Wordless Wednesday
Monthly Archives: October 2014
Hit the Road, Jack
We go to the polls in just eight days. I’m on the road today, dodging politicians. They all want a piece of my wallet.
Let’s take a look at where we are now, thanks to the crowd in Washington, in Montpelier, in Sacramento, in Tallahassee, and in a capitol near you:
Fun
• I’ve been talking to people in the grocery aisles. “I hate my cow-orkers,” one woman said. “I still couldn’t refinance my mortgage.” “We wanted to go to Hilton Head this year but we couldn’t afford the gas.” People are more negative than ever.
• The Financial Times’ has this depressing air travel story: “Once upon a time, flying was fun. Most of you won’t remember.”
• From trust in airlines to trust in cable companies to trust in food producers to trust in government, doing business isn’t fun anymore. That’s not a political issue but it does contribute to the overall negative vibe. OK, trust in government is political. You know what to do.Health
• California’s doctor networks will stay limited in 2015. Health Net is dumping its PPO network there and switching to a plan with 54% fewer doctors and no out-of-network coverage. Health Net said its cutbacks were necessary to avoid even steeper rate hikes in California. Obamacare where “if we like our doc, we can keep our doc!”
• Dropped or delayed or pooch-screwed coverage for about 30,000 Californians! The LA Times reported that Californians face enrollment delays, dropped coverage and more, thanks to the Unaffordable Care Act. “If you like your insurance, you can keep your insurance!”
• In the People’s Republic of Vermont, another seriously blue state with a broken Health Exchange built by the same company the Feds used, premiums went up and coverage went down. Costs will go down, right?
• Staying in the People’s Republic of Vermont, the state’s largest employer (that would be state government) told workers that their health insurance premiums will rise 17.9% in 2015.
• News from the Veterans Administration to the CDC is of people dying, not people thriving while the agencies from Texas to Arizona “follow protocols.” Government care makes us healthier, right?Money
• 46.5 million people now live in poverty up, up from when Mr. Bush was president, despite 6 years of “doing better.” Obamapologists keep trying to show how much better we treat our poor. Or to blame Mr. Bush.
• The national debt of $17.76 trillion is up more than a trillion dollars every year this Administration has remained in office, despite 6 years of “doing better.” Obamapologists keep trying to spin that into a smaller number. Or to blame Mr. Bush.
• Median household income fell again, down from when Mr. Bush was president despite 6 years of “doing better,” despite 6 years of inflation. Obamapologists can’t spin that.
• Premium increases for Obamacare policies and Medicare Part B won’t be released until after the election. Obamapologists can’t spin that, either.Safety
• A man who posed as a congressman was allowed backstage at when Mr. Obama appeared at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation awards dinner, making us wonder, Who would fake being a congressman?
• Mr. Obama has doubled the number of Border Patrol agents and says “border security is stronger than it has ever been” making us wonder, How do so many millions of illegal aliens get in?
• D.C. Spirit killed his daughter, her six children, and then himself. They had had repeated interactions with the Florida Department of Children and Families. In Hardwick, Vermont, Isaac Robitille was 5 when he got a puppy from Make-A-Wish. The Vermont Department of Children and Families confirms that they’ve tracked Isaac’s problems at least seven years. The state removed Isaac from home in 2007 but a DCF expert sent him back in 2008. They “handled” a new complaint in May. His mom and her boyfriend are charged with his murder. Police say they put vodka in Isaac’s IV. Doesn’t that make you wonder?
Every politician in office today ran on a platform of change. Every politician running for re-election is running on a promise that they “know how to fix it.”
If they know how, why didn’t they?
Tell me again why you want to re-elect any of the liars who brought you to this?
Wordless Wednesday
Stormin’
I had all the windows and doors open on Friday, for the last time in 2014. Funny how I used to like the seasonal changes.
We moved to Vermont to get away from what I always called “Philly winter.” That was the season of slush and freezing rain.
Oh it did snow there in my corner of southeastern Pennsylvania, a lot sometimes, but interwoven with the times we skied or tobogganed down Turtleback, the big hill in the pasture that led down to Russell Jones’ pond, were the weeks of sorry slush soaking our boots and the ice to chip off the stone path. That part of the world gets only 27 inches of snow in an average year.
I thought more snow (and less slush) would be a good thing. Silly me.
I do remember two particularly memorable snowstorms.
The first, in 1950s Pennsylvania, closed Shiloh Road. I’ve never understood why the road builders did what they did but they made this story possible. See, our house sat on a broad, sloping lawn and was probably 35 feet in elevation above the main road. Our driveway sloped down to Shiloh which rose sharply to meet it, then cut a straight-and-narrow path deeply through the field to the Hays family home, the next house a quarter mile up the road. The banks of this cut touched the edge of the pavement. The banks were nearly vertical and 10-12 feet tall.
The snow blew straight across our field for what I remember as days and days and days but it was probably just a couple of and days. Not much had a chance to build up on that reach of pasture but It surely liked to nestle into the gorge.
The Township plow truck couldn’t make a dent in it.
The state plow truck couldn’t make a dent in it.
The front end loader couldn’t make a dent in it.
They’d all spend hours revving engines and gnashing gears but there was no place to put the snow.
That snow-filled gorge was no more than a quarter mile long but it was 10-12 feet deep and packed in tight by gravity, wind, and the attacking plow trucks.
A couple of the other troublemakers, my dad, and I all figured this was a pretty good excuse to practice engineering techniques. We tunneled it. We built fort walls. My mom made a lot of tomato soup and grilled a lot of sandwiches for us.
It took 10 days, but the state eventually trucked in the biggest snowblower I have seen to this day. It had a maw taller than my dad and enough diesel horsepower to throw the snow halfway across the field. It still took a couple of days to clear out the gorge.
The second great snow came to Vermont. It fell a day or two before we flew up on a house hunting trip in what should have been the early spring of 1978. We didn’t have a bit of trouble with snow on the roads — even then Vermont seemed to have a “clear road” policy. But a police officer in Alburgh did.
My enduring memories of that trip are the kids’ first flight in a private jet (the company I worked for had a Beechcraft King Air turboprop) and the sight of a police car.
We’ve all had the experience of seeing a police car zooming up behind us, light bar a-flashing. Drivers tense up a little. Passengers start chattering. Some people hunch down in their seats. Everybody looks straight ahead.
This was different.
This particular police car was buried in fresh snow up to its roof with just the “bubble” showing. I thought the officer should have lit it up so the plow trucks didn’t clip him.
The cloudier part of the year begins around October 4. Vermont averages an inch in May and October, and 102 inches for the year.
It snowed here in North Puffin yesterday. It’s only October and it snowed. The TV weather guy even showed photos. Me and my bare feet are heading for South Puffin, you betcha.
Wordless Wednesday
