Hitting home
DH and I have been following the economic ....how shall I say it? ..... mess in an academic sort of way. Tuesday (his birthday!) it all became more personal. The mine where he works as a heavy equipment mechanic shut down. Just like that. It's a palladium/platinum mine which sells its product to the folks who make catalytic converters for cars. DH has been longing to quit working there, so he is not unhappy. I, who keep the family books, am not so happy. I'm sure he'll find another job of some sort, but we will miss the big paycheques. He'd like to retire, but our nest egg has shrunk rather severely in recent weeks, especially the value of the stocks the company gave him as part of his RRSP pension plan. My heart aches for the younger workers with young families and mortgages. Two other mines in Ontario closed or suspended operations the same day, and I heard about another one in New Brunswick. They all plan to reopen when metal prices rise enough to make production profitable again. Right now they can't even break even. I think it's going to be awhile before prices go up that much. We've had a good living from mining in our lifetime; I guess now we pay the piper. :-)On a cheerier note we are celebrating 40 years of marriage this weekend with our kids, family and friends. I'm so looking forward to seeing people I haven't seen in awhile. DD's have some kind of a surprise planned - I'm dying of curiosity.
Another cheery thought occurred to me. Thanks to my fabric-buying addiction, I will never run out of fabric to make quilts!
Brenda in Nn Ontario, riding the roller coaster of life
posted by Brenda in Nn Ontario @ 11:26 AM
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