Hey Maurie,
The economy being what it is, are you busy in the electrician field? Just curious.
Butch

Hey Butch! Great to hear from you. I trust you and your family had a happy and blessed Easter.

The economy here in most of West Michigan has gone right into the ol' dumper. Not trying to make a political statement here or anything, but it seems as if most of the state just wants to stand around with their hands out waiting for someone to give them a handout (notice I said handout not hand UP). I've been inspecting for the City of Grand Rapids (around 250,000 pop. about 60 miles South of me) for a while now. That's where the work is for now. They seem to have figgered out that you have to shift gears and make things happen on your own. So, I've been busy down there. The Building Department up here has gone completely to part-time help, so several of us "former employees" have started our own inspection business, picking up some of the townships and cities here in the county. It's coming along good, but slow. My son, who's the real electrician in the family these days (leastwise, he's the one still wearing the tools) has been laid off for a month now. They hope to pick up enough to call him back the end of April, so we'll see. The contractor he works for does a lot of work for the local farmers so hopefully things will pick up when the field work finally gets going around here. Statewide, the unemployment rate is around 12% and in this area, it's closer to 14%. Not a real pretty picture.

Funny thing about all of this, is now that I drive down to the big city every day, I see the people spending $5.00 a cup for Starbucks coffee, eating out for lunch every day, and packing the parking lots at the malls. All of this while still complaining about how bad the economy is. If you've got the money for that, things aren't all that bad. Seems to me that these folks have just bought so deeply into the doom and gloom in the media that they can't see the reality right in front of them. Interest rates are right around 4.8% for a 30 yr. fixed mortgage and there are lots of houses on the market at prices that more accurately reflect their value, and yet people think that now would be a terrible time to buy a home. Yet, they still have all of that disposable income to spend on luxuries and entertainment. Go figger! I happen to think it's because of what they hear in the media. I'm no big fan of GM or the bailout, but I have to agree with their commercial. We all need to put our "rally caps" on and turn things around. 'Course, that means we also need to roll our sleeves up and get down to some good, old fashioned hard work.


So, how're things out in PA?

Maurie,
since selling our farm supply business in Dec. of '07, I have been delivering mail part time, substituting at the grade school and high school part time and anything else that comes along to make ends meet. Don't get me wrong, the needs are being met, but what we've found out is that some needs we "had" are now as you already suspect, just luxuries.

So far we've been able to keep up with the mortgage and electric and heating bills. None of us have lost much weight either (but probably should) and the kids are doing well in school.

Other than that, oh I forgot, Sheri is also now working part time also, something we both don't really like, however it helps pay the bills and we are committed to each other and our children. Things will get better, it's just a matter of time so to speak.

Thanks for asking, and you reply was excellent
Butch

Glad to hear that you and the family are getting along. You're exactly the example that should be seen across the country, and exactly what I was talking about when I said we need to roll our sleeves up and go to work. You're doing what it takes to make ends meet and keep moving forward. Your statement says it all for me... If only more people could see it that way.

We've cut some of the luxuries out of the budget and trimmed back where we thought it necessary. I've worked through slow times like this before. By the Grace of God, I'm in much better shape to do it this time than I was the last time, back in the early '80's. Hopefully, I can use this as a teaching tool for my son. He's going through it a lot sooner in his career in the trade than I did in mine. But, it's a valuable lesson that needs to be learned when you work in the trades. There's good times and there's slow times and you need to know how to handle both. If you don't live too "high on the hog" in the good times, you won't have to "scrape the bottom of the barrel" in the slow times. That's the way I was raised and it worked for me. Hopefully, it'll work for him too.

First stop on that bandwagon is going to be making all that money he has invested in fishing and hunting equipment put more food in the freezer and meals on the table. That's a good and easy lesson to start with since we all enjoy fresh fish, venison, rabbit, and squirrel. We're probably going to start enjoying it a lot more.

Hang in there Butch. We're all going to get through this just fine.

Hi Butch & Maurie,

The electrical work here in my corner of VT is coming to a halt. I have a small house and a larger house and a kitchen to finish. I had to bite the bullet and lay off the best helper I have ever had (The one you dream of when you need a helper) about two weeks ago. We use to get about 6 calls a day. I have had less than 20 call in the last 7 months. I am not worried yet for we are very thrifty. But it does irritate me that I may have to burn threw all my resources because of unbridled greed of a few people. My parents grew up in the depression and told stories every day. I never thought I would live through one myself. I hope the politicians are right in spending all this money but I myself do not think I will see much of it. I have had a small cluster of little old lady's that have needed the DTV things hooked up. How some of them holler when it says no signal. I even tried to run for a well paying elected office in town (Treasurer) and lost by 45 votes against an 18 year incumbent. The state has also offered me to become an electrical inspector. I am suspicious because our state needs to lay off over 600 employees and I have a feeling I would be walking into a cobra trap on that. Curiosity and spring are about the only thing keeping me going. If this keeps up I will have lots of time to spend with my Boy Scouts this summer. Though my insurance bills and taxes do not seem to be lessoning.

Chin up men, this Vermonter will survive!!

Ben

Atta Boy Ben!! That's the attitude we should all have. And, I think a lot of us do. Sure things are rough right now. This isn't the first slump in the economy and downturn in the electrical trade I've been through. You tighten your belt, tighten up the purse strings a little, and like you said Ben, keep your chin up and get through it. Done it before and I'll do it again.

The only thing that puzzles me is that the last time I went through this, people still spent money to have the work done that needed to get done. This time around, they don't seem to want to do that. They'd rather spend that money on overpriced coffee and other luxuries while they complain about how bad things are. I sure don't get it.

You hang in there Ben. It ain't gonna stay like this forever. The only way that'll happen is if we let it.