Planning for 2023
Tuesday, October 18th, 2022 08:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snoozefestaudioIt's cooled down a lot this week. Low 50sF by day, and down below freezing by night. So, this was the first garbage night since June that I didn't hear a single cricket or Katydid out there, as I rolled the bins to the curb after dark.
We're getting to the peak of the fall color. Few if any trees remain green, most are now golds and reds, but leaves are beginning to fall. They colorfully dot the lawns, swirl in dust devils down the street, or just drop through the air as you drive past.
We're getting a brief warm up on Friday that will span through Monday, and there may still be a few surviving crickets out there, that will chirp a bit more, but... their season is pretty much over for this year.
Whatever I've got of them in the can, is what I've got.
I still haven't found the time to listen through and edit those remaining hours for the playlist, but... I've kinda got all winter, now.
--<>--
Now that I've been working my janitor gig for a while, it's become clear that we can't quite make it on just that income, so I'm gonna reopen my handyman business.
I don't know if I'll get any more calls than I did over the summer, when business was completely dead, but... at this point, even a few random jobs from time to time... an extra $200.00 here and there, could make a big difference.
I would just schedule any such job for a weekday before work, to keep my Saturdays free for work on the fallen Mulberry.
--<>--
Way back in March, when I started the handyman business, I thought... the ideal scenario would be to do that part time, but also have a part time janitor gig.
That way I'd have some guaranteed income, but the freedom to make a bit more on the side.
The joe-job would deduct taxes, and give me a W2 to file to the IRS every year, and if the side work stayed casual enough... it would all be tax free!
Now it looks like that's exactly what I'll be doing... even though for a while, this spring, I thought maybe I could just be a handyman... and for a while, this fall, I thought I could just be a janitor.
--<>--
The nice thing, I guess, is that I've had a little experience with both, by this point! My business is all set up, and I was really doing it for a couple months.
And my janitor job is now all set up, and I'll be getting health benefits, come December.
If the economy would just cooperate a little bit, I could probably sail through 2023 without any worries... but something tells me, things are still gonna be tight for another year.
However, if I CAN squeak through 2023 doing just these two gigs... then one, or the other, might start to look more profitable in 2024.
--<>--
Bringing this back around to the crickets, hopefully the back yard will be doing better in 23 & 24 as well!..
It's gonna be spring before I have that Mulberry cut up enough to entice people to take the free firewood off my hands.
But then I'll be able to get back to mowing the lawn, and growing my locust seedlings... in addition to whatever decides to shoot up out of the roots of the old Mulberry.
And If Tordon, from 2021 was a factor in the poor performance of the field crickets and the wing tappers this year, then hopefully it'll have worked it's way through the system enough by 23 or 24, for them to rebound.
As for the lack of thunderstorms the past couple years... I have no idea.
--<>--
All I know is, it's peak fall right now, and... to make it through the winter, I'm gonna need a little extra cash here and there from side work.
But there will be time enough, after the snow is down, to spend my weekends either salvaging what I can from the summer recordings... or doing a few winter wind chime recordings.
Between now and then... it's the Mulberry... and the holidays.
°¦}
https://soundcloud.com/snoozefestaudio
We're getting to the peak of the fall color. Few if any trees remain green, most are now golds and reds, but leaves are beginning to fall. They colorfully dot the lawns, swirl in dust devils down the street, or just drop through the air as you drive past.
We're getting a brief warm up on Friday that will span through Monday, and there may still be a few surviving crickets out there, that will chirp a bit more, but... their season is pretty much over for this year.
Whatever I've got of them in the can, is what I've got.
I still haven't found the time to listen through and edit those remaining hours for the playlist, but... I've kinda got all winter, now.
Now that I've been working my janitor gig for a while, it's become clear that we can't quite make it on just that income, so I'm gonna reopen my handyman business.
I don't know if I'll get any more calls than I did over the summer, when business was completely dead, but... at this point, even a few random jobs from time to time... an extra $200.00 here and there, could make a big difference.
I would just schedule any such job for a weekday before work, to keep my Saturdays free for work on the fallen Mulberry.
Way back in March, when I started the handyman business, I thought... the ideal scenario would be to do that part time, but also have a part time janitor gig.
That way I'd have some guaranteed income, but the freedom to make a bit more on the side.
The joe-job would deduct taxes, and give me a W2 to file to the IRS every year, and if the side work stayed casual enough... it would all be tax free!
Now it looks like that's exactly what I'll be doing... even though for a while, this spring, I thought maybe I could just be a handyman... and for a while, this fall, I thought I could just be a janitor.
The nice thing, I guess, is that I've had a little experience with both, by this point! My business is all set up, and I was really doing it for a couple months.
And my janitor job is now all set up, and I'll be getting health benefits, come December.
If the economy would just cooperate a little bit, I could probably sail through 2023 without any worries... but something tells me, things are still gonna be tight for another year.
However, if I CAN squeak through 2023 doing just these two gigs... then one, or the other, might start to look more profitable in 2024.
Bringing this back around to the crickets, hopefully the back yard will be doing better in 23 & 24 as well!..
It's gonna be spring before I have that Mulberry cut up enough to entice people to take the free firewood off my hands.
But then I'll be able to get back to mowing the lawn, and growing my locust seedlings... in addition to whatever decides to shoot up out of the roots of the old Mulberry.
And If Tordon, from 2021 was a factor in the poor performance of the field crickets and the wing tappers this year, then hopefully it'll have worked it's way through the system enough by 23 or 24, for them to rebound.
As for the lack of thunderstorms the past couple years... I have no idea.
All I know is, it's peak fall right now, and... to make it through the winter, I'm gonna need a little extra cash here and there from side work.
But there will be time enough, after the snow is down, to spend my weekends either salvaging what I can from the summer recordings... or doing a few winter wind chime recordings.
Between now and then... it's the Mulberry... and the holidays.
°¦}
