Summer fun.........at what cost?

This has not been a good year for a lot of families this has not been a good 2 years for many families including the writers. In past years this would have been a most wonderful summer, trips to Iowa for reunions, trips to Mexico for a wedding, trips across the country as last summer and not just for me and my wife but hell we take the kids and grand kids whenever possible. We've already missed two reunions in early June and now will miss a wonderful wedding in Mexico in July and at this point are only hoping we can make a short trip to SoCal for the grand kids to somewhere like Lego land or Knots berry farm.

How do the majority of families manage summer trips like this for the kids and grand kids? Have you looked into the ticket pricing for a lot of these theme parks? What brought this blog on today is an ad I seen on TV last night building up the opening of the new Star Wars ride at Disneyland. Keep in mind all parks have added so much stuff that a day is way too short to visit all areas of the parks, and thus the "park hopper" tickets. I understand a "park hopper" ticket allows you to come and go for 2 or 3 days to these parks and their multiple theme areas. Lets take a family of 4 for example and according to the add the Disney hopper pass cost $199 each, that's $800 for that family just to get into the front gate! It's been years since I've visited Disneyland but I know even 10 years ago it cost between $50 and $100 a day for food and snacks for each family member during their visit, and that doesn't include if you buy the kids a T-shirt with Mickey on it. Then we have hotel expenses and this is a conservative guess of $150/night and maybe a breakfast or dinner outside the park to save a few bucks will still run $75 a meal for this family of four. Now if you have a family of four and opt for the 3 day hopper ticket with all the expenses I come up with approximately $1875 for this three day stay for this family plus gas and miscellaneous expenses would most likely be at least $2000. Even if this family received and saved for this trip the $1000 tax break a lot of folks Mr. Obama supposedly gave this too, it wouldn't cover half of the "THREE DAY" vacation!

Just to keep things in perspective the other parks are bit more reasonable but not much better. Legoland $89 each for a 1 day hopper (Legoland has 3 area's and a 3 day hopper is preferred), SeaWorld $70 for a one day ticket, and Knotsberry farm is by far the best price but half the attractions is $39 for one day. So who is visiting these parks and where is the money coming from, my guess would be the majority of visitors are using a credit card and will be paying for this vacation long after the next 5 or 6 vacations. I'd be willing to bet that at least 75% or more folks put this expense on a credit card or they couldn't even be going on this vacation. Hell those with money that can afford these 3 days extravagant vacations are too frugal to spend that kind of money on an amusement park in most cases would be my guess.

This is not about me or anybody else that might be going through tough times in this economy, this is about the cost of taking your family to a theme park. In this economy more folks are relying on credit to get by or to do those things the cash just isn't in the bank for, and those credit companies are continually raising the debt limit and the folks continue spending. Disneyland is no doubt the happiest place on earth and I totally agree with that, I've been to Disneyland a number of times and Disney world once and would return in a minute. I'm thinking the parents might not be the happiest folks around when the bills start rolling in.......This shit is expensive!

Life's too short...............

I was thinking the other day about travel and the past few years and getting together with family and friends, and how even if you attend a family reunion you still don't see all your family for a number of reasons. Sure we have those that live miles away and you can't always accommodate everyone as to a location, but usually have it where or near that place where most of the family lives and we all can understand that. As you may or may not know my immediate family lives here in Arizona and most all of our family on both sides lives in Iowa or close by in the Midwest. Fortunately for us if we plan on traveling the 1800 miles or so to attend reunions our families (My side and Bev's side)have them on the same weekend in June. Now being from Gods country here in beautiful Arizona the Midwest is not the most pleasant of places to spend time in June either, the combination of heat and humidity is like being in hell at times but you do it for family you don't see everyday.

One of the two family reunions is a long standing one, it's been scheduled and attended by family for many years now, and the other was resurrected about 6 or 7 years ago now by myself and a lot of help from my sister. One is growing smaller due to a number of things, folks growing older and passing on and younger families just not attending no matter how close to home the reunion may be. I guess when your really young you enjoy the playing with cousins eating picnic food and playing games but when you begin to have families and other activities the generations now just don't view family get togethers the same way we used to. Life's too short and families are growing apart faster and faster and one day this generation will realize that and how much they missed by not taking the time to stay close to not just immediate family but extended family also!

I don't want to sound old here, but what else could it be to feel sorry as I do for these past two generations, sorry for missing out on cousins and what good friends they can be. Growing up my cousins were some of my best friends and still are today, and now with families moving away or others holding onto old grudges they just don't see each other nearly as often or seem to want to.

Grudges, now that is one that really has bothered me for a long time. When you have friends or family that live blocks or short miles or across town or even across the state from one another and don't see each other due to some petty incident that happen way too many years ago that is nonsense! Mom did this for him............Mom spent that on her.......Mom didn't do the same for me.......she loves my brother or sister more...........Bull..shit! Since I'm mad at her I'll punish them all and myself and my KIDS by not showing up to the reunion! Life's too short and you're only punishing the rest of YOUR family by keeping them away from THEIR family and family gatherings. It's once a year and then could end up being more often as you renew relationships and find your cousins, uncles and aunts are doing the same things you like and could enjoy each other more often.

Attend that reunion this year if at all possible, let your kids meet, play with and renew relations with cousins and relatives. Enjoy some fried chicken, burgers and dogs too, how about aunt so and so's potato salad...............wow I wish I could make it this year myself but the economy has taken it's toll and the cost of traveling those 1600 to 1800 miles just can't be spent at this time this year. Me and my family will miss you all this year and we hope to see pictures from someone after the reunions. If you can make it please do and I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself for a moment or two at least..................Life's too short and family is all we have sometimes so don't lose them!

Iowa Caucus................???

I can't imagine too many things less democratic than this, and sure I know it doesn't mean a hill of beans as far as the Iowa populace choosing a candidate goes so why bother? I lived in Iowa 38 years before moving to Arizona and still don't understand why a caucus and not a primary election of the people, or why a handful of friends and neighbors end up choosing. There are many criticisms of this process, and there is a debate over the effectiveness and usefulness of caucuses in Iowa. One criticism is that the caucuses, especially the Democratic caucus, are a step backwards from the right to a secret ballot. Also no delegates vote, party voters don't "vote", they are counted and the delegates sent to the convention from Iowa for each candidate depends on how many supporters they had at the caucus. Furthermore, the delegates are already handpicked by the candidates........now that's the democratic way!

Like anything else the press has gotten a hold of it and since 1972 it seems these caucus things are supposed to be so some importance. I remember turning 21 and being able to vote and following the primaries starting always with New Hampshire, even living in Iowa New Hampshire was the first. Sometime in my "hippie" years it seems Iowa and something called a caucus started to be talked about, I still must be high because I'm still lost as to why............why can't all citizens of Iowa vote? I guess it was 1972 that the Republican party started holding it's caucus on the same day as the democrats and that maybe brought it to the national media at any rate I think Iowa is now populated enough to have a primary. It's no longer a farm every 25 to 50 miles apart or near a town or community, it's time to move into age of populace voting.

Disaters in the Midwest.................

It's another spring after another winter after another................I'm so sorry for the folks in the Midwest from Minneapolis down to the Delta, once again at this time of year we have floods, storms, Tornado's, Cyclones, Twisters, hail storms, devastating thunderstorms and you name it. Literally hundreds of good folks dying and being put out of their homes, folks losing everything they had to raging waters reaching hundreds of yards and blocks from once peaceful rivers. Wind and rain and twisters that pick-up and destroy homes, businesses, and public buildings, without regard for whom or what is in the way or path of destruction! We pray for these folks year in and year out, pray that they find lost loved ones and can pick up the pieces of their lives and move on. Take Joplin, Missouri for example, a tornado rips through the middle of the town/city and destroys families, lives and property into the millions of dollars and a day later 8 to 10 inches of rain and hail on top of all the tragedy already there! I can't imagine 10 inches of rain anymore, I can't imagine 10 inches of rain and hail destroying whats already been destroyed once, what's wrong with this picture? Once again I'm deeply sorry for the lose of life and property being lost all throughout the Midwest this year once again.

Often times I still wonder what makes folks continue to put up with the death and destruction of property, lives, and belongings. All I can say is the 2 to 3 months where they only have to put up with the high humidity must be reward enough to endure 8 to 9 months of miserable weather. Reward enough for putting in the hard work to survive and the rebuilding each year of yards, homes, gardens, playgrounds, parks, businesses, repairing water damage, adding and repairing levee's in what seems to be a never ending cycle. I'm not sure anymore if I give the folks of the Midwest credit for putting up with such disasters and coming back for more each year or wonder what they use for common sense. I think I could only go through tragedy like that once and look for a better way or a better place to set up camp, hell I lived in the Midwest and opted to leave. Me and the family opted for the Southwest were we put up with a bit of heat a couple of months out of the year and the rest of the time pretty much paradise! There just seems to be something awesome about waking up each morning to sunshine and the vast majority of the time clear skies! We don't need or want 10 inches of rain and hail each time the clouds roll in, somewhere around 7 inches a year seems to be plenty. They say somewhere around 20,000 folks are moving just into Arizona each day, and more into Nevada and others of the Southwest, so there are those who are also tired of annually rebuilding and repairing deeds of Mother Nature.

Yes, I'm praying for a quick recovery to the storms and praying the storms of the rest of the season are not as devastating as those so far and that there is no more lose of life due to these disasters. I can only think of a few that maybe don't look forward to the seasons but definitely profit from them and have their best times of the year............Home Depot, Lowe's, Menard's and even the Ma and Pa Ace's! You talk about wanting to "save a tree" look at the lumber being used each storm system, but that's another story for another time.

Maybe too harsh!

After thinking about it I might have been too harsh on those few good employee's in our government who actually earn their incomes and don't deserve the lazy tag as most others do. But the fact still remains that our government run postal service is in dire straights and will no doubt go out of business before too long or become a privately run company. I still contend that for the most part it's the overall customer service or lack there of within this agency that is helping in it's demise. You just can't have employees with the attitude that I'm here to put in my X number of hours and take all of my scheduled and unscheduled breaks regardless of who or how many folks are waiting in line.

In a privately run business not governed by a Union employee's do what they have to do to keep the costumer happy and returning, if that means getting up from a break and taking care of business that's what is done. Now I'm quite sure you won't see that happening too many times in our Post Offices and I'm sure most of you have witnessed the same. In all my years of managing the key to our success was number one Customer Service, without it we would have no customers or continue to lose customers to other ceramic flooring companies just like the Post Office is losing customers to the likes of FexEx or UPS.

So maybe after two blogs we can all agree the Customer service sucks in our government and not just the post office and it keeps costing us tax payers to keep these agency afloat...........again not all employees but you and I both know it most likely the majority!

USPS (U.S. Postal Service/Office)

I rarely have occasion to visit one of our Government run Post offices, one of those Government run operations going bankrupt or losing money hand over fist. Today I needed to mail a package and decided to use the US Postal service rather than UPS, FEDEX, DHL or one of the other privately run businesses making a profit year in and year out.

I walked into one of the busiest branches here in Phoenix and as usual when I walked in even at 3:15 pm and with what seemed to be only a handful of cars in the lot there were 20 folks in line. The place had 4 station to serve patrons and as I walk through the door noticed 3 of those 4 stations were maned and thought 20 people wouldn't take that long. No sooner than I stepped to the end of the line a gal at the second station got up and left......must have been a 3:15 break time or something because she never returned while I was in the joint. So now there are two postal workers to serve us and in a minute I was like 18th in line but at the same time a couple more had joined the line. From the time I entered the line of 20 persons the line never got any shorter but in fact at times counted up to 22 and 23 folks waiting on those 2 postal workers!

Well believe it or not I have become more patient at times with age and understand there are times we must wait and hey, just do it and before long the wait is over, but it does leave one with some time to think. In this particular case I began thinking about our Government run Postal service and the fact that it continually loses money and should eventually be shut down, close it's doors like any other business that continually operates in the red and why this might be happening. Why can UPS or FedEx make profits and our postal service can't, well here are a few of my thoughts on the issue and number one might be the man in charge. The Postmaster General is a political appointee and not a business savvy CEO who knows how to run a company and show a profit, probably the last really good Postmaster General was our first one in Benjamin Franklin but not much since. Next would be the employees themselves, what the hell their government employees for Christ sake what more do we expect? Everyone knows the cushy jobs are government jobs and there is plenty of job security even more so that a union job where in it takes an act of Congress to fire one of them. They get more time off than anyone in the working world, more holidays with pay and sick days with pay and raises like clock work. We all know from the latest finding in these days of budget cuts that government workers are paid ungodly amounts compared to the private sector for doing the same thing and it's damn hard to get fired or lose your job! Let's not even go into retirement and pension plans because you all will end up fired up to rehash those numbers and then most of them end up "double dipping and living like kings for working like lazy bums for 20 to 30 years. Am I jealous you bet I am, why didn't I stick with my government jobs of which I had two different ones, the USAF and FAA, hell when I hired on the FAA just for being in the Air Force I got a jump of two pay grades...sweet huh? Back to my point of this postal visit, two folks with a line of a constant 20 patrons and not giving a damn if they all got taken care of before break or not...........hell were did that third gal go? After 25 minutes her break should have been over but we never seen her again...............I'm just saying maybe running this operation like this with some of the poorest customer service you can imagine witnessing and I even checked out the displays of point of sale etc. and that was just thrown up and not much attention given to customer appeal as if no one cares if they sold anything off those rack or not and they probably don't care with little or no incentive to do much better because rain or shine they'll all be back tomorrow doing the same half ass job!

Moving...........

OK so we decided to downsize for retirement and start taking it easier on ourselves financially and physically. This in turn would also free us to travel more without having to worry about what needs to be done at home, like landscape, pool, animals etc. If you take those things and everything else that goes along with living on an acre and a quarter in a 3000 plus square foot home you have way too many worries if traveling. Oh sure we'll miss so much about our place in north Phoenix, it was a dream of Bev's that came true and that we enjoyed for 7 years. It was 7 years of entertaining of all kinds, 2 weddings, way too many BBQ's to remember, showers (baby & wedding), grandchildren birthday parties, our swim parties and those many given by our daughter Lisa. The BBQ pit and bar area did it's job all year long no matter if it was winter or summer or anytime in between, sure it was a lot of work and a huge expense but you can be sure we enjoyed each and every outing! Let's not forget those wonderful neighbors on Tanya road, the Cox's became dear friends and the rest of our neighbors even though a pit younger were good neighbors also, we enjoyed them all and the parties!

Now that brings us to moving, what an unpleasant thought, what an unpleasant chore one has to go through to change residence....even your friends ate it when you move for obvious reasons! At our age we thought it best to hire a company like "2 men and a truck" or the like to handle the big stuff, we'll pack the boxes let someone else move them from on place to the other.....you know the "hard work" as we like to put it. Right, the hard work, hell their done and gone and we're still working our tails off! There won't be a next time, but if there were maybe we'll haul and the stuff and pay someone else to pack and unpack and put things were they belong, hell that's the hard part! It took a week to find the silverware and all boxes were marked very well like kitchen, living room, bedrooms etc. and it still took a week to find the silverware. It's been almost two weeks now and I'd venture to say we still have half the boxes to open and unpack yet. Now let me say it didn't or doesn't help moving into a 1500 sq. ft. double-wide from the over 3000 sq. ft. we had but in the end it will all be worth the trouble. Trying to bring a '72 model (that's in great shape and the price was definitely right) up to date a bit has been a minor challenge at times but we're going to like the upkeep cost when comparing the two places....yep nearly 1/7th of the cost to maintain on a monthly basis!

Anyway, moving is a bitch and I've decided this morning (while waiting for the installer to install the new dishwasher....which needs some plumbing updating) that I will take one box a day at least and empty it. I'm not going to say that emptying it doesn't mean I won't throw it's items into the garbage, but we are running out of room it seems. Yes, I think if we both unpack one box a day from here on out we could be all unpacked by the end of the month!

Hey two weeks and I haven't touched a yard tool of any kind, my green painted asphalt yard hasn't even needed to be blown off yet..................yippee!