[SamIam]

LOL! That's a great idea, Monster! I never even thought of it. I'm starting my peyote farm tomorrow!

Interested parties may contact me by PM.

Seriously, people here are already selling local plants to the tourists plus grocery shoppers everywhere in the form of the humble pinto bean. The pinto outfits are impressively huge and hire lots of illegals every fall to harvest them.

I appreciate your suggestions, but the only reason for someone like me to stay here is the low cost of housing. And even cheap housing becomes out of reach if you can't earn an income. My friends here have pensions and other income from jobs they once held elsewhere.

And Jim, the closest friend I have in Cortez, is determined to leave himself. I have to admire him for his guts because he is in a situation identical to mine - 59 and with a disability. I asked him what he seriously thinks his chances are.

He said "Hell, if I send out enough resumes, SOMEBODY will be stupid enough to hire me!" That's the spirit! Jim worked as a coal miner for 20 years, and he's excited about getting a mining job in the new uranium mines north of here. "The pay's good and by time I get cancer, I'll have already been dead ten years or more." I love his spunk!

We are tentatively planning to throw in together on the cost of gas and hitting every other town between here and Grand Junction with a blizzard of job applications. Estimated time of departure is a week from tomorrow. Wish us luck!