@swiminsoul
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I know the timber sales
administrator for my forest. The forest is called, The Stanislaus National Forest. Our national forests are where we log along with other kinds of forest management.Anyway, he told me that his dept, the timber dept, has been flooded with money to for logging contracts. Other departments are barely getting by, but not timber sales. He expects to be up and running in a week. I noted today that there’s a good amount of logging equipment going up the hill. The loggers that still live around here & are still working in the woods are all excited.
My point in mentioning this is to let folks know that it’s taken no time
to for the USFS to get up & running since a couple months ago when our forests were once again opened up to logging by executive order. I sure hope this brings down the price of lumber. And I hope that as lumber goes down, the cost of everything else needed to build a house levels out so that our housing market becomes more affordable. AdI’ve never heard of creating positions below yourself in order to move people down on the food chain. I only know of those having been promoted. This being done to get rid of problematic people. They get promoted, better pay, more responsibility (if you can believe that) and transferred to somewhere else. Normally a different forest. I did see that happen a number of times. Someone would get hired, put out in the field, maybe out where we were bcuz of the experience we had. We were expected to train them. Oftentimes they were fresh out of college, no field experience, never been on a crew, knew nothing about working in silviculture, and were basically a lot like toddlers running around unable to keep up while talking nonstop about how smart they were. This is the perfect example of an office bloated with unnecessary employees.
I understand this aspect. It’s the mass firings, done in a disrespectful way with curt letters, demands made, employees not knowing they were fired until the day of. No discussion, you’ve been a good employee, nice knowing ya, nothing. Just your fired, get out. Why is this okay?
I’ve not heard musk go into any details about what he, or the young men he employs are actually doing. They are disrespectful to everyone, secretive, and no, this isn’t Trump I’m talking about here. Altho it’s no secret that I don’t care for trumps leadership style. I don’t trust him. I’m absolutely horrified by his betrayal of Ukraine. I’m even more horrified by his decision to betray Americas word to stand with Ukraine, then betray them in such a public way? Nope. Can’t respect that. Trump didn’t just betray Ukraine, he betrayed the
trust America placed in him in regards to Ukraine. When I give someone my word, I stand on it. Lives are being lost here. Extorting Zelensky in order to pick Ukraine clean was as shameful and unprincipled as it gets.
I’m sorry to say this, but I’m done with the guy. Ukraine, nor Americans deserve such disrespect.
And just tonight I read about the price of steel going up. I immediately thot of Shannon. Hang in there Shannon.
Knobby, I don’t think it’s necessary to slash & burn everything down to make positive changes. I hear you tho and I do listen to what you say and take it to heart. Musk is a maybe in my mind. He was a firm no before this discussion. Guess there’s still hope for me.lol AdIt’s not so much doge itself I have a problem with, but this musk guy. There’s no
oversight, accountability, or even any transparency. Anyone know what this guy is actually up to? I don’t trust it. No one knows what he’s doing. I can only hope he knows what he’s doing. The way this whole doge deal is being run is suspicious.I had not heard a word about hackers getting away with so much money before you mentioned it.
While I can’t argue with waste, its fraud I’m not as sure about. It’s not the employees who stole all that money. That hackers got away with so much money is disturbing. How confidant are you these hackers got away with that much money? Mind numbing amount of money. Looks like the perfect crime. Based on this hacker info alone I know our govt employees didn’t do it. LolAll kidding aside, I still don’t want this guy, Musk, getting into our SSA and making executive decisions about who gets what. No one knows him. Get him outa there.
Maybe you’re right about our fed departments needing reorganization.
Altho, firing people in mass is not reorganization. I’m tempted to call
all the indiscriminate firing incompetence, instead.I worked for the feds in the USFS. I do know firsthand that what you say about those who aren’t liked, or who do a terrible job get promoted when they really should be let go. And there is a standing joke about fed employees being at the trough. In other words, not doing their job. Instead of working they are standing around or screwing around. This is well known amongst forest service employees at least. So I agree completely with a lot of what you’ve said here Shannon.
I still fail to make a connection between hackers and masses of govt employees being fired.
How is firing thousands of people in gonna stop hackers? What justifies mass layoffs? These employees don’t have hands on any of the money. They don’t have anything to do with how the money is spent.There’s an ocean of policies & procedures they are required to adhere to. Making subjective decisions about how
money gets spent isn’t in their job description. I hope they didn’t lose their job because of some nit wit who has made subjective decisions.It’s also harder to be at the trough in an office environment. It’s harder to screw around when your boss is down the hall. That kinda behavior could be easily handled with minimal effort. So I don’t trust anything that’s being said where these layoffs are concerned. Plus, the feds are great at training their employees.
Their training isn’t free even if they are
the fed govt. So why are we firing all these trained people?I don’t know much about the dept of education. Sorta embarrassing, but there it is. I just hope the right decisions are being made. That these decisions are based on a need (or not) of American citizens and not based on some largely imagined need for revenge. Hard to believe that might happen, but ya never know. Ad
That’s okay Shannon. I don’t expect
anyone to cry over butter, or food costs even if the cost of butter made me want to cry. I do worry about those who can’t afford to buy food as the prices go up.I appreciate you taking the time to explain what you were up against during the Biden years. I also never knew Obama made such a rude comment. Thanks for sharing your situation with us here. It makes more clear where you’re coming from and why.
The things you mention in regards to steel
fabrication are things I have no way of knowing. I’m glad prices for steel have gotten better. I’m aware of the lumber costs. Completely outa hand. I was considering building a home, but I’ve decided to forget that idea. It’s just too expensive to build right now. I’m hopeful that prices for the materials you
need to remain in business stay stable.
While I’m still upset over the rising cost
of food, I do care about business owners such as yourself. There must be a way to keep all of our needs affordable without anyone getting screwed over.
I’m no finance wiz, don’t claim to be, but I have owned several businesses in my lifetime so I understand the stresses that go along with being responsible for keeping the bills and keeping the employees
paid.
I am also concerned about what’s happening with our SSA. Sorry Shannon, but I just
can’t help but be concerned. I care about your situation a lot too. Without our small businesses the economy will grind to a halt. I do appreciate you taking the time to explain what you’ve been going thru.
It matters. Addie
AddieI forgot to add that I paid $8 for a pound of cheap butter just today. I was at a local owned grocery store in town. That’s just too much. Even if folks ss checks do arrive, they can’t afford these prices. No one can.
From what I can tell food prices will continue an uphill climb for the foreseeable future. Probably thru 2025. I hope no one on our forum is going hungry. We really need to take care of one another during these hard times.
Not wanting to argue with anyone, but the judge you spoke of Wolf, she was released. From what I read she was released because she has immunity & arresting her was
illegal. Even the head of the supremes wrote a letter to Trump telling him to ease up on attacking the judiciary. I paraphrase Here, but you can easily find said letter online. The judiciary here in America isn’t so easy to arrest & cart off to jail.I seriously doubt that you could find even a single American that thinks
nothing is going on since Trump got into office. Pretty obvious.I hope that our SSA doesn’t go down.
I read just today that it still might.If the SSA office goes down that means a whole lot of folks who worked & paid into
their SS, plus it’s their only
income, are who the real victims are here.Even the potential of this happening is beyond catastrophic. People will starve. It’s very upsetting. I feel like we are teetering on a Grapes of Wrath type situation. People starved to death, homeless, with no work, no hope. I don’t want that. I can’t believe anyone else does either.
When social security, 401k’s, retirement pensions, come under threat as they are now folks start getting fussy. We see this fussy thing going on in real time and in ruby red states at the Bernie AOC
rallies.
People are concerned and afraid. Inconsistent & unstable leadership is causing this.
Now please don’t attack me for stating the most glaring problem in all of our faces at this very moment. Unless/until folks are financially secure, or as secure as they were before they watched their hard earned retirement money slip away I don’t see anything in govt getting done one way or the other for anyone, or any side. Looks to me like we’re all in this together.Boomers are the largest demographic in America. That’s why the ages of folks protesting & at these rallies are middle age up. They aren’t happy. Addie
Hey Steve E, I just looked your creations and I really love them. Are you a glass blower? If not, where did you find such beautiful glass? I’ve always really loved what I call happy colors like the colors you work with. The swirl patterns on the glass really reflect the light beautifully.
It reminds me of some of the hand blown glass I saw in the shops in Puerta Vallarta, Mexico, back in the early 2000’s. Those folks down there really respect & admire their artists.
Another question I have is are those smaller round balls eggs? Lol That’s what they look like.🤠 I blew a couple of the pix up looking real close trying to decide if they were eggs, or maybe glass? Whatever they are made out of, I really love your work. Thank you for sharing your art with us here in the forum. I wish I was as brave as you about sharing your art. I don’t sculpt like you do, but I do draw. I also make canvas rugs. I buy the canvas in a roll & the paint & mediums. Nothing as ambitious as what your doing tho. There are are several artists hangin out here in the forum with us.
Anyways, I really like your creations.
AddieI just spent an hour writing a thoughtful letter to you and I couldn’t get it to post. Now it’s gone. Really frustrates me.
Anyways, in short thank you knobs for sharing what you know about Canadian tariffs. Really appreciate that. It gives me a focal point as I see what I can find about tariffs before I start digging myself into a hole. lol.
And m, your correct about the arctic being the northernmost region, with Greenland being a territory of Denmark, inside of the arctic.
Thank you both for your thoughtful posts. While I can’t say I trust Trump, I can say that before I make any hard & fast decisions about the tariff deal throughout the world, I will get ya’all’s input first. Really appreciate your input. AddieI haven’t heard Trump say he wants Scandinavia, but I have heard him say he wants Greenland. I’ve heard Trump express this a number of times. I also heard the German chancellor say in no uncertain terms that Germany would protect Greenland. I’m paraphrasing there, but you get the point.
In lieu of Trump proclaiming that he wants to take Greenland, then sending JD there sends a message. Plus, adding to whatever the plan is regarding Greenland, this dustup Trump has gotten into with Canada has really ticked off more than just the Canadians. I heard Canada’s leader say Americans are no longer allowed into Canada. It’s little wonder that folks are concerned, scared & angry.
I understand that I’m nowhere near the center of the spheres of influence politics wise, but I am a concerned citizen. With all that’s gone on in DC, along with everything Trump is saying & doing it’s understandable folks are upset & fearful.
I do think the media of every type and flavor are a lot of times exaggerating & just plain making things worse, but not always. The stupid “expert” political analysts remind me of caricatures. Like political cartoons drawn by the New York Post.
It’s so upsetting I’ve cut way back on the amount of news I expose myself to. I’m just so glad I live up here in the mountains where it’s safer.
I wanted to add that I do keep an eye on Ukraine & the situation on the ground over there. I remain steadfastly in support of Ukraine.
One other thing I’d like to add is that I’m considering changing my political affiliation from democrat to independent. I’ll save that conversation for another day tho. Peace out. Addie
Im disappointed as well knobs. I was a faithful viewer of that show. I guess I still am. I’m less enthusiastic now tho. Thanks for letting us know that the show is less than honest. You backed it up to my satisfaction. I believe you.
Thanks m. 🤠 speaking of weather, it’s snowing up here at 5000 ft. We have I’d say a foot? We get a few clear days starting tomorrow, then all next week it’s forecasted to snow. I’m ok tho, I’m use to it seeing as how I’ve lived up here so long.
Wolf, your van sounds like an ok place to hunker down. Cars sit lower than houses and didn’t you say you have the van parked in tree cover? Trees help a little in wind. I dunno. Does it really help to open up the house windows in high winds? That’s what I’ve heard anyway. We’re not in Kansas toto. lol be nice if it worked to click your heels together, or maybe wiggle your nose like in bewitched. We can always throw an air mattress on the floor here for you guys. It’s only an 18 hour plane ride. lol
Stay safe kids. Warmly Addie
