Everyone's Opinion Counts

Thank you for all the kind words about my rant.  As I read it, I didn't realize I was ranting.  I'll try to be more polite in the future.  I just think people should be able to have differing opinions and still get along.  I imagine some of my opinion comes from how I was raised.

I was born on a cattle ranch.  It was a tough life.  There was no grocery store just down the street.  We literally lived off the land, raising all our own food, milking the cow, making butter, raising chickens and turkeys for eggs and meat.

It was a family affair including my grandfather, my mom and dad, along with my dad's brother and his wife.  There was no molly-coddling.  Things died often, including your favorite horse, your calf you raised from a baby, your neighbor (yes really) and the turkey you hit in the head with a rock.  Quite the shot I might add.

So when it comes to stuff like what's going on now ... people suffer ... and sadly, people die.  It's how life works and there is no changing it.  In the old days, there was no unemployment check, no welfare check, no food bank, no FREE money to grab so you could go buy that new TV, nor was there any demand for anything of the sort.  You were expected to take care of yourself and we did.

If we open the country back up, not all at once mind you, but let things start rolling, we might not have 22 million people on unemployment.  I won't even bring up the problem in Idaho where employees are quitting so they can sign up for the free money because it pays more than they were making.  Yes the elderly deserve it, but not everyone else in my book.  Am I ranting?  Okay, I'll quit.

I took a drive over to the Almond Ranch/Pumpkin Patch to pick up my mail yesterday.  The Post Office wanted to charge me $200 for an overfull box, so I mailed the key to the ranch and they picked it up for me.

The almond trees are doing their thing, and for baby trees, are full of nuts.  Too bad there probably won't be a market for them this year.  By the way, if you think California fruits and vegetables are not being harvested, that would be incorrect.  

As I drove along the highways, there were dozens and dozens of cars parked in the fields with people working, most of whom probably came from Mexico.  They have not cut off the stream of farm workers coming into the state as the media has said.  California wants to give every illegal in the State the same money as U.S. citizens because they are out of work.  It's not true.  Unlike the U.S. citizens, they are working everywhere, including the almond orchards.  Farmers take care of their crews.

I spent the next three hours going through the mail.  I had piles everywhere, trying to decided what to take care of first.  The California DMV is the curse I live with.  

I went online to register my Jeep, but they didn't get my insurance notice and it has to be smogged.  Add to that the fact that I cannot find the title, which I KNOW I had.  It took another hour on the computer, uploading SEVEN documents before I got a number, saying they would call me in a month or two.  Woohoo!!  

In the meantime, I gathered up everything to CHANGE the registration to Arizona.  I need my passport, my social security card (which I can't believe I found after 59 years), two bills of some kind showing I live in Arizona, my first born kid (I don't have one) AND my birth certificate.  That's problematic because I was born in Miss Friese's Maternity Home.  We didn't have a doctor OR a hospital 59 years ago.  Okay, maybe it was 60.  Yeah well I'm not telling you my REAL age!

Seriously, four hours later I stopped for lunch and went in the living room to admire my show saddle. This one is completely handmade and hand tooled.  Boy do I miss riding, except for that time I was thrown to the ground from this one.  The front swells are not big enough for cutting cattle.  I think that accounts for the broken vertebrae found in an MRI ten years later.

From all the info sent back and forth, it appears the trailer will work with the high-in-the-sky truck, so hitch work will begin.  That gives me plenty of time to clean it out before they come to pick it up.  I know I'm going to cry.  This thing means more to me than my motorhome.

The good news is I will probably be able to borrow it any time I wish.  

Today's project ... tackle the tax returns.  You know the old adage about the mechanic never working on his car?  I'm the accountant who never works on her bookkeeping.  I just throw everything in a big box.  Oh the fun!!!!