Recession

Environment:

Oil Spill In the Gulf

We were on our way to Gulf Shores, Alabama, when we heard the news:  BP had been able to place a 75 ton cap on the blown-out Deep Horizon well.  For the first time in nearly three months, oil was no longer gushing into the Gulf of…

opinion:

Tiger Woods and the Men Who Eat at Krystals

The workers who have breakfast at Krystals do not believe Tiger Woods did anything wrong.  They blame the women.  “They’re lying,” one of them says.  “These women, they’re coming out of the woodwork, and they’re only doing it for money.” I sip my coffee and keep my head low over my…

Finances:

Check Cashing Fees

Homer isn’t his real name, but I’ll call him that.  He’s done tree work for us for many years.  Before that his cousin Steve did all our landscaping work. Steve was killed in a domestic dispute about fifteen years ago.  His wife had gone to Homer’s house, and Steve went…

Greed:

Capitalism Run Amuck

It took AT&T ten days to come to our house and attempt to fix our land line.  I say “attempt,” because it is not yet fixed.  We have to wait another ten to fifteen days for the digging crew to excavate the line in our yard and replace it. When our…

Illegal Aliens? Maybe. Maybe not. Who cares?

I’ve hired two Mexicans to paint the Florida room in my house.  It’s a hard job, lots of windows and trim work, sanding, old leaks that stained the sheetrock, damage from the raccoons who lived for a time in the area above the ceiling. I’ve gotten to know these men.  Both are married.  They…

Granite Installers

Granite, the material of choice for kitchen countertops, weights about 25 pounds per square foot.  The granite I ordered from Stone World, 61.3 square feet, came in four sections.  Two were “L” shaped, the other two oblong.   Each piece weighed somewhere between 350 and 400 pounds.  One piece,…

Trucks in the Suburbs

I was out in my front yard early this morning, and I noticed a surprisingly large number of pickup trucks driving by.   Most of the drivers waved a friendly greeting.   They were either small businessmen or self-employed workers:  painters, tilemen, yardmen, plumbers, carpenters.  You could tell that from the signs on the sides of their trucks and…

Construction:

Competition

Zack the motorcycle-riding, tattooed, painter/minister is back today, doing more skim-coating on my kitchen walls.  Yesterday I discovered he’s also a jack-hammer and a cement man.   That bit of information came to light when he questioned the plumber about how the pipes had been laid beneath the concrete slab  in my basement. If…

Another Rainy Day in Nashville

It looks like rain again.   We’ve hardly had a day this summer when it hasn’t rained.  Sammy the Singing Cat is sitting outside my window, waiting for me to let him in.  He’s not likely to get wet, sitting under the eaves like he is,  but he…