Aaron Ewer
Aaron Ewers thoughts about everything

Last weekend was a holiday for most people but I had to work all three days, so it wasn’t much of a holiday for me. I did donate to the veterans group selling poppies at the Kroger and I watched fireworks Sunday night courtesy of the lake’s water park, so I had a little bit of celebration. Didn’t get to take advantage of any of the Memorial Day sales at the stores - actually didn’t even get to read the newspaper to see what was on sale until yesterday.

So this weekend we’re going to go shopping and do all the honey-do list items that we can cram into two days. I’ve already checked the internet for discount coupons and my favorite site had some great deals. With the price of gas at $3.85 a gallon, we’re looking harder for ways to save money on other purchases and coupons are an easy way to save with just a little forethought.

We have to buy a baby gift for the new little nephew. Right off I found discount code promotions from Fisher Price, TikeTech, Safety 1st, Kiddopotamus, Evenflo and Kidsline and we’ll be giving that top priority on Saturday morning. The hospitals send new mothers home so quickly now that it is hardly worth ordering flowers for the mother, but I wanted to send something to my sister-in-law on the good chance that they will deliver the flowers this afternoon or at the latest tomorrow morning before she heads home with the baby.

We have to do a lot of yard work on Sunday - there’s little chance of rain and the weeds have taken over parts of the lawn. I’ll get some gardening and lawn care supplies and tackle those chores Sunday morning. If all goes well, I can be finished in time to throw some steaks on the grill and settle down for the NASCAR race in Dover with a couple of cold ones. Or, if the yard work takes too long, we’ll still have the steaks but we’ll cozy up on the couch to watch some movies to wind down.

A friend of mine is devoted to cutting horses and has a large piece of land in Texas that she wants to develop for her horses. She moved down there last year and started building a 5 stall barn. Thinking that is should be completed by now, I called her yesterday to say hi and just touch base.

The barn is about 80% finished and it sounds like it is gorgeous. She did everything top shelf, including custom made stall doors made of iron and then powder coated to her specifications.

When it is finished next month the contractor has scheduled a photo shoot with a local magazine to show off his work and all the personal touches. I can’t wait to see it!

Of course, the old saying goes, you have to spend money to make money. Sometimes that’s true for you have to spend money to save money, too. That’s why I buy in bulk at the warehouse clubs and shop for end of season sales, like the snow ski and snowboards that go on sale in May every year.

My son is great on a snowboard - we’ve been taking him to the ski resorts with us every winter since he was born. He has a lot of friends that skateboard but have never been to the slopes, so I know he will be a natural on a skateboard, and perhaps some of his friends will have the chance to try a snowboard now that they are getting older.

The snowboard that we bought last year we got online from a great site, called Christy Sports, that specializes in snowboards and ski gear. Right now there are huge savings on snowboards - I saw prices at up to 40% off the list prices we paid last fall at the start of the season. Of course, paying the full list price at the beginning of the season means you get the newest styles and the latest technologies. But when I’m buying Burton snowboards for my 6 year old, it’s OK for the snowboard to be last year’s style when I can save a lot of money.

The site I used has down gloves, all kinds of jackets, boots and bags. I like the way you can shop by brand name or by product, and their clearance tab is the first place I look.

Today I decide that I’m going to dedicate one day each week to not driving anywhere in my car. If I absolutely HAVE to go somewhere I will either walk, ride a bicycle or take the Harley. Gas has hit $3.69 per gallon and this big jump in gas is killing our budget. We’re going to have to find some ways to cut back on expenses to make up for the extra cost of gas each week.

At the moment, I’m going to try to make the driving day off be on Sundays, as we always have a lot of family errands to run on Saturdays. But we have sometimes put off some of the errands on Saturdays and let them bleed over onto Sundays. But starting this week, I want to work harder at running the Saturday errands more efficiently and not drive on Sundays.

These past few days have been absolutely brutal for certain areas of the world. The news is full of horrendous stories about the cyclone that hit Myanmar. The aftereffects of floating bodies, no food or drinking water, and hurt people not able to get care are heartbreaking.

This morning there was a strong earthquake in China with early reports of tens of thousands killed.

Tornadoes have been ripping up the midwest for the past several weeks. It seems like Oklahoma, Kansas, and Arkansas stay in the news for severe property damage, death and injuries.

Have the storms and earthquakes always been this violent and we’ve just not been aware? Or has everything accelerated in strength and frequency?