BigDog Speaks

We try to present information and opinions on Social Security whenever we can. This is good information and food for thought. We do NOT endorse political candidates.

You manage to drag yourself out of bed, flip the coffee on and make your way to the computer. You turn it on, it plays with itself for a bit and then you click to hit the internet. Nothing happens. Server not found. Your eyes open a wee bit wider, you click with a little more force and still nothing happens. Mild panic. Visually check the DSL modem, yup, all good, uh wait, the router is flashing like crazy. The router shows 3 machines connected, you only have 1 on…

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My present truck is a gas guzzling behemoth that spends most of its life sitting in the driveway. When you consider the cost of fuel, it is no wonder it sits. It was a new guzzler in 1990, back when gas was considerably cheaper than now. With 85,000 miles on it, there is no question it has lead an easy life.

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With total disregard to my financial well being, I went looking at new trucks. I only wanted to buy a truck, not the whole company!

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Alright, I want to see a show of hands...how many of you are still driving gas guzzlers? Do you REALLY need all that room/power/towing capacity? IF you need it, there is no hope for you, the gas bill will become astronomical and you'll just have to pay it.

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Do you ever get so fed up with all your stuff that you just want to sell it all? You know, big ad someplace that announces to the world at large that you want to sell your stuff and be done with it, once and for all.

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Most of us probably use our bandsaw blades LONG past their acceptable life. We continue to saw/burn our way through our cuts, hating the idea of changing the blade. All that tweaking, and fiddling that has to be done when new blades go on. All the tensioning, aggravation, bad language when things don't go according to plan.

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In what I have to believe was a mean streak, my son left me 3 sample cakes from a company located down here. Here I am where my used to be fat clothes are now my skinny clothes, the last thing I need is cakes. Quitting smoking has done wonders for my breathing and destroyed my waistline.

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Conventional computer mouse has a ball inside of it along with a few little wheels. When the mouse begins to act up, it is more then likely time to disassemble it and clean it.

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I am more than a little bit confused here. WHAT is there to debate? Polls have shown 60 something percent of Americans believe it is our right to own guns. My math says that is a majority, what is there to talk about?

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The desire for a shiny new vehicle, with that new car smell, frequently overtakes our common sense and we trade off a perfectly good vehicle for a newer one. In the process, we are taking a financial beating and chances are good it is one we have had before.

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I don't know about anybody else but personally, I like chickens. I have some chicken in the oven right now. I am also quite fond of hen fruit and a dozen of the delectable beauties are pretty much a weekly happening at my house. ASSUMING a dozen eggs per week are being eaten, this is over 600 eggs per year. At 2 bucks or more a dozen, the concept of keeping chickens is becoming more and more a possibility. Logically, if I am spending some 1200 bucks per year on eggs, not to mention the vast amount of actual chicken that we eat around here, keeping chickens could/would turn into a financial savings if we raised our own. The dilemma I face is my smarter half who HATES the idea. Chickens running in the yard is not her idea of a good thing. For the moment, I am chickenless. Just because I am chicken challenged, doesn't mean YOU have to be. Think about it, a LOT of folks are raising chickens for their own use and doing well with them. With the way things are going, the money saved on chicken and eggs can be pumped into our vehicles!

I watched a very interesting program on bears and "problem bears". It seems the tourist, in their typical ignorance, are feeding bears. The feeding is no doubt their way to connect with wildlife or get a better picture which is all well and good, EXCEPT that they are contributing to the development of a "problem bear". What IS a problem bear? A bear that associates people with food. Can you see the "problem" now?

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The American consumer faces a serious dilemma when it comes to tools. They can opt for the cheap, or expensive, knowing that price has nothing to do with quality.

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In an attempt to rejoin the modern world and partake of video phone calls, I reattached my old webcam to my Vista based machine. Oops, it didn't work. A quick Google on the subject let me know that my dinosaur of a webcam was completely incompatible with Vista. Boo-hiss.

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Yeehaa! I can go online, punch in a few symptoms and get diagnosed all from my finger tips, no doctor visit required. What does this really say about us? Obviously we either don't believe our doctors or we just can't afford to see them or we believe we are more likely to find what is wrong with us by searching for it online.

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A gazillion years in school and you earn the right to be called a doctor. This right earns you a cushy, high paying career, a chance to be wooed by various drug companies and their staff, and ultimately you play God with people's lives. You make educated guesses on what ails them, when you are right, it was your education paying off. When you are wrong, it was just a bad guess.

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Here we go willy-nilly down the highway in our gas guzzling monster, oblivious to the devastation we leave behind. No, we can't all afford the latest fuel efficient vehicle but we CAN be more aware of what we are doing.

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Having a vacation, even a small one, is great. Going away for a few days can do wonders for you. Coming back home can be a high point. No more roadhouse coffee, hotel room beds, and late night comings and goings of the other guests. Home means your own coffee, your own bed, your own surroundings, and a really good place to unwind from vacation!

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Wandering around in the woods looking at BIG deer prints and rousting a covey of quail was a real kick. Finding two of the three property boundary posts wasn't bad either. Finding the once dry creek running with water was an impressive and appreciated sight also. The REAL joy in all this was being IN the woods!

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