March
1 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: March 1, 1931
Another shopping day with a stop at Sunny D's for breakfast. Then a quick stop at Fry's for groceries. A stop at RV City on the way back to the Park where I filled Desperado's propane tank and made an appointment to have her A/C serviced. That was it for this trip.
I downloaded a couple more Jerome K Jerome 'books' and read them yesterday. The first one, The Philosopher's Joke, was a short, short story that is 32 pages in print. I didn't find it very worthwhile. The second one was another play, The Prude's Progress: A Comedy in Three Acts, which I usually do not enjoy reading. This one was entertaining and I will recommend it. Both of them are free at Gutenberg, the first one is also free at Amazon but the play is $20.00 in hardcover (not worth the price).
The final numbers for 2018 are now in, and last year was the 13th year in a row when U.S. GDP growth was below 3 percent. We have never seen a bad streak like this before in modern American history. The following comes from CNS News…
"But prior to the current 13-year period when real GDP has failed to grow by 3.0 percent in any year, there has been no stretch (in the years since 1930) when the United States went as long as five straight years with real GDP failing to grow by at least 3 percent."
Even though the Federal Reserve pumped trillions of dollars into the financial system over the last decade, and even though we added nearly 12 trillion dollars to the national debt, the best that the authorities have been able to do is to stabilize the system for a while. Now it is starting to sputter once again, and many believe that the next crisis will be far worse than the last one. - Source
"Now if there is one thing we do worse than any other nation, it is try and manage somebody else’s affairs. We are very original, nobody else can see things our way (of course they are wrong), but they just won’t be broadminded and let us show ’em how they should live." - Will Rogers
2 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
I have very little planned for today, or for the weekend. My days of the week are almost all the same with the exception of what routes we will walk and those are repetitive as well. I'll be dumping holding tanks today and adding fresh water. That is also repetitive just not everyday. Maybe get some chicken, barley, oat groat and vegetables cooked for future 'linners'.
I know it sounds crazy, but might it just possible that all this Venezuela business is actually about resource control and regional dominance in a strategically crucial location which might otherwise favor US geopolitical opponents like Russia, China and Cuba? What if the US government and its tight empire-like international alliance uses its massive power advantage to bide its time slowly squeezing noncompliant nations into submission using economic sieges and covert disruption operations by intelligence agencies, while manipulating the public narrative to ensure the complicity of the international community, until those noncompliant governments collapse under the pressure and either join the empire-like alliance or plunge into chaos which can be easily capitalized upon? Could it be that this is all just a ploy to shore up control of world affairs by a dominant group of extremely powerful corporate and financial manipulators who exert immense control over political and financial systems, markets, non-government organizations, opaque government agencies, and media around the world?
Nahhh. Perish the thought. Shocker: “Humanitarian Aid” Stunt Used To Escalate Against Venezuela, Caitlin Johnstone
Medicare is currently a bureaucratic mess, can you imagine what it will be like when the Medicare for All Act of 2019 is passed. It will pass, maybe not in 2019 but when The Establishment gaines complete control of the federal government it will pass. The only good thing is the VA will continue to exist; as bad as it is it will be better than a Medicare for All.
This legislation preserves the ability of veterans to receive their medical benefits and services through the Veterans Administration, and of Native Americans to receive their medical benefits and services through Indian Health Service. Source
3 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
I think these Sherlock short stories are better than his earlier ones. A very good collection.The Return of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of 13 Sherlock Holmes stories, originally published in 1903-1904 in the Strand Magazine in Great Britain, and Collier's in the United States; published as a book in 1905. This was the first Holmes collection since 1893, when Holmes had "died" in The Final Problem. Having published The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1901–1902, which was set before Holmes' "death", Doyle came under intense pressure to revive his famous character.
The first story is set in 1894 and has Holmes returning in London and explaining the period from 1891–1894, a period called "The Great Hiatus" by Sherlockian enthusiasts. Also of note is Watson's statement in the last story of the cycle that Holmes has retired, and forbids him to publish any more stories. - Edited Wikipedia
I have even less planned to do today than I did yesterday. There is a pot of hulled barley and oat groats cooking but the hardest part of getting them ready for breakfast is washing the pot.
Still drawing the last pixel art picture in the four part series. The bottom one third of the previous three had been very easy to draw this one is about as difficult as the Japanese theme picture.
That and another novel on my Paperwhite is all that I have going. Maybe do some more work adding books to Calibre.
4 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
I don't understand what is driving the price of stocks in the United States. Stock prices are generally thought to be a reflection of what investors think the future prospects of the companies will be. Investors must be looking at the long long term because the short term does not look very promising.
I made some progress on that last pixel art drawing in the series of four. Now have only one page of the pattern remaining, that is about 1,800 pixels. The picture is looking good and I am excited to see it finished. I think I'll keep working on it rather than switch to the Japanese themed one. I also got some more of the Calibre project done, maybe do more today.
Caitlin Johnstone explains how to pull off a coup in Venezuela using only narrative. Is this a test bed for their next move against President Trump. If it works in Venezuela then might we see it replayed here?
In Venezuela right now some guy named Juan is being elevated to the leadership of the nation simply by the governments of other nations referring to him as “President Guaido” and denying the legitimacy of the actual guy who is running the Venezuelan government. The funny thing about that is if enough people believe it, it can theoretically work; the only thing keeping leaders in place is the agreed-upon narrative that they’re the leaders. If you can replace that narrative with a different one, as powerful people are currently attempting to do, in theory it is possible to effect a coup by pure narrative. You couldn’t ask for a more perfect illustration of the power of narrative control. How (And How Not) To Beat A Smear Campaign
5 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
The low temperature dipped below my prefered 40° yesterday morning and was down to 35 this morning. That is not good. The weather guessers think that the low tomorrow morning will be 50 and the high 80. That guess for the high is a possibility but I can't believe the their guess for the low.
The News is all about getting rid of President Trump. That is such an old story that I no longer care; the political drama in Washington D. C. is no longer entertaining. The good thing is while Congress is busily trying to get him out of office they are not passing new laws.
6 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
President Trump is having a lot of trouble getting two of his signature campaign promises implemented. Immigration is not his fault, The Establishment has fought him on that from the day he announced that he was a candidate. However, the trade deficit is ALL his. He made it a campaign issue and has imposed tariffs that were to Make America Great Again. Tariffs are not working, they never have worked. It is the consumer that ultimately pays the increased cost of the tariff which reduces spending for other goods and services. This is a 2020 campaign issue for The Establishment but they would rather focus on impeachment. Sad.
The Commerce Department said Wednesday that -- despite more than two years of President Trump’s “America First” policies -- the United States last year posted a $891.2 billion merchandise trade deficit, the largest in the nation’s 243-year history. The trade gap with China also hit a record $419 billion..
A novel length story that has Sherlock twists in the story line but no Watson or Holmes. Recommended.Rodney Stone is a Gothic mystery and boxing novel by Scottish writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle first published in 1896. The eponymous narrator is a Sussex country boy who is taken to London by his uncle Sir Charles Tregellis, a highly respected gentleman and arbiter of fashion who is on familiar terms with the most important people of Great Britain. The novel interweaves Rodney's coming-of-age story with that of his friend Boy Jim's boxing endeavors, and a large portion of it deals with the famous bare-knuckle boxers of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. - Edited Wikipedia
Got the last in the Colonization series by Harry Turtledove from the Cochise County Library. There is a stand alone sequel to the series that I may read next, or maybe not.
The low this morning was 43.9°, considerably below the forecast of 50. The weather guessers are doubling down and think that tomorrow morning the low will be 53. I don't think so. Their forecast for a high of 80 today is still possible. But I think they are really going of the rails by guessing that it is then going to drop down into the 60s and 50s starting on Saturday with a low Saturday morning of 33. From one extreme to another is extreme even for southeastern Arizona in its spring.
I signed up for an exercise class and was told to wear loose fitting clothing...
If I HAD any loose fitting clothing I wouldn't have signed up.
If I HAD any loose fitting clothing I wouldn't have signed up.
7 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
I haven't drawn any pixel art for the past couple of days and probably will not do any today. I have been taking a break and working on the Calibre library project. I think I will have all the books that I have read on my Paperwhite added to Calibre by the end of today. Then maybe finish the last of the four part series of pixel art drawings by the weekend.
Today was shopping day with breakfast at the Landmark. A quick stop at Fry's for groceries and then on to get a latte. Wanderlust Kaffee Shop is just a block or two from Café Olé or where I do my laundry. Have gone past it but never stopped. Made a point of doing that this morning. Got my fist latte since Springerville if I remember correctly.
I have a bit of crow to eat. The weather guessers were right and I was wrong. They thought the low this morning was going to be 53 and I said - No Way. The low was 58.5 or 57 depending on which reporting station you want to believe. I thought their high forecast of 80 was possible and we reached 81.3 while there are parts of the country that were below zero. But it is spring in southeastern Arizona, we will not be having those temperatures everyday. Tomorrow the high is forecast to be 62 with a 33 low on Saturday morning.
President Trump imposed tariffs with the mistaken belief that it would reverse the closing down of manufacturing in the United States. It has not worked and he is going to pay a price for that error if the Democratic Party can ever field a candidate that is not a modern day communist. They also need to offer the voters something other than "I support impeaching President Trump".
On Wednesday [6 March 2019], the very last vehicle rolled off the assembly line at the GM plant in Lordstown, Ohio. General Motors is ending production at its Lordstown, Ohio plant Wednesday — two days earlier than previously expected...That factory is just the first of four U.S. factories that GM is shutting down this year...Of course it isn’t just big corporations like GM that are cutting jobs. Right now, small businesses are getting rid of workers at the fastest pace that we have seen in more than five years. A major economic slowdown is here, but most Americans still don’t seem to realize what is happening. - Source
8 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: March 8, 1931
How can the mainstream media financial pundits keep claiming that the economy is great. Even former President Obama has got in line trying to take credit for the great economy that he built. They are all going to be doing a Captain Renault imitation .. "I'm shocked, shocked".. to find out that the economy is not great.
... U.S. employers announced plans to cut 76,835 jobs last month [February 2019]...retailers have already announced the closure of more than 5,300 stores....an all-time record 7 million Americans are behind on their vehicle payments, 37 million credit card accounts are considered to be “seriously delinquent”, and 166 billion dollars worth of student loans are now in the “seriously delinquent” category. Source
The forecast claims that it will be partly cloudy today but this morning has been mostly cloudy. The expected high temperature to be 64 with the low tomorrow morning to be 33. Then even lower highs after the weekend with chances of rain Monday thru Wednesday and a freezing low Thursday morning. A light freeze, maybe the fruit trees that are sending out blossoms will be spared.
I finished adding all the books that I have read on my Paperwhite to the Calibre library yesterday. Started adding the Dead Tree books that I read prior to getting the Kindle. Most of them are the ones that I commented on and showed a book cover picture in my postings. I started doing this in August 2013. I now have about 230 ebooks in the library and guess that I read close to that same number of Dead Tree books. The project continues with progress even slower since I need to do online research to get some of the metadata that I want.
9 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
I have finished drawing the four pixel art series. Need only to put borders around them - very easy. Then get them uploaded into my account on the web host server - not as easy. That process probably could be simplified but this is what I do.
First I need to Export the picture in GIMP as a .png file. Then in my Toshiba I copy that .png file to Google Drive where I can use my Chromebook and sFTP Client to upload the file to the web hosting server. I will be showing them in a posting soon but want to get the Japanese theme picture finished before I do. Maybe by Monday or Tuesday but certainly sometime next week.
I have select one paragraph from Report of the Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order on his mission to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and Ecuador by Alfred de Zayas that goes a long way to explain why The Establishment does not want the mainstream media publishing his findings. The report is 47 pages long in PDF format and written in bureaucratic language that is difficult to read but what de Zayas has to say is not what The Establishment wants you to read. Source
F. Humanitarian crisis and humanitarian intervention
42. A disquieting media campaign seeks to force observers into a preconceived view that there is a “humanitarian crisis” in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. An independent expert must be wary of hyperbole, bearing in mind that “humanitarian crisis” is a terminus technicus that can be misused as a pretext for military intervention.
10 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
I have finished drawing the Japanese theme pixel art piece. Today I'll put a border around it and get it moved to my web page host server. All of these drawings that have taken me so long to draw will be shown tomorrow and Tuesday. I'll be setting up a couple more today but not do much drawing. Adding more Dead Tree book metadata to Calibre will be the biggest project for today.
It was a cold 25° yesterday morning which made the 38 this morning feel almost balmy. It has been mostly cloudy these past couple of days and the forecast for the next few days is more of the same. The weather gurus have revised their guesses and now think think that there is a chance of rain only on Tuesday. They have also raised their guess for the low temperature on Wednesday morning to be above freezing.
11 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
The weather guessers should have stuck with the first guess that there was a chance of rain Monday thru Wednesday. We got some in the early hours this morning. They have added a chance of rain back to Wednesday with it and tomorrow both at 80%. That could reduce our walking time.
I finished adding the Dead Tree books to Calibre that I read in 2013 and a few with unknown dates but my blog postings said that I had read them since starting to live as a RV fulltimer.
I also got a new pixel drawing set up. It is smaller and appears to be easier to draw that what I have been doing. I'll set up a second one today that will be bigger, more colors and perhaps even more difficult than what I have been doing.
Since there are still a lot of clouds that look like rain and there is a slight chance that there will be more we will try to stay warm and dry. Doing a lot of the same things we do almost everyday.
These are the four pixel art drawings in the series that I have been working on for a long time as well as the one with a Japanese theme. The pictures are named, from left to right or top to bottom depending on your screen size: Birch in Spring, Birch in Summer, Birch in Autumn and Birch in Winter. I like them!The patterns are from Gvello Stitch which gave the colors for Anchor yarn. I have not been able to find a conversion from Anchor to Hex code so I convert to DMC yarn colors then to Hex code which is then used in GIMP. Each drawing is 100x110 pixels without the borders or a total of 44,000 pixels. Each one was drawn separately although it looks like I could have copied some parts but could not determine how I would do that.
12 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
There was rain on Desperado's roof when I woke up in the early hours this morning. I could hear it again when I woke up at 5:00 and it was still raining at 6:00 when we would usually go out for our walk. I checked the Weather Underground hourly forecast and they think it is going to be rain, light rain and showers almost all day.
I explained the situation to Patches and she was very excited to go - until I open the door and told her to come out into the rain. She got very wet and I got somewhat wet although I had my umbrella. It was a light rain that had a wind pushing it horizontally. We did a very short potty walk and might get to do our afternoon walk or might not.
I got the second pixel art drawing setup in GIMP yesterday and placed about 200 pixels. It looks to be about the same difficulty as the bonsai that I am showing today. Maybe a little more difficult because it is larger and has 30 colors. Because of that many colors I have set up two color pallets which seems easy to work with and probably was the correct decision.
I'll be adding some more Dead Tree books to Calibre today, drawing a little on the tree (the easier of the two I have set up) in pixel art. Mostly I'll just try to stay dry.
This is the pixel drawing that I have been referring to as being the Japanese theme one. The pattern came from Ann Logan Cross-Stitch Designs where I have downloaded most of the patterns that I have drawn. It is 190x166 pixels excluding the border or 31,540 pixels in size. Almost all of the pixels, excluding the pale blue background, where placed individually because the various colors are so intermixed.This bonsai was drawn with more of a pointillism technique versus the usual pixel art. When compared with the smaller bonsai that was posted on 28 October 2018 this one has much sharper lines and has an appearance of more depth. There was a lot of work put into this and it was a great learning experience. I like how this one looks so much that I'll be doing more of these larger pieces with more colors.
James Howard Kunstler has done it again. He has another posting that opens in his classical style. I have quoted that opening but he continues in the same spirit
Just as presidents are expected to act presidentially, Federal Reserve chairpersons are expected to act oracularly — as semi-supernatural beings who emerge now and again from some cave of mathematical secrets to offer reassuringly cryptic utterances on mysteries of the economy. And so was Jerome Powell wheeled out on CBS’s 60 Minutes Sunday night, like a cigar store Indian at an antique fair, so vividly sculpted and colorfully adorned you could almost imagine him saying something. Ides And Tides
I wish President Trump and his neoconservative warmongers would spend some time talking to the people at RAND.
The RAND Corporation’s annual ‘Red on Blue’ wargame simulation found that the United States would be a loser in a conventional confrontation with Russia and China.
The RAND Corporation think tank in Santa Monica, California has hosted annual “Red on Blue” wargame simulations since 1952. ...RAND analyst David Ochmanek told the Breaking Defense that with Blue representing the current U.S. military capabilities and Red representing the combined capabilities of Russia and China in a conventional war, “Blue gets its ass handed to it.”- U.S. Loses To Combined Russia/China Forces
13 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
The weather gurus got it right yesterday. It rained all day. We went out in the afternoon at our usual time and after about three fourth of a mile it started to sprinkle and was raining hard just to the north of us. We hustled back to the shelter of Desperado and got a little damp but would have got very wet if we had stayed out there for another five minutes.
They forecast a 20% chance of rain today and that is about what we have received so far. I stayed dry while doing our morning walk but there was light rain in Sierra Vista. The National Weather Service has issued a high wind warning for all of southeastern Arizona. I hope to get off the road before it picks up to the expected 50 mph gusts.
Today was another laundry day and while that was in the washer I got this posting started. I'll then have breakfast at Café Olé, do grocery gathering at Fry's and head for home. That will be it for this trip.
In this last book in the Colonization series Harry Turtledove shows he can be just as deft with relationships as with action. Having already discovered politics, change, intrigue, treason and cold weather, the invading race is now learning about bribery and monogamy. The humans have cheerfully looted their conquerors' technology to the point where the United States is fitting small asteroids with large rocket engines to use as bombardment weapons. This novel is altogether excellent of its type, even if the end will leave readers wondering hopefully about possible sequels. - Edited Publishers Weekly reviewThere is a sequel to this Colonization series that was published as a stand alone book and not part of the series. I will probably read it but may go back and read the Worldwar series first which preceded Colonization. It would probably be best to read these in the order published but I have still enjoyed them.
The quote comes from Caitlin Johnstones blog posting which she has trascribed from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. It is Tulsi Gabbard speaking out like this that is the reason The Establishment is trying to destroy and her chances to be the Democratic Party presidential nominee for 2020.
The United States should not be intervening to overthrow these dictators and these regimes that we don’t like, like Assad, like Saddam Hussein, like Gaddafi, and like Kim Jong Un. There are bad people in the world, but history has shown us that every time the United States goes in and topples these dictators we don’t like, trying to end up like the world’s police, we end up increasing the suffering of the people in these countries. We end up increasing the loss of life, but American lives and the lives of people in these countries. We end up undermining our own security, what to speak of the trillions of dollars of taxpayer money that’s spent on these wars that we need to be using right here at home.
14 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
The storm that started on Monday dropped 1.00" of rain plus a dusting of snow on the Whetstone Mountains and added to what was on the Huachuca Mountain peaks. A light freeze this morning with a cold 58 expected for the high temperature for the day. The 10 day forecast looks much better with highs back in the 70s and lows in the 40s. I sure hope that happens.
I have nothing new on my agenda for today. I didn't do any pixel drawing yesterday but plan on getting back to the easier one of the two I have set up. It is another tree but uses more colors than the other threes that I have drawn. Probably add a few more Dead Tree books that I have read in 2014 to Calibre. That project is coming along - slowly.
15 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: March 15, 1931
There was another light freeze this morning that felt colder than it was. Maybe I'm just getting too sensitive to the cold. I sure hope the 10 day forecast comes to pass. Starting tomorrow morning every low temperature for the next 10 days will be in the 40s. The wind will most likely be blowing hard every afternoon but I can live with that. I'll complain but the wind is better than the cold; what is worse is a cold wind.
I made some good progress on the Calibre project yesterday. Also moving along on the tree pixel art drawing. I'll be working on the bigger piece with thirty colors today, what I'll be calling the beach drawing henceforth.
I don't do much cooking in the afternoon but yesterday after eating 'linner' I realized that I had only a little of my chicken concoction remaining and nothing else prepared. So I broke the routine and cooked a salmon fillet last night before going to bed.
I have combined a couple of customer reviews that provide an idea of what to expect from this book. I 'bought' it from Amazon for $0.00 but it is also available from Gutenberg.Hudson was a naturalist, and ornithologist, best known for his exotic romances, especially Green Mansions. In Afoot in England he collects various essays about his explorations of England. His descriptions of bird behavior and human behavior are wonderful. He observed the smallest details and the grandest monuments and described them beautifully. The book was published in 1909 so was written in the style of the time which gets a bit too verbose at times and a bit overenthusiastic. - Edited customer reviews @ goodreads.com
I wholeheartedly agree with Fred Reed's virtue signalling in his posting The Proximate Cause of All Our Woes Is: Civilizational Apoptosis. Where do I sign up? Fred does not stop there however; you need to read the article, it is classic Fred. Note: I added the emphasis.
I am a poor sinner, but I have reformed. Bring on reparations. I believe that everyone who has been a slave should be paid a vast sum of money, to be paid by those who enslaved him. No exceptions. I don't kid around about reparations.
It was that AOC woman that changed my life, Alexandria Occasionally Cortés. I listened to her and saw that I was a reprobate, probably beyond redemption. I decided then and there to free all my slaves by sundown. I wasn’t sure how many I had. I asked my wife to tot them up, not an exact count but in even dozens.
I further resolved to pay each of then a million dollars, and did so. Not one of my former slaves failed to get this sum. Not one will want for six hundred dollar tennis shoes. My conscience is washed clean in the light of the Lord.
16 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
The weather forecast expects mostly sunny today with a high of 66. What I saw this morning was mostly cloudy but the low was above 40 which was fine. The forecast low for tomorrow morning is 40 per Weather Underground but I think they are just saying that to keep all the low temperature forecasts during the next 10 days in the 40s. I think the National Weather Service guess of 38 is probably going to be closer to what happens.
The only thing I have on my agenda for today beyond the routine is cook up a batch of chicken with hulled barley, oat groats, peas-n-carrots and Ricotta. That will not take up much of my time so I'll have a lot remaining for the routine.
The mainstream media have repeatedly described the New Zealand shooter, Brenton Tarrant, as being a right-wing conservative. They do not let his own words get in the way of their anti-gun anti-Trump narrative and will continue to repeat that narrative until it becomes the consensus. Note: I added the emphasis.
Were/are you a conservative?
No, conservatism is corporatism in disguise, I want no part of it.
Were/are you a fascist?
Yes. For once, the person that will be called a fascist, is an actual fascist.
I am sure the journalists will love that.
I mostly agree with Sir Oswald Mosley’s views and consider myself an Eco-fascist by nature.
The nation with the closest political and social values to my own is the People’s Republic of China. - Source (Link download for .pdf document then page 15/74)
Conservatism is dead. Thank god. Now let us bury it and move on to something of worth.- Source (Link download for .pdf document then page 25/74)
This was written in the early 1900s and Mr. Hudson was talking about the schools in England. But 115 years later it is true of United States schools all the way from kindergarten thru the elite ivy league universities.
For it is true that our schools are factories, with a machinery to unmake and remake, or fabricate, the souls of children much in the way in which shoddy is manufactured. You may see a thousand rags or garments of a thousand shapes and colours cast in to be boiled, bleached, pulled to pieces, combed and woven, and finally come out as a piece of cloth a thousand yards long of a uniform harmonious pattern, smooth, glossy, and respectable. - Afoot in England, W. H. Hudson
17 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
The low this morning was 35.5 as reported by my nearby Weather Underground station. That was somewhat lower than their forecast whereas the National weather Service was right on with the 38 they reported and their forecast. Both reporting stations think that the high today will be near 70 and tomorrow morning the low will be in the lower 40s. Great expectations.
I went online shopping last night and bought Patches some more Pet MD Hip and Joint Supplement at a website other than Amazon. I wanted to get a box of 1000 EZ Dog Poop Pick Up Bags at the same site but they were out of stock. I then did a web search and found 5-6 other online sellers that were also out of stock. They only place that I found that had them for sale was Amazon. I have a suspicion that Amazon buys all the bags that EZ can produce.
I have quoted only a couple of paragraphs of an article that provides a completely different spin on the Venezuela story than what the United States mainstream media propaganda provides. The article was written by a Marxist so there is propaganda from the authors point of view also but he presents a side of the story that you will not find in US media.
Now, two weeks too late, even the New York Times has been forced to admit that “one [Venezuelan government] claim that appears to be backed up by video footage is that the protesters started the fire”. The same NY Times investigation also concludes that the Venezuelan government was right in saying the US and the opposition were lying about the trucks containing medicine: “the claim about a shipment of medicine, too, appears to be unsubstantiated, according to videos and interviews.”
The admission by the NY Times, though it is unlikely to be covered as widely as the initial, false, reports, is very significant. We knew the US was lying, right from the beginning, as there was proof. Now it has been forced to admit it. This should provide a salutary lesson for the next time the US or its Venezuelan opposition make any outrageous claims about the “Maduro regime”. The lesson is: “question everything Washington and the mass media tell you about a government they want to overthrow.” - From “humanitarian aid” to a nationwide blackout: what next for Trump's coup in Venezuela?, Jorge Martin
18 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
I have copied a customer review that expresses my thought about this book fairly well. I did not think it was a good as his first 'Thoughts' book but parts of it were quite good. I have quoted a couple of his better his better thoughts.A difficult book to read. The author tries to replicate the pacing and humour of his other books, especially "Three Men in a Boat" and is generally unsuccessful. He tries hard and parts of the book flow well, and are very humorous, but overall I could only digest the book in very small pieces. I would not recommend this book as 'one to read'. - Customer review @ goodreads.com
Why this complex instinct, driving us to a thousand labours to satisfy a thousand desires? We have turned the world into a workshop to provide ourselves with toys. To purchase luxury we have sold our ease. - from 'On The Delights And Benefits Of Slavery'
Is real wealth so unevenly distributed as we think? Is not Fate the true Socialist? Who is the rich man, who the poor? Do we know? Does even the man himself know? Are we not striving for the shadow, missing the substance? Take life at its highest; which was the happier man, rich Solomon or poor Socrates? Solomon seems to have had most things that most men most desire—maybe too much of some for his own comfort. Socrates had little beyond what he carried about with him, but that was a good deal. According to our scales, Solomon should have been one of the happiest men that ever lived, Socrates one of the most wretched. But was it so? - from 'On The Inadvisability Of Following Advice'
I didn't do any Beach pixel drawing yesterday. Spent the time adding more Dead Tree books to Calibre that I read during 2014. I still have three months more in that year and all of 2015 but I'm making progress.
I also spent more time than needed researching more authors to read. The last Doyle book gave me some author names and that led me to other authors which led me to spending more time than needed.
I'll just provide the link to a news story that the United States mainstream media did not find News worthy. Or this story which did not merit any coverage although the killing of Jamal Khashoggi got 24 hour coverage for days.
19 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
The order that I placed for Pet MD Hip and Joint Supplement was with Chewy. They filled the order and it was delivered yesterday within about 36 hours from the time I placed the order. I sent them an email and received a reply, from a real person not a robot, within hours. I think they will get more of my business if we can work around delivery issues which they claim they will do.
I need some more GoPo but the only place in the United States that I can find any available is at Amazon. The Vitamin Shoppe has carried it in the past and while I am here in Sierra Vista their delivery options would work. They no longer have it available online. I also bought from jet.com once but they no longer have it available either.
Bought some online last night from a provider in Great Britain thru eBay at a price that was about 20% less than Amazon. The price from Great Britain includes shipping versus the Amazon price with free shipping. Now I wait and see if I get it. I had similar anxiety when I ordered for Jet when they had a very long delivery time.
We went to town this morning with my breakfast stop at the Landmark. Then on to Fry's to gather groceries which went well except for large curd cottage cheese. Why do they run out of large curd with plenty of small curd remaining? Order more! Then picked up mail at my UPS Store where I received my renewed credit card. Stopped at my bank on the way home and had them activate the card. I don't play well with the robot telephone receptionist that do the activation.
That is about a wrap for doing things today. I have Desperado's A/C service appointment tomorrow which will be something different. Then the Cochise Gun Club Pistol Workshop on Saturday. That is all going to make this a busy week. HA
20 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
I got out there and dumped holding tanks and added water soon after eating breakfast. Then drove over to RV City and had them service Desperado's A/C. They checked it out, cleaned the cooling fins and told me I was good to go at no charge. A freebie, how good it that!
Didn't do any pixel drawing yesterday but I did finish adding all the Dead Tree books that I had read for year 2014. Maybe get around to doing some drawing today. Or, maybe not, the book that I have been reading is nearing the end so I may spend my time finishing that. The Beach drawing is going to take a long time so it will still be there waiting for me.
I am reading a collection of Doyle short stories and came upon two stories in this collection which I recognized as being Sherlock Holmes playing a part. Read more about this in Sherlock Holmes in Disguise by Hugh Ashton. I have quoted the passage from The Lost Special that tipped me off.
It is one of the elementary principles of practical reasoning,” he remarked, “that when the impossible has been eliminated the residuum, however improbable, must contain the truth.
I have quoted the closing paragraph of Caitlin Johnstone's blog posting, America’s Venezuela Strategy: Coup By Sheer Narrative Control. It is a worthwhile read.
The battle for power is the battle to control as many humans as possible, and the battle to control as many humans as possible is the battle to control the stories those humans are telling each other. Humans are storytelling animals, so if you can control the stories you can control the humans. Understand this and you’ll understand the behaviors of governments and media around the world.
"I was never a fan of John McCain and I never will be." - Donald J. Trump
ME TOO! I agree! McCain was no hero in 2008 when he ran against the left's poster boy Obama. He was made a hero by the media then brought low by that same media and has now been resurrected only because 'the enemy of my enemy is my 'friend'. If he had not been anti-Trump he would never have been resurrected.
21 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
Yesterday I had a book in Calibre that I wanted to upload to my Kindle but Calibre did not recognize the device. I spent a lot of time looking for what caused that and how to fix it. Finally decided to do a Kindle restart and that seems to have fixed the problem. I haven't tried to do another upload yet but I do see the Calibre now recognizes the Kindle.
I am having a similar problem with my Chromebook and Garmin watch. I have not been able to find a fix for that other than use my Toshiba which works just fine.
I haven't had anything to say about the weather for the fast few days. It has been WONDERFUL! Starting 18 March the past three days high has been in the 70s and the morning lows in the 40s. Morning walks done with flannel shirt and wool shirt jacket, afternoon walks in a t-shirt. How long can this last?
Round the Fire Stories is a volume collecting 17 short stories first published in 1908 by Smith, Elder & Co. (UK), and the same year by McClure (US). As Conan Doyle wrote in his preface, this volume include stories concerned with the grotesque and with the terrible. - From the Arthur Conan Doyle EncyclopediaI did not find the stories to be all that grotesque or terrible. There were 5-6 of them that were repeat reads from some previous collection of his short stories. I recognized that I had read them before only after getting started reading and continued because they were good stories. In my opinion all of them are better than those that feature Sherlock Holmes.
22 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: March 22, 1931
The near perfect weather that we have been having received a slight setback this morning. The low temperature was 38 which is below the 40 that I consider a 'good' temperature for the low. The high yesterday managed to stay in the 70s but the forecast for today is in the upper 60s with a low tomorrow morning in the upper 30s. Not good.
I downloaded a book in PDF format a few days ago which I have been reading on my laptops off and on. Last night I tried to convert it to a mobi file for Kindle using Calibre but after 12 minutes it still had not converted. Then tried to do the conversion using an online website and got an error message. Went back to the source of my download and was able to get a mobi file to download this time and have it on my Paperwhite now but it is a very poorly made file. Readable but not easily, certainly not Gutenberg quality.
Historians of science fiction locate the origins of what would later be called Steampunk in three novels by three Californian friends: Jeter's Morlock Night (1979), Tim Powers The Anubis Gates (1983) and James P. Blaylock Homunculus (1986).Jeter's book is considered to be somewhat a sequel to H. G. Wells Time Machine but most sequels attempt a sort of plasticine stretching out of the original text, extruding a narrative here, elongating a familiar character there. Jeter takes the original text, tears it to pieces with his bare teeth, and moulds the resulting mass into striking new shapes. He's not interested in tamely carrying-on Wells's storyline and characters. Instead he takes the book's most iconic items and retools them for the modern age. - Edited passage from a review by Adam Roberts at the end of the book.
I have quoted the closing paragraph from James Howard Kunstler's blog posting Coercion Meets Its Match. A good article!
The anxiety and remorse behind that dastardly financial behavior, and the prospect of coming institutional ruin, is probably a big factor behind the engineered social justice hysterias that paradoxically made college campuses the most intellectually unfree — and intellectually unsafe! —places in the land. And turned all those college presidents into cowards and cravens. Since coercion is the only behavior modification college administrators understand these days, it’s reasonable that Mr. Trump use federal grant largesse as a lever to end the structural despotism of campus culture. The stumbling economy will take care of the rest.
23 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
I stopped at Sunny D's for breakfast this morning and had their Corned Beef Hash n Eggs. That is my usual routine when I am going to shoot at the Cochise Gun Club Pistol Workshop.
I didn't shoot all that great but I think I did better than when I joined them in December. I haven't been dry firing which I need to do to smooth out my trigger pull. I was doing that fairly well until I stopped dry firing.
That took up all morning. I won't get much done this afternoon but Patches will get her walk. She was so good at the range again.
The book that I had downloaded as a PDF file and then as a Mobi file is the same book but you would not know that if you read both of them. The PDF is far superior. I have given up on the Mobi and have removed it from my Paperwhite. I don't like reading PDFs on my laptop but will finish this book doing just that.
Started the first book in The Saxon Stories series by Bernard Cornwell. I read one of his book years ago and liked it. He is known as one of the better historical fiction writers so I think this 11 book series will keep me entertained for some time to come.
24 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
Another simple app added to my Chromebook last night that took well over an hour. The built in PDF viewer in Chrome is fine except for one thing, the ability to add notes. I wanted to do that and also have the notes available when reading the PDF documents offline.
Scribble seemed to be what I wanted but when I add the app and opened it I found out that it was not supported after 31 August 2018. Why is it still available at the Chrome Web Store? I then had a hell of of of time determining how to uninstall it. I tried Sticky Notes next and after a couple false starts think I have it installed and know how to use it - maybe.
I am really happy to see everyone congratulating each other on social media. For those of you who think this is a little unseemly, let that go right now. Pat yourself on the back and make sure you give others props too. Make thank you lists of people who held strong and send them out on social media. Write “I told you so” posts. It’s important that we mark a line in the sand right now or else the gaslighting will continue and history will be written over. Say it loud and proud that you were right, and they were wrong. The manipulators’ efforts will now go into getting people to delay their reactions for as long as possible (“Wait until we’ve seen the report!”) while they move the goalposts (“It was always about *insert anything but Russian collusion here* for me”) and/or memory hole the whole deal by saying as little as possible and moving the news cycle as quickly as they can on to the next thing. If we all stand around being polite, they will get away with it. Don’t let them. Make this one stick. - Russiagate Skeptics Rightly Boast About Being Proven 100% Correct, Caitlin Johnstone
25 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
A busy day in town this morning with a stop at Café Olé at the beginning. From there it was to Fry's to get Desperado's gas tank filled and her pantry stocked with groceries. Then to a new to me dog groomer to get an appointment for Patches to have a bath in a couple of weeks. With that appointment made I could then make one to get Desperado a bath on the same day.
Everything had been going so well that I was not surprised to find that the shelves were bare of Earthborn Meadow Feast at Tractor Supply. I think/hope I have three bags on hold for my pick up on 6 April. I had trouble with this store holding some for me in the past. Last but not least was a stop at my UPS Store where there were three packages from Amazon. One order with three item in the order and they ship in three packages. Only one of them came from Amazon the other two came from suppliers where Amazon has only taken the order.
Now We Will Find Out If Trump Is Really The President Or Merely A Figurehead, by Paul Craig Roberts asks the questions that need answers. I have quoted his closing.
Is Trump strong enough to launch an investigation into the “illegal takedown that failed,” or is he too surrounded by enemies, as I predicted he would be, to serve as President of the United States instead of as a figurehead for the criminal elements who actually comprise government in the United States? We will soon know.
Democrats: The Party of Old, White Men?, by Michael J. Hurd is one of his better postings. He has left out the young white man, Beto, that wants to become the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the United States. He has also failed to mention Biden's pandering to the African-American/Black/Negro voters by hinting that he will select Stacey Abrams for his vice president running mate.
Biden and Sanders: They lead in the polls in a party that claims to hate old white men. Ironic, isn’t it?
The contradiction makes sense, psychologically.
Their supporters hate material wealth, yet envy those who have more.
They claim rationality and science are on their side, but they are fragile snowflakes.
They preach tolerance and diversity, yet are less tolerant of dissension than anyone in our history.
They decry racism, yet race is all they think about.
Their psyches are riddled with contradictions, which explains so much.
26 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
That Sticky Note solution did not work either. The notes appeared to work but when I open my Chromebook yesterday they were nowhere to be found. I tried again and found Note Board that does what I want either online or offline. I will not use it much to keep track of what page/location I am at in a PDF document when using the Chromebook however.
The document viewer that I have on my Toshiba that is provided in Ubuntu is far superior so I'll use that most of the time. As I have said before I don't like to read PDF document on a laptop but if I must then then the Ubuntu viewer is the one to use. It opens wherever you leave off so there is no need to have a note plus there are other features that are not available on Chromebook.
I had a sick dog on my hands last night. Patches started throwing up soon after eating her evening meal and continued to do so during the night. We did a potty walk this morning because neither one of us got much sleep and neither of us felt like doing our regular walk. I sure hope she gets better today.
President Trump must think that the trade wars will bring every country in the world to heel and the anti-Trump forces are encouraging him to commit political suicide.
Almost any economist will tell you that fighting several trade wars simultaneously is a bad idea. Any diplomat will tell you that alienating your closest ally is ill-advised. However, the trade hawks in Washington seem to think they can bully both Europe and China at the same time...
What happens if the whole European Union defects to China, because China offers money, while Washington is inciting a trade war? Donald Trump once said that "trade wars are good and easy to win", but if China and Europe join forces against the United States, Trump's trade war on two fronts will likely become unwinnable.- Trump's Trade War Against Europe Will Become an Unmitigated Disaster, Ivan Danilov
27 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
Patches had a bad night and then most of yesterday was not very good either. During the night and yesterday morning I let her drink when she wanted to and she promptly threw it all up. So I took the water away after the second time she did that in the morning.
No food since dinner on the 25th. I allowed her to get a drink yesterday afternoon around 4:00 and it stayed down so I let her have another drink at 6:00. No water available last night. Let her get a drink this morning before our walk and left her water dish available for when she wanted more.Then for her breakfast I gave her some cottage cheese which she ate but left the little bit of cooked barley that I offered.
When we went for our afternoon walk yesterday she was dragging and at .40 miles laid down so we called that walk a wrap. This morning she did our usual walk but not with her usual joie de vivre. She was not very excited when I presented her breakfast either. She is better but not good.
I have now finished a little over half of the tree pixel art drawing. I'll do some more work on it today and then switch over to the beach drawing that is much bigger and much more difficult. That one is going to take some time. Almost finished reading the two books that I have been reading, switching back and forth between the one on my Paperwhite and the PDF on my laptops, one or the other.
28 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
Patches is better but still not back to her previous happy dog self. She did our usual afternoon walk yesterday, laid down once at the half mile point but then seemed willing to go on and was 'stepping out' very nicely by the end of the walk. This morning she was slow getting up and didn't do her morning happy dance but did the walk at almost a normal pace.
I gave her about a cup of her dog food for dinner last night and she wanted nothing to do with it. This morning I offered the usual hip & joint treat after our walk which she usually gobbles down. Not today.
I then added a couple of spoons of cottage cheese to last night dinner for her breakfast. She ate all the cottage cheese and maybe half of her dog food. That is better but she still does not have an appetite.
Her annual vet appointment is 11 April. I hope she shows some more improvement in the next few days and we can keep that appointment. If she does not improve I'll be taking her in and wait to be seen.
The Last Kingdom is the first book in an eleven book series with another being written in 2019 per the author in answer to a question about more in the series. The story starts in 866 with Uhtred as a 10 year old child with him becoming a grown warrior and father by the end of the book. My only complaint is the author's use of the old English place names; historically correct but not easy to follow where the action is happening.This is the story of the making of England in the 9th and 10th centuries, the years in which King Alfred the Great, his son and grandson defeated the Danish Vikings who had invaded and occupied three of England’s four kingdoms.
The story is seen through the eyes of Uhtred, a dispossessed nobleman, who is captured as a child by the Danes and then raised by them so that, by the time the Northmen begin their assault on Wessex (Alfred’s kingdom and the last territory in English hands) Uhtred almost thinks of himself as a Dane...This thrilling adventure—based on existing records of Bernard Cornwell’s ancestors—depicts a time when law and order were ripped violently apart by a pagan assault on Christian England, an assault that came very close to destroying England. - Edited book promo @ goodreads.com
29 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: March 29, 1931
Patches is better. Maybe not 100% but she is eating again; that had me worried. She has had her sick spells in the past but they never were a server as this last one and she always was ready to eat within 12 hours. Not this time.
I left what dog food she did not eat yesterday morning in her dish. She made a few trips to her bowls but the best I could tell it was just to get a drink. Until a little after noon she went in and had lunch - ate what was remaining.
Then for dinner last night I gave her a cup of her dog food topped off with a couple spoons of cottage cheese. She ate all of that although it took her a bit longer to do it than usual. Not sure what the reason for that? Encouraging signs that she may be getting back to her 'normal'.
This morning I offered her a hip and joint treat, she took it in her mouth but did not even swallow and promptly threw up. A little later I gave her breakfast and she ate it, but slower than usual, and it seems to have stayed down. No more glucosamine until we talk about what might be going on at her vet appointment.
I got most of my monthly household cleaning taken care of yesterday. No window washing until I go shopping and buy some paper towels, used all I had cleaning up after Patches.
I was going to do some more drawing on the beach pixel art piece but I'm very close to finishing the tree that I have been working on. I think I can finish it today. There is also the Will Rogers weekly articles for another month that I need to get copied and formatted. The beach drawing will still be waiting for me - maybe next month.
The customer review is a good one especially when pointing out the need for a map from the 18th 19th century. Many of the distances make reference to the London Bridge as a starting point. You must remember that the book was published in 1888 and London Bridge was dismantled in 1967 and relocated to Lake Havasu City, Arizona if you are trying to follow the routes. A lot of archaic coaching terminology that can make for some difficult reading but overall it is a great source of England coach routes, history, authors and inns (that probably no longer exist).A fascinating and reasonably contemporary look at coaching--primarily mail coaching--with lots of funny and some tragic stories of the adventures of coach drivers and their sometimes unfortunate passengers. Also information on routes, although you need a good map of contemporary England to find out where the places are, as some of them have dwindled to very small spots on the map or disappeared entirely--sometimes into the urban sprawl of 21st century cities. Good contemporary illustrations. - Customer review @ Amazon
Hartmann ignorantly accuses Barr of withholding Mueller’s report...Before writing such nonsense as Hartmann has written, he should have read Barr’s summary of the report. Barr quotes Mueller directly from the report: “The investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”
Again from Mueller’s report: “The evidence does not establish that the President was involved in an underlying crime related to Russian election interference.”
Other Democrats who cannot cope with their disappointment claim that although cleared of election theft collusion Trump was not cleared of obstruction of justice. This is nonsensical even for Democrats. As Trump committed no crime, what evidence did he obstruct? The evidence of his innocence? Just as murder requires a body, obstruction requires a crime to obstruct. - The Democrats Are Self-Destructing, Paul Craig Roberts
30 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
Patches is feeling much better. She was up this morning and although not doing her usual happy dance she was doing a lively Buck and Wing. She did our morning walk much more like her curious self of old. Then when breakfast was served she went at it almost with her usual gusto. Not quite there but close. I have not offered her a hip and joint treat with goclosomine - I was born at night but not last night. Very tired of cleaning up vomit!
I got the Will Rogers weekly articles formatted yesterday but did no pixel art drawing. Today I need to dump holding tanks and add fresh water. That will not take too long so maybe I can get back to finishing the tree pixel art piece.
The customer review describes this book as well as I could. There are 19 short stories, sketches, essays that cover a broad range of topics. Some are good some not.This collection of shorts is, as the title suggests, a series of sketchy tales of relationships and acquaintances. There are stories of couples in love, several men with peculiar character traits, anecdotal mishaps, two about cats, a furniture dwelling spirit, a legendary tale of two tribes, and a very short play. These are gentle, undemanding stories, amusing at times but short of laugh out loud. Anyone hoping for something absurd and humorous along the lines of Three Men in a Boat may be disappointed. - Edited customer review @ goodreads.com
I have quoted the opening paragraph from Wokester’s Nightmare by James Howard Kunstler. I certainly hope that his scenario happens but I have my doubts.
The tides are shifting. Something’s in the wind. And it’s not just the fecund vapors of spring. The political soap opera of RussiaGate ended like a fart in a windstorm last weekend, leaving Mr. Mueller’s cheerleaders de-witched, bothered, and bewildered. And then a crude attempt was made to cram the Jussie Smollett case down Chicago’s memory hole. These two unrelated hoaxes emanating out of Wokester Land may signal something momentous: the end of the era when anything goes and nothing matters.
In 1931 (during the Great Depression) Will Rogers was writing about the deficit reaching an all time record of just short of $1 Billion. If only inflation were taken into account that would equal $16.63 Billion in today's dollars. However, the deficit for fiscal year 2019 is going to approach, maybe exceed, $2 Trillion and no one is concerned. In fact the 2020 Democratic Party presidential candidates are proposing to spend more and increase the deficit even more.
"What a country!" - Yakov Smirnoff
31 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
A shopping day with breakfast at the Landmark to start. A lot of people at Fry's for an early Sunday morning and only two checkout clerks open. Other than that the grocery gathering went well except I wanted some canned plain pumpkin, not for pies, just pumpkin. Couldn't find any so picked up four small containers of baby food pumpkin.
I fed Patches all the cottage cheese that I had after she got sick. She is eating almost normal now but I thought some pumpkin wouldn't hurt and it will give her a little treat. Still holding off on giving her any more hip and joint goclosomine, maybe none until I talk to the vet.
Only one other stop and that was at Wal*Mart. There I picked up a couple 16GB USB 3.0 Flash Drives. I'll be using those to backup my Calibre library. That will happen after I add the Dead Tree books that I read during the year 2015; maybe get that done during the next couple of weeks.
This is the pixel art 'tree' that I have been drawing. This is much more a pixel art drawing than the beach one that I am also doing. The beach will be more pointillism art like the bonsai that I posted on 12 March 2019. The transitions from one color to another in pixel art pieces can be clearly seen whereas in pointillism the colors blend more and they are much harder to draw.Paul Craig Roberts wrote a blog posting, Western Culture Has Died A Politically Correct Death that was an introduction to Mr. Salzman's. You can read what they have both said in Mr. Roberts blog but I have Provided the hot link to Mr. Salzman's original posting.
What Your Sons and Daughters Will Learn at University, Philip Carl Salzman
Note:Philip Carl Salzman is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at McGill University.