Gratitude = Happiness and Entitlement = Corrosive Anger

Mom update

Antibiotics are working their magic.

Original source of the infection is still unknown.

The optimal path to getting Mom back into her home is being hammered out by people far smarter than me. The hospital is anxious to free up her bed. The nurses in the family are less optimistic regarding timing and path.

They want to see with their very own eyes the claims that Mom is dancing jigs and playing soccer.

Weather

The weather-guessers tell us that we are up for two, story-book perfect days and then ten days of rain.

Also, the sibling-lottery has Mrs ERJ and I off from Mom detail on those days.

From a timing standpoint, it makes sense to plant as much of the "fall garden" the second day and do crazy amounts of running/exercise the first day.

Reloading

Call me a liar if you want, but I tell you that I was on the Powder Valley site a week ago and saw TWO types of primers in stock. Neither were Large Rifle Primers so I didn't buy them.

At the time of this writing, there is a palette of powders from super-fast to uber-magnum slow in stock.

Evidence that the ship is starting to flip right-side-up.

Finish mowers

I am in the market for a finish mower to mow pastures after the critters move to the next paddock.

There is one for sale in Michigan that is priced right but the owner does not respond to texts and emails.

Frustrating!

What if...

Wirecutter talked about what he would do if he won the lottery.

What if you woke up tomorrow morning and you were fired, your savings were worthless, your home was unsellable and Social Security was bankrupt? What would you do?

Unrealistic?

Companies go out-of-business on a daily basis.

Banks lock-up.

Condominiums in Florida are unsalable (for now).

Pensions implode.

Social Security is a Ponzi scheme.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha" you think. "I am invested in inflation-hedged bonds and I am freaking bullet-proof."

Think again. Those inflation "protections" are hedges or derivatives. They are only as good as the counter-party's solvency. As soon as there are a significant number of claims, the counter-party is insolvent and the hedges are worthless.

What is one to do?

Be grateful. Be grateful for what we have, even if it is only a dry place to sleep, our spouse to cuddle with in the cold-dark-night, a half-loaf of bread and a soupçon of potato-and-onion chowder.

If being grateful is the secret of contentment then a sense of entitlement is the secret to being unhappy.

One model used by therapists is that of a bicycle where Emotion is the driving force of the rear wheel and Rational thought is the guiding force of the front wheel.

The emotion provides the driving force while the forward motion is directed by the intellect to best meet then needs of the rider.

Maybe I am a cynic, but I don't see organized effort to develop individual's front wheel. I attribute that to people like Maxine Waters and Occasional-Cortex wanting to harvest and direct the energy from the rear wheels to serve their own agenda.

We raised, using the best-expert advice, a generation of entitled brats brimming with anger as corrosive as sulfuric acid. Don't look to them for help.

Should you wake up broke, take an inventory. Save what is worth saving. Do what made you successful in the first place: Working and saving and delaying gratification and investing in relationships of those people (often family) who are most important to you.

Being broke is a temporary condition.

Being stupid is terminal.