Scary

I woke up this morning long after I normally do. I am not working today because the construction industry has slowed to a crawl. A competitor of the company I work for laid off eleven people, and some of their people have been sitting at home for weeks.

A sooty scent filled my nostrils as I swung my legs over so that I may land the bottoms of my feet on the carpet. In the shower I scrubbed extra hard because I thought the odor was because of me. I did, after all, spend yesterday laboring on a piece of construction equipment. Even after last night's shower, I'm tired, sore, and probably not pleasantly aromatic. With the slow down and all it seems like I work at the yard more than I do out in the field, anymore.

I commented to my wife about the odor in the house and she remarked that she smelled it too, but did not know where it came from. We left the house in hopes of finding me a second job. As work has slowed down, health insurance monthly costs went up as well as my co-pays and deductibles, as did other basic bills like cable TV. A new cable company came to town, increased my bill, and took away six stations from the plan I have. Such is life.

Outside the sky was dark, almost orange. That explained the unpleasant scent. Somewhere, probably to the east, a fire raged. In my hometown, the sun was blocked out by the eerie sky, and ashes dropped around us like intermittant snow flurries.

Nobody is hiring for a month, and then that is seasonal. Those who are hiring are only taking on new employees for daytime part-time positions, and I am hoping for something I can do after I get home on the days I do work for construction, which should be five or six in the evening.

The sun was burnt orange.

A line of fire engines raced up the road as I traveled down it.

I didn't need to be out and about. I needed to write posts for my blogs and work on my book. If I was going to get a second job, time for writing would be hard to come by.

While we were out we dropped off one of our vehicles for $1,000 worth of repair work. We held off on other things that the vehicle needed (like tires and shocks). We just didn't want to pull more blood from the stone.

And as I sat in my little manual transmission car with my wife driving (she decided to drive because my body was shooting pain through me again - hence the reason we are willing to continue to pay out our wazoos for health care - Veterans Affairs takes six to nine months to get in to see my doctor, unless I visit the emergency room) I recalled a comment made by one of my bosses yesterday. He said that one of his brothers visited my Political Pistachio blog and found it to be "scary."

"Going Postal" type of scary? Or scary in the sense of me being very opinionated?

He never answered.

I suppose for someone falling for the utopian lies that the mainstream seems to be pushing this site is quite scary. And with my story of difficulties listed above they would probably bark out that it was all a result of Republican irresponsibility.

That's the differene between me and the people that thinks that my opinions expressed on this site are scary. In my shoes they would apply for government assistance. I have elected to get a second job and do whatever it takes. Such is life. Such is common sense. It doesn't take much to hold your head up high, look over the obstacles, and do the right thing.

The fire turned out to be burning in Cabazon. Three firefighters have died in the blaze. Those are the real heroes. Men who lay down their lives for their fellow citizens. Firemen. Police Officers. Soldiers. Without these people, I wouldn't have the choice of government assistance, or a second job. Without these people I would not have the freedom of writing my opinions on this site. Without these people freedom would be just another distant hope.

Those of you out there fighting fires, fighting crime, or fighting a deadly enemy in a foreign land, thank you. Thank you for allowing people the freedom of thinking that this site is informative, or scary. Thank you.