Bow Wow, bow wow!
It seems that every house on the street where Mr. Cutie Pie lives has at least one dog. The name of our street should be "Dog Lover's Lane". Everyday, Grandpa takes Mr. Cutie Pie for a walk down the neighborhood and the little Scot Terrier,whose name is "Murphy" across the street just barks and barks.But when Murphy sees baby, he is studdenly very quiet. He just stands on his hind legs and wags his tail like crazy and stares at Mr. Cutie Pie. Murphy is only 1 1/2 years old, but clearly loves children. Perhaps in another year, baby can pet Murphy. They'd both like that very much.
Polaroid Restructures Again
Polaroid announced that it will restructure and eliminate another 700 jobs in the upcoming months. This is in addition to the 1800 job to be eliminated that was announced at the beginning of 1998 ( the program in which Paul was "early retired") and will bring the Polaroid workforce worldwide to about 8,000. Polaroid's work force peaked in size in 1978 at about 21,000.Paul still gets calls from co-workers asking what they should do in terms of career moves. Should they stay or should they leave now? What should they look for in an outplacement agency? Can they trust the current management to treat them fairly in their serverence packages? What should they do with their ESOP or their pension funds?
Advice to the younger readers of this newsletter? Keep investing in yourself, keep learning new skills and stay up with technology and keep up your marketable skills. Your job security rests with you and not your employer. You are responsible for your own future. Period.
Mephisto Fans
Each member of the Bau Family Onlne News now owns a pair of Mephisto walking shoes. Kevin, the last holdout, received his pair at a Christmas gift this past week. Paul's sister started him out with the shoe brand about a year ago and everyone in the family has been delighted. Walk on these shoes all day and your feet will tell you; "Thank You".When we purchased Kevin's shoes in Manayunk, Pa., Paul received a free pair of laces for his walkers and also a free postage paid envelope to return his shoes to Calif for re-soling for $75.00 ( about 1/3 the cost of a new pair). Paul loves his Mephisto's and will definately try out this re-soling service.
Stores that carry the Mephisto shoe line are not easy to find. So, if you need help in locating the shoe store in your area that carries Mephisto, e-mail Paul at the Bau Family Online News slot and he'll help you locate your store. After buying six pairs of Mephisto so far, Paul must be one of the experts in the USA. Smile!
Squirrels Challlenge the Hunter-Killer
Weston's Hunter-Killer has had a keen eye out for Chip 'n Dale ( or their relatives } down in Pennsylvania, but no chipmunks are to be seen. At first snow, the Hunter-Killer decided that the local birds needed a bit of sustanence, so he filled the bird feeder in the front yard with "Lyric's Chickadee Wild Bird Food"Within hours, lots of Chickadees and other small birds were feeding and happily flying around. Suddenly, squirrels, were on the birdfeeder! When the squirrel are there, the birds can't eat. Also, the squirrels eat the seed at a very fast rate. Three or four squirrels can finish a feeder load in a couple of days. What should we do?
Moving the feeder to a more difficult tree limb was tried. Elongating the thin rope was a good idea, but as told by other bird lovers, "these Pennsylvania squirrels are very good acrobats". How about an unside down plastic dish between the limb and the feeder? Could the squirrels get around this barrier? The local hardware stores clerk had some advice. Mix hot crushed peppers with the bird seed. It will not bother the birds one bit, but will drive the squirrels crazy. Hmmmm... Well today, hot peppers went into the bird feeder. Stay tuned for an update. The Weston Hunter-Killer stikes again.
Weston's Handyman Helps Out
Yes, with the move to a new house, David and Heidi have lots of things to touch up around the new homestead. The house is basically in excellent condition, but so far the Handyman has: put up new shelving in the garage, cleaned out the gutters for the winter, installed the storms windows and doors, painted( with the assistance of Rachel and David) four rooms, fixed a broken banaster rail, installed a fire extingisher by the kitchen, replaced broken handles on the kitchen cabinets, and a bit of gardening too.The Handyman remembers that his father ( who passed away almost four years ago ) did all these same things for him when we bought our first home in Rochester, N.Y. David will get the chance to do these same things for Mr. Cutie Pie some day in the future.
David and Heidi,like most new home owners will be "broke" or feel the cash flow crunch for the next 12 to 18 months. Every week there will be something necessary to purchase for the house. Yes, we all go through the same experience with any new house.
