Dull, dull, dull!

Well, the usual stuff is going on around town.  Fires, drunks, wife beatings; you know the kind of All American fun that goes on all over the country.  But otherwise, it is 80F (27C) when I get up at 06:00 and somewhere around 110F (43C) by mid-afternoon.  Frankly it slows me down quite a lot.  My wife and I like to take a walk in the morning but not when it's that warm!  We did get a few walks in a week or so ago.  It is good exercise for us old folks and it is getting Gus used to the word 'Heel'.  He doesn't know what it means and wouldn't give a darn if he did BUT the leash does keep him between us and moving on.  He is one of the most hard-headed animals in creation!  

Read an excellent post over at Sightings Over Sixty.  It is a very good blog but this week the writer talked about 'facts'.  And how they are sometimes just a bit off.  In our current political climate where there is so much miss-information it is nice to read about how some things are being miss-represented.

I have ordered various financial advisory news letters over the years so I'm on the mailing list for many, many others.  I got one the other day that started with a list they called "The Great Reset".  They expect: The END of financial and personal privacy.  The END of freedom of thought.  The END of capitalism as we know it.  The END of law and order.  The END of parental control over our own children.  The END of the freedom and justice for all that makes America mankind's last, BEST hope.

I mean, really?  I'm supposed to take financial advice from someone who sees that as our future?  Jeez!  Oh, the capitalization in that previous paragraph was all theirs.  Why don't I take financial advice from some homeless drunk in the street?  Of course in the next page we are advised that "When the Democrats are thrown out of power, it opens the door for us ordinary folks to grow 5 TIMES richer fast".  I mean I'm not President Biden's biggest supporter but I'm pretty sure that his leadership isn't as toxic or even as effective as they are making out.  

Enough of the sunny side of life.  Thanks for stopping by.  Keep washing those hands!

I found a new-to-me blog!

 I saw a new-to-me blog today that really struck a chord.  The url is tinadrakakis.com and it goes by the name Eyerollingmom.  She mostly talks about her experiences raising four children.  She sounds like a very nice person with firm ideas about behavior in our society and bringing up your kids to that behavior.  I liked her a lot.  I was looking for a way to contact her but couldn't find one so I'm hoping she won't mind me tying into her idea.  I like this idea SO much!  It begins with the following meme (for lack of a better term).
        

Control yourself!  Really, Every day we read about someone who is pissed off about their work and goes in with a gun to kill people.  The other day some person with a pickup truck ran into a bunch of Roe-Wade protesters in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  It just never stops.

Alter your thinking!  That is important if you are a kid and your parent is telling you to do something you don't want to do.  It is also important if you are an adult and are involved in a dispute regarding public policy or something.  Not that you must alter your thinking but you certainly must question it.  All the talk about President Trump and the January 6 attack on the capital:  I don't understand how he really could control the mob but I certainly think he encouraged them in many ways.  I'm not on the TOTALLY GUILTY side and not on the TRUMP FOREVER side but the point is to consider the alternatives.

Delete negativity!  Well, that's tough for some people but I do believe that your thinking leads to your attitude about the future.  If you expect negativity, I suspect you will get it.  Trust me, people who have a positive attitude get into negative situations too but if you start out expecting a negative result I suspect you are more likely to get it.  

Lately I've been having so many negative thoughts that I really appreciate this call to CNTL-ALT-DEL!  I just cannot go on seeing just the negatives in our world.  There are good sides here and there.
1.  I think Mr. Trump is a crooked, racist, right-wing fool but he didn't actually get us in WWIII.
2.  I don't believe Covid is being treated as well as it should be but you can't get everyone to listen.
3.  The inflation we are feeling these days is crazy but it should go back down with the Federal Reserve working at it.
4.  The war in the Ukraine is a horrible attack on a free country but it is waking NATO up to the possibility of a closer attack.

Bottom line is that I need to CNTL+ALT+DEL and I thank Eyerollingmom for the reminder.  So, maybe I should end with a different idea.  Anyone who has traveled far has felt the pain of crossing multiple time zones.

    
Thanks for stopping by.  Keep washing those hands!

Coming along...

Things are moving along at their usual slow pace but they are moving.  

My wife had surgery on her little toe a week ago yesterday.  Yesterday we had her first post-op visit with her surgeon and he was most complimentary about her progress.  The toe was twisted sideways so she wasn't walking on the pad of the toe but the side.  Needless to say this was not pleasant.  After surgery her foot was bandaged and she was told to keep it elevated as much as possible.  Happily I can cook or we would have been eating a pizza a day.  Anyway, I did finally get to see her foot.

So now the toe is straight and is looking much better.  The CB is the doctor's initials from before the surgery; you wouldn't want him to work on the wrong patient!  On her ankle you can see some white fuzz that came off the dressing she'd been wearing for a week.  Now she has a much less intrusive dressing and by Friday she won't have to wear a plastic bag on her foot to shower.  She is still wearing a heavy boot thing for another three weeks but then she should be back to normal.  

Our daughter bought a Dog DNA test for our new dog.  We swabbed his cheeks a couple of times and sent it in and now we have the answer.

 He is 100% Chinese Shar-Pei.  It brings the question back of why anyone would allow such a dog to be lost and not search for him.  Online I'm seeing puppies for sale between $1,500-2,500.  Even at the low end of the scale that's a lot of money to just let run away.  Oh well, I guess we'll never know.

We've had 'debates' between the candidates running for public office lately and a more silly bunch of  people would be hard to find.  There are three men running for County Clerk.  To quote the Pahrump Valley Times: "All three candidates for clerk favored paper ballots, providing ID before voting and allowing only U.S. citizens the opportunity to vote" What idiots!  Paper ballots, really?  Do they want to do away with the internet as well?  Having ID to vote?  When haven't you had to have ID to vote?  Only allowing U.S. citizens to vote; when else have non-citizens been allowed to vote?  Jeez.  And to put the final icing on the cake all three think Mr. Trump won the 2020 election!  

In other local news the County Treasurer resigned saying he was tired of fighting "corruption and sabotage" in the office.  Heaven only knows what that means (did someone put salt in his coffee?) but it doesn't make normal people respect our county government.  

On the other hand we have a clear, sunny day with a high of 80F (27C) forecast.  Sounds like a good day to get a little work done outside.  Thanks for stopping by.  Have a good one and keep washing those hands.

Grrrr!

 I saw this cartoon a few days ago and it presents my feeling pretty accurately.

I'm pretty tired of leftist Democrats and rightist Republicans.  What the hell happened to being in the center?  To listening to both sides of a story?  Grrr!

Keep washing those hands & looking out for idiots!

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.

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!

Wow! The year is going fast!

It's hard to believe that the year is 1/12th over already but I guess it's true.  I'm avoiding politics as much as humanly possible but it is totally in my face every day.  Jeez, what a mess.  It is distinctly difficult to see a good outcome for the country regardless of the outcome of the impeachment hearings OR the 2020 election.  Is there another planet I could live on?

Personally things are fine.  The usual aches and pains associated with being over 70 but I prefer them to not being here any more.  Weather in this corner of Nevada is weird.  Yesterday morning I was spraying weeds in my shirtsleeves at 70F(21C); then the wind came up in the afternoon and we had gusts around 40 mph (65kph).  It freezes the birdbath most nights so that's pretty chilly.

Our 'new' dog is coming along.  He had a bad day early in the week where he threw up during the night.  He must have gotten into something we didn't know about but about 03:00 he decided to rid himself of it on the rug in the bedroom.  He didn't even want to eat that morning and we only gave him about a fourth of his usual dinner.  Now he seems completely recovered.  His hair is growing back in small patches which makes him pretty funny looking.  It is still likely, I believe, that it will never grow back completely.  This is his most usual position.

We want to take our trailer to Las Vegas on a shake-down trip.  It's been a LONG while since we've been anywhere in it.  Like I think it was October of 2017!  Wow!  Anyway, we hope to start checking out parts of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Nevada that we've overlooked.  We'll see how that works out.  The dog seems to travel well enough but we'll just have to see how he does in a completely new environment.

Hope the new year is treating you  well.  Thanks for stopping by.

More quiet times

We haven't been doing a whole bunch lately.  The weather has been odd to say the least.  It's been quite cool with highs of maybe 70F (21C) but it's been fairly windy as well, like 15 mph (25 kph).  It isn't awful just not what we expect at this time of year.  To add injury, my wife managed to fall down and do something to her right side that makes walking painful.  THEN she did something to her right shoulder that caused her doctor to prescribe physical therapy.  All in all, it's not big problems but enough to keep us from wandering around much. 

We did make it in to Las Vegas a few days ago and bought a small table from IKEA.  We've been fans of the store since we lived in the Netherlands.  You wander around in the maze they call a store and can actually come up with some interesting ideas.  Anyway, the directions for the table were fun I thought.

I mean, 36 different languages to tell you how to clean the table???  It also speaks to how dull things are that I counted them all! 

At least one of our cactus plants is happy.

It usually comes up with one or two blooms but this year it is out-doing itself.  It makes the bees happy as well. 

I'm to the point that I can hardly look at the news any more.  Our President is such a jerk; I keep thinking he can't get any worse then he trump's himself.  And some people still support him.  Driving into town we pass this house that is flying TWO "Trump 2020" flags.  The Democratic party seems to be trying to keep him in office given the huge group of losers they have running for President.  There are 23 of them!  Most of them are unknown except for their own family and the front runners are the same old white men that have been unelectable for years.  These fools are simply helping the President stay in office.  To make it even worse, Biden and Sanders are 76 and 77 respectively.  I mean they are older than me for crying out loud (and Trump for that matter). 

Well, sorry for the rant.  It just bothers me that we have such an unreliable fool for President.  Thanks for stopping by. 

Going along normally

We are having a quiet time and enjoying the hell out of not doing much!  The other day we took the pickup into Las Vegas to buy some fake lumber (this stuff) to replace the warped real lumber we've had in our back yard for at least 5 or 6 years.  Jeez!  It is really amazing to think we moved into this house on January 3, 2009 and in a couple months that will be 10 years!  We've never lived anywhere for that long since we were children (wifie in San Diego and me in Iowa).  OMG.  We attended the 50th Anniversary party a few weeks ago; those folks have been in that house for like 40 years.  Different strokes, etc. 

This time of year is 'open window' time for us.  It gets cool in the night but the days are about 70F - 80F (21-27C) so we kind of leave the windows open all the time.  I want to rebuild the seating area in the back yard (thus the fake lumber) and this is the time of year to do stuff like that.  We also need to check out the wiring in the attic to find a suspected fault in the tv-internet wiring but that's another story.  Again, this stuff is really life in the fast lane.

In Nevada we have early voting and we did vote the other day and have the sticker to prove it.

It is really difficult since we basically think all the candidates are, at best, idiots!  Don't ask me what they are 'at worst'.  We re-registered as Republicans because then we at least get a vote on which idiot will be on the ballot.  There are quite a few positions where there isn't even a Democrat on the ballot.  Life in rural Nevada!  At least we don't get total racists like that guy in Iowa.  God knows how that dirt bag has managed to hang around for so long.  I don't recall the state being that stupid when I was a kid. 

Of course we are the town who has the local whorehouse owner running for our state legislature.  Happily he turned 72 a few days ago and had such a great party that he died that night!  Yep, it must have been one hell of a party but he was found dead in his bed (by Ron Jeremy, remember him?) then next morning.  Hmmm, maybe I should appreciate the quiet life more.  In Nevada you can't take the guy off the ballot even though he is dead so every prediction is that he will win the seat then the Republican locals will get to name the person who actually gets the job.  Isn't it just great?

I did see a car in the supermarket parking lot with a bumpersticker that I liked.

And we are damned proud of it!  Have a good one and thanks for stopping by.

I'm not even going to try

There just isn't much you can say about the tragic murders in Orlando of all those people.  When someone is that determined nothing much is going to help.  Cops can't be everywhere watching everyone.  Gun control isn't the answer; they'd just create a bomb.  Teaching love, understanding, even the freedom to be different doesn't seem to have much traction either.  The human mind can go such strange places. 

This post is just going to be a ramble.  Just a warning in case you want to bail now!

Out here in the Nevada desert we are enjoying a slight reprieve from the Excessive Heat Warnings.  It's just hot; not 'don't go out unless you must'.  We still have people doing foolish things.  A woman was cited the other day for leaving her young dog in the car.  She left a window open but it was still over 120F (49C) inside - as measured by the Animal Control officer.  So she is shoping at Goodwill when she gets the ticket; I'm thinking she isn't very well off.  And she gets a $650 ticket for abusing her animal.  How do you think that going to work out?  Animal Control is doing their job but $650?

There was a 'feel good' story on the news a month or so ago where this cop pulls a guy over then notices the guy's kid isn't in a child seat.  Why not?  The guy says he can barely buy food, doesn't have any money left over for a child seat.  The cop could have written him a ticket but instead takes him to Walmart and buys the kid a car seat.  Later he said he couldn't see writing a ticket the guy couldn't afford.  I guess there are people like that in the world as well.

Big plan for today is to take some food stuffs over to the VFW Food Bank.  We try to make it over there every month.  Last month's load was kind of light but we made up for it this time.  We find it difficult buying for a food bank.  Who knows what they need?  We ask but I suppose the needs change daily.  At any rate the answers we get from the folks running it do.  They support some people, both male and female, who are living alone out in the desert; they also support people who have families even extended families.  As a result some of the stuff we buy is single serving, eat from the can.  Some is family size requiring cooking.  What can you do?

Our local Primary Election is tomorrow so my wife and I will be voting.  It really is pretty sad though.  We are both independents, not associated with a political party.  All voters, including us, have two positions to vote for:  a member of the University Board of Regents and a member of the School District Board of Trustees.  Each position has only one person running so, they will both win.  It really motivates a person to go vote!

The Republicans and Democrats have to choose candidates for the Senate and the House of Representatives.  In addition, the Republicans have a race for a seat on the County Commission.  Thus, in the fall the ballot will have President, Senator and Representative.  That's it.  No state offices, no local offices at all.  What a farce.  Maybe we are getting the government we deserve. 

So that's all the news that's fit to print today.  Sorry about the random nature of it all.  Thanks for stopping by and have a good one!

Voting Day

We have 'early voting' here so my wife and I were able to vote in the primary election today.  This is when candidates are chosen by the major parties.  My wife and I are independents so we get to vote on a couple positions that are in theory non-political.  This includes the position of Sheriff.  We don't have a local police force so the county sheriff is the only cop we've got.  It brings out some really weird folks. I'm not going to use names but I'll just list them giving their primary experience.  First I'll list the ones I pretty much reject out of hand.

1.  A corrections officer from another state who calls himself the 'constitutional candidate'. 

2.  An investigator for the District Attorney who has previous experience as a police officer.  This candidate happens to be the only woman in the group.

3.  A detective who is currently working in the sheriff's office.

4.  A Private Investigator and former deputy.  He is alleged to have illegally siezed a woman's home.

5.  A deputy currently working in the sheriff's office.

6.  A former customs agent.

7.  A local guy who is at least 70 years old and has run for sheriff numerous times never getting more than a couple hundred votes.

Then there are these two whom I feel might actually have the training to be the sheriff.

8.  A man who retired as a Captain from the sheriff's office a couple years ago after being offered early retirement for budgetary reasons. 

9.  A man who is currently an Assistant Sheriff who was given a recommendation by the retiring sheriff.  This guy's name is Rick.

So how to chose between numbers 8 and 9?  Well, it was going to be a tough choice until Rick, number 9, went out and actually was filmed pulling political signs out of the ground!  How incredibly foolish can someone be?  Of course it is illegal.  It also shows a total lack of judgement.  It just stinks.  So how about the signs this guy thought were so  bad?

LOL!  The actual signs Rick was caught pulling up and throwing on the ground were considerably smaller than this version but it was the same sign.  I don't know what old Rick did to this guy but it sure must have been something.  And Rick reacted.  That reaction sure helped me decide who I'd rather have for sheriff. 

To make things even more interesting Rick has spent as much as the next four high spending candidates in the running.  We'll see if money can buy respectability.  Here's what our local paper reports about it.  Stay tuned!.

Nuttin' much

Life just keeps heating up around here; the WeatherChannel has us at 111F (43.8C) this evening (20:00).  No matter, we baked French Fries (chips to you Brits) and boiled breaded catfish in oil for dinner.  Can't imagine life without a/c around here.  It is quite dry though so people do use swamp-coolers which are much less expensive to buy or to run.  When it is humid they don't work for f*(k but around here that is a week a year.  It is certainly a tradeoff I would make if I needed to save the money.  When I lived in Army housing in El Paso in the early 1970's, we had a swamp-cooler.  It worked just fine.  Went out for our walk yesterday a.m. at 05:30 - mostly because we were both awake but I 'm just saying!  It's nicer when it is cool. 

Number One Daughter came over to participate in the fish fry; we haven't done that in 25 years or so. Wife and daughter did all the fish frying but there was plenty for me to do getting all the odd stuff done.  Funny how fast the time flies.  We probably haven't a fish fry since we lived in Orlando back in the mid 1980's.   Earlier this week I found some photos I haven't copied to the computer; they are pretty new, only 20 years old!  Did I mention I had to rip them out of the photo album.  What crap, these albums won't even make it 20 years without tearing apart.  Hmmmm, maybe I'm being a bit tough on them.  What do you think?

Number One Daughter works for a company who makes little steel parts that are used in concrete manufacture.  For example, when a concrete wall is pre-molded that is 40' long by 15' high (12.3m x 4.5m and probably 25 cm deep) they mold into the concrete a couple pieces of steel used to lift the wall onto a truck and then into place.  Some of her customers get all out of shape because these little pieces aren't made in the USA.  I find this rather odd since they are complaining about little $5 pieces that are used twice; once to move the piece off the mold and once to put it into place.  I understand that I'd like more manufacturing in the U.S. but I'd rather the bits being made here being the more important ones.  For example, having the truck made here is nice.  I like to think that our standards (maybe not the worlds best but our own, BTW) are being observed.  I'm not saying the Chinese made pieces aren't up to our standards but at least some local folks are being employed making them.  It's a tough question not made any easier by my belief in international trade being a keystone to success in this world. 

Just to end on a humorous note:  our local county council recently debated a rule that if the federal governemt ever enacted a law making ownership of firearms by civilians unlawful then the sheriff of the county was to stop them at the county line and tell them to go away on the basis that it was unconstitutional!  Jeez, are you kidding me???  Let's not even discuss firepower!  It's up to the courts to decide constutionality!  But apparently none of our elected representitives know that.  Happily the city District Attorney was around to point out their rule was beyond stupid.  Thank goodness for small favors!

Hava a gooe one.  Thanks for stopping buy!

Getting on...

We are still getting used to the new normal of no dog.  It will be a long while before one of the other of us goes a week without thinking we see or hear her but it will happen.  In the mean time we just need to get over it.  We got her almost twelve years ago and were separated from her for a total of 16 days in that time.  When we had her put down there was absolutely nothing wrong with her aside from the mess that was her cancer.  However.....

I was reading RandomRoger (famous financial blogger) a few weeks ago and he pointed out that there are a LOT of funds and ETFs that mimic the SPY ETF; which is supposed to mimic the S&P 500.  Since I read that I've been trying to find funds that will give us diversification while keeping charges low.  The problem is the HUGE universe of products almost generates an inability to make a choice.  I've read of this condition but now it's got me.  In the end, I know what I'll do.  I'll go for large products and just go along for the ride.  We certainly won't get famous or particularly rich but we'll do ok.

We have decided on a new way to spend money; well, new to us!  Viking River Cruises have been sending my wife their brochures for some time.  Right now they are giving 'special' rates if you book a 2014 cruise now.  We just couldn't say 'no'.  It is weak of us I know but what are you going to do?  Take it with you?  We have signed up for a China river cruise that includes flying around to some sites that aren't on the river.  It is one of those drag you around by the hand things where you are either on one of their ships, one of their planes or in one of their buses.  It is going to be really weird but we are both intimidated by not knowing the language or even the script.  We don't go for over a year but are already getting excited.  It will be the first time we've been out of the country since 2000.  Amazing!

Somehow I managed to watch much of President Obama's inauguration.  I thought it was ok as such things go; the poem that was written for the occasion seemed longer than the President's speech!  It will be interesting to see what he does with a second term.  His first seems to have polarized the country even more than it was before.  I'm afraid he isn't a man who learns cooperation easily and the Republican party seems pretty divided so I'm not so sure anything much is going to happen.  I hope he doesn't take the back door approach to things and start proclaiming Presidential Privilege all over the place.  That crap will stick us in the ass.  The Constitution did a great job of defining three parts of our government; having some fool try to jimmy the definitions on the fly for his own ends is not good for any of us. 

Have a good one.  I'm going to work on it too!

Rainy Day

Yep, around here, it's news!  We were getting a few drops at 07:00 when I took the dog out and it has increased to the point where we might receive a measurable amount.  Hot dog!

The big plan for today is to hit the couple places where toys are sold.  The Marines have lots of boxes out for Toys for Tots and we like to contribute.  We figure older kids should either work for their toys or go without but little kids aren't going to understand if there isn't something for them.  We are good with buying stuff for Tots.  I can see why people have trouble though.  It's really easy to blow through some serious money when the toys are $25 or $50 each.  Needless to say, we stay in the cheap seats when buying stuff for the little kids.  Number One Son made a name for himself many years ago when he played longer with the box than the toy.

Of course there will be a food drive; probably this weekend though I haven't heard of it.  It is another opportunity to help the less fortunate.  We have plenty of homeless folks and plenty who are just poor.  I suppose it is the same everywhere but with the lack of work here in our valley we notice it especially.

I read a very good commentary in The Economist about Republicans beating up Mr. Romney for losing the election.  There were lots of rocks to throw of course.  When he made the stupid 47% comment I thought he must be mad.  To say something like that in a public forum ranks right up there with sending threatening emails or leaving voicemails that should be a private one-on-one conversations.  (Yes, I've known people who have done both of those things!)  The GOOD news though is that some Republicans are saying things like we shouldn't divide the country into "our" and "their" voters.  Tom Cole, an Oklahoma congressman, talked about drawing a distinction between those who need help and those for whom state aid has become "a way of life".  Now those are thoughts, if they remember them, that will help Republican candidates in 2014 & 2016. 

No photos today but it looks like we have snow down to about 4,000 ft (1,200m).  It might be a good sign for tomorrow.  Have a good one!

Finances - and the cliff

This time of year I always find myself thinking about our finances.  I should probably think about it more often but the end of the year it is pretty much guaranteed.   Tax season will be upon us next quarter so that is part of the reason.  Of course everyone wants to know how they have done over the last year so that’s another reason. 

This year I’m planning on giving up some of the mutual funds we’ve held for many years and going to more index-based products.  The amazing Random Roger posted a graph a couple months ago showing the correlation between various large funds and the index they follow; it was amazing!  The correlation is really strong, as I guess you would expect, so why pay for a managed fund if you aren’t getting any extra return?  Guess I’m kind of slow to have this dawn on my after all these years but what can I say?  Better late than never? 

I’m still a fan of ownership if specific companies.  I think you can get a better overall return even if there is statistically more risk.  I don’t like to admit it but we do have one investment that is way too large a proportion of our portfolio.  It is a company I used to work for and I just let the investment grow rather than sell parts of it off during my years there.  Aside from that, most of our individual investments are 2-5% of our net worth.  Over the years we’ve lost 100% of our investment in a couple companies but when you are talking that size investment it’s hardly a bump in the road. 

This year I have an additional challenge in that Number One Daughter has asked me for some investment advice.  She has a 401k that she wants to roll over to something else.  That will be a challenge because she isn’t very patient so a 5% yearly increase isn’t going to make her happy but losing money will make her even less happy.  It will be a learning experience for us both I’m sure. 

I wish I could get the old crystal ball shined up but it is just as cloudy as ever.  About the best I can say is that I don’t think the sky is falling quite yet.  Even if we do go over the fiscal cliff, which I certainly hope those idiots in Washington manage to avoid, I imagine things will keep moving in the same general direction.  Paying more and getting less is not a new idea.  It has been happening pretty much my entire life.  Lots of us were driving when we paid $.30 a gallon for gas.  Doesn’t anyone else remember when the Post Office delivered more letters than advertising fliers?  (As an aside, I was talking to a guy who has a little local magazine.  He said it is $.14 a copy to flood the town with his magazine.  Really!  And a postage stamp costs $.44, right, that's clever.)

Speaking of the fiscal cliff, I’m going to write emails to a bunch of folks in Washington including the Pres, our state representatives and the leaders of the House & Senate.  I wish LOTS of people would drop them a line explaining what idiots they will be if they don’t get something going.  I’m going to be stressing the statesmanship aspect of their jobs rather than the partisan politics that they all seem to prefer.  It probably will just be a waste of time but I’d feel really dumb not doing anything.  So get out there & write!

And have a good one!

Sore loser - to put it kindly

We went out to breakfast this a.m. and I spotted this.

I can't tell you how offended I am.  I'm not offended if some dumb ass in Iran or somewhere wants to disrespect our flag.  But to do this to your own country's flag just pisses me off.  This asshole probably thinks he/she is a great patriot or something.  I’m not going to say any more what I think of him/her, it would just be profanity.  I've read a good argument that the only place the flag should be flown is on government buildings.  But there are a lot of folks, especially around here it seems, who want to fly the flag.  MOST of them don't follow proper etiquette but do at least give it a try.  

If you have the time, you might try reading a few articles from this compilation of articles written by Charlie Reese, a newspaper man who is now retired.  I think he has some pretty good thoughts.  A warning however:  if you like Ron Paul you probably won't like Charlie; if you like Mr. Romney you probably won't like Charlie; if you like Mr. Obama you probably won't like Charlie.  If you think G. W. Bush was a good president, you certainly won't like Charlie.  Damn, I miss Charlie's writing.

Anyway, have a good one.

Thank You!

Thank you U.S. of A. for avoiding the election of Mr. Romney.  Yep, I can't say thank you for electing Mr. Obama but, once again, I had to vote in favor of the lesser of two evils.  Jeez.  What a world. 

Locally we had a couple of people elected that I voted for and a couple that I didn't.  Isn't it always that way?  We'll stumble along as usual I suppose.  This area was a farming community; during the Las Vegas boom times it became a bedroom community.  Now during the downturn, it has no where to go.  Farming can't support all the people and commuting is pretty expensive so the only support are retirees who can live in this beautiful area without needing to work.  It's a tough place to represent in the best of times and these ain't!

We did refill the hot tub yesterday.  We drained it way last summer when we were traveling and it's been so warm that sitting in warm water didn't sound all that great.  Now, however, when the sun goes down it starts feeling chilly so sitting in warm water is sounding a lot better.  Silly, aren't we.  Anyway, starting tonight, most likely, if you want to see two old naked people come look through our gate or over the fence.  We've been sitting out enjoying the sunset most nights; now we'll have somewhere to go after the sun goes down.

Gotta go.  I've got another set of augers to install to hold the shed down and it will be too warm to work later in the day.  Have a good one!

Election Day

It's finally election day so if you are eligible and haven't already done so:   VOTE!  I know who I would like you to vote for but that isn't the way it works.  Go ahead and make up your own mind.  LOL 

We voted last week and the local election seems to be more agressive than in years past.  One candidate had a big bus conversion parked on the street with a 20 foot (7m) banner saying 'vote for me'.  Another had a little shade tent pitched where they could tell you what wonderful things they would do.  There were even a bunch of people trying to take an exit poll.  Jeez, I don't know what has come over all these people.  Anyway, I'm hoping that we the people make some wise choices and get this country off it's ass. 

We did go into Las Vegas yesterday.  I got roped into helping our daughter fix a mirror attached to a chest of drawers that she has.  This thing was flimsy when it was built and that was quite a while ago.  The mirror is about 3 feet by 5 feet (1m x 1.6m) and is being held on by four pretty short screws.  The maker actually put some solid metal attachment points but the bolts have been long gone and in fact one of the attachment legs has been replaced.  Anyway it was a less than fun hour of fooling around doing a truly lousy job.  What really made it worse is that the ladies both want to advise me on what to do but to about things in opposite directions.  My wife is slow and painstaking; my daughter is hurry and slap it together.  I was ready to rub them together and start a fire.

We also checked out more computers.  While that was fun, we did find a Samsung that was pretty nice.  It was sitting next to a Toshiba.  We currently both have Toshibas - hers a 2005 model, mine a 2008.  It was then that we noticed the Samsung has a matte screen while the Toshiba is quite shiny.  We orginally were basically looking at the new Toshibas and now we have more to think about.  I think I've talked her into only looking at 17" machines with the i7 Intel chip.  If she keeps the new machine for 7 years as well, it won't be a total boat anchor at the end and we don't really care about portability that much.  The new touch screen machines are pretty cool but I'm thinking we should wait a generation or so for the technology to become a bit more mainstream.   

Gotta go.  Here's hoping for the best.  Take care.

Election in Quebec???

Ok, I know the US is insular but this is carrying things too far!  There was an election in Quebec and the new P.M. is a separatist.  The Las Vegas Review Journal had not a word about the election; even though there was even a shooting involved!  Grrrr!  (Some nut came into the hall where she was speaking and managed to kill someone while missing the new P.M. entirely.)  The point for me is that Canada is an important part of the world and we don't have any knowledge of what's going on there.  Jeez!   The way I heard of the whole election/shooting was via my smartphone.  I think it is just sad that our traditional news media has become so isolated. 

Someone sent me an email the other day suggesting I watch a documentary on our local Fox affiliate on President Obama.  Are you kidding me?  What possible credence would Murdoch's right wing empire have with any normal thinking human being when talking about a fairly centralist candidate?  Oh, but I forgot, thinking is a very old fashioned virtue and isn't much done any more.  It certainly isn't allowed on television!  Every time I catch myself watching a show on Fox is pisses me off knowing I'm funding his empire. 

In an attempt to lower my blood pressure, I'm going to change the subject!  I am looking forward to the new vans that Ford and Dodge are supposed to be introducing.  I've always liked the look of the Transit van and some of the Fiat vans are pretty good looking as well and should be pretty cheap to run.  They all come from places where $5 a gallon fuel is the rule rather than a political scare tactic.  They should give the Mercedes Sprinter a run for it's money.  I don't see the traditional U.S. pickup being abandoned even though they do get awful mileage; they are kind of like cowboy boots, a tradition.  Besides, I've never seen a viable substitute.

Speaking of vans and trucks reminds me that we haven't traveled anywhere lately.  I'm not sure what's next.  There are lots of places in California that we want to visit that aren't far:  Sequoia National Park, Yosemite National Park, San Francisco, the wine country, the list goes on and on.  However, most likely it will be another run to San Diego but after the new year.   Dull, that's me.

Have a good one!

Not a good day

We wandered over to the Toyota dealer yesterday to have an oil change.  The local EZ-Lube or whatever does it in about 15 minutes.  The dealer managed to stretch it out to over 2.5 hours!!!  Needless to say, we were under-whelmed.  I must say the Service Director did give us basically a full refund.  Still, my bride was pretty darned hungry by the time we got to eat.  We also got to deal with a fouled up prescription so by the time we got home about 16:30 we'd been gone all day and had darned little to show for it.  We didn't even get close to the Smith Center for the Performing Arts as we had hoped.  Oh well, I guess it isn't going anyplace.

I've been staying as far away from coverage of the Republican National Convention as possible.  Mr. Romney is now the official candidate and I actually rather respect him.  The medical insurance scheme he came up with while Massachusetts governor was pretty clever.  And since he was a Republican there was no use of the 'socialist' term at all.  I'm a little worried that the remainder of the party may pull him to the right and he'll end up like that idiot from Missouri who talked about 'legitimate rape'.  Mr. Romney has already proven on his swing through Europe and the Middle East that his brain isn't always engaged while his mouth is in action.  I'm not so certain about Mr. Ryan who is to be the VP candidate.  He wrote a Republican version of the budget that I thought pandered to the naivety of  the 'tea party'.  His own legislative background is slight; but since Mr. Obama's is pretty slight as well maybe that is the new 'normal'.

I don't tend to watch a lot of television but do end up watching more than I should!   Last night I found a show called "Hard Time" on National Geographic Channel.  I guess it's been on for several years but I only just found it.  I do recommend it if you want to see a very strange side to life.  The particular episode I watched followed some inmates at Ross Correctional Institution in Chillicothe, Ohio.  It was very touching how these guys became institutionalized and were soon close to unfit for life on the outside.  One guy was 16 when he was involved with a murder (didn't actually do it, just tried to cover it up); now he is 27 and has been paroled.  He was clearly worried that he wasn't going to be able to make it on the outside.  A guard takes him outside the gate and stands around in the snow with him while they wait for someone who is coming to pick him up.  He says something like "So I'm free.  I could just walk down the road?"  He has never driven a car.  He has never slept with a woman.  He has never held a real job.  He has tattoos all over; on the back of his neck, his throat, his skull.  The show made it clear that even in a prison where they were really trying to give inmates a chance to learn; the inmate had to motivate himself and some of them, like this guy, didn't care at all.  I was almost surprised he didn't get into some kind of trouble so his parole would be revoked.  It was an amazing view of life.

Here's to living life on the outside.  Makes the idiots at the Toyota garage seem endearing; almost!  Have a good one.