Good morning!!!!

[RedNeckGeek]

How long does the trip take when loaded?

I was out the door yesterday morning at 7:15 and arrived at about 4:15PM. That's 9 hours, including one stop for gas. The speed limit here drops to 55 MPH when towing a trailer, and that, along with having to stop for gas, adds almost two hours to the trip. I can make it on one tank in the Camry or one of the motorcycles with a big touring fuel tank, and run 70-80MPH once I get to the freeways. But all I really care about is not having to drive at night, especially when having to back that trailer up into the driveway on the Orcutt end.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

The reality is that the most efficient wood stoves are almost as efficient as a typical oil burner, and way behind modern gas and heat pump efficiency.
I’m thinking about a classic stone fireplace, I could add a fresh air vent into it though.

Oh, OK, now I get it.

You're right about the efficiencies. The wood I burn up north is harvested on the property, so I don't worry about how much it costs. Down south the heat comes from burning natural gas in what likely is a 43 year old furnace, and that's expen$ive. I did the numbers on hauling the 8 chords of palletted firewood down there, and it would cost almost as much for the gas as it would to purchase wood there. Add to that the cost of another woodstove, and the modifications needed to the house to install it, and it's probably not economically justifiable to put another woodstove in down there. But I prefer the heat the woodstove puts out, and I like watching the flames dance behind the window. What I like best is being able to stand in front of the stove while it blows really hot air over me, especially when I come inside when it's cold and wet outside. I've still got a few months to make up my mind on this one, but it's going to be a difficult decision.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Need to determine a sensible approach as maintaining a full blown budget for each for a month or two sounds like work.

That's exactly why I stopped using Quicken. I entered the data manually because importing it from the bank was problematic. The entries sometimes had unclear descriptions, leading to confusion when I looked at them later. More importantly, any errors made by the bank or credit card companies would just propagate into the budget app. That said, though, in more than 20 years with Quicken, I never once found an error in either the credit card or bank statements. All the errors were on my end, mostly from fat fingering the numbers on the receipts I entered by hand.

 

[Buppies]

Preferably I like red or white oak to burn high heat content and love to smell

 

[RedNeckGeek]

whatever I plant has to be done by August this year

Why August, Drew? Is that when you're planning your cross country trip?

If so, the southern leg is gonna be a real cooker. And wildfire smoke on the northern side could also be problematic. Could you consider the Fall shoulder season, maybe mid to late September after it cools off some?

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Wish I knew of a method to auto import Bank data into my spreadsheets.

Back in the day it was pretty common for a spreadsheet or database program to be able to import CSV files. They'd provide an option to map each field in the file to a column in the spreadsheet or cell in the database. Don't the modern apps still have that, too?

 

[RedNeckGeek]

David, I don't think you missed anything parenting.... Out of our 3, one is very financially stable. He is the one with the LEAST amount of guidance.

The only financial guidance I got from my parents was a $.50/week allowance that stopped as soon as I got my first paper route. By then I knew how to save up for something I wanted to buy. I never had a credit card until after college, and once I looked at the interest rate, I almost always kept it payed off. Had a professor in college that brought in a whole life insurance salesman, and was talked into purchasing a policy. Made payments on it until I wanted a rotter Porsche, and cashed it in. Somehow had the good sense to always contribute enough to the 401K to get the maximum company matching funds. It was only later in life, maybe in my 40s, that I even thought of retirement, and what kind of income would be needed to not have to work at a job. Then dad died, and I had to help mom with his portfolio. That was a learning experience, but then dad's advisor retired and his son took over not long after dad passed. The kid was pretty reckless and started losing money on bad corporate bonds and tech stocks. I stumbled across Jim Cramer and got a better understanding of various financial terms and relationships, but never saw much success chasing individual stock picks.

Besides that one professor, the big hole in this was no formal training in managing money. Not in high school, not from my folks, not in college. I had a couple of older friends that I'd talk to sometimes, but the rest of what I learned came by pure luck or random chance. Now that everyone is their own portfolio manager, it's no wonder the markets are so crazy!

 

[buckeyefarmer]

7° was our low, actually hit 6° before midnight. Now 24° with snow coming tonight
Still have quattro pro spreadsheet, surprised to find it’s still sold.

Couldn’t find my lotus on 5” floppy, but Did find 1990 turbo tax, and have copies of the return printed on dot matrix printer.

Also an early 1992 quicken. But my quicken data goes back to 1989.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I don’t want a fireplace for any practical reason other than aesthetics and to have an open fire to tinker with. Almost anything that makes the fire more efficient is counter to my prime objective.
The reality is that the most efficient wood stoves are almost as efficient as a typical oil burner, and way behind modern gas and heat pump efficiency.
I’m thinking about a classic stone fireplace, I could add a fresh air vent into it though.

I had same desire when I built my house. But never built the fireplace, just the foundation for it. It’s all ready with an ash dump, and 2nd flue from basement for wood stove down there, but stops at first floor hearth. My pellet stove sits in front where the fireplace should be. The wall behind has a header, ready to open and build the fireplace, but won’t do that now.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Morning all, 19 going to 33 and cloudy.
Son was out late last night for an open mike night we didn't know about. That will need to stop. All tired today.

I have the full office version pretty cheap from StackSocial. It's a real license, but cheap, not a subscription like I have at work.

back to work,

You can still get non subscription version of office, not the 365 yearly subscription version. I’m using 2019 office home and student.