Back to Iowa

I flew to Iowa on Thursday, October 16. Mark and Marla drove from Omaha, where they picked up Megan and Drew, to Des Moines to bring me back to the farm. Thanks to Craig Peterson for the loan of his van. Don, Jan and the Burns' girls arrived at the farm late afternoon and Matt arrived later in the evening.

Friday, the temperature never got above 47 degrees. Needless to say, we didn't go outside, which made for a long day.

Saturday afternoon I spent some time with Gwen Peterson. Gwen was on death's doorstep a few weeks ago but she looked and sounded great. She has such a wonderful attitude.

After leaving Gwen, I joined other family members at the Methodist Church where I witnessed the marriage of niece Katie Kalkwarf. The reception was at the Starlite in Fort Dodge where I shared a room with Megan. During dinner, I had a long conservation with my aunt Nita.

Picture with my siblings...Marla, Kevin, Jan, Larry and me.

Sunday I went to Jody's home on Lake Panorama. We went for a boat ride on a lovely Autumn day. That evening we went to her daughter Chris and Randy's home in Des Moines for a celebration of Amanda's 23rd birthday. Monday we drove the pontoon across the lake so that it could be taken out of the water for the winter. Definitely the end of summer!

I flew home on Tuesday where Arne had been working hard to market our home. The stock market sure isn't helping.

Where are we headed?

After a good week-end with several people stopping in to view our house and one couple who seemed truly interested, I get up this morning and start reading the financial news. Even with the government "rescue", it appears we'll be continuing on this downward spiral. After years of saving and managing debt, it seems Arne and I will be punished as a result of those who didn't save and who spent above their means. Not a comforting thought.

My baby's 39!

Today is Aaron's 39th birthday. I honestly feel like I'm 39 so how can this be? Aaron called last night and we talked for over 90 minutes, much of it about politics. He was trying to convince me I should vote for Obama. I told him that he and his father could do that. Happy Birthday, Aaron!

Party Leaders Back Revised Plan for Bailout

After several weeks of wondering if our life's savings are safe, the federal government has taken it upon themselves to bail out those who bet on subprime loans. I thought we should let them fail and the markets will adjust. I just can't see the federal government handling this in a successful manner. I pray I am wrong. (L to R: Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Harry Reid, Senate Leader.

We had Open House this week-end with a few visitors. Tomorrow we will go on MLS so we will have more exposure to buyers. We have dropped our price $30K from where we started, which we thought was very conservative. We only have a couple weeks to make a decision about The Villages so will see what happens.

Sedona with Girlfriends

Tuesday morning, eight "Lit Chicks" drove to Sedona, checked into a hotel and headed to Oak Creek Golf Club where we only played 9 holes. The scenery was spectacular. We got back to the hotel around 5 and had Happy Hour by the pool. For dinner, we drove to uptown Sedona. I had salmon which was sooooo good.

Wednesday morning we had 9:30 tee times at Sedona Golf Resort. We were counting putts so I didn't focus as much on my round. My golf was very inconsistent but the views were so spectacular, I didn't care. The weather was nice also, cooler than in the Valley. Between golf and dinner, we had a short discussion of "The Pillars of the Earth" which we will discuss further when we meet in October. We had dinner on the patio of a very nice Mediterranean restaurant. enjoying chianti under the stars.

Thursday morning we played Verde Santa Fe, near Cottonwood. The course reminded me of the rural Iowa courses. Again we just played for putts. I didn't win any money either day but had a great time.

The stock market was up and down all week. Thursday night I was afraid to look at our portfolio which didn't have much damage. We are pretty much in fixed income funds but I was concerned about Fidelity after the collapse of Merrill Lynch, AIG and Lehman Brothers Brokerage. This is a frightening time, much like the collapse in 1929 which led to the Great Depression.

Stock Market Drops 504 Points

It seems as though financial institutions are collapsing all over the country. Those of us who saved all our lives are going to be taken down with the millions of people who irresponsibly spent more than they could afford. I am feeling very sad today for our country. I have long been opposed to big government, but alas, it is the will of the majority and it's taking us down.

From Robert Higgs in The UK Independent:

The trouble is, however, that now, even more than then, the American people have little interest in liberty. Instead, they want the impossible: home ownership for those who cannot afford homes, credit for those who are not creditworthy, old-age pensions for those who have not saved, health care for those who make no attempt to keep themselves healthy, and college educations for those who lack the wit to finish high school. Moreover, they want it now, and they want somebody else to pay for it.

If you think that Fannie and Freddie’s bust is a big deal, just wait until Medicare comes crashing down. Then, the wailing and gnashing of teeth will be truly unbearable. As that day rapidly approaches, however, you’ll notice that the politicians are doing utterly nothing to forestall it.

Anniversary of 9/11

According to Wikipedia, "The September 11 attacks were a series of coordinated suicide attacks by al-Qaeda upon the United States on September 11, 2001. On that morning, nineteen Islamist terrorists affiliated with al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners.The hijackers intentionally crashed two of the airliners into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing everyone on board and many others working in the building, causing both buildings to collapse within two hours, destroying at least two nearby buildings and damaging others. The hijackers crashed a third airliner into the Pentagon. The fourth plane crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after some of its passengers and flight crew attempted to retake control of the plane..."

I remember being on the golf course that day. One of the gals in my foursome had a son-in-law who worked at the Pentagon while another had a brother working there.Because of the three-hour time difference,the Pentagon had been hit so these ladies were late getting to the tee box because they had called their loved ones, who hadn't gone to work that morning after hearing of the planes crashing into the Towers. We played our 18 holes after we all agreed, there really wasn't anything we could do about something happening over 2000 miles away.

This picture is my dear colleague, Colleen Rice, circa 1998. We were heading over to Ellis Island, on a sight-seeing trip after attending an educational conference in Rye, NY.

I worked at the Foothills Food Bank this afternoon from 1-4 and were we busy! I interviewed 7 clients and we gave them food for almost 30 people. In addition, I wrote several gas vouchers. I heard some desperate tales today...$900 arears on her electric bill, employer owed another three month's wages but went bankrupt, young man who just got out of jail after serving 8 1/2 months, another woman whose employer stopped paying and she wondered how she would feed her children, a woman whose husband is a firefighter but only makes $32,000/year which wasn't enough to feed their four children.

THEN, I went to Supercuts and the girl cutting my hair asked about the shirt I was wearing. I explained that I had worked at the Food Bank all afternoon. She began to quiz me on how she could get food as she was trying to decide whether to pay bills or buy food. Yes, the economy is in a bad way. Oil prices caused the price of everything to go up. Oil is coming down and hopefully, so will the price of food and other goods. In spite of this, I still say God Bless America!