Petunia rambles on and on….

Did the grocery shopping for what I’ll need for the Thanksgiving feast on Thursday.  Should now have everything I need, or at least, everything I can think of this far.  If I decide to bake mushrooms, I’ll need to pick them up later in the week or they’ll be slimy.

Went to Wal-Mart and bought 2 plastic sets of drawers for yarn sorting and storage.  I really needed to go over what I had, sort it out, pet it, hold it, and try to decide what some of it should be.  Clearly, I need to Knit from the Stash for awhile!!  Right now, the casters are still inside one of the drawers and they are stacked one atop the other to minimize the space they take up.

They are already full.  Daughter says, “That is one shitload of yarn.”  There is more yarn hidden away.   Actually, about another shitload.  And fiber, too.

And to properly celebrate a part of my heritage, it’s kielbasa and pierogies tonight!

 

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Oh, check out the listing for the Science Channel.  Here, it’ll be shown on this Thursday night.  Maybe 9pm?   

Punkin’ Chunkin’    The Biggest Cultural Event in the State of Delaware.

Sadly, that’s as good as it gets here.

It’s my habit to get up early enough in the morning that I can fix my breakfast and coffee, carry it out near my computer, and read the morning news, e-mails and enjoy a calm start to my day.  Usually things get much more hectic as the day progresses, but this lull of peaceful time, with a good cup of Pop’s coffee, is a memory that often sustains me later in the day.

This morning I sat reading some posts on Ravelry that I’ve been following when I heard a voice from down the hall.  I could tell that this voice was coming from way down low, whispering under his door.  “Mommy!   Mommy!”    I don’t hear any stirring from the room across the hall.   “Mommy, Mommy!  Wake up!”    Still nothing from the other bedroom.

“Mommy! Wake up!  It’s me, Alex, and it’s snowing outside!!”

I jumped up and pulled the drapes aside, and sure enough, the “Local Weather Forecaster” was correct.

Seen in a post in a forum that I read:

1 day of coal or 364 days of fun?   I’ll take my chances!!

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I’m on the Dell mailing list, having bought 2 or 3 desktop units, one laptop – and a desktop for my son from them.  And almost every damn day, there’s an e-mail here from Dell, telling me which of their products they’ll sell me for at least $474 dollars off the regular price.  And hey, isn’t that great, running these wonderful sales, especially right before the holidays.  Well, as I love to waste lots of time, I’ve gone to the site and configured several.  Sorry, but once you get them kitted out with what I would prefer to have in them, they’re up way over what I’m willing to pay, even with their great discounts, and once again, I close the browser on another fabulous computer. 

For several reasons:

• The world economy is tanking.  In particular, the American economy is tanking.
• I’m pulling money out of my “hidden, tucked away” resources for medical bills I’m incurring.  And I’m already committed to that.
• While I think my job is secure, I guess others have thought that, too.  Like those that are now collecting unemployment.  In this climate, who really knows anything anymore? 
• All our medical insurances are tied to husband’s job and he works in Retail in a market that’s tied to housing.  (and we all know which way that’s going) (When riding a toboggan, there’s only one way to travel)
• The computer I’ve got works.
• As I’m sure Dell’s not gonna lose money on these deals, boy, they’ve really been gouging us all along.
• They outsource jobs, sending jobs and benefits overseas.

However, as noted recently, the price of fuel for the vehicles has dropped by half (or better) here.  This gives me hope that I’ll be able to continue to get to work each day, and I should be able to heat the house again this winter.  That was a great concern for many of us 3 months ago.  If gas is this high, how the hell are we going to pay the heating bills?  I’d bet many are still worrying about that, and will do so all winter.

All the news is about the expensive bailout of the automobile industry’s Big Three here, Ford, GM and Chrysler.  This morning, the radio station that I listen to in the car was taking calls from locals who wanted to spout their opinions.  Most all were firmly against the bailout, and their thoughts seemed to run along the lines of “throwing good money after bad.”  And “they wouldn’t be in this mess if the higher-up management folks weren’t so damn greedy (“Private jets, my ass, they should be flying Coach like the rest of us”), or if they had made better cars cheaper, had done more to make energy-efficient cars years ago.”  Well, I agree with all that, and they’ve clearly made poor decisions after poorer decisions, but……   

(Turning the coin over and looking at the other side)

If those 3 companies go under, they’re gonna take a hell of a lot down the spiraling drain with them.  There are car dealerships in almost every town across America; many towns have all 3.  It’s not just the workers, admittedly many thousands, that work in the automobile manufacturing plants that would be out of work.  All  those people in all those dealerships across the nation, the girls in the cashier’s office, the ones who register the vehicles, the salesmen, all the workers in the Service Dept, that rotate the tires and change the oil, and repair the vehicles after fender-benders.  And it goes further.  The Big Three don’t make batteries; they purchase them from somebody else.  And they don’t make glass, or fabric, or carpet, or radios, or tires or steel.  And all of those areas will be negatively affected, grossly so.  As their sales to the auto manufacturers start dropping, they’ll be laying off workers or going out of business themselves.  So we’re talking about more and more people out of work, unable to pay their mortgages because they’ve spent what little they get in unemployment compensation (until that runs out) on feeding their kids and trying to keep the heat and electric on  (it gets damned cold in Detroit).  People who lose their jobs usually lose their medical coverage – most of us receive that through a group plan through an employer.  Job goes, so does the health care.   People will only seek out their doctor if they’re on death’s doorstep, or they’ll be overwhelming the local Emergency Rooms which must, by law, care for them.    The doctors and hospitals won’t be paid.  The amount they “write off” annually will go up tenfold.  This will put a hurting on our entire health care system.  ‘Cause, damn it, people will still get sick, become injured, grow old.  That isn’t tied to the economy or the job market.

And as these systems start to fail, the spiral deepens, picks up speed, like a tornado gaining strength.  Discretionary spending will drop like a rock.  Those that still have some money to spend will be squirrelling it away, just in case.  The rest of the folks will be trying to hold onto what they’ve already got, like their homes, their cars.  Credit card bills will go unpaid, depressing that industry even further.  Restaurants will see less business as people stay home and cook.  Dollars will fall out of the entertainment industry.  

Sigh. 

When I think of all that hardship, to so many employees and families, and the national and potentially worldwide impact of the Big Three failing, then helping the auto industry starts to sound less bad.  (Notice that I didn’t say it sounded good.  It ain’t good.  Simply less bad)   But I think it ought to be done with a whole shitload of stipulations.  First, the term “bailout” seems so very much like handout, gift.  Or like getting a reward for screwing up.  It should be a one-time-only loan, with a definite payback schedule, the same as I’m expected to do with my car loan.  And heads should roll, starting at the top.  High-level management personnel who backed decisions that got them into this mess, well, they gotta go.  Terminated.  No fat severance package big enough to keep them in style for the rest of their days, no millions of dollars in some take-away specially-designed package deal – they’ve already gotten millions of dollars off the backs of the employees and the car owners.   They should walk away with what anyone else would leave with, were they terminated for incompetance.   And watch that the door don’t hit ya……    This is the same standard they’ve held over their own employees, I’m sure.

Those that replace them, well, they should make more that I do.   But not much more.  Pick rich folks for the job.

I think that I ought to stop thinking now.  It makes my head hurt.  I should be knitting.