The Big Tidy 2

Find Me a Box

 ["The Big Tidy may one day be a tradition throughout London"]

This is not a habit or tradition yet, i.e., to grab an empty box, fill it with stuff fit for The Goodwill or nearest curb, then get it out of the house, but it might be by the end of February. Because I do now solemnly swear (like I did last week) to spend a bit of time this afternoon packing up items of no relative interest to anyone in the free world until I am finished The Big Tidy.

And what am I doing? Just making room for more stuff? Gee whiz, I sure hope not.

I did run into one slow down today. My wife wondered aloud why I was throwing out a wooden bowl I'd made in my Grade Eight wood shop class. I said, "Because I haven't really used it much since my Grade Eight wood shop class." She reminded me I have four grandchildren who might someday like a reminder they once had a skilled craftsman as an ancestor, so I placed the bowl on my dresser, threw a bit of loose change into it and placed my old pup tent into the 'out box' instead.

If anyone wants to remind me I once loved camping or may regret my decision someday, go right ahead. The tent... she is gone!

Link to The Big Tidy 1

Photos GH

My Morning Smile

The Perfect Fit

My wife said 'Hong Ping' and I said 'Thumbs Up'. Our wickedly brief conversation about supper was closed. I went back to work.

Thirty minutes later, however, we talked and laughed at greater length when we realized what our earlier few words had wrought. And my wife grabbed the camera, which prompted me to say, "Taking pictures of food, eh? You are so like me!"

Last night's supper - take out from Hong Ping's on Horton - was superb. And so nicely packed, wouldn't you say? Not one grain out of place. Perfect.

Kinda makes me think we already know where we'll celebrate our 44th wedding anniversary in August!

Link to My Morning Smile

Photos GH

Gord's Gourmet Hot Dogs

'Tis the season to BBQ and pack in enough sizzle, carbon fibre and nitrates to get one through a long winter. During my morning walk I saw Home Hardware's line up of BBQs sitting all in a tidy row (freshly dusted too!), from cheapest to most expensive, starting at $169, and ending 'way up there'.

I'm not looking to buy because I already have one, close in price to the cheapest, but my heart started to race because I was hungry and stomach juice fired up three thoughts:



   I'm going to BBQ tonight

   My gourmet hot dogs and stir fry taste won't taste
   any better on the shiniest, widest, most expensive unit

   Actually, nothing cooks better than
   my charcoal-fired double Hibachi!

Dusted off yer Hibachi lately?

Link to The Athens Block

Photos GH

Live Small: "love your stuff?"

According to a Metro article, if you love your stuff you're going against the growing trend toward 'less is more' and 'experientialism'.

[Stuffaholism Kills, Feb. 5 by Paul Sullivan]

A trendspotter says we have "too much everything" but are evolving and "starting to value experiences over things."

I say, be warned. Buying experiences may be nothing more than another sales pitch for the next new thing.

Live small. Enjoy authentic surroundings close at hand.

Walk slow, enjoy the view.

Photos by GH

More Live Small and Prosper 

Letter to the Editor (2): "another point of view"

John Manning from Forest has his say recently.

[From the Dec. 3 issue of the London Free Press]

He writes:

     The high wages and benefits (the public sector)

     demand, and the gang of officials and inspectors

     hampering business, make a poor climate

     for private jobs.

My point of view:

     The mechanization, lower wages and benefits

     and downsizing they (the private sector) demand,

     and the gang of high-priced bosses and family members

     hampering business, make a poor climate

     for private jobs.

Of course, it could just be me.

Photo by GH

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Please click here to read Letter to the Editor (1): "walk it off"

Letters to the Editor: "walk it off"

John Manning writes a zinger. He thinks the public sector is on its way to killing off 'all private enterprise.'

["London Free Press, December 3, 2013"]

I can understand his anger if job loss hit him hard or rising expenses (car, gas, groceries, rent, etc.) are crippling him. But if he's doing OK he needs to realize it's not the public sector that is the chief culprit. He needs to go for a walk.

["And if private sector kills off jobs, there
will be fewer families who can pay for goods"]

Walk to the Kelloggs plant on Dundas east, London, home to 550 jobs that will be gone by the end of 2014. Walk to a growing list of other shuttered industries we once had. Walk to single-family farms around his home town to determine why the families have gone elsewhere, perhaps into nearby cities for social assistance from the public sector. And think. Maybe the following culprits will come to mind:

     mechanization in the private sector 

     downsizing in the private sector 

     the search for lower wages in the private sector

     the thirst for higher profits in the private sector

     low corporate taxes, low responsibility levels to workers

["Fresh air and ideas needed"]

Walk it off, John. Maybe the light will come on.

Photos by GH

***

Please click here to read hammer the public sector?

Grey Power: "putting money aside" (3)

["But it's not that we don't have the money"]

Today Canada may be seen as a country at war with rising costs, with the average Canadian woefully unprepared to survive the long-haul. Boomers are aging and rising health costs may swamp the federal government's fiscal boat, a vessel already awash with red flags, i.e., fewer future workers, unmanageable debt, a struggling economy and increasing expenses in many other areas (aging infrastructure for one). A brave approach and radical plans and policies are required to help bail us out.


We could learn lessons perhaps by glancing back to the time Canada entered World War 2 and used its resources - both human and monetary - to combat and vanquish a determined foe.

When Canada declared war on Germany in September, 1939 (one week after Great Britain had done so), we were a country with only a few rusty rifles in a broom closet. Said the federal Chief of Staff, Major General A. G. L. McNaughton:

     
     "Except as regards rifles and rifle ammunition,
     partial stocks of which were inherited from the
     Great War, the country has no reserves of
     equipment and ammunition." 

     In all Canada there was not a single modern anti-
     aircraft gun, few operational military aircraft, no
     aerial bombs. There was ammunition for 90 minutes'
     fire from obsolescent field guns. "About the only
     article of which stocks are held," said McNaughton,
     "is harness. The composition of a modern land force
     would use very little horsed transport." [pg. 16,
     The Canadians at War 1939/45 Vol. 1]


Not only were the armed forces standing naked in the town square in '39 but the mood of the average Canadian was elsewhere. That year, during the month of August, when Hitler took possession of Slovakia, announced a ten-year non-aggression pact with Russia, moved new divisions of the Wehrmacht (German Army) to the Polish border, Toronto Star's headlines read as follows:


     $11,004 Needed Still by Fresh Air Fund

     
     Foil Grimsby Bank Holdup, Nab Suspect

     
     Toronto Man New Salvation Army Head 

["Above two photos are of text  from The Canadians at War"]

Fortunately, today, we have the resources to battle rising costs but our attention and will are elsewhere. Some are likely too busy watching TV. Others are spending money on bigger sets in order to watch highly paid professional actors and athletes go through the motions, none as important - in my mind - as the battle ahead related to keeping significant services afloat for all Canadians.

["Watching TV, while trouble brews, is so exciting"]

More to follow.


Photos by GH


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Please click here to read Grey Power: putting money aside (2)

Grey Power: "putting money aside" (2)

I see red flags when I read certain statements in a recent Stats Can report about Canada's aging population because, although I wasn't mentioned by name, it relates to me and millions of others my age, i.e., 65 and up. (My D.O.B. is Sept. 1949, so 65 is just around the corner). Some red flags have to do with green.

As reported in the London Free Press (Nov. 26):

     ...as the so-called baby boomers age there will be
     fewer people in line after them to pay for their care.

     "There's a kind of an intergenerational difficulty in
     that," (emeritus sociology professor) Beaujot said.
     "As we're preparing for a society that will have more
     health care costs, we should have been putting
     money aside for that."

See the red flags? More people will need care. Fewer people will pay for the care. Where will the money come from? We should have been putting money away long ago, personally, provincially, federally (i.e., governmentally). We should be saving now.

Like many others I'd like to be 20 again. Long hair, polyester bell-bottoms, wide Paisley ties, bright yellow shirts with long pointy collars, platform shoes, 25 cent glasses of beer. Oh yeah, take me back this minute. But could I stand the cost of the steps needed to prepare for the future? It would be tough sledding, for certain, so I don't blame young people today for not wanting to bear rising costs for an aging class at the same time they're trying to get their own educational needs, apartment, house or new family in order.

Provincial and federal governments may feel they have their hands tied. Large red flags like current debt loads, low tax climates ("Cut costs, cut taxes or else!"), struggling economies and rising costs (in more areas than health) don't make a pleasant mix. We seem to be facing an unsustainable situation now and a more troubled one in the future. Magic pill? It can't appear fast enough.

The large number of red flags makes me think we are a country at war with itself, and with that image comes reminders of what Canadians did 70 - 75 years ago when faced with an all-consuming calamity, World War 2. We shelved our business-as-usual approach to life and sacrificed - for a time - much of our energy and wealth with the hope to vanquish a determined foe. The same type of push is needed today.

More to follow.      

***

Please click here to read putting money aside (1)

Grey Power: "putting money aside" (1)

In less than a year I turn 65. There won't be a big party so don't buy balloons. But the number is significant to me. It's a meaningful line I must cross in my life journey, like the Equator would be to a passenger who crosses it for the first time in an ocean liner. Already I've been thinking about the day it will happen.

Some thoughts were closely personal and came up during separate conversations about medical insurance, the Canada Pension Plan and my (age) 55-plus hockey team. I agreed to change insurance carriers, was prompted to apply for CPP early and wondered if there was a 65-plus team in town so I could be the youngest (and a star) on a team, and not the second oldest. (I know, Shakespeare is right: All is vanity).

Other thoughts were more social or political, and prompted by a recent report by Stats Canada about the greying population. Me. Maybe you. At least a growing number of Canadians.

["Some details reported Nov. 26, London Free Press"]

You may have heard the greying population referred to as the grey tsunami because it's a powerful force, one that may easily swamp some government services (e.g., medical, social) in the future. The report says a few words about the 'swamping' aspect of the greys and they touched a nerve in my (almost 65-year old) Boy Scout nature.

I read:

     By 2036, seniors will account for 23% to 25%

     of the Canadian population, and by 2061, the

     figure will be 24% to 28%, they say.

In my mind, we greys  won't exactly be taking over the streets but empty chairs will be scarcer at local coffees shops between 9 and 11 a.m. most weekdays. However, bigger concerns follow:

     What this means is that as the so-called baby

     boomers age there will be fewer people in line

     after them to pay for their care. 

     "There's a kind of an intergenerational difficulty

     in that," Beaujot said. "As we're preparing for a

     society that will have more health costs, we should

     have been putting money aside for that."

To me, I see red flags in the last statements. Big red flags, but not like the Canadian Maple Leaf. I don't think most Canadians and our current federal government are interested in saving up money for important future needs. We may instead be on the opposite course. 

["Photo at http://www.usada.org"]

Stay tuned. More to follow.

   

Photo by GH

***

Please click here to read new skills at age 64

Live Small: "dusted off your bike yet?"

["1951 Dream Machine gets very good gas mileage"]

As transit fuel prices rise toward new heights we will find ourselves falling into two distinct groups. Winners and Losers. (All will learn to deal with the consequences).

["Can you think of other winners/losers?"]

Dust off your bike.

Photos by GH

***

Please click here to read The News: "as gas prices continue to rise"

The News: "As gas prices continue to rise..."

The days of cheap fuel for transportation are gone. You may have seen the signs.

Signs like the following:

     Gasoline $1.34.9 per litre

     Oil $113.50 per barrel

But nothing like this:

["Image  found at www.fineartamerica.com"]

39.9. Get real. Soon we'll all be considering our options, e.g.,

     car pooling

     sharing a car between friends

     driving fewer miles per week, month, year

     walking, cycling, buying a smaller vehicle, etc.

I say grab a dust cloth and go back to the 1950s.

["This 1951 CCM dream machine pays for itself"]

["Maintenance fees are almost non-existent"]

Your legs, wallet, environment, sense of reality and accomplishment and more, will thank you.

Photos by GH 

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Please click here to read The News: PenEquity development, London

It Strikes Me Funny: I'm a Food-E (2)

     "I'm thinking about transitioning from three meals

     per day to four. Not because I want to eat more food

     but because I want to eat less. I don't need more food.

     Just ask my stomach." G.Harrison, Aug. 3, 2013

I eat too much food. I'm conditioned to eat three meals per day - and everything on my plate (likely by Anglo-Saxon ancestors) - and the three meals are getting BIGGER each year. I must do something radical to break the spell. 

["Even this tuna slider looks big to me," says Robin]

At lunch time last Saturday I was handed a hamburger the size of a small car. It was excessive with a capital E. I knew at once that I didn't want to eat it all because I hadn't been chopping down trees since breakfast, hadn't been doing much of anything, so I just didn't feel very hungry. I had to decide what to do besides eat a big hamburger I didn't want, and a reasonable plan soon came to mind.

I said, "This looks great." And while dressing up my burger I cut it in into halves and saved some for later in the day. 

I felt I'd made a good decision at the time and no one seemed to mind. The day progressed, I ate the second half about an hour before supper, and when that meal was served I didn't feel the need to eat a lot of food. However, I did feel something else. I felt pretty good that I ate small portions for supper because I used part of my lunchtime meal as an afternoon snack. All in all, I think I ate the right amount of food for the day, not more than needed.

Transitioning from three meals per day to four may work for me as I try to eat less food per week, i.e., become less of a food-E. We'll see.

What do you think?

Photo by GH

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Please click here to read It Strikes Me Funny: Food-E (1)

the hits keep on comin' 4

"However."

However, it seems our global income is taking a hit as the years go by and as global damages increase, as if exponentially.

["Weather-related damages and costs are increasing quickly"]

Nielsen asked, "How long can we cope with weather-related economic losses?" Then he added, "If global income increases more slowly than the losses, it is worthwhile to calculate how long the money will last."

That makes sense to me, but I've never seen many instances of people in a position to know or care, e.g., insurance companies, government officials from local to federal levels, economists, or financial wizards, explain what the future may hold related to economic or financial health if we continue "business as usual" both economically and environmentally.

Nielsen continues re 'how long the money will last' (page 103, The Little Green Handbook):

To estimate this period I have analysed the data for weather-related economic losses and for gross world-product (GWP), both expressed in 2001 US dollars.

Preliminary examination of the data shows that the prospects are not encouraging, because the losses are increasing much faster than income. As we have seen, global weather-related losses per decade increased from $86 billion to $474 billion, or 450 per cent, in the last two decades of the 20th century. However, GWP increased from $291 trillion per decade to $386 trillion, or 33 per cent, during the same period. GWP is still greater than the weather-related losses, but the losses are increasing much faster, and in time they might match global income. That would mean global bankruptcy.

... The two calculated curves cross in 2045. If about that time we decide to repair the damage there will be no money left for anything else.

Dr. Nielsen does not mention which countries will fare better or worse or who will suffer the greatest blows amongst the rich and poor, but he does go on to say the following:

global bankruptcy could occur earlier than 2045, for two reasons. First, the costs of weather-related damages might drain global resources to a critical level, even if they are lower than global income.

The above statement reminds me of details related to a recent air disaster. A jumbo jet filled with passengers came in for a landing at a reduced speed (according to black box data and recorded conversations in the cockpit), i.e., at substantially fewer knots per hour than required for a safe landing, and the jet dropped too quickly out of the sky. The plane suffered great damage and two passengers were killed upon impact.

Second, we also have to consider the cost of other natural disasters... (i.e.,) the so-called great natural disasters. They do not happen often, but they are responsible for enormous economic losses, and their number has increased from about two per year in the 1950s to 9 per year in the 1990s. (pg. 104)

In the wake of recent flooding in Alberta, blows to the economy of one of Canada's richest provinces and government promises to send a billion in relief funding (likely a small portion of what will be needed for all repairs), there may be a growing concern about how long we can cope with such damage, economically and environmentally.

["Are governments studying important, recent data?

Will they keep their citizenry fully informed?"]

Nielsen makes an excellent point about what is needed to determine an answer today:

The first 10 - 20 years of this century will be crucial in determining whether weather-related economic losses will lead to global bankruptcy. The cost of damage is increasing rapidly, and the additional sets of data will make the analysis more reliable. (pg. 104, TLGH)

Though accurate information may be long in coming from worried insurance companies and national governments, we should make every effort to stay informed while - at the same time - cleaning up one economic and environmental mess after another.

Photos by GH

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Please click here to read the hits keep on comin' 3

first world problem: bachelor boy vs the freezer

I'm buried in food. I can't keep up with the supply unless I eat 6 meals per day.

See, my wife is visiting her mother for a few days and before she left she gave me grocery money, a tidy sum I will try not to spend because, shortly after she left, I discovered we have approximately 400 pounds of food stored in kitchen cupboards, the refrigerator and freezers. Why do I need to buy more food? I say, I don't.

["I found frozen soup - worth $1.00 - in the basement freezer"]

I know I'll soon have to buy bread. TP and toothpaste but just about everything else I need is already on board. How long will the grocery money last? I think at least two months. (My wife won't be gone more than a few days, but I'm just saying...).

Do you think you're buried in food? Why do we keep so much on hand? For a surprise family reunion of forty people? When is that ever going to happen?

["The frozen soup, purchased at a church bazaar last

year, was delicious. So was the hot dog bun w cheese"]

This is a first world problem, right?

Photos by GH

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Please click here to read Hibachi to the rescue

10% unemployment is coming

The Corporation of the City of London is not the only center of a depressed region in Ontario but it is the one closet to my front porch. 9.6% unemployment figures in March may be telling us that political and business priorities may not be working, may not be healthy for a growing number of London's citizens (and likewise in other faltering regions).

[Photo of London Free Press, April 6, 2013] 

A few thoughts cross my mind:

London may break the 10% unemployment line by mid-spring. Action is required before more families suffer degradation.

Mayor Fontana's election of 10,000 new jobs sounds so far-fetched, rooted in nothing resembling reality. Did anyone actually believe him?

Many job creators are not using their low corporate tax rate to create new jobs. Some record high profits and then hire off-shore staff.

If the job-creators do not create jobs, government should do so. Higher corporate tax rates may be in order to stimulate the economy before more families fail.

["Why high unemployment?" London Free Press, April 6]

More people now graduate from school to face the bleakest of prospects. If big business (Harper's job-creators) and governments don't create jobs soon, 11% unemployment is next.

What thoughts cross your mind?

Photos by GH

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Please click here to read about 'Thing$ going North$$'

live small, eat less

We are eating too quickly.

Slow down and enjoy the view.

Toon by GH

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Please click here for more 'live small'

Money Matters: Less stressful times for many

Financial analysts spot small problems while the majority of average Canadians face really big ones.

[From 'Alison on Money', Jan. 29, METRO]

Alison says "setting up an automatic contribution plan will help you deal with this stressful time (i.e., RRSP season)." Meanwhile the average Canadian family is up to their eyeballs in debt and has no money for an RRSP contribution plan.

Someone other than a financial analyst has to soon deliver a series of new messages to help average Canadians avoid financial stress.

Try these on for size while we wait for government and business officials to prepare their notes:

Downsize the North American Dream

Buy or build a much smaller house 

Buy a much small car

Buy 50% fewer furnishings for your house

["I'm still waiting for a store like this in Old South, London"]

Buy Canadian and keep more jobs at home

Learn to cook more of your own meals

Include nature walks on your entertainment schedule

What other messages does the average Canadian need to hear in order to avoid financial stress or ruin?

Photos by GH

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Please click here for more Money Matters

Live Small: I like 'Hello, Gord'

The $3,099 espresso machine is too rich for my blood and the fingerprint recognition technology seems a bit cold. ("Sure, I can make you an espresso but show me some ID first!")

I prefer walking over the The Red Roaster in Wortley Village and hearing a warm human voice.

"Gord, you're lookin' good this morning."

(I sure am.)

Photo from Nov. 17 London Free Press

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Please click here for more Live Small

Live Small: “We’ll all scream” for different reasons

Who writes this stuff? “...We’ll all scream for this innovative ice cream compressor” that costs $549.95. (Nov. 17, London Free Press)

Really? As the gap between the rich and poor continues to grow, this type of tripe - empty-headed ads aimed at the richest among us - surely makes many want to scream.     

About my “choice of consistency”: I choose to reduce spending, pay down debt and save money for tough times. And if I want an ice cream cone I’ll visit The Dugout in Wortley Village.

Photos by GH

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Are you putting money away on a regular basis? Yes? Keep up the good work.

Please click here for more Live Small

Live Small: “simple fried egg”

This is rich. I can buy a mix master for well over $2,000  - with ‘everything’ - but still not get what I want for breakfast.

Photos special to QMI Agency

The rich hype tells me the shiny machine can “cook and stir at the same time,” but can it do a fried egg on toast with a slice of old cheddar (partially melted) in 5 minutes at eight in the morning?

I say reduce spending and save your money for tough times ahead. And enjoy the simple fried egg.

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Please click here for more Live Small