I'm cleaning out my office. I have 16 file drawers, four bookcases with six shelves on each, and four boxes stacked in the corner. If I looked at every file it would probably take the entire three weeks. I'm not doing that. Right now I'm going through the books. Mine, state, mine, mine, state and so on. After 16 years in one office it's not surprising that so many of my own things have migrated here. I went into the warehouse and asked if I could have some old boxes. No. Go use your state credit card and buy some new ones. What? There's a whole stack of used file boxes that nobody wants. If I use those, then the people still here can buy the new ones. No. Then it would come out of their budget rather than mine. But why do I want new boxes? And you know they are going to charge on my budget all the way until the end of the fiscal year in June anyway.
The decision was made that I would go buy the boxes and use the state charge card. I drove the 5 miles in the state truck on state time to buy the boxes. I got there, picked out my boxes, and went to pay with the state charge. The charge card didn't go through for $75. It seems the state didn't pay their bill on time this month due to Thanksgiving. So now, the stupid citizens of this state (because they just voted in more taxes since the state is broke) have to pay the interest on the late charge accounts for our entire statewide department. I left the boxes there and drove back to the office.
If I get a good system of packing the boxes, bringing them home and unpacking, then bringing those back to the office I'll be able to get by without buying any boxes. It's just really inconvenient for me to do it that way. I can unload several boxes of copier paper and get some boxes that way too.
We are supposed to get rain later this week. I haven't had the kids rake the leaves out front because once they do the front will turn into a muddy mess. Since I have to walk out there each day to water the chickens and ducks I'm going to have to figure something out. Maybe if I dump a couple of bags of shavings it will pack down enough to keep the mud away. It's worth a try.
The strawberry plants are making a comeback after the ducks decided their favorite food was strawberry plants. Big dog loves sleeping in the strawberry bed as well. If I didn't do something the strawberry bed would be an empty bed. That would be a waste of two years of trying to get the strawberry bed going. I started out with about 2 dozen plants. I'm letting them send out runners and figure by this next summer the bed should be pretty well covered. If I don't blow it by letting the animals destroy it all. I covered the 75 foot by 2 foot bed with chicken wire. I used a 4 foot wide wire so it's arched into a tube. I'm keeping it up by tying a thin wire from the top of the arch to the wire supports for the grapevines. It's working - no dogs or ducks.
Did you spend any money on Black Friday or Cyber Monday? I didn't. Not a penny. The gifts for friends and relatives are all home made and food related. Even the grand kids have their lists: home made, not too expensive, and way too much money. Most items on my list are home made. Of course I'm dreaming of the new tires for the truck to magically appear as a gift. They won't.
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