Where’s the Money?

I’m a simple man. I don’t understand all this Wall Street jargon. Let’s face it, buy low, sell high makes sense, sort of. Let’s face it, buy low, sell high makes sense, sort of. You buy a stock at $2.00 and sell it for $3.00, but you pay your broker $1.25. You make a profit and lose money. Ah, I get it. You pay a broker whose primary function is to make you go broke. Ok, now that makes sense.

Here’s where it gets confusing. The American government makes money. No, it’s not from working because politicians talk a lot, work very little. Heaven forbid they have to spend their multi thousand dollar pay on deodorant because they had to sweat a bit. I mean the government has a press that uses ink and some funny paper to make something called bills. I’ve heard of them but as an ex working stiff, I don’t get to see any. The American stuff is backed with either gold or gold plate. The Euro is also backed with something valuable, like Churchill’s false teeth.

The question then is, where does this paper stuff go? It leaves the mint and poof, it vanishes. It doesn’t go to the banks. They say it does, but I don’t believe it. Banks are supposed to know how to handle money, yet they have to get bailed out by a government that doesn’t know how to handle money. Odd, because if this money stuff were in the hands of the people that actually work to earn it, it would circulate. Blood circulates and gives life. Money circulates and gives prosperity. Stop the blood, no more life. Stop the money circulation and the economy goes belly up.

Wait, I just figured it out. We don’t get the money, then the rich, non-working politician can buy cheap or rather, buy low. Tell ya what, I’ll pay my water bill (isn’t water supposed to be free?), with a pig, three chickens and a dozen eggs. For what it’s worth, I can find the beef.

 

Your fellow serf

Ron

The American Way

Freedom, remember that? We used to have it. Not any more. We are now a nation controlled by insurance companies, pantywaists, and an idiot named Obama. Smoking is bad for you. So, since it is bad, insurance companies and state fools, er, governments, ban it everywhere. But, there is a big push to legalize marijuana. This makes sense how? People are so afraid of smelling a cigarette that they will go to extremes to avoid it. Yet how many people are overcome by perfumes and colognes? Not to worry, that’s the next thing to get banned. Coming to work with even a hint of smoke will get you fired. Coming to work with a hangover is a great conversation starter and will get you invited out for a multi-cocktail lunch.

Women have finally won equality but that is about to end. Instead of just allowing a woman the right to just say no, others know what is really correct. Abortion will be banned. Where does that leave us? For the females that survive the back alley use-any-available-kitchen-utensil, their male counterparts will have to work two or more jobs to support the plethora of unwanted children. Not to worry though because children know when they aren’t wanted. So, since parents can no longer discipline their offspring, we can expect a lot more criminal activity. Mom didn’t want the child but the law does. Isn’t it nice to be wanted?

Sex and sexual activities are still allowed: if and only if you are heterosexual. Non-heterosexuality is genetic. It cannot be changed through therapy. But you don’t need to know science to be in politics. Take a look at who is running for office this year for proof.

Ladies, considering the way this country is changing, there are only two things you can do. Start smoking to prevent getting pregnant or a job, and grow your hair long, thus allowing the male to have something to grab hold of as he drags you into his mancave.

And the Idiots are…

If you’re rich, you can afford to not have kids. But, if you are low income, the kids will keep flowing. Of course these kids will become wards of the state or just more street kids. Governor Perry doesn’t like Planned Parenthood that gives out free or low cost birth control. But he does believe in marriage. Ok, so now it’s low income families living on the street.

He doesn’t like gay marriages. So he doesn’t have to marry a guy. He’d be an ugly wife anyway. Why can’t he believe in freedom? He, like others, wants to set women’s right back two thousand years. Excuse me Mr. Perry and Madame Buchanan, but being gay is genetic, not a switch that can be turned off or on.

How many women do we want killed in back alleys when they use whatever is in the kitchen drawer to abort a child? I myself prefer a clean medical office with real doctors. No, I don’t believe in abortion but I strongly believe in the woman’s right to choose. Has no one heard of the word No? If ya don’t want one or don’t believe in it, DON’T GET ONE!

I could go on, but I think you see the point. Genetics really does count.

Review of The Promise of Deer Run

Elaine Cooper has written the second of three romantic historical novels. The Promise of Deer Run is number two. Her blog tour will be Nov 7 – 11. My review follows:

Title: The Promise of Deer Run

Author: Elaine Marie Cooper

Publisher: iUniverse

Copyright: 2011

ISBN: 978-1-4620-3796-4 (3797-1, 3798-8)

Format: Paperback

Genre: Historical romance

 

“The nightmare was
back, plaguing Nathaniel Stearns sleep.”

War indeed is a nightmare and when the enemy is your former
countrymen, it’s worse. Thus we start our journey through family’s lives at the
end of the American Revolution. This is not your typical war or typical romance
novel. It is fiction based fact and well written. As Elaine Cooper writes, you
the reader are in the story. Imagine being put in stocks for being mildly
disobedient. This incident is not glossed over but shown with stark detail.
Hungry? Need to use the facilities?

 

We have just covered the first twenty or so pages. The
details have been deeply researched. ‘The Promise of Deer Run’ is the second of
three in the series. It is here we understand the family structure. Working
together as a family wasn’t a desire so much as a vital necessity. ‘The Promise
of Deer Run’ has as much history as it does romance.

 

It is a book I strongly recommend because too many modern
Americans have lost sight of what makes this country great. We see movies about
this country’s beginning but in ‘The Promise of Deer Run’, we get a close up
view of the families; their struggles and their accomplishments. Have you read
The Declaration of Independence lately? You’ll want to after your first read of
this book.

It’s time to look at books

It is time to talk holidays. One of the most endearing gifts are books and I just happen to have three of them. Check out http://ronberryfamily.com/.
For pure entertainment I wrote “Laughs from Corn Country”, an anthology of short stories. Those pesky math problems can be figured out easier with “Math for the Family“. No problems to work but a lot of good and often humorous examples. Have young children? The first of the Amanda series is available, but only on Kindle. You were going to give Kindles as holiday presents, weren’t you? Just for the record, Laughs from Corn Country and Math for the Family is also available on Kindle.

Comments welcome on contact page.

To be an American

Red Skelton was a great comedian. He was also one of our greatest patriots. He recorded the Pledge of Allegiance and reiterated what one of his teachers taught him about it. After the class had recited it, this instructor went through the pledge line by line and explained what each line meant. It’s too bad Obama never heard it.

If anyone wants to hear it, contact me and I’ll send it. I feel it is very important all Americans know what this country is all about. Yes, we are a melting pot, but one must understand that when things melt, they become one. We have not reached that stage yet, but we are feeling the heat.

I won’t apologize for this rant as I am a true American. Are you?

Maple Spaghetti

 Lunchtime found Zeke sitting in the family restaurant. As he walked in he noticed Abe sitting in the corner booth and decided to join him.

 

“Marty, bring Zeke a cup o’ that there special mornin’ eye opener ya got brewing. I don’t know what she puts in this stuff but it t’ain’t normal coffee. Taste it afore ya’s put’s any o’ that white stuff in. Ah knows ya likes it sweet, but this early in the morn ya wants ta gets up and git ta goin’.”

 

What Marty never told anyone is that she had thrown the grounds from the coffee pot out back and it had taken hold and started to grow. I don’t know what am but in this neck o’ the woods weird things grow. (Ok, so it’s poor English. I’m the narrator and I grew up around these folks so I tends ta talks like ‘em at times., ok?!?! ‘nuff said)

 

Turns out that the growing season for this new breed of coffee was quite short, so she was able to pull two crops out in one season. After putting enough aside to make another crop in the spring, Marty took the rest of the beans and put them in her uncle’s corn dryer for a couple of weeks. She pulled out a handful and ground them up to see how they would taste. They weren’t dry enough so they made an extra strong pot. Actually it was strong and heavy because when she picked up the carafe to pour a cup, it broke. The stuff even melted part of the counter! She decided to let the stuff dry a bit longer.

 

The next time she tried it, about a month later, it came out like it should. One taste and she knew she had a winner! One sip and she was wired and ready to go. By the time she finished the first cup she had cleaned the entire kitchen! But she wasn’t ready to try it on the customers yet. Although the first reaction was good, it seemed like a wise idea to make sure there weren’t any negative side effects. By the end of the day she knew it was safe because the effects wore off gradually and didn’t cause her to crash and burn, which usually happened with the caffeine pills. She put it on the menu as the B & B Eye opener.

 

“Hey Marty, where’d ya ever find this stuff? It’s great!”

 

“Sorry Zeke, that’s my special mix and I ain’t ready ta give out my secrets.”

 

Although it was breakfast time, Zeke ordered spaghetti because he would be starting to harvest the pitcher plants when he got home. Abe, on the other hand, ordered pancakes. Tempting fate (and ignoring Abe’s warning), Zeke also ordered a second cup of that special coffee. Well, you can just imagine the effects of trying to eat when you’re so wired you can barely sit. Yep, you’re right, Zeke grabbed the maple syrup instead of the spaghetti sauce. You ain’t et til ya tried it!

 

Now ya gots ta remember, this is spaghetti and pancake growing country , so what happened next is just natural.

 

“Abe, try this!” (Abe was trying not to laugh at Zeke’s mistake, but it t’warn’t easy).

“Syrup on spaghetti? You’re crazier than the rest of the family!”

 

But, to pacify him, Abe took a bite.

 

“By golly, you may have something there. But how will you ever convince folks to try it? I mean, let’s face it, most normal people just don’t put syrup on spaghetti.”

 

“Let me get back home. I have an idea”

 

One thing the whole family knew was that before planting a full sized crop, they needed to get the formula right. But, weather was all too often a negative factor so each of the farms had a greenhouse and thus they could experiment year round. Zeke gathered up seeds from the spaghetti plants and the pitcher plants. The big question was, does one put both seeds in the same row, or what is the proper procedure? Maybe cross-pollinating was best. He planted two test beds, one for each method. It took the rest of the fall and part of winter but he had his answer. By spring planting, he was ready.

 

Since it was only a small yield Zeke decided to let Abe and Marty try it to see if they thought it was a viable crop. The smiles on their faces was all Zeke needed to see to know he did it right. He headed home to get the larger field ready. This time he had enough to let Marty put it on the menu.  In fact, she did more than that because her window now sported a big, new sign:

 

“New menu item for brunch. Try it once and you’ll never eat it any other way”

 

“Marty, you didn’t list what the new item was on your sign.”

 

“I know, I did that on purpose so folks would ask what it is and I can give them a free sample.”

 

After a week or so, she had customers lining up, wanting to sample this new sensation. Each plate served came with several pats of butter, but no sauce. It was all the hints needed and word of mouth had already spread as to that being the best way. Marty and Zeke were getting rave reviews for this new dish. Who would ever guessed just how popular Maple Spaghetti would be!!

It Takes a Thief

Let me get this straight. CitiBank is going to charge twenty bucks if an account dips below fifteen thousand. It’s lower if you have a different account. Ten bucks for accounts below fifteen hundred. What? Should that fifteen hundred get spent on rent then the utility check bounce, there’s a fifty buck overdraft charge. Ok, I can see a small (not the big ones now in place), fee for a bounced check. But I have to pay if my account goes below a certain amount? I’ll keep the cash please.

This new idea is from a bank that couldn’t even handle its own money and had to get bailed out by the government (another entity that obviously can’t handle money). Citibank isn’t the only thief, er, bank, that is doing this. All the big banks are now going to charge for using their services. That leads us into the next probable change coming down the pike; cash.

We now pay fees for using or even having, credit cards. We pay to use debit cards. How long will it be before we have to pay a fee to use cash? How long will it be before cash isn’t even accepted? It isn’t usable at airports, so that has already started. Let’s go back to the barter system.

“I’ll give you two pigs, one goat and half a bag of wheat for the new bed.”

Obedience, Obesity, and reality

Potatoes make children fat. Toys in McDonald’s happy meals cause child obesity. According to the FDA, potatoes make you fat. But then again, the sodium in bacon is bad for your cholesterol. Lettuce is bad because of the pesticide used to keep the bugs off. But you can’t wash it with tap water because there are bad things in that. According to FDA standards, 99% of what we eat is bad for you and the remaining 1% costs too much.

Let’s get real. Food does not cause obesity by itself. Granted it will make you fat, but moving around (it’s called exercise), works off what you ate. Why do children get fat from McDonald’s? Because they don’t play. Oh they play, but it’s video games. Their thumbs get a great workout. What happens when toys are taken out of happy meals? Do children eat nothing? Uh, it’s up to the parents where they eat and if it isn’t happy meals it is something else on the menu that is just as bad if not worse.

No, the problem is not what they eat or what we eat. The problem is that no one wants to move around. I’d tell a joke about a fat Irishman, but I don’t know any. I don’t think there are many since Irish potato farmers had to work hard to harvest their crops.

What about the rest of us? We get fat just like the kids, but without their energy level. McDonald’s addressed that by putting in play areas.  I for one hate sports, but a game of baseball or football for the kids works off whatever ‘fatstuff’ they ate.

I don’t know about everyone else but I think I am going to build a fire, using the FDA regulations as fuel. Then I am going to sit down with a book (remember those?), eat my French fries (well salted), and a few bacon cheeseburgers and wash it all down with tap water.

Tea leaves – prologue

Below is the prologue to “It was in the Tea Leaves.” I would appreciate some feedback.

“Miss, the last words your mother spoke were, ‘It was in the tea leaves.’ Can you… “

She interrupted the paramedic.

 

 “The son of a bitch finally did it. He said he would kill her and he finally did!”

 

That was all she could say.

 

At that point she collapsed. The paramedics brought her around at last.

“Ma’am, your dad beat your mother; he didn’t poison her. At least there’s no evidence of it. We didn’t see any cups or tea leaves.”

 

 

“It was in the tea leaves is our private code for trouble, and almost always it meant that Dad was taking out his rage against whatever—on Mom.”

Mike, Karen’s father, was arrested, and this time he was charged with murder. The laws of the day did not recognize spousal abuse. Karen had seen her mom used as a punching bag all too often, but never had it been as bad as this. The police knew their house well, as they had made many visits in the past, but they could never do anything about it. Once it escalated to the point of hospitalization, they had enough for a charge of assault. But Mike had gone the extra step and made this beating fatal.

 

Karen was a witness for the prosecution at her dad’s trial. Like almost everyone else, she was stunned at the verdict: second-degree murder. He hadn’t preplanned to kill her. Right! He just beat her beyond recognition! She went to the cemetery and leaned down on the fresh earth.

 

“Yes, I will be at every parole hearing. I’ll make sure that monster stays behind bars forever. “