March 2004

      Herrick Recipes  [Click Lower left for music too!]

March 29, 2004Sometimes Politicians/News Media can exclaim; “It’s just a tax cut for the rich!”, and it is just accepted to be fact.  But what does that really mean?  Just in case you are not completely clear on this issue, we hope the following will help.

Tax Cuts – A Simple Lesson In Economics

Let’s put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand.  Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100.If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh $7.
The eighth $12.
The ninth $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, the ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. “Since you are all such good customers,” he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20.”

So, now dinner for the ten only cost $80. The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes.

So, the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what about the other six, the paying customers? How could they divvy up the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his ‘fair share’?

The six men realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being ‘PAID’ to eat their meal. 

So, the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings). 
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).  
The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).  
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).  
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

“I only got a dollar out of the $20,” declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man “but he got $10!”

“Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth man. “I only saved a dollar, too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more than me!”

“That’s true!!” shouted the seventh man. “Why should he get $10 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!”

“Wait a minute,” yelled the first four men in unison. “We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!” The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill.

Kamerschen, Ph.D
Distinguished Professor of Economics
536 Brooks Hall
University of Georgia

March 28, 2004

Getting started in the kayak in back of my house on Saturday. The oyster bar and mangrove in the background.

The sun was bright, but Sarah was having fun! She asked to paddle so I gave her mine. She started off singing “A B C D, E F G, H….” in time to her paddling! When she was done, she started “Row, row, row your boat….”!!!!! I do not know how she knew, but she paddled very well!

We next went to Sunken Gardens where we saw a lot of butterflies:

We also saw we saw 6 butterflies coming out of their chrysalis’s! 

Wings not inflated yet:

Then we went up to dad and Betty’s for lunch:

We saw this bird’s nest in dad’s hanging planter:

And a great time was had by all!


March 26 continued:

Playing with stingrays!

Kanga – roo!

Playing in water spouts!

Emu, I see you.

Panda was favorite!

American Eagle!

Horseback rider!

OK which are my eyes?

Who is going to get it first, the Manatee or the fish?

March 26, 2004

Another note from Paul:

Hello all:

Well, we are now in Bequia (pronounced BECK-wee) a part of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG).  

This is more like the cruising we had 9 years ago in the West Indies.  Admiralty Bay is large and well protected, not crowded tho maybe close to 100 boats here.  The village of Port Elizabeth is clean and prosperous, with most yacht facilities available – sailmaker, chandelry, etc.  There are no marinas here so everybody is on the anchor.  There are a few roads with long hiking available to secluded beaches and high vistas. We launched last Friday, and everything is working as it should, then sailed and spent a couple of days in Soufriere, St. Lucia, expecting to do some diving and snorkeling.  Ha ha.  The Soufriere Marine Management Association (SMMA) requires that you take a mooring. OK. $16 USD for two rolly nights, BUT (and that’s a very big BUT), you are not allowed to dive nor even snorkel without hiring a local guide or going with a local dive operation. AND there is a fee for each dive and snorkel trip each time.  We did a hookah dive anyhow on Anse Chastanet reported to be the best dive in the Windwards.  NOTTT!  We did see the very rare whitesidewalltire fish and the chloroxbottle fish.  The coral and sponges were pretty and a few tropical fish otherwise not a lot to see.
Bequia is a do-it-yourself place.  Dive with a local shop or find your own spot.  The Devil’s Table is still good. no edible species visible but the tropical are in abundance with all five species of butterflyfish present.  Had a great roti for lunch at $2.25 each, otherwise stuff is still expensive.  We will stay here (Bequia) over the weekend then head down to Canouan and the Grenadines on Sunday.
All system are GO and we are back in the cruising mood.  Don’t you just HATE it when stuff breaks??!!

Love and peace to all.

Paul and Malinda

March 25, 2004

Sarah operating the robot at MOSI:

Sarah driving the truck:

Amy and Sarah playing a computer game:

Sarah sound asleep in Pam’s lap:

Ready to go again!

March 24, 2004

Natalie’s new home:

Amy and Sarah are here!! 

Out on the porch playing with bubbles

Relaxing in sun – with Taco the dog.

Ready for the beach!

Shell necklace Pam and Amy made!

Making Origami!

March 18, 2004

Note from Tracey:

Dear Uncle John (and family!)

It is finally time for me to make a contribution to the great web site that you’ve been keeping up.  So much has happened over the last two years that it’s hard to know where to begin! 

In May of 2002, we made the big move to Boston so that Blaine could begin a dual-masters program at MIT’s Sloan School of Management.  New England welcomed us with one of the worst winters in years with record snowfalls, and it certainly put us and our little car to the test! 

One of many snow storms

Despite the cold, it was nice to be back in Boston and to be just a three-hour drive from my parents.  It may come as a surprise to hear someone admit to being happy to be closer to Al McVetty!

Part of Blaine â€™s program was an internship, so last June we packed up again and headed down to Austin , TX for 6 months where he worked at Dell Computer.  We have quite a few friends in Austin , so we had a wonderful time taking in the many great things that the city has to offer – music, food, and great natural scenery such as lakes and springs. (Not exactly what you picture for Texas !)

We had a bit of a break before classes started for Blaine in January, so we decided to take a trip to Buenos Aires , Argentina , to visit some friends.  We had the chance to explore the city and also to do some camping and hiking in the Patagonia Lakes Region.  The people of Argentina are incredibly friendly and the scenery is absolutely stunning!

Hiking at Cerro Cathedral

So now we are heading into the homestretch!  Blaine will be graduating in May and we will (hopefully!) be making one last move for a while.  Even though graduation is a few months away, Blaine has already been offered and has accepted a position as a Senior Supply Chain Analyst (sounds fancy, huh?) with a company called C&S Wholesale, a cutting-edge grocery distributor headquartered in Keene , NH .  Keene (pop 26,000) is located in a beautiful area of southern New Hampshire, less than 2 hours from Boston, 2 ½ hrs from Portland and 3 hours from Guildhall, VT.  This will be a big change for us, but we are really looking forward to this next chapter of our life. 

Photo of downtown Keene during the Pumpkin Festival

So, what have I been doing for the last two years?  Well, lots of packing and unpacking to say the least!  During the first year we were here I taught math at an exciting charter school in Cambridge and also did some admin work at Pfizer, Inc.  While in Texas I found a 6 month job in the real estate department of a credit union and was put to work in all aspects of home mortgage loan lending – great experience in preparation for buying a new home!  My job at Pfizer was still available when we returned so I have been doing accounting work and acting as the site administrator for the Facility Management software program.  I am currently taking accounting courses in the evening with the plan of eventually getting into bookkeeping.We hope everyone is happy. Thanks again for all the work you put into the web site – I love seeing
the pictures from your adventures! 

Love, Tracey

Note from Paul and Malinda, friends sailing in the Caribbean:

Hello all:

Well, two Fridays ago we ordered a new prop shaft from Ft. Luckydale, it was shipped the following Tuesday “arriving” here in St. Lucia 

(almost to South America!)

Wednesday.  Ha ha ha …. island time… didn’t get the part out of customs till Monday of this week.  Hauled the boat Tuesday… by nightfall had the shaft in and prop on and one coat of Seahawk Islands 44 Plus bottom paint (the GOOD stuff full of TBTF and metallic tin) at $200 per gallon.  Wednesday put on second coat…. three gallons total.  BTW cruisers, buy this stuff in St. Martin…lots cheaper.  Today put the rudder back on and did touch up on the jackstands spots.  Splash tomorrow in the am.  Shipping and customs and delivery costs ran $344 part to about $640 in hand.  Otherwise haulout costs are about US rates.  We’ll be heading down to the Pitons Sunday and thence on to Bequia and the Grenadines.  Going to bypass St. Vincent (again), too much petty thievery.  Other than having some sore shoulder muscles we be good.  Weather super.

Love and peace to all…

Paul and Malinda

March 14, 2004

Another great weekend!

Pam and I went out in my kayak today, first we paddled over to Jim and his sailboat RAKKASAN. He still is working on the engine, getting it up and running he hopes.

Pam on the island we went to next.

Both of us on the little vacant island.

Looking back to my house (invisible in the trees in the background).

Next we saw an osprey catch a fish, he was about a quarter mile away, so not too sharp!

Him flying away with his catch.

Then we came home to see a male monarch butterfly had come by!

We both got some sun, and what a day!!

March 10, 2004

Had a great weekend last weekend, Carl and I went sailing:

He has quite the nice boat!

Then Pam came over and we watched a movie (Pirates of the Caribbean, The Curse of the Black Pearl). Then Sunday morning Jim came over and we played chess. 

The weather has been so fantastic! I spent the morning at Brooker Creek doing a little surveying, wow, the weather was about 65 degrees, sunny, awesome!

The company (Hidden Valley) that makes the Ranch dressing sent me the following letter:

“since our product did
not perform in a satisfactory manner we certainly want to reimburse you.
I have requested that a reimbursement be sent to you. “

That was nice of them!

March 3, 2004

This is what happens when the top blows off!

WOULD IT NOT BE GREAT TO TURN ON THE OLE’ TV TONIGHT AND SEE G. W. BUSH GIVE THE FOLLOWING SPEECH …..

 My fellow Americans:

  As you all know, the defeat of Iraq’s regime has been completed. Since congress does not want to spend any more money on this war, our mission in Iraq is complete.

This morning I gave the order for a complete removal of all American forces from Iraq. This action will be complete within 30 days.

It is now time to begin the reckoning. Before me, I have two lists. One list contains the names of countries which have stood by our side during the Iraq conflict. The United Kingdom, Spain, Bulgaria, Australia, and Poland are some of the countries listed there.

The other list contains everyone not on the first list.  My press secretary will be distributing copies of both lists later this evening.

 Let me start by saying that effective immediately, foreign aid to those nations on List 2 ceases immediately and indefinitely. The money saved during the first year alone will pretty much pay for the costs of the Iraqi war. The American people are no longer going to pour money into third world countries and watch those government leaders grow fat on corruption. Need help with a famine? Wrestling with an epidemic? Call France.

In the future, together with Congress, I will work to redirect this money toward solving the vexing social problems we still have at home.

On that note, a word to terrorist organizations. Mess with us and we will hunt you down and eliminate you and all your friends from the face of the earth. Thirsting for a gutsy country to terrorize? Try France, or maybe China.

To Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Yo, boys. Work out a peace deal now. Just note that Camp David is closed. Maybe all of you can go to Russia for negotiations. They have some great palaces there. Big tables, too.

I’m ordering the immediate severing of diplomatic relations with France, Germany, and Russia. Thanks for all your help, comrades. We are retiring from NATO as well. Bon chance, mes amis.

I have instructed the Mayor of New York City to begin towing the many UN diplomatic vehicles located in Manhattan with more than two unpaid tickets to sites where those vehicles will be stripped, shredded and crushed. I don’t care about whatever treaty pertains to this. Pay your tickets tomorrow or watch your precious Benzes, Beamers, and limos be turned over to some of the finest chop shops in the world.

A special note to our neighbors. Canada is on List 2. Since we are going to be seeing a lot more of each other, you folks might want to try not pissing us off for a change.  Mexico is also on List 2. President Fox and his entire corrupt government really need an attitude adjustment. I have a couple extra tank and infantry divisions sitting around. Guess where I’m gonna put ’em? Yep, border security. So start doing something with your oil. Oh, by the way, the United States is abrogating the NAFTA treaty — starting now.

It is time for America to focus on its own welfare and its own citizens. Some will accuse us of isolationism. I answer them by saying ‘darn tootin.’ Nearly a century of trying to help folks live a decent life around the world has only earned us the undying enmity of just about everyone on the planet.

It is time to eliminate hunger in America. It is time to eliminate homelessness in America.

To the nations on List 1, a final thought. Thanks guys. We owe you. 

 God bless America.

Thank you and good night.

John and Darrell and marilyn’s weather:

Amy and Darren’s weather:

Dad and Betty’s weather:

Susan and Al’s weather:

David’ and jeans weather:

Donald and jeanne’s weather:

Daniel and candy’s weather:

Heather and michael’s weather:

Rod and jill’s weather:


Don in California 2004 was cancelled, see you in Maine in 2005!

2005David and Jean’s Housewarming party,
       Pocomoonshine Lake, Princeton, Maine
 
2006Darrell & Marilyn 
2007Dan 
2008Sue and Al 
2009John 
2010Donald