John and I talk to a investor banker yesterday because we are moving our IRA's. This guy in his forties repeated things that his boss had been told by a guy higher up that attended a video conference from a talking head from Wharton School of Economics who is frequently on CNBC. A perfect example of the trickle down theory in place. I understood immediately that the gentleman sitting in front of me knows nothing about investments nor does he thinks for himself. He is the same type of the robot that worked for big brokerage houses that sold Madoff's paper, that pedaled stocks that Merrill Lynch pushed or Smith Barney list of top stocks to own.
We, as a society, have lost the ability to reason and question. What items do we make in this country as you walk around our homes? What is it that your neighbors are doing for jobs? Are they happy with pride in their skills or are they working because if they quit they will have no health insurance? The sign of our society collapsing is all around us.
Jim Roger, the investor guru, says most currencies last about 70 years. It take little math to figure out the days of this empire are sliding. Our currency is based on debt now, backed by nothing and the printing presses are rolling at the will of a small group of men connected to the financial markets.
The banker was amazed that I was not believing in the 'green shots'.
I believe in self reliance these days. I am more conservative than my Republican friends, I plan of how I can build a network of surviving in this community with the help of a few family members and friends. That is why I have studied about rotating my vegetable beds, and how many seed starts I need for a fall garden and the best ways to preserve my tomatoes from this summer's garden. I am learning about keeping my laying hens healthy so I have eggs all year around. This is the way, all people lived until the last 50 years. There is nothing new about this.
I did not tell the banker about self reliance, he would not understood.
This banker will not control my investments, he knows nothing about fresh eggs.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
short car trip
John and I went on a short trip exploring the state of Washington. We focused on scenic roads, points of interest in the state that we had not seen and a leisurely pace.
It was a wonderful to see the summer season across the state with the field crops in place, the mountain roads were clear of snow and the festivals in full swing. We saw mountains with snow caps reflected in high altitude lakes, wheat fields in every direction for 25 miles and fewer than three farm houses or stands of trees in the view. We drove though forests on pines on the other side of the state on the Indian reservation and visited an old Indian school set up in the last century for the purpose of undoing their culture. Read the marker about Chief Joseph and saw the town where he is buried. Sadly, the pine saw mills are closing with this economy and the unemployment is raising in those communities.
We traveled along the Columbia river for miles and crossed it numerous times. Coulee Dam is a mile long with three power generators but the facts that speak the loudest is that is was built during the Depression with three shifts of workers for nine years toiling around the clock. At Rocky Reach Dam we visited the museum that explains the geographic history of the river and the human history connected to the river. On the Columbia River there are eleven dams creating many lakes and much of the power for the west coast.
Two ideas struck me while in that area. The dams make the agriculture possible for much of that end of the state. The water is used in the wheat fields and the majority of the fruit industry for irrigation. All created by the federal government, big projects financed out of D.C. That population votes GOP, they don't believe in big government. The second disconnect for me is the science of geology and all earth science telling the story of landscape in it 's true rawness there. Yet, there are the fundamentals populating that part of the state believing in the seven day story of creation. Park the truck with the combustible engine, turn off the electric lights and stop using modern medicine, all are the results of modern science. There is a link of science and daily life.
I enjoy car trips but John is now confused and stressed by the break of our routine life so I don't think I will be doing any of them for a while. The evening we were in Spokane talking about going out for dinner he asked me how many days we were staying in Milwaukee. At that moment, I realized just how stressed this traveling had become for him and felt it was time to go home.
It was a wonderful to see the summer season across the state with the field crops in place, the mountain roads were clear of snow and the festivals in full swing. We saw mountains with snow caps reflected in high altitude lakes, wheat fields in every direction for 25 miles and fewer than three farm houses or stands of trees in the view. We drove though forests on pines on the other side of the state on the Indian reservation and visited an old Indian school set up in the last century for the purpose of undoing their culture. Read the marker about Chief Joseph and saw the town where he is buried. Sadly, the pine saw mills are closing with this economy and the unemployment is raising in those communities.
We traveled along the Columbia river for miles and crossed it numerous times. Coulee Dam is a mile long with three power generators but the facts that speak the loudest is that is was built during the Depression with three shifts of workers for nine years toiling around the clock. At Rocky Reach Dam we visited the museum that explains the geographic history of the river and the human history connected to the river. On the Columbia River there are eleven dams creating many lakes and much of the power for the west coast.
Two ideas struck me while in that area. The dams make the agriculture possible for much of that end of the state. The water is used in the wheat fields and the majority of the fruit industry for irrigation. All created by the federal government, big projects financed out of D.C. That population votes GOP, they don't believe in big government. The second disconnect for me is the science of geology and all earth science telling the story of landscape in it 's true rawness there. Yet, there are the fundamentals populating that part of the state believing in the seven day story of creation. Park the truck with the combustible engine, turn off the electric lights and stop using modern medicine, all are the results of modern science. There is a link of science and daily life.
I enjoy car trips but John is now confused and stressed by the break of our routine life so I don't think I will be doing any of them for a while. The evening we were in Spokane talking about going out for dinner he asked me how many days we were staying in Milwaukee. At that moment, I realized just how stressed this traveling had become for him and felt it was time to go home.
Friday, July 10, 2009
destine for long service
The small hocked rug in an old kitchen that badly needed remodeling did catch my eye. The peach colored flowers and the pale green leaves that boarded them were beginning to fade but yet it was someone's handy work.
Over the next 25 years the kitchen got remodeled twice, the rug got moved to the more distant corners of the upper bedrooms and corner porches of the big house. Still, I could never bring myself to throw out the rug. It even made the truck for the big move to the west coast.
First it landed as the rug in the garage at the kitchen door, then it found a home in the tool shed adding a homey touch to the new Asian looking structure. The colors can still be identified, it is probably now 50 years old but carries itself with little actual wear. Today it will have whole new service life.
Chickens are raised in most urban sittings for two reasons their eggs and their manure. The eggs, of course, are organic, healthier and at hand. Manure is prize for the compost pile and is used as fertilizer on the vegetable beds. The mixture of fresh grass cuttings, chicken manure, little soil and water need to be covered with a blanket type object to create heat. New carpet pieces would have all the chemicals of the modern world and would undo the mission of organic living. My dear beloved 3 by 5 rug that has been part of my life for over 30 years is being moved into service. It is funny have some items in life connect the thread of our lifes.
Over the next 25 years the kitchen got remodeled twice, the rug got moved to the more distant corners of the upper bedrooms and corner porches of the big house. Still, I could never bring myself to throw out the rug. It even made the truck for the big move to the west coast.
First it landed as the rug in the garage at the kitchen door, then it found a home in the tool shed adding a homey touch to the new Asian looking structure. The colors can still be identified, it is probably now 50 years old but carries itself with little actual wear. Today it will have whole new service life.
Chickens are raised in most urban sittings for two reasons their eggs and their manure. The eggs, of course, are organic, healthier and at hand. Manure is prize for the compost pile and is used as fertilizer on the vegetable beds. The mixture of fresh grass cuttings, chicken manure, little soil and water need to be covered with a blanket type object to create heat. New carpet pieces would have all the chemicals of the modern world and would undo the mission of organic living. My dear beloved 3 by 5 rug that has been part of my life for over 30 years is being moved into service. It is funny have some items in life connect the thread of our lifes.
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