My New Year resolution for 2013?
To become as self-sufficient as I can possibly be by the end of 2013.
I want to find the way, means and manner by which we can live on this 1.5 acre piece of God's creation in NEPA and rely as little as possible on the "machine" of modern society.
Just over 100 years ago, the home I am sitting in was built on this same piece of land, and a family (named the Bakers) happily and productively lived here for the better part of 70 years. They built the house without electricity, running water, sewage utilities, government assistance, or special guaranteed loans and grants. They farmed, produced and managed all the surrounding land. Of that original homestead, we now own only 1.5 acres... but with the means at our disposal, there is no reason why we can work to meet a goal of 75% complete self-sufficiency within a few short years.
By year's end, I resolve to find the means to reduce our fuel consumption (mainly heating oil) by more than 60%, and our costs by more than 50% for winter heating. This 100-year-old house will be better insulated, it will have a secondary source of heat for winter, it will have a secondary source of water, and it will have a secondary source of sanitation by next winter. We will improve our gardening skills (already rather successful in our first few attempts) to allow us to "produce" a much larger proportion of our consumable needs every season. We will find the means to stop "patching" the problems with this old house, and we will learn how to "fix" them ourselves. We will find the means to supplement or reduce our electrical needs.
In short, I want to make my "goal" the ability to require only gasoline (which I cannot produce), electricity (which I cannot produce enough of), communication (internet, phone, etc) and such minimum amounts of supplies as required to live healthy, happy and productive lives. I want to manage this house as a "homestead" that can and does produce as much as it needs, as often as it can, with only what we have on hand to do it.
It worked for my grandparents and great-grandparents during the Great Depression. It worked for the people that built this house and successfully worked the land here for 70 years (until the Carter Depression, in fact, when it was parceled- out and sold). By God, it's going to work for us too... or I'm going to go broke. I simply DO NOT see how I am going to pay for two college educations, a young son, and all the bills and costs associated with today's spend-spend-spend society.
Saturday, January 5, 2013
The price of compromise...
Today, we looked at my first payroll check of 2013...
I was more than $25 short from my last check of 2012, due entirely to the increased SSI tax and the 2% higher payroll tax withholding amount.
This is not an issue of too many early outs, either. I'm salaried... meaning my paycheck hasn't varied by more than $0.02 since I became a full-time pit manager. This is, without question, the result of the House compromise bill okay'd by Boehner and Co. to keep the gov't afloat through the "fiscal cliff" drama. The compromise, though reached "after" the cliff edge, was designed to allow certain changes to happen automatically... and the payroll deduction percentage and the SSI increase were both part of that automatic increase.
So, assuming my wife makes just about half of what I do, we can expect to see $150 LESS per month in our bank accounts... or, to put it in more broad and general (and painful) terms, we will see $1,800 LESS in spendable income for the tax year of 2013.
That's two payments on my house note. Or my car note and the power bill and the phone bill, three months. Or an entire year of my daughter's college books bill. $1800 worth of further financial cuts and needed savings that I have to work through in the coming 51 weeks of 2013. No reduction in fuel costs (as promised by Obama in 2008), no reduction, or even stabilization of education costs for college students (as promised by Obama in 2008 and 2012), no boost to the economic picture that might equal increased revenue for my industry and, thus, to my wallet... just more penny-pinching, hair-pulling, do-without-and-like-it lifestyle changes thanks to the myopic, mindless meat-heads in DC that care more about "perception" than they do about solutions.
This is going to be a great year...
I was more than $25 short from my last check of 2012, due entirely to the increased SSI tax and the 2% higher payroll tax withholding amount.
This is not an issue of too many early outs, either. I'm salaried... meaning my paycheck hasn't varied by more than $0.02 since I became a full-time pit manager. This is, without question, the result of the House compromise bill okay'd by Boehner and Co. to keep the gov't afloat through the "fiscal cliff" drama. The compromise, though reached "after" the cliff edge, was designed to allow certain changes to happen automatically... and the payroll deduction percentage and the SSI increase were both part of that automatic increase.
So, assuming my wife makes just about half of what I do, we can expect to see $150 LESS per month in our bank accounts... or, to put it in more broad and general (and painful) terms, we will see $1,800 LESS in spendable income for the tax year of 2013.
That's two payments on my house note. Or my car note and the power bill and the phone bill, three months. Or an entire year of my daughter's college books bill. $1800 worth of further financial cuts and needed savings that I have to work through in the coming 51 weeks of 2013. No reduction in fuel costs (as promised by Obama in 2008), no reduction, or even stabilization of education costs for college students (as promised by Obama in 2008 and 2012), no boost to the economic picture that might equal increased revenue for my industry and, thus, to my wallet... just more penny-pinching, hair-pulling, do-without-and-like-it lifestyle changes thanks to the myopic, mindless meat-heads in DC that care more about "perception" than they do about solutions.
This is going to be a great year...
Friday, December 28, 2012
Stormin' Norman... rest in peace.
General Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr. (USArmy, ret.) died yesterday in Florida at the age of 78.
35 years in the Army, all of it as a troop commander, makes for an impressive resume. Very little that this man did was insignificant.
Sleep well, sir... sleep well.
35 years in the Army, all of it as a troop commander, makes for an impressive resume. Very little that this man did was insignificant.
Sleep well, sir... sleep well.
Thursday, December 27, 2012
The greatest Christmas gift... mark two
Last year I raved about my Kindle as the greatest gift I'd gotten outside of my family.
This year, I experienced the Kindle Fire.
I don't have one, mind you. I wasn't good enough this last year to warrant such a gift, but helping my 10-year-old set HIS up has shown me what a tool it is. Surfing the net, running countless apps, reading books, watching videos, listening to music... there is almost nothing this thing can't do!
With the busiest part of this silly season over, I can now tell all that I had a wonderful Christmas! I did get what I asked for (slippers, Amazon card (which equals books) and a tin of flavored popcorn) with the added bonus of once again seeing my family gathered together on the floor of our old, drafty house opening dozens of packages and squealing with glee. It was a great, if a bit early, Christmas day. The only dark spot was that I had to work... but that means I got to have Jake's birthday off, and it was just me and him all day today. We worked outside removing the mountains of snow we got last night, romped with the dog a bit, came in to warm up and have hot chocolate, opened his presents, set up his Kindle, played a game, watched a movie... and we still have the evening to go.
Now, all the kids are back, and Liz is only minutes away from home, having left work.
I do hope everyone's Christmas was a good as mine, but I know it wasn't any better.
God bless us, every one!
This year, I experienced the Kindle Fire.
I don't have one, mind you. I wasn't good enough this last year to warrant such a gift, but helping my 10-year-old set HIS up has shown me what a tool it is. Surfing the net, running countless apps, reading books, watching videos, listening to music... there is almost nothing this thing can't do!
With the busiest part of this silly season over, I can now tell all that I had a wonderful Christmas! I did get what I asked for (slippers, Amazon card (which equals books) and a tin of flavored popcorn) with the added bonus of once again seeing my family gathered together on the floor of our old, drafty house opening dozens of packages and squealing with glee. It was a great, if a bit early, Christmas day. The only dark spot was that I had to work... but that means I got to have Jake's birthday off, and it was just me and him all day today. We worked outside removing the mountains of snow we got last night, romped with the dog a bit, came in to warm up and have hot chocolate, opened his presents, set up his Kindle, played a game, watched a movie... and we still have the evening to go.
Now, all the kids are back, and Liz is only minutes away from home, having left work.
I do hope everyone's Christmas was a good as mine, but I know it wasn't any better.
God bless us, every one!
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Struggling to make sense...
First, let me say that my family's nightly prayers now include the parents of Sandy Hook, and will for some time.
There hasn't been a single story I've read on this unspeakable horror that hasn't caused me to pause to regain my composure before continuing. Last night I listened to the audio of a slain first grader's father, his voice cracking, saying that he and his wife don't know how to get through something like this. I wonder if any parent could ever get through such a thing. I can only guess that such a pain never leaves, it becomes a part of who you are. Each of us have young children. The idea that wrapped Christmas presents sit in closets, never to reach the child they were purchased for... it's a level of grief I simply can not wrap my mind around.
Titus I did find your post keenly insightful regarding the public reaction and the litany of historic school house murders. I expected for certain media and political quarters to blame "guns", but this time there does seem to be an added discussion regarding why this type of tragedy happens "only in America" as the mayor of New York put it. He's patently wrong by the way. You may remember the school bus massacre in Sweden (maybe it was Norway, but it was one of the high Western European countries) of only a few years ago.
First, I loathe such political discussions so soon after the parents of these slain children are just beginning to mourn the ultimate loss, but this must be said. I get it - the impulse Titus spoke of. The desire to find a concrete reason to blame, affix that blame, and move on. It feels safer. On the Left, point to a gun. Blame the gun. Support, pass and advocate the restriction of guns, keep your kids away from them in your own life, and you feel like you've exercised some measure of control. On the Right, point to movies and video games. Blame them. Advocate legislation restricting them. Ban them in your own home, and again you feel as if some measure of preventative control has been exercised. It feels safer. But that level of control is an illusion. Criminals, the insane, they don't care if you hang up a sign that decrees area x, y, or z "a gun free zone." Such zones, such laws, by definition only affect those willing to be law abiding. Criminals also don't care that violent video games come with a rating disclaimer. The terrifying fact is that responsible, loving parents sent their little children to school that day, never to see them again, and no law, no ordinance, no restriction can legislate the madmen from among us and guarantee such a thing wont happen again. Whatever legislation emerges from this tragedy, and I'm sure there will be some, will do nothing to prevent a killer from killing. And I'm not immune from such trains of thought. As a parent I am left groping for some measure of control to exercise. To say "okay, I did A and B, so C can't happen to my boys." Do I pull my sons from school? How about McDonalds? Should I ban them from all public places? How about forbid them from leaving our home? It's what I want to do, I'll be honest with you. Take away their first-person-shooter video games? Ban violent movies? Well Band of Brothers was certainly violent. Is that out too? In the end I must accept that their is no guaranteed way to protect what is most precious to me - my children. All I can do is be diligent about the common sense stuff, and tell them I love them an extra time each day. Ultimately, that's all I'm left with. After all, is there anything those parents wouldn't give for just one more I love you?
There hasn't been a single story I've read on this unspeakable horror that hasn't caused me to pause to regain my composure before continuing. Last night I listened to the audio of a slain first grader's father, his voice cracking, saying that he and his wife don't know how to get through something like this. I wonder if any parent could ever get through such a thing. I can only guess that such a pain never leaves, it becomes a part of who you are. Each of us have young children. The idea that wrapped Christmas presents sit in closets, never to reach the child they were purchased for... it's a level of grief I simply can not wrap my mind around.
Titus I did find your post keenly insightful regarding the public reaction and the litany of historic school house murders. I expected for certain media and political quarters to blame "guns", but this time there does seem to be an added discussion regarding why this type of tragedy happens "only in America" as the mayor of New York put it. He's patently wrong by the way. You may remember the school bus massacre in Sweden (maybe it was Norway, but it was one of the high Western European countries) of only a few years ago.
First, I loathe such political discussions so soon after the parents of these slain children are just beginning to mourn the ultimate loss, but this must be said. I get it - the impulse Titus spoke of. The desire to find a concrete reason to blame, affix that blame, and move on. It feels safer. On the Left, point to a gun. Blame the gun. Support, pass and advocate the restriction of guns, keep your kids away from them in your own life, and you feel like you've exercised some measure of control. On the Right, point to movies and video games. Blame them. Advocate legislation restricting them. Ban them in your own home, and again you feel as if some measure of preventative control has been exercised. It feels safer. But that level of control is an illusion. Criminals, the insane, they don't care if you hang up a sign that decrees area x, y, or z "a gun free zone." Such zones, such laws, by definition only affect those willing to be law abiding. Criminals also don't care that violent video games come with a rating disclaimer. The terrifying fact is that responsible, loving parents sent their little children to school that day, never to see them again, and no law, no ordinance, no restriction can legislate the madmen from among us and guarantee such a thing wont happen again. Whatever legislation emerges from this tragedy, and I'm sure there will be some, will do nothing to prevent a killer from killing. And I'm not immune from such trains of thought. As a parent I am left groping for some measure of control to exercise. To say "okay, I did A and B, so C can't happen to my boys." Do I pull my sons from school? How about McDonalds? Should I ban them from all public places? How about forbid them from leaving our home? It's what I want to do, I'll be honest with you. Take away their first-person-shooter video games? Ban violent movies? Well Band of Brothers was certainly violent. Is that out too? In the end I must accept that their is no guaranteed way to protect what is most precious to me - my children. All I can do is be diligent about the common sense stuff, and tell them I love them an extra time each day. Ultimately, that's all I'm left with. After all, is there anything those parents wouldn't give for just one more I love you?
Sandy Hook Elementary School
God bless the families and friends of all the victims... I struggle to recall a tragedy within my lifetime that has so touched my soul. 20 innocent children and six teachers, all dead by a mad-man's hand. So utterly senseless that it makes one scream for answers that will never come.
The sense of helpless frustration is compounded by the blatantly biased and myopic means by which the tragedy is being reported in most of the major media outlets. It would seem that simply throwing the disclaimer that "details are sketchy" is enough to justify the dissemination of patently false information on a 24/7 basis by everyone from CNN to Fox News.
Which leads me to my secondary point (after offering my prayers and hopes for those suffering in CT)...
Far, far too many pundits are making this tragedy out to be the latest in a growing trend in American society... as if America herself is to blame for the deaths of these children. Far too many people are calling for radical changes to this society because the very freedoms we enjoy are what are giving crazed killers the motive and opportunity to kill children at school.
How often over the last two days have I heard that this "trend" began in 1999 with the tragedy at Columbine High on CO? It most certainly did NOT begin in 1999... the first substantiated "school shooting" involving a student was in 1853 in KY, where a student shot and killed a teacher over a "disciplinary dispute" in front of 31 other kids.
The worst school-related massacre to ever have occurred in the US happened in 1927, where 43 people died (mostly children under the age of 11) in Bath, MI without a single death being attributed to a firearm. The killer used dynamite to destroy the school (and himself)... because of personal financial problems.
I'm not making excuses... anyone who lashes out with violence against innocent children should answer for the crime. The difference, I think, is that our modern society is constantly trying to "lay blame" outside of the perpetrator's actions. Does "mental health" play a role in such terrible acts? Certainly... what sane person would do these things? However, the mental health of people like Ted Bundy and Timothy McVeigh did not stand in the way of their punishments, and no one would EVER call either of them "sane". Responsibility did not lay with "society" in their cases, so why should it now?
Is society that different now? America reacted in much the same way in 1966, when a crazed student climbed the clock tower at the University of Texas-Austin campus and killed 16 people and wounded 32 others. Shock, confusion and a demand for answers... but the "blame" for the tragedy was understood to rest squarely with the man behind the gun, not with his developmental situation, or uncaring parents, or addictions, or society's attitude towards the Second Amendment.
The man was 20 years old... he will answer for his actions in the next life, and we should all be satisfied with that, without restructuring our own society because of his actions.
The sense of helpless frustration is compounded by the blatantly biased and myopic means by which the tragedy is being reported in most of the major media outlets. It would seem that simply throwing the disclaimer that "details are sketchy" is enough to justify the dissemination of patently false information on a 24/7 basis by everyone from CNN to Fox News.
Which leads me to my secondary point (after offering my prayers and hopes for those suffering in CT)...
Far, far too many pundits are making this tragedy out to be the latest in a growing trend in American society... as if America herself is to blame for the deaths of these children. Far too many people are calling for radical changes to this society because the very freedoms we enjoy are what are giving crazed killers the motive and opportunity to kill children at school.
How often over the last two days have I heard that this "trend" began in 1999 with the tragedy at Columbine High on CO? It most certainly did NOT begin in 1999... the first substantiated "school shooting" involving a student was in 1853 in KY, where a student shot and killed a teacher over a "disciplinary dispute" in front of 31 other kids.
The worst school-related massacre to ever have occurred in the US happened in 1927, where 43 people died (mostly children under the age of 11) in Bath, MI without a single death being attributed to a firearm. The killer used dynamite to destroy the school (and himself)... because of personal financial problems.
I'm not making excuses... anyone who lashes out with violence against innocent children should answer for the crime. The difference, I think, is that our modern society is constantly trying to "lay blame" outside of the perpetrator's actions. Does "mental health" play a role in such terrible acts? Certainly... what sane person would do these things? However, the mental health of people like Ted Bundy and Timothy McVeigh did not stand in the way of their punishments, and no one would EVER call either of them "sane". Responsibility did not lay with "society" in their cases, so why should it now?
Is society that different now? America reacted in much the same way in 1966, when a crazed student climbed the clock tower at the University of Texas-Austin campus and killed 16 people and wounded 32 others. Shock, confusion and a demand for answers... but the "blame" for the tragedy was understood to rest squarely with the man behind the gun, not with his developmental situation, or uncaring parents, or addictions, or society's attitude towards the Second Amendment.
The man was 20 years old... he will answer for his actions in the next life, and we should all be satisfied with that, without restructuring our own society because of his actions.
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Nullification...
Now that the dust has settled after the 2012 election, the tantrums of the right have ended and the calls for succession have ended exactly where they began: nowhere.
There does seem to be a movement, however, that is leading some States to pick up the tired old chestnut of Nullification again. CO and WA have both de-criminalized the possession and use of "pot" within their borders, and four more States have legalized medical marijuana (including ME, of all places). Some States, including my own PA, have all but officially declared that the NDAA of 2012 will NOT be enforced or (presumably) be allowed to be enforced, within their borders.
I've always been a fan of States Rights... its why I never beefed about Romney-care, even once. I'm troubled, though...
Has it ever worked? Even once?
Jefferson and Madison both contributed to the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions in 1798-99... but all were rejected by the other States completely. Thus, I think the argument for Constitutional Nullification is starting on shaky ground.
From 1807 through the end of the War of 1812, New England went almost bankrupt from the embargoes handed down by the Fed, without consideration (according to the Yankees) to the hardships that would result. This attempt at nullification damn near led to succession, and (again) failed utterly.
Nullification reached a crisis (literally) when John Calhoun went head-to-head with Andy Jackson over tariffs that Calhoun said favored the North over the South. Heavy-hand Andy wins, and nullification again takes a back seat to the Feds.
We'll skip the Civil War... everyone here knows how that turned out.
Jump ahead to the 1950's... and school desegregation laws that so inflamed the South. Ike wins, nullification loses.
I'm not saying that CO and WA attempts can't win in the end... the Fed can only win the fight if the fight it, right? But the precedent isn't there, or am I wrong?
There does seem to be a movement, however, that is leading some States to pick up the tired old chestnut of Nullification again. CO and WA have both de-criminalized the possession and use of "pot" within their borders, and four more States have legalized medical marijuana (including ME, of all places). Some States, including my own PA, have all but officially declared that the NDAA of 2012 will NOT be enforced or (presumably) be allowed to be enforced, within their borders.
I've always been a fan of States Rights... its why I never beefed about Romney-care, even once. I'm troubled, though...
Has it ever worked? Even once?
Jefferson and Madison both contributed to the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions in 1798-99... but all were rejected by the other States completely. Thus, I think the argument for Constitutional Nullification is starting on shaky ground.
From 1807 through the end of the War of 1812, New England went almost bankrupt from the embargoes handed down by the Fed, without consideration (according to the Yankees) to the hardships that would result. This attempt at nullification damn near led to succession, and (again) failed utterly.
Nullification reached a crisis (literally) when John Calhoun went head-to-head with Andy Jackson over tariffs that Calhoun said favored the North over the South. Heavy-hand Andy wins, and nullification again takes a back seat to the Feds.
We'll skip the Civil War... everyone here knows how that turned out.
Jump ahead to the 1950's... and school desegregation laws that so inflamed the South. Ike wins, nullification loses.
I'm not saying that CO and WA attempts can't win in the end... the Fed can only win the fight if the fight it, right? But the precedent isn't there, or am I wrong?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
