Wednesday, August 31, 2011

The backward-assed system

I did some research today and found out that I won't qualify for medicaid for my wife's birth, even though the total household income is less than $300 per week and I have no insurance. Why? Because I denied myself immediate gratification and saved what little scraps of money I have. I drive a beat up 17 year old Saturn and eat Great Value. I have never got more than $700 back on a tax return, hell , I had to pay the feds the last two years. I've been putting money back from my low-lower class income for a few years to retire on one day and now that money is too large of an asset (it's not even enough to buy a new car) to qualify for medicaid. If I had been stupid and squandered my money the government would help me, but now I will have to dip into my hard-earned(janitor, cook,carpenter, factory production work) money to pay to have a baby while the people      earning the same as me or not working at all who are making payments on brand new cars and using smart phones send the government the bill. There goes my those years of savings. Sure, I could move the money to a relatives name and lie, but that would make me no better than all the lazy pieces of shit in the world. I generally take the high road in life, and though it's bound to suck as it usually does, that's what i'm going to do with this, too. I don't believe in divine retribution, the lazy people are probably making the smarter decision, but I still have my dignity.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

My wife is officially knocked up

I took the wife for an official pregnancy test today. She failed, showing positive for baby in her system. Going back next week for an ultrasound. Early in the spring and then summer I saw some weeds that looked interesting and cut around them. Now I have three specimen patches growing in my yard: white morning glories, maypops (purple passion flowers) and wild mint. I took some photos of the latter two and wrote articles on them on hubpages, hence the links. I also baked some banana bread, expect an article on that soon. Good times.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Pear wine

I went down to see my folks today. The old pear tree beside the house was sagging with fruit. I picked a bag to eat, then picked through the pears on the ground and got another bag for wine. The pears are what my mom describes as "for canning, not for eating" but I like to eat them anyway. When i got home i chopped up the wine pears(about 1 gallon) and put them in a plastic bucket with two pounds of sugar and some raisins, then covered them with another gallon of boiling water. I stuck the top on and set up the air lock. Tomorrow I will add the yeast. I've written a detailed procedure at http://rickcombe.hubpages.com/hub/Easy-homemade-pear-wine-recipe. I was drinking some of my homemade apple wine while I wrote it, I hope it's readable.

Hello Internet

Hello everybody, i'm Rick Combe. I'm a jack of all trades in my mind and a redneck by definition. I've accumulated a pretty good bit of know-how being poor and what I don't know I figure out as I go. I've created this blog to share my experience and experiences with others in hopes of contributing to the greater knowledge. And to ramble.