Panic Doesn't Pay

With the market swinging wildly, frantic people buying gold, and the rest panic-buying because they think tariffs will wipe out grocery shelves, it's a wonder more people aren't in therapy.

Chill, people. Stop listening to doomsayers.

• Investors who panic always lose money. It's their fear that creates the situation. 
  
  
• Gold is for people who already have lots of money. You can't eat it. And it's too expensive to buy now. Better to hope someone leaves you some expensive jewelry in their will.
  
  
• Panic-buying is dumb on so many levels. In the first place, most people never buy the important things, like staples--base ingredients to actually make meals. In the second place, you have to store all that stuff and actually eat it. Don't buy it and then let it expire.

Speaking of expiration dates, the expiry dates you see on cans are just guidelines. I've eaten plenty of things past their expiry date. The only thing I prefer to eat before its expiration date are tomato products, and that's only because of the acid in tomatoes. Although most manufacturers line their cans to protect it, sometimes it gets through.If you really want to be safe, buy freeze dried foods. You can always divvy it up into smaller portions and reseal it with a vacuum sealer.  

I use FoodSaver, but most vacuum sealers work well. Look for one that also seals jars. I find those particularly useful.

It's hard to stay calm when the media turns everything into yellow journalism. It's shameful how they try to manipulate people.

If those journalists (and I use that term loosely) believed what they were selling, they'd be the first ones to run and hide.

My advice, and what I do myself, is to drill down to the core of whatever is bothering you.

For example, I always worry about not having water in an emergency. My core fear is that I won't have clean water for my animals. If it were simply up to me, I'd hire someone to dig me a well, but I have to wait until Greg thinks it's a good idea. In the meantime, I store water. 

Now I'm a stickler for good tasting water. Once it has that flat taste, I use it for plants, washing, or flushing toilets.

Experts say you can shake up the water to get rid of that flat taste, but I've never found it palatable.

Is this a permanent solution to my water fears? No. But it solves the immediate problem. You handle what you can. 

Don't worry about things that are out of your control. Focus only on the things you can change. You'll sleep better.

On the homestead this week:

Even though I worry about water, we've had so much rain I'm thinking about building an ark. LOL!  The ground is saturated and the grass is knee-high in the pasture. We were actually stranded for a couple of days because our usual roads out were flooded. We're waiting to dry out so we can get back to work outside.

We still have a deck extension for the greenhouse to build, and a shade cloth structure to build. Aside from a day here or there, it has not stopped raining long enough to work outside.

The gardens are looking great with all the extra rain. We had to rush to harvest the potatoes in between rain showers. 

Nana, the wonder dog is stable. She's not the dog she used to be, but she's not in pain, so I'm grateful. Considering we were ready to put her to sleep a couple of months ago, I'll take any improvement I can get.

She rests a lot, which is understandable. I'm trying to wean her off some of the drugs she's on because they're beginning to upset her stomach. Despite the drugs, I cannot get her skin to heal. I'm bathing her three times a week now, just to keep the bacteria at bay.

Poor Odin doesn't understand why everyone is so slow around him. Ah, youth. Enjoy it while you can, Odie, my boy.

Now that Nana won't chase the cat anymore, it's safe to let Jammy commune with the rest of us 24/7. It's made him incredibly happy. And of everyone in the house, who does Jammy want to lay with? 

Nana, of course. 

I will never understand that cat.

 

 

**If you're shopping Amazon, start from this link.