Well, this is entirely not money-related, but I do feel a great sense of accomplishment/satisfaction since I was able to basal bark treat 4 small tree of heaven saplings. Tree of heaven is one of just 2 plants i can think of that absolutely must be treated with an herbicide to eradicate. I learned this the hard way; each time I cut it down, it not only came back, but several more sprung up in the vicinity.

So that makes a total of 10 tree of heaven saplings I've been able to treat this summer. I have until early October to do as many more as I can. The real challenge is beating a path to each sapling, which are growing in heavily brushy areas I usually avoid this time of year due to ticks.

I'm not sure how many more I have....at least a few...plus the big tree that needs to have the "hack and squirt" method used. Then you wait 30 days, then cut down only when completely dead.

I've been completely inactive when it comes to yard work for about 3 weeks now. While we had lovely weather in June, July and August have been oppressively hot and humid. This was the first day I've been able to do anything, and since this decent weather is supposed to hold at least til the end of the week, my goal is to do something in the yard each and every day. I have 3 ironweed plants and a gooseberry that have been in pots all summer and really need to go in the ground, but clearing areas where they go is a ton of work. Must be done!

But going after the tree of heaven is a top priority.

Here's an update on my cash flow situation since my last post: my checking balance has shrunk to $3583, and that needs to last me for another 4.5 weeks. I will get an infusion of $932 Sept 2 from my annuity. I should be able to stretch it out until the CD matures.

I've been picking tons of cucumbers and tomatoes. I'm only growing cherry tomatoes and  a yellow grape hybrid. I've gotten a decent amount of yellow squash, and my stringbeans should be developing beans any day now, since they're flowering. I've given extra cucumbers to my father, who likes to pickle them, and my friend/neighbor R.

My knotweed group is meeting on site this week at a popular walking trail in town where a smallish patch of knotweed has been sighted. We will make it a demonstration plot, mowing one side and then cutting and then treating the other side with herbicide, with instructional signage designed to show residents walking by that mowing alone won't be effective.

Still going to the gym 4x a week.

This, in a nutshell, has been my summer.

Since coming to the realization that I need to move, I've been looking around here with different eyes. With thoughts about staging the house, eventually, and still working to give things away for less clutter. Today I posted a rather beat up old rattan chair that I acquired from Buy Nothing, but no one wants it so to the dump it goes. I have a sentimental thing for rattan, a hangover from growing up with my grandparents' complete patio furniture set, all rattan.  

I think it was actually something Dido said that made me realize I was just fooling myself by saying I was going to "age in place" here.  The yardwork, or my inability to care for the property the way I think it should be, would likely always be a source of stress for me. I want to do other things with my life. I was telling my father of my decision and he surprised me by telling me his opinion, which was that I shouldn't move. He hardly ever insinuates his opinion about anything, so for him to say something was unusual. Basically, he said you have everything you want in your house now, and the yard is only a source of stress because I allow it to be so, and that most people would not be so focused on invasive plants, etc.

That doesn't really change how I feel about things though.

These comments were made on the same day that he confessed his regret about selling his beautiful home on the Jersey shore, which he'd made so many improvements to, to live in a small studio apartment on my sister's property. He decided to try renting out the home for a while (which I would never have done, given the distance between that house and where he moved to), and unfortunately, he failed to do a background check on the woman who someone at his favorite diner said was looking for a place. She was late with the rent from the get go, often not paying the full amount. He had to start eviction proceedings and she stole things he left in the house. (Carelessness on his part, I have to say.) Because she had no assets, his attorney told him it wouldn't be worth pursuing in court. An all-round unpleasant experience that I got to experience as well since I had to drive my father down to NJ a few times to meet his attorney. Sigh. Well, that's all in the past now.