Good morning Y'all!!! Hope and pray that wherever y'all are that you are having a most lovely day so far. It seems like all I say, "It's hot in my neck of the woods", but it sure is. It's to be in the mid to high 90's this week and it's Fair time here in my neck of the woods. It's always hot and sometimes it rains. Sure enough, Thursday, Friday and Saturday are supposed to be wet!!! Go figure. Oh well, it won't bother me too much, I'll be inside with all the fair entries. Yay!!! Today, we receive all the lovely items, Monday the judges come, Tuesday is baked goods judging. It's always a blast!! I really look forward to Fair activities. 3 late afternoons and early evenings, I'll be a sitter in the arts and crafts area. I do have about 13 entries for this year, fewer than the past, but I'm just excited to have that many. I know some of my articles, was just thrown together and some of them, I worked really hard on, so we'll see. At any rate, it will be points for my small Family Community Education club through the County Extension office. I will have 2 entries this year that I have never had before and I'm kinda excited about that!!! I have a cayenne pepper plant in a pot on my deck and it has produced well!!! So I'll have a string of red pepper with 20 pods on it and I'll have an entry of 6 hot peppers. Like I said earlier, probably won't garner any ribbons, but it will be points for my club. So, I'm already thinking ahead of what I may have to enter next year. I wish my yellow baby bell peppers would have produced enough to have specimens to enter. But I only get one at a time, but they are delicious anyway.
So, if you get the opportunity this late summer and early fall to go to a local county fair, go and check out the farm, garden and arts and crafts areas. There will be lots to see and you may get lots of ideas and inspiration for your own gardens or ideas for your crafts adventure. I am anxious to see local honey and honeycomb, all the large winter squashes and watermelons and all the different clubs and their displays. I will try to remember to take pictures to be shared later. I will take pictures of my entries, the winners, if there are any and the clinkers alike. hahaha
This is the time of year too, that my mind races back to childhood and the wonderful event of squeezing sorghum stalks and making sorghum. Back in the early days of my blog, I shared at least 2 posts about those experiences as a child, They will be in the first calendar year of my blog, if you are interested in the stories about that. I wish there was places to go that you could still see the process in action. From the squeezing to the cooking to the bottling. It's a beautiful and satisfying thing to see happen before your own eyes.
I think about pumpkins and sweet potatoes too, it's just that time of year. I'm not as crazy about pumpkin pie as I am sweet potato pie. Sweet potato bread is delicious too!!! You make it just like you make pumpkin bread, just substitute sweet potato in place of pumpkin. It works and it's delicious.
What are some of things that you look forward to this upcoming Fall? I would love to know and have you share what you look forward to each year.
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Y'all know I share here about several different things here on my blog. This is my place to share what I feel the need to share, for my benefit and the benefit of others. The writing below is what I shared on fb and thought it would be good to share it here too. I know some of my readers are not in the United States, but you may gain some benefit too. Like I said, this is my opinion, based on actual life events and it's really not up for debate. It's what happened and it's what is. Nothing anyone can say, can change the outcome, so it's a non-debatable situation. So, if you are game, read on:
I worked in a factory for many years. My husband worked in the next town in the sister factory. It was in the garment industry. For many years we proudly sewed labels in each item of clothing we made that said "Made in America". I remember at the same time, our walmart proudly hung banners in the store in our town that said "We support American Made". Yay!!!! Eventually, we quit sewing the labels in the garments and eventually, walmart took their banners down. Eventually, the places that my husband and I worked at was CLOSED because the garment industry went south by way of NAFTA to Mexico.
Before the plants that we worked at closed, my husband had been promoted in the company and that meant a change of state. We got settled in out new state and he got settled in his new job. He was a mechanical design engineer, designing and building new machines. His job took him to different places and one of those places was Mexico. The plants that we both had worked in was still open but half of the production of both plants had been sent to Mexico. Neither of us liked it, but, he went where they sent him. In the backs of everyone's minds, we thought the inevitable would happen, but then we would say "surely not".
One morning, a few years later, he was on the phone with the plant manager in Mexico, making plans to go down and look at a machine. My husband went to lunch at 12 noon. Promptly at 1 pm, he was called into his bosses office and told he had 1 hour to get his office cleaned out and leave the premises. There was 18 thousand people in the mega company that lost jobs that day between 1 and 2 pm. My husbands job was not a "white collar" position and he didn't make white collar pay. All 18 thousand employees that lost their jobs that day was people like him and on up to white collar positions. And no one heard anything about it on tv!!! Oh yeah, and about a year before he lost his job, the plants that we both had previously worked in, 10 years prior, had been shuttered and boarded up. So, I couldn't tell you how many total employees that this company fired all because they shipped our jobs out of the states.
Starting over at 50 is not easy!!! Lots of us broke our backs and damaged our lungs only to be treated worse than the lint swept up and discarded on a daily basis. So, while I do support and buy American made, when possible, I will not pay more for an inferior product. If I can buy "American made" with a lower price, I will. But we all know that doesn't happen too often. And I am old enough to remember when "Made in America" really and truly meant something. It meant you WOULD pay more for a product, because it was a GREAT product. That's just not so today. So what I take away from this whole story is damaged lungs, damaged wrists, damaged ankles and damaged hips, only for the people that we worked with to be treated worse than dogs. So, if I seem a bit apprehensive about this, it's because I am.
While I love The United States of America, until all workers are treated fairly and companies quit taking jobs away from us, I remain skeptical. I was blessed to born in the greatest country on the face of the planet, but when the govt, for the last 30-40 years have wasted their time giving HUGE tax breaks to companies, only for them to turn around and stab the employees in the back, then it's time to clean house, not only in the govt but also in the corporations that are sending jobs out of the states. So, while one would think I should support Made in America, and I do to an extent, I support the piddling money that we live on now, more than I support the Made in America logo. We can't afford to buy Made in America. Some say you can't afford not to. When you know you only have so much money each month to live on, you learn to make decisions based on your checkbook which is the reality you live with.
So, if Made in America is ever going to mean anything again, it will be up to you all to do that. It will mean taking your jobs seriously. It will mean standing up for your job. It will mean standing up for the job of your coworker. It will mean putting in the hours to earn your paycheck. It will mean actually earning your paycheck. And all of this can be done, even without a union. A person that wants to work for their paycheck doesn't need to pay union dues, they need to work, not have a clause that says they can't be fired, or if you are a lousy worker, and you need to be fired but the union says you can't be fired. That's not fair to the hard workers beside you!!! It will mean giving input about things that you see with your eyes that are not right.
I know what I'm talking about, because from the statements up above, about taking your job seriously on down, I done all of those things. I took my job seriously enough to risk losing it for a coworker who was being treated unfairly. I stood up for my job on more than one occasion. I worked hard for the paycheck I brought home!! I told my superiors when I seen things with my own eyes that should be or not be happening. I didn't shut up till action was taken. I was a good employee. I helped others. More importantly, I made a GREAT "Made in America" product, only for it to be ripped from us and shipped to Mexico. I hope you all can make "Made in America" mean something again. Your future depends on it.
I don't have many more days ahead of me, but some of you are just starting in your jobs/careers, so I would suggest developing a work ethic that is better than any paycheck you will ever earn. Put the hours in. Work hard. Not for the company you work for, work hard for yourself. Don't act like anyone owes you anything and if someone does owe you, know that it was earned. I know this is long, but I also know that someone will glean something from this. Probably make people mad too, but this is the shoes my husband and I have walked in. And until you have been there and done that, there's not much that can be said.
Work hard, earn your paycheck, do GOOD work, make GOOD products and make "Made in America" mean something!!!!! Please!!! Oh, and before I sign off, my husband did find another job and he worked there for 17 years until poor management and the union ran them in the ground and that company went belly up and shuttered their doors the middle of 2018. So every word I've said comes from hard experience. If the union had never come in to that place, it would still be open. Because they were forced by the union to keep employees making between 60 and 80 K a year, several employees!!! That is why I said "earn your paychecks"!!!! Don't be some of the ones that have a job just because the union saves your bacon every time you point out!!! Earn you paychecks!!!! And just so you know, my husband never paid a penny of union dues, he worked hard, he earned his paycheck and he got ridiculed over working hard!!!!! 75% of the people he worked with can't say that. Just know, you play a part in the success or failure of the company you work for. Work hard, earn your paycheck, produce good quality goods!!!! pjg-08-15-19
So, where ever you are, what ever country you live in, you play a huge part in the success or failure of the company you work for. If you are still in the workforce, it's up to you to do your job well.
There is a scripture in the bible that say to work as though you are working for the Lord!!!
Colossians 3:23 niv "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters."
That's how my husband and I always worked, as though we were working for the Lord. It makes a difference when you work as though you are working for the Lord. And the Lord is faithful!!! He has seen us through trying times and He will again!!! He has met every need we've ever had and I know He will meet your needs. Give Him 100% of each work day and let Him help you!!!! If you've never tried, I challenge you to change your perspective and attitude about what you do and who you are doing it for. It can make a difference at the end day knowing that you done a good job, you worked hard, and you earned your pay for that day. There's not many in the work places that can actually say that. Be one of the few who can say it. Be one of the few who make a difference.
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Well, that's about all I have for this update. I hope you read something here that inspires you to look for a County Fair or maybe sign up to put entries in or maybe even grow a garden so you can enter next year. Look for fresh, farm made Sorghum when you are out and about and you can use that is some of your fall pies and breads as the sweetener, plus sorghum is loaded with "good for you" vitamins, minerals, and trace elements, another reason to get some. I hope where ever you live and whatever your job is, that you are a good employee and an asset to the work environment, if not, maybe this will inspire you to be a better employee. I just hope that you seen something here that you can benefit from. Just know that the Lord is waiting to help you and the He loves you enough to want to be in right relationship with Him thru the shed blood of Jesus Christ. That, my friend, is Love!!! hugs and love and may blessing fall upon you as you strive to serve the Lord today. patty
