Happy 5th of July!

Well, apparently I missed posting on the 4th but, well, it is such an odd year maybe that just fits in properly.  Happy 244th Birthday USA!  I was reading a couple blogs this a.m. and one that I often enjoy is Sightings Over Sixty and yesterday's post was no exception.  The post, entitled "More Stuff I Don't Understand" was about the strange, strange times we are living through.  It's true:  horribly high unemployment but the stock market is fully recovered from the Covid-19 scare; there are more people with the virus but no one seems to care; the President seems totally unaware of the rest of the world; people still think he is doing a good job.  WTF??? 

Another blogger quoted this line:  We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.  So what the hell happened to that idea?  Equal??  Rights??  Liberty??  Why does it seem that black people not included in that sentence?  They seem much more likely to be arrested than white people.  I was checking out a fact sheet from the NAACP web site.  It has some really amazing statistics!  For example, African Americans are incarcerated at more than 5 times the rate of whites.  As of 2015 African American and Hispanic people comprise about 32% of the population but comprise 56% of the prison population. 

I don't pretend to know what is going on there; certainly discrimination by the police is part of the problem but I'm sure that poverty is a much larger factor.  26% of African American families live in poverty compared to 11% of white families.  And that isn't counting single parent families where the rate is much higher.  It is a shame that in this wonderful land that such discrimination exists.  Education, or the lack of it, is certainly a critical factor.  The same article suggests that a family headed by a college graduate makes nearly two times as much as a family headed by someone whose education stopped at high school.

I hope I haven't been too dismal here but these days are not 'our finest hour'.  The government isn't totally to blame but there sure are things that could be done differently.  The way everyday people interact is nothing to do with government but it doesn't make me proud.  Here in Nevada we've been ordered to wear masks while in public areas so, of course, we had a demonstration against wearing masks.  A large number of the people demonstrating were wearing firearms because that is legal here.  Inspections suggest that only about half of businesses are complying.  What the heck, the mask may keep you from getting ill but one's right to not wear one is oh so important.  What a place!  Take care & keep washing those hands.

We are just hanging around home.

We were all tired out when we came home from our Panama Canal cruise so have planned for this year to be fairly quiet.  Lately, as I've been whining, we've had a full-time job spraying weeds but that is over for a moment or two.  This is a pretty good time of year in Southern Nevada and our daytime temps are squeezing into the 70's (22C) so wandering around is fun.  There are a few things we need to do around the house and this is the time to start in on them.  I'll whine about them when they get underway.

My wife and I are of an age when aches and pains are a regular part of life; therefore ibuprofen.  Unfortunately there are things the miracle drug cannot cure and one of those things has taken a woman whom I only met once but via her husband's blog felt I knew her.  Croft is a guy who liked to write about their travels and his wife Norma was always there keeping him 'in line'.  Lots of us guys need a woman like that and Croft was lucky enough to have found his.  I wish him the best adjusting to the loss of his friend, lover, wife and so much more.

Life here is going on with the usual panache.  The headline on our newspaper this a.m. was that we now have a Starbuck's store!  We had a Starbuck's counter in one of the local grocery stores but I guess that wasn't enough.  I'd put up a link but they haven't updated the website with that burning news.  In other local news, our county, Nye, has been involved in a reality tv show:  Live PD. The sad news is that our local sheriff's officers will not be followed by their film crews from now on.  I'm not sure why we are getting the boot but I expect it is because we don't have a lot of 'action'.  Let's face it, there aren't that many people living here (and most of them are old) so we can only have so many drug busts. There goes our moment of fame.

I manage our investments and I've been fascinated by the marijuana industry that seems to be growing by leaps and bounds.  Part of the reason I find it interesting is that it is legal to possess small amounts in Nevada.  We have a local dispensary for legal recreational and medicinal weed.  We also have a couple other places offering CBD, a non-psychoactive form, that is supposed to have considerable medical uses.  Of course every sleezy salesperson (sorry, financial advisor) is pushing one company or another.  Believe me, I have no special insight and haven't bought anything yet!  There is a lot of interest in Canadian companies since they have legalized marijuana nationally.  There are also the brands that are associated with alcohol distributors but that is also primarily a Canadian connection.  I'll probably buy into some of the Canadian interests only because President Nutbag (I mean Trump) and his idiot Cabinet could turn on marijuana in an instant and amp up the pressure on the states to resind legalization. 

Well, that's what is wandering around in my head today.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great day.

Misc....

Well, they caught the Boston Marathon bomber kid.  I'm afraid he is sounding just like a normal passionate 19 year old who got hold of some nasty ideas.  Now to see what kind of 'justice' we will serve up.  Killing three and injuring so many more is going to make lots of people want the death penalty.  I’m kind of against that but throwing him in jail for the rest of his natural life doesn’t do much for me and turning him loose after three or four years isn’t where I’m at either.  Guess I’m glad I won’t be on the jury!

In other news, my favorite financial blogger, RandomRoger, has announced that he isn’t going to be blogging every day but only from time to time.  I can’t blame the poor guy, he’s been blogging almost daily for over eight years!  Still, I will miss him.  I’ve been reading him almost from the beginning and his ideas have influenced my investing style a  lot.  Fairwell, sir.

I have a list of ‘favorite’ blogs that I try to read regularly, I suppose most people interested in blogs have such a list.  I was looking at it this morning, surprised at the number that are no longer active.  Some have just disappeared.  It is an odd kind of feeling.  You read someone’s thoughts for a year or more then they disappear.  You can’t help wondering what happened.  An accident, jail, death, threw their computer through the window, moved to Argentina; like so many things in life we’ll never know. 

My wife and I have decided to visit Florida early this summer to celebrate a relative’s birthday.  This isn’t really news but it is kind of unusual for me; I haven’t been on a plane in over 10 years!  Since we lost our dog and the cat sleeps all day anyway, we have decided to rejoin the flyers of the world.  We’ll toss the cat in a kennel and fly away.  I’m reasonably certain it won’t be any more comfortable or healthier or even faster than it was 10 years ago but flying does mean I don’t have to hear whining about how long it takes to get across Texas.  We’ll see how it turns out.  Come to think of it, I haven’t stayed in a motel in at least 10 years.  Wow, a whole new world!

Today we are off to Vegas on a little shopping spree.  We (that would be my wife) need clothes for the trip to Florida.  I know it’s kind of early but there is this sale…..  Besides, we haven’t been in almost two weeks.  Can’t let the car forget the way, can we?  Have a good one!

Stuff & nonsense

We have been having a pretty quiet time lately.  Our big excitement over the weekend was a visit with blogger Ed and his dog Patches.  Ed has a medical appointment in Las Vegas on Wednesday and I volunteered to keep Patches while he is gone.  We thought we would get together ahead of time so Patches would have a chance to know me and my wife; not to mention our dog and cat.  As it turned out, everything is pretty cool.  Patches is really good with people; pretty good with the other dog and really amazed by the cat!  It was actually pretty funny.  Scotchie, the cat, is 17 and has been around a lot of dogs and he isn't taking any guff from them.  Patches would sneak up behind Scotchie and take a good sniff and Scotchie would turn around and whack Patches in the nose and Patches would run off.  LOL  Scotchie has no front claws so isn't going to do any harm but it sure surprised Patches.  So anyway we had lunch and everyone got to know everyone else.  Wednesday should be a piece of cake.

Late breaking news:  Ed is getting picked up for the trip to Vegas at 05:50 a.m.!  Hell, it will still be dark!  But I guess we'll live through the experience. 

I went over to pick up Ed and Patches in our truck which has hardly been out of the garage since we got home from San Diego.  Somehow it has developed a pull to the left and a shaking like something is out of round.  Took it down to a local tire place and sure enough, there is a bulge in the tread of the right front tire.  We had one tire grow a bulge in the sidewall on our trip to Washington in 2011 (approx. 20k miles); we had another grow a bulge in the tread while in San Diego (30k miles); and now at least one of the remaining tires has a bulge.  Hmmm.  I guess I can't really recommend the Continental tires that Ford put on the truck!  I think we'll just have the local guy replace both front tires (the old ones) with another brand.  We could chase around getting warranty work from Continental but that entails a trip to Las Vegas plus tying us to them for any future problems.  I think having a guy right here is the way to go.  The Continentals have been replaced under warranty pro-rated for the service we've received but that is still $120 + tax; new tires will probably run me $220 each but they won't carry the Continental name and if I have a problem the seller is about 4 miles away.

We are finally in our few moments of fall-like weather.  That means mid 90F days (35C) and mid 60F (18C) at night.  It's a big improvement over summer.  Of course it means other things:  Walmart has their Christmas stuff out!  The rest of the stores are focusing on shorter-term goals like Halloween and Thanksgiving.  Maybe it makes me sound old and grumpy but I think I prefer waiting just a bit longer for the attack of the Christmas sale. Ok, so I'm old and grumpy; but you knew that already!

Have a good one anyway!

Not Daily; not Dead!

Ok, so I fell off the wagon a bit and haven't blogged for a couple days.  So sue me!  We are recovering from the house full of people and haven't been doing much.  My wife managed to catch a cold from someone; we just hope we didn't pass it on.  She has been drinking Theraflu two or three times a day since Saturday.  She's sounding better today though so hopefully she'll get back on her feet soon.

I did get out to go visit Croft for a couple hours.  In person he's much like his blog so I wasn't surprised to like him.  I was surprised about his wife Norma.  He doesn't talk a lot about her in the blog but in life she is bubbly, interesting and talkative; always in movement.  Croft came off as the quiet one which kind of surprised me.  Another couple came along and we had fun hearing about their adventures.  Both couples were asked by the management of Terrible's Lakeside to move their rig part way through their stay.  Neither was particularly complimentary about the management of the park as you might imagine.  I can't say I would be either!

Croft did turn me on to another blog (like I need another one to read); based in Mexico it is written by an ex-copy editor and reflects his retired life in a relatively small Mexican city.  Felipe Zapata is his pen name and Zapata Tales is the blog.  It is beautifully written and I'm really enjoying it.  He managed to turn his hammock into a character in the blog.  Very nice.

Now that I've had my vacation, it's time to get to work cleaning up after a week's worth of visitors.  Gotta go work.  Have a good one!

Exciting day yesterday

Yesterday was pretty exciting by my standards.  We started the morning with our usual 2+ mile walk (3.5km or so) then decided to try planting some of that cactus that we bought at the Springs.  Now that was life in the fast lane!  Too fast for me actually.  First we have to scrape the rocks away, then dig the hole, then make sure it 'perks' then put in the plant.  Sounds ok but the dirt we have here has a lot of clay in it.  Since it is dry, it is hard clay.  Very hard clay.  Digging four holes a foot deep was more than enough work for me. The plants are in very dry soil so, of course, the root ball on one just fell apart.  We finally managed to get it planted but we are only hoping that it will survive the rough handling.  By 09:30 we were both exhausted and even a shower didn't revive us.  I think I drank a gallon of water too.

As if that weren't enough excitement, I got to visit with another blogger.  Ed is a full time rv'er who has decided to make Pahrump his legal residence.  I've been reading his blog, Peregrinating Graybeard, for some time.  He's traveled widely and had some interesting experiences.  And, yes, he sure does have a gray beard.  We met at one of the casinos and talked for an hour and a half or so.  If I hadn't had some errands to do it would have been much longer.  I also got to see his rv; an absolutely immaculate class C.  Not that it was a surprise since I've read his blog but it was pleasure to meet such an articulate and thoughtful person.

Two posts in one day.  What's getting into me?  Have a good one.

I've been quiet again....

No particular reason but I just haven't been here. I'm reasonably certain that the pinched nerve in my neck has something to do with the amount of time I spend on the computer so I've been trying to cut that down to something 'normal'. Ha! Like I can ever be normal!

The only thing that's got my attention lately is Mr. Obama being given the Nobel Peace Prize. I'm not really against it; certainly he brought a whole new face to the way the U.S. is interacting with the rest of the world, but I'm not certain I like him being recognized at that level for what he has done. As many others have pointed out; it's an award based on his potential. At any rate, here's hoping he can earn the darned thing.

We took the trailer back to the dealer with a couple of warranty problems and I must say it was a great experience. They did the work promptly and without a bit of hassle. Of course, we are using the dealer who sold the unit. If it had been sold by someone in Florida, there might have been some paperwork foolishness. Still, full marks to Johnnie Walker RV in Las Vegas.

One of my favorite bloggers, lawyermom, points out that I might get into trouble for saying something nice about the rv dealer. Well, all I can say is that I didn't get any compensation for that plug. Thanks for the heads-up, lawyermom, if they ever offer me a cup of coffee while I'm waiting I'll know to just say 'no'.

Another favorite blogger, RandomRoger, who is supposed to be a financial guy, came up with a reference to a great article on Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer. We do watch his show all the time and pretty much drink his coolaid in regard to treatment of our dog. We are nowhere near consistent enough but we try. Turns out that Cesar is one of those illegal immigrants that we don't hear a lot about - a successful one! Go Cesar! And don't forget to pay your taxes, buddy!

Take it easy, it's dangerous out there!

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Ok, I'm addicted to reading blogs. I won't bore you with a list of ALL of them but here are my special ones.

I like this woman even though I don't always agree with her. This entry though is special. She's the Lawyer and a mom.

I love reading about Nick and Miss Terry traveling the US. They write and publish a newsletter that I keep thinking I'll order but... you know me, procrastination personified!

One of the most interesting people I've come across is Lee from Australia. Not only is he a smart guy, he comes across the darnedest oddities to share with us all. He recently started a new job so isn't blogging as much as he used to do but it's still a great read.

A long time blogger named Wombat is also on my must read list. He is another Aussie but lives on Florida's West Coast and drives a limo.

I manage our investment portfolio so look at a few sites for advice. The only blog I read consistently is Random Roger out of Arizona. He seems like a pretty smart guy and I like his approach: it starts with spend less than you make and then invest it prudently. It's defining 'prudently' that's the tough part!

I read Charmaine about Middle Aged Dating; it's kind of like a soap opera. Trashy but I can't stop reading! Sorry Charmaine, it's not YOU that are trashy, it's the guys you date.

Lost and Found in India is different. People seem crazy about this woman; I understand about 10% of what she talks about but you can't say it's boring.

Life at Willow Manor is kind of different. She kind of reminds me of my ex-wife; the better parts of my ex! She would have had tea in a specially made cup.

To move on to RV blogs - I keep track of Ron and Terry at HitchItch. They have a fantastic site listing all sorts of RV blogs and reading about their personal travels is fun.

Then there is my buddy Croft. This poor Canadian seems to wish he was born on the other side of the country, i.e. Mexico. Spends as much time the as he can in his Class C being a part-time Mexican. Whatever works for him!.

Then there is Brian the boondocker. He thought he was taking off to be a full timer- boondocker kind of guy and the whole economy kind of fell down around his ears. He's still struggling with it though and I'm thinking he'll be off with Heidi on the back of his bike one of these days.

Hate to admit it but we are getting near the end. Mac and Chris are a couple of crazy people who enjoy traveling this great country and gambling every inch of the way. What the hell, it works for them. And I love reading about their adventures.

Here's a couple who I found because they were back-packing around Europe. Ok, I did it too when I was twenty but... I want to rv around there now. But these folks seemed to have a great time and, like them, we love the history of an area. They seem to have given up their blog since they returned home; too bad, it was a great read.

I love reading the adventures of this young woman who is adventuring around Canada. Sometimes she work-camps (which is working part of your week in exchange for your camping space) and sometimes she is just wandering. It's interesting either way.

There are many, many other blogs I visit occasionally but I'll end this list with an RV campground owner. Kathy has the most amazing adventures. Sometimes she is funny; sometimes it's scary but it always makes me want to come back and visit her again.

Ok - there's my list. There are lots more blogs that I visit but these are the ones who keep me going. Some I comment on; some I don't. That's reading blogs; sometimes there just isn't anything to add.

Hope you are having fun. But be careful, it's dangerous out there!