I was ASTOUNDED when my local water company finally put a url on my bill to pay it online. This was after 20 years of mailing checks, a scene in my house that usually played out as, "Where is the checkbook?" "Do we still have a checkbook?" "No, you had it last." "Fine. I'll just start a new batch of checks." "Where's the box with the checks?" (Ours come in a box from Harland Clark. Fancy stuff.) "No, that's the box with the checks that are all used up." "I don't know why we're holding on to checks from 2003. Aren't we supposed to shred them or something?" "Where are the envelopes?" "Do we have any envelopes?" "Do we have any stamps?"
I'm convinced they made online payment an option solely because of me. I'd completely forget to pay the thing, like, for months. They only bill twice a year.
The other thing I find interesting is all of this probably means that kids there know how to write a check, which I think is awesome. My kids couldn't write a check if you told them it was the only way they could pay for a Magic The Gathering card they'd been staking out for over a year.
I bet kids there also know how to read and write in script.
Actually!! I went to high school with both the elementary and high school principals (ha!) and they were recently saying that they're bringing back cursive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😲
Also I am dying about the checks. Whyyyyyyyyy! Whyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am LMAOOOOO at all of this! A lot of it simply does not compute for me and I'm Canadian...a place where we've always been significantly behind American in payment technology. We didn't have Visa logos on our debit cards for YEARS after you guys did and I know this because my ex-husband is American. I've had the same check book for like 18 years. Even our landlords here take e-transfers.
One thing we are significantly ahead of you on is salt and concrete. We must have specialty concrete because we salt it for 8 months a year and none of it has disappeared into a decaying sinkhole yet.
Loved reading this Ash. And your house is friggin beautiful. Everything about it, including the snow.
NO KIDDING!!! This fascinates me. LOL to your husband having the visa logo hahahahahahahaha. And, what the hell with the concrete! This came from A CONCRETE GUY.
I live in a very small town and I am ~obsessed~ with my local post office. I catch all the gossip, they know all the grifts - it’s sublime. This felt so familiar!
I audibly gasped when I read your electric bill total. Oh geez. You may know now, baseboard heat is the most expensive way to heat your house. Diversify that energy girl! Hopefully, with the removal of all the trees off the property you are getting more sun and can look into solar option. This is America, if you want to run christmas lights all year long you can. Some folks opt for a mini wind turban on the property to help with electric demands. Not sure about your state, but you may be eligible for renewable energy credits with alternative power sources on the property. I know some programs have expired (not renewed) but our electric company offers a free assessment of where in your home is leaking the most heat, usually attic or basement. Insulate out the wahzoo to keep your precious electric heat in. Your house needs the heat to keep out the damp so if you haven't been schooled on dehumidifiers...
Scrapple. Just No.
Checks. Also no. our credit union offers a free service to cut a check from the bank to where ever you need it to go by mail. They put on the stamp for free.
Pause on the snowblower unless it comes with a class on how to maintain, repair and fix. Not an ounce of sarcasm, only truth here. Huge pain in the ass. This week in the midwest we got about 15 inches of snow in 3 days. Find a reliable person who does this on the side, then line up a back up option with a tractor, or buy a small tractor yourself. Have fuel delivered in a metal tank that you fill once a year. Find out when the county opens up your road, if you are the beginning or end of the snow plow route. The more you know.
In suburbs of KC, they don't use salt or sand to melt ice. They use beet juice on the roads to melt the snow. Turns the snow pink. I don't have more info than that.
Speaking of said snow, it feels like -24 outside where I live and our new hvac has been an unrelenting champion.
BEET JUICE TO MELT SNOW! GET OUT OF TOWN!!!!!!!!!!!! Have never seen that, and love that it's a thing. 😂
Alsooooo - ugh to the electric bill - I actually have a propane woodstove that turns a fire on with a remote, thank god, but it only heats the living room. (And I turn it off at night.) There ARE old radiators all over this house, too, but the previous owners told me they hadn't used them in 25 years and the furnace would need to be replaced. So, that's another thing I'm investigating. In the meantime, the baseboards were here, so I had them replaced so they're at least updated. But, goodness, talk about expensive! 🥴 There are tons of old doors here with huge gaps so I do need to do something about THAT...even though I'm all about preservation, I'm also about modern tech, lol.
I loved this comment, Lisa! Thank you for leaving it!!!!!!
I hope there is a restorer in your area that can give you a 'phase 1', 'phase 2' strategy on your heat situation. If I lived closer, I would send my brother to look it over and there would be no charge. He is an HVAC guy experienced in boilers, mini-split systems and geothermal installation.
I have seen some restoration shows where the owners get rid of the radiators and cut open the floor for new heat systems. If your house is 100 yrs old, or close to it, the architect probably has a genius design in place for the house to self regulate/cool by opening the right windows. The wool socks and a Parachute comforter have definitely paid for themselves. Spring is coming!
OMG I have not heard the word scrapple since the 70’s!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can’t believe they still make that stuff! I swear I would still recognize the smell of the artery clogging stuff. 😂😂😂
Your cottage looks great, love the red door color!! 😍
You seem to be adjusting well to life there, again.
HA!!!!!!!!!!!!! Welcome back to the 70s, Elle!!!!! 😂 I remember my friend's dad in the 7th grade used to cook it up for breakfast and he'd torture me with forkfuls of it, trying to get me to eat it, but I wouldn't bite. Literally.
I do NOT! 😂 It's not really too much different from haggis in Scotland, which I've had, but neither are something I actively seek out hahahahahahahaha. Do YOU eat it?!
This comment reminds me of the time a few years ago when Jared and I went into Hilltop in Susquehanna just to observe. 🤣 He had this app on his phone that lets you control the juke box and we put on QUITE a selection of songs we knew the local population would be squirmy about hahahaha. 🥹
Ah, I remember the checks you could order from the check catalogs with 4 different illustrations of super heros or flowers, or 4 different Disney characters, etc so every time you wrote a check it had a different picture, not very mature or business like but it made paying bills more fun
Oh I am loving these reflections SO much. Moving to Longmont in Colorado will be much the same, including snow! I love your house and following your battles, I mean adventures, in rural living!
Checks? I was offered those when I opened my account with the little old (older than me?) woman at the front desk at High Plains Bank (it took all of 30 minutes to open the account, and get a safe deposit box and an ATM card). I turned them down. Eeek - better ask for some!
BTW - my ex-husband was from Cincinnati/ Eastern Kentucky and LOVED scrapple. So yeah, thanks for the flashback of that delicacy. And ketchup. Let's just say I can't wait to have a real glass bottle of Heinz in my fridge.
Following you closely for tips on the transition back...
I was ASTOUNDED when my local water company finally put a url on my bill to pay it online. This was after 20 years of mailing checks, a scene in my house that usually played out as, "Where is the checkbook?" "Do we still have a checkbook?" "No, you had it last." "Fine. I'll just start a new batch of checks." "Where's the box with the checks?" (Ours come in a box from Harland Clark. Fancy stuff.) "No, that's the box with the checks that are all used up." "I don't know why we're holding on to checks from 2003. Aren't we supposed to shred them or something?" "Where are the envelopes?" "Do we have any envelopes?" "Do we have any stamps?"
I'm convinced they made online payment an option solely because of me. I'd completely forget to pay the thing, like, for months. They only bill twice a year.
The other thing I find interesting is all of this probably means that kids there know how to write a check, which I think is awesome. My kids couldn't write a check if you told them it was the only way they could pay for a Magic The Gathering card they'd been staking out for over a year.
I bet kids there also know how to read and write in script.
Actually!! I went to high school with both the elementary and high school principals (ha!) and they were recently saying that they're bringing back cursive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😲
Also I am dying about the checks. Whyyyyyyyyy! Whyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am LMAOOOOO at all of this! A lot of it simply does not compute for me and I'm Canadian...a place where we've always been significantly behind American in payment technology. We didn't have Visa logos on our debit cards for YEARS after you guys did and I know this because my ex-husband is American. I've had the same check book for like 18 years. Even our landlords here take e-transfers.
One thing we are significantly ahead of you on is salt and concrete. We must have specialty concrete because we salt it for 8 months a year and none of it has disappeared into a decaying sinkhole yet.
Loved reading this Ash. And your house is friggin beautiful. Everything about it, including the snow.
NO KIDDING!!! This fascinates me. LOL to your husband having the visa logo hahahahahahahaha. And, what the hell with the concrete! This came from A CONCRETE GUY.
I live in a very small town and I am ~obsessed~ with my local post office. I catch all the gossip, they know all the grifts - it’s sublime. This felt so familiar!
Ahhhh, just looked up your website and love that you're a fellow writer. ❤️ Are you still east of Asheville?!
I audibly gasped when I read your electric bill total. Oh geez. You may know now, baseboard heat is the most expensive way to heat your house. Diversify that energy girl! Hopefully, with the removal of all the trees off the property you are getting more sun and can look into solar option. This is America, if you want to run christmas lights all year long you can. Some folks opt for a mini wind turban on the property to help with electric demands. Not sure about your state, but you may be eligible for renewable energy credits with alternative power sources on the property. I know some programs have expired (not renewed) but our electric company offers a free assessment of where in your home is leaking the most heat, usually attic or basement. Insulate out the wahzoo to keep your precious electric heat in. Your house needs the heat to keep out the damp so if you haven't been schooled on dehumidifiers...
Scrapple. Just No.
Checks. Also no. our credit union offers a free service to cut a check from the bank to where ever you need it to go by mail. They put on the stamp for free.
Pause on the snowblower unless it comes with a class on how to maintain, repair and fix. Not an ounce of sarcasm, only truth here. Huge pain in the ass. This week in the midwest we got about 15 inches of snow in 3 days. Find a reliable person who does this on the side, then line up a back up option with a tractor, or buy a small tractor yourself. Have fuel delivered in a metal tank that you fill once a year. Find out when the county opens up your road, if you are the beginning or end of the snow plow route. The more you know.
In suburbs of KC, they don't use salt or sand to melt ice. They use beet juice on the roads to melt the snow. Turns the snow pink. I don't have more info than that.
Speaking of said snow, it feels like -24 outside where I live and our new hvac has been an unrelenting champion.
BEET JUICE TO MELT SNOW! GET OUT OF TOWN!!!!!!!!!!!! Have never seen that, and love that it's a thing. 😂
Alsooooo - ugh to the electric bill - I actually have a propane woodstove that turns a fire on with a remote, thank god, but it only heats the living room. (And I turn it off at night.) There ARE old radiators all over this house, too, but the previous owners told me they hadn't used them in 25 years and the furnace would need to be replaced. So, that's another thing I'm investigating. In the meantime, the baseboards were here, so I had them replaced so they're at least updated. But, goodness, talk about expensive! 🥴 There are tons of old doors here with huge gaps so I do need to do something about THAT...even though I'm all about preservation, I'm also about modern tech, lol.
I loved this comment, Lisa! Thank you for leaving it!!!!!!
https://www.kansascity.com/news/weather-news/article284177278.html
in case you are interested.
I hope there is a restorer in your area that can give you a 'phase 1', 'phase 2' strategy on your heat situation. If I lived closer, I would send my brother to look it over and there would be no charge. He is an HVAC guy experienced in boilers, mini-split systems and geothermal installation.
I have seen some restoration shows where the owners get rid of the radiators and cut open the floor for new heat systems. If your house is 100 yrs old, or close to it, the architect probably has a genius design in place for the house to self regulate/cool by opening the right windows. The wool socks and a Parachute comforter have definitely paid for themselves. Spring is coming!
OMG I have not heard the word scrapple since the 70’s!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can’t believe they still make that stuff! I swear I would still recognize the smell of the artery clogging stuff. 😂😂😂
Your cottage looks great, love the red door color!! 😍
You seem to be adjusting well to life there, again.
HA!!!!!!!!!!!!! Welcome back to the 70s, Elle!!!!! 😂 I remember my friend's dad in the 7th grade used to cook it up for breakfast and he'd torture me with forkfuls of it, trying to get me to eat it, but I wouldn't bite. Literally.
But do YOU eat scrapple??? This could be game changer for me...
I do NOT! 😂 It's not really too much different from haggis in Scotland, which I've had, but neither are something I actively seek out hahahahahahahaha. Do YOU eat it?!
Fuck no!
LOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This comment reminds me of the time a few years ago when Jared and I went into Hilltop in Susquehanna just to observe. 🤣 He had this app on his phone that lets you control the juke box and we put on QUITE a selection of songs we knew the local population would be squirmy about hahahaha. 🥹
Ah, I remember the checks you could order from the check catalogs with 4 different illustrations of super heros or flowers, or 4 different Disney characters, etc so every time you wrote a check it had a different picture, not very mature or business like but it made paying bills more fun
THOSE ARE THE ONES, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. (And they still literally have, like, Looney Tunes characters.)
Oh I am loving these reflections SO much. Moving to Longmont in Colorado will be much the same, including snow! I love your house and following your battles, I mean adventures, in rural living!
Checks? I was offered those when I opened my account with the little old (older than me?) woman at the front desk at High Plains Bank (it took all of 30 minutes to open the account, and get a safe deposit box and an ATM card). I turned them down. Eeek - better ask for some!
BTW - my ex-husband was from Cincinnati/ Eastern Kentucky and LOVED scrapple. So yeah, thanks for the flashback of that delicacy. And ketchup. Let's just say I can't wait to have a real glass bottle of Heinz in my fridge.
Following you closely for tips on the transition back...
Ha!!! I also refused the checks when I opened my account! I remember thinking: are you for real?
Clearly they knew something I did not know, hahahahahahahaha.
You're going to have to write a newsletter all about YOUR transition!