Yay. Our deck project has commenced. The beautiful and less-humid weather inspired our contractor to start the project. Unfortunately it meant the OH and his buddy would not have the equally pleasant weather fishing this week as the deck job must be "supervised". Though to be honest there were plenty of questions asked and decisions to be made as tear-out proceeded. For sheer entertainment though, never under-estimate the lure of a construction job on little and big boys. My nine year old grandson was equally enthralled with the new "playground" below. And my daughter ended up looking for lost items of her youth in the newly revealed dirt. Apparently her little safety scissors have been lamented for 30 years and never forgotten (well I did).
My first shock (outside of the cost of the materials) was estimating the helper's age as 12 or at least teen age. Nope 27. Amazing how an advanced age makes everyone else much look much younger-got to quit looking in the mirror... Also after a long day of tear-down the "youthful" worker still had the energy to perform back flips across the back yard before he left.
BEFORE PICTURE:
Excitement this am as two reckless drivers (apparently armed) crashed into a house and commenced running. Lockdown downtown as 40 million cops descended on midtown Grand Ledge while reports of a shoeless dude talking to kids at a bus stop proliferated. I looked around very carefully as I left the Doctor's office at 8 for any lurkers - which we should all be doing anyway! Caught without incident apparently, except for the demise of 40 million donuts and schools shut down. Oh well just an end of the year extra day off. UPDATE: Apparently there were 5 or 6 involved and it was part of a ring of thieves hitting pharmacies operating out of Battle Creek or Kalamazoo - now all caught. Yay GL cops.
We're becoming regulars at Menards as each level of tear-down reveals another issue-resulting in more material, "nope can't save that" "oops, that needs to be replaced", "maybe we could.. no need more". They're starting to greet us by name and opening up our own lane. Well with a 40 year-old+ deck one must expect issues. But at least we have been able to buy a new grill with the rebates so far.
In the news Texas is finally living up to their hype as gunslinger heaven. Anyone can carry anything-no license, no training, no brains-it's all the same. But apparently they are not taking into account that ex-felons and crazy people will be indistinguishable from you'all protectors of the innocents with your pearl handled revolver and, note to self, they will be carrying 45's, semi-autos or better, etc.
How refreshing. The American President met with the Russia dictator, er, President, and only one side trashed America and called her a liar; unlike the orange predecessor. Though returning the keys to the Oval Office proved awkward. As with "he-who-shall-not-be-named" all the hype and America asking for the meeting it just gives Putin more ammo that he is legit and part of an equal playing field. Should have cancelled as their latest attacks against democracy and protection of cyber criminals came to light.
Democrats need to show more backbone. With Repubs openly creating pathways of cheating for the next elections, subjecting poll workers to tremendous fines for doing their job of not letting the "poll watchers" unprecedented access to everything including challenging every voter, we need to take the gloves off. With McConnell, again openly, telling each of the repub senators to vote No on voter reform and swearing Biden will not name a Supreme Court justice what the hell are we waiting for? More bullshit bi-partisinship? There's a bridge in Brooklyn I can sell you guys and gals. Get rid of the fillibuster, pass infrastructure (bringing high paying jobs to the middle class), forgive at least a portion of predator student loans, pass a minimum wage, support working families, prosecute Mar-a-lago's current resident and his cronies, tax the freakn' rich and get'er done! Since all of their proposals benefit THE PEOPLE, they will be very happy. Duh
And not to end a good rant I am struck anew by what folks do not understand about people not wanting to be exploited. It's not a question of not wanting to work - they can't survive on peanuts and no benefits. They, in many cases, are not even promised a regular shift so they can work two or three jobs which many of them try to do. Do the math. At $15/hour that is still only $31,200 a year if you are guaranteed 40 hour weeks, 52 weeks a year. Not that hard to understand the problem.
Booked 1 1/2 new interviews for podcast land. Now if I could just get our "volunteer" editor to edit the darn things. The first two have been playing for awhile. I still have two already in the can waiting for his magic touch. arrghhh. Anyway one is a lady who was head of security for GM in Lansing and traveled a similar path to mine in the "not being taken seriously by men" world. But we thrived and prospered and have a plethora of stories from our experiences. We enjoyed a lot of laughs. I think we need to podcast a forum of "Women in the Workplace: Friend or Foe". But I think I want representation from all sources: female, male, white, black, luddites, progressives, etc.
Speaking of religion...I was reminded of a story today of when I was teaching CPR. A Muslim gentleman in the class (it was required training) claimed that "it is Allah's will if a man lives or dies". I gently supported his right to his beliefs and asked him to "basically" keep them to himself and we would proceed in our unenlightened way. NOTE: One never knows if training does any good, but one of the students told me later she was able to save her child when he began choking based on what she learned in the class. That is how I think God works in man or woman-as an instrument to provide knowledge and support.
Unfortunately I had a further relationship with the Muslim gentleman as he became a workers' comp issue. In searching for him one day I called the number he had left for contact. They answered as the local Mosque. Upon asking for Mohammed I have no doubt this was the only place in Lansing where the response was "Mohammed who?" He eventually left conventional employment and became a street vendor dealing in fine perfumes and lotions. I'm not kidding - he had quite a briefcase of samples and we all bought from him. Happy ending....
No comments:
Post a Comment