Saving for your child's retirement might seem backward. Isn't the child supposed to get a good job and save for his own retirement? Yes, that's the way it was. But I know a lot of people who don't believe in the old work plan of 50 hours a week in a job your don't particularly like in the hope of living long enough to enjoy a fabulous retirement. There are a lot of ifs in there. If the child can remain employed, if the job continues to exist, if the retirement plan provided by the employer still exists at retirement and if the child is still in good enough health to enjoy her retirement.
What if your child is happiest working in a small non-profit that doesn't pay a large enough salary for retirement savings? What if the employer is a small business that doesn't offer a retirement plan? What if your child doesn't make enough money to save for retirement? What if your child is diagnosed with an illness that makes full time work impossible? There are a lot of ifs in this paragraph as well.
Everyone wants to think the future will be bright and bad things will happen to the other guy and sometimes that's true. I suggest that saving early and letting the money earn for your child is the best plan.
The longer money is invested the more it grows. $10,000 invested for 45 years at 8% (an average for the stock market in the past) would grow to $319,204. The earlier your child can begin saving for retirement the better.
Having $10,000 in an IRA by the end of college will allow your child to have something for retirement no matter what course his life takes. And if she is able to invest more in the IRA over the years, so much the better. Having at least $10,000 in an IRA by the age of 21 will allow your child the most freedom in deciding a course in life while still having a good retirement. If $10,000 is all the child is ever able to save, retirement income may still be meager but meager is better than nothing.
You may not be convinced, and still want to save for a college education, which is still a good plan. But consider the IRA. Once your child has earned income, the entire amount of of gross income can be invested in an IRA up to $5,500 annually. Investing in a ROTH IRA would mean all distributions would be tax free in the future. The more your child invests in an IRA when she is young, the more she'll have for retirement when she's older.
Many people aren't able to save for retirement at all and others only begin saving in their 40s. For a college education there are scholarships, grants and low interest loans. The student can also work a part-time job or live in his parent's home to save money for college. There are no scholarships, grants or low interest loans for retirement and although working and living with family are options for the old as well as the young, no one wants to work through retirement. Although generations sharing a home isn't a bad plan for everyone to save money.
Consider looking at your child's retirement before their college education and see if you can't start them off right for the end of life as well as for the beginning.
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Saturday, March 14, 2015
How get the most for the grocery dollar at Kroger
For most of my life, I never shopped a grocery sale paper on a regular basis. I shopped the same grocery store only to become familiar with the lay out of the inventory to speed up the hunting and gathering. Because I hate shopping, of any sort but especially groceries, it was easy to only go once a week, as recommended by expert shoppers. Shop once a week. Shop on a full stomach (hungry grocery shoppers buy a lot they don't need). Shop only with a list.
I shop Kroger. Once you become a regular Kroger shopper and get your customer loyalty card, Kroger sends out special coupons just for you on the items you buy. This works well because for every $100 spent in Kroger you get a ten cent cut in the price of gas at the Kroger gas stations which are in every Kroger parking lot. Ten cents may not sound like much but it really adds up if you shop wisely and avail yourself of all the Kroger shopping perks.
One overlooked shopping perk is gift cards. Every day, all day, the cards are doubled. That means a $25 gift card will turn into 50 Kroger gas points. Several times during the year Kroger runs a special and cards are worth four times the amount of the card. At these times a $25 gift card is good for 100 Kroger gas points or ten cents off a gallon of gas. Well, how many gift cards does one person need? You can work gift cards into everything. I go, either on line or to the store, and shop for what I need before I go buy a gift card. I don't want to guess how much I'll need and buy either too many or too few. If I want to spend $200 at Best Buy or Home Depot, I go to Kroger after I've selected my purchases and have a final price in hand. That $200 card becomes 400 gas points, doubled to 800 if Kroger is running a special. Every month I buy $50 in restaurant gift cards so we can eat at our favorite places during the month.
Another shopping perk is the weekly Kroger ad papers. For some reason it took me a long time to figure out what these papers were. I didn't realize the items in the ads were already reduced and if I had a coupon for the item, I could buy it for even less. You can read the ad in paper, on line, or on your tablet or phone with the Kroger app. Once you set up a Kroger account you can keep up with your electronic coupons which are added to your loyalty card and used automatically in the check out line. It's a wonderful system, but noting is flawless. Be sure to check your receipt at each shopping trip to make sure you have your points.
Also with the app and your loyalty card, you can set up grocery lists and add items to your list directly from the Kroger ad. The list is automatically sorted into sections of the store to streamline shopping. The app improves all the time and is very responsive to suggestions.
Often Kroger runs a mix and match sale. These sales offer an additional $1 off each item if the items are bought in multiples of 5. Coupons still count. When I buy an item in the mix and match sale, I segregate it in the cart. When I have 5 items in the mix and match sale, I move them to the "buy" section of my cart. If my daughter is shopping with me, I put the mix and match items in her cart until I have a group of 5.
I buy Kroger brands and meats at $1.99 a pound to reduce my grocery expense. I find Kroger brands are equal to if not superior to non store brands. By using coupons, gift cards and store sales, I stretch my $300 a month grocery budget into at least $375 to $400, adding $75 or $100 to my budget each month. I also get at least 40 cents off my gas each month which increases the gasoline budget.
It takes a little longer to do the grocery shopping now, both before hand when I review the sale ad and make my list and later while doing the shopping in the store, to compare prices, analyze coupons and comply with the rules of the mix and match sale, but it's worth it. By spending a little extra time getting to know Kroger's sales, using their coupons, gift cards, and mix and match sales, I regularly save $1,500 and more a year as well as buy gas at least 40 cents cheaper and often a whole dollar cheaper. It's all worth the extra effort to stay within the budget.
I shop Kroger. Once you become a regular Kroger shopper and get your customer loyalty card, Kroger sends out special coupons just for you on the items you buy. This works well because for every $100 spent in Kroger you get a ten cent cut in the price of gas at the Kroger gas stations which are in every Kroger parking lot. Ten cents may not sound like much but it really adds up if you shop wisely and avail yourself of all the Kroger shopping perks.
One overlooked shopping perk is gift cards. Every day, all day, the cards are doubled. That means a $25 gift card will turn into 50 Kroger gas points. Several times during the year Kroger runs a special and cards are worth four times the amount of the card. At these times a $25 gift card is good for 100 Kroger gas points or ten cents off a gallon of gas. Well, how many gift cards does one person need? You can work gift cards into everything. I go, either on line or to the store, and shop for what I need before I go buy a gift card. I don't want to guess how much I'll need and buy either too many or too few. If I want to spend $200 at Best Buy or Home Depot, I go to Kroger after I've selected my purchases and have a final price in hand. That $200 card becomes 400 gas points, doubled to 800 if Kroger is running a special. Every month I buy $50 in restaurant gift cards so we can eat at our favorite places during the month.
Another shopping perk is the weekly Kroger ad papers. For some reason it took me a long time to figure out what these papers were. I didn't realize the items in the ads were already reduced and if I had a coupon for the item, I could buy it for even less. You can read the ad in paper, on line, or on your tablet or phone with the Kroger app. Once you set up a Kroger account you can keep up with your electronic coupons which are added to your loyalty card and used automatically in the check out line. It's a wonderful system, but noting is flawless. Be sure to check your receipt at each shopping trip to make sure you have your points.
Also with the app and your loyalty card, you can set up grocery lists and add items to your list directly from the Kroger ad. The list is automatically sorted into sections of the store to streamline shopping. The app improves all the time and is very responsive to suggestions.
Often Kroger runs a mix and match sale. These sales offer an additional $1 off each item if the items are bought in multiples of 5. Coupons still count. When I buy an item in the mix and match sale, I segregate it in the cart. When I have 5 items in the mix and match sale, I move them to the "buy" section of my cart. If my daughter is shopping with me, I put the mix and match items in her cart until I have a group of 5.
I buy Kroger brands and meats at $1.99 a pound to reduce my grocery expense. I find Kroger brands are equal to if not superior to non store brands. By using coupons, gift cards and store sales, I stretch my $300 a month grocery budget into at least $375 to $400, adding $75 or $100 to my budget each month. I also get at least 40 cents off my gas each month which increases the gasoline budget.
It takes a little longer to do the grocery shopping now, both before hand when I review the sale ad and make my list and later while doing the shopping in the store, to compare prices, analyze coupons and comply with the rules of the mix and match sale, but it's worth it. By spending a little extra time getting to know Kroger's sales, using their coupons, gift cards, and mix and match sales, I regularly save $1,500 and more a year as well as buy gas at least 40 cents cheaper and often a whole dollar cheaper. It's all worth the extra effort to stay within the budget.
Sunday, January 18, 2015
The IRS is open for business and so am I
The IRS will be open for business on Tuesday, January 20, 2015, to begin processing 2014 tax returns. Below is some information copied directly from the IRS web site about filing and using electronic filing. If you don't file electronically, I urge you to do so. It's quick. It's easy. It's free (sometimes).
Contact me if you need me.
IR-2015-03, Jan. 15, 2015
WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service announced the on-time opening of the nation’s 2015 filing season and highlighted a growing array of online services, including features that help taxpayers understand how the Affordable Care Act will affect them at tax time, along with the availability of the Free File program.
Taxpayers have until Wednesday, April 15, 2015 to file their 2014 tax returns and pay any tax due. The IRS expects to receive about 150 million individual income tax returns this year. Like each of the past three years, more than four out of five returns are expected to be filed electronically.
The IRS Free File program, available at IRS.gov, will open Friday for taxpayers, and the IRS will begin accepting and processing all tax returns on Tuesday, Jan. 20.
This year’s return will include new questions to incorporate provisions of the Affordable Care Act (or ACA). The majority of taxpayers - more than three out of four – will simply need to check a box to verify they have health insurance coverage. For the minority of taxpayers who will have to do more, IRS.gov/aca features useful information and tips regarding the premium tax credit, the individual shared responsibility requirement and other tax features of the ACA.
“Our employees will be working hard again this season to help the nation’s taxpayers,” IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said. “We encourage people to use the tools and information available on IRS.gov, particularly given the long wait times we anticipate on our phone lines. As always, taxpayers can benefit by filing electronically.”
Koskinen announced that taxpayers can begin preparing their returns using the Free File system on Friday, Jan. 16. Available only at IRS.gov, Free File offers two filing options:
- Brand-name software, offered by IRS’ commercial partners to about 100 million individuals and families with incomes of $60,000 or less; or
- Online fillable forms, the electronic version of IRS paper forms available to taxpayers at all income levels and especially useful to people comfortable with filling out their own returns.
E-file, when combined with direct deposit, is the fastest way to get a refund. More than three out of four refund recipients now choose direct deposit. People who e-file make fewer mistakes, and it costs nothing for those who choose Free File.
In all, 14 software companies will be participating in this year’s Free File program. Additional details about the specific Free File offerings will be available tomorrow on the front page of IRS.gov when Free File becomes available.
Taxpayers who purchase their own software can also choose e-file, and most paid tax preparers are now required to file their clients’ returns electronically. In addition to Free File, commercial software companies also are currently available for taxpayer use.
The IRS will begin accepting and processing all returns — whether e-file, Free File or paper tax returns — on Jan. 20.
Like last year, the IRS expects to issue more than nine out of 10 refunds within 21 days. Again, the fastest way to get a refund is to e-file and choose direct deposit. It takes longer to process paper returns and in light of IRS budget cuts resulting in a smaller staff, it will likely take an additional week or more to process paper returns meaning that those refunds are expected to be issued in seven weeks or more.
Koskinen said, “If you haven’t already, you should consider filing electronically. It’s fast, accurate and the best way to get your refund quickly.”
Koskinen also strongly encouraged taxpayers to visit IRS.gov as a first stop for information ranging from the status of their refunds to basic tax information. He cautioned taxpayers that recent budget reductions will mean long wait times on the phone, routinely topping 30 minutes.
Information on IRS.gov and using tax software and e-file are among the options that can help people with questions about the individual shared responsibility requirement included in the Affordable Care Act, which is new to the Form 1040 this filing season.
IRS information about Health Care
The following is copied directly from the IRS web site. Please wait for your 1095-A, if you are go receive one, before filing your taxes. As always, I'm open for business when the IRS is. Contact me for an appointment if you need tax prep help.
Health Care Basics
The Affordable Care Act requires that a taxpayer and each member of their family either hasqualifying health insurance coverage for each month of the year, qualifies for an exemption, or makes an individual shared responsibility payment when filing their federal income tax return. Some moderate-income taxpayers may also qualify for financial assistance to help cover the cost of health insurance purchased through the Health Insurance Marketplace. Taxpayers will fall into one or more of the following categories:
- Check the box. Most taxpayers will simply check a box on their tax return to indicate that each member of their family had qualifying health coverage for the whole year. No further action is required.
Qualifying health insurance coverage includes coverage under most, but not all, types of health care coverage plans. Taxpayers can use the chart on IRS.gov/aca to find out if their insurance counts as qualifying coverage.
- Exemptions. Taxpayers may be eligible to claim an exemption from the requirement to have coverage. Eligible taxpayers need to complete the new IRS Form 8965, Health Coverage Exemptions, and attach it to their tax return. Taxpayers must apply for some exemptions through the Health Insurance Marketplace. However, most of the exemptions are easily obtained from the IRS when filing a return.
- Individual Shared Responsibility Payment. Taxpayers who do not have qualifying coverage or an exemption for each month of the year will need to make an individual shared responsibility payment with their return for choosing not to purchase coverage. Examples and information about figuring the payment are available on the IRS Calculating the Payment page.
- Premium Tax Credit. Taxpayers who bought coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace should receive Form 1095-A, Health Insurance Marketplace Statement, from the Marketplace by early February. This form should be saved because it has important information needed to complete a tax return.
If the Form 1095-A is not received by early February, contact the Marketplace where coverage was purchased. Do not contact the IRS because IRS telephone assistors will not have access to this information.
Taxpayers who benefited from advance payments of the premium tax credit must file a federal income tax return. These taxpayers need to reconcile those advance payments with the amount of premium tax credit they’re entitled to based on their actual income. As a result, some people may see a smaller or larger tax refund or tax liability than they were expecting. Use IRS Form 8962,Premium Tax Credit (PTC), to calculate the premium tax credit and reconcile the credit with any advance payments.
The IRS has set up a special section at IRS.gov/aca with more information about the Affordable Care Act and the 2014 income tax return.
Alternatively, low-and moderate-income taxpayers can get help meeting this health-care requirement and filing their return for free by visiting one of the more than 12,000 community-based tax help sites staffed by more than 90,000 volunteers that participate in the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (VITA/TCE) programs. To find the nearest site, use the VITA/TCE Site Locator on IRS.gov.
The IRS also reminded taxpayers that a trusted tax professional can also provide helpful information about the health care law. A number of tips about selecting a preparer and national tax professional groups is available on IRS.gov.
The IRS urges all taxpayers, especially those claiming the premium tax credit, to make sure they have all their year-end statements in hand before they file their return. This includes Forms W-2 from employers, Forms 1099 from banks and other payers, and, for those claiming the premium tax credit, and Form 1095-A from the Marketplace. Doing so will help avoid refund delays and the need to file an amended return later.
Sunday, December 28, 2014
Update from Curwood Manor
At long last, here it is, the year of 2014 in review. What that little summary on the back of the Christmas card wasn't it? Oh, no, you're not going to get off that easily. Usually I'm able to get this out during the Thanksgiving holiday because I know none of you start your Christmas season without knowing what went on during my year. Alas, this year, at the end of the year, I was beset by one virus after another starting the week before Thanksgiving. Nothing major -- no flu, no whooping cough, no car accident -- just one week long virus after another, compounded by various side ailments. For example after the first virus, a sinus drainage with a never ending cough, I sprained my ribs. Yes, you really can sprain your ribs from coughing too much. Then, getting well, I had to take Savannah to the doctor for strep throat where I picked up yet another virus. I won't bother you with details but at one point I ended up in the emergency room, complete with a ride in the ambulance (No siren, my big chance and I didn't get a siren. At 1:30 a.m. in Woodbury there is no traffic and I am only 5 minutes from the hospital, so I sort of understand, but would it have cost any more to flip the switch?) for a muscle spasm in the ribs. The hospital thought I had a kidney stone and had to run a bunch of tests before pumping me full of muscle relaxants. And I have finally been diagnosed with Frozen Shoulder which is an actual problem that takes from 2 to 5 years to get over. So you may be hearing about this again. But for now, let's move on.
You may have noticed the return address on the Christmas card, if you weren't so eager to see it that you ripped the envelope in a million pieces, of Curwood Manor and Gallifrey Gardens. So what’s Curwood Manor? Everyone here who can read and drive a car is asking the same thing. I’ve always wanted to name the house, but a name is such a permanent thing and it takes a while to come up with the right moniker. But after seeing Downton Abbey and having a sister who lives in British homes that all have names, I began to give it more thought. We have a back yard now filled with trees (I’m trying to shade out the backyard to make mowing completely unnecessary in the near future) and I happened to see an ad for an exhibit at Cheekwood in Nashville and then there’s Collinwood of Dark Shadows fame. Curwood was an easy choice. I guess I could have stopped with that but Manor seemed like a good fit.
Gallifrey Gardens? Those of you who know where Gallifrey is or when it is and Who comes from there will get the reference. And those who don’t, probably don’t care. But when Mama had the lot surveyed, and we discovered we had three quarters of an acre, it only seemed natural to give the yard a name as well.
So, let’s see what else we found to do when we weren’t trying to figure out what to call the house and grounds.
Last year at this time, I had just begun my life as a librarian and what a year at the library it’s been. The director who hired me quit to take a job closer to her home. She lived in Winchester, TN, and we struggled along without a boss for about a month until our new director, Tina, showed up from Minnesota. She and her family had been looking for a warmer place to live for some time and when this job opened up, they jumped on it. Tina had just finished working on her Masters in Library Science. If I had known how much I would like library work when I was in college, I might have gone the same route she did. However, it's too late for a Masters now. I'm not in the college mood. But I so enjoy my two days a week at the library. It's such quiet, stress free work and brings in just the amount of money I need. I'm still looking around for more CPA work, but until that presents itself, I'm quite content at the library.
As you might remember we had finally run out of money and credit last year. We sold the farm, except for 9 acres, and the investment house in Auburntown. I hated to see most of the farm go, but I doubt any of us would have ever improved it and lived out there. We are all too much city girls. It’s great to be able to walk to the bank, the post office, the library, the courthouse and pretty much any where we want to go. Living outside of town would require driving everywhere. If one of us does get the money and the desire for farm living, I bet those 9 acres will fit the bill. We don’t have any extra money at all, but we have enough to pay the bills and have a little fun. So what more do we need?
Mama and Savannah took a field trip to a farm that makes molasses with the Church of Christ while I worked at the library. They are getting around and having a good time. Mama tries to stay close to home while I’m down at the library, but the other days we have no idea where she is. She has a round of shops she likes to check out and recently went to play Christmas Bingo at the church. I don't know which is more surprising, that the church had a bingo game or that Mama played and won some movie passes to the local drive in. It's off to the movies for us this summer.
Mama and I put in a garden while Savannah watched -- next year she’ll do more of the work -- but we failed to dig up our ground well enough and our carrots were stunted. The ground is so hard the poor things couldn't push down and grow. But we had a bumper crop of tomatoes and beans. I cleaned out my asparagus bed and since the plants will be three years old this spring, I’m expecting to have my own fresh asparagus to grill in 2015. I hope the bed will spread and grow. Mama planted some winter greens and so far, even with all the cold weather, they are growing well. Fresh spinach for us.
We all remain healthy as can be expected with our ages and on going health problems. We had a low key Thanksgiving complete with frozen pizza and pecan pie from Kroger. Christmas was the same except Mama ate the pecan pie all by herself and we shared an apple pie (yes, from Kroger) and a Key Lime Pie from Edwards (frozen from Kroger). Savannah and I streamed Bones on Netflix,one of our favorite shows, and watched HGTV. These frozen pizza holidays are the way to go. No prep and very little clean up.
Savannah wanted a new cat this year but I kept putting her off because pets are expensive and I didn’t want to add a new line item to the budget. George, the dog, is expensive enough. He has delicate skin which requires some attention to keep him from scratching himself raw. But cats come out of the walls around here, it seems. We kept hearing this cat yelling in the walls and under the house. It sounded like a grown cat with a set of monster lungs and I figured it would find its way out of the house, eventually, or die. Either way the problem would come to some sort of end. Then one evening while I was in the office running a payroll, I thought I heard it in the attic. And there it was. A kitten desperately trying to pull down the blinds and claw through the window to the outside. The fact that she was on the second floor meant nothing to her. Mama and Savannah came up with a chicken wing and a box to trap her and the next day Dr. Tate certified her healthy, except for starvation and dehydration, so we kept her. Since she was a completely feral cat, we had to keep her in a dog crate until she became used to being in the house enough not to immediately run under the bed and hide when she was allowed out. But being feral, she had no problem with George and gives him a good smack when he gets out of line. She’s already killed a mouse, although Lizzie, the other cat, has killed four. And this is after we’ve had the exterminator out, so I suggested to Mama we fire the exterminator since he obviously was not doing as good a job as the cats. She killed two more mice last night.
So what did we name the cat? We name our cats with a last name based upon where they were found. We’ve had Michael Banks, Jaclyn Church, Calvin Barnes, well, you see the thread. So we now have Steve Lofts, since Steve was found in the attic. But Steve is a girl. The vet assistant asked if we wanted to change her name now that we knew Steve was female. “No,” I said, “we have a male cat named Lizzie.” Savannah said, “Cats have sex not gender.” So Steve it is. Steve and George and Lizzie.
Savannah has joined the youth group at the Methodist church across the street and found some local friends. They went to a corn maze this year for Halloween and in January they are going to Gatlinburg for a youth rally. This church also gives away free food to the community almost every month and opened a thrift store to raise money for battered women and to buy food for backpacks that are given to hungry school kids who have nothing to eat over the weekend until school starts again on Monday. Savannah and I helped pack one evening and it is quite an assembly line. There are more hungry kinds in Cannon County than I realized. Of all the churches we've been to in the last few years, this one has a great community out reach which we really enjoy.
Working at the library doesn’t allow me much time for travel and we didn’t have money to support the Class C camper, so I sold that in May. I thought that would be the end of camping but Savannah wanted to keep on going. I bought a large cabin tent that’s called automatic but really isn’t. It seems to take 2 hours to set up camp no matter what we are camping in. Even longer to break camp. All the Tennessee State Parks were closed most of the year while they were updated with WiFi but we had a great time at Edgar Evins once it reopened. I love their camping platforms, so the tent wasn’t actually on the ground. In 2015 we plan to try Henry Horton which has a restaurant as well as WiFi. I can never can get a campfire going, much to Savannah's dismay. She always wants to crash another camper's fire as if they wouldn't notice if two strangers showed up with marshmallows. Camping in the tent was great fun and I can’t wait for warmer days.
View from the back of the tent.
View from the front. The walls around the deck sort of ruin the view but it did give us a good place to tie down the tent for the 15 mph hour winds we experienced the first night camping.
We all enjoyed our week in the Gatlinburg time share and Savannah and I went back in July for her birthday and Dollywood’s Splash Country. In between we had our weekend in Chattanooga with the Liberty Con group.
Savannah at the Nashville Symphony. Don't tell her I put this photo here because she doesn't like it, but I do. This is before she dyed her hair blue. The dress from Goodwill. The booties might be as well. The symphony gives free tickets to students so we go a few times a year.
Savannah decided to begin having her hair cut and cut and cut and cut and then colored. A friend of mine who bleaches and colors her hair came over to help her the first time and now she changes color a lot.
Savannah's hair and the hole on the Woodbury square from the buildings that burned down last year. Still no new buildings and I sort of like being able to see the courthouse from the back street.
Right after I sold the class c camper, Eva came for a visit and treated us all to a trip to Nashville. We had only a quick weekend before she had to return to England and take up her duties there. We had a great weekend that passed all too quickly. Maybe she will be able to visit more in 2015.
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What’s happening around Woodbury? A Taco Bell is being built and on opening night the family and I, and just about everyone else in town, went down there for supper. Mama and Savannah don't like Mexican type food and it does tend to kick up my heart burn, so I don't see us spending much time there. We don't eat our much anyway since I've tried to start cooking a bit more. And, yes, it's more than heating up pizza. In August liquor by the drink was voted in. We may actually be able to drink Margaritas at our local Mexican restaurant (not Taco Bell). But there are rules about how close the restaurant can be to a church and still serve liquor and with so many churches in town, liquor by the drink may remain limited. There is hope a chain restaurant might come in as well. But that's probably far in the future.
Playing trivia games as fund raisers is popular around here and we get a team together several times a year to prove that knowledge is fleeting and memory is non-existent. But we laugh all the way through and never come in last, so far.
Eva and Chris spent the entire year in England doing whatever it is they do there. They haven’t sold their place in Denver and may come back there to retire. It's been a year for surgery. I had hernia repair in August and Eva had another knee surgery in November.
I’m still working on winning big in the lottery as much as I can but some weeks I forget to buy a ticket. I have great plans for that money which I will implement as soon as I have winnings to collect. My writing also continues. Tina and I write the library weekly column for the paper and although my fiction has taken a back seat to raising a teenager, it's still getting attention several times a week. I write for enjoyment now and for profit later.
One of our best days this year was in August when the power went out just after dark. I’d started to cook supper but with no power that plan had to be abandoned. So the three of us went out on the front porch to eat salsa and chips and watch the cars creep through the darkness. I’d never seen so many cars on the road. Everyone was out to get the scoop on what was going on when they could have stayed home, eaten chips and salsa and looked at the stars, which are normally obscured by the city lights.
We still live a low key life, not stressing ourselves out too much. To decorate for Christmas we just pull the tree out of the corner and plug it in. When we decide Christmas is over, we unplug it and push it back in the corner. It has become such a usual sight, no guest to the house ever mentions it any more.
I'm sure a lot more that is worthy of note happened, but since I fail to take notes during the year and have to rely on memory, I'm going to stop here.
Have a great year everyone. Stay in touch and I’ll try to do the same. We only lose touch if we stop reaching out. I know I don’t keep up as regularly as I should, so help me out and send me a note now and then. I'm sure great things are going on in your lives and I want to know about them.
I try to update the blog now and then so you can check back here or add me to your circle, what ever that means.
Below are some photos from Christmas.
Love to all. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year.
Lu Ann
of
Curwood Manor
You may have noticed the return address on the Christmas card, if you weren't so eager to see it that you ripped the envelope in a million pieces, of Curwood Manor and Gallifrey Gardens. So what’s Curwood Manor? Everyone here who can read and drive a car is asking the same thing. I’ve always wanted to name the house, but a name is such a permanent thing and it takes a while to come up with the right moniker. But after seeing Downton Abbey and having a sister who lives in British homes that all have names, I began to give it more thought. We have a back yard now filled with trees (I’m trying to shade out the backyard to make mowing completely unnecessary in the near future) and I happened to see an ad for an exhibit at Cheekwood in Nashville and then there’s Collinwood of Dark Shadows fame. Curwood was an easy choice. I guess I could have stopped with that but Manor seemed like a good fit.
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| When I told the sign painter we were thinking of something with Gallifrey in it, he said, "Why? Is your house bigger on the inside than it is on the outside?" These people are everywhere. |
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| Naked Ladies in the garden. |
So, let’s see what else we found to do when we weren’t trying to figure out what to call the house and grounds.
Last year at this time, I had just begun my life as a librarian and what a year at the library it’s been. The director who hired me quit to take a job closer to her home. She lived in Winchester, TN, and we struggled along without a boss for about a month until our new director, Tina, showed up from Minnesota. She and her family had been looking for a warmer place to live for some time and when this job opened up, they jumped on it. Tina had just finished working on her Masters in Library Science. If I had known how much I would like library work when I was in college, I might have gone the same route she did. However, it's too late for a Masters now. I'm not in the college mood. But I so enjoy my two days a week at the library. It's such quiet, stress free work and brings in just the amount of money I need. I'm still looking around for more CPA work, but until that presents itself, I'm quite content at the library.
As you might remember we had finally run out of money and credit last year. We sold the farm, except for 9 acres, and the investment house in Auburntown. I hated to see most of the farm go, but I doubt any of us would have ever improved it and lived out there. We are all too much city girls. It’s great to be able to walk to the bank, the post office, the library, the courthouse and pretty much any where we want to go. Living outside of town would require driving everywhere. If one of us does get the money and the desire for farm living, I bet those 9 acres will fit the bill. We don’t have any extra money at all, but we have enough to pay the bills and have a little fun. So what more do we need?
Mama and Savannah took a field trip to a farm that makes molasses with the Church of Christ while I worked at the library. They are getting around and having a good time. Mama tries to stay close to home while I’m down at the library, but the other days we have no idea where she is. She has a round of shops she likes to check out and recently went to play Christmas Bingo at the church. I don't know which is more surprising, that the church had a bingo game or that Mama played and won some movie passes to the local drive in. It's off to the movies for us this summer.
Mama and I put in a garden while Savannah watched -- next year she’ll do more of the work -- but we failed to dig up our ground well enough and our carrots were stunted. The ground is so hard the poor things couldn't push down and grow. But we had a bumper crop of tomatoes and beans. I cleaned out my asparagus bed and since the plants will be three years old this spring, I’m expecting to have my own fresh asparagus to grill in 2015. I hope the bed will spread and grow. Mama planted some winter greens and so far, even with all the cold weather, they are growing well. Fresh spinach for us.
We all remain healthy as can be expected with our ages and on going health problems. We had a low key Thanksgiving complete with frozen pizza and pecan pie from Kroger. Christmas was the same except Mama ate the pecan pie all by herself and we shared an apple pie (yes, from Kroger) and a Key Lime Pie from Edwards (frozen from Kroger). Savannah and I streamed Bones on Netflix,one of our favorite shows, and watched HGTV. These frozen pizza holidays are the way to go. No prep and very little clean up.
Savannah wanted a new cat this year but I kept putting her off because pets are expensive and I didn’t want to add a new line item to the budget. George, the dog, is expensive enough. He has delicate skin which requires some attention to keep him from scratching himself raw. But cats come out of the walls around here, it seems. We kept hearing this cat yelling in the walls and under the house. It sounded like a grown cat with a set of monster lungs and I figured it would find its way out of the house, eventually, or die. Either way the problem would come to some sort of end. Then one evening while I was in the office running a payroll, I thought I heard it in the attic. And there it was. A kitten desperately trying to pull down the blinds and claw through the window to the outside. The fact that she was on the second floor meant nothing to her. Mama and Savannah came up with a chicken wing and a box to trap her and the next day Dr. Tate certified her healthy, except for starvation and dehydration, so we kept her. Since she was a completely feral cat, we had to keep her in a dog crate until she became used to being in the house enough not to immediately run under the bed and hide when she was allowed out. But being feral, she had no problem with George and gives him a good smack when he gets out of line. She’s already killed a mouse, although Lizzie, the other cat, has killed four. And this is after we’ve had the exterminator out, so I suggested to Mama we fire the exterminator since he obviously was not doing as good a job as the cats. She killed two more mice last night.
So what did we name the cat? We name our cats with a last name based upon where they were found. We’ve had Michael Banks, Jaclyn Church, Calvin Barnes, well, you see the thread. So we now have Steve Lofts, since Steve was found in the attic. But Steve is a girl. The vet assistant asked if we wanted to change her name now that we knew Steve was female. “No,” I said, “we have a male cat named Lizzie.” Savannah said, “Cats have sex not gender.” So Steve it is. Steve and George and Lizzie.
Savannah has joined the youth group at the Methodist church across the street and found some local friends. They went to a corn maze this year for Halloween and in January they are going to Gatlinburg for a youth rally. This church also gives away free food to the community almost every month and opened a thrift store to raise money for battered women and to buy food for backpacks that are given to hungry school kids who have nothing to eat over the weekend until school starts again on Monday. Savannah and I helped pack one evening and it is quite an assembly line. There are more hungry kinds in Cannon County than I realized. Of all the churches we've been to in the last few years, this one has a great community out reach which we really enjoy.
Working at the library doesn’t allow me much time for travel and we didn’t have money to support the Class C camper, so I sold that in May. I thought that would be the end of camping but Savannah wanted to keep on going. I bought a large cabin tent that’s called automatic but really isn’t. It seems to take 2 hours to set up camp no matter what we are camping in. Even longer to break camp. All the Tennessee State Parks were closed most of the year while they were updated with WiFi but we had a great time at Edgar Evins once it reopened. I love their camping platforms, so the tent wasn’t actually on the ground. In 2015 we plan to try Henry Horton which has a restaurant as well as WiFi. I can never can get a campfire going, much to Savannah's dismay. She always wants to crash another camper's fire as if they wouldn't notice if two strangers showed up with marshmallows. Camping in the tent was great fun and I can’t wait for warmer days.
View from the back of the tent.View from the front. The walls around the deck sort of ruin the view but it did give us a good place to tie down the tent for the 15 mph hour winds we experienced the first night camping. |
| A different view of our campsite. Since the platforms are made of wood the grill is on the side there as you can see. |
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| Our view of the lake, not as good as at Defeated Creek but better than nothing. |
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| More lake view and our trash can. Tent in the back. |
We all enjoyed our week in the Gatlinburg time share and Savannah and I went back in July for her birthday and Dollywood’s Splash Country. In between we had our weekend in Chattanooga with the Liberty Con group.
Savannah at the Nashville Symphony. Don't tell her I put this photo here because she doesn't like it, but I do. This is before she dyed her hair blue. The dress from Goodwill. The booties might be as well. The symphony gives free tickets to students so we go a few times a year.Savannah decided to begin having her hair cut and cut and cut and cut and then colored. A friend of mine who bleaches and colors her hair came over to help her the first time and now she changes color a lot.
Savannah's hair and the hole on the Woodbury square from the buildings that burned down last year. Still no new buildings and I sort of like being able to see the courthouse from the back street.
Right after I sold the class c camper, Eva came for a visit and treated us all to a trip to Nashville. We had only a quick weekend before she had to return to England and take up her duties there. We had a great weekend that passed all too quickly. Maybe she will be able to visit more in 2015.
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What’s happening around Woodbury? A Taco Bell is being built and on opening night the family and I, and just about everyone else in town, went down there for supper. Mama and Savannah don't like Mexican type food and it does tend to kick up my heart burn, so I don't see us spending much time there. We don't eat our much anyway since I've tried to start cooking a bit more. And, yes, it's more than heating up pizza. In August liquor by the drink was voted in. We may actually be able to drink Margaritas at our local Mexican restaurant (not Taco Bell). But there are rules about how close the restaurant can be to a church and still serve liquor and with so many churches in town, liquor by the drink may remain limited. There is hope a chain restaurant might come in as well. But that's probably far in the future.
Playing trivia games as fund raisers is popular around here and we get a team together several times a year to prove that knowledge is fleeting and memory is non-existent. But we laugh all the way through and never come in last, so far.
Eva and Chris spent the entire year in England doing whatever it is they do there. They haven’t sold their place in Denver and may come back there to retire. It's been a year for surgery. I had hernia repair in August and Eva had another knee surgery in November.
I’m still working on winning big in the lottery as much as I can but some weeks I forget to buy a ticket. I have great plans for that money which I will implement as soon as I have winnings to collect. My writing also continues. Tina and I write the library weekly column for the paper and although my fiction has taken a back seat to raising a teenager, it's still getting attention several times a week. I write for enjoyment now and for profit later.
One of our best days this year was in August when the power went out just after dark. I’d started to cook supper but with no power that plan had to be abandoned. So the three of us went out on the front porch to eat salsa and chips and watch the cars creep through the darkness. I’d never seen so many cars on the road. Everyone was out to get the scoop on what was going on when they could have stayed home, eaten chips and salsa and looked at the stars, which are normally obscured by the city lights.
We still live a low key life, not stressing ourselves out too much. To decorate for Christmas we just pull the tree out of the corner and plug it in. When we decide Christmas is over, we unplug it and push it back in the corner. It has become such a usual sight, no guest to the house ever mentions it any more.
I'm sure a lot more that is worthy of note happened, but since I fail to take notes during the year and have to rely on memory, I'm going to stop here.
Have a great year everyone. Stay in touch and I’ll try to do the same. We only lose touch if we stop reaching out. I know I don’t keep up as regularly as I should, so help me out and send me a note now and then. I'm sure great things are going on in your lives and I want to know about them.
I try to update the blog now and then so you can check back here or add me to your circle, what ever that means.
Below are some photos from Christmas.
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| We don't remember how we got this dog, but when you push his paw he sings a Christmas song. So now he's a part of the tradition and has to sing before opening presents. |
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| Christmas present wine dressed in Christmas present chef's clothes. |
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| More presents from the Dr. Who experience and Big Bang Theory. That's how I knock on Savannah's door, knock, knock, knock, "Savannah", knock, knock. . . . . |
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| Thad made Savannah this shelf and mounted it high on the wall. Steve thinks it was made just for her. |
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| Rose I was sent from the library when I was out sick. Very sweet of them. And some Christmas cards. |
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| Mama opening a gift. We opened at midnight on Christmas Day. |
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| Savannah enjoying a gift. |
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| Tree all lit up with the tree skirt Grandmother knitted at the base. |
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| Savannah wearing her TARDIS dress received from aunt and uncle in England. Yes, I know it's out of focus. |
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| Here is a photo of things to come in 2015. As soon as I get well, I'm going to finish this deck made of pallets in the back yard. I will blog about it when it's finished. |
Love to all. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year.
Lu Ann
of
Curwood Manor
Monday, November 3, 2014
Cook Out Fast Food Burgers
This is going to be a restaurant review. Many of you probably don't remember, or never knew, that I used to write restaurant reviews for a singles magazine in Knoxville when I lived there. Of course, back then the magazine paid for my meal and now I have to since no one is paying me to write this blog. And since this blog is about taxes and saving money, you can bet this won't be an expensive place.
Are you tired of paying $20.00 or more to eat fast food? You go into a burger place, you know the ones -- they've been around for decades, pull out a $10 bill and your jaw drops when the counter man asks for a $20? I have and I'm only paying for two people. It could be argued we eat to much and it could be rebutted that the dollar menu seems a bit boring. Not to mention the fact we'd rather have something else than fried food.
Normally we hit all the specials, such as the half price appetizers at Applebees. Share one half price app, add a plate of fries, drink water, and you have a pretty good meal for around $10. But these specials only happen at certain times and we were hitting town before half price hour. But there's a new burger joint across the street.
Cook Out is the name and if you want to review the menu on line, don't be fooled by two impostors whose pages show up before the official site. The only way I found the official site was to go to Wikipedia and click on the official page, but again don't be fooled. Even on Wikipedia the impostors are listed first.
Enough preamble. From the outside the building looks open and full of windows to lend to the whole outdoors for a cook out feeling. There are a lot of doors. You never feel trapped and even though there didn't seem to be many people coming inside to eat, I could see a brisk drive through business going on outside. In fact the line never let up. It was too cold and windy to eat outside but an ample patio with tables and chairs looked inviting when weather permits. Interior decor was that of a cabin or an outdoor picnic shelter with actual picnic tables, complete with backless benches, or regular fast food tables with back supports. We opted for a table for two with back supported seats.
Mesmerized by the choices we stood for a good ten minutes reading and discussing the burger boxes, by far the best value. I have to admit the price made me think the burgers would be about the size of a half dollar coin. We each ordered a burger, cheese extra, so no cheese, with our choice of two sides and a drink for $4.99 each. I chose coleslaw, made with mayo and not vinegar, onion rings and a water. My dependent also opted for a burger with fries and a bacon wrap with a large drink. Including tax I paid about $10.50. But were we going to get a filling meal or something fried and greasy that would leave us hungry in an hour?
At first glance the burgers were smaller than the bun but not by much and thick in the middle. The taste was that of a charcoal backyard grill and proved to be very filling. The sides were small but more than ample since there were two and you can double up; if you like fries you can get a double portion. My coleslaw came in a small container which at first I thought would leave me wanting more but proved satisfying. I only received 5 onion rings but they were large and tasty. Between the coleslaw, the onion rings and the burger I was completely full.
My dependent's bacon wrap was salty and left a strange after taste but the fries were firm and better than average thickness and not damp or limp with grease. She had to get a refill on her drink but my water was enough for me. And she commented that the ice was good. She is very particular about her ice. If you want a list of all the sides, which include hot dogs and wraps, go to the web site. All three sites have the menu but only the official site is updated with the current sides and prices.
My only negative comment is that everything was served in Styrofoam which doesn't recycle or decay. This is a rather large chain with many stores in five or six states. Management could look into more environmentally friendly containers but everything did fit nicely into the Styrofoam burger box. I can see the drive through window crowd would really like the convenience of the hard sided box, especially when buying multiple orders.
If you want a quick, tasty meal with some interesting sides that doesn't strip your wallet or bore your taste buds with the usual fast food fare, check out Cook Out. You won't be disappointed and you'll probably be pleasantly surprised. It's a good meal for a good price.
Are you tired of paying $20.00 or more to eat fast food? You go into a burger place, you know the ones -- they've been around for decades, pull out a $10 bill and your jaw drops when the counter man asks for a $20? I have and I'm only paying for two people. It could be argued we eat to much and it could be rebutted that the dollar menu seems a bit boring. Not to mention the fact we'd rather have something else than fried food.
Normally we hit all the specials, such as the half price appetizers at Applebees. Share one half price app, add a plate of fries, drink water, and you have a pretty good meal for around $10. But these specials only happen at certain times and we were hitting town before half price hour. But there's a new burger joint across the street.
Cook Out is the name and if you want to review the menu on line, don't be fooled by two impostors whose pages show up before the official site. The only way I found the official site was to go to Wikipedia and click on the official page, but again don't be fooled. Even on Wikipedia the impostors are listed first.
Enough preamble. From the outside the building looks open and full of windows to lend to the whole outdoors for a cook out feeling. There are a lot of doors. You never feel trapped and even though there didn't seem to be many people coming inside to eat, I could see a brisk drive through business going on outside. In fact the line never let up. It was too cold and windy to eat outside but an ample patio with tables and chairs looked inviting when weather permits. Interior decor was that of a cabin or an outdoor picnic shelter with actual picnic tables, complete with backless benches, or regular fast food tables with back supports. We opted for a table for two with back supported seats.
Mesmerized by the choices we stood for a good ten minutes reading and discussing the burger boxes, by far the best value. I have to admit the price made me think the burgers would be about the size of a half dollar coin. We each ordered a burger, cheese extra, so no cheese, with our choice of two sides and a drink for $4.99 each. I chose coleslaw, made with mayo and not vinegar, onion rings and a water. My dependent also opted for a burger with fries and a bacon wrap with a large drink. Including tax I paid about $10.50. But were we going to get a filling meal or something fried and greasy that would leave us hungry in an hour?
At first glance the burgers were smaller than the bun but not by much and thick in the middle. The taste was that of a charcoal backyard grill and proved to be very filling. The sides were small but more than ample since there were two and you can double up; if you like fries you can get a double portion. My coleslaw came in a small container which at first I thought would leave me wanting more but proved satisfying. I only received 5 onion rings but they were large and tasty. Between the coleslaw, the onion rings and the burger I was completely full.
My dependent's bacon wrap was salty and left a strange after taste but the fries were firm and better than average thickness and not damp or limp with grease. She had to get a refill on her drink but my water was enough for me. And she commented that the ice was good. She is very particular about her ice. If you want a list of all the sides, which include hot dogs and wraps, go to the web site. All three sites have the menu but only the official site is updated with the current sides and prices.
My only negative comment is that everything was served in Styrofoam which doesn't recycle or decay. This is a rather large chain with many stores in five or six states. Management could look into more environmentally friendly containers but everything did fit nicely into the Styrofoam burger box. I can see the drive through window crowd would really like the convenience of the hard sided box, especially when buying multiple orders.
If you want a quick, tasty meal with some interesting sides that doesn't strip your wallet or bore your taste buds with the usual fast food fare, check out Cook Out. You won't be disappointed and you'll probably be pleasantly surprised. It's a good meal for a good price.
Friday, October 10, 2014
Vacation on the cheap -- check out state parks
This blog is to discuss money matters and what does everyone want to do? Get away. Go on vacation. Staycation? Not for us. Being on a fixed income doesn't mean vacations are over. It just means it's time to look at ways to keep those costs low.
First check out what is close to where you live. We happen to live close to several state parks -- Cedars of Lebanon, Edgar Evins, Henry Horton, Old Stone Fort, well, the list goes on. To add to their attraction all the Tennessee state parks were updated with WiFi access. It seems my daughter, Savannah, can't go anywhere without that (and I don't like to be without either), so the state parks became prime camping destinations. After we sold our last camping vehicle, a lovely class C, I thought my camping days were over, but my daughter said, "Let's buy a tent." I really thought she was kidding. Who wants to sleep in a tent? I know some people think camping in a tent is the only way to camp, but I am not one of those. I've seen the photo of the happy looking bear and the message, tent camping the bear's soft taco, or something along those lines. And I agree. But really, how many bears are there in Tennessee state parks? Add to this the ability to book up to a year in advance on line and I'm really liking the Tennessee state parks.
Now let's consider cost. Primitive camping sites, no water and no electricity, are only $8 and surprising usually booked solid. Really? I don't see the draw. The other sites which have water and electricity and are varying distances from the bathhouses, are from $15 to $20 a night. If you are disabled, elderly, a veteran, a state employee, or a retired state employee, then there is a discount. These discounts get deeper during the off season. Check them out.
Recently we booked a site a Edgar Evins State Park out in Silver Point, TN. Where's that? you ask. Look it up, I'm not Rand McNally. All I needed to know was that it was within an hour's drive of my home and it had platforms for camping. All the campsites at Edgar Evins are large deck-like platforms that hang out over the side of a hill around Center Hill Lake. Why are these platforms so important? I didn't have to sleep on the ground. And I didn't have to pitch my tent on the ground. I've never slept on the ground before and I wasn't really sure how that would be so I wanted to avoid it if I could. At Edgar Evins I could avoid ground sleeping.
Now let's analyze the tent. We have a large cabin-like tent which means it has a large foot print, I think it's 10 feet by 12 feet. It's tall. I believe over 6 feet at the center. I don't want to crawl around on the ground to enter and leave the tent or to get into bed. We have an air mattress that is low to the ground and one that is tall. I used the tall one. My daughter, with complaint, used the lower mattress.
Having never used a tent before I did some research on line and discovered that "in the old days" tents were made of canvas and didn't have floors. If it rained, the tent remained water tight via water tension which kept water from leaking in unless something touched the side of the tent, therefore breaking the water tension, and causing a leak. Also, I discovered that the windows should always remain open when the temperature outside was lower than the temperature inside the tent to keep condensation from forming and raining down during the night.
Well, all this was old news and completely useless to me and my tent camping experience. My tent is made of nylon and waterproof. No water was coming into my tent unless a window was open. No condensation is going to occur because the roof is completely open under the rain fly making it impossible for the inside to be hotter than the outside, as we discovered to our shivering dismay.
Above is a shot or our camp site at Edgar Evins. The only downside, which makes complete sense, is that the fire ring and grill are off the campsite to the left and not in this shot. This site is right across from the bath house. Very good placement considering that there is no bathroom in a tent.
Here is a brief run down of the tent camping experience. The first evening and night was warm, but not hot and several times during the night I was awakened by pounding rain. That's right POUNDING RAIN. Not a gentle rain, pounding rain with lightening, thunder and 15 mph winds. I didn't talk to my daughter during the storm in case she was still sleeping, but I would have had I known she was on the other side of the tent checking her weather app to see if we were in the middle of a tornado. Fifteen mile an hour winds seem like 50 mph winds in a tent. Since I had the windows slightly unzipped to avoid condensation, I did get a little bit wet from the open window, but no rain came into the tent from leaking seams or roof. We have a "bathtub" floor which means the seam that joins the walls to the floor are about 4 inches up the wall to avoid leaking.
The day after the storm was damp and drippy until the afternoon when things dried up but the temperature was great. A wonderful day to sit outside reading This Old House magazine, drinking coffee, while Savannah slept late and then watched movies on her computer. I walked around the camp and talked with the host who had a large sofa on her platform outside her camper surrounded by several tarps. Her husband drove around the camp on a golf cart looking very sour. I never talked to him.
The second night the temperature dropped to 48 degrees. I was prepared but Savannah was not. I told her to bring more covers but she didn't. I woke up with a great need to run across the street to the bathhouse. I pulled on my sweat pants and sweat shirt to keep warm and ran to the toilet. When I returned I found Savannah huddled under her cover so I threw my sleeping bag over her and went to make coffee. After a couple of hours freezing outside, hoping it would warm up, I told Savannah she had to get up so we could go somewhere and get warm. "I'm warm," she said, not realizing she was under a cover and a sleeping bag. She thought she'd gotten warm from the sun shining on the tent. We went to Wal Mart and Pizza Hut.
The next night we both slept well since we'd gone to the local Wal Mart (yes, all great camp sites are next to a Wal Mart) and purchased for her a decent sleeping bag that would withstand the cold. My weather app, which wasn't wrong, predicted the next night to be 38 degrees. The next day was also warmer and quite pleasant.
What else did we do beside survive a raging thunderstorm and the freezing cold? We went to a ranger scary story telling about the Bell Witch. We went out every day to get some hot food since I didn't bring anything but snack foods. I don't cook at home and I'm not going to start some horrible precedent during camping. The only hot food I brought to prepare was coffee. We walked around the camp ground so much that every muscle in my body was sore but walking kept me limber as well as in pain. We also watched movies and enjoyed nature. I had hoped for a better lake view from my site but the necessity of having solid walls to keep campers from falling to their deaths from the camping platforms meant my main view was of the protective walls.
My best lake view, which really wasn't that good.
View from my bed in the tent. Notice the protective wall.
Inside our two room tent with the room divider up.
The next trip is scheduled for Henry Horton State Park early in November. If it's warm enough and not raining, we'll go. I have booked a handicapped site which is completely flat and paved and right across from the bathhouse. Another good budget item about state parks, if you have to cancel your reservation there is only a $3 charge which is well worth it. Another plus for Henry Horton -- it has a restaurant. Edgar Evins also has a restaurant but it was closed for the season. Henry Horton has no lake but it does have a river. And did I mention the restaurant? No driving 22 miles round trip to get some hot food. Here's hoping for a warm dry November.
Check out a state park near you. You won't be disappointed.
First check out what is close to where you live. We happen to live close to several state parks -- Cedars of Lebanon, Edgar Evins, Henry Horton, Old Stone Fort, well, the list goes on. To add to their attraction all the Tennessee state parks were updated with WiFi access. It seems my daughter, Savannah, can't go anywhere without that (and I don't like to be without either), so the state parks became prime camping destinations. After we sold our last camping vehicle, a lovely class C, I thought my camping days were over, but my daughter said, "Let's buy a tent." I really thought she was kidding. Who wants to sleep in a tent? I know some people think camping in a tent is the only way to camp, but I am not one of those. I've seen the photo of the happy looking bear and the message, tent camping the bear's soft taco, or something along those lines. And I agree. But really, how many bears are there in Tennessee state parks? Add to this the ability to book up to a year in advance on line and I'm really liking the Tennessee state parks.
Now let's consider cost. Primitive camping sites, no water and no electricity, are only $8 and surprising usually booked solid. Really? I don't see the draw. The other sites which have water and electricity and are varying distances from the bathhouses, are from $15 to $20 a night. If you are disabled, elderly, a veteran, a state employee, or a retired state employee, then there is a discount. These discounts get deeper during the off season. Check them out.
Recently we booked a site a Edgar Evins State Park out in Silver Point, TN. Where's that? you ask. Look it up, I'm not Rand McNally. All I needed to know was that it was within an hour's drive of my home and it had platforms for camping. All the campsites at Edgar Evins are large deck-like platforms that hang out over the side of a hill around Center Hill Lake. Why are these platforms so important? I didn't have to sleep on the ground. And I didn't have to pitch my tent on the ground. I've never slept on the ground before and I wasn't really sure how that would be so I wanted to avoid it if I could. At Edgar Evins I could avoid ground sleeping.
Now let's analyze the tent. We have a large cabin-like tent which means it has a large foot print, I think it's 10 feet by 12 feet. It's tall. I believe over 6 feet at the center. I don't want to crawl around on the ground to enter and leave the tent or to get into bed. We have an air mattress that is low to the ground and one that is tall. I used the tall one. My daughter, with complaint, used the lower mattress.
Having never used a tent before I did some research on line and discovered that "in the old days" tents were made of canvas and didn't have floors. If it rained, the tent remained water tight via water tension which kept water from leaking in unless something touched the side of the tent, therefore breaking the water tension, and causing a leak. Also, I discovered that the windows should always remain open when the temperature outside was lower than the temperature inside the tent to keep condensation from forming and raining down during the night.
Well, all this was old news and completely useless to me and my tent camping experience. My tent is made of nylon and waterproof. No water was coming into my tent unless a window was open. No condensation is going to occur because the roof is completely open under the rain fly making it impossible for the inside to be hotter than the outside, as we discovered to our shivering dismay.
Here is a brief run down of the tent camping experience. The first evening and night was warm, but not hot and several times during the night I was awakened by pounding rain. That's right POUNDING RAIN. Not a gentle rain, pounding rain with lightening, thunder and 15 mph winds. I didn't talk to my daughter during the storm in case she was still sleeping, but I would have had I known she was on the other side of the tent checking her weather app to see if we were in the middle of a tornado. Fifteen mile an hour winds seem like 50 mph winds in a tent. Since I had the windows slightly unzipped to avoid condensation, I did get a little bit wet from the open window, but no rain came into the tent from leaking seams or roof. We have a "bathtub" floor which means the seam that joins the walls to the floor are about 4 inches up the wall to avoid leaking.
The day after the storm was damp and drippy until the afternoon when things dried up but the temperature was great. A wonderful day to sit outside reading This Old House magazine, drinking coffee, while Savannah slept late and then watched movies on her computer. I walked around the camp and talked with the host who had a large sofa on her platform outside her camper surrounded by several tarps. Her husband drove around the camp on a golf cart looking very sour. I never talked to him.
The second night the temperature dropped to 48 degrees. I was prepared but Savannah was not. I told her to bring more covers but she didn't. I woke up with a great need to run across the street to the bathhouse. I pulled on my sweat pants and sweat shirt to keep warm and ran to the toilet. When I returned I found Savannah huddled under her cover so I threw my sleeping bag over her and went to make coffee. After a couple of hours freezing outside, hoping it would warm up, I told Savannah she had to get up so we could go somewhere and get warm. "I'm warm," she said, not realizing she was under a cover and a sleeping bag. She thought she'd gotten warm from the sun shining on the tent. We went to Wal Mart and Pizza Hut.
The next night we both slept well since we'd gone to the local Wal Mart (yes, all great camp sites are next to a Wal Mart) and purchased for her a decent sleeping bag that would withstand the cold. My weather app, which wasn't wrong, predicted the next night to be 38 degrees. The next day was also warmer and quite pleasant.
What else did we do beside survive a raging thunderstorm and the freezing cold? We went to a ranger scary story telling about the Bell Witch. We went out every day to get some hot food since I didn't bring anything but snack foods. I don't cook at home and I'm not going to start some horrible precedent during camping. The only hot food I brought to prepare was coffee. We walked around the camp ground so much that every muscle in my body was sore but walking kept me limber as well as in pain. We also watched movies and enjoyed nature. I had hoped for a better lake view from my site but the necessity of having solid walls to keep campers from falling to their deaths from the camping platforms meant my main view was of the protective walls.
The next trip is scheduled for Henry Horton State Park early in November. If it's warm enough and not raining, we'll go. I have booked a handicapped site which is completely flat and paved and right across from the bathhouse. Another good budget item about state parks, if you have to cancel your reservation there is only a $3 charge which is well worth it. Another plus for Henry Horton -- it has a restaurant. Edgar Evins also has a restaurant but it was closed for the season. Henry Horton has no lake but it does have a river. And did I mention the restaurant? No driving 22 miles round trip to get some hot food. Here's hoping for a warm dry November.
Check out a state park near you. You won't be disappointed.
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