December 2011

Exeunt the Devil-Pod Tree, Pursued by a Chain-Saw

December 16, 2011

One of the Funny Farm’s sources of eternal labor is the Devil-Pod Tree, a vast weeping acacia planted in the backyard, just upwind of the swimming pool, by the previous owners Satan and Proserpine. This unholy plant, now a couple of years older than it was in the photo to the right, towers three times [...]

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Rain Puppy

December 14, 2011

Rain + Puppy bred to swim around in lakes after ducks = LOL! Says M’hijito: “Five unsupervised minutes for him to take a leak…” Must’ve been five minutes of computer-gaming standard time. When Charley was discovered in this frolic, he’d excavated a hole about two feet across and two feet deep, spread the dug-out dirt [...]

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Stress-Free Finances: Close Out Revolving Debt

December 14, 2011

The biggest drain on your budget—and one of the biggest financial stressors around—is revolving debt: credit card and store card debt. The availability of easy credit in this country has had strange effects on the consumers’ psychology and on the way businesses work; IMHO it’s not especially good for either party. The other day I [...]

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Do You Really NEED It?…

December 13, 2011

…Or can you use what you have, wear it out, make it do, or do without? Have you noticed that we’re surrounded by things that we think we need, but that we could easily live without? Some of those are expensive don’t-needs. The example that comes to mind is my clothes dryer. The thing has [...]

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Personal Finance, Academics, and the Perpetual Recession

December 12, 2011

Yesterday I came across a shiny new blog over at WordPress.com by a young academic working in the South. She calls it Budget Glamorous: Living Well on Less. (hmmm… What is it about academia that leads its denizens to write personal finance blogs?) BG, it develops, is presently working in exactly the same position at [...]

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Life Lessons from the Mountain

December 10, 2011

w00t! Amazing! Yesterday I decided to start anew on the ever-flagging effort to get off my ever-enlarging fanny and lose some weight. On the way home from class, I went over to Shaw Butte to start what I hope will be at least three days a week of climbing. To my delight, they have not [...]

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