Peregrinating
2015

September

1 September
Butch Cassidy Campground
Salina, UT
no pic

We got a couple of short showers yesterday afternoon that did not seem like much but the official report claims 0.02". That is not much either but I thought it was maybe a Trace. It happened after we finished our walk so we did not get wet. This morning there was even less of a shower and nothing was reported.

I finished this book last night and today I took it to the Park office exchange library and scored an Elizabeth George book. She is also an American writer of mystery novels, in an Agatha Christie style, set in Great Britain. I have enjoyed reading her but do not find her books very often, it was a great trade.

Martha Grimes is an American author and a long-time Anglophile that writes British detective novels. This one is #10 in the Richard Jury Series. I did not check her biography until I had finished the book and was surprised to find that she was American. The book uses a lot of British slang and Brit culture references that to me sounded very British. Someone in England might find it to be clearly written by someone trying to sound like a Brit. She writes a very good mystery that had me guessing right up to the final disclosure. The Weekly does a good job with this review except for Plant saving Abby which is not entirely correct. I need to find more Richard Jury.

leftpic In Inspector Richard Jury's 10th appearance, the rewards of Grimes's skewering eye for characterization more than make up for the few occasions when the complicated plot gets out of hand. Suffering from a melancholy that he worries might presage a full-fledged depression, Jury is on a winter vacation, perversely taken in Yorkshire. At the inn of the title (following The Man with a Load of Mischief , Grimes's mysteries have borne the names of English pubs), he observes a well-dressed, self-contained woman shoot her husband. With no questions of who murdered whom, Jury is dogged by the whys. Officially off the case, he's irretrievably hooked when he learns that the victim's son, and the woman's stepson, is the musical prodigy presumed dead in a famous kidnapping case years before. Jury's pal Melrose Plant, meanwhile, stopping at a bed-and-breakfast near the woman's ancestral home, befriends a little girl named Abby Cable, whose fierce independence conjures up a young Cathy Earnshaw and makes her a standout even in this memorable cast. After Abby's aunt is found dead under the snow, Abby is pursued across the moors, saved by Plant shortly before Jury, after forays into the world of rock concerts, reaches an unpredicted conclusion in another tour de force for Grimes. - Publishers Weekly


I just love stories like this A brisk 25-minute walk every day can add up to SEVEN YEARS to your life and cut risk of dying from a heart attack by half. My only worry is that I am now using up those seven years that have been added and if I had not been walking I would have been dead by now. HA

I also like James Howard Kunstler, some of the time. Say Goodbye to Normal is one of those times. He writes often about this economic contraction meme which may be crying wolf once too often but I do enjoy the verbiage that he uses.

The governors of the Federal Reserve play the role of viziers in this comic melodrama. That is, they are exalted figures robed in magical Brooks Brothers summer poplin pretending to have supernatural power to control events. You can tell from their recent assembly out west — “A-holes at the J-hole” — that they are very much in doubt that their “powers” will continue to be taken seriously. This endless hand-wringing over a measily quarter-point interest rate hike is like some quarrel among alchemists as to whether a quarter-degree rise in temperature might render a lump of clay into a gold nugget.
2 September
Butch Cassidy Campground
Salina, UT
no pic

I don't know where they all came from nor how they got inside but I had a fly invasion in Desperado yesterday. I fought them for 3-4 hours and probably killed a dozen or more. Made of mess all over one window that I'm going to have to break down and wash. None this morning which is good but still wonder how so many got in.

I had downloaded the software for Visual Basic and yesterday was able to follow a tutorial that had me build an application that would open a web page. I could not save it and then open it again however. I then failed 3-4 more time to save a Visual Basic Project, as they are called, before throwing in the towel.

I don't know if this is something that I want to learn or not. What I do need to do is learn enough to see if it is something that I may use and therefore want to learn. Sort of a chicken and the egg conundrum. I devoted a couple more hours to Visual Basic this morning and have decided that it is not for me. I am not making much progress and the one application that I was able to build was a button that when clicked opened the web page for an address that I typed in. It opened my Home Page but it did not render the HTML coding 'correctly' - ie like FireFox or IE.

I then started reading about Bootstrap which is open source versus Visual Basic which is a Microsoft product. From what little I have read so far it will do everything that VB claims it does. I'll uninstall VB today. I can then download Bootstrap software or include coding that uses a Content Delivery Network (CDN), this is like using Google Map API. I will most likely use the CDN which has been very simple although CanvasJS was not that difficult to download and use.

I have been reading blogs that are starting to write about Fall. I can not say that I see any evidence of a season change here but the Saturday and Sunday forecast is for the lows to be below 50° and the high on Sunday to be below 80°. That is as close to Fall as I'm going to get for at least a month. My next camp will be nearly 1,000' lower than here so I'll remain in Summer until October/November.

3 September
Butch Cassidy Campground
Salina, UT
no pic

Yesterday we did our afternoon walk around Blackhawk Arena again. I have been turning Patches off leash when we do that and there are no RV-Horse Trailers there. I could not do that yesterday and it was good that I had her on leash.

There were two free ranging dog that came rushing at her which could have been a problem. Their owners got them under control quickly so there was not. We also went past 3-4 other dogs that were tethered to their trailers with one of them barking at the end it its tether. Maybe off leash again after this weekend.

That walk broke up a day of work building a new Home Page using Bootstrap. I found that software is easy to work with and was able to finish the Page by extending my bed time a little.

A lot of the time was devoted to adding my Google Search Box to the new NavBar. This NavBar is at the top of the page just like you see on almost every web page but since mine was "home grown" I never had one - didn't know how to build one. I never did succeed in getting the Google Search Box up there but I see that most Blogger and WordPress pages don't either.

I have some tweaks that I am going to do today but I may be using it tomorrow as my Home Page. I know that I will also change the Site Map and About Me pages. I don't know if I'll go back a re-do any of my other ones - perhaps the Will Rogers pages and link them on the Site Map as a dropdown in the NavBar?

I had another fly infestation yesterday but not as bad as the day before. It is not just 1 or 2 that may come in when I open the door but lots of them. If it is war they want they have come to the right place, Bring It On!

4 September
Butch Cassidy Campground
Salina, UT
no pic
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: September 4, 1927

Another busy day which started as all of them do with a walk. It was after the walk that our daily routine changed.

As soon as we finished I dumped holding tanks and added fresh water. This is usually done when moving into our space but we did it before leaving today. The time spent doing this chore allowed the restaurant I had selected to open. But first we went to Fresh Market to pick up this week's groceries. Got everything that I wanted, except forgot tomatoes, and saw some fresh dill which was not on the list this week but I got some while it was available. I just hope it has a shelf life of more than a week.

My timing was impeccable. Arrived at R & R Frontier Village for breakfast just minutes after they opened. I ordered their pork hash with poached eggs, hash browns and sourdough toast.

The pork hash was excellent, the hash browns cooked just right and lots of them. The sourdough toast was cut from a small oval loaf so they could have added one more slice and the coffee was only so-so. It was one of the better breakfasts that I have had in a long time - highly recommended.

Then it was off to SmartStyle, located in WalMart, to get my hair cut. I arrived as the doors were being opened but was told there was a 9:00 appointment ahead of me. The woman that had that appointment stepped up and told the 'stylist' to take me first. A VERY generous thing for her to do, so I was out of there by 9:30 and back in my space at the Park by 10:00.

All that waiting wore Patches out. She collapsed on the floor by my chair as soon as I started typing this posting. Taking a long nap.

I may make some more changes but for now I consider my NEW Home Page to be done. If there is something that is very bad compared to what my OLD Home Page looked like please let me know. The About Me page has been re-done with a NavBar and some cosmetic changes in the text formatting. A new Site Map will be ready in a day or so.

Why They Hate Us by Fred Reed is one of the best articles that I have read about why the USofA is hated throughout the world. I have not quoted from it but recommend it.

5 September
Butch Cassidy Campground
Salina, UT
no pic

I am so happy that I found Bootstrap and so pleased with what I have been able to do with it so far. It took me weeks to build my old 3 column and 2 column format pages. I built two three column pages with different column widths and one 4 column page in just two day using Bootstrap. I was also able to add a NavBar, just like the Big Kids have on their blogs, which I never could do before.

Bootstrap has a lot of other features that I'll continue to read about and learn. What this does is it gives me lots of re-do work which keeps my mind occupied. That is what this web site building is all about for me when I really take a hard look at what I am doing. It is a hobby like many others that gives me something to do and keeps my mind active.

The main project now is to get all the Will Rogers page links into dropdown menus on the new Site Map. I finished that this morning so now I start re-doing pages in my Archives with the new format. This will keep be busy for a long time because I need to do some text reformatting also as I proceed.

The Park is almost completely full this weekend. Almost everyone has their ATV toys and I have two nearby neighbors that have three dogs that they allow off leash in the Park. Ignoring multiple signs about leashes required, ignore the keep dogs off the grass signs in the tent area and don't pick up after their dogs. Obnoxious weekenders that would only be worse if they had a pack of screaming children and played loud music until far past Quiet Hours. This Too Shall Pass!

The Bureau of Labor released their non-farm job numbers for August yesterday that showed an increase of 173,000 jobs. I was late in reading what the Ministry had to say yesterday but was just as well. They were spinning the job number and focusing on the Unemployment Rate dropping to 5.1%.

The CES Birth/Death Model added 111,000 or more than half of all the jobs 'created' for the month. The Ministry never includes this bit of information when they report all the jobs 'created' since it would not support the narrative of a strong economy.

If you look at the Household Data the number of Employed increased by 196,000 which is two months of increase although I would not call that a trend yet. The Unemployed went down by 237,000 and the Not in the Labor Force increased by 261,000 which means a lot of the unemployed quit looking for a job.

The Participation Rate continued to be the lowest it has been in 38 years at 62.6%. While the Not in the Labor Force rose to 94,031,000 another new all time record. The Ministry for the most part ignored this new benchmark for Not in the Labor Force.

The average earnings increased by 10¢ to $25.09 an hour while the average workweek remained at 34.6 hours. This was not a good jobs report but the Ministry will hype it. I also think the Federal Reserve can point to the strong increase in hourly wages and the Unemployment Rate as justification for an increase in rates this month. Wall Street will cry like babies and throw a temper tantrum because their puch bowl will be made smaller.

Trump's Image Up Sharply Among Republicans by Google is interesting.

The poll includes the period after the debate, after The Megan brouhaha, after the Jorge Ramos brouhaha and all the other attempts to bring The Donald down. He has increased his Favorable but all the Ministry and the Establishment want to talk about is his Unfavorable which is high at 33%. But what the Ministry and Establishment do not talk about is The Jeb's 39% Unfavorable.

6 September
Butch Cassidy Campground
Salina, UT
no pic

It was cold this morning when we stepped out for our walk. Well maybe not that cold since 48° is not cold but it sure felt that way after it being in the upper 50s and lower 60s. The high today is expected to be 'only' 84° which is better than the 90s that we have been having and are in the forecast again.

I tried sending an email yesterday from my edwardfrey.com account and received an ERROR message overlaid at the top of my composed message saying that it had not been sent because of suspected SPAM.

After far more emails than I thought necessary to Web Hosting Hub, my ISP/Host, using Yahoo Mail because the message was triggering the ERROR, I finally got it fixed. Their first response, which is always their first response, was to read their HELP page about this ERROR.

They also asked for more information. That is always an indication that they know that there is something on their end that is screwed up and while I'm looking for the "more information' they can formulate a reply to my original question. Their answer and fix:

Thanks for the additional information. We have proceeded with the whitelisting of your domain. Your domain was being blocked as a bad url, which it is not and was reading as a false positive. And the bad localhost is an error as well, since you are using the squirrelmail client.
This has come about because Web Hosting Hub installed what they call Outbound Screening in July. This is what they say in part "Outbound screening helps to preserve the reputation of our server's IP addresses. If an email server's IP gets enough spam complaints against it, it will be reported and blacklisted by a blacklisting service. Any email server that subscribes to that service will then block any mails coming in from that IP address."

I would be willing to bet that they were forced into signing up with the "blacklisting service" because of the Federal Communications Commission internet regulations that were approved in late February. I can think of no other reason why Web Hosting Hub would want to voluntarily incur the additional operating expense. I would also bet that there are a limited number of these "blacklisting services" all of them owned by individuals with "political juice".

In the process of moving to my new Home Page style I managed to loose the coding that made StatCount work. Found out that I did that when I checked the report yesterday and there was a big ZERO being reported. Contacted StatCount and they got back to me quickly with very clear instructions on what I needed to do. I am now back to counting views, tracking viewer locations etc.

I have had better luck in redoing the Will Rogers weekly article pages. There are now 19 of them and all have been changed over to the new page style. They were relatively easy to change because there were no text formatting changes to be made nor were there any pictures. The text and pictures in my other Page Archives are going to make the changeover process much more time consuming.

7 September
Butch Cassidy Campground
Salina, UT
no pic

The temperature was 57° for this mornings walk which is much more like what it has been. When I woke up around 5:15 there was a gusty wind shaking Desperado, gusts in the 25 mph range. It calmed down to a more reasonable 10 mph with gust of 15 by the time we went out in it. Another lower 80s, like yesterday is expected for the high today - not bad with a breeze.

The weekenders have started their migration, most of them back to their megalopolis or other urban habitat. The Park should be back to "normal" by late this afternoon. Then there will be a few overnighters come in that are taking Tuesday off as an extension of the Labor Day Holiday weekend.

Staying busy reformatting my web pages. I have been changing the map links in the journal pages from opening in a separate window to pop-ups, changing the map formats, renaming the maps and changed the Map Button. Almost finished with that project.

Made another change in the Bootstrap coding for the Home Page that I think will make it appear the same on small resolution screens (i.e. mobile devices) as it does on laptops and large screens. Have also reformatted a few of the Archived Peregrinating pages with the new look, changes in the blockquotes and pictures.

I'd like to be the secretary of energy in a Donald Trump administration is an article that says exactly what I have been thinking. If she were to become Secretary Department of Energy and did eliminate the department I would then like to see her made Secretary Department of Education with the same mission. How many departments could she close down during The Trump's first term?

In an interview with CNN, Palin was asked if she would consider a cabinet position in a Trump administration.
"I think a lot about the Department of Energy and if I were head of that, I’d get rid of it and I’d let the states start having more control,” she responded. "So if I were in charge of that, it’d be a short term job but it would be really great to have someone who knows energy, and is pro-responsible development, to be in charge."
What if Kim Davis Was Muslim? by Duane Lester is a good article. It brings up a lot of issues that I think will keep Kim Davis, and what the federal government has done to her, in the News off and on for years. There will most likely be multiple law suites.
Regarding Kim Davis, the Christian Democrat county clerk in Kentucky who is now sitting in a jail cell for her refusal to issue a marriage license to gay couples, it’s interesting to consider this issue from a different position.
The issue here is Davis won’t issue a marriage license because she says it would be a violation of her faith.
But what if Kim Davis were Muslim? Would she still be in jail for refusing to do her job?
8 September
Butch Cassidy Campground
Salina, UT
no pic

We had a light shower come down from one black cloud that blew over around noon yesterday. That was also about the time that we started getting a lot of trailers coming in to use the Park dump station.

They were lined up waiting their turn a few times. I saw one pull into a Park space and dump; maybe paid to do so or maybe not. I don't know how close the Park management watches for trailers coming into the Park and not stopping at the office.

The Blackhawk Arena was vacant once again so Patches was off leash. Not doing her full out running like she did when I first got her nor when she first meets up with Coffee Girl. She just trots around smelling everything and then lopes to catch up to me again. She seems to really enjoy these afternoons at the Arena.

I wasted a lot of time this morning trying to add what is called a Drop Down Capital Letter as the very first letter in my daily postings. I could make it work with Firefox but it would not display correctly in Internet Explorer. Or, I could make it work in Internet Explore but not in Firefox. Could not code it so that it would work in both.

The idea behind this was that it would add a touch of bling to my postings. The more practical reason was I could find the beginning of each posting easier when doing edits.

I am moving along with my many edit projects, they are going to keep me busy. I also did some more formatting of next months Will Rogers weekly articles. Made up my 3x5 route cards for the move to my next camp and selected breakfast and gas stops, this will be another two day move.

9 September
Butch Cassidy Campground
Salina, UT
no pic

After failing to add Drop Down Capitals as the first letter in my posting I tried Raised Capitals. That was easy and you see an example in the first letter of this posting today.

It appears the same in Firefox and Internet Explorer, not sure about Chrome. Those are the three browsers that are the most used by people that have viewed my web pages. I have also accomplished the goal of having a tag that the editing "find tool" can find which makes editing so much easier.

I finished the map pop-up edits today. This has been an on again off again project that has lasted for a few weeks. Now I will be concentrating on getting all the Archived journal pages formatted in the new style plus editing some text and pictures.

I had Windows Updates hit me this morning that used up about half of my daily quota. I have more things that I want to do today but will have to throttle back during the next few days to stay under my allowance for the month. Windows is a data usage hog with their Updates.

Boehner Lacks Enough GOP Votes for Re-Election... by Matthew Boyle make the point that Boehner needs votes from Democrats to retain the Speakership.

In the article is shows that Bohner receives a 35% Liberty Score which is 1% above the highest score that any Democrat receives. He ranks above only 7 other Republican Representatives. Why would those that rank above him vote for him again? Note: The Conservative Review® Liberty Score® grades members of Congress using long-term voting records measured against conservative ideology.

What is not brought out in the article is the fact that Bohner stands second in line for the Presidency. The Speaker is second in the United States presidential line of succession, after the Vice President and ahead of the President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate. The only president that was ever Speaker of the House was James K. Polk. He did not gain the presidency through succession however, he was elected.

A common misconception is that President Gerald Ford was once the Speaker of House. He was not he was once the House Minority Leader. He became Vice President upon the resignation of Spiro Agnew and for the first time the vice-presidential vacancy provision of the 25th Amendment was implemented. He became Vice President through a vote of the Senate and then became President when Nixon resigned. That made him the only president of these United States that was not elected to the office by popular vote.

10 September
Butch Cassidy Campground
Salina, UT
no pic

I woke up around 4:00 am and told Patches that it was too early to get up so she went back to sleep as did I. She then let me sleep almost 30 minutes past our usual getting up time. That would not have made any difference on most days but today was shopping day so we did only a longer potty walk and will count this as a rest day.

Before going to town I dumped holding tanks but did not take on fresh water, I did that when we returned. That had us arriving at Mom's Café right at their opening time. Today I had their Polish Sausage and Eggs, something that I have not had in a long time but their choices are limited. It was a good change for a breakfast but not one that I want often. That is probably why I have not had it in a long time.

I then arrived at Barrett's Foodtown just as they were opening the doors on the other side of the store. I had to wait for those that I was trying to enter to be opened. It was 5 minutes after their posted hours of operation, by my watch, but small town businesses operate on flex time so this was not too bad.

The shelves were rather bare. There was some stocking going on but I would not recommend Thursday as a day to shop at Barrett's. I got almost everything I wanted or a substitute so was not disappointed.

I took this book to the Park library and was surprised that I had a choice. The last time I traded the pickings were slim. All those folks that were here during the Labor Day Weekend left me some books. Two of them were by a known author that I have enjoyed, the third by co-authors unknown to me. I selected door #3 based on volume and I think I'll finish the book I'm now reading and maybe get one of the books by the known author.

leftpic This was the first book by Riordan that I have read, the second in his Tres Navarre Series. One of the other reviewers said "Rick Riordan is so descriptive, I feel like I am in San Antonio or Austin." I had that same impression. He included street and road descriptions that even exceed what I include about routes in my postings. I like Tres and the review that I have included below is a very good description of what can be expected. I solved the mystery in the story before it was revealed but that is not all bad, I'll look for more of his books.

I'm a sucker for a certain kind of medium-hard-boiled detective. This is the second book in a series about a tai-chi master / unlicensed private eye named Tres Navarre. I picked up the first book, Big Red Tequila, at a church sale near my cottage a couple of summers ago and really enjoyed it, so I thought I'd check out the rest of the series. These are easy-reading, pulpy books, but they're enjoyable and the plots hold together. Definitely best saved for "holiday reading", but also definitely fun. - Reader Review goodreads

This is not a major News item but you may find it of interest. I subscribed to the National Geographic magazine for years until advertisements were added and the focus changed from magazine to TV.

The National Geographic magazine had been a nonprofit publication since inception in 1888, but that end on 9 September 2015. The publication, and TV channel , becomes for-profit with a $725 million dollar deal with 21st Century Fox, the company controlled by the family of Rupert Murdoch.


11 September
Butch Cassidy Campground
Salina, UT
no pic
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: September 11, 1927

Since I finished the map pop-up edits a couple days ago I have been wondering what those old Road Trip pages would look like with the new format. Devoted a LOT of time to re-doing one of the shorter trips with not too many pictures.

If there is only one picture I was able redo it rather easily. It was not much different than what I have been doing with the book covers in my recent postings. However, when I came to a day that had multiple pictures it became a learning opportunity. I have now learned many ways that 4 pictures can NOT be lined up vertically with text in a column on their right.

Most of my failures were trying to get the pictures and text side by side using what I knew about HTML from the past. When I started thinking about how to do it using Bootstrap the solution came about reasonable quickly.

I solution that I found is using thumbnail pictures that can be clicked to see them in their full size and the text is in a column to their right. There is the a problem with how Firefox and Internet Explore show the same coding as there was with Drop Down Capital letters. There is not too much of a difference in the larger resolution screens but in smaller resolutions Firefox has the much better look.

I was back at it again this morning re-doing a Road Trip with a lot more pictures. But now that I have a much better grasp on what needs to be done and how to do it the job is going much easier.

To break up the re-do work I am switching back and forth with house cleaning. Then stop for a few minutes to drink my morning coffee so I have the motivation to get on with my two projects for today.

12 September
Butch Cassidy Campground
Salina, UT
no pic

Patches is a smart dog although Pit Bulls/American Staffordshires are not known to be very intelligent breeds. Based on "expert" assessments of working and obedience intelligence Patches would rank 34 out of 79 breeds; ahead of Irish Setters but not as smart as Border Terriers.

She did display how smart she was yesterday however. We were walking in the hills to the southeast of the Arena. She was lagging behind me doing her sniffing thing then loping to catch up. I was a couple hundred yards ahead of her and out of sight over a couple hills. She cut across the hills, not following the road that I walked, and joined me on the road within 25 yards.

Yesterday I built the two route maps that follow my 3x5 card routing. I may have to change the breakfast stops but that is easier to do than to build the entire routes from scratch on the day that I drive the routes.

Today I washed windows. The cab side windows that Patches has slobbered on to the point that it is like looking through the bottom of a Coca-Cola glass bottle. Then the window beside my chair where I have swatted flys and left splatters all over it. That almost completes my household chores until tomorrow after 'linner' when I wipe down the stove and counter tops.

There have been three tents set up in the grassy area to the left of me during the week, gone for the weekend then back again. I saw one of the 4 guys that have been living in them yesterday and asked if they were working in the area.

He said they were building West One, a new 192-bed housing unit at the Central Utah Correctional Facility in Gunnison. He also told me that they are from the Navajo reservation and drive 6 hours each way to spend the weekend at home. There may not be a lot of jobs available but there are 4 Navajo that are proving what it takes to find one - they could be sitting on their asses on the reservation like many others. I have a lot of respect for these four!

I thought more about the way the Bootstrap thumbnail pictures looked last night and decided that I did not want to live with them. Today I scaled the pictures to a larger size than what Firefox or Internet Explorer does the thumbnails. I also added code for responsive images which automatically adjusts to fit the size of the screen.

It now looks 'good enough' in both browsers in the screen resolutions that most of my viewers are using. It does not look as good in smaller screens but this is the best that I can do at my current knowledge level.

13 September
Butch Cassidy Campground
Salina, UT
no pic

I chopped up that fresh dill that I bought over a week ago and added it to some sour cream. It stayed fresh for all that time and looked like it would have kept for another week. It is so much better than the dry dill that I have to use when I can not find fresh.

Once again I have changed how I'm going to show pictures on my web pages using Bootstrap. There may be a way but I have not found it yet where they will look good in Internet Explorer and Firefox in all resolutions.

If I have 3-4 pictures in a column with text to the right in a second column the text rarely matches the same height as the pictures. This requires a lot of spacing to look 'good' in IE but does not look as good in Firefox.

So, I have now decided that I will show all multiple pictures in rows. The text spacing is much easier to deal with, it looks equally good in IE and Firefox with the pictures stacking in the smaller screen sizes. That is what it will be until I change again! HA

You can see what I am talking about by clicking HERE. This page will show examples of how I am treating 1,2,3 and 4 pictures. There will probably come a time that I have more than four but I'll solve that problem when I get to it.

I finished the Will Rogers formatting for the next month. Now I'll be focusing on the re-do of pages in the new Bootstrap style. I'm continuing to learn more as I go along so will probably be taking two steps forward and one back as I did with how to code for pictures. But, it will be a day or two before that happens because tomorrow I'll be - On The Road Again.

14 September
Silver Sky Lodge RV
Eureka, NV
no pic

Yesterday I was able to get one more Road Trip converted to the new Bootstrap style. I also discovered a way to code that keeps some of the smaller resolution screens from stacking. The lowest resolution that I can test on my computer is 1024X768 which stacked Firefox before changing the coding, now it does not. Internet Explorer did not stack at the lower resolution before or after.

The day started well with our usual walk and we were on the road around 6:30. When the sun came up was when we started having some problems because the wind came up also. Not bad enough for me to call it a day but I fought it most of the 298 miles that I drove. That is longer than I like but I would rather do the longer day today than shorten it and then have a VERY long day tomorrow.

The route today: US89/US50, US50, W. Center St (Scipio)/Frontage Rd, US50. no pic

I have been a Shunpiker for many years now so always seek to avoid the Interstates. Today I took the frontage road from Scipio to the US50 exit as part of my route to avoid I-15. I had no problems doing so today, I have in the past, but do not recommend it for those that have a Jeep 2015 Grand Cherokee High Altitude or a Range Rover.

You will get dust on your off-road vehicle and the wheel rims are going to be filthy. The frontage road is narrow with no center strip, sometimes rough pavement and sometimes not paved at all. There looks to be a lot of possible boondocking sites but it also looks like an ATV playground during the weekends.

Stopped in Delta, UT for gas and then had breakfast at the Rancher Café. I ate there a couple of times during the month that I stayed in Delta and knew that it was not a number one restaurant on my scale but it is as good as any in the town. Ordered a mushroom omelet and was told that they did not have any mushrooms (I vaguely remember that happened before) so I got what they called a Spanish Omelet. It was not bad but nothing to recommend it.

Then stopped for gas again in Ely, NV. I never want to leave Ely going west with much less than a full tank and I got poor gas milage from Delta because of the wind. I try and avoid getting gas in Eureka or Austin along US50 because their prices are always much higher. Today the last Gas Buddy report has them only 3¢ higher than I paid in Ely - over $3.00 in all three towns.

That is all for today. I need some rest and Patches needs to go for a walk; we have a conflict of interests. I'll go walk.

15 September
Greenfield RV Park
Yerington, NV
no pic

During our walk yesterday afternoon I checked on breakfast for this morning with the restaurant I had selected and found that they would be closed. They did tell me that the Pony Express Deli was open at 6:00.

That is where I ate this morning. They offer a Large or Small Burrito with chorizo. I ordered the Large, of course, and had them not wrap the filling. It was a good serving for a Large so I think most people would be happy with the Small. The only place in town for an early breakfast and they do it well although the menu is somewhat limited.

We did our morning walk under thick clouds after it rained off and on during most of the night. When I came out from the Deli it was into a rain that I'm sure glad we were not caught in while walking. Drove for about 30 miles before getting out of it and then drove through 2-3 more showers before Middlegate, NV.

The route today was 241 miles on US50, US95 & US95 Alt.no pic

We stopped for a potty break not far west of Middlegate when I saw towers on top of Fairview Peak. It was time for a break but I also wanted to correct a couple oversights to my posting of yesterday that I remembered as I was driving this morning. I didn't change the location and the flag nor add an anchor for the "Journal" link in the 2015 Map InfoWindow to find. Fixed them with a good Verizon signal out in the middle of nowhere.

Yesterday I got involved in coding a Bootstrap button and then have it link when clicked - my mind was else where. In that process I found that I had another coding problem. I have three columns but when I put something in the third, the right side, column it appears stacked under the second column (the main body of text). I need to fix that before I move on to doing more Bootstrap conversions. Bummer - I thought I had a working three column page like I had before.

My space here in this Park is as different as day and night when compared to Salina. I'll have more to say and maybe breakdown and take some pictures of this Park.

16 September
Greenfield RV Park
Yerington, NV
no pic

It took me much of the afternoon and nearly up to my bed time but I solved my three column problem. It was my own stupidity that caused the problem and I then made it worse before finally fixing it. Today is an example of how it will appear - until I change it.

Our afternoon walk was through "downtown" to the Pioneer Crossing Casino. I wanted to find out if my old boss made scheduled visits or just came into town when ever. He arrives when ever. I sent him an email trying to set up a meet while I am here. Got an email reply from my former boss this morning. We will meet next week when he comes to Yerington.

I had my choice for what space I wanted. So I walked the Park and took one that is fully shaded for most of the day by tall trees that will most likely start loosing leaves by the time I move on. The main feature that I liked about the space was no neighbors on either side. Alas, that went away late in the afternoon when I got a neighbor on my west side.

Used up the last of my Arbuckles Coffee a few days before I left Salina. I'll be ordering some more today with delivery by next week. Have been drinking Black Silk and it is pretty good for "store bought" coffee but it is not Arbuckles.

The weather that is expected here for the next couple of days is perfect with the high temperatures in the low to mid 70s. It will then warm up to maybe 90° by Sunday then back down into the lower 80s for the remainder of the 10 Day forecast. The shade trees and a breeze make it so much nicer than the hot days we had last month.

17 September
Greenfield RV Park
Yerington, NV
no pic

I got another Road Trip and a Peregrinating page converted yesterday. I'm getting faster at doing the same changes but the Peregrinating page had a lot of characters that were not rendered correctly by my IE or Firefox browsers.

They were all in text that I have copied from articles on the web. I have had this problem before but thought I had fixed them before posting to the Archives - apparently not.

During our afternoon walk I stopped at the county/city library and inquired about trading books. I was told that I could help myself to any that were available from the read-n-return rack. I'll probably stop and trade a couple at a time while I'm here since the Park does not have an exchange library.

The Park grounds are great but no exchange library is a mark against it. An even worse mark is the condition of the restroom. They are kept locked and I was issued a key which is the Park management's idea of keeping them clean. They are not terrible but they could be better maintained and it is past time that they be given a refurbishing.

Our morning walk was an out and back through 'downtown' to Bridge St and return. This, or some modification of it, will probably be our usual morning route while we are here. Not a good route in the afternoon but very nice in the morning. Our afternoon walks will most likely be more varied.

When we got back to Desperado this morning I unplugged electric and drove less than a mile to breakfast at Dini's Lucky Club. This and the Pioneer Crossing Casino are the two restaurants in town that will get my trade. At Dini's I had their Caliente Scramble which includes sausage, jalanéno, tomato and eggs of course. A good size serving with decent home fries and fairly good coffee.

After breakfast I had to drive the less than a mile back to the Park with a stop at Scolari's market along the way. I think this is the first time I have been in a Scolari's since I left Reno at the end of 2009. I have been back in northern Nevada where their stores are located but never stopped in one - never shopped much at any while in Reno either.

The store here in Yerington is a big store for a small town. But, they stock their shelves much like all the small town stores that I frequent. Some of the things on my list they just do not carry. They did have fresh dill however which surprised me. No canned sardines without the skin and bones but they did have canned Red Sockeye Salmon which was another surprise. No dark 86% chocolate bars but they did have Greek God Honey Vanilla yogurt so I did well.

After reading my Daily Blogs and skimming through the News I spent most of the morning working on the 'right column' project. I was stuck on how to do what I wanted to do there and have been searching all over the Web for an answer.

I finally hit upon the correct search terms an found some solutions. As has been the case in the past many of the solutions offered are way over my current knowledge level. I think I now do have one that I understand so progress is being made.

18 September
Greenfield RV Park
Yerington, NV
no pic
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: September 18, 1927

On 13 September I wrote 'I'm continuing to learn more as I go along so will probably be taking two steps forward and one back as I did with how to code for pictures'. Well the solution to the three column problem showed that I had a problem with how I coded the pictures. I'm now stepping back and recoding all the three picture groups.

You see evidence of the progress that I have made in the Home Page of today. The NavBar has change color and is now fixed to the top of the page to remain visible as you scroll down. There has been a dividing line added, at the suggestion of my editor, between the Header and the body of text. The Work Zone in the right sidebar has been established.

But, more progress must now be put on hold. I'll be going back and fixing some of the pages that were done before. I think in the last couple of days I have taken three steps forward and today is one step back.

Yesterday morning the Pioneer Crossing Casino time and temperature showed that it was 39° when we went past. This morning it was 34° and felt it - I was cold. Thinking about gloves, wool cap and my wool shirt jacket. The Weather Underground station that I am using to check the weather claims the low yesterday was 44 and this morning was 39.

Just to see what I left I checked the Salina low temperatures for the past two days and found that it was 11° warmer there this morning. The two towns are at almost the same latitude with Salina at a higher elevation. There is something not right about this.

I have two quotes that have made my day:

Greece is collapsing, the Iranians are getting aggressive, and Rome is in disarray. Welcome back to 430 BC. - John Cleese

Look, on Russia, across the world, dictators walk all over this president. He treats our friends like dirt. He lets our enemies walk all over us. The only group he’s able to out-negotiate are the Senate Republicans. - Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal

19 September
Greenfield RV Park
Yerington, NV
no pic

I got all the Peregrinating, Will Rogers, Road Trip, About Me and Site Map pages that I had previously converted fixed. I also found that the fixed NavBar caused a problem with how a page looked when a link found its anchor on the page. That was a much easier fix with just a few lines of code in the CSS sheet which fixed the problem for anchors - all hundreds of them.

It was the time to continue the conversions. I finished all the Road Trips, except Northern Mexico which is a special case, as well as the Reno Journal pages that they link to.

This morning I started working on the Northern Mexico Road Trip which is not a stand alone page as were the others. This was the beginning of the Peregrinating Graybeard blog style so it is included in the Peregrinating page archives.

You will also notice that I have made some more styling changes to the Home Page. I think this will now be the layout - until I change it some more. I am still trying to find a way to change the column sizes using CSS to change them all at one time rather than going back and editing every page. If I ever discover that trick I will then have more flexibility in changing the layout.

The other thing that I did this morning was to down load OpenOffice. Microsoft's WordPad has always been a PIA for me but I finally had enough today so I bought the bullet of learning some more new software. It was relatively painless to switch over to OpenOffice Writer from WordPad and I also got a spreadsheet that I can use rather than Google's cloud. More stuff to learn!

President Obama is so concerned with his legacy that he appears to have overlooked this. He can say that there has been a recovery but the facts are getting in the way. His Ministry of Propaganda can spin the facts now but a legacy is written over much time after all is said a done. The done part is usually what makes for the legacy.

Obama's Legacy: America Plummets to 16th in New Global Economic Freedom Ranking by Timothy H. Lee explains the Obama economic "recovery".

"The authors of the report, James Gwartney, Robert Lawson, and Joshual Hall, provide an overview of the report and discuss why economic freedom is important. They also analyze the decline of economic freedom in the United States and its potential consequences. They note that the 7.73 U.S. chainlinked score in 2013 was more than 0.9 units lower than the 2000 rating. This decline in economic freedom is more than three times greater than the average decline in the OECD. It could cut the U.S. historic growth rate of 3% by half. The decline in U.S. scores has been concentrated in Area 4: Freedom to Trade Internationally, Area 5: Regulation, and Area 2: Legal System and Protection of Property Rights, where there has been a particularly large and alarming decline."
Whereas the U.S. ranked second worldwide in 2000, and still sixth in 2005, today we've fallen to 16th, behind Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, Mauritius, Jordan, Ireland, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Georgia, Chile, Qatar and Taiwan. It is therefore no mystery why under Barack Obama we have endured the worst cyclical "recovery" in our recorded history.
20 September
Greenfield RV Park
Yerington, NV
no pic

I made a change to the NavBar yesterday that satisfied me. I changed from the Bootstrap "default" to the "inverse" which is dark background and gray/silver text then changed the background to match the sidebars. The more I looked at it the less I liked it so I started looking at custom Navbars this morning.

I tried 2-3 that did not work. Then found one that required relatively little CSS coding and I understood it. I was able to change the colors from what was in the copied code to what I now have - which I like much better. There is only one small problem, I have pages that are coded navbar-inverse that need to be changed back to navbar-default. It is a small price to pay if it make me happy! HA

The move to OpenOffice Writer has been an easy transition. I like it better already than I ever did WordPad. I'll try and get one or two of my spreadsheet moved later today or tomorrow and see how that goes.

leftpic This is the first book that I have read by Karin Slaughter but #5 in The Grant County Series. The customer review that I have copied expresses my feelings about the book fairly well. The mystery was not that mysterious since I detected the perp early on but I did enjoy reading how they were discovered by Karin. I don't expect the endings of books I read will all be filled with “rainbows and kittens” but I don't like the authors to end their stories with a “trailer” for their next book. That will not keep me from picking up another of her books if I find one.

The 5th book in Slaughter's Grant County series and I can say that I enjoyed this one quite a bit. Probably because this story isn't filled with wasted page upon page of the main characters, Sara and Jeffrey, bickering unnecessarily about how screwed up their relationship is (although the beginning does have a medical scare that Jeffrey brings up having to do with the affair he had 5 years previously, causing me to say "here we go again", but it turns out to be a minor part of the story). Instead, we are treated to a pretty well thought out mystery involving girls buried alive, religious cults, and spousal abuse. Oh, and if you like your endings to books filled with rainbows and kittens, don't read this one. Things never seem to end happily in Grant County, but now I have to go and read #6 in the series and I have a bad feeling about that one.

21 September
Greenfield RV Park
Yerington, NV
no pic

I had an unproductive afternoon that even continued past my bed time yesterday. I was trying to change the color of the button and text that says “GO!” in my Work Zone. Tried again this morning and finally hit upon the solution. It was then almost a 'slam dunk', piece of cake' or a 'walk in the park' to change the button for the Google Search and ShoutBox “SAY” buttons.

This is just 'styling', showing off, and adds no functionality to the web page. But, it is very satisfying to have an idea and then be able to write the coding that brings the idea to life, so to speak. I think the buttons now look much better than they did when they were gray with black font on the maroon background.

I'll now go back to converting archived pages to the Bootstrap style. That process is not very time consuming, it is the reformatting of text and pictures that is taking up most of the time. I am reasonably sure I'll convert all the pages but not so sure about the reformatting.

rightpic I wanted a picture of this school house that I have been walking past but there are now trees and banners that make a good picture impossible. It is a grand old building and I'm glad that it has been saved and re-purposed. I am also glad that I could find a good picture of it on the Web. - Photo by Dan Newell

The Jeanne Dini Center is the pride of the valley and a gathering place for all. Built in 1912, Yerington Grammar School No. 9 served as an active school until 1978. In 1980 the Landmark school house was rehabilitated into a community cultural arts center. The Center houses a 150 seat performing arts theater, two exhibition Galleries, meeting space, an outdoor garden courtyard, and a Cafe.

Janet Yellen — The Villain by Monty Pelerin is an article that says almost the same thing James Howard Kunstler said in Fed Cred Dead today. The question now is “If the Fed can not 'control' the economy then what is going to happen?”

Ms. Yellen’s ability to remedy the economic situation has been destroyed. More importantly, the myth of the Fed has been destroyed. Whatever credibility was created by the magic and illusions of her predecessors Ben Bernanke and Alan Greenspan has been destroyed. The image of the Fed as the omniscient and omnipotent manager of the economy has been destroyed.
22 September
Greenfield RV Park
Yerington, NV
no pic

I had a problem yesterday with 'special characters' i.e. quote characters that I typed in Writer not being read correctly by either Web Hosting Hub, my browsers or both. Spent some time in the afternoon and think(?) I have fixed the problem. This would happen to me with WordPad when I copied text from web sites and I could never automatically correct it. Maybe I can now, Writer has so many more features and capability.

I also devoted more time than I should have getting my Contact line moved to the NavBar. I had it there at one time when I first created a default Navbar but last night I could not do it again. I knew I had a syntax error but just could not find it for the longest time.

Then when I disabled the link the color when to gray so I had to find where in the CSS coding I needed to change the color. That went reasonably well. A week ago I would not have had a clue.

I made some progress in the Work Zone also. I'll be adding to that drop down menu as I complete each year. The 4 months on the bottom of the selections are there because those months include my last Teardrop Road Trip and the beginning of The Peregrinating Graybeard. They have been converted to the Bootstrap style and the text and pictures re-formatted as have all the other Road Trips.

A different schedule for me today. I stopped at Bakery Gallery for a latte and apple fritter while on our walk this morning. Not something that I have done since Taos but there I only had the latte this morning I didn't plan on having my usual breakfast.

Devoted a couple hours to doing some more web site building or research. Then got ready to go shopping again. But before leaving I pulled forward and dumped holding tanks and fill up with fresh water. If I were to park where the sewer hose would reach I would need a few leveling blocks under the front wheels. It is just as well that I do not want to stay hooked up all the time.

Then went to Scolari's to do my weekly shopping a day or two early. The reason for that was I had a meeting with my former boss at Baldini's now an officer in the Pioneer Crossing Casino. Yerington is the location of one of three casinos that the company owns.

The last time I saw him they were in the process of buying this property which he described as being a challenge since they have owned it. The most pressing current issue being what they are going to do about ObamaCare and continue to stay in business. We had a late breakfast and some good conversation. He then had to go back to work and I had to get back to the Park and type up this posting for the day.

23 September
Greenfield RV Park
Yerington, NV
no pic

Breakfast got delayed again today but I did have my usual one. It was put off from my normal schedule because I was doing laundry. I could have done the laundry later but I like to get it done the first thing in the morning.

The coin laundry for the Park is a regular commercial laundromat in a strip mall facing the street with the RV Park behind it and part of the Park property. Lots of washers and dryers but almost all the washers are large load machines and cost $3.00. There was only one single load machine, of the two available, that worked and cost $1.50. The dryers did a great job in 27 minutes. Maybe the best RV Park laundry that I have ever used because it is not your typical RV Park laundry.

A lot of the time that I spent yesterday morning was trying to put a Search Box in the NavBar. I was able to get the Google Site Search in the NavBar but could not make it "look" like something I wanted up there. I was back at it this morning and now have something that I think looks good and provides the same function that it always did. I like it!

This afternoon I need to do some work on the next month's Will Rogers weekly article links. I'll also convert at lest one more page in the archives to the Bootstrap style and change text/pictures. I have plenty to keep me busy now that I have started this make-work project.

“It ain’t over till it’s over.” - Yogi Berra

It's over! Yogi Berra, Yankees Hall of Fame Catcher With a One-of-a-Kind Wit, Dies at 90

24 September
Greenfield RV Park
Yerington, NV
no pic

I have Windows Updates set to automatically download and install. This is a good thing because Windows Defender, their anti-virus protection, does so almost every day. This is also a bad thing because yesterday they hit me with about a two day quota of bytes as a download.

Fortunately I have been under quote during all of this billing cycle and could handle it but it is this kind of thing that can put me over my usage limit. I could change the setting from automatic as I near the end of my billing cycle then change it back but that is a hassle to remember to do. Just another Internet trial.

I did get some of the Will Rogers weekly article link work done before my usage went off the chart. Did not do anything about web page conversions, maybe today. I finished the weekly article links this morning so that job is done for another month.

Yerington is now in the onion and garlic harvest. There are big SPUDNIK self unloading Bulk Bed trucks that are bringing the onions in from the fields. Then after the onions have been sorted by size they are put in square plastic perforated boxes and twin flat bed trailers have been transporting them to a storage building behind Scolari's. This is just one of the many storage buildings.

They grow white, yellow and red onions as well as the Sweetie Sweet, a variety of sweet onion grown here in the Mason Valley.

We walked past a field yesterday afternoon that looks like it will be harvested soon. I hope I can see them do it. This field will have the onions put in jute bags that will then sit in the field to cure. Why some are processed this way and others are boxed for storage I don't know.

I'm late in doing this posting today. Got involved doing archive page conversions and some web browsing research. Then when I got a notice that I had reached my daily byte usage quota I shut the computer down and went to the couch with Patches and my latest book.

It wasn't until we were doing our afternoon walk that my mind click back on and I remembered that I had not posted. I'll be a little over my self imposed daily usage quota but nothing too serious - nothing like yesterday.

25 September
Greenfield RV Park
Yerington, NV
no pic
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: September 25, 1927

I spent a lot of time this morning trying to tweak the dropdown menus on my NavBar. Finally after much trial and lots of error I discovered that my CSS coding for lists was causing the text to not align as I wanted. Removed that coding and got the look that I was looking for. I was also able to answer a question on the Bootstrap Forum - maybe.

Did some archive page conversions, read my book while on the couch with Patches and walked with her. That is my day. When I write it down it seems to be a big "nothing" but as I live it - it seems "something".

Great News! Speaker John A. Boehner, under intense pressure from conservatives in his party, will resign one of the most powerful positions in government and give up his House seat at the end of October. The not so great News is that he will not be gone until the end of October. He can still do a lot of damage in a month. I imagine he has received his marching orders.

I sent him an email just last week asking him to do the "right thing" and resign. I doubt that it was my email that was the deciding factor but he has done the right thing. Now if Senators McCain and McConnell would also take my advice! HA

26 September
Greenfield RV Park
Yerington, NV
no pic

For the past couple of days I have been trying to get a drop down menu for the Work Zone that matches what I have in the NavBar. I can do it in a separate page with CSS but when that coding is added to the page with a NavBar, and all it's CSS, it reverts back to the default style. I'll beat it into submission but it is taking a lot of trials and a lot of errors.

I'm not doing much of anything else. Enjoying the very nice weather. The afternoon highs are a bit hotter than I want but the morning have been perfect - in the upper 40s. The forecast is for more of the same during the next 10 days. A few partly cloudy days is a bad as it gets. I'm sure the onion harvesters are thankful for this great weather. They are certainly hard at it, the trucks were coming in from the field this morning at 6:00 am.

Had police/ambulance in the mobile home portion of the Park last night around 11:00. I'm guessing it was ambulance. I think the majority of the mobile homes are retirees so that is not uncommon. I saw a lot of that at the SKP Park in Pahrump. They fly the SKP flag at half mast a lot also.

27 September
Greenfield RV Park
Yerington, NV
no pic

I now have custom drop downs on the NavBar. I have also built a custom button with a drop down on a separate page. Everything works fine on the individual pages. When I put the custom button CSS and the HTML code for the custom button on the NavBar page it works but reverts to the default 'look', as if there has been no custom CSS added.

That is where I stood before we went for our walk yesterday afternoon. When we got back I attacked the problem one more time and wrestled it to submission.

The first thing that I have come to understand is there are changes that you can make to the NavBar that standing alone will work fine and the same goes for a Button Drop Down Menu. However, you can not just put those changes on the same pages - they do not play well together.

What I did was take away all the NavBar CSS coding and then put it back one piece at a time until I got both the NavBar and the Button drop downs to work. I also had a piece of CSS from pre-Bootstrap times that caused a problem which I got rid of. I now have it up and working in test and have learned a LOT about modifying Bootstrap CSS. Certainly not an expert but I know a hell of a lot more than I did a week ago.

But I don't know enough! This morning I put that same HTML coding into a copy of my Site Map page and the drop down menu didn't drop down. I then tried it on the About Me page and it worked. So threw away the first Site Map copy and tried it again and was back in business; I had made some changes before adding the coding the first time and messed something up.

But that was not what I wanted to do anyway. I wanted multiple buttons each with their own drop down menu. That required more schooling. I have a good start now on what I want to do with the Site Map. I'll work on it as a break from doing the Bootstrap page conversions/text/picture editing.

The only other thing of any importance, for me if no one else, that I have done is to make up some potato and Sockeye Salmon patties. I rarely find any canned Sockeye so I'll make a point of picking up a few extra cans from Scolari's while I am here and it is available.

It is a lot more expensive than the sardines that I also use but I prefer them with no skin-no bones which is also not easy to find in the small stores where I shop. Scolari's does not have any and the store here is a good size for a small town.

28 September
Greenfield RV Park
Yerington, NV
no pic

I did some more work on the Bootstrap conversions yesterday and this morning which will be ongoing for some time. The Work Zone on the Home Page has been completed (for now) with the Select Month button dropping down to show links to the past 12 months of Peregrinating Pages.

The Site Map that contains ALL archived pages is undergoing a remodel and notices have been placed on the Home Page as well as the Site Map Page. This remodel will progress along with the Bootstrap conversions. In this way I, or you, can tell which pages have been converted and which are still using the old format. It is also an interesting idea to play with - it does not take much to entertain this old geezer! HA

Nick Turse, A Secret War in 135 Countries" is an article that reports News that the Ministry of Propaganda will not. It includes too much that reflects badly on President Obama so they will ignore it. They glorify Seal Team 6 but they don't tell the "rest of the story".

This is something that Obama can look back on fondly as one of his accomplishments and a part of his legacy. The Ministry writes often about the hatred that the United States has incurred around the world because of 'cowboy' President Bush. He was a piker compared to Obama!

In the waning days of the Bush administration, Special Operations forces (SOF) were reportedly deployed in only about 60 nations around the world. By 2010, according to the Washington Post, that number had swelled to 75. Three years later, it had jumped to 134 nations, “slipping” to 133 last year, before reaching a new record of 135 this summer...The average number of Special Operations forces deployed overseas has nearly tripled during these same years, while SOCOM more than doubled its personnel from about 33,000 in 2001 to nearly 70,000 now.
This is from President Obama’s speech to the U.N. General Assembly on 27 September 2015; my underline.
…we continue to press for this crisis to be resolved in a way that allows a sovereign and democratic Ukraine to determine its future and control its territory. Not because we want to isolate Russia — we don’t — but because we want a strong Russia that’s invested in working with us to strengthen the international system as a whole...
And this is from his State of the Union Address on 20 January 2015, my underline
Last year, as we were doing the hard work of imposing sanctions along with our allies, as we were reinforcing our presence with frontline states, Mr. Putin’s aggression it was suggested was a masterful display of strategy and strength. That's what I heard from some folks. Well, today, it is America that stands strong and united with our allies, while Russia is isolated with its economy in tatters.
So which is it? Does President Obama want Russia isolated or does he not? Is he just pandering to his audience or do his actions reflect what he wants. He declares a Sanctions War on Russia and at the same time removes them from Cuba and Iran. I would say his actions speak louder than his words which few listen to anymore.

29 September
Greenfield RV Park
Yerington, NV
no pic

Yesterday afternoon before we went for our walk I finished the book that I have been reading. When we got back I selected the next book from my library and started to read it and was only 3-4 pages into it when I knew that I had read it before. Used my handy Site Search and found that I had read it in March 2014.

I think I'll take it and the other two that I have read with me this afternoon when I walk past the Lyon County library. If I can not make a good trade for it I may read it again. I did that with one other book by Larry Bond and enjoyed it the second time.

It was very surprising then that the next book in my library was also one that I have read. I do not find that I wrote about it but after reading a few pages I remembered reading it before. It must have been long enough ago that I'll still enjoy reading it again - maybe. I don't remember everything but recognize the story line as I read.

leftpic This was the fourth John Sandford book that I have read in his Prey Series. There have been Eyes of Prey #3 reviewed on 5 November 2014, Chosen Prey #12 - 5 December 2014 and Sudden Prey #8 - 20 December 2014. All of them have Lucas Davenport as the main character and I like him a lot. In his previous books you know who the bad guy/girl is early on in the story which you do in this one also but he is not who you think he is. Good book! This customer review says it all.

This is the twenty-first John Sandford novel to feature Minnesota detective Lucas Davenport, and it's one of the best books in a truly great series.
Twenty-five years ago, Davenport was a beat cop with a taste for fine clothes, fast cars and attractive women. He was also smart, ambitious and determined to excell, preferably as a detective, but if not, perhaps as a lawyer. He gets the chance to prove himself when two young girls go missing. Lucas, along with some other patrolmen, is assigned temporarily to plain clothes to assist in the investigation.
Davenport is determined to make the most of the opportunity and he attracts the attention of a powerful patron who's impressed with Davenport's early work on the case. Sadly, though, the missing girls are never found. A suspect is identified and the case is declared closed, although Davenport is not entirely comfortable with the official solution to the crime.
In the years that follow, Lucas becomes a local legend and becomes the most brilliant detective the state of Minnesota has ever produced, occasionally bending the rules and sometimes meting out his own rough justice, but always getting results. Through the years, he has risen through the ranks and is now head of the state's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. And finally, after all that time, the bodies of the two missing girls are uncovered, buried under a concrete slab in a building that is being demolished.
Davenport finally has the chance to revisit the crime that got him started as a detective and the solution to which has always bothered him. This time, he will let nothing stand between himself and the truth, no matter the consequences.
The consequences are indeed painful, and those readers who have followed this series since Rules of Prey are in for a great ride. Like all of Sandford's books, this one has great comic moments that never detract from the serious business at hand. It has some great action scenes, a very interesting climax, and in the end, it may just break your heart. But once you start it, you won't put it down and you'll never forget it. - Customer Review goodreads.com

Do you remember back when the Ministry of Propaganda made it headline News that then Vice President Dan Quayle could not spell potato(e) - I bet you do. Do you remember this quote "It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.." by Al Gore, Vice President - I bet you don't.

To be fair Dan Quayle did say this "I love California. I practically grew up in Phoenix." I don't claim Dan is smart, just providing another example of the Ministry's bias. They are now trying to circle the wagons and protect another Vice President with questionable intelligence - Joe Biden. The stupid things that he has said would fill a book.

30 September
Greenfield RV Park
Yerington, NV
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The past couple of days have been cooler with a high overcast. The forecast is 20% chance of rain today and then much cooler tomorrow with an 80% chance. The morning continue to be just perfect but that could be cut short if it is raining tomorrow.

As soon as we finished our walk this morning I unhooked from electric and we drove about 5 miles east of 'town' to the Country Sunflower store/restaurant. I thought they opened at 6:00 so arrived a few minutes early but there were 4-5 others waiting for them to open also.

They have a big section of their menu listing pancakes and I saw a couple orders come out so that may be what to have when you eat here. I do not care for pancakes so I ordered their Scramble which had ham, mushrooms, and eggs of course. That came with a big side of well cooked hash browns and a big cup of coffee that was kept full. I don't know if it is worth the drive but I wanted to give them a try.

Stopped at Scolari's on the way back to the Park for my weekly shopping. Then as soon as I got back in my space I started cooking 'linner' and making my dessert for the next few days.

The rest of the morning has been spent re-doing the Ecuador Page. The Bootstrap conversion was very easy but re-formatting all the pictures and text has been VERY time consuming. I don't know that I have improved the look or not but I'll probably re-do all the Journal Pages. The stand alone Trip Pages may get only a conversion.

I received an email yesterday telling me that another of my High School Class of '60 had died. This was not a surprise because he beat the odds by living 43 months with a glioblastoma tumor. It was also not a surprise that another classmate had died, we have had quite a few. However, he was not just a classmate but we were also roommates at the University of Arizona for three semesters so this one was more of a mortality reminder than most.

Just two quotes from the UN speeches on 28 September 2015.

I believe that what is true for America is true for virtually all mature democracies. - Barack Obama
No one should have to conform to a single development mode that someone has once and for all recognized as the only right one. - Vladimir Putin