The Butt Rapin' Businessmen of Grant County, Oregon

My parents live in John Day, Oregon. Population, about 1600, give or take.

They've been there since August, 1971.
A few months before I turned 11.

One of my first memories of John Day was my mother's exclamation as we drove past the (then) only gas station in town.

"THIRTY FIVE NINE?!?!"

Apparently that was much higher than they'd been paying in our former home of La Grande. She was aghast at the price there. Until we went to the grocery store for the first time.

I don't remember prices. But I remember her gasping as she looked at the prices on the various things we needed to keep the family fed. I had two little brothers then, Jim turned 8 that fall and Steve turned 3 about a month before that. I remember her horror at the prices quite well.

The excuse the local merchants gave back then was that it "costs more" to ship items into town. They were in the middle of nowhere, you see. All that hay to feed the horsies who brought the merchandise, I guess.

I don't know what things were like then, but I know that's a load of crap now. However, the local businesses are still using the same tired excuse for their ridiculous price gouging. ALL of the businesses there charge higher prices than anywhere else I've been with the exception of the time I had to buy tampons in Mitchell, Oregon.

Back in about 1990, when Bob was visiting, we all trooped over to John Day for a few days. I went to Chester's, the store that purchases the radio spots so someone can sing their little song... "How do you keep your food costs down? By shopping Chester's Market!! The saving-est place in town!" and bought ingredients for tacos for 5 adults and a little guy.
$30.00.
That's an awful lot of money even now, almost 30 years later, for a package of hamburger, some taco shells, lettuce, cheese and sour cream.

Here's another example for you.

I visited my parents last summer and went to Mosier's, the only furniture store in town, to see if my assorted brothers and kids and anyone else interested could come up with a fund to replace the parental oven.

They live in a manufactured home and were still using the original oven that came with it back in 1982. The door was impossible to close right because of a broken hinge. Dad had to go get a knife from the silverware drawer and argue with it every time Mom wanted to use it.

But that wasn't the scary part. This little oven was a wall oven, mounted about three feet off the floor. It was so old that the fiberglass heat blanket was just gone. Deteriorated into nothing. So if one did use the oven, the heat was evident on the OTHER side of the wall, in the living room. I'm not talking about a little warmth, either. The wall was hot to the touch. NOT safe. When I asked Mom about it, she said that they couldn't afford a new one right now, they'd just bought twin beds for their spare room.

The two metal twin beds (with mattresses, not bad ones but definitely not top of the line) that my parents put in the guest room? A little over 900 bucks at Mosier's. I found the exact same bed on Amazon without the mattress for 98 bucks. Free shipping. Those mattresses are not worth $350.00 apiece. Trust me.

There's a difference between making a living and making a killing.

But when you're the ONLY game in the entire county, you can charge whatever you want as long as people are dumb enough to pay it.

The guy at the furniture store was less than helpful about the oven. He blathered on about different sizes and how difficult it was to find ovens to fit in 'those trailers'. He had nothing in stock, would have to special order. And it would be 'around a thousand dollars'. Pretty sure that's his standard price on just about everything.

More on that in a minute.

While I was there I looked at refrigerators, too.

I had looked at a few here in Portland, they ranged in price from about 400 bucks for a simple, not huge, no frills refrigerator with no freezer to around 4 thousand for a stainless steel all the bells and whistles and a partridge in a pear tree big assed combo fridge/freezer that wouldn't fit in their house anyway.

So I had a price range in mind.
The lowest price fridge in the John Day version of a furniture store was a freezerless refrigerator, 18.5 cubic feet. It was over a thousand dollars !!

I may have mentioned this. But there's a difference between making a living and making a killing.

Now, the oven.

The oven door finally fell off about six months ago, leaving my mom without an oven.

I went to Amazon to look at prices, just to get an idea.

Then I read some reviews on Consumer Reports. Did some cursory research, just to get an idea of the different features and possibilities. I was considering getting Matt and Amy on board, possibly my brothers and pooling our money to buy Mom a new oven.

A simple wall oven in the proper size on Amazon was about $450.00. Not cheap, but reasonable. Free delivery, of course. Professional installation was another 50, one of my brother's friends has a business there. So $500.00.

Then my Aunt Sue Ann, Mom's younger sister, sent Mom a check for a new oven. Just because. She's generous that way, she can afford to be. She sent her $750.00.

And my mom went to Mosier's, the only game in town, and told the guy, "Well we found this one on Amazon for about $500.00"

And he told her, "Gee golly, I never heard of that brand!! Why, it would probably be IMPOSSIBLE to ever repair such a thing!! I don't even know where I'd find the parts! But what a coincidence, I can sell you a name brand oven for ONLY ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!"

Or I'm guessing that's how the conversation went.

So my mom, who may be slightly gullible, went, "Oh, okay, why don't you go ahead and order that for me?"

Because in HER mind, it was only going to cost her $250.00 'cause of the check she had.

And he worried her with the idea of repairs. Because of course brand new ovens need repaired all the goddamn time. (picture me rolling my eyes here)

Now you could argue that it's my mom's decision and her money, and you'd be right. I haven't said anything to her about it, I don't have any wish to hurt her feelings and she's doing the best she can.

But there's a difference between making a living and making a killing.

When you own the local grocery store and you can buy a Mercedes for yourself and one for your wife, you may be overcharging for a six-pack. Or a head of lettuce.

I don't know what Mosier drives, but I'll bet he's paying for it out of a bank account that increases in thousand dollar increments.

In the News

Do you watch broadcast news? Do you read news websites online?

I have started trying to ignore it. I'm not sure if it's my ostrich gene (one need only look at my mom to see that tendency to hide the head in the sand...) or if I just can no longer handle the crap. I do catch the big stories of the day, but I don't like to delve too deeply into the why and wherefore... it's all lies and most of it is ugly.

What I see on a day to day basis in my life is far removed from the ugly. I have an utterly amazing husband, fantastic children, good friends in my life and heart, and all the awesome stuff... a roof over my head, food to eat, something to drive that runs, and some extras, too. I'm very fortunate and I know it.

I'm wealthy in all the important things, and if someone were to hand me a billion dollars right now, I would not be happier. I'd just worry a little less about having too much month at the end of the money and I'd probably take a vacation.

One of the kids asked me near the beginning of school this year, as we were discussing how much I really enjoyed working there,  "If you won the lottery, would you quit your job?" And I didn't hesitate long. I told him and the rest of the group gathered 'round that I would not want to leave there. That I really love it.  I would have LIKED to say
No. Hell no. I LOVE my job. I imagine I'd take a little more time off, not because I want to get away, but because my man has been working   very hard for a really long time and the last vacation he had was in 1996! I'd definitely want to be with him more.
But I think he got the point. And, as I almost always do, I've digressed. I CAN stay on topic, I just mostly don't bother. More fun this way. :)

The news. Back to the news. I have mostly given up paying attention to it. I don't care which hollywood bimbo or bimboy is boinking which boy/girl/combination thereof, (I've never even heard of about 3/4 of them.)I don't care about the outcome of reality tv shows, MMA cage matches, comedies, movies... it's all white noise. Misdirection. We're supposed to pay attention to stuff like that instead of being interested in what's really going on. And sadly enough, it works pretty well on the majority of us.

I don't give a shit for the assholes we have in government from the top down, either.

No, I didn't vote for Obama. I thought then and think now that he was/is in no way qualified to do a job that requires actual thought or work, and I think what he's done to our country is criminal. I was sorry he was elected, and I think he's a shitty president. From the amazing vacations taken at taxpayer expense and  flaunting how he's spending MY money on things like a whole entourage just to do his wife's makeup on those little junkets to appointing 'czars' to circumvent the Constitution and make all kinds of shit go wrong... gah.

For the most part, all the lazy sphincters (like 'We have to pass this legislation to see what's in it' Pelosi ) who take on legislative jobs are useless parasites and I hate all of them.

They're all there to screw us... and I don't care if you agree with me or not.

I'll still like you if you don't, I'll just know you haven't been paying attention. ;)

Anyway, I finally got tired of being screwed.

Of course the screwing is still going on, but I've dismissed it from my universe. I get up, I hug my family, I go off to work, I take care of some pretty amazing people, I come back home and hug my family, I communicate with the people I care about, and then I repeat it the next day. And the next. And so on.

There is no way for me to affect the outcome of elections, control what's going on in government, avoid the amazing and appalling stupidity of the lunatics running the show, get actual facts about what's going on instead of lies, sound bites, breathless plastic people worshiping the current dictator, and shitting on the candidates most likely to beat his ass in an election.

I don't have a lot of anxiety in my regular routine when I avoid the news.

And who the hell needs it, am I right?

Knowing, for example, that former Oregon congressman David Wu porked the 18 year old daughter of one of his contributors (apparently it was consensual... but I have a hard time believing it...) and sent a picture of himself in a tiger suit to several staffers and acted, well, batshit crazy really doesn't mean anything to me. Wu, and the rest of them are only there to take care of themselves. I pretty much care about him as much as he does about me. Now he may indeed have been mentally ill during those incidents, but I'm guessing that's an excuse sort of like the temporary insanity criminals use to get away with murder. He's still a dipshit and I don't wish him well.

Same with our president, the minions he's surrounded himself with, and his gang of thieves all the way down the line. I don't give a shit for them.

And the feeling is mutual. As far they're concerned, I'm as important as an ant. Although an ant wouldn't rant. Ha.

I believe that if voting actually changed anything, it would not be legal. Sometimes I choose to vote, sometimes not.

And for those who say stupid things like, "If you don't vote, you have no right to complain." I say bullshit.

I will complain as much as I want, whenever I want, as long as I want, and in whatever form I wish to. You can certainly choose to ignore it. Feel free. I will still complain if I want.

But watching the news/reading news websites/thinking about this stuff just puts me in an anxious, angry, and helpless frame of mind. It's the helpless part that bothers me the most, actually.

So I am instead trying to be prepared for different scenarios for the future, from a lack of electricity or food or water, to a complete crash of the economy. And the rioting and craziness that is bound to occur if these things happen.

And let's be logical. Even if those things do not happen, having a supply of food and other necessary items is great when things like 2 month layoffs happen. Or when bosses say, "Gosh, we're a little short on money, can you hold your paycheck for a week?"

Anyway, I've started to ignore broadcast journalism. I absolutely do not trust these people. They all tell the same stories, use the same tone of voice, and show a lot of the same footage. NO one is objective anymore. It's actually really frightening if you think about it.

Which is why I've mostly stopped paying attention to it.
It's all bullshit anyway.

Although when this posts, the 'eviction' of the Occupy Portland movement (movement is apt, all they've done as far as I know is sit and shit in our local parks) will hopefully be over. And as I write, it's tempting to make a bowl of popcorn and sit in front of the television and watch the scumbags get kicked out. Pisses me off that lawbreaking has been allowed under the guise of 'free speech' and that Portland's mayor is about the dumbest shithead they've ever elected in that city.

They don't even know what the hell they're protesting anymore.

Idiots.

Occupy!

Unless you're living in a cave somewhere, you know about the 'Occupy' movement that's spreading here and there around the US.

Various sources have told me that the occupiers are protesting the 'greed of corporate America and Wall Street.'

Well, I can understand that somewhat.

Pisses me off that we bailed out the banks and all we got was a rise in our checking fees (no more free checking) and the attempt to add fees for people who use their debit cards.

Pisses me off that we bailed ANYONE out, really.
I resent the stupid assholes in Washington giving away my money most of the time, but I found the bailouts to be some of the most infuriating things they've ever done to us.

Not that they give a shit. You don't get elected if you have a conscience.

But the whole occupy movement perplexes me.

They're protesting WALL STREET... yet they're turding in our local parks and spitting on the police. Vandalizing.

And as far as I have heard (please correct me if my information is incorrect) what they really want is redistribution of wealth.

They resent 'the rich'. You know... the people who, for the most part have worked and earned their wealth?

They think that those who have should be forced to give MORE to support their sorry, unwashed asses. Instead of doing something to support themselves.

What a load of crap.

I am left with this question... why aren't they all at Wall Street, crapping in the streets and wearing their trendy wool hats? Toting along their laptops and other electronics doesn't lend credence to their cause, either, since capitalism is what got them that stuff in the first place.

So enlighten me.

Where am I wrong here?

So this is weird...

Based on history, every time there's a three day weekend, Eric ends up getting screwed.

No, not like that. Although now that I said that, I suppose over this particular holiday it might have a double meaning. Both of my pregnancies began over Labor Day weekend.

Hey, no one wants to go anywhere over that weekend, right? The roads are crazy.
Take Friday night. Which is where I intended to start and then I digressed. Shocking, I know.

Eric ended up having to drive up to Washington to install a pump after hours on Friday.
As he was heading home on I-84, some crazy assed big expensive car came zooming up behind him at a high rate of speed. He was sailing in and out of lanes and ended up hitting someone broadside and pinning the car to the center barrier. Three other vehicles were involved, and Eric narrowly missed being in the middle of it himself.

And the asshole who caused the wreck took off!! At speeds up to 90 MPH... which Eric knows because he didn't want the guy to get away. So he followed him. At 90. I don't know whether to slap him or slap him!

He called 911 and gave them the guy's license plate number. And kept following him.

Off the freeway and up a hill... where the guy got away.

Now here's the weird part. There were several vehicles involved in the crash. The guy LEFT THE SCENE. And there was next to nothing on the news. On one obscure channel on Friday night they said something about it, said 'the driver was caught' and then... nothing.

Nothing on the major networks.

Nothing in the Boregonian.

Nothing on any of the internet searches I could think of.

I wonder who it was? Must have been someone with a lot of money to be able to get it all swept under the carpet like that...  hmm.

And more from the news...

Oh good grief.

Here's a candidate for father of the year... I know we've all heard of Take your child to work day... but really.

Seriously?

WTF?

Do you ever wonder why some people are allowed to reproduce or am I the only person who does that?
 

Well here's some excitement....

My mom called last Saturday night to tell me that the Aryan Nations want to make John Day, Oregon their national headquarters.

Many residents of the area, my parents included, have said they will pack up and leave if those people move in. Here's a link I found about it on a blog:
Aryan Nation poised to invade Oregon

The view in the photo is pretty close to the view one sees from the deck at my parent's house.

According to my mom, the Aryans proudly displayed swastikas in their motel room.

They were interested in buying the old middle school to make into their main offices.

Mom said the building was now off the market, and that people are planning rallies to make sure the Aryans know they're not wanted there.

Can you imagine having something like that move into your area?
::shudder::

Can you believe this?

This one amazes me. Go read.
What an asshole!
Back? Okay.
Here's a little more about the story:
more about the asshole
Now get a good look at him. Looks like a hell of a nice guy, huh?











This man was a total stranger to the mother.
Believe me, if some stranger said "Shut the kid up or I'll shut her up myself." to me, I'd tell him to fuck off and either call store security or the police.

The biggest questions I have are: How did he get close enough to the woman's child to strike her?

And.

How is it that he is still alive to appear in court? Because I'd have killed him on the spot. I'd have torn his head off with my bare hands.
Not a jury in the world would convict me.

Shock Value

I went to the grocery store on my way home from work yesterday.

There was a man in the store wearing a t-shirt that shocked and offended me, which is really not all that easy to do.

The guy had a pentagram tattooed on his neck, was pierced all over the place, was wearing dreadlocks, and was pushing a stroller with a small little girl in it. He glowered at everyone, just daring anyone to look at him twice.

(Don't you love that? They do all kinds of things to attract attention, then get all pissy when you look or laugh.)

When I saw the shirt this guy was wearing, I was... horrified. I had to look several times to make sure I was really seeing it.

It was a black shirt with the picture and the commentary done in white.

On the front was a nun. She was conducting a solitary sexual activity. I hope that's clear enough.

On the back, in letters a good six inches high was 'Jesus is a ______.'
(four letter word ending in U-N-T. A word I won't even use I think it's so vulgar.)

I didn't ask him why he was wearing it. I didn't even look again. But the whole rest of my shopping trip was conducted in stunned disbelief.

There is no reason at all that I can think of to wear something like that in public other than to shock and disgust people. It worked. I was shocked and disgusted.

It was obviously a commercially produced shirt, so I came home and looked it up on the internet. It was put out by a British metal band, and has evidently been around for several years. First I've heard of it.

Hope it's the last.

What is wrong with people?

grrrrr

You know the cartoon images of angry people with steam coming out of their ears?
That's the grumpy face being worn today by me on behalf of Deborah Markus, author of The Bitter Homeschooler's Wish List,(and owner/publisher of Secular Homeschooling Magazine, a new publication aimed at people just like me) which has really made the rounds on the internet.

I don't know any homeschoolers who can't find at least one item on the list to laugh at... for me, the whole thing was hysterical.

Well, apparently a homeschooler is receiving a lot of traffic on his site due to posting and failing to credit the author or link to her. You can read the story here, on her official blog: Diary of a Mad Editor: I'd Rather Be Hated Than Used .

I went to see the post in question, and although they link to Deborah's magazine, someone just reading through would see the name of a different person under the title.

Deborah has asked them to fix this, and they refused to do so, but did offer to give her a free advertisement on their site.

What a-holes.

I'll take this to go

Why is it that some people think that if you're behind a counter in some sort of service industry, you're an idiot and can be dumped on at will??
I see it often. In fact, I even see it where I work in the parents who walk in while on the telephone, sign their child out, and leave without acknowledging my presence. Probably nicer that way then being ugly to me, I suppose.

Here's what prompted this post:

As I walked up to the deli counter in the grocery store the other day, I heard the tail end of the transaction of the man ahead of me.

I did not hear the whole transaction, but as I arrived, he was telling the lady behind the counter that he didn't want to pay at the deli because he still had shopping left to do, and to put his several small deli items into a bag.

She explained (politely, with a smile) that she was unable to bag his purchases unless he had paid for them.

He looked incredulous and angry as he laughed and shook his head and said, "You're a stupid idiot!"

Then, he uttered the big one. The "f" bomb.
In front of me and my 14 year old daughter. Nice.

I suggested loudly that he get a handle on things. (What I said was, "Jesus Buddy! Get a grip!!") but he ignored me (which is probably a good thing), swept his purchases off the counter into his shopping basket, and strode angrily away, still shaking his head, talking to himself and acting like a jerk.

As I waited in the checkout line, I saw the "gentleman" in question stop to speak to the manager near the end of my aisle.

I overheard him say that the woman in the deli had been rude to him!

As I was working on my own transaction at the time and maybe just a little nervous about interfering, I waited until he had gone and tracked down a couple other managers to tell them what I had seen.

It wasn't bad enough that he had acted like a spoiled child, he had to find someone and tell a lie on top of it! What an asshole!

The guy was a nutjob, I know that. Probably either forgot his medication that day or was an escapee.

The deli worker was polite, smiling, and professional in her treatment of him, which is far more than he deserved.

I think I would have thrown his food at the back of his head as I chased him with a stick out the door, which probably explains why I don't work with the general public.

Robbed Again.

Be on the lookout for a suspiciously warm-looking thief. Last night, or sometime yesterday afternoon while we were out, some worthless asshole broke into my hub's company vehicle. There was nothing of real value in there, but the chickenshit stole hub's raincoat, his pair of warm insulated work gloves and the registration and insurance card from the glove box. Oh, and about $2.00 worth of change from the ashtray. So now my hub gets to go out and freeze his ass off until we can replace the things this useless piece of shit loser stole. Things like vehicles and money aren't a big deal, but when you start kicking a working man in the balls by stealing the things he uses to keep warm while working to support his family, you're just shit.