VACATION

THINK unions are a joke, a waste of time and money? Really? You have no idea what your working life would be if it wasn't for unions. Here is a list of rights and benefits we all have because of unions....

36 Reasons Why you Should Thank Our Unions

Did you know that labor unions made the following 36 things possible?

1. Weekends without work
2. All breaks at work, including your lunch breaks
3. Paid vacation
4. Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
5. Sick leave
6. Social Security
7. Minimum wage
8. Civil Rights Act/Title VII - prohibits employer discrimination
9. 8-hour work day
10. Overtime pay
11. Child labor laws
12. Occupational Safety & Health Act (OSHA)
13. 40-hour work week
14. Workers' compensation (workers' comp)
15. Unemployment insurance
16. Pensions
17. Workplace safety standards and regulations
18. Employer health care insurance
19. Collective bargaining rights for employees
20. Wrongful termination laws
21. Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA)
22. Whistleblower protection laws
23. Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) - prohibits employers from using a lie detector test on an employee
24. Veteran's Employment and Training Services (VETS)
25. Compensation increases and evaluations (i.e. raises)
26. Sexual harassment laws
27. Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)
28. Holiday pay
29. Employer dental, life, and vision insurance
30. Privacy rights
31. Pregnancy and parental leave
32. Military leave
33. The right to strike
34. Public education for children
35. Equal Pay Acts of 1963 & 2011 - requires employers pay men and women equally for the same amount of work
36. Laws ending sweatshops in the United States

HOW I'LL START MY VACATION TOMORROW MORNING......

LET'S DANCE!!!!!!

I go on vacation for 2 weeks starting tomorrow at 1500ET!!! Spending all but 2-3 days with family, so let's dance!!!!

POST VACATION 17SEP13

I was on vacation last week, drove home to Scandia, PA on Friday, 6SEP13 and came back to Herndon, VA on Saturday, 14SEP13. I really needed to get away, and Scandia, a small village in NW Pennsylvania, is the exact opposite of living in the metro D.C. area. My parent's house sits on 12 acres, on a dirt road, back in the woods. Quiet, serene, beautiful. No cell service, high speed internet is available if you have a computer (my parents don't). I go home to be with my Mom and Dad, to help them out around their place, and to bring some peace to my soul, to catch my breath. And I was able to do all that last week. We went to Erie, PA to see the tall ships in port for the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Lake Erie. I went to church with my parents and saw many old friends I really do love. We went to Benezette, PA to see some of Pennsylvania's elk herd (we saw 86 elk and heard lots of bull elk bugling) and visit a couple of wineries. And every afternoon we were home we sat on the deck and drank a bottle of wine and talked. We ate well every evening and one night we even had fried green tomatoes (northern style). I went to dinner with my friends Derek & Pam. The little rescue dog Mom and Dad got, his name is Smiley, bonded. And Dad and I got the railing on the deck replaced and my new soft top put on my Jeep. It was a really good week, and I really didn't want to come back. But I am very thankful for the week I had with family and friends back home, safe travels, and for the family, friends, my home and my job that I did have to come back to here in VA. 

BACK FROM VACATION AGAIN 25AUG12

BACK from vacation again, I went home to my parent's in Scandia, PA, which is still home for me though I have lived in Virginia since April 1986. Some places you live in, and others are home, and that is how Scandia is for me. I did a few things for Mom and Dad around the house, celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary with my sisters Sheila and Jennie and their husbands Richard and Ted and Jen's & Ted's daughter Katie (60 YEARS!!! THEY WERE MARRIED 16AUG52!!!), went to a wedding, spent time with family and friends, wandered in the woods and along the shores of the Kinzua reservoir, wandered out at night to look at the Milky Way and caught my breath from life here. It was really, really good to be away. While I thought of friends I have here I was really in no rush to come back, the week went by way too fast. It was beautiful while I was home, in the 70's (teens 20's C), up to 84 (26 C) on Thursday during the day and the 50's (10 to low teens C) at night and only rained the morning after I got there. I am really thankful for my life here, and really, really thankful that I have my Mom and Dad in Scandia and can still go home whenever I want.
On my way home I stopped at Kinzua Bridge to check out the Skywalk on the remains of the old railroad bridge that was destroyed by a really violent storm a few years back. If you like trains and history check out Kinzua Bridge Reopens to the Public 8AUG11 & Tracks Across The Sky 9JUL09 http://bucknacktssordidtawdryblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/kinzua-bridge-reopens-to-public-8aug11.html

By the by, I am so fortunate to have friends like Pam and Robert and Tim who come over and feed my birds and water my balcony garden while I am away. I really do love you guys!!!!

VACATION

I have not been on my computer a lot the past few weeks, I was gone at the end of MAI for 10 days and the back to Virginia and then was gone again this past weekend. Been keeping up with a lot of the news and politics, but have spent a lot more time outside enjoying my family, friends and gardening. Hope if you are reading this you will remember to take the time for your family, friends and enjoying being outdoors too!

Will your beach vacation make you sick this summer? from NRDC 8FEB12

THIS is disgusting, but we can do something about it. At the beach I always worry about sharks in the water, I don't want to have to worry about shit in the water too! Click the link to send your copy of the NRDC's letter to the EPA demanding stricter clean water / beach regulations, the deadline for comments on the EPA proposal is 21 FEB 12.

	Will your beach vacation make you sick this summer? A new EPA proposal would consider acceptable beach water pollution that would let 1 in 28 beachgoers get sick. Imagine if a restaurant served food that made 1 in 28 of its patrons sick. We'd close the place down -- and require it to be cleaned up before re-opening. The EPA's proposal is not progress. It is a public health failure. We must demand better. Millions of us will head to a U.S. beach this summer and get sick. Diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, rashes, eye infections and ear ailments -- we get these illnesses after swimming in water contaminated by sewage spills and polluted runoff. The Environmental Protection Agency had promised to update beach pollution regulations by October. But instead of making improvements, the agency took the lazy route and proposed virtually the same standards it issued in 1986. By the EPA's own account, those standards say it's just fine if 1 in 28 of us get sick when we go to the beach. Children are especially vulnerable, perhaps because they tend to submerge their heads more often and are more likely to swallow water when swimming. Our beautiful beaches are the top vacation destinations in the country. Coastal tourism, which generates substantial revenues for state and local governments, needs clean waterways to survive and thrive. Nothing ruins a day at the beach like diarrhea and vomiting. Stand up for your family's health! Tell the EPA to make America's beaches safer, especially for children. What to do Send a message, before the February 21st comment deadline, urging the EPA to protect our health and strengthen its proposal.

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