The following was written by a dear friend of mine, David Brodd. And I cannot agree with him more, truthfully.

The cash for clunkers program. C-A-R-S was the acronym.

What was it intended to do?
Stimulate the economy? By doing what? Helping poor people buy better cars so that they could get to work on time and pollute a little less and drive a safer car?

Problem is, POOR PEOPLE cannot make car payments. Even if they had a qualifying vehicle, they could not make the payments after the rebate was applied. So who really bought cars through this program? Middle class shmucks who allowed their greed to smash any sense of ethics or morals. People who were probably going to buy a car next year, but the program caused them to buy it now.

So, who buys the cars NEXT year? NOT the people who were GOING TO buy one next year, but bought it during CARS....

Again, if this program was supposed to help people who need better cars, why on earth would you do something which causes all used car prices to skyrocket? (as in - a lot of good 1000 to 2000 dollar cars got turned in because they were now artificially 'worth' 3500 to 4500 dollars)

You do not 'help' any people by getting rid of the decent middle-lower price range cars.
You do not 'help' the economy by artificially moving sales forward in time.
You do not 'help' the environment by causing running engines to belch smoke as the government mandated concoction destroys the engine as it runs for it’s last hour.
You do not 'help' the economy by taking a running vehicle (a mild polluter) and melting it down (HUGE polluter) to manufacture another vehicle (more pollution) or send the scrap to China or India, where they pollute about 80 gazillion times more than we do.

I have never seen so many government programs that do the EXACT OPPOSITE of their stated goal.

It is either stupidity, or it is on purpose.

The three main cars you see in these photographs all get better mileage, have better tires, are in better condition, and pollute less than any of the vehicles I own. These photos were taken yesterday - September 9, 2009 - in Fremont, NE.

This program was a vote-buying scam. At best.
God have mercy on the USA.

Well, I had jury duty today @ county court.
What a clusterf*ck.
For comments throughout the entire day go here: http://twitter.com/OFRD_GRL

I get there at about 7:45, I needed to be there between 8am-8:30am. Got all my stuff handled. They didn't even talk to us or what have you until say 9am at minimum. Fawk around a little more.

They let 73 people go home because one of the 2 court cases was canceled. I was NOT in that group.

45 people left. Civil Hearing (couple broke up, seperated, beat each other, etc.) Watch stupid video. Get juror number (#10) however I was 7th in line when they lined us up somehow.. that didn't make much sense?

Group interviews. I was a biotch and showed my disapproval of the dude's actions... and my feelings towards abusive men. Then lunchtime. Cafeteria non useable in courthouse.. I thought they were supposed to feed you anyways? OK off 2 McDonalds...

Back from lunch.. they excused some people.. not me though.

Back to courtroom. I move from juror #10 to juror #2. You know what that means? I'm on the case... well after they seated everyone where they wanted us... they could do their peremptory challenge... AKA each side (plaintiff and defense) get to boot up to 5 people from the current Jury. Guess who was booted first by the guy's lawyer? Una was :-) My plot to make them hate me worked.

It wouldn't have been so bad if it was a one day trial, but it would have been 4 flipping days. And I cannot afford that time or money missing.

Anywho. I'm off, back to work tomorrow. Thank goodness, I have alot to do.

So get there 7:45am. Get dismissed about 2pm. Accomplished? NOTHING. Being good at being a bitch when needed? Priceless.

Well its pretty much done. Some small finishes to do on the outside, but the snakes are living in it and LOVING it :-)

I had to throw in a pic of the JCP (Jungle Carpet Python) eating... because he is a hog, and not even moving phases his appetite.

This is the heating element. it's called flexwatt. I threw some linoleum on top if it and it was snake ready.

Well.. Its been a little while. I only have 1 month left till my parents & brother come out to visit. I can't flippin wait!!!!! Darryl is super excited too.

My horse has gained weight, and is doing well. So I'm happy about that.

Work has been steady & good. No complaints there!

The dogs are doing great.

Darryl & I have been going on walks (3+ miles) a few times a week. We have a great wildlife preservation center (plains area) right by the house and walk over there. We have run into garter snakes & a rattlesnake (western diamondback). I even caught a pretty large garter snake and brought it home and let it loose in my garden! Lots of bugs there for it to take care of.

The yard is looking great. My flowers are all bloomed & now dying (so sad).

Darryl & I have been tearing the house apart re-organizing it and cleaning it. We literally have been taking every single piece of furniture out of each room, steam cleaning the carpet, vacuuming, cleaning everything else & then reorganizing it so it works better. We switched our bedroom with the girls bedroom. The girls old bedroom (our new bedroom) has a closet & ceiling fan & is on the upper level instead of the basement. We have cleared out a bunch of stuff we just don't need anymore too, it's great! We still have the computer room, kitchen, laundry & living room left. But the girls room, our room, spare room & upstairs bathroom are all done.

We have worked on the enclosure for the snakes more too.. with good reason, which you will see below soon enough LOL. Got ALOT more done!













































Other than that... I have taken in 2 snakes that the owners could not keep anymore...


Well I was picking up a carpet python today that the owner needed a new home for. Got him for free. She didn't know what subspecies or anything.

Only thing she told me is that he is 5 years old and 4ft long.

I thought he was healthy by everything she said (never got pictures.. But hey its free right!)

Well he apparently got loose today and they had to cut him out of drywall... (arghhhhhh secure snake enclosures are a MUST!!!!) So that delayed pickup time by 6 hrs......

I got there and was expecting a 4 ft healthy carpet python of some sort...

I saw a very small, undernourished GORGEOUS jungle carpet python... They wouldn't pick him up out of the cage because he was agitated from the days events... No biggie I rubbed him let him know I was there and picked him up. No striking, a total sweetheart. Definitely wants to roam tho! Fast little feller. I could feel all his bones.. I mean there is no fat on him at all.. And he had no heating lamp/pad/heat of any sort. Put him in a pillowcase. And off we went.

Went to my favorite local reptile store where they sexed him for me to make sure he really was a HE... And the guys there even were like OMG that poor snake needs to EAT! It's a good thing you took him.

So got him home... Bleached & cleaned the HECK out of the enclosure he came with before I even brought it in the house... Including all the stuff that was in it.

Got it all setup (with a UTH & therm). Gave him warm water because I am hoping he will soak (he's super dry). Covered his cage w/ a damp towel and left a rat pup in there (pre-killed).

I know you're supposed to wait a week before trying to feed, but this is no normal circumstance.... He was only getting small mice every 2-3 weeks (if lucky.... They weren't sure when the last time they fed him was...)

He ate it no problem.

So he is 100% segregated from all animals in my house and under observation. (Thank goodness for a 4bedroom house, because I got another freebie today that needs segregation as well! - post coming soon for that...)

So enjoy. I have named him Lucky.

Oh ya... He weighs 459 grams.
Should be at minimum 6ft and much heavier.















Someone got in touch with me that needed a home for their redtail. I said sure, no prob. They brought her over tonight. She is just about 6 ft and SUPER healthy. Nice calm girl too. Her name is Leelah. Haven't weighed her yet. Next weekend I will do that. Just wanted to share some pics!

She is segregated from all the other animals to make sure she is healthy...

Enjoy!