Dirt Roads

A friend sent this to me and I thought some of you might relate to it as well.

Dirt Roads

What's mainly wrong with society today is that too many Dirt Roads have been paved. There's not a problem in America today, crime, drugs, education, divorce, delinquency that wouldn't be remedied, if we just had more Dirt Roads, because Dirt Roads give character. People that live at the end of Dirt Roads learn early on that life is a bumpy ride.
That it can jar you right down to your teeth sometimes, but it's worth it, if at the end is home...a loving spouse, happy kids and a dog. We wouldn't have near the trouble with our educational system if our kids got their exercise walking a Dirt Road with other kids, from whom they learn how to get along.

Criminals didn't walk two dusty miles to rob or rape, if they knew they'd be welcomed by 5 barking dogs and a double barrel shotgun. And there were no drive by shootings. Our values were better when our roads were worse! People did not worship their cars more than their kids, and motorists were more courteous, they didn't tailgate by riding the bumper or the guy in front would choke you with dust & bust your windshield with rocks. Dirt Roads taught patience.

Dirt Roads were environmentally friendly, you didn't hop in your car for a quart of milk you walked to the barn for your milk. For your mail, you walked to the mail box. What if it rained and the Dirt Road got washed out? That was the best part, then you stayed home and had some family time, roasted marshmallows and popped popcorn and pony rode on Daddy's shoulders and learned how to make prettier quilts than anybody. At the end of Dirt Roads, you soon learned that bad words tasted like soap.

Most paved roads lead to trouble, Dirt Roads more likely lead to a fishing creek or a swimming hole. At the end of a Dirt Road, the only time we even locked our car was in August, because if we didn't some neighbor would fill it with too much zucchini. At the end of a Dirt Road, there was always extra springtime income, from when city dudes would get stuck, you'd have to hitch up a team and pull them out.
Usually you got a dollar...always you got a new friend...at the end of a Dirt Road!

A lot can be said for a, 'Dirt Road'

Auther= Paul Harvy

Logger's Trash

Another pet Peeves

Today I made my way down the mountain to get some gas for my truck and to air up the tires on my utility trailer which had lost pressure during the cold spell the last week or so. As I was on my way down, I looked at the area where the logging Co. had left all their trimmings, an ugly site to behold!

Well I noticed that someone had cut some of the trimmings up into smaller chunks. They had been there for over a month so I thought, if someone had planned to take them, they must have changed their mind. They were not stacked but laying at random and scattered all over the place, they were cut just the right size for me to load into my empty trailer, so I did…! That one area looks a little better now..

I got a generous pile of fire wood; better me using it than letting it rot! If I get real rambunctious this summer, I just might clear the whole mess up in that area, it makes good fire wood..! Can’t wait until all the leaves come out, that will help hide the trash the logging companies left laying around..

And while I sat there looking at all the clear cut area, I said to myself, I said, self I sure do hope this road don’t slide off down the hill! It seems to me that the people who clear cut these hills would think just a little bit past their noses! Like, what will happen to the soil if we get a lot of rain, will it just slide off? I wonder what their answer would be, oh well, we don’t live around here anyway…? I think that all lumber companies should have to plant 2 seedlings for every tree they cut, and be restricted from clear cutting! But you know as well as I that money talks..!

And never forget:
You cannot ‘Unsay’ a cruel or unkind word.

Note –
These pictures were taken on 2/2/08, I forgot to reset the date when I replaced the batteries.

Importing products

I think I will ramble for a while.

I hear that, a lot of businesses are complaining about the drop off of business, people who use to drop into the restaurants 2 or 3 times a week, but now they only see some of them once and some of them once every couple of weeks! The restaurant owner was talking to a news reporter last week about his business dropping off and it looks like he will have to lay some workers off if it doesn’t improve! Let us say that these customers were producing a lot of the merchandise, fruit and vegetables that these businesses sell to their customers. The very people who provide raw materials to these businesses, the beef and vegetables to the restaurants, Toys for the kiddies, cabinetry and furniture for the furniture stores, the paper mill, the automobile dealerships and all the other places of business around a typical city.
Let’s look at it like this; the restaurants around town, have started to buy their food products from another country to save a dollar or two on this and that. The auto dealerships are importing other country’s autos. The cabinetry and furniture are being imported. Dangerous toys are being imported; and when their business starts to dwindle, they start crying and asking, WHY? It’s because a few workers at the cabinet shop were laid off, and a couple lost their jobs at the auto dealership and all the others. The money they use to make wasn’t there anymore to spend at the businesses around town! Some couldn’t pay their rent / house payments, so what happened to these people? Well they had to go on welfare just to survive! And who pays for that? The people who still have an income and paying taxes, that’s who! It is my opinion that if someone decides to stop trading with a place of business, then they should tell them, when they start supporting the community, state, country, whatever the case, then they will support their business! I know that you can see where this is going!
Now taking everything into consideration, and for the savings of a couple of dollars, the city is slowly being destroyed and in the long run these businesses are losing in a big way!! With this one city about to die, there are a lot more following suit! And for the life of me, I can’t understand how these corporate heads, with all their education and foresight can’t see this coming! I, with my limited education can see it! I can’t help but think that they do see it coming and just don’t care as long as their pockets fill up first!!
The farmers lose their farms, the waitresses, the automobile dealership sales personnel and mechanics lose their jobs. The auto makers lose their jobs. The people don’t trade their cars / trucks in as often and don’t go out riding around as before because of the price of gas. Hey it’s like a snow ball rolling down a high mountain, it grows with every rotation!! Property / home sales are down. And this is just the tip of the iceberg!
There are so many people who are supporting these companies that import most of their product from other countries to make a little bit more without thinking about what it’s doing to their own community until it impacts them personally! $$$$$$$$$ is the bottom line. My mother and aunt were once told by a neighbor that if they went across the state line, they could save a few dollars. My mother told her that if everyone did that, what would happen to our town?

Think about it! Do the math !
I am talking about MAJOR JOB LOSS!!!!

That’s another one of my opinions..!!
And Pet Peeve

I’m wondering if anyone out there agrees or disagrees with me??
JD

Link Loving 2008

This came from Jo at Bits and pieces.

I have randomly selected 5 of you below to be tagged and I hope that you will similarly publish this post in your blog. You will have to tag 5 other bloggers and just keep adding on to the list. (Do not replace, just keep on adding! Yes we hope it will be a long list!) It’s real easy!
Tag others and see your Technorati Authority increase exponentially.

The benefits of Viral Linking:- One of the fastest ways to see your technorati authority explode!- Increase your Google PageRank fast- Attract large volume of new traffic to your site- Build your community. - Make new friends!

Add your blog url at the end of the list... The Strategist Notebook/Link Addiction/Ardour of the Heart/ When Life Becomes a Book/The Malaysian Life/ Yogatta.com/What goes under the sun/ Roshidan’s Cyber Station/Sasha says/Arts of Physics/And the legend lives/My View, My Life/ A Simple Life/What Women REALLY Think/Not Much More Than This/Jayedee/Jenn/Beth/ Christie/Marla/Cailin/Simone/FlipFlopMom/Katrina/Gill's Jottings/Work of the Poet/ Wakela/Modern Day Goddess/Livin With Me/Are We There Yet??/The Erstwhile Librarian /Lynne's Little Corner of the World/Violetlady At Home/Bits And Pieces/ JD's Soap Box/ You are next...

Sue at Sweetgrass Farm

S at The Black Cat Lounge

Jim at Rural Way Of Life

Mysti at Mysti's Spiritual Journey

Blossom at Blossomcottage

NOW TAG/ADD 5 OF YOUR FRIENDS' BLOGS.

Ordering on line

~Another Pet Peeve~

Ordering on line and their return policies
“PASSING THE PROVERBIAL BUCK”

Have you ever ordered a product though the Internet? And after 4 to 6 weeks it gets to your address. You open the package and find that it isn’t what you ordered or, it doesn’t work, or it’s broken? No matter what the reason, you have to send it back to be exchanged, replaced or fixed? Now, this is where the fun starts! You find the contact number on the shipping label; it’s a toll free number, good thing! It has been my experience that most of the time a woman will answer with something that sounds like, “Thank you for calling, then name the company,”, how may I help you?” Then the fun starts again because you can’t understand half of what she is saying because of her accent that can’t be recognized! Then you start explaining your problem to her and she asks for your name, address, phone number, date of purchases, date of delivery. Then she asks for the item number, shipping code and a hundred more questions. After you give all those answers, she tells you that she is connecting you with the shipping department and there comes that music indicating you are on hold!! And every 3 minutes or so, a recording will come on telling you that you are a valued customer and waiting for the next available operator! Well, that always told me that I need to get a good soft cushion and a tall glass of something to drink because I was going to be there for a while! FINALLY.. A voice on the other end said, “How can I help you?” Well you take it for granted that ALL that information you spent so long dishing out before was all entered on their computer…. NOT..!! All over again! By this time your butt is so sore you feel like saying, “To hell with it”! But, you hang in there because you have a good bit of $$$ tied up in this product and after you have gone through all the information again, the guy on the other end tells you that he has it all entered and is transferring the call to Human Resources to document my claim and there comes that infernal music again, after what seemed like 2 hours, a voice comes on and asks, How may I help you, I tell her what the other guy said and she asked, “What was his name”? Yep, you guessed it………Remember that old song, ‘Starting All Over Again’! _^&^%$&^*

Forgive your enemies. It messes up their heads.

L.H.O.M.

I just thought I would give you a little background about the 2 of us, and show you what Jo and I are so proud of..!

4 years ago when Jo and I moved into our, (Little House on the Mountain), picture #1 and #2 is what we had. By the time this picture was taken, I had cut and cleaned up most of the underbrush in the front yard. It had been let go for so long that undergroth was chest high and the only access was a 3 ft. wide, stone lined walk with woodchips between the stones leading to the house. If you look at the left side of the house, you can see how thick it was. The electric meter is on that side and only a narrow trail for the meater reader led to it. The undergrowth was up against the bunkhouse on the right side of the picture! By the time I had the largest part of the brush and briers cleaned out of the front yard, I knew that the job was too large for us to do by hand. So I called a young man with a bulldozer......... Smart move!!

Pic-#1

Pic-#2

Picture #3 reflects the hard work that went into improving the grounds.
And picture #4 show’s that Jo and I have doubled the size of our,
(Little House on the Mountain)…!

Pic-#3

Pic-#4

Diabetes

Hello Friends, I thought I would let in on some information about Diabetes. My wife has this problem and has done some extensive research on the subject. If any of you, or someone you know has Diabetes, then I suggest strongly that you stop by her Blog! That address is, -

http://www.jonjdsbitsandpieces.blogspot.com/

You might find something that will help you down the road….. I really think you will enjoy reading her blog, actually it’s both our blog but she’s the one that keeps it alive. She has a gift with words that I don’t have.