Month: July 2018

We have now moved to Monterey Bay, and, more precisely, to the Marina Dunes RV Park. It’s a pretty place with a lot of trees, particularly Monterey Cypress, around and over each site.

For those not familiar with this part of California, Monterey Bay is a National Marine Sanctuary and a great deal of the coast here is an environmentally-protected dune habitat. Not a lot of fishing and hunting going on here.

Actually, the RV park is adjacent to the entrance to the Marina Dunes Preserve. There is a sand-covered path that leads to the shore…which is at least 1/4 mile west. It’s a hike, particularly in soft sand. And, then, when you get to the ocean, it is routinely cool and fog-shrouded…not a place for sunbathing. But, I’m sure all of the protected lizards, birds, and insects love it.

For some reason, there is a gate and pathway that leads north from the RV park out into what appears to be the native environment: ice plant, scrubby plants, sand dunes, an occasional Monterey Cypress, etc.

The sign at the gate says, “No aggressive dogs” and “Pick up dog poop”, so it appears that dogs and their owners are allowed out there. Thank goodness, because the three Boston Terriers absolutely LOVE IT out there, particularly because I’ve seen no sign that prohibits dogs off of leash.

It’s pretty much ice plant (which is not native to California, I’ve learned) and sand dunes, with trails.

All of the dogs have hundreds of acres of this stuff to explore, and they really relish the freedom to have fun. We will be here for a couple of weeks, so there will be lots of running around making fools  of themselves. Life is good.

(BTW, as you can see, Booger is alive and well, participating in the fun and frolic. Below, Baby is trying sand surfing for the first time.)

The sun comes and goes out of the overcast/fog. This is pretty typical of the Monterey Bay area in the Summer, because the ocean water is in the low 60’s and the weather a few miles inland (during the day) is mid-80’s. So, again, sweatshirts and cool breezes are the rule of thumb.

There are a lot of stores and restaurants in the immediate area (across Hwy 1), and the touristy areas of Monterey (Fisherman’s Wharf, Cannery Row, the Monterey Aquarium, 17-Mile Drive, etc.) are 10 to 15 minutes south on Del Monte Drive.

Today we had a nice lunch at Scales, a fish joint on Fisherman’s Wharf. We’ve been there before, and we think that the food is excellent.

We’re probably going to give 17-Mile Drive another go this year. We tried last year, but got lost and frustrated (after paying the toll!). So, we’ll plan better this year, and may try to make it a picnic affair with the doggies. And, maybe take some photos…

 

 

Our new home is being built in Mesquite, Nevada.

We know so because our Pulte sales agent, Danelle, send us pics every week. Here’s the progression over the past month:

Exciting, huh?

Of course, the information coming in provided Charlie with opportunities to identify, in her mind, mistakes that the contractor is making. I think he knows what he’s doing; besides, we will have a walk-through somewhere down the line to make sure that everything is OK before the closing date.

On the other home front, our son/realtor Tim has had a lot of Looky Lous and traffic on the Zillow website, but no offers, as yet. It would really make us feel good if someone stepped up to the plate…soon. Tim will be holding another Open House today; we’re keeping fingers crossed.

Speaking of relocation plans, our youngest son Jonathan (and wife Misty) were in Lexington, Kentucky this week to see if moving there (for Misty’s job) would be a smart idea. She has been offered a management position at a couple of Cinemark theatre complexes back east, one in West Virginia and the other in Kentucky.

Jonathan sent us some pics of lightning storms and fireflies from Lexington the other day. I think they have decided on that locale, with their move date (from Whitefish, Montana) in October. I hope it works out for them.

With any luck, we will also be looking at a move date (to Mesquite) in October. Again, fingers crossed…

 

We are now staying at “Marin RV Park”.

It’s hard to say where it is, except that it is near the Marin headlands, i.e. the hunk of land that the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge is anchored to. Some maps call this area San Rafael, others call it Corte Madera, and still others call it Greenbrae (that’s what the GPS calls it).

The RV park is adjacent to U.S. 101 (on the west), and the Corte Madera marsh on the east. In the distance, to the east, the imposing San Quentin prison is clearly visable.

The RV park itself is, basically, a parking lot with full hook-ups, bathrooms, a laundry, and a pool. It is situated immediately adjacent to a couple of run-down mobile home parks and an industrial area. The spaces are very tight with little privacy and just enough room to extend slide-outs.

If you were to fart here, everyone would hear it.

Three things make this RV park work: (1) There is an easy access to the marsh area, where dogs can be walked along an old, abandoned railroad line and then on a trail into the marshland: the dogs love it…

(2) The park is located nicely with respect to shopping, local restaurants, and even an animal hospital right outside the entrance, and San Francisco is only a twelve minute drive south (over the Golden Gate Bridge)…

and, (3) Just north of the RV park, across a bridge or two, about a 15 minute walk distant, is the Larkspur ferry pier. For $12, the smart folks take a 35 minute boat ride across the bay to San Francisco.

So, that in itself is a major selling point for this RV park, as driving into and within “The City” is awkward.

San Francisco is one of the most urbanized cities in America, with population density in the 18,000 persons per square mile range. As with most very large, congested cities, there are many one-way streets, which make driving a real adventure for tourists. Yesterday, we got onto Van Ness Boulevard, needed to make a left turn to get to Union Square, and inched our way south a couple of miles before we could find a way to actually go left. It seems like every major street has construction going on, which compounds the problem. We drove 12 miles from our RV park in 15 minutes, and then the next mile took us 45 minutes of nail-biting adventure. It sucked.

We should have taken the ferry.

All we did in San Francisco was buy a couple of bras for Charlie at Macy’s and then had a nice lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. However, it was nice to get out of the rig and to appreciate the fact that we don’t have to live in such a concrete jungle.

Cheesecake Factory:

Here’s Charlie at Macy’s, happy to have found a bra that fits.

In retrospect, we could have avoided the hassle by driving down the street about one mile from the RV park, where there’s a Nordstrom department store and a Cheesecake Factory restaurant (that we visited earlier in our stay). I’m sure Nordstrom sells bras.

The weather here has been outstanding: mid-60’s to mid-70’s in the daytime, lots of sun, with cool nights in the high 50’s. Other than our RV park, the area is pretty, with lots of large trees on the hills and water in the marsh and the bay. There are quite a few of those houses built on stilts just north of us near the Larkspur ferry terminal.

Today, Charlie and I are going into Richmond to visit the Wal Mart and get her glasses repaired.

The dogs have been left alone several times while we have been here, and they seem to do well. Yesterday, on our S.F. trip, the dogs were by themselves for 5 hours. They seem to find things to do while we’re gone…

Baby has blended right into the pack: no chewing on things, no peeing or pooing in the rig, etc., and the other two dogs have adjusted to her energy.

She’s turned out to be a very sweet dog.

Booger is still on the mend from her gastrointestinal illness. She’s listless, not her usual playful self, and seems generally tired this week. I’m hoping that this is due to the antibiotics that she’s been taking. Her poos are starting to look better, with very little blood. Must have been something she ‘et.

Jay Jay is fine, just killing time until the dinner bell (or, poker game).

We will be heading for Monterey Bay on Monday. Hopefully, the dogs will have more room to explore, and maybe we will get in some beach time.

 

Where are we going with this Trump presidency?

This past week, in Helsinki, an American president threw his country’s intelligence agencies (F.B.I., C.I.A., N.S.A.), our treaty allies (N.A.T.O), and the European Economic Union under the bus while simultaneously genuflecting to President Putin of Russia.

That is correct: The elected leader of the world’s largest economy, the Commander-in-Chief of the world’s strongest military, and the representative of the world’s longest lasting democracy…a country once respected by all…groveled before the ex-KGB operative/now kleptocratic dictator of an enemy nation.

In previous weeks, President Trump: (1) legitimized the dictatorship of North Korea by meeting with that country’s murderous leader, shaking his hand, and announced (without merit) that North Korea was de-nuclearizing; (2) initiated trade wars with America’s biggest trading partners, against the advice of virtually all economists and politicians; and, (3) cruelly separated young children from parents trying to immigrate to the United States, and then lost track of the children.

Meanwhile, our President continues his habit of lying to the public, inventing his own fantasy narrative of the world, and aggressively bashing news media which put out factual information needed by the American public to assess what in the Hell is going on in this country.

In the couple of days since the Helsinki fiasco, the President has made numerous attempts to walk-back his public statement (taking Putin’s word over that of our intelligence agencies), walking that walk-back back, then reversing himself again, then blaming Obama for everything, and then claiming that he dressed down Putin privately…but still admires him and is proud of their personal relationship.

(In fact, during the past week, Trump indicated that he intends to invite President Putin to the White House for a follow-up visit.)

In related news, the “fake news” “witch hunt” that Trump calls the Mueller investigation of the 2016 election moved ahead this past week, with the announcement of the charges being brought against 12 Russian intelligence agents who worked to undermine the electoral process here in America. There is no doubt anymore that this occurred (note: even the Republican leadership in Congress agrees) and that a primary Russian aim was to discredit Hillary Clinton and help elect Donald Trump.

This week, it was revealed that a female Russian agent, Maria Butina,  infiltrated the National Rifle Association (the N.R.A.) where she worked to influence the Republican Party.

The lady spy has been arrested and charged with a number of felonies, among which is funneling Russian money through the NRA to the Trump campaign for President. Butina’s arrest is separate from Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation…but I’m sure it soon will be. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

The President’s position on all of the Russia-gate stuff remains that “it never happened”, and that the F.B.I. and C.I.A. have their facts all wrong. But, “even it it did happen”, he asserts that he and his election team and relatives didn’t collude with the Russians. So, Donald Trump says that the matter should be dropped.

The biggest problem with Trump’s behavior is that he consistently acts like  a guilty person, first with his denials in face of the facts, and then with his actions, (while a candidate and later as President) relative to the Russians and their leader Vladimir Putin.

For the past three years, Donald Trump has literally tripped over himself lauding, making excuses for, and enabling President Putin to execute his country’s foreign policy objectives (which any political scientist will tell you are not consistent with America’s). And, this week, he sided with Putin, who denied that the Russians meddled with the 2016 elections.

Our President acts exactly like a person who owes a large debt of gratitude to somebody. The Russian intelligence agency term is “kompromat“, i.e. the target has been compromised.

A most peculiar aspect of this story is the abetting of this questionable behavior by the Republican Party. These are the guys who wear the American flag lapel pins, the “law and order” folks, the “moral majority”, the party that rooted out the “Commies” in the 50’s, the force behind Reagan’s “tear down that wall!” speech, etc. Protecting America from enemies foreign and domestic is what they’re supposed to be all about. And, yet…

the Republican Party has spent the past two years trying to undermine the investigation into how a foreign power manipulated the American political process in 2016.

One would think that the sacred electoral process, the one that elects Republicans to political office, would be of great interest to these folks, and that they would want to get to the bottom of this matter so that it would never happen again.

(One would think that, because the right of Americans to freely vote in legitimate elections for the candidates of their choice is…what makes our nation a DEMOCRACY.)

But, that is not what has been going on. Just the opposite, in fact. Republican Party operatives, elected Republican spearthrowers, and Republican-oriented  news media have conspired to besmirch American intelligence agencies (F.B.I., C.I.A.) and the courts, with the obvious intent to shut down the 2016 election investigation.

Again, a reasonable person would interpret this behavior to be self-serving, in other words the GOP seems to be trying to hide something improper that served them well in the 2016 elections.

Kompromat.

Today, the GOP leadership shot down funding for increased election security against hacking, giving rise to the speculation that they’re OK with rigged elections as long as Republican candidates get helped. “Are you listening, President Putin?”

Kompromat.

(Which reminds me: On July 16, 2016, then-candidate for President, Donald Trump, made this public statement at one of his rallies, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.” As it turns out, that same day, the Russians — whether they had tuned in or not — made their first effort to break into the servers used by Mrs. Clinton’s personal office, according to a sweeping 29-page indictment unsealed Friday by the special counsel’s office that charged 12 Russians with election hacking.

Trump asked for help…and he got it. Is that a coincidence?)

Kompromat.

So, now we must ask, what does the once-proud Republican Party, the party of Abraham Lincoln, stand for?

In the past couple of years, we’ve come to realize that: (a)  the GOP was adamantly opposed to unbalanced budgets only when Democrats controlled the budget…

…(b) that the Federal Deficit was a horrible thing when manipulated by Democrats, but, when the GOP took control, borrowing trillions of dollars to pay for huge tax breaks for the richest 1 percent of Americans was a brilliant idea…

…and, (c) the Washington D.C. “swamp” was a terrible thing, but, once in power, the Republican Trump administration filled virtually every Cabinet and top-level regulatory position with industry shills; i.e. the “swamp” got swampier.

We’ve also come to understand that the GOP: (1) opposes immigration, the process whereby their own families came to embrace the American Dream; (2) opposes religions other than Christian; (3) opposes all efforts to restrict the ability of Americans of all ages to possess military-grade assault rifles (i.e. the ones that have been used in so many massacres of American children on American soil); (4) opposes health care for the poor; and, (5) opposes respectful treatment of minorities by community police.

If you are White, Christian, own lots of guns, and don’t give a crap about the less fortunate among us, then the GOP is your ticket.

No doubt about it: Abraham Lincoln would disown this version of the GOP.

And, now it appears that the GOP is comfortable with manipulation of the American electoral process so that GOP-friendly candidates get elected…even if the majority of voters don’t want that. First, they weaponized “gerrymandering”. Then, they passed “Voter I.D. laws” and elaborate schemes to minimize minority voting. Now, they’ve got Russian agents helping them elect bible-toting, W.A.S.P. candidates. Can we still call this a democracy?

Personally, Donald Trump’s only guiding principles seem to be to obliterate anything President Obama accomplished, reverse decades of American leadership in world trade, abolish alliances with America’s traditional friends and supporters, insult “non-white” nations and their peoples, and ingratiate himself with the world’s most ruthless dictators.

When his ideas don’t bear fruit, he falls back on his tried-and-true excuses: (1) Obama fucked it up; (2) it’s the Democrats’ fault; and, (3) what about Hillary’s e-mails?

Or, he just floats another conspiracy theory for his political base to lap up.

This is where we stand, a few months prior to the mid-term National elections: we have an unstable, out-of-his-depth President doing stupid, destructive things on a global scale, and a political party that is enabling him and aiding our enemies to undermine our electoral process.

I hope voters realize what is going on, because this is no way to “Make America Great Again”.

P.S. In another sign that the Trump/G.O.P. locomotive has careened off the tracks, yesterday it was announced that Midwest farmers would be getting $12 BILLION in emergency aid from the Department of Agriculture to counter lost sales of soybeans, sorghum, dairy, and pork.

The unvarnished truth is that this action is an unbudgeted (i.e. more borrowing) taxpayer-funded bailout of American farmers who are casualties of President Trump’s trade wars.

Not surprisingly, countries which were targeted with tariffs by Trump have responded by levying their own tariffs on American exports like soybeans, sorghum, dairy and pork. (This scenario was predicted by all economists, when they warned the President this past Spring against invoking tariffs to boost our economy.)

Wasn’t Donald Trump the guy who boasted several months ago that “Trade wars are easy to win!”?

Well, I’m not sure anyone would agree if taxpayers have to foot the bill for such “wins”.

(It is ironical that Trump is going down this path. He’s the guy who invested heavily in New Jersey casinos when the experts told him it was foolish.

He ended up losing his ass and declaring bankruptcy…

His creditors took huge hits, and Trump got an enormous corporate write-off (for his losses) in the form of Federal income tax credit for ten years. In essence, the U.S. government bailed-out his company. Fast forward twenty years: he’s again doing something stupid (trade wars), and he’s proposing to clean up his mess with taxpayer dollars.)

How much more of this “winning” can this Nation take before it bankrupts us? Voters might weigh-in on this in November…

Not content with this cavalcade of July embarrassments, President Trump got into a nasty tweetstorm with Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani the other day. When the Iranian leader chafed at American economic threats to his Nation, and warned Trump to cool it, Cadet Bone Spurs responded with an angry, nuclear-tinged zinger, in CAPS, via his ever-present cell phone.

Just what the American public wants…a war with Iran!  What is this jackass thinking? And, what would that accomplish?

Sounds like we need ANOTHER summit meeting.

Please, someone… tell me this is a dream!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charlie and I are not wine aficionados, yet we come back to Napa year after year. What’s up with that?

Well, it’s beautiful here, and the weather is always nice: warm and sunny in the daytime, and cool in the evening. It is also “on the way” as we work our way from north to south, heading toward Marin, Monterey, Carmel and points south. In addition, we have some friends (the Bravo’s) who live nearby, so we have a chance each year to break bread and catch up on things.

We like to stay at the Napa Expo fairgrounds RV park. It’s about $60 per night, which is very reasonable considering it is : (a) summertime; and, (b) in big-time tourist country. The fairgrounds are quite extensive, and the mature trees (including many redwoods) are 70 to 100 feet tall. Plus, there’s lots of grass and wide avenues to walk within the walled-in fairgrounds.

And, did I mention, there are lots of restaurants, shops, and WINERIES in the area.

We’ve met some nice people here, and we still have four days to go.

Last week, we met Texans Herb and Tanya Bates. Herb has been involved in U.S. Naval aerospace work for decades, first as an enlisted guy, and now as a civilian employee. He’s a “techie”, and uses a lot of cool gadgets in the RV and at his home. The Bates have a very beautiful Country Coach Class A which Herb keeps in factory-new condition. The four of us spent a whole afternoon trading war stories, and then we topped it off  by going to an upscale burger joint in Napa (Gott’s Roadside Diner).

Yesterday, Charlie and I spent the entire afternoon drinking and shooting the bull with another neighbor, a guy named Ron Tremblay. He’s traveling north (to Canada) from his home near Cabo San Lucas (in Baja California, Mexico). From what I can gather, Ron is a venture capitalist who is involved in some major projects in Mexico, one of which is a massive rare metal mining operation currently capitalized at $400 million. He’s the head honcho of that project.

Simultaneously, he is building a residential compound on a seashore acre of property that he owns near Los Cabos, Mexico. He invited us to visit in our RV; we may take him up on that! I’ve always wanted to “do the Baja” in our RV.

Ron says it’s about 900 miles and quite the adventure.

Ron and I spent quite a bit of blabbing after Charlie went inside to take a nap. He and I share a common opinion: that Donald Trump is a douchebag, at best.

While we were yakking for three hours, Ron’s dog, a 1 yr-old French Bulldog named “Samson” played grab-ass with Baby, our 1-1/2 yr-old Boston Terrier. They had a ball, chasing each other, wrestling, and fake fighting. Did I mention ball? Samson still  has his (two), and he must have thought he’d met Delilah, because he attempted to nail Baby (who is spayed!) every time her back was turned. The two were so cute together, running around to exhaustion, and then plopping in the wading pool. I forgot to take a photo of Samson, Baby’s first boyfriend, but he looked something like this:

It was a hell of a first date: they could have made some cute babies together…only if. Their offspring could be “Frostons”…?

The huge Circo Hermanos Caballero entertainment extravaganza is setting up on a ten-acre parcel within the fairgrounds. It was here last year when we visited. It’s quite an operation, including a fleet of at least a dozen semi tractor trailer rigs, another dozen large RVs for the performers, and lots of smaller rigs for the roustabouts, etc.

The circus has no animals; instead, it features a family of acrobats and thrill takers, plus a flashy clown or two. Tickets for the performances are steep: $40 for adults, $20 for children. Last year, we saw people lined-up for blocks to get in, all of them Spanish-speaking, working class folks and their ninos. Judging by the enormity of the set-up, the Cabellero production must bring in many hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Their first performance in the evening after we leave town.

Yesterday, we headed east to Roseville for the day to attend a small barbeque at our friends’ (Ralph and Paula Bravo) home. The dogs played in the yard, swam in their wading pool, and tried to keep out of the heat.

It was a very nice day, weather-wise, and the Bravos treated us to some gourmet home cooked specialty appetizers and a nice barbequed ribeye dinner. We sat in their backyard after dinner for hours, enjoying the great view and their fire pit. When it got late, we decided to stay the night and drive back in the morning. Big mistake: small room, little bed, two humans and three dogs, and a steamy night. I don’t think I got 1 hour of sleep. But, everything considered, we had a great time at the Bravos house.

BTW, Ralph Bravo is another one of those nice immigrant stories. He was actually born in Cuba, is now a citizen, and runs a small independent insurance firm. His wife is an executive with a Sacramento bank where she specializes in commercial and small business loans. Their sons are college-educated; the one we met yesterday will be heading off to dental school next year.

Charlie and I have tentatively scheduled a return to the Napa Expo RV Park next year. However, we may not be welcome, as we have consistently violated the park policy re: “Dogs must be on leash at all times!”

It’s not that our dogs are roaming all over the fairgrounds; actually, they stick right next to our rig, on the grass, adjacent to our beach chairs and their wading pool. But, we’ve been visited a few times by the Camp Host, who has reminded us of the rule. We’re expecting a note on the door of our rig some morning telling us to “skeedaddle”. Or, an email from the fairgrounds management un-inviting us next year.

If it happens, so be it. Our dogs aren’t a problem to nobody.

Within about 30 days, Charlie and I will have traversed virtually the entire length of California, from Yreka on the north to Chula Vista on the south, approximately 800 miles.

Most of that trip will have been accomplished on Interstate 5, and, to be honest, it’s a pretty boring ride. About two-thirds of the trip traverses agricultural lands…

…and the rest follows wide concrete rivers through heavily urbanized cities.

It’s quite a contrast.

And, unfortunately, pretty much none of our route allows a view of the things that California is famous for: majestic mountains, Redwood forests, spectacular seascapes, and pristine deserts. (Excuse me, I almost forgot…we did pass Mount Shasta!)

If you’re a native Californian like me, you take for granted the wonderfulness of your state. Sure, costs are high, but that’s what happens when you’ve got 36 million people competing for homes, jobs, restaurants, RV park sites, etc. There’s a reason all those humans want to be here.

Just to use an example, on January 1st of any year, from my home in Southern California, I could decide to: surf (60 miles); water ski (5 miles); snow ski (70 miles); golf (hundreds of courses within 100 mile radius); dune buggy in the desert (70 miles); sky dive (5 miles; go deep sea fishing (90 miles); go night-clubbing in Hollywood; attend a USC, UCLA, Rams or Chargers football game or a Lakers or Clippers basketball game or an Anaheim Ducks or LA Kings hockey game (50 to 100 miles); go to Disneyland (50 miles); or watch, in person, the Rose Parade.

Or, I could do a couple of those things, in the same day.

And, the weather would be (routinely) 65 to 80 degrees and sunny. In the Winter.

That’s pretty hard to beat. In fact, it can’t be beat…anywhere.

A lot of people are jealous of California and the people who live there, and take great pains to put-down the place. I recall being in the military, in basic training, when young men of all walks of life were thrown together. Invariably, there would be a guy, or group of guys, who would target Californians with verbal abuse: typically, we were all called “fags”, and, typically, the name-callers were rednecks from southern states where there was nothing to do except drink beer, shoot guns in the woods… or speed around in a pick-up truck with friends, drinking beer and shooting guns. “You know you’re a redneck when…”

More recently, there is a political component to the derision of Californians. Somehow, in some folks’ minds, California stands as an example of everything that is wrong with America. I’ve run into people in my RV travels who refuse to set foot in California, as if it is home to the plague, leprosy, or worse. Maybe they’re afraid that they might catch homosexuality, become liberal, or have to rub shoulders with immigrants or, worse, those pesky Democrats who are totally fucking up the place.

No doubt: taxes are high in California. In fact, it is a prime reason that Charlie and I are moving to Nevada now that we are retired. On the other hand, the level of infrastructure and quality of life is high in most Californian communities, creating an environment where business thrives. This is what the taxes pay for.

Interestingly, the Republican Party, which “everyone knows” is all about business development, is a non-player in Californian politics, and President Trump can’t go one day without bad-mouthing the State, complaining about how “Tax and Spend Liberals” are killing business there. And, yet…

California’s economy is the fifth largest in the world!

(I’m waiting for some laissez faire Republican to explain that.)

The state’s gross domestic product is now $2.74 trillion, making it larger than all but four nations on earth: China, Japan, Germany and…the United States itself. As a matter of fact, California’s state economy is seven times as large as that of the country of Norway.

I bring up that factoid because President Trump, in his infamous harangue about immigrants from “shithole countries” in January, 2018 said that “we should have more people from places like Norway”.

California’s vibrant economy is quite diverse. Not many people know this, but the state is the Nation’s leader in: dairy products; tourism; almonds; tech industries; table grapes; solar production; strawberries; entertainment; 71 percent of the head lettuce in the U.S.; and, half of the world’s supply of processed tomatoes…among other things. Defense industry spending is also huge in California.

The other thing about California that is diverse is demographics: it is a “minority-majority” state. This means that the non-Hispanic Caucasian component of the population (i.e. comprising those pasty white people like me) is a minority faction in the State. California has the largest “minority” population of all 50 states, almost 22 million persons comprised of 39 percent Hispanic, 6.5 percent Black, 15 percent Oriental. The state is also suspected of being the leader in undocumented immigrants who flee (usually north) looking for jobs.

Very few Norwegians have immigrated to California, relatively speaking.

And, yet, despite all of the minority population, the illegal immigrants, the fact that both U.S. Senators are women (including a Black one!), the infestation of Democrats, homosexuals, and liberals… and the lack of Norwegians…the Californian economic engine is a veritable dynamo driving the U.S. economy… comprising almost 20 percent of America’s gross national product.

(Fact: Charlie and I live on a small cul-de-sac in a well-to-do golf course community in Southern California. Among our neighbors are: a Black urologist; a British lawyer; a retired Japanese thoracic surgeon; and a retired neurosurgeon who is the son of Holocaust survivors. Our long-time family doctor is a Jordanian-American, Charlie’s cardiologist is a Hispanic-American, our family dentist was born in India, and my orthopedic surgeon is a Moroccan-American. Among Charlie’s business clients are: a Hispanic pest control expert; a Cuban-American lady who helps her doctor husband run an Urgent Care facility; a Greek-Canadian husband and wife team who own a very successful beauty salon; an Israeli-American lady who owns a commercial printing business; two Latino brothers who each own and operate tire shops; a Vietnamese couple who own and operate a nail salon and a restaurant; and a Nicaraguan lady who runs a modest home cleaning empire. Our house cleaning lady is a legal immigrant from Tijuana, and her husband, who is a house painter, is an illegal immigrant.)

It is hard not to draw the conclusion that DIVERSITY is helping California out-achieve all of the other U.S. states and most nations in business matters. It is the state with the most diverse demographics and the most diverse economy…no other state comes close.

And, yet, our President, egged on by his (no other way to say it…racist) political base, daily foments a scorched-earth campaign against…diversity…in these United States.

What gives with that? I thought he was all about making money?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have concluded our 28-day stay in beautiful Oregon and are moving south toward Napa and the San Francisco Bay Area.

We always have a great time in Oregon. It’s so green, and the coastal views are outstanding. Here are a few shots from Oceanside RV Resort in Charleston:

Here’s a rock surfaced in mussels:

Here’s Booger standing watch on the sea:

Our friends, the Quinns, spent a couple of weeks with us in Charleston. Here is Peggy teaching the dogs how to beg:

Here’s Dan trying to catch a hummingbird in a mini-feeder:

Oregon is a weird place, in some respects. Here’s a VW bus that some hippy decorated in glass tile, probably while under the influence of the Jim Belushi Estate Blend:

We ALMOST got out of Oregon without having to go to a vet. However, Booger got overheated (in a blanket), vomited, and aspirated some of her own puke. So, we had to pay the local vet $760 to lavage Booger’s nasal cavities under sedation. Bummer!

She’s better now.

Our last stop in Oregon was in the community of Rogue River; what a beautiful place!

The Bridgeview RV Park is small but very beautiful: the 80’ish lady manager is a delight, and she puts a lot of love into the park, which resembles a nursery. Lots of mature trees, gardens, and the Rogue River rushing by. Nice. We will definitely come back.

The park is just downstream from a bridge that was built to withstand a nuclear holocaust. It seems totally overbuilt for a bridge that only spans a 150′ wide stream. Prediction: when the world is totally devastated at the End of Days, this bridge will be the only thing left standing!

We took the dogs into town (across the bridge) to mail some stuff at the Post Office. It was a longer trip, on foot, in the heat, than we had anticipated. It practically killed Booger, who got overheated and we had to carry part of the way. When we got back to the RV park, she detoured and jumped into this creek to cool off.

Along the way, we passed a little hut where schoolchildren huddle while awaiting the school bus in a rainstorm. We used to have these in the Santa Cruz Mountains when I was young.

We left Oregon yesterday, heading south toward Red Bluff, California. You know you’re headed in the right direction when you see the majestic Mount Shasta volcano, 14,000 feet tall, filling up your windshield. What a sight!

We plan to return to Oregon next year if everything works out. I’ve already made out a tentative schedule (see below):

 

“Been there, done that”, says Booger.

P.S. Our home-building project in Mesquite, Nevada is moving along. Here’s a shot of the framing going up:

Now all we have to do is sell our Bear Creek home!