Allyson

Talking about taxing the rich made me think about Leftist math, which made me think of New Math and the troubles I had learning it. So this is for all of us who struggled with New Math. 😉

The big noise I hear from the Left is, trickle down economics don’t work. They cite a lot of stuff (Grok can give you a whole explanation, if you care to read it), mostly that cutting corporate tax rates doesn’t stimulate the economy because corporations then invest or spend the money on their executives, and that it “exacerbates inequality.” While I can agree with the idea that a good, effective fiscal policy should include incentives, fiscal sustainability, and broad opportunities rather than just trickle down, I don’t want to throw away the baby with the bathwater.

I look at the shenanigans going on in New York right now, and I can see that at least SOME trickle down works. It seems Mamdani was expecting the “rich folk” to stay and pay exorbitant taxes. When they left, their trickle stopped, and now Mamdani is upset. He ran on the idea of free childcare, free buses, and a bunch of other “free” stuff. The problem, of course, is that none of those things are free. They all require the work of other people, something socialists tend to forget about when they calculate how much to pay for things. Someone’s labor is worth dollars.

Now, please understand me… The person flipping your burgers is giving you labor, too, and that person is worth dollars. Right now, it appears that most people agree (and more importantly, the corporate overlords agree) that their worth is about $15 per hour. That appears, at least for now, to be sustainable for McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and the other burger conglomerates. This is (at least in my state, where the legal minimum wage is $7.25/hr) a decent wage for someone working in food service. Having worked at a McDonald’s in my youth, I can tell you that the training is excellent, the work is hard and exhausting, and the take home pay isn’t too bad. For a youth it’s excellent, and for a young adult it’s truly a living wage if you’re working full time.

One of the big issues I have with some capitalists is that they don’t appear to value the labor of those who are “below” them… the burger flippers, the guy who cleans the bed pans, the gal who greases the gears at the factory. Now, I’m not saying that low skill jobs should be paid the same as high skilled ones (whatever the skill may be). Making burgers is not nearly as complicated as making precision ball bearings (one of the local companies that hires young adults in my area of the world makes these, and provides training AND education to their workers, so that they can improve and better themselves while also doing a good job). Making precision ball bearings with a machine is not as complicated as making a plane engine. Making a plane engine isn’t even close to being as complex as making a rocket engine. And so on. There are tiers, and multiple factors do need to be taken into account… not the least of which is the idea of whether anyone would be anything but mildly inconvenienced by the disappearance of said job. If burgers stopped being made, people would eat at home, and probably gripe less and lose some weight. If precision ball bearings were to stop being made, planes would cease to fly in the sky, and many of our very important machines would stop working. And so on. Some jobs are worth more than others (which, I will also add, is not the same as saying the people in those jobs are worth more or less), simply due to their nature.

But I digress. We were talking about taxing the rich. Oh… no, taxing the ultra-rich. So here’s the thing: the rich (millionaires, for instance) are not the middle class they once were. Largely, they are not paying as much as they did. The ultra-rich (the billionaires, and our one trillionaire) are paying considerably more than their fair share of taxes in the world. Of course, that depends on what you consider fair. Some on the Left consider a 90% tax rate to be perfectly fair of a share. I do not.

In our country, the rich and the ultra-rich pay a lot. “High-income earners contribute the vast majority of U.S. federal income taxes. The top 10% of earners pay roughly 71% of all individual income taxes, while the top 1% alone accounts for approximately 38%. Overall, the top 50% of taxpayers contribute over 96% of the total income tax burden.” (NTUF) A few years ago, Elon Musk paid over $11 BILLION dollars in taxes, which is equal to 0.15% of our country’s budget. A single man. I think that’s considerably more than his fair share.

Now go look at the image above. By making the numbers look incomprehensible (and yeah, they ARE incomprehensible except for a few math geniuses), they make it scary. That makes it easier to get their ideology across. They present it in such a way that it sounds like a) the super rich are not working people, b) that taxing the super rich doesn’t affect other working people, c) that not taxing the super rich means you’re not investing in working people, and that d), all of this means our democracy will die. Because we didn’t tax the ultra-rich.

Fear is a great motivator. Part of the problem we’re seeing now is that, even when people on the Left start to figure out that they’re being duped, the fear kicks in. It’s incredibly motivating. I still get caught in some of the fear traps the Left tosses out, until I go investigate. The problem, of course, is that a single human being simply cannot investigate all of these things. Even doing a few is exhausting and draining.

In the same way Trump overwhelmed the Left’s social media machine in the first few months of his Presidency, by simply being a few steps ahead and tossing out media land mines as he moved, he was able to make certain they were always hours or days behind. By the time they caught onto something, he was already three memes ahead. Well, they’re doing that with fear. They’re chumming the waters of social media with fear bombs. Yes, I can look some up and dismiss them. But I just don’t have TIME to look them all up. And just enough of them have the potential to be real (or have portions of them that are based in reality) that you can’t just write them all off. So what’s a girl to do?

I rely on media that I trust, which is hard, because I just went through the whole “the entire media is lying to me” lesson. But I … trust but verify. When I can. And when I can’t, I move on.

So here’s the thing I keep reminding myself of. Our parents and grandparents and greats, they didn’t have access to the news we have. They lived very different lives, and in some ways, very much happier lives. The problems they had, they didn’t have to do with Iran or Iraq, or mass shootings, or kids eating Tide pods. The reason was, they didn’t KNOW about those things. They only knew what they read in the paper, and unlike the internet, the paper only has so much space. Only the most interesting and useful news goes into them. All the petty stuff? You might occasionally get a special edition on a Sunday that dealt with it, but not everyone read the Sunday paper for just that reason.

So I limit how much “news” I read. I can’t vet it all, so I only read what I can vet. I don’t stress out if I don’t know everything. I share interesting news at breakfast with the family, and they share their interesting stuff. Each of us likes different things, so we get a nice cross-section of the available news of the hour. It’s enough.

And when people ask why I’m not outraged over the fact that the ultra-rich aren’t being taxed until they decide to play Gatsby and stop working altogether? I tell them I don’t know those things, because I’m reenacting or sewing or working in my garden. M’kay, thanks.

President Trump is an incredible force for good, in my opinion. I’ve watched him troll the Left while he does amazing things for our country. He’s been shot at too many times to count, and yet still gets up there without being in a bullet-proof bubble (probably to the upset of his security team). He’s not afraid to tell it how it is, in plain language that anyone can understand. He’s blunt as a brick (which is good and bad in turns, but the end result is, imo, good).

Mister Trump is something different. Mister Trump puts himself and his brand ahead of the well-being of the country. He thinks of himself first, and the United States second. He gets bored or frustrated or angry at having to follow rules he doesn’t like, and attempts to skip the line using his prestige, name, and influence. He’s always been like this, and it was not my problem when he was a private citizen. But right now, he’s doing it while in office, and he’s muddying the waters. NOW it’s my problem. And yours.

I have stated, and will continue to state, that I support President Trump. I have largely liked his policies, supported the platform he ran on, and find him to be an effective President. But there are moments when he seems to stop being Pres. Trump, and goes back to being Mr. Trump… except he can’t do that while he’s in office. It doesn’t work. It’s not a regular job, where he can go home at night and take off the mask and just be Don the dad and husband. Being President is a 24/7 job, and you NEVER get to truly step away from it. And that’s no secret; everyone knows it, going into the job. So I don’t appreciate those moments when Mr. Trump outshines or pushes aside my President.

The most recent version of this is Freedom 250 versus America 250. Freedom 250 was created by Trump and friends in 2025, to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday. But America 250 was created in 2016 by a bipartisan group, to do the same thing. And now they’re clashing, very publicly. Technically, America 250 should be working with Trump and Freedom 250, but there are issues. A large part of those issues is that Trump touched it, and Orange Man Bad, so people want nothing to do with it. But part of it is that Trump has sort of sidled around the edge of America 250 (which was put in place before Trump’s first term, and so isn’t specifically a “fuck Trump” organization) and done things without coordinating with the group that’s supposed to be in charge.

Freedom 250 got a bunch of musicians to agree to play on the Mall in DC, who then backed out because Trump touched it. This has become a huge embarrassment for the country, in my opinion. There should have been contracts signed that precluded such things. And this is one reason why Trump’s backdoor handling of this has been less than perfect. If it had been done through the America 250 people, there would have been no option (nor an excuse, if we’re going to be honest) for people to back out of America’s birthday party.

The other side of this, is that many of us are planning a birthday party for our country while simultaneously fighting off folks who keep saying they’d rather be anywhere but here and that they hate America. It’s like having a bunch of those grumpy aunts who always show up to say bad shit at your mom’s birthday party. Who invited these folks, you want to ask. The problem is, they’re family (citizens), whether we like them or not, and so we can’t just kick them out. I don’t want Aunt Karen at my celebration, but I am going to have to put up with her and her whinging, because it’s what we do.

I need President Trump to keep doing what he’s doing. I need him to keep taking the heat and distracting the goons so that the government can get things done. It’s something he’s really good at. I need him to keep cleaning up cities, fixing national monuments, and dealing with the drug, alcohol, and mental health issues that are plaguing our cities. I need him to remember DOGE and get that cracking again. I don’t need to see reimbursement checks; I need to see him paying down our national debt. I need our men and women in uniform back home. I know he’s working on all these things and more, and I support what he’s done so far, and even how he’s done it.

But I also need Mister Trump to stop bouncing up and interfering. Every time Mr. Trump comes in, Pres. Trump has to leave, because they can’t co-exist. Until Pres. Trump is done with this job, Mr. Trump *must* take a back seat, and stay out of the way. Most of the checks and balances on our government are there for really good reasons, and if he busts them up, others will do so as well. I need him to stop giving the Dems ideas and ammo.

The fourth week of May is always a pleasant one for me. I abandon the modern world, pack up all my 18th century clothes, and head up to the Fort at No. 4 for a full week of immersion in pre-Revolutionary War British America. My first task upon arriving is always to start a fire, unless someone’s been kind enough to do so for me. Arriving on a Friday morning, as I did, I started my own fire as soon as I was able. The picture is from Friday evening, after the light failed and I was alone and finally finding a moment of peace.

That’s essentially why I like going up to the Fort. The peace just fills the place. Even when it’s busy, as it is during this time, the evenings are quiet. There’s no television, no internet (or very little), nor even any late night chores. Once the light is gone, you’re rather limited in what you can do. While I do have access to a single electric light for emergencies, I rarely use it (it’s over bright and harsh, and I have the fire, and some candles). I do read on my phone while I’m there, but I avoid the majority of social media, the news, etc. The whole idea is to envelop myself in the essence of the 18th century. It takes about 72 hours to purge myself of my modern habits, and then my 18th century self comes out of her shell.

During the time between Friday (May 22) and Wednesday (May 26), there’s a thing going on in our lower field called The Original Rendezvous. It attracts about 150 or so people, all depicting folks from the 1720s through the 1820s. They have contests for the most historically accurate set-up, cribbage tournaments, bragging contests, an amazing potluck, and so much more. I baked 18 loaves of bread on the Saturday afternoon, which was a ton of work but fairly amazing. I went and sold those loaves for $4 a loaf, and the Rendezvous folks came running to buy. Some remembered me from last year, and were ripping into their loaves the second they got them! Such an amazing feeling, feeding so many people and celebrating the trade that would have happened between travelers stopped at the Fort.

About half way through the event, I have to do laundry. This isn’t an option; I don’t have enough appropriate clothing to last a full seven days. I dress the part the entire week, even though the Fort is closed to the public on several of those days, because the Rendezvousers all stay in historically accurate clothes. So on Wednesday, I was out bright and early with soap, a bucket of hot water, and my dirty things. There was much hand scrubbing, washing, rinsing, wringing, and then hanging, but I managed to get enough things clean to make it to the end of my trip.

Of course, now that I’m home, there’s even more laundry to do. Not only am I washing all the things I wore, but also my bed things, my covers (for draping over historically inaccurate Rubbermaid tubs, for instance), and the modern clothing I’d had with me for my dinner out with a friend, and for sleeping in. Yes, in the 18th century, people slept in their shifts. No, I generally don’t, because 18th century people also dealt with a lot of bodily fluids, smells, and other stuff that my modern feelings can’t deal with. That and the idea of a spider getting into my kit while I’m asleep just skeeves me out. LOL! So I have modern sleeping things. I also use underwear, which they did not (at least nothing like we have today), and I’m thankful for that modern underthing which makes my life so much better.

My only other modernity that I always wear is my glasses. While they did have some glasses in period, I don’t have any at the moment (soon, hopefully), and so I just wear my modern ones. Not cutting one’s fingers off while cooking, and not slicing one’s foot off while using an axe are much more important to the Fort and myself than the historically accurate blind bumbling I’d do without my glasses. Still, I plan on getting some more accurate glasses made in the next year or so. While I won’t be purchasing from Townsend, they do have a good image of them here.

Chris also joined me at the fort, which was fun. He now has more accurate pants and a good hat, and I’m working on his vest and shirt. After that, it’ll be moccasins for his feet.  Yes, I’m standing on a high step and I’m still shorter than him in the photo. I’m short. He spent his time in the joinery, working on a bench for use at the Fort. We have some slabs with raw sides, leftovers from his work with the chainsaw sawmill, and those are being flattened and smoothed, and will get four legs put into them. Rough benches, indeed, but definitely historically accurate. He seems to be enjoying working with the hand tools, and it was fun watching him interact with the school kids who came through.

I had long talks with a variety of people while I was at the Fort, all enjoyable. I’ll be going up there to teach bread baking classes again, something I really enjoy doing at the Fort. I’ll also be attending the French and Indian War this coming weekend (June 6/7), if anyone’s local and wants to come find me. I’ll be with the Pequawket Alliance outside the palisade, being a citizen of New France that weekend. After that, it’ll be a while before I’m staying overnight there again. I have a lot of work to do with library presentations and ren faires through the rest of the summer. I’m truly hoping to get some writing time in for my new 18th century cookbook, because I haven’t been able to make the time yet this year. It’s been crazy busy!

The end of my week at the Fort was on Friday the 29th. I was sad to go, but mightily glad to get back to modern showers. I can live with no electricity for most things, and it doesn’t bother me at all. There’s just something about showers, though, that make everything else better. While the Fort does have an emergency shower behind the blacksmith forge, it’s cold water only, and quite… bracing. I did use it once, when the day got up to 86*F, and it was nice to be clean but I think the neighborhood was aware of my shenanigans because I squealed when that icy cold waterfall hit my tender flesh. LOL!

Being at the Fort let me shut down a lot of my inner squirrels. I was able to focus better, breathe deeper, and sleep well. My only issue was that the rope bed I use was badly in need of tightening. Chris and I did get it done on the Friday right before I went home, and we took in over a foot of slack in the ropes! The entire bed is much more solid, and I can’t wait  until I get the chance to sleep in it again.

Even loose, the rope bed with feather ticks (two!!) on top is ridiculously comfortable. I just got tired of swaying when getting in and out (the ropes hold the bed together, so it’s important to keep it tight), and the dip in the center. Now, it’s much more pretty to look at, without the swayback feel to it.

I’ve been home long enough to have recovered from the pack and unpack of the event. I’m missing the quiet of the Fort, but quite enjoying the television and social media. Well, some of it. I think what I miss most, though, is being able to step out of my front door and see the Milky Way, and all the stars and planets hanging above me. My home has too much ambient light to see much in the sky beyond the moon and brightest of the stars. But up at the Fort? You can see SO many stars. It’s gorgeous. I had a great view of not just the moon, but also Mars, Venus, and Jupiter bright in the sky. It was absolutely impressive.

I’ve always liked this song. I think the first time I ever heard it was on the Muppet Show (yeah, I know, I’m dating myself). More than just liking it, I feel like it says so much about today…

There’s a portion of the lyrics that say:

There’s battle lines being drawn
Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Are getting so much resistance from behind

It just resonates. I realize in ’66 it was probably the Left they were talking about, but if you really put your mind to it, the issues of ’66 on the Left are today’s Right leaning issues more often than not.

I’m tired of there being no way to communicate across the great divide. I’m tired of the resistance to facts. I’m tired of the lies. I’m tired of having to police Every Single Thing I read or hear about in a day. It’s just exhausting. I’m sure that’s what it’s supposed to be…

But here’s the thing: I’m not giving up. I might be quiet (because, as I remind myself frequently, I am NOT the idiot-whisperer), but I’m still here. I am not giving in to illustrating “when people are wrong on the internet” (for the most part), because it doesn’t actually fix anything. But I do speak up when it’s important, among my friends and family. I’m not where they are, a lot of the time… but I’m noticing more and more that people are beginning to be more open to talking.

This week at the Fort, I had a long talk with someone whose opinion I value highly. We were not on the same side… but we recognized that our end goal was the same. It led to interesting discussion, which both of us decided was worth looking into. Neither of us changed our opinion, per se, but we heard the other side and granted there was at least a grain of truth that warranted investigation. So it isn’t all bad, folks. It just feels like it is, sometimes.

A lot of people like to whinge on about how much money Trump as made while in office. I generally ignore those folks. I look at the career criminals politicians like the Clintons, Obamas, and even the newer ones like AOC and such, who have made boatloads of cash while in office, and I don’t care if Trump has some stuff going. What he isn’t doing is taking a salary from the American people. What he isn’t doing is backstreet trading. I can live with it.

And then I run across this gem (H.R. 1761, designed to get a Trump faced $250 bill released). I have one word for this: NO.

When we founded this country (you know, 250 years ago, the very thing we’re celebrating this year), our Founders decided that we should not at any time have living presidents on currency. They had a lot of reasons for that, but the biggest was to avoid the appearance of America being a monarchy. Washington refused several times to be on coins. A law forbidding the minting of coins with living persons on it was enacted in 1866 (just after the Civil War ended). In practice, we didn’t even see a coin with a dead president on it until 1909, when they minted the Lincoln cent (for his 100th birthday).

Has the law been broken? Well, yes and no. It hasn’t been broken, in that no one has minted a coin with a living person’s image on it without permission of Congress, so no law was broken. Congress has given permission a couple of times. The first time was Calvin Coolidge, who was president during the Sesquicentennial (Cited from: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ever-wonder-why-only-dead-presidents-people-are-on-u-s-coins.261976/) or 150th anniversary of our country’s founding. He didn’t take center stage, but shared the coin with George Washington, and was behind Washington in the actual imprint.

The other notable exception was that the treasury minted a JFK half dollar only a year after Kennedy’s death. But he was still dead.

I know Trump thinks the world of himself. He’s very self centered, while still being able to be a decent leader. I like that he has used his strengths to make our country better. While I don’t think that his face on legal tender will make the country fall apart, I do FIRMLY believe that our current laws should be left the hell alone. HR 1761 wants to abolish the rule stating only dead presidents can be on currency, while also putting Trump’s face on a $250 bill.

As I said on FaceBook when a friend brought it up, “I like Trump just fine, but I also like that we don’t put living presidents faces on money, even commemorative stuff. This is not a good thing imo. And the easiest way to tell that this is not a good thing is to ask myself, would I want a Democratic president to do this? The answer is no. I don’t want to have the face of a living Democratic president on money that might pass through my hands. Now I know we can say that it’s unlikely that I will ever hold $250 bill in my hand, but it is what it is. This is not a precedent or a law that I would like to break. It’s a bad idea.”

Look, there are a lot of things we could be doing. I, for one, would like to know what DOGE is doing right now. I’d like to get our men and women out of Iraq. I’d like to see us move to a peacetime setting at home (as much as is possible). Let’s focus on fixing the education system. Work on the economy. Release the Epstein Files. There’s SO MUCH he and the government could be doing.

Instead, now he’s bugging Congress to turn over long-standing stuff that has good reason to be there. Is this really the moment we want to talk about putting living faces on currency? Why? I have to ask: what is it being used to distract from? Argh.

If we want to truly commemorate our country’s 250th birthday, fine. Let’s issue a 250th coin or bill, sure. But why not use names that were a PART OF that amazing day? People who’ve never made it onto currency before? Betsy Ross. Nathaniel Greene. James Forten. James Lafayette. It’s not like there aren’t a TON of people who were integral to the founding and formation of this country, who could grace a coin or bill. Sigh… I do not like this hill, and I am not willing to die on it. But I’m also ridiculously tired of reporting people who are saying that since only dead people are on money, they should off Trump. Because frankly, that’s the next step in this. And I DO NOT LIKE IT.

I love songs by strong women. This one really hit me. I love the tune, the slightly odd scansion of it, and her voice just purrs. I hope you enjoy as much as I do.

Tomorrow morning (Friday, May 22nd), I’m leaving for the Fort at No. 4. I’ll be doing cooking and baking demos, first for school children on Friday and then for patrons on Saturday and Sunday. It’s also the week of the big Original Rendezvous, which you can tour if you visit the fort over the weekend. The Rendezvous covers the time from about 1740 to 1840 (roughly). There are mountain men, F&I folks, RevWar folks, and a lot of others. It’s a lot of fun, and highly educational. I encourage anyone and everyone to come visit me and the Rendezvous people!

I’ll be doing my first attempt at large batch baking this year. That means putting between 12 and 20 loaves of bread into the big bake oven, at least a few times during the week I’ll be there. No more “make 2 loaves at a time” stuff; it’s time to learn how to make a lot of loaves, as they would have back then. I’ll also be doing cooking for myself and my helpers, and making more notes for my 18th century cookbook.

Unfortunately, all that means I won’t be posting here. I do have some small access to internet there, but it’s sketchy and I generally don’t use it. This is my time to DISconnect from the world, and so I’ll be going dark here for the time I’m at the fort. I promise I’ll come back with tales of food cooked, bread baked, and new skills learned!

I worked at NHRF for two weekends, and they were so different from one another it’s hard to even describe.

Our first weekend, Saturday was raw. The high for the day was 56*F, and let me tell you, it was raining buckets. So it was cold, wet, and miserable. It’s not often I call uncle, but at the end of the day on Saturday, I begged my sweetie to take me home. We drove back an hour and a half so we could shower, warm up, have a hot drink, and sleep in a warm bed rather than our cots. Luckily our canvas tent is extremely well made. No leaks, not even a minor one. Could we have stayed? Sure… but I wouldn’t have been in a great place to work on Sunday.

Saturday, the Blue Haired Fairy worked for me. Sunday was supposed to be a repeat. But after all the rain and misery, both BHF and girlfriend were miserable, and coming down with something. They left, and I ran the booth, while also trying to do garbage runs and fetch water at faire. Not a great combo (there’s a reason BHF does it at this fair). I managed, but barely, and I was grumpy a lot of it. I tried not to let it show to patrons and fellow vendors tho, and definitely not to my volunteers.

I was down volunteers, too. I should have had 8 for the first weekend, and had 6. That’s not an undoable number, though. I remember the days when it was just me and one other person. I did that for 2 years… but the fair was also much smaller as well. Frankly, I should have a staff of 12, so I can have shifts. As it is, these amazing folks worked from about 8am until 6pm, basically non-stop. And I did mention, they’re volunteers. Because NHRF is a charity, all our scut work teams run on volunteers. There are very few paid positions, and those few are only paid gas and essentials. We give our money to the food bank and meals on wheels (which in our area does a lot of work with veterans and cancer patients). So these guys did this heavy, taxing work, for hours, in the cold and wet… because I say nice things and gave them plastic volunteer cups and 3D printed cauldrons (thanks Chris!). They’re amazing.

Second weekend, it was in the 80s both days. People who didn’t come in the rain ended up coming Saturday. We usually get about 3800 to 4000 people a day at NHRF, with a rain day being considered good at 1800 (which we met this year on the rain days). On Saturday, we had 5600 people walk through our gates. Well, 5600 paying customers (we don’t count those who have free passes). I cannot even begin to tell you how busy it was. It was insane.

So my group is the General Team. We are responsible for making sure there are garbage cans with bags at regular intervals, that those trash bins don’t overflow and are taken to our dumpster as they fill up… and getting big bottles of water that we have at the various stages and performing areas, for those who need it. It might be a bit warm, but it’s wet and it’ll keep you from getting dehydrated, and it’s free. We do several other things as well, but those are the two big ones.

On Saturday at about 12:30pm, our fair ran out of garbage bags. I found out at 12:40pm. I contacted “our guy” who made an emergency trip to get more, but it took time. At 1pm, while our guy was still out and about trying to find the right size bags, we discovered two more things. First, we were out of water (and that means water for our “green room” that provides food, water, and help to performers and vendors and volunteers), and second, the health inspector showed up unannounced. As the trash barrels overflowed and people just started dumping trash everywhere, the inspector was talking to my immediate boss, who was trying to distract the inspector long enough for the team to be back in production.

I split my team of 5. We three ladies did trash, and the two guys did water bottle delivery. We smashed it, and got everything done, and all the gross trash picked up. By end of day, all was in good stead, and we retired to a nice meal with friends at a restaurant. But the day… oy vey. At one point, I was dealing with a very large bag of trash with no wagon or wheelbarrow to help, so I had to drag it. I was not strong enough to lift it. But the bag broke, and I had a snail trail of icky juicy garbage to clean up. Friends showed up at that moment, aghast, and I just laughed. This is what I do for NHRF. It’s honest work, and it helps my community, and as gross as it was, it’s worth it.

We beat all our attendance records this year. Our little fair, in its 21st year, has grown in size several times since I joined it, and had grown long before I arrived. We’ve been well supported by the community, too. They know their “fun” dollars go right back to their neighbors in need, and that we have an incredibly small overhead because we all watch out for one another.

Working for NHRF has taught me a lot of things. It’s taught me that there are some people who you just have to shake your head and walk away from. It’s taught me that I have inner strengths I never dreamed I’d have. I’ve learned how to be an effective leader, which still blows my mind. I have a huge group of people who do dirty, filthy things, deal with port-a-potty hazmat situations, stinky garbage, irate patrons… all because I thank them, feed them at times, and give them trinkets. They come back to work on MY team, year after year. It makes me proud… and humble.

I often quote some anonymous person who said, “There are no bad employees, only bad managers.” While that’s not always entirely true, I can say with authority that good managers (or bosses of any kind) can make you stay and WANT to stay even when the job itself sucks donkey ass. Working on my team is like that. We deal with all the crap no one else wants to, and we do it efficiently and quickly. Most of the time, no one even notices us doing our jobs, which means we’re doing it right. If my team fails, that’s on ME. I strive to learn things every year. And I hear from my team members every year, over and over, “We love working for Allyson. She’s amazing!” I suffer from enough impostor syndrome that I struggle not to negate their statements, but I keep my mouth shut. Not today, Satan! This year, one of my hardest workers had a new job he started only 3 weeks ago. He told them coming in, “I work for NHRF as a volunteer, so I cannot work these days.” Luckily, it’s a local business, and they know how much we do for the locals. He had to work one of the days (farm with an emergency trumps everything) but was there the other three. And he worked his ass off, laughing the whole time.

Did I mention we do all this while dressed up as Vikings, medieval ladies, and in one notable case this year, a lady gnome with a tall red conical hat and a beard? LOL… My team interact with patrons as we go about our work, and people recognize us as staples at the fair. There are a ridiculous amount of photos of “people hauling garbage” because we do it in character and with good attitude.

My fair ended with a quiet Sunday evening. I had Chris pick me up Monday after most people were already off site, so we didn’t have to muck about with backing the trailer up. I slept like a log after sitting around a quiet last fire with a couple of friends still on site. We talked politics. One is Libertarian (big L), and one is “middle, independent” but not suffering from TDS. It was interesting talking. Big L was concerned about the ongoing police action (as am I), supportive of infrastructure fixes (East Wing, Reflecting Pool, etc), and mixed over various health policies. Middle independent was all over the board, but not stupid about anything, and listened when I explained a couple of things. I gave her some stuff to go look up, and she did just that when she went back to her car for the night. It was… nice. Three different political views, all talking honestly, giving facts and opinions (clearly stated), and receipts as necessary. I wish all my political discussions were like that, because while we didn’t agree on everything (even vehemently disagreed on a couple of things), there was no rancor, no drama. Just discussion, and an exchange of information for future thought. As it should be.

On Friday, I go to the Fort for a little over a week. I’m looking forward to that, though I’m more looking forward to a few nights in my own bed, stretched out and not worried about tipping my cot over or freezing because I got the zipper stuck on my sleeping bag. LOL… Oh, and btw, the featured image is one I took of our faire on the first Friday evening, before all the rain started. Not everyone is set up yet, but you can see the line of canvas tents across the top of the lake. One of those is mine. My “home away from home.”