It's hard times - but could be good times

I have to admit, I didn't see this coming. But since Oct. 16th or so, I have not had any work come my way. 6 weeks. At first I thought, well, something will come along shortly. Then I started actively looking. I spend 2-6 hours a day pouring over every job search engine I can find. Sending out no less than 6 resumes a day and answering all emails I receive. And making the rounds of all my contacts.

This has been really tough. I know I am not the only one out there in this economy and I certainly don't expect to be the last, but wow!

So its tough. The only things I buy are a gallon of milk and eggs from the store right now and I make them try to last for a long time. Otherwise, what is in the house for groceries is it. Nothing gets wasted anymore.

Trips - only if I absolutely have to. And if I know someone else is going, a neighbor or family, I give them the couple dollars and request they pick it up for me. I return the favor when I go.

So here's the rub. I have a farm with farm animals. I don't worry to much, I bought enough hay for a whole year and it tested out fantastically, they can live off the stuff without me adding any additional protein, etc. But I do feed a minimum of feed to get minerals and vitamins in them.
But they aren't getting much more than that.

With the farm animals, I used to be able to employee a local resident to do chores if I had to travel, giving someone a part time job. Well that went away. I do chores now because I am home, not working. And its become a game this year. Because of the early cold this year, keeping water that the stock will drink has been one of the challenges. I can't afford much on the electricity bill, so only one common tank is run 24 hours a day. I just can't empty and refill that everyday. Then I have a 16 gallon heated bucket in one pasture that is only run while there is stock out there. It is only filled to what they will drink, so I don't have to empty much at the end of the day. Then I have two animals inside 24/7, they have a heated bucket each. I also have two others that are in part of the day as they have to be switched out for excercise. Their buckets are plugged in for the time they are in their stalls. Then the buckets are emptied and unplugged to make sure there are no power draws there. Which leaves the feed room. It has open pipes in an small 8X12 insulated room with a door. I try to heat it up to 50 degrees while I am doing chores in the evening and then I unplug it, hoping it stays above freezing at night, so no pipes break.

Well so far this has been working. LOL! The electric bill is half of what it was last year. Wow! But this is only the beginning of December. I hope I can keep the electric bill low.

Then there is the distribution of hay outside. I don't waste anything right now. They have to eat their hay to the ground before they get more. No waste. Its going to be a long cold winter. I hope they all understand. They aren't starving thats for sure. They all have a nice layer of fat on them. Maybe a bit too much even. LOL!

Okay so that leaves the house. Only one light on in a room and the room has to be occupied to have it on. Now here's the rub. I inherited 4 kittens last week. They were in a bad situation, I won't go into that. But they needed to be moved. Mind you they are all up for adoption so they eventually will go to loving homes. When speaking of lights, they can't not have light from sundown to 9 or so in the bedroom the occupy. So they get a light on for about 5 hours every evening. Now this wouldn't be an issue, but I have my own cats and they share my light in the room I occupy. So these littles guys are getting special treatment. They can't be in the same company as my older cats, LOL! My older cats would not understand that and chaos would insue.

Plus they eat! I finally got a little bit of cat food from their owners today. With the telling of one of them has a home. Except the one the person chose, has dirrhea right now. So I have to get the little kid cleaned up before he can go to his new home.

So those are some of the challenges. But the title of the post is its hard times - but could be good times, right?!

Yes with the struggles of keeping drinkable water in front of stock and lights and groceries and additional cat food being bought -there comes some joys too. The stock outside seems to appreciate having someone around more often. They talk to me while I do chores. They get petted or hugged or whatever more often. I have broken out the cookbooks and revisited how to make homemade breads, puddings, cookies, stews , etc., etc. I am learning how to make everything s-t-r-e-t-c-h! Not to throw away anything if you can help it.

And the kittens are fun, yes I fuss because they are here, but to go sit and let them play and jump and crawl and meow and purr all over you. You can't help but laugh and smile and chuckle and have a good feeling.

And my cats love that I sit for an hour. They all pile on top of me somewhere and purr and eventually fall asleep. Oh to have a nap with their human! What joy.

The dog, he gets to run around more all day and see his human more often. You can't stop that tail from wagging!

It's hard times, but it is good times too.