Coupon Saturday #29

There was a "glitch" at Dollar General that I was following all week.  I finally made it there today, not very hopeful that it was still working or that the items would even be in stock.  Then as I was walking in, the cashier that coupons was leaving.  I asked her if there was any point even looking.  She said, "what for, the glitch?  I heard it wasn't working last night and I didn't even try."  But according to the Facebook Group, it should still be a go, so I went in.  And low and behold, all the stuff was there.  

 The scenario was 2 softsoap body washes, 3 Colgate whitening toothpastes and 2 $1 hand soaps.  There was an instant savings on the colgate/soft soap, $3 off when you spent $10 and a digital coupon for $5 off three colgate, and a digital for the body wash, $2 off 2.  It had to be rung up in order, where the $1 soaps were last.  Then after typing in my digital code and they hit total....

magic happened, 44 cents plus tax. (total savings was $16.56)   I had the coupons on a couple of more accounts so I tried it again and added a 35 pound bag of dog food (always need that) that I had a $4 coupon for and the $5 off $25 Saturday coupon came off that too, making my bag of Purina Dog food $9.14, down from $17.95 regular price.  Now who needs some toothpaste?

The Grass Greener or Stuck Again

A poor reference to Rocky and Bullwinkle, but oh well. 

 Our neighbor across from the big hill in front of the house called to say a goat had been hollering for 2 hours.  At first she thought it might be a little one that got lost, but then she thought it might be one that got stuck.  So I took off up and over the hill.

 To find this.

She was really fighting and struggling.  I finally had to climb the fence and work on her from the other side.  Once I got her loose, she took off before I could even get her picture.  Alls well.

Trip Picture Sunday #4

Ok, it's really Monday, but who's counting.  Plus, it is really difficult to pare down my 2500 pictures. 

 We were lucky enough to secure a room at the Old Faithful Lodge.  I had read where it was booked a year in advance, so I really wasn't that hopeful.  But then I overheard someone talking about finding a room.  E and I ran to the nearest lodge and they checked for us.  Sure enough, there was a room! 

 That put us right at Old Faithful.  While we were waiting for the eruption the next morning, we strolled around some more fumaroles and geysers.

 The landscape in places is other worldly.

 Then we waited on Old Faithful.   Because is was early, the park rangers were not on duty to calculate the next eruption, so we just waited.  There were only about a dozen other people.

 And then, there is was.

 I think E liked the name of this one.

 Then we went to the Grand Prismatic Spring.  The trail that overlooked the spring was closed due to Grizzly Bears, so we weren't able to get the "Grand" view.

 But the colors up close were beautiful. 

I even managed a bit of a selfie.

 Then a couple of more waterfalls,

and we were headed out of the park on to the Grand Tetons.

 The fog and snow and overcast  day made it a little disappointing.  But still better than the day I went to Mount Rushmore when it was totally fogged in.

 We stopped for lunch in Jackson Hole.

 And did a little touristy shopping.

 There was a wildlife museum that had an outdoor sculpture exhibit.

 Bunny found one his size.

Then we spent the night in Idaho Falls.

Coupon Saturday #28

Technically, this is more a rebate than coupon.  But, oh well, free is free. 

I have been using an app called Ibotta for awhile.  I have it linked to my Food Lion card, so any purchase that has an offer will come off automatically.  I usually look at the app after I get back from the store and clip any offer that I bought, then the money goes into my account.  It has been pretty slow some months, 25 cents here and there.  But sometimes I get a bigger score.  I had bought an ice cream cake last minute for my sister's birthday.  A couple of days later, I was looking at the offers on Ibotta and saw a $2.50 rebate that I was still eligible for.  So I uploaded my receipt and it was a match, only it wanted me to scan the barcode.   The box was now long gone, so I googled Carvel Birthday Cake bar code, and sure enough, there was a picture.  I scanned it and it worked!

I recently joined a facebook group about Ibotta and it has made me look into the offers in a little more detail.   I found that there are bonus for doing different things. 

I had a $5  mid-week booster bonus if I completed 5 offers by a certain time, and a $5 Summer sips bonus for redeeming some alcohol offer.  It took some time in Walmart and Dollar Tree to pick out everything but I had some time to kill.  The car Refresh came from Dollar Tree and the other stuff, Walmart.  I immediately uploaded my receipts, everything was accepted, and I have added to my account.

I think I had about 50 cents out of pocket.
Anyone interested it trying Ibotta, join with this code, jirbpcj, and I think we both get some extra cash!  Oh, the Zyrtec was a coupon, internet printable for $4 off, and the infant size was $3.47. 

Still Spirited

Even at 18 and after a bout of Lyme disease, Jessica still has spirit.

 We have learned over the years, that if you want to have a good ride, you have to first let her run herself into the ground.

 If she hasn't bucked and kicked out at you, she's not ready.  She is still pinning it up until you get on.

 Monday, it took over 30 minutes before she finally gave in.

Meanwhile, Otoelene was just standing around getting fatter while we waited.

But Monday, when we finally got going, we had a very nice ride.  We did the Iron Mountain loop, 8 1/2 miles in 2:45.   Nowhere near endurace pace, but not dilly dallying either.

Checking And Taming

Sunday I went around with J while he did his morning checking. 

 The puppy may be  working out, she still follows us when she sees us, but is staying at the barn and with the goats now and not trying to get in the yard.

 J put our replacement heifers out on the farm we rent.  Usually he does cow/calf pairs, but he was trying something different.   Shortly after we turned them out, a neighbor bought some unweaned calves that immediately got out and in with our heifers.  J was able to get all but one sorted back out.  But the neighbors continued to walks around for days trying to get the last one.  All that accomplished was making the heifers skittish and they split up with one group staying up on top of the mountain in the woods.  Then it was time to put the bull in.  J was worried if they stayed split up that the bull wouldn't be able to breed everything.  But luckily, when we checked Sunday, they were all together again.

 I waited up at the road while J was checking, and loved how the light was coming through the trees.

 I also spotted some roadside wild flowers, like this sweet pea,

 and milk weed.

 But the most useful thing I spotted was a stack of treated 2x4's that someone had discarded.  I'm sure they will come in handy for something.

 With all the rain, the garden has gotten crazy.  We haven't had time to stake the tomatoes.

 So we thought we would try the double fence method with the tommy toes again, but this time squishing them in more.

Last time we had the two fences too far apart and it was a little too difficult to pick them.

 Then for the regular tomatoes, we but up a cattle panel at each row.  As the plant grow we will try to weave them up through the panel for support.

Trip Picture Sunday #3

Yellowstone was incredible.  There were some road and trail closures and the lake was frozen, but there was still a ton of things to see.  Here are a few of my favorites from our first day there. 

 The trail to the overlook was easy going down, and not as bad as I had feared coming back up.

 But the view was worth every step.

 E made an observation, "before everyone had a camera phone, how long would they stay at a view?"  People just seemed to be more interested in getting their selfies than enjoying the incredible landscape diversity.

Then it was on to the Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces.

 I thought this was fascinating.  It was like a cave but on top of the ground.

 You could find something new from every angle.

 I loved all of the little brimstone pools.

And I found a good rock face. 

Is it scared or scary?