As per the things I said yesterday that I needed to do today, I got some of them done. Not everything, but a number of things are finished for now, or at least in progress.
I spoke with the propane company about getting the concrete blocks they have to put under the propane tank and lift it up out of the dirt. I’d like to at least do that, if not paint it before we move off, eventually. I was going to put a new one in, till the price skyrocketed for one. We have a little over $900 in credit with them, and that is about how much the cost of a new tank went up by in the last month, and I am not wasting it all just on a price increase. Blocks under the old tank! That’s enough for me!
I cleaned and seasoned several pieces of cast iron today, then wrapped them and put them in the moving box. Seasoning stinks, and I really should look at moving our countertop oven to the garage or something to do the rest of it. Our stovetop sets at the right temperature to season the inside of a pan on it, if I let the pan warm up for about five minutes. I season with olive oil, so that smokes nicely about 550 degrees or so, which is just about where the pans get to on the medium setting.
I set an appointment for the girls and I to get our eyes checked and prescriptions up to date. We will order new glasses at that time, too. It is at Sam’s Club, so maybe we will get a rotisserie chicken also! I will be investing in scratch resistance when I get the new glasses! My goodness, these that I am wearing went terrible pretty fast!
The girls tried to join their meet and greets for school today. The younger was set for 8:45AM, and the teacher had sent a bum link, then never said what went wrong, but she did send an e-mail an hour or more later that didn’t even acknowledge the missed meeting. What a class act! I can’t wait to see what this one is like! The older girl had an evening meet and greet, which turned out to be for the parents of students, not the students themselves, which could have been mentioned in the e-mail invitation, but it wasn’t. Well, the school has a week to get their act together. Maybe next week will be better. I thought today was the first day of school till yesterday. Just one more thing they have not been clear about. Yes, a week to get things together! It ought to do them some good.
My farmer friend delivered two bales of hay this evening. They are 4x4x8 foot bales. Right now that would have cost us $300 for the two, but he gave them to me in trade for the work I did the other day helping him clear hay off 250 acres of his fields before the rain came the next day. He’s a good man. I am really glad to know him. He will be coming back tomorrow to dig a 8-10 foot hole in the back of the house for a new septic system test. He will also help get up a stump in the front, which means I can finally have a level yard up there! I should bring up the little aspen stump next to the side of the house, too. It is a pain to avoid with the mower. It is rotting pretty good, so I could probably knock it down with my chainsaw. But if the guy is here with a backhoe… We talked about plenty of other things too. The world would be a better place if everyone had a farmer friend like this guy. We’ll see if he can get his old backhoe running!
If Mr. Farmer gets his backhoe running, then tomorrow is digging day. I should start out with getting the paperwork filled in for the county inspector. Then we can get the digging done, and I need to try to lift the end of my propane tank with the high lift jack, and see if that is enough to get it sorted for the new concrete blocks under it. If not, I will need to call Mr. Farmer back another day after I get the blocks delivered.
The next day is eye appointments. After that, it is probably good to call packing time.
I did find out from the President of the local water board, who also happens to be my farmer friend, that if anyone wants to buy our field and hook up to the local water, it is going to be a month or so before they expect to issue new water connections, as they are flow testing the current supply source. Someone can always put a well on, or buy now and connect to municipal water later when their house is built. I need to let the realtor know the situation.