The Great Outdoors

It has been several years since the pallets for the hay were set up here at the house. ( More plus pics )

For reasons that are completely beyond me, our power company, PG&E, (whom I loath) has chosen to shut off the power.  Yes we are in a Red Flag warning, for low humidity, and high winds.  The danger is real, it is extraordinarily dry out here, BUT.  There is almost no wind. Right now I'm getting the gentlest of air flow through the open door, and that is after a long period of still air.  The highest "wind" I saw on the mountaintop monitors was 12 mph.  But the power has been off to a thousand people in my county for almost 24 hours and is not expected to be back on for a couple of days.  Look, I fully support shutting the power down WHEN THERE IS A PROBLEM!  Shutting it off for a nonexistent problem just makes me more determined to take my place fully off grid.  This is 2026, if needed there are sensors which should allow a big utility to shut off power quickly.  Amazingly even a human monitor could make that call!
I hasten to say we are fine. My little Honda generator is humming away powering: the refrigerator, the freezer, the internet and a device charging plug.  I have a battery powered, solar charged light next to me giving enough light to see by.  The stove is propane so we can cook. So is the water heater.  So the only things we are really missing are the microwave, the washing machine and a few overhead lights.

I have canceled the weekend event.  Probably for the best as I'm still not feeling quite well.  I did get some medicine, meclizine. Meclizine is sometimes sold as Dramamine. I took slightly less than 1/4 of a dose to start, which didn't make me drowsy, but did seem to help a little.  Tomorrow I'll brave a larger dose if needed.

Very slowly recovering from the Vertigo episodes.  It has been helpful to talk to a couple of other people who have had them and can talk about the experience. Need to get some of the medications that were prescribed.  It is dawning on me that I now really want the security of a medicine that will allow me to function well enough to get home if I have an episode.  Sigh. 

I don't think this weekend's ETS competition event will have enough people signed up to be able to go forward. Currently I have two people signed up.  One is in both events on Sunday  and the other is in one event on Saturday.  I know of two or three people who have said they were coming, but even with them it isn't enough.  I need 8 to 10 riders in each of the four events to break even. 

The garden is slowing down as the fall advances.  Got two more nice butternut squashes today. 

Over the last two or three days a lot of bookkeeping has gotten done.  Usually by this time in the fall I'm much more mentally clear (summer is full of allergies) and ready to catch up on all the summer backlog.  Every year I vow that I will keep up with the bookkeeping instead of falling behind.... 
Fall is when ALL of my big bills come in.  It starts with the annual (or bi-annual) hay purchase, moves on to annual insurance payments and ends with land taxes.  Bank accounts that had been looking plump drain away.  Sigh.  There shouldn't be any real surprises this year so it's all under control.  I've even found, and scanned, the bank statements that the stupid auditor wants.  What a nightmare that is.  The insurance company hires an outside vendor to audit accounts.  The outside vendor has set up a portal that you can export your Quick Books or other accounting software to.  I don't use accounting software.  I'm WAY too small. I use nice, old fashioned spreadsheets.  My CPA accepts spreadsheets, especially nice orderly ones that give totals across the top.  The audit folks?  No way.  Apparently you can lie on spreadsheets but not on accounting software?  So I copy my bank statements. Statements that don't always reflect cash income that IS reflected on my spreadsheets.   Can I send them to the auditor?  No, I cannot, that would be improper.  What I can do is send them to my long suffering Agent, so SHE can email them to the auditor.   Every year I rather feel like I have stepped through the looking glass with Alice.

Had a nice conversation with Lori at Rainbow Ag about possibly hosting an informational event with them. 
Am expecting Mark O at 8:30 tomorrow morning to do some work, so had better get off to bed now.