I was busy in the garden since Mother's Day and there wasn't much around for goats that I could find! They are settling in nicely on day 3 now. Mama goat comes right up(she knows I have food) and the baby is still very shy but willing to grab a bite out of my hand and back off quick. Always wondered what the big fuss about goats escaping was- I've never had one get out. Well, until wednesday a.m. when I heard a little bleat while out watering, came around the corner of the house to view the little cuties through the dog run fencing at a distance. "So cute," "like little gazelles" thought I, until the little gazelle mother ambled from behind the kennel and was free ranging! It only took her 13 hours to find the low spot in the kennel and burrow under it- amazing. I flew into full bore goat containment mode then because they are new and shy and not likely to come prancing up when I say to. Hauled a lot of rocks, logs, stumps, anything I could find to barricade that little monkey IN! So far so good. We have a lot of work to do on the big goat pasture before these two gain admission. The large goats and the chunky little pygmies could never go under or over- I forsee these two to be challenging. The 5 month old has the sweetest little face- looks like a lamb.

Is there such a service offered in the U.S.? Yes, many of them in virtually every city and town. Often college and university students assist with simple returns at free tax clinics. Also church groups, drop in centers, shelters, etc. enlist volunteers to donate their time and expertise. TV stations and newspapers run Public Service Ads advising people within certain income confines where to go for free help.

Canadian banks are fairly heavily regulated and are more used to carrying their own mortgages, so we are told that our mortggage situation isn't nearly as troublesome as in the U.S. There seems to have been a pause in house prices, even a slight drop in some areas, but not a serious issue at present. There is a sagging in the economy, though ... and will be more so, as our economy is very closely linked to the U.S. one: we say that when the U.S. economy gets a sniffle ... ours gets pneumonia. I've lived in about 22 locations during my 79 years ... have never owned a home. Current 2 br. farmhouse costs under $500.00/mo., includes water, o.k. for washing, not for drinking or most cooking, but I pay for power to run the pump. Rent not including oil furnace heat and power. Income from my three pensions has increased slightly, quarterly. I expect it to continue so. I have some income from a small personal tax-deferred retirement plan: my enthusiasm for that system has decreased substantially in recent years. That income has increased annually, but the required percentage withdrawal increases annually, so soon it will begin to decline, annually. I'm not worried about that. I live within my pension income, thus far can save some for other purposes. My investment income has taken a hit - one substantial situation, our largest telco, known as a "widows' and orphans' stock", was to be sold, to be bought at a premium price by a large pension plan and taken private ... the deal set up just before the U.S. financial debacle ... and completion has been postponed several times. During that time ... they stopped paying dividends! Then last month their auditors told them that the deal isn't viable ... would put them too deep into debt. Share price dropped from $38.35 close the day before the announcement to $25.25 next day. I fully expect them to reinstate dividend, and soon, maybe even paying the omitted ones. But it'll be a long time till I recover the price that I paid for some of the stock. GGrr-rr-r-r-u-u-m-m-ppp! Another company, a base metal miner and processor that I bought early this year had share price go up over 1/3 by May ... then slid back to purchase price by about Sept. They'd bought a major coal co. for possibly a high price, with short-term bridge financing, are worried that recession may cut metallurgical coal shipments, they may have trouble financing. They've stopped paying dividends, as well. Stock price closed last week at slightly over 1-10th the amount that I paid in Jan. I'd bought more a month ago for nearly double the current price per share. GGrr-rr-r-r-u-u-m-m-ppp, again! Thinking of buying more, now, though. Ed - are you crazy? I don't think that the company will die, but will recover. A Canadian bank stock whose price at $107.00 was high in May '07 raised dividend from $3.08 in fall '07 to $3.48 ... and have maintained it, thus far. But they had substantial exposure to the U.S. financial problems ... the share price dropped to a low of $42.36 or so, last month ... now $50.00 ... a long way down from that $107. a year and a half ago: but they continue to pay the dividend, at the rate established last fall. A slight ray of satisfaction can be gained from the realization that at a share price of about $90.00 a year ago, the rate of return was 3.87% (tax-advantaged) ... ... and now, at share price of $50.00, is 6.96% (tax-advantaged) ... rather unusually high, for a bank! ole joyful P.S. I'm digging up some more stock and mutual fund certificates, these days, to take to my lender to increase the limit on my Line of Credit. I'd thought that I'd have had some funds available from the forced sale of the telco, several months ago. Then deferred ... was to complete on Thursday, this week. Now, those funds are not available. But stocks are on sale. So I want to buy some. That's what that currently unused Line of Credit is for! o j

My living room is 17x30. The conversation/seating area is in front of the FP at one end of the room, sofa, two chairs, with a large square coffee table, on a 9x12 rug with the furniture on the rug. Behind the sofa, just off the rug, a sofa table with lamp defines the separate area, and there is room to walk through at one side without walking through the grouping. The other side has enough room to bring in additional lightweight chairs if needed. The other end of the room contains the dining room furniture, an arrangement I dislike, but made necessary when we needed the den for a home office and converted the dining room into a den. We rarely used the dining room anymore, but it was pretty and I miss it. The den has a similar arrangement of sofa and two chairs, but with furniture partly on and partly off an 8x10 rug with a smaller coffee table and two end tables. Also has room for additional smaller chairs if needed. I find these to be comfortable for conversation without being too cramped.