Why is it...

... when you start raking leaves there’s no wind, but by the time you get a couple of big piles worked up gale force wind comes out of nowhere and blows toward the patches you just raked?

... the person in front of you gets the last piece of paper towel in the restroom?

... the person I get when I have credit card questions cannot speak English?

... you grab three different sizes of sockets hoping one will fit, walk 50 feet to the project, and find out all three are the wrong size?

... you wait fifteen minutes in line at the bank and the person in front of you wants the teller to balance their check-book?

... you wait fifteen minutes in line at the grocery store and the person in front of you waits until the checker has totaled the transaction and bagged all the stuff before they get out their check-book and start filling it out?

... any home improvement project requires one trip to the hardware store, and many require two or more?

... you wait fifteen minutes in line at the hardware store and the person in front of you needs to charge an item to a commercial account but they don’t know the exact name of the account, don’t know the account number, and don’t have a purchase order number?

... you wait fifteen minutes in line at the discount store and the person in front of you says the price the scanner produced is not the same as the price marked on the bin the item came from and the checkout person hits the switch and the light starts blinking?

... fifty items in a bin at the hardware store have UPC code stickers on them and you pick number 51 with no sticker?

... you wait fifteen minutes in line to get tags for your car and the person in front of you can’t understand why their cousin’s assessment on their brother’s uncle’s ford, their sister’s best friend’s inspection report for her chevy, their neighbor’s proof of personal property tax payment, and a check whose back has been signed so many times it looks like the Declaration of Independence won’t work to get their new tag for their honda?

... you have six bolts to remove, the first five come off easily and the sixth won’t budge?

... the screw you drop rolls to the most inaccessible spot in the shop, is the only one within fifty miles that will fit, and is the last one needed to complete a project?

... the sales rack at the clothing store only has XXLs and bigger?

... the day after you bought your new vehicle, the same model goes on sale for several thousand dollars less at the same dealership?

... the person in front of you at the traffic light has never heard of right turn on red?

... you’re the second car behind the wreck that stalls the interstate and the last exit was ten cars behind you?

... you’re working like a dog six hours straight, you take a break to look at the paper, and your boss walks up behind you?

... it looks like rain all day but it doesn’t start until 5 minutes before you have to cross the parking lot to make sure your umbrella is still in your vehicle so you can go home?

... they’re out of the “special” at your favorite lunch spot?

I want to know.

it sucks

It sucks, really sucks, that a bunch of privileged millionaires in Congress and that silver-spoon-in-the-mouth President of ours are going to decide if my annual social security income will be $14,000 or $9,000 with little or no adjustment for inflation. They're litterally putting the "fix" in fixed income!

It really sucks.

e=mc2

A friend wrote in her blog about her daughter teasing her because she didn't know the equation for a line. Her daughter was proving a point that people can learn it, I'm sure I'd heard of it, and forget it immediately. I know her pain. My father is an engineer. I've seen him use a slide rule. He never understood how the fruit of his loins could be such mathematical simpleton. It's not completely my fault, and surely none of my father's.

In grade school I was the class champion of long division. We had races at the blackboard and I always won. Back then math was simple and made sense. Oh to be young and innocent. Today my mathematical skills are in par with the eminent Jethro Bodine, Double-Naught Spy/Brain Surgeon. I can do my cypherin' and my gusintas, you know, six gusinta twelve, twice.

In ninth grade I was in the orchestra. I played bass. Orchestra class met first hour in another building half way across town. A cab picked the three or four of us up and took us to the freshman high building. Algebra was second hour. The first day of class the cab was late. I walked into Mrs. Ayres' (she knew Pythagoras) room well after the appointed time. "Where have you been?" scornfully, were the first words I ever heard her speak. I've always believed the truth shall set you free, so I told her in all seriousness and honesty, "My cab was late." My reputation had proceeded me to the room in the form of my buddies sitting in the back few rows. In hind sight, they were just waiting for me to reply back with some wise crack. They were convinced that's exactly what I did. I think a few of them were laughing so hard they passed chewing gum through their noses and into the backs of the heads of the kids sitting in front of them.

Needless to say, that was the tacit end of my mathematical matriculation. Since that time I've had to force-teach myself much of the simple algebra I missed out on in ninth grade. The one thing I remember is balancing equations. Thank Pythagoras.

I feel downhearted baby..

I’m extremely discouraged with the path our country is taking.

I heard this morning on NPR that the President’s tax code reform commission is looking at making major changes. “Nothing is off the table”; home mortgage interest, charitable deductions, the deduction for payment of local taxes, closing “loopholes”, etc. They’re claiming that the changes will be revenue neutral. Many of the items discussed in the interview were those that average, middle class taxpayers count on to help keep their tax burden reasonable.

Private social security accounts didn’t work in England after Margaret Thatcher got them enacted. Many Britons lost 20% to 30% of their fund’s value prior to retirement. Parliament has had to enact special retirement welfare programs to help the folks who lost money in the private accounts. Fees and charges benefited the fund managers and further weakened the value of individual accounts.

We’re on an international crusade to bring democracy to the world. We’ve spent billions of dollars and hundreds of lives bringing a semblance democracy to Afghanistan and Iraq. What are we going to do to democratize North Korea, Zimbabwe, Togo, and other nations? More billions? More lives, more shattered families?

The Federalist Society wants to revert constitutional interpretation to pre-1937 views. That was a time when the constitution was viewed as a tool to protect the ability of wealthy businessmen (remember the robber barons?) to create and maintain massive monopolies. Who is the Federalist Society? Antonin Scalia, Supreme Court Judge, Robert Bork, unsuccessful Supreme Court nominee, John Ashcroft, past Attorney General who draped a veil over the statue of nude Liberty in the foyer of the Justice Department Building, Orin Hatch, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, many top attorneys of cabinet-level agencies, and 20,000 to 30,000 other attorneys across the country among others. Their plan is to imbed like-thinking judges on federal benches at all levels.

Zealots want to narrow our interpretation of marriage to “their” interpretation of marriage. They claim cartoon characters are homosexual. They want do away with a woman’s ability, and to-date constitutional right, to control her reproductive decisions. They want to teach “intelligent design” in schools as opposed to evolution. They want to legislate morality to reflect their personal beliefs.

Members of Congress and the President are doing all they can to increase the federal deficit in an attempt to eventually reduce the size and control of government. Their plan is to drastically cut government programs to lower the deficit. They’ll starve those programs out of existence. Another tool they’re using to achieve their goal islowering taxes to help hasten the starvation.

I ask, no beg, these people to read and take to heart the following quote.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed, -- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

I’m not cheap, I’m frugal!

Tuesday afternoon, February 15, it sucked to be me.

I got home and decided to rake some more leaves. I changed clothes and put a load of laundry in the washer. I then decided to check the computer for e-mail (procrastination to be sure). While downloading new messages I heard a gurgling coming from the bathroom across the hall. The toilet was emitting burp-like bubbles and was filling. The adjacent tub was also filling up. I knew right off this was bad. “Oh shit”, no pun intended. Turn off the washer. Rush to the phone to call the landlord. No, wait. There is no landlord. Homeownership can really suck (I’ll refrain from using that word for the remainder of this particular essay).

Instead, I call my friend who can fix anything. He has the tools and equipment I need to fix my plumbing. I’m sure as hell not calling a plumber. It’s cheaper to pay for brain surgery by the hour at 5:00 pm in the afternoon that call the plumber. I have another friend who calls me cheap. I argue that I’m just frugal. I rush over to get the stuff and then back to the house to start work. I wisely stop at the liquorteria on the way back for a six-pack of liquid inspiration.

I get back to the house with most of the stuff I need and a five-pack. Get the ladder. Up to the roof with plumber’s snake and 200 feet of charged garden hose; just imagine the logistics. Jam snake down vent stack. Twist it around. I notice the sky is darkening. Jam the hose down the stack. Turn it on. Pull it up and jam it back down quickly. Do my neighbors think I’m a lunatic or do they just wonder what I’m up to tonight? I hear gurgling from the vent. Still full of “water”. “OH SHIT”. Drop the snake to the back yard. Shove 200 feet of garden hose off the roof and climb down.

I get into the dark scary place where the spiders live under the house with my flashlight. I have three five-gallon buckets and a big wrench. Open the “clean out” at the end of the sewer pipe and release about twelve gallons of “water”. I’m now a one-man fire brigade, rushing one bucket out of the dark place and filling its replacement. Once more with the snake and hose combination. Forty feet into the pipe and the implements stop. The blockage. In and out, in and out. I’m feeling lucky so I close things up and go into the house to make a test. Turn the water in the tub on. “OH SHIT” (is there an echo in here?).

Clean up a little and jump in the truck for a 45 minute round trip (more on this at another time) to Home Depot for $32 dollars worth of stuff. Drain the pipe again. You remember, the bucket brigade? Once more into the fray! I attach the flush bulb to the hose and let ‘er rip. No break through. I saw a seven-inch piece of pipe out of the sewer line. Now I’m only fifteen feet from the blockage. Once more with the snake. Progress, I seem to be able to work the snake into and through the enemy. Flush bulb back on the hose and let ’er rip again. No water. The sound of free flowing water comes from the pipe. Eureka!

I’m down to a four-pack now. I repair the sewer pipe by installing a new clean out. I seal everything back up. I clean up all the hoses, tools, snakes, and buckets. I wait. Has the glue around the new plumbing set up enough to introduce water? Three-pack. I gingerly turn on the water in the tub, slowly at first. Then full blast. I check the other tub to make sure. No new “water”. Two-pack. Clean the bathrooms. Clean me. 9:30 pm. One-pack. Crash.

I got up the next morning and every muscle in my body shrieked in excruciating pain. Two ibuprofen. Into the shower. Have you ever prayed while taking a shower? I have. Everything is now flowing in the proper direction.

I’m not cheap, I’m frugal. It only cost me five and a half hours, fifty or so miles on my truck, $32 worth of plumbing supplies, and two ibuprofen. Oh, and a five-pack. Plus, my bathrooms are spotlessly clean!

Spring is in the air...

Puxatawny Phil saw his shadow,
Six more weeks of winter.
But if there’s any more snow,
I hope he gets a splinter!


Daffodils are sprouting and beginning to bloom in south AR. The berries on the American hollies are ripening and starting to fall; it won’t be long before the cedar waxwings come in flocks to gorge on them. The bucks have dropped the antlers they were so proud of in November and January. It was nice enough Sunday to wash the ATV AND the truck. The truck’s two and a half years old so it was time to wash it, I was just takin’ advantage of the nice weather. The buds on the azaleas are getting bigger by the day and I’ve been noticing more and more songbird singing activity lately. The little boy birds are lookin’ for little girl birds and I wish them all great success!

It’s time to rake the yard so the grass can grow. I priced sod last week. I may buy a couple pallets and high-grade some of the bare spots. I’ve noticed racks of garden plants at the discount stores. I’m going to get several jalapeno plants this year so I can make chipotle out of them.

It’s been so overcast here for so long you couldn’t notice the way the day was gettin’ light earlier and stayin’ light longer. I noticed this morning, a little light off to the east. Maybe I’ll get some yard rakin’ in this evenin’ before it gets too dark.
Even if we’re a month off before the sun rises above that magic line in the celestial sky, it’s startin’ to feel like spring. It’s a great feelin’.

for diann

re: your 2/8 entry

" To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I think God and Ralph were on the same page.

the glass

The glass is not half full.

The glass is not half empty.

The glass has not yet reached its potential!

a good day

No rant today. Nice for a change isn’t it?

Had site visits yesterday so spent the night in NW AR. Got lucky for my visits and missed the rain showers that kept moving through the area. Met a friend and his wife and almost 2 year old for dinner. Had a good visit. Good pizza at Guido’s on 412.

Got up this morning (even slept a little late) and drove south. Had THE perfect trip down the Pig Trail, a two-lane narrow twisty route through the Ozark Mountains. You know, one of those routes with several “Dangerous and Steep Next XX Miles” signs. Those are my favorite road signs! I say perfect because there was nobody in front of me to slow me down and nobody behind me trying to make me hurry along. A REAL TREAT. I thought for a while that the road must be closed ahead for there to be so little traffic.

It was overcast but bright enough to force me to wear my shades. Everything was really clear and sharp due to the quality of the light. All the creeks were full and flowing. They were light foamy green colored due to all the limestone in the area. I kept wondering if there were any fish in the pools. Duck season is over so we can start thinking about fishing. It won’t be long before we’ll be in the rivers float-fishing for smallmouth. Next to walleyes in Canada, it’s my favorite fishing.

Got back to the office and checked the inbox. Yahoo!!!! No surprises. In fact, several items I had been looking for. No phone messages either. I checked with folks in my office to make sure the phones were actually working. If my inbox and phone acted like this more often I would spend more time in the office. It’s amazing how much you can get done if nobody bothers you!

It was such a good day, I wish all my friends could have shared it with me. Imagining the same trip with a busload of my favorite people is too good to be true! Probably would have packed a big picnic lunch and spent the WHOLE day driving back.

Osama Bin Bush is getting his wish. His fiscal policies are leading us to ruin.

Today's headlines...

"MEDICAID CUTS SEEN AS LIKELY - The 2006 budget proposal that President Bin Bush unveils Monday... new fiscal era marked by strict spending restraints on domestic programs."

"POLICE AID, HOME HEAT FOR NEEDY CUT IN PLAN - ...slashing grants to local law enforcement agencies and cutting spending for environmental protection, American Indian schools, and home heating aid for the poor... half the increase for school districts in low income communities... reduction for the National Park Service."

President Bin Bush stated, "America's prosperity requires restraining the spending appetite of the federal government." When his writers give him something like this to spout, I wonder who they mean by "America." I'm convinced more and more every day that their America includes only those people who benefit from tax cuts for the wealthy. People who have enough income and saving to negate their need for social security benefits. People who don't need a break on the cost of needed medications. People who don't have to decide each month weather to eat or pay the heating bill. Bin Bush claims he believes in compassionate conservatism but shows true compassion for only the wealthy, only his "America." He seems to be doing everything he can to widen the gap between the haves and the have nots.

Don't get me wrong, I firmly believe in the ability of individuals to work hard and earn a living, even a lavish living. I do however think that as a society we can't turn our backs on the unfortunate. I'm sure there are dozens of pithy quotes from sagacious minds about societies and nations being judged by the way they care for their needy. The society Bin Bush is trying to create sucks!

Meanwhile, the state Democratic Party is requesting the donation of funds to help fight Bin Bush's programs. I'm sure the RNC loves this; bleed the Democrats dry before the midterm election in 2006. I'm not giving them a penny because they haven't proven to me they can spend it effectively. I am writing my Congressional delegation. You need to do the same. Ranting 'til the cows come home only makes your voice hoarse.

if there's a connection.....

Representative Sherry Boehlert, a Republican from New York, had originally spoken out against privatizing social security. Then, the Lockheed Martin facility in Owego, NY gets the $1.7 billion contract to build newer and better version of Marine 1, the helicopter President Bush flys in. Rep. Boehlert has since decided that the privatization issue needs a closer look.

Does anybody smell a rat? How many others will be bought and at what price?

There is an Air Force base in Jacksonville, Arkansas that is a training center for C-130 cargo planes. There is always talk (threats?) of moving the training mission elsewhere and closing the base. Arkansas has two Democratic Senators and three Democratic Representives, including the Rep. in whose district the air base lies. All have spoken recently against privatization. I wonder if they're willing to sell out SS in an effort to keep the C-130s in Arkansas.

The President is in Arkansas this a.m. to hold one of his famous invitation only town meetings to sell the public on his plan. Arkansas was chosen as the site for one of these meetings because of our largely Democratic delegation.


Go to www.talkingpointsmemo.com

it's gettin' scary now

READ THIS!

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/02/opinion/garver/main671147.shtml


ARE THESE PEOPLE OUT OF THEIR MINDS?

THESE ARE THE MORONS WHO GOT DUBYA ELECTED PRESIDENT AND WANT FAVORS FOR THEIR ELECTORIAL PARTICIPATION.

TELL EVERY SANE INDIVIDUAL YOU KNOW.

robbing us to pay them

Ranting again.

It seems President Bush and his Social Security reform pals have been less than transparent regarding the whole story behind the alleged shortfalls the SS trust fund is facing. Big surprise, right?

They tell us 2018 is the year it will all fall to crap. Others tell us we good until sometime between 2043 and 2052.

Here’s the rub. The year 2018 is the year when the loans come due. It’s when Guido and Vinny muscle us into the corner and tell us, “Pay up or we’ll break your legs.” It seems the SS trust fund is George Bush’s personal Thrifty Finance (see blog from 1/27, econ 101). To finance his deficit he and Congress have been borrowing from the trust fund and the paybacks are to begin in 2018.

Back in 1983, when the actor was president, Congress raised the payroll tax rate. This rate applies to an inflation-adjusted part of our income, which is currently capped at $87,900. Income above that level is not subjected to FICA payroll taxes. This created the “surplus”. But it’s not really a surplus because of all of the baby boomers entering their retirement years. Congress and the Gipper knew that in 1983.

Since then, Republican administrations have run up deficits by cutting income taxes for our wealthiest neighbors. They've paid for parts of those tax cuts and budget shortages by borrowing from the surplus created by increased payroll taxes on us middle class workers. The notes on these loans are due in 2018.

So it seems George and Dick and Donald and all their millionaire cohorts in Congress have tapped the kitty we’ve been paying into for years, the one many of us are counting on to make the last few payments on our 30 year mortgages, to provide tax relief for themselves and their friends who make several hundred thousand dollars a year. The same folks who benefit from the cap on payroll taxes are in essence double dippers.

It seems the fiscal conservative President who has the market cornered on moral values is running us into the poor house, spending the budget surplus the tax-and-spend philanderer President built up. Odd isn’t it? Give me a philanderer any day!

a new adventure

What limited writing I've done on this blog has been a good process for me. Writing a little bit each day makes me think more about writing. I remember Mrs. Jones, THE art teacher at my high school. She wanted us to draw in our sketch book every day. Doesn't matter what the subject is. Don't have to fill the page; put a week's drawings on one page. Just do it. I think I've found that writing is the same.

I've been carrying characters around in my mind for years. Two of my favorites are Lydell and Katrina. Something I heard this morning on NPR gave me a new one, a small town postmaster. I haven't decided yet if the postmaster is a man or a woman. Seeing or hearing something makes me wonder about the people I see and hear about. What they're like. How they react to things. How they react to other people. A character grows and she or he begins to develop personality traits. I've picked up bits and pieces of these traits from my experiences and given them to my characters. Sometimes I'll "try on" a trait for one of my characters to see if it'll work. Some do, some don't. But in the process, "real" people emerge.

I think I'll start putting some of my characters on paper and see what comes out. Who knows?