Since we have moved to the country, we just don't have company very often at all. We thought if we had a big enough house to have dedicated guest rooms, we had more of a chance for the kids to come visit, or any family for that matter. It doesn't happen very often, but...we had company just before the 4th of July holiday. We have a new grand daughter and got to meet her and see her Mom and Dad this past week. Ellie was five weeks old, she is a good baby, didn't fuss much I enjoyed getting to see her and the kids. Ellie was delivered early by C-Section so we didn't get to be there for her birth.
We have been having issues with our only vehicle, our truck. We have not ventured very far from the house because of our issues...our transmission was acting up on us, some bearing disintegrated and we had to have that fixed, but it is not perfect. Then some part of the clutch failed, but Crew was able to fix that, he watches YouTube videos and learns how to make some repairs...he is not a mechanic but he is learning more of that skill. Our latest issue was a flat tire, I noticed a vibration in the front end a few weeks earlier...we knew we needed to get new tires but had put it off for awhile because of funds. Crew came home from work while the kids were here and a front tire went flat...when he took it off there was a long strip of rubber missing and the belt was showing. So we had to replace the tires or risk getting stuck on the side of the road somewhere. The spare was the original spare tire...it worked but after 11 years under the truck, it was cracked and we were not sure how long it might last. So we are fixed up for the moment. Since I had the truck, I went and got tires, an oil change and washed and vacuumed it too. Usually when I have the truck I have a lot of errands to run and Crew works 6 days a week and just don't really do any kind of maintenance on it very often...but, we also don't put very many miles on it. We do need a second vehicle, but that would increase costs more...not sure we can afford to do that right now.
We only have one vehicle because we basically are trying to cut costs, my husband's business has been really slow...people are just struggling. Trying to get his business going well and trying to get the poultry farm going and actually making money has been tough, we spend more than we take in a lot of the time. We are trying to live off of his Military Retirement and it is just not easy with having all the animals and unexpected expenses. He makes enough money to pay his expenses at his shop, but with all the taxes he has to pay, rent and utilities we need more business so he can get paid more for working...most the time we live paycheck to paycheck and the credit card bill is steadily rising. I keep hoping to get my breeding pens built so I can start breeding and selling full breeds of chickens, but at the rate I am going, it will be next Spring. It is scary some days when I sell $12 worth of eggs...and I make more than the Computer shop.
I visited the tax office a few months ago, and reworked our land splits we are now agriculture and timber...hopefully it will help with our taxes more. I guess because there are fewer people out here, we pay higher taxes, as a matter of fact every month we pay more in taxes than towards the house payment. When we first moved here our property was appraised as being worth $134,000 it has gone up about $50,000 since then...so our taxes have gone up too. I found out to maintain agricultural status, I have to have at least 100 chickens, I probably have around 320 poultry at the moment, if you count all the chicks...hopefully it will help us more in tax season, we have no backup funds any more, no more money to fall back on. We have to make our businesses work. Since I don't have much of a garden this year, I probably won't be canning anything this year either. I went up on the price of my eggs, but I am not sure if I will be able to sell them at $3 a dozen...even with the Avian Flu and them killing massive amounts of chickens up north, the egg shortage at the stores I am not selling all the eggs I have.
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