Tony Brewer View

I was reading an article on the Time.com website about how a lot of companies are participating in what is termed “Greenwashing.”  I had never heard of the term “Greenwashing” before, so I was curious and read the article.  It seems that “Greenwashing” is the term used to describe the action of promoting a product or service claiming that it is better for the environment than it really is.  The article included links to other articles that showed instances and examples of greenwashing by real companies.  I found the article to be informative, and have bookmarked the links for future reference.  It is disappointing to see how many companies are so shameless in their false promotions!

Guest post by Andy Wayneswright

One of the things that frustrate me a lot is the general misconception that studded snow tires are illegal in this state. If you take the trouble to actually check the laws, or even just check with Triple A, you will find that studded snow tires are legal in most states during the winter months. And by that I mean from October 15 through April 15 studded snow tires are perfectly legal. When I lived in New England I bought studded snow tires for our cars every three years. Driving around on the icy roads was a lot easier with studded snow tires, and having them on the cars was a lot more convenient than having to put tire chains on and off. And having the extra traction on the wheels meant no more spinning tires going up and down icy hills. Of course having a bag of kitty litter in the trunk of the car was always a good idea too, but once I tried the studded snows I became a big fan. The all-season tires are all well and good for places that don’t have a real winter, but why the tire stores have gone to the extreme of getting rid of their studding machines and decided to promote the all-season tires exclusively just does not make sense to me at all.

When we first moved here we didn’t bring the studded tires with us, the previous winter season was the last season that the studs were any good, we were going to need new studded snows for the next winter season. We had no idea that it would be so very hard to get new ones once we moved. Winter came, and I started to call around to the different tire stores to get some price quotes on a new set of studded tires. That’s when I learned that no tire store in the area sold them, and they all insisted that they were illegal in this state.
Eventually I telephoned the state police headquarters and spoke with someone there. They told me that although the studded tires are legal in the state that if I wanted to buy any that I would have to actually go across state lines to get them.
Thank goodness for the Internet, that’s all I have to say about that. I had no idea where to even start looking for tire dealers that were just barely across state lines, but within a few minutes I had managed to go online and find brookstone tire coupons and a retailer only a couple of hours away. When I called them to check and see if they had the tires that I wanted they told me that they could get them in a week. I’ll be glad to finally get them after all of this trouble.

Teri wants to buy some flea traps for our place.  We don’t have any pets, but we have allowed some friends to bring their dogs over from time to time when they came to visit, so it is possible that some fleas came into our place with their dogs.  So I will humor her and buy some flea traps.

My brothers, sister and I grew up in a wonderful house in a great neighborhood, my parents still live at the house that all of us kids all grew up in and one day I’ll most likely be living there myself. My Dad has put a lot of blood sweat and tears into the place and I’d be proud to take over where he leaves off. The backyard is spectacular, my parents and their friends and neighbors still enjoy spending time back there all most all year round.

My father and the neighbor next door took a lot of time looking into wooden garden arbors back in the day and they both decided that they could build bigger and better wood gazebos then what was available for sale at that time back then. My dad’s gazebo is still standing strong, while the neighbor’s has been long gone, a vegetable garden taking up the room that once held one of the nicer gazebos in the whole darn neighborhood. Both of the beautiful arbors are still in place though. Those wonderful wooden arbors will always have a soft spot in my heart for as long as I live.

I’m told that our long time neighbor has just placed a “For Sale” sign on his house. They are heading south to Florida, looking for better weather to live their golden years out in. We will miss our long time friends and neighbors and we can only hope that our new neighbors are friendly people that we can get to know. It makes such a big difference if you can get along with your neighbors, we have always been lucky in that way at the old homestead.

For years I have satisfied my dreams of investing in my own education. A wise person once said that an education is one investment that can not be taken from you. A majority of my education the past few years has been from books, online materials and seminars. You don’t get college credits by reading books, but the knowledge gained can be more powerful than some of the courses you do get credit for.

The biggest cost for me is time, the time spent learning could be spent working and earning money, it could also be spent with the family, or relaxing, all valuable things to do in life, so the vast amount of time I spend at conferences and seminars costs much more than the admission fee. The time I spend reading forums and online manuals could be spent doing other things to earn money.

With so much out there that I want to learn, and with so many opportunities to earn, it’s tough to decide sometimes where to invest the time.

Of course education is my favorite investment with time or money.