The Saturday Weekly Review #21- End of May And A Dog and Garden Update

It’s near the end of May so a garden and a dog update is in order even though the weather has been less than cooperative. I was hoping to have all my plants in the ground by now but that’s far from what’s happened. It’s nice to see all the neighbours outside now though cleaning up their yards and gardens keeping the neighbourhood tidy.

With the weather being so unpredictable lately it seemed like every time I wanted to get some landscaping done it would rain. I’m happy to say the worst of the landscaping job is done and I probably saved myself a couple of thousand dollars doing the work myself. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve brought our plants in and out. I was outside last night covering our fig tree and planter boxes in case they were damaged with the expected -5 wind chill.

All the other plants that were movable came inside for the night. I guess that’s one thing about having lots of plants is that you need a back up plan just in case frost does hit. You want to protect your investment but at the same time you don’t want to go nuts doing it in the process. It does get tedious hauling plants in and out but if you really want to keep them healthy it’s worth the time and effort to keep them safe.

I noticed one of our neighbours yesterday putting bags over his plants as well as potato sacks and turning blue recycle bins upside down. You don’t want to smother the plant, rather protect it from the elements over night and I thought that was a brilliant idea. If it happens again I may just pull out our extra bins and make good use of them.

For our planter boxes I just drilled some screws quickly around the box and attached garbage bags to the screws to hold the bag in place. It worked like a charm although the fig tree is a bit more demanding. I may look into getting it a frost jacket for next year. Don’t ask me what the heck a frost jacket is either, I just made that up but it sounds catchy. Maybe I can start a new business venture in plant jackets.. any takers out there?

Here are a few photos from the garden… at the end of May 2013. I will share more as they start to come out.

Not Just A Dog, Our Dog

If you follow me on Facebook you know our dog has been ill and that is why I’ve been quiet on the blogosphere this past week or so. We took him to the vets this week and he had some minor surgery done but enough that he needed some good drugs. I had a chuckle after because the vet said, “oh he loved the drugs, he was so relaxed” because my poor dog has never been to the vets for anything other than shots and meds. He is very active and always on the go so maybe taking a bit of a relaxer wasn’t so bad after all. When he came out he was stumbling all over the vets and the cat that lives at the vet come up to him again, nose to nose.

He would normally move right in on the cat (a female) but he just looked at the cat and turned away. It was the cats chance to say, what’s a matter big boy, can’t face the pussy cat can ya now! Our dog was tormenting the cat when we first arrived but the cat was taking it, hissing then hiding behind a door in a doctors room. I can only assume the cat knew that all in good time the evil dog would come out like he was drunk and the cat was going to have a go at him. Sure enough, the cat did and I wish I had my camera with me.

I try to see humour in moments like this because I know one day there may be a visit where there will only be memories. I’ll be sharing more on the topic of the death of a dog and what to do when your dog dies this week. It’s not a topic many want to deal with but it’s reality and it costs money so like responsible owners we will take care of our dog the best way we can. I hope and pray he has many more healthful, happy years with us.

The $600 was worth every penny and why it’s important that we budget for potential pet expenses each month as a projected expense. Now I just have to put him to work to pay us back, maybe he can help dig holes in the garden for me, lol. The costs of owning a pet can be very expensive and another reason why asking yourself if you can really afford one is important.

Blog Update

Well, I finally have my hosting sorted out which means CBB will soon be self-hosted. Sadly though all my WordPress subscribers will stay here at WordPress unless you actually subscribe to the blog so I encourage you to do that today. You subscribe on the home page of the blog. I can’t link to it here and that’s just another reason I want to move so I have more control over the blog to make your experience easier. Who knew that writing a blog would be so much work but it’s great fun. As a hobby I enjoy learning and sharing with all of you.

My designer has jumped in now after working hard with me for the past couple of months to create a new site and now the mock-up is completed. He is working behind the scenes to get the blog ready for me to do my thing. I don’t know when it will all be said and done but I’ve learned patience is a virtue and when you try to rush you don’t get the results you want. I’ll keep you posted.

Plus… we are working towards 6000 Facebook Fans… if you aren’t hooked up with CBB on Facebook, do it now! Thanks and Welcome!

Canadian Budget Binder’s Weekly Blog Posts

If you are a regular reader you would have already received these awesome posts in your email but just in case you missed reading one I’ve put them all together here just for you.

Making A Difference

If you are a personal finance blogger making a difference and would like to get featured please email me today. I can’t promise I will feature every site as it runs only once per week but you can’t get featured if you don’t share your site. A big warm welcome to Money Bulldog today.

Hey everyone, my name is Adam and I blog over at Money Bulldog.

Before I ramble on I’d like to first say a big thank you to Mr.CBB for inviting me on Canadian Budget Binder today and for giving Money Bulldog so much support since we first kicked off just over 12 months ago.

When I first decided to start Money Bulldog I had just – well I say just, it had actually been a couple of years- taken a step back from working in the finance sector. I had worked as a whole of market mortgage broker for just over 6 months, after which I took the very difficult decision to leave my job because of all the dodgy practices I’d seen go on in the industry.

As I was only an employee of the company I was being pressured to sell mortgages to people who didn’t need them, at rates that weren’t right for them, and to cross sell unnecessary insurance products in the process. Well, after months of resistance to pressure I finally decided to call it a day and rebuild my business, which I had run for several years previous.

This is really what inspired me to try and make a difference. After seeing just how easily people were being ripped off, I decided to try and explain a few simple areas of mortgage and insurance finance, hopefully to help people see through a lot of the jargon that was being fed their way and make more informed financial decisions.

It’s funny because even today those posts that I wrote back in the early days of Money Bulldog are still some of the most popular for people coming through to my site from Google, so it’s nice to know that people still find them useful.

As time has gone on, I’ve slowly been drawn into the world of personal finance blogging and have found many other things to write about. We now try to combine personal finance with personal opinion and occasionally a little bit of fun.

The most important goal of Money Bulldog however is still to make a difference. I still want to do whatever I can to help people get a grip on the vast world of personal finance and succeed with their financial goals.

I hope you’ll pay us a visit sometime and chip in your 2 cents, after all if there’s one thing we love over at Money Bulldog it’s another persons opinion and voice, come and have your say. Have a great weekend everyone!

Who’s Talking Canadian Budget Binder

Thank you all so much for taking the time to share CBB this past week!

The Brighter Life
She Knows Canada -(6 Finance Blogs You Should be Reading ) Thanks to She Knows Canada for the honour of making the list.
My Own Advisor
Money Bulldog
IHeartBudgets
The Outlier Model
My Money Design
The Heavy Purse
We Only Do This Once

Carnival Glory

Google Search terms really help me to understand what people are looking for at Canadian Budget Binder! Any typos below are simply how the person who searched Google and typed it in search incorrectly, or me ;-) Another week of thousands of search terms but only a few good ones worth mentioning.

Top Pick: What happens to bread recipe when you don’t have baking powder or baking soda?- THIS! (scroll down once you click the link)

Dream Men’s Closet- See I’m not the only one who wants to party in the closet!
Sick of Wasting My Time- Well then don’t!
Homemade Pizza- You came to the right page.. I have the best pizza recipe in the world!!! OK in our house, the best pizza in our house.
CBB SEX Toronto- I’m not sure on this one…
Why don’t the big grocery stores like Sobeys carry a raisin pie?- Run with it Sobeys your customers want pie… give them raisin pie!
U Cheated On Me- Someone is in trouble

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Filed under: The Saturday Weekly Review Tagged: a dog, blog update, Budget, cost of vet, Finance, garden update, Gardening, Making a difference, Money Bulldog, our dog, Personal finance, PF Blogs, The Saturday Weekend Review, Uk