@Anita,

My advice for Bogart is to remain in a happy mood. Bogart will take his cue from you. If you are full of tension then Bogart will have tension. Sadness and there will be sadness in Bogarts eyes. So, please remain in good spirits to show Bogart what he should be doing.

@Alessa,

Savings? What is that? I barely get enough to cover month to month. Now, they are going to take out medicare part B. Property tax is one big bill at the beginning of the year and then another big bill for school tax in September. I have applied for Senior discount on the property taxes. Still there is no savings. I am now regretting buying those tools. The tools just sit in the garage. Could have use that money for food. Well hopefully they will come in handy in the near future.

Everyone,

It seems Japan and China are selling off their notes and bonds. It might mean higher interest rates. Inflation. Maybe? Don’t know yet. Every other country seems to want to get off the US reserve dollar. Brics wants to take over as the world’s reserve currency. Looks like 2026 is going to be an interesting year. Don’t the Chinese have a curse about having an interesting life??

Winter is usually the hardest time for us. My wife likes to have her vegetable garden. We save a little money eating from her garden. Thinking it is about time, we figure out how to make a little green house to keep growing in the winter. Though, the snow and cold has been horrific this winter. Got about 14 to 18 inches of snow on Sunday night. Monday worked at shovelling snow. Luck we had bought a snow thrower. But, I haven’t been taking good care of it. I need to take that carburetor apart and clean it. The previous snow storm, I could not get the thing started. Turned out the spark plug was fouled. Wouldn’t create a spark. Took a torch and burnt away the crud and brushed off the rest. Then it finally started. Not something I wanted to do when it was so cold outside. Garage still smells of petrol from working on the carburetor. But wasn’t the carburetor this time.

Oh, got something stuck in the air vent pipe. Flush the loo and the bathtub makes a noise. It is pulling air from the bathtub drain. They are connected. To cold and too much snow on the roof to clear it out. The utilities cost has gone thru the roof. OMG, they put in new “SMART METERs” and my bill went up. On a small fixed income, drives me crazy. I am lucky to have such a good wife. My daughter is also helping to pay bills. So we manage. But, it is getting tougher and tougher.

Anita says there are stabilizing forces. I wish they get to work soon.

I think after 3 or 4 months with living this that he has found a way to either cope or move forward. I hope he is feeling better.

For me, fear of intimacy is more like having little trust. Cause if you trust this person in front of you then you would not have fear. Rather you would enjoy the moment. Yes, some people do use the intellect to learn to understand the situation. But, it all comes down to learning to trust and be confident in that trust. To feel good in the moment and go with the feeling. Let go the thoughts as the thoughts have come and gone. Don’t let the fear rule. Sorry, just my two cents.

Sorry, my obsession is not the best to ponder upon as it brings up images of a poor state of affairs. And that is not what we want for our future. My wish is to be wrong about the coming depression. When things get really bad, the only thing worth anything is land, skill and tools. With these, one can get thru the hardest of times. Land to grow food. Tools and skills to get thing done. One can be sitting upon lots of gold but it does no good cause one can not eat gold. Sorry, now getting into my fears of a bad bad time.

BRICS is an intergovernmental organization comprising ten countries: Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates. Their purpose is to dethrone the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. With the US debt at 38 trillion dollars, some one has to hold the borrower’s notes. Those notes are held by other countries and banks and other investors. Those notes also have a maturity date when the money must be paid back with interest. If all those other countries who hold these treasury bonds decide they don’t want to hold them then the US might be forced to pay those notes back which the US does not have. To pay it back the US might be forced to either default or print money to pay back the notes. Defaulting brings no confidence in the dollar then everyone will dump the dollar. If print money then inflation and the value of the dollar falls like a brick. Sorry, have been watching too much YouTube about the US debt. This cycle of the rise and fall of empires is well known. From the rise and fall of Rome. To the rise and fall of Spain. To the rise and fall of the Dutch. To the rise and fall of the UK british empire. Elon Musk wasn’t kidding that we need to cut the national deficit. Again, my apologies for my obsessions.

I am sorry. I tend to obsess over the littlest things. When I see that they do make a difference in my life, I wrap myself in it. Water filter, getting into see the doctor, watching the economy faltering, it gets to me. Oh yeah, the economy. I almost forgot. All the CEOs are selling their stocks and liquidating. Owners or Microsoft, facebook, Amazon are all selling huge amounts of their person stock for cash. When the rich are selling their stock, all the while touting that AI will make huge advancements, it is a sign that no one knows how to monetize AI. The national debt of 38 trillion dollars. The Global cash currency is moving to BRICS. No more US dollars as reserve currency for other nations. Once they start to sell, the US will go straight into a severe depression. This is on a timeline of about 36 months. Sorry, you see how I get. My mind get wrapped up in this crazy stuff.

Please note that if you say that I will burn and the ashes won’t even know I was here then fine. Threats of heaven and hell are for those who believe that there is a life hereafter. The one constant in this universe is that everything changes over time. The only things that doesn’t change are the things that do not experience time like photons. Massless, ghost like particles.