Creative Endeavors, The Home of BoxcarOkie.com

March 19, 2009

Clear Blue Sky

Filed under: Oklahoma,Recent — ldsrr91 @ 5:28 AM
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blue-sky

Early in the morning, it is cool, not cold mind you, but cool.  That is nice, spring is in the air, it cannot be long now, but there is the distinct odor of burnt grass in the air, and another wildfire is taking its toll somewhere.  Very dry here, I cannot remember for the life of me, when it was that we received a good soaking rain, been awhile.

Another thing that I find somewhat disturbing is the color of the sky, there doesn’t seem to be any blue sky left anywhere, just this dingy Grey color, void of clouds and seemingly full of the pollution of man.

Back in the day, I would lie down in the grass and peer up into the summer sky, rich and blue, filled with white wispy clouds and I would imagine they were different animals or shapes.   I see a cow, and Indian, there is a ducky …… that kind of deal.

Now I look up and I see the remnants of yesterdays’ commute in Dallas, a cold dead gray sky, and no rain.

Getting Casual.

Another sign that spring is coming, the Idaho House waived its decorum rule for the rest of the season.  Members can take off their jackets and eat or drink on the floor of the House, they are just not allowed to smoke or spit, we can still do that here in Oklahoma, but it is evidently illegal in other parts of the country.

Not long ago I took a vow to lay off politics’ and religion on this site, and so far, I have managed to stay fairly close to the goal and within the self-imposed perimeters of good taste.  It is so hard to come in here each day and write something that is NOT political and I have adjusted to that.  It is as a matter of fact, a lot harder than I imagined it to be a few weeks back.

Mr. Obamma is going to be on the Tonight Show this evening, if you are so inclined, you can tune in there and get the straight poop from the head nin-com-poop!  Perhaps he will explain on how “giving A.I.G. billions which they in turn gave to the banks of England, Germany and France will help the AMERICAN economy” I cannot for the life of me, figure that one out.

bush-sticker

U.S. Credit Card defaults rose in February to their highest level in 20 years, with losses particularly severe at American Express and Citigroup.  AMEX came in with 8.7% and Citibank at 8.3% what I cannot figure out is why is this so bad?  Even at those rates that means at least 91% of their accounts are paid up or paying on time, seems like a rock steady business figure to me.

All around me I hear the sound of money, but I don’t have a dog-gone nickel to my name, I see a light at the end of the tunnel …. Man, I sure hope it’s not some dog-gone train!  If counted out in $1,000 bills, a million dollars would be a stack of bills approximately 4″ high.  To reach a billion dollars, that same stack of $1,000 dollar bills would have to be 358 feet tall.  To reach a trillion dollars (and remember we are up in the 12/15 trillion range now) the stack would stand 67.9 miles high!

change

This could be the reason Americans are only getting an average of 6.7 hours of sleep on weekdays, down from seven hours in 2001.  Anyone see the news piece on the janitorial position offered in Massillon, Ohio?  The job paid about $15 per hour and 700 people showed up to apply for it.  Maine is forcing people to buy one of three license’s in order to increase revenue, latest to hit the list is canoeists or kayaking.  They want $3.50 for “boat lic.fees.”  Oklahoma increases the fee for electricity by some $8 per month, cable TV switched over to this new crap, and as usual, it cost us something, about $3 a month.

Point being, “You get a $26 increase in your income this month, I sure didn’t.”

This could be the primary reason Oklahoma and Utah now lead the nation in people hanging up landlines (regular telephone service) and switching over to cell phone usage (which we have been on for about five years, once again, ahead of the curve).  At least 26% of all households in these two states have got rid of regular phone service.  As times continue to get rough, medicine and groceries will fall beside the way, as the population searches for a way to cope.

But all hope is not lost.

Washington state this week passed a new same sex marriage proposal.  It would extend domestic partners all the rights and benefits that the state offers married couples under a measure passed by both houses.  Currently only married couples are mentioned including employment pensions, and public employee benefits.  Washington State is clearly stepping out into uncharted waters when compared to the rest of the country.

gay-girls

Another good news item is the James River in Richmond Virginia is now clean enough to swim in.  Now there is a novel idea, a river you can actually swim in.  Water tests showed that fecal bacteria had dropped to acceptable levels the Department of Environmental Quality said.  Which brings me to the obvious question:  “What is an acceptable level of poo-poo kaw-kaw nothing is acceptable to me, absolutely nothing is the level I want. anyway?” I mean, gee whiz, give me a break.  That is not acceptable in any way, shape, form or manner.

And finally.

If all this fails, you can move to California, where they are proposing to tax “pot sales.”  Now if you think about it, the nation’s pot heads have been paying a really high tax for years on this product, but it was to the Mafia or Organized Crime. 

Why not pay a tax to the local government instead, put the money in the hands of all those folks who KNOW how to spend it for your public GOOD.

Which gives us about $1 billion per year in added taxes revenue for all these tax strapped states that just cannot live on billions and billions per year in collected tax revenue.

Taxing Pot Heads … I Believe I have heard it all now.  A totally new meaning to the word “Reefer Madness.”

It is now time for me to close this off, head out to the front porch and maybe see if I can borrow some “medical marijuana” from my next door neighbor with the five dogs (the people who live two doors down on public assistance) . Mailman says every time he walks by there, they are out in the garage shooting pool on their cheap table with the crooked sticks, pumping out the rap on the boom-boxes and he says …. “I smell it, no doubt about it.”

Perhaps in the spirit of the day, they will share with me?

Twist one up and then I will sit there in the spring time warmth, and ask myself whether I want to hold the bowl of love or go out there in the Universe, in search of the meaning of life.  To do this with another person or do it alone, to feel that shield of love and glow that is incredible.  Again the nagging questions of life, to enter into another drug induced deep value introspective view of shallow relationships or just go back inside and watch The View.

Another wacky Thursday in a long line of run together crazy insane days.  When you give up religion and politics’ this is what is left ……. Not much.  Kind of like this bailout routine, this financial black hole we seem to find ourselves being sucked in to.  Think about it.

socilaism

OOO

March 17, 2009

Pink Hat Ladies

Filed under: Oklahoma,Recent — ldsrr91 @ 11:16 PM
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smiling ladies

smiling ladies

Well, I am back, didya miss me.  Didya is a Southern Word Y’all … For instance, “Didya bring the fishing poles withya?” That would be a good example there.

There is a group of ladies here in town, I believe they are a church group, but I am not sure.  They call themselves the Pink Hat Ladies.  They meet from time to time and often go to a restaurant for lunch; they seem like a congenial bunch of girls.  I had lunch with them yesterday.

Easy going, amusing, in tune with one and another.  One of the conditions of the group is you have to wear a Pink Hat when you get out with the rest of the girls, thus, the name Pink Hat Ladies.

Tuesday, having unsuccessfully negotiated a mutually agreeable price with the Pawnshop Dealer on my Patron Saint of the Economy Medal, I retired to the local steakhouse for a little lunch.  If you get there a little after two P.M. the drink is free (on a senior citizen discount), and the salad bar isn’t too picked over, so it kind of turns out to be a good deal.

I try to put on the feed-bag there at least once per week.

So that was my St. Patrick’s Day for this year, a dose of “Rudy” on the Turner Classic Movie Channel and a quick trip to belly up to the salad bar like the rest of the big boys.  It is quiet and serene, most of the lunch crowd has departed and then I find myself suddenly surrounded by Pink Hat Ladies, they are everywhere.

All of them in uniform and one or two replete with the purple hair (I believe they were shooting for that silver look, but something went awry).  I watched them attack the salad bar with a vengeance and they were not taking any prisoners, this was their day and they were clearly on a mission.

One in particular sits down at the booth across from me and immediately launches into a tirade that you would not believe.  She bellows out for a waitress, and soon one shows up.  She then looks at the girl and she says, “Where is my silverware and where is my glass of tea!” she is definitely not happy.

The waitress assures her that she doesn’t know what happened to her eating utensils, but tells her that she will replace them immediately along with the errant glass of sweet tea.

This seems to soothe pink hat lady somewhat, but she looks at me and mutters, “What kind of people take your silverware and your glass of tea, can you tell me who that might be?” and I just shrug my shoulders and take the dumb Okie approach.

A smart man never wakes his second sleeping baby just to see it smile.

A few moments later another pink hat lady shows up and she says, “Marge, what are you doing way down here, we are all sitting over there,” and she points to all the other pink hat ladies at the front of the restaurant.  It appears that Marge, has mistakenly sat down at the wrong booth, which seems to cause her considerable embarrassment and consternation.

Marge is clearly not having a wonderful pink hat lady day.  Life sometimes is just not fair … It is often hard on you when you get separated from the rest of the herd.

And I suppose in life, there are times when it is easier to blame someone else rather than look in the mirror and face the fact that it is you that are to blame.  Marge was clearly out of her element and separated from the herd.  She quickly scooped up her salad plate and whatever and deftly slinked out of my area and back to the rest of the girls up front.

My daddy had an old heifer like that, no matter where we put her, no matter which group she grazed with, she never did like being confined to a pasture or that bunch of cows.  She would almost regularly escape and mosey off by herself.

She got so bad that we eventually had to tie a cow bell around her neck so that we might locate her by sound, as we almost invariably could not find her within the line of sight.  We would just stand there for a moment and intently listen for that “ka-clang, Ka-clang” and then we look off down the road a ways to the gully or creek bed, where she would be, grazing on the thick green grass along the sides of that muddy creek.

And almost every time, when we would walk up to her, she would swing that massive head around, stare at us with this blank angelic look almost to imply ……. What the hell are YOU doing here?

You cannot be peaceful and at the same time blame others … It just doesn’t work that way.

Hope you had a great St. Patty’s Day … Mine was interesting to say the least.

Here is a little Eye Candy for the soul.  Have a great day!

OOO

Floating Today

Filed under: Uncategorized — ldsrr91 @ 3:12 AM

hammock-large

Taking A Day Off Today

March 16, 2009

The Worry Tree

Filed under: Oklahoma,Recent — ldsrr91 @ 4:52 AM
Tags: , , ,

march-madness

I am watching this foreclosure media piece over the weekend and I saw something that was so sad, it was a little five year old boy, tugging at the pants-leg of a female sheriff’s deputy and he looked up and said, “How is Santa Claus going to find me now?” Man, that just kind of ruined my day.

I thought about these tough times and all the worry people have these days, how it all needs some kind of relief valve and then I remembered Sam.

We hired Sam to do some paintwork at our house, he seemed like a capable fellow, and we needed some work done.  I came home one day from work and Sam approached me and said, “Mr. Smith, I have this problem with my old truck.  She won’t start and I was wondering if you could give me a ride home today?” to which I said, “What about the truck?  You just going to leave it here?” and Sam said, “Yes, it will start when it is ready to start and if’n you don’t mind, I will just let it sit for the night.”

So I agreed and we loaded up to go to his home.

Arriving at his house, Sam did something I had never seen before, after getting out of the truck, he walked over to a huge tree in his front yard and he stood there for a moment, sort of touching and fondling if you will, the tree for a moment or two.

sycamore-tree

He then turned around and smiled real big and said to me, “Come on into the house Mr. Smith and meet the Mrs. and the kids.  I am sure she has some coffee on.”

So I agreed and then I said to him, “What was that all about?” and he said, “What was what about?” and I pointed towards the tree and then again said, “That?  What was all that about?” Sam smiled a big smile and he said, “Oh that?  That is my worry tree Mr. Smith.”

Curiosity getting the best of me, I had to ask.  So I inquired of him one more time, “A worry tree?  What in the world is a worry tree.”

Sam looked at me and then began to explain, “You see, inside the house there, that is the most important treasure in life I will ever have, my family.  My wife and those kids, they mean more to me than anything in the world.  And they do not need to know that my old truck would not start today, that I am not having a wonderful day, that things are not going all that well.  They need my love.  They do not need my worries or my concerns.  So every day, when I come home, the first thing I do, is go to that old tree, and I put all my worries and my cares in that old tree and then I go inside the house to love on my family.”

I thought about it for a moment, the simplicity of it, the honesty.  And then I said to Sam, “That is pretty good idea, I might have to borrow that one from you.”

His reply was, “It works for me, and here is the absolute best part about all of it.  The worries and concerns that I put in there at night, the next morning, only about half of them or less, are still there.  The rest of them just kind of evaporate or fade away.”

Sam is long gone, and in case you are wondering, the pickup did indeed fire up the next day, just like he said it would.

We now have a stately Sycamore Tree in our front yard, my worry tree, and I understand if you water it, nurture it, and provide for it, that they will grow to a height of some sixty-three feet.  And the formula works, old Sam was right.  You put ‘em (the worries and the concerns of the day) into the tree and most of them are truly gone the next morning.

Try and do your level best this week and if you can, don’t worry about it.

It will all work out in the end.

OOO

“The cartoon courtesy of Center for American Progress” (online)

March 14, 2009

Mr. Gorsky

Filed under: Oklahoma,Recent — ldsrr91 @ 4:41 AM
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Here is the email and the photo of the week.

Spring Time In The Rockies

Spring Time In The Rockies

ON JULY 20, 1969, AS COMMANDER OF THE APOLLO 11 LUNAR MODULE,
NEIL ARMSTRONG WAS THE FIRST PERSON TO SET FOOT ON THE MOON.
HIS FIRST WORDS AFTER STEPPING ON THE MOON,

“THAT’S ONE SMALL STEP FOR MAN, ONE GIANT LEAP FOR MANKIND,”
WERE TELEVISED TO EARTH AND HEARD BY MILLIONS. BUT JUST BEFORE HE REENTERED THE LANDER, HE MADE THE ENIGMATIC REMARK “GOOD LUCK, MR. GORSKY.”

MANY PEOPLE AT NASA THOUGH IT WAS A CASUAL REMARK CONCERNING SOME RIVAL SOVIET COSMONAUT. HOWEVER, UPON CHECKING, THERE WAS NO GORSKY IN EITHER THE RUSSIAN OR AMERICAN SPACE PROGRAMS.

OVER THE YEARS MANY PEOPLE QUESTIONED ARMSTRONG AS TO WHAT THE “GOOD LUCK, MR. GORSKY… STATEMENT MEANT, BUT ARMSTRONG ALWAYS JUST SMILED..

ON JULY 5, 1995, IN TAMPA BAY, FLORIDA, WHILE ANSWERING QUESTIONS FOLLOWING A SPEECH, A REPORTER BROUGHT UP THE 26-YEAR-OLD QUESTION TO ARMSTRONG.   THIS TIME HE FINALLY RESPONDED.   MR. GORSKY HAD DIED; SO NEIL ARMSTRONG FELT HE COULD ANSWER THE QUESTION.

IN 1938 WHEN HE WAS A KID IN A SMALL MID-WEST TOWN, HE WAS PLAYING BASEBALL WITH A FRIEND IN THE BACKYARD.   HIS FRIEND HIT THE BALL, WHICH LANDED IN HIS NEIGHBOR’S YARD BY THE BEDROOM WINDOWS.   HIS NEIGHBORS WERE MR. AND MRS. GORSKY.

AS HE LEANED DOWN TO PICK UP THE BALL, YOUNG ARMSTRONG HEARD MRS. GORSKY SHOUTING AT MR. GORSKY.

“SEX!  YOU WANT SEX?!  YOU’LL GET SEX WHEN THE KID NEXT DOOR WALKS ON THE MOON!”

SUPPOSED TO BE A TRUE STORY  ..  HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND, SEE YOU ON MONDAY.

March 13, 2009

New Location

Filed under: Oklahoma,Recent — ldsrr91 @ 1:29 AM
Tags: , , , , , ,


Looking up at the calendar and I notice it is Friday the 13th, and it occurs to me “what an appropriate day for Mad Dog Bernie Madoff’s first day in jail.”  He got locked up yesterday, but I think he should have went to a real penitentiary and not this Club Med crap with the cubicles and min security child molesters or something like that.  They should have put this guy in with the “regular criminals” in the Big House!.

I awoke with several concerns this morning, still have problems with my email, and I have to deal with that.  Looked out the window and much to my surprise, it was snowing here in the Heartland.  Quickly rushing into the TV Room I turned on Channel #4 for the latest weather news.  My anxiety and weather related apprehension was quickly squelched when the announcer said, “Currently in the Metro-Plex we are experiencing heavy snow, but this should not be a problem, as the hail should beat it off the roads by ten A.M..”

Oklahoma weather sucks.

Bad week for kids.  A man in a ski mask and goggles took almost $800 in proceeds from a local Girl Scout cookie salesgirl.  The incident at a department store left two ten year old girls in hysterics.  The man came out of nowhere, grabbed their cash box, and then ran off making his escape thru the parking lot.  Has to be a special place reserved in hell, for a scumbag that would rob little kids.

Boy Scouts in Connecticut are asking the state department of transportation to overturn a ruling that bans them from serving hot coffee and donuts in rest area’s to weary truckers and travelers.  Transportation officials in their infinite wisdom, banned them from doing this last year and prohibited all 24-hour rest stop and truck weigh station operations.

Big reward for a lousy job.

The man who has been the CEO of GM for more than eight years (eight very bad years I might add) received a pay package last year worth some $14.9 million despite a $30.9 billion dollar bail out by-you-know-who.  All this compensation when the share price of GM stock fell to below $2 a share, and a balance sheet that is propped up by taxpayers.  All this when you are at the head of a company that is losing $82 billion in the last three years.  Meanwhile this week, auditors announced and made it official, “GM is at risk.”

One step closer to the brink.

American Express, who the media refers to as a “U.S. Credit Card Company” but as I understand it, recently changed their status to a bank, in order to get in on the Stimulus Gravy Train increased their total compensation to their CEO by 4.8%.  He was awarded a package totaling $27.32 million dollars.  American Express received $3.39 billion out of the Federal Slush Fund and this guy has cut some 7,000 Americans’ out of a job.

good-luck

Larry and Frank have been having a hard time of it with the economy souring and all, so they decide to split the business up and go their separate ways.  So they hammer out the deal, and then one goes to the other side of town to start up in the new business and the other stays at the old location.

Larry wanting to do something nice for Frank calls the local florist and orders a spray of flowers for him.  Shortly thereafter the telephone rings and it is Frank, who is visibly shaken up and upset on the other end of the line.  Larry of course, says to him, “Calm down, calm down.  What is the matter?” Frank, still very much irritated says to him, “Why did you send this?  What is the matter with you?”

So Larry says to him, “Send what?  What are you talking about?” Frank replies, “This flower arrangement which says across the front of it Rest In Peace … You want me to die or something?”

“Oh no,” replies Larry, “that isn’t right.  I will call that guy.”

He hangs up the telephone and then calls the florist where he placed the order.  “Hey, what is the deal?  I paid good money for this and this is what you do to me?  What kind of business are you running anyway?” he barks into the telephone.

There is a pause for a moment or two and then the florist says to him, “You think you have problems?  Somewhere in town they are preaching a funeral and the flowers are saying Good Luck In Your New Location!”

Have a great weekend.

OOO

March 12, 2009

One Year

Filed under: Oklahoma,Recent — ldsrr91 @ 2:37 AM
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We Are One Year Old Today

It hardly seems possible, but we have been at this for one full year today.  It seems to me, that a virtual ocean of time, has passed during this period.  We have just about boxed the compass on every subject in the world, some fun, some not so fun, others just flat out ridiculous in nature with no apparent rhyme or reason.

During this period we have had 1,084,254 visitors to this site, or about 90,000+ each month which is simply incredible to me.  The busiest day was on November 14th, 2008 when we had 124,711 visitors in one day. To view mainly Barack’s House, which has turned out to be our number one post for the year, with a total of 256,749 views.

We have some 5,000 links on the site and our average daily visitor count was about 3500 visits per day.  During this twelve month period we put out 788 posts and had some 993 comments and the spam count was around 2400.

The email account is down this morning, the computer says that I have 11 messages, but when I access the damn thing, there isn’t anything there.  I got some kind of copyright infringement message from the Cable company yesterday and they seem to think I have been transmitting bootlegged software, which is not true, and if the truth be known, I don’t even know how to transmit software.

Perhaps I have been jacked up by some kind of Russian Cyberspace Criminal empire by means of a Trojan horse program and I have been turned into some kind of Botnet transmitter of semi-legal things.  Might have to hurry this post up and then sneak over to the bank site to see if I still have any money left.

It as usual, overwhelms me, I hate technology and it hates me.  I just know that the coffee is good and the AdAware sez I is squeaky clean, so I am going to keep on trucking.

One thing I have been concentrating on here lately is trying “not to major in minor things” and allowing all of this external garbage to drag me down.  I no longer read the Wall Street articles, but switch to the “Trout Fishermen are really smart” or something like that.  I don’t want to know about all of the unemployment, hurt and pain, that seems to be pervading America at this juncture in time.

Having recently discovered that biology and behavior both help explain why depression makes adults more vulnerable to heart disease, I am doing my level best to find my happy place in life.  I am a strong believe in “what you think is what you are philosophy.”

Do you realize that right now, somewhere in the world, some guy is getting ready to do himself in (suicide, kill himself) do you ever stop to think about stuff like that?  I do.  It isn’t all that interesting, but it does help the day pass on certain days when life seems to drag one down.

Depression can break the heart, and over a long period of time, researchers are saying about twelve years, can actually lead to heart disease.  Which, if you are in your right mind, you do not want.  It is easy to allow depression to drag one down, almost effortlessly on some days, so you have to keep your guard up.

I remember when I first met my wife, one day she was somewhat depressed and I told her that she would have to cheer up on her own.  That I could fix about just anything in the world, everything but a broken heart, I can not fix a broken heart, I can mend it some, but it is in the end, always going to be broken.

No one can mend a broken heart.  And of course, “I may not know what love truly is, but I sure know what it aint.”

Depression contributes to the risk of heart disease as much as diabetes (which I have), high cholesterol (which I have), or obesity (none of your business!).  So from a biological standpoint, I am winning the lottery on this to begin with, hitting about two out of three.  Then there is the constant stream of email encouragement telling me to “mellow out, or you will have a heart attack” kind of thing, which I really appreciate, all of which arrives here on a daily basis.

Got two of ‘em yesterday.

Really been behind in my hauling this week, and things as usual are askew and not working to my advantage, the email is messed up, the computer is not working in the manner that I desire, and the wife, well she is kind of uh, uh, “out of sorts” yeah that is it, out of sorts.

I am so far behind that I was four newspapers down yesterday, so I turned the phone off, sat down in my media room (the small room off the back of the house that contains a small portable television) and read all four of them and sort of got caught up.  Seems we bailed out some more people again, and again and again.  I also came across this survey:

What is your favorite body part?

It said that with men and women it was the face

Men 24% and women 23%

(I wasn’t even close on that one at all)

Now it is time for me to close off another post and get down to business.  I have an early appointment with my shrink this morning, a very nice lady who listens to “every word I say” (that is a switch eh?) and has a lot of sympathy and compassion for me and my poor injured soul.

She has this big neat leather couch, and I hate it.  When you sit down on it, the thing emits this loud sounding noise that sounds just like a fart!  And every time I rub my leg against it in an attempt to make the same noise to prove to her that it wasn’t really a fart, it sounds nothing like the original sound at all.

Perhaps designed to function in this manner to bring out my inner phobia’s and concerns, I dunno.

This morning I am going to level with her and be honest about my fear of being chased around the dining room table in a pair of socks on a freshly waxed floor by a ravenous pack of timber wolves.  I’ll bet that is a first for her.

The rest of you need to cheer up if you know what is good for you, you never know what is going to hit you twelve years from now.

OOO

March 11, 2009

HOME ALONE

Filed under: Oklahoma,Recent — ldsrr91 @ 2:55 AM
Tags: , , ,


Find myself looking at my tax statement on the house this morning, and of course, “it rubs me wrong.”  I have been accused of talking too much about issues that are not of Oklahoma and of course, being boring.

So this morning, I have something different as your every day surprise.  There are confirmations of an inter-connectivity and synchronicity which inspire, titillate, and confirm the inherent comedy of the Washington DC but I am not going to address them.

We will instead venture into the murky area of Oklahoma home owners advalorem taxes, which is extremely interesting, if you are into say, “Oklahoma home owners advalorem taxes.”

My kid came home one day with some math problems to solve and he was experiencing some difficulty with them so he asked me to help him with them.  So I did.  We sat down at the kitchen table and read the problems, and slowly and methodically, worked our way thru them, and after awhile, we found ourselves done.

A day or so later I inquired of him, “How did you do on the math thing?” And he said, “Boy!  I am NEVER asking YOU for help again, I got a D.” So I said, “Why?  I thought we had them nailed.” He replied, “Yeah, they were right, we only missed one, but the nine that were correct, she said they were NOT correct because we did not use the NEW METHOD in order to come to the answer.”

Well Smack My Butt and call me Judy!  Go figure (pardon the pun).

What difference does it make if the answers are right?  That is how I look at it, but then again I am rational, sane and somewhat pragmatic.  Here is another math problem.  “Groceries go up, because the price of diesel went up and therefore we have to pay more.”

Question:  “If diesel fuel and gasoline go DOWN IN PRICE how come groceries stayed UP in theirs?”

I just do not understand this new math that is floating around the country, I don’t understand it at all.  The county in which I live has raised my taxes again, this is something like the fifth or sixth straight year for these tax hogs.  And I just do not understand.

The value of my home, because of the current mess in the rest of the country has decreased some $10,000+ dollars but my taxes increased on the property.  I have at this time considered jumping on the telephone and calling them to ask “Is this an offer to purchase my property for this accessed price?”

If so … I am going to inform them that I am definitely ready to sell.

If this is considered “an offer on this little piece of America” at this price, they can have it.  I will go out and purchase another house to live in or at best find a second job in order to stay in the one I am currently living in.  But I understand that second jobs are not all that easy to come across these days, and the sky in no longer the limit anymore.

As I understand it, the Sky’s the limit is not correct.  How can that be?  The sky if you study it (and believe me in my dreamy world this is often a practice I indulge in for hours at a time) never ends.  What kind of limit is that?

The earth it seems would be the limit, which my mother never understood as she would always say to me …. “Don!  What in the earth?” … and of course, I answered with the preliminary head nod and shoulder shrug, obvious 12 year old answer of “I dunno,” which always seems to work on mothers.

That is what we need …. More earth … The earth is the limit.

Looking for another second (or third job if you have the time to spare) always has inherent problems.  There is the matter of the job resume, which I am not all that good at to begin with.

  1. Could you please leave your resume for ten years and let us get back to you.
  2. Would you mind taking a polygraph, we don’t quite believe you.
  3. Can you work nights, weekends, and of course, double shifts.
  4. What size you take in a paper hat, apron, and frilly bandanna.
  5. Do you drugs and do you currently have any Viagra.
  6. Now repeat after me …. “Fries and a Shake with that today?”

Give them enough time and they will tax you out of existence, take your food, your home and your lively hood.  I don’t know which of the two is the lesser evil anymore … The State or The County.

Tax you to the grave … The American Way … Any way you look at it, it just doesn’t add up.

OOO

March 10, 2009

Sorry Charlie

Filed under: Oklahoma,Recent — ldsrr91 @ 2:52 AM
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

charlieReady for the latest email rumor?  Here it is, hot of the press, just came in yesterday afternoon.

Like Tuna? Here you go, follow the yellow brick road (federal gold).  Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s home district includes San Francisco.  Star-Kist Tuna’s headquarters are in San Francisco, Pelosi’s home district.

Star-Kist is owned by Del Monte Foods and is a major contributor to Pelosi. Star-Kist is the major employer in American Samoa employing 75% of the Samoan work force. Paul Pelosi, Nancy ‘s husband, owns $17 million dollars of Star-Kist stock.

Not going to fast for you am I?

In January, 2007 when the minimum wage was increased from $5.15 to $7.25, Pelosi had American Samoa exempted from the increase so Del Monte would not have to pay the higher wage. This would make Del Monte products less expensive than their competition’s.

Last week when the huge bailout bill was passed, Pelosi added an earmark to the final bill adding $33 million dollars for an ‘economic development credit in American Samoa’.

The email then goes on to say that Snopes.com backs it all up.  Sorry Charlie but SNOPES.COM does not validate this, it says it is a rumor.  And Truth or Fiction.com says there is no record of it at all.  So don’t believe everything that you read in email, no better yet, don’t believe “anything” you read in email, and certainly nothing here.

The email ends with “Why don’t we get media coverage of stories like this?” and of course the old stand-by …. Pass This On To All Of Your Friends … The sure dead give away.

We don’t get stories like this because they seem to be bogus and untrue.

(Gawd, I hate email)

OOO

March 9, 2009

Mandatory Options

Filed under: Oklahoma,Recent — ldsrr91 @ 4:05 AM
Tags: , , , ,

bumper-sticker

The middle of last week I got into it with some folks on another site, but that has settled down or rather, just dried up and gone away, and I am glad that is over.  I am however disappointed as hell, because I got thoroughly tromped in the deal and I did not get a fair shake, but that is life.

That is the way it goes … First your money …. And then your clothes.

Contrary to popular opinion I find myself a “quick study” in life matters and I learned the art of effective listening early on in my working career.  Here lately it appears a lot of folks do not have time to “hear you out.”

Which often presents problems.

Some of us need to be content to listen to the “entire thought” of someone rather than waiting impatiently for a chance to respond.  One of the things I absolutely hate about the internet medium is all of these bottom-feeders sitting out there, almost on the edge of their chair, ready to lurch and attack.

Seldom do you find those willing to “hear it all out to the end” and then make the abusive, caustic comment or remark.  The other thing I find curious is the fact that 44 people will show up to read it, but none will stand up to defend you when you are attacked for it, that is kind of a mystery to me.

Oh well, no more acidic poorly spelled and framed letters from “The Pelican State” and that is fine, don’t want to hack off another alligator farmer in the deep moss draped south.  Which reminds me?

A couple of redneck hunters are out in the woods when one of them falls to the ground. He doesn’t seem to be breathing and his eyes are rolled back in his head.  The other redneck starts to panic, then whips out his cell phone and calls 911.

The operator, trying to calm him says, “Take it easy. I can help. Just listen to me and follow my instructions. First, lets make sure he’s dead.” There’s a short pause, and then the operator hears a loud gun shot!!!

The redneck comes back on the line and says, “OK, now what?”

So, what shall we talk about this morning?  Come with me, build a temple, and not a tavern, out of the lumber of our lives!  Yeahsus!  Did some quick figuring over the weekend on this money-mess and it is astronomical.  Also came across this neat site that has some interesting stuff on it, check it out.  Millions-Billion-Trillions, now we are talking some REAL MONEY.

I read that and looked at the graphics (when you look at the figure of the little man in the lower left-hand corner it just makes you sick) and I just have to tell you, the only thing I could think of was:

“God gives us pain and heartache in life.  The devil gives us whiskey.”

Another thing I have been following this credit card issue quite intently, and if I ever start up a business, it is going to be a credit card business.  Man these jerks, they get what they want, when they want, if they want it, and there isn’t a whole lot you can do about it.

It appears that owning a credit card or at least having an open account is at best a precarious type of endeavor these days.  Kind of like owning this big dog, you reach down to pet it today, and it licks your hand, reach down to pet it in the future, and you get bitten.

As times get tighter more and more consumers are trying to put more on the card.  Which is okay, if you are paying on time and all that, but card issuers all of a sudden do not like that.    It hasn’t been all that long ago when these banker pecker-heads were begging me to open up an account.

I remember when my mailbox was stuffed full of offers from these people for new cards, now all of a sudden “they don’t really want my business anymore.”  Which is fine with me, I took their self-addressed paid for postage envelope, emptied all the ash trays in the house into it, and mailed it back to them, time and time again, until they finally got the message.

Now these same people say that an open account is an invitation to fraud and credit risked if it isn’t being used and they are arbitrarily closing them, left and right.  At the same time, there goes your credit score.  You see, your credit card is based in part on the ratio of outstanding debt to credit.  If a line of credit is cut off, your ratio of debt to credit suddenly becomes higher.

What to do?

The only way a cardholder can stop their account from getting shut down is to start spending again … In small amounts.  It is as I said before …. “These jerks, they get what they want, when they want, if they want it, and there isn’t a whole lot you can do about it.”

Just some things in life that do not make sense … Mandatory Options …. Military Intelligence … Mutual Differences … Nondairy Creamer … And “friends” in the banking industry.

OOO

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