Fitty's Angling Ramble 7.0

[Nainoa]

So the wife is out at the Doctor and running some errands and I have baby duty.

Baby has been fussy everywhere, except sitting on my lap at the computer, just staring at the screen and watching my fingers as I type.

She keeps reaching out for the keyboard...

So let's see what she types...

jl;asjjjkjkjadskjljaskdfjl ndskj nm


greatnowthereisamassiveboogeronthespacebar!

[GREENFEATHER]

[Nainoa]

Well I got good news and bad news today...

Good News... My home is estimated at TWICE what I owe on it... The value of the entire property went up $48,000 in one calendar year!



The crap news... The increased value just drove up all of my property tax and home owners insurance to a net increase of $680... At the same time I got the bill for the baby/hospital and it rang in $2,800 more than they estimated.



I literally don't know how to feel... Awesome news in the long term... Absolute kick in the balls in the short term.

[Hartski]

Resale value doesn't mean that much to me. I don't ever plan on moving again, and I plan on driving my truck until it dies.

[Nainoa]

Resale value doesn't mean that much to me. I don't ever plan on moving again, and I plan on driving my truck until it dies.

Yeah that's kind of the double edged sword.

Now in 5 years when the language of my mortgage changes, it means I could take out a home equity loan by snapping my fingers. But the first 5 years I can't do an HEL anyway.

IF after that, something terrible happens, wife's car blows up or something else unforseen, I could in theory borrow another small loan off the equity.

Otherwise I see little advantage, strategically, but I'm getting bent over on the insurance premium now.

[Hartski]

We're so lucky we don't have to worry about a mortgage. New plumbing is almost paid off, and we'll get the electrical done before winter. Then the real work redoing the basement begins....

[GREENFEATHER]

Otherwise I see little advantage, strategically, but I'm getting bent over on the insurance premium now.

Get it paid down to the point where you don't have to pay that PMI. That was a great day when we did it.

Anyone have any experience with this? I'm going to buy one just in case, seems like a really neat idea.

http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/all...roduct+Release

[Nainoa]

Get it paid down to the point where you don't have to pay that PMI. That was a great day when we did it.

Anyone have any experience with this? I'm going to buy one just in case, seems like a really neat idea.

http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/all...roduct+Release

Yeah my downpayment covered that... No way in hell did I want to pay a PMI. Drained most of my savings and investments in the process.

I'm just going to have to accept that I'll have to DRAIN the last of my savings to cover this perfect storm of Baby-Hospital expenses, Taxes and Insurance all due during a 2 week window!

May and June I'll just be "Living off the Land" while I waiting for the next batch of comissions to come in.

[Nainoa]

We're so lucky we don't have to worry about a mortgage. New plumbing is almost paid off, and we'll get the electrical done before winter. Then the real work redoing the basement begins....

You gonna go with a fully furnished man-cave with home theatre... Or more of the Burt Gummer look?

Electrical is such a pain...

2 of the 4 house fires I've survived were electrical related... The old place BARELY passed code in 1955 when it was rewired.

The guy who wired this new place in the 1990's was NOT screwing around... I swear there is pretty much a breaker for every outlet and light socket in the house.

I've been here almost 11 months and I've never flipped a breaker...

3 large breaker boxes in the house... and a double out in the barn.

He even wired the 110 lights in the barn with the fire proof protection bulbs and used the 220 gauge wire.

I could literally wire any single light bulb in the barn to an electric range!

[|ceman]

Yeah my downpayment covered that... No way in hell did I want to pay a PMI. Drained most of my savings and investments in the process.

I'm just going to have to accept that I'll have to DRAIN the last of my savings to cover this perfect storm of Baby-Hospital expenses, Taxes and Insurance all due during a 2 week window!

May and June I'll just be "Living off the Land" while I waiting for the next batch of comissions to come in.

If it's a hardship or will put you in a bad spot, most hospitals will let you work out a payment plan and won't hold your feet to the coals for every dime tomorrow. The best part is that usually their payment plans are interest free.

[Nainoa]

If it's a hardship or will put you in a bad spot, most hospitals will let you work out a payment plan and won't hold your feet to the coals for every dime tomorrow. The best part is that usually their payment plans are interest free.

Yeah we just got the hospital to offer us an interest free loan.

I've also got a line on a guy who might come in and take down all my standing dead hardwoods and buy them for firewood prices.

No sense in letting them stand and rot, if I can turn 10 trees into a little cash.

[Hartski]

You gonna go with a fully furnished man-cave with home theatre... Or more of the Burt Gummer look?

Electrical is such a pain...

2 of the 4 house fires I've survived were electrical related... The old place BARELY passed code in 1955 when it was rewired.

The guy who wired this new place in the 1990's was NOT screwing around... I swear there is pretty much a breaker for every outlet and light socket in the house.

I've been here almost 11 months and I've never flipped a breaker...

3 large breaker boxes in the house... and a double out in the barn.

He even wired the 110 lights in the barn with the fire proof protection bulbs and used the 220 gauge wire.

I could literally wire any single light bulb in the barn to an electric range!

The part that people can see will be the 1800's bar and theater accessable through an obvious hidden entrance. Then the real hidden parts will be the burt Gummer

[Hartski]

Get it paid down to the point where you don't have to pay that PMI. That was a great day when we did it.

Anyone have any experience with this? I'm going to buy one just in case, seems like a really neat idea.

http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/all...roduct+Release

I was going to get the one from www.beprepared.com. It's only $200.

[Procta]

interesting book I came across

[GREENFEATHER]

Yeah my downpayment covered that... No way in hell did I want to pay a PMI. Drained most of my savings and investments in the process.

I'm just going to have to accept that I'll have to DRAIN the last of my savings to cover this perfect storm of Baby-Hospital expenses, Taxes and Insurance all due during a 2 week window!

May and June I'll just be "Living off the Land" while I waiting for the next batch of comissions to come in.

No shame in that mang, I did it when I started my business. Ate deer and veggies out of the garden. Got pretty damn good at canning and making home made ketchup.

Yeah we just got the hospital to offer us an interest free loan.

I've also got a line on a guy who might come in and take down all my standing dead hardwoods and buy them for firewood prices.

No sense in letting them stand and rot, if I can turn 10 trees into a little cash.

Why not find a used chainsaw and splitter and sell it yourself? Here, oak fetches $200 per cord.

[iccyman001]

Well I got good news and bad news today...

Good News... My home is estimated at TWICE what I owe on it... The value of the entire property went up $48,000 in one calendar year!



The crap news... The increased value just drove up all of my property tax and home owners insurance to a net increase of $680... At the same time I got the bill for the baby/hospital and it rang in $2,800 more than they estimated.



I literally don't know how to feel... Awesome news in the long term... Absolute kick in the balls in the short term.

Congrats on the increase in value, not the tax :P Has to be a bit of a good feeling

[Nainoa]

No shame in that mang, I did it when I started my business. Ate deer and veggies out of the garden. Got pretty damn good at canning and making home made ketchup.



Why not find a used chainsaw and splitter and sell it yourself? Here, oak fetches $200 per cord.

Yeah I've found that it is an inevitable reality that the closer my hand is to the land the better I live... Or at least the better I feel inside. The next couple of months will be a pinch... But I grew up in poverty... I'm more used to living in a pinch than I am living with plenty.

It sounds kind of stupid to say, but I've lived a lot of my life with my back against the wall... Every time I took a step forward, the wall moved forward with me. Now all of a sudden I'm in a good place with things to lose... It's a whole new skill set I have to build.

I really appreciate you guys support and as a sounding board while I wrap my head around the tieing up the loose ends.

[Hartski]

Argh. End of the quarter today, so there is a huge push to get product out the door......and half of the people are gone because it's Good Friday........

[Nainoa]

Congrats on the increase in value, not the tax :P Has to be a bit of a good feeling

Yeah when I retire to Hawaii and I cash it all out it will be a nice down payment on 10 acres of Hawaiian coffee plantation!



I went out last night an cleaned up the top 2 inches of slop off the driveway. Just nice to be working outside again. pushed through the deep drifts to take a nice walk in the woods.

[Nainoa]

I've got the baby in my office this morning... Wife is in some post pardom mood.

Pretty cool... I stopped her fussing, but just propping her up and letting her look out the window and be amazed at the shapes and shadows of the trees!

[iccyman001]

Yeah when I retire to Hawaii and I cash it all out it will be a nice down payment on 10 acres of Hawaiian coffee plantation!



I went out last night an cleaned up the top 2 inches of slop off the driveway. Just nice to be working outside again. pushed through the deep drifts to take a nice walk in the woods.

if you grow it, i'll drink it!

Wife is in some post pardom mood.
!

and this is???

[Nainoa]

if you grow it, i'll drink it!


and this is???

My wife and I have very different skill sets. I use my intuition and experience to guide me because I'm stronger there and weaker at just reading something technical in a book.

She would rather read something in a book or manual before trying it out in her experience.

If something is wrong with the computer printer, or some prefab furniture instructions are a little tricky... She is right on it with a breeze.

Unfortunately a lot of stuff with taking care of a kid (Just like dealing with people) is about intuition.

The kid was fussy for hours with her and her she was just googling stuff up and reading through books and the whole time the baby was burning her out. I had the baby for an hour and a half, didn't google a thing, didn't flip a page in a book... Soothed her through the gut storm she had brewing, fed her up, went through the diaper storm... Rocked her out... Put her in the auto-rocking swing and she's fast asleep.

That sort of thing pisses her off because it plays on her fears and doubts about her mothering skills.

And it's not that she's a bad mom at all... She's actually a good and loving Mother... It's just that her Mother told her "All this stuff comes naturally once the baby is born." And it doesn't... So when I essentially "Read" the baby, the same way I can read a buddy going through depression while sitting around a campfire, or read a competitor while sitting across a board room table... When I do that with the baby right in front of her, she takes it like I'm showing her up.

When she should be taking it as a learning opportunity.

I guess I can empathize with the role reversal, because I felt like she was picking her nose and wiping it on the front of my favorite shirt last year when I was trying to put the doors and shelves into the entertainment center and couldn't wrap my head around "Insert Screw 32-B into J-slot M.5" And she pulled the instructions out of my hands and had it assembled in 15 minutes!

[Hartski]

Damn, Duck Dynasty is addictive.

[Nainoa]

Damn, Duck Dynasty is addictive.

Yeah it is... But you can only re-watch old episodes so many times.

The first two seasons were such a hit and A&E was lacking in other content so they kind of over-played it for my taste. So now I just kind of watch the new episodes, because I've seen everything from 1 and 2 a thousand times.

[Nainoa]

So how was everyone's weekend/holiday?

Mine was pretty awesome.

My Sister-in-Law's husband came up with the excuse of "There's so much going on with the melting that I need to do, I'm just gonna stay home and make sure the house and yard don't flood." As his excuse to not have to go to the In-Laws over night family thing up north.

Once sister in law bit on that one... All of the male In-Laws jumped on it.

And it was somewhat accurate and true...

It's just after sister in law braved by horrible driveway to pick up my wife and daughter, I may have done a little less shoveling and water diverting than I originally advertised.

But I figure I have a valid excuse for only getting done HALF of what I said I'd do... I mean there was an accident... I swear I accidentally tripped and spilled Whiskey and Cigars in my mouth!

That ice is DANGEROUS!

[Nainoa]

Geez... 10 diapers in 2 hours last night... That was rough.


But on the bright side I'm about two more warm days away from having most of the snow gone... And parts of the forest are open enough to go for a walk in!

[|ceman]

Geez... 10 diapers in 2 hours last night... That was rough.


But on the bright side I'm about two more warm days away from having most of the snow gone... And parts of the forest are open enough to go for a walk in!

You gotta put her on rations - one diaper an hour max.



Just yesterday we picked up a sweet deal via Craigslist. A stroller/carseat combo that was completely new and unused for $120 less than retail at the store. It was a brand that we were considering buying anyway, so it saved us the cost and checked one item off our registry.

[Nainoa]

You gotta put her on rations - one diaper an hour max.



Just yesterday we picked up a sweet deal via Craigslist. A stroller/carseat combo that was completely new and unused for $120 less than retail at the store. It was a brand that we were considering buying anyway, so it saved us the cost and checked one item off our registry.

One HUGE trick that we did was to hit up the Good Will stores in these high end Resort Communities full of rich people.

It's a lot of boomers with big check books, who left the cities and retired "Up North." Then their kids, who still lived in the Cities had kids... So of course Grandma and Grandpa want them to come up, but it's a pain in the butt to pack up all the stuff you want to take your kid on a trip each weekend, especially when they are little.
(Hell my wife went up north for 2 days, my mother in law had half of everything she needed and my wife still packed out more for those 2 days in a lakeside mansion, than I do for a week long wilderness retreat!)


What a lot of these Grandparents end up doing is decking out an entire room with cribs and playpens and such... So when the grand kids come up... Mom and Dad just have to grab a diaper bag and car seat.

Winter comes... Grandparents head south for the winter... The next spring the kid has outgrown the pack and plays and strollers and CLOTHES... So the Grand Parents take it to the Good Will and donate it, then claim the maximum charitable donation. (Good Will doesn't itemize at all, so it's a great on your honor way to donate something worth $20 and claim it was worth their max of $300!)

Then I swing in and spend $5 on something that normally costs $50.

With spring coming up, and you stocking for a baby, I'd try driving through a high end neighborhood or five on the weekends checking for garage sales.

I figure I grew up, the first eight years wearing home made clothes and a piece of rope for a belt... My Kid can wearing or use something that's been worn or played with twice!

I'll take the money I save and put it towards Martial Arts Lessons and College Funds!

[GREENFEATHER]

You gotta put her on rations - one diaper an hour max.



Just yesterday we picked up a sweet deal via Craigslist. A stroller/carseat combo that was completely new and unused for $120 less than retail at the store. It was a brand that we were considering buying anyway, so it saved us the cost and checked one item off our registry.

Here's what I got off Craigslist, the WHOREHOUSE Beetle, complete with leopard everything.






A spare motor for my car and a diesel for M's quattro.

[Nainoa]

Here's what I got off Craigslist, the WHOREHOUSE Beetle, complete with leopard everything.



A spare motor for my car and a diesel for M's quattro.

Yeah I always figured you for a Leopard Interior kind of guy...

Did that come with a Pimp Cup or a Mimosa glass?