Guard Dog

Sorry, misquoted you. Now that you’ve corrected me that is what you said I remember.

Well in all fairness to them their rights ARE under attack. To one degree or another. Like Gromnir has said there is a constant tension between the rights of the citizens and the efforts/desires of the state. In the US we have an imperfect record of keeping the balance between the two. But for the most part we have done a good job. Better than some. I scoffed at the notion that “democracy was under attack” under the Trump years. We had an election. It was validated and the winner is in power. We’ve had sore losers before. There was no possible outcome where he kept power AND a United country. But more and more from the Bernstein book and other sources I wonder if he would not have happily burned it all down just to be President of the ruins.

Never considered it before to be honest. But I moved here from FL. So it’s been done before

Not ruling it out but it’s way too early for that! But I’m definitely going back up next week. This time she asked me to stay with her. We’ve spoken almost every day!

I have been going through my finances with a fine tooth comb the last 24 hours. Trying to come to some decisions about what I want to do with the rest of my life. It's been seven months since I accepted a severance from my job. I'm too young to retire but have no interest in finding another "job". I have a few business I am a minority partner in and I have an income from leased properties but it is really just enough to keep them cash neutral until their value goes up. I was more considering a new business venture with one of my former partners. But how to raise the capital? I own two empty lots inside the city limits of two nearby towns. I had been toying with the idea of borrowing against them to build houses on them and THEN selling them. I asked my lawyer if she could recommend a good realtor for the area. She sent me her ex-husband! I was joking with them that this was an inside job! Anyway the guy visited me today and advised against construction because the time would be 8+ months and interest rates MUST go up soon. That will cool off the market. So I decided to list them both with him. Then he dropped the bomb. He asked about selling my house. At first I laughed at the idea. I built this place! Well, the builder actually BUILT it but you know what I mean. The house is nothing special. Wood frame. Less than 1300 sq'. But I've made a LOT of upgrades inside and out. Propane generator, solar system. Two wells, one powered one manual. I've built a greenhouse, workshop, and smokehouse (mostly on my own). Perimeter and interior fencing. River access AND it shares a border with a state WMA. From the day I bought this place as empty woods until today I've put close to $400k into it. I own it outright and it's home in every sense of the word. But when he told me what it might be worth on the market today I was floored. So, now I find myself pondering what would have been unthinkable just a day ago. I'm really conflicted about this but leaning against it right now.

Take care of yourself LC!

Oh I wasn’t commenting about anything in particular that has been discussed. Just responding to Bruce in general. I have heard a lot of stupid stuff said about the United States here and elsewhere. I’ve even said a few of them myself.

Few people living in the United States have a real UNDERSTANDING of the United States. Most of them run with an expand on ideas they heard from somewhere else. Despite the evidence of their own eyes. Hell even I’ve fallen into that trap from time to time.

We talked about getting together again last night. Maybe next week. Have to work out the details. I’m up for another car ride.

In the winter months I don’t have an electric bill. If I had a regular power company I would actually be selling power to them. Unfortunately it’s a co-op so no check for me. The only thing that sucks is dealing with the batteries. But it really depends on how far you want to go down the rabbit hole. I went pretty deep.

That is badass

I called Gail last night. We spoke on the phone for three hours! Haven't done that in a hell of a long time. Conversation with her is effortless. Just now she texted me good morning. I'd say those are pretty good signs.

“Elvira” comes out well bummer, turns out I never had a shot after all LOL!

When I was in high school I had a teacher, Mr. Philbrook, Who taught economics, American government, and honors American history. Whatever I have become in terms of education, self education in particular, I really owe to him. He discussed his subjects not in terms of facts and figures rather as cause and affect. Not only did it completely change the way I thought about his subject material it made me think about all of the classes I had already taken up to that point. By my junior year in high school I had realized I was pretty smart comparatively speaking and could get C’s and B’s with minimal effort and investment. So I was comfortable doing that. Mr. Philbrook managed to get me to really THINK about what I was learning. That made me want to learn more. Which leads to reading books. Which leads to reading more books. Your comment about teaching kids to teach themselves made me remember him again. I’m sure he has long since passed on. I wish I could’ve told him he made a difference.

My new friend sent me this last night

I'm with KP. I don't recall that from middle or high school.