Finding The Way To Living It Up

2012 On the plains in Northern Arizona, two families joined forces and began the trials and tribulations of building a small family farm with nothing in the bank but love.

View from our window

The end of May seems like the end of spring to me. June always marks summer. As I write, I'm in a hotel room in Laughlin, Nevada. Summer comes early to this part of the country. One word - hot. Before you think we're crazy gambling when we barely have enough to afford the necessities, let me tell you we don't. Oh, we might put $5 in once or twice in a three day period. But if you've read any prior posts, you'll know the reason Frank comes is to fish Lake Mohave and the Colorado River while I hole up in the room to write. This might be the last time we do this since we now have the RV and the truck. Next week we'll get a hitch to use the home on wheels.

The financial side of this - I did promise to let you know how we were managing (with nothing in the bank but love) back when I started this blog.

More view from our window

I think I explained the free hotel rooms but here it is again. The first couple of times we came to Laughlin, we found which casinos had rooms for around $20 a night, during the week only. Weekends are always more expensive. After staying a couple of times, they started sending us free nights. At first, they would send us two free nights a month. Now, we get three. Some times we get coupons for dollars off food but not often. The days of cheap meals in casinos are in the past. Once in a while you can find breakfast specials or buffet specials. But honestly, $8 for a crappy buffet is not a deal to me. If we spend three nights a month here, we can't afford to eat even for that. So we wheel in our ice chest. I make dinners up ahead of time and we bring the fixings for sandwiches and snacks. We also bring a coffee pot. These are no longer provided in the room. This time we did receive six coupons for free coffee.

Lance putting nets on blackberries

Now as for the RV and truck, that's a matter of credit and our living arrangements. Even though Frank was out of work three of the last five years before he retired, and I also lost my job that last year, we managed to keep our credit rating. Yes, we lost what we had in the bank to retire on, but we never missed any payments. And the second part of that is how we now live. Sharing a home, a farm and all the expenses that go with it with another family enables us to make ends meet. We're managing to live on social security supplemented with my small royalties thanks to my son and his family. It's a symbiotic relationship that is suiting us all for varied reasons.

So, summer is coming to the farm. The only farm problem right now is the sweet potatoes. Our slips came but only half as many as I understood we were getting. Of those, two thirds are dead. The company is replacing that whole order and sending two

Summer comes to the farm

more orders via free shipping, but it might be too late. If they don't grow fast before fall arrives with cooler temps, we won't have sweet potatoes for the winter. Maybe we'll have an extra long warm summer.