Two Minor Victories in Frugal Living
Lots of my projects don't pan out. I'll admit that. But today I think I surpassed myself in trying to get better tv, fm radio (for NPR), and internet reception. Although I bought an extra-long-range radio, it was still a chore to find NPR and then it usually came with static. Try listening to music with that. Since I have to piggyback a weak if open wifi signal from a nearby church, besides buying 2 strong signal boosters I still got dropped every half hour or so due to the weak signal. And it was slow as December mud. (My laptop has 4 usb ports, so I use 2 for long range signal boosters.)
At last I learned how to make really good dish boosters from disposable heavy aluminum bakeware. It's strong enough to maintain shape but still malleable. Now the formerly static-plagued radio signal is clear as glass - finally! - and the number of bars on any open wifi signal has doubled just from the aluminum dishes. For once I didn't wind up with egg on my face!
The other situation has to do with bad neighbors on the corner. While it waits to be sold, they mow the house on my north side. I've never worried about adults riding big mowers around my fence which is flexible woven wire, the kind with the pretty scallop top. I just take a peek to see who it is and then go on about my business.
But then last week I heard Bad Neighbor (the one who posted a threat to beat me up on her FB page) screaming at her son while the motor roared. I went outside to check, and by golly that poor kid could hardly reach the pedals even when he scooted down in the seat. He had little to no control over that powerful mower. So I stood there in my front yard with my arms crossed until she'd finished berating her son and then finishing the job herself.
But just in case she tries to make him mow again while he's still too short, I hit upon a perfect solution; at least it's more frugal than a lawyer, because those are the kind of people I'd have to drag to small claims court to repair or replace my fence if their poor little kid ran it down.
I took 3' sections of 1/2" rebar and pounded them in the ground fairly close together along the outside of the north portion of the fence, about 2" away. About 8" of rebar show above ground. Anyone who accidentally rams into that will correct their bad steering soon enough. I can use that strip of ground because I always set a fence at least an inch or more inside the property line just in case. If the rebar disappears some day, the next set will be embedded in concrete and wired to my fence for a total cost of around $20. It's only about a 6' length on the north because of the wooden privacy fence running along most of the border with the north property.
Altogether it's a lot cheaper than hiring a lawyer. Everybody in town knows that woman posted the threat on her FB page because some of her alleged friends sent me screenshots of it. Which I proceeded to publicize at the town council meeting where all the neighbors were up in arms over something that woman and her husband were doing. I really don't think she'll steal my first set of rebar barriers because she knows what a loudmouth I am when somebody tries to pee on my leg and claim it's raining.
I don't know why some urbanites think small town life is boring. We can always find something to fight about, and that's entertainment aplenty.