What do you get when you have a pair of horses, plenty to eat, and naked vines? 

A peaceful afternoon with the hint of spring in the air.   With the past few weeks of long overdue rain the sun broke through and new life unveiled itself beneath a bright sunny sky today.  I had just completed a meeting with a vintner and was getting ready to depart the winery when I looked beyond the trees and saw the horses on the hillside.  I grabbed my camera and started walking. 

As I gazed up the hill I was struck by the intensity of the green lush pasture.  Wow, no wonder the horses had their noses down as they consumed away.   It looked mighty fresh and from the horses perspective very tasty.   In a way we as a society have behaved not much different than these horses.  

When the economy was booming (lush and green every where), we kept our heads down and consumed as fast as we could.  Whether we needed it or not we just kept going back for more.  Some where along the way we forgot that the green stuff could dry up.  For those who are like the smart farmer they put some green away for that “rainy day”.  For the rest of us its back to the basics. 

It is time to be smart with our purchase decisions by pausing to ask “do I really need this?”.  With the stock market in a virtual free fall everyone is asking where is the bottom.   Well there is not much I can do about Wall Street but I can do what is right for me.  And I think that is what has to happen now.   

Wall Street is a barometer of how the big guys are doing and when I  last looked it appears we have some pretty sick patients.   The bright side is that our economy is driven by you and me.  While the big boys try to figure out the mess they have created for being inefficient and slow to change you and I need to figure out what is right for us.  I am saying let’s be smart, purchase what we need and reward ourselves when appropriate.  There maybe 10% unemployed but that means there is 90% who can work harder and smarter and have the ability to move us forward.  So don’t wait for someone else to “fix it” take the initiative whether it be at home or in your workplace and root out the waste.  Whether it be inefficient procedures, purchasing decisions or people.  Don’t sit back and just let it flow by you.  Take action and make a change for the better.  We will all be better off in the long run.

Until next time…whose pasture is always greener?