We have to laugh at the mainstream media (again). While the bmajor news headlines Wednesday involved the biggest-ever one day gain for stocks, there’s been a distinct lack of context in many reports.
While indeed the Dow 30 rose 1,086 points, it’s also significant to use that very early futures were pointing to a 400 point give-back today, If it happens – and who’s to say? – it MIGHT leave the Dow within 100 points of last Friday’s close and that was below where the Dow closed last Thursday.
Not following? It has been a week of arguably violent up-side and down-side action which, to our way of thinking, is very much in-keeping with the times.
My latest Crackpot Theory holds that when the division between people on secular issues becomes extreme (like who’s president, perhaps?), then market’s too, begin to become wildly divided as well.
This rounds out to three more important questions to be asking right now since our 2019 “Word oof the Year” may be volatility – and not just in markets. We could be facing Volatility In Everything. (VIE): Why, even the Federal government can’t keep it’s lights on… So we ask:
1, Is this market action being driven by humans or algorithms? We have been asking this question since late summer when I discovered a “heartbeat to the market.” And that may be evidence algorithms of behind the steering wheel, in my view.
2. The second question, logically following, is “Who’s making the money?” The answer is the Owners of the winning alogorithms – IF (and it’s just a theory for now) that’s what we are seeing in markets – “dueling algorithms.”
4. But it’s the third question that matters most: “Where does all this lead?”
Damned if I know…but whatever is going on is a global phenomenon. Maybe when we get 7-billion odd people on a single planet there’s a natural tendency toward spiritual cannibalism.
Take Japan where earlier this week the Nikkei was down 5 percent and then overnight is bounced up 3.88%. If there are algos are work, they are not just playing in the US. Something global is emergent.
The problem with even thinking about percentages – like in Japan – is that they are inherently misleading.
Start with a $100-bill. Now lose 10%. OK, down to $90-bucks, right? But suppose you MAKE 10%. Are you whole? No. 10 percent of 90 is 9 and if you add that to your $90 bucks you’re only at $99. Asymmetry is something we don’t think much about, but in times like these, such acuity is useful.
A 10% loss requires a 11.11… percent gain to even things out. No telling how this market will end “evening out.”
None of this is “Surprising”
UrbanSurvival.com had a very significant birthday a couple of weeks back. I’ve been meaning to mention it:
We turned 20-years old on the web. Officially, our first “capture” by the WayBack Machine of the Web Archive was on December 13, 1998, those the first posting went up on Dec. 8, 1998
We were warning you then – and we repeat the warning again here today – that the Nation stands at risk of another economic Depression of the same scale – or worse – than the 1929-1943 window.
I don’t mention our core philosophy very often, but it has been a useful guide over the years and has kept “our wits about us” when less reliable guidance would have gone a bit over the edge.
“There are two ways to live Life: One is for maximum gain. The other is to live to reduce the risk of Loss.”
I’m pretty sure few people think this way. Since when there are 7.7 billion people, most see the only way “to the top” is on the “backs of others.” I think of it as the peopled version of the Tower of Babel.
Sorry to say,the world has gain 1.7 BILLION people since we began our writings here. We made a conscious decision to move to a scarcely populated part of Texas knowing that eventually, even the Outback here would fill up. And the signs of development are popping up all around us. But, it’s still where people run a bit more thinned-out that we expect fewer will be interested in climbing over us.
How to Hide a Depression
Several readers have asked lately “Is this an inflationary or deflationary economic Depression Ure sees coming” – or words to that effect.
The answer is “It’s too early to tell BUT how about Neither?”
Studying economics as I have for more than 20-years, there’s something of a rhyme to Report from Iron Mountain possible.
In that book, written some claim as a spoof on “think tanks” of the Vietnam War era, the participants allegedly deconstructed war into its purposes. Eventually, it all came down to “control of populations” and who gets the reins.
Much the same can be said of Grand Economic Depressions. We have seen some where the outcome was mainly Inflationary – and the case of the Wiemar Republic – where people needed wheelbarrows of money because prices went up hourly – are examples. I’m a Zimbabwe Dollar Trillionaire, too – hyperinflation is a more common event than most realize.
The other possibility is the deflationary collapse into Depression and the American Great Depression stands are one of the poster children. But, there are plenty of other periods such as the Long Depression. The Wikipedia entry is quite revealing:
“The Long Depression was a worldwide price and economic recession, beginning in 1873 and running either through the spring of 1879, or 1896, depending on the metrics used.[1] It was the most severe in Europe and the United States, which had been experiencing strong economic growth fueled by the Second Industrial Revolution in the decade following the American Civil War. The episode was labeled the “Great Depression” at the time, and it held that designation until the Great Depression of the 1930s. Though a period of general deflation and a general contraction, it did not have the severe economic retrogression of the Great Depression
Which related to Iron Mountain how?
Suppose that the purpose of a Depression is NOT to inflate or deflate a currency underpinning an economy. What IF the purpose is a hell of a lot more sinister? That would include keeping people under control along with keeping people poor to control their rate of resource burn.
In which case – and there’s some evidence to support this line of thinking – the “Modern” and “well-managed” Depressions could be almost invisible in the short-term. The effect of the Slow-Motion Depression that I believe we’re in right now may only be seen when comparing disposable family resource on a per hours worked basis.
In the 1950’s, a vast majority of US households (with very few exceptions) involved couples raising 2.3 children and one wager-earner working outside the home. Today, everyone has to work. On a “loaves of bread per day” or percent of house payment per day basis, we have made backward progress since 1960 which was really a time of Peak Prosperity. The liberally supported Sexual Revolution destroyed marriage and that resulted in wholesale family and personal disasters going through the roof.
The two political parties are complicit, too. They’re all bought and paid-for by corporate interests represented by the “K-Street Mafia” which is why it seems like “nothing gets done.” It doesn’t – and that’s the plan. The social clamps are going on. If you have a mortgage or don’t have a well and a garden, congratulations – you’ve signed up for “total trust in The system.” You sure about that?
How about we note that gold is going up (Around $1,275 now) and if this was a deflationary depression ahead, it ought to be going down. Oil should be breaking towards $20 bucks, too. But, if it were REAL inflation, gold would be sailing over $2,000 and Oil would be bound for north of $200. No, the Fed is playing the economy like a fiddle.
Which gets me to the thought problem: Are we just be “slow boiled frogs” who are having our total savings drained out as a long-term financial blood-letting? In the end – when you behold things this way – we all end up renting our lives from the government which, in turn will exact whatever toll they feel like exacting.
The function of a Depression is the destruction of savings or its confiscation.
For now, it’s not clear to everyone, yet. And it’s not a “done deal” in America. But, as we discussed recently on the Peoplenomics side of the house, it ain’t a big leap from credit scores to the wrongheadedness of social credits – a cockamamie theory cooked up by an engineer who didn’t understand economics. Being philosphizers rather than actualizers, socialists wallow in this kind of swill. It becomes the basis for a digital aristocracy and we already see the formation of that on the web with the digilantes of correctness.
But that’s what we have for now: A carefully scripted move toward global governance of 7.7 billion slowly boiled frogs who will wake up too late, not realizing that a carefully applied ointment of deflation here but inflation there will poison us all– leaving us to all become “subjects of the State” over time. With the super-libs taking the House, and already the deification of the FDR over-reach in the works, we can see how useful collapsing personal net worth will be…perhaps never to be seen again.
A low-burn-out of democracy…driven by people’s inability to live below their means and save for their own futures.
Evidence in Headlines
This is the context of our view of the “day’s moving pieces” in headlines.
Dramatic stock market rally runs out of steam.
Liberal billionaire apologizes for funding ‘false flag’ effort to link Kremlin to Republican in Alabama Senate race. (What? No jail for anyone in all this? Oh…a liberal! Of course! What fools we were…not that Robert Mueller would do anything since his crew is mostly what? See how hopelessly screwed we are?)
President Trump Showed His Contradictory Foreign Policy Doctrine in Iraq. Call It ‘Hawkish Isolationism’.
And in the finance of cocaine, did you see where Venezuela cocoa growers fear new pest: the government?
OK, so much for today’s whine… off to find out if buddy Coy up the road ever got his lights back on from the big storm through here last night. 4″ of rain in the gauge in about 8-hours and almost no sleep due to the thundering that came with it…
Perchance to nap before moron the morrow?
Congrats on the 20 years. I think it was 2001 when I found your site and have looked forward to reading about the many different subjects you have explored. Having worked part-time as a newspaper photographer, I have been able to relate to a number of references to your days reporting. I know what a grind a daily newspaper publication can become and yet you have not passed that on to your readers. One of the things I miss is looking at the photographs on the AP and UPI printers. Things that never made it onto the paper but always so interesting, sometimes in a perverse way. I am north of 70 and hope you keep writing for at least as long as I can keep reading.
George, what do i, as a retiriee do to exist/survive in the depression? I am in the country with a well, septic, enough food and fuel for a long while. I live on a defined benefit pension, SS and a small vets disability check. My major sin is that I have a fixed rate mortgage of which I can easily make, no other debt. I have an amount of fiat paper that I would like to convert to gold but at 1270 an ounce I am having a hard time pulling the trigger on that. Not asking for investment advice, just your thoughts on how the depression will affect the boomers.
You might investigate Aquaponics. That’a a version of hydroponics with fish. You harvest the veggies and eventually some of the fish. It does require a source of power to power the pumps which run at a steady low rate. There are DC pumps that could be powered by a battery bank. See NEMO pumps on the web. Solar power would charge up the batteries during day time. The solar panels I have work even without direct sun light. Just remember everything has trade offs!
I did that.. It was a blast.. The problem I had was they became pets lol.. I had tilapia,red claw, crawdads, and freshwater prawns … be care full if you use duck weed lol lol it got away from me lol..now I gave the fish away.. The baby prawns the first batch I didn’t prepare and the tilapia just had shrimp dinner lol lol.. So I built a hatchery for the bottom of the tank to give them a way to hide.. The big one was huge I just didn’t have it in me to harvest them..
Check out the rain gutter grow system..sort of a hybrid system.. Larry is a fun guy to visit with on all his channels he has a fairly large following.. Started his system with pop bottles
Congrats on 20 years of service to this community, which your writing has helped become more aware. I have been a reader for most of that time, and it has been to my benefit. We share a system engineering outlook, where we know quite a bit about a diverse range of subjects, and use that knowledge to shape our ideas, writing, and responses to the world around us.
Over the years you have become a trusted friend, and I value our (now) daily relationship.
Damn Well Done, George!
Shucks, garsh, Mickey… But, serially, it’s a challenge to analyze the asylum in terms all the inmates and the staff can understand…
“but whatever is going on is a global phenomenon.”
As much as people hate to admit it and think they are special….. It’s a Wave….
drop a pebble in a still pond.. watch the waves.. we can think we are not affected by the puppeteers actions but everything they do to gain from another country or this one will affect every single living creature on the planet in some way or another. the other thing is that still gets a chuckle out of me is.. the guys at the top.. think they are exempt LOL what falls further.. a rock on a cliff or a pebble at the bottom..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j12J3PCai5A
speaking of jobs.. there is a storm approaching and my grandson asked me if it was suppose to stay all day.. ( he works this evening) I said I wasn’t sure but was told that it was suppose to be here for a couple of days..
He then said.. I work tonight.. I said well you better start now get in( he works medical) they will give you a room or let you sack out on the couch in the lounge.. take a change of clothes and uniforms.. your set.. He said.. I am not going to do that.. I will just call in..
NOOOPE.. you don’t know about the no excuse rule at a medical facility.. they don’t care if your kids are dying.. you have to be there .. whether or not there is a sunami a hurricane tornado or twenty feet of snow ice whatever.. you cannot miss or you are gone..if you are dying of the flu you better be there at report.. he said I won’t do that he said.. well it is your job and if you don’t care whether or not you work.. go for it.. ( he is about two months away from being an RN LOL and he hasn’t learned that yet..) you have to be administration before you get those benefits.. LOL LOL LOL LOL
about an hour later he left for work.. overnight work bag in hand.. LOL LOL..
these kids never learn..
a couple of years ago now a coworker of mine had a violent asthma attack went into the ER the doctor there told her it was so bad she had to be admitted.. she said no doc give me a shot or an inhaler I don’t care I have to be at work.. he said no that wasn’t going to happen where do you work I will call them and explain.. she said right here doc.. and if I miss its the same as saying I quit and I have children.. .. he called…. she went to work inhaler in hand
The life of a bottom feeder.. rules are way different for those on top.. my daughter was offered a job.. her sister in laws department.. her sister in law was in management.. and she started to tell me of all the perks.. the condo in Florida the trips offered etc..I said hunny that is only if you are in management its a lot different for those on the floor..
what I get a chuckle out of.. is many times the wings will have the floor workers the desk anchors.( yup their sole job is to sit and make sure that desk doesn’t roll away and do charting while others do the work.. Hmm.. or maybe its so that their license is the one that would be affected if a floor worker makes a mistake rather than the medical facility) STP stabilize and transport patient is my rule.. anyway my niece was being born.. I had been the only one of two working that took care of five wings one hundred people every day I would go in and they would say sorry we just don’t know why we aren’t getting anyone to apply.. so I was sitting there and I thought how in the world would anyone remember me.. I have been here years and with the thousands of employee’s and most of them in the office are just kids that was in diapers… since everyone I sent in was told they weren’t hiring..The smart azz in me said let me check it out.. I went in filled out the application and I am sorry we aren’t hiring at this time but we will keep your application on file.. LOL so that night.I get to work and the don comes up.. I am sorry it is just you but we just can’t find anyone wanting to do this kind of work.. I said speaking about that.. they hired someone the next morning.. LOL LOL…after I was gone I had built up as much vacation as I could bank then would give it away to people that were sick.) After I was gone I was still on the schedule for four years.. we called them ghost workers.. I still say a blow up doll and velcro would work wonders.. full staff night and day LOL one of the guys that inspects medical facilities is a good friend of mine.. seems they fix great meals.. here is the funny thing to.. went to Oklahoma.. visited the hospitals there just to see..I told everone in an accident flight for life me back home..
I forgot to say.. Congratulations on being here for us all these years.. I love your site.. ( obviously) keeping me thinking on
yeah I forgot to mention on the hospital and my being a smart azz.. you know.. I walk in now.. almost thirty years ago when that happened where I applied for my own job.. and they know who I am.. the workers in the office weren’t even born yet.. I have looked several times to see if they have a picture of my ugly mug behind the desk saying beware smart azz… the daughter was in they shifted everything around I wasn’t sure where the wing was that she would be on.(I won’t go into why she was in there I get irritable every time I think of it and interstate laws..grrrr…). seen an office worker and asked for directions.. he not only directed me.. he called me by name and showed me where the coffee pot was.. he must have been a whole twenty something years old..
Update..I thought the grandson heeded my words when I told him the medical industry has a no excuse rule for the floor workers…seems he went to a buddies house and called in storm..
Oops.. Well he knows it now..he is shocked and upset that they didn’t have any concern over his safety..and now concerned about how he will cover his expenses..
All I could say is oh well you’ll work it out.
“we have made backward progress since 1960 which was really a time of Peak Prosperity.”
And that’s when ‘greedy’ big UNIONS started to destroy our way of living for good, IMHO. Members earned 2-3 times the average wages, but it was never enough. ;-(
Nothing has changed in that respect!!
congrats to 20 years – been reading your blog just about the entire time (probably short 3 or 4 months)…saved our butts a few times throughout those years…..thanks and thanks for sharing your knowledge, life experiences and your time with your readers. Much much appreciated.
Congrats on your 20 year Urban Survival anniversary. As an old COBOL programmer, I knew Y2K was a threat and am grateful that we got through it well prepared. We also were well prepared for the end of the Mayan calendar and the various ups and downs of the financial cycles which, for better or for worse, have come to pass.
Alas, I fear that civil unrest due to false information and MSM agitators will be our next challenge.
So, my friend, here is to another 20. Well, not really, since I am hoping to see you retire while you still have time to enjoy life.
The markets are a sign that the there is a much more intelligent force out there…in the form of a corporate/government controlled AI, that is making it harder and harder for the average Joe to profit.
But, make no mistake about it….the 1% made billions/maybe trillions in aggregate, this past week. The PTB will always be one step ahead with superior technology to make sure that they will ALWAYS be the 1%…and to ensure that no one else can have the ability to crash their club. They have the formula. Pinpoint Shorting, timely buying and today shorting again…always ahead of the curve.
All the while, those that work for a living, seem to be always behind the curve…making enough to be happy…but not enough to have any semblance of power that could disrupt the chain they command.
Mark: You are correct. The Blue Bloods of America will never have any respect or , even worse, accept as equals, the Great American Unwashed (anyone but them). From the beginning of time it has been this way. But I am sure, being in business, you know how to play the game. We can accept our crumbs, which sometimes amount to a worthy figure, & say well done & move on to the next pile of crumbs. That is not being behind the curve. That is being a builder.
Look again Mark…they’re not so happy and want change…
The gap is growing exponentially.. The bigger the gap the easier it will be to get national support from the majority of the population from an evil leader…
Now ..think a moment… Who would the targets be for someone evil..those he already has control over or those that could make a change to that agenda.
Well said today George. Your reference to Volatility in Everything is so spot on. The saying “as above, so below” applies. I am experiencing unprecedented volatility on all levels like I’ve never seen in my own daily life – miserable levels of it. I believe in simplify, simplify, simplify – and I’ve been going at it with more than 100% effort for several years now. The level has been just unmanageable. Currently I just try to ride each day as it comes. I wonder if others are experiencing an uptick as well. Also note “global governance of 7.7 billion slowly boiled frogs” lines up with – I’m sorry to say – the end of days scenario predictions from the religious wing of things.
Another good word is “entropy.” Eventually all systems fall apart
Congrats to you & Elaine on your 20 years online. I’m right behind you at 17 years with my search engine marketing websites. A lot sure has changed in that timespan, eh?
George, think you’ve got the wrong culprit. The ongoing wealth accumulation at the top looks nothing like socialism.
Looking back since Eisenhower, it’s the Conservatives who have overwhelmingly watered down the money and increased the US national debt. Reagan nearly tripled the national debt. Bush II doubled it, and saddled us with ongoing revenue shortfalls. (Obama paid for his healthcare and was sequestered.) The net effect: More wealth accumulation at the top.
Conservatives just added 10% to the national debt for tax cuts for the wealthy and their corporate buybacks. While trying to offset it by letting kids go hungry and grandma sleep on the street. This doesn’t sound much like socialism to me. But it may spark a true socialist rebound (i.e., state ownership/confiscation of the means of production).
Conservatives, and their unbridled greed, are truly killing our Golden Goose. Best, Mike.
I can only think of, maybe,5 conservatives in office right now. I think you meant “idiots”.
Its not just those in office for its all those conservative think tanks that do the thinking for those in office,or one could call them the bag men as they dream up ever more ways for the 1% to line their pockets at the expense of the 99%,the 401k scam comes to mind as it was used to fuel the market and remove it from the 1% and place it right on the backs of the working class…
HAPPY 20th ANNIVERSARY!!!!
I’m proud to have been a subscriber for quite a few of those years!!!
Thanks and keep up the great work. It is appreciated even if it sometimes does not seem like it!!!
Happy Anniversary and many, many thanks for the hard work that you have shared with us. Many blessings to you and yours.
Melania Trump gets mocked for wearing Timberland boots while visiting the troops. More politics of a 12 year old being displayed by the news & Dem’s. Disheartening.
In a market like this, how many daytraders actually make money? It certainly would be profitable if you were proficient at daytrading, but you must have a tremendous headache at the end of the day. Sort of like being an air traffic controller.
“What IF the purpose is a hell of a lot more sinister? That would include keeping people under control along with keeping people poor to control their rate of resource burn.”
Oh my god George…..
Your thinking is exactly what mine is….
Trump lies about pay raise to the military:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/26/politics/trump-misleads-military-pay-raise-again/index.html
If Pinocchio’s nose gets any bigger……
Congratulations on reaching your 20, George. I read a lot of other websites but yours is the only one I subscribe to even though I have no exposure in the stock markets.
Congrats on the 20 Years George! I started watching your posts in Feb 99. Eventually becoming a Subscriber in 05 or 06. Your prose make life interesting to see another s life and know we are not alone in our thoughts. There are times like I too feel like a Frog being boiled :-).
I agree with your synopses about AI market manipulation, the source of which would be very interesting. The same programmers controlling social media????? (China?) (Dems in China’s back pocket?).
“A low-burn-out of democracy…driven by people’s inability to live below their means and save for their own futures.”
The sad reality is we are beyond that at this point in time..
The best I ever did was when I made just shy of two dollars an hour..
The death spiral started with deregulation and NAFTA. Sad but true..
Lets take the kids.. Two incomes.. Both professionals.. Income in the six digit range..
Two kids in daycare one in high school .. Three cars a mortgage daycare ..etc..
Rough budget..not sure exactly but when I look at something I instantly put a number to it..
Roughly 1250.00 mortgage
200.00 taxes
250.00 electric
1500.00 food
125.00 natural gas
130.00 water
Clothing allowance 150.00
Appliance replacement 100.00
Entertainment
Cable internet 240.00
Auto two car loans 600.00
Car insurance 300.00
Auto maint 50.00
Auto fuel 480.00 (variable)
Health insurance another couple grand I’m not sure what there’s is
Home insurance I pay 278.00
Daycare. They pay two grand a month…..
Then figure in all none counted expenditures ..gifts wanna date night out..maybe go for a burger..
Now lets figure you make more your expenses go up because the mental image is you should buy the bigger house the fancy car.. Spend more …
Now take that down from there your an older couple making two grand a month your rents a grand plus your in a home its ten grand.. With what is expected there’s very little chance of a young couple to save. They would have to go small.I have known people to live on sailboats to keep costs down maybe a tiny home or a mobile home (that’s how some of the smarter kids in the bay area are doing it) avoid the taxes move to an area where healthcare is cheaper and better overall like canada medications are cheaper..what was it I read one time ..they are only allowed to charge something like a 100,000 percent or something like that above the actual cost..
I had read an article about retirees moving to like Poland and sweeten and living like kings on their SS payments
Oh yeah..George…As a long time subscriber, congrats on your 20th!!! It’s been part of my daily ritual for a long time. There really is no better resource for mathematical investing or the sociology of investing than Peoplenomics or Urban Survival!
It might be worthwhile, doing a “Kondratiev” and taking your “heartbeat” spreadsheet and charting back to before AI intervention was possible… Say 1966 or so, so the data isn’t unnecessarily tainted by the Vietnam recession and the Hunt brothers’ manipulations. This should indicate whether the “heartbeat” is a “natural” periodic undulation like other long-waves, or is an artificial or induced, and recent phenomenon. I’m not really sure of what value, this knowledge might be, but IMO its “value” could be better-determined once the question of “natural” vs. “induced” is settled.
I would love to do that BUT I don’t have the data sets for it.
Yahoo has axed the historical daily info of the Dow and it takes daily market data to see the heartbeat because it is a derivative to moving averages. I sure which I could get all the daily data back forever.
OH, and the NASDAQ wasn’t around in 66 – so that is really the “backward bound” of the series…
Sorry old birds,just had to get this outta my system/head. Pink Floyd, the wall. Crank to 11!
We have been off line until just about 10:30 MST kinda strange and maybe a little scarry spooky etc. Thanks for your thoughts on the depression. Noted your friend Gay mentioned retirement and go have some fun. Some folks dont seem to realize our work is our fun. About 6 mo ago started slowing down on the work had been doing for 3 years. Something new and fun will come up soon. It always does and at 84 am really looking forward to it. Had to go over to the VA hospital today and sure saw lots of 60 and 70 yr olds looked like could would utilize a 9mm to get back to happier times. Poor guys taking up space and our govt is working hard on giving them more longivity.
Exactly so – and the topic of Peoplenomics this weekend…
Congrats also on the 20 years, George. Amazing how much your site, and the world has changed in that time. Keep it going as long as you like. It’s not work if you love doing it.
Perhaps I’m the only reader here who believes in natural consequences? I.e. having obsered the Dow since 1947 I cannot discern principles that did not apply then as they still do now. There maybe IA involved but behind it are still humans with the same fears and ambitions. I’m always amazed how simple it is, yet with too many variations. Best example are divers moving averages.
Bruno I certainly agree with your post. There really isnt much different in the markets except different shades of liipstick. I traded cattle and pork bellies for several years and even it was well known that the Chicago gangs were manipulating the markets they came out chart wise right on que. Probably the best way to play markets is to not listen to news. Is it possible that with so many news channels available and to many reporters working on making a living out of it that they are creating the volatility while trying to compete with the big tweeter?
Hi, George,
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Plus, congratulations on reaching the twenty year mark for your site. My husband and I had very bad colds for nearly two weeks just before Christmas, but we are much better now. I have not been that sick for many years.
We shoveled out our driveway to the road this afternoon; received over a foot of new snow, in addition to the five inches we received a few days ago. Snow drifts in the yard are nearly three feet. Good to have this snowfall. We also worked on our 2018 taxes.
Congratulations on the twenty years. Try another twenty then see if you want to make a career out of it.