Putting My Big Foot In It

There's a joke that's going around here, and I'm sure it's out west as well.  It goes:

Do you know what the difference is between the 1970's and Today?

In the 1970's we had Steve Jobs, Johnny Cash and Bob Hope.
Now we have no jobs, no cash and no hope. Sigh

We went to a dinner party the past Friday and the talk was all about the Occupy Wallstreeters.
As you can guess, the majority present had very little sympathy with those camping out in city centers across the country.  Those of us in our fifties, myself included, worked our way through college, started out in crumby jobs and saved to get where we are today. While those lazy lay abouts would rather camp out singing peace songs than work.

Then I got to thinking.  I worked my way through college answering phones in a call center.  The only way someone could do that today, is if their name is Indira or Ramesh and they live in Bangalore. My husband worked construction and that has dried up.

And then I was talking to another friend who has a multi site practice and he was bragging that he has sent all of his bookkeeping to Pakistan and his billing to India, because it saved him a lot of money.  I felt like jumping for his throat and asking if being a bazillionaire wasn't good enough?If he honestly felt that if he wasn't a gazillionaire, he was nothing. So, instead, I asked him, what about the kids graduating from school.  What jobs are going to be there for them if people like you send everything offshore? And he said, "Well I guess they're going to be in a lot of trouble.

So as calmly as I could, I told him I had been a classics major in college and would he like to take a guess as to why Rome fell. Then I gave him a hint, and told him that it had nothing to do with gladiatorial games and debauched sex. When he came up empty.  I said well, the Romans had put all engineering, all manufacturing and everything else in the provinces and the only folks living in Rome were the very rich and the very poor, who lived off the government.  So the when Barbarians took over the provinces, it was all over.

Sound familiar?  When Obama talks about creating jobs, I wonder how many college and graduate school graduates want to work on road crews? Why isn't anyone saying anything about how most of our manufacturing is now done in China and most of our IT is in India. And now bookkeeping is going to Pakistan? Why isn't any politician gutsy enough to say "tax the hell out of companies that take their jobs out of America."  Whatever happened to "made in America." We don't have to create new jobs, we just have to bring the ones we used to have, back.

Hello It's October

I've just got a few minutes, but guess what? It's pouring down snow.  It's October 29th and it's pouring down snow.  I am so not ready for this.  If I wanted snow in October, I'd be living in Wyoming, not Maryland. I took this shot five minutes ago.

Doesn't this look like January?  This is what I expect October to look like.  I took this picture last week.

Oh well, what can I say?



She Beat Them Both

Kitt and Jolie share a two acre pasture with two off the track Thoroughbred race horses, Izzy and Promise.  I was at the far end of the pasture giving apple slices to my girls, when Izzy decided that she was going to chase Jolie away and get her slices.  Well Kitt was not going to have any of that, so she let Miss Izzy know, in no uncertain terms that was not happening.  In response to a less than gentle reminder, Izzy took off at a dead run across the pasture.  Promise, seeing Izzy run, thought, "oh boy, a race. That weenie girl is not going to win and so he took off after her.  And folks, my five month old Quarterhorse foal, seeing all of this, took off.  She came from behind and beat them both to the fence. Yep, my five month old foal beat two adult racehorses who were running flat out.  Suffice it to say, Izzy and Promise were so mortified, they refused to show their faces.

Bits of This and That

Work is insane and when I'm not there, I'm at the barn.  So much for free time. I'm glad none of you can see the inside of my house.  YIKES.  Anyway, here are my favorite shots from this week. I took them the few days it wasn't raining.  This weather pattern doesn't give me a really good feeling about this winter.  But I'm not going to anticipate blizzards. Time enough to do that when they are actually on the horizon. 

I had all sorts of plans this fall about doing a lesson on September light. Well it has to be sunny to do that, so the rain put and end to that good idea. Oh well. Have a great week everyone and I'll hopefully be back next week with more shots.