Big news this past week that the Johnson and Johnson Covid-19 vaccine has been pulled out of circulation (“out of an abundance of caution”) because six cases of blood clots have been reported out of the 7 million inoculations given thus far.
OMG!
Gee, all the political hoopla about vaccinations has really hyped up “concerns” among the citizenry
I don’t know about anyone else, but the benefits of a vaccine (like…not dying from the coronavirus) would certainly seem to me to outweigh the risk (6 divided by 7 million = one thousandth of one percent!) of getting a blood clot, which normally is not fatal. My wife Charlie has had a bunch of them.
Americans take drugs (a lot of them!) every day that have known side effects, some very serious.
If you watch much TV, particularly the major networks, it is hard to avoid the advertisements placed by the pharmaceutical companies. They are everywhere, particularly during the commercial breaks of the news shows. Sometimes, there are two drug ads during a single commercial break.
Each ad touts the alleged beneficial attributes of the drug, and then there follows an audio and written narration of potential side effects…which can be numerous and significant including death. “Talk to your doctor”, the ad advises. By the time the lengthy side-effect legal announcement is completed, I’ve usually forgotten what the wonder drug was designed to cure.
It appears, from the statistics being generated about the 100 million inoculations already accomplished in the United States, that the risk of serious side effects from the various Covid-19 vaccines, is markedly less than the risk of taking…an aspirin for a headache.
Can’t we…please…remove politics from this friggin pandemic? Idiots are out there amongst us inventing reasons not to get vaccinated…while people are dying. We are now entering into a FOURTH WAVE of infection, for God’s sake, a large swaths of the public are behaving like we’ve already beaten the foe.
There is a whole “second dose reaction” hoopla being played out in our Nation by alarmists who anticipate a reaction, then attribute any medical condition that afflicts them after the second inoculation…to be caused by the booster shot. That might include a headache, a short-term rash, an upset stomach, a mild fever, and so forth. Normal things that we deal with on an everyday or periodic basis…are now being confidently described as “side effects from the vaccine”.
Nothing horrible, or earth-shaking, from a medical perspective, but more urban “truth” to keep the pot of skepticism boiling…that doctors don’t know what they’re talking about.
Americans need to grow up, trust science, stop pretending that they know more about this pandemic than the experts, do their part, and get this damned plague out of our lives ASAP. This pestilence isn’t done with us yet, although lots of folks are acting like it is.
Historians are going to look back to our time and wonder… what in the Hell was wrong with them?!
Although we live only seventy miles from Las Vegas, Charlie and I rarely go down there. Most everything we need we have in Mesquite. We even have three casinos in our small town, although we only go there for an occasional good meal.
Yesterday was the exception: I took Charlie to Las Vegas to rendezvous with her BFF from Southern California, Karin Pace and afterwards picked up our RV from National Indoor RV, where it had been getting serviced.
Charlie had a room for two Friday and Saturday nights at Caesar’s Palace so we went there first and checked her in. The place was very crowded, which surprised me because of the pandemic; however, everyone was wearing masks, and it is obvious that management is toing the line set by Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak.
At check-in
What surprised me even more was the clientele in Caesars: extremely blue-collar and young, with most patrons looking to be 21 to 40 years old. We might have been the only geezers in the joint. The atmosphere was more like a frat party or rave. Interesting…because Caesar’s used to have an upscale clientele. Time’s are a’changin’, I guess.
View of swimming pool area from Charlie’s room
We were hungry (it was lunchtime) and had a hard time finding anything to eat. Caesar’s has lots of food opportunities, but it seemed that many were closed or operating at 50 percent capacity, which meant that it was almost impossible to get a seat in a restaurant. We ended up in the Sports Book area where we were each able to snag a slice of peperoni pizza and a Diet Pepsi to share. The cost: $25.00!!!
The food here is more expensive than at Disneyland!!
Valet parking cost me another $25.00!!
It is apparent that management (and corporate ownership) intends to recover one year’s worth of lost profits in a couple of months. Caveat emptor, or “Whatever money comes to Vegas, stays in Vegas!”
I left Charlie at Caesar’s and headed up I-15 a few miles to National Indoor RV to pick up the rig, which had been there for repairs for about one month. I had checked twice in the past ten days to CONFIRM that it would be ready on Friday the 16th, since I had to take Charlie into Vegas for her 2-day whirl. “Yes, Mr. Manning”, I was told, “Your RV will be ready.”
It wasn’t.
Both the Service Host, and her Assistant, walked me out into the parking lot to my rig (which had a bunch of crap sprayed on the door area!) and then said, “Only two items remain to be done”.
WTF, I turned red and flew into a rage. “You’ve had it for a month, I’ve just driven 70 miles to pick it up, you promised it would be done today, and now you’re informing me that you’re not done!!! This is total bullshit!”, I screamed.
I felt like this guy…ready to kick some ass
The Service Host said, “We have you down for pick-up on the 19th”. I said, “That’s not what your assistant told me ten days ago and four days ago! You idiots should be ashamed of yourselves!” (I think I used f’ing descriptor)
The two ladies then told me that the remaining items to be done were installing the new washer/dryer and the new Blue Ox towbar. “That should have been done three weeks ago…what have you guys been doing?” It appeared that the rig had sat in the parking lot for quite awhile.
The ladies disappeared into the building and I stewed for ten minutes. They then returned and told me that the two items would be done immediately and asked me to wait in the Customer Lounge.
I went there and fumed.
After a half hour, I dialed up the NIRV telephone number and asked to talk to the Service Manager. When he came to the line, I unloaded on the poor guy, trashed his Service Dept help, and threatened to put some nasty shit on social media about his joke of a service operation and NIRV. I told him that I could get better service at…a “frigging gas station”.
I informed the Service Manager that one of my major “to-do” items on the repair checklist was repair/replacement of the under chassis air suspension system, a major cost item (possibly $8,000). After having the rig for three weeks, his bungling staff had called me and told me that they wouldn’t be doing those repairs because they “couldn’t get parts”. (I mentioned to the Service Manager that, following that call, I’d checked with Temecula Valley RV in So Calif and Premier Trucking in Hurricane, Utah…and they both said, “No problem, bring it in.” So, his inept operation had screwed ownership out of a nice profit on those repairs.)
NIRV Service Department group photo
In a few moments, he (“Tino”) appeared in the lounge and fell all over himself, apologizing for his inept crew and promising to get things completed and my rig ready to go “in 20 minutes”.
He lied; it was more than an hour but, to his credit, Tino had five guys working like slaves in my rig, getting everything ship-shape and even washed the thing. Tino made sure that one of his guys demonstrated that the washer/dryer worked and also that the Norcold refrigerator would now shift to propane while on the road.
Now we’re talkin’.
Finally, three hours late, I paid the bill…which had, generously, been marked down $500 by Tino for my inconvenience and as a gesture of apology. Okay, I thought, at least they’re trying.
As I waited for the crew to ease my rig out of the cavernous building, I glanced at the itemized invoice for the work done. I noticed a peculiar item: replacement of a cabinet hinge (which we had requested) that was priced $13.50 for parts and $338.00 for labor.
Needless to say, I flew into another rage.
NIRV is an expensive place, for sure, with a labor shop rate of $169.00 per hour. That means that they charged me two hours of labor…for something that I’ve installed myself in five minutes with a screwdriver. C’mon, Man, what’s with the price gouging?!!
My Service Host, “Marsha”, and the Service Manager “Tino” caught more foul language tossed their way and scurried off to accounting to investigate the outrageous charge.
Ten minutes later, Marsha reappeared to explain that it was her error, that she had believed that the repair guy replaced all of the cabinet latches in the bedroom slide (which she had recommended to me initially, but what I had declined…three weeks ago). Her bad, she said, and added that I would be receiving a $253 credit on my Visa come Monday.
Needless to say, I’ve seen the last of NIRV. Good riddance.
So, now it’s five-thirty, it’s getting to be dusk, and I’ve got to drive 70 miles back to Mesquite.
Wouldn’t you know it: the desert winds kicked up, and I had to slalom up Interstate 15 while being punished by 40 mph wind gusts!!
That was probably God’s punishment for all of those four-letter words that I inflicted on those NIRV nincompoops. (Yeah, but it felt good at the time!)
Next week, I will take The Beast up to Hurricane, Utah (60 miles) for the under-chassis work…which (that Service Department claims) doesn’t even require an appointment.
President Joe Biden raised the hackles of the military-industrial establishment this week when he announced his intention to end America’s military presence in Afghanistan no later than September 11th of this year.
That date would be the twentieth anniversary of the catastrophic attacks on New York City and the Pentagon by Al Queda terrorists using commercial aircraft as deadly missiles. In October 2001, the U.S. and a coalition of allies began a military campaign to drive the Taliban from power and deny Al Queda a base of operations in Afghanistan. Those original objectives were achieved; however, the Taliban has never really gone away and today controls vast areas of the country, fighting a civil war against the weak, democratic regime supported by the U.S. We’ve had soldiers there fighting, being injured, and being killed for twenty years…the longest war in U.S. history.
In 2016, Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump campaigned with the promise that he would bring all American troops home from Afghanistan. He was never able to fulfill that promise, thanks to resistance from hawkish Administration officials and military brass who pander to the massive U.S. arms industry. President Biden is running into the same opposition in 2021.
Quo Vadis? Where are we going with this “policy” of military adventurism? Our continued presence in Afghanistan doesn’t make a lot of sense except to justify the continued expenditure of billions of dollars on military weapons systems. And, over 2,500 American soldiers have died…”protecting” a country that will revert back to Taliban control as soon as we leave.
Maybe that’s what Afghanistan deserves? Who are we to judge a Muslim country?
We can’t very well argue that “national security” justifies our chest-thumping adventures in the Middle East. Almost all of the 9-11 terrorists were Saudis and were funded by Saudi money, and yet Saudi Arabia is considered an “ally” which receives high-tech military hardware from the U.S. They can afford to protect themselves. Similarly, Israel, another American ally in the Middle East, has a very formidable military capability including the latest stealth aircraft, state-of-the-art weapons systems, and a nuclear arsenal, to boot.
America’s presence in the Middle East right now includes troops and weaponry in Iraq, which our country destabilized when it toppled Saddaam Hussein, and Afghanistan, which is involved in a civil war reminiscent of Vietnam in the 1960’s.
What are we doing there and what do we intend to accomplish? Will another ten years of meddling get the “job” done, whatever that is?
The United States also has a lot of troops in South Korea, ostensibly protecting that nation from its bellicose neighbor North Korea. Question: Why is America still militarily involved in the Korean Pennisula? The Korean War “police action” was ended with an armistice 70 years ago. South Korea now has an army capable of defending itself in a conventional war.
Is it the United State’s role in the world to take sides in civil disputes?
How about Taiwan? This tiny, prosperous island nation is home to a remnant of a Chinese government that was ousted from power seventy-one years ago by the Communist regime of Mao Zedong. The residents are Chinese, and the island is geographically part of China (separated by the Formosa Strait). The political status of Taiwan is similar in some respects to that of Hong Kong: a part of China that was exempted from Chinese control through colonialism (British) and international politics (America). China is now one of the world’s two great superpowers. Hong Kong has already reverted to Chinese control and it is inevitable that Taiwan will follow suit. There is no good reason why the United States should obstruct this fate…except that “protecting” the Taiwanese gives America a rationale for military presence in the South China Sea and the continuing expenditure of billions of dollars per year in weapons systems.
Back when I was young, it was common to hear America referred to as the “World’s Policeman”…ostensibly protecting the downtrodden, the defenseless, and those people who were yearning for democracy.
Of course, that was a long time ago…back when the U.S. was calling the shots, internationally-speaking, and had much more respect among nations.
Nowadays, in many countries throughout the world, America is viewed as a meddling, imperialistic power. The United States maintains 800 military bases in 70 countries and territories throughout the world. Britain, France, and Russia, by comparison, have a combined total of 30 bases in foreign countries. China, the world’s other superpower, has one overseas military base in Djibouti (East Africa).
The defense budget of the United States was $732 billion in 2018. That was more than the combined total defense budgets of the following countries: China, India, Russia, Saudi Arabia, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, and Brazil.
Why are we so defensive?
The magnitude of these expenditures, in comparison to those of other countries, makes America look “offensive”, almost looking for trouble…thousands of miles from our shores. It’s no wonder why America is perceived as a bully in many regions: our country functions on a permanent war economy.
So, why is it so hard for the United States to extricate itself from dumb conflicts that we’ve stumbled into”? It’s about the money…that would be lost to the bloated defense industries. One in every six dollars collected in Federal taxes is spent by the Defense Department, and American companies are responsible for 37 percent of arms exports worldwide. Within our Nation, there are more guns in private ownership than there are citizens.
The bottom line is that America (and Americans) seems to like to solve problems with weapons…and if all of our perceived “enemies” would disappear tomorrow, we would have to invent some to keep our economy afloat.
It is a sad state of affairs that our President must deal with.
The weather is great now, mostly 80’s, the flowers are a’bloomin’, and everyone (and their dogs) have been cooped up for way too long. So, lots of Sun City folks have hit the sidewalks, walking paths, and nature trails.
(Bicycling is popular here, too. I have a fancy bike that I purchased from a friend last year but haven’t used much. Today, we’re taking it down to the bike shop for a tune-up and some minor repairs. If I can swing it, I might take it on our summertime RV trip.)
I am trying to do about three miles of walking a day with Baby and Bon-Bon. Between the sidewalks and specialized walking trails, there are numerous routes that we can take in the morning (when the temperature is around 70 degrees). The dogs live for this daily treat, as they must investigate other dogs’ pees and poos, smell all the emerging flowers, and greet passersby with wags and kisses. “What cute dogs!” is a common comment. I’m so proud of them, particularly since they are so well-behaved around strange people and other dogs. They are just out to have a good walk; it’s all good with them.
At least once per week I go on a hike with my buddies Lloyd and Mac. We do a minimum of six miles and normally a max of ten miles per hike, rarely on any kind of established trail. The shorter hikes usually involve some altitude gain, sometimes several thousand feet. We’ve hiked in the snow, in sandy riverbeds, up and down rock-strewn slopes, across barren desert landscapes, and into barely-accessible “secret” locations that have historical remnants (like petroglyphs, Indian rock stables, mines, and petrified wood forests).
Petrified wood and a slab of mica
Yesterday, Mac and I hiked ten miles in the Valley of Fire. It is a State park located between Mesquite and Las Vegas that encompasses a variety of dramatic terrain.
A valley running through part of it was once used by Mormon settlers traveling from Salt Lake City south to the Las Vegas area. We hiked that Old Wagon Trail yesterday which passes close to this dramatic arch.
We found a few remnants from the wagoneers, like rusted tin cans and harness hardware, container caps, and such. We saw a dozen Bighorn Sheep at one location and a bunch of large lizards, including a nice fat Horned Toad that ran right under our feet.
I like the long walks with Mac alone, as we have many things we can talk about and have much in common. He’s a solid guy who came from humble roots in Virginia. Mac was in the Air Force like me (he was an Air Police dog handler in Korea) and later enjoyed a long civil service career with the Department of Defense in procurement (at the Pentagon, I believe). Both he and I understand how government works (and doesn’t) and have lots of stories to share. Both of us think that American democracy is circling the drain.
Our hiking “gang” has lots of hiking opportunities in this area: the Beaver Dam Wilderness, Virgin Peak, Gold Butte, Grand Canyon Parashant, Snow Canyon, Flat Top Mesa, the Mormon Mountains, the Virgin River Gorge, and Pine Valley.
Joshua trees in Virgin River Gorge
In most of these remote areas, off-road vehicles are common. My 79-year-old widowed nextdoor neighbor, who can’t walk very well, has an ORV and she belongs to a club that goes on weekly outings to some pretty rugged areas. She’s a spunky lady. Hiking buddy Lloyd has a tricked-out Toyota 4-Runner which can handle most of the crappy BLM dirt/rock roads that we encounter. Lloyd likes to drive and is expert at negotiating the dangerous areas in 4×4 mode.
Zion National Park is located approximately 80 miles northeast of us and is one of my favorite places to hike. However, it has become too crowded in recent years, and the Covid-19 restrictions re: the Valley tram have made this place unworkable for serious hiking. You can’t take your car into Zion, you must take the tram within the Park, and you must get a reservation for a tram ride. It has become Disneyland; I’m not going back.
On May 5th, Lloyd, Charlie and I will take the RV up to Arvada, Colorado to visit with Jason Friedman. He’s an Iron Man competitor and a big outdoorsman who likes to hike in the Rocky Mountains with his dog Ashka. Jason is planning a couple of interesting treks for Lloyd and I.
Hopefully, we can handle the cardiovascular trauma that Jason is orchestrating for us.
Charlie and I went to a backyard party this past week, the first one thrown in our neighborhood in quite a while.
It felt good.
Most of our close Nevada friends have been inoculated for Covid-19, but there are exceptions. One couple says that they have autoimmune issues (that they caught “from each other”!), another is dominated by a know-it-all husband, and the other couple includes a former F.B.I. agent and his physician wife. The only things that all three couples have in common are that they’re over 65 years of age and are very politically conservative: don’t know for sure, but they might have contracted Trump-itis.
“it’s only the flu! Gargle with Chlorox and you’ll be fine!”
Speaking of politics, there have been some strange goings on this past month.
The State of Georgia (of course) is re-instituting some Jim Crow voter suppression bullshit for “election integrity” purposes.
That excuse doesn’t pass the smell test because the State of Georgia elections boss did three recounts of the 2020 election returns and publicly announced that he could find no fraud or improprieties in the Georgian elections. You might recall that Donald Trump was livid about this reality and even (illegally) asked the elections official and the Governor to change the vote totals in his favor. That impropriety was duly noted via a taped phone call which we all heard on the evening news. The bottom line, I suppose, is that votes in the great State of Georgia are deemed to be fraudulent or improper when they are cast for Democratic candidates.
When the latest Georgian Jim Crow shenanigans hit the fan, several prominent Georgia-based corporations (Delta Airlines and Coca Cola, to name two) showed solidarity with their Black customers by publicly expressing outrage and, in the case of Major League Baseball, canceling the All Star game scheduled for Atlanta.
Mitch McConnell, the two-faced G.O.P. Senate Minority Leader, warned corporate America to “stay out of politics”…while at the same time welcoming corporate campaign funding for Republican candidates.
“We don’t want your advice, only your money!” seems to be the attitude.
There were another couple of mass shootings in the past week. Unfortunately, Americans have become numb to these horrid events, with a shoulder-hunching “What can you do?” attitude. The answer is: probably nothing, as our irresponsible, head-in-the-sand Federal elected officials don’t have the testicles to regulate gun sales and gun possession by idiots and minors. I’m sure Mitch McConnell would prefer that concerned citizens “stay out of politics” on this issue, as well.
The Derek Chauvin case is big news right now. He is the ex-Minneapolis Police Department cowboy who calmly and defiantly suffocated George Floyd (for allegedly passing a fake $20 bill in a convenience store) in the street back in May 2020 in front of numerous witnesses.
The City of Minneapolis subsequently settled a $27 million wrongful death civil suit with the family of George Floyd: the city fathers knew that Officer Chauvin done Floyd wrong.
In the criminal trial against Mr. Chauvin, the prosecution’s witnesses (including Minneapolis P.D. officers) have made it pretty clear to the jury that the ex-police officer was not following proper use-of-force procedure when he kneeled against Mr. Floyd’s neck for over 9 minutes, some of which occurred when the victim had no pulse.
The defense will likely make a big deal about Mr. Floyd’s past criminal behavior, his drug use, and Officer Chauvin’s belief that he was somehow entitled to use deadly force against a Black man who was handcuffed behind his back, was prone (on his stomach, with Chauvin’s full weight on him ), was gasping for air, and who was begging for his life. Of course, only one juror needs to buy the defense’s bullshit excuses and ex-Officer Chauvin will walk.
If that happens, America could see another episode of the devastating Los Angeles’ riots of 1992…on a National scale. It would be a monumental tragedy if that happened.
Speaking of the Nation, the economy seems to be rebounding to some extent. Many millions of workers are still out of work, though, and it will be a long time before most of those jobs come back. The “stimulus” money has staved off a devastating recession for the time being and has pumped money into an ever-enlarging Wall Street bubble. The bubble will burst sooner or later; it always does. It is unlikely that blue collar Americans will see any more stimulus “funny money”: Congress has lost the stomach for it.
Housing prices are, like many other consumer costs, skyrocketing. In our area (the Nevada “sun belt” with no State income tax), lots of Californians with fat retirement accounts are relocating, gobbling up available housing and boosting prices paid. As of last week, there are only four homes available on the re-sale market in Sun City. Our neighbor, Carol Kline, whose husband Marcus died several months ago from Covid-19, put her house (virtually identical to ours) on the market last week and sold it in four days for $545,000. That is $200,000 more than the base price that she paid twenty-four months ago.
When we bought our home in late 2018, we paid a “lot premium” of $12,000…because it was a large lot with a view (easterly from the back yard) of Virgin Peak, elevation 8,000 feet. Some of the better “view” lots in our subdivision had higher premiums, some as much as $30,000. Our developer, Pulte Homes, is building more homes right now up on a higher ridge with nice views. The home styles and sizes will remain the same, but the lot premiums have skyrocketed: there is one lot on a cul-de-sac called “Majestic View” that is commanding a $300,000 premium…and there are reputedly three or four bidders who want that bare lot.
Wow. How long will it be before a gallon of gas costs $10?
We are currently in the process of spending a bunch of money on our RV. One “surprise” (but, not entirely unexpected) expense is repair/replacement of the air bag suspension system under the chassis. The existing air bags (which keep the RV level during operation and when parked) are sixteen years old, suffering from leaks and dry rot. It’s time to bite the bullet and do what is necessary to keep the rig operational and safe. Mucho dinero, I’m afraid. However, since costs of everything are skyrocketing, maybe now is the time to pay the freight…before the job becomes too costly.
Ay, Chihuahua!
With regard to the RV, we want to take advantage of the lull in pandemics (what’s next, Covid-23?) and maybe schedule an eastern trip next year to see friends and our son Jonathan and family who live in Lexington, Kentucky. I’m going to do some research in the next few weeks to get a general idea of routing, time, and costs. We gotta get some use out of those new air bags!
Tomorrow, I’m going to watch the final round of the Masters’ golf tournament. It is an unusual contest this year, as reckless driver/iconic golfer Tiger Woods will not be involved at all; he is home in Florida recuperating from multiple injuries suffered in a self-induced auto accident. The tournament is also unusual this year because a Japanese golfer, Hideki Matsuyama, will go into the final round with a four-shot lead. No Asian man has ever won the Masters, despite the fact that the Ladies Professional Golfers Association (the female pro golfing circuit) is dominated by Asian women. Coincidentally, a young Asian-American golfer, University of California-Berkeley grad Collin Morikawa, won this past year’s P.G.A. Championship and a young Thai lady, Patty Tavatanakit, won last week’s LPGA major tournament in Palm Springs.
While Asians are on a roll in golf, they are targets in American society right now. Xenophobia (against China) which was driven to fever pitch by ex-President Trump, is manifesting itself in many urban areas, where thuggish individuals have taken out their frustrations on innocent Asian-Americans. Gee, just when I was thinking that our country could stoop no lower…now we’ve got deranged idiots assaulting and stomping elderly citizens because their parents or grandparents immigrated to the U.S. from the Orient many decades ago…before the pandemic, trade imbalances, and whatever.
As the French philosopher Voltaire once said, “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities”. And so, the blame-throwing, hate-mongering legacy of Donald Trump lives on.
However, it’s the second week of April, the sun is out in force, and the shrubs, trees, and succulents in Mesquite, Nevada are beginning to put out a variety of bright flowers. Signs of optimism, at last.
It’s “back to normal”, at least in a horticultural sense.
My buddies Mac and Lloyd and I hiked up in the Beaver Dam Wash National Conservation Area yesterday. It is located off Hwy 91 in the southwest corner of the State of Utah.
We hike up there a lot because it contains varied landscapes and vegetation plus some elevation to get our hearts pumping. There is more wildlife up there, too: free range cattle, deer, mountain goats and such, although most of the wildlife is absent during the daytime hours.
There are snakes, too, although we rarely see them. The Mohave Green rattlesnake is an important one to avoid: very toxic bite. No Bueno. There are also Desert Tortoises residing in this part of the country, although they spend most of their lives hiding out in their burrows.
Last year, we were hiking in these mountains at an altitude of about 5,000 feet when we saw the largest herd of mule deer that I’ve ever seen: at least 100, mowing down Spring grasses. We chased a dozen of them off of a ridge as we approached, and then saw them join the massive herd several hundred feet below us. They looked like ants, there were so many of them.
Yesterday, when we were hiking up a wash near the tree line (about 5,600 feet in elevation), Mac and I noticed a critter jogging across a slope a couple of hundred yards above us in a pine forest. Mac said, “Look, there’s a coyote!” I saw it, too. But, as we watched it, we both realized that it was not a coyote: it was too big and it had long, grey fur. Coyotes are lean (always looking like they haven’t eaten in a month!), they are usually tan in color with a short coat, and weigh maybe 40 pounds, plus or minus.
This animal was grey, had a shaggy coat, and looked to weigh in the 60 to 75-pound range. Not coyote-like at all.
Our dude looked like this guy
Lloyd, our “expert” on such things, was lagging behind us and missed the sighting. Based upon the description we gave him, he said it was probably a wolf.
They are extremely rare in this area. An internet search revealed that there are grey wolves in this part of America but are rarely seen. Lloyd later talked with a Fish and Game warden about our sighting, and he concurred that not many folks come upon such a creature in the Triple Junction area (where Utah, Arizona and Nevada adjoin each other).
It probably makes sense that there would be wolves near large herds of deer. I would imagine that they prey upon the weakened adults and fawns when the opportunity presents itself. There are likely mountain lions in this area, as well, who prey on the deer and mountain goats. We’ve never seen one, but we have seen suspicious paw prints.
Mac, Lloyd and I tend to hike in areas where there are no trails, off of BLM dirt roads that are used by off-road enthusiasts. Because we hike where most people don’t go, we often find the undisturbed bones of cattle, deer, and other wildlife. Yesterday, I brought home a bleached-out cow femur and part of an antler rack from a small deer. Baby and Bon-Bon are enjoying the latter as I write this blog.
Hiking is good for my weight loss regime. I’ve now lost about 13 pounds in the past six weeks, hoping to lose another seven pounds before Summer. Both of my surgically replaced hips are working fine.
Lloyd and I are going to hit the Coyote Springs Golf Club links tomorrow to see if our recent practice has paid any dividends.
Another week, another deranged guy shooting up another store. When will this stuff end?
A week ago, a nutjob in the Atlanta, Georgia area went on a killing spree, pumping three massage parlors with bullets, killing eight people. Six of the victims were Asian women. The perpetrator was apprehended and confessed to the murders but excused his behavior by noting that he had a “sex addiction” and he needed to reduce the “temptation” that these facilities represented.
That’s a new one: I wouldn’t want to be the defense lawyer who tries to sell that horseshit excuse. (Of course, I wouldn’t have believed that O.J. would have walked, so who am I to judge?)
A week later, in Boulder, Colorado, another sicko gunned town 9 customers and one heroic police officer in a grocery store because…he was unhappy, I guess. We will hear more about this guy’s mental state as time goes by, but people who know him say that he has temper and behavior issues galore. One of the tragic aspects of this incident is that the fellow bought the assault rifle used in the massacre just six days before the event. The rampage occurred just ten days after a judge blocked a ban on assault rifles passed by the City of Boulder in 2018. (That judge had better hope that he’s not up for re-election any time in the near future. He’s got a lot of explaining to do to the loved ones of the deceased.)
These events have again stirred the partisan political debate over gun control: Democrats want some and Republicans want none. In the past five years, there have been 29 incidents in the United States where four or more persons were victims of gun violence. Despite this carnage, nothing has been done by our political leaders to address the problem. I don’t expect anything this time, either. Problem-solving is not in a politicians job description, I guess.
I have a gun and I would prefer to keep it in my bureau, ready to defend my home from bad guys. However, I’m an adult with no record of domestic violence, criminal activity, or mental defect. The problem in America is that virtually anyone can obtain a gun legally and that weapon can be military grade. An assault weapon can do a lot of damage very fast, particularly in the hands of deranged individuals.
Do average citizens need such weapons? Did our Founding Fathers anticipate this type of weaponry in the hands of regular folk when they instituted the Second Amendment? Back in those days, killing was a very deliberate act (load, shoot, reload), and the purpose of the Amendment (“a well-regulated militia being necessary…”) essentially became moot with the advent of a standing army and National Guard units in each State.
The Founding Fathers would be aghast at the idea of a pimply-faced teenager gunning down a couple of dozen high schoolers in a few minutes with a military assault weapon that he could legally possess because…some of his school mates called him a booger eater.
I think the argument in favor of total Second Amendment authority to secure, possess, and use weapons of all types is mainly driven by the U.S. arms industry and its stooges within our citizenry. Their answer to virtually every problem concerning society involves putting more weapons in people’s homes, in schools, and in holsters (“open carry”)…for protection.
The guns per capita rate in the United States currently stands at 1.2, which means that there are more guns in civilian possession than there are citizens. That is six times the rate in France and Germany, 24 times the rate in the United Kingdom, and 400 times the rate in Japan.
If the “more guns the better” type of thinking actually worked, the gun violence carnage in our country would be much lower than it is. The homicide rate (deaths per 100,000) in the United States was 5.30 in 2017, compared to 1.30 in France, 1.20 in the United Kingdom, 1.00 in Germany, and 0.20 in Japan. Violent gun deaths in 2017 (per 100,000 population) were 0.04 in Japan, 0.06 in the United Kingdom, and a whopping 4.43 in the United States.
The conclusion is inescapable: more guns in society beget more violence, which begets more gun deaths.
Why does this country, which many people like to think of as a “world leader”, allow this to occur? How did we allow the arms industry to determine behavior in our society? We are leading the world in being stupid about guns.
I don’t have a clue how that happened. And yet, it happened on my generations’ watch!
When I was young, most people didn’t have guns in the home, certainly no one (except the military) had assault weapons, and firearms were more difficult to obtain. Mass killings by deranged individuals using firearms were unheard of. Back then, police walked a “beat” with a nightstick and a .38 Special, and most cops rarely used those weapons.
Nowadays, the first response of police arriving on scene is to draw their weapon, anticipating trouble. (Who can blame them: there are so many guns out there in the civilian world!) This escalation, due to the possibility of gun violence, is partially to blame for many of the police/minority encounters that go bad quickly.
I blame the glut of weaponry for the spike of violence in our country. The statistics are irrefutable. Disagreements, when guns aren’t present, tend to be resolved by less serious means. Hurt feelings, a few bruises, or a black eye can be overcome; a gunshot wound, maybe not.
If that doofus who attacked the massage parlor had done so with his fists, it is likely that all eight of the victims would have survived. Similarly, if the berserk Boulder shopper had been armed with a club or a knife, it is likely that the damage would have been markedly less.
Other countries haven’t used “thoughts and prayers” to solve this societal problem. They’ve either banned deadly weaponry entirely or made the acquisition and possession of such things difficult, particularly for felons, the mentally ill, and testosterone-charged youth.
One would think that the Greatest Nation on Earth could do better.
Today is March 23rd, my anniversary day. Congrats to me (and Charlie)…it’s been 47 great years together. Salud!
As a nice present to my wife (who gets lost a lot while driving!), I decided to upgrade the Navigation map on our 2017 Jeep Cherokee. I don’t really need the Navigation feature that much, but Charlie would like to cruise around town and up to St. George, Utah every once in a while. Our Navigation system is 3 years old and doesn’t even have our street on it, so there is a big problem when Charlie gets lost and wants to “Go Home” using the Navigation GPS.
Anyway, I tried upgrading the system (Uconnect) about two years ago but gave up in disgust. Chrysler/Jeep couldn’t have made it any harder to accomplish. First, you must upgrade the radio software. That, in itself, is a bear…because the process is cumbersome, even for someone who is fairly proficient with computers and technology. The instructions that I downloaded at that time just didn’t work. I put in a few hours on the task and finally said, “Fuck it!”
I’ve run into others who’ve said the same thing about the Uconnect upgrade process. Our daughter-in-law Misty eventually took her Jeep to a dealer and they performed the magic for her. I tried the same procedure with the Chrysler/Jeep dealer in St. George, Utah (45 miles), but they wouldn’t help. Then, I tried the Sahara Chrysler/Jeep dealer in Las Vegas and the gal in Service (on the phone) said, “Sure, we can do that for you. It will cost $180.” So, I made an appointment about two weeks ago.
Today, I drove to Las Vegas (80 miles) for my appointment. The nice fellow that I met in the Service Department said, “Sorry, Sir, we don’t do that upgrade for you. You need to do it ONLINE.” I about blew a gasket with the guy; murder was on my mind. However, I politely just got back in my car and drove 1-1/2 hours back to my house. No anniversary GPS update for my wonderful wife.
Shit.
So, when I got back home, I went to my computer and again went to the Chrysler Uconnect website that had failed me two years ago. And, again, went through the laborious procedure of downloading an update to my RADIO system (which is required before you update your Navigation maps). It a half-hour to download the files onto a USB device. Then, the instructions said to upload that data into the radio system.
No dice; it didn’t work, just like two years ago. Shit.
Finally, I called the Uconnect customer service desk. WTF, I screamed. The techie then walked me through the procedure…again…and it didn’t work. He then said, “Oh, there’s a step missing in the instructions that most people miss. You need to extract the files from the download before you put them on your USB device for uploading.” Really? “Why wouldn’t the geniuses who wrote the procedural guide have included that gem?!!! I’ll bet you that 99 customers out of 100 wouldn’t have figured that out on their own”, I shouted at him. Then the line went dead.
Shit.
And, so, I spent another hour re-downloading the Uconnect radio software update, extracting the files, putting them on a USB device, and then uploading them to the f’ing Jeep. The thing finally updated my Uconnect radio software…after a 3-hour car ride and another 2-1/2 hours of bullshit on the computer, on the phone, and in my car patiently awaiting the completion of the Uconnect update.
And, all of that horseshit that didn’t update my Navigation maps, which was the original purpose of this damned exercise!!
I now have to wait for Fed Ex to deliver a package from Uconnect which will contain the magical Navigation maps USB upload…if they work! Oh, I almost forgot…this upload cost me $165.
I hope it works.
I’m beginning to wonder if Charlie is really worth all this trouble.
Every year at about this time Charlie comes up with a bunch of money from tax prep work that we find necessary to spend. It’s our way of stimulating the economy.
You’re welcome, America.
This year, Uncle Joe Biden is helping by shipping us some funny money to add to our Spring windfall. And it’s a good thing, because The Beast (our RV) needs some repairs and renovations before we head out to Colorado in May and, later, on our 3-month Summer hiatus to Oregon.
We have the motorhome at National Indoor RV in Las Vegas where they are going over the rig from stem to stern. The main issues are the washer-dryer (replace), the refrigerator (fix), and the Blue-Ox towbar package (replace). Some minor items include interior trim repair, a few hinges here and there, A/C service, and some minor electrical repair.
We’re getting this work done now before inflation really gets going and prices this stuff out of our reach. I read today that the lumber required to build a small house in one market rose from $30,000 to $70,000 within the past six months. That sucks. Diesel fuel cost has increased about 33 percent in the past several months. That suckage hits close to home, seeing as how we are motorhome owners. But, as the saying goes, if you can’t afford the fuel, you can’t afford an RV.
We’ve had our Monaco Windsor for about six years now. It was a 10-year-old when we bought it (it’s a 2005 model), and we’ve put approximately 25,000 miles on it. The underlying chassis is a Freightliner, powered by a 400 h.p. turbo Cummins diesel, which is commercial grade, so the 83,000 total miles on the rig mean that it is a veritable teenager in terms of useful life. As long as we keep everything in good shape, it should last us (and our progeny) for a long time.
I recently walked through a few “on consignment” motorhomes at NIRV in Las Vegas. Of course, the newer rigs have updated technology and a few extra bells and whistles that 2005 vintage motorhomes lack. Still, to get a new 40’ diesel pusher motorhome with four slides, real wood cabinetry, new furnishings, a new refrigerator and new washer-dryer, and all the goodies that we have in our rig, the cost would be somewhere between $150,000 and $300,000. That’s a lot of dough. I think we owe $60,000 on ours, so it is a bargain, at this point.
Last year, because of Covid-19, we hardly traveled. But, normally, we will put 3,000 to 6,000 miles on the rig. This year we have four trips planned already, totaling about 6,000 miles of travel. We could do more, as some neighbors are buying a motorhome this month and might want us to join them in a “shakedown” cruise to somewhere.
Anywhere would be good: the 2020 lockdown sucked.
We can hardly wait to hit the road. It’s time to stimulate our lives…again!
Well-meaning politicians who gain elected office and desire to help their constituency through government action have traditionally had few options: (1) Eliminate an existing program (and its cost) and substitute the new one; or (2) raise taxes to pay for expanded government.
Since all existing government programs have political constituencies (citizens who utilize that program, like Social Security), there is a political cost to eliminating ongoing programs. There are comparable political costs to raising taxes.
“Read my lips…no new taxes!”
So, what is an elected official to do in the face of public demand to…do something about this or that critical issue? It is literally a Catch-22 situation.
The Federal government can borrow money via the selling of bonds (U.S. Treasury certificates) to private investors. This is comparable to consumer credit card debt: buy something now that you can’t afford and pay for it (along with significant interest) later. In the case of the Federal government, money borrowed to “live beyond your means” will be repaid by future generations in the form of reduced services or higher taxes.
Seems like magic …but isn’t
There is no such thing as a free lunch: someone either pays now or later…but the bill must be paid. “I didn’t raise your taxes!”, a politician might claim. What he didn’t tell you is that he raised them on folks who cannot vote against him (your kids and grandkids)!
Profligate government borrowing has been a dishonest means of politicians dodging fiscal responsibilities for decades. The “National Debt” is the sum total of all that borrowing so that elected officials can lamely profess that they held the line on taxes. The National Debt is now $23 trillion, which exceeds the Gross Domestic Product of the United States. Debt service (interest paid toward the National Debt) accounts for approximately 8 percent of the annual Federal Budget.
Unbalanced Federal budgets (expenses exceeding income) have become commonplace throughout the past four decades regardless of which political party controls Congress or the White House. Politicians, Red and Blue, like to spend money, period.
Our Nation has now come to the point that private investors are wary of buying U.S. Treasuries, because the American economy is weakening and the interest rate on these bonds are minuscule. Just about any investment is better than a 10-year bond returning one percent interest.
So, now what do our Federal officials do? They can’t “borrow and spend” like they’re used to. How can they continue to spend, particularly now, when the economy is in the toilet and many people are hurting?
They can print more money, lots of it. This allows the our elected officials to “do something” to ease suffering in the depressed economy. All that money filtering down to needy folks will provide food, shelter, keep creditors at bay for a brief spell, and keep small business doors open just a bit longer.
Hopefully, the economy will turn around before long and normalcy will return. That’s the hope, anyway.
President Biden’s recent $1.9 trillion stimulus bill is the latest finger in the dike, similar to President Trump’s two previous stimulus bills totaling $3.1 trillion that were approved in 2020. That’s a total of $5 trillion in phony money (not a by-product of goods and services) simply printed up at the Mint and released into the economy over a 12-month period.
It is political magic: no taxes raised, and gobs of money shipped off to grateful voters and businessmen.
Again, the reminder that “There’s no such thing as a free lunch”. Someone will pay for this spending spree.
We’ve already begun to notice rising costs for essentials like food, housing and fuel. It’s called “inflation”, and we’d better get used to it. That is one of the costs of too many dollars chasing a finite amount of goods. The cost of living will be going up, possibly way up, in the next few years. This means that the standard of living, for most Americans, will fall.
The stock market has been on the rise for over ten years. This meteoric accomplishment has been accomplished using two kinds of rocket fuel: (1) Extremely low interest rates set by the Federal Reserve (currently a prime rate of zero), encouraging reckless borrowing by corporations and speculators; and (2) The “free” stimulus money shipped to citizens who didn’t really need it, so they invested in equities. Stock prices have, accordingly, risen to levels that are not supported by earnings and dividends: they are artificially high.
An all-time stock market “bubble” situation has developed on Wall Street and…a financial reckoning is coming. It could be a doozy, making the 2008 collapse seem tame in comparison. Many experts predict that it will happen in the next few months.
The worst part of all of this is that the Federal government has now used all the arrows in its economic management quiver. If the economy goes into the shitter, our Washington D.C. leaders won’t be able to borrow money, and more “stimulus” escapades with phony money will exacerbate the inflation problem at exactly the wrong time.
What America needs to worry about over the long haul is the continuing status of the dollar as the world’s “reserve currency”. If our economy is mismanaged, and the Nation goes into decline, the dollar could be replaced by another currency…which would further exacerbate our problems.
China, not America, now commands the world’s strongest economy. In the event of a significant collapse in the American economy, the Chinese renmimbi could replace the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. This would obliterate our Federal government’s ability to borrow, interest rates would go up, and inflation would spike due to higher cost of imports.
