Today we're going to be taking a look at salt, and ice-melt products, and what not to do. It got pretty cold here this week. Like, multiple days in a row were below zero, with a wind chill factor or "real feel" hovering around -30. When it gets this cold, a lot of times snow will melt off of rooftops or cars during the day, and then refreezes after the water hits the concrete. When this happens, it can be tempting to grab a bag of salt, and start dumping, but, not all salt and ice-melt products are made equally. For instance the regular large pellet stuff, the stuff that usually comes in yellow bags, that stuff is only good down to maybe -5 degrees or so. So, if you try to use it in too cold of weather, what's going to happen is that it will begin to work and melt the ice, but then it's going to stop working and wind up just making your ice patch larger. Saw this happen a lot this week.
There are other products out there that are rated for colder weather. Most are only good though down to the -15 or -30 degree range, so sometimes even those can be more trouble than they are worth. Further, a lot of these can burn the feet of pets out for a walk, so it is important to read the labels of each bag, and make sure you're getting the right product for the right job. If you're salting a parking lot, by all means go with the cheap stuff. But, if you're trying to break up ice patches on a sidewalk, it might be a better idea to go with brands that are more pet and environment friendly. The next thing to consider is how to apply the ice-melt product. I see some people using a seed spreader to do so. I would say this is probably the best choice tool if you're trying to cover an empty parking lot, but if you're trying to melt ice on sidewalks, it's like trying to hang a picture by pounding a nail with a jack hammer. It's way too much. Seed spreaders are intended to spread seeds, not salt and ice-melt products. For this reason they have rather large broadcast ranges. Most of them spread up to a few yards or so, while the average sidewalk is usually 3-4 feet or so. So, when people use these push from behind seed spreaders to distribute salt, it ends up being very costly in more ways than one. Not only are they buring through a lot more product than they need to, but too much salt can be damaging to sidewalks and driveways, and replacing them is expensive. In addition to causing premature pitting of concrete, seed spreaders can cause excess salt to damage cars, paint jobs, fences, grass, etc. They are tempting to use because they can apply a whole lot of salt in a short amount of time, but, for that same reason, they can be very costly for the homeowner, and even the neighbors. So my advice would be to pass on the walk behind seed spreaders for salt applications and just stick with a regular old shaker can. These offer a lot more control of where your ice-melt product is actually going, and uses a lot less of it in the end. Which is ideal. Most of these products recommend scattering until pellets are within 3" of each other. If you're using salt, and your have a whole lot of pellets closer than 3" to each other, you're using too much salt for that area. Regardless of which ice-melt products you choose, and how you choose to spread them, it is always a good idea to sweep up the excess when it has done its job. This will make sure that you're not constantly running out to buy more, and it will be a little easier on the surface, and surrounding vehicles. This is sure to make your property owner more satisfied with your completed work, or prolong the life of your own tools and amenities. If you find yourself using too much salt or ice-melt to begin with, it might be time to go back and scrape things a little more thoroughly. If you do the job well the first time, you really shouldn't need to rely very heavily on salt and ice-melt products. Anyway, it's just some thoughts. Y'all stay safe out there.
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Well Howdy there Pajama Party People, it's me again. So today we're going to take a look at Well, Howdy there Pajama Party People, it's me again. So today we're going to take a look at something Mega; something incredibly huge, and incredibly concerning. We're also going to be looking back at a rather large and historic bowl that took place nearly 100 years ago. We're going to be taking a look at the ongoing Mega-Drought, and the Dust Bowl of the 1930's. We're going to do this to maybe help forecast some events that might likely be looming, and because of a question I got asking if I believed "people can control the climate", because that's apparently still unclear to some. I'll post my response to that at the end here. Ok, in case you didn't know, we are experiencing climate change effects in real time, across the globe. They are here, now, and we cannot ignore them any longer. One of the most glaringly obvious examples of this for the US at least, is the dropping of the water levels in Lakes Mead and Powell. Lake Mead is the nation's largest reservoir, and supplies water to 20 million people in the southwest. It also supplies irrigation to farmlands, where a lot of the nation's produce comes from. Aside from water, Hoover Dam at Lake Mead supplies electricity throughout the same areas. Along with Lake Powell, these lakes are responsible for providing electricity to 40 million people. At the rate that water levels are falling, emergency counter measures currently being implemented will likely become exhausted within 6 months or so of deployment. This is a fairly big deal. As the water levels continue to fall, people will be forced to choose between water and electricity, and will likely lose both if we do not act responsibly immediately. This is an event that could not only displace 20 million Americans as internal climate refugees, but also eliminate a significant supply of the nation's produce - from our already strained food system. Both of these will have rippling, if not wave, effects, that will be felt around the rest of the nation, including this area. As those 20-40 million people lose power and water, they'll likely be looking for new water resources to permanently settle nearby. Even if our retail and food industries could sustain that kind of migration, our power grid in its current form would most likely fail repeatedly. Lakes Mead and Powell, and the tens of millions of people within those regions, are of course not the only ones at risk here. The ongoing Mega Drought is also responsible for 42% of the soil moisture deficit. This is of course another obstacle for farmers everywhere. It's worth noting that the Dust Bowl which took place nearly 100 years ago, was caused by severe drought and a failure to apply dryland farming methods to prevent the wind erosion. So, every time you see a tree line that looks nearly 100 years old or so running parallel to some old farmland, understand that those trees may have been planted for very good reasons at the time. And if you live in an area that removed those trees, like I do, well, you might find yourself noticing a little more dust flying around in the future. That's the topsoil-- blowing away. That might be something worth taking care of, because if enough communities don't, we won't need history books, websites, or YouTube videos to show us what the dust blizzards were like during the 1930's. We'll get to watch them live. Considering how a significant portion of the population may be dealing with lifelong breathing issues, now might not be a great time to have this part of history repeat itself.
Anyway, it's just a thought. Y'all have a safe day. Here is the exchange that prompted this entry. Well, Howdy there Pajama Party People, it's me again. So, now we're going to look at one of the many mistakes that I regret making, some apologies that are overdue, and perhaps a path forward. So, in my last entry, I eluded that there are known gatekeepers around our community that I did my best to convince to address potential food security issues in the area, which are now a lot closer on the horizon than they were when I originally tried sounding the alarms. Below is a message I sent to a local commissioner a little over four years ago. The only problem is, I should have written it as a Letter to the Editor of the local paper, and sent it to the community instead. You see, I was more naive back then than I am now, and I thought that I could rely on elected commissioners, service groups, and other local officials to take action to help safeguard the public from things like food shortages. Turns out, I was waaay wrong. So for that, I am deeply remorseful, and do genuinely apologize to my community members. That was a foolish mistake on my part. Now, if you're not from the area, or don't care to read the letter, that's fine. You may want to jump toward the paragraph near the end. It has a handful of links about different gardening methods that may be worth checking out. If you read the letter, I added those links for this entry because I knew the recipient was already familiar with these techniques. Here's the letter. And again, I apologize to everyone for trying to share this with the people in city hall, rather than the people in the neighborhoods. Sent 1-22-2018 Hello Mr.[Commissioner B], Mr.[Commissioner A] may have let the cat out of the bag and indicated to me that you are the person to talk to about gardening projects around the area. I'd like to connect sometime and discuss what all lands are available throughout Sturgis, and which ones specifically we could use to build curriculums around. I'd like to transform some of these outdoor landscapes into educational hubs for all ages. Here's what we have available so far that I'm aware of we can use as demonstrations or community projects: Eastwood's Giving Gardens -- Behind Eastwood Elementary. Garden is about to enter 4th season. I'd like to focus on permaculture installments, early propagation, and build indoor planting activities. This garden space can be used for education, service hours, and a resource to provide free meals to the 20% of students who go hungry in classrooms. I currently have some sponsors sending me gear to donate to their cause. I'm really astonished at how the local [Self Described Service Club] and many prominent members of the community are more interested in commercial cannabis cultivation (<==horribly inefficient and unsustainable), than they are feeding the children within their community, or making sure those students have the skills to run said commercial cultivation labs. At this current time, there's more profit in growing food well than growing cannabis well. I wish more members of our city recognized that (good, clean) food's kind of important, and I encourage any member of the community to support Eastwood's Giving Garden at any time this year. Sturgis High School -- Has an unused greenhouse that we can do high rotation greens in. Can develop a more dedicated STEM program here using the computer departments to help program automated systems, and math departments to help calculate investment and profits over time. Arts students could be tapped to design outdoor permaculture foodscapes. The HS also has another greenhouse that was recently recognized and awarded a grant. This is another blank canvass that could be used to teach the mechanics of production gardening while bringing back basic living skills. Sturges-Young Auditorium -- There's a ton of room here. Thinking about putting up a (grant funded) hoop house to extend the season on each side a couple months. I believe we can do that without sacrificing any production value of the space. We'd likely increase revenues significantly. If turned into a market garden, this could provide resources for the auditorium's kitchen, and sell the remainder as a fundraiser. With any one of these spaces, we could be pulling 5-6 figures conservatively out of the soil, so that's that scale I have in mind when using them as fundraisers. We also have the Salvation Army's garden over on Fourth Street that we could use as a skills development ongoing activity. There is plenty of room to make this space produce food for the local kitchen. We'd likely be canning and giving away a good amount of food because we cannot "sell" anything out of this garden. Which is perfect. I legitimately want to have so much food growing that we cannot simply just give it away. That's an ok problem to have, and it comes with an environmentally responsible solution. Among these spaces to potentially hold outdoor classes or basic planting and gardening maintenance activities, there's also the ["Service Club"]'s community garden. I'll be honest, I have a plot here, and I look to expand that plot and donate to the local Boy Scouts as a fundraiser and food pantries for fun, but as far as a community garden goes, it's in a little less than ideal location. It's got to deal with airport and industrial traffic, then also absorb runoff from the commercial farm it sits next to, plus it feels off the beaten path just a bit. The only reason I bring it up is because each time I talk about installing a Free-Pick Community Food Forest, this is the first location that gets talked about, and I sincerely don't believe it's the look. And since I've already visited the afternoon ["Service Club"] group to pitch the idea of a free-pick food forest and an educational gardening curriculum, I have no doubt that I'll have to wait until after Sturgis gets their commercial cultivation facilities and provisioning centers going before anyone from that group has the attention or interest to talk about hungry kids in the classroom or the fact that they could all be making more money selling radish instead of cannabis. Cannot come soon enough. To do a proper food forest, the small vacant patch across from the post office downtown might be a better area to start with. We could also look into transforming our parks to provide edible or more useful landscapes. Could do the same with old ball fields as they age out as well. If we wanted to get really aggressive about making a statement on ending hunger, we could graft fruit branches to established trees guiding pathways to free-pick or open garden activity areas. I believe there to be garden opportunity and resources in every vacant or blighted plot around the city. If it's contaminated soil, we can mend it through phyto or myco remediation. If there's just a solid blacktop, we can container garden on top of it and put large beds on castors. If it's overgrown with weeds, we can install natural natives that are pollinator friendly. We can do all of this, while teaching people of all ages anything from organics to hydroponics, aquaponics, aeroponics, back to Eden gardening, square foot gardening, container gardening, preserving the harvest, etc. Nothing like revitalizing the area while providing basic survival skills for free-fifty-nine. Just some thoughts I wanted to share with you. My friends and I are engaged in environmentally responsible garden projects around the community. I'm [a somewhat knowledgeable gardening enthusiast always] looking for new spaces to improve. Been trying to put a food forest in Sturgis for about 10 years now. We have a good amount of knowledge and skills to share with folks around Sturgis. We've all worked on food forest installations before and feel that with the right planning, we could help turn this area into a known garden city. Anyway, if you're interested in catching up or chatting about specifics, I can always be reached at [my contact]. Really appreciate your time and consideration. Thanks for reading, and have a great week! Gotta Grow! -DP Man, talk about a missed opportunity. It's honestly hard to imagine the amount of food and revenues that could have been generated and shared with local families over the last four years. I mean, a horticulture expert contacts schools, service groups, and commissioners offering to not only help address local food security and poverty issues, but also help develop curriculums that teach others efficient growing techniques--all for free. I don't know of many functional communities that would have let an opportunity like that go by the wayside. So, for the third time now, I want to genuinely apologize directly to my community members for not having the foresight to see that if we want to make advances toward food and wage security, we're going to have to do it ourselves, in our own spaces. We are on our own, together, until of course it comes time to pay taxes, and then we get the privilege of being valued members of society again. But after that, it's going to be back to looking out for ourselves. They say the best times to plant some things is like 4-20 years ago. The second-best time, is right now. Everyone has something they can contribute to a victory garden, or neighborhood garden, or personal garden project. It could be wisdom, seeds, tools, media, space, time & energy, grass clippings, leaves, or whatever. The list goes on. The point is that even if you haven't grown anything ever before, even if you've never even thought about gardening, or even if you're an expert on the subject, now might be a good time to get with your neighbors and people you are close with to maybe work on a plan to help mitigate some of the food shortage and price increase issues that we may be forced to deal with here. Anyway, it's just a thought. Y'all have a safe spring. And now once again, because it never gets old, here are some words from a True OG, Guerilla Gardener, Ron Finley. Well, howdy there Pajama Party People, it's me again. So today we're going to look at food systems, take a stroll down memory lane, and maybe see if we can navigate some secure paths with what might be coming on the horizon for a lot of us here. Ok, for those that missed it, or are unaware, a large (I want to say the largest in the nation?) organic foods processing facility recently suffered a catastrophic fire. We can, and will, get in to what likely caused the fire later, but for the purposes of this entry, we're just going to just look at what that might mean for us moving forward. Time marches on, and all of that. If you have been keeping count, you know that this is the most recent event in a string of fires that have occured at US food processing plants recently. I want to say that 15-18 major facilities have been reduced to ash over the last year or so, but I don't have all of the data. Either way, it's a concerning amount. To make matters slightly worse for everyone, an extremely unwise and unnecessary decision made by a Texas Governor recently led to the loss of more than a quarter of a billion dollars worth of produce waiting to enter the country. These events will more than likely produce ripple effects that hit around several areas, probably near you and/or your loved ones. And of course, not to raise anyone's panic levels too high here, but, the ongoing climate crisis will likely cause legitimate wildfires that destroy portions of crops across the nation again later this summer. Aaaand, none of that takes into account that the imperialist invasion that's currently happening will undoubtedly continue to cause grain shortages and therefore price increases all over the globe. That's kind of a brief overview of the fragility of our food system. Now, if you're someone whose commissioners laugh at the idea of you and your family members earning livable wages for your labors (which if you're reading this inside of St. Joseph county, this definitely is you), or are in a community with an out-of-control poverty rate, this would probably concern you quite a bit, and , yeah, it should. But the good news is, that it doesn't necessarily have to all that much. There are things that can be done to perhaps help families and neighbors brace for potential food shortages and price increases, beyond those which we've already clearly seen. Before we go any further, I'm just going to take a quick pause here to look back through memory lane to see what we maybe could have been doing to better prepare for some of this in my area over the years. For those that don't know me, this is something I begged my local city to address, many times over, throughout the last decade or so. Back when they were still "seeking public input" for their Master Plan for 2020, I suggested they install food forests around the area. That way, whenever shortages inevitably came up, at least the local residents here would have been covered, and taken care of. This would have been a very easy project to complete, in like a weekend's worth of time. Considering the resources at hand, the city could have set up handfuls of food forests in the area for probably the cost of a single Splash Pad Donation, which they decided was needed as a priority instead of local food security somehow. There were also attempts made through local schools, as well as at self-described service clubs, to improve local food security. In one instance a well-known "community leader" and local insurer, cut me off mid sentence and loudly declared, "That sounds like Socialism!!", while giving a big thumbs down to the others in the room. Which is funny, considering how much that same individual praised me for taking the time and effort to single handedly shovel literally every square inch of snow from his church's front doors, main sidewalk, patio, parlor sidewalk, street sidewalk, over flow parking sidewalk, handicap ramps, and of course, both rear sidewalks. It wasn't funny like funny ha-ha, but you get the idea. Similarly, these ideas were also floated (repeatedly) to a local municipal board that I used to serve as the VP. But, unfortunately anytime I brought up anything even remotely close to plant or seed related, a certain commissioner would always (literally, 100%-every-single-time) immediately chime in and joke, "No Dray, we can't plant that, ha-ha-ha". You see, he would always steer the conversation as if I were proposing the absurd idea to plant cannabis seeds or plants, because he knew I was a medical patient through our state's program, and apparently other people's health, or lack thereof, is something to joke about or make ad hominem judgements and dismissals over. Even though, I made it perfectly clear to him and the rest of the board, repeatedly, that we should be planting things like asparagus, sunchokes and carrots, not cannabis. Funny how confusing that was for said commissioner, but again, not funny Ha-ha. Frankly I'm insulted at what that commissioner's attempt at comedy cost the city's residents, and to be honest, they should be ashamed of themselves. The point here is that all of the local gatekeepers and the powers that be, in this community at least, they were all made aware years ago that the already overly impoverished area was susceptible to food shortages, and that taking simple steps could have mitigated a lot of risk and stress for most residents. They knew, for years. They just did not care. This sort of information may be something worth keeping in mind, around May and then again in November, but I won't dwell on it anymore here in this entry, as I want to refocus on what we can be doing now, and that's a whole lot to be honest. Food is free, and it should be regarded that way. Why would you pay $4 for something that was mono-cropped and trucked here from a thousand miles away, when you can just harvest your own from your back yard, patio, or neighbors' house around the corner? Now, to be clear I'm not advocating stealing produce from your neighbors, if they are growing any. I'm just pointing out that there are many properties likely in your area whose owners may be incapable of keeping up with the physical demands of gardening. You might be able to work out a deal with them where you can farm their yard. One of the nice things about the Foods Not Lawns movement, is that it cuts down on the amount of fossil fuels being wasted through insane lawn care practices. Perhaps an even better thing though about the FNL movement is that for every dollar you put in to your yarden, it will pay back multiples plus dividends for years to come, if done properly. What I'm trying to say is that now might be a good time to maybe start planning some yarden projects for this season. If you need a hand getting started, I've got an extra shovel. Remember, growing your own food is like printing your own money. That's one of the stand-out quotes from an inspiring presentation Ron Finley gave nearly 10 years ago, which tragically has only 1.3 Million views at the moment. Those are rookie numbers for this content, but among those views are myself, my friends & family, colleagues, and even some of the local gatekeepers and school/community officials I referenced earlier. If you're reading this, and if you haven't already, I'm going to invite you to take 10 minutes to watch this very moving and somewhat entertaining Ted Talk of Ron's to maybe see if it inspires you as well. Might be a familiar theme for many around the area. Look, I definitely don't know all that there is to know about gardening, or food sustainability, but if anyone has questions, or needs a hand getting started, I'll do my best to help where I can. Feel free to reach out to me, but better yet, maybe reach out to your friends, family, and neighbors to see if they have any thoughts on the subject, or words of wisdom to share. There are people more knowledgeable than I am on the topic, and you likely have some in your circles. I would suggest talking to them about planting perennials, permaculture, food preservation, etc. You can learn about all of this stuff online, but learning it from people who have legitimately done it will help prevent a lot of mistakes from being made, and time from being wasted. I want to wrap this up here, because I don't want it to get too long, but before I do, I want to remind people the value of seed collecting and swapping. Grafting and cloning are also very handy tools to have in your wheelhouse if this is something you may be thinking of persuing. Just want to remind folks that if you're on government assistance or receive food benefits, you may be able to use those to purchase things like fruit trees, shrubs, starter plants, and seeds. There are also a number of small fresh food initiatives taking place throughout the year, that if you haven't taken advantage of, they might be worth looking in to. Even if it's just showing up and grabbing some produce to take to someone else, or pickup a bag of produce with the sole intent on planting the food scraps, this program is one that moer people may want to be taking advantage of, or starting their own spin-off from in, in the future. And, if none of that is an option available to you, there's always the local barter economy that can likely help get you growing for next to nothing. Anyway, it's just a thought. Y'all have a safe day. PS, if you made it this far, are still reading, first off, congratulations and thank you. Second, I have more seeds than I can possibly start in my tiny yard, so if you have some extra space to lend, maybe we can work something out. Well, Howdy there Pajama Party People, it's me again. So today we're going to take another look at a familiar topic, and we're going to see if it has any impact on public safety. We're going to do this because of a squeaker toy that raised my attention on a recent trip to a local convenient store, which then prompted a conversation with a newly installed district manager.
Ok, so earlier today I had to retrieve some provisions. I normally opt to do 100% of my shopping online these days, but there was like an 8 hour wait for today's order, so I made the decision to mask up and head into a smaller local store to grab some higher priority goods; things I didn't really want to wait 8 hours for. While I was navigating the aisles in the store, I kept hearing this squeaker toy every so often. When I got to the register, I learned that the squeaker toy was on the conveyer belt, and that guests were to squeeze it to alert the store clerks they were ready to checkout. Now, even putting aside for a moment the fact that we are still very much experiencing a global health crisis, and that the number of known cases for our specific state have increased 46% in the last month alone, this is not a practice I would encourage store managers embrace during cold and flu season. Maybe it's just me, but having every single person that frequents a store put their hands on the exact same object during their visit, is a really bad idea. This particular object had been in use since at least Halloween, and likely earlier than that, I honestly don't know. I can only wonder how many people may have coughed or sneezed into their hands before using it to summon store clerks. After leaving the store I noticed on my receipt that the establishment was open to online feedback, so I took the opportunity to share my experience. Much to my surprise, about an hour later I got a call from the store's district manager. The DM sounded embarrassed, made it clear that this was not policy at all, and that they very much understood the issue. Since they said they understood the issue completely, I thought, "great, we're on our way to finding the solution". So, I asked, "Since you understand the issue so well, can you describe it to me? That way, I'm certain we both understand". This is where the DM got confused. They thought the issue was the squeaker toy being used. It isn't. As I outlined in my written response to the establishment, the issue here isn't that somebody took it upon themself to use a squeaker toy as a summoning device; the issue is that a summoning device of any kind is even needed in the first place. You see, while not ringing people up, store associates are expected to unload trucks, stock shelves, and deal with the general upkeep of the facility, while being short staffed. We've explored the myth of the labor shortage before, and discovered that it's a wage shortage, and nothing more. Pay people livable wages, you'll attract and retain them. It really is that easy. However, company owners and upper management have gotten so entitled to profits they don't even work to produce, that they refuse to pay livable wages to store associates, even if it means putting the health and safety of their own guests at risk in the process. Doesn't sound like a very sustainable, let alone responsible, model. The DM assured me that the company offers "very competitive pay", so I asked what exactly that was--to which they had no comment. They were literally unable to answer that very basic question, so I took a ballpark guestimate at $15/hr, and gave them the very condensed run through of how $15/hr becomes $1/hr, or even less around these parts, really quick. Again, no comment from the DM other than they "understand" and will do all they can to address my concerns. Not entirely certain if that bit was accurate, I requested the Regional Manager's contact info, just to make sure that these concerns are indeed being understood and passed along. I'll be following up with the cashier staff, store manager, and regional manager soon just to be certain. It seems excessive, maybe, but, it's necessary. It's necessary because we've reached a point that company owners are so entitled to profits, that they are willing to sacrifice the health and safety of entire communities, instead of just paying employees what they are actually worth. We might be very near the point where people begin to realize there really is no such thing as a decent quarter, in a dying community. Anyway, it's just a thought. Y'all have a safe week. Well, Howdy there Pajama Party People, it's me again. So today we're going to take another look at local wages, but not the minimum wages this time. Today we're going to look at wages in some more comfortable positions, and see what we can learn about them from a mysterious set of keys. We're going to do this because a recent series of events has got me questioning some things about our downtown, and I can't help but to wonder perhaps how wide spread the issue may be. So, I've got a couple of buddies that are basically subcontractors and do a fair amount of material hauling. Because each of them recognizes the value of permaculture and sustainability, each of them are frequent users of our local city's compost site, so much that they each pay to use the site. Now, our city compost is one of the best amenities that we have in this area, and for that reason, it needs to be kept secure. Although it is open and free to use to the public, it requires an attendant and gate to prevent dumpers or poachers taking advantage of the area. My friends, and I don't know how many other contractors, all paid I want to say $150 a piece to have access to the site year-round, unless they reside outside of city limits, in which case their payment was an extra $100. Their $150-$250 payment granted them 12-month access, and a key. The key is to the lock on the gate. Each key likely has a number. I want to say the numbers on the back of my buddies' was somewhere in the mid-thirties, and they each bought theirs earlier in the year, like in January earlier, not last month earlier. In theory, those keys should be good until January of 2022, right? Bought in January of 2021. Supposed to grant 12-month access. Should be good til January 2022. Makes sense. Now, the only issue is that the city no longer uses the lock and key method to secure the gate, but rather they rely on one of those automatic key card things. Which is well, and good. One should be able to just hand in their old key, and have it swapped out for the new chip key, right? That's what would make sense. That's what we were all expecting to happen. Except, when my buddy called to have his key updated, "I'm sorry Sir, we have no records of yours, or any other key sales on file for January." Interesting. My buddies have emails showing the steps up to the transactions. They were each told to pay in cash, and were both issued physical keys from city officials. Yet, here we are later in the same year, and there is allegedly no record of these transactions ever taking place. Makes one curious since there's no record, if those assets from these transactions were perhaps misappropriated, and if so, how many times over? Since my buddies and I are close, and they know I can move a good amount of material quickly, I've often been with them in trips to the local compost site. Rare is the day that we are the only ones there. Again, my buddies' keys are numbered in the mid-thirties, and they were purchased in January. At $150-$250 a pop, you have to wonder how many keys were made, and how many payments are unaccounted for. 40 mysterious keys at $150 is $6 grand. That's a significant amount of money to either allegedly misappropriate, or just lose track of, especially if that only represents the first calendar month of the year. I say allegedly because I'm getting most of these numbers and statements second hand. Due to the ongoing situation, I wasn't in the room where it happened, so to speak, but I was on the property when it did, and if it comes to light that any of the above is inaccurate, I'll gladly make updates. Regardless of the known or unknown size of the issue, the issue does exist, and now a good question to ask might be "Why". This little oopsie, or this little clerical error, this didn't happen at the local Burgers R Us joint, it happened downtown, in City Hall, and the person, or persons, responsible, probably bring home a bit more than minimum wage before considering their extra benefits. It kind of makes one wonder. If those people -in City Hall- cannot perform their jobs accurately, or without allegedly going in to business for themselves, then why should anybody expect anyone making sub livable wages, without benefits, to be any different?
Anyway, it's just a thought. Y'all have a safe week. Well, Howdy there Pajama Party People, it's me again. Today we're going to be taking another look at leaves, since it's still that time of year, and the city just released a couple of "statements" of fb urging residents to keep leaves on terraces and off of streets. They even mentioned this was "per City ordinance section 42-3", to show how serious they are taking things. The sensational online post went nearly viral after receiving almost 9 Likes, and about 2 dozen shares among a handful or two of individuals. Mass adaptation and voluntary compliance is sure to follow in no time /s. As I type, there's another lawn company literally blowing debris into the roadway. I say another one, but it's the same one that was doing the exact same thing when we looked at how damaging that can be to local infrastructure. This is their 7th service on my street this season. I can only imagine how many properties they have along their route that they are causing the same amounts of long-term damage to the roads in front of. To say millions of dollars' worth might not be a stretch. Don't worry. the cost of the potholes these leaf piles create won't be on their bill. Residents will pay for them later. Both, when the roads have to be repaired/replaced prematurely, and again when the same happens to vehicles that pass over those potholes in the future. I say in the future, but depending on which road this happens on, it could be within the next 12-36 months, so, not long in to the future, Having this hemorrhaging of resources recently pointed out to them, the city put out the toothless post in their echo chamber. They didn't bother to state that violation of the ordinance will result in a fine, nor did they link to the ordinance that the post focuses on. Further, the one person tasked with code enforcement cannot possibly work full time enforcing all codes, let alone focus all their time on a single code. Given how ignoring this ordinance creates financial sinkholes for everyone living in the area for years to come, perhaps it's time we started taking more personal accountability and holding ourselves to a higher standard. There ought not necessarily need be an ordinance, or its enforcement, to do what is best for each other in the long run. You know there's this old document that folks still cite from time to time that begins with the words, "We The People...". It goes on, later in that same opening sentence. to say specifically that we'd "provide for the common defense," and "promote the general welfare" for ourselves and those around us for future generations, in order to form a more perfect union and all. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm not too keen on having the one ambulance that serves two counties, or any other vehicles for that matter, trying to navigate over pothole riddled roads. As our current mayor would point out, it's not safe. But, because I feel especially today that people don't particularly care about safety or the well-being of others in most cases, I'd point out that it's not only unsafe, it's unsustainable. Meaning, it's something that we just cannot afford to keep letting happen, but unfortunately, until more people see and understand the consequences of their own actions, it's absolutely going to. And like with most things, the cost goes up a little bit more each time. Regardless of the existence of an ordinance, or its enforcement, we should consider it our basic constitutional duty to see to it that our roadways, the things we rely on to transport food, medicines, and emergency supplies, do not become compromised or deteriorated by people just burning fossil fuels chasing profits. Anyway, it's just a thought. Y'all have a safe week. Well, Howdy there Pajama Party People, it's me again. So today we're going to take another look at being productive. We've looked a bit into productivity very briefly in a previous post, that might be worth a read if you haven't done so already, and now we're going to look at it again from a slightly different angle. We're also going to be looking at life satisfaction, and some lessons we might be able to learn from other cultures. We're going to do this in an attempt to spread some information about how people may be able to live more ejoyable lives, and we'll be doing this by taking a look at perhaps a familiar story. So the story goes: An American businessman was walking near a pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish. “How long did it take you to catch them?” the American asked. “Only a little while” the Mexican replied. “Why don’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?” the American then asked. “I have enough to support my family’s immediate needs” the Mexican said. “But” the American then asked, “What do you do with the rest of your time?” The Mexican fisherman said: “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life, señor.” For those that missed him in the cartoons, Slowpoke is the cousin of Speedy Gonzales, and despite appearances, is no one to be trifled with. Let's just say he was able to handle himself well against any adversary or intrusive tourist. A forgotten hero to, and champion of, the Looney Tune world. Real ones remember to put some respect on his name. The American scoffed: “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds you could buy a bigger boat and, with the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats. Eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman, you would sell directly to the consumers, eventually opening your own can factory. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise.” The Mexican fisherman asked: “But senor, how long will this all take?” To which the American replied: “15-20 years.” “But what then, señor?” The American laughed and said: “That’s the best part. When the time is right, you would announce an IPO – an Initial Public Offering – and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions.” “Millions, señor? Then what?” The American said slowly: “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos…” Böll's story is credited for being translated by Leila Vennewitz, and is, to me at least, a more enjoyable version. It's set in an unnamed harbor on the west coast of Europe. A smartly-dressed enterprising tourist is taking photographs when he notices a shabbily dressed local fisherman taking a nap in his fishing boat. The tourist is disappointed with the fisherman's apparently lazy attitude towards his work, so he approaches the fisherman and asks him why he is lying around instead of catching fish. The fisherman explains that he went fishing in the morning, and the small catch would be sufficient for the next two days. The tourist tells him that if he goes out to catch fish multiple times a day, he would be able to buy a motor in less than a year, a second boat in less than two years, and so on. The tourist further explains that one day, the fisherman could even build a small cold storage plant, later a pickling factory, fly around in a helicopter, build a fish restaurant, and export lobster directly to Paris without a middleman. The nonchalant fisherman asks, "Then what?" The tourist enthusiastically continues, "Then, without a care in the world, you could sit here in the harbor, doze in the sun, and look at the glorious sea." "But I'm already doing that", says the fisherman. The enlightened tourist walks away pensively, with no trace of pity for the fisherman, only a little envy. It's probably not your first-time hearing of the parable, and whether or not it is, I wanted to bring it up to focus on two things. One, depending on where you are from, or when you are born, you probably heard the first version by the "unknown author". You see, there's this stereotype that exists that certain people from areas beyond the US are perhaps "lazy", even though, let's be honest, they do all of the jobs in this country that nobody really wants to do, or is physically capable of doing for long periods of time, there is that stereotype, that old world thinking, that a certain group of people are lazy. But if you've ever been fortunate enough to work along side them, and learn from them, you'd know that they aren't lazy at all. They're actually fairly brilliant, and most of them have mastered the art of working smarter, not harder.
You see most of them wake up a little earlier than a lot of their counterparts do, and then go grind out a few hours in the mornings before the sun gets overhead. They do this because in other areas of the world, especially the closer one is to the equator, the more the sun is overhead, the more oppressive it can be. People that know what it's like to work through 100+ degree days, every day know that it's a lot easier to work earlier, and then take a little siesta during the hottest part of the day, before either returning to work later, or just enjoying the evening. During the summer months, I do this very same thing, and so do my closest friends. We even joke a bit about people who choose to work, outside, during the hottest parts of the days, saying that's Gringo work. The reason I bring it up here is depending on your ethnicity, when you discover the difference between working smarter versus working harder, you might be celebrated for it, or you might be berated for it, and that should never be the case. The myth of Schrödinger's lazy foreigner doesn't really exist. When you think about it, the concept alone is absolutely ludicrous. People can not be both, lazy, and simultaneously completing vital jobs necessary to the essential functioning of this country. Those two premises cannot coexist on the same timeline, and I think we all really know which one doesn't hold up. Makes one wonder why the original version of the story above was doctored the way it was. The other part of this story I want to take a look at is perhaps its intended message, which might be able to be summed up into, "Don't get so busy making a living, that you forget to actually enjoy life". This is especially true if you work in a position where all of your labor enrichess someone other than yourself. If you slave away all day at a job that you hate that barely meets your needs decade after decade, just so you can finally enjoy life as you reach your senior years, you might want to reevaluate some things in your life. I mean, what's the point in having a big fancy house that sits empty all day while you work 5-7 full days a week trying to pay for it? Would be nice to travel the world, right? Probably be a bit more enjoyable to do that before you blow out your back, knees, or hips in a factory somewhere. It's fun to have big new fancy things, but in some cases, less can end up being more, and in cases when it comes to personal growth, direction is a lot more important than speed. There's lots of people burning gas growing nowhere, really, but they sure are getting there in a hurry. Might be something to keep in mind while everyone's so busy being so productive all of the time. Anyway, it's just a thought. Y'all have a safe week. Well, Howdy there Pajama Party People, it's me again. So, today we're going to be taking a look at estimates vs. expectations. We're going to do this because of an experience I've had recently, so we're going to take a look at things and try to understand and share why certain things are the way they are. Before we get into things, I'm going to try to remember and paraphrase a cautionary tale that was shared with me a few years back that seems very relevant today. Story goes something like there's a person shopping at a local market, and through some sort of birthright, luck, or other circumstance, they happen to be a person of wealth. Meaning, no purchases at this market or in general are going to make a significant impact to their financial situation. They're quite comfortable, let's say. The wealthy person comes across a farmer who has eggs to sell. Unlike the shopper, the farmer here, isn't as fortunate and you can visually tell has to be a lot thriftier with their purchases. The farmer's eggs are marked at $3/dozen., and when the shopper sees this, they tell the farmer, "This is too much, you need to mark these down. I will pay you $1/dozen, and no more." The farmer not quite sure what to say tries explaining that this is lowest cost they can sell the eggs for. After paying for the land, the taxes, the coop, the chickens, the feed, the fuel, etc., there's really no lower that they can be expected to sell at without putting themselves in debt. Insulted, the shopper declines to purchase the eggs or support the farmer, and quickly departs. Later that day, completely oblivious to the irony of the situation, the shopper is back home surfing the web when they opt to pick up a set of Louis Vuitton pajamas, because the tops were only $1,920, marked down from $2,000, and you got to have the bottoms to match the tops. In an area where 1 out of 4 lives below the poverty line, it's hard for me to believe that things like these pajamas are real and exist. Yours truly has 3 seamstresses, and 2 egg farmers, standing by should anyone ever want to support local farmers and business owners, instead of things like $36 Billion Dollar Companies. I wish I could remember the story better, but I updated it with more modern references. I hadn't thought about that story in a long time, but was reminded of it yesterday on my drive home after giving a quick estimate of a lakefront property.
Not only was it a lakefront property, but it included 6, maybe 7, units approximately 3-4 bedrooms each, at the property. It had two narrow drives on each side of the building, and a small parking area for 10-12 cars behind the building, for reference. Behing the parking lot was more of the lake, so not only was this a very tight space, it was severely limited on where the snow could be put once moved. Obviously, you cannot and should not, ever, dump snow directly into waterways, so this property presented some unique, but manageable, challenges. I honestly couldn't picture using a truck plow in such a tight space, and when I shared this concern with one of the residents, they made it sound like it was valid, since the last guy caused damage to at least 2 vehicles and the building itself. In my mind at the time, I'm thinking "Oh, that's why they called me". Makes sense, someone dings up a property that has a price tag north of $2.3 Million on it, and that someone is likely getting replaced. But I was up to this particular challenge, and explained to the resident that this space was very similar to my primary training property both, in size, and in difficulty of maneuverability. So, I felt confident explaining my methods, and handing over the estimate. This is where things took a turn, as I could see the resident struggle with a bit of check shock. Now, I provide some of the best, if not the very best, snow removal in the area, so I knew my rates were going to probably be higher than what others in the area probably were. I just didn't know exactly how much higher that was. Recognizing a disconnect, I asked, "How much had the property been paying previously?', and they responded with a number so low, that my body literally immediately started moving for my car. Not to give too many specifics, but what they had been paying in the past was about 10% of what I would have quoted them cold. To be honest, what they were used to paying, doesn't even cover the transportation costs to get someone out to the property, let alone any of the labor, maintenance, or insurance costs. Which I'm sure the person that dinged up their cars, and property, and likely the cars and property of many others was sure to take in to account for when preparing estimates and bills. Now I know some people are taken aback by something like a transportation/service fee. They really shouldn't be though. If your cable technician, plumber, furnace person etc., have to make house calls, they're likely going to charge a service fee on top of parts and labor. These are entirely necessary, and keep service vehicles on the road. When it comes to snow removal, there's a lot of wear and tear the vehicles experience in a short period of time. Brake lines, brake pads, tires, headlights, wipers, etc. all need to be in good condition, and frequently need replaced. Transmissions also do not last long on plow vehicles. This is on top of standard vehicle maintenance, and of course the principal purchase of the vehicle and plowing equipment. Chances are if it wasn't because of the damage caused during service, perhaps a breakdown they couldn't afford to repair/replace, is what caused the previous plow person's absence this season. Just a quick note here, If you haven't tried shopping for a truck lately, I can assure you that since the interruption of global supply chains, inventories are limited, and it's completely a seller's market. Even if you are fortunate enough to find a truck on a lot, you may end up paying around $20,000 above the asking/listed price as a "market adjustment", in case you didn't know. Looking back on the experience of providing that estimate, I feel a bit like the farmer trying to sell eggs at $3/dozen. I did almost all I possibly could to try to secure that contract for my business. I knocked the transportation/service fee down. 30%. I knocked labor down twice the amount that I usually offer discounts at. But still, I'm quite certain that whenever the decision makers get together to talk about what to do about snow removal this year, they are going to see my estimate, and keep looking for other solutions, and that's totally fine. That's totally fine. Would I have preferred to have that business? Yes, absolutely. Could I afford to do so at the rate they were used to paying? Unfortunately, no. Not even close. Fuel, equipment, and vehicle costs aside, the labor costs alone just wouldn't allow it. Thinking about things now, expecting someone to perform that kind of service for that low of a rate, is kind of like expecting someone to perform fast food service, or factory work, for about $3/hr. today. One major difference being both the factory and fast-food worker work in environments where it is usually very hot, and the snow removal specialist works in environments where it is usually freezing cold, literally. However, both provide essential functions for society, and both, I would wager deserve to bring home livable wages for their efforts. You see, there really is no such thing as unskilled labor. People that push snow shovels, or brooms, or mops do so with a skill they develp and hone over years. This is why I can clear driveways of all snow within seconds, not minutes. I've developed and sharpened my skills to do so. People who prepare or bring food do the same thing. The idea of any labor, at all, being "unskilled", is a classist myth used to justify paying the masses poverty wages. Perhaps it's time that we stop looking at certain jobs as unskilled, and start referring to them for what they actually are, essential. Anyway, it's just a thought. Y'all have a safe week |