Integrity

 Integrity
1: honesty, probity, rectitude, honor, good character, principle(s), ethics, morals, righteousness, morality, virtue, decency, fairness, scrupulousness, sincerity, truthfulness, trustworthiness.
ANTONYMS dishonesty.

You are nothing if not your word. If you cannot be honest in your business dealings, your life dealings then I need to rethink our association.

Harsh words? Maybe. Maybe not.

We’ve worked hard to get where we are. Long hours in all kinds of weather (reminder: bread and butter is construction) in good health and bad. We’ve sacrificed, scrimped, saved, prayed deposits would clear before checks did, and made the conscious decision to remain small when it would have been easy to spend the money and go big. We’ve been self employed for over 30 yrs, we’ve had good years, we’ve had lean years. But in all years we’ve kept our integrity. Do what you say you’re going to do and do not do what you say you won’t. Just be honest and fair.

We’ve worked hard to build this home of ours, we expect people to treat it and the surrounding land with respect and integrity when working around it. Just as we would around theirs. This last few days for example, Entergy (our electric company) has a tree service out trimming the lines. We had a tornado a week or so back and an ice storm a couple months back that caused a couple outages in the area. I told the tree service I understood the need to keep the lines clean, our trees were not an issue but I could see a couple limbs that might become one. I gave permission to trim those branches with the strict admonition not to butcher my trees. 

At first, they were doing as asked, I glanced out the windows every so often and all was good. Right about the time I was convinced they were going to do as promised they started work on a tree right next to my house. So I watched some, then it happened. Instead of selectively pruning back the branches as I had asked and they had promised, they start cutting all the branches within a vertical plane, removing 30-40% of the trees canopy in a matter of minutes just butchering my tree. I could not get out there fast enough to stop it.

I run out there screaming at the top of my lungs - ever try to be heard over a chain saw AND a bucket trucks diesel engine? (My throat still hurts) I’m screaming at him to stop, stomping towards him, I swear I must have looked like a banshee because he stopped and I’m cursing (not my best moment) at the top of my lungs for him to get off my property (that’s putting it really really nicely) I had called the husband on the way out the door, he stopped at the bottom of the driveway told the foreman I was livid and that wasn’t good, they both come up the hill and everything, and I mean everything, cutting and clean up comes to a complete stop.

Can’t glue the branches back. Facepalm. Just don’t lie to me, do what you say you’re going to do. He promised he wouldn’t, and he did it anyway. No integrity.

Now before folks start with they have an easement and they can……. no, they do not. There is no recorded easement for this line. It was placed illegally without consent through the middle of the property. When I realized (I had called the previous owner to find out who to talk to about maintenance- she didn’t know they had even run lines) neither they or the city had an easement, I tried to work with them. Entergy refused to trade an easement for a hook up (they charged me well, wouldn’t even allow us to dig our own trenches and charged us for that too) and then refused to move their line to the property line where it should have been placed, poles already existed, and no one would have had issue with trimming as it was already cleared of all trees. The city provided free hookup to my house, a pump, and replaced the waterline so it was at a proper depth (it was exposed along several spots in my driveway) in exchange for their easement. I am not an unreasonable person, you just can’t walk onto someones property and say I think I’ll just take this slice right here and then pretend you negotiated an easement. It doesn’t even fall under grandfathered as the line isn’t that old. They just took and took some more and continue to take. 

I do have a written agreement with Entergy for a different line that no chemicals will be used on any of my property. Last year they sprayed and killed all my roses, because the little rose bushes along my driveway were an obvious threat to their overhead lines. But the briar, poison oak and sumac that grow much higher are not. There will be lawyers involved before it’s all said and done, of this I’m quite sure. Not that it will do any good, no integrity with these people at all. None.

It’s really sad when the businesses that are supposed to be serving you do nothing but trample you. I think it’s time for solar and/or wind, we have plenty of both up here, for free. Then I just need a really big wall……………. ok maybe the wall’s a bit much. sigh

See ya next time!

I do hope your week started off sweeter than mine.

Dana

Bead Soup Inspiration

I have to admit I'm a little weirded out right now. We live on a nice little hill with plenty of acreage all around, so I never felt the need to close up all my windows with curtains. With all this gorgeous natural light and beautiful views why would you? But we seem to have a hunter who thinks he has the right to go wherever he pleases and turkey season starts in 11 days.  Right out side my bedroom window was a pink flag and a small group of saplings with purple paint (for those of you who don't hunt - purple means it's a no hunt area). We didn't flag or paint. We have painted the property lines before but not in awhile and never in the middle of the property or in line with my windows. So great, someone has been hiking around on my hill marking out my house. While it is nice my house is marked no hunt, ALL of my property is NO HUNTING and the thought of someone lurking outside of my bedroom is definitely unsettling. It also explains why the dogs have been barking like crazy lately - thought it was payback from kicking them back outside now that its spring and warm again and there are lots of scary bunnies and deer out there. German Shepherds though, should not be cooped up in the house, no matter how big the house is, they need room to run and bark at scary bunnies. Curtains and window films now on the immediate to do list and it does not make me happy.

BUT it's Tuesday and I need a blog post, sooooo How about I show off some of my favorites from my inspiration board on Pinterest?!

                                                   

 I believe in proper attribution and credit so please do click through to my Pinterest board if you would like to know more about any of these wonderful pics.

and I will get back to the grindstone - lots of pieces made already but I'm still not quite done yet!

Thanks so much for stoppin by!
We'll see you next time!

Entitlement :Designs DriveWays and Attitudes

I've finally figured it out! The answer to all our woes, all our problems stem from entitlement. Well ok maybe not, but it does fit in with todays blog post.

I added a couple of our area news stations to my FB, it seems to be the fastest way to get severe weather info. They update their status's with the relevant info faster than they get it aired on tv. The problem is they also offer headline stories before fleshing out the details. The other day one of the stations offered up the story of a land owner having shot a cell tower worker - less than a paragraph of info, no facts to speak of. The people jumped on it ready to string this guy up without a single fact as to what happened. It was their right to see this guy punished so it doesn't breed more of the same behavior. He was on his own property, didn't know they were there, and shot one. These were the only facts provided and yet it was unforgivable he acted in this way. I don't know what happened that lead up to the shooting, maybe he was wrong, maybe he was right but when did it become wrong to protect yourself on your own property?

One of my biggest gripes is GPS and their constantly sending people up my driveway. For some unknown reason the fact GPS sent them seems to give them a sense of entitlement. It sends the cell tower people up my driveway just about every other month. They have caused more damage to my driveway driving as if they were Mario Andretti, rutting up freshly graded land, run over barrels, cut my fences, made my driveway inaccessible to our own vehicles and seem to generally believe because they need to be at that cell tower on the neighbor's property it's ok to act as if they own mine. Once you top the hill and find a fence, the driveway turns to reveal my house. It's pretty obvious at that moment GPS lied. There's a very generous turnaround right there, do people use it? Noooo they continue to drive around my house. Cell tower people, termite services, lawn services and cable people, even folks looking for cemeteries - we actually had a cable tv installer, who when told to get out of our back yard, told my hubs he had a bad attitude! We don't have cable nor do they have any of their cables crossing our property, so he had no standing to be there. What would he have done if we were in his backyard uninvited and unannounced? Offered lemonade? I think not! I think he'd have had the gun out and we'd have another story like the above. GPS does not entitle you to drive into my backyard, run over my cat, look in my windows or be on my property that is clearly marked no trespassing. (Yes all the above has happened, I no longer have a gate because it's been driven through while it was closed so many times. And yes, I have contacted Navteq, the mapping provider, they refuse to correct their info, even though their satellite image clearly shows my driveway ends at my house.)

So what does GPS gone wrong and shot cell tower people have to do with jewelry designs? Well it's the whole entitlement issue. I've been making jewelry for a lot of years. I bought my first set of pliers at 16. I learned by imitating or making my own versions of the pieces I liked and crafting the jewelry I couldn't find otherwise. I, like you, have grown up with the saying "Imitation is the Sincerest form of Flattery" Knowing this, when friends asked if they could borrow an idea or hearing I had inspired someone, was a real ego boost. Something we all need, but when you start finding your designs in magazines and around the web, written up as tutorials with your "friends" names on them, it crosses a line. Copy Right has now entered the picture and my "friend" now owns the copy right to my design - meaning if I use my own design and call it mine, I could get in trouble! We're no longer talking flattery here. This sense of entitlement, I like it, I want it, it's mine, and you can't stop me is wrong. It's stealing for a profit - with no intent to return it - Grand Larceny. Look it up, that's the definition. Oh but it's an idea, not tangible. That's why they created copy right. Something we artists earn the moment we create. When you steal the design, call it your own, and put your own copy right on it you've not only stolen the design you're stealing my right to choose what to do with it. What if it was a One Of A Kind gift? Suddenly I have the only one - turns into being sold across the country by countless burgeoning jewelers. That's not cool! What if I was in the process of writing the tutorial myself? Now you've stolen my income source. What does that say about you? That you treat your friends and acquaintances this way.

Some of you remember the anguish I felt when I first discovered that design in the magazine. That kicked in the teeth and punched in the stomach, reeling in disbelief that a friend would do this to me. No one ever talks about this side of it, they only talk of the legalities, because those who feel entitled don't care about the hurt they cause, only whether they can get away with it legally. You may be asking why bring it up now? Well, it took this long to find the words to express myself without fits of anger or tears of pain. It also seems I have more "entitled friends", and more designs floating around magazines and the web, where will it stop if I don't say something? I don't feel the need to out them at this point, they know who they are, and I know.

I've decided, it might be time to start submitting my designs myself. Since they seem to be getting submitted anyway, they might as well come with my name on them :) Now.........what to submit?

Til next time!
Dana