Wednesday, January 24, 2018

OMG - nothing?

Jeez, I'm worried that the President has died.  I mean he hasn't Tweeted anything stupid in at least 24 hours.  He must be gone.



Yeah, I wish.  But I sure don't care for the sound of President Pence either.



However, it is a beautiful sunny morning in southern Nevada.  24F when I got up with no breeze and certainly no clouds.  Aside from the usual creaks and groans from my body I'm feeling good so I really ought to be pretty happy.  My wife and I are in the process of planning our next three trips; a bit of a stretch even for us.  The first is pretty simple though:  visiting our son in San Diego.

This time we'll leave the trailer at home and try the motel route.  We are planning to abandon the Interstate highway system as well.  We'll find backroads down to the Joshua Tree National Park and 29 Palms and spend a day or two there.  Then on down to San Diego for a short visit then back up the back roads home.  I-15 and I-5 are just kind of ordinary even if they are quicker.  What the H, we are old retired farts with plenty of time!

The second trip is a cruise so that just takes money not planning.  The final trip is a return visit to England and Northern Ireland which we just didn't have time for when we visited Ireland.  Those will be documented when we finally get there.  Trust me, it won't be next week.

I am proud of being a veteran of the US Army and have been a member of the American Legion since at least the 1980's.  Last week I attended my first American Legion Post meeting.  Yep, after 30 years, I decided to visit the local post.  I'm a real 'joiner' aren't I?  Well, anyway, it was darned dull.  I'm not sure why but, jeez.  First of all, I'm going to be 70 on my next birthday and I was feeling young in that crowd.  Not to mention fit.   So here are 15 old white guys, sounds like the beginning of a bar joke but that's the situation, most wearing Legion hats and the Chaplin wearing a uniform....  Well, it goes downhill from there.  I won't bore you.  I'll probably try to go again if only to bring some youthful enthusiasm to the place. 

I'll quit rambling on now.  Thanks for stopping by.  Have a good one!


Sunday, January 14, 2018

Another day; another stupid remark

So it wasn't yesterday but Mr. Trump certainly managed once again to make a fool of himself.  This time he's explaining how he doesn't want immigrants from 'sh*thole' countries.  What a delightful fellow he must be in real life.  I read somewhere that people shouldn't just read things they agree with but should read other viewpoints.  One of the suggestions was that liberals should check out conservative, but responsible, news outlets like the National Review.  Well, I haven't heard of the National Review since Mr. Buckley was the editor but I thought it worth a try.  So what was the lead article this morning?  "Donald Trump the Porn President." 

To quote from the article.  "Stung by Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury, Trump held an open negotiation on immigration with congressional leaders in order to showcase his executive mettle — and then went on to provide a slow day’s worth of headlines when he voiced his contempt for tropical “s**tholes” and their would-be emigrants.

Scatapalooza was a fun news cycle, but it immediately was surpassed by pornapalooza."
Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/455428/donald-trump-porn-star-payoff-why
 
'Pornapalooza' was their name for the claims that Mr. Trump paid a porn star $130,000 to keep quiet about him having an affair with her.  It was really rather fun reading their take on the Pres.  They point out that he's never been shy about  public affairs and has actually bragged about them; even in his own book.  The article goes on to discuss con artists and, while they don't actually call the President one, the author comes close making it sound almost acceptable.  Well, I guess to some people it is acceptable but not to me.  I would much prefer a President who could at least sometimes sound like the leader of the free world.  For that matter, I would prefer a President, unlike Mr. Clinton, could keep it in his pants much less brag about it.  Mr. Obama keeps looking better and better.

In happier news, we have had rain!  The last time it rained was September 12 when we got .01 inch.    Wunderground.com has just over an inch of rain in Mercury, Nevada on the 8th and 9th - the closest station that they have to Pahrump.  Since our annual average is about 5 inches; we're doing good!  To make it even better, there was no flooding.  Yep, sometimes we get flooding.  The rain comes down off the mountain and picks up some dirt and rocks that it deposits mostly on roads!  Actually, we are required by our lender to have flood insurance on our house.  Unusual I would have thought for a home in the desert.  

Ok, I'm going to quit whining.  2018 is upon us so I may as well learn to like it.  Have a good one!

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Good God!

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/ohio-youth-team-kicked-rec-league-offensive-jerseys-185930020.html

Really?  What the hell are these people thinking?  I can think of several terms for them but none are sufficiently rude.  'Responsible' and 'adult' are certainly not among them.  Full points to the parent who complained to the league. 

Tuesday, January 09, 2018

Thoughts about the new year

I've read recently that October 20 was 'Information Overload Day'.  I find that an interesting idea.  I've read that the average person is spending over 2 hours a day on their smartphone in 70 sessions.  People find they cannot ignore a call or even a text message.  Why not?  It certainly isn't because every call, much less every text, is all that important.  I suppose it is because that attention from others makes us feel important.  And who doesn't want to feel important?  I certainly don't know the answer and I certainly WILL be answering calls from my wife(!) but there must be some middle ground.  Thoughts can be shy, fleeting things and losing them because of a text about a football game is a poor choice indeed.

2018 is going to be another 'interesting' year.  Financial markets are up, a lot.  Crypto-currencies are likewise up except when they are down.  Then there is the elephant in the room.  We have a President in this country who seems to lack the filter between his brain and his mouth that tiny children are easily taught.  He is certainly old enough to have some of the various age-related diseases both mental and physical that we hear touted.  And who, in their right mind, would declare themselves to be "a stable genius"?  Not to mention the many, many times he has made a statement then a few weeks later deny he'd said it?  Who thought the number of people at his inauguration were record breaking?  No one but him!  I've had experience with older people and their faulty memories.  It's not a condemnation, it's just what it is.  We may need to remove him.

Personally, it looks like a fairly good year assuming the President doesn't start a war or Congress doesn't triple the income tax.  We have an early trip planned down to Southern California but that's only for a few days.  Then there is a trip to Europe which, at the moment, is somewhat free-form.  We have been promising ourselves a dog after that but are having lots of second thoughts.  Many of the dogs in our local kennel are pit bulls; we could certainly manage one but traveling with it might scare a lot of campground hosts.  Then again leaving Fido in a kennel for several weeks at a time doesn't seem like something one would do to one's best friend!  Perhaps we'll do more trailer travel in the fall (with or without dog) but we certainly haven't planned that far ahead. 

Right now we are reveling in the first rain in something like 115 days.  And, for the first time this season, there is snow on the mountain. 



Thanks for stopping by.  Have a good one! 

Monday, January 01, 2018

Happy New Year!

For once my wife and I actually saw the new year in - awake!  We weren't even particularly drunk.  Went outside to see if our town had any fireworks and they did but it was pretty chilly so we decided to go back inside to watch the ones from Las Vegas on the tv.  Still, I imagine I was in bed by 00:10.  It was a long day but pretty good.

Our little town has been blessed with a French bakery.  They make a really nice flute (short baguette) and some amazing desserts.  We had some of each for our celebratory dinner.  I wish them luck staying in business in this little place.  It cannot be easy.

My thoughts for 2018 are definitely mixed.  I'm hearing uncomfortable things about the economy.  I detest the idiot we have for President.  Discussions about war against North Korea are frightening to say the least.  Everyday violence seems to be an every day thing and not just in this country.  Maybe I'm paying too much attention to the news.

In contrast to my fears related in the previous paragraph  my hopes are quite different.  I'd like to wish everyone peace, joy and prosperity.  Happy New Year!