Unindicted!

Well, it appears the Mueller special prosecutorial circus has come to an end with little to show of it.

Literally, because it wasn’t made public.

That’s right, the most anticipated piece of literature in the past ten years, the report that American taxpayers funded and have been waiting two years for, is, evidently, not suitable for public consumption.

President Trump’s recently-appointed Attorney General (who can’t possibly be biased, even though, prior to being nominated for A.G. by Mr. Trump, he had badmouthed the Special Prosecutor and the investigation), read it and then (surprise!) announced that there was nothing in it to evidence “collusion” on the part of the Trump campaign with the proven Russian tampering in the 2016 election.

Who could have predicted that?!

The President’s appointee also went on to note that the idea that the Commander-in-Chief “obstructed justice” to hinder the Mueller investigation was not proven (or, dis-proven). So, Mr. Trump is now crowing that Mueller didn’t find anything because he (the President) wasn’t indicted.

(Duh. Almost all legal scholars agree that a sitting President can’t be indicted for a crime. Dick Nixon wasn’t indicted, either. So, Trump wasn’t going to be indicted, anyway. Impeachment…that’s how Presidents are prosecuted, by Congress. Something like that may still happen, once the Democratic leadership gets a chance to read the actual report.)

Gee, one would think that the American public, who paid untold millions in taxes for the investigation, would be entitled to catch a glimpse of the actual report. Trump says he has no problem with it becoming public, and the House of Representatives recently voted 420 to zero to release the full report.

HaHa.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for that to happen, even though the President controls the Department of Justice, which produced the report. He could order it released right now…but he won’t. (He’ll claim it’s being “audited”, there’s “secret stuff in it”, there’s “National Security” implications, or some other bullshit reason. Or, at a minimum, there will be a bunch of redacted pages.)

More game-playing by our President, more delay, more obstruction. It’s who he is.

I have no idea whether Trump personally “colluded” with the Russians on the election meddling. He certainly benefited from the Russian hacking, his top campaign staff was thick as thieves with the Russkies, and a bunch of those folks are going to prison. His children, who were involved in the campaign, appear to have gotten excited when hearing about the dirt that the Russians had on Clinton.

Just coincidences, according to Trump’s attorneys.

Not for lack of trying

However, recall that candidate Trump publicly announced at a campaign rally the big Wikileaks info dump (stolen from the Democratic National Committee by Russian hackers) in advance. How could that have happened if he wasn’t in the loop?

Attorney General Barr didn’t explain that. Neither have Trump’s attorneys.

Since we can’t read what Mueller found out about such stuff, it is perfectly normal to be suspicious. Trump lies like a rug, so we can’t read much into his protestations of innocence. Hitler had more credibility.

What we citizens absolutely know about Donald Trump, after decades of seeing and reading about his slimy personal and business exploits and his one-ring circus Presidential Administration, is that he controls everything…himself.

The man is historically weak on delegation, he micromanages, and, because he doesn’t think things through or accept expert advise, is prone to stupid blunders like failed business endeavors, getting caught cheating on his wife and paying hush money, and lying constantly to cover-up various chicanery that he is constitutionally unable to avoid. (And, then, blames subordinates for his mistakes. What a great “Boss” to work for!)

Everything in his life story indicates that he is definitely dumb enough to have accepted Russian help.

All of this leads me to believe that nothing went on during his Presidential campaign that wasn’t personally directed by himself or by one of his very few, most-trusted advisors (typically his family members, political advisor/soon-to-be jailbird Roger Stone, or campaign chairman/soon-to-be jailbird Paul Manafort). The latter two were found guilty of crimes by the Special Prosecutor, and Trump’s family members were spared indictments either because of: (1) insufficient “smoking gun” evidence; or, most likely, (2) Trump threatened the A.G. (i.e. Mueller) to lay off or he would torpedo the investigation (which he had threatened to do for two years).

I’m guessing that, years from now, when the truth comes out like it always does, the American public will find out that number (2) came into play.

By the way, that is the “obstruction of justice” angle, which was neither proven nor dis-proven, according to Barr’s hasty/rehearsed reading of the Mueller report. Of course, that’s Barr’s opinion…and it is possible that Barr is, in fact, one of the parties to the “obstruction”.

“How can I help you, Mr. President?”

It is unlikely that Trump would have appointed Barr if the President didn’t know, in advance, how his new appointee would shade the interpretation of Mueller’s report. The President seemed quite calm and confident about the release of the Mueller report between Barr’s appointment and the termination of Mueller’s investigation. The word went out quickly for the Special Prosecutor to “wrap it up”.

One wonders if Barr’s “interpretation” of the investigator’s report was already in the bag, before Mueller handed over his report? Rudi Giuliani might have written it; it would fit the sequence of events.

In the meanwhile, the Mueller report cover-up by Attorney General Barr will probably serve to further incite the Democratic majority in Congress, which will stimulate investigations into every aspect of the President’s life, taxes, relations with foreign governments, and his business dealings.

Accordingly, the Republican majority in the Senate will do everything in its power to offset the Democratic fervor, and we, the American public, will endure another couple of years of spitwad shooting between so-called “adults” and virtually nothing else getting accomplished in Washington D.C.

“Hey, Majority Leader…catch this!”

Maybe that’s a good thing, because they won’t have a chance to screw anything else up.

Classy Rich Folk

I just finished watching another Ken Burns’ documentary miniseries, The Roosevelts: An Intimate History.

What a family; what a story! And, what accomplishments!

Prior to this documentary, I had only a smattering of knowledge about Teddy Roosevelt. I knew that he was one of our greatest Presidents, and was aware of some of his resume. But, there was so much more to this guy than I had thought: he was like an exposed nerve, a most vital presence in life, no matter where or in whose company he found himself. He was a man of action, of vision, and of determination. He may have been the most intelligent President of all, and he was the youngest ever to assume those duties.

I believe that Teddy Roosevelt’s “progressive” policies made the United States a stronger nation, and his “imperialist” policies made America a world power. He was the right man for the right time, like Washington and Lincoln before him. And, he remained a force in national politics long after he left the White House…at the tender age of 50! No wonder his image adorns Mount Rushmore along with the other greats.

(Donald Trump reminds me of Teddy Roosevelt…without the brains, principles, or sagacity.)

Nothing there in there

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was an only child, and a “Mama’s boy”, whose father, whom he idolized, died when he was a teenager. He was a lonely character in prep school and in college…his peers teased and mocked him, and, despite his good looks, was awkward with the girls. He was narcissistic to a degree, probably due to the smothering affection that he received from his Mother.

He eventually married (his 5th cousin, Eleanor), and later had some extra-marital affairs, but the dominant figure in his life was his ever-present Mother.

“F.D.R.” is generally regarded as the greatest world leader of the twentieth century. Not only did he manage America’s recovery from the Great Depression, but he also led the Allied forces to victory in World War II over the Axis powers. He accomplished these astounding achievements with a mix of vision, daring, political shrewdness, good humor, and class. F.D.R. had a very visceral connection with the common man, despite being born into the elite class of New York millionaires.

A Trusted, Calming presence

And, he was able to tirelessly attend to his Nation’s business while simultaneously being handicapped by crippling polio. What a courageous man he was!

Working through constant pain for America

(Compare that with our current President, who, while campaigning, publicly mocked the disability of a handicapped reporter who had questioned him. What classless and juvenile behavior from a supposed leader of men!)

F.D.R.’s boyhood hero was his uncle “Teddy” Roosevelt. Interestingly, they both were very vigorous men, having to be constantly “doing something” to better their Nation. That could be a reason that both men died young: Teddy at 60, and F.D.R. at 63. They basically wore their hearts out in lives of public service.

“Courageous” is a word that can easily be associated with both Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt. There wasn’t an ounce of quit or cowardice in either one of them. Teddy led his Roughriders up San Juan Hill in Cuba to defeat the Spanish…

…and a dying F.D.R. provided the leadership to win WWII and set the stage for the post-War world order.

(Contrast that with the courage that draft dodger/President Trump showed this week when he spent most of the week denigrating the recently deceased Senator John McCain, a revered patriot and Vietnam War hero.)

Eleanor Roosevelt, F.D.R.’s wife, had a very sad childhood. Her father was a drunk who wasn’t around much, and her mother died when Eleanor was only a young child. She was farmed out to a cold and stern relative, and spent her early years lonely and awkward, with zero self-confidence. She may have (naturally) been a lesbian, but had limited opportunity to explore her sexuality. Some of her best friends, and favorite teacher, in boarding school (in France) were homosexuals.

Her marriage to F.D.R. was a coupling of two upper crust families (separate factions of the New York Roosevelt clan!) and two awkward and lonely individuals. Probably the only things that they had in common was that they were highly intelligent and committed to doing good for others. “Love” between them was probably not really a sexual thing (Eleanor later admitted that she “endured it”), but more of an intellectual and family partnership.

They became more of a team when F.D.R. developed polio and his political career seemed to be on the ropes. Eleanore was there for him, not only as a caregiver, but also as a surrogate political campaigner. She kept his profile alive while he learned how to cope with the loss of his legs and regain his strength. She did probably more than anyone else to save his political career, while simultaneously developing a separate social and political identity of her own. More than a wife, she became an important political asset to the future President.

Like Teddy and F.D.R., this Roosevelt was committed to public service and the betterment of the common man. She was an early and energetic supporter of the League of Women Voters, campaigned for civil rights (when that was not popular…or supported by her husband!), and, after her husband’s death, helped create the United Nations. In 1999, thirty-seven years after her death, a Gallup poll found her to be the ninth most admired person of the 20th century.

Not bad for an awkward, homely, and shy lady who started out so badly in life, and had such a hard time in her personal life finding the love that eluded her in her youth.

Love of humanity and untiring public service was the answer, for Eleanor Roosevelt.

(This is a concept that is obviously foreign to our current President, who loves, in priority order: (1) Himself; (2) Adulation of himself; and, (3) Money, no matter how derived.)

“I serve myself”

What a classy lot, those Roosevelts! THEY are examples of what made America great.

A Doctor In The House?

One of the biggest reservations that we had about relocating to Mesquite, Nevada was the fact that we would lose the doctors that we’d grown to rely on:

Craig would be losing his internist/family practice doctor (Jordanian/American Michael Basch), his outstanding dentist (Indian/American Ravikirin Mara), and his orthopedic surgeon (Moroccan/American Ghassan Tooma).

Charlie would be losing her internist, Michael Basch, her optometrist (Lebanese/American Haleh Guilak), her gastroenterologist (Indian/American Naidash Raghuwanshi), and her cardiologist (Mexican/American Michael Vargas).

How would we replace all of these wonderful doctor/immigrants?

We got lucky this past week. In St. George, Utah, about 35 miles north on I-15, we found a super nice cardiologist named Dr. Kent Gleed. He is a taller and larger version of the actor Jeff Daniels (Terms of Endearment, Dumb and Dumber, etc.) Charlie was sold from the moment he entered the exam room. He is a specialist in cardiac monitoring, which gives Charlie some comfort since she has a pacemaker. Anyway, it was love at first sight…that doctor problem is solved…even though he’s a Caucasian (but that’s a given in Utah!)

We are replacing our internist/family practice doctor (from Murrieta) with a local Mesquite doctor that has come highly-recommended from our best neighbor friends, the McPhersons. The doctor’s name is Gladys Kodjoe, and she is an immigrant from Ghana in equatorial Africa. We will be seeing her for the first time in April. Dr. Kodjoe’s husband, Emmanuel, also an immigrant, owns a local pharmacy, so we’ll probably be patronizing him instead of WalMart.

Craig has been lucky to find a local orthopedic surgeon named Todd Parry. He’s out of St. George, Utah, but has office hours once a week in Mesquite. Craig plans to keep him busy getting treatments for arthritis, creaky knees, and sore hips.

We have been used to excellent veterinary service back in So Cal, because the outstanding vet in Murrieta also happens to be a client of Charlie Manning Bookkeeping. However, we need a local vet here in Mesquite, because, with three dogs, something is always going awry. Luckily, we have found a great little veterinary hospital just a few miles away, with very nice and knowledgeable staff. Doctor Killian Lenehen, a young, earnest gal, is our new vet. The dogs like her.

Awhile back, Charlie went to the local WalMart vision center to have her eyeglass prescription checked. The optometrist there, after a thorough exam, recommended that she see a St. George ophthalmologist because of her worsening sight. We did that last week, and met a very nice guy named Dr. Snow Slade. After some specialized exams, he came to the conclusion that Charlie not only has worsening macular degeneration (which we were aware of, and is incurable) but, also, cataracts in both eyes. His recommendation was for Charlie to have the cataract surgery ASAP, to give her the best possible vision that she can expect at this time of her life.

What the Hell…we did it for JayJay, so I suppose Charlie has earned at least that much love and attention! The first eye will be done next week, and the second within a month.

(I hope Charlie and the dogs are as dedicated to me when I need my brain transplant.)

Update: I mentioned last week that Charlie had fallen off short ladder while doing some household beautification. I took her and her sore back to the local Emergency Room where they took x-rays and determined that she had wrenched her back muscles and prescribed pain pills and a Lidocaine patch. “Problem solved”, they thought.

That didn’t stop the pain. So, we got an appointment at the orthopedic clinic where I had seen Dr. Todd Parry about my arthritic joints. This time, we saw Dr. Scott Parry, Todd’s older brother. After talking to Charlie, reviewing the x-rays, and poking her back a bit, he was of the opinion that she might have a compression fracture of her 1st lumbar vertebra. (It looked like it to me, too. I used to be an x-ray tech, back in the day.) Dr. Parry has ordered an MRI (or CAT scan) to rule out (or, in) this diagnosis. We are awaiting said exam from the local radiology department.

Meanwhile, Charlie and her sore back (and Booger) are sleeping in the guest bedroom, while allows her greater freedom and relief from the other two dogs pawing at her and denying her the sleep that she deserves.

As the saying goes, “If you have your health, you have everything!” The corollary to that is “That if you don’t, life ain’t worth shit!”

Thoughts and prayers.

Who Are We?

I had an opportunity this past week to watch the outstanding Ken Burns’ documentary mini-series “The Civil War”.

When I was young, I read quite a few of my father’s books, among which were the works of Bruce Catton, the pre-eminent historiographer of the Civil War. I’ve always been fascinated by this profound moment of our nation’s history, which involved so much tragedy and suffering, evolved r the astounding leadership of one of our greatest Presidents, and left the “united” nation in a state of socio-cultural disrepair that has lingered to this day.

The Ken Burns’ epic does a good job explaining why the war happened, why it took so long for the North to defeat the outnumbered and out-supplied South, and how the abolition of slavery became, as the war dragged on, the driving force in re-uniting all of the Nation’s states. The latter gave some nobility to a gruesome conflict, initially sparked when eleven states decided to obey some Federal laws and not others.

We like to think of America as a world leader in most things. However, we were a laggard nation when it came to the abolition of slavery. It took a Civil War, with 600,000 dead, for the U.S. to end slavery in 1865. Great Britain had outlawed the practice in 1833, Mexico in 1830, France in 1804, and Russia did it in 1723, one hundred and fifty three years before our Declaration of Independence solemnly stated that “All men are created equal”.

“The times, they are a-changin'”, sang Bob Dylan, in the 1960’s. Of course, the times are always a-changin’, and those who are not keeping abreast of changing societal mores, technological innovation, and what’s going on in the world at-large are doomed to be brushed into the dustbin of history.

The antebellum Southern agricultural economy was propped up by inexpensive labor made possible by human bondage. One wonders if, had the Civil War been won by the Confederates, America would still be employing slavery to achieve its economic ends. If, when and why would it have ended…one can only ponder.

The profound tragedy of the Civil War, to me, is that the traitorous South, which chose to be part of the “United States” only when it suited them, continued on, after defeat, to have its own way with regard to the treatment of the former slaves. Southern politicians and society refused to accept Negroes as human beings, used every means available to demean and humiliate said Black American citizens, and devised numerous schemes to disenfranchise their former slaves.

At the same time, historical revisionists in the South worked hard to re-frame the War and its origins as some type of noble undertaking intended to retain Southern charm, chivalry, and honor. This “Lost Cause” narrative gave the impression that slavery was quite benign, that slaveholders treated their “property” with respect, and that, besides, it was states’ rights, not slavery, that the War was fought over. The cinema classic “Gone With The Wind” pretty much sums up the Lost Cause narrative, with not a single Confederate bad guy or mean plantation owner in the mix.

The Klu Klux Klan, Jim Crow laws, lynchings, racial segregation, and sermons of hate delivered from pulpits inflamed the Southern White populace long after the war’s end, simultaneous with the Lost Cause campaign .

The Civil Rights Act of 1964, almost one hundred years after the Civil War, finally instilled in Federal law protections to African Americans which should have been unnecessary except for the foot-dragging by, primarily, the ex-Confederate states.

Remarkably, in 2019, one hundred and fifty years after the Civil War and fifty three years after passage of the Civil Rights Act, slimy politicians in the South (and, some northern states like Wisconsin) persevere, publicly and proudly, in their insidious efforts to disenfranchise would-be Black American voters.

And, the Republican Party, the one founded by Abraham Lincoln, seems to be quite comfortable with this.

One wonders who really won the Civil War. Maybe we should have let the South go its own way?

I believe that, had President Lincoln lived to serve his second term in office, he would have worked tirelessly to “bind up the Nation’s wounds”, and he would have devoted all of his energies to repairing and re-developing the Southern economy which had been physically destroyed in the War and had been outmoded, anyway, due to the abolition of slavery. Lincoln’s vision for Reconstruction, made clear in his Second Inaugural Address, was “with malice toward none, with charity for all”.

I have to believe that a kindler and gentler reconciliation of the North and South would have been engineered under Lincoln than what actually occurred subsequent to his assassination.

In the absence of that kind of leadership, spiteful politicians in Washington D.C. and in the South involved themselves in great mischief which continues to torment us to this day. In some ways, it is almost as if those 600,000 dead and millions injured and maimed made their sacrifices in vain.

Yes, we saved the Union, but the result was a Nation which, to this day, has a dual personality: Good and Evil.

When we Americans work together, constructing the continental railroads, building the Panama Canal, helping to prevail in two World Wars, establishing the United Nations to resolve global issues..we are Good, if not Great. It’s not hard to be proud to be an American when our intentions are noble and just.

But, our country has a flip-side; i.e. the Evil that comes from being full of one’s self, pushing its beliefs and agendas on other people’s of the world. Democracy isn’t for everyone, because not all of the world’s societies are culturally attuned to that standard. And, not all people believe in the same version of God. It is their right to believe what they want to, right?

Within our own country, Evil manifests itself in persistent racist attitudes, mean-spirited political behaviors, and in a law and order culture which heaps abuse and injury upon minorities. What began with Jim Crow laws after the Civil War has now morphed into various means of overt and covert discrimination against Black Americans and, more recently, non-White immigrants.

“Make America Great Again” is a thinly-veiled campaign to bleach our Nation white, by curtailing immigration and making life difficult for non-Whites. One only has to look at the public behavior of the Trump Administration to see what is going on.

Donald Trump weekly, if not daily, rails against perceived non-White “threats” to our country by Mexicans, Chinese, Muslims, and potential immigrants from “shithole countries”. According to him, prohibiting immigration by any or all of these groups justifies a “National Emergency”.

Of course, the ignored reality is that immigration made America what it is.

Not many citizens are descended from Native Americans or from the Pilgrims, for that matter. Trump himself is descended from German immigrants, and there was a time in this country that immigrants from that country weren’t welcome by all. The same goes for the Irish, the Italians, Orientals, etc.

Albert Einstein immigrated from Germany, Sergey Brin (Google), from Russia, Joseph Pulitzer (Journalist) from Hungary, Liz Claiborne (Fashion) from Belgium, Steve Chen (U-Tube) from Taiwan, Ariana Huffington (Journalist) from Greece, Bob Hope (Entertainer) from England, Andrew Carnegie (Industrialist) from Scotland, Natalie Portman (Actress) from Israel, Carlos Santana (Musician) from Mexico, and Melania Trump (First Lady) from Slovenia. Surprisingly, eight of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were not born in America.

Let’s face it: all Americans are immigrants, even the Native Americans, whose forefathers trudged across the Bering land bridge from Asia 20,000 years ago. Their descendents, the Mestizos (Spanish and Native American mix), which we now call “Mexicans”, were settled in the American southwest long before White folks arrived. They can hardly be considered immigrants, particularly to our continent.

Can’t we just get over the fact that people don’t all look alike? As the Sunday school verse goes, “Jesus loves the little children, Red, Brown, Yellow, Black and White…they are precious in his sight…” The bottom line is that they are all human beings.

White supremacist groups like to pronounce that we are a “Christian” nation. So, what’s going on here? President Trump, the darling of the Christian Right, spends half his waking hours heaping scorn and abuse, some officially, upon his Nation’s Red, Brown, Yellow, and Black citizens, residents, and visitors. And, then, doesn’t accept blame when hate groups visit assault, damage, injury, and death on these very people.

Abraham Lincoln would be ashamed of the President, the political party that he established, and the way that his Civil War legacy has been besmirched.

And, he would be heartbroken that American citizens would have allowed this to occur.

Mesquite Happenings

The weather has improved and things are hoppin’ around here.

As previously reported, our landscape project is moving along at a brisk pace. Darrell and his crew have finished our second patio, and have included a retaining wall/bench.

There are paver paths from our living room patio and our master bedroom out to the second patio. And, lots of big rocks that will provide drama for the trees, shrubs, and succulents that Darrell will be planting.

Tomorrow (Monday), Darrell and I will be meeting with “Tyler” from Southwest Awning to develop final specs for our pergola that will cover the second patio.

Something like this…

Last night, we attended the Mesquite Community Theater, where a troupe of local actors put on a play about the old west, complete with damsels, a hero sheriff, a villain, and a screwy plot.

It was entertaining, I think, except that a lady with an extremely large head sat directly in front of me in the small theater, so I couldn’t see everything that was going on.

“Down in front!”

At intermission, some local Sun City cloggers entertained the audience. The lady on the right end of the chorus line is our neighbor “Sue” McPherson, the wife of my hiking buddy, “Mac”. Sue did good, despite having a cold; the show must go on, you know.

(BTW, the lady on the left end was a 78 year-old gal who looked and acted like my Mom back in the day. It brought back memories of my Mom dancing on cruise ships to calypso bands, oblivious to everything else going on. She definitely had a jive bone!)

We miss you, Mom!

Charlie is having no problem fitting into the local social network. We now have a “regular” card game with the McPhersons, she has a Friday morning coffee klatch with two other neighbors (Barbara and Rita), she’s doing taxes for another neighborhood couple (Don and Casey), and we will be babysitting a couple of 80 plus year-old parents this coming week while their “kids” (my hiking friends and neighbors John and Lynda) are taking a week off to go to Death Valley and Sequoia National Park.

More like Geezer Sitting!

The house across the street from us is almost completed. “Marcus” and “Carol” will be arriving later this month, I believe. We’ve met them a few times and they seem to be very nice. They are moving here from Las Vegas.

Two more houses on our long cul-de-sac have begun construction, and will probably be occupied by mid-Summer. That leaves three lots yet to be built upon, and we understand that one of them is already sold.

This coming week, I will be taking the RV and Charlie up to St. George to (a) service the RV, and (b) meet with Charlie’s new cardiologist, Dr. Gleed. Sounds exciting, huh?

Speaking of medical stuff, Charlie fell off a small ladder yesterday in our living room and took a nasty tumble. Nothing broken, we think, but she is very sore. No more ladders for her!

Not to be outdone, I fell down during a hike last week while just walking along, minding my own business. What a klutz! I got a bruised sternum and a scratched knee out of the senseless pratfall.

Damn that 1″ rock!

I’m getting old, I tell ya’. Long gone are the days when I hiked Mt. Whitney in a day or climbed up the back side of Half Dome in Yosemite (like this gal):

The Good Old Days

Where’s my wheelchair?

Dirt

This week is all about dirt.

It began yesterday, when I joined seven other Desert Fossils for a hike into the Muddy Mountain Wilderness. We had to drive about 1-1/2 hours, a lot of it on rocky, barely passable B.L.M. dirt roads to get to the trailhead. And, then, we hiked 4.7 miles through the desert dirt and rockscapes to get where we were going.

Lots of neat-looking sandstone (i.e. million year-old dirt):





Finally, we got to our destination: a large sandstone “arch” at the end of the valley. It’s called the Muddy Mountain Arch.


(My new hiking pack doesn’t fit right: I ended the hike with a sore neck and shoulder. Bummer. I will need to adjust things, or I will become an old man, fast. It’s a dirty shame!)

Craig “Arthritis” Manning

Speaking of dirt:

You can start shoveling it on the Lakers: they’re dead.

Even though he’s dead, folks are still dishing the dirt on Michael Jackson: the new “Leaving Neverland” documentary spills the beans on his dirty little secret (pedophiliac lifestyle).

Liked little boys (but, we already knew that)


Another big name bit the dust this week: King Kong Bundy. He used to be a dirty, “heavy” villain in the WWA fake wrestling circus.

Too many doughnuts

While President Trump was away in Vietnam attempting to convince the North Koreans to shut down their nuclear weapons program (not going to happen!), former Trump personal attorney/fixer Michael Cohen was dirtying up his former boss’ reputation.

While I was away hiking on Muddy Mountain, our landscape guy, Darrell Garlick, began moving dirt in our backyard and sideyard. He and his crew are going to take what Kokopelli Landscape began and turn it into a finished product.

(Darrell has already scored an $800 change order. He sweet-talked Charlie before talking to me. That’s dirty pool, in my opinion!)

Darrell’s crew began by cutting a hole in our fence, moving in some tractors, and relocating dirt and existing rocks. Then, they brought in a lot more large rocks. It’s beginning to take shape:

Darrell’s guys should be here for a week. Part of the job will be building a patio out of block pavers. Later, we will have a pergola built on that patio to give us a large shade structure for relaxation in the sun and barbeques with neighbors.

I’ve also asked him to come up with a plan to finish off our front walled-in entryway garden. Nothing much there now except dirt and gravel.

More $$, I’m sure, but we need to FINISH this phase of moving in, and move on.

Later in the day, Charlie and I attended a Mardi Gras party put on by the Desert Fossils hiking club.



Dirty Old Geezers, just before we all got naked

One of the attendees is my new friend, Jim Olen, known as Big Jim. Here he is:

Jim recently purchased three of the dirt cheap DroneX mini-drones that I fell for. He has succeeded in flying one of them, to some degree. He is also baffled by the “Chinglish” instruction manual. So, he and I are going to get together and “learn” each other what we can…so that I can show off to Dan Quinn when I see him in May.

Update: Did I recently rejoice because Winter was “over”? Uh, I spoke too soon…it’s raining like Hell today!!!! Our backyard, which is under construction, is now a big muddy mess. OMG)

At Last…It’s Over!

I think Winter has left the scene here in Mesquite. Good riddance!

According to locals, this past season was a very cold and rainy one, compared to the normal averages. Lots of chilly mornings in the 20’s and low 30’s, and we had snow on the ground, which is rare for Mesquite.

Lots of snow in the Virgin Mountains, where we like to hike:

View toward Flat Top Mesa behind our subdivision:

My barbeque:

Investigating the cold, white stuff was a first for Baby and JayJay; Booger’s been there before. Baby says, “It’s cold outside!”:

Avoid the yellow snow, Baby

We’re back in the mid-60’s this week, with morning lows in the 40’s. This we can handle. It’s nice to take the dogs for a walk in shorts and T-shirt, for a change. Yeah, Baby!

By the way, some good news today: President Trump left his much-hyped Hanoi “summit meeting” today with his North Korean despot/buddy, Kim Jong Un. Now, it turns out that North Korea isn’t “denuclearizing”, like Trump promised, last year. But, I’m sure we “won”, anyway.

Another bone spur injury…

Thursday:

This afternoon I went into Las Vegas to pick up Jason Friedman, who is flying in from Colorado Springs (via Denver). Jason is our “adopted” 5th son, who Charlie met in the old LeTip days. He’s a big outdoors guy, and will be joining our hiking group tomorrow for a jaunt into Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument.

Here he is with his regular hiking buddy, “Ashka”:

As long as I was going the 70 miles into Vegas to pick up Jason, I multi-tasked and did some shopping.

I stopped by Desert Rock Sports to check out hiking backpacks. The one I’ve been using, on day hikes in this area, is minimally OK, but lacks the capacity to carry much more than a hydration unit and a few goodies to eat. I really should take more emergency stuff with me, just in case. So, a bigger pack is in order. I bought a Petzl “Bug” pack for $75; my present to me.

(Speaking of outdoors stuff, Charlie and I watched the Oscar-winning documentary, “Free Solo” last night. It’s about a guy who recently free-climbed (with no rock climbing equipment) El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. “El Cap” is the ultimate rock climbing object in the world, with 3,200 vertical feet of solid granite. Many experienced, world class rock climbers have died trying to scale El Cap, and they failed with ropes, pitons, and human helpers. The hero of “Free Solo” did it alone, using his hands and feet only. Just an amazing feat, and quite an interesting movie!)

No place for guys with bone spurs

Friday:

Today, our “regulars” plus Jason did some hiking on the back side of Virgin Mountain. It was a long 4×4 drive over crappy roads and BLM trails to get to/from. The hiking terrain wasn’t worth it, as far as I was concerned. But, we got some good exercise.

Jason brought along his pricey hiker’s watch that calculates elevation gain, miles traveled and about fifty other things. When we got done hiking, Lloyd said that his Fitbit claimed that we had gone about 11 miles. Mac estimated 10 miles and Jason’s fancy G.P.S. wristwatch calculated a little over 6 miles. (My hips estimated 20 miles, because we did a lot of up and down scrambling!) Oh, well, whatever the mileage, it was a nice walk, the overcast skies kept us cooled down, and we had an entire morning to chew the cud, tell a bunch of tall tales, and give Jason a lot of shit. He held up well and dished it back to his new friends.

(Lloyd told another good one: A guy goes to a urologist to get a vasectomy. At check-in, the receptionist checked on his insurance. “I’ve got a deluxe PPO”, bragged the patient. In a while, an attractive nurse took the guy back to pre-op, into a small room, and closed the door. “You have a PPO, correct?”, asked the nurse. “Yes, I do”, confirmed the guy. The nurse then proceeded to get on her knees, undid his belt, took out his penis, and proceeded to give him a blowjob. He ejaculated in her mouth, and was quite pleased with himself. “What was that about?”, he asked. The nurse replied that “the urologist likes all of your pipes to be cleaned out before he does the surgery”. The nurse then walked the guy down the hall toward the surgical suite. They passed a small room, and, looking into the window, he saw six guys sitting next to each other in folding chairs, watching a porn video, with small paper cups in their hands. “What’s going on with those guys”, he asked. The nurse replied, dismissively, “They have Kaiser.”)

I harvested a teeny, pink barrel cactus out in BLM territory during the hike. I named him “Spike”, and I planted him in the front yard next to his green cousin, “Harry”.

JayJay’s fire hydrant came via FedEx today. I put it out on the edge of the artificial grass in the backyard, for now. Our landscaper guy, Daryl, may want to move it when he begins to re-design everything next week.



By the way, I found a deceased deer on a recent hike and scavenged the head (with antlers intact). After a proper period of respect, I cut a very nice antler chew toy for the dogs to sharpen their teeth on. Booger and Baby have at that thing all day. Here are the two of them: Baby is munching the antler bone, while Booger sleeps nearby.

Saturday:

Well, Winter is back; it’s raining, Dang it!

Today, I took Jason around Sun City Mesquite and showed him our community center and the rest of the city metropolis.

Later, Lloyd had a barbeque party for our hiking buddy, John, who will soon be leaving for Sequoia National Park, where he will be a guide this Summer. We enjoyed some good eats: grilled salmon, BBQ’ed pork, asparagus, garlic toast, and snacks.

While the wives chatted, the hiker guys talked about a prospective REI North Rim-Grand Canyon hike in the Fall. It’s a four-day thing: hike from the North Rim down to the Colorado River, spend a couple of days goofing around, and then hike up and out. Jason, John and I are interested, for sure, and Jason has a friend who’d like to do it, as well. I’ll need to investigate the particulars.

Later, after the rain had stopped, I drove Jason back to Las Vegas International Airport for his return flight to Denver.

On the way, we passed the under-construction Raiders NFL football stadium. It is located adjacent to I-15, on the opposite side of the freeway from the Mandalay Bay Hotel. It’s supposed to be opened in 2020.

Now:

2020:

$1.5 billion later..and still a stinkin’ franchise!

It was 64 degrees when I got home to Mesquite at 7:30 p.m.

THAT’S what I’m talkin’ about!!!