I'm saving money

When Cliff's sister moved here, she asked him if he'd put up some clotheslines for her.  I quit hanging clothes outside on the line when I went back to work, years ago.  Back about the same time I quit milking all those cows and raising baby calves.  
It was nice to have those clotheslines there, right next door.  I like to hang sheets outside; that's about the only thing I used the lines for, at first.  Then in the last year I decided to get serious:  Unless we are having a series of rainy days, everything now goes on the clothesline.  I have an electric dryer, so I figured I'd be saving a few pennies by not using it.  
About three months ago, I began washing my clothes in tap-cold water, with the exception of the overalls Cliff wears when he's working on tractors and getting all greasy;  my water heater is electric, too.  
Since I pay the same amount year-round on my electric bill ($128 monthly), I wasn't sure how much I was saving, but I knew I had to be making some sort of dent in my overall bill.  
Poking around on the Kansas City Power and Light website where I pay my bill, I found out exactly how much I've saved in the past year, because there's a comparison chart.

On the left is the current year; on the right, the previous year.  Even though last month we had our biggest bill ever, over the year we have reduced our usage by 19% (this information is below the chart).  And I didn't really start waging war on our electrical usage until perhaps mid-summer.   

I wonder if I can do even better next year.

Oh, electricity, of thee I sing!

Yesterday evening my TV-DVR watching was interrupted by a power failure caused by sixty-miles-per-hour winds and rain that came sideways.  After forty-five minutes, the rain slowed to a sprinkle and I ran to check the rain gauge:  3 3/4 inches in such a short time!

This looks toward the back of our place; looks like a lake, doesn't it?  There's a drainage pipe there, and it rained so hard and fast that it couldn't keep up.  
The evening was rather enjoyable; my sister-in-law and I found all sorts of interesting things to keep us entertained during the power outage, like three cop cars going to the neighbors.  Evidently their horses had escaped again, and for once they must have headed down the highway instead of coming here!  Anyhow, I saw the kids leading them up the driveway after the cops left.
There was quite a light show when a transformer blew, down by the highway.  
  

Confident the electricity would be restored in a couple of hours, I got my Ipod, put it in the battery-powered I-home, and enjoyed the wide range of music I have there.  That's my handy-dandy flashlight beside it.
Now remember, we have a well.  So when our power is out we have no water:  No flushing, no bathing, no way to make coffee.  Not a big deal as long as power is restored before too long.
When Cliff came in from work at 3 A.M., there was still no power.  OK, we have a freezer chock-full of meat; I began to worry.  Unable to sleep when I'm worried, I got up.  
If only I had a battery-powered radio so I could listen to the news and weather, I thought; then I remembered there was one back at the cabin.  I put on my Muck boots and with flashlight in hand, waded mud to get back there and retrieve it, only running into a couple of cobwebs on the way.  
At six o'clock A.M., I saw the sister-in-law taking her dog out, getting ready to go to work; I went out to let her know that there were only three or four homes without power.  I knew this because I had taken a stroll around the yard in the dark, checking to see who had lights and who didn't; I wondered if Kansas City Power and Light would take their sweet time, since so few people were involved.  
Thank goodness, while we were talking the dusk-to-dawn light came on and we knew we were back in the modern age of light switches and indoor plumbing.  
I came to the house, flushed the stool, and made coffee.  
Life is good.  Except that I need a nap.

Sir Loin it is!

It was fun watching the poll as you folks voted for your favorite names for my calf; for a few days there, I was confident it was going to be "Clyde". I think perhaps my son-in-law did some campaigning to get his name on top. Now I can start calling the calf something besides "Hey You".

We had a genuine light show early this morning. First the electricity kept going off and coming back on repeatedly, which always makes me concerned that some appliances might be harmed. Then I realized that every time it went off, a transformer down by the road was shooting sparks and buzzing horribly.

Meanwhile, poor Sadie is still traumatized: Our smoke alarm is electric, and every time the electricity goes off or comes back on, it lets out a horrifying beep that almost hurts my own ears. Sadie was beside herself. The electricity has been back on for an hour or so, but she is hiding behind my recliner.

Since Sir Loin insists on going under the electric fence and enduring the shock it gives him in order to lie in the corn, I'm keeping him in the small lot until we can put up another strand of electric fence. When his mom comes up bawling, I let her in with him. When she bawls to be out, I let her out. Works for me, at least temporarily. Nursemaid to a cow; that's me.

I hadn't milked her for a couple of days, but this morning while the electricity was off and she was with the baby, there appeared to be plenty of milk in her back quarters, even after Sir Loin had his fill and was running around playing. So I went out to relieve her; I wouldn't want her udder to ruin.

As usual, she stood there unrestrained, chewing her cud, and allowed me to milk. I was able to get a half-gallon of milk from those two quarters. I'd say it won't be long until the calf can handle all her milk; at that point, if I want some milk once or twice a week, I'll have to keep him away from her overnight and milk the next morning.

A delightful storm

This year, Mother Nature has been quite generous with precipitation... up until August. This month, the whole world simply dried up. I've been watering my baby Norway Spruce trees, as well as the lilac bush and the burning bush I recently bought. No worries about grass; we haven't planted any back here yet. Oh, there's the clover/orchard grass mix that was here when this was a pasture, but with all the traffic that's involved with building and moving, that's pretty well shot.

Yesterday all day long, the weather-guessers excitedly blathered on about possible heavy storms. When we're going through a dry spell, I tend to block all that out, because I just don't believe the forecasts.

Along toward evening, though, distant thunder grew closer and raindrops started falling. My dog, scared of storms, cowered behind my chair, and I settled in to enjoy the storm. Then the electricity went out. Now let's face it, there isn't much you can do in such a case to keep yourself busy. At my house, you can't even flush the bathroom stool more than once, because we're on a well, and an electric pump brings water to the house.

I remembered my Blackout Buddy, which supplies me with light and a radio in such emergencies. Trouble is, I never listen to the radio, and couldn't find a station I liked. I remembered Cliff talking about a show he listens to at work on his MP3 player: Delilah. But I didn't know what station to look for; so I called him on the cell phone, at work, to see where it's found on the dial. Turns out it was KUDL, a soft-rock station.

I don't know when I've enjoyed a storm so much. Just me and my frightened dog in the safe cocoon of home which has, of late, become my favorite place to be.

The power was out for an unusually long time, and I went to bed sometime after nine, still with no lights.

We got three quarters of an inch of much-needed rain.