Not bad!

All that traveling last month and I come home to sunsets like this:

 maybe I should just stay here and take my camera out more often!

I read a very interesting post over at another boomer's site that talked about the idea that things are getting worse for the poor in this country.  He quoted someone else who suggested that things had gone downhill during the Obama years and then continued to go down during the Trump years.  That person suggested that it was the fault of "Wall Street".  Hmmm, I'm not sure I go along with that but I certainly agree with the boomer that there is plenty of fault to go around.  I'm not a socialist but I do feel that people ought to be able to support a family without having three jobs.  

I just read where Target is paying a minimum wage of $15 an hour.  That means that a new person is making $600 a week if they are working full time.  In Las Vegas, our closest city, a three bedroom apartment can cost $1,600 a month.  So a guy with a wife and small child can be working for over two weeks to pay for the apartment.  That leaves only $800 for everything else.  He's got to be hoping that his wife will be able to get a job at Target as well but then we are talking about child care expenses.  Not good.  Minimum wage in Nevada is $9.75 which is higher than the Federal  minimum of $7.25 BUT it hasn't been changed since 2008.  I'm thinking prices have risen more than a bit in 12 years.  

LIke I said, I don't know the answers but I sure see the problem.  Maybe the Biden years will be golden.  I sure hope so.  Take care & keep washing those hands.

Hmmm

I wrote a couple times ago about watching Live PD and enjoying watching the officers try to do the very difficult job of maintaining law and order.  Part of the reason I've enjoyed it is that our Nye County Sheriff's office has been one of the units involved.  This morning I found a bit about the dark side of the show and the departments that are being followed.

Apparently a black man, admittedly a very large black man, was being chased for failing to dim his headlights.  At the end of the chase, he was tased several times and died at the scene.  Here is a link to the story.  Certainly he had existing medical problems but I'm pretty certain the tv show didn't share the footage of him dying at the hands of the officers.  The whole story sucks.  There are so many stupid things going on by almost everyone; it's just dumb.

We can start with the guy, Mr. Ambler, who decided he shouldn't stop for the cop.  Dumb move number 1.  Well, it was very late at night after a poker game so alcohol was almost certainly involved.  He actually hits several objects with his car!  Dumb move number 2.  He finally gets out and raises his hands.  Smart move number 1.  The cop, who had drawn his firearm, trades it for his Taser.  Smart move number 2.  The guy moves back towards his car.  Dumb move number 3.  By now several cops have shown up and they use the Taser several more times because the guy isn't getting his hands behind his back.  Dumb moves number 4 through X.  Unfortunately the guy is dying by this time.

I hate to admit it but I've been stopped for failure to dim my lights.  We have wild horses and burros north of our town and you don't want to hit one of those guys.  I was using my bright lights and just forgot when I got closer into town.  Well, a State Patrol officer was one of the oncoming cars and he flipped on his lights and did a U-turn.  I saw the lights in my rear view mirror as he was turning and figured either I'd done something wrong or he was on a call and I ought to get out of the way so I pulled over onto the shoulder of the road.  I had NO idea why he was stopping me.  Well, he told me and I just couldn't apologize enough and he ended up just telling me not to be so careless.  But, of course, I'm white and I hadn't been drinking.

The thing that really bothers me is that both the sheriff's office in Texas and the tv show have refused to cooperate with the county attorney and the media.  Can you spell cover-up?  What the hell are they doing? 

On a much better note, we had the Strawberry Moon this week and I got this photo.

The moon was just rising and I was out with the dog.  Just lucky timing. 

Thanks for stopping by and reading my rant.  Take care & keep washing those hands.

Quiet times

I guess we aren't the only ones having quiet times these days.  We are trying to order take-out from a couple of our favorite restaurants every few days.  Ordinarily we eat lunch out practically every day; I wonder of those days will ever return?  It has to be very difficult for these small places to survive this closure.  Some will certainly not re-open.

My wife made masks for us to wear when out in public.  I feel pretty silly wandering around in it and it is really warm but what the heck.  She went to the effort to make the darned things.  Actually, she has never worn hers; she lets me go to the store unsupervised!  It usually works out ok.  I'm really lousy at finding paper towels though.  She hasn't really been out of the house in over two weeks and I'm just as glad.  She had bronchitis a couple years ago and we aren't sure she ever fully recovered.

We are gradually getting to 70F (21C) around here and nights are around 45F (7C).  That is kind of cool for this time of year.  Usually we are in the mid-80's (29C) by now.  It has been a rather wet spring for the desert though which means the weeds are growing really well.  I sprayed them about a month ago and just got done doing it all over again.  Grrr!  When I say wet weather, we are talking about .7 inch (18 mm) in the month.  That isn't much, of course, but the ground around here is a very loose, light soil.  With a little rain it turns into mud that will stop a 4WD in it's tracks.  I always get a kick out of some idiot who had to prove what a great offroad vehicle he has and it is totally covered in mud! 

We live in a very conservative area; we pass at least 3 or 4 'Trump 2020' flags or banners in the 2 miles to town.  Who are these people?  How can women support the sexist jerk?  How can Christians support the golfer-in-chief?  How can veterans support the draft-dodger-in-chief?  How can people of color support  Mr. White-guy?  Look at his advisors!  White and related to him are the outstanding qualities of most of them.  Knowledge, not required.  Intelligence, not required.  Good looks, oh yeah, that is important.  Oh well, it gives me a chance to think about something other than the virus.

Take care and keep on washing those hands!  Thanks for stopping by.

Daughter visit

Well, so why is that worth a post?  Well, it' s because she is selling her house in Las Vegas and moving to Austin, Texas!  (I hope, if the sale goes through!)  In the 'If You Can Believe It File':  she has had some trouble selling her house because there is a solar array on the roof!!!!  To be fair it is a rent-to-own set up where she is paying for the array and her regular electric bill is dropping her total bill by about $40 a month but there is an additional bill, like $15, each month.  No one who was reading things could mistake that it was a good thing!  Oh well, plenty of people don't think - I mean, how did we get Trump as a President?   Isn't there a 'Ability To Speak In Public' requirement for the job?  Or at least an IQ test requirement?

Sorry, I've had a few drinks.  I'm so unhappy with the Democrats this year.  We get a bunch of 80 year olds; a gay mayor and FINALLY one younger person with national experience to whom no one is listening.  So why aren't people voting for Amy Kolbuchar?  She is younger, experienced at the national level, REASONABLE, not a socialist:  DAMN she's perfect!   Well, except for the woman thing; the reasonable thing; the not giving everything to everybody thing.  Oh well, what the heck, I know she won't get it.  She just isn't stupid enough to be President!  I mean look at the President!

Gotta go.  It's after 21:00 (9 p.m. to you civilians).  Have a good one!

Happy Holidays!

Well, Christmas is almost here and other holidays seem to be sprinkled around this time of year:  Chanukah and Kwanzaa spring to mind.  So I guess all religions are causing their believers stress.  Happy days indeed!

Yes, I am a grouch.  Yes, I am a non-believer.  Please don't bother to tell me how wrong I am; plenty of people have done that already.  I was probably rude to them in return.

We are having a Christmas eve luncheon with our daughter today.  She is all excited about going on a trip after Christmas so we'll get to hear lots about that later today.  Then on Friday we will have friends coming to visit for a couple of days.  It's been a long time since we've been together and we are looking forward to catching up with them.  Of course having guests means extra cleaning, planning special meals, etc.  Lots of fun!

Every day when I drive into town (we live in a sort-of subdivision a couple miles from the center of town) I see three or four flags or banners calling for re-electing President Trump in 2020.  It makes me feel like I don't belong here at all.  The President is just so foolish, so self-centered, so bad at being the representative of our country.  Of course, I have trouble liking any of the Democratic candidates but Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence are just disgusting.  I remember hearing in 2016 how happy the people of Indiana were that Mr. Pence was being taken off their hands.  It is the only argument I can imagine that makes not-impeaching President Trump a good thing. 

Speaking of the Democratic candidates, wow, what a bunch of losers!  And the front runners are mostly old.  Don't get me wrong, old isn't automatically bad but Bernie Sanders is 78!  I mean the average life expectancy of men in this country is only 76.  Let's be darned careful about Bernie's running mate because we're probably going to inherit him or her.  Then again the Democrats all sound like they think socialism is what our country needs.  I can't think of a better way to lose the election.  I do like Tom Steyer and Pete Buttigieg but neither has any federal governmental experience.  Elizabeth Warren has experience but she is 70.  Oh well, the Russians will probably give the election to Trump anyway!

So, have a Merry Christmas, happy Chanukah or joyous Kwanzaa!  On to 2020.  Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Holidays!

I wrote this just before Christmas but things have been happening (more about that later).  I still wanted to share with you why I celebrate this time of year.  I hope your Christmas was great and that 2016 brings you wonderful things.

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Sometimes I'm all in favor of political correctness and sometimes it just seems like a pain in the ass.  I mean I entitle this missive 'Happy Holidays' on the off chance that someone reading this celebrates something else.  From Wikipedia: "By the late 20th century, the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah and the African American cultural holiday of Kwanzaa began to be considered in the U.S. as being part of the "holiday season"  Well, my wife and I are agnostic so we don't really give a damn what you call it.  But we do celebrate it.  Gotta ask yourself why.  (BTW, this time of year Wikipedia is asking for donations.  If you can afford it for heaven's sake give them some money.  There isn't a better source of information anywhere on the web so cough up!  We do every year because we sure use the site and I personally admire the people who put it together.)

The reason we celebrate is only marginally complex.  It starts, of course, with our parents.  Both sets of our parents considered themselves to be Christian though none of them attended church regularly.  So we started off with some parts of a Christian upbringing.  Then we started thinking for ourselves and kind of got over it.  (Our favorite, if rude, comment came from some movie or tv show refering to one's belief in God as having an "imaginary friend".  Sorry but I had to say it!)

So now we are in our mid-60's; haven't had any religious feelings in probably 50 years and yet we have our Christmas tree in the living room.  What's with that?  I wish people "Merry Christmas" all over town.  Huh?  Am I just full of crap?  I would argue not - but who wants to say they are full of it?

First of all, I don't believe in all the religious stuff but one of the most important founding principles of this country is freedom of religion.  That's one of the reasons I'm so proud of being a vet, I support your right to practice whatever religion you like even though I don't agree.  And if you wish me "Merry Christmas" all I do when I respond in kind is to basically say "I hope you have things to celebrate in this holiday season".  It's verbal shorthand.  Well, who doesn't like a party?

Now our tree.  Now our tree has become the story of our family.  The tree itself is a 4 foot (bit over a meter for your world dwellers) guy that we bought our first Christmas in the Netherlands.  So, just looking at it reminds us of one of the great experiences of our lifes.  So then we dress it up.  The lights do absolutely nothing for us except make it prettier.  The pointed ornement on top is simple and not religious.  (It also reminds us of the time many years ago when my brother-in-law made a star out of aluminum foil for our tree but that's another story.)

The ornements are the point for us.  We have all kinds of things hanging on that tree; our tree of life.  There are things the kids made when they were kids; not 40 somethings!  There are things my wife's mother gave us.  There are swarovski crystal things we bought back when they made different things every year.  (Last time I looked they were just hanging a '2015' sign on their annual star these days.  Needless to say we stopped buying them!)  There are little straw things we bought in the Netherlands.  Every item has it's story.  It's the story of our lives; our family; our love.  Isn't that the whole point of the holiday season?  So call me a fool but don't touch my Christmas tree!

Happy Holidays, folks.  And Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Kwanzaa and whatever greetings of the season that you may prefer.  Thanks for stopping by.

Getting ready....

Yep, Thanksgiving is just around the corner for those of us in the U.S.  It's one of the favorite holidays in our house because we have a lot to be thankful about and we know it.  It's also a pretty nice time of year in this part of the country; the extreme heat has finally let up and it isn't actually snowing yet.  I have to wonder if the number of traffic accidents doesn't skyrocket though; people are just crazed about getting that 'just right' turkey or a special tablecloth or something.  Personally I prefer to hide at home if I can!  The cooler weather also means I can post a photo like this:

In the summer our oven doesn't get much of a workout since the a/c has plenty to do without the additional heat.  The bbq is definitely our go-to cooking method in the summer.  This little piece of pork loin came out really nicely and the bacon added something to the peas even after it had contributed it's good moistness to the loin.  Yum!

On a completely different subject, I take a lot of photos.  I'm currently using two cameras and my cell phone.  I guess I could use the computer but not that many people want to see photos of me!  The cell phone has both forward and backward facing cameras so you can take photos of yourself and something else at the same time.  My wife and I were fooling around the other day and I took this one that is so bad it's funny.

I saw some famous guy on tv talking about his selfies where he takes a photo of someone else with just maybe one of his own eyes in the photo.  I thought I'd try it with this feature of the phone.  It actually turned out better than I'd hoped when my wife tried taking a photo of me at the same time.  Hm, another life in the fast lane moment! 

I'm probably going to be busy until after the big day so I'll take this opportunity to wish all of you in the states a Happy Thanksgiving and a Happy Thursday to the rest of the world.  Let's hope it is a peaceful and loving one everywhere.  Thanks for stopping by.


 

Happy Veteran's Day!

Here in the states it's a day to remember our military veterans and you know I've got to say it, you deserve it!  Thank you for your service!  Some of us did very little, like me, some gave all.  Let me tell you, you just don't know what's around that next corner.

Aside from the holiday I still don't have any exciting news.  Our weather has cooled to highs in the 60's F (15C).  Sometimes we get a shoulder season and sometimes we don't.  This is one of the 'don't' years.  We did get some rain in the last month and it's caused some havoc.  Much of Death Valley National Park is closed due to flood damage.  That's pretty lousy and some of the areas like Scotty's Castle is going to take some extensive repair.  It is going to be closed for quite a while.  I'm a member of a public advisory board for the Nevada National Security Site aka the Test Site.  It is where the U.S. tested nuclear weapons from the 1950's through 1992.  They had some pretty substantial road damage due to flooding as well.  Happily that whole area is carefully monitored so we can know that there is no radiation washing down off the test site or anything like that.  I always get a kickout of this photo showing people sitting out in the desert on folding chairs waiting to see the bomb go off.  A different time indeed!  This photo courtesy of National Nuclear Security Administration / Nevada Field Office.

 Well, that's it for today.  I've definitely got to get out and do SOMETHING!  Take care and have a good one.

Jeez, time really does fly!

I just noticed that I haven't updated the blog since Tuesday.  The embarrassing thing is that I can't think of anything even remotely interesting that I've accomplished in that time.  Jeez, really? 

Back a few years ago Microsoft came out with this pc-thing that took over the world.  Yeah, I know about the Fruit company but in offices it was pretty much Windows.  Anyway, they had a notepad that I think they are still supporting and I discovered that if you opened the notepad and put .LOG in the first line, it would time-date stamp it every time you opened it.  Hmmm.  From that day to this I've used that piece of software.  These days it is more of a diary but it used to be that I'd be on the phone with someone making notes of what we were saying.  I'd have a note that I promised a software fix by Tuesday; or they promised a new spec; or whatever.  And after I got off the phone and talked with three people about three different problems, I still had my notes right there.  I absolutely love it.  It must have saved a tree's worth of paper from me taking notes in notebooks.  Also my typing is a hellova lot easier to read than my penmanship!

So, what have I been up to?  We took the photo of the cat that I posted last time and went to Walmart and in an hour got our custom Christmas cards printed up.  Our Walmart appears to have cut people's hours.  The checkout lines were crazy so after paying for our cards at the photo counter we just left.  Didn't do much on Wednesday.  I was convinced we could buy screen-storm door for one of our doors; two hours on the internet convinced me that it may not be possible.  The problem is that the door isn't a standard size; it's about an inch off and I can't find any that are adjustable.  Grrrr.  Apparently that was about all I accomplished on Wednesday.  Well, I did sell a stock that we've had for a couple years and it's up a bit but hasn't paid a dividend so it's outta here. We also got those Christmas cards out.  They mostly go to folks who aren't too computer savvy but there are a couple going to friends I've had for 40 years but don't really correspond with all that much.

Thursday we went into town and bought a bunch of stuff for Toys For Tots.  We usually go for the small kids stuff; by the time a kid is in the teens they ought to have a grip on reality.  I don't know if I'm done with that; there are an awful lot of poor kids out there and the hype about Christmas drives them all crazy - rich or poor. 

Friday the big thing was working on my pension.  I turned 65 this year and have been having difficulty communing with the Retiree Benefits departments of a couple corporations I worked for many moons ago.  Each company has a different set of rules and they stick by them.  It won't be enough to live on but it can't hurt.  I guess that's pretty much out of style now; pensions I mean.  I don't agree with that.  My wife worked for one company for 28 years; how is it that an employee like that shouldn't be kept on the books.  It doesn't have to be a free ride but to be kicked to the curb sounds wrong.  She has her pension but I don't know that current employees are going to be as fortunate.

Yesterday was Number One Daughter visit day:  she and her mom watched movies and I hid in my den.  I don't care for most movies these days:  too many dead bodies and gratuitous violence for me.  But the food was good and we had a good talk after dinner so it wasn't all bad.  Today we are munching on left-overs and contemplating a walk.  We call it Life in the Fast Lane.

Have a good one.  Thanks for stopping by.

Huh?

I read way too many blogs.  OK, it's a lousy habit but recently some of the blogs are just going crazy about the end of civilization; demonizing President Obaba, just going completely off the tracks.  Get a grip folks!  He's a dummy but that's about it.  I'm sorry that there are people who believe the Pres is a POS non-American commie nigger.  Well, I don't think he is doing a very good job but Mr. Cruz is bringing up a much more interesting slant on being American born.  As for the rest, if you understand the definition of communism, you know Mr. Obama isn't one.  And for his color; who really gives a shit?  If you do, you're an idiot.  I expect he would agree that he's not meeting his own standards as a President.  But he's not the anti-Christ. 

Come on folks, he's just some twit who isn't very good at politics.  Not many remember but Kennedy was cruising for a really lousy presidency when he was killed.  VP Johnson stepped in and in spite of f*&king up Vietnam did a really stellar job of changing civil rights law. He isn't given much credit but in 100 years he'll be seen as a real deal changer.  Obama is like Kennedy; a newbie who can't get things done.  His VP, Biden, should be in charge of getting things done but Obama isn't capable of letting go that much.  It's a shame.

Anyway, the end of America as we know it isn't around the corner.  The economic collapse isn't either.  So stop prepping and start living.  My folks made it through the great depression and mom (20 in 1932) didn't even have to sell her self to the highest bidder.  Neither did my wife's mom.  Hard times, yes.  But not the end of the world and it isn't coming now either.  Take a big salt pill and wake up to smell the roses.  They really are nice.  Just like forever.

Thanks for checking in.  Have a good one.

An open letter to President Obama:

 

Dear Mr. President:

Someone famously said if you want to tell a story you should start at the beginning, carry on until the end and then stop.  I guess the beginning of my story about you is when you made that magnificent speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention.  It was obvious then that we the people would be hearing a lot more from you.  That was indeed a magical moment.  I'm sure everyone who heard it was impressed.  In 2008 I voted for you hoping that you would bring us some relief from the crazy cowboy foreign policies of George W. Bush.  You started off really well but you must admit we still aren't minding our own business very well.  How many thousands of dead and wounded military personnel have we suffered since you took office?  It's a big number.  In 2012 I voted for you again; unfortunately this time it was because I was voting against the other idiot; yes the OTHER idiot.  Your Presidency was already a disappointment.

That is really the theme of my letter:  disappointment.  You have so many gifts:  you can deliver a speech as from the Gods; you are obviously extremely intelligent; I shouldn't even bother to mention your physical good looks, your beautiful family and all that.  I do wish you had bothered to serve in our military forces.  It isn't so much the 'patriotism'; it is that one learns so much from giving to your country in that manner.  It's not easy to explain to one who hasn't served but offering to go and do whatever you are told whenever you are told is both complete freedom and the most complete servitude one can imagine.  I served during the Vietnam era but did not go to Vietnam.  Frankly I think you would be a better President had you served earlier in your life.  You would find that the oath of office is quite similiar. 

You have only three more years to 'make your mark'.  I would suggest giving up on perfection and settling for 'good enough'.  The end of your story is not here yet.  There is actually a chance to change the tax code.  Some sort of immigration reform is possible.  There is a chance to keep at least parts of 'Obamacare'.  There is a chance to get MOST of our troops home.  You can do these things.  Your country needs these things.  Give it a shot!  Don't be a pedantic supercilious professor of law.  The President of the United States is a politician.  Give some; get some; and make your Presidency a success.  LBJ is the guy who got the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed; not JFK.  And if you don't think LBJ was a politician and a pretty good President; well, maybe I'm writing to the wrong guy.

Good luck Mr. President.  It would be really wonderful to remember you as a great President rather than just a great speaker.

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas to all and may you and yours have a fantastic New Year!

Things are happening around here; some good and some bad.  I'll start with the bad.  Last Thursday we loaded our dog Sammie into the car for a trip to visit the nice people at the Las Vegas Veterinary Specialty Center aka the oncologist.  Just before Thanksgiving we noticed that the growth on the dog's chest was going wild.  This is the same spot where she has had three surgeries for cancer; the latest only last April.  We spent quite a long while talking with a very nice (and very pregnant!) vet who explained what kind of cancer the dog has and the various treatment options.  The options are all over the place.  The most aggressive is taking her to Los Angeles or San Diego for surgery and a month of radiation treatments.  Let's not even discuss cost!  Then there is surgery done here in Las Vegas, various radiation therapy options and finally a simple painkiller to keep her comfortable until we need to euthanize her.  The doctor helped us understand why this sort of cancer is so difficult to remove completely and that even the most aggressive treatment would probably not be successful.  The doctor took a lot of time to help us come to our decision which is, of course, the last since it is so doubtful that the cancer can be overcome.  Right now she doesn't seem to be in any particular pain.  She is slow to get up but likes her walks and is always looking forward to feeding time.  The huge growth on her chest doesn't seem to bother her at all.  So we are good to go until something causes a reduction in her quality of life.  When that happens, it will be time to say goodbye. 

The good news is that talking with the vet brought us a better understanding of what we will be facing for the next few months.  Knowing that makes facing it easier.  Our other good news is that we are actually ready for Christmas.  Part of the reason is that we are reducing the size of the celebration.  Since it is only us and Number One Daughter, we don't need four appetizers, two desserts, rolls, two vegies, etc.  We'll have a ham, mac and cheese and a vegie.  We even managed to find a slightly under six pound ham (2.6 kg) - it should be fun to find out if that will provide enough for dinner plus all the secondary uses we find for ham. 

We made a trip into Las Vegas about a week ago for shopping.  Shopping together means that there won't be too many surprises under the tree but we are confident that we'll like what we get!  Old people can do this stuff!  I think it's in the Bible somewhere; near where they say you have to go out and go into debt buying presents at Christmas.  

I did actually write (email) to President Obama and my Congressional representatives about the fiscal cliff and how they shouldn't act like school children but should keep us from going over and under.  My Representative and one Senator responded with canned responses; nothing from Mr. Obama who is so proud of his "open and responsive adminestration".  I hope they can manage something but I guess we'll just have to get along if they don't.  It wouldn't be the first screw up by those idiots we voters send to D.C.

We have been having all kinds of different weather.  Cloudy days, clear days, windy days and all the possible variations have been coming our way.  I left the hummingbird feeder out one night and discovered it frozen the next morning.  I'd forgotten that last year we brought it in every night so now that is added to the nightly chores.  I saw a hummingbird trying to drink from it the morning it was frozen; afterwards he perched on the holder and kind of looked at me.  Bet he was thinking nasty thoughts!  Here's a shot of Mt. Charleston with the desert floor in the foreground.  Have a happy holiday.  I'll be back before the new year.

Strange World

The news continues to confound me.  For example, this woman who runs over her husband with a car because he didn't vote.  Imagine what she would have done had he voted for someone she didn't like! 

Then there is the very strange story of General Petraeus; everyone involved seems to be behaving strangely except maybe the General's wife.  She is just pissed off.  Wonder why.

There is a long article claiming that Mr. Romney lost the election because some software that was supposed to help the Republican's Get Out The Vote campaign didn't work.  Gee, is it possible that maybe Mr. Romney's and by extension some Republican ideas aren't acceptable for moderate American voters? 

Apparently there are at least twenty states where people have signed secession petitions including some where Mr. Obama won the popular vote.  I understand this is not unusual after a Presidential election but it sure is weird.  I wonder what these people think they are doing.  They voted, they lost:  how tough is that? 

Maybe it is just that we have so much more news available to us then in the past.  After all, newspapers have limited space, the internet seemingly doesn't. 

Have a good one.

Happy Veterans Day

Happy Veteran's Day to all the vets out there.   As you can see, it’s a bit windy here today.  Having served our country is a privilege that those who have not done will never completely understand.   Odd, but true.

We had a murder here yesterday or maybe it was just lunch.  I just posted a photo of all the finches having lunch.  Well, apparently I have a hawk as a reader because he dropped in for lunch.  On the finches as it were.  My wife and I were sitting in the kitchen nook talking after lunch when I spotted a hawk out in the yard.  She grabbed her camera and got a shot or two of him standing around.  Then, in a moment, he had grabbed a finch and was dining!  Yep, just started pecking away at the little guy.  If you look closely you can see the finch in his claws.  After 10 minutes or so, we figured he was full.  He’d moved off a bit to finish his lunch and was kind of hidden in the shadows.  The other birds decided it was safe and returned to have more seed somehow ignoring the hawk.  Big mistake, huge actually for one because he came zooming in and grabbed another finch!  Yep, one just wasn’t enough.  I must admit, they are small. 

So we had a lesson in life yesterday.  We’ve all got to eat.  Have a good one!

Back to normal

After all the excitement of the election it’s good to return to normal stuff:  like watching the birds.  In the fall we get a ton of these little gold finches.  There are rose finches as well but the golden guys really go for thistle seed.  There is an ongoing fight to see who gets the best spots on the sock. 

We also had a rainbow yesterday.  No rain but the rainbow was nice.  There is a big storm coming our way from California so we are getting wind; perhaps rain over the weekend.  

On the CBS news this morning I saw a segment called  “Note To Self”; it was a man’s advice to his much younger self on the eve of going to war in Iraq.  The link is here – it is very highly recommended.  The guy, Alex Horton, works at the VA.  I cannot help thinking we will be hearing more from this guy.

Short post today.  Just wanted to share the ‘normal’ thing in life.  Have a good one.

Collapse!

I have been reading blogs lately whose writers are anticapating some sort of incredible collapse of our society - soon!  I disagree but I am in sympathy with them.  Our society is clearly in trouble; and not just ours but seemingly the entire world.  Let's see what sort of collapses I can find.

1.  The economic state of the U.S. - Public Debt is just crazy, the economy in general is dull at best.
2.  The euro - bailing out the poor countries will be awful; kicking them out ditto.
3.  Islamic unrest - is it out of control?  How does a primarily Christian country like the U.S. but believing in a separation of church and state respond to a religous war? 
4.  Will terrorists start sneaking serious bombs into our country?
5.  Is there a threat from China?  Clearly they make everything we use, buy all our debt, are establishing a huge military presence, may have the abliity to undermine our infrastructure.
6.  Our infrastructure is dying on the vine anyway since our country isn't investing in it at all.  And basic scientific research is dying without investment - if you don't think that is important you are sadly mistaken.


Of course I've not mentioned the things I don't think are dangers (and why) - like:

1.  Whether or not Mr. Obama was born in the U.S. (It's a done deal folks!)
2.  Increased gun control. (Against - I like guns AND the Constitution; read the 2nd amendment.)
3.  Immigrants. (This is the melting pot, let them in.  Legalize them!  In a generation, we'll all be better for them.  No one is complaining about the Irish any more.)
4.  Paying for abortions via Medicare. (Would you rather support the kids on welfare?  How about paying for orphanages?)
5.  The decline of morality.  (This does bother me but I don't see it as a danger as long as we don't try to impose any specific definition of morality on our society.)
6.  Religion in general.  (Read the damn Constitution!  Whatever you believe, as long as you keep it reasonably to yourself, go ahead.  Yes, even Scientologists, Islamics and athiests.)

Have I ever been wrong?  Of course!  All the time!  But really folks, I don't think the sky isn't falling any more than usual.  And even if it were, no one gets out of this life alive anyway.

9/11 again

I doubt if there are many in the Western world who don't remember 9/11; where they were, what they were doing.  My smartphone tells me it is Patriot Day.  Well, I don't mean to be a grouch but who really needed a named day?  And what the hell does it have to do with patriotism?  Tragedy Day; Terrorism Day; those mean something but Patriot Day?  The soldier who gets killed today in Afghanistan is a patriot.  The people killed in the terrorist attacks were mostly victims; the first responders might be called heroes; but I just don't care for the term Patriot Day. 

Ok, rant is over.  My wife and I are self-described weird people.  Take our eating habits for example.  We will start out a week with the fridge almost empty then we cook several days in a row and then darned thing is stuffed with leftovers.  Does anyone else do that?  For example, right now we have a big tub of ham & bean soup; another of a beef & barley stew; several pieces of leftover steak; some leftover salmon; leftover taco filling and more!  There is enough food for a dozen people; no wonder I'm overweight.  One thing we are both proud of is that we don't eat a lot of processed stuff.  No Hamburger Helper in our cupboard though we do have at least 30 different spices.  We might cook up some noodles and put hamburger in with them but it won't be out of a box. 

Of course that isn't our only weirdness.  Take vehicles; we keep them quite a while. It's not a contest or anything; I don't like unreliable vehicles but we keep them and take care of them.  Our last truck stayed with us for 9 years; the car 15 years; the one before that 10 years.  We are having a party in December; we'll be paying off the RAV4 after three years.  (Toyota was offering 0% interest & I just couldn't say 'no'.)  That means we'll have 6 to 10 years without a car payment.  That makes life a lot nicer!  The truck is an 08 model, nearly five years old, paid for, but it's only got 30,000 miles (48,000 km).  We are planning on keeping it for quite a while too.  What do we care if it's old? 

Being atheists marks us as weird too.  I doubt if I could get elected dog catcher in this country; much less in this town.  We have a church around every corner and at least two church related schools.  (Oddly, there is  no Catholic school here though there is a fairly large church; the fundamentalist sects are the ones with schools.)   It must be a reflection of my age and upbringing that I am unfamiliar with churches like The Rock Vineyard Church or The Foursquare Faith Fellowship or the Heritage Bible Church.  I'm more used to the couple different kinds of Lutheran or Baptist Churches. 

Speaking of religion; I came across an article on Thomas Jefferson and his religious beliefs.  Apparently he didn't care for the entire bible so he selected the parts he liked and physically made up his own version.  http://www.smithsonianmag.com/multimedia/videos/A-Brief-History-of-the-Jefferson-Bible.html  For me it is an astonishingly thoughtful and ambitious undertaking.  Apparently he was a person who took his religion seriously.

On that odd note I will leave you.  Have a good one.

What a difference....

Wednesday was our last day in San Diego.  We didn't do much.  Went down to the beach, walked around a bit and had lunch.  Life in the fast lane, etc!  Here was where we were walking on Wednesday.

The day started out a little overcast but by the time we made it to the beach it was about 75F (24C) and just lovely.  The wind picked up a bit after a while but it wasn't tough to take.  We stopped along the way at a restaurant associated with a wave pool:  the Wavehouse.  It wouldn't have been my choice but it was there.  We were surprised to have a very nice meal!  I had some excellent fish tacos while my wife had some really tasty chicken wings.  Yes, just pub grub, but really nicely done!  My tacos had a really nice creama and her wings weren't slathered with sauce but were just perfectly coated.  Amazing stuff!

Thursday was spent mainly in the truck but Friday morning found us out walking again.  Scenery a bit different though.  This is our normal walk; out in the desert near our house but  definitely not developed!  That black object is our dog, running ahead to be sure the route is safe.  It's good to be home!

Friday and Saturday were spent finding out all the things that had changed during our week away.  Isn't that sad!  I'm becoming my parents!  But isn't that pretty much the way of the world?  We are taught our parents values and beliefs but then are left to apply them to a world that is, sometimes, substantially different.  In 1954 my dad was 50 years old; in a job he wasn't fond of:  supervising a bunch of independently owned 'dime stores'.  On tv, Jackie Gleason was hitting his wife Joyce so hard that she would end up on the moon.  In 1988 I was 40; we had put men on the moon (didn't find Joyce!) and pretty much decided not to try again.  We were still tired out and pissed off from our efforts at being the worlds policeman in Vietnam.  I was ending a relatively short career with AT&T and going on to an 'interesting time' working for PACCAR.  Be careful what you wish for, grasshopper! 

Have a good one!

What do I do???

I had a doctor's appointment the other day with a doctor other than my usual GP.  He was a guy about my own age and asked 'what do you do all day'?  I suppose he associates 'retired' with 'old, useless and discarded'.  I'm not sure what words I would use but relaxed and perhaps too comfortable are part of the answer. 

For example, there is absolutely no reason I shouldn't work out for say 30 minutes a day.  I'm unlikely to make it to the Olympics but that's not the point.  Good health requires some movement and unfortunately I don't make it happen.  We do walk out in the desert four or five days a week for half an hour or forty-five minutes.  When we go places like a museum I can tell that I don't get tired from the walking.  Now when we go someplace like Colorado I sure notice 1) the hills and 2) the altitude.  That would be tough to train for around here but I definitely need to incorporate some strength training into my day. 

Another area that needs some work is our portfolio.  I was checking today and a couple mutual funds that were rated as three-star (by Morningstar) have been downgraded to two-star.  I wasn't happy about having the funds at three-star but I've had them for a long while and thought they might recover.  For them to fall farther is not a good thing.  Generally I don't care much about the prognostications of 'experts' but when there is a calculated reduction in return,  I'm thinking there is a trade in my near future. 

Finally I want to spend less time on this computer and more time 'doing things'.  Like what?  Well, I bought lumber for a bat house but haven't built it.  I'm an amateur cook, that would certainly be a place I could improve!  Ditto with my photography.  I've wanted to learn to juggle for years, why am I not learning?  Finally, there are plenty of places where an unpaid volunteer might make a difference for people in the valley.  I need to raise my hand!  The fact that we are gone for a month or two a year should not be keeping me from the work in the first place. 

Ok, I'm motivated.  I'm going to go work out for a while.  Hope you are having a good one and, you too, can make time to work out.  Take care.

I'm not saying it's hot....

I'll let this photo of a dove hiding in the shade of the bird bath say it for me!

If you have been following this blog you know I've been copying old photos to my computer.  I'm about worn out trying to pry photos out of albums.  It's a giant pain but in a way it is kind of fun.  For example, copying the photos we took back in 1993 when we took European delivery on our new BMW.  We took three weeks and wandered around southern German and northern France.  We had lots of fun & saw all kinds of wonderful stuff.  People at work said it was 'the trip of a lifetime'; I said then and say now 'I'm not dead yet!'.  I'm hoping for many more 'trip of a lifetime' experiences.  Still, we did have fun.  Here I am 19 years ago(!) storing up energy to see Neuschwanstein - German King Ludwig's fantasy castle.

That huge bag is my camera bag:  Nikon, telephoto, flash & a few filters.  Wow, how times have changed.  These days half my photos are taken with my phone; it and my camera will fit in my pocket.  It was my wife's first trip to Europe.  Only four years later, she took a job there.  What a rush! 

One of my favorite RV bloggers says "Life is not a dress rehearsal. Don't be afraid to laugh, love and retire early." Well, I don't know about the retiring early; that's tough to manage but he's certainly right that life isn't a dress rehearsal.  So if you want to do something, make it happen!

Until then, have a good one.

P.S.  It occurs to me that this was my dad's birthday.  Had he lived he would be 108 today.  Happy birthday Dad!