Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Weird day

Really slow this morning then pounding busy this afternoon. Business died around 5:20 so I got out right at 6.

Had some really great customers come in today, everyone was in a good mood and the product was looking great so the business ran smooth. So seldom, very enjoyable.

Cantaloupes, ogen melons, ananas and Juan Canary melons are all coming in great. Sooo sweet. Everyone who has tried one comes back and gets 2. Corn in the second-to-last field is peaking for ripeness, quality, sweetness etc. our little experiment to control the ear worm without pesticides seems to be working and that's not even in the target field. Can't wait to see how the last field fairs.

Dad has the plastic ordered to put on the late planting of 650 tomatoes which are just starting to pink up. Should run us well into November.

I'm praying that the upcoming threat of showers will pass to the north and miss us. Otherwise the first tomato field, the cantaloupes and the grapes will all likely be ruined. Oh yeah, grapes have been selling real good too. Maybe if it rains I can get a bailout ??

Hope y'all are doing well and happy.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Correctness

Or the upright path as they might say in the I-Ching.

Today my country, through the god given wisdom of our founding fathers, chose to do the correct thing. I am so proud, like a father at his kids first baseball game when they catch a fly.

The House did their job, they saw the upright path and they followed it. Now my country can face the consequences of its decisions and be responsible for its behavior.

And it's about time. No more putting it off, no more hand wringing. Roll up the sleeves and get back to work.

Plus, now we're 700 billion dollars richer. And we aren't in debt to some foreign entities for 700 billion dollars. Best of all, tyranny got kicked square in the nutsack.

I'm gonna be chuckling all the way to bed.

Health and happiness to you all.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Wrongness

Economics and politics make a crappy stew.

I simply can't believe the amount of "wrongness" in this current so-called economic catastrophe. It was wrong for housing prices to go so high, it was wrong for banks to loan such outrageous amounts to people with little or no ability to repay, it was wrong for the construction industry to oversupply the market, it was wrong for those people with loans to default on the loans and it was wrong for Chuck Schumer and the media to start a run on the banks by conflating the circumstances beyond their true scope.

But the wrongest thing of all is for the US government to take the taxpayer's hard earned money and give it to those same bankers and wall street lobbyists. And don't kid yourself, that is exactly what will happen to much if not all of this near trillion dollar "bail-out".

None of the rest of us get bailed out. I could never hope to get a $20,000 check from the government to cover my losses from our June 28th hailstorm. And that wasn't even caused by bad business decision making. I have no culpability in that hailstorm. Wall street and the banks are and should remain culpable, especially those CEOs and investment strategists whose decisions led to this. Congress shouldn't be bailing them out, it should be arresting them for fraud.

Ultimately the right and honest thing would be to let the chips fall where they may. But instead the craven and the greedy will lead us down another path towards oligarchy. Tyranny truly is a universal human constant.

Update: here's an article at Bloomberg about what is going to happen to the dollar when the Fed creates a trillion in international debt. Of course it is too much to hope that our legislature would understand the law of conservation of energy. Also the old Newton saw: for every action there is a disastrous unintended consequence.

Sunday, September 07, 2008

Sunday serendipity

Dad and I spent most of today doing some odd jobs on our selling location. Glued down some rugs that were peeling up, tied wire across the front shade tarp to keep it from huffing and puffing and put up those colored flags that car lots seem to love. That last dad and I didn't want to do, but we get so many complaints from new customers about not knowing where to go that we felt it was necessary.

Not really sure if I want customers who can't find their way to the front of the building. They might get confused and be unable to find their way out.

So of course a bunch of people had to stop by and bug us while we worked. I'll tell you it didn't raise my estimation of the intelligence of my fellow American, or human for that matter. No open signs, never been open on Sunday in all our twenty years and people still just strolled in like they owned the place. Then we had to go into long winded explanations to get them to leave, or else just forget the whole thing and sell them something. Made enough that way for a trip out to dinner I suppose. But it was still a pain in the butt. Especially the people who stopped by looking for corn, they always have to say "we've got our own tomatoes in the garden." Too bad they didn't plant corn too 'cause they didn't get any from us today.

The very first lady set the tone. I told her we weren't open, didn't have any change. She said she just wanted some peaches and tomatoes. I said ok, so long as she had exact change or at least didn't ask me to break a twenty. She says "I'd never do that." Her bill was $8.25; she hands me a twenty. Arrrg! as Charley Brown would say. I figure I've got two fives in my pocket and tell her so and she gets a couple more peaches, stiffs me for the 10 cents over. Won't even look in her car for the change. Then she and her fat daughter eat peaches and smoke outside our stand while we try getting work done. When they leave there is a peach pit and a cigarette butt in our driveway. Yet another reason we're never open on Sundays: that crowd is a bunch of arrogant so-and-sos.

Anyways we just got through having steak, salad and corn on the cob for dinner. Delicious! Followed by mom's low-fat, no-sugar ice cream with peach topping and chocolate sauce. Yum!!!!!

Gonna do just a couple more chores and then kick back for the evening. Wishing you all happiness and a full belly.