I recently read a CNN report stating that food stamps users rose to a record high of 45.8 million people. In other words, 15% for the US population now rely on food stamps. Up 22% since Obama took power.
This is one example of how our political leaders are creating a government-sponsored welfare addiction in our society. A lot of people now truly believe they are entitled to food benefits, extended unemployment benefits, child care benefits, disability benefits, and health insurance benefits to name a few. And the worst part is that our political leaders are taking advantage of this twisted entitlement mentality to get elected and re-elected at the expense of the tax payers.
This is how I would fix this problem: If you are on government assistance, you lose your right to vote for that period of time you are in government assistance. This brings a double benefit to society: (i) it encourages you to get back on your feet so you can vote again and (ii) it does not permit you (the welfare class) to be manipulated by politicians and to continually vote yourself raises.
What do you think?
In full exercise of their 2nd amendment rights, earlier today Ian and good buddy Taylor paid a visit to the Byram Ranch in Burnet, TX for some big game hunting…
Ian vowed to bag a Trophy Whitetail Buck and his persistence paid off!! Although not quite a 12 point buck, he was able to harvest his first deer ever. This was a very special day for Ian because it’s well known among hunters that the memory of the first kill lasts forever. To celebrate the occasion we are having a cookout at our house with some of Ian’s friends to grill the venison sausages and savor Ian’s hard work.
Congratulations to Ian on his first deer kill and thank you to his hunting mentor – Chris Davis…
To celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary, Lorena had the incredible idea of going to the Grand Canyon to do what is called rim-to-rim; a 23 mile hike from one Grand Canyon rim to the other.
The road into the North Rim (AZ 67) is closed from the first major snowfall (mid-November, usually) until the spring thaw (end of April, usually) and the inner canyon is brutally HOT during June, July and August. So, the most pleasant times for a rim-to-rim hike are late-May, early-June, and late-September through the end of October. Although our 15th anniversary was almost 10 months ago (December 19), we decided to celebrate it the weekend of October 10th. It was not only our first trip to the Grand Canyon, but also our first trip without the kids in some 8 years. We were very excited…
So, this past Thursday we flew into Phoenix Sky Harbor and drove up to the Coconino National Forest, just minutes away from Flagstaff, AZ where we spent the night in a little motel right in front of Snowball Ski resort. There we met with a group of friends that were also doing the rim-to-rim hike. Since the plan was to start our hike from the north rim, the next day we drove up to the Grand Canyon Lodge North Rim where we had our team carbo-load dinner in preparation for our hike the following day.
Friday evening got quite cold and was very windy throughout the night. The forecast for Saturday morning called for a 35% chance of snow and 35 to 45mph wind gusts. As we were having dinner, we were not sure what to expect for our hike the following day…
Next day we woke up 5:45am. It was still a little windy (20mph at the most) and temperature was around 40F. Besides the wind, we had perfect weather conditions for our hike. We arrived at the North Kaibab Trailhead (8,250′ elevation) at 7:30am and after a quick group picture, we started our hike at 7:33am.
The trail begins by winding down a steep and sandy trail through a high alpine forest of Aspen. It was a gradual 5,800 feet descent to the inner Canyon. This part was 13.8 miles long full of breathtaking views. We ran most of this part but stopping a lot to take pictures. It took us 3 hours and 44 minutes to get down to Phantom Ranch, a resort village within Grand Canyon National Park. There we ate some granola bars and fruit we had with us and rested for some 30 minutes preparing for the hills one mile ahead…
We left Phantom Ranch at 11:55am and after a quick 12 minute hike we finally got to the Colorado River. We crossed the impressive suspension bridge, built in 1928, that spans the Colorado River and started the brutal 9-mile climb up to Yaki Point on the South Kaibab Trail.
This part of the trail has spectacular views of the Canyon but the 4,757 vertical feet climb was so challenging that we barely had the energy to fully enjoy the scenery. By mile 6 of the climb I was totally exhausted and was having problems keeping up with Lorena’s pace. She finally dropped me at around mile 7 with still two miles (the steepest ones) to go. By then, the hill had done its damage. I was totally drained not only physically but also mentally… Thank God I only had 2 miles to go!!
I ended up coming out of the Canyon at 2:55pm, some 30 minutes behind Lorena – proving once again she kicks my butt at any endurance activity… This 7 hr 22 min. hike was truly a once-in-a-lifetime adventure that, although very painful, would love doing again in the future.
August 12, 2007 – This spring my kids, wife and I teamed up to undertake an ambitious family project – a vegetable garden. I had no experience in gardening so before picking up shovels, picks and hoes, I needed to take a crash course in gardening 101.
Lorena sent me and our two sons to the Sustainable Food Center here in Austin to get educated in the subject matter. The course was very useful and our instructor advised us to begin our gardening experience with cucumbers since they are very easy to grow.
Our next stop after our crash course was Home Depot. There we bought the cucumber seed packets and all the gardening tools and materials for our project. Wood for our garden beds, compost, spading fork, rake, etc… We spent over $450 in our project. Yes… $450!!
On our way home, I started to make some numbers and began to feel like a real jerk… I said to my self: “Our local H-E-B store sells cucumbers for $.75 each so to break even with my investment I have to harvest and consume some 600 home-grown cucumbers… This is crazy!!” And this number was without adding the labor I had to put on the thing…
I thought of turning back to return everything at Home Depot but I saw my kids so excited with the vegetable garden project that I decided to put the business metrics aside and go for the ride… However, it was clear to me that at some point I was going to eat the most expensive cucumbers of my life…
Well, to make the story short, some 4 months later we have harvested some 150 cucumbers. My kids have sold some, we have given them away to family and friends and, of course, we have been eating a lot of them. My guess is that our cost will end up being at around $2.50 because yields are slowly decreasing and the plans are looking a little tired now.
Overall, I would rate our vegetable garden project as a successful family affair. My kids remain actively engaged in the garden and it has given us another activity we all share and care for. We now have watermelons, tomatoes, a pepper plant and 3 grape vines.
I recently had to put a fence around the garden because deer were having a feast at our expense. So I’m still putting money into the vegetable garden. However, I don’t make numbers anymore because seeing the sense of pride in my kids when they eat something that they have helped to grow is priceless…