I was busy in the garden since Mother's Day and there wasn't much around for goats that I could find! They are settling in nicely on day 3 now. Mama goat comes right up(she knows I have food) and the baby is still very shy but willing to grab a bite out of my hand and back off quick. Always wondered what the big fuss about goats escaping was- I've never had one get out. Well, until wednesday a.m. when I heard a little bleat while out watering, came around the corner of the house to view the little cuties through the dog run fencing at a distance. "So cute," "like little gazelles" thought I, until the little gazelle mother ambled from behind the kennel and was free ranging! It only took her 13 hours to find the low spot in the kennel and burrow under it- amazing. I flew into full bore goat containment mode then because they are new and shy and not likely to come prancing up when I say to. Hauled a lot of rocks, logs, stumps, anything I could find to barricade that little monkey IN! So far so good. We have a lot of work to do on the big goat pasture before these two gain admission. The large goats and the chunky little pygmies could never go under or over- I forsee these two to be challenging. The 5 month old has the sweetest little face- looks like a lamb.

Canadian banks are fairly heavily regulated and are more used to carrying their own mortgages, so we are told that our mortggage situation isn't nearly as troublesome as in the U.S. There seems to have been a pause in house prices, even a slight drop in some areas, but not a serious issue at present. There is a sagging in the economy, though ... and will be more so, as our economy is very closely linked to the U.S. one: we say that when the U.S. economy gets a sniffle ... ours gets pneumonia. I've lived in about 22 locations during my 79 years ... have never owned a home. Current 2 br. farmhouse costs under $500.00/mo., includes water, o.k. for washing, not for drinking or most cooking, but I pay for power to run the pump. Rent not including oil furnace heat and power. Income from my three pensions has increased slightly, quarterly. I expect it to continue so. I have some income from a small personal tax-deferred retirement plan: my enthusiasm for that system has decreased substantially in recent years. That income has increased annually, but the required percentage withdrawal increases annually, so soon it will begin to decline, annually. I'm not worried about that. I live within my pension income, thus far can save some for other purposes. My investment income has taken a hit - one substantial situation, our largest telco, known as a "widows' and orphans' stock", was to be sold, to be bought at a premium price by a large pension plan and taken private ... the deal set up just before the U.S. financial debacle ... and completion has been postponed several times. During that time ... they stopped paying dividends! Then last month their auditors told them that the deal isn't viable ... would put them too deep into debt. Share price dropped from $38.35 close the day before the announcement to $25.25 next day. I fully expect them to reinstate dividend, and soon, maybe even paying the omitted ones. But it'll be a long time till I recover the price that I paid for some of the stock. GGrr-rr-r-r-u-u-m-m-ppp! Another company, a base metal miner and processor that I bought early this year had share price go up over 1/3 by May ... then slid back to purchase price by about Sept. They'd bought a major coal co. for possibly a high price, with short-term bridge financing, are worried that recession may cut metallurgical coal shipments, they may have trouble financing. They've stopped paying dividends, as well. Stock price closed last week at slightly over 1-10th the amount that I paid in Jan. I'd bought more a month ago for nearly double the current price per share. GGrr-rr-r-r-u-u-m-m-ppp, again! Thinking of buying more, now, though. Ed - are you crazy? I don't think that the company will die, but will recover. A Canadian bank stock whose price at $107.00 was high in May '07 raised dividend from $3.08 in fall '07 to $3.48 ... and have maintained it, thus far. But they had substantial exposure to the U.S. financial problems ... the share price dropped to a low of $42.36 or so, last month ... now $50.00 ... a long way down from that $107. a year and a half ago: but they continue to pay the dividend, at the rate established last fall. A slight ray of satisfaction can be gained from the realization that at a share price of about $90.00 a year ago, the rate of return was 3.87% (tax-advantaged) ... ... and now, at share price of $50.00, is 6.96% (tax-advantaged) ... rather unusually high, for a bank! ole joyful P.S. I'm digging up some more stock and mutual fund certificates, these days, to take to my lender to increase the limit on my Line of Credit. I'd thought that I'd have had some funds available from the forced sale of the telco, several months ago. Then deferred ... was to complete on Thursday, this week. Now, those funds are not available. But stocks are on sale. So I want to buy some. That's what that currently unused Line of Credit is for! o j

Hi all, Income tax season was over April 30 - so it's time to get this message started down th list ... ... on its way to oblivion. Which takes a lot longer on this slow-moving (slow-thinking?) place than on KT, etc. Have a great weekend, all. ole joyful

According to the U.S. Census, the article continues, median income in 2014 was $53, 567. , which is 6.5% below the pre-recession level of 2007 and down 7.2% from its peak in 1999. - Again this just points out the problem with statistics...First, income is down, but disposable income is up. So we are really better off. Second, this idea that most haven't gotten a raise is complete B.S. you have to understand what you are looking at with stats or you get really scary and grim pictures. Stats can be misinterpreted either on purpose or just because the person doing the investigation doesn't realize it, Yes the average household makes less money today than it did in 1999 - but household size has decreased dramatically. The number of single income households more than doubled, the number of children per family dropped, and that is exactly why discretionary spending is way up. So while a 7.2% drop seems significant, it becomes much less significant when the people the income must support dropped almost 20%. Finally, stop looking at all income earners and look at full time workers - if you look at the top 80% you get a different picture. Yes the bottom 20% has had a 17% drop since 1999 and is crushing the statistics. But those are not full time workers, we have had a serious increase in the number of part time workers, and a decline in the hours they work, which is a discussion in and of itself but not one relating to middle income earners and the plight of the full time worker heading to retirement. Added to this that the whole idea of middle class has changed dramatically. One could argue that the whole concept is dated to the extent of no longer being useful. The idea of the middle class came about because it drew a line between certain "haves" and "have nots" - today that line is blurry at best. Access to good reliable internet, entertainment options, telephone communications, access to somewhat reliable transportation, and access to education are no longer restricted to a middle class. Compare the convenience and lifestyle of today's full time career workers below the middle income line to those people in the 1970's well above the middle income line, and see who has it rougher. Edit: At this point I will jump out of this thread - I will close with this - No matter how old you are, if you can read this take a few minutes to make sure you are making sensible contributions to a retirement plan that is risk appropriate for your age.