How about we all just bury our heads in the sand and not see what is happening around us in these united states? Then we would think all is well around us. After all, we wouldn't know about the attack in Boston. We wouldn't know about the abortion doctor on trial for murder of women and infants. We wouldn't know about gold and silver falling at record levels. We wouldn't know that taxes aren't making us all slaves to the government. We wouldn't know a lot.
We would be happy. We would be content. We would be unaware. It reminds me of a time several years ago, in fact, it was the day that President Reagan died. I was at his ranch that day. They had already sold it but it was still an awesome feeling to be there on that day. Anyway, back to my story. I was at work, and the morning briefing was in the park at the beach. After the briefing, I was on a conference call and was telling everyone that I was sitting there watching the dolphins swim by. It was a beautiful sight. There were several dozen. I described how they were gracefully jumping out of the water. Then one of my coworkers who was in Sacramento said turn around. Look at the mountains. They are on fire! Sure I had to head back up into the smoke and thick of things but for a few minutes I had forgotten all about the disaster and was in awe of the splendor. Every once in a while it's good to stop surrounding yourself with disaster. But only for a short time. You must always be aware of the fire on the hill!
There are so many people who ignore the disaster. Are they happier? I'm not sure. Being aware of your surroundings doesn't mean that you can't be happy and joyful. Maybe I'm happy and joyful because I am aware but prepared?
Work has a no weapons policy. You can instantly be fired if they find you have a weapon on you - guns only since everyone it seems has a pocket knife. When I first started working there I told them I had a concealed weapons permit. I even photocopied the permit for them to send up to security. It's never been brought up since. They don't ask, but even if they did, I won't tell. Last week they sent around an email letting us know that a certain person isn't allowed on the compound anymore. That person must have gotten fired and had a bad reaction to it. Supposedly the person was going to retire later this year. I don't know what the difference is in his retirement pay between getting fired and getting laid off. If there's a big difference his anger level can be extremely elevated. My issue with the email? They are worried that he may show up. Of the 150+ people that work here I only know about 30 by name. I probably have only seen or met half of the 150. I wouldn't know this guy if he sat down right next to me in the lunch room. They are concerned. I see no added protection. There are four doors into my office building. There are several buildings in our complex. Most of the company is off limits to the public - yet you can just walk in any door. Many of the buildings and structures have become national security issues over the years - yet you can just walk in any door. And this guy is not allowed in our little 1200 square mile area and I don't know who he is. And he can just walk in any door - and I'm not supposed to be armed? Right.
Tomorrow is my lucky day. Instead of leaving for work before the sun rises I don't have to leave for a few hours after. I'm going to stop by the gold and silver store and buy some silver. If you spend $1500 you don't have to pay the almost 10% taxes. I've been saving my money for a while and am going to go buy some more silver coins. The prices have fallen drastically. About 25%. If they fall further I will scrounge up some money and buy more. I'm more comfortable holding a bunch of silver coins than I am dollar bills.
A coworker today asked if I wanted some Chukars. I had just said that we are hatching chicks because I plan on putting them into the freezer. I thought he'd gone hunting and had extras in the freezer or something. I said sure. He asked how many I wanted. I said as many as you want to give me. He then told me the size and that they are not ready to give away yet. They are still young. Live birds. I'm getting live birds. He said they can go in with the chickens if they stay separated at first. I have two coops so we will see about putting the chukars in one and the chickens in the other. Or, when I get the chukars I can put our six chicks in with the chukars. Anyone raise chukars? I know they would rather run than fly but they will fly. If I put them into my front pasture with the brush fence will they stay there or will they fly somewhere else? Or should I keep them in the coop?
Happy Tax Day. When I retire, even if I never choose to spend any money again, I would still need $500 a month minimum forever and ever to pay the taxes on my house and my truck and car. I would prefer to remember this day as Patriots Day, commemorating the first battles of the revolutionary war. Oh wait, that was April 19th but it's been changed to make it a three day weekend. I'd rather remember the day as the day the Royal Mail Ship (RMS) Titanic sank. My father's father was supposed to be on the ship. My great-grandmother decided to wait for the next ship so she could make the trip with her sister. I'm glad she waited.
Best for last today. I created a new invention. It's printed here for the taking. Maybe we'll see it on an "As Seen on TV" commercial in the near future. It won't be sold by me, but you read it here first. It's my idea. Go ahead and make one for yourself...
One thing I don't like about my house is that it is built on a slab. Why don't I like that? It's not just because I don't have a basement. It's because I watch the water go down the drain and there's not much I can do about it. In the morning when I get up I first turn on the shower water. Then I use the toilet, make my bed, and do some other things. Finally the water gets warm and I can get in without freezing. But what about all that water? It bugged me. Sure, it just gets sucked up from the well and then goes through the septic and back into the ground about 150 feet away. But can't it be collected? Why yes it can!
I put a bucket in the shower and tried to capture the water as it came out of the shower head. I got some. Not much. Then a brilliant idea came to me. Did you know that you don't need a plastic shower curtain? A cloth one will still catch the water. It will get heavy but water won't splash all over the bathroom. I decided to use that concept in my shower. I got a piece of elastic and measured it to go over the shower head when it was stretched. Then I took the worlds most ugly material and cut a piece about a foot wide and 6 feet long. I stretched the piece of elastic as I sewed the top of the material to it. Then I sewed down the six foot seam. It ended up being a skinny little tube. I slipped the elastic end over the shower head and the open end at the bottom into a bucket. I turned the water on this morning and all the water from the shower head poured right into the bucket. None was splashed around the shower. Four gallons of water was in the bucket before it got hot enough to use.
That's four gallons of water that I can water my plants with. Every day! If I have the grand kids collect their water we can get 12 gallons of water per day from wasted shower water. Sure I'd like to collect the water that goes down the drain while I'm actually showering but at least I'm saving a good amount. I bet that will be almost all the water I'll need to keep the vegetables watered all summer. Great idea, huh?
That's a terrific water-saving idea. We lived in a dry climate, and our well was often pretty low sometimes, and we had a garden and animals to keep watered. We got pretty good at conservation. I would put plastic dishpans into my sink, and after doing dishes, dump the dishwater into a bucket for flushing the toilet. The rinse water was still good enough to save for washing the floor, and then that got dumped into the garden. We bought a washer-spinner to do the laundry, because we could recycle the water from that as well.
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