[dem45133]

Mornin James

Yea, but I can't shorten the miles... they are what they are. We haven't run extra miles in many years... My truck sits most all weekend... if we go to town (15 miles) its once for materials... although some of them I sometimes can get from a place near work at noon and don't go to town at all. Melanie' dr's are where they are... they are all specialists and do not exist in the country so its 60 miles into Cincinnati seems once wek any more for her (using her Chrysler Concord).

When we bought this place... gas was less than a buck and it was well into the then acceptable 50 mile commute radius. We both worked professionally with ok incomes for the past 20 years... before that it was whatever we could get... now gas is 4.11... place couldn't bring 60% of what we paid as the incomes locally are abysmal (8 or 10 hr) if you can even find a job. And they wouldn't even consider hiring me as I'm way over qualified even though most of those types of skills I developed young, but never chose to make a living with once finished with college.

Hell, maybe its all mute anyway... likely a big round of layoffs coming... 1st to go will be us subcontractors... we cost too much (although its not in our pocket... its in the companies pocket...) getting REAL worried;

I'm 59... and not really employable outside DOE as its not recognized... my wife will never work again... shes 62 and will be forced to the abysmal early SS instead of her mediocre disability... we can't live on SS and UE will only go so long... then I'll be in my 60s... nobody hires us... I have a masters and 20 years in hazardous and radiological waste management... but in the private sector its not worth much and most are combined with the H&S function or tied to sales which I am not professional in, (I am an engineer/scientist type...not a salesman! Top it off with the insurance company's in essence forced age hiring limits due to their pricing schemes.

We are in that middle group where we didn't get into the company pension thing... and 401s were too late in coming to make a real difference... I have a house that is 1/2 way through a major remodel that if layed off I won't have the money to finish. We are planning to pull a good chunk of 401 and pay off the mortgage... but one still has to eat an pay its taxes or you can loose it to that ... then there's the MAJOR problem of medical... I make good money... (well sort off... on rate wage the janitor makes only about 8 dollars and hour less than I do and didn't need a Masters!)...but even with damn good insurance another 20k a year (after taxes) plus an HSA I feed for stuff not covered by insurance comes out of my pocket for my wife's needs. Medicare is essentially useless as most of her specialists will drop her... THEN what does she do...? If we were 70 (not far away!) Obomacare would have us just die. Retirement is not an option and its not looking too promising for our elderly years. But there are always those with worse problems and I'm not complaining but it sure isn't what we worked for for all these years... Its 4:50 am on my day off... now you know why I'm awake and not sleeping... and also why my patience level for BS, corp greed f'n with fuel costs is a negative number. Greeting people at Walmart or serving at McDonalds is an insult, but some how that seems to be what corp and govt seem to think is ok.

Oh and my wife needs a 100k+ surgery that they are finally starting to reconsider doing (Severe COPD preventing anesthesia) on her neck and lower back (severe disk degeneration, scholeosis, stenosis) so she can at least get some relief from the pain and hopefully do something other than sit or sleep due to the pain killers... she can't walk more than about 20 paces. If I get layed off SS and UE will just barely cover the COBRA payment... but I'll sell what ever I have to to keep it paid so she can get her surgery. This nero surgeon is one of the best, but does not take medicare. Oh and if the surgery kills her (which it could) then we (or I actually in that case) will have NO income once EU runs out... or my wife (who is truly the better part of who I am)...

I need to go figure out some things... later...