Good Morning All. Mostly cloudy and 22° out there this morning. It will only warm up to 36° today. 16° tonight before getting into the mid-40's tomorrow. I may just have to borrow a
toque from
Guy today.
Weekly grocery trek today, let's see how much higher the prices are this week!
OK, let me chime in on this health care and work benefits fiasco. Others may feel differently but I look at health care and time off from a job as benefits that persons should use to better their positions in life. There's plenty of jobs that offer at least partially paid insurance out there and at least in my experience there's also many that offer paid time off as well. Being in management, gave me better time off benefits than hourly factory workers, but our insurance coverage was always the same. We all paid about 25% of the cost with the company picking up the other 75%. That seemed to be pretty standard among my friends, none of whom worked "entry level jobs". You could choose to use it or not. Smart people used it rather than losing a day's pay sitting at the emergency room every time they or their spouses/kids got sick. I paid nothing for the birth of any of my kids for example, but fortunately never really needed it for any thing more serious than routine doctor visits.
Most companies that I was familiar with, mine included, gave all employees 8-10 paid holidays a year, provided that you worked the day before and the day after. We got 10. Even hourly employees at our company got a weeks paid vacation after 90 days, and two weeks after two years. However they only got unpaid medical leave. They could retroactively use vacation days. Management got varying paid vacation depending on your length of service. In my case after 15 years I received four weeks, the maximum, and I also got two weeks of paid medical leave a year. All of this leads back to what I wrote about bettering your position in life. That was an impetus in me moving up to management, that and the higher salary although that was without overtime. So the perception that Americans are being screwed does not "hold water" to me. I am not too sure of the information that you guys from across the pond have about our time off here. That web page that
Chad has been posting tells a lot.
Thanks for all of the likes and comments regarding yesterday's progress report;
Dave B, Joe, Gary, Karl, Steve J, Louis, Patrick, Hughie, OB Ken, Sherrel, Curt, Rick, Tom, Mikey, Tom O.
I did spend some time out in the train shed yesterday, but not as much as I wanted. The only thing I did on the Antiques Barn was another coat of dull coat. However elsewhere on the layout, I finished painting the spur tracks to the brewery and the other industries in the area. I also ballasted another 30" of track. I took no pictures as it's rather mundane right now. Chances are unlikely that I will even venture out there today for any real modeling, but I might run trains. I need to remember to order another heater for out there, as one of the two just isn't meant to heat anything larger than a small bathroom.
I did take a few pictures earlier in the week of my village of Jamestown. This is a town mainly of laser-cut wood structures that greets visitors as soon as you enter the train shed. Last week I showed a few pictures of Uncle Tony's Wholesale Meats. To put it in perspective, I took some overhead shots of the whole peninsula.
View attachment 139107
View attachment 139106
That is LaBosky's Motorcycle Repair to the left, and Jack's Back Yard across the road.
View attachment 139109
View attachment 139108
View attachment 139110
View attachment 139111
Curt - Yes I do intend to weather the roof as well as some light weathering around the base of the structure.
Louis -
More than you might think. Some because of health insurance, although they tend to be in the 55-65 age range. I have a buddy who always did well over the years, but he mostly got paid "off the books". Rather than save back when the going was good, he mistakenly thought that SS would take care of many expenses. Wrong!!! Maybe ten years ago, he started looking at those statements regarding his expected income and had a rude awakening. That $300/month wasn't going to go far. He changed habits, saving and declaring income, but it was a little bit late and as a result he is still having to work at age 73 today, although it is not a minimum wage job.
Tom O - Many days, I would rather bag my own groceries myself. Because of the time/distance that I have to drive home, I want cold stuff bagged together to go into the cooler. Surprising how many baggers cannot follow that simple request. Canned goods do not go into a bag with sour cream and butter!
Everybody have a wonderful day.