The times they are a changing.

It’s that time of year again. The time has changed, the leaves have changed, the weather has changed….I love the Fall season; the smell of wood burning in fireplaces, the burning leaves, the aroma of pumpkin pies and sweet potato pies baking in the oven, savory stews and soups that replace the sandwich meals of summer. The sugar maple in our side yard has been ever bit as glorious this year as it has in past years. It looks like it is aflame in the explosion of reds, oranges and yellows with some green leaves still hanging on to their color deep within its canopy. In fact, last year on a retreat in the Cumberland foothills near Sewanee, Tennessee, I noticed that while the foliage there was a wild riot of color, the forests of these Mississippi hills are just as colorful and vibrant. The Southern States should not sell themselves short when it comes to fall foliage colors. New England and the Rockies might have a longer, more predictable Fall color season than we do, but we do have some beautiful vistas to see. While I was on my retreat, the weather took a rather nasty turn for the worse and the temps plummeted to heavy frost over night. I listened to the wind howling outside my window and when morning came, the only view I had of the mountain vista was a pea soup fog. When I walked downstairs for breakfast I looked out at the parking lot and could not even see van. I noticed a sign in the lobby that read, “Welcome to St. Mary’s. You may arrive in a fog, but you will leave walking in the light.” I chuckled at the appropriateness of it. It was well into the afternoon of the next day before that fog lifted and I could see the brillant blue sky. Sometimes, I think the season of Fall puts me and others into a figurative fog. The weather changes and time changes seem to affect some more than others. The other changes that occur are, we see the anticipation of the national candy night ritual of Halloween and then it’s gone and Christmas is suddenly breathing down our necks. My husband and I have had an enormous Christmas light show for several years that takes him all year to plan and work on. He has to start putting lights up during October and right up until Thanksgiving Day so we can flip the switch that night. I love Christmas, but I feel like we forget about Thanksgiving in the process of all the hustle and bustle of the Santa’s and packages and decorations. I have been making a list of all the things I am thankful for; things like a warm, dry home, good health, my husband and daughters, my sister, my mother, the freedom to worship, the freedom to vote and I can just keep going on. I hope during this changing season, that as you see the leaves changing and the days getting shorter and nights getting longer, that you take the time to reflect on how changes affect you and those around you. It is definitely time to sit down and take stock of all that we have to be thankful for.

Sometimes, Not often enough.....

I have so many thoughts and I don't always put them down. I guess I should save some of my pithy thoughts for posterity, as if anyone but my family would care. And they might not give a rip now that I think about it! Its a cloudy day and looking very stormy outside. so much for my plans of getting out in this nice cooler temp and working in my little garden and getting a couple of the beds ready for the fall planting. I have never tried a fall garden, but this year is the exception. I love broccoli and kale and brusselsprouts. This is the year to keep experimenting with the raised beds and with a green house. If you read this I hope you can understand my rambling ADD thought threads and will run with this crazy flamingo as I hop off on rabbit trails and explore my life in the world as I see it.

Oh and I have a couple of late season watermelons in the garden. I've NEVER had success with growing melons. But these came up "volunteer" and i am letting them do their on thang. It seems to be working. I hope to eat one!

I DID build it I will have you to understand. You are WRONG Mr. President.

I’ve been really stewing about this who “you didn’t build it” thing that President O said. Everyone that knows me, knows how I feel about this administration. I am not a fan in the least. As the child of a small business owner, and as a former business owner, as a freelance artist and an at will contract worker, as an older female that is not considered as employable because I am so close to ‘retirement age’ and have heard the over qualified lie one time too many to count, these are my thoughts on his statement. (And yes I watched his message in its entirety so there is no mistake what I heard him say.) He is wrong, wrong WRONG. He got it backwards. Business owners, no matter large or small, business owners DO NOT owe credit to the government for their success. The government owes business owners credit for its very existence. Businesses empower the government. Most businesses are not enabled by the government. In fact where do you think the ‘bail outs; came from to those that do depend on the government? Yep out of the pockets of the taxes that are paid by the businesses that are not looking for a handout! Business owners do just fine without government and ‘takers’ of society. “Takers” ---you know who I’m talking about. Those who simply want that government check . Think about it Mr. and Mrs. and Miss Taxpayer, your government, all the government employees and all the ‘takers’ of society would not survive without us… without the creators and producers of jobs and products and paying taxes. To make it a bit simpler, business owners, small, medium, large, and mega large, pay ALL the bills for the government. THE BUSINESS OWNERS SHOULD BE THE ONES OWED THANKS! Are you still not seeing what I am saying? Then let me draw you an even simpler picture that even an economically illiterate moron can see. I used to own a nail and hair salon before I moved to small town Mississippi. I employed, at one point, 8 hard working talented women. I paid hefty taxes to the state and federal government for many years. So who needed whom? Did the patrons that came to my business need us? No, getting manicures and pedicures and spa treatments are pretty much a luxury item. They could have chosen any of the other myriad of salons on the city we were in. They could stay at home and paint their nails at home. A lot of people DO you know. I—the business owner---could not live without the constant flow of customers. Nor could my trained technicians. We desperately needed their patronage. We had to be nice and show gratitude and on occasion genuflect to the really difficult ones that tried our patience because without customers you cannot stay in business. Every one of my employees in that salon depended on our customers and the way to have customers and to keep them coming back is to keep them happy! When our customers left after each visit, who do you think said ‘thank you”. We the business people said thank you to the customers. When a customer walks out of a restaurant, or hardware store, or any type of store, who thanks who? The business owner thanks us for spending our money in his establishment. Even the most ignorant left leaners and socialists cannot argue with that. Now stretch your little imagination to see that Government is a business. You—the taxpayers---are the customer, the consumer, the patron of the ‘salon’ if you will. The Government can’t survive if you stop paying the salon. The Government is dependent on the taxpayers’ hard work and the taxes that are paid in. If the taxpayers go on strike and stop paying, the government doesn’t get any money and goes out of business. The difference in this little example is that the American business model is a free market capitalist society where the customer freely chooses to spend his or her money at any business they darn well please. It you are a builder here in my little hometown, you can choose to go to one of the two building supply houses. Or you can go where ever you will get the best price out of town. You have a choice in choosing where you want to spend your money. The Government only has one choice of where to get its money. OUR pockets. If it can’t pay its bills, it just raises taxes and legally extorts more money from the taxpayers. So why does this president think we owe him? Why do progressives think we should say thank you to the government? Yes, we need the things like renewed infrastructure, roads, bridges, traffic lights, police, fire, garbage, sewers, hospitals, airports, schools, and national defense. But the president and others (who have never owned a business in their life!) miss a most crucial point -- we the business owners and taxpayers, paid for all of infrastructure and schools, etc. with our taxes. WE business owners, small, medium, large and mega, built it! The Government OWES US the debt of gratitude and a huge apology because with our business taxes, Social Security taxes, payroll taxes, workers comp taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, income taxes and estate taxes (and you thought it was over after you died! Think again because we even pay taxes after we are dead), there would be no money for all those things that this president values. Why would I and other business owners thank you, for things we paid for? Instead of telling us how much we owe, the progressives and takers and socialists should be thanking the business owners and taxpayers. Without taxpayers -- especially high income business owners – we wouldn’t have the money to build roads, bridges, highways, schools or airports. Government infrastructure exists because of the hard work of the American taxpayer. These public schools exist because of taxpaying property owners who pay huge property tax bills and most of us don’t even have children in school any longer. People that rent don’t pay those property taxes. Social Security, Medicare, welfare, food stamps and unemployment insurance ALL exist because business owners are paying into the system. My message to President Obama is this, business owners work harder and smarter and you sir, had better be thanking the Lord God Almighty that we do it and have done or you would be up the proverbial unsanitary tributary without a means of motivation. Business owners are not dependent on the government but the government and every handout addict are dependent on businesses. Like any smart small business owner, perhaps you should suck up and treat us with some honor and respect and (dare I say it) gratitude. You need to learn to say please when you ask for money and thank you when it’s paid. Money doesn’t grow on trees you know. Learn how to treat customers well or they will go away because they will and they are. American business is holding back. No new jobs till after Election Day. Some people are going underground to work to avoid paying 60% of their income to you. Some are retiring like that poll that showed that 83% of physicians are planning on it because of Obamacare. Even your supportive treehuggers are denouncing citizenship to live elsewhere where Americans are treated better. Your customers have gone on strike. The taxpayers are unhappy because we are being turned into slaves and taxed out of business. Pretty soon you are going to be trying to run "your" business without any paying customers and you are only going to be left with ‘the takers”. That is not going to work.