This and That...

SM's brother told us that this is the second hottest summer since 1932. 

Figures.

The last time we tried to do a vegetable garden it was a record breaking year too.

So as far as the garden goes, everything has slown down.  I still get a few zucchini and cucumber but the peppers burn before maturity and the tomatoes are tiny and slow to mature.  Still no green beans.  The pumpkins are small and are already turning orange.  Thank God for the farmers market.  We went again Saturday and bought some more peaches for fresh eating, a musk melon, onion, romaine lettuce and some big ass tomatoes.

My neighbor Deb has an apple tree (Jonathon) that is already dropping apples.  She gave me a bag which I plan to make applesauce as these are not good eating  apples.

Ginny and Casey went for their annual shots.  ($320...Suck it up, Tami!)  Casey weighed in at a surprising 63 lbs. 

(Hey...She's a Pig!)  (I never seem to be able to rescue lap dogs...grin.)

Ginny is suffering from the heat or the grass, we're not sure which.  She gets these seasonal allergies that make her lick and scratch herself constantly.  We're trying a different antihistamine along with fish oil capsules to try and give her some relief.

SM continues to drive the Buick which has NO air conditioning.  He's trying to get a used AC computer control panel installed, but after 2 weeks the shop still can't get the right part in.  The only other option is to pay the dealer $700 which SM refuses to do, so for now, we're at the mercy of the auto shop....and the heat.

SM and I have been discussing refinancing vs paying off the house.  Our old interest rate was 6.25 with about 13 years left to pay off on it.  Our lender is offering a 4.25 on a 15year with NO closing costs.  If we switch, we'll be saving 11K over the life of the loan. (We would probably still pay off early but what if we can't?  Why not give ourselves some flexibility?)

We've gone back and forth with this.  We could pay off the house but that would leave us with only a small amount of emergency savings left and that still makes us a little nervous.

We feel that, for at least the next few years, the world will continue to be uncertain economically and that (like a lot of corporations) it's best to "hoard" your cash for now (when facing an uncertain future.)

So we're moving ahead with the refinance.  This ends up giving us an extra $100 a month in our pocket which, as SM points out, can go for auto maintenance or a future car purchase, which ever comes first.

Someone decided that our crappy 12 year old riding lawnmower looked pretty good to them and stole it out of our shed in the back yard!  ???? WTF???  I'm mean really?  This seems like something you'd want to steal?  Well the jokes on them cause this puppy was within a year of being replaced anyway. 

We filed a police report, contacted our homeowners insurance and it looks like we'll be able to get a new one with a little help from the insurance company.  So it actually turns out alright.  SM has been shopping but no purchase yet.  We've mooched the neighbors mower to cut our grass in the meantime.

Healthwise, I'm pretty much back to normal.  I tried to back off on the Prilosec but I could tell that the tummy was unhappy about that so we'll try it for a bit longer.  We'll see what the GI Dr says later this month.