If you're too poor to afford a real dog, Prairie dogs are almost as good, and their free.

Click the pic, not just for yourself, but for those that don't have a pic to click.

Timberline.

I wanted to elaborate on a comment that Larry made in my blog yesterday when he sent me a link to a story about Oregon raising camping prices for out-of-state campers. Which, according to Oregon, is designed to discourage campers from visiting Oregon because of the Bat flu. And to raise more money for their financially strapped state parks.

It's pretty easy to see that those two things don't go together and, in fact, are diametrically opposed to one another. Which for the government, seems to be perfectly normal thinking. But for now, I just want to talk about the effectiveness of the Oregon state government raising more money by raising prices.

Businesses are very good at making money, they have to be, or they won't be in business very long. When's the last time you saw a company that wanted to make some more money put up signs in the window saying "TODAY ONLY! WERE RAISING OUR PRICES 10 PERCENT!!!" The correct answer is NEVER. But the government does it all the time.

When a business wants to motivate you to do something, they offer you an incentive to move you in that direction. They put things on sale,  offer you two-for-one, limit the time you have to purchase an item, give you payment options. They do all kinds of things to encourage you to buy something, and they all have one thing in common... They look like a good deal that you should take advantage of. Does it work? You bet it does!

Every year I would buy a New Mexico nonresident state Park pass for $225. That's a lot of money but I felt the benefits it offered outweighed the cost. Most years it did, some years it didn't, but overall I felt it was a good deal, and wished other states offered something similar.

But Oregon is doing what governments usually do. Their raising prices so they can make more money, even though the price increase discourages people from buying what the government is selling, which in this case is campsites.

I feel their price increases will probably work quite well keeping visitors away from Oregon. But, I doubt it will have much effect raising more money for the Oregon state parks.

                      theboondork

Old underground farmhouse that caved in many decades ago.

More rooms at the farmhouse. Building a house underground is cooler in the summer, and warmer in the winter. You just have to get used to sharing your bed with a family of Prairie Dogs.