Snow Day

It’s snowing, and watching it brings to mind the great mysteries of childhood. Is it true no two snow flakes are the same, will your tongue really stick to the flag pole if you lick it, and the big one will we get enough snow to have a snow day?

A snow day is a true gift from the weather gods. What a wonderful thing to wake up to. The homework was all done and there was nothing for you to do except bundle up and go out and play. It did not matter if it was cold and the wind was blowing, you couldn’t waste a snow day. Make a snow angel, build a snow man, or have a snow ball fight. The choices were endless.

A real good storm could shut things down for days and best of all if it came late in the week you would have a long weekend. That meant one or two nice days when you could go sliding on the hill across the road or skating on the pond with your friends.

Digging out was for the grownups and now you are a grownup. Enjoy the snow.

Economics 101

Once upon a time there were no credit cards. You either lived within your means or had to barrow the money. To borrow the money you needed to have something to put up as collateral. No one was going to loan you money if they thought they were not going to get it back with interest. You made do with what you had; if you could not afford it you didn’t need it.

You could run up a bill at the store, but you had to pay it back. When stores got bigger and opened branches in other towns you could get a store charge card. This was good at any store in that chain, but you still had to pay it back. Then came credit cards and if you had one you could borrow money anywhere. Stores would sell you things when you had no cash and you only had to make the monthly payment. As long as you made the payments you had good credit and could get more cards. In the end you owed more than you could ever pay back, but your credit was good and there were so many things to buy.

The problem was everyone was glad to let you borrow money. Credit cards, car loans, mortgages it dad not matter. If you wanted it you get it on credit. People no longer lived within their means, but if things got tight you could use a credit card to make your payment.

You know the rest of this story. Factories moved away, jobs were lost, and people could not make those monthly payments. When people maxed out their credit and had no money to spend, stores no longer made as much money. They had to lay off employees, those employees had no money to spend, and you can see where this is going.

Until people get jobs or fell sure they aren’t going to loss the one they already have, things will not get better. You can bailout the big companies, but people still aren’t going to buy if they can’t pay. If we want out of this mess we have get people back to work. Let’s spend the tax dollars to make jobs and maybe things will start to turn around.

Snow Shoveling

It going to happen sooner or later. I do not want it to come about. I don’t want to do it. Yet here it is, and I have no choice but do it. It’s time to get out the shovel and fire up the snow blower, head out into the cold, and clean the snow off the driveway. This as close as I get to playing in the snow these days not like it was when I was a kid.

Back then we would stay out all day sliding and playing in the white stuff till we were soaking wet and half frozen. Than mom would yell at us to come in out of the snow and warm up. She would make us take off our wet things, take a worm bath, and put on dry clothes. After that if we were lucky we would get some hot coco or a bowl of soup (tomato with a toasted cheese sandwich).

Back then the cold did not matter, but now it does. Now I would rather look out my window and enjoy the beauty of it than go out in it. Still the fact remains, the snow is in the driveway and it’s not supposed to be there. It won’t move itself, so I guess I have no choice. It’s time to shovel the snow.

Why

I’ve been fighting a cold for the last five days and have not posted anything. Felling miserable really makes me wonder about writing this blog. I told my self I would write something every day and I would write something profound. Now I don’t want to be profound, I just want to write about what I feel.

Life can be cruel and when it is I find myself wondering why me. I know it is all part of God’s plan and we should give thanks for it, but still I wonder why.
Three years ago I lost the job I held for twenty eight years. They no longer felt they needed a full time custodian and replaced me. Almost as soon as it happened He opened a door on to a new job. True it didn’t pay as well, but we learned to live within our means and when there was a need somehow we always had the money to take care of it.

Then my knees gave out. I could not do my job. I could not climb the stairs, get on my knees to scrub a baseboard, or clean the bleachers after a game. The doctor said they were bone on bone and they had to go.

It has been a rollercoaster ride, but when ever we needed to pay a bill the money was there. He has watched over us and we have always had what we needed. Still there are days when I wonder why. Is there a plan that He has for my life, or am I just wondering along aimlessly?

Is it just me or are there others out there who have the same doubts about where they are going and why they are here? Are there even others people out there in cyber space who care?