My local grocery store is already putting out Halloween candy.  It's still August though!

A buddy of mine asked me if I would be interested in adopting a 4 month old Labrador.  You know, I've been mulling over the topic of pets for a while now.  However, this has always been a topic that I just kept putting off for another day.  Now, I was finally pushed against the proverbial wall to make a definitive decision on.  It was then that I realized that I am either no longer interested or have the kind of energy to handle a dog that big and that young.  My back yard isn't big enough for him either.  I don't want to take on a pet when I am not certain that I can provide a happy home for him.  So, with some sadness, I declined to adopt him, but I certainly hope he will find a good home somewhere.  Also, I am starting to realize I might prefer cats over dogs at this point....

Remember how I said I cancelled the Apple One bundle deal?  Well, my subscription finally expired, and now, I am taking stock on how much I miss the service:

Apple Arcade - I don't miss it.
Private relay - I don't miss it.
Apple News - I do read this from time to time, but I've basically replaced it with Reddit.
Apple Fitness - I don't miss it.
Apple Music (iTunes) - I also used this, but I can replace it easily with Amazon or even YouTube.
Apple TV - You know, I don't really watch their shows all that much.  There were some good ones, like Severance and Silo, etc, but I don't miss most shows.  Also, I still have Netflix.
iCloud - So this is the big button issue for me.  I have so many pictures and videos and documents and whatever else saved on iCloud that I knew this is how Apple is getting me.  However, for the past two months, I've been diligently transferring my data to my local drives.

I can attest that it was a good service, but it was also costing me $40 a month.  I think I can do just fine without it, and I'm about to find out soon enough if that's true or not haha.

Finally, I am also on track to have another very under-budget month.  Yay!

First of all, I just want to say how grateful I am to this site for providing a free blogging section.  Considering that I've gotten all kinds of benefit and joy out of it, and for the low, low price of free, I really can't complain at all.  Though if I am allowed to a bit, the blog section does freeze at times, sometimes for up to a week, where we can not read any individual entries.  Not sure what's going on, but for now, the blogs appear to be back.  Yay!

Net worth is down this month, but not a whole lot I can do about the stock market.   What matters most to me is that my spending this month is waaay under-budget.  Yay!

I can feel the summer heat finally easing up a bit, going from peaking at 100F (37.8C) to about 90F (32C).  Still too hot for me though.  I've been staying mostly indoors, but also yay.

If anybody knows me long enough, sooner rather than later, they may notice that I am hypervigilant.  My mind is constantly at odds with itself between the desire to feel safe and the desire to stay frugal.  Usually, the frugal side prevails, but once in a while, my hypervigilant side makes a strong enough case that I will actually side with it.

Basically, my house has been burglarized before.  I have also blogged earlier about another potential attempt.  My neighborhood isn't unsafe or anything.  Quite the opposite, but that doesn't mean crime does not happen here.  In fact, I think many people understimate just how easily their house can be broken into, but that's just me.

With the successful break-in, the burglar just popped open one of my back windows off the latch.  Whoever it was, it was brilliant actually.  It was clean and professional, haha.  Anyway, my desire to fortify my back porch area is long overdue.   And while I'm at it, why not also try to beautify it into a nice outdoor living space?  Here's a quick picture of the back porch area:

The previous owner decided to screen in the back porch, and I think it's quite lovely, especially to keep most of the insects away.  The space itself isn't very big, at about 11.75' x 6.2' (or about 3.6m x 1.9m).  Still, I think it's screaming cozy porch appeal potential, right?

And this is where I am kind of stuck on I guess, and am open to suggestions.  I do think I want potted plants, stringed fairy lights, and I probably want some kind of wooden (lattice?) walling for security, and for the plants to climb on.  I also want to build it such a way that it fortifies the area against future burglary attempts.  That and some privacy from the neighbors.

Finally, this isn't a priority project or anything, and it's still too hot out, so I intend to take my time working on this slowly.  I also don't want to spend too much money on it.  For now, it's mostly just brainstorming.