October Run, .............

We just, this evening, got home from our October travels. This year we fished our run with a few days in the Smokey Mountains, and spent a day at the annual "Craftsmen's Fair" in Gatlinburg.

Fantastically talented people from all over the country show up to display, and sell, their many personal crafts. Some of the things you can see there are amazing, to say the least.

I can never escape without purchasing "something", ......... whether I have a use for it or not. This year was no exception.

We always seem to run into someone we know while in Gatlinburg. This year we ran into a life-long friend of mine, and his family, on the downtown parkway. We stopped and visited with an old friend who has a gold and silver shoppe in town. He retired seven months ago, but decided he couldn't stay away, so 12 days ago he opened a new shoppe in the same plaza as his old one ( I thought for a minute he was gone, when I didn't find him where I expected him to be).

We tried a new (to us) campground this year - "Camping in the Smokies" - on Highway 321, 4 or 5 miles north of town. We were able to get on the Trolley there for a trip to town, and return later in the day via the same Trolley. This was a neat experience. This campground has large camp sites with full hookups, including cable.

It rained our last night there, and this morning I got good and wet while hooking up the trailer and putting everything away, .... but I dried out quickly in the air conditioned truck.

Of course no trip to the Smokies would be complete, for me, without the normal stop at the "Smokey Mountain Knife Works". This always necessitates another purchase or two.

Anyway, now we're home, showered and partially unpacked. The rest can wait until tomorrow.

Goodnight!

Downsizing ..........

It's happening all over the country. So why not at my house.

I love my Nisssan Murano. It's the best driving, best handling and, for me at least, the most comfortable vehicle I've ever owned.
But I'm going to sell it. Why?


I drive it primarily in town, where it can't deliver it's optimum gas mileage.
I own a 4 door sedan and a 4 door Super Cab pickup truck.
I need to keep the truck because it's the only vehicle I own that is capable of towing the travel trailer.
The Wife wants to keep her Buick.

I can drive a smaller vehicle that gets better gas mileage, and isn't such a high dollar vehicle, for my town driving.

I'm thinking of getting a used VW 'New Beetle" My Grandaughter has one and she consistently gets almost twice the gas mileage that I do. That, coupled with the fact that I can bank in the neighborhood of $10,000.00 by selling the Murano and buying a Bug, leads me to believe that it's a good time for me to downsize my errand runner.

To my surprise I have discovered that the Bug has more leg room in it than my Murano, a lot more that the Buick, and I find it a real pleasure to drive.

So, will I be happy driving a Bug after having a Murano? Probably not.
Will I be happy buying less gas and saving money? Probably so.
Will I be happy putting a considerable sum of cash in the bank and still having an errand runner? Probably so.

I guess two outta three ain't bad.

Do What ??

Paint?

I thought I would get the Den all painted and have it looking good. I went to Home Depot (that's the only place I know of where I can get Glidden paint) and had them mix me 4 gallons of our standby color, "Antique White".

With paint in hand (in the buckets of course, .... not literally in my hand) I went to work. I paint the upper rim wall in the recessed ceiling, .... and WOW, ....what a surprise! The color didn't match the rest of the house at all! It looked like a very dark Tan instead of Antique White.

As I tried to figure out what went wrong, I was looking at all of the labels on the custom mixed paint cans. There ........... I found it!....They used the wrong Base to mix my paint in. I needed to have a White Base (AF1311), and they used a Medium Base (AF1312). The color mix was right, but the Base was wrong = wrong color.

So back to store I go, .......... tell my story to the Manager, ..... and my "Non Returnable, Custom Mixed Paint" was returned. Back I go to the Paint Department, and this time, .... I make CERTAIN, they use the Correct Base,and the Correct colorant mixture. Now I have the right color.


I'm happy.

(if only the painting were finished)

Bail out ?

I'm against the $85,000,000,000.00 bailout of AIG.

Instead, I'm in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in a "We Deserve It" dividend.

To make the math simple, let's assume there are 200,000,000 bonafide U.S. Citizens 18+.

Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man, woman and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up..

So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billon that equals $425,000.00.

This plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a We Deserve It Dividend.

Of course, it would NOT be tax free. So let's assume a tax rate of 30%.

Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes. That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam.

But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket. A husband and wife has $595,000.00.

What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family? Pay off your mortgage – housing crisis solved. Repay college loans – what a great boost to new grads Put away money for college – it'll be there Save in a bank – create money to loan to entrepreneurs.

Buy a new car – create jobs Invest in the market – capital drives growth
Pay for your parent's medical insurance – health care improves
Enable Deadbeat Dads to come clean – or else.


Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces.

If we're going to re-distribute wealth let's really do it...instead of trickling out a puny $1000.00 ( "vote buy" ) economic incentive that is being proposed by one of our candidates for President. If we're going to do an $85 billion bailout, let's
bail out every adult U S Citizen 18+!

As for AIG – liquidate it.
Sell off its parts.
Let American General go back to being American General.
Sell off the real estate.
Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it up.

Here's the rationale. "We deserve it" ........ and AIG doesn't.

Sure it's a crazy idea that will "never happen."

But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party!

How do you spell Economic Boom?

I trust adult Americans to know how to use the $85 Billion "We Deserve It" dividend, more than I do the geniuses at AIG or in Washington DC ..

And remember, .........this plan really only costs $59.5 Billion, because $25.5 Billion is returned instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam.