Spring Has Sprung?

Where?

We have had the most interesting weather since it has officially been declared spring. Wind, rain, snow, sun all on the same day and sometimes all at once.

Maybe it is just that I have been able to see it this year compared to years past. Don't know for sure but it has been interesting.

Take today for example. Started out looking like it was going to be fairly nice with a broken cloud cover but no mother nature had other plans.

It started out with a light fog that lifted and then came back from the west but look to the east and the sun was shining. But the fog prevailed and set in for a short while but then a cold north wind came up and blew that out but it brought rain and then snow. Yea!

I guess I'm just ready for winter to be over been reading about people already starting gardens and able to go out in the nice weather and here we are still having winter like conditions.

Well what do I expect living in Oregon. The saying here is only two types of people try to predict the weather here...Fools and Newcomers.

It is what it is

Rod

State Of...

Now with the extra time I have on my hands I have been doing allot of reading about the economy and the TARP payments and of the fiasco going on with AIG. Basically what I understand from what I have read is that the economy is at almost the same levels just before the depression. Is it going to happen again...who knows. But let us hope that it does not.

Now my parents were born at the end of the depression so they do not remember it at all. So that leaves my grandmother. But she was raised on a ranch her parents had homesteaded so except for people always stopping by the ranch for work she had no other way to tell that there was anything different.

On the other hand my wife's parents do remember the depression and they were effected by it greatly. Her dad probably had it the worst as they were in Oklahoma when the depression started and headed west and were basically fruit tramps moving up and down the west coast where ever there was fruit to be picked.

He has told me that when they did have any money to buy food that it was usually beans and they would cook them plain most of the time. The first few meals would just basically be the water from the beans and as they added water to them and recooked them they would eventually just have a kind of mush to eat.

During the winter time when there was little to no food they actually had rock soup. His mother would put on a big production even going to the trouble to wrap it up like it had came from the store so they would think it would be great.

The only time they were able to eat enough was when they were picking fruit and then it usually made them sick. Only occasionally did they ever have any meat or milk and everything they owned could be put in or on a old car that they had.

One thing I always found interesting was that they still to this day like beans. When I first met them there was always a pot of beans on the stove and my father in law would eat some every meal. Still would except for health reasons. I know for a fact that when ever we go to visit them that there will be a pot of beans ready when I get there as I like them also and that is his excuse to have some.

So maybe as a suggestion you might want to ask any old timers you know about what it was like then and how they survived just in case. You might be surprised what you can learn.

It is what it is

Rod

It Figures

After I wrote my post yesterday I thought I would go ahead and answer the phone today no matter what the caller ID said. Might give me some good things to rant about.

Guess what...

Only got 5 calls today.

And only one was from a creditor...

It is what it is

Rod

Hard Times

I was reading Johns blog today and this is what he had to say.

Now, I wish to remind you: Don't give up! I know these times are hard, especially on families where one or both have lost their jobs. It leads to breakups, many a time. But I wish to tell you... don't give up! Better times will come. Stick together, right now, no matter what.

Now I feel that he pretty well covered it with that statement.

So what do you do. It gets real depressing getting calls all the time from bill collectors but they are just doing their jobs also. But it does irritate me when it is one that has got federal bail out money. And some of the things they say. Do you really need to have health insurance? Well yes I do I have pancreatitis And it can flare up at any time leading to time in the hospital and numerous other expenses. Not even wanting to consider what the bill would be for meds. without insurance.

So we have started screening our calls because all it does when we answer them is either depress us or piss us off and we don't need that at this time. So if you call us it had better say your name or we don't answer it.

We have chose to consider this as a early retirement or at least that is what we are calling it. Makes things better if you can at least try and laugh at them.

So if your in our situation where both are unemployed do not blame your old job. They are just trying to keep the doors open them selves it was a business decision nothing personal. I knew that I was probably going to be laid off long before it happened. I could see the steps they were going through to cut costs and they had got to the point where seniority did not matter any more it was how can we operate at the lowest cost possible. So that meant that middle, upper management was going to get cuts and they trimmed the fat.

So do I believe things are going to get better for me... Yes I do.

Depending on what happens with the mass of paper work I have filled out and sent in to various government agencies I believe I have a plan for what ever the out come. So plan ahead look in the mirror so to speak and look at the worst case and you will be able to figure something out.

I have heard the horror stories of marriages breaking up and people committing suicide and just going off the deep end because of this. I personally can not even fathom that. Maybe they need to start a blog so they can rant at who ever all they want...works for me. Just remember this.

Bad things happen to good people to and you don't always have control over it happening.

It is what it is

Rod

Cead Mile Failte

(A Hundred Thousand Welcomes)

St. Patrick's Day, is Ireland's biggest national holiday as well as a holy day. It marks the anniversary of the death of the missionary who became the patron Saint of Ireland.

He was born in Wales around AD 385. His given name was Maewyn. He traveled throughout Ireland, establishing monasteries across the country. He also set up schools and churches which would aid him in his conversion of the Irish country to Christianity.

May St. Patrick guard you wherever you go
and guide you in whatever you do.
And may his loving protection
be a blessing to you always.
~Irish Blessing~

It is what it is

Rod

Starting Young

Was talking with a friend today and the subject came up about working when we were kids. I started at a very young age (11) where as they did not start until they were 14. The difference was that I lived in the country and they lived in a city so if the laws were the same they were not enforced here.

My first job was working on a farm changing hand lines that they used to water the crops with. We were paid 5 cents a pipe and if we stayed all summer we got a 1 cent per pipe bonus. If we did any hourly work the pay was $1.75 per hour. so on a good day I might make 5 dollars, but back then that was good money for a kid.

Well as the years went by I got paid more and I was able to change more pipes so my daily income rose. Also with age I was able to do more tractor work so there was less down time.

I always had new motorcycles and nice cars nice clothes it was great but we worked our butts off doing it. One year my brother and myself and a friend decided we were going to make a bunch of money that year so we took on more work at other farms in the area. Well everything was going fine until my brother hurt his knee and could not work for 4 weeks.

I will never forget that 4 weeks. We would start work at first light and if we had a good day it would not be totally dark when I got home at the end of the day. So we were working 14 to 16 hours a day 7 days a week. Made good money for that 4 weeks but had no life at all.

So I started working on farms when I was 11 and stopped when I was 18 so spent 7 years changing pipe. Kids around here now a days would not even consider doing that kind of work, it is beneath them.

The first farmers I worked for were two old bachelors who were both in their early 70's at the time just could not give it up. Quite the characters they were and actually made work kind of fun. They did not throw anything away they had barns full of junk and their houses were also interesting. When they sold the farm and we helped them move there was news papers in their houses 20 years old.

Well I could go on for quite some time on this subject but won't. I do believe that kids should be able to work as it will instill good work ethics in them.

It is what it is

Rod

Shocked

Yesterday I was a little bored so I was doing a little surfing and found this.

This totals up to $332,308,777,500.00

When is this going to stop?

What truly amazes me is that some of the banks are listed more than once!

So what does a small town boy think about this? Ok I will tell you.

Well first go here.

At the time that I wrote this it said 305,996,225. So you do a little division and come up with $1,085.99 for every living body that is a resident of the USA. Not citizens but residents so this takes in everyone.

Ok now go here and you will see that 24.5% of the population is under the age of 18 so that would leave us with 231,027,150. Ok now a little more division. and you come up with $1,438.40.
Now refer back to here And you will see that 12.6% of the population is over the age of 65 so that would leave us with 192,471,626. Time for some more division and you come up with $1,726.53.

Now if you go here you can see how many Tax returns were filed for 2006 and that is 136,100,000 so if you use that figure you come up with $2441.65 that is everyone that filed their returns for that year so the number could be lower.

Now using the number of tax returns filed is probably the more accurate number as it would represent the number of tax payers in the USA.

I have some comments that I could make on some of the names listed but I have decided that it would not be the right thing for me to do at this time. You can make your own opinions you do not need mine. The shock factor should be enough.

It is what it is

Rod