The Old Folks Home

[1muttsfan]

Do have a lower property tax bracket for using the property for farming?

Not unless you are a serious farmer, not us little guys. Our township has a lot of properties along Lake Michigan though, many non-homestead and quite valuable. Some of our millages are on non-Homestead properties only, so taxes on our homestead are actually pretty low.

If they put a sugar tax here in Lakeland or Polk county, no one will come to visit, cause 'I'm all sugar'

 

[Latestarter]

Last months water\sewer bill was $155.00. I have one of the lower bills. Some are $300 and up

OMG... I thought I had it bad on the front range of CO paying $50+ a month. Part of the reason I moved here. My highest here was a little over $40 and that I think was because I had grand kids here. Normally it runs right around $30/month. And I'm filling a bathtub water trough and 5 gallon bucket every day for the animals.

Micro, you really have to pay a tax on your chickens? Seriously? I'd be all at the powers that be about that nonsense! What a crock!

As for sugar taxes, I put them on the same level as sunshine taxes and breathing taxes. I HATE, HATE, HATE taxes that are BS and just for raising revenue for things that have absolutely nothing to do with what's being taxed! If you need money to build roads, then damnnit tax things that have to do with road use! Those who aren't using the roads shouldn't have to support them. I HATE sin taxes as well, tobacco and liquor... Ridiculous!

And taxing a car based on value is punishment toward those with more expensive vehicles. How about taxing a vehicle based on weight and efficiency? Someone driving a fuel efficient shoe box that does no damage to roads and gets 50 MPG should not pay the same equivalent tax to an 80,000 pound OTR truck that does damage roadways. Even if it is a $100,000 Tesla.

Robin hood syndrome here... Tax those with money to support those who don't have any. Govt is so huge and expensive now that I don't see any way to curb it. We are on the road to following the same course as the Roman empire. I'll be gone before the crash, but many are gonna suffer big time.

On a bright note, I just got back from meat shopping. 103° in the shade here. Local store had whole chickens on sale for .77/lb. I bought 5+ pound whole processed chickens for ~$4. They had split chickens (fryers) advertised for .97/lb. I didn't see them so asked a meat guy where they were and he asked if I wanted him to split the whole chickens at no additional cost. I said HELL YEAH! So asked him to split 4 chickens from the whole birds and paid .77/pound for them

I can't/couldn't buy and raise frankenchickens for that price. Not even considering the labor involved with raising them.

At another local store they have pork butts on sale for .99/lb, limit 3/day, got my 3 and he said they only had one more case and no more in till Sunday. 3 other folks were waiting with me when he brought the case out. Needless to say that box was gone when I left. Each of us took 3. I may go back beginning of the week and pick up three more. I also picked up 3 more St, Louis rib racks @ 1.97/lb. Already had 4 or 5 full racks in the freezer, but it's such a good price.... I couldn't buy, raise & butcher/pkg a hog for those prices either...

 

[ronott1]

On a bright note, I just got back from meat shopping. 103° in the shade here. Local store had whole chickens on sale for .77/lb. I bought 5+ pound whole processed chickens for ~$4. They had split chickens (fryers) advertised for .97/lb. I didn't see them so asked a meat guy where they were and he asked if I wanted him to split the whole chickens at no additional cost. I said HELL YEAH! So asked him to split 4 chickens from the whole birds and paid .77/pound for them

I can't/couldn't buy and raise frankenchickens for that price. Not even considering the labor involved with raising them.

At another local store they have pork butts on sale for .99/lb, limit 3/day, got my 3 and he said they only had one more case and no more in till Sunday. 3 other folks were waiting with me when he brought the case out. Needless to say that box was gone when I left. Each of us took 3. I may go back beginning of the week and pick up three more. I also picked up 3 more St, Louis rib racks @ 1.97/lb. Already had 4 or 5 full racks in the freezer, but it's such a good price.... I couldn't buy, raise & butcher/pkg a hog for those prices either...

Nice Meat deals!

The power and gas bill is high here too! I have balanced payments of $227.00 per month. That is a high average.

 

[bruceha2000]

We pay pretty substantial income and property taxes, but no taxes on livestock.

Same here. And no tax on chicken feed or scratch. Tax on Black Oil Sunflower Seed though because people buy that to feed wild birds. I pay tax on my chickens' BOSS treats but not their scratch treats.

And taxing a car based on value is punishment toward those with more expensive vehicles. How about taxing a vehicle based on weight and efficiency? Someone driving a fuel efficient shoe box that does no damage to roads and gets 50 MPG should not pay the same equivalent tax to an 80,000 pound OTR truck that does damage roadways. Even if it is a $100,000 Tesla.

I agree. And a passenger car with studded tires can cause more damage to the roads than a tractor trailer but they don't pay extra. Then there are those that say high MPG cars should pay MORE because they pay less in gas tax and gas tax is the primary source of road funds.

Those who aren't using the roads shouldn't have to support them.

So bicycles should be registered and taxed.

I can't/couldn't buy and raise frankenchickens for that price.

True but wouldn't you like to have more flavorful NON Frankenchicken? A nice pasture raised slower growing meat bird?

 

[bruceha2000]

Tree pictures. Not sure if you can see the trees and their orientation well. You are looking at the clump on the right in the first picture. The larger trunk to the left is the one I want to cut out. The cluster of trunks just to its right are the apple trees. I did try to orient the camera vertically, the trees lean to the right to try to get sunlight.

From the right side of the trees


This picture is from directly behind the trees. You can see my "massive" tractor in the field.


From behind toward the left


From the left side


From the field. The tree I want to cut out is centered with the apple lower and in front of it. Here you can see the little dump cart I have to take the wood back to the house. 3 of those filled to the top of the wood is about a run.


Any thoughts on the best way to get this tree to drop away from the apples would be appreciated.

 

[Latestarter]

I see other trees in the distance on either side. I would use a come along and ratchet it down pulling the tree to the side away from the apple tree, either left or right as applicable. Then cut the tree. The wire attached will prevent it from falling straight down onto the apple and it will be forced to swing away from the apple, either left or right, which ever way you've tensioned it.

 

[bruceha2000]

Wouldn't I have to attach the wire pretty far up in the tree to get it to fall anywhere other than toward the apples? Many of the trees I've cut so far have hung up in other trees and the trunk just drops to the ground next to the remaining stump.

 

[Latestarter]

If you place the wire up high, and then torque it down firmly but not too tight (keep it low on the anchor tree of course), it's going to pull the top of the tree toward that side. When you do your first cut on the fell side, it's going to effectively cause even more pressure toward the side you're pulling toward. You don't want to cut too deep as you don't want the trunk to shatter. When you do the back cut, you want it at least 2" above the top of the release cut so when it lets go, the trunk will "break" and if it does "skip", it will lodge against the shelf you've created rather than kicking out and back. The wire will just keep the tree itself from falling on the apple as the wire will prevent it from going in that direction. It will have to "swing" out in the same direction of pull. As long as you have an amount of wire out equal to the height of where you attached it, the tree should be able to reach the ground when it falls and not be "held aloft" by the wire. As for getting hung in other trees, you might need to clear any that could potentially cause that to happen as well.

You posted a lot of pics, but it's still difficult to tell exactly what's what from a 2 dimensional rendering of a three dimensional issue... You could always fall back on that Yankee ingenuity that's boasted about all the time. Or maybe you have a hillbilly neighbor who can tackle it?

 

[1muttsfan]

Like he said. But be very, very careful. Lots of things for that tree to hang up on.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Hey we were talking to today sell everything buy a big old 2 bathroom class a or a 5th wheel and truck take our little kia soul with go why we still can no more power, water or mortgage to pay