Bye, John

Last December I'd written about John, our Red Kettle Bell Ringer that sat outside my local market. I even went so far as to have virtual Red Kettle on my blog. I'm passing on that this year because all year long I received solicitations from the Salvation Army. Enough. I didn't raise much money for them but they sent me lots of mail. What a waste of money.

This year there was a new bell ringer outside Von's. I knew it had to be bad news but I asked her where John was. "Sadly, he'd passed away this year, she said and lots of people were asking about him." I made a donation in his name but I am quite saddened by his passing. Though he was challenged many ways, he always had a smile and an upbeat attitude. When I'd see him outside on a chilly day I'd say, "John, aren't you cold? Oh, no, luv. I could be in worse places than this." Let's hope John is in a better place and if you're in a giving mood, don't forget the think of John as you put some money in the little red kettle.

Speak with your wallet for those who can't

This is not an endorsement for Taco Hell but in 2005 they ended a consumer boycott by agreeing to pay an extra penny per pound to Florida tomato pickers. One penny. Mickey D's got on board. This extra penny would go directly to the pickers. They make about $.77 a bucket. This is now only a dream to the pickers because Burger King, with headquarters in Florida, says no way. Now the tomato growers are ready to cancel the deals with Taco Bell and McDonald's.

Way to go, King. So if you pay the extra penny a pound to the migrant workers it could cost you about $250,000 a year. Chump change. In 2006 your execs made more than twice as much money as ALL, yes all, of the roughly 10,000 tomato pickers in south Florida earn.

On Nov 30 marchers protested at their headquarter.

So the next time you're hauling your kids to some fast food, think about what's it's costing the worker who brought you the tomato. If you spend money at their store you are condoning their policy of worker abuse.

If you'd like to contact them you can call or write. They don't accept e-mail communication. So I called them this morning to tell them their policies on paying Florida pickers are unAmerican and I'd never buy anything from them. After the phone rang at corporate headquarters, many many times, a somewhat harried receptionist transfered my call to Consumer Relations. I hope they register all these complaints.

Burger King Corporation
5505 Blue Lagoon Drive
Miami, Florida 33126

Corporate Headquarters - 305-378-3000
Marketing/Advertising Information Requests - 305-378-7200
Consumer Relations - 305-378-3535

LOL

You have got to love a vehicle, such as blogs, that gives you such satire.

lolgrims, go to it.

And for those of you that have not seen the inspiration for this site,

I can has cheeze burger

My hometown

We go to Hometown Buffet not for the food but because on Saturday's they give special treatment to classic cars. They let you park on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant and only charge us 7 bucks a piece. My beloved loves this. The food is marginal in the taste department but does have a decent salad/fruit bar and I can make my own root beer float. They used to have baked potatoes, which I love, but have discontinued that item lately. Now, I'm only setting the stage for the real story.

A few weeks ago, we had just come back from ten days camping and were tired, so we joined our other car (cheap meal) enthusiasts for dinner. It seemed way more crowded that usual and when we finally paid and went inside we saw the reason. A wedding reception. Yes, wedding reception complete with bride, in long white dress and groom, in tuxedo. The whole wedding party sat at a table by themselves while the guests, in various states of formal wear, sat in the tables in front of them. On the perimeters were the regular patrons.

Us peasants had to watch as the groom threw the garter and the bride tossed the bouquet. They cut the cake, complete with photos and then the bridal party filed, unceremoniously, out.

Let's hope this was the choice because the room they originally booked burned down. I did feel a bit cheated--there was no DJ to play, "Play That Funky Music, White Boy" or "YMCA"

December Desktop Calendar

December and winter are almost here but not quite. No, it's not December 1 I'm just a few days early.

• Click on appropriate link. large calendar, 1680 x 1050 or small calendar, 800 x 500
• PC users-right click or Mac users Control click, the image and select "Set as Desktop Background"

The calendar is now your background and all your files or shortcuts will be floating on top. You can rearrange them but not the background calendar.
Don't want it once you've selected it?
PC users:

• Select Start, Control Panel, Appearance & Themes, Change desktop background.
• If the image is distorted, select "center" under Position.
• To remove, select none and apply.

MAC users:

• Select System Preferences
• Desktop & Screen Saver
• Select a new image
• If the image is distorted, select "center" from the pull-down

Hope you enjoy this months calendar. Next month usually gets posted on the first or second day of the month.

Do you enjoy these calendars? I know a few people download it for their desktop. Let me know if you could use a different size.

Florida, give me your beach ... but nothing else.

Posting on either of the blogs has not been top of my list for a few months. I find myself distracted by a variety of things. We'd been camping then flew off to Florida for a wedding and although it was only five days, it took up space in my brain for planning.

The wedding was great and I'm not usually a fan of visiting relatives for an extended time. We all stayed at a large resort, had our own car, and met and socialized with relatives off and on, then had the big party at the reception. My darling companion and I had plenty of time to ourselves to explore the west coast of Florida, St. Petersberg specifically.

The west coast beaches have always been my favorite. Jeeze, I talked my beloved into buying a RV so we could spend more time at the beach. The beach we stayed on was so different and quite beautiful. St. Pete's Beach has long flat expanse of beach with very small waves rolling quietly in to the shore. At least that's what the surf was like when we were there. The sand is very different, as well. Almost white and so fine that it compacts and you can walk on it with little problem. In the surf line it's hard like concrete. The water was chilly but not as cold as Ventura the same time of year. Every morning there was a virtual rush hour with all sorts of people walking up and down the shore line.

One day we traveled into St Petersberg with the intent of seeing some of Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings. I was thrilled to see a brochure for The Museum of Fine Arts with my all time favorite painting of hers, The Poppy. When we arrived more than half of the museum was closed do to construction but to my delight, there in the gallery was this beautiful red flower. Ah, but that was it, one painting by her and nothing else. So we made a pilgrimage to see one painting. The weather was beautiful, the museum sits across the street from a small bay, so it wasn't wasted time in the least.

If this was the only time I'd spent in Florida I would have moved there in an instant. But, I know they have hurricanes, bugs and humidity. Hey, they even had traffic, nope, I'll still take LA.

Desert Camping

You can't really call this desert camping, we're at a lovely campground equipped two swimming pools, hot tub, full hook ups, and because it's before the "season" starts, it's cheap. My beloved has been stellar with the towing and the parking of the fifth-wheel and at this place, whew, it's made for much small trailers. The other two have not had that easy of a time. This is a much older park when trailers and motor homes were not 38ft and have big ass trucks that pull them. We all got parked and set up without too much angst.

We are all having fun and I paid for the Pomona Camping at the casino last night. Woo Whoo! I'm gonna try to pay for this tonight. Wish me luck

November Desktop Calendar

Leaves falling? Yes, it must be November.

Do you enjoy these calendars? I know a few people download it for their desktop. Let me know if you could use a different size.

• Click on appropriate link. large calendar, 1680 x 1050 or small calendar, 800 x 500
• PC users-right click or Mac users Control click, the image and select "Set as Desktop Background"

The calendar is now your background and all your files or shortcuts will be floating on top. You can rearrange them but not the background calendar.
Don't want it once you've selected it?
PC users:

• Select Start, Control Panel, Appearance & Themes, Change desktop background.
• If the image is distorted, select "center" under Position.
• To remove, select none and apply.

MAC users:

• Select System Preferences
• Desktop & Screen Saver
• Select a new image
• If the image is distorted, select "center" from the pull-down

Hope you enjoy this months calendar. Next month usually gets posted on the first or second day of the month.