Love, sex, and marriage

The following is a post I wrote on Facebook the other day:

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Heb 13:4 ESV "Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous."

Physical intimacy between a husband and his wife is a wonderful gift from God Himself, the "glue" that holds a marriage together (Gen 2:24), and the means by which He chose to bring children into this world. As such it is, in a real sense, a sacred thing.

God has made Himself quite clear on this subject.
Physical intimacy between a married man and a woman not his wife is ADULTERY, a SIN.
Physical intimacy between a married woman and a man not her husband is ADULTERY, a SIN.
Physical intimacy between unmarried man and an unmarried woman is FORNICATION, a SIN.
Physical intimacy between a man and another man is an UNNATURAL ACT, a SIN.
Physical intimacy between a woman and another woman is an UNNATURAL ACT, a SIN.
Physical intimacy between a human and an animal is an ABOMINATION, a SIN.
Jesus also made clear (Matt 5:28) that not just the physical act of (sinful) intimacy is wrong, but even mentally contemplating it is as much as sin as the act itself. As a married man, I don't have to actually be intimate with another woman to be guilty of adultery, all I would have to do is to "look on a woman to lust after her".

Do I look for a return to a hypocritical prudery? No, of course not. Do I think that we should make a crime out of all forms of sexual immorality? No. As a freedom-loving American, I recognize, and even cherish, the legal right for any individual to act in any way (s)he sees fit, provided no one else is coerced into it or physically injured by it.

I have many friends and relatives that live in immoral heterosexual relationships, and several that are practicing homosexuals. I love them all, unconditionally. They all, I think, know what I think and feel about this, and with a few exceptions are willing to accept me as I do them. (A few are not so kind, but oh well. I love them anyway, even though they don't believe that.)

I am not naive. Both of my parents had been married and divorced before they got together. And just to add a little more spice to it, I was born on their wedding night. (Talk about a buzzkill on a honeymoon!) Doesn't mean I think less of them. Anyone who knows me at all knows that I practically worshiped them, especially my father.

Some fifty years or so ago, the so-called "sexual revolution" tore our society to shreds. Lifelong monogamy is out. Serial marriage is in; just the other night the entertainer Jennifer Lopez, on American Idol [what a telling name that is!], joked about how many men to whom she has been married. A television show now almost must have a homosexual character to be truly successful. And now, I understand, one very popular daytime drama (soap opera), unveiled a major character as a transgender woman-that-used-to-be-a-man. Who knows what will be showing up in mainstream "entertainment" in the coming years and decades? I sure don't.

Once upon a time, the homosexual lobby pressed for toleration, to be allowed to act as they wanted. That was granted. Now, however, they are going much further, demanding not only toleration but celebration. And they are winning.

It is almost amusing to watch as people fall all over themselves to cater to them. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, went on the offensive against the recent Indiana Restoration of Freedom of Religion Act, saying they won't do business in a state that "discriminates" like that. Yet Apple aggressively pursues business in Saudi Arabia, where homosexuals not only don't get wedding cakes, they get EXECUTED. (O Hypocrisy, thy logo is a partially eaten apple!) President Obama, who a few years ago as a state senator in Illinois, voted FOR a virtually identical law in that state, has condemned Indiana's law. Can anyone say flip-flop?

I am not perfect. Never have been. Never will be as long as I inhabit this body that came equipped with a well-functioning sinful nature. (These days, that's just about the only thing that still works perfectly LOL!) It is only by the grace of God that I will not have to suffer His wrath and His judgement for the sins that I have committed, and they are many and varied, believe me.

But Jesus, the Son of God, came into this world to save sinners like me. He was born of a virgin, lived a perfectly sin-free life for some 33 years. He trained as a carpenter under his human step-father, then ministered to thousands for about three years. He gathered a small group of loyal followers, but was executed by the Roman government at the behest of the religious leaders because He had the audacity to claim to be the Son of God, and equal with God. But that grave couldn't even hold Him a whole weekend! On the third day, a Sunday, He rose from the dead and burst free from the tomb! (Much of the world will be celebrating the anniversary of that event this weekend, as a matter of fact.) He conquered sin and death, and even now sits in heaven waiting for the day that His Father sends Him back to earth to collect His followers. He bestows repentance, forgiveness, eternal life and eternal joy to all who believe in Him and trust in Him alone for salvation. He will save forever all whom He calls.

Do you hear Him calling you? If so, don't wait to respond. Take the plunge! It may seem scary at first, I know it did to me, but the rewards sure make up for it! And the greatest is this: God is now my Father, and Jesus is my beloved Savior, and no greater joy can be found than that!

Preparedness: Friendships, health, and wellness

Well, you never know when things will go straight south on you, seemingly in the blink of an eye.

For a few days, I had been feeling a little under the weather; not really sick, but not 100%, either. But, after my normal weekend off, I went to work Monday night like usual. About 4 am, I began really feeling crappy, but I assumed it was just from being tired, and readjusting to working all night after a couple nights off. Not unusual for Monday nights . But about 5 am, I spiked a fever and became delirious, according to the guys I was working with at that moment. They got my on-site supervisor to our location, and he got me out of the van and back to the office. My wife was called, and she had my brother-in-law lead her to the East St. Louis railroad yard where I work. (She had never been there; I had always discouraged that due to the really bad neighborhood surrounding it.) By that time, the railroad nurse had shown up, and determined that my fever was 104.4. She gave me a couple of Tylenol. They were going to call an ambulance for me, but my wife agreed to take me straight to the hospital.

We got to St. Anthony's Hospital about 7 am Tuesday, and my fever was down to 102, and an hour or so later was below 100. They did some fast talking and convinced me to spend the night, so I could get some IV antibiotics and fluids into me, and some rest. That one night turned into two nights, but they finally let me out yesterday (Thursday) afternoon. I had been pumped full of several different powerful antibiotics, plus several bags of saline. I was initially diagnosed as having pneumonia, but after a chest X-ray, a CT scan, and several blood tests, that was changed to a bad upper respiratory infection.

At home now, I am on orders to rest, and have two different oral antibiotics plus a third one via a nebulizer/inhalation machine.

One truly positive takeaway form this is that since the hospital is a strict no-smoking zone, I was put on a nicotine patch, and that seems to have done a great deal to help me with my smoking addiction. I went two and a half days smoke free. I can't say that I have stuck with that completely, but I can say that from two packs per day I am down to less than half a pack per day, and I foresee being able to quit completely in the near future.

It was good to have my wife by my side throughout; she only left my hospital room to go home and take care of our dogs and run errands; she was right there with me otherwise. What a wonderful woman I am blessed with!

My best friend was in and out several times. A good friend and a Godly man. And, a couple of other really good friends from way back showed up. Also Godly men. The interesting thing about friends like that is that although we hadn't seen each other in several years, just staying in touch via Facebook, when they made their (separate) appearances, it was like we had just seen each other the day before, without a trace of awkwardness. That is a hallmark of a true friendship.

This episode has really impressed upon me the importance of regaining and then maintaining the highest level of health and fitness possible. If I had been truly healthy and in good shape, I might have avoided this all completely, or at worst just been temporarily staggered by it. But because I had let my physical fitness level get so bad, this could have literally killed me if proper, prompt, and efficient treatment wasn't available. What would have happened had it occurred during a grid-down situation?

From painful personal first-had experience, I can tell you that a true "prepper" needs to work on his/her personal preps, meaning health and fitness levels, and solid friendships, with the "beans, bullets, and band-aids" as next-tier projects.

And, most importantly, one's "preps" need to address one's relationship with the Savior. Death can be right around the corner, and it would be the height of folly to be caught unprepared for THAT.

That's enough for now.

God bless!
Ron (and the Debster)

Health and weight loss

So many things going on, it's been hard to decide what to write about. With the onset of winter weather, the rioting and nonsense related to the Ferguson, MO mess in August died down a great deal. But I can't help wondering what will happen once warm weather returns. Might be an "interesting" spring & summer. 

The Debster is doing better and better. She is driving again, for the first time in almost a year. Hooray! And, as she becomes more and more mobile, her self-confidence and attitude about herself have started perking up. Triple-hooray!

My own issues remain. The leg has pretty much healed up, but the other problems still exist. The hematologist has had me undergoing a weekly phlebotomy (blood-draw) to get my hemoglobin count down. I normally don't have a problem with needle-sticks, but those things they use for drawing off entire units of blood aren't needles, they are more like sharpened hollow pencils. At least that's what it feels like going into the bend of my elbow.

The metformin that the doctor has me on to help control my blood sugar was rough on me, to begin with. The literature warned of the side effects, and they weren't kidding. For the first week or so, I was afraid to get more than a few steps away from the bathroom. Wow. Sure am glad that has faded away.

One positive is that because of the changes I've had to make to my diet, I have begun to lose weight. As of about 2 weeks ago, I had lost 6 pounds, and I'm pretty sure that I've lost a few more since then. I don't have a scale at home, though. Just going by the one in the doctor's office. I refuse to obsess over this. I know that I need to lose a LOT of weight. Really. A LOT. Like about one hundred thirty pounds, at least. One fifty wouldn't be out of bounds. But, thinking in terms of those kinds of numbers is guaranteed to only cause despair. So, my goal is to lose FIVE pounds. Once that is gone, then ANOTHER five pounds. It is much easier to think in those terms.

At this point, systematic exercise is difficult for me. I am so heavy that it doesn't take much at all to get me out of breath and my heart pounding. But I know that as the weight comes down, I'll be able to do a little more, and then yet a little more, and so on. And, as the exercise rate increases, so will the weight loss. That is a spiral that is the opposite of vicious! I will say, that even when I was young and fit, systematic exercise bored me to tears. I tended to keep fit by normal but strenuous physical activity, like hiking, wood-cutting, running up and down stairs instead of walking, playing sports, stuff like that. And I suspect the same will happen now. Just looking at a barbell makes me want to run the other way, but I have been eyeing my shovel and spade and garden space a lot lately. That kind of thing.

There were other things I wanted to talk about, like the garden I want to put in, my desire to get into woodworking using only hand-tools, getting ready for the fishing season, and so on. But this has gone on long enough; I'll save those for another time.

God Bless!
Ron (and the Debster)

Health updates and new stuff

Well, 2015 is off and running. At least no one close to me has died yet this year. Whew!

Some good news on the health front. My leg is healing quite nicely. The hard-core oral antibiotic regime of amoxicillin seems to have done the trick, making the short-term side-effects worth the hassle. There is still a little ways to go, but it is mostly healed up. Still have to use the mupirocin antibiotic ointment and keep it bandaged, but not for much longer.

The Debster's knees are coming along quite well. Her doctors and therapists are quite pleased with how far she has come so quickly this second time around. Won't be long and she'll be chasing me around with a rolling pin and/or frying pan, and probably catching me fairly easily. (I'm thinking I probably need to invest in a safety helmet soon.)

Not all the news was good, though. I have been diagnosed as pre-diabetic; my blood sugar numbers and other indicators are just a hair below full-blown diabetic levels. So my doc has me on meds, diet, and exercise, with a follow-up in a couple months with an endocrinologist.

Also have a pretty bad fungal infection in both feet. Doc thinks it may have contributed to the cellulitis, in fact. Podiatrist appointment later this week to begin work on that mess.

There are other issues as well, including weird hemoglobin and platelet levels. Hematologist appointment coming up for THAT. 

Geez. More doctor appointments now than in all of the last 10 years combined. The price of getting older and, more to the point, not taking care of myself to begin with. Let that be a lesson to ya!

Moving on: I've said this before, but I really mean it this time (ahem .. cough cough). Need to work on preparedness levels.

I've come to realize that I can think and talk all I want about "getting/being prepared", but if the Debster and I aren't on the same page, it's going to be tough sledding. My wife, simply put, does not think the way I do about this stuff. She was born and raised in the Great Nanny State of Illinois, and has the mindset that the government, or "somebody", or just "they", will take care of us if push comes to shove. Needless to say, that attitude makes me crazy. 

[An aside: why do people say "needless to say", and then say it anyway? If truly "needless", then don't say it; if has to be said, then don't say "needless". Nevertheless ...]

So I guess that before I get all involved with planning for long-term food storage, extensive gardening, saving money and resources, reducing dependency on others, and all that, I need to work on getting the Debster more willing to back me up. Not that she is fighting me on any of this. She is not. She simply doesn't understand the need for it, and has no real enthusiasm for it, nor much interest in active involvement. And her active participation is crucial to any serious advancement in these areas.

There are a lot of resources out there, both in print and on the Internet, about homesteading, rural living, home-farming and ranching, and the like. But so far, I haven't found much that would be of great help to us in urban preparedness. As I have mentioned before, the "bug-out" scenario, or even moving to a rural homestead, is pretty much a non-starter for us. Any prepping we do, at least for the foreseeable future, will involve a strictly urban environment, in a fairly small house on a very small city lot surrounded by homes, near major arterial roadways. Not the ideal "prepper"-type location, ya know?

Tip for saving money: don't spend loose change. Break a bill if you need to. At the end of each day, toss your loose change in a jar or can. You'd be surprised how quickly it adds up. Every so often, take a few minutes to count it. A pint-size mason jar holds $60 in loose mixed changed easily. And you know those larger prescription pill bottles, about 2" in diameter and about 2-1/2" tall? They will each hold $10 in loose change, with a little room left over. Let it pile up, and then once or twice a year, take it to the bank to exchange for folding money that you can put in your home safe or lock-box with the rest of your cash stash.

Well, that's enough for now. As always, thanks for reading!

God bless you all

Ron (& the Debster)

I want to feel festive, but it just ain't happenin', ya know?

Well, 2014 is almost over. And I have to say, I'm glad to see it go. It has been a rough year in many ways.

So many losses.

left to right:
cousin, Vern Buske, on New Year's Day
brother-in-law, Dan Green, on April 2
mother-in-law, Mary Hicks, nee Miles, on September 16
cousin, Jerry Cline, on Christmas Eve 
(Also, lost a very dear friend, Donna Westenberger, for whom I do not have a decent photo, to Lou Gehrig's Disease on Dec 16.)

My beloved Debster has had two major surgeries, one in June to replace her left knee, and one just two and a half weeks ago to replace her right knee. She has been laid up for most of the last six months recuperating and rehabbing, and still has a quite a way to go.

I've been battling a bad case of cellulitis, which almost put me in the hospital; only some fast talking, almost begging to tell the truth, with the doctor convinced her to allow me to try home treatment first. My leg is still a mess from that. Probably will be for several more weeks, according to the doctor.

And besides the Debster's knees and my leg, we both have other health problems that just keep nagging at us, some semi-serious, some just annoying.

Our van decided to to blow a head-gasket and crack the block. It had to be junked. The Blazer, with almost 260,000 miles on it, is on it's very last legs. Our only reliable car, at the moment, is the 1992 Oldsmobile that we bought from her mom's estate. Only has 96,000 miles on it, but it is still 22 years old, and won't hold up forever under regular daily use. So we're going to have to break down and buy a much newer vehicle by spring, at the latest.

Had to change employers at the end of October. My old employer lost their contract for the job I was on. I got picked up by the new company that got the contract, but although the hourly rate is the same, I lost a lot of benefits, not to mention some hard-won seniority.

My beloved home town of St. Louis, MO has virtually gone up in flames in the aftermath of the Mike Brown shooting in Ferguson in August; the northern part of the county will not fully recuperate any time soon, if ever.

I'm not even going to get into the state of national politics and events; all that does is make me see various shades of red and want to start throwing things.

For years I have detested the American version of Christmas. A holiday to celebrate the birth of the Christ-child is fantastic. I could get into that. Only Easter is more important, as far as I am concerned. But, in the nation, it is all about consumerism and greed, with a thin veneer of charity and love and cheer. Not about Jesus Christ at all. Even in the best of churches, as they supposedly celebrate "The Reason for the Season", it usually winds up being primarily a showcase for parents and other relatives to ooh! and ahhh! over their children in the "Christmas play". The Child has been forsaken for the sake of the children.

Well, you all will just have to forgive me for this, but, as a well-known personage once said, "Bah! Humbug!"

Happy New Year, everyone. 2015 has to be better than 2014. It couldn't be much worse.

Thanks for taking the time to read. I promise, I'll get back to my normally cheerful self in  a week or so, after the "holiday" season is over.

Ron

A family loss, a pet saved, and more ...

We lost my mother-in-law a month ago. At age 92, Mary Miles Hicks finally went home to be with the Lord. I haven't written about that yet, because we are still trying to come to grips with it. But soon I will devote some space here for that wonderful woman, whose greatest accomplishment, in my eyes at least, was giving birth to the Debster.

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Well, I didn't make it to the gym today. That makes five years in a row now! A new record! Go me!

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Earl and Bubba were sitting in the boat, quietly fishing and drinking beer and chewing 'baccy. Earl suddenly says, "I think I'm gonna divorce the Wife. She ain't spoke to me in months."

Bubba thinks on it for a spell, leans overboard to spit, takes a long slow drink of beer, and finally says, "Well, you better think that over some more. A woman like that is mighty hard to find."

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Mom didn't live long enough to see her beloved Cardinals choke in the NLCS against the Giants. She would have been very disappointed in her team. I know I am. But, they are still my team, and always will be. A TRUE fan is ALWAYS a fan, even when things don't go as well as we would like. Those fair-weather "fans" that bailed just because the Cards lost the series can go sip their wine and stick their snoots in the air. The rest of us will root for the Kansas City Royals, the other Missouri team, to whip the Giants all the way back to California and into the Pacific Ocean in the World Series. And then, we will sit and stare out the window and wait longingly for Spring Training to begin again in February.

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Gotta give a shout-out to my wonderful niece, Jessica Johnson. She trained as a veterinary technician, and it came in useful for us this week. 

The Debster has an old black cat named Bull. The other day, she asked me if I had seen the cat recently. I thought about it and replied that I hadn't seen him in a couple days. Now, the cat has had a habit in the past of staying out of sight for long periods, only making his presence known if his food, water, or litter box needs attention, so I hadn't paid any attention.

Well, later that day, I went into the pantry in the basement, and found Bull on the floor curled up in a corner. I thought for a second he was dead, but he opened one eye and looked at me, then closed it again. But he wasn't moving.

I picked him up and took him into my office. The Debster called Jess to see if she had any ideas. Jess came over and checked him out. She thought he might have low blood sugar from not eating right. (The dogs sometimes steal his food when he isn't looking, and we don't always catch that right away.)

So, on her advice, we fed him a little Karo corn syrup, just a few drops off the end of the Debster's finger. He perked up some. We got some good moist food, and he nibbled at that, again off the Debster's finger. So, we put him in a box with bowls of food (dry and moist) and water, and continued giving him a little Karo a couple times a day.

Three days later, he is wandering around and pestering everybody, just like his old self. He's lost a little weight, and seems just a little weak and wobbly yet, but definitely on the mend.

Thanks, Jess!

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Many of you have probably heard of the puzzle game Sudoku. I have been doing them for quite some time myself. Well, recently, I discovered a new puzzle game, called "Kakuro". The only place I have seen it is in the web version of our local St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper (StlToday.com), under the Entertainment / Comics & Games tab.

It is a lot like a numeric crossword puzzle. 

Here is one from the other day:

Here are the rules, as they appear on the website:

And here is the completed puzzle:

I wish I could find a print version of this that I could take to work with me, to work on during slack periods.

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Speaking of work, I mentioned before that the company I work for had lost its contract with the railroad, and we were all going to lose our jobs. Well, God is good! The company that is taking over the contract has agreed to hire most of us, at our current pay rates. There will be some losses in terms of accrued vacation and so forth, it won't be a union shop, and in general perhaps not quite as good to work for all around. But, at least I will continue working, pretty much as if nothing happened. Same thing, just in a different vehicle. 

Actually, in that respect, I'm looking forward to that aspect of it. The Ford Expeditions that the new company is bringing in are much better suited to the rough'n'tumble usage in a railroad yard than the Dodge Grand Caravans we have been driving. The Dodges are great vans for family use on regular roads, but just aren't built for the rough bouncing and pot-hole filled gravel pits that pass for roadways within the railyard.

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That's enough for today. As always, thanks for reading, and may God bless you!

Ron

Baseball, football, losing a job and getting a new one ...

Gotta love the Cardinals! Here's looking forward to a long run through the post-season, ending with yet another World Series Championship.

As much as I dislike the Yankees as a team, it is kind of sad to see the end of Derek Jeeter's career. He was a real class act.

AND, for just a bit more sweetness, the Packers whooped the Bears. YAY!!

OK. Got all that outta my system, sort of, for now, anyway ...

The Debster is doing so much better. Only uses the cane and/or walker occasionally. Will be a lot better when she gets the other knee done, hopefully soon. Ideally, I'd like to see it done and have her back home from the rehab center before the snow and ice season gets here. Otherwise, maybe wait till next spring. But I really don't want to have her wait in pain another 6 months.

Been babysitting my six-year-old grandnephew for a couple hours in the afternoon four days a week. That little guy is such a joy. Going to be a little sad when his mother finally gets her day-care situation straightened out and won't need us for that anymore.

The company I work for has lost its contract with the railroad. We will all be out of work as of midnight on October 31, when the new company takes over. The new company says it will be hiring most of us, if we are interested. I've heard a lot of bad things about the new company and its personnel-handling policies, making me somewhat leery of them. But, for now I can't afford to be picky. Jobs are just too few and far between.

So, I put in an application about a week ago, and on Saturday morning went to meet with them. They took copies of my Social Security card, driver's license, and DOT physical certificate. Gave me a check-ride'n'drive, which I aced. So I guess they will be hiring me; should know within a week or so. 

One surprise is that if I am hired, my new boss will be my old boss. Brenda left our current company recently, and when I showed up for the check ride, she was there. Found out she has been hired to manage the new branch office they are setting up just for this expansion.

Here's a chuckle for you:

While driving in Pennsylvania, a family caught up to an Amish carriage. The owner of the carriage obviously had a sense of humor, because attached to the back of the carriage was a hand printed sign... "Energy efficient vehicle: Runs on oats and grass. Caution: Do not step in exhaust."

(Compliments of Backwoods Home Magazine) 

Well, that's all for now. God bless! 

Our food supply is killing us

Couldn't help myself; I thought this was hilarious!

The Debster is doing great. She is transitioning from the walker to a cane, and has regained most of the flexibility in her new knee. Her pain level has diminished a great deal also.

Now, for the "meat" of this post:

Bluntly put, our food supply is killing us. This is from a Federal Government website:

While the American food supply is among the safest in the world, the Federal government estimates that there are about 48 million cases of foodborne illness annually—the equivalent of sickening 1 in 6 Americans each year. And each year these illnesses result in an estimated 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths.

The US Dept. of Agriculture, responsible for inspection of meat and poultry, and the Food and Drug Administration, responsible for inspection of all other kinds of food, actually inspect only a tiny percent of the food that we buy.

Much of our food is produced on huge factory farms, and the number of traditional family farms dwindles more and more every year.

The vast majority of our seafood is imported from Asia. Tilapia, shrimp, catfish, and many other types are grown in huge fish farms all across Asia. These farms are NOT subject to the standards and limits applied to US suppliers, and often utilize known carcinogenic chemicals and additives. They are usually severely overcrowded and thoroughly unhygienic. 

Proposed laws and regulations attempting to stem the flow of tainted foods from foreign sources are usually gutted or even killed by legislators that are fearful to anger a trading "partner". 

Inside the US, large-scale food producers often go for years without seeing an inspector. And if a producer is determined to be producing tainted foods, there are few consequences. The worst that they will usually get is a sternly worded letter. 

What can you and I do to protect ourselves?

First and foremost, grow as much as possible for yourself. Even apartment dwellers can grow some foods using container gardening methods. Even a small yard usually has room for a garden, and techniques such as Square Foot Gardening can maximize output from a small garden.

(Stock photo from Google Images)

Even urban areas in the city will often allow for at least a few chickens, rabbits, and the like, although you would obviously want to check your local regulations. 

Very few people, even those on large rural homesteads, will be able to grow EVERYTHING they need, and will have to purchase some foods. As much as possible, buy from local farmers markets or even directly from the farmers. If you must buy from a supermarket, talk to the produce manager. Even large national chain-stores often use local suppliers for much of their produce and so forth.

Be picky about the meat and dairy products you buy. One good option is to patronize a local butcher. Make sure the meat he is selling is chemical- and antibiotic-free. You can save a great deal of money by buying a quarter or even half a cow. The up-front cost is obviously high, but the per-pound cost is significantly less than small packages. Perhaps splitting the purchase with a friend or few will enable you to exercise this great deal.

Make sure you follow safe handling practices. ALWAYS wash your fruit and produce, even if the package says "Pre-washed and ready to eat". 

Make sure your foods are thoroughly cooked, especially eggs, poultry, and pork.

Leftovers should be promptly packaged and refrigerated, not left sitting out for hours.

There is much that you can do to protect yourself from botulism, e. coli, listeriosis, salmonella, and many other types of food poisoning. Don't count on the government to do it for you, unless you actually enjoy playing Russian Roulette.

God bless,
Ron and Deb

A good chuckle; "reforming" Social Security once and for all

Here's a chuckle for you: 

Social Security has come to be known as the "third rail" of politics. In other words, a politician's career will die a horrible death if (s)he so much as touches this most sacrosanct of government programs. Fortunately for me (and perhaps for the nation in general), I am not a politician and never plan to run for ANY office, so I can say whatever I want without fear of being booted from office.

Way back in the 1930's, the Roosevelt administration pushed through a whole boatload of legislation to set up a "safety net" for American citizens, especially those that were hit the hardest by the Great Depression. One of the biggest parts of this was the Social Security Act in 1935. Originally, it called for a small percentage of everyone's income to be taxed, and their employers had to contribute a matching amount. 

When a person reached the retirement age of 65, they could then draw a monthly stipend to augment whatever savings and other income they might have, allowing for a better standard of living for at-risk senior citizens. It was not meant to be a sole, or even primary, source of income. There were provisions for widows and minor children, but there was no such thing as "Disability Income", "Medicare", and the like. These were all added later.

In 2013, Social Security, Medicare, and related expenditures by the Federal Government totaled a whopping 38% of the Federal Budget. As the "baby boomer" generation continues to age and retire, that number will only grow larger.

One of the major drawbacks to this program is the disincentive it provided to saving for retirement, especially among lower-income workers. Why scrimp and save and do without, when the government will pay for your retirement? Savings, even among those with robust incomes, has decreased dramatically over the years.

In my opinion, it is time to do away with this whole system. It is obscenely bloated, horribly corrupt, and a huge drain on society. Young people today are paying over 15% of their income, half directly in the form of a tax, and half paid by their employer from money that could and should otherwise be paid directly to the worker. Yet, by the time these workers reach "retirement age", there will be little available for them to draw on themselves.

Here is my proposal:

1. Incentivise direct retirement savings by expanding the IRA and 401k programs, allowing for full  tax deductions for any amount placed into some sort of retirement account, removing restrictions and limits.
2. Immediately eliminate the FICA tax withholding from paychecks. STRONGLY encourage employers to take the share that they had been paying to FICA and pay it directly to the employee. Create incentives for employers to do this rather than to pocket the savings for themselves, and perhaps create penalties for employers that do not. (I am not so sure about that last part; I have never been a fan of forcing businesses to spend or not spend in any way.) 
3. Stop issuing Social Security Numbers. They will no longer be needed, and their role in identity theft will soon disappear.
4. Since doing away with this huge program will throw a LOT of federally employed accountants and bookkeepers out of work, create temporary jobs for some of them to handle the following calculations and disbursements.
5. Senior citizens already retired and receiving benefits will continue to receive them as usual. They worked their whole lives for them, and it would be a gross injustice to yank it away from them.
6. Immediately stop all other "benefit payments", such as SSDI, Supplemental Security Income, and the like.
7. For each non-retired worker that has paid into the system but not received any benefits, treat what (s)he has paid in (including employer matching funds) as a series of savings account deposits. A total amount should be calculated, including accrued interest at an equitable rate. That total amount should be paid directly to that employee as a one-time disbursement. Tax free, of course, as it simply a refund of a tax already paid. Older workers, especially, that have paid in a substantial amount over the years, should be encouraged to stash this money in a retirement fund of some sort.

There are obviously holes in this plan. For instance, funding the continuing payments mentioned in section 5. Better brains than mine could fine-tune this plan. 

Something similar needs to be done with Medicare, but I wouldn't know where to even begin.

The biggest obstacle, of course, will be finding some brave politician that is willing to risk political suicide by working this up and presenting it as proposed legislation. Something tells me that will never happen.

Oh well, it was fun to think about it, anyway.

God bless!

Ron

Update on The Debster, and cousin Crazy George goes off-grid

I thought this was worth a chuckle ...

Well, the Debster has been home for a couple of days now, and life is settling back into some semblance of normalcy. She is still pretty limited in what she can do, but is improving daily. She gets up and down the stairs from the bedroom fairly well, and is doing her prescribed exercises with only a little bit of prodding from "the management of this torture chamber", meaning me. Her incision is healing nicely. She is normally a very slow healer, so that is VERY good news. And she has begun to cut back on the pain meds, also great news. One other thing that I really hope to see happen is that as the pain recedes and she gets some normal motion back, she will be able to work on strengthening herself all around. She has been in so much pain for so long, and hence virtually an invalid, that she has allowed her muscle strength to atrophy to an alarming extent. This is going to be a long process, but I hope that by the end of the year, after the other knee has been replaced, it will speed up quickly.

I received a letter the other day from my cousin Crazy George.

Hey Ronbo! [I'll explain that later]

Well, Patsy and I finally did it! We bought a spread near [name of town redacted]. You been yammerin about self-sufficiency and going off the grid for so long that we decided you just might be right.

 We have about 100 acres. It's kind of hilly, par for the course here in the Missouri Ozarks, too rocky to be great farmland. Most of it is wooded, but there are a couple of acres fairly level and clear, with a nice sized spring-fed crick running through it.

The nearest town is about 5 miles away, and our property is about a mile down a dirt road off the county road. The closest "neighbor" is about a mile away. There are NO utilities run out here at all.

This is a stock photo of a 1971 Airstream similar to George's.
He doesn't allow photos of his. Or of anything, for that matter. Kinda paranoid.

For the moment, we are living in our Airstream camper. We haven't decided what we are going to do about a permanent abode, but we are leaning towards building a log cabin. There is no shortage of building material, that's for sure!

There is a small outbuilding that hasn't fallen down yet. I'm going to do some repairs on it, and use it to house our garden tractor and our ATV. 

We had the crick tested, and the water has no chemical pollution. So I am going to put up a 500-gallon cistern, and a generator-powered pump from the crick to keep it filled. A good charcoal filtration system should take care of other remaining impurities. Eventually we will have to figure out a better water supply; that generator uses a lot of diesel fuel. Even adapting it to run on waste oil, and bio-diesel which I will be able to make myself, it is not economical enough to be a long-term solution.

I need to run into town and pick up some supplies, so I'll be mailing this from there. Give me a call. Although I don't have cell service out here, you can leave a message and I'll be able to get it when I get to town.

Hope to see you out here visiting soon.
George

Well, I have to go as well. Time to get the Debster up, get her breakfast, and finish the laundry. More to follow soon.

God bless!
Ron