01-10-2026 — Blowing winds suck

Howdy all. The last two days were very windy. I was lucky (so far) and only had like a one minute electrical outage. Looks like the issue was less than a half mile away. They were flagged on the outage website as being done for a couple hours.

Winds peaked at 58 mph. Lots of little branches everywhere.

Today it has letup for now. But, overnight the winds will pick up again and it will be gusting up to 40 mph over the next few days. Just won’t give me a break.

The last 2 nights I’ve tried a gummy combo to see if it would work for sleep. Been semi-successful. The cheapo Hemp gummies had helped a little with getting me to relax and fall asleep, but I would wake up and stay awake for the rest of the night. These “CBD/THC” gummies seem to want me to sleep off and on, but only after midnight. So I tried one of each of the three variations of gummies each night. I don’t sleep through the night, but am getting a few naps both before and after midnight. Downside seems to be I really want to stay in bed and sleep even after 8 am. That’s not acceptable.

Ah, in other knews, my property tax invoice was online. I knew it was coming, just didn’t know how big the increase would be. Last year, many people saw 20-40% increases around here. Mine was more to the lower end of that, but still increased a lot more than inflation. The state government has implemented a bunch of laws that will obfuscate what we will be paying in the future, under the pretense of saving us money, while lining their own pockets. We have been told and visible “decrease” won’t be until the second half taxes are due in July.

For me, the increase over last year was only 38 cents (on a $4700 yearly cost). Most of the cost is based upon a purely imaginary sell value of this house. They increased the value last year to match the most optimistic number by any of the online house price sites. And even they have lowered those estimates over the last year. But not the county. Still top range.

I’ll be curious to see if there really is a drop in the 2nd half. Or will there just be more excuses as to why they are going up.

This is my least favorite expenses month of the year. Not only are property taxes due, but I get the invoices for home insurance for the year, and truck insurance for 6 months, in January. Also, all medical insurances go up now. And don’t forget, this is the month we gather our last year’s tax information to see how that will bite. I am hopeful on that front that I’ve prepaid more than enough so I may get a little back again this year. That would be nice and a reason to Enjoy Life