New plans, dogs, money and life

Somehow, in my absence yesterday, plans changed for the coming weekend. It looks like Chase is going with us to get the Ranger pickup that is in Bowie. The plans – which have not been coordinated with his work schedule – are for him and Victoria to drive the Lincoln over to Bowie and drive the truck back. He is pretty excited about the prospect of driving the pickup versus the Lincoln. It will work out better in many areas of our lives at the moment to have access to the truck.


We have called on multiple dogs we have seen advertized trying to zero in on one for Victoria to raise, but there have no responses that I have heard about. I realize I am going to bed pretty early compared to the rest of the house, and I am writing this hours before they get up, but as of my bedtime last night there was no word. I am not overly concerned other than the fact that I will have to trip over another four legged poop machine.

Mama was particularly interested in one add I came across. It was for a Basenji. The one characteristic of that dog that caught my attention is that they do not bark. I have no idea what they do to make up for that lack, in other words, where that expressive energy will manifest, but I could do without the bark; especially when raising the dog with Rosie, who is quite expressive in that area.

Mama and Victoria are still planning on going to see the Great Pyrenees pups and I cannot see any way to avoid bringing one home, unless the conditions are so bad that we walk away. If we do eventually get the Jerusalem donkeys and have one of the large dogs I think there will be enough security on the farm to allay most of our fears of natural predators. Grandma is still excited about the possibility of selling one of the donkeys but I so not see it happening the way she envisions it.

Cleanup is progressing on the little farm house but all the other projects are slowing down for lack of materials. Grandpa outfitted another chicken coop and has the hog house near completion. He is waiting on materials for the floor of the hog building. It may continue to wait until later in November. I am praying for finances for these projects but I do not think they rate as high in God’s hierarchy as they do in mine so we are falling back to patience, persistence and planning.

Mama and I are finally getting a budget working and the difference is noticeable. There are a lot less purchases of cute, unnecessary items and more of durable necessary things. One thing I have noticed is that she is buying less cereal. Some of that is because our household is dwindling; the rest is due to the high prices of cereal. I have heard that peanut butter went up 40% yesterday, but I have not conferred with Mama to verify that. If it is indeed true, Seth will either have to get a big raise or have a significant change in diet to survive.

Like all things within the free market system, when the price gets too high people will quit buying. When people quit buying, supplies stack up and the price is dropped until people eventually start buying again. We were warned about the coming price increase, but I did not see the prudence in spending what little money we had stocking up on peanut butter when we needed milk, bread and eggs on a more regular basis; as healthy as it may be, it is no substitute for good nutrition.

It may however, have been wiser to buy peanut butter with the money we have spent on dogs lately. Though they are used as a source of meat in the Philippines, the idea is not immediately appealing to Mama and Victoria. Since I cannot eat the donkeys either, I suppose the farm will have to maintain animals that I cannot eat although that was my original purpose.

I only hope they do not get too attached to the edible animals. If that happens, I will just convert the farm to a petting zoo.