Fall was later this year. The Brick and his hunting buddies saw fall colors they rarely (if ever) see this time of year. Why? We're not sure. It was still cooler...but we had more than our share of warm days, as well. I loved driving through aisles of yellow leaves (Colorado's primary color), then coming on wild turkeys or deer grazing in the field, all golden and tan. (It's been pretty dry.)
October was fairly quiet. I did some appraising, tidied up -- and continued squirreling away and stocking up for the winter. The Brick went hunting. I also caught up on some reading, and began restoring quilts again. Toward the end of the month, I went to election judge training. We 'enjoyed' a couple bouts of flu. Watched some football. (Michigan's doing great -- CU Buffs and the Broncos, not so much.)
Exciting, huh... but it really was okay.
FRUGAL HITS
(As usual, some of these are from late September.)
*The first frost came late -- Oct. 24. Which meant more zucchini, although they got pretty arrogant about it. They put up a valiant fight before succumbing, which meant a handful of delicious baby zukes before they went under. We shared some with friends, too.
The greens (second batch planted, after the grasshoppers decimated everything) continue to produce; a few survivor onions are putting up green shoots. (Nope - the deer munched them down before I could harvest them. Aarghgh.) I also clipped the herbs and made two batches of pesto. The plants were put in the perennial bed, where hopefully they'll revive in the spring. I also trimmed the rosemary plant, banked it heavily with dirt and ringed stones around it. Normally these are not perennial, but I'm hoping the stones will keep it alive while hibernating. (The rosemary bushes in McNeal were perennial-- and it got cold there. I'm hoping.) The rosemary trimmings produced a few spice jars full.
(Our first snow finally arrived on the 27th. About 6"...and melting fast.)
*Kept the heat off -- with two exceptions. Our electric fireplace, and judicious baking whenever it was a bit too chilly, kept the fifth-wheel comfortable. (We're also finding that the Goodwill-picked down comforter is surprisingly warm. Sometimes too warm, in fact.)
*Three pennies found in the change machine! Another visit netted two more pennies, plus, of all things, a French five-france piece and a German pfennig. I'm sure there's a story behind this.
*Attended the Open Door Ministries banquet with friends. (Didn't buy anything at the auction, but I made a donation. This is a very worthy cause.)
*Found one final peach hidden in the vegetable crisper! I'm sad to see these go. In the process of cleaning out the crisper, I also realized the bag of Italian cheese, now almost finished, had a few blue spots. We quickly had homemade mac & cheese to solve that problem.
*Some appraisals done. This season, appraisal commitments usually slow down. (And speaking gigs for the Ghosts & Legends/Curiosities books speed up.) For some odd reason this yearm it's been the opposite. Go figure.
*Chores done around the ranch: spreading mulch, doing a garbage run, mowing the lawn and washing windows. I also tidied up the fifth-wheel, got rid of a lot of trash, and organized some areas.
*Tomatoes, leeks and greens from a friend. Processed some of these for the freezer.
*I made several batches of apple crisp, pie and dumplings from the sale apples. (More apples are waiting in the crisper for the next Susie Homemaker urge.)
*Video buys: The Unsinkable Molly Brown. Cheyenne (Season 1 - surprisingly good), Sherlock Holmes, Baa Baa Black Sheep, three seasons of The Virginian. Gilbert & Sullivan performances were $12. The rest were $2 (a few $3-5) -- with another 10-20% off at the thrift shop. Darn, they don't do this at the library's used booksale room, but I did get several classics there, including Escape from Alcatraz and Bruce Lee's Game of Death.
*Stayed home while the Brick was hunting. (We've been using only one vehicle for more than three years now.) Paused any library holds, made sure I had plenty of milk and eggs beforehand...and just enjoyed myself, keeping odd hours, working, eating whatever I pleased, and watching (gasp!) romantic movies. A friend brought over some delicious rice pilaf.
*Took advantage of a Goodwill Books sale: 20% off, plus free shipping.
*Grocery specials: Kraft mac and cheese 25 cents each; cookies for 77 cents; Chunky soup 97 cents and Progressso soup, 87 cents. (Safeway) Packages of cookies (25 cents each) and beef tamales (a hunting favorite) for slightly more than $1 each. (Amazon Warehouse) Free bread from our local thrift shop is always a pleasure.
*A nice Safeway double-special: the store had buy 2/get 2 free on Tostitos chips, with a total of four allowed. I bought 4, then realized the bags had "buy 2, get a dip free" coupons on the front. So... 4 large bags of chips, plus two jars of dip (which I also use for sauces) for $11.87!
I managed to do a second riff on this same theme: buy 2/get 2 free Tostitos, PLUS buy 2/get 2 free dips. Plus one more coupon discovered, which netted me a fifth jar of dip for free. Again -- a great deal. (They're all stashed away for coming months.)
*We had frozen pizza a few times -- instead of stopping at Little Caesar's. Just didn't go out to eat that much this month.
*I cleaned up the trailer, threw out a bunch of cardboard...and donated a bag of clothes. The girlies got another installment of items from their Grams' estate.
*I ordered One Big Night, an amazing cooking movie, from Amazon -- $5.50 plus shipping.
*Royalties from the Colorado books = Ghosts & Legends is still selling well, up there with Curiosities! (The kids book, Spooky Tales, is doing well, too, though I get less of a percentage with it.)
*Got to see my favorite opera of all time: Puccini's La Boheme. The price: $19! Talked two dear friends into going, as well. The music is just lovely, though I was surprised to find out that the lyrics weren't that exciting. Kind of the 19th century version of "Hey buddy, let's go down and get a beer." Did you know you just let out a faint, delicate cough now and then, to signal that you're dying of consumption? Hmmm. Madame Butterfly made more sense.
*Fixed an Amazon problem for a friend. (Persistence...that's the key.)
*Shared lunch and supper a few times with friends, potluck-style. Treated a friend to breakfast.
*Started training as a 'ballot aide' for the upcoming elections. More on this in early November. The Brick signed up to be an observer.
*The Brick replaced the gaskets & cloth toppers (on the pull-outs) on the trailer. Parts cost a few hundred dollars -- but labor would have been much more.
FRUGAL MISSES
*Some silly zinnias, seed planted back in the spring, finally decided to grow -- but were killed by frost before they flowered. (I did cut other flowers for us and friends.)
*A dollar back from a half-priced gallon of milk -- I should have gotten it automatically at Safeway, but had to really argue at customer service to get what was owed. Ironically the second buy 2/get 2 special had the same problem -- and that was cheerfully (and quickly) refunded! Go figure.
*Missed out on another Amazon Warehouse bargain order -- because some brilliant soul at Amazon shipped the package to Silverthorne, instead of Sedalia. The order got cancelled.
*Ordered more photos for the in-progress book on Michigan curiosities. These were still cheap at $8 and $9, compared to 'renting' the photos -- but more than the $2-or-so postcards I've mostly been collecting. (Yes, I'm working on a book of odd people, places and things in Michigan.)
*Bought an 1845 'steamboat' jacquard coverlet. I spent hundreds, but got it for hundreds less than what it's been selling for at auction. (And mine is in better condition.) Also bought a coverlet book on Amazon with my allowance, too.
I have always wanted one of these. Now on to find a 'railroad' coverlet!
*We overspent in September -- lots of extra expenses, including a book order, cruise deposit, hunting boots, fruit purchases, stocking up on canned goods/groceries and birthday celebrations (not to mention some Christmas presents), etc etc. Other than the steamboat coverlet, we actually did better this month... except for (perhaps) hunting. Although the Brick was careful.
*Lost out on the remnants of a Siena gift card. (The restaurant closed this fall. Permanently.)
*A check from a class-action suit: 17 cents. I am not making this up -- it cost more to mail than it was worth.
*Our rent went up slightly -- but it now helps cover internet costs, too.
*We still haven't found an easy way to watch Michigan or Colorado football games this year. The Brick has managed to grab a few minutes before we lose the internet connection...but that gets old. We'll be watching the Michigan/Michigan State game at Red Robin this weekend, so we can actually see it.
*We had to cancel a hotel reservation in Wyoming when my gig at the Higher Ground Fair was cancelled. No money back, in spite of a letter asking for it. (Legally they had the right. Darn it.)
*The federal tax refund is STILL not here. (Ironically, after being forced to pay $79 in state tax we didn't think we owed -- we got it refunded. Without even asking for it!)
*Paid full price for some groceries for hunting -- including lunch meat, cheese and bread. (Groan) We've also had to pay full price for eggs most times. A dozen eggs is now past $3.99, and edging up; even the 'B' dozen is $2.99. (One Sunday night I stopped in at our local Safeway, and there were ZERO eggs in the case -- except for a few dozen of the extra-expensive organic type. Is this a warning of what's coming during the holidays?)
Fortunately, the Brick was also able to take some of the canned goods I'd been stocking at a lower price, thanks to Amazon Warehouse: beef stew, tamales, corned beef hash and such. ('Tamale surprise,' a gas-producing mix of chili, tomatoes and tamales, is one of the hunters' favorites.)
The heartstopping fall colors have faded, but perhaps that's a blessing. How could I really appreciate such amazing shade and nuance, if I got to live with it for a month or two, instead of just a few weeks? Yes, November will be somewhat more dreary -- but at least we've got sunshine to compensate. Last year, we didn't have that comfort.
Last month's report is here. Last year's October report is here -- and the year before that.
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