Blooming...

From our Government, gee, thanks....

Working, not really...

I did some day labor work today helping my Father-in-law with an outside project. Here I am helping my Brother-in-law, Jeff, and as you can see, we are both working hard (really all I did was hold things). It never seems to fail though, when some men are working hard, some women (Norm) are fooling around. Jeff would have driven off to work in Flagstaff with the sticker on his shirt, if I wouldn't have told him.

The Desert in April...

"Bless the Lord, all his works in all places of his dominion: bless the Lord, O my soul." [Ps. 103:22]

From our friend in Dubai....

I was talking to a bus driver today - he ferries people from one side of the airport to the other.  He is a Pakistani man and I asked him what type of hours he worked.  He told me he works 6 days a week, 12 hours a day for 1500 dirham per month!  This is about $400 US dollars per month.  I asked him how much he could make if he worked in Pakistan and he said about 1000 dirhams per month.  Makes me realize how blessed I am, and how blessed the United States is.  I have often heard that the poor in the US really are not poor when compared to the poor in other parts of the world.  Here this guy is working 72 hours a week, earning less than $1.40 per hour.  How much does a welfare recipient pull down per month in the U.S.?  I don't know, but I imagine it is quite a bit north of $400.

I have also heard where the Taliban and Al Queda have an easy job recruiting soldiers.  They offer them money to join their cause, and obviously it wouldn't cost them much to give all these guys more than they are making in a normal job.

It really seems wrong that the UAE doesn't pay these people more.  They could easily afford to.  As it is I don't see much difference from these low payed workers and the slaves who worked the plantations in the 1800's.  I should start organizing a union for these hard working people, I am sure that would get me deported quickly!

Another Snake Story...

This is the second time in about three years that a rattlesnake has struck out at Norm as she was riding her quad down the trail.  The first time the snake took a swipe and than crawled quickly off the trail into the bush, but not this one. This snake is bigger than the one we encountered last and had a bad attitude toward trail riders. There seems to be a large crop of reptiles in our desert this year. We have been riding and hiking through this area since 1998 and have never seen this many rattlesnakes. They are also very close to the park. The other thing that surprised us was how loud his rattle was. You could easily hear it from quite a distance. Not only do you have to watch where you walk, but, where you ride!