Deception Among Oligopolies

        

                In November I had never heard of an oligopoly before.  I knew what they were, but until this last class I had (in economy) I didn't realize they had a specific name. I'm not saying all companies that happen to be in the Oligopoly or monopoly stage are necessarily bad companies.  The truth is the founder of the company may well have had extremely valid intentions (other than become a successful money maker who cares only about money) and may not even be involved with the company anymore as many founders are eventually kicked out of their own company (that doesn't seem right) but I am saying that there are many who make decisions, advertising for instance, that are done in a deceptive way.  Many businesses seem to get "too big for their breeches" that they have lost vision of what made the corporation great in the first place.  By the same token, consumers need to take responsibility also.  We don't have to put up with their malarkey, you know.  We have other options.  Or do we?

                I don't know how early it was proposed for a tax increase on businesses that could afford it to help the Oregon economy (see here).  I would guess that billions were spent on advertizing for or against.  Unfortunately, those against the proposal (the large companies, most I would suspect were oligopolies) had more to spend.  Both represented themselves as "small business owners" - the ones who actually were small business owners spoke from the heart.  They would give the reasons the economy would be changed if the voter voted "YES"

                The  large companies with money hired actors and actresses who read well and evidently were better at acting than say the geriatrics who "help me, I've fallen, and I can't get up" except THEY WERE READING - NOTHING WAS FROM THE HEART - they'd be ever so smug about it, using the name WILCO  - trying to deceive the public familiar with Winco perhaps (for example) and thinking they recognized the name.  Their deceitful ads worked.  The bill did not pass.  The small businesses suffer as a result.  But glory be to the oligopolies who were able to keep themselves from being taxed.  They must be so proud.

Final Assignment

           

            As I have mentioned in my online-themed posts, there is a daily checkpoint question given each day.  For the most part the questions will be on the class subject of that particular week. The basic classes (the ones given to brand new students) will often throw in questions about finances and career choices. The economy class I had recently taken was/is a basic class.

            I had originally decided to approach my assignment from a different angle as I had asked my instructor about non-profit organizations during one of the lectures.  I had wondered it any would be considered oligopolies and so had pulled up references for that.  I had actually tried three or four approaches before I had about 20-30 references.  I knew I would not end up using them all and actually ended up going in the same direction as my post.  I called my final assignment  "Show Me the Money"  and added a thesis statement though I probably didn't need one since it was a starter class for many of my peers.

             APA Style is the writing style that is required by the school.  APA stands for American Psychological Association.  Many instructors seem to put a greater emphasis on the style itself than they do with the content.  I think that is annoying.  I had more examples, but it was only supposed to be 600 words and I have over 800.  I'm pleased that I have received full credit for this assignment.  I double spaced for the assignment itself, but will do not so here.  It just looks weird as a post.

                                                   Show Me The Money Conflict

            "Everyone  should be respected as an individual, but no one idolized. - Albert Einstein.

            All people deserve to be treated with respect regardless of  what position they hold.  A single mother struggling to put food on the table should not be treated as though she does not matter, nor should a president of a large company expect to be worshiped or take advantage of others because he has more money or power.  We are all human beings, not statistics. Oligopolies and poverty levels are statistics.

            An Oligopoly can be defined as a few large firms that control a larger percentage of the market than all the other competitors put together (Study, 2013).  Oligopolies form from competition and advertising enticing the customer into believing that theirs is the best product (O. Market, 2017) .  They do this by offering goods at a lower cost or a deal of "buy one get one free" or some other "reward" for purchasing said product from them and not their competitors.

            For example, there are several cell phone providers - but according to study.com (2013)  it appears that AT&T  and Verizon deal with more than half the consumers' cell phone plans, followed by T-Mobile and Sprint.  Those four cell phone plan providers make up for 99% of all consumers with cell phone plans leaving every other cell phone provider all lumped into one percent.

            Some of the lures these markets have used is, "keep your same cell phone number" "switch for free" "we will pay your old phone bill if you make the switch" and there are consumers who actually go back and forth between companies trying to get the best deal. Then there are those who choose not to deal with the larger companies because they all seem to fail at great quality customer service.  It is not just cell phone plans that have an oligopoly, but fast food chains as well.

            I have never considered the food industry as having oligopolies and yet Welker's Game Theory (2013) used two popular food chains to explain oligopoly.  Burger King and McDonald's have long time seemed like rivals - trying to outdo one another enticing consumers with prices or selling how the  meat is cooked or how fast service.

            Some people are under the impression that it is the American Dream to get ahead, to build an empire and earn billions of dollars.  That may be the case for some, but not all Americans have that dream.  According to The Founder, the McDonald Brothers had set up shop just to make an honest living.  It was not their dream to blow up so big that they would lose control over a concept they had.  Ray Kroc believed it was his dream to head a food empire and kept the McDonalds name, though the McDonald brothers were no longer involved.   Kroc paid a high price - though not as high a price as did the McDonald brothers (Hancock, 2016).

            According to 20/20  the top six fast food chains - including Burger King and McDonald's -  made up for 6.6 billion dollars in 2015 and yet 52% of their employees are on some kind of welfare assistance.  The cameras followed Terrance Wise, who worked for both McDonald's and Burger King.  As he spent most of his day either working or traveling to get there, it gave him little time to spend with his family.  It's disheartening as he watches unsold food being thrown away (Reality, 2017).

                        I live in Douglas County, which once was a thriving community.  Sawmill workers may have had dreams about how they would spend their money after they retired from the saw mill where they had worked for many years and expected more to come. When the sawmills closed in 1978, those who could afford to leave Myrtle Creek packed up their belongings or sold off what they could, to find work in another location, generally in another state.  Circumstances changed whatever dreams they may have had  (Heilman, 2014 p 78).  Very few people (if any) choose to be poor.

            A rich person may donate $1,000 to a local charity and  use it as a tax write off.  For him to write a check for that amount is no big deal.  For him, it may be just chump change.  Another man may spend only $7.00 on a swimsuit so that his daughter may have a birthday gift to unwrap (Reality, 2017) and though the amount of  $7.00 seems so much smaller than $1,000, the poor man is giving everything while the rich man gives something that he may consider small. 

            If we treat one another with respect, regardless of our position, we create better human beings.  Humans should be made to feel humane and not a statistic.  Respect may be the first step taken towards stamping out the poverty.

            The pictures were not a part of my assignment, but are there for the affect of the post.       On Monday I start to more classes.  Management: Entrepreneurship and Math.   

Two Discussion Posts

          I have now completed my economics course.  My instructor has completed grading all of my work, and so I will go ahead and share what I have turned in.

          On my first post this month I shared a video of a phone service parody.  This is the discussion that went with it:

      "How many of my classmates remember the landline and payphones? Funny how perspective changes from being a child to being an adult. Our responsibilities are not the same, and therefore we view the world in a different way. For example, I never personally had to wait for AT&T to come out and install or repair a telephone, but my mom did. Back then we didn't have the option of cell phones or even provider plans for that matter. The Bell System had a monopoly all across the nation with its "Bell" trademark on every phone booth. Every household that had a phone received a bill from Ma Bell, Mountain Bell, Southwestern Bell and others (depending on which part of the nation you lived).

     "By 1979 AT&T employed over a million people within all of its Bell locations (History). They were the phone company. There was no competition (Easterbrook, 1985). If you had a phone you either dealt with them, or you could forgo dealing with them which meant you also gave up the privilege of having or even using the phones. (Remember all the pay phones were provided by Bell)

      "I was still in high school in 1979 when Ma Bell settled a law suit brought on by the justice department (Barger, 1984). I understood the negative effects that a monopoly causes and was happy about the Bell System's 'break-up" in 1984. My great aunt had worked for and retired from Mountain Bell. I wanted to ask her opinion but was not allowed to bring up the subject. I'd forgotten all about that until I started doing my research for this topic.

     "I think monopolies are dangerous - at least for the consumer. The telephone company is just one example of what a monopoly does to the economy. I wonder how many of my classmates remember the parody included with my references.

          The instructor as well as eight students responded to my post. Here is a funny story I may have shared in a post before.  I brought it up again as different class members would reminisce over the landline:

            "I have to share a funny story that has nothing to do with perfect competition or monopolies, but rather about the rotary phone (remember those?)  My husband was a realtor who would bring home rare treasures every now and then.  One day he brought home a rotary phone to plug into the jack that was in the hallway - this way the boys could answer calls without having to run to the kitchen.
            "Our three boys (all younger than the cell phone) stood around it and looked at it and at each other.  Finally, one of them asked, "How does it work?"

          For this week's discussion, we were given the choice to speak on oligopolies or poverty.  This was my discussion post:

            "Funny how we were given a choice to discuss oligopoly or poverty as I feel that the two seem connected. I am not saying that Oligopoly is solely responsible for poverty, but I do think it is one contributing factor. Let me use an example of the banking industry. There are hundreds of banks, perhaps thousands, located throughout the country. Yet according to the pie graph (Jennings, 2016) below, there are only four banks which deal with over half the nation's money. Half! That is a lot of power to put into four banks.

            "As a customer, having dealt with three of the four banks, though their initial customer service seems to be professional and friendly, it felt like it is only a facade. Once I had been lured in it felt like the Oligopoly (in this case the bank) preys on my financial weakness and feeds itself out of my pocket (Parramore, 2011).

            "In some cases I had not made the choice to deal with the large bank, but had made a loan purchased from a competitor that may no longer be in business as it was swallowed up by the larger bank as well. I think Bare Truth (2013) explains it best when the comparison is made that the "ideal" is someone believing he may share a small piece of the wealth as it may be "melted" onto him, when in reality, the rich get richer by sucking finances from the poor like an inhuman vacuum.

            "If you live from paycheck to paycheck, you are better off putting your money in a smaller bank or credit union. I personally do not support any oligopolies if I can help it. I bank at a local chain that I would guess most of you have never even heard of. I actually had not heard of them until I moved into this county.

            "I think oligopolies seek power, often at the expense of their own employees  in which the dollar seems to be a higher priority than human welfare (My Reality; 2017). In my opinion, supporting oligopolies seems to be allowing them to have unnecessary power.

           

          My instructor than asked me to explain why I would recommend a small bank or credit union over the larger banks.  My response was:

            "In my experience, the larger banks have always "charged" me to keep my money in the bank.  If a deposit (biweekly paycheck) is made on the same day that my written checks (bill pay) have cleared, they will do the withdrawls before the deposits and charge me for each check that has gone over which wouldn't have been an issue if the deposit would have been cleared first. 

            "I realize that my check should not even be written if the money isn't in the bank.  Knowing it will be in the bank, I have taken it on faith that the deposit would clear first.  After the bank "robbed" me by charging me for each check, I was short for the next set of bills.

            "This has never happened for me with the credit union.  The smaller unknown bank  that I am currently with in Oregon is very much like a credit union.  Deposits clear before withdrawals are made.  I don't have to have a mandatory savings to open a checking account.  I only had to have a 25.00 minimum to open an account.

            "I struggled from paycheck to paycheck more with the large banks.  I have not had that problem with my credit union or the bank I am with in Oregon."

          I had also used this response to another class member on her post:

            "I agree that this has been an interesting week for topic discussion.  I took a class once in which the instructor picked two people to represent a very small fraction of the world.  He proceeded to carry out his demonstration by distributing groceries that he would pull from a few bags that he had. He had three of each item and would pass them out accordingly:

            "Each of the two students in front received an entire box of crackers for instance.  The remaining box of crackers would be shared among the remainder of the class (there had to have been at least 28 students) and continue with each grocery item until the bags were empty. 

            "His demonstration wasn't on poverty exactly, but rather the wealth in United States as opposed to some other countries.  US gets two entire boxes of crackers while everyone else has to share just one.  But not all US citizens are enjoying the metaphorical crackers - I think his demonstation would now be less than one cracker per class while the wealthy get to stock up on the remainder.

            "It's a problem that has existed long before the Great Depression.  I think it's well past time that we reevaluate ourselves and our values."
             I will post my final assignment tomorrow.

Familiar Faces

            About a year and a half ago, I was on facebook checking out their statistics, though I generally don't put a lot of stock in what results are given.   According to facebook, my husband Roland and I are the most opposite of me and any of my facebook friends.  I can believe that.  According to facebook, my soul mate is Carolyn - who I had known less than a year.  I've now known her for almost two.  The more time I take to get to know her, the more it feels like we have in common.  I guess facebook was right.

            Not only that, but every time I added a family photo, facebook will automaticlly tag the pictures and actually get most of them right.  But every time my mom is in the photo, facebook puts Carolyn's name on the photo instead of my mom's. I guess there is a resemblance.  I do see more between my mom and Carolyn than I do between my mom and Peggy Bird.  Peggy was our neighbor from across the street.  I bet  one was mistaken for the other at least once a week.  None of their children saw it.

            I know I have a face that often looks familiar to most people.  Perhaps that is why people always used to talk to me on the bus; they thought they were talking to somebody else.  I know for a fact that some doors were open to me on my mission because they thought I was somebody else.  We would start our approach and they would look at us and then our name tags and finally figure out I wasn't who they thought I was.  That was weird.

            Carolyn said she thought my mom looked younger than her.  I would have never guessed that Carolyn is as old as she is.  She and my mom are two years apart.  Carolyn is younger.  I had mentioned that my mom had passed away in 2013.  She was quite disappointed and said she wanted to meet mom.

            "You will," I assured her. "But just let's hope you don't meet her soon."

Bake Sale & Economy

          The tax proposal didn’t pass in November.  It wasn’t so much because people were opposed at having or keeping the library – they’ve just been opposed to paying for it.     On March 30, the Myrtle Creek library closed its doors.  They remain locked as some of us continue to fight for the cause.  I don’t know who is responsible for establishing the group, or just where everybody came from.  It was announced that a group would be forming for a non-profit organization which we had yet to name.

          The first four meetings or so took place at the school part of the Nazarene church.  There were over 30 people who attended.  Where were they when the library was looking for a new board member to replace Marilyn?  The only ones I recognized were those on the library board – and though it appeared some were on this new-founded committee, it didn’t appear that any of the board members were solely in charge.  I know Julienne had contributed to that first meeting but she wasn't the one conducting.  I was impressed by so many people with organizational skills that had brought us together for the same cause - but still felt somewhat confused with where that leadership had even come from.

          We decided to call our organization Friends of the Myrtle Creek Library, but ended up dropping “the”.  Someone had suggested that we have a bake sale not so much to raise money as it was to raise awareness.  The bake sale was on Saturday.  Richard and Jenna had gone to Roseburg and I was without a car until about 2:30 or so.  The bake sale had started at 11:00.  I didn’t arrive until between 2:30 and 3:00.

          Poor little Julienne.  She’d been there all day – or so it appears.  The day started out typical of last month, overcast and cool in the morning and didn’t warm up until 4:00 – which is when the bake sale ended.  I said  Jenna and I could stay if they needed us to.

          Julienne was wrapped in Jeanne’s coat.  She’d been freezing all morning .  Jeanne took Julienne home and Jenna and I stayed with Bob for the last hour of the bake sale.  Jenna was a natural saying “Hi” to each passerby and doing her best to sell the remainder of the baked goods.  Bob and I were talking about my most recent class.

          Funny how when I started my Philosopy class, I thought “eww. . .” and it turned out to be one of my favorite classes.  My economy class has also been a lot more enjoyable than what I had predicted – especially after eight weeks of feeling lost on a foreign language and loathing the teaching methods of and not relating to my instructor at all.

          I had done some research for this week’s topic. thought I would try a new approach for my assignment and had a large variety of references.  I can’t believe how smoothly my thoughts flowed and how I was able to segue one topic into the other.  It was great.  I stopped at 546 words thinking I would finish up sometime today with the other 54 plus. (600 are required) I actually did find a way to finish, but not in a way I would have expected.

          Yesterday, after I walked into the courthouse (as we no longer meet at the Nazarene and I think the city council is just more convenient for everybody involved) Bob handed me a book he had written.  He had even marked a page where I could find reference to go with my topic.  I think it’s really awesome – not only does it add value for my assignment but answers a few more questions about the history of Douglas County - Myrtle Creek in particular.

          Next week this class will be over and I will reveal this week’s two topics and share my posts and assignments.

Like Flies on Speed

       I remember walking out to the playground to assist Miss Shelly and Miss Lynda as they were supervising the 15-18 preschools that happily buzzed around running here and there;  I swear that the amount of preschoolers had doubled.  They were everywhere!  And yet none still enough to be in one place too long.  It was overwhelming - I thought.  How in the world were Miss Shelly and Miss Lynda able to do it? 

       I was reminded of the innocence and each taking a turn in the spotlight and how none of them felt they were superior or inferior to one another.  They were just happy and played well together.  Each one encouraging the other.

       We've had a few really hot days and tons of rain.  Now there's the combination of "preschoolers in the spotlight" as each element takes its turn to be on stage - all present at once, and yet none still enough to be in one place too long.  It's been quite bizarre.

       Take the other day, for instance.  It was overcast and clouds were thundering - but wait.  Where's the rain?  And where is the cool air that comes with the thunderstorm?  Storm?  Did I say storm?  More like a misguided parade. 

       Our air conditioners have been on - which I know is eating away at our power bill.  If I opened the windows, I could have nature send the coolness for free.  Hey, I had seen the trees move.  Surely there was a breeze causing the trees to move.  Why does it feel like death valley in my front yard and there is a light breeze going on in my back yard?  They're not that far apart.

       Overcast and hot.  No, wait.  A drop of rain.  a little drizzle.  A flash of sun.  A bright flash sun.  I know it was sun - it held on too long to be lightening.  I saw it come in through the kitchen window.  If I had been outside, I would have needed my sunglasses - for about 20 seconds. 

       Jenna had been watching TV annoyed at the flash flood warnings for counties across Washington and Oregon.  I'd seen flashflood warnings when we had lived in Salt Lake.  It was always for surrounding counties.  I don't remember there being multiple states.  When the warnings came on in Salt Lake, it felt serious as the skies were dark, it really had been raining.  I've even heard the thunder and sometimes have seen flashes of lightening.

       When the warnings came on the TV the other day, it was bright out - although each of the elements had briefly made a "star" appearance - except for snow.  I don't recall there having been snow.  But we saw everything else as it paraded across the stage - some seeking more attention from the audience than others.

It reminded me of the preschool class just happy to be there, encouraging each other, performing a show - no one preschooler outshined one another.  They all took their moment to perform. 

       The other day each of the elements took their moment to perform.  Although after the forecast we had more sun.  Our A/C had been on for two days and yesterday we went back to blowing heat.  Oh, come on!

        

Michaela's story

            There is a small group of us who meet at the local coffee shop once a month as we wait anxiously await for the pool to open for the summer so that we can get in our water aerobic workout.  This morning someone had made a comparison of rounded mountains compared to jagged mountains (I personally refer to the rounded as hills and the jagged as mountains) and how different the landscape appears from inside of a helicopter.

            Michaela had come out to clear the dishes as we were taking and casually joined in our conversation.  17 years ago she had been living in the bay area and got to be pretty good at driving around Oakland and San Francisco.  She delivered documents and had earned quite a reputation for her ability to have her deliveries made on time.  But over the years she realized that she was bothered by the amount of time it took to get from point A to point B.

            Here, in Myrtle Creek (actually all of Douglas County) they talk in minutes.  Point A to point B is 5 minutes, not 5 miles.  But in San Francisco, Salt Lake, and Portland, I would imagine, they talk in miles.  Because even though common sense tells you it should only take a certain amount of time, the time is actually not consistent from day to day or even hour to hour.

            Jenna's school was two miles south of where we lived.  Some days it would take me 20 minutes to get there.  For the most part it took longer coming home.  Same distance.  Not same time.

            Michaela decided she had had enough.  Three hours for under 30 miles.  That's not right.  One day she said she had had enough.  She and a girlfriends decided to pack their bags and head north - though they didn't really have a destination.  She said she obviously wasn't taking the "time" into consideration as they had left at 5:00 p.m. on a Friday.  Perhaps just the reinforcement she needed to "escape".

            I can't remember what town she said they were at when she got off the exit and pulled over to the first vacant lot.  It was after 2:00 in the morning and she had to close her eyes - even if it was just a few minutes.  It was longer than that.  She had fallen asleep.  When she woke up, she looked around - not fully knowing where she was but believed she was somewhere in Oregon.  She wanted to continue a little further north.

            When they had passed Seven Feathers casino in Canyonville, she made a mental note of it.  She had worked at the casinos in Tahoe so she had the experience.  They kept on driving until she saw a bridge (I'm guessing the one that leads to the 108 ramp to/from I5.  She said that was the place, and they crossed the bridge and found a place.

            She ended up not working at Seven Feathers because they felt she was overqualified (From what I understand Seven Feathers is not a great place to work for;  almost everyone that I've talked to has labeled them as "too cheap to pay much more than minimum and lay off workers left and right so that they don't have to deal with pay raises" so I believe that's why they told her she was overqualified; they didn't want to pay her what she was worth)

            She landed a job as a bartender for six months, but when she refused to serve an underage drinker who threatened her job, she got let go and so was hired by another who had been watching her and knew that she had been let go unjustly.  She said she's been working at the coffee shop ever since.

            It is gorgeous here.  Clean.  No traffic.  Awesome!

           

So Here's the Scoop

            We live in an area that was highly productive in logging and timber.  There is still production in some cities such as Riddle, but I don't think there are as many employed in the entire logging/timber industry as there had been 45 years ago.  That is when Myrtle Creek Saw Mill closed from what I understand.

            I did not understand why it had closed down, or why the entire operation seems to have dwindled and why the railroads have almost a deserted feel.  As we were visiting with a native Oregonian who had remembered generations of her family living in Myrtle Creek though she now lives in Winston. 

            She had remembered a time when the community thrived and when there had been more logging and timber related jobs.  I've actually met others who remembered the thriving industry as well. Apparently it was the entire state of Oregon that voted on how to save the spotted owls which were on the endangered list in 1969. 

            What I got out of her explanation was that  the city folk of Portland voted to "save the trees and therefore save the spotted owls"  No one had bothered to mention that when trees are cut down, they are replaced.  Fresh young trees are planted and the loggers move to an area of older trees.  After they are cut, new trees are planted. 

            All they were told were trees were being cut down leaving the spotted owls without homes and if the bill didn't pass, the spotted owl would become extinct . . . . perhaps not in that exact content . . . but that is how it was explained.  My understanding is that because the bill passed to save the owls, many lumber companies were forced to shut down.  Now, that is really sad.  But perhaps if I hadn't been given all the facts, I would have voted differently also.

         Better for a logger to cut it down than have nature start a fire due to overgrowth and age.

May the Fourth Be With You

Happy Star Wars Day

I'm not actually an avid Star Wars fan, but I have relations who are.

That Was a Less-Than-Productive Day

                Roland had asked Troy if he would like to earn some extra money by cutting the grass on our hill.  What a chore!  Troy came by about 9:00 the other day and Roland showed him what we were attempting to do outside.  Troy said he could return the following morning to remove the debris so that we can continue our garden.

                So yesterday, Troy showed up with his wheel barrow and worked hard.  Fortunately the sun was not blazing yet.  Troy is a good worker.  He was the most productive yesterday.

                Ike is a retired electrician but had told Roland he would come over to check out some sensitive spots that we would like to change.  I had been on the computer attempting to listen to a recorded lecture.  I played it several times but had allowed myself to get distracted.  The subject of perfect competition and the price floor and ceiling.  Boresville . . .

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

                The lecture was still playing when Ike arrived.  I was also in the middle of writing an email.

   I went into the living room and turned on the TV to keep me company while I folded laundry. 

               

                The TV kept shutting itself off - or so it seemed.  It took the third interruption before my slow mind figured out that it must be related to whatever Ike was doing at the other end of the house.  I thought I had created a post about the power source in our current house, and how occasionally the front of the house has been without power though the back of the house was not affected.  It was shortly after we had moved in.  Roland lost power in his office but was able to run an extention chord from our room to his office and operated the remainder of the day with no electricity at the front of the house.  That was weird.  We had the same problem yesterday.  I don't know for certain if it's been corrected or not.

                Roland worked with Ike as he was unable to do any of his school or work.  I took my laptop onto the back porch - though the Internet was down. It was cooler outside than in our hot house - during that particular moment anyway. I pulled up my textbook (which I had saved on a PDF and so was able to view it) and struggled through chapters 8 and 9 - understanding a bit here and there, but most of it was/is quite foreign to me.  It's a wonder I've been receiving not just passing but actually good grades.

                I got a message on my computer indicating that the Internet was back up and running.  I finished my email and sent it off.  When Ike left, I shut down my laptop and got in the car so that I could run a few errands - which had taken  longer than I had predicted.  Meanwhile, Roland realized that by turning the bathroom switch off or on effected his computer.  That's not a good thing.  Thus Ike's car was in the driveway when I returned. Boy, was he ever frustrated.  I don't know who is responsible for the idiotic wiring that was already there before we moved in.

                 So far no problems.  It's a new month.  April was wet.  May has made a 20 degree jump.  I am wearing shorts.  The A/C is up.  Roland actually put it up last night before going to bed.  Once again, I don't know how I'm going to survive this summer. 

Expressions and Gardening

          As a child, I can remember my dad planting a garden each year - not that any of us were avid gardeners mind you.  I don't even know where his interest had come from as it didn't seem as if his family had gardened.  Perhaps it came from his grandparents or church.  I'd never even thought about it until now.

          Dad was not one to express emotion. 

          I honestly don't know if he felt joy with planting a garden, apprehension, pained, or what.  I never questioned it.  Perhaps my mom did, but I hadn't connected the dots and perhaps was not aware of expression.  I think Kayla and I perhaps express more emotion than our brothers, but not much.

          Take Saturday, for instance.  Roland has wanted to plant a garden every year.  I think we had attempted two different years of gardening in Kearns, two or three in West Valley, and now our first one in TriCity - which I think may account for the biggest challenge of them all because there are so few spots of level or flat land.

          Not only does he wish to grow our own food, but spruce our yard's appearance by adding flowers.  I'm not against flowers or gardening - but I'm certainly not excited about it.  Hey, if you want to replace every single juniper with a flower, be my guest.  But don't ask me what I want or to show excitement over something I very well could be allergic to.  I don't know about plant life nor have the interest to explore my options.  I know for a fact that I'm allergic to chrysanthemums and poinsettia - not that either one was an option.  But still.  I AM ALLERGIC TO PLANTS.  MY ALLERGIES REACT TO DIRT AND DUST THE SAME.  I'm NOT excited.

          So we ended up at two different nurseries in Winston, and I sensed that Roland was annoyed with me because of my lack of interest.  Well, I'm sorry.  It's a hereditary thing, I would guess.  I can't visualize Patrick getting excited over the flowers that Sunny tremendously loves.  I can't visualize Corey "ooing" and "awing" over anything that Joh has planted - even though Corey helps, even though Patrick assists . . . we just aren't expressive people I guess.  Kayla lucked out as I'm guessing Bill has even less gardening ambition than I do.

          We ended up with Marigolds, geums, amaryllis, and irises.  for the vegetable garden we planted two blueberry bushes and seeds for beets and spinach. 

On the side of the house we have three tomato plants and some peppers. 

Looks like the rain has stopped and so we will have to water the plants.  We should get more rain when Roland puts up the air conditioner.  It always rains right after we put it up.  I really don't want to feel scorched this summer.

post for my class discussion

    Shortly after I finished my last post on this blog, I decided to get a jump start on this week's discussion post (for class) which I posted this morning.  I remember hearing this song parody on the radio.  This was my inspiration: