Category: Business

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Sea World in the Winter

My older sister has made arrangements to take her family to Sea World Orlando, Florida and is trying to talk me into going along for some much needed time away from the farm. As much as I would love to get away, I’m afraid that I don’t have anyone, at this point, who will be able to take over all of the duties here at the farm that are needed in order to survive each and everyday, morning, noon and night.

Sis went online and found a great deal that is giving her a 2nd day for free at Sea World and she jumped on the chance for a winter get a way in sunny Florida and having fun at the very popular Sea World. She went to OrlandoFunTickets.com where she found discounted tickets for sale and needs to know as soon as possible who all will be attending in order to take advantage of this 2nd free day offer.

As I said, I’d love to go, it sounds like a blast and all but the time just isn’t right for me at this point. It was nice of her to think of me and to try and do something nice, but everything has a time and a place and now isn’t the time. I’ve emailed her with my reply and have asked her take plenty of photos and videos to bring back. Then one day she can come over with the kids and share them with me in the near future. I don’t get much company around here and it is always good to see her and the kids, they often enjoy giving me a hand around the place during their visits which is always welcomed.

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Social Security Going Online

I have been reading how the Social Security Administration is desperately trying to keep up with the large number of baby boomers that are now hitting retirement age. They are expecting to deal with the eligibility of 80 million baby boomers and are now beginning to accept applications online for quicker and less expensive processing.

One article stated that it normally takes a person 45 minutes to apply in person, while the online version takes a much shorter time frame of on the average of just 15 minutes. I can certainly see why they are changing their processing options, time is money and Social Security needs all the money that they can get their hands on with so many folks that are going to be submitting for their retirement funds that they have worked so hard for, for all these years.

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Businesses Options

These are terrifying times for so many folks today, Obama certainly has his work cut out for him all the way around, it is good to see him so active so early on, he has been busy during this time before his swearing in that is coming up in just a couple of weeks.

Winter months are trying times for farmers and we are dwindling in numbers each and every year, so it is good to know that getting assistance is still an option if and when needed. The Internet certainly comes into play with today’s business decisions, so much easier to surf on the WWW then venturing out and going town to town looking for the better deals, too much wasted time and gas for my scheduling and gas issues. One can do business online, quicker, easier, less paperwork and nice and secure like.

I found at Onlinecheck.com that they have several options for today’s businesses that are looking for financial assistance with merchant cash advances, business loans, franchise financing, medical and healthcare funding and of course I can’t forget the Credit Card Factoring that has become so necessary for all businesses in today’s world of plastic finances. A good site to bookmark indeed.

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Mexican toxic waste to be burned here in the USA?????

I was reading an article on the Internet about how Mexico is trying to bring toxic PCB waste that was produced in Mexico to Texas to be burned.  The burning of the waste would fill the air with toxic fumes that could affect the health of the people in the surrounding communities.   This business about polluting the planet in general with toxic waste has got to stop!  And letting other countries use our country as their dumping grounds just boggles my mind!  We have enough garbage of our own, we don’t need to import it!  And we certainly don’t need to import garbage that is going to risk the health of our citizens!

I sure hope that someone in authority stops that plan in its tracks!

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Over and Done With

Today is technically the last day of the holiday season for most of us, kids are returning to school tomorrow for the full week and the weather will be getting worse with each coming day. I managed to take a few hours yesterday afternoon and take the Christmas tree down and the few holiday decorations that were put out this year with the help of friends and family. They were not any fun putting up and certainly no fun in taking them down, I’m glad that I got through the holidays and that it is over and done with once and for all, at least until next year.

I am hoping that this year will be better than the last and I look forward to a year of hard work on the farm and hopefully a profit will be made due to my efforts.

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The deforestation of the Amazon jungles in the name of the environment

I was reading the Internet version of the April 7 2008 issue of Time Magazine, the article titled “The Clean Energy Myth” about how the big rush to grow corn to use for biofuel is actually worsening the global warming problem and raising the cost of food. Apparently the demand for corn for producing biofuel is so high that the farmers are selling their corn to the companies that will be turning it into fuel instead of selling it to the companies that will be using it to make food. So much of the world depends on corn as a staple; this is causing hardships for them. And the profit for growing corn for fuel is so high that the Amazon jungle, which has already been in jeopardy from deforestation for years now, is being destroyed even faster than ever so that it can be used to grow corn.
I think that this is a shame on so many levels. There are other, better and cheaper plants that could be used for creating fuel than corn. So many farmers are paid subsidies to NOT grow crops, I think that those subsidies should be stopped so that the farmers will actually farm their land, or lease it to someone who will farm it. The Amazon forest needs to be protected, I don’t understand how the ownership of that works, who actually owns that property and why is he/she allowing it to be destroyed? Can’t the government of the country it is in buy it with some kind of eminent domain power and protect it from destruction?

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Gas prices are coming down

I am sure glad that the price of gasoline is coming down, but I sure wish that the price of diesel would come down more!  I use diesel in most of my farm equipment, and the price just doesn’t seem to be dropping very much, or very fast!  I seem to remember a time when diesel fuel was cheaper than gasoline, and I don’t know what caused it to increase the way it has.  This makes it very difficult for all of the farmers and the long-haul truckers and their companies to make a profit too! 

People are not going to be very understanding about how their food prices are going to keep going up when the price of gasoline is going down – they don’t realize that diesel fuel prices are still “up there” and that the cost of transporting their food is going to increase the price they pay for it.  Come to think of it, maybe this will be a good thing for farmer’s markets – maybe this will make their prices more competitive with the foods in the stores that were hauled in from hundreds of miles away!

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Snow making at Yellowstone Park

I was really surprised to read today on the LATimes website that Yellowstone Park is going to be using snow machines to make snow in the park this winter.  I guess I never thought about why in the world a National Park would even think about doing something like that?  Seems to me that the Park is supposed to be all about nature, and if it snows then fine, if it doesn’t snow, well that’s fine too!  But the article was talking about how making snow in the park would allow snow coaches and snowmobiles to use the park in the winter.  To be honest, I’m not so sure that is a great idea or not!  I don’t have anything against snow coaches or snowmobiles, its’ just something I never really thought about in the context of them being in Yellowstone!  What do YOU think?  I’d like your opinion!

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Sinkhole in New York?

I’ve heard of sinkholes in Florida because the water table has been so badly abused by the rapid development of the state, but I was very surprised to read on the news that there is a sinkhole in New York City!  Apparently the sinkhole is in the middle of a street and is one that has been developing slowly over the past ten years, and has finally reached the stage where it would really be a danger for a car to try to drive over.  The street has been closed while the city tries to repair the sinkhole and the road.  Seems to me that “we” as a society ought to be taking better care of good old Mother Earth to prevent these sinkholes from happening!

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Harvesting corn

Well, this weekend I will be busy harvesting corn most of the time.  It’s a really good crop this year!  I’ve been harvesting a little bit and taking it to the Farmer’s Market over the past couple of weeks, and the customers have bought every ear I’ve taken to the market!  They love that super sweet corn that I grow!  I can’t blame them, I love it too!  This is a great corn that you don’t have to rush to the table as soon as you pick it – it gets sweeter after a day or two so you can buy it today and eat it tomorrow and it tastes even better.  I think that is why it is so popular, it is hard for people to get regular corn to the table fast enough to really enjoy it.