Growing a Money Tree

So I've planted a money tree on the farm.  I'm hoping to get a good crop this year.  According to the tag it was suppose to be a hundred-dollar tree, but I have a suspicion that it's actually a one-dollar tree.  Of course we won't know until next spring.  The trick with the money tree is the watering -- it's very thirsty.  The other issue that this tree has is it doesn't produce seeds.  How great would it be to have a money tree grove.

So I know that some of you are asking at this point how I got a money tree, especially if it doesn't have seeds.  Simple, I made it up.  There is no tree, and no harvest coming in the spring.  It's a great idea though right?  Just think if you could see the buds of future money growing and changing color as the season progresses.  What wouldn't you do to protect that tree?  How much time would you spend watering and feeding this tree.  It's so easy to work on things when the result is so obvious.  Water a money tree, and money grows, and then you pluck the leaves and have money.

Lets pretend for a moment that there was a money tree.  Now lets pretend that it is kept on an island way out in the middle of the ocean.  You know where it is, and occasionally a shipment of leaves gets delivered to your house along with a bucket that you must fill with water and send back to the tree (there's no fresh water on the little island).  How confident do you feel about this tree?  You don't know how big it is, or what the conditions of the island is.  You don't know how many leaves are growing or how fast.  You don't even know if the water you are sending back even makes it to the island.  How do you feel now?

I can tell you that I would be planning an expedition to the island, or looking for another tree.

You know that the refrigerator is just a box full of cold air right?

Boxes have a magical quality. They can make different things the same. They can make many things one. They can make things disappear.  This power, like all power, can be used for good or evil. I find that the more boxes I have around me the more likely I am to use them improperly. The refrigerator is a good example of one of these bad boxes.

... their power can be used for good or evil ...

I don't cook for many people -- usually just one.  I want to cook good healthy food and therefore I often pick up a few vegetables at the store.  When I would get the groceries home I would load up the refrigerator.  At the end of the week, I would go through the fridge and pull out all the food that had gone bad waiting to be used.  I finally decided that I need to stop this wasteful process.  I was wasting money on food that wasn't eaten.  I was not eating healthier.  It was just not working out.

... I was wasting food ... not eating ...

The problem that I determined was that I would not see the food.  It was hidden in the refrigerator box.  When I see kitchens on film there is always food laying around ready to be cooked.  When you walked into my kitchen there were just unappetizing boxes.  No one has ever said, "hey man, that's a delicious looking fridge."  When you are hungry you want food.  If there was food in the kitchen rather than boxes I would be more likely to eat it.

... That's a delicious looking fridge, said no one ever ...

I started by taking out the eggs.  I have them for breakfast, so they are used up fast enough to not need refrigeration.  Then my mother surprised me by suddenly leaving her butter out on the counter in a sealed glass container.  It was super handy and it was warm and easy to spread.  Then I was shopping for vegetables and thought about green onions.  Now, green onions are one of those things that really bug me.  I cannot eat a whole bunch of green onions before they go bad.  So I was looking up storage options.  Someone suggested putting them on the counter in a glass of water.  I tried this, and was completely amazed by the result.  Not only did they stay fresh, but they actually grew.  I increased the amount of food that I bought by simply not refrigerating it -- mind blown.

I'm still at the beginning of this kitchen change.  I've more things to learn, but I have a good feeling about it.  My goal is to get rid of my large refrigerator in time, and just have a small one for those things that must stay cold (uncooked meats, drinks, etc.)

New Roof

This next week the I'm having the roof on my house re-shingled.  Hopefully the weather is cooperative.

I wonder about what is the next thing that will need fixing around here.

When I bought my house I thought that I would create a manual for the maintenance of the property.  I imagined that it would be nice to have a scheduled maintenance book like you might get with a new car.  Something that would list how often the door should be painted, and the sink gaskets replaced.  Every 25 years there would be a roof.  Every six years the kitchen appliances would be maintained or replaced -- and on and on and on.

I've owned the house for 20 years, and I've had to do work on different things.  No manual was ever done, and I wonder if that would have made any of it easier.  Of course, the wise person would turn to me and ask, "Kevin, do you do all the scheduled maintenance for you car?" I would then say something about time and money and blah blah blah.  No a manual would not make it easier to get things done.  Planning would make things easier.  Saving would make things affordable.  Being proactive would make the time available.

If I ever get my home-owner's manual done I'm sure that it will make it here.