A rant of a different kind.

Every morning with my coffee I look for work. Either they want a degree with years of experience or you have to be bilingual. What is that crap!!!

I'm all for people trying to make a better life for themselves, but how about learning our language so we don't have to learn a foreign language just to fit in with them.

My grandparents...mom's side...came here from Germany...dad's side...Irland and worked for the locals in return for teaching them and their children English. My daughter-in-laws father came here from Mexico and speaks perfect English. Why is it that so many of today's immigrants refuse to learn English?

I just want a job with medical insurance! I learn fast, I'm dependable and I have good work ethics. It seems like you have to know someone to get in someplace. Unfortunately, most people I know are worried about their own jobs.

I have some pretty good freinds.

One of my friends that helped out on Saturday is meeting me tomorrow morning and Friday morning to help out...Friday that is...if, I can get my homework done on Thursday while the lady in need is at work.

The friend who has the apt building is letting them rent month to month till they can find someplace, no deposit, a very reasonable rate, and 1 month rent free to give them a head start.

None of these people know them very well. They just know them from our bonfire parties. That tells you what good people they are. I am lucky.

I got up this morning and did homework for a while, took a break by ranting, then did more homework till Rich got home, and then we were packing tools, balloon fabrics and hardware from 3:30 to 7:30 tonight. Then, I came home and worked on homework some more and I'm beat. I have 2 more payroll registers and 5 employee earnings records to do for this assignment and then another whole chapter due by Saturday. It's a good thing payroll is coming easy for me. I got an e-mail from my instructor; she told me to keep up the good work and said all of my assignments so far are all A's.

I'm brain dead and this seems to be the only thing I can do to unwind. Just random thoughts in print. Most nights I have trouble sleeping...I bet I sleep tonight.

As promised...my next rant.

I found out last night that our Friends daughter doesn't work. I called to let them know that one of the girls that helped us on Saturday, called to tell me she is able to help us on Wednesday and Friday. She said she was going to have to ask her daughter for help too. I asked if she was working and she said "no, she lives the life of Riley." She said she came over a couple weeks ago and helped for a couple hours but hasn't even called since. But while she was there she managed to tell her what she wanted from the house. I managed to keep my thoughts to myself. Pat on the back for that.

Don't get me wrong...I don't begrudged passing things along, but they need to get as much cash from everything as they can, because they are going to need it. The mom only works 3-4 days a week at a low wage. He only gets SS. Once they are out of the house they are not going to have the space to do balloon work when it does come along.

Someone did call about dropping off a balloon for an annual inspection. But that is something that only she can do...we can't help her with that other than to help her move it around and help inflate it for inspection. She'll have to do the visual part of it either in our back yard or in the park. She needs a big area to inflate it enough to get inside of it and get a good look. Then she has to do a stress test on it...the heat causes the fabric to become porous and allows air to escape too fast...you could come down a whole lot faster than you bargained for. There are allot of regulations...as it should be. Every balloon has a log book that tells how many flights it has, when it was inspected, what the findings where and so on.

The pix here are some shots I took while we were helping them do an annual in our back yard back in 02. The arrow marks the spot in need of repair. It's a hole about the size of a quarter. As you can see, it takes allot of work. There are two other people behind it holding guide lines attached to the top.

Any way, that's one more thing to get done and her son-in-law should be helping her just for the experience of learning the inspection process. She does his annuals for free. It's not like he would even have to see his father-in-law...he's in a wheel chair and wouldn't be there. It won't be long and she won't be able to do it for him. Then if he isn't licenced, he'll have to find someone else to do his annuals...could be in another state. That can get very costly.

Another thing I should clear up...I keep using the term "for free"...I don't think family should pay each other for services, but I do believe they should be there for each other...not just one sided. When it's one sided like this is I get a little irritated. Nothing burns me more than people who don't do right by their parents. Mine are both gone and I would rather have them and have to be there doing things for them constantly. Maybe if I hadn't lost my parents so young I would be like them. I like to think I would appreciate them more. In the end, this will all come back at them. They will eventually wish they had spent more time with them...plus they are teaching their children just how to treat parents. The rant is not over.

No end to the moving in sight.

I am soooo sore. We packed and packed, and moved and moved. We got 4 of our friends to help, so that made 7 1/4 of us working at it for 12 hours on Saturday...the one who broke his hip and knee went through the bottom drawers in the kitchen and on Sunday it was only Me and Rich helping for 9 hours. After all that, it looks like we didn't even make a dent in it. I can't believe how much stuff they have. They rented the house...5 br, a sitting room, 2 baths upstairs, 2 br, 2 baths downstairs...because they needed a big place at the time. They had gone to NE and moved his parents here instead of a nursing home and had 2 teenage kids still at home. His parents lived in the lower level and they took the upper level. They ran there balloon business out of the basement, and had plenty of business at the time...then the stock market and economy dropped and he started to have health problems.

We moved 9 industrial sewing machines out of the basement. Thank god they had a lift to bring them out with. Then it was just a matter of getting them onto a dolly and into the trailer and off the dolly. I can't see us getting everything done by the 1st of July.

I don't mind helping people out...I get a good feeling out of it. That's all I need other than a thanks. And they did thank us two fold. I am angry that their kids had better things to do. One son lives in Hawaii...so OK...he can't help. The other son went to FL and the daughter and her husband were busy giving balloon rides...JUST WHO THE HELL TAUGHT HIM TO FLY A BALLOON...WITH FREE LESSONS NO LESS, not to mention WHO BUILT HIS BALLOON AT A LOSS!!! They built him that balloon and didn't even get what the materials cost, and on top of that, the time that went into building it. Where are the priorities!

The whole time we were packing, our friend kept saying, oh, I bet my daughter would like this, I'll have to set this aside for her. It was hard to keep my mouth shut and not say...and why isn't she here? She is only able to come over during the week while her husband is working late...he is pissed at her dad for some stupid thing. This is the typical..."you're not good enough for my daughter" story. They get along for a while and then they don't. If their daughter happens to mention she is mad at her husband, the father gets his attitude again and the war is on. Apparently the war is on. The thing is, mom is the one who suffers from the battle. Out of respect for her, they should be there. Shame on her daughter for letting her husband keep her away at a time like this when MOM needs her. I don't care about the feud between father and son-in-law...they both provoke each other and it's better if son-in-law stays out of it, but she should be there for her mother.

Some times she would pick something up and say "this has your name on it". My answer was "sell it." If they can get anything thing for the stuff they should. It all adds up!

We finally decided the best thing to do is pack everything they want to keep and have a walk through sale over the weekend, any cloths that don't sell, goes to goodwill and anything that is left after that, we'll deal with when the time comes.

Next weekend we can't help. We have a graduation and friends that have moved to TX coming for a visit. We will be helping everyday after Rich gets home from work and on Thursday...her day off...I will be there all day with her.

I told Rich yesterday, "we better make some younger friends, looks like the you can't depend on your own kids for help." Some day we might be in the same boat. I'd sure like to think my kids and Rich's kids would be there for us...after this, I wonder. It got Rich thinking too and he is talking about getting rid of stuff that he don't use. He is a real bad pack rat. Rich...just like our friend, has everything he has ever owned. Even from childhood. Just think of what his Lionel Train set would bring in. It just sits in a box.

When I moved in here, I got rid of everything that didn't have meaning to it. The biggest thing that I would worry about is my Hummel Collection...two of them, my grandmother brought here from Germany...all of which would fit into a boot box, and my jewelry. I asked Rich what he would do with my stuff if something happened to me, he said he would put everything out on the table and have my granddaughters come in one at a time, starting with the oldest and tell them to pick one piece and keep alternating till it was gone. My next project is to take pictures of things I want each of them to have and file it away so they know what is important to me.

Stay tuned for my next rant...it's coming soon.

Friends in need

One of our friends is in a bad situation. He had colon cancer and had to have part of his intestine removed and had a colostomy. He recently had the bag removed and got reattached and was just getting around when they got the news they were being evicted. They have to be out by July 1st.

He is in his 70's and in no way can work. His SS don't add up to much and his wife works part time stocking greeting cards and spices at a local store. She is not quite old enough for SS yet and even if she was, it still would not be enough. They lost all their money in the stock market crash in the early 2000's. He was in the Navy but didn't retire from it so the only benefit he gets is medical...if he goes to one of their hospitals. He does have medicare and supplemental BCBS insurance so that is a huge blessing. She said if they can't pay anything else, they pay that. Up till recently they pretty much earned a living by repairing hot air balloons, doing annuals in their basement and giving balloon rides and tether rides at parties...people don't have elaborate birthday parties any more. Business has dropped off and he has not been able to fly for a while now. She still does the occasional small repair or annual. She can't take on any big jobs with out his help and she can't have just anyone help. There are regulations involved. You have to know what you are doing.

I had stopped over there last week to help her drain the water bed and he looked like he was hit by a MAC truck. He was trying to help pack and lost his balance and fell. He refused to go to the hospital and was using a cane to get around.

We stopped over there on Friday to see if we could help pack or SOMETHING! She was just pulling in the driveway. She said she had just got home from the hospital. He had gotten real bad that morning...almost a week after the fall. He refused an ambulance so she had to get the office chair next to the bed and get him into that and then she wheeled him to the garage and lined up his weight bench to the steps to slide him out next to the car, then she helped him into the car. It turns out he fractured his hip and his knee. They had him in surgery on Saturday to put pins and hardware in both places to hold him together.

We called all of our friends and asked for help in moving them this coming weekend. We have a pretty good bunch of friends. We have a crew lined up and we are donating a couple pizzas, water and pop for the cause. We are taking their stuff to storage and from there they will have an auction as soon as they can get it arranged.

Our friend who was over Saturday has an apartment building and has a vacant unit. He told them he will rent to them cheap on a monthly bases till they find a place. He is giving it to them for the bare minimum with no profit coming from that unit. Tomorrow, I am taking her over there to look at it and if she takes it, I will be there most of the week cleaning and painting so he doesn't have an expense for that.

Rich's daughter called last night and asked me to go through our pix and make copies so she can put together a scrap book for her brother for his 30th B-day...which is coming real soon...so I have to have them done by the end of the week so she has time to put it together. Between School, painting, cleaning and pix, I am going to be one busy bee. Hope I have the energy for it. I think I will get a little help from above on this one. I'll need it!

Glow in our back yard

Our week end was soggy. We had rain and thunder all weekend. We woke up Saturday to find our lawn furniture in the neighbors yard. By Saturday night it had stopped raining.

One of Rich's oldest friends dropped by and when theses two guys get together, it usually means fire. Saturday was no exception. We have a bon-fire party every fall. The party has been as many as 100+ people and as few as 10. It usually depends on the weather. When it is cold or raining the bikers usually are the only ones to show and if it gets real bad the guys end up in the garage and the women end up in the house. All the neighbors add to our burn pile as the summer goes by. It was getting pretty tall so they decided to burn it. One neighbor who saw it, came running with a big piece of ply wood to add. Just another Saturday night in our small town.

630 mile 2 day weekend

We got a group of friends together to ride out to Savanna, IL area for the weekend. We stopped at Poopy's. For those who have never heard of Poopy's, it started as a motorcycle parts, clothing, accessory and tattoo parlor in down town Savanna, with the moto; prices cheaper than shit. They put in a bar downstairs and soon relocated to the edge of town where they added a restaurant/bar complete with bands every Friday and Saturday of the riding season. If you drink too much they even have free tent camping so you can just crawl into bed, then in the morning you can go inside for a shower and breakfast.

We made a stop in town at the Iron Horse Saloon and Museum...BIG MISTAKE! The guys went to the bar to order and us girls found a seat. While I was sitting there, I watched this large group come in. They weren't that busy and both bartenders totally ignored everyone else in the bar and went to them. One of them just stood there talking and not helping to serve. Rich had been standing there patiently for a good five minutes. Before they walked in. It was in the upper 90's...not good to make me wait unnecessarily. Don't get me wrong...if they were busy, if the group were celebrities, one of them were handicapped, etc...by all means, wait on them first...I'm the type of person that will tip the bartender a dollar for a glass of water. I just expect to be treated like everyone else. I went up there and with a loud...EXCUSE ME, he has been standing here 5 minutes while you both stand down there and socialize so how about some service. They looked at me like a child in trouble and about to be spanked...NO SHIT...and they kept doing what they were doing. So we left...never to return again. The last time we were in there the bartenders were unorganized and rude too...I blew it off to being the first part of the riding season and just not being prepared thinking, next time will be better.

We stayed at a motel in Clinton IA and had dinner at a new place on the river called The Candle light. The food was very good when we finally got it. We got there 6:45 and was finished at 10:15. This is the view from the deck. It was their first Saturday and the kitchen was backed up. See...I do have patients when there is a reason for the slow service. They were all very friendly and explained that they just opened. I would bet that they will be up and running smoothly real soon.

Sunday morning we rode up the Great River Rd to Bellevue IA.

I got this shot of the town as I stood on this rock pictured to the right of it. I was the only one that went out to the ledge, everyone else stayed back at the overlook. They didn't want to go through the woods...Their loss!!!

This is the trail coming back to the over look.

Then we rode up to Dubuque and crossed the river and rode through Galena, IL. We then rode the Great River Road down the IL side back to Savanna and rode through the State Park. It is beautiful there. Unfortunately, no one wanted to stop for pix.

We met some Friends in Mt. Carroll and rode back into IA. Then headed back through country rodes stopping at a place in Mt Carroll and this is what we found at the end of the alley...A haunted house! The front door opens like a draw bridge. From here, we headed home.

It was a good weekend...good friends...good riding...till Monday. We got rain on Monday so we stayed home and got a few things done around the house.

Now to hit the books. But first...what should I take out for dinner????