Happy Friday Dance!

Auntie LuLu! I wondered where you’d gone! Blessings! We’ve followed the Portland debacle &, as I’ve been there several times w/a child in a nationally competitive sport, I just could NOT imagine it falling into the state it became this past summer. It was such a welcoming, lovely city (Having traveled all over w/this sport, IMO, Anchorage & Portland were 2 of the best cities to welcome our athletes/parents). If you wanted to leave, if you had a home to sell, who would buy it & choose to move there in the midst of it all? How are any businesses even open anymore? We’re not so bad here (yet) where I live. It’s long-been an affordable area for families & that’s who came, & who is still coming, so we are conservative, less politically “punishing” toward ea other (at least in public). We do, however, suffer fr empty shelves, $5-$6 per gallon gas, shortages of everything, general decay of public services (like not enough garbage service anymore….so collection is hit or miss due to few employees ). I think this is a little due to our out-of-the way locale. My school is back in person, but we have NO SUBS & so when we get COVID or anything else, kids are just “baby-sat” by campus security or teachers on their “preps” who have to keep preparing for their own classes …..So, while I’ve been decently-OK thru’ all this, we’re still affected, as most are, sadly. All that said—we want out of CA ASAP…w/taxes (we paid over 40% of our earnings to state, federal, local…..why am I even working?) and the specter of Newsom calling for universal health care for everyone, citizen or not….which could raise ea. household state tax by $12,000 MORE per year. Gonna “run away” to some last refuge of values that seem a little more of a Democratic Republic instead of Socialist/Marxist state 🙁 If anyone is paying attention….ie..the U-Haul rentals….people like me are ditching CA, NY, NJ, ILL, MD, etc…for more tax-sane states—which are, all Red!)