Kinda OT, but butter is now a luxury I cannot afford, just like it was for a lot of folks in the olden days. I will still use it on my bread as a spread, but I figure what's a few more chemicals in my baked goods compared to the other chemicals I ingest on a weekly basis. I do what I can, but organic and the like has become too much of a luxury item for me due to economic circumstances. I don't know if I can go totally back to the way it was in the olden days when they ate lard spread on bread routinely. Or schmaltz! I also am running around so much with all of my jobs I haven't been able to scope out the best deals all around town. I'm commuting so much for my jobs I try to keep trips down to areas I'm already traversing. It's really hard to do some of these cost cutting measures when working so many hours, because a lot of the savings comes from the time you invest in making it yourself. It's a real balancing act! I guess you can mix butter with lecthitin (sp?) and olive oil to make your own spread but I've never tried it. I could stock up on cheapie butter right now but my fridge is filled with free bread I got last week. I am not prepared for this frugal period! I need a big old beast freezer like grandma had out on the summer porch. In so many ways I find myself channeling grandma's old survival techniques! Maybe someday I'll even be able to eat schmaltz on a cracker, but that day has not come yet!

It took them 3 years to come out and reassess our home after our restoration. Needless to say, we were a bit surprised to hear from them. We didn't realize this was a thing. They just came last week, so I don't know how it will affect things. We added a bathroom and A/C, but lost a bedroom. Other finishes remained about the same. We added a new garage at the same time (tore down a 100 year old single car and put up a dble car, but in the same style to match our 100 yr old house). We did pull permits for this, but he looked out the window and said, "And you still have a garage". I didn't lie, but I also didn't respond.

Since the time I got back into it in the late 80s, there was one major cost decrease event across the board in the 4th quarter of 2008. Lumber was priced below the cost of harvest to clear mills of inventory prior to shutting them down, labor wages were cut and bosses either worked for wages or let crews go, decreasing my labor costs 20-30%. Got lucky and dodged the lumber spikes of 2018, building 2 before and one after due to permitting delays. Saw many builders walk away from contracts as permitting delay had put the owners into the lumber peak. Most builders have 30-60 day exit options but I have never exercised it. Construction costs rise at a rate higher than inflation over time. I've seen many plateaus followed by cost bumps. It's not smooth, with seasonal jumps, annual cost/price increases by manufacturers, followed by discounting that fades over time. Scarce resources, increasing codes and standards, etc. Its not just lumber. There are 50-60 line items. CA added a 1% extra lumber sales tax, increased fuel taxes, raised the wage break line 10% for cheaper comp insurance rates... that means all carpenters got 10% more (about $36). All those discounts from late 2008 recovered and of course the lumber costs were a flash in the pan, but the numbers that are moving most independently from construction labor and material are permitting & impact fees. It's as though if they compare to every other municipality and increase anything that's lower than another town. Probably triple in my county since 2008, with another city boosting tree fees 120% April 1 (yes that's 220% of today's fee), so the $9000 fee I paid a week ago will climb to about $20k. Solar and other code increases as of Jan 1 added 20-30K The question is DO YOU FEEL LUCKY?

Bill and everyone, I too went down that Rabbit hole and helped lined the pockets of the inventors. I wonder what kind of high life they are living? What a smart bunch of people? Wonder if 'the shark tank ' people would of hopped on board when they first started? Would you believe I have a bottle that is so old I can't open it. As if it is glued shut. What is weird that I see this stuff fly off the vendors carts at orchid shows...I am not kidding. That and leaf shine. I always wondered if singing to them makes them grow better too? If it makes anyone feel any better. the last time I sand while watering mine they all heeled over. I am using a fresh bottle, yip, guilty as charged again I bought at the last years orchid show that a orchid growers swore by it that is works, he was selling it...lol I do know that a heck of a lot better light, humidity, better watering practices is making for fine roots on my plants, but not sure if it has to due with Superthrive now. Confused..lol So what do we give good root development to? Good growing practices? better mix? Better lighting? Better smarts on what makes them grow better? Of snake oil? Or all of the above? Hum? Guess I'll never know( Mike