Author Archive
Light to moderate loading opportunities are available from Texas to North Dakota. Grapefruit and Oranges are coming out of the the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas, while sweet potatoes are coming from Louisiana and Mississippi…In Wisconsin, the Stevens Point area is shipping potatoes in good volume, while fair volume with onions is available from Northeastern Colorado….In the Red River Valley red potatoes in North Dakota storages down 10% from a year ago and off 5% in Minnesota.
South Texas Citrus – grossing about $2,000 to St. Louis
NE Colorado onions – $1700 to Dallas
Red River Valley Potatoes – $1800 to Chicago
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Some of the sweetest red table grapes ever have been coming out California’s San Joaquin Valley, but unfortunately volume is now in a steady decline, although there’s still about a 1,000 truck loads a week available….California strawberriy shipments from the Oxnard and Santa Maria districts are slowy increasing…In Washington state, about 300 truck load equivlaents of Columia Basin potates are moving weekly….Idaho russett potatoes are averaging arouind 1,200 truck load equivalents and easily lead U.S. spud volume….There is light volume of Mexican melons and veggies crossing the border at Nogales, AZ, with good volume not expected until mid January.
San Joaquin Valley grapes – grossing about $6700 to New York
Idaho potatoes – $5400 to Orlando
Columbia Basin potatoes – $5100 to Dallas
Monday, December 19, 2011
Final shipments of fresh produce for the upcoming Christmas weekend are now taking place, especially for loadings taking place the farthest from destination. For example lettuce shipments, along with mixed veggies such as broccoli and cauliflower and now coming out of the Yuma District of Arizona, as well as the nearby Imperial Valley in the Southern Desert of C”alifornia….In the Northwest, apples from the Yakima Valley are moving in good volume….Inn the mid-west, there are russet potatoes coming out of Central Wiscosin, apples from Western Michigan, and in the Southeast, cabbage and greens from Southern Georgia…In the Northeast, there’s steady loadings of apples from the Hudson Valley of New York.
Imperial Valley veggies – grossing about $6,300 to New York.
Michigan apples – $2,400 to Atlanta
Eastern North Carolina sweet potatoes – $2750 to Boston
CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA – CRST International, Inc., of Cedar Rapids, IA, November 21 announced the launch of a new expedited Temperature Controlled Team Service (TCTS). This service will operate as a division of CRST Expedited, the largest operating company of CRST International, Inc., and the largest team carrier in the country. Initial service, which includes both chilled and frozen products, already has begun.
“CRST will be the only transportation company in the U.S. offering an exclusive temperature controlled service supported by team drivers,” said Dave Rusch, President and CEO of CRST International. “We will be providing transcontinental transportation of perishable products in less than 60 hours at a price that is competitive with single drivers. Typical single driver perishable deliveries take about five and a half days.”
As one of the most diversified transportation companies in the U.S., CRST International saw the temperature controlled service as a great opportunity to further extend its breadth of services.
TCTS will cater to cold chain retailers and producers looking for high quality service to deliver products such as fruits and vegetables, dairy, meats, fish and shellfish, confections, ice cream, pharmaceuticals, wine, beer and health and beauty aids. Rusch also noted that produce is the fastest growing market for temperature controlled transportation, with organic products not far behind.
“The value in our new service is not just our team drivers and the speed with which they can deliver goods, but also added security for the contents since at least one driver is always with the tractor,” said Rusch. “With our team approach, the vehicle is virtually in constant motion moving toward its destination.”
CRST understands the seasonal nature of the temperature controlled transportation market and is able to offer the flexibility to increase or decrease capacity based on peak seasons or individual retailer or producer needs, through the cross utilization of CRST Expedited’s fleet of approximately 2,000 team tractors.
Currently, a majority of temperature controlled carriers are independent drivers or firms with fewer than ten trucks.
TCTS will use CRST drivers and equipment, including new Thermo King Refrigerated units and insulated Utility Trailers that can maintain temperatures as low as minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit.
CRST International is the sixth largest truckload carrier in the United States, with annual revenues of approximately $1.3 billion.
The company is the largest expedited team carrier in the nation and has one of the newest tractor fleets in the industry. It also is debt free. CRST has been the recipient of many awards for service and technology. Some of the most prominent include multiple InfoWeek 500 listings and Quest for Quality awards from Logistics Management magazine.
For more information about CRST’s Temperature Controlled Team Service, visit www.crst.com or call 855-250-2778.
CRST International, Inc
Cedar Rapids, Iowa–based CRST International, Inc. is one of the largest privately-held transportation companies in the United States. Through its five operating companies, CRST provides a broad array of transportation solutions, including expedited van, flatbed, dedicated services, brokerage, transportation management, high value product white glove moving services and expedited temperature controlled services. CRST’s operating companies are made up of CRST Expedited, Inc. (including Temperature Controlled Team Service), CRST Malone, Inc., CRST Dedicated Services, Inc., CRST Logistics, Inc. and Specialized Transportation, Inc. For more information, visit www.crst.com or call (800) 736-CRST (2778).
You Move Either Forward or Backward
By Larry Oscar
How can some folks just go trudging through life and miss the mark so 
completely? As you get older, you’re supposed to get wiser, or so the story goes. Common sense should begin to sink in at some point in our lives, but for some folks it just never seems to get there. I couldn’t help but laugh at a recent article I read about the development around the lake I live at in Oklahoma. It was written by some bozo from Edmond, OK. Now there’s a place we all want to go visit! T he article was trying to point out how our recent development is a “cushy deal” for developers. Obviously written by an individual who is uneducated about our community. My hat goes off to people who not only embrace change, but are actively involved in making change happen; especially those of us who don’t have to.
Those of us that put our time and money where our mouth is, need to be congratulated. For those of you who want things to remain the same, I say you need to educate yourself a bit. There is no such thing as “remaining the same.” If you are not moving forward, then you are moving backward. The rest of the world will pass you by and you will find yourself living in a “mud hut” someday. Movement is relative. Go take a physics course.
If you want a better life for yourself and your children, then you must look around and get moving. Let’s do a reality check here. Osage County, OK is one of the poorest counties in Oklahoma. If you don’t believe that, then just drive through our communities. I have, and let me tell you what I see. I see downtowns that have almost as many dilapidated and vacant buildings as those that are occupied. I see rural and urban slums that are filthy with trash laden yards and poorly maintained residences.
Now when I drive through some of the other Oklahoma small towns such as Chandler, I see a huge difference the minute I enter the town. Chandler is clean, well maintained, and looks very prosperous.
It doesn’t take much effort to be clean. In fact, it provides good exercise. It is also good business. Nobody wants to do business with a filthy and poorly maintained business establishment. They want to do business with someone who looks clean and prosperous. Image counts for something in business. A dirty image is a looser image. Just observe successful owner operators!
The development around our lake has brought long awaited prosperity to south eastern Osage County. A county that lacks good restaurants, hotels, hospitals, theaters, and so many more amenities that I don’t have room to list them all in this article. Some of us are trying to make a positive difference. The Hominy Chamber of Commerce has completed a long range vision for development, as did the Osage County Tourism Committee. Good for them. They are moving ahead.
Development is like loosing weight, it’s a lot harder than it looks.
Chewing Tobacco with Class
By Larry Oscar
In the course of many conversations the subject of someone having or lacking what we often call “class” is the subject of the day. Some people demonstrate class in everything they do while other poor lost souls just can’t get it together, and the rest of us sit back and marvel at how they just seem to stumble through life.
Class as defined by Webster’s new world dictionary is having high quality -Syn.elegance, refinement, distinction, panache. This definition seems to make it easier to understand. As you can see, it has nothing to do with having money. I know some people who are very wealthy and don’t exhibit any of the aforementioned traits while others with very little wealth have class in everything they do. Not having class is something you can’t blame on your parents or friends. It’s our own fault.
I recently witnessed some friends of mine demonstrate a high degree of class when they volunteered to be in a dunking tank to raise money for charity. Needless to say the water was very cold, but they sat in that tank while kids managed to plunge them into the water time and time again. They committed to helping out and regardless of their pain and suffering they lived up to their commitment. Now that is indeed serving with distinction. They definitely have class and having class earns them respect from the rest of us. I’m proud to know them.
You can dress up a pig in a suite and tie, and you know what….it’s still a pig. Now, I don’t want to give you the wrong impression. I’m all for pigs, but to illustrate my point, a change of cloths does not give you “class.” Class is something all of us need to work on. It’s not an inherited trait. Class will earn you respect and admiration. It will increase your quality of life and make you a better person. Class means you focus on the value of what you do and not on how cheap you can do it. Class means you take pride in what you do and who you are. People with class keep themselves and their surroundings clean and well maintained so others can take pride in knowing you.
Class means you focus on the positive things in life and allow others their opinions. People with class listen more than they talk. Class means you continue to educate yourself and you use your failures as educational experiences not to be repeated. Class means you don’t force your beliefs on others. People with class are honest to a fault. They don’t try to bring down others to elevate themselves or lie to make themselves look better. Classy people are not envious, but they are truly happy for others good fortune.
People with class almost never consider “what’s in for me”, but rather give of their time and efforts to make it better for the rest of us. Their reward is our smile. Most of all, people with class seem to always have fun and look at life with a smile themselves. They are just fun to be around and they gather a crowd wherever they go. Now some folks defy the definition.
For example: It’s hard to believe how some folks can chew tobacco and have class. But I have witnessed it. Those with class spit in a more refined and discrete manner, while those without class leave a disgusting spit cup lying around. Folks with class don’t eat, they dine. I saw a guy wolf down a burger last week in two bites. My dog doesn’t eat that fast. People sat there in awe as he stuffed handfuls of fries between his greasy cheeks. I guess we all could use some refinement.
Life would be much better if we slowed down and learned to enjoy it more. There is generally something good in everything. If we focus on the good and use the bad as an education in what not to do, we would all show a lot of class.
I’m going to try and get my wife to show some class this week by letting her wash my truck. I haven’t had much success in that effort over the years. I guess I married a woman that doesn’t have much class, or maybe it’s me. That’s it, I’m going to work on showing more class myself. After all, if people who listen to bluegrass music can show some class occasionally…….….. I guess anybody can!
20 Gallons of Home Brew, Just May Not Be Enough!
By Larry Oscar
“Boy this has been a rough winter. I’m depressed and just can’t get motivated” quipped a friend of mine recently. “I just don’t know what to do when I’m all cooped up inside.”
I hear this all the time from people who just don’t plan ahead. It’s not like they don’t know when the cold weather is going to hit. I got news for them, it happens every year! Duh! Good planning for winter projects and indoor events can make the difference between being bored and making the cold winter months something tolerable. There is more to life than just sitting around reading Playboy magazines….. so I’m told.
I keep a list of indoor and outdoor projects. If I do the indoor projects when I can’t be out on the lake, then I will have more time to spend on the water when the weather is good. So far I haven’t ran out of indoor projects, and even though the winter has been a long one, It has been rewarding knowing that I have caught up on things.
And I’ve got 20 gallons of home brew to show for my efforts.
And how can anybody be depressed this year? Thanks to all of the clowns in our society you surely can’t avoid a smile. Didn’t people take note of the Donald and Rosie feud a while back? Here are two real bozos that you can smile about. And how about our Congress? I can’t help but laugh at them. What’s with the first 100 hours thing? I didn’t see any life changing legislation pass across anyone’s desk – and virtually nothing has been done since. So far all I’ve seen is bickering What’s is non binding legislation anyway? Don’t they have anything better to do with our money than sit around and argue over legislation that adds no value to our lives. Don’t these people work for us? What would your boss do if you spent your time working on something that didn’t produce anything of any value?
I think we should outsource Congress. We could march on Washington and fire them all. Wouldn’t you like to walk right into a session, march up to the podium, grab the microphone and announce… “Hey guys, just to let you know. You’re all fired! We the people, in order to form a more perfect union, have decided to outsource your jobs to India. Don’t let your gavel hit you in the #@$#$ on the way out!” Sounds pretty good to me. Will Rogers just gets smarter every day.
I just can’t get depressed when I see some weird haired nut place led alien bird flipping signs all over Boston and cause panic in the streets. Will somebody tell that idiot that making a “hair statement” went out in the 60s? To top it all off, it was Turner Broadcasting that hired him. Do you think maybe there is a link to Jane Fonda here?
And now we watch as one of our astronauts drives from Texas to Florida wearing a diaper, wig, and trench coat so she can pepper spray her rival for the affections of another astronaut. He must be some hunk! I can’t wait until the next shuttle launch. They will have to modify their count down procedure to include ” fuel…go, telemetry…go, diapers…go, pepper spray…go, trench coats…go, wigs…go, ok all systems go and ready for launch”.
Now this is the sort of material comedy writers can only dream of, and it’s reality folks. No Seinfeld episode or Super Bowl commercial ever had better material.
Ahhh…Life in the US is good. You just can’t get better comedy than our real life in the good old USA. Even if you go to Venezuela and watch Hugo Chavez, he’s just a one-man-show when compared to us. I’m not sure that 20 gallons of home brew will last very long. I think I’ll make another 20. Laughing so hard this winter has made my mouth dry.
San Joaquin Valley table grapes shipments should continue into December and they are certainly sweet this late in season, making for great eating. Over 97 million 19-pound boxes are expected to be shipped from last May to the end of this year. Other fall fruit available for loadings range from apples and pears to persimmons, pomegranates and figs…. Fall nut shipments have already started for the approaching holidays. Loadings are expected to be pretty normal for items ranging from almonds to pecans and walnuts…Southern California kiwifruit shipments started about 3 weeks ago, with normal loadings expected to hit nearly 9 million trays for the season…Fall cantaloupe acreage has increased in California from 4,500 to 4,700 acres this fall over last year, but the fear of the listeria contamination of Colorado cantaloupes still is having an adverse affect; more on that later this week.
- San Joaquin Valley fruit: About $7,300 to Boston.
- Salinas Valley veggies: About $4,400 to Chicago.
Following record loadings of Washington state apple shipments last season, the new crop is expected to be in the 109-million-carton-range, only slightly down from a year ago. Northwest apple shipments got off to a slower start this season, with a similar situation occurring in the East from areas such as Pennsylvania and upstate New York – primarily due to weather factors. This resulted in Michigan apples loadings being hot and heavy as their shipments started on time. With both coasts getting their volume on track, pressure on Midwest shipments have eased a bit. Washington expects its Red Delicious, Gala and Granny Smith apple varieties to be about the same in volume this season, with Fuji volume to be off about 9%. Washington State is easily the nation’s largest shipper of apples. Volume continues to build and loadings out of the Yakima and Wenatchee Valleys are hitting around 2,000 truck loads equivalents per week. By contrast, Michigan shippers are loading about 300 truck loads per week, with upstate New York having similar volume.
- Washington state apples: About $4,200 to Chicago; $6,400 to New York City
- Western Michigan Apples: About $1,600 to Atlanta.
- Eastern New York Apples: About $1,000 to Dallas-Ft. Worth.
Light to moderate loading opportunities are available from Texas to North Dakota. Grapefruit and Oranges are coming out of the the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas, while sweet potatoes are coming from Louisiana and Mississippi…In Wisconsin, the Stevens Point area is shipping potatoes in good volume, while fair volume with onions is available from Northeastern Colorado….In the Red River Valley red potatoes in North Dakota storages down 10% from a year ago and off 5% in Minnesota.
South Texas Citrus – grossing about $2,000 to St. Louis
NE Colorado onions – $1700 to Dallas
Red River Valley Potatoes – $1800 to Chicago
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Some of the sweetest red table grapes ever have been coming out California’s San Joaquin Valley, but unfortunately volume is now in a steady decline, although there’s still about a 1,000 truck loads a week available….California strawberriy shipments from the Oxnard and Santa Maria districts are slowy increasing…In Washington state, about 300 truck load equivlaents of Columia Basin potates are moving weekly….Idaho russett potatoes are averaging arouind 1,200 truck load equivalents and easily lead U.S. spud volume….There is light volume of Mexican melons and veggies crossing the border at Nogales, AZ, with good volume not expected until mid January.
San Joaquin Valley grapes – grossing about $6700 to New York
Idaho potatoes – $5400 to Orlando
Columbia Basin potatoes – $5100 to Dallas
Monday, December 19, 2011
Final shipments of fresh produce for the upcoming Christmas weekend are now taking place, especially for loadings taking place the farthest from destination. For example lettuce shipments, along with mixed veggies such as broccoli and cauliflower and now coming out of the Yuma District of Arizona, as well as the nearby Imperial Valley in the Southern Desert of C”alifornia….In the Northwest, apples from the Yakima Valley are moving in good volume….Inn the mid-west, there are russet potatoes coming out of Central Wiscosin, apples from Western Michigan, and in the Southeast, cabbage and greens from Southern Georgia…In the Northeast, there’s steady loadings of apples from the Hudson Valley of New York.
Imperial Valley veggies – grossing about $6,300 to New York.
Michigan apples – $2,400 to Atlanta
Eastern North Carolina sweet potatoes – $2750 to Boston
CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA – CRST International, Inc., of Cedar Rapids, IA, November 21 announced the launch of a new expedited Temperature Controlled Team Service (TCTS). This service will operate as a division of CRST Expedited, the largest operating company of CRST International, Inc., and the largest team carrier in the country. Initial service, which includes both chilled and frozen products, already has begun.
“CRST will be the only transportation company in the U.S. offering an exclusive temperature controlled service supported by team drivers,” said Dave Rusch, President and CEO of CRST International. “We will be providing transcontinental transportation of perishable products in less than 60 hours at a price that is competitive with single drivers. Typical single driver perishable deliveries take about five and a half days.”
As one of the most diversified transportation companies in the U.S., CRST International saw the temperature controlled service as a great opportunity to further extend its breadth of services.
TCTS will cater to cold chain retailers and producers looking for high quality service to deliver products such as fruits and vegetables, dairy, meats, fish and shellfish, confections, ice cream, pharmaceuticals, wine, beer and health and beauty aids. Rusch also noted that produce is the fastest growing market for temperature controlled transportation, with organic products not far behind.
“The value in our new service is not just our team drivers and the speed with which they can deliver goods, but also added security for the contents since at least one driver is always with the tractor,” said Rusch. “With our team approach, the vehicle is virtually in constant motion moving toward its destination.”
CRST understands the seasonal nature of the temperature controlled transportation market and is able to offer the flexibility to increase or decrease capacity based on peak seasons or individual retailer or producer needs, through the cross utilization of CRST Expedited’s fleet of approximately 2,000 team tractors.
Currently, a majority of temperature controlled carriers are independent drivers or firms with fewer than ten trucks.
TCTS will use CRST drivers and equipment, including new Thermo King Refrigerated units and insulated Utility Trailers that can maintain temperatures as low as minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit.
CRST International is the sixth largest truckload carrier in the United States, with annual revenues of approximately $1.3 billion.
The company is the largest expedited team carrier in the nation and has one of the newest tractor fleets in the industry. It also is debt free. CRST has been the recipient of many awards for service and technology. Some of the most prominent include multiple InfoWeek 500 listings and Quest for Quality awards from Logistics Management magazine.
For more information about CRST’s Temperature Controlled Team Service, visit www.crst.com or call 855-250-2778.
CRST International, Inc
Cedar Rapids, Iowa–based CRST International, Inc. is one of the largest privately-held transportation companies in the United States. Through its five operating companies, CRST provides a broad array of transportation solutions, including expedited van, flatbed, dedicated services, brokerage, transportation management, high value product white glove moving services and expedited temperature controlled services. CRST’s operating companies are made up of CRST Expedited, Inc. (including Temperature Controlled Team Service), CRST Malone, Inc., CRST Dedicated Services, Inc., CRST Logistics, Inc. and Specialized Transportation, Inc. For more information, visit www.crst.com or call (800) 736-CRST (2778).
You Move Either Forward or Backward
By Larry Oscar
How can some folks just go trudging through life and miss the mark so completely? As you get older, you’re supposed to get wiser, or so the story goes. Common sense should begin to sink in at some point in our lives, but for some folks it just never seems to get there. I couldn’t help but laugh at a recent article I read about the development around the lake I live at in Oklahoma. It was written by some bozo from Edmond, OK. Now there’s a place we all want to go visit! T he article was trying to point out how our recent development is a “cushy deal” for developers. Obviously written by an individual who is uneducated about our community. My hat goes off to people who not only embrace change, but are actively involved in making change happen; especially those of us who don’t have to.
Those of us that put our time and money where our mouth is, need to be congratulated. For those of you who want things to remain the same, I say you need to educate yourself a bit. There is no such thing as “remaining the same.” If you are not moving forward, then you are moving backward. The rest of the world will pass you by and you will find yourself living in a “mud hut” someday. Movement is relative. Go take a physics course.
If you want a better life for yourself and your children, then you must look around and get moving. Let’s do a reality check here. Osage County, OK is one of the poorest counties in Oklahoma. If you don’t believe that, then just drive through our communities. I have, and let me tell you what I see. I see downtowns that have almost as many dilapidated and vacant buildings as those that are occupied. I see rural and urban slums that are filthy with trash laden yards and poorly maintained residences.
Now when I drive through some of the other Oklahoma small towns such as Chandler, I see a huge difference the minute I enter the town. Chandler is clean, well maintained, and looks very prosperous.
It doesn’t take much effort to be clean. In fact, it provides good exercise. It is also good business. Nobody wants to do business with a filthy and poorly maintained business establishment. They want to do business with someone who looks clean and prosperous. Image counts for something in business. A dirty image is a looser image. Just observe successful owner operators!
The development around our lake has brought long awaited prosperity to south eastern Osage County. A county that lacks good restaurants, hotels, hospitals, theaters, and so many more amenities that I don’t have room to list them all in this article. Some of us are trying to make a positive difference. The Hominy Chamber of Commerce has completed a long range vision for development, as did the Osage County Tourism Committee. Good for them. They are moving ahead.
Development is like loosing weight, it’s a lot harder than it looks.
Chewing Tobacco with Class
By Larry Oscar
In the course of many conversations the subject of someone having or lacking what we often call “class” is the subject of the day. Some people demonstrate class in everything they do while other poor lost souls just can’t get it together, and the rest of us sit back and marvel at how they just seem to stumble through life.
Class as defined by Webster’s new world dictionary is having high quality -Syn.elegance, refinement, distinction, panache. This definition seems to make it easier to understand. As you can see, it has nothing to do with having money. I know some people who are very wealthy and don’t exhibit any of the aforementioned traits while others with very little wealth have class in everything they do. Not having class is something you can’t blame on your parents or friends. It’s our own fault.
I recently witnessed some friends of mine demonstrate a high degree of class when they volunteered to be in a dunking tank to raise money for charity. Needless to say the water was very cold, but they sat in that tank while kids managed to plunge them into the water time and time again. They committed to helping out and regardless of their pain and suffering they lived up to their commitment. Now that is indeed serving with distinction. They definitely have class and having class earns them respect from the rest of us. I’m proud to know them.
You can dress up a pig in a suite and tie, and you know what….it’s still a pig. Now, I don’t want to give you the wrong impression. I’m all for pigs, but to illustrate my point, a change of cloths does not give you “class.” Class is something all of us need to work on. It’s not an inherited trait. Class will earn you respect and admiration. It will increase your quality of life and make you a better person. Class means you focus on the value of what you do and not on how cheap you can do it. Class means you take pride in what you do and who you are. People with class keep themselves and their surroundings clean and well maintained so others can take pride in knowing you.
Class means you focus on the positive things in life and allow others their opinions. People with class listen more than they talk. Class means you continue to educate yourself and you use your failures as educational experiences not to be repeated. Class means you don’t force your beliefs on others. People with class are honest to a fault. They don’t try to bring down others to elevate themselves or lie to make themselves look better. Classy people are not envious, but they are truly happy for others good fortune.
People with class almost never consider “what’s in for me”, but rather give of their time and efforts to make it better for the rest of us. Their reward is our smile. Most of all, people with class seem to always have fun and look at life with a smile themselves. They are just fun to be around and they gather a crowd wherever they go. Now some folks defy the definition.
For example: It’s hard to believe how some folks can chew tobacco and have class. But I have witnessed it. Those with class spit in a more refined and discrete manner, while those without class leave a disgusting spit cup lying around. Folks with class don’t eat, they dine. I saw a guy wolf down a burger last week in two bites. My dog doesn’t eat that fast. People sat there in awe as he stuffed handfuls of fries between his greasy cheeks. I guess we all could use some refinement.
Life would be much better if we slowed down and learned to enjoy it more. There is generally something good in everything. If we focus on the good and use the bad as an education in what not to do, we would all show a lot of class.
I’m going to try and get my wife to show some class this week by letting her wash my truck. I haven’t had much success in that effort over the years. I guess I married a woman that doesn’t have much class, or maybe it’s me. That’s it, I’m going to work on showing more class myself. After all, if people who listen to bluegrass music can show some class occasionally…….….. I guess anybody can!
20 Gallons of Home Brew, Just May Not Be Enough!
By Larry Oscar
“Boy this has been a rough winter. I’m depressed and just can’t get motivated” quipped a friend of mine recently. “I just don’t know what to do when I’m all cooped up inside.”
I hear this all the time from people who just don’t plan ahead. It’s not like they don’t know when the cold weather is going to hit. I got news for them, it happens every year! Duh! Good planning for winter projects and indoor events can make the difference between being bored and making the cold winter months something tolerable. There is more to life than just sitting around reading Playboy magazines….. so I’m told.
I keep a list of indoor and outdoor projects. If I do the indoor projects when I can’t be out on the lake, then I will have more time to spend on the water when the weather is good. So far I haven’t ran out of indoor projects, and even though the winter has been a long one, It has been rewarding knowing that I have caught up on things.
And I’ve got 20 gallons of home brew to show for my efforts.
And how can anybody be depressed this year? Thanks to all of the clowns in our society you surely can’t avoid a smile. Didn’t people take note of the Donald and Rosie feud a while back? Here are two real bozos that you can smile about. And how about our Congress? I can’t help but laugh at them. What’s with the first 100 hours thing? I didn’t see any life changing legislation pass across anyone’s desk – and virtually nothing has been done since. So far all I’ve seen is bickering What’s is non binding legislation anyway? Don’t they have anything better to do with our money than sit around and argue over legislation that adds no value to our lives. Don’t these people work for us? What would your boss do if you spent your time working on something that didn’t produce anything of any value?
I think we should outsource Congress. We could march on Washington and fire them all. Wouldn’t you like to walk right into a session, march up to the podium, grab the microphone and announce… “Hey guys, just to let you know. You’re all fired! We the people, in order to form a more perfect union, have decided to outsource your jobs to India. Don’t let your gavel hit you in the #@$#$ on the way out!” Sounds pretty good to me. Will Rogers just gets smarter every day.
I just can’t get depressed when I see some weird haired nut place led alien bird flipping signs all over Boston and cause panic in the streets. Will somebody tell that idiot that making a “hair statement” went out in the 60s? To top it all off, it was Turner Broadcasting that hired him. Do you think maybe there is a link to Jane Fonda here?
And now we watch as one of our astronauts drives from Texas to Florida wearing a diaper, wig, and trench coat so she can pepper spray her rival for the affections of another astronaut. He must be some hunk! I can’t wait until the next shuttle launch. They will have to modify their count down procedure to include ” fuel…go, telemetry…go, diapers…go, pepper spray…go, trench coats…go, wigs…go, ok all systems go and ready for launch”.
Now this is the sort of material comedy writers can only dream of, and it’s reality folks. No Seinfeld episode or Super Bowl commercial ever had better material.
Ahhh…Life in the US is good. You just can’t get better comedy than our real life in the good old USA. Even if you go to Venezuela and watch Hugo Chavez, he’s just a one-man-show when compared to us. I’m not sure that 20 gallons of home brew will last very long. I think I’ll make another 20. Laughing so hard this winter has made my mouth dry.
San Joaquin Valley table grapes shipments should continue into December and they are certainly sweet this late in season, making for great eating. Over 97 million 19-pound boxes are expected to be shipped from last May to the end of this year. Other fall fruit available for loadings range from apples and pears to persimmons, pomegranates and figs…. Fall nut shipments have already started for the approaching holidays. Loadings are expected to be pretty normal for items ranging from almonds to pecans and walnuts…Southern California kiwifruit shipments started about 3 weeks ago, with normal loadings expected to hit nearly 9 million trays for the season…Fall cantaloupe acreage has increased in California from 4,500 to 4,700 acres this fall over last year, but the fear of the listeria contamination of Colorado cantaloupes still is having an adverse affect; more on that later this week.
- San Joaquin Valley fruit: About $7,300 to Boston.
- Salinas Valley veggies: About $4,400 to Chicago.
Following record loadings of Washington state apple shipments last season, the new crop is expected to be in the 109-million-carton-range, only slightly down from a year ago. Northwest apple shipments got off to a slower start this season, with a similar situation occurring in the East from areas such as Pennsylvania and upstate New York – primarily due to weather factors. This resulted in Michigan apples loadings being hot and heavy as their shipments started on time. With both coasts getting their volume on track, pressure on Midwest shipments have eased a bit. Washington expects its Red Delicious, Gala and Granny Smith apple varieties to be about the same in volume this season, with Fuji volume to be off about 9%. Washington State is easily the nation’s largest shipper of apples. Volume continues to build and loadings out of the Yakima and Wenatchee Valleys are hitting around 2,000 truck loads equivalents per week. By contrast, Michigan shippers are loading about 300 truck loads per week, with upstate New York having similar volume.
- Washington state apples: About $4,200 to Chicago; $6,400 to New York City
- Western Michigan Apples: About $1,600 to Atlanta.
- Eastern New York Apples: About $1,000 to Dallas-Ft. Worth.