NAKED CHICKEN PART II

OK, so I am not done griping about being the "naked chicken." We have recently hired a new boss for the floor. The position had always had the highest salary on the floor, at least a third higher than everyone else. We had to endure cut-backs, reducing a team of 11 full-time to a team of 6 full-time employees. Of course, that meant the rest of us "hens" had to double up on the workload just to get everything done, WITH NO EXTRA COMPENSATION. It's been two years and we haven't even gotten a cost of living raise!!!

Now, we have the money to not only hire the new boss, but they are going to increase his salary higher than that position has ever been paid in the history of the institution. We are also told, after busting our collective butts, that they are going to open up the budget for the new boss to add positions to his staff and create a new team. Now tell me what that is supposed to do to those who have hunkered down for the last few years, carrying double-loads without any extra compensation because "times are tough and you should just be happy you have a job?"

I ran out of money mid-month a few days ago. It's been years, but I have now officially bounced two checks. Thank God for overdraft protection! And yet the draft charges are $30 a bounce which sucks when you don't have it. Now I am trying to figure out how to pay my end of the month bills on my credit card so I don't amass late fees. I am also hoping the $100 check I sent my 22 year old for her birthday isn't one of the ones that bounced!!! Mind you, I don't flagrantly spend. I buy clothes at WalMart. I never go out to eat at fancy restaurants. I stay at home on the weekends. I have NO savings account because I literally live from paycheck to paycheck. I am not the only one at work doing this. There are several who have had to "suck it up because times are tough" on our floor. But can't they see how demoralizing this new mega-bucks hire is? Can't they see how demoralizing it is to the team who took you through the "tough time working double-duty" when the new hire gets to pad the budget to allow him to hire more staff to create his "dream team?"

Yes, once again....I feel like the NAKED CHICKEN. The hen in a house full of roosters (oh, did I mention the new boss is a man?). It seems its the women who get "jumped on" all hours of the day. They are the ones that have to work, work, working, producing the eggs. It seems we get paid in "chicken scratch" for all our efforts. It's still a man's world....sorry, just calling it like I see it!

NAKED CHICKEN

Several years ago my next door neighbor and I had the big idea that we'd get little chicks for our children for an Easter present. We convinced ourselves that it would be a great learning experience for the kids as well as a way to get eggs in the future. We went to the local Farm and Tractor Center and picked six small chicks out of hundreds to put in a box, buy, and take home.

That Easter morning was particularly memorable as the children squealed with delight to have not only Easter eggs, but the incubated and hatched version of those eggs. They each picked their new pet out, and promptly gave them names. I remember a Dottie, Ginger, Pepsi to name a few. We kept them in the basement under lights until they were of a healthy size then we had to figure out what to do with them next. The idea came to fence in the sand box with chicken wire forming it into a makeshift chicken coop. After all, the kids stopped playing in it as it had become the neighborhood cat dumping grounds.

Several months into our project in farming, we were awakened at 5AM to the loud crooning of "COCK-A-DOODLE-DO!" Being within the city limits, and having neighbors close by, we realized that this would not do. A rooster watch commenced. Once the culprit was identified, he was removed to the country and put into a pen where he would be quite happy. Several days later, another "COCK-A-DOODLE-DO" was being loudly blasted. Rooster identified, and placed in the pen in the country with the other fellow. This happened three more times!!! Out of six chicks, only five were roosters, and one was a hen.

The chickens seemed happy out in the country, all except the one hen. As they continued to grow, the roosters pecked the heck out of the poor hen. She became the naked chicken. The poor hen needed rescued!

Anyway, I tell that story for all the women out there who feel like a NAKED chicken. Women have come a long way, and yet it seems at times, we have a long way to go. Sometimes I identify with that hen...more often than I'd like! So, I have officially changed the name of my blog to.........NAKED CHICKEN!

Got CRABS??

I really enjoy watching the Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch. I have DVR so I record them and then when I find myself with a little down time, I click one on. I find that it is one of the best programs on TV these days. I thought reality TV had gone by the wayside, and much of that "stick twelve people in a house and watch them have sex and fight" type reality has (thank GOD!) but this reality is while people are working hard. Some even argue it's the deadliest job in the universe, hence the name.

There are about seven boats which are manned by about seven-eight men, including the skipper. The only fish a few months out of the year for crab in the Bering Sea in insane weather. Often, during the season there are fatalities because of the deadly icy water into which someone falls. Also, the waves are so extreme, a boat will capsize. This is one of the deadliest occupations.

I was wondering the other day WHY I liked it so much? I think part of it is because it, in some ways the show echoes my "roots." My family has roots in Scandinavian fishing on my dad's side. That is how they made their a few lifetimes ago. One boat named "The Northwestern" in the show has two brothers of Scandinavian lineage, Sig and Edgar Hansen, who remind me of my dad's side in many ways...intelligent, wise, calculating fishermen. These guys are serious about fishing. As far back as they can remember, the family fished for a living. Sig often pulls out old maps of his grandfathers which are torn and tattered, outlining where the best "fishing holes" are for crab season. They work hard.

Another reason is the strong family bonds that are evident in some of the crews. These bonds remind me of the bonds shared on my mother's side. Deep love and loyalty are conveyed and displayed, even in these tough characters. It is a dichotomy of sorts...a tough "I can take anything, nothing hurts me, bring it on" types and yet a "I'd die for you, faithful, hugging" type. One boat is called "The Time Bandit." It has the three Hillstrand brothers on it. These guys work hard and play hard. There are a lot of "Shenanigans" that take place on this boat. It is the boat with the most fun and laughter. The family loyalty is strong and evident. Every year on the anniversary of his death, they sail up to an inlet where their father, the former captain of the boat, is buried on a hill. On this solemn occasion they shoot off fireworks, get drunk, and reminisce about their "pop." On another note, Captain Andy always is wearing a Penn State hat which definitely gets him points.

This theme of family love and loyalty is carried on in the "Cornelia Marie" with Captain Phil Harris. He is hard smoking, hard drinking, surly (his voice sounds like he swallowed a handful of razor blades), yet tender (his eyes well up with tears often) father of Jake and Josh, two deck hands who work hard for being relatively young fellows (they are both in their early twenties). These guys know a lot about the business for their age, showing they have been boating with dad for many years. Jake and Josh love to torment their father and "push buttons" getting Phil all riled up. Jake and Josh do a bit of fighting among themselves, as most siblings do, but always make up. A moving moment this past season was when Phil discovered a blood clost in his lung. The boys, especially Josh, showed much concern and compassion tending to Phil during the illness. After their dad had to be hospitalized, the boys stayed on the boat working through crab season because their dad desperately needed them to tend the business.

So I guess those are some of the reasons WHY I liked this show so much. These guys live on the edge. The work is so hard and demanding that you get raw, unrehearsed action and emotion. Even though many would say they aren't believers, they often aknowledge God, and call out to Him, because of the fierceness and reality of the nature in which they exist. These guys REALLY live every moment because they could literally really die at any moment.

Circle of Life

I just got back from taking my daughter to the oral surgeon. She is eighteen. It was time to get the wisdom teeth out. I wanted her to have the procedure while she was still on my insurance. I also wanted her to have them out before they did serious damage to the investment of several thousand dollars worth of years of orthodontia.

I remembered, as I waited for Laura to undergo the procedure, being a late teen getting my wisdom teeth out. I thought about how my mother had waited for me at one time. It was a moment of looking back on the past.

The present penetrated my thoughts in an instant. It struck me that this would be one of my last acts as a caretaker with a dependent still in her home. My oldest children have moved on; one married in Norfolk; the other in his second year of college. Life is moving on, and these occasions which have lessened, would soon cease.

While I was reminiscing, the door opened at the distant end of the corridor to the outside parking lot. In ran a young boy around 4 or 5 years old. He ran down the long hall toward the waiting area in which I sat. Next in was an elderly lady of 85+ years. She struggled through the door leaning heavily on a walker, her son, the father of the little boy, right beside her. The youngster made several trips skipping back and forth the length of the corridor while grandmother slowly, laboriously made her way to the waiting area. The father, holding the arm of his elderly mother to steady her, kept his eyes on the 4 year old "bing-bonging" back and forth.

I thought of how my mother and father were not yet in need of that type of assistance, but might be someday. I likely will be a caretaker once again; possibly with an elderly parent residing in my home. After all, my mother is tending to my grandmother at this writing. I may have a few years of only taking care of my dog. But someday, in a decade or so, I may be taking care of one or both of my parents. Then I thought, in four or five decades I will likely be the 85+ elderly lady struggling down the corridor leaning heavily on a walker.

To wax a little sentimental, in my reflections I remembered the love chapter of Corinthians..."and these remain, faith, hope and love and the greatest of these is love." I prayed that I would love well those around me throughout the ages life.