PRACTICAL PARSIMONY: trains

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Wednesday, October 18, 2017

That Special Time of the Year

About a month ago, I received my first unsolicited Christmas catalog--Fingerhut. It seems the items they sell now in Fingerhut are more upscale than the first catalogs I saw about 30 years ago. Well, it was more fodder for trash and recycling. It is just more upscale fodder now.

Then, the KMart catalog came. I loved it. All the toys get me excited about Christmas coming soon. There were toys in there I wish I had gotten. I never got a Barbie. Who could afford $3? The other thing I have really wanted all my adult life is a train. I know that is silly. I can afford neither now.

Walmart stores are alive with toys. They are exciting. I remember how my children loved the Batman figures they received about 1975. The excitement of little children is infectious. One little girl in WM kept squealing "toys, toys, toys" as she was obediently holding onto the cart her mother was pushing. She did not bolt at the sight of the toy aisles! She was fairly dancing on tippy toes as she squealed.

Thankfully, I won't have to be on the toy aisles around Christmas. If I want to see toys, I go in after midnight.

The catalogs are rolling in at the rate of one a day. If a day goes by without a catalog, I get two or three the next day. I do look at them all. Catalogs add to our cultural knowledge. Some are scanned very quickly. Others call for a bit more careful perusing and thought. I tend to critique them. I yell at catalogs like guys yell at the TV during sports. The senders of catalogs depend on our curiosity to tempt us to buy. Well, it won't work with me.

I suppose the catalogs will help keep the Post Office afloat. The postman carries stuff in and the garbage man/recyclers carry it off!

Most of the catalogs warn me that this will be my last catalog if I do not respond. Last? Some catalogs have never ever come here since last year. Some catalogs with warnings have never darkened my door.

That Special Time of the Year--Catalog Season.

There was a time when the Wish Book was the only "catalog" I ever saw. Sears still holds a special place in my heart. my mother had several dozen years of Wish Books when I last looked before she died.

Your turn
Do you look at catalogs out of curiosity? Are you continually amazed at the products available, some new? Some silly? Some weird? What is the most ridiculous, amazing, or wonderful thing you ever saw in a catalog? Did you buy it? Can you be trusted to look at catalogs without ordering?

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The Cast

Fancy is my favorite hen. She is one of the three youngest hens I adopted. Because she is so gentle and friendly, she may be the one I rescued when she was being pecked to death after she could no longer stand. She got to live in the house in a box. Sometimes, I let her sit in my lap while she was convalescing. Now, she comes to sit in the swing with me, cuddling up to my body like a cat or dog. She died in February 2012.

Fancy follows me begging, complaining, needing me to do for her. She talks to me in various voices. She allows me to pick her up and carry her. When she became an adult, her head was a darker red and her body was light brown. Around her neck were tips of black feathers. It appeared she had a necklace of jet around her neck. When I showed this characteristic to a friend, he said, "Oh, you have fancy chickens and plain chickens."

Chessie has a broken toe. I broke it! She had a habit of jumping really high and almost sticking. A raccoon ate her in October 2009.

Thelma is the blonde. She is also the largest hen and the alpha hen. I suspect the gigantic eggs are from her. She often squats and presents herself to me. She is top hen, but I suspect she knows she had better be deferent to top feeder of the flock--me.

Louise is the auburn-feathered hen. She looks like the true Rhode Island Reds in pictures. She is almost as large as Thelma. Some days I suspect she is trying to be top chicken. When I got Pepper, I found out Louise is the Alpha hen.

Pepper came here from the same home as the first four. We were discussing putting red pepper on their food, wondering if it really would increase egg production. Pepper is the only name we agreed on. She is terrorized each day by Louise. Even after the worst was over, she was and is still filled with terror and very wary.

Linda is owned by four hens. They allow her to fetch for them. She loves them dearly, so she allows them to boss her around. Linda comes out in the rain to perform chores for them and make sure they have food and water. She begs scraps from all sorts of places to make sure they have fresh fruits and vegetables.

Parsimony is not a vegetable

Parsimony is extreme care in spending money. Stick around and learn about my random thoughts on accomplishing goals economically--dumpster diving aka safari, gleaning, do-it-yourself, sewing tips, recipes, and whatever is happening in my life.

Okay so maybe "parsimony" is not your thing. How about thrift, frugality or just plain saving money? I try not to go the tightwad route as that seems to imply others will suffer from my habits.

Some of my not-spending habits have very much been a part of my lifelong habits. Other habits are newly acquired and are an extension of my lifelong not-spending habits.

I am very imaginative when it comes to substituting or making instead of buying. I will tell you about making a heater for the chickens' water. Not one dime was spent since I had everything I needed right in my basement.

Practicality must rear its head alongside parsimony. For example, I will use the dryer in bad weather or because of allergies in the spring. But, I will not wash clothes in a tub as long as I have a washing machine or can find one.

You may hear more about my four Rhode Island Red hens than you care to hear. They lay delicious brown eggs.

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Wednesday, October 18, 2017

That Special Time of the Year