Month: January 2021

Fan of Gold Rush, plant your (Tony) Beets!

Planted my Detroit Dark Red Beets last weekend. I have 2 emerging. Since I am a fan of the gold rush show, they will now forever be called Tony Beets for all varieties.
More plants have moved into the bed today : cabbage, collards and marigolds

I also managed to finish up a 4×4′ bed to extend the 8×4. I will continue the planting in that one as the broccoli and bean starts grow a bit bigger.

The house is great, but we didn’t know there was a fencing problem!

Ok, sorry, had to borrow that from that insurance brand. Really, once we got rid of the tree, we were able to install a fence and keep Cocoa the wonderdog out. She supervised the construction of the fence. The garden area is shaping up for some planting this year.

Yes, a fencing problem
gravel 2.5′ down in a whole, cement from 2′ to 6″ deep, 8 posts installed.
There was a 40 foot tree in the center of that view previously.
progress pic, oh, and I picked up some wood for a 8×4 garden bed as well.
4′ opening for the yard tools and wheel barrows.
Uhh, nevermind that unfinished gate, you didn’t see that.
Blackberry trellis installed with a plant that was barely a twig and has overwintered.
And yes, as I promised. A winter tomato picked by the youngest SNH’er. It was delicious.

I am boycotting the anti-first amendment corporations !

Greetings Fans of the SNH site. Today, I am blocking twitter, facebook and other platforms that are singularly focused on suppression of free speech and opinions in opposition to theirs. You will no longer have the convenient links to their platforms from snhliving. I recommend you do the same for your privacy and freedom.

It is my Libertarian view that the first and second amendments are paramount to the freedom of all US citizens.

Mr. SNH.

Happy New Year, time to get your financial plan in place!

With the New Year upon us, it is a great time to review your financial plans. Some great areas to look at are:

My new year will start out by dedicating a deposit to a new high yield savings account and funneling part of that deposit into a taxable investment account. The reason I am adding a taxable account to our plan is to fill in the gap between short term savings and long term retirement goals. This middle-stage bucket of funds will allow some growth and allow us to use some of the dividends that we receive. A key difference between my taxable account and my “tax advantaged” accounts are as follows:

  • Taxable account will require me to pay taxes on realized gains and losses each year.
  • Taxable account will not be penalized if I choose to use those funds since they are structured in a way that allows me to take profits at any time.
  • I usually DRIP funds into my retirement account, but the taxable account will not use DRIP since we may choose to funnel those dividends into other opportunities or spend them for some entertainment.
  • Will open me up to funds that I would ordinarily avoid in my Roth. For example, I can now invest in Muni CEF’s if they appear attractive and get to take advantage of the tax free nature of these funds. This would be a great post down the road. Hmm!!!
  • The Taxable account will allow us to make gains above inflation for big ticket items like a new roof, solar or future car purchase. That new Toyota Hybrid Sienna and Subaru Ascent look mighty fine! For now, we will continue to drive ours into the ground. Grandpa SNH recently bought a Honda CRV will all of the bells and whistles and seems to be very happy with it.

I may also look at sending back our TV box since our Roku provides the same functionality with our cable subscription. Doing so would save about $90 a year. At the end of the year, we may also decide to remove cable altogether and go back to antenna services since we seem to watch a relatively small number of channels and programs. We were cord cutters for a long time in Georgia and decided to trial cable again in Florida to see if there was a large benefit. I don’t currently think we get a good ROI for the service. Again, it is up to evaluation after a full year cycle with it.

Have a happy new year! Don’t forget to review your New Years financial plan. Keep building and growing.

Mr. SNH

A couple of things are happening in the garden and the home!

Mrs. SNH did a great job of clearing out some of the old homeowner’s plantings around the house. This is making way for us to get the back yard in shape. I was planning to chop down the large Pine in the rear, but decided it would be better to talk to a Professional before I take that one on.

If you are planning to do your own tree removal, please check out a few safety videos on felling trees. There are a lot of things that could go wrong. Better to pay a pro if you are in a tight spot and haven’t done it before.

We got a few of the cool season veggies started in some plant pots. We placed them on the roof of the shed that is still standing. This avoids the rather nosey wonderdog from interrupting the young plants. We started with Broccoli, Snow Peas and Romaine lettuce.

Last night was fun too, we ordered 2 Orange trees from backyardcitrustrees.com. I staggered the variety with a Valencia and Navel to give a slightly different flavor and slightly different harvest time. It will take about 3 years before we see the ‘fruits of our labor’ but well worth the free shipping and anticipation of our fresh citrus. The last little bit to round out our trees for the property will likely be an avocado and peach.

Lastly, we decided to relieve the stress of vacuuming up after the cats and dog. We purchased a Shark Robotic Vacuum and put it to work. We named her Mrs. Patmore after the cook in Downton Abbey. I know, pretty unimpressive if you already have one of these doing the chores for you, but it truly is a time saver allowing you to do more productive things.

Ahh, the peace of automation