My Annual Holiday Rant

The line between holidays just keeps getting more and more blurred. Some stores started Christmas stocking and decorating in late October. If the Christmas music and carols start any earlier I am not going shopping till it's over. Someone else can get the groceries. I am not a Grinch; so to speak, the commercialism of the holiday has done it to me.

 

Which brings us to Veteran's day; which seems some what overlooked with the advent of Christmas at or before Halloween. When I was a kid we looked forward to each of the holidays; each with it own ambiance and period of occurrence. The time between them may have been short but there seemed to be some demarcation. Confused? You must be much younger than me.

 

Back to the veterans who have given so much to our country at great personal sacrifice. It seems a shame that there has been such a need for a grass roots movement to ensure that our vets are cared for and get the benefits they deserve. My question is "Why haven't some of these movers and shakers tried to unify their causes?" Every time I turn around there seems to be a plea for funding for disabled and wounded vets by many disparate organizations. It seems some of these selfless folks could use their valuable time organizing and unifying. I once spent some time in discussion with a crusty Marine vet, trying to get him to support The Wounded Warrior Project. He failed to see the need, stating that that was what Walter Reed and their benefits were for. Perhaps therein lies the problem?

Blockbuster is gone; the last rental went out a few days ago. Talk about crashing and burning-they were flying high in their day. Of course, I still remember-Atari,  Beta Cassettes,  Video Cassettes, Laser discs, vinyl LPs, 8 track, disco (-; , Pan Am (and Air Florida and Eastern), AMC (they made the Gremlin and Matador), Silly Putty, real books, Montgomery Ward, drive in theaters, the Zenith Commander remote with three channels, rabbit ears, pay phones, Etch a Sketch, The Thing toy bank, the Twist (and the Swim and slow dancing without too much contact-we didn't twerk)...Sorry, I got carried away.

Here's hoping you and yours can keep yourself above all the political mayhem, hinky weather, mass shootings, money woes, health woes and general discontent. That way you can better enjoy the season and appreciate that we live in the greatest country on this planet!
 

Real Figures from Someone who has Done It

It took Missy and I about two years to find our way to the oil patch. We workamped at three or four campgrounds before Andy (myoldrv.com) convinced me that the compensation was indeed real. If you think we were jaded, you'd be right. Our pay at campgrounds varied from $800 to $1300 per month; not enough to pay the bills, and barely enough to survive on. We still follow the workamping community and the pay has not gotten any better. If anything, it is worse than ever, with more and more campgrounds offering a site in exchange for the work. At some campgrounds the menial work we were assigned to do seemed never ending. We even worked at a campground where the two of us were responsible for maintaining almost three hundred acres. About seventy five to one hundred acres required weedeating and mowing. Did I tell you there were also about a dozen horses that we cared for; which included breaking, tack maintenance, feeding and grooming? Plus we conducted trail rides through the woods and brush that we created and maintained. I forgot to mention that they also had a float operation with canoe, tubes and rafts. Of course there was the store, the reservations, guest relations and the campground to maintain. Then there were the arguments with the owners because we couldn't seem to get everything done without exceeding forty hours. Most campgrounds don't want you to exceed forty hours in a week to prevent you from being considered a fulltime employee. Our only good experience was a well run campground in Branson, Missouri. Being able to attend the shows for free or a heavily discounted rate was a great perk. Still, the pay was awful at under two hundred dollars a week before taxes for each of us. The irony of it all is that the only folks that can really afford to do the work are retirees and folks on disability (or collecting supplemental income from somewhere.) My point is, there are a lot of us who are unemployed and have hit the road in an RV looking for some of that good old American promise with little or no supplemental income. It is a ready and willing work force that some take advantage of. Workampers are not the only ones caught up in this financial trap. There are hundreds of thousands in the work force who are forced to subsist off of government programs and/or charity due to poor pay. Sadly and shamefully, that includes a lot of our military and government workers.  So what is someone to do who wants to pursue his or her dream of seeing this country and living the RV lifestyle? Hopefully some of you dreamers are reading this because you need to start now. Start saving and purchase the largest RV you can afford (no matter what you buy you will find it lacking in room). You don't want those payments saddling you on the road. The used market is the way to go, in my opinion. Spend the time to thoroughly research and shop around. RV'ers are generally a friendly bunch and you can obtain a wealth of knowledge talking to them. Renting a coach for the weekend is also a good way to learn about the RV lifestyle. Although I am generally against workamping, there are exceptions to the norm. Amazon has a loyal following at their distribution facilities with good pay and discounted parks to stay in. There are temporary and long term employment opportunities in construction and energy exploration that you can do while living out of an RV. Some of them, like gate guarding, provide your utilities while working. Whatever your choice is, it will be difficult to make a living workamping without some sort of additional income.

Affordable Care Act Redux

My 200th post and y'all are apparently still reading! Thanks!! I also have 34 subscribers and counting. If you enjoy my take on the world it's easy to subscribe, just click on "join this site" on the right side column. Hey, you can always hit the delete button and it's easier than searching for it.

My worst fears concerning the Affordable Care Act are developing before my eyes. It is all a vicious circle, feeding itself. The business model requires "x" amount of young, healthy participants in order for everything to work. Without that young component; much less whatever magic number of participants overall is required to make it work, the insurance companies cannot assess an affordable premium. The administration had hoped that the insurance companies would "play" along and set the rates by their projected numbers, but they're not playing along. Their fears are also coming true, as the sign up rate remains abysmal and the majority are older, with pre existing conditions. Come on, people! Did you really think the folks that use over ninety percent of the tax revenue in the collection process to run the IRS could pull this off? How about Amtrak or the Post Office? So here's a typical scenario. Joe Schmo makes about 50K a year and decides on a Silver plan. He or she is between 50 and 60 years of age with a pre existing condition. His or her premium hovers around $500 and $600 a month, which he or she can't afford, so they opt out. Joe Schmo soon receives notice that he or she will be assessed a fine of between 4 and 5k annually. That fine will come out of his or her taxes or they can opt to make monthly payments; the government will even allow them to set automatic withdrawal. If Joe Schmo chooses to ignore the fine, the Act provides that the government can then suspend his or her drivers license. After a period of time things will escalate and ignoring the fine can lead to the loss of assets; including Joe Schmo's home. I can't make this sh*t up people! Finally, the big lie and the even bigger "smoke and mirrors" fix. After an outcry (thank you America, I was worried you'd lost your voice) of biblical proportions over Obamas repeated broken promise that we could keep our current insurance, the "Great and Wondrous Oz" has spoken and apologized. He believes he can wiggle his nose or wave his wand and the insurance companies will comply with his request to reinstate the cancelled insurance policies. Let's see, you're an insurance executive and the man that threatens to destroy the health insurance industry as we know it and has repeatedly shown to have no idea what his failed policy is doing or causing is asking you to do something to help him out. Is that about right? Wait; here's the "smoke and mirrors". If Obama manages to get the insurance companies to play along with him the reinstated policies will only be good for a year. Here's the rub as I see it. Obama is the leader of the free world. He has continually shown to be disingenuous and downright dishonest. The world sees this and the lost respect can never be regained. We have failed foreign and domestic policy, from Benghazi to the Affordable Care Act. Our political system is a laughing stock, polarized and impotent. Just when you thought the damage to the presidency by Clinton couldn't be surpassed, along comes this Bozo-sorry, I meant Obama.

The Value of a Brownie

A brief list of some of what we have received for a brownie or a cookie or some bar-b-que or a cold drink...you get the idea.

 

Help with a flat tire

The use of a compressor

Sewer pump out

All kinds of swag-hats, shirts, promotional items and gifts, etc.

Candy and food of all sorts

Water

Trash pick up

Groceries from town

Safety gear

Man power

 

Very few; if any of these folks, asked for anything in return. We just offered it. Kindness from strangers is such a wonderful thing. Now our gate has a reputation for almost always having something good to share. Finally; just remember that the squeaky wheel gets the grease and  resourcefulness is the hallmark of an effective gate guard.