Cebu City, Philippines – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
January 26, 2012 | 
Author A tourist visiting Cebu City for the first time may well be turned off by some of the city sites. The city has several world class resorts, hotels, beaches and dive sites. It also has some areas of the world’s most devastating poverty. Cebu City is the capital city of the Cebu Province and it is the second largest city in the Philippines following Manila. I always feel at home in the city and lived in the city before building my home in the rural Cebu Province of Camotes Islands. Cebu City is a mix of the old and new, rich and poor, good and bad and pretty and ugly. There is also the mix of clean and really dirty or filthy. The rule for anyone going to Cebu for the first time is to not make a snap judgment.
My first trip to Cebu City was in February 2004. I went to the Philippines to meet a girl (Judith) now my wife. I flew into the Cebu-Mactan Airport and was met by Judith and one of here sisters. My flight started in Florida and the last leg of the flight was from Hong Kong. The Cebu International airport is just a little outdated, but very functional. Once outside of the airport doors I saw waves of people waiting to meet people coming off of the flight from Hong Kong. The airport was not all that busy when I arrived and I think my plane was the only arriving flight at the time. As people from my flight walk outside of the airport door they were bombarded with shuttle, taxi and V-hire greeters, all trying to get a fare. I met Judith just outside the airport doors. She, her sister and I all jumped into an old Kia Taxi and we were off to my hotel.
The taxi was old and not very well maintained. The Air conditioner didn’t work and the window wouldn’t go down. Of course that didn’t matter as I couldn’t close the door because the door latch was broken. So, I got lots of air. The hotel was about a 30 minute drive from the airport. As we traveled the city streets I saw crowded sidewalks made even more crowded by the many sidewalk vendors and street vendors. Some of the roads we traveled were moderately maintained while others were in very poor condition. The roads were crowded with many types of cars, but mostly Kia’s and Hyundais. There were also a lot of Jeepneys, a Philippine traditional method of travel. A jeepney looks like a stretched army jeep with a hardtop and a large cargo area used for two benches for passenger seating. Jeepneys are normally painted with several different colors and lots of chrome. Many of the jeepneys are poorly maintained and most have bald tires and the braking systems may be questionable. Also, there were lots of small motorcycles.
After traveling just a few minutes I decided that the most dangerous vehicle in Cebu was the Jeepney, the Taxi and finally the motorcycle. The jeepney drivers tend to rule the road and stop on either side of the road to pick up or drop off passengers. I saw many jeepneys cut both lanes of traffic off just to drop off people and then saw others swerve quickly to the side of the road cutting off traffic so the driver could jump out of the jeepney to urinate along the side of the road. Taxis are no better, but pose a slightly smaller threat because the vehicles are smaller than a jeepney Motorcycles seem to be a danger only to the motorcycle driver and passengers and anyone walking along side the road or on the sidewalk. Motorcycles make their own traffic lanes on whatever little shoulder the road may have to offer or sometimes drive on the painted divider line as a narrow roadway to make an extra traffic lane for themselves. At other times I saw motorcycles throttle down sidewalks weaving around pedestrians. Yet, the pedestrians seemed little concerned of the carelessness and just continued on their way.
As we continued on our way to the hotel we drove through many different areas of the city. Some areas were very old and the buildings looked as though they were ready for demolition years ago. Many buildings and store fronts are concrete with plywood or corrugated steel sheets added to broken windows and steel bars cover the window or plywood. I can’t imagine what would be worth the cost of the steel bars as the buildings were so poor. I was sure the contents within were no better. I noticed several small store fronts with one big open widow covered with chicken wire. These little stores are about the size of a small closet and there are dozen of these little stores on every street. They are called sari-sari stores and sell just a very few items such as canned fish, rice, snacks, cigarettes and so on. Most of these little stores are attached to the front of private houses and are crudely constructed of unpainted plywood and tin roofs. Most of the Sari-sari stores block the sidewalk, forcing people to walk on the road to get around the protruding plywood box. Other Sari-sari stores have a small table or tables along the narrow sidewalks for their rum buying customers and a karaoke machine assist in blocking the sidewalks.
In many of the old areas the sidewalks are filled with vendor’s shacks, tents or some other type of hurried shelter to sell goods. The sidewalks belong to the vendors and the pedestrian is left to find his own way around the ugly obstructions. These small vendor shacks on the sidewalks block the store buildings behind and I still wonder why the store owners allow the vendors to block their stores. The old neighborhood streets and sidewalks in most areas are filthy. Trash is all over the streets, chickens are tied to utility poles or street signs as well as dogs. Many of the old homes along the city’s commercial streets may or may not have running water and a sewer system. Many people use the streets and sidewalks as their bathroom and even bath on the sidewalks. The infrastructure of the old neighborhoods is almost non-existent. There is poor drainage, poor sewer systems, and electric lines hang low to the ground with hundreds of wires attached carelessly to a single wimpy pole. I often wonder how trucks make it under these wires without hitting the wire. In many cases the bigger trucks do indeed hit the wires and knock out power to large section of the city.
The one thing that stood out for me as we past by all these areas in the taxi was the people all seemed happy. Despite, what I saw as great poverty and terrible living conditions, these people, or least many people were happy. Although, most of the people I saw were rushing down the sidewalks going about their daily routine. I thought these people are doing the same thing as other people do in any major city around the world. Yet, my first visit in Cebu City opened my eyes to the fact that at the very least, the city was poverty stricken or had a large population that lived in poverty.
After about 30 minutes riding in the taxi we came into a much nicer area of the city and there like an oasis in the middle of all the poverty was this beautiful Hotel and a large modern shopping mall next to it, as well as several large modern well maintain high rise buildings. The scene was a stark difference to the old areas of the city. This area could be found in any modern US city and looked very much like a commercial area of a US city. The area is called the Ayala Business Park and the Ayala Mall. This is modern Cebu City and it is everything you would find in any modern city.
Once at the Hotel, the Marriott, I checked into a very nice room and we all went to the dinning room for a pleasant lunch. Soon after that it was just Judith and I as her sister went home. Judith then took me across the park to the Ayala Mall, just a five minute walk and once inside the mall I was amazed. The stores were the same as in the US, Ace Hardware, Levi, MacDonald’s and so on. Plus, several Philippine Department stores and many different types of restaurants and coffee shops. All the store clerks and sale people spoke English and most all the Filipinos walking through the stores were speaking English. Others used a mix of English and their native Cebuano. All the store signs are written in English and the restaurant menus are written in English. In many ways I felt as if I just traveled 20 plus hours from Florida to be in a US city.
Although there were many other foreigners in the mall many Filipinos walking by asked where I was from and in general everyone was very friendly to me. While at the mall I bought a few souvenir type things to take home and Judith and I just did a lot of window shopping. I was happy to see the prices of most things in the stores were very cheap compared to the US. At that time one US dollar bought 56.00 pesos. Today it’s one dollar to about 44.00 Pesos. Still a good deal, but today I’m careful in my spending. By the middle of the afternoon I was ready for some sleep after my long flight to Cebu. Judith went home and I retired to my hotel room.
The next morning Judith was at the hotel bright and early and we had breakfast at the hotel and then off to see the city and some of the beach resorts. Cebu has wonderful and beautiful resorts and all very affordable. The resorts are all well maintained and modern. The biggest population of customers at the resorts are foreigners and the staff Filipino. I quickly change my opinion of the city from a poverty stricken third world to a modern commercial and tourist city with a few old areas that needed a lot of help.
During my trip to Cebu we went into the old area of Colon. Colon is the oldest street in the country and has several landmarks. However, Colon is a dirty area of very old and poorly maintained buildings. Prostitution is a major problem in the Colon area as is street crime. There are some wonderful markets and great bargains to be found in Colon, but not an area for the new tourist to wander alone. Hotels can be had for a really cheap price in Colon. Some just $20.00 a night, but these hotels cater to those picking up street girls and both the girls and the rooms are really dirty. Last year Judith and I stayed at two different Colon Hotels. We went into the city for our monthly shopping trip from Camotes Islands. We decided to try the hotels as they are cheap and close to many of the outside markets. I would never stay at either of these hotels again. The best words to describe them is old, filthy, rat infested and full of prostitutes. Both of these hotels seem to cater to single foreign men and any girls the men may find at the Colon bars or on the streets. The area has several little Bikini type bars with Bar Girls (Prostitutes) also called GRO’s. Unless you are looking for a prostitute there is little reason to go to Colon after dark and even then one needs to be very careful. This is not intended to say that all of Colon is bad. There are some nice stores and restaurants in Colon. I enjoy shopping in the Colon area, but one needs to use caution in Colon.
During my first visit I saw most all the areas of Cebu City and felt safe at all times. Of course we didn’t go into the old parts of the city after dark. Rather we were at the resorts or around Ayala Park and these are all very safe and enjoyable areas.I would recommend Cebu City to anyone that wants to go to a great resort and spend time on a beautiful beach, go diving, take a boat tour of the outer islands and not spend a lot of money. There is just so much to do in Cebu City and so many great things to see. Staying at any of the resorts is very affordable just about $60.00 per night and some as high as $250.00. Dinner at restaurants is also very cheap. Meals at nice restaurants can cost just $10.00 to $20.00 for two people, I had a wonderful time during my first visit. However, I had Judith as my tour guide and as my girlfriend. I’m not sure I would have liked Cebu City as much as I did if Judith wasn’t with me during the first trip.
Soon after my first visit to Cebu City I moved from Florida to Cebu City in 2004. By this time Judith and I were engaged to marry and I wanted to live in Camotes Islands. However, we decided to live in the city while looking for land to build a house in Camotes. Camotes Islands are a rural province of Cebu and just two hours from the city by boat. We rented a brand new two bedroom house in the Lahug area of Cebu City. The monthly rent was just $125.00 plus our TV cable for about $15.00 a month. The house was located on a hillside overlooking the city and close to everything we needed. Lahug is a very nice area and now there are many new housing sub-divisions built in the area. Our monthly budget while living in Lahug was approximately $700.00 and that included the rent, utilities, food, taxi cabs and even lots of dinners at restaurants and entertainment. I assume if we still lived in Lahug the budget would be just a few more dollars a month.
Within just a couple of weeks after moving into the Lahug house I felt as if Cebu was my city and I really enjoyed the city life. The city has many things to offer the foreigner and the city is always trying to attract more foreign retirees. It truly is a foreign (expat) friendly city. The largest group of foreigners in Cebu is Korean then Americans, Australians, British and Japanese. There are no racial tensions or problems in the city that I am aware of and the city is very safe. However, like any major world city there is crime, but using common safeguards and precautions one can have a happy life in Cebu City. Driving in the city is something I have never attempted and I don’t think I ever will drive in the city. The taxi cabs can get you almost anywhere in the city for $1.00 to $2.00 and that’s fine for me.
Shopping in the city is great and there are products from all over the world in Filipino stores. Many food stores stock western brands so you will never get homesick for your favorite foods from home. The outside markets, located all over the city offer great bargains and it’s always fun to negotiate prices with the vendors. Cable TV is available in the city and it offers many American shows and news programs. You can go to the movie cinemas and see a new release movie for about $1.00 and the popcorn is just a few pennies. The city has grown since I moved to the Philippines. There are many new gated housing Sub-Divisions that cater to foreign buyers, new high rise condo buildings and the resorts all continue to attract foreigners. The two major malls in the city, Ayala and SM are both expanding. Many of the roads have been upgraded as well as the infrastructure in many areas. The city is a major draw for tourism and is always attempting to bring in more tourist and more foreign retirees.
Any expat on a monthly pension of about $1,000.00 can live like a king in Cebu City. You can live on less than $1,000.00 but I think $1,000.00 is the right figure if you include saving a little each month for emergencies, trips back home and medical needs. The city has very good hospitals and medical cost are much less in the Philippines. Good dental care at very reasonable rates is also available in the Philippines. Many people go to Cebu for medical or dental vacations. Just remember, if you think you want to move to Cebu City do your homework. Do you want to live in a new country? do you want to be separated from your family and grandchildren?, if you are married how does your wife feel about living in Cebu? If you have young children do you want them to live in a new country and what about their education? Do you have the patience and understanding to learn and live in a new culture? Do you have the money to live a good life in Cebu without the need to find work? Do you have enough money to cover any type of emergency that may require five to ten thousand dollars? Finally, what is your reason for wanting to live in a new country? If you can be honest with yourself and have a positive answer for the above questions, then maybe Cebu City is for you?
Remember too, The Philippine economy is struggling. Filipinos with four and six year college degrees are driving taxi cabs or working as store clerks. Unemployment in the country is through the roof. Poverty is a major issue in the country. For all the beauty of the Philippines Poverty continues to destroy many Filipinos and their futures and creates an ugly face to an otherwise beautiful country. Just this week on November 8, 2007 an 11 year old girl in Manila living with her mother, father and little brother in a shanty town hung herself. The reason left in a note from the little girl was because of the poverty she and her family lived. The father not able to find work for months and the mother working for just $1.00 a day. The little girl had just the night before asked her father for P200.00 for a school project. The father did not have the money, just under $4.00. All the girl wanted was to finish school and buy a new bike. A simple dream complicated by severe poverty in a country struggling to overcome political corruption and theft. Please remember, what you may spend in just one day in the Philippines is what a Filipino may have to live on for a month. Poverty does indeed take lives.
I truly love my lifestyle in the Philippines, but it took some time, patience, understanding and a few sacrifices to live in the Philippines. I made several mistakes before coming here and a few since living here. I didn’t have enough money when I came here in 2004. I’ve made a few trips back to Florida to do some contract work and then returned to my beloved Camotes Islands. I’m currently away from home on a teaching contract. However, for me, it’s worth the price to have just a few months a year in my paradise called Camotes Islands, Cebu, Philippines. I think anyone looking for a great vacation will enjoy Cebu City. Those looking to retire on a modest pension can live well here, but just be sure living in a new country is right for you. Before making a decision to move here it’s wise to come on a vacation first and see the city for yourself. Then you can decide if this is the life you want. Once again, for me this is paradise.
What is the safest abode to alive in America?
First looking at weather patterns, it appears that if there is nuclear fallout, where could you want to be? Remember weather patterns start in the West or North West and move across the country and change throughout the year, but always for the most part blow from East to West. So if you live East of the West Coast you could be in trouble if a Western city gets nuked. Then there are the East Winds in CA, which are called the Santa Ana Winds which are hot, fast moving and dry, the worst possible conditions for fires. As we see every few years in the Southern CA mountains.
So then perhaps you might wish to live on the West Coast, fairly good weather all year and the wind blows the other way. But you would want to live far from any major city on the West Coast. Not in LA, Not near the Nuclear Power plants, Not near the Military bases of Pt Mugu, Camp Pendleton or Vandenburg AFB. So where? Probably on the coast between Humbolt, CA and mid state OR. But alas there are huge faults along the West Coast and the OR Coastline is riddled with issues from liquefaction to offshore Tsunami generating Earthquake faults.
San Francisco gets huge Earthquakes as we know and LA is not immune either and neither is the central valley of CA with it’s issues after proof in the Coalinga Fault. Living between the Russian River and OR Coastline near the coast would be okay even with these issues. Also you would not be down wind from any fallout and you are not a target. Safe in that you have fish for food and lumber for heat and no need for much of anything like power, surrounded by capable woods people.
You would have lots of rain and no water that would be polluted running off from areas of fallout. Of course from an attack by sea from the Pacific side in the case of invasion, you would not be in the best spot, we are not expecting any wars, yet 20 years from now will China be our biggest trading partner or will 2 billion of them like this piece of real estate? If we were attacked for some reason you would have air support from all the Navy and Air guard Bases along the Pacific Coast. Where are other good spots? If Seattle was not hit by a weapon of mass destruction then you still have Earthquakes and remember MT. Saint Helen. There are some cities inland on the I-5 freeway surrounded by mountains, but they are close to volcanoes too?
Where else would be good? Well not Phoenix, not Las Vegas and Reno is over the hill from CA and gets all it’s left over weather. Boise has issues too. Although there are other cities in ID worthy of mention. Salt Lake is on a huge Earthquake fault. How about Helena MT, drought plagued and fire issues. Kellogg ID, superfund area. Billings out of water, Bozeman? Well too close to the State Park and there are issues with the volcanoes there too. Butte, MT also too close. Casper WY out of water and down wind in case of Volcanic Activity from Yellow Stone. Also think if Portland, SF or LA are not hit with nukes then we like, Four Corners, Elko NV, Battle MT (armpit) are doable with large underground water supply but it has arsenic in it. Winnamucka NV many not be safe either, but has thermal activity for power. ND and SD seem safe too, but winter weather is tough. Ogalla underground aquifer is being drained fast and could cause Earthquake from collapse. Western NE, not good, Denver either in case of water supply issues in future or fallout from volcano in Yellow Stone. How about in the Northern Section of AZ? Flagstaff has harsh weather, fire season. Winslow AZ is okay, with rail and FWY, but isolated. Of course these are only a few western states really and well we have identified several great locations with everything you need to survive.
Having studied the FEMA reports and the regional issues of each area and state and the disaster plans, we are well served by such data, but it falls short and a comprehensive plan of attack needs to be considered, because many people living in a region will need supplies, such as we see after major Hurricanes. Which by the way leaves us to wonder if there are in fact any safe cities on the entire Eastern Seaboard, Gulf Coast or West FL coastlines. As we saw in the black out of 2003, the Hurricanes and loss of power, the many fires in drought areas of CA, AZ, NV, MT, ID, OR, NM these are all big issues.
When multiple disasters hit, and transportation is down, power is out, water turned off, dams broken, bridges out, etc. Then what? Well, for some it will be their demise, others have adequately planned. Some of the safest cities are sitting near large underground water supplies and generate their own power or have co-generation plants, which are co-ops near by. Those mid western cities near large rivers are not safe due to the issues with flooding, as we have seen and continue to see every three to five years some town gets it. The water is fresh and clean in those areas and very soft, but when it floods, it is a disaster and very dangerous too.
Some would say it is probably unnecessary to have a major disaster plan, however it is a good exercise anyway, in planning. Things of importance are fresh water supply uncontaminated, food supply, encapsulated market, not over populated, no problems with contaminated air from normal weather patterns know and comparable to the last 200 years, out side of a fire zone and a defendable location. Also of secondary importance out side the risk of major seismic activity, travel from major highways causing and influx of others trying to get away thus bringing in diseases or viruses or using up local natural resources. Worst places to be D.C., state capital cities with lots of military bases close by, cities on major freeways with bridges and no other ways around for over 40 miles or passes on mountain ranges.
The cities which do not make the safest cities are Denver, Dallas, Mobile, Biloxi, Seattle, Chicago, NYC, Orlando, Tampa, Las Vegas, Salt Lake, LA, etc. Cities with no way to get out the population quickly are of problem, for instance DC with it’s daily grid lock or Los Angeles, Atlanta, SF, etc. Cities, which rely on outside sources to get in important stuff are bad. Not to mention you are more likely to die from an auto wreck, although on the plus side they have the cleanest and best filtrated water supplies. That of course a trade off from the polluted air around you which could also kill you before your average life expectancy figure.
Port cities and cities with big major airports, which are hubs for major airlines are bad too. Cities that are big but do not have fed banks are one click down on the list too. Think of the logistics by train too. Cities which are down river close to major railroad bridges, which handle lots of interstate trains are bad too. Port cities get an extra bad deal. Cities which are close to port cities which are over 2 million population are dangerous too. Large cities near borders of Mexico are dangerous if they have over 2 million populations.
San Diego County, San Antonio, Phoenix, Austin TX, Houston, even throw in Tucson, El Paso, Yuma all bad. Already at a fresh water problem time due to droughts and over populations. Santa Monica is bad and LAX is a bad area to be near. A problem at the sewer treatment plant near LAX could be devastating with chlorine gas and weather patterns, with a weapon of mass destruction. Worrisome also to our scenario of possibilities is the major computer brain areas. Like Silicon Valley, Seattle, VA and other Internet hubs, which would also include Boston.
I would like to see a comprehensive plan to save American lives if an attack or Mother Nature event occurs, one which encompasses the entire country. Perhaps this is a good job for our war planners at the Pentagon, to try a reverse order plan, it would help them learn where best to minimize vulnerabilities and an action plan against International Terrorists or Catastrophic Mother Nature Events.
I have been to every city in the United States over 10,000 population. Where have you lived? Have you lived thru a natural disaster? Many of us have. The Hurricanes alone last year alone added 40 more million people to that list, it was a costly year for FEMA, but we made it through and showed resilience. So where are you safe? The answer might be nowhere or everywhere and preparation and quality of first reponders may hold that key. What were your concerns, and immediate needs during that period in your life when you faced such uncertainty? What would you tell others who plan to protect the property and lives of America, too the first responders, planners and those entrusted to protect humanity in the times of need?
Step By Step Directions for Milking the Prostate
The prostate is a gland of the male reproductive system. It is not found in women. Its primary function is the production of seminal fluid, and it also stimulates orgasm in males. The prostate gland can be affected by disease, including infectious inflammation or prostatitis, and prostate cancer, the second most deadly cancer among American males. Many people recommend milking the prostate regularly as a preventative treatment against prostate cancer and prostatitis.
Prostate milking is also referred to as prostate massage. It is a fairly simple procedure and you can do it yourself if you want to. Here are the steps to take in milking the prostate on your own:
1. Perform urination or a bowel movement in order to maximize the relaxation of the area.
2. Make sure that your fingernails are trimmed and have no jagged edges jutting out.
3. Clean your body and your hands thoroughly. Then put on a sterile latex glove on your hand. Dab a little water-based lubricant on your fingers.
4. Carefully insert your finger or fingers into your anus. Move them gradually upwards and to the back, along the area of the rectum towards the front of your body. Your fingers should be moving in roughly the direction of your navel.
5. You will feel the prostate gland, which is like a small, round bulb about the size of a large walnut. Gently massage it with a light waving motion along its sides, taking care not to press hard on the central area, where the sensitive nerves are located. Avoid touching the prostate gland with your fingernails.
6. You may experience a disconcerting sensation that makes you feel like going to the bathroom although you do not have to. Try not to let it affect you, and continue with the procedure.
7. After a few minutes, the prostate gland may be stimulated enough for ejaculation to occur. You are also likely to experience sexual pleasure or orgasm. However, the procedure does not always successfully bring about ejaculation.
Prostate milking when used as a preventative treatment may carry a few risks. It is a technique that is not recommended for men who have a disease of the prostate or acute prostatitis, an acute inflammation of the glandular tissue. The problem in such cases is that the act of milking the prostate may cause the infection to spread to other areas of the body.
The Seduction of a Married Man
What is it about a married man that is so irresistible?
It must be something because so many women fall for it. Just this week I encountered two women who have slipped into the trap of fatal attraction for a married man. It is dangerous territory and I do not recommend that anyone go there. I speak from experience having invested part of my life in a relationship with a married man. Iam not writing about this subject to lecture or be judgmental or even to speak from my soapbox about what I know that you don’t. My intention is to expose the underhanded tactics, even if unintentional, of men and the naiveté of women that permits these relationships to flower.
What is it about women that make them susceptible to the charm and attraction of an unavailable man?
The unavailable man is very attractive to women who do not want to be controlled by a man. He can provide sporadic attention, sex, usually at regular intervals, definitely advice even when you don’t ask for it and gifts. You don’t have to live with him,which means no snoring, picking up after him, and usually freedom to comeand go as you please. The disadvantages include limited spontaneity,lack of availability on weekends and holidays and never being his number one priority.
This is not to say that men do not fall for married women. I am
certain that the statistics will support that almost as many single men fall for married women but the dynamic between themis much different than that of the single woman and the married man. Obviously, I have more experience with the married man syndrome.
Women in general are used to getting seconds.
What I mean by that is that women choose to settle for less than
what they want. Okay, I expect outrage from most of you who are
reading this but hear me out, please. In this country, men have the power. Look around you, how many women president’s do we have? How many in the Senate, Congress, CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies? How many women make as much money as men do? Consider teaching and nursing, two professions primarily occupied by women, what percentage of men are in the profession and what percentage ofthose are in charge? How many men choose to stay home with thchildren while their wives work and support the family? You get the idea. Granted there are many more women in positions of authority, in medicine, the law, entrepreneurs,real estate, finance, business than ever before, but if you are going to be honest with yourself, it’s still a man’s world. This is okay.
We can live with the fact that men run the world, because women run relationships.
Women, you really are in charge of relationship even if you don’t know it. You just need to raise the bar a little on what youexpect from your relationship. What I mean by women being used to settling is they don’t ask. Let me give you an example. A woman friend of mine works for a big company; she uses her own computer and pays for her own Internet access even though the majority of her computer usage is for her work activities. She has asked the men who run the company to be reimbursed for the cost of her computer andInternet access and has been denied. Her first inclination was to accept this, until she realized: How many men who use a computer in their job, use their own computer let alone pay for their Internet access? Men expect to be provided with the tools that they need to do their job, women provide their own tools and accept it when they are denied reimbursement. Where does this willingness to be used originate? I think that it originated when women first began to invade the workplace. Women weren’t greeted with open arms when they first arrived in the workplace. In order to be accepted, they worked twice as hard, longer hours, tolerated abuse in many ways that a man never would and were eager to please, seeking approval and acceptance by over responding. (Actually, women were welcomed in the workplace during World War II but only because men weren’t available. When the men returned, the women were expected to go back home where they belonged.)
Much of women’s acceptance of second-class treatment is their own fault, because they don’t even ask for it to be different.
Okay, I am a little off the subject of married men, but let me
follow this through to the connection. Let’s look at a wife. The
majority of wives work these days, they also are the primary
childcare provider, and most of them do most of the housework and laundry and cooking and shopping as well. They are also expected by their husbands to be sexy and ready for a quickie at the drop of his pants. Women do all this because they put these standards on themselves. They still expect that they have to do more and do it better because they are women. So where does a woman cut back? Usually it is in paying attention to her husband’s primary needs. A man needs sex and most married men will tell you that the amount of sex that they get dwindles after marriage and especially after children. In addition, the amount of time that a woman has to devote to the nurturing, acceptance, approval and attention to her husband decreases proportionately with the addition of children, job responsibilities and a bigger house.
So this leads us to the plight of the married man.
Who is the married man? First of all he is a man. Men are results oriented. Men have a lot of testosterone. They aren’t good at deciphering what women want, especially their own wives.The married man used to run his own life. He came and went as he pleased; he watched or played baseball whenever he wanted. He lived his own lifestyle. He could have his woman withhim whenever hewanted and she would pay all of her attention to him. Now he is marriedwith a couple of kids, a mortgage, a job he has because it pays themost, not because he loves it so much and a wife who used to cater to him exclusively who now has to divide her time between him, the kids, the house and usually her job. There was a commercial on TV not too long ago that shows a man thinking about his studly single days and how sexy he was in those days, with a child in a stroller. He is playing with his child and shopping in the grocery store and a woman is talking to her friend who comments he doesn’t even know how much more attractive he is now than he was when he was a stud.
Men are pretty unconscious about what makes them attractive.
According to most women it is not their looks that make them
attractive, it is who they are and how they produce in the world. So this married man goes to work and comes home and goes back to work the next day. At work there is this woman. She is single, attractive, smart, capable, speaks his language andsomeone who has time to pay attention to him. It starts as an innocent flirtation. What goes through his mind is something like “Let’s see if I still have it!” so he starts flirting just to see what happens. Not a surprise, she responds to the flirting by flirting back.
This is the beginning of the affair.
In his mind he is flattered, it is fun, and exciting and just a
little bit naughty. What could be more harmless? I’m married.I’m
safe. I can just have a little fun with this. So it continues.He
thinks he can just experiment a little. Let’s see how charming and creative I can be. Let’s see if I can get this woman to fall for me. In his mind it is not cheating. He hasn’t done anything wrong. In the beginning, he even tells his wife about this woman. He tells her about how smart she is or about some accomplishment, usuallywhat made him notice her in the firstplace. Wives usually miss the first clues. The thought of the effect of his harmless flirtation onthe single woman does not even enter his consciousness. So the harmless flirtation continues. It makes the married man feel good. He is happier at home and everything seems hunky dory. He tells the woman his wife doesn’t understand him, she doesn’t have time for him, or she just is cruel to him and the other woman becomes his confidant and starts to believe that he really has no choice in the matter. He needs her because his wife is so … whatever.
He now has both a wife and family and a woman on the side.
Recognize that this process may take several years and several
different women before anything actually happens in the way of an
affair. After several years of living a separate life from his wife while they live under the same roof, a married man is ready for a real affair. The reality is that an affair will occur whether it is an emotional or physical affair or even a cyber affair. No matter which way it goes, what occurs takes away from the married relationship.
What is true about the woman who gets involved with a married man is that she is looking for attention and affection.
Most likely she is not looking for a married man with whom she is plotting to have an affair. There are a few predatory women out there who do just that but the majority of affairs start out
naively. She is likely to have been previously hurt in a
relationship. She may or may not know that the man is married. What occurs first is she recognizes that he is paying attention to her. He may just listen to her. It may just be a momentary encounter where their eyes meet and a connection is made. They may be working together on a project and either of them may distinguishthemselves in some way. What initially happens is likely to be chemistry. What happens after that varies, however, it usually follows this pattern.
When the woman discovers that he is married, she will make it clear that she doesn’t have relationships with married men.
That is the signal for the man to go into conquest mode.
He will pursue her possibly for years because he enjoys the chase. She will continue to refuse his advances as long as she cantolerate it or until he catches her at a weak and vulnerable moment. If she has a good relationship in her life, chances areshe can outlast him, but if she is single, available or married and unhappy, she will eventually succumb. Why? Because the man is so charming, heis wonderful, he is a knight in shining armor, he is a hero, he is this wonderful dedicated family man who is wonderful with his children and attentive to his wife. So the woman asks herself what is she doing?
She continues to say no and the more she says no, the more
aggressive and charming and attentive he gets. This is the ultimate male challenge, to win over a woman who is saying no even though he knows she really is attracted to him.
A married man will work harder than any available man to make a
woman fall in love with him.
He will be more charming, loving, attentive and wonderful than a
woman can imagine that any man can be. So what happens next is this woman who finally surrenders to her feelings for this man, asks him to leave his wife for her. The response from him will almost inevitably be one of two, but I’m married and I’ll neverleave my wife or yes, I’ll leave my wife, but not yet (she’s not ready,my children are too young, I can’t afford it yet, my mother won’t approve etc.) Initially the woman will respond with anger. “If you love your wife what are you doing with me?” Here is the clincher that finally hooks the woman, he is committed to his wife and the woman buys into his honorable dedication to his wife and thinks if only I could have a man who loves me like that.
It is at this point in their relationship that the woman’s final act of settling may occur.
Either she will end it and go off to nurse her broken heart,
wondering how he could have been so wonderful and such a heel atthe same time, or she will continue the affair and settle forbeing the other woman in his life. Either way the woman is damaged. The man will go back to his wife who was either completely unaware of the romantic drama or who also chooses to settle by living in denial of his infidelity. Then life goes on.
The other woman plays a significant part in the perpetuation of this man’s marriage.
She makes it tolerable for him to remain in an intolerable
situation. She makes it possible for him to remain in a marriage
that doesn’t satisfy him. That marriage situation can range from
boredom to outright contempt, but a man won’t leave his marriage
until his wife has dismissed him, either consciously or
unconsciously. She makes it possible for him to deny that there is anything missing in his relationship with his wife. Therefore, the wife wins, if you can call it winning to stay ina relationship with a cheating man.
The purpose in discussing this at all is to emphasize the fact that women settle and men will cheat because they can. So, women, if you want your man to be faithful, you must pay attention and never settle for less than what you want no matter what the cost.
The essence of marriage is commitment. Why get married if you are not willing to commit to loving someone exclusively? The way that I see it, you don’t have to get married to be together, so why do it if you don’t mean it? I was married for 23 years and was strongly in favor of the concept of a renewable marriage license, similar tohow one renews a driver’s license. The point of that beingthat at least very 3 or 4 years people who were married to each otherwould have to take a look at whether they still wanted to be with their spouse. If people were honest about their feelings, it certainly would take a chunk out of the 50% divorce rate.
On a more serious note, however, I really don’t see any point in
getting married unless you are marrying someone with whom youhave sexual chemistry that you love totally, that you trust implicitly, and that you would rather be with than anyone else who alsofeels the same about you. That feeling of total trust isvery rare and itneeds to be nurtured. It’s also good if you have similar values and goals in life. If and when you find someone that meets all ofthe above standards, you probably couldn’t imagine wanting to bewith anyone else. That spiritual bond can be so strong andso valid that it would be out of the realm of possibility to violate it.
It is impossible to ever have that kind of trust if you enter a
relationship that originated with someone cheating.
So what happens to destroy that original bond? It is the woman’sjob to provide the appetite for pleasure and the direction for therelationship. This does not relieve men of any responsibility for it is their job to surrender to their woman’s power and to produce results for her based on what she requests. So, in a relationship that is working the woman must continue to raise the bar for her man and believe in him. What does that mean? That she wants a bigger house, more expensive car, more children? Not necessarily although thosethings may be part of the picture. What it does mean is that she raises the standards of paying attention even when life is busy. It means that they make time for sex even when they don’t have time. It meansthat each one of them stay vulnerable with each other even whenhe/she has done something that embarrasses them or is wrong.
In my marriage, I did it all wrong. I doubted his production,
thought I could do things better than him and lost my ability to
believe in him. When that happened, he quit producing for me and we spiraled downward into total mistrust of each other and
unwillingness to be vulnerable. I kept settling for less than what I asked for and he kept producing only what I believed he could produce. I just didn’t know any better.
It’s a fragile bond that must be protected and as far as I can see what will protect the bond of love is a woman expressing her
appetite that requests more than the man thinks he can produce and then even more vital is that she approves of him and believes in him until he produces it. The most significant element of maintaining a love relationship that works is that both parties must pay attention to each other and to what is happening in the relationship. Going to doubt or settling for less than what she wants is the beginning of the destruction of the delicate balance of the man/woman relationship. In this model of relationship, men and women are regarded as different entities with different needs. It relies on using the sex act as the metaphor for relationship, symbolizing men as producers and women as receivers.
There are no victims.
Surviving an American Church Split
In his book entitled “Exit Interviews,” William D. Hendricks writes something astonishing: “Almost all growth reported by North American churches today is the result of church switching and birthrate within the churches rather than conversion growth.”
He’s referring to transfer growth rather than new converts. In other words, it’s easier to go to a restaurant and order baked fish than to catch and clean our own.
Over 3800 American churches close their doors annually throughout the USA. The reasons for these closures run the gamut: real or perceived pastoral incompetency, strife, infidelity in leadership marriages, lack of financial integrity, doctrinal discrepancies, power struggles, persecution, congregational distrust or dissatisfaction (only 43% of Christians surveyed say they fully trust their church), choosing sides on any issue, and more. It’s no secret that church splits inflict damage upon the army of God. Things like divorce, death or sickness of a beloved leader, job transfers, college relocation, military reassignment and the like, wreak havoc upon the rank and file Believer. All of these situations leave the average Christian scratching his or her head in bewilderment as their brothers and sisters in Christ leave their fellowship, never to return.
Is it a “bad” thing for the members of a church congregation to scatter like this? At first glance, yes. But it depends on one’s perspective. Sure, it hurts, causing great emotional pain. Though it’s true, in accordance with Scripture, that if one smites the shepherd, the sheep will scatter, the “scattering of the sheep” has been happening since the early days of the church, often without any shepherd-smiting at all. Whether it was through the influential confusion brought upon the Church by the Judaizers (Galatians 1:7; 2:14; 3:1) or the persecution and subsequent scattering of the Church at the hands of the Romans under Nero’s reign during which Peter was martyred, God was never left wringing His hands, anxiously trying to figure out what His next move was going to be. The Jewish-Roman wars of A.D. 66-70 also contributed to the scattering of the saints.
For the first two centuries of the Church, the Apostle Paul and others journeyed forth across the known world to spread the Gospel. As a result of previous scatterings, while remaining true to their faith in Christ, scattered believers had been divinely positioned, ready to receive these traveling evangelists into their homes and give them provisions for their journey as they went forth preaching the Gospel and as the Kingdom of God continued to advance. Again, notice how the Church had been strategically placed, through persecution, to disciple new converts as they came into being. These people would not have been there to receive the evangelists, had they not been scattered by persecution or any other outside influence that had caused their once-cozy groups to split up. God is always in control.
WHAT MAKES A CHURCH SPLIT A BAD THING?
For starters, there’s the shipwrecked faith of the weaker Christians that so often occurs. Sadly, many Christians will abandon the faith altogether in the face of a Church split, disillusioned as they observe those whom they saw as “solid” Christian leaders suddenly picking up stakes and walking out the door. For anyone with shallow roots, Satan can use a church split to spiritually destroy the most vulnerable. For babes in Christ, seeing the world through rose-colored eyes, nothing on Earth can compare to the sweet fellowship from which they’ve found nourishment. Suddenly, boundaries become obscured. Friends become enemies. Brothers become adversaries. And another church-attender goes down with the ship.
Another unfortunate result of a church split is that most of those in pastoral roles will, statistically, never return to full-time pastoral ministry after they lose a church or are uncerimoniously drummed out of the corps. In fact, though they still maintain a relationship with God, the statistics are alarmingly high regarding those ministers who never even join another congregation, much less pastor another flock. Even in these instances, however, it is becoming more and more common to discover licensed and ordained ministers working in our midst as salesmen, floor managers, telemarketers, etc. Once again, God’s people have been strategically positioned to shine the light of Christ into the darkened life of their coworkers – those who spend more time at work than they do at home – and the Faith at Work Movement is spreading like wildfire. No one leaves their problems at home. A battered wife is still a battered wife at the office. A dad whose daughter turned up pregnant still has a broken heart while managing his crew. I served for 5 years as a workplace chaplain myself and found that ministry quite fulfilling and appreciated by the staff.
WHAT GOOD CAN COME OF A CHURCH SPLIT?
To answer this, we must first recognize that God is more concerned with our individual character than He is in our comfort. Satan and God have one thing in common, friends… they’re BOTH trying to kill us. That’s right. The only good Christian is a dead one! We MUST decrease in order for Jesus to INCREASE. In other words, the world must see more of HIM shining through our lives than they see of US. We have NOTHING to offer that matters in light of eternity besides He Who lives in us, the Spirit of God.
So, what are we made of? How strong are our Christian marriages? How strong is our church? How strong is the sweet fellowship of the saints? Rest assured, the dreaded “rub” will come. Everything WILL be tested. It MUST be tested. Tried by fire. The REFINER’S fire; the fire that causes the dross to rise to the top as the silver is purified, allowing the silversmith to see His own reflection in the product, testifying to its readiness for use. See, the Lord only builds with fireproof materials. As the hay, wood and stubble are burned into ashes, once the smoke clears, stone and silver are all that remain. So, burn, baby, burn! Jesus was tested and we will be, too.
That Christian who stands praying while his beloved church is crumbling, and remains faithful to the Kingdom of God REGARDLESS of what happens to a building made of brick and mortar, has received the highest order of strength, straight from the foundries of Heaven. It’s the grace of God. When unjust persecution comes, when unjustified crucifixion becomes our lot, we can call upon this grace to empower us so that we may remain true to the cause of our Christ, regardless of circumstances. Only the Spirit of God can keep us on course. We can not live vicariously through our godly, spirit-filled ministers. Our Christianity cannot be typified by our worship style, preacher’s gifting, size of assembly, cost of the sanctuary, or the scope of our pastor’s TV ministry. We must resist the deceptive thinking that God is so enthralled with our particular church group and its exciting ministries that He no longer sees us as individuals.
Part 2
HAVE IT GOD’S WAY
God says a really strange thing in Exodus 23:38. He states that He will drive out the enemies of Israel by sending hornets. In other words, God would arrange it so that the Israelites would not even have to fire a shot – their enemies would be “bugged” to death. Imagine an army of hornets, lined up, stingers at the ready, awaiting the directive of Earth’s Supreme Commander and Creator to drive out Israel’s enemies. Just crazy enough to work! But it’s an order that never came. Unfortunately, for the Israelites, it seemed too simple an answer to too big of a problem. So, in all their wisdom, they chose to fight their own battles rather than trusting in the same God that had delivered them from Egypt using flies, frogs, and then fed them with manna from Heaven and quail every night. The result? Nearly forty years later, it was their children, not they themselves, who would enter the Promised Land.
The point? God’s ways are not our ways. They’re much HIGHER than ours. Victory can be ours only when the battle is the Lord’s. He will share His glory with no man. In the midst of the pain and suffering inflicted upon one’s soul during a church split, imagine a seemingly silly thing like prayer serving as a balm for the soul. Yes! Pray for those who are siding against you! No one can hate the one they’re praying for – no more than we can despise a garden over which we might toil. We’ll chase away the rodents, we’ll water and weed and, ultimately, rejoice as the field bears fruit. But we can never hate that over which we toil in prayer. God is able to cause our greatest enemies to be at peace with us.
THIS IS A TEST!
Beware. The day of crisis is coming to your congregation or denominational camp. It HAS to. The thing MUST be tested by fire. When discord and backbiting, divorce and disharmony abound, how will we conduct ourselves? Amazingly, in my experience with church splits, I’ve noticed that both sides feel quite justified in pulling out the sacred Word of God and using it to bludgeon one another. The Scripture, intended to bring Life, now yields only death among the saints at the hands of all out civil war. Which group’s convictions are from the Lord? When is an issue important enough to abandon all attempts at unity and reconciliation? There was never any greater act of injustice than that which took place on Calvary, the day of our Savior’s crucifixion. Peter didn’t speak out against it. He wasn’t the only disciple not to utter a word in protest. Jesus was led “as a lamb to slaughter” and did not even attempt to defend Himself. Even God turned His head as He could not even look upon Jesus, Who became sin personified on the cross for our sakes.
In light of this truth, what critical, all-important, “paramount” issues are we debating over in the midst of our own congregations right now? Folks, our commission is to “go and make disciples.” If our focus were upon that and ONLY that, living our lives in such a way before men that we might win some, functioning as epistles read by all, there wouldn’t be time, or the need, to lobby and legislate against sin by political means. We wouldn’t have the energy to debate the color of the carpet. We’re supposed to be making the world jealous for what we’ve found in Jesus. Instead, we’ve allowed ourselves to be transformed from a counter-culture to merely another sub-culture with a political agenda, quoting verses at a world that doesn’t even acknowledge the Book from which those verses came.
They see our disharmony and they are NOT impressed.
GOING OUT OF BUSINESS, OR DIVINE CLOSURE?
Many years ago, in Fort Worth, Texas, I had the privilege of experiencing an official, God-ordained, church closing. In this situation, the pastor testified to receiving a vision from God while out of town at the same time the church leadership team was having dreams and confirmations, all pointing to the fact that God was instructing them to shut down their church. Both parties confirmed the testimony of the other that God was leading them to forever close their doors. Why was God leading these people to do such a thing? The people were happy, they were reaching their neighborhood, they loved each other and had a good thing going. What could have been the reason? Quite simply, the Lord had new work for each of its members to attend to.
The “closure” service was held in the presence of several other churches with whom this particular group had been relating to for some time, including the team on which I had served. Many people were eventually absorbed into these loving churches with which they had established a relationship. The pastor spoke; the other leaders, too. One elder told of how God enabled them to become debt-free in a very short period of time and even give their long-time, faithful secretary some severance money over and above her final check. Members of the congregation performed a one-act play, each actor displaying one of the many emotions that were surely being felt by the church’s soon-to-be former congregants.
Strangely, the number one comment I heard from the moist-eyed attendants was “I wonder how many OTHER churches should have closed their doors years ago?” Frankly, I wondered that myself.
Ironically, though I left the church I helped establish while it was in its seventh year to follow the call of God to my current home town, two years later, in its ninth year, on Easter Sunday, that church, too, had a closure service of its own.
Though many people from my own prior congregation have scattered, the fact is, as the lovely faces of scores of people flash through my mind, to my knowledge, nothing but good has come of these closings. I speak with many of them via email and telephone and I’m delighted by the praise reports I’ve heard. Interestingly, the financial blessing that has occurred in many of their lives has been the most obvious good to come of it.
WHOSE KINGDOM IS IT ANYWAY?
Folks, this thing we call Christianity is all about Jesus Christ. He alone is all anybody really needs, whether they know it or not. We can quote Scriptures till our halo burns out, argue and Scripture-whip the unbeliever silly. It’s futile for we cannot intellectualize a person into salvation.
If lost people need Jesus and Him only, guess what the Christian needs? Guess what the church needs? You guessed it…. CHRIST! And nothing else will satisfy. Not even a new carpet or re-striping the parking lot.
Jesus is faithful to complete what He began. He will never leave or forsake us. He didn’t come to establish a denomination or build a cathedral. He created this thing we call “The Church,” the ekklesia in Greek (meaning “called out ones”). As with creation in general, Jesus created it and He holds it all together.
Here’s a newsflash: No matter how overwhelming your personal or corporate church circumstances may appear to be, they’re going to get worse.
You read that correctly.
As we grow in our relationship with Christ and He increases in us, He also increases the scope of His dealings with us. Again, it’s character, not comfort that God desires for His kids. He wants to conform us to the image of His Son and nothing burns away human flesh like a baptism by holy fire.
When the seas of turmoil and confusion begin to swirl uncontrollably within your church, forget about digging into your church leadership’s bag o’ tricks. Instead, find your true north. We must determine how Jesus would have handled the matter (in a word, “crucifixion”), and do likewise. Here’s the battle plan: 1) love unconditionally everything with a pulse 2) relentlessly forgive, right and left, preferring others to ourselves 3) with wreckless abandon, empathize with others and strive for unity, and 4) focus entirely on Jesus, the Way, as the sole solution.
Find out what the opposition needs… and GIVE it to them! Go exceedingly beyond what they could have ever expected you to do. Then, hide and watch.
What God does next will amaze everyone concerned.
Part 3
CHURCH WARS: A KINGDOM DIVIDED
There are many reasons why church wars begin. Though there are times that the issues may be critical and involve the spiritual integrity of the church., generally, we choose sides over very insignificant issues.
For example, I’ve been told there is a church down South with a roof that’s green on one side and red on the other. This was done because some members of the church adamantly wanted green and other members adamantly wanted red. The disagreement was so intense that the church was going to split because of it. Finally, a compromise was reached. Unfortunately, the red and green roof is a monument to the community of the kind of silly disjointedness they might find if they become a part of the Body of Christ.
In relationships, whenever we see “the other side” as the problem, we’ve been deceived. People are never the problem. The PROBLEM is the problem. We attack each other when we should join forces in attacking the problem. Likewise, church problems are NOT the Church’s real problem. They are a symptom of a much deeper problem. The color of the shingles was not the issue tearing the church apart. Yes, it may have been the issue that caused the friction, but the church had other issues that needed to be addressed, and probably still does. Yet, in our desire to choose the path of least resistance, we opt for putting band-aids on that which requires major surgery. In essence, we prolong the agony of the inevitable. Usually, the underlining problems are very complex and have been in development for generations.
A congregation experiencing significant problems over “superficial” issues should seek outside, objective help. This is where the role of a church-planting apostle can be invaluable. If this is not part of your denomination’s organizational make-up, a trusted senior leader may serve just as well. Sadly, just as some struggling married couples are reluctant to seek help, most churches function in the same way. They see a request for outside help is an admission that they can’t handle their own problems. They see it as a sign of weakness rather than a potential position of empowerment. A church pastor or leadership team believes they should be about the business of helping others and don’t want to admit that they need help themselves. The sad reality is that, by NOT seeking help, those they thought they were helping may be hurt beyond repair as the result of a church split.
Though I pray God’s grace upon you should you ever face the ugliness of a church split, the reality is that most Christians will have this experience at least once. Whether you define “church” as the steepled building or whether yours is of the cozy “home group” variety, where humans are concerned, disagreements are bound to erupt. They’ll know we are Christians – not merely church-attenders- by our love for one another. When we who have the Bible and the Holy Spirit as our Guide and Teacher openly display to our community that we are unable to get along, what hope can we offer to the world? We must make them jealous for what we’ve supposedly discovered through our relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
Otherwise, the Church shall remain the #1 cause of atheism on planet Earth.
How To Take Care Of Your Horse
Horses are one of the most exciting pets to own and they make excellent companions. In fact, they are almost like people with their own personalities. However, taking care of your horse is a big responsibility and your horse must be cared for properly to keep it healthy and happy. To provide the appropriate level of care for your horse, you can imagine it as being a child of about 4 years old as this is about their level of mentality.
The first thing that you will need for your horse is a home. This may be a stable or a paddock. If you do not have somewhere large enough for your horse to live at your house, you may want to consider agistment or a place that rents out stables or land for horses to live. You will need to keep your horse’s home clean by removing his droppings daily for stables and weekly for pasture.
There are also many daily responsibilities that you will have as an owner. The first is feeding your horse. If you have it in a stable, you will need to feed it grains and chaff, as well as hay and make the stable comfortable for it by providing sawdust or hay for bedding. Horses also need large amounts of fresh clean drinking water. You will need to check the water you provide for your horse regularly during the day to make sure it has plenty and has not tipped it over or drank it all.
Horses also need to have regular exercise and plenty of love and attention. Make the time with your horse enjoyable by giving it a good brushing before and after you ride it. Offer affection and yummy treats such as apples or sugar cubes to encourage it to think of you as his friend. By making friends with your horse, it will try even harder to please you.
Do not forget to clean under your horses feet with a hoof pick daily, as well as before and after you ride it to make sure that it has not picked up a rock in his hoof as this will make it lame. You will also need to have his hooves trimmed by a farrier every 8 weeks to keep its feet from getting cracked, sore or overgrown.
Your horse will need to be wormed regularly and just like people horses need to have regular checkups from a vet, even if they are not sick, to make sure that they are healthy. If you have any concerns about your horse or what to feed it or how often, your vet will also be able to help you.
During winter, you may need to provide a rug for your horse, especially if the winter months are particularly cold. Horses that are in stables will also need to have rugs for the night as they can not move around to keep warm.
As you have read, one of the most important things that you will need is time. The time needed to take care of your horse properly and train it to do the things that you want it to do. When you are able to be patient and gentle with your horse, it will be the best friend that you ever had.
Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid – What RE Investors Should Know in 2011
Walgreens, CVS or Rite-Aid: Which Tenant Is Best in 2011?
There are 3 major drugstore chains in the US: Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid. Below are some key statistics about the 3 major drugstore chains as of July 2010:
Walgreens
ranks #1 with market cap of $29.33 Billion, $66.25 Billion in revenue, and S&P rating of A+. According to Walgreens, 75% US population lives within 3 miles from its stores. On Oct 1, 2009, Walgreens opened its 7000-th store in Brooklyn, New York. In April 2010, it acquired 258 Duane Reade drug stores in New York Metropolitan area.
CVS
ranks #2 with market cap of $42.09 Billion, $99.1 Billion in revenue (CVS revenue alone is less than Walgreens if revenue from its Caremark group is taken out), and S&P rating of BBB+. CVS opened its 7000-th store in Little Canada, Minnesota on October 5, 2009 and currently operates 7025 drug stores..
Rite Aid
ranks #3 with market cap of $869 Million, $25.53 Billion in revenue, 4780 drug stores and S&P rating of B-.
Investors purchase properties occupied by these drugstore chains for the following reasons:
The drugstore business is very recession-insensitive. People need medicine when they are sick, regardless of the state of the economy. Both rich and poor people in the US have access to medicine. Some even argue that low-income people use more medicine due to free or low-cost drugs offered by government-assisted programs. So the tenants should do well during tough time and have money to pay rent to landlords.
The drugstore business has a good prospect in the US:
People are living longer and need more medicine to sustain longevity, e.g. Actonel for osteoporosis, Aricept for Alzheimer’s symptoms. Older people tend to use more medicine than younger ones as they often have more medical problems. As the 78 million baby boomers are getting closer to retiring age starting from 2008, the drugstore chains anticipate the demand for medicine to increase in next 20 years.
The drug market continues to expand as the US population will continue to grow. More and more Americans suffer from various diseases. The number of Americans suffers from seasonal allergies doubled in the last 15 years to 37 million people per Fortune magazine. They spent $5.4 Billion in 2009 for allergy drugs. As their waist lines balloon (75% of Americans are forecasted to be either overweight or obese by 2020), more Americans are diagnosed with diabetes, high cholesterol at younger and younger ages. In addition, doctors also recommend treating various diseases sooner than later due to better understanding about the diseases. For example, doctors now prescribe antiretroviral drugs for patients soon after infected with HIV virus instead of waiting for the infection to become AIDS. More doctors combine insulin with oral medicines to treat type-2 Diabetes instead of just oral medicines alone. All these factors increase the size of the drug market.
Advance in genetic engineering has introduced various new genetic DNA testing kits which allow the genetic diagnosis of vulnerabilities to inherited diseases and disorders. Genetic testing is currently the highest growth segment in the diagnostics industry. Some of these genetic tests will probably transform into direct-to-consumer testing kits available in drug stores in the near future. Upon FDA approval, these new products will potentially bring in additional revenue for drug stores.
The passage of Health Care Reform Bill on March 23, 2010 provides insurance coverage to an estimated 33 million more American. This is a major present to the drugstore industry.
There are new drugs to treat previously untreatable illnesses, and new diseases, e.g. Viagra for men’s unhappiness, Zoloft for depression, Avastin for colon cancer, Herceptin for breast cancer, Nicotine patches for smokers to kick the habit, Tamiflu for a potential bird flu pandemic, vaccine for swine (H1N1) flu pandemic, Tekturna/Rasilez for hypertension and various new drugs for AIDS and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). The new medicines are very expensive, e.g. a year’s supply of Avastin costs about $55,000. Eli Lilly has sold about $4.8 billion of Zyprexa in 2007 for schizophrenia and yet most people have never heard of this medicine.
There are existing drugs now approved to treat new illnesses and thus increase their sales revenue. For example, Lyrica was originally intended to treat pain caused by nerve damage in people with diabetes. It is now approved by FDA to treat Fibromyalgia which affects 5.8 million Americans per WebMD.
Big advances in genetics, biology and stem cells research are expected to produce a new class of drugs to treat diabetes, Parkinson’s and various rare genetic disorders. For example the new drug Ilaris from Novartis targets genetic causes of an inherited disorder that there are only 7000 known cases worldwide. However, Novartis hopes to gradually broaden its drugs to a blockbuster drug to more common disorders caused by similar genetics.
Technology and modern life introduce and require new products, e.g. pregnancy test kits, Lamisil for stronger clearer toe nails, Latisse for longer & thicker eyelashes, Premarin for menopausal symptoms, diabetic monitors, electronic toothbrushes, contact lenses, lenses cleaners, diet pills, vitamins, birth-control pills, IUDs, nutrition supplements and Cholesterol-lowering pills (Americans spent nearly $26B in 2006 on Cholesterol medications alone per IMS Health, a Connecticut-based consulting company that monitors pharmaceutical sales.) There are also more surgeries: C-sections, Kidney transplants, open-heart triple by-pass, and breast augmentations. More surgeries mean more medicines are needed such as Vicodin for pain management and Warfarin to prevent blood clots in surgeries.
Before the customers can get to the medicine aisles or pharmacy counters, they have to pass by chocolates, sodas, digital cameras, watches, toys, dolls, beers and wines, cosmetics, video games, flowers, fragrances, and greeting cards. Drug stores hope you use the one-hour photos services and exchange your liquid propane tanks there. The stores also carry seasonal items, e.g. Halloween costumes, and “As Seen on TV” merchandise, e.g. Shamwow. As a result, customers buy more than their prescriptions and medicine in these drugstores. Rite Aid sells more 28,000 non-pharmacy items in its stores while Walgreens has 22,000 different items on store shelves. CVS reported that non-pharmacy sales represented 30% of the company’s total sales in January of 2007. The figure for Walgreens is 34% and 37% for Rite Aid. Many pharmacy locations are in effect convenience stores especially ones that are in residential or rural areas. And so Walgreens hopes that customers also pick up WD-44, and screw drivers at its stores instead of at Home Depot; Thai Jasmine rice, and fish sauce to avoid a trip to Safeway or Kroger Supermarkets. During the recession, sales of these non-drug items are down as customers buy what they need and not what they want. Walgreens tries to reduce the number of items by 4000. It also introduces its own private label which has higher profit margins.
There are more and more generic medications on the market as a number of enormously popular brand-name blockbusters will lose their 20-year long patents, e.g. Lipitor (best selling drug in the world to lower cholesterol) in 2010, Viagra (you know what it’s for) in 2012. Drugstores prefer to sell generic drugs to customers due to higher profit margins than the brand-name medications.
Some people are addicted to pain killers, e.g. Hydrocodone and consume a large amount of medicine, e.g. 30-day dosage in a day to get high. According to testimony from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, US retail pharmacies dispensed nearly 180 million prescriptions in 2007 for opiates, e.g. Hydrocodone. A high percentage of these prescriptions are probably not used for any legitimate medical purposes.
This author estimates that at least 10% of the dispensed prescription drugs are not used at all and sit idle in the medicine cabinets. They are eventually expired and thrown away.
These companies sign very long-term, NNN leases, guaranteed by their corporate assets. This makes the investment in the underlying property fairly low risk, especially for Walgreens with an A+ S&P rating. In fact, these properties are sometimes referred to as investment-grade properties. Once the drugstore chains sign the lease, they pay the rent promptly and timely. This author is not aware of any properties leased by one of these drugstore chains in which the tenants failed to pay rents. Even when the stores are closed due to weak sales (Walgreens closed 119 stores in 2007), these companies may sublease the properties to other companies and continue to pay rents on the master leases.
A typical Walgreens lease consists of 20-25 year primary term plus 8-10 five-year options. During primary term and options, there will be no rent increases in most of the leases. This is the main disadvantage of investing in Walgreens drugstores.
A typical CVS lease consists of 20-25 year primary term plus 4-5 five-year options. The rent is normally flat during the primary term and then there is a 2.5%-10% rent increase in the in each 5-year option.
A typical Rite Aid lease consists of 20-25 year primary term plus 4-8 five-year options. The lease often has a rent increase every 5-10 years.
Investment Risks: Although the pharmacy business in general is recession-insensitive, there are risks involved in your investment:
The main downside about investing in pharmacies is there is little or no rent bump for a long time, e.g. 20-50 years, especially for Walgreens. So the rent is effectively reduced after inflation is factored in. This is one of the main reasons these properties do not appeal to younger investors.
The 3 drugstore chains now have a new formidable competitor, Wal-mart. Wal-mart sells prescription drugs in more than 4000 Wal-mart, Sam’s Club and Neighborhood Market stores in 49 states. The retail giant is known for launching in 2006 a highly-publicized $4 generic prescription drug program which now sells 350 generic medications for a 30-day supply. The actual number of medications is less as the medications with different strengths are counted as different medications. For example, Metformin 500 mg, 850 mg, and 1000 mg are counted as 3 medications. Wal-mart probably makes very little profits on these medications if any. However, the marketing campaign–created by Bill Simon, the President and CEO of Wal-mart US, generates a lot of publicity for Wal-mart. Wal-mart hopes to draw customers to its stores with other prescriptions where it has higher profit margins. In an unscientific survey with just one brand-name prescription of Lyrica, this author finds the lowest price at Costco, the highest price at Walgreens and Wal-mart at the middle. Other drug chains try to counter Wal-mart in different ways. Target now offers the same 350 generic medications for $4 for a 30-day supply. Walgreens has a Prescription drugs club with membership fee which offers 1400 generic medications for as little as $1/week. CVS says it will match any offers from its competitors.
Chief Business Correspondent Rick Newman from US World & News Report predicted that Rite Aid might not survive in 2009. While Rite Aid is still around in 2010, dire predictions continue. The study by Audit Integrity gave Rite Aid about a 10.5 percent chance of filing for bankruptcy in 2010.
Drugs are also sold in thousands of supermarkets, Target stores, and Costco warehouses. However, there are no drive-thru windows at these stores or Walmart to conveniently drop off the prescriptions and pick up medicines. Customers will not be able to pick up their prescriptions during lunch hour or after 7PM at Target stores or supermarkets. They need to have membership to buy medicines at Costco. Others may not fill their prescriptions at Walmart because they don’t want to mingle with typical Walmart customers who are in lower income brackets. And some babyboomers don’t want their prescriptions filled at Target or Walmart because there are no comfortable chairs for them to sit down to wait for their medicines.
Many leases in areas with hurricanes and tornados are NNN leases with the exception of roof and structure. So if the roof is damaged, you will have to pay for the expenses.
The tenant may move to a new location down the road or across the street when the lease expires. This risk is high when the property is located in small town where there is low barrier for entry, i.e. lots of vacant & developable land.
The tenant may ask for rent concession to improve its bottom line. The possibility is higher if the tenant is Rite Aid and if the store has low sales revenue and/or higher than market rent.
More Americans are walking away from their prescriptions, especially the most expensive brand-name medicines. This may have negative impact on the sales revenue and profits of drug stores and consequently may cause drug store closures. According to Wolters Kluwer Pharma Solution, a health-care data company, nearly 1 in 10 new prescriptions for brand-name drugs were abandoned by people with commercial health plans in 2010. This is up 88% compared to 4 years ago just before the recession began. This trend is driven in part by higher and higher co-pays for brand name drugs as employers are shifting more insurance costs to their employees.
Among 3 drugstore chains, Walgreens and CVS pharmacies in general have the best locations-at major intersections while Rite Aid has less than premium locations. Walgreens tends to hire only the top graduates from pharmacy schools while Rite Aid settles with bottom graduates to save costs. When possible all drugstore chains try to fill the prescriptions with generic medications which have higher profit margins
Walgreens: the company was founded in 1901 by Charles Walgreen, Sr. in Chicago. While the company has existed for more than 100 years, most stores are only 5-10 years old. This is the best managed company among the three drugstore chains and also among the most admired public companies in the US. The company has been run by executives with proven track records and hires the top graduates from universities. Due to its superior financial strength–S&P A+ rating– and premium irreplaceable locations, properties with leases from Walgreens get the highest price per square foot and/or the lowest cap rate among the 3 drugstore chains. In addition, Walgreens gets flat rent or very low rent increase for 20 to 60 years. The cap rate is often in the low 6% to 7.5% range in 2009. Investors who buy Walgreens tend to be more mature, i.e. closer to retirement age. They are looking for a safe investment where it’s more important to get the rent check than to get appreciation. They often compare the returns on their Walgreens investment with the lower returns from US treasury bonds or Certificate of Deposits from banks. Walgreens opened many new stores in 2008 and 2009 and thus you see many new Walgreens stores for sale. It will slow down this expansion in 2010 and focus on renovation of existing stores instead
CVS: CVS Corporation was founded in 1963 in Lowell, MA by Stanley Goldstein, Sidney Goldstein, and Ralph Hoagland. The name CVS stands for “Consumer Value Stores”. As of 2009, CVS has about 6300 stores in the US, mostly through acquisitions. In 2004, CVS bought 1,200 Eckerd Drugstores mostly in Texas and Florida. In 2006, CVS bought 700 Savon and Osco drugstores mostly in Southern California. And in 2008 CVS acquired 521 Longs Drugs stores in California, Hawaii, Nevada and Arizona for $2.9B dollars. The acquisition of Long Drugs appears to be a good one as it CVS does not have any stores in Northern CA and Arizona. Besides, the price also included real estate. It is also bought Caremark, the largest pharmaceutical services company and changed the corporation name to CVS Caremark. When CVS bought 1,200 Eckerd stores, it formed a single-entity LLC (Limited Liability Company) to own each Eckerd store. Each LLC signs the lease with the property owner. In the event of a default, the owner can only legally go after the assets of the LLC and not from any other CVS-owned assets. Although the owner loses the guaranty security from CVS corporate assets, this author is not aware of any incident where CVS closes a store and does not pay rent.
Rite-Aid: Rite Aid was founded by Alex Grass (he just passed away on Aug 27, 2009 at the age of 82) and opened its first store in 1962 as “Thrif D Discount Center” in Scranton, Pennsylvania. It officially incorporated as Rite Aid Corporation and went public in 1968. By the time Alex Grass stepped down as the company’s chairman and chief executive officer in 1995, Rite Aid was the nation’s largest drugstore chain in terms of total stores and No. 2 in terms of revenue. His son, Martin Grass, took over but was ousted in 1999 for overstatement of Rite Aid’s earnings in the late 1990s. Rite Aid is now the weakest financially among the 3 drugstore chains. In 2007, Rite-Aid acquired about 1,850 Brooks and Eckerd drugstores, mostly along the East coast to catch up with Walgreens and CVS. In the process, it added a huge long term debt (currently owes over $5.69 Billion) and is the most leveraged drugstore chain based on its market value. The integration of Brooks and Eckerd did not seem to go well. Revenue from some of these stores went down as much as 20% after they change the sign to Rite Aid. In 2009, Rite-Aid had over 4900 stores and over $26 Billion in revenues. The figures went down in 2010 to 4780 stores and $25.53 billion in revenue. On January 21, 2009 Moody’s Investor Services downgraded Rite Aid from “Caa1″ to “Caa2″, eight notches below investment grade. Both ratings are “junk” which indicate very high credit risk. Rite Aid contacted a number of its landlords in 2009 trying to get rent concession to improve the bottom line. In June 2009, Rite Aid successfully completed refinancing $1.9 Billion of its debts. However, it continues to struggle in 2010 as same store sales decreased 2.5% in June, 1.7% in May, 1% in April,.1% in March, 3.2% in February, and 2.1% in January..
Things to consider when invested in a pharmacy
If you are interested in investing in a property leased by drugstore chains, here are a few things you should consider:
If you want a low risk investment, go with Walgreens. In stable or growing areas, the degree of safety is the same whether the property is in California where you get a 6% cap or Texas where you may get a 7.5% cap. So, there is no significant advantage to invest in properties in California as the property value is based primarily on the cap rate. In 2010, the offered cap rate for Walgreens seems to come down from 7.5%-8.4% in 2009 to 6.5%-7.5% for new stores.
If you are willing to take more risk, then go with Rite-Aid. Some properties outside of California may offer up to 10% cap rate in 2010. However, among the 3 drug chains, Rite Aid has 10.5% chance of going under in 2010. Should it declare bankruptcy, Rite Aid has the option to pick and choose which locations to keep open and which locations to terminate the lease. To minimize the risk that the store is shuttered, choose a location with strong sales and low rent to revenue ratio.
Financing should be an important consideration. While the cap rate is lower for Walgreens than Rite Aid, you will be able to get the best rates and terms for Walgreens. A 7.25% cap Walgreens with 5.25% interest rate on the loan will generate more cash flow than a 10% cap Rite Aid with 9% interest rate (if you could find a lender for Rite Aid).
If you are not a conservative investor or risk taker, you may want to consider a CVS pharmacy. It has BBB+ S&P credit rating. Its cap rate is higher than Walgreens but lower than Rite Aid. Some leases may offer better rent bumps. On the other hand, some CVS leases, especially for properties in hurricane areas, e.g. Florida are not truly NNN leases where landlords are responsible for the roof and structure. So make sure you adjust the cap rate down accordingly. Some of the CVS locations have onsite Minuteclinic staffed by registered nurses. Since this clinic idea was introduced recently, it’s not clear having a clinic inside CVS is a plus or minus to the bottom line of the store.
All 3 drugstore chains have similar requirements. They all want highly visible, standalone, rectangular property around 10,000 – 14,500 SF on a 1.5 – 2 acre lot, preferably at a corner with about 75 – 80 parking spaces in a growing and high traffic location. They all require the property to have a drive-thru. Hence, you should avoid purchasing an inline property, i.e. not standalone and property with no drive-thru windows. There is a chance that these drugstores may not want to renew the lease unless the property is located in a densely-populated area with no vacant land nearby. In addition, if you acquire a property that does not meet the new requirements, for example a drive-thru, you may have a problem getting financing as lenders are aware of these requirements.
If the pharmacy is opened 24 hours a day, it is in a better location. Drugstore chains do not open the store 24 hours day unless the location draws customers.
Many properties may have a percentage lease, i.e. the landlord can get additional rent when the store’s annual revenue exceeds a certain figure, e.g. $5M. However, the revenue used to compute percentage rent often excludes a page-long list of items, e.g. wine and sodas, tobacco products, items sold after 10 PM, drugs paid by governmental programs. The excluded sales revenue could account for as much as 70% of store’s gross revenue. As a result, this author has seen only 2 stores in which the landlord is able to collect additional percentage rent. The store with a percentage rent is required to report its monthly sales to the landlord. As an investors, you want to invest in a store with strong gross sales, e.g. over $500 per square foot a year. In addition, you also want to check the rent to revenue ratio. If the figure is in the 2-4% range, the store is likely to be very profitable so the chance the store is shut down is low.
It does not matter how good the tenants are, avoid investing in declining and/or low-income areas or small towns with less than 30,000 residents within 5 miles ring. In a small town, it may be the only drug store in town and captures most of the market share. However, if a competitor opens a new location in the area, revenue may be severely affected. These properties are easy to buy now and hard to sell later. In 2009 where the credit market is tight, you may have problems finding a lender to finance these properties.
Many properties have an existing loan that the buyer must assume. If you have a 1031 exchange, think twice about buying this property. You should clearly understand loan assumption requirements of the lenders before moving forward. Should you fail to assume the existing loan (assuming an existing loan is a lot more difficult than getting a new loan), you may run out of time for a 1031 exchange and may be liable to pay capital gain.
With few exceptions, drugstore chains do not own the stores they occupy for several reasons. Here are just a couple of them:
They know the pharmacy business but don’t know real estate. Stock investors also don’t want Walgreens to become a real estate investment company.
Owning the real estate will require them to carry lots of long term debts which is not a brilliant idea for a publicly-traded company.
About 10% of the drugstore properties for sale and typically CVS pharmacies require very small amount of equity to acquire, e.g. 10% of the purchase price. However, you are required to assume an existing fully-amortized loan with zero cash flow. That is, all of the rent paid by the tenant must be used to pay down the loan. The cap rate may be in the 7% range, and the interest rate on the loan could be attractive in the 5.5% to 6% range. Hence, the investor pays off the loan in 10 to 20 years. However, the investor has no positive cash flow. This requires you to come up with outside cash to pay income tax on the rental profits (the difference between the rent and mortgage interest). The longer you own the property, the more outside cash you will need to pay income taxes as the mortgage interest will get less and less toward the end. So who would buy this kind of property?
The investors who have substantial losses from other properties. By acquiring this zero cash flow property, they may offset the income from the drugstore tenant against the losses from other investment properties. For example, a property has $105,000 of rental profits a year, and the investor also has losses of $100,000 from other investment properties. As a result, the combined taxable profits are only $5,000.
The uninformed investors who fail to consider that they have to raise additional cash to pay income taxes.
Out of the Box Thinking If you put too much weigh on the S&P rating of the tenants, you may end up either taking a lot of risks or passing up good opportunities.
Good location should be the key in your decision on which drug store to invest in. It’s often said a lousy business should do well at a great location while the best tenant will fail at a lousy location. A Walgreens store that is closed down later on (yes, Walgreens closed 119 stores in 2007) is still a bad investment even though Walgreens continues paying rent on time. So you don’t want to blindly invest in a drug store simply because it hasa Walgreens sign on the building.
No company is crazy enough to close a profitable location. It does not take a rocket scientist to understand that a financially-weak company like Rite Aid will make every effort to keep a profitable location open. On the other hand, a financially-strong Walgreens will need justifications to keep an unprofitable location open. So how do you determine if a drug store location is profitable or not if the tenant is not required to disclose its profit & loss statement? The answer is you cannot. However, you can make an educated guess based on store’s annual gross revenue is often reported to the landlord as required by the percentage clause in the lease. With the gross revenue, you can determine the rent to income ratio. The lower the ratio, the more likely the store is profitable. For example, if the annual base rent is $250,000 while the store’s gross revenue is $5M then the rent to income ratio is 5%. As a rule of thumb, it’s hard to make a profit if this ratio is more than 8%. So if you see a Rite Aid with 3% rent to income ratio then you know it’s likely a very profitable location. In the event Rite Aid declares bankruptcy, it will keep this location open and continue paying rent. If you see a Rite Aid drug store with 3% rent to income ratio offering 11% cap, chances are it’s a low risk investment with good returns. The weakness of corporate guaranty from Rite Aid is probably not as critical and the risk of having Rite Aid as a tenant is not really that significant.
Drug stores with new 25 years leases tend to sell at lower cap, e.g. 7-7.5% cap on new stores versus 8.0-8.5% cap on established locations with 8-10 years remaining on the lease. This is because investors are afraid that the tenants may not renew the leases. Unfortunately, lenders also have the same fear! As a result many lenders will not finance drug stores with 2-3 years left on the leases. The fact that drugstores with new leases have a premium on the price means they have potential of 10% depreciation (buying new at 7.3% cap and selling at 8.3% cap when the leases have 10 year left). Some investors will not consider investing in drug stores with 5-10 years left on the lease. They might simply ignore the fact that the established stores may be at irreplaceable locations with very strong sales. Tenants simply have no other choices other than renewing the lease.
How to Make Lanyards
Creative types may be curious to learn how to make lanyards. If you are able to follow simple directions you will be able to produce your very own lanyard for personal use or to give as a gift. Whether for yourself or a as a gift, lanyards are a great way to secure your keys, cell phone, badge, or whistle.
In learning how to make lanyards it is important to choose the right material. A popular lanyard making material is a thin, elastic, and flexible plastic lace. It is readily available at most craft stores and referred to as craftlace, lanyard, gimp, or boondoggle.
There are many different stitches that can be used to make or braid a lanyard. Many braiding techniques are complex and time consuming. One of the simpler braids is referred to as a crown (or round) knot. One must utilize patience and follow directions carefully in learning how to make lanyards. The basic crown knot is as follows:
To begin, take two strands of craftlace, fold them together (length will depend on the type of lanyard) and tie a knot at toward the top to hold them securely together. You now have four strings secured at the top.
Spread the four strings apart, separately, pointing in each cardinal direction of a compass. Hold the “west” string with one finger (close to the knot). At the same time, pull the “west” string over the “north” string.
Continuing on, cross the “north” string” over the “east” string. At this point the “north” string is covering both the “west” string and the “east” string. Now cross the “east” string over the “south” string. Finally, cross the “south” string over the “west” string.
At this point pull each end of the four string extremely tight to make the first knot. Continue crossing the strings in the same manner until the desired length is reached. The knots will produce a rounded lanyard.
Unique Christmas Tree Themes
If you are a style maven who is a bit bored with the traditional then you might be interested in unique christmas tree themes. Here are some unique suggestions for christmas tree themes that are sure to be real conversation starters.
The Christmas Cocktail Party Tree
This christmas tree theme looks great on both big and small trees. First, if your tree is not a prelit tree try stringing it with a string of novelty lights instead of the usual egg shaped lights. You can buy plastic novelty lights in the shape of Chinese Lanterns (for a 50′s feel), chili peppers (for that modern martini bar feel) and Pink Flamingos (for that Tikki cocktail party atmosphere.)
Then try decorating the tree with tiny cocktail parasols and multicolored cocktail picks. If your tree is really big you could also decorate it with plastic champagne glasses into which you have glued sequins or glitter. Miniature chocolates filled with liquor also make nice tree decorations.
The Gingerbread Tree
This most gorgeous of christmas tree themes never goes out of style. It looks best on a green or red tree. Decorate it with gingerbread man cookies, red glass balls, tons of candy canes, red velvet bows
and homemade paper snowflake ornaments.
This tree looks great accented it with white or gold beaded garland or a bushy red or white tinsel garland. or icicle-look garland. Top it with a Christmas themed stuffed white or brown teddy bear.
The Chocolate and Gold Tree
This is probably the trendiest of the christmas tree themes described here. It looks great on a red artificial tree. The color scheme in this case is reds, browns and golds. Tiny twinkling gold and red
lights look best. Think of the eighties when you decorate this one. Decorate this tree with walnuts, pinecones and chocolates wrapped in foil. Gold coins are a nice touch. Then tie large transclucent gold
and red ribbons, using the kind of ribbon that has bendable wire inside onto the ends of the trees. The ultimate effect of this tree should be very opulent and lush.
The New Baby Tree
If you are celebrating the birth of a child or a child’s first birthday this is a great tree to honor how happy you are about the new arrival in your home. The decorations suggested look great on
any kind of tree but you could consider buying a small blue or pink artificial tree. This is a good idea so any toddlers or infants around can’t get ahold of any shed needles. Also if you buy prelit artificial trees then you don’t have to worry about them yanking lights and pulling the whole thing down. If you have lots of toddlers around then you might want to opt for a small ceramic christmas tree until they are old enough not to grab at decorations and xmas tree limbs.
Pink, mint green, lavender and blue frosted glass christmas balls look particularly nice on pink or blue artificial trees. You can also decorate these trees with baby toys, baby bottles filled with candy,
teddy bears, baby booties and socks, pacifiers and wooden alphabet blocks. Little stuffed animals look great on this type of tree and a larger teddy bear or soft plush toy makes a great tree topper. If the
baby is a girl you might want to consider topping the tree with a doll dressed as an angel.
The Peppermint Twist Tree
This most minimalist of christmas tree themes looks fantastic on a bright white, prelit artificial tree. The color scheme of this is red and white but you can add a touch of green in the lights that you
string around it. Purists however think that keeping the whole thing red and white in every way looks best.
When it comes to the decorations stick with red and white round glass balls. Red and white frosted glass balls look much better than the conical ones. Also festoon the branches with as many red and white peppermint candy canes as you can find. Remember too that you can also stripe red or white christmas balls with white or red glitter by simply adding some glue in a striped shape to the ball and rolling it in the glitter.
You can also accent this look with red and white ball shaped peppermint candies. A large lollipop with red and white striping and surrounded by a sunburst bouquet of candy canes makes a great tree
topper.
The Sea Side Tree
This most unusual of christmas tree themes looks best on artificial trees in aqua or light blue colors. However it would also suit any tree that has a coral color such as light orange or pink.
This tree is decorated with treasures from the sea including seashells, sea horses, and ornaments made from aquarium decorations (treasure chests, coins and corals.) Strings of pearls can be used as
a garland and novelty lights shaped like seashells or even fish can be strung to enhance the aquatic theme.
The Snow and Ice Tree
This is one of the most unusual of christmas tree themes as it is white and icy blue instead of the more familiar red and green. First decorate it with a garland of novelty lights shaped like icicles or snowflakes. Your decorations should be made of see through plastic or crystal so it looks like the tree is dripping with frozen, glittering shapes. Instead of cotton batten, drape the tree with faux spider
webs or cotton shreddings to simulate boughs heavy with snow. You can even mound this cotton at the ends of the bough so it looks like it has been clumped there.
Your final step is to spray the whole thing down generously with flocking. Flocking is simulated snow that comes in an aerosol can. You can spray this stuff on just about any kind of tree including artificial prelit christmas trees and ceramic trees to make them look frostier.
This treatment is stunning on a white artificial tree but it also looks great on red, purple, blue or other artificial trees as all of the white provides a nice contrast to the tree’s original color.
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Ultra Light Fishing Tips
Are you even aware of what ultra light fishing is? Many anglers seem to think it’s using fishing gear that’s small enough for landing minnows, but this simply isn’t the case. In my view, ultra light fishing is actually closer to what we describe as regular fishing, and these ultra light fishing tips will help you catch more fish. For example I was watching the FLW tour on television the other day and some joker caught a 1 ½ pound largemouth bass on eight pound test, and the announcer kept commenting on how that line was to light for bass fishing. In reality, the angler was simply ultra light fishing for largemouth bass. He was using gear that was matched to what he was fishing for. This type of thing is seen as taboo among most bass anglers who consider ten pound test to be “light line”. Do you realize that ten pound test will hold ten pounds of weight before breaking? That’s what ten pound test means.
The bottom line is that to me ultra light fishing actually means using line and lures that are matched to what you’re fishing for without going into the range of overkill. Whatever the definition of ultralight fishing is, there are some ultra light fishing tips that can help you.
The weight of your line – As mentioned earlier, you want the pound test of your fishing line to match the size of fish that you’re trying to catch. For example, when I fish for trout in my favorite river, the biggest trout I would ever encounter would be six pounds (and that would be a once in a lifetime giant). Therefore I use four pound test monofilament. This diameter line is more than enough to land the fish I will catch, even big ones. I’ve caught five pond trout on four pound test many times.
The size of your bait – This is where ultralight fishing is different. Because you use line matched to you’re fish, this them enables the angler to use lures and bait that are smaller. While these lures are smaller than most people are accustomed to, ultra light lures are actually the size of the prey the fish are used to. This fact is a big advantage for the angler.
The size of your gear – Again, this is where ultra light fishing seems different, because the rods and reels that are used are much smaller than many anglers are accustomed to. And again, I think the size of ultra light gear is much more in line with the type of fish that are being fished for. For example I use a five foot ultra light rod for most of my small river and stream fishing. When the water’s really high, I’ll use a six foot six inch ultralight rod for added sensitivity. My fishing reel remains the same. I land fish that are quite large (in the 5-6 pound class) with gear this size and people think I’m nuts. To me it’s much more sportsmanlike to use fishing gear this size for fish in this size range. Obviously if I’m Steelhead fishing, I upgrade my gear to something heavier, because the fish that are caught are so much bigger.
In my opinion, the bottom line is that ultra light fishing is the most effective way to catch fish. Especially in Small River and stream situations. Ultralight gear and baits are all I use in such situations (unless of course Steelhead are the goal.) Many anglers think that large fish can’t be landed on ultra light gear, but this simply isn’t true. And I’ve said in this article, I catch large fish all the time. The other great thing about ultra light fishing is that you become a better angler. Ultralight gear forces you to play your catch, the way God intended, rather than just winching the poor fish out of the water. Remember, fishing is supposed to be a “sport”, not a job.