Food sources

For those of you who have been watching the horror that is Florence, did you know that those big hog farms where the animals were left to drown belong to the Chinese.  Yes, very little of our food source is owned by citizens.  Most of the fresh stuff comes from Mexico and South America. And I doubt that anyone knows where the beef comes from because the companies no longer have to tell you.  Those chickens that drowned, know how they are processed?  Chicken should only keep about at most 2 days in the fridge.  Not this chicken.  It will keep for up to a week.   Know the secret?  The meat is dipped in bleach before being packaged. This is approved by your government, the FDA. And that fish you buy?  Talapia from China grown in sewer water.  Farmed shrimp.  Nasty. 
I buy my chicken and turkey from local small farmers.  I can go to their farm at any time and see how they grow their animals.  Beef, all grass fed.  Local farmer.  My vegetables, either from my own garden or from the farmer's market.  Eggs, I have a standing order from a seller at the farmer's market.  I have a rapport with a lot of these farmers.  I give them plants from my yard, we talk farming.  I also buy my soap, handmade, from a seller at the farmers market.  I get honey from the farmers market.  I make my hand lotions from ingredients I get at the farmers market and from my own yard.  I get very little from the grocery store.  Am now looking for a dairy farmer that will sell me raw milk so I can make my own cheese and butter.  If you are too lazy to take care of your food source, or too cheap, you deserve those food born illnesses. 

The loss of those animals in North Carolina will not affect me at all.  I do feel sorry for the animals and think the owners should be charged with animal cruelty for not letting them out before the flood waters reached them, but then those people went and left their dogs locked up.  No sympathy for them.  They got what they deserved.  We take our animals.  We do not leave them behind.  When Central Texas burned, one neighborhood had only a few minutes notice to get out.  A deputy was driving down the street with a bullhorn telling people to get out now.  Everyone grabbed their kids and animals and ran.  No trying to save material possessions.  Just the necessities.  Kids and animals.  And when Harvey was headed toward us, even the law enforcement was out driving cattle to higher ground.  They used their patrol cars to heard the cattle.  Our game wardens were out saving people and animals.  All animals.  They loaded deer, possums, whatever needed rescuing onto their boats and took them to high ground.  Texas A&M Vet college has an emergency response team.  Every rescue and every vet and every shelter stepped up to take in animals.  We don't leave any behind.  But apparently the East Coast does not think animals are worth saving.  Shame on them. 

Just complaining

I just bought a pair of knit pants, elastic waist.  I have worn them 3 times and will have to replace the elastic.  And these were not cheap pants either.  I paid $69 for them.  The only thing cheap about them was the fabric and notions used to make them.  And everything I look at is made of polyester.  Do you know what polyester is?  It is spun plastic.  Put that in a landfill and it is there forever.  It is the same stuff that is forming an island in the Pacific. 

I am old enough to remember when we made everything.  When we have good jobs.  As a seamstress, I remember those great fabrics we made here in this county.  Dan River ginghams, seersucker, fantastic wools and compton corduroy.  Hell, even our flour came in cotton sacks that were reused in kids clothing.  Now we produce nothing, nothing.  And we have done it to ourselves.  We like the cheap stuff.  We can go shopping and but tons of cheap stuff, wear it a couple of times and throw it away.  Quality no longer counts.  We as consumers have sold our livelihood for cheap garbage.  The consumer controls the market.  And by demanding cheap stuff, we have made it so easy for those companies to accomidate us and make huge profits off using slave labor to produce those cheap goods.  Now a pair of plastic shoes sells for $70 and we just shell out for that crap.  Athletic shoes.  Better be ready to shell out over $100 if you want a pair that will last more than 3 months.  And those with memory foam, yeah, as soon as that memory foam gets damp, you have no more cushioning.  And the sizes.  My foot measures 6/2 M.  In a shoe, I have to buy 71/2 to 8 and in an athletic shoe it is 81/2 or a 9.  I can excuse this generation because they have never known any better, but those from my generation and my children's generation know better.  You get what you will settle for.  Just like being sold on the right to work laws.  Those laws only benefit the companies.  It does nothing for the employee.  It is a union busting law.  Nothing more and the fools who work an hourly wage have fallen for it like a ton of bricks.  "They can't force me to pay union dues." No, they can't, and you cannot force those companies making money hand over fist to pay you a living wage.  Nor can you for decent health care nor safe working places.  Do you know the real reason employers want to hire the illegal foreign nationals?  They don't have to meet labor regulations nor OSHA safety regulations.  But you the consumer do not care because you get cheap goods.  Never mind that you don't make crap, just the cheap goods and by God no union dues.  You showed those damned unions.  And you the taxpayer subsidize health care, You pay those higher prices in benefits paid out to compensate for the low wages and no job benefits.  Better think about this. 

Eastman loafers

I bought two pair of Eastman loafers.  One pair hurt like hell.  I could wear one pair.  So I have been wearing them for about 6 weeks.  They were ok the first, oh, maybe 3 weeks.  Then that padding was compressed and you can actually feel the bricks when you walk on the.  Not a good investment.  Will not be buying them again. 

Foreign workers

I just did a search of Walgreens, HEB in Texas, Krogers and Wal mart and every damn one of them import H1-B employees and there is only one reason for this:  It is to replace American workers and save the corporation money.  I find it disgusting.  And I am letting each and every one of their corporate heads know exactly how I feel.  There is no reason to import even 1 of those workers.  And when they get here, they stay.  They do not leave.  They stay.  This is a way for the workers to game the system and they take full advantage of it, especially the Indians.  It is well past time that our government stopped this stupidity and ended this program.  And it is way past time that our government started hitting those businesses that hire them as well as illegals.  Write your congressman.  Please.

Sears

I can definitely see why Sears is going under.  I have a Kenmore range, ceramic top, put in around 2002.  I have since spent $600 to replace the computer.  It was turning itself on at random times.  So now the heating element in the bottom of the oven is burned out as is one burner.  I cannot get replacement parts.  I called Sears yesterday and was told that that model has been discontinued and there are no parts available.  I would have to buy a new range.  This one cost $1200 and now I have to buy a new one.  Not from Sears I won't.  I found a GE for $400, made in the USA, no bells and whistles to go out.  And I am going to get it.  On to my washer.  Not from Sears.  It is a Whirlpool and I have had it 4 years.  The motor is going out.  Already replaced the pump.  Next purchase of a washer is going to be a Speed Queen.  USA made.  So Sears has done it to themselves.  They should have been the Amazon of the digital world.  They pioneered drop ship. But they blew it and I am sorry to say, they did it to themselves.  Lousy customer service, crappy merchandise.  And this is why we shop online.  I can order the GE range through Best Buy for $50 less than I can get it at Lowe's and free shipping.  Same with the pump for the washer.  I could not find it in town so I had to order.  Weedeater, no one in town had the one I wanted.  I could have ordered from Lowe's or Home Depot but I would have had to pay shipping.  Instead I ordered from an online company and got it cheaper and free shipping.  And you know that company drop shipped it.

Retail clothing and shoes.  There is nothing out there in those retail brick and mortar stores that is worth wasting money on.  Shoes don't fit and most are made from plastic and cost a day's pay.  The clothing.  The cheapest fabric is used.  The fabric is trash and most of it is polyester which is made from oil.  So, yeah, I shop online and honestly I sew my own clothes because they fit.  I cannot find anything in these stores that fit.  And I am not overweight and have a normal shape.  And wash those clothes about three times and they are falling apart.  Nope.  Not for me.  I remember when we got quality clothing and shoes made right here in the US.  When I was a kid, Keds cost $7 and a pair of Bass Weejuns was around $20 max.  And a nice pair of leather loafers at Sears was $10.  So these companies moved offshore to "remain competitive" and give us cheaper products.  Well those same canvas Keds today cost $50 and those Weejuns cost over $100 and are poor quality.  There is no savings for the consumer.  There is a huge profit for the company.  I will spend the money and get shoes made in the states before I will waste my money on the trash made in third world countries.  I have bought a pair of Clark slip on shoes.  I bought my regular size 7 1/2m.  I paid around $80.  They were a size too small, cut too narrow across the top of the foot and too wide in the heel.  Sent them back and bought Eastland loafers.  Not the same quality I used to get, but a long site better than the Clarks. There is no quality anymore, just cheap quantity.  It is a shame what we have become.

FYI

FYI, if you hit a rough spot an have to default on a loan, unsecured such as credit card, and you live in a state that does not allow garnishment of wages, don't even bother paying it off.  I did.  I also notified the credit reporting agencies and found out that it doesn't matter.  It is still on your credit report for 10 years.  The deck is stacked against the working class.  Always has been and always will be.  The banking industry crashed our world economy and nothing, nothing happened to any of them.  Wells Fargo just got caught setting up bogus accounts for their clients and collecting money on those accounts.  Screwed their depositors.  And guess what happened to the powers that be in that bank.  Nothing.  Nothing. Nothing.  The bank was forced to pay a fine.  No one went to jail for embezzlement, which was what it was.  No one went to jail for identity theft.  No.One.Went. To. Jail.  Had that been and average working person, they would already be behind bars for years.  So, best to just not use credit cards, save for what you need.  Try to have no debt at all.  That is my goal and I am getting very close to doing that.  And, by the way, your government is working for those same businesses that screw you.

Update on health issues

I'm not moving as fast as I want on regaining my health.  I have developed spike in heartbeat.  It has reached to 126 at one time.  I am on a beta blocker now for it.  Well, this week, I have spent three days stacking boxes and it was quite a workout.  Yesterday, I had a real problem with my heart skipping.  So today I am calling my doctor and asking for a referal to a cardiologist.  I want an opinion from a cardiologist.  Since heart trouble runs in the family, time to get proactive.  And I am back to walking 4 miles a day.