Peregrinating
2018

July

1 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

A relatively short drive today at only 188 miles. Much of the route I had driven before but in the opposite direction so the view was interesting as well. Even the short stretches of Interstate 40 because I don't think I ever drove these sections before going either way.

The route: Central Ave/Rt 66, I-40 (47 miles), Silver Dollar Rd, Interstate 40 (13 miles), NM117, NM36, US60 & US60/US191/US180.

I stopped for breakfast at Huwak'a restaurant in the casino at Sky City and got their Huevos con Chorizo Skillet. Which was so-so but they give you plenty of it. The first time I stopped there was on 30 September 2011 and I had their buffet. Did not consider it worth the stop, I now recommend it as a breakfast stop but order from the menu.

The Match scores have been posted and as I thought I was dead last but shot with better accuracy. That was mostly because the target distances were all much closer. I do fairly well out to about 10-12 yards, anything farther and the accuracy goes down fast.

The Park here could be described as 'rustic' but that term has been co- opted in all the marketing promotions. Perhaps a better term would be countrified or provincial. The space is closer to level than what I just left and I have full grown trees that provide shade almost all day. The 'management' is rather laid back. The husband got me into a space and said 'come back to the office late this afternoon or tomorrow to pay; my wife doesn't show up until after noon'.

Patches is wore out after these past couple of days. I'm tired as well so we both will be taking it easy for the rest of today and tomorrow. On the 3rd I go to the Post Office and see if I have had any GoPo® delivered by Amazon/UPS. I doubt that I will. There is a forwarded package from My UPS store waiting for me, I think, that I will pick up.

I will also drive to Show Low and check in with the VA Clinic there and see if they can do anything with my right hearing aid. Even if they can not I'll get registered with this Northern Arizona Region VA so I can get help if I need it and not wait to do the registration.

I might do some cooking later today or tomorrow. That and more work on the Archive Conversion Project, Paperwhite reading and maybe some pixel drawing are about all I can handle for the next couple of days.

2 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

We did our usual 2.5 mile morning walk yesterday morning before starting the drive here. Since we did a short walk Saturday morning there was the need to do another double header to make up for that loss.

There was a gentle wind blowing here yesterday afternoon with the temperature at about the high for the day when we started our walk. It dropped a couple degrees while we were out there and after the past week of 100° or more for the high the 88-86 here felt wonderful. We got in the double header.

This morning we walk south along the highway to McDonalds in town where I got a latte for the first time since Hawthorne, NV if my memory serves me. I might have picked one up in the Fry's while in Yuma but I don't think so and and certainly did not walk to it. There was a rest break while we were at McD's but the total for the morning was over 3 miles. Don't think we have done one of those since Pocatello, ID.

I had a problem with my electric hookup at the 'post' not long after getting here. The Park responded quickly by getting me a 50 amp to 30 amp pigtail converter. This put the connection for my 30 amp down below the frame on the 'post' which was not allowing a good connection. So far that has been good.

I'll have to suffer with the slow loading Weather Underground to get any meaningful temperature reports. The National Weather Service is reporting from the St. Johns Airport at an elevation of 5,737 feet, slightly less that what it was while I was in Albuquerque. The elevation here, in town, is just short of 7,000 feet. Using the formula for temperature change due to elevation the St.Johns readings will be about 4.5° higher than what it is here.

3 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

I did some cooking yesterday morning after breakfast and getting the daily posting taken care of. This was another culinary experiment that turned out rather good.

Red bell peppers stuffed with tuna. A big can of tuna was stirred up with a small contained of plain Greek yogurt, a little jar of capers, a container of spiced feta cheese and the into the Roaster for about a half hour. I stuffed 3 peppers and will reheat half of one for each 'linner'. Those plus my barley, chicken and vegetable mix and salmon fillet should keep me in 'linners' for 10 days or maybe more.

The Last Days of Pompeii is a novel written by the baron Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1834 that was inspired by the painting The Last Day of Pompeii by the Russian painter Karl Briullov. It culminates in the cataclysmic destruction of the city of Pompeii by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. The novel uses its characters to contrast the decadent culture of 1st-century Rome with both older cultures and coming trends.
The protagonist, Glaucus, represents the Greeks who have been subordinated by Rome, and his nemesis Arbaces the still older culture of Egypt. Olinthus is the chief representative of the nascent Christian religion, which is presented favourably but not uncritically. The Witch of Vesuvius, though she has no supernatural powers, shows Bulwer-Lytton's interest in the occult – a theme which would emerge in his later writing, particularly The Coming Race. - Wikipedia

I finished the conversion of Teardrop/Road Trip #4 yesterday. There is one more of those and then the most difficult Archive pages to be converted will be done. I say the most difficult but that is until I get started on the Archived Peregrinating pages, I think there will be a lot of reformatting to be done on them.

Doing things today with a start at Booga Red's for breakfast. This and one other restaurant that I stopped at some years ago are probably going to be my two primary breakfast stops on shopping days. I had their Sausage Scramble which was good and they had some other enticing offerings.

Then a long drive to Show Low with the first stop at the VA Clinic. This turned out to be the bureaucratic mess that I expected. They offer audiology services on Tue, Wed & Thu from 1330 to 1430. I was in luck that today was Tuesday but I knew that I had to be 'registered'. I filled out paperwork to make that happen and the clerk said he would do what he could to get me 'approved' today. I don't know when, or if, I'll get any help with my hearing aids.

The next stop in Show Low was at Barnet Dulaney Perkins Eye Center to get an appointment for an exam. Maybe a better prescription for the progressive glasses that I wear all the time. I also want to see if I can get some 'shooting glasses' that will have the right lens focus at the front sight distance and the left lens at my distance focus - no progressive in either lens. First morning appointment available was 31 July, so I'll be coming back on that date.

Next on the agenda was the long drive back to Springerville to pick up my mail that had been forwarded to General Delivery at the Post Office here by my UPS Store in Sierra Vista. The USPS Tracking said that it had been delivered. I will see.

Last but not least was a trip to Bashas' in Eagar for my grocery shopping adventure in a new store.

4 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

The forwarded package was waiting for me at the Springerville Post Office as I expected. The Amazon package had never been delivered. The clerk told me that UPS has delivered to them and told me exactly how the address should be shown.

When I got back in the space at the Park I sent an email to Amazon that said I had not received the package, included the Chat Transcript and offered 3 mailing/delivery options. Within a hour or two I got an email reply that said the package was lost and they were giving me a refund.

So I ordered again. This time when I entered the shipping address EXACTLY as the clerk had told me - Amazon changed it. I edited it to show what I had originally entered and Amazon changed it again. I sent the order and then wrote a scathing email reply to Pica P. at Amazon Customer Service. She/he offered to pay expedited shipping but I selected free standard shipping and asked only that the order be monitored to see that it reached the Post Office in Springerville, AZ.

I ordered some hulled barley from Amazon while I was in Huachuca City and had it delivered to my permanent mailing address in Sierra Vista. I need some more but this effort to get GoPo® delivered caused me to send an email to the seller thru Amazon. I explained the problems that I have with Amazon and need to have their product shipped USPS to a General Delivery address. They claim that is not a problem, they ship all their orders USPS. So I'll place that order in a day or two.

Got most of Road Trip #5 converted while I waiting for the VA to register me for Northern Arizona. I checked at 11:15 and had not been registered by then so headed for Springerville. I'll be able to complete that last Road Trip easily today and get started on Other Trips. I have a long way to go but it gives me a sense of accomplishing something when I know that all the pages in one of the boxes in the Archives has been converted.

"The military/security complex, about which President Eisenhower warned Americans 57 years ago, adroitly uses the Fourth of July to portray America’s conflicts in a positive light in order to protect its power and profit institutionalized in the US government. In stark contrast, by the end of his career General Butler saw it differently. Washington has never fought for “freedom and democracy,” only for power and profit. Butler said that “there are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights.” - July 4 Is Matrix Reinforcement Day by Paul Craig Roberts

“Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice.” - Thomas Paine
Exactly. We cannot confuse psychology and tone with substance and principle. Freedom is a hard, ruthless and uncompromising idea. So is slavery. Your life either belongs to you — or to the government. The Democratic Party’s rising stars have their answer... But the principles at stake are individualism versus the state. Private property versus government ownership of everything. The rationality of profit and markets versus the stagnation and ultimately starvation of command-and-control, unaccountable bureaucracy. In the end, the principles at stake are Freedom versus Slavery...Happy Independence Day. - The Problem With Centrism by Michael J. Hurd

5 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

Finished all the Road Trips and almost completed the conversions of Other Trips. I'll finish Trip #4 today and then get started on Bulgaria. Moving right along. HA

The high temperatures have been in the mid 80s with the lows in the upper 50s. Very nice and if the forecast is correct it is going to get even better with the high temperatures declining into the 70s during the next 10 days. Thunderstorms possible every day starting Saturday accompanying those declining temperatures.

Not much happening. The Park had a meal event of some sort yesterday in which I did not take part. There was some fireworks in Springerville last night that was far enough away that I could hear it but not close enough to upset Patches. She does well even if it is a lot closer; gun range training perhaps helps.

6 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

There was not any rain in the forecast until tomorrow, which has now been moved to Sunday, but we got some. It started around noon and went on in fits and starts until around 2:00. Never very hard and the local Underground reporting station claims it was very little. There was enough to form some puddles with some of them still there this morning.

The monsoon is a little late this year but I think it has arrived. The 'season' begins around mid-June but an early July start is about average. During the time I was growing up in Cochise County we always expected it to begin with rain on the 4th of July and rain on our picnic.

I have finished converting all the 'Trip' pages and got started on Bulgaria. Since today was the beginning of a calendar quarter for the Will Rogers weekly articles I decided on a format for that page and converted last quarter in the Archives. Each week when I show the Will Rogers link it is going to the current week on the current quarter page in the Archives (maybe Too Much Information).

I received an email from Amazon that my re-order of GoPo® has shipped UPS and will be received at the Springerville Post Office by the end of today. I am hopeful but also have my doubts. We will see. IF it is delivered I'll go get it on Tuesday.

I am not a dyed in the wool Trump supporter but certainly favored him over his unindicted challenger. I generally do support what he has done so far and considering all the opposition he has faced think he has done a good job. I can not say the same for his position on tariffs and sparking a Trade War with China the EU and most of the world. This is NOT going to Make America Great Again - big mistake!

Perhaps he knows the economy is going to go to hell and he just wants to make it happen NOW rather than close to the 2020 presidential election. A recession NOW would not hurt Republican chances that much in the 2018 midterm and there is the chance that the recession will not turn into a full blown depression before 2020.

James Howard Kunstler has a post, Summer of Tough Love, that is sort of a mid year forecast for the remainder of 2018. He makes his annual predictions and this might be considered an update. Lots of doom and gloom, unfortunately he may be right.

7 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

The UPS Tracking claims that my second Amazon order (the one which they kept changing the address) was delivered yesterday. The proof of that assertion will be when I try to pick it up on Tuesday. It probably is there but I have become very much a cynic about Amazon's delivery claims.

I also received an email from Amazon that said they are having a problem delivering the first order, that the General Delivery address is no good. That is what they said over a week ago. This is the order that Pica says had been lost and I have received a refund for it. Amazon has some serious problems delivering to a Post Office General Delivery. I don't think I will try it again!

Ordered some hulled barley and oat groats from the company that I got hulled barley from thru Amazon. They claimed they would deliver to a General Delivery address using USPS. This is the test.

Patrick J. Buchanan has a very good blog posting, The Never-Trumpers Are Never Coming Back. If you have not read it put it on your list.

8 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

I put in a good day's work on the Bulgarian Archive pages yesterday and finished them around 7:00 last night. Many of the pages were simple but there were also those that had a lot of pictures that needed to be positioned with new code. I'm not going back but the more of this I do the more I learn about positioning images. I think some of what I did today looks much better than what I did on the 'Trip' pages.

I get to practice what I have learned on the Ecuador Archived page. There is only the one page but a lot of pictures. That will take some time today but I'll get it done - I think.

I received an email that my hulled barley and oat groats order has shipped. That is good news but even better news is that it has been shipped USPS. The provider didn't lie to me. It should be here, ready for pick up, a week from tomorrow.

I also got another email from Amazon Customer Service, this time from Sundar. It seems that ALL of the people that respond to Amazon Chat and Customer Service emails are in India. She/he said that the original order was not lost but UPS was returning it to Sender. Very sorry for all the confusion.

The high temperature yesterday was 90° but we were not out there at that time. When we did our afternoon walk it was 80 to 77 with lots of clouds dumping rain here and there around Round Valley. We are going to go out there one of these afternoons and get WET.

9 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

The monsoon has arrived. We had to wait about 10 minutes yesterday afternoon for it to stop before we could start our walk. It was still raining hard to the west northwest but clearing in the east and we stayed dry except for a little road spray from passing vehicles.

There was a repeat of that this morning. Started raining hard around 5:00 but stopped just before our usual time to start our walk. More road spray this morning but stayed almost dry. There will come the day however, I'm tempting fate.

I got the Ecuador Archived page converted yesterday and have started on the first pages of the first period in Reno. They will take some time but there are not as many pictures so I think they will be easier. I'll soon see.

The USA Is Now a 3rd World Nation by Charles Hugh Smith is one of his better blog postings. Suggested reading!

10 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

I was not satisfied with how the Ecuador page picture placements ended up but moved on. I think I did a little better with the first page of Reno; probably as good as I can do with just CSS. I need to learn how to do a Masonry style layout. I'll do that at some point and then come back and redo these pages that have a lot of pictures.

The monsoon just keeps rolling through. We had a light rain around noon that did not amount to much. Then soon after we went out for our afternoon walk it started to sprinkle, then harder, so I called for a delay of walk with only about a quarter of our usually distance done. I had me some 'linner' and we went back out and got the other three quarters of the walk done in perfect weather. Cool with a slight breeze and scattered clouds.

A lot of good reviews for this book. I have selected this one to quote as being the closest to what my thought were. I wish President Trump had this on his reading list. OH, I forgot, he doesn't read!

It's Bastiat. And you can never go wrong with Bastiat.
In all seriousness, this book is not quite as good as "The Law," but that doesn't say much since "The Law" is such a masterpiece. Nevertheless, I always find myself encouraged by how simply and clearly Bastiat strikes down the most absurd economic fallacies that not only permeated his time, but that continue to permeate our time today. This book is especially helpful in realizing the utter absurdities of many academics, politicians, and intellectuals when it comes to economics. - Customer Review, goodreads.com

Today was shopping day plus other stuff. First was breakfast at Trail Riders restaurant which shares a parking lot with Bashas'. That makes it very convenient but Bashas' has disappointed my two weeks in a row. Their biggest deficiency is in frozen fruit and produce. I have never liked Safeway but I think I'll be giving them a try next week.

I was not disappointed with Trail Riders. I got their Green Corn Tamale with two eggs, hash browns, flour tortilla and coffee. The same as what I had 4 years ago when I stopped when traveling from Snowflake; got green today versus red. Springerville is close enough to NM that the question is still 'red or green?' when ordering.

Filled Desperado with gas, $3.039, in Eagar. Stopped at the Post Office and picked up the second order of GoPo® which Amazon was able to deliver. The into my space at the Park to await what looks like another afternoon of monsoon rains.

I quote myself from a posting that I made in the period 20 - 31 January 1999; not long after returning from my Peace Corps service.

Want to comment on something else that has been sinking in since I got back to the US. I spent 2 years in a Bulgaria that is trying to become more democratic and move to a free market economy. It seems that we in the US are moving in just the opposite direction, trying to become more socialistic and with more control over business by the government. What is going on here? It also seems that the Communist countries have moved away, to some extent at least, from their "cult of personality" leaders and we are embracing them here. Maybe it has something to do with the idea that our form of representative democracy will only work in a moral society. Maybe that is why it has not been duplicated anywhere else in the world, and maybe that is why it is being eroded here now?

11 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

Yesterday I got all of the Archive pages in the first Reno box converted and will now start on Japan. These were easy conversions because there were pictures only in the first page.

That gave me some time to go back to the Map pages that are linked to all the Trip pages. They worked but I was getting errors when I submitted them to Nu Html Checker at W3.org. I have the first two cleaned up and have a big job ahead of me to get the rest of them fixed as well.

In doing that I learned how to clean up the coding in the Search Widget and the ShoutBox on my Home Page. I did that and they still work! I now get a clean report from Nu Html Checker for the Home Page. OK!

It has stayed mostly overcast for the past couple of days. Heavier cloud build up in the afternoon and light rain both days right when we would be out there doing our walk. Had to delay again yesterday when we stepped out into a few sprinkles but I could see a wall of water coming at us from the south about 2 miles away. Didn't rain much but we would have got wet.

It has also be delightfully COOL!

12 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

I spent all morning yesterday plus a couple hours after 'linner' trying to position pictures using various masonry style layout codings and nothing works. I'm going at this like a dog with his bone; I'll get there - maybe.

I am not alone, there is a lot written on the Internet about doing what I want to do with CSS Grid. Everything that I have found that works requires the pictures to be the same width or there is some complicated 'hack' to sort of make it work. I have yet to find where the masonry layout has been put inside a CSS Grid 'container' which is what I am trying to do.

Rain again all afternoon yesterday starting around 2:30. Never was very hard and would stop and start. We went out late, after 'linner', and got a little damp while doing about 2/3rds out usual distance.

More rain during the night but not a lot. We were able to do our long walk to McD and get a latte this morning and stayed dry. There is a heavy overcast which looks like it could rain at any moment. The forecasters think this weather pattern will continue for another 6 days. Thunderstorms and high temperatures in the 70s then warming up into the 80s with scattered thunderstorms for the remainder of the 10 Day forecast.

Not much going on with me other than the CSS Grid conversion project. Probably will finish my latest book that I have been reading on Paperwhite. I may even do some more drawing on the cushion cover pixel art that has been set aside. It is all going to depend on me making some progress with the masonry layout problem.

13 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

The Masonry Layout Project has been scrapped. I can not do it at this time. I wanted to get it done using CSS Grid but everything I have tried has not worked and everything I have read has said it can not be done at this time. There are some 'hacks' that can make it work. But when/if they ever change CSS Grid to include a way to do masonry layouts those will most likely need to be revised.

I am learning better HTML coding to overcome the lack of an image gallery which need images of the same width. What I end up with will never satisfy me but will be better than what I had before.

I read this book on my Paperwhite without any of the images. I have subsequently seen the pictures of the fairies and find it somewhat hard to believe that so many 'experts' declared the photos were not hoaxes. It is an interesting book simply because it shows an entirely different side of Conan Doyle from that of the author of Sherlock Holmes stories.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, best known as the creator of Sherlock Holmes but also a devout spiritualist, was entirely convinced by a set of photographs seemingly showing two young girls playing with a group of tiny, translucent fairies.
To demonstrate his unshakable belief in the spirit world, the celebrated writer published, in 1922, The 'Coming of the Fairies'. It recounts the story of the photos, their supposed provenance, and the startling implications of their existence.
One of the great hoaxes of all time, the Cottingley Fairy photographs are proof of mankinds willingness to believe. Conan Doyle s book, reprinted here with the original photographs, offers a unique insight into the mind of an intelligent, highly respected figure, who just happened to believe in fairies. - Book promo, goodreads.com

14 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

I went back and repositioned the pictures in the only page for Ecuador and the first Reno page. All of the pictures shown are now at their scanned size and this is probably the best I can do. I'll go back at some point and re-do the pages in Bulgaria and 'Trips' - but not now.

We got a rip roaring thunderstorm yesterday that started around 5:30 and lasted for a couple hours. Lightning flash, close, thunder claps that had Patches a bit upset and just a little less than 1" of rain in the first hour. Local Weather Underground station reported 1.08" for the total. A monsoon storm like what I remember from days of old.

I didn't have much opinion on who President Trump would nominate to the United States Supreme Court. However, I am now in full support of Judge Brett Kavanaugh simply because Jane Fonda says that his confirmation as the next Supreme Court Justice would be a “catastrophe”. Ifin' she's agan' 'im ah'm for 'im!

Peter Strzok said Thursday that his disparaging comments about “ignorant hillbilly” Trump supporters were not meant to disparage Trump supporters as ignorant hillbillies. I want to make full disclosure, I am one of Hillary's 'deplorables' and Strzok's 'hillbillies'.

This is a "Not safe for work or NSFW Meme" that is funny if you are a 'deplorable' or a 'hillbilly'; Leftist are advised to not read it.

A History Lesson
Are you sitting comfortably?
Do you know what happened 166 years ago this summer.... September 9, 1850?
California became a state! The people had no electricity, the state had no money and almost everyone spoke Spanish. There were gunfights in the streets.
So basically NOTHING has changed except back then the women had real tits and the men didn't hold hands.
And that, my friends, is your history lesson for today.

"The real radicals, today, are those who wish to move toward free markets, individualism, private property, individual liberty and capitalism." - How Far Left Will the Democratic Party Go?, Michael J. Hurd

15 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

More rain yesterday afternoon. It started at 3:00 and continued until a little after 5:00. Patches was getting upset that we were not doing our walk. When it finally seemed to stop we went out to find the Park roads almost covered with water and what was not was mud. The highway had enough traffic that most of the water on it had been sprayed off; patches got her walk and we stayed dry.

That rain yesterday measured another 0.9" and the forecast is that there will be 3 more days like the past two. Then 4 days of scattered thunderstorms which may add to the total here and then maybe not.

I finished all the Japan pages late yesterday afternoon and got started on the Vietnam page conversion. I might finish it today but have other things going on. Then tomorrow is shopping day which may put off the completion until Tuesday.

The Japan pages and what I have done so far on the Vietnam page look better than most. I think the reason for that is I am just placing the pictures within continuous text rather than trying to separate them with captions.

16 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

Yesterday afternoon was spent with the Show Low Defensive Pistol League at Second Knoll Shooting Range. This group is a lot like the Cochise Gun Club Pistol Workshop. No timers, no scoring, no procedural rules other than safety and the two Range Officers provided lots of good advice.

The other participants are novice shooter like myself for the most part. There were 4 stages set up. The start signal was not a timer beeping but rather the Range Officer would be telling about the scenario in the stage and then excitedly say "He has a GUN or there is a ROBBERY". This would be the prompt to engage the target. Much better than IDPA.

They also allowed me to draw from my pocket concealed carry which no other club has ever allowed. There were a couple of the other shooters that drew from their usual concealed carry. More women shooters than I have ever seen at a IDPA Match. Los Lunes had the most before and I think there were 3. Today almost half the group were women. A much friendlier group than any of the others I have shot with. I'll go back in August.

Breakfast at Booga Red's again this morning. This time I found a better parking place, they are not very RV friendly. Ordered their Chorizo and Eggs which came with a huge serving of hash browns. There is one other item on their menu that I will try next time.

After breakfast I went to a laundromat which was convenient, more so than the laundry in the Park. Especially with the muddy roads in the Park. They may dry out today since we didn't get much rain yesterday. It sure looked like it was going to but the scattered showers were all around us.

I then went to Safeway and had my usual exploration of a new store. Much better produce but not much better selection of frozen fruit or frozen vegetables. A little more expensive than Bashas' but overall a better store.

Last stop on my way out of town was at the Post Office to pick up my coffee order from Arbuckles. Also got my order of hulled barley and oat groats from Mulberry Lane Farm. If these small suppliers can ship to a General Delivery address why is it that Amazon can not. The Vitamin Shoppe® can't do it either, nor Chewys and Pet MD hasn't bothered to reply to my email. What is it with these online suppliers that will not deliver to the 'homeless'?

17 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

I completed converting the Japan pages. I also had cause to go to the Archive page and check it against the Nu HTML Checker and found that there were a lot of Errors on the page. It still worked but was not up to current standards. Got that fixed, except for the raised colored first letter which I had removed from the CSS stylesheet but it continued to show.

I finally got that fixed also yesterday. I made a few other small changes but nothing that makes it more small screen friendly. I think those folks with small screens will be able to use the Archive page it just will not look very good.

I had repeated visits to my website on 15 July 2018 by someone in Wasilla, Alaska. Since the only person that I know that lives in Wasilla is Sarah Palin I am going to assume that she was reading what I had to say. Sure wish she had left a message in the Shoutbox. HA

We did our afternoon walk at the usual time yesterday and got back gto Desperado less than 30 minutes before the lightning, thunder and rain arrived. Another classic Arizona monsoon thunderstorm that dropped 0.22" in 30 minutes at the nearby reporting station. I think the Park might have received even more; when it was over there was a lake where the road once was.

"Twelve Ham Sandwiches with Russian Dressing" is the title of James Howard Kunstler's blog post of 16 July 2018. It is not a great posting, he has written far better, but it is a GREAT title. For those of you that may not 'get it'; there is the belief that prosecutors can get grand juries to do whatever they want them to do e.g. indict a ham sandwich.

In this case it is Special Counsel/Prosecutor Mueller indicting 12 Russians with little chance that there will ever be a trial. The goal - throw a wrench in the summit talks between President Trump and President Putin.

That did not work, the Summit was held with the two presidents 'making nice'. President Trump did not present President Putin a big Reset Button but he did indicate that he wanted Peace. Since nothing else has worked the anti-Trump forces are now branding him a traitor for wanting peace with Russia and for that reason needs to be impeached.

"They both [Trump and Putin] can be assassinated, and that is what the statements from Pelosi, Schumer, McCain, Lindsey Graham, et. al., repeated endlessly in the propaganda ministry that is the Western press, encourages. Trump can be assassinated or overthrown in a political coup for selling out America to Russia, as members of both political parties claim and as the media trumpets endlessly. Putin can be easily assassinated by the CIA operatives that the Russian government stupidly permits to operate throughout Russia in NGOs and Western/US owned media and among the Atlanticist Integrationists, Washington’s Firth Column inside Russia serving Washington’s purposes." - Is President Trump A Traitor Because He Wants Peace With Russia?, Paul Craig Roberts

18 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

Yesterday afternoon we went out for our walk at the usual time. We didn't make it much more than a furlong from Desperado than I could feel sprinkles and see rain coming at us. Did a hasty retreat to Desperado and got only a little wet. I ate 'linner' and by then we were able to complete the rain delayed walk.

I also completed all the Reno Archive page conversions. They were relatively easy with only a few pictures. I then had a lot of trouble with page one in the Peregrinating Archive. I finally got it done by staying up an hour and a half after my usual time for bed. To do all of these pages, the linked maps, the linked Will Rogers weekly articles and reposition/add pictures is going to be a long term project.

Here are two different scenarios for the Helsinki Summit aftermath as presented by Finian Cunningham.

First, is his analysis of what the future may hold: Coming Coup Against Trump which is much in line with what Paul Craig Roberts had to say (I linked to his bog yesterday).
Second, is a satire article: Trump Defects to Russia? that the anti-Trump crowd will quote as News.

19 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

I converted the second page in the Peregrinating Archives yesterday as well as the page for June 2018. That later page I had partially converted at the end of June but I finished it up to look like I want all of them to be. These pages were easier that the first page but they still took a lot of time. The second page had a couple tables that needed to be re-coded to meet current standards which was another teachable moment. I will have a lot of those as I bring the Archives up to current standards.

We got 0.12" more rain yesterday but it came after doing our walk at the usual time. It was more a lightning and thunder storm than rain storm. The 10 Day forecast expects that the days will warm up a little into the mid 80s with the lows in the upper 50s and continued thunderstorms every day.

I have one remaining can of sardines that will get used today. Make that the last of the sardine and potato patties that I have been eating. Replace them with the chicken, barley, oats and vegetable concoction that I have created.

This book does not make the list of top 30 in dystopian fiction but it was written before that became a recognized genre. This gets lumped in with all of Wells' other Science Fiction but combines that with post-apocalyptic or survivalist themes.

The War in the Air, a military science fiction novel by H. G. Wells, written in four months in 1907 and serialised and published in 1908 in The Pall Mall Magazine, is like many of Wells's works notable for its prophetic ideas, images, and concepts—in this case, the use of the aircraft for the purpose of warfare and the coming of World War I. The novel's hero is Bert Smallways, a "forward-thinking young man" and a "kind of bicycle engineer of the let's-'ave-a-look-at-it and enamel-chipping variety. - Wikipedia

More converting of Archive pages is on the agenda for today. Maybe get back to doing some drawing on the pixel art cushion cover that has been ignored since I started the CSS Grid Project. Read more of the latest book that I have on my Paperwhite. A day just jam packed with activities. HA

20 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

Last week when I converted the Archived June page I found and fixed Errors in the Will Rogers weekly article links. What I did not check after fixing the page was did it link to the weekly article on the Will Rogers Archived page. It did not.

While working on the May page yesterday I found that they linked to the Will Rogers page but not the weekly article. After a couple frustrating hours I think I now have it working correctly and have no coding errors. It worked before with the Errors but was tough getting to work without them.

I am cooking some of the hulled barley with oat groats this morning for future breakfasts. The first test will be tomorrow morning. Nothing will have changed except the oat groats versus steel cut oats. The proof of the pudding will be in the eating.

"Who can Trump rely on? Not on his own political party. Not on his own government. Not on the print and TV media or NPR. Not on Europe. Not on the Secret Service. Not on the Pentagon. Not on the unaware American people. Trump has only the “deplorables,” and they are unorganized and will experience retribution once Trump is removed." - The Coming Coup to Overthrow President Trump: Sedition at the Highest Levels, Paul Craig Roberts

"So stop staring transfixed by the narratives, and begin looking at the behavior and motives of the people advancing them instead. Stop staring at the movie screen they’re constantly drawing your attention to, turn around in your theater seat, and look at the people who are running the projector. The way out of this mess is to begin ignoring the stories we’re being hypnotized with and start critically examining the people who are conducting the hypnosis. Ignore the stories and stare with piercing eyes at the storytellers. The difference between the official narrative and the actual reality of this world is the difference between fiction and fact. Evolve beyond." - Russiagate Is Like 9/11, Except It’s Made Of Pure Narrative, Caitlin Johnstone

21 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

We did just a potty walk yesterday afternoon. Went out at our usual time although I could hear thunder not too far away. Just got started and had a few sprinkles but could see some very black clouds dumping rain not far away in the east. Considered going out again after I had my 'linner' but it was raining hard in the east, so the walk was called on account of threatening rain. It never did. Full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing

The hulled barley with oat groats is no different in taste only in texture. I like it better because it is not as creamy as what you get with the cooked steel cut oats.

Cooking up another batch today that will have canned chicken, peas and dice carrots added. Servings of this will be reheated with more vegetables for future 'liners'.

More of the same activities that occupy my time are on the agenda for today. Not much excitement here.

22 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

I got two more Archive pages converted yesterday plus 3 of the Will Rogers weekly article Archived pages. I am working from current pages backward and from the start of Peregrinating forward. I don't know how long I will keep doing that but do want to get all of 2018 converted then I'll decide.

Won't get as much done today because it is shopping day. Went to Trailriders Family Restaurant in Eagar again and this time had their Relleno Breakfast. This is a green chile stuffed with cheese, two eggs (how you like them) covered with red or green (I had green) and hashbrowns.

As I said before they share a parking lot with Bashas' which makes it very convenient but Bashas' has disappointed me. So I drive past Safeway to get to Trailriders. Stopped at Safeway and get groceries on the way back to the Park.

Before doing that we did our walk to the north and up the hill past the Rest Stop on the east side of the Highway. The Park is at about the midpoint in a two mile Deer Crossing and I see deer 3-4 time a week. Saw two this morning. But the sighting of the day was at the Rest Stop where there were 6 Bighorn Sheep grazing on the fresh green grass. The one with the biggest horns was in the trophy class.

We had a violent thunderstorm yesterday starting at 6:00 pm. The leading edge of the storm winds had it raining horizontal for 10 minutes. It then settled down to just raining hard for about an hour - 0.96" recorded at the local Weather Underground station.

23 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

There is nothing on my agenda for today that is a deviation from the usual routine. I have decided to keep converting Archived pages from current to oldest. Either way is very time consuming but going back just seems to be easier. No real reason just perception. I will probably do some of the older ones also from time to time just to give me a change.

Some good short stories by Doyle and some not so good. The title story is excellent and should be read if none of the others.

Danger! And Other Storiesis a collection of short stories published by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1918. The collection's title story, "Danger! Being the Log of Captain John Sirius", was written 18 months before the outbreak of World War I and first published in the Strand Magazine in July 1914. It depicts an imaginary country in Europe fighting - and defeating - Britain, and is intended to direct public attention to the great danger (submarines) which threatened the country... The story correctly anticipates the U-boat strategy which Germany would use in both World Wars to target ships bringing the foodstuffs Britain was unable to produce domestically. As would be confirmed by the events, the story forecast the need for the attackers to also target American ships bringing supplies to Britain - even at the price of violating International Law - forcing the British to introduce rationing among their population. - Wikipidia

Gun confiscation advocate David "Camera" Hogg has done more for the NRA than they could have ever done on their own. The NRA had approximately five million members when Donald Trump was elected in November 2016. They have approximately six million members now. Most of those new members being added since "Camera' Hogg has been elevated as the spokesman for the gun confiscation crowd.

He is also preaching to a VERY small audience. Gallup’s July survey shows that gun control dropped from being important to 13 percent of American adults in March to being important to two percent of American adults in July. The more media exposure he gets the less interest the vast majority have in what he is preaching. I sure hope the media keeps him in the spotlight until the midterm elections.

24 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

I finally completed drawing the pixel art cushion cover #9. It was not that difficult to draw, just tedious, plus it was put on hold for many days as I was working on the CSS Grid Project and subsequent Archive pages. The next pixel art piece will be more involved and more difficult. Much more like pointillism art.

The rain started around 2:30 yesterday and was still trying when I went to bed. It never rained very hard nor very much but it kept trying. We went out twice to do our afternoon walk and got sent back to the shelter of Desperado both times. Total distance for the two attempts was a potty walk.

My west side neighbor pulled out this morning at 8:00 and a new neighbor moved in at 8:30. I think they were here in the Park in a different space and were waiting for this one to become available. They had a bit of trouble getting their bumper pull trailer backed into the space just like they wanted. Maybe a little new doing this 'camping thing'.

I'll be doing the same things today that make for my usual day. Even with the rain I can't gin up any real complaints about the weather. The high temperature for the past 3 days has been near 90° with the 10 Day forecast expecting upper 80s to continue. There is less chance of more rain but scattered thunderstorms will continue.

25 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

Converting the Peregrinating Archive pages gets easier after doing a dozen or so. I have done all of 2018 and 6 months of 2017 working back toward the start. Have done 6 months from the start. In addition I have converted the Will Rogers weekly article Archive pages that were linked to the 2018 and 2017 pages plus any maps that were linked.

I also made the decision to remove the stained glass panel coding that was in the Peregrinating pages that created the images. I am now showing the .png images that the coding creates. This has not required much added work and I think it makes the pages load faster. I still have a lot or work to do but it is moving along.

I have quoted from a very good article, also very long, that explains why President Trump will not be able to make any significant changes. The Military Industrial Complex (MIC) is simply too pervasive in the United States. To justify the massive spending on 'defence' there must be an enemy and Russia has been chosen to play that role. The author explains that it is not just the weapon manufactures, the MIC has its tenacles wraped around everything.

Even the Department of Agriculture has a joint program with the DoD to “restore” Afghanistan by creating a dairy cattle industry. No matter that the cattle and their feed must be imported, cattle cannot graze in the terrain as the native sheep and goats can, there is no adequate transportation or refrigeration, and the Afghans don’t normally drink milk. The native animals provide yogurt, butter, and wool, and graze on the rugged slopes, but that is all so un-American. - The Political Economy of the Weapons Industry, Joan Roelofs

26 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

The only News - it is not raining. It has clouded up in the afternoon the past couple of days and there have been scattered showers all around Round Valley but none right here.

This book is not recommended. Wells says nothing in it that he does not say in other books written during the years of the First World War or in the years following.

War and the Future (1917) is a work of war propaganda by H.G. Wells that was published in the North America under the title Italy, France, and Britain at War (the subtitle of the British original). Wells would have preferred the title The War of Ideas, but his publisher over-ruled him. Except for the opening piece, its chapters were published as articles in the press. Though proclaiming early in the volume that "I avow myself an extreme Pacifist," Wells staunchly supported Britain's war against Germany "in the hope that so we and the world may be freed from the German will-to-power and all its humiliating and disgusting consequences henceforth for ever." - Wikipedia

Trump vs. The Fed: America Sacrificed At The NWO Altar by Brandon Smith is a good article that explains President Trump's schizophrenic positions with regard to the Federal Reserve. Mr. Smith thinks he is being set up as the scapegoat for the next designed 'crash' that will bring about the "New World Order". I don't know if it is going to play out as Mr. Smith claims but do believe his predictions are better than what the Mainstream Media pundits want us to accept - Everything Is Great.

Globalists do not care about maintaining the U.S. system as it is. They are even willing to undermine it in order to create the chaos needed to generate social and political capital; the kind of capital that will buy them a worldwide economic reset and their so-called “new world order.” Within this construct, the masses would be made to accept open centralization of financial and political control into the hands of a minority of banking elites. That is to say, the globalists no longer want to be covert; they prefer to be overt, and venerated as saviors of humanity rather than despised as an organized cancer.
In order to achieve such a fantastic farce, certain steps need to be taken. In particular, someone else needs to take the blame for the disastrous consequences of the global reset when it accelerates.
Donald Trump fits the bill perfectly for a number of reasons, but the ultimate scapegoat for a crash of the U.S. system is not Trump alone, but the conservative ideal overall. I have argued for some time that Trump is likely controlled opposition — a pied piper for conservatives. His rhetoric is almost everything liberty advocates and Republicans like to hear, but his actions do not always match his words.

27 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

The Croxley Master is a short story first published in 3 parts in The Strand Magazine from October to December 1899. It was then published as a 'book' in 1907 and included with other short stories in books published in 1922 and 1925. I downloaded the 1907 book from Gutenberg; a very good story and a quick read.

I got out there and dumped holding tanks and took on fresh water before it got too hot today. The weather guessers think it is going to cool down to 83° after the high of 89.6° yesterday but it was already up to 76 by 8:30. I think it is going to be hot.

The only other thing I have on my To Do List is cook up some more hulled barley and oat groats for future breakfast meals. It is interesting that hulled barley and oat groats are both grains that have had their outer hulls, or husks, removed but are generally sold by the different names. You can find hulled barley called barley groats but not usually sold as such. Similarly oat groats are usually not called hulled oats except at Amazon where you can find "Organic Hulled Oat Groats (Hull Removed)" - a double redundancy.

This blog posting Centrism is Dead (And It Never Really Existed), Michael Krieger is a recommended read.

28 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

Shopping day which was all done by a little after 8:00 this morning. The first thing was to do our morning walk in 57° temperatures which is perfect. The 73° yesterday afternoon was not bad either. The high temperature for the day is is now coming around noon and then it cools down as the clouds build up.

The second thing to do was get breakfast at Booga Red's. I got the Booga Red Special, cheese with sausage enchiladas covered with red or green (I got red), hashbrowns and flour tortilla. It was good but not good enough that I'll get it again.

Last was another grocery gathering at Safeway. They always ask if I have a Safeway Card and I have been telling them no. This morning they gave me the discount on the card of a customer that was behind me. When I got back to the Park I looked; I do have a Safeway Card it has just been years since I used it and did not think I had one.

Now that I think more it is Albertson's that discontinued their Card Program. I haven't shopped at one of their stores in a long time either.

More work to be done on the Archived pages, more of my latest book to be read and maybe some more drawing on the latest pixel art piece. This one is not repetitive so much more difficult to draw and is going to take more time than usual even if I devote the time required.

29 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

Today is house cleaning day. That is all that makes it different from all the other days in my life. I also need to get busy copying and formatting next month's Will Rogers weekly articles. That is not different.

I had a brief chat the neighbor that just moved in. They moved because one entire row in the Park lost electricity. I don't know if it has been restored yet or not but looking over at that row I don't see anyone in it. They will be leaving on August 4th and with any luck I will not get a new neighbor.

There were high thin clouds this morning versus the usual clear sky. The forecast continues to expect the high temperatures to be in the upper 80s with some chance, less than 50%, of afternoon thunderstorms. The morning low temperatures to remain in the upper 50s or low 60s. Pretty nice!

30 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

I had to take a couple steps back on the Archive Page Conversion Project. The more I have worked with what was there the more I realized that my file organization was in need of improvement.

I was finding images that were of the same type in different folders, file names that could certainly be improved upon and similar website housecleanings. When I did that it required going back and changing the link addresses in the Archived Pages.

That is what I was doing for most of yesterday and I still have more of it to do. Does not change the appearance of the Archived Pages but it needed to be done.

I am making a few other cosmetic changes to the Pages as I go along. What I am not doing is looking for spelling, punctuation or grammar error that should be fixed - all of those as are simply my style.

The only thing I have left to do today for Desperado's house cleaning is to wash the cab windows so Patches has a clean slate to slobber on. That and get the dash area wiped down. The Will Rogers weekly article work will be put off for a couple days. I have to go to Show Low tomorrow so not much else will get done

It started to rain soon after I went to bed last night. Was raining hard enough that I could hear it without my hearing aids, although the right one is not working correctly. I found out this morning that it only rained for about 30 minutes and dumped 0.32". A few puddles were avoided this morning while on our walk.

31 July
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

I have had a busy day so far. It started with our morning walk but the routine was broken from then on. First was the drive to Show Low and breakfast at Denny's. I had plenty of time so did not get impatient with the slow service. It payed off when the waitress gave me the check she wrote on it that I was to get a 20% discount. As she said: "This is for not hollering at me".

I then got to Barnet, Dulaney, Perkins Eye Center in time to fill out all the paperwork. That was done on a tablet that was synced to their computer system to no trees were harmed during this process. Then the eye exam.

Good News. I got a prescription for shooting glasses. The right eye lens will give me a good focus on the front sight the left eye lens will be at my regular distance prescription only, no progressive.

Bad News. I can not get any improved vision from a different glasses prescription. I need cataract surgery. I'll now start the process with VA to see how I can get that done.

At the VA today I found that I am now registered with this Northern Arizona Region. But the guy that does the hearing aids on Tue, Wed, and Thur was not in today. I got lucky! One of the medical staff overheard my conversation with the clerk and said he would try and help me.

He got audiologist in Phoenix on a telephone vidio hookup. As I explained to him what was happening or not happening the Dr. in Phoenix heard and saw me also. She was also able to connect to my hearing aids and make some adjustments. They still do not seem 100% but are much better.

I drove back via Pinetop, Lakeside and Eagar simply because I don't remember ever driving that road. I also wanted to stop at AllRed's in Springerville and get some new cargo pants. The old Carhartt ones have big hole worn through the inside legs where they rub together when I'm walking. That is where I always wear out my pants. Got Wrangler cargo pants this time; a slight difference but I think they will work fine.

Last but not least I found this email, in part, when I finally got back into my space at the Park and hooked up to electric again.

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