we fill those, that will hold us with rainwater for the winter.  

Thank you, Lord, for the refreshing rain!