Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[Baymule]

Second generation going to the same school....that is so cool. It's a wonder they let your grand kids in.....

 

[Ridgetop]

Right! I am surprised too! LOL

 

[Bruce]

It's all about the money

 

[Ridgetop]

Yup! Probably have a separate fee schedule for our family - 2 or 3 X regular price! LOL

 

[Ridgetop]

Waiting for DH to talk to realtor about sale of property in WA. I thought it was settled - only sign the listing agreement. But DH wants to talk to him again. OK, then get on it! I had to drag him into the office to call. Having to do all the business myself is getting very wearing. Particularly when DH comes in after everything is supposedly arranged and wants to redo things then tells me to take care of it. Again. So annoying.

Also have to sign the retainer for the adoption attorney and send the check. $1500.00. I suppose I could do the papers and filing myself if court was in session, but with everything else going on I will let the attorney take care of it. It is just money. Then back to the tax attorney about redoing our Trust and Wills to include DD2, set up her inheritance Trust with DS1 as her Trustee. DD2 and FSIL don't want any chance of DGD2's baby mama getting access to it. Neither do we. That means that FSIL can never be Trustee for his and DD2's children on the inheritance Trust. Once DGD2 is 18, Trust can wind up. If DD2 and her children are dead, money reverts to rest of our children. So complicated. Another $2500.00. It is just money. I like money and hate to pay it out! At this rate there won't be anything to inherit anyway. LOL

Next order of business is checking out several states to see what would be most advantageous state to buy in after sale of MJ's property. This entails looking up tax rates, exemptions for Ag or disability, etc. One guess as towho gets to do this important and time consuming task?

Last night we went to bed at 9:30 pm. So tired I was asleep immediately then woke up at 1:52 am, 2:15 am, 2:32 am, and finally got up at 3:05 am to take half a tranquilizer since I was completely unable to sleep thinking about this property sale. Should we 1031 to another property and have more renters, need to find a large enough property where it will be financially doable for another person to rent the hay field? OR just pay the taxes and keep the $$$ in the bank where the lib dems can find it and tax it to pieces? OR should we convert it to silver or gold and hide it away where the rats can gnaw on it? OR how do you go about opening a bank account in the Caymans? Too worried about stuff like this. And DS2's wedding to be followed by DD2's wedding, then 2 new grandbabies March 10 and April 10.

I am feeling hemmed in by our children. It feels like the cartoons where the little character is against a stake and the other character is wrapping a rope around him. With the quarantine it is too confining. Apparently people were getting back to business and beginning to feel happy. L.A. county has now closed the nail salons Mayor Fartcetti just opened 2 weeks ago. The barber shops and hair salons remain open - probably so Pelosi can get her hair done again without a "trap".

Heard rats in the house again 3:00 am. Need to put cage under the house and catch a bunch more. These sounded big and they were fighting. Bring on the Ratinator!

 

[farmerjan]

WOW
And I thought I had a difficult life.....

Try a cup of cocoa with some amaretto in it.... or a cold amaretto and vanilla ice cream milkshake.....puts me out like a light

 

[farmerjan]

Gold and silver..... silver is a very good investment.... and it is much easier to convert.... gold is kinda high as far as getting it converted over very fast....you can buy other goods easily with silver... invest in some real coins, that can be used as regular money... but with much greater value than their face amount. I have a few, but am going to take and start getting a monthly payment from the retirement left, so that I can get more silver.... and then it can't get taxed like in a bank account. No one has to know where you keep it or what you have if you get some monthly or even weekly...

Or buy a piece of property, don't you have a certain amount of time to roll the money over.... and just move. It may be the best option....
Heard that there aren't going to be any new sales of internal combustion engine vehicles after 2035.... 15 years away.... and to regulate out all the fracking and available gas/oil from that.... sure hope they all like living like the 1800's..... there is no way they can "produce enough electricity" to plug in all these vehicles that need recharging.... what in the world are these nut cases actually smoking out there????? I would like to see more renewable sources.... but people have to eat and hold jobs and all that in the meantime....and it sure aint going to happen if they can't get to work.... and what about the fuel to operate farming equipment???? Electric aint gonna cut it for a long time....

 

[Baymule]

Next order of business is checking out several states to see what would be most advantageous state to buy in after sale of MJ's property. This entails looking up tax rates, exemptions for Ag or disability, etc. One guess as towho gets to do this important and time consuming task?

Maybe you should consider North Dakota. Sure, it has cold winters, but with global warming, in a few years it will be nice and balmy. You could get there first and avoid the rush of heat displaced people. Buy up a few thousand acres and you could sell them off as mini ranches of 5-10 acres and make millions. Be sure to save some 5 acre ranches for your BYH friends!

 

[Bruce]

Heard that there aren't going to be any new sales of internal combustion engine vehicles after 2035.... 15 years away.... and to regulate out all the fracking and available gas/oil from that.... sure hope they all like living like the 1800's..... there is no way they can "produce enough electricity" to plug in all these vehicles that need recharging.... what in the world are these nut cases actually smoking out there????? I would like to see more renewable sources.... but people have to eat and hold jobs and all that in the meantime....and it sure aint going to happen if they can't get to work.... and what about the fuel to operate farming equipment???? Electric aint gonna cut it for a long time....

Yeah, that is a California thing. I thought the same as you. Lots of things would have to happen first, not the least of which is generating a WHOLE LOT more electricity. There will also have to be a LOT more charging stations, much longer range. My sister has 1 vehicle so when she replaced her 2005 Prius she bought a 2020 Prius Prime, 200 mile range doesn't get you from So. Cal to the Grand Canyon (which we did last November).

I'm wondering if that mandate was for on road vehicles only and will there be an exemption for long haul truckers? I don't foresee a near term semi that could haul 80,000 pounds of goods thousands of miles on battery power.

The Leaf we bought last month is running about 4 miles per kWh, it will be lower when the cold temps start. With DW's 70 mile round trip 5 day a week commute (she kept her 2006 Prius and drives it one day a week) our electric use went up about 18 kWh per day that she drives. That is about a 75% increase to what we use for everything else. At our current $0.18/kWh electric cost (IF we didn't have the solar), that would be $3.24. At the current price of gas ($2.19), that is equivalent to 1.5 gallons. Of course most vehicles on the road couldn't get anywhere near her 70 mile commute on that much gas ... though her 2006 Prius does.

My Prime is getting about to 6 miles/kWh currently, I assume some of that is due to it being lighter, the Leaf has an 800 pound battery; the Prime's is 265 pounds. But the EPA electric range on the Leaf is 215 miles, on the Prime it is 25 miles (the actual is higher in the summer, less in the winter). Because a fair bit of my driving is short distance, my 16K mile MPGe is 140. It would be a lot higher if not for the two 1,200+ mile trips to Canada (nearly to Nova Scotia on one and onto Prince Edward Island on the other) and several 425 mile round trips to MA. Not much fully electric miles as a percentage of those total miles.

 

[farmerjan]

@Bruce I did not read all through the one article, but I do know that this is for vehicles SOLD in Ca and will not affect any vehicles already existing..Passenger vehicles so don't know what "size" will be above that designation.....And it is not going to affect any vehicle coming into the state.... but I think there is a stipulation that you will not be able to register a vehicle in the state that is newer than a certain year, if you are a resident of that state ...Ca.... so in other words, trying to stop anyone from going out of state and buying a new vehicle and then bringing it back into the state to register... LOTS of GREY AREAS.... real MURKY stuff.... but I heard somewhere that they are talking all electric vehicles by 2045.... big rigs included.....

I don't think that 70 miles on 1.5 gallons is that difficult. My 1996 Ford Ranger 2wd pick up...with over 275,000 miles.... with tool box on back and often 50-300 lbs of feed or meters and various other stuff.... gets an average 26 mpg.... all the time. I run an average 325+ miles before I start to feel the need to think about getting gas. It has a 14.5 or 15.5 gal tank.. So that is the equivalent of what you are saying, as far as doing that drive on 1.5 gallons of gas.... I'm not figuring in that our gas is less expensive..our gas is running about 1.89 to 1.99 a gallon.... and I saw one place today that it was 1.79 at a shell station.... and I don't know about the solar/electric rates off hand, except that I do know that a few people that have solar are getting wholesale prices for their excess.... my little 1986 4x4 ranger is getting about 20 just around here as I don't take it more than 25-35 miles from this area....town is 16-20 miles and occasionally have taken it to a few farms to test that are maybe 35 miles away.... Our bigger trucks, all diesel, run in the 15 mpg range, depends on the load; and diesel is more expensive.... which it never used to be until everyone got diesel vehicles because of cheaper fuel.... and the fuel companies got wise to that.... and diesel went way up....
I am not against the electric, or the hybrid.... yeah 30-50 mpg on the hybrids is nice... but is the extra cost worth it???? I really don't know. And is the all electric, that needs charging most every day I guess, is that increased electricity coming at a "cost" to the environment at the plants to produce more and more????? I like solar, I really like hydro power as that is more consistent and continuous than either solar or wind....( in some places wind might be close) I like renewable.... but you have to factor in the overall costs, some not seen like increased generation of electricity SOMEWHERE, to provide that electricity to charge the batteries....and the increased cost of the actual vehicle... to the life of the vehicle... and the life of the battery and the replacement cost of that battery.... and to the fact that an average person/mechanic cannot work on these vehicles.....
Run the numbers against something like my ranger.... with the miles on it, and the maintenance costs... Is it worth it??? I honestly do not know....