Now that the election is over, perhaps we can spend some time trying to heal our people’s frazzled spirits, our country, and our world.  So let’s think about living in homes that cost little to maintain, that are heated and cooled by natural resources — the sun, the earth, the rain.

Several years ago I ran across my first Earthship via the Internet.  The idea is logical and solid.  The benefits are many.  If we could put to work some of the younger out-of-work folks to build homes like these for folks who have no homes, it would help the homeless, give work to a lot of people, gives folks a self-sufficient home with little or no utility bills and, depending on financial arrangements, perhaps no mortgage. Kind of like a 21st Century WPA program.

The videos at Earthship.net will show you the basics and give you a feel for the aesthetics of Earthships. The underlying principle is recycling our trash and found items and using our natural resources in the most efficient way to create homes that are functional, comfortable, and cost less to maintain.

To get more detailed information on cost, floorplans, and instructions, please visit www.earthship.net

I discovered a talented poet over at Pemmican Press and have included a sample below. I’m not very good at writing poetry, but she touched me with a subject that is both mundane and ordinary and, at the same time, universal. Especially right now, during such tense political and economic goings-on.

I can see this one from both sides because I’ve been each woman at different times in my life. Thought you might find it as interesting as I did.

Juleigh Howard-Hobson

Standing in Line Next to The Lady in Pearl Earrings

Yeah, I know, we’re what you’d probably call
Worse for the wear right now, with our scuffed shoes,
The boys’ hair a shade too long on them all
(Jeans a little bit short, though, so please choose
Which one offends you more: too long, too short
We’ve got em both for the price of one today).
Shopping cart full of rice, beans, day-old bread
No organic tomatoes, no line caught
Trout, those things don’t go on sale much, we’ll pay
For some ketchup and tuna fish instead

When stores like this one have coupons for them
(And even this store, with its wide aisles of
Pastas and wines, this store will up and run
A pretty decent sale on all the stuff
Most of us working poor use: milk, oats, cheese
Orange juice…). Then, we’ll stand right beside you
In line, right beside you, while you wrinkle
Your nose. We’ll take out our big wads of these
Coupons: dollar days! and buy one, get two
And we’ll smile, while you send us looks to kill.

Can you believe what is happening in Congress?

We’re in a financial situation that Republican Hank Paulson said was disastrous and needed to be handled immediately, if not sooner.  We were speechified by our Republican president, who said we needed this bailout.  A bipartisan group of Congressional leaders said, yes, we need this and we need it now and came up with a bill.  And what happens?  One hundred thirty-three (133) House Republicans prevented the bill from passing by voting NAY.

And what is their excuse — I mean, reason for doing this?  Democrat Nancy Pelosi hurt their feelings by laying this whole huge problem at the feet of the Big Spender, Republican George Bush.  Excuse me, but did he not inherit a huge surplus from that bad ole Democrat Bill Clinton?   Did Republican Bush manage to turn this surplus into a deficit so large that you and I can’t even begin to conceive that we could ever imagine that we could understand how big that deficit is?  And Republican Bush did it in only two years!  I thought Republicans were supposed to be thrifty and didn’t like the government spending their reluctantly paid taxes.

Meanwhile, it appears that there are televisions in the various stock markets, and they were all watching them as the voting in the House was taking place.  In fact, the Dow Jones seemed to be in sync with the voting, dropping as the no votes accumulated.  Biggest drop in history — down by 748.  Oops, as I glance over at the TV, it’s now 10365.45, down by 777.68.  Paulson is pissed, almost frantic.

Now, I know that the American people are mad that we have been put in this position.  They are mad that so many Wall Street regulars are greedy bastards and don’t want to bail them out without punishment.  I kinda feel the same way. But I think we need to make sure that this country doesn’t come to a grinding halt.  Let’s fix this problem now, and on election day, just a short time away, let’s show the greedy bastards how we feel by throwing the bums out.  It was Republicans on Wall Street that caused this problem and Republicans in the House that didn’t fix the problem, so let’s just vote a straight Democratic ticket.

The smaller Republican Party has traditionally been the party of the leaders, the managers, the rich.  The larger Democratic Party has traditionally been the party of the working man.  Things began to get really messed up when the Republicans started trying to add more members and held their noses while offering a welcoming hand to people they wouldn’t normally associate with.  Wise up, people!  The Republicans have had their turn at leading the country, and they and their Fearless Leader have lead the country down the toilet!.  Flush ‘em and let’s get some Democrats in there to do the job that needs doing.

Either way you decide to vote, it’s going to take time to recover from this.  Better start now.

Gave up on the job search, took early retirement, and upgraded my camera.  Gas is so expensive that we’ve curtailed any thoughts of travel.  My husband and I are both working for Barack Obama’s election so we can get a little relief.  Obama will start undoing the damage done by Dubya, but I wonder how many years it will take.

2008 Presidential Debate

I was pleased with the Friday night presidential debate.  All of McCain’s shenanigans during the week leading up to it were so strangely erratic that I wondered what he would do once he took the stage.  McCain didn’t look at his opponent, rigidly stood his ground, stubbornly stayed with his old ideas, and didn’t seem to realize that most of the country is tired of war and ready to spend $10 billion a month on something else.  Repairing the infrastructure would be nice.  Shoring up the education system and allowing teachers to teach children something about art, the teamwork and fun of participating in band, symphony or choir.  Not just teaching for “The Test.”  Paying teachers enough to attract excellent teachers would be worth more to me than funding golden parachutes for already wealthy New York City chief executives.  I could go on and on.

I am so ready for a change.  Barack Obama promises to give the Middle Class a break on taxes.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I know anyone who makes over $250,000 a year.  Most of my family and friends earn in the 20- to $70,000 range.  A few live on less.  So I’m ready for someone to trim my taxes and let the more fortunate shoulder the burden for a while.  Heck, I’d might be satisfied if Obama would just get rid of a few tax loopholes.  And now that I’m retired, the idea of retirees on a fixed income not having to pay income taxes at all is a lovely idea.  I realize Obama’s list of campaign promises will have to be adjusted because of the financial meltdown, but it is definitely time for a change.

Star Trek

One thing puzzles me, though.  I don’t understand why Obama being labeled as “cerebral” is a bad thing.  Mr. Spock is cerebral.  I would think that one would want a leader to be cerebral enough to know what to do in a crisis and cool-headed enough to keep his wits about him when dealing with it.  I know I would.  We need someone with the humanity and compassion of Dr. McCoy, the brash, bold toughness of Captain Kirk, and the cerebral logic of Mr. Spock.  I guess it’s too logical!  The more I think about it, though, the more McCain is starting to look like Dr. Janice Lester.  You know the one.  She wanted Kirk’s job, and the more she encountered obstacles in reaching her goal, the more strident and shrill she became.

I don’t particularly want to drink a beer with the President or call him “buddy.”  I want him to have done his homework, to know what’s going on in the world, to be able to deal with the leaders of our allies and our enemies (and to know which is which), and to maintain a peace that allows us to grow and flourish.  I don’t know about you, but I haven’t flourished since the Clinton years.

Hang in there. Change is coming….

While perusing the election news on the Internet, I discovered a great new blog, Left Eye on the Media.  Check it out for an interesting political analysis about how the national news media is covering the political news.

Vintage Galveston Home

Hurricane Ike is bearing down on us today. The whole Houston area is in its path, and I am wondering how much damage is going to be done. Historic Galveston will be in the most danger, since it’s on the coast and very low.  The cities will survive, but it’s going to take a lot of work to rebuild and recover.

My hubby and I have made our preparations, so I’m writing this during a rest break.  Just a little more to do.  I’m surprised that at 4 pm CST it looks overcast but bright.  There is no rain yet.  At this moment, there is no wind — that is, I can’t see any trees moving out my window.  We live in the piney woods north of Houston, completely surrounded by pine trees.  I know the winds will come, and I will worry about my 73 pine trees — and of course my house.

Having been through Hurricane Rita, I still remember living out in my back yard while the power was out because it was so hot inside the house.  My worst fear right now is having to do that for possibly two weeks instead of the four days the power was out last time.  I’m mildly allergic to mosquito bites, so that won’t be any fun at all.

We could have packed up and run, but we have two large dogs, one little dog, and two cats.  All of us won’t even fit into the car at the same time.  I picked out that particular Hyundai because I could get two cat carriers into the back seat, end to end.  Since that time, several years ago, my husband and I acquired the dogs.  Unfortunately, the cats suffer the dogs to exist, knowing that they were here first, and I just can’t picture all five of them sitting across the back seat, cheek to jowl, without spitting, scratching and barking.  Oh, my!  I can’t take them to a shelter or a hotel, and I’m not going to leave them behind.  Don’t have a carrier for a lab or a retriever.  Wish I had a van big enough to carry all of us north.

If the power lasts a while, I may post again.  We’ll see how it goes….

I’ve been looking for a job probably 12 hours a day ever since early July, but most of the time I have been knee deep in scams and cons, only to find a few genuine offers. I read somewhere the ratio of scams to real jobs is about 30:1. I don’t think it’s that good — it’s more like 100:1.

All I want is a real job transcribing digital files at home and returning the finished product via email or some sort of upload. I know there are jobs of this sort out there. I used to do it myself, before my last job. I wish somebody would give me an opportunity to work. I guess there are a lot of unemployed or underemployed men and women out there trying to do the same thing, because the competition is fierce.

But the economy is doing so well and unemployment is way down…..NOT!

River Oaks Hospital, formerly Twelve Oaks Medical Center

Someone has really got to do something about the economy. Until July I worked for a mid-sized hospital. In the 13 years I worked there, the hospital was always struggling with diminishing income (Medicare payments, etc.) and increasing demands on its resources. But the Prez and all the media has been saying the economy is doing so well!

My personal experience says they’re misinformed or lying.  Almost all the people I know are also having a bad time in one way or another.  One relative recently lost her job and then got rehired part-time (no benefits, of course).  Another relative thinks his job could go at any time and is keeping his fingers crossed.  The economy is benefiting the haves, and the have-nots keep voting as though they were rich folks.  How very illogical!

Now that I’ve lost my job, I can’t use the mail order prescription house that came tied to my job. I couldn’t afford to buy any medications right now, anyway. It’s too depressing to think about what will happen to our health if I don’t find another job soon. Oh, crap!

It happened again. One of the techs at work noticed me typing some long document today and commented on the fact that I wasn’t looking at the keyboard while I typed. Don’t need to when you’re a touch typist.

Underwood Typewriter

Seems like more people are typing these days, but touch typists are growing rare. Everybody learns enough to use his personal computer, but only just. Those of us who struggled to learn to type on an old manual typewriter before moving on to an IBM Selectric (sigh, I miss it still) are becoming more and more redundant as machines get better at doing our jobs and so push us a little closer to the proverbial pasture each year.

But it sent my mind drifting back 30-plus years to a former life. I was a notereader and typist at a large Washington, DC freelance reporting firm, twenty-something and fresh from school. I remember a lady at the firm, Magnificent Mildred, who was the best typist I ever knew. As I passed her desk, sometimes I would linger just so I could see her at work.

Such an economy of motion! Her hands hovered over the keyboard. Only her fingers moved. No wasted motion. And the speed! A really good typist clocks in at about 80-90 words per minute or a little better. Mildred did 120 wpm on a bad day. Watching her work was like watching an excellent chef sculpt a satin-finish wedding cake, a masterpiece. I was impressed!

IBM Selectric

So what does it all mean? Some days I feel like a seasoned, mature worker capable of doing anything the boss throws at me. And some days I just feel like an IBM Selectric typewriter. In its day, it was a fabulous workhorse. Capable of so much, sleek and stylish in candy-apple red or charcoal gray, it was the mainstay of any typist’s tools. I once spent over $1000 for one with a legal sized platen and all the bells and whistles (remember the squeeze key?), and now you can get one for $25 or less. (Shaking head in disgust.)

Sweet dreams. Must be time to turn in.