January
1 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I started my walk at 6:40 with the temperature at 20° and finished at 8:40 to find that it had warmed up to only 25°. The wind had come up with sunrise again so the wind chill temperature was 19° or colder than when I started.It has been mostly sunny with a few high thin clouds. The sun just does not seem capable of overcoming Old Man Winter enough to get us above 50°. The forecast for the week is gradually warmer, back into the 60s.
It didn't get above freezing until noon and my water pipes stayed frozen until 1:30. After they thawed I filled my fresh water tank although it was still above one half full. I'll be going to my RV Service place on Monday and will get my propane tank filled (it is above ½ also).
I'm using a lot more propane with the nights staying below freezing and keeping both tanks full seems like a good idea.
The NEW YEAR has nor started out so great but I'm optimistic that there are warmer days to come.
2 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
It was not as cold this morning but 23° was cold enough to freeze my water pipes again. I don't think they were ever completely unfrozen yesterday.Today the high will be in the mid-50s with a 60° forecast for tomorrow. No below freezing temperatures at night forecast for the next 10 days.
In January 2010 there were two night that were below freezing, we have now had two. If the forecast becomes reality and history repeats my frozen pipe problems should be over.
I think I have found 5 or 6 decent walking routes; a new one will be tried tomorrow and I will then know for sure. It will really be three routes but I can reverse the direction and it then seems like a different route.
The warmer morning temperatures will make it more pleasant, that is for sure.
The warmer days will also let me get back to preparing and priming the dinette wall. I haven't done anything during the rainy and cold weather.
I'll be off to town tomorrow. Need to have a breakfast cooked by someone else. Will get the propane tank filled and pick up some groceries.
Compared to my normal day that will make for a really busy day! LOL
3 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
My walk this morning had me out in the weeds, grass and brush. It looked good on the Google Satellite Map but I needed to climb over two barbed wire fences before I got back to a real road.What I followed was a one time road that parallels a power line; note, power lines always have the trace of a road near them.
I then had to walk about one mile of Hwy 82 which is two lane and has almost no shoulder. This is NOT a route that I'll be doing again. I can modify it to exclude the overland and AZ82 bits and still use it.
When I got back home I unhooked from electric, stowed everything for travel and drove to Sierra Vista. There I had breakfast at the Landmark restaurant which offered Huevos Rancheros in red or green.
I asked the waitress if I could have Huevos Divorciados. Neither she nor the cook knew what that was but were willing to make it for me if I could describe it. They did not have any corn tortillas, which should be used with both dishes, but it turned out OK.
It was then time to stop for groceries and propane. I also picked up some fuses to replace those that I burned out when I removed the light fixture during the final cabinet removal. I don't know how I burned out the first one but the second one was the result of my stupidity – enough said.
When I got home I dumped my holding tanks before re-parking. The sites here have the dump far removed from the electric and water hook-up. So, I dumped and then backed up to my preferred parking place before plugging into electric again.
I then sent off a couple of email trying to give away some of the 'stuff' that I have kept from the dinette re-model. The first place that I have tried does not want it. These difficult economic times have made it really hard to give stuff away. LOL
The weather has improved a lot. The high was near 60° but the low continued to be below freezing at 29. No frozen pipes, which is good. The forecast is now for a couple more days like this then no more freezing.
4 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
It continues to freeze at night, we had another low of 29° (no frozen pipes). Two nights below freezing in January of last year and I have now had four – I'm sure lucky that there is Global Warming.It did not keep me from walking the reverse of my walk on New Years Day. I changed ½ of the route but this will now give me two good walks. A little more tweaking of the other two routes and their reverse and I'll have six to chose from.
I'll then add a trip to 'downtown' Huachuca City for a longer walk that will have a breakfast stop at the half-way point. It will be an out and back on busy AZ90 but I have a very wide shoulder so it is not so bad.
The major chore for the day was getting my laundry done. The rest of my time was spent reading on the couch or the computer.
Made a beef stew yesterday and today in my Thermal Cooker. I browned the beef this time and was careful to not use too much water – the best stew that I have made so far. This will last me for 3-4 meals and then I'll make a pot of Chicken Pazole.
James Howard Kunstler has been writing about Peak Oil for years and every year he makes predictions for the new year. This is what he has to say about Peak Oil for 2011.
The reality of Peak Oil glowers in the background all the time. These epic disturbances in money and banking are expressions of it, but they will also feed back into the oil industry imposing a generalized shortage of capital that will make the decline of oil production ever worse - since new fields will not go into production and exploration will stop - and will also impede the movement of inventory around the world. These dynamics will feed back into economies and hurt every kind of business, probably destroying demand for oil which will lead to further shortages of capital in the industry and lead to even lower oil supplies. Finally, economies may be so devastated that oil could sink to something like $25-a-barrel - the catch being that no one will have any money to pay for it. More likely through 2011, we'll see rising prices joined by regional scarcities. The US is a prime candidate for scarcities since we import more than two thirds of our oil and a lot of that comes from countries that have an ax to grind with us.
5 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
I continue to whine about the cold weather. It froze again last night, not my pipes so I'm not to upset. I have also compared where I am at to where I came from and that made me feel better.The average high for the first four days in January in Sierra Vista, AZ was 18° above Deming, NM and 12° above Las Cruces. The low here was 16° higher than in Deming and 3° higher than Las Cruces. I made the right decision to move but that does not mean I will quit whining.
I have firmed up my walking routes to the northwest through the unincorporated town of Whetstone, AZ. When I reverse it this will give me two more routes.
Tomorrow I'll be doing a northeastern route in Whetstone that will complete my six. All of them are about 5.5 miles and flat with a mixture of pavement and dirt roads.
Nothing much happening. I did get an email from a semi-permanent resident of Rose Valley RV Park in Silver City, NM. He found my web site and sent me the email to say that he was sorry he missed me while I was there. Maybe I'll run across him if/when I go back to Silver City.
My social life here is spending a few minutes with the 'coffee group' in the Park Clubhouse each morning as I return from my walk. The same half dozen people seem to be there every morning. This gives me some additional motivation to get out and walk; they always ask “how far did you walk today”?
I stopped at RV City this morning and asked them how long it would take to order and receive a window curtain for the dinette re-model. They were rather hapless, although they are listed as a retailer for the curtain manufacturer. Maybe I'll get some answers tomorrow?
One more prediction for 2011 by James Howard Kunstler; he has a lot of them in his first blog of this year.
Everybody is worried now about the fate of states, counties, and municipalities. Just about all of them are broke one way or another. A state and municipal bond bail-out would only send interest rates to the moon, meaning the absolute end to lending and servicing of existing debt and, well, really all business as usual. I don't think it can happen. It will be interesting to see what does happen to states and localities if left to dangle slowly slowly in the wind. If they can be induced into some kind of real bankruptcies they'll get rid of a lot of dead weight - which will, very unfortunately, also mean lost jobs, incomes, and homes, since so many people are on a government payroll of one kind or another - but how else do you get out from under unendurable promises to pay for people to play golf?
This would be a scenario not unlike the collapse of the Soviet system, in which virtually everybody got fired at once. We may not survive it as well as they did - after all, the collapse of the Soviet Union was historically extraordinary in the sense that it generated almost no bloodshed. Imagine that! (Read your Dmitry Orlov.) Americans are too undisciplined, too heavily armed, and too deeply programmed in melodramatic vengeance-seeking to pull something like that off. We'll be all over each other like cheap suits. That might be the point where you have to send the army in, and if a president won't do it because the constitution frowns upon it, the army might send itself into the White House in the form of a coup d'état. It's not something I'd like to see but let's face it: shit happens. This Republic has had a long run compared with all the others that have ever existed and nothing lasts forever, even if your flag lapel pin came from Tiffany and was blessed by the restless ghost of Abe Lincoln.
6 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
YAH! We finally had a night with above freezing temperatures. The high today was near 60° with the promise of an even warmer night tonight and day tomorrow. Then it get colder again.I took advantage of the warmer weather by washing down the dinette area wall. Then Spackled all the screw holes; I think some of them will still show through the primer and paint but I have done what I can.
I did not notice a bulge in the wall at one of the wallboard seams before today. It was behind where I had a box sitting and I never noticed it. I'm not going to try and do anything with it and see how it bad it looks after painting.
It will be behind where I'm putting a recliner so will not show much – I hope.
I got the wall masked off also after the Spackle. If the weather proves to be good tomorrow I am going to try and get a coat of primer on it. Depending on how it looks after the one coat I may add a second. Then it will be paint time!
7 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: January 7, 1923My walk this morning took me to 'downtown' Huachuca City. The northern most restaurant in town is in Billy's Bar & Grill where I had breakfast and then returned on an out and back route along AZ90.
This is a four lane divided highway with very wide shoulders. There is a lot of traffic but it is not too bad of a route.
Today was 6.5 miles but there are two more restaurants farther south that I want to try. That is going to add some distance to my next breakfast walk.
The weather has been just like the forecasters ordered. Much warmer, 67°, than it has been with not a cloud in the sky and no wind until early afternoon. I had my door wide open from the time I got back from my walk until the wind started.
This was an excellent day to put on a coat of oil based primer. It dried quickly and I was not closed up inside with the fumes.
The one coat looks like it has covered the wallpaper pattern and some stains very well. The wallpaper seam tapes are still visible but most of the screw holes are not – it looks much better than I thought it would.
If I can get another day like this I'll paint!
I finished the book that has had me occupied while doing couch time and this one was entertaining. I had browsed through the Park's exchange library and spotted one that I wanted so I quickly went over and made the trade this afternoon.
This excerpt is from Peggy Noonan's Wall Street Journal column of January 7, 2010 titled The Captain and the King. She is so right with much that she writes, this is one of those times.
A lot of our leaders—the only exceptions I can think of at the moment are nuns in orders that wear habits—have become confused about something, and it has to do with being an adult, with being truly mature and sober. When no one wants to be the stuffy old person, when no one wants to be "the establishment," when no one accepts the role of authority figure, everything gets damaged, lowered. The young aren't taught what they need to know. And they know they're not being taught, and on some level they resent it.
8 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
The forecasters got it right again. This time they were calling for colder temperatures and that is what we go.It did not freeze but came close then stayed cold until noon. The wind then came up and it seemed like it stayed cold all day.
I put in some more couch time with a new book. Got up from time to to to surf the web and read some blogs.
A rather normal day.
It seems that what Ms Pelosi has said confirms what the critics say: the Federal Government has taken charge of the health of the American people. A repeal of ObamaCare will remove that Federal Government control.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi issued a statement Friday saying the repeal would hurt the economy, hurt the budget and "put insurance companies back in charge of the health of the American people."Where is the lame stream media with the story on the Iraq and Afghanistan Causality Count. In 2008 it was front page news with a blame Bush for every death slant to every story. Now that Obama is President and the death count is even higher than it was in 2008 they are virtually silent.
Why has the lame stream media quit reporting of Cindy Sheehan's anti-war protest activities? She was a big new item while Bush was President, she is still actively protesting yet they are virtually silent.
In June 2010 (after President Obama nominated General Petraeus to be the new top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan) MoveOn.org scrubbed its website of the juvenile and offensive “General Betray-us” ad of 2007. Back then, MoveOne described Petraeus as “a military man constantly at war with the facts.” He was, as the ad put it, “likely to become General Betray-us.” The ad also said that “General Petraeus will not admit what everyone knows: Iraq is mired in an unwinnable religious civil war.” Why has the lame stream media been virtually silent about this story, they covered the original smear of General Petraeus in depth in 2007?
The table below shows the US deaths by year and the President that was responsible.
| Total US Casualties Iraq & Afghanistan | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bush | Obama | |
| 2001 | 12 | -0- |
| 2002 | 49 | -0- |
| 2003 | 534 | -0- |
| 2004 | 901 | -0- |
| 2005 | 945 | -0- |
| 2006 | 920 | -0- |
| 2007 | 1,021 | -0- |
| 2008 | 469 | -0- |
| 2009 | -0- | 466 |
| 2010 | -0- | 558 |
9 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
I have what dermatologists call 'actinic purpura', 'solar purpura' or 'Bateman's purpura'. These are flat blotches that start out red, then turn purple, darken a bit further and eventually fade. They differ from normal bruises in several ways. First, usually there wasn't much of a knock or injury to cause them. Second, they are not tender. Finally, they last longer than normal bruises, often a few weeks.These usually occur on the back of the hands and the forearms. The skin is sun-damaged, thin and wrinkly, almost flimsy looking. Mostly seen in older individuals, actinic purpura is due to the weakened state of blood vessel walls from many years of sun exposure. Blood thinners, including aspirin, coumadin, and alcohol all may worsen the condition. Steroids, either as a cream, pill or inhaled for lung disease, can also bring the condition on.
I mention this only because I managed to get a huge blotch today. At one time I was taking a baby aspirin every day and the problem was even worse then. I'm am using a steroid cream and lotion for my psoriasis and I think I first noticed the condition after doing so for a few years. I also fit the older individual and many years of sun exposure profile so I guess I should not be surprised.
The only thing that I can say about the weather today that was different from yesterday was the wind started to blow earlier. The forecast is for a warming trend in a few days.
Occasionally I get a burst of enthusiasm, or become very bored, and do some more work on my re-model ideas. Today it was remove the heater duct that was under my couch and when it went well the one into the bathroom.
I removed the forced air heater soon after I bought Desperado and took out the duct that feed into the kitchen a few months ago. That one was rather simple. The one under the couch was not too hard either because I cut it off at the floor level. The one into the bathroom was much more difficult and was where I obtained todays huge 'Bateman's purpura'.
I still have ducting under the coach but it will stay there for the time being!
10 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
I saw two deer while on this mornings walk. That is the first animals larger than a jackrabbit that I have seen in a long time. The day that I was out in the weeds and brush I saw a lot of cattle tracks but no cattle.We warmed up just slightly with overnight lows still near freezing. The promise is for much warmer days and nights starting tomorrow and lasting for about a week. I'm ready!
I devoted my time today to reading while on the couch or on the computer. While I was walking today my back was causing me a lot of pain. I think it may have come from the efforts made yesterday removing heater ducts.
Of course all the News is about the Tucson Massacre. This will follow the normal three day News Cycle and then there will be the next Big Headline.
This shooting will also bring out all the Ban The Gun Crowd and proposed Bills in Congress will be brought forth again for debate.
I hope rational minds look at what success Washington D.C. has had with its 'strict gun control'. If that is not a good example then perhaps a look at the Mexican Governments national 'gun ban' laws may be instructive.
I think Thomas Jefferson said it best: "The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."
This excerpt below from an Opinion Column written by Glenn Harlan Reynolds for the Wall Street Journal is the best that I have read about how the lame stream media is 'reporting' the Tucson Massacre.
I also find President Obama's moment of silence a politicizing act that feeds the 'climate of hate' of which Mr. Krugman speaks. The President did not call for a moment of silence for those killed in Omaha nor those killed in Baltimore within the last week. Why now?
Shortly after November's electoral defeat for the Democrats, pollster Mark Penn appeared on Chris Matthews's TV show and remarked that what President Obama needed to reconnect with the American people was another Oklahoma City bombing. To judge from the reaction to Saturday's tragic shootings in Arizona, many on the left (and in the press) agree, and for a while hoped that Jared Lee Loughner's killing spree might fill the bill.
With only the barest outline of events available, pundits and reporters seemed to agree that the massacre had to be the fault of the tea party movement in general, and of Sarah Palin in particular. Why? Because they had created, in New York Times columnist Paul Krugman's words, a "climate of hate."...
To be clear, if you're using this event to criticize the "rhetoric" of Mrs. Palin or others with whom you disagree, then you're either: (a) asserting a connection between the "rhetoric" and the shooting, which based on evidence to date would be what we call a vicious lie; or (b) you're not, in which case you're just seizing on a tragedy to try to score unrelated political points, which is contemptible. Which is it?
I understand the desperation that Democrats must feel after taking a historic beating in the midterm elections and seeing the popularity of ObamaCare plummet while voters flee the party in droves. But those who purport to care about the health of our political community demonstrate precious little actual concern for America's political well-being when they seize on any pretext, however flimsy, to call their political opponents accomplices to murder.
11 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
I did a town walk in Sierra Vista this morning. Yesterday I went to Google Maps and planned what route I would take from Safeway to the Landmark restaurant and return.This morning I missed the second turn of my well planned route and made up a new route as I went after I discovered my error. I didn't make it to the Landmark but had breakfast at Ivey's. I think it may require a repeat visit.
When I got back to Safeway I stocked up with groceries for the week. Then drove to D & J RV Service to make an appointment for them to do the wiring work next week.
From there, on my way home, I stopped at Ace Hardware and got my paint stirred/shook-up. The second stop was to pick up a pizza. The final stop was at RV City just east of Mountain View RV Park, to order the dinette area window curtain.
A very busy day for this semi-recluse!
It is warmer today but last night seemed to be just as cold, or colder, than the prior nights. I checked on the Internet and found that it had been colder; it was below freezing again at 30°.
The warmer nights are coming – I hope. If we get the good temperatures tomorrow that are forecast I'll be putting on the first coat of paint.
I hope that it is the first and the last coat but will add a second one if it does not look good.
12 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
I did no painting today. Too cold and had some wind blowing. Maybe tomorrow if the promise of 65° and lots of sun comes to pass. There was a lot of cloud cover this morning which cleared in the afternoon.The only thing that I manged to accomplish was to finish the mystery novel that I was reading. I also managed to make a great trade for it at the Park exchange library.
I picked up Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. I read this before, way back when during my university days, but look forward to re-reading it.
The quote shown below was taken from an article written by Jim Angle. He is simply writing about the 'elephant in the room' that everyone wants to ignore and maybe it will go away.
It is my opinion that there will come a time when the younger Americans will simply 'revolt' against paying any more to support the elderly. It may even reach the point that an American 'Red Guard' evolves that will stamp out the 'old'. This to be accomplished by drastically cutting all support and/or imposing government backed euthanasia for those that no longer contribute to society.
"The federal government's going to be bleeding money as the baby boom retires," says Doug Holtz Eakin, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office. "We know we can't pay all the Social Security and Medicare benefits that we promised. There isn't enough money in the world to do that so we know we're going to have to make cuts," Biggs (an analyst at the American Enterprise Institute) says. "But politicians are afraid to make the choices to do that."
The two programs need tens of trillions of dollars to pay all the benefits promised. And analysts say that when all the boomers are collecting benefits, the government would need one of every three dollars earned by those still working just to support Social Security and Medicare. Charles Blahous, a trustee of Social Security and Medicare, notes that younger Americans are " going to have a much, much higher share of their paychecks going to the federal government to support not only the federal budget in general, but specifically entitlement programs for the elderly."
13 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
I took a rest day from my walks this morning. I have had some back pains while walking for the past few days and thought a day off might be in order.I did get up at my usual time but read blogs rather than walk. I then went to the Park Clubhouse for my morning coffee and my brief bit of daily socializing.
About an hour after the outside temperature climbed above 50° I painted. I needed it to be over 50 and stay there for at least four hours and today looked like it was going to do that.
It took me an hour to paint and clean up, the worse part of the job, and by that time it was approaching 60°. The one coat today looks like it is going to be enough. It also looks quite nice; I have some color now.
It is not all beige and light brown like what remains throughout the rest of the coach. The color that I selected is called 'Burst of Orange' by Ace Hardware. I was looking for something the color of a pumpkin and this is as close to what I had in mind as I could find.
I like it!
This excerpt is from an Opinion written by James Taranto for The Wall Street Journal. Fortunately, President Obama did not take the pundits advice and turn his speech in Tucson to one of political opportunism. He has done enough to divide the country without adding fuel to the fire.
In the wake of the Tucson massacre, the indecent behavior of the formerly mainstream media has not been limited to the New York Times-led witch hunt against Republicans, conservatives and independent media voices. Equally appalling in its own way has been the rush by pundits to advise President Obama on how to make political hay out of the atrocity.
The worst example is a Monday article by Newsweek's Jonathan Alter titled "Can Obama Turn Tragedy Into Triumph?" This passage will live in infamy:
Conservatives like to argue that these are isolated incidents carried out by lunatics and therefore carry no big lessons (unless the perpetrator is Muslim, in which case it's terrorism); liberals view them as opportunities to address various social ills. Obama is in the latter category and should act accordingly. "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste," Rahm Emanuel famously said in 2008. The same goes for a shooting spree that gravely wounds a beloved congresswoman...
Here is his conclusion:
Sad to say, if Giffords had died, she would have been mourned and soon the conversation would have moved on. But Giffords lives, thank God, which offers other possibilities. We won't know for weeks or months whether she can function in public. If she can, she will prove a powerful referee of the boundaries of public discourse--more influential, perhaps, than the president himself.
It may be that the monstrous behavior of Obama's supposed supporters in the media has put him in a position where he has no choice but to behave decently, scrupulously avoiding the merest hint of political opportunism.
14 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: January 14, 1923I was up and at my morning walk again. Continue to have some back pains but not as bad, I think the day off did some good. I'm planning on going to Tombstone, AZ on Sunday and will take that day off also.
It was good that I got my painting done yesterday. The temperatures are about the same today but we got winds earlier in the day and they are blowing harder.
I pulled off the masking tape today and the masking/painting looks good- only a couple of places that I may try to touch-up.
When I pulled the masking tape away from the adjoining cabinets it pulled off a lot of the faux woodgrain. That would have upset me if I had not already decided that I was going to paint them.
I probably will not order the recliner that I have on my wish list for a couple of months. I need to pay my vehicle insurance, registration and license first. I'll then know if I have saved enough to buy it or need to save some more.
I did send off a couple of emails to get prices and find out how I can take delivery. I also contacted a company that offers a storage unit that I'll have on the floor. This will be the replacement for the overhead cabinets that I removed.
15 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
One of the hazards of living this nomadic life, with no job, is that I have trouble keeping track of the day of the week and/or the day of the month.This got to me yesterday and I posted the daily blog as the 13th. I noticed my mistake today when I got ready to post another of Will Roger's weekly columns. I've corrected my error and there is now only one posting for the 13th.
The weather has taken a turn for the better. Much warmer, in the mid-60s, with very little wind. I was out in the Park this afternoon briefly and saw a LOT of snowbirds basking in the sun.
The only thing I did of note today was my laundry once again. I included my bedding so I got some exercise re-making my loft bed. This is not nearly the chore that it was the first couple of times that I did it.
I also dumped my holding tanks in preparation for my drive to Tombstone tomorrow. I don't like to carry that extra water around when on a drive although I will usually leave camp with a near full fresh water tank.
My thinking has no logic involved sometimes!
16 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
As I said before, I took another walking rest day and drove to Tombstone this morning.First I went to the OK Café, about a block from the OK Corral, for breakfast. It was nothing great but I had a satisfying omelet and some good coffee.
I then walked back to where I had parked Desperado, a block from the courthouse, and moved to RV Parking. This was a free parking lot at the south end of 'downtown' and two blocks from Allen St.
I then walked most of historic Allen St. until I reached the Tombstone Art Gallery. My timing was perfect because my cousin had just arrived to open up.
She volunteers as a docent in the Gallery two or three times a month as well as having paintings and craft items for sale there.
This Art gallery is only one of many tourist shops along Allen St. The art and crafts for sale there are all put up for sale by the artists that also volunteer their time to running the Gallery.
I looked around for a while, visited with my cousin a bit and then walked back the length of Allen St. From there I drove home through Sierra Vista and spent the remainder of the day reading.
It was below freezing early this morning but has warmed up to near 70° this afternoon. The forecast continues to be for above freezing nights, which doesn't seem to happen, and near 70 days for the next week.
This is much more typical southeastern Arizona winter weather!
17 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
This was a day for doing nothing. I did my morning walk but the rest of the day has been lazier than normal. My way of celebrating what the media now refers to as MLK Day.The laziness may have been brought on by the nice warm afternoon. We were back up to near 70° again, with very little wind and lots of sun.
I checked with the Park Office to see if my light fixture had come in by way of UPS – it had not. That will require me to make another appointment/trip to D & J RV to have it installed when it does arrive.
Because of that delay and the unlikely prospect that my curtain will arrive this month I'm thinking I'll stay here for a second month. I was considering a move to the SKP Park in Benson, AZ but that would only add more driving time and distance for my appointments.
18 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
The only walking I did this morning was from D & J RV Repairs to the Country House restaurant, where I had breakfast, and return. Not even close to the 5 mile minimum that I have imposed upon myself. I was dragging and poky on this short walk so it was almost like a rest day.The majority of the day was spent on the bench by the entry door of D & J's where I was seated for most of two days in October. I do like for D & J to do my RV work for me but can not say much complimentary about their waiting room. LOL
All of the wiring to a 110V outlet, 12V outlet, 12V wall light and a radio speaker are now run along the ceiling and wall. They are then covered by a 3” molding that is stark white but will be painted the same color as the cabinets around the refrigerator and into the bathroom.
These cabinets are on the right side of the coach and to the rear from the entry door. The cabinets in the kitchen, on the left side of the coach, will be painted a different color.
While waiting for the work to be done I finished A Thin Dark Line by Tami Hoag. Most of the books that I have been reading do not merit mention by title nor author. This is an exception.
If you like mystery, suspense and a thriller then you will like this book. I will also be looking for more of her books when I do my book exchanges in the future.
I received the wall light fixture for my remodel this morning while I was at D & J's. I'll go back and have it installed and have them remove my microwave (not working) after I get the curtain up.
As I was typing todays posting I got my new walking shoes delivered by FEDEX. It was a wonder that I did get them with the very poor address that the shipper had on the package. I gave them an address of Edward L Frey/Mountain View RV Park it came to Edward Park.
I'm just so thankful that it was not the United States Postal Service making the delivery!
19 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
I was out this morning for my first walk in my new Soucony Grid Omni Walker shoes. I found these recommended for a high arch by a walking web site and thought I would give them a try.They felt very good. The only question that I now have is: How long will they last? I expect shoes to last longer than they usually do.
It is never the tops that I wear out but I go through heels rather quickly with the right heel always being the worse. I bought the boots that I have been walking in back in 2007 and had them re-soled about two years ago.
The right heel is worn down to almost nothing on the outside edge while the left one is good for many more miles. This new pair of Walkers cost me less than a re-sole would so if they last a year or more I'm money ahead.
The temperature yesterday was very much like spring had arrived. Today it is about the same but the wind has come up and is gusting strong from time to time. It is to remain warm until early next week and then will drop back into the 60s during the day; early mornings are still cold but not freezing.
20 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
I did another 'town' walk today. My day usually starts at about 6:00 am then I read daily blogs until 6:30-6:45 before going for my morning walk (there is beginning to be some daylight by then).When I go to town I skip the daily blog reading and by the time I park at Safeway it is starting to break day.
I went to the Landmark restaurant again this morning and had their Huevos con Chorizo, not bad but not great enough for me to order them again.
I made a point to look for a couple of recommended barber shops on my way back to Safeway. I need to get a hair cut and beard trim now but will probably do it in February.
The remainder of the day was taken up up grocery shopping and then getting back home. There I started preparing a beef stew but browning the meat, bringing to a boil with seasoning and into my Thermal Cooker.
I'll let it sit all day in the Cooker and then overnight in the refrigerator. Tomorrow I'll add the vegetables, bring to a boil again and into the Cooker for about six hours. That will be 'linner' for the next few days.
It has been another very fine day with no wind. There have been some clouds passing through but do not look like they are carrying any rain. These are the kind of days that the snowbirds come here for – me too!
As an example of how aggressive the Obama Administration is on the illegal alien issue the media puts forth the following 'spin' on the Administrations behalf.
The Obama administration plans to intensify a crackdown on employers of illegal immigrants with the establishment of an audit office designed to bolster verification of company hiring records...What they do not say is that the illegal workers were NOT deported. They also want you to think that $7 million in fines is a big deal.
In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2010, ICE conducted audits of more than 2,740 companies, nearly twice as many as the previous year. The agency levied a record $7 million in civil fines on businesses that employed illegal workers.
This is a cost of doing business if you happen to get caught; $7 million divided by 2,740 company audits is $2,555 per audit. I would be willing to bet you that the average cost of each audit was more than the $2,555 collected. This is all just more smoke and mirrors with the media being complicit in the sham.
21 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: January 21, 1923Yesterday at about 4:00 in the afternoon I received an email. I have a link set up on iGoogle that shows me any new mail received at my Yahoo Mail address.
However, when I went to my Yahoo Mail page it said that my Inbox was empty as well as all my other file boxes. This has happened before so I checked for Yahoo Mail problems on Google Search and found that they were experiencing some 'issues'.
Today I tried my account again 4 or 5 times and also checked for problems. I could not find any recent postings about problems but was still unable to retrieve the messages that iGoogle said I had received.
I then noticed, only by chance because I never change the settings, that the email account that I was opening was for my edwardfrey.com domain. When I changed it to the yahoo.com domain all was well. I hate it when Yahoo makes improvements/changes to their Mail Service!
I noticed the beginning of a blister on the ball of my right foot yesterday. It has become slightly worse today. This does not come as a surprise to me because of how I was walking in my boots – the ball of my right foot was never taking any pressure.
I have a nice callus on the ball of my left foot and almost nothing on the right. The blister will most likely get worse before it forms a callus but the shoes feel much better than the boots. The back and leg pains are much less which is good.
22 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
I walked to Ray's in Huachuca City this morning for breakfast. This is the restaurant that is the furtherest south from me or about 8 ¾ miles round trip.I thought I may have been pushing my luck with the blister on my right foot but managed just fine.
It was quite cold at the start of my walk, below freezing again, but on the way home I had to take off my jacket because it was too warm. We did have some wind come up in the afternoon but it was another perfect southern Arizona day.
The snowbirds were sun bathing again, working on that tan that they will be bragging about when they fly back home in April.
My afternoon was very exciting, or perhaps I should say surprising. I was on the couch in my normal reading position when suddenly I became conscious that I had been un-conscious for some time.
It seems that a nap had snuck up on me while I was not aware of it. Maybe the walk this morning had something to do with that?
I have to say this about President Obama; he has an agenda that he is going to stick to come hell or high water.
President Barack Obama will call for new government spending on infrastructure, education and research in his State of the Union address Tuesday, sharpening his response to Republicans in Congress who are demanding deep budget cuts, people familiar with the speech said.He does not seem to care what the message was in the last election, does not seem to care what the projected needs are for roads (see below) and believes that throwing more money at the Teachers Union will improve the education system. I can only surmise that he is trying to buy more votes with borrowed money.
The December 2008 figures (the latest available) show that motor vehicle miles traveled were down about 3.6% for 2008 as compared with 2007.
This continued drop in miles driven dramatically upsets transportation planning as it has been done over the past 50 years in the U.S. All road and highway planning is done on the assumption that travel miles will continue to increase at a 2-4% annual rate as they have done (on average) through the entire 20th century.
Now--even after the U.S. recovers from the current economic difficulties--predictions are for miles driven to grow less than 1% annually .
23 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
The brief days of spring like weather are gone and it is back to more wintry ones. Yesterday was over 70° and today it is struggling to get over 60. The mornings continue to be just below freezing. We also have some wind that is blowing in those low flat bottomed puffy white clouds. I find them to be very pretty against the startling blue Arizona sky.
After my morning walk I was bundled up on the couch. There I finished another mystery by John Lescroart; this was the third book of his that I have read.
They have all been entertaining and a good read, I look for his books now when I do a trade. I'll be doing that tomorrow with the one I finished.
Also finished eating the stew that I made a few days ago so I made up a pot of chicken pazole. It is always better the next day after it has sat overnight and the flavors have melded. That will be my 'linners' until I go shopping again.
Was working on the grocery list today and have included the makings for a new soup and a new stew. I'll have more to say about them later in the week.
24 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
It has been a few degrees below freezing in the morning for the past two weeks. The forecast was for that to continue for another week with the highs in the low to mid-60s.Well, they missed this morning low by a lot; it was 23° and felt even colder. I was not happy.
I made my book exchange today but starting to have a problem finding one that I want. I can only hope that other people bring in a lot of new stuff to choose from. My next 4-5 exchanges may be selections that I would not usually make.
I have decided that I will stay here for another month; I'll have a window curtain by then (I hope), the wall light installed and the micro removed.
I was on the computer a lot today looking for my future stops. Have almost decided that I'll spend March and maybe part of April in Pahrump, NV (my domicile of record).
I need to see my VA doctor there so I'll make the appointment in person and hope that I see her during March. I will then go to Reno, NV for a dentist appointment; hopefully only staying in the area for a few days at the most.
I haven't thought out my route much beyond that except I have the idea that I'll follow US95 north into Idaho.
25 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
I said that I have decided to stay here for another month. I need to do that to get my curtain installed if for no other reason but that does not mean I don't have 'hitch itch'.I seem to do well in a place for about one month. After that length of time I start to feel like every day just runs together with the next one. I don't get bored necessarily but do slip into a same-o-same-o daily routine.
I'm still doing research for my future travels. That may be my attempt to scratch the 'hitch itch'. HA HA
It was another cold morning walk; it was 21°. That was colder that yesterday but felt warmer, go figure. The next five days are projected to be warmer mornings (maybe even get above freezing) with the daily highs in the mid-60s.
I will not watch/listen to President Obama's State of the Union Speech tonight. I will be reading all the media comments and analysis of what he had to say tomorrow.
I might be overly pessimistic but I don't think anything he says or any of the analysis of it will make any difference. He will continue to say that the government will fix all the problems in this country.
I see our economy muddling along the same path that Japan and Russia have been on for the past 20 years; both of them centrally controlled economies that we seem to being trying to emulate. It may take years before this experiment has run its course.
26 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
The forecast lows for the past three days have been 27, 25 & 29; the actual lows have been 22, 20 & 20. The forecasters 'guesses' have been getting worse rather than better.
They have been much closer to correct with regard to the highs. Today we are in the mid-60s once again. Not a cloud in the sky, no wind and plenty of sun.
I paid for my additional month here at Mountain View plus my electric for the past month. Total electric usage was 4.7 Kw/day which is not much but seems high for just my computer and refrigerator (I have the lights on very little).
An editorial in The Christian Science Monitor tends to agree with me that the US is on a path of emulation
With his constitutionally mandated report to Congress last night, President Obama has now made it official: America must become an emulation nation.Of all the comments and analysis of the State of the Union Speech that I read today I think this excerpt from an Opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal expresses my opinion. I also think President Obama's guiding light continues to be his basic policy in all things “Reward your friends and punish your enemies”.
It’s no longer the “exceptional nation,” as in America’s past, or a “beacon on the hill,” the leader of the free world, or the sole superpower. It is a nation that must try to learn from its top competitors on how they are succeeding.
The more Mr. Obama has traveled overseas, the more he cites foreign lessons for Americans to follow...Obama holds up China as a model for renewable energy, high-speed trains, and research facilities. He sings praises for South Korea’s drive for advanced education. India is admired for its science institutes or the use of technology to hold officials accountable. Even while in Indonesia, he cited that Southeast Asian nation as a model for its cultural values of tolerance and unity.
In last night's State of the Union, Mr. Obama tried to reposition himself as a champion of business and reformer of government. His support for lower corporate tax rates was especially welcome. The test of his sincerity will come in his policy choices in the coming months.
Yet Tuesday night can't erase the fact that in his first two years Mr. Obama has overseen an historic expansion of government. He has increased federal spending to as much as 25% of the economy from a modern average between 20% and 21%. In terms of allocating resources, this means that 4% of annual economic output was suddenly taken out of private hands and put under government control.
Government "investments"—Mr. Obama's favorite word last night—are by definition made for political purposes, rather than for their highest potential return. They are allocated by politics rather than by prices. In our view, that 4% of GDP a year could have contributed far more to economic recovery had it stayed in private hands.
But even if you believe that such spending prevented a depression, it makes no economic sense to keep those resources under political sway now that the recovery is underway. Would you rather have Congress allocating that 4% of GDP, or millions of individuals deciding among Apple, Gilead Sciences, or the next great idea?
The path back to faster growth, more jobs and a more competitive U.S. economy does not travel through more political mediation. Nor does it lie in endlessly easy Fed policy in a misguided attempt to refloat the housing bubble or revive the financial boom. A better economy requires policies that reward work and innovation, while letting capital flow to the companies and individuals with the best ideas.
27 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
Today was grocery shopping day in Sierra Vista. That got me into warmer climes for my morning walk; it has been about 5° warmer in Sierra Vista that in Huachuca City. It was a good thing also because the 29° forecast was completely wrong again with a 21° actual here at 'home'. It felt closer to freezing in Sierra Vista this morning so it may have exceeded the five degrees that it has been for the past few mornings.
I gave My Place restaurant a try for breakfast this morning. The Huevos con Chorizo Skillet was fair but the price was excellent. The have a full menu page of $3.99 breakfast specials during the week.
I'll be stopping back to try some of the other offerings on future grocery shopping days that is for sure.
Got my grocery list filled and when I got home I put some of it in the Thermal Cooker. Was web surfing for something to cook and stumbled across an Italian Sausage Stew.
I changed a few things but this is what went into the pot today: one pound of Hot Italian Sausage (sliced), two cans of Stewed Italian Tomatoes, one zucchini (diced), one can of corn, one can of cut green beens and one can of carrots.
It is in the Cooker until tonight, then will sit overnight. I'm not big on adding a lot of spices that are called for but I did a liberal shaking of basil and oregano into this pot that need to meld.
Tomorrow will be the taste test along with a big green salad and sourdough baguette all washed down with a glass or two of Merlot.
28 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: January 28, 1923The Italian Stew was good stuff. I have a big batch of it so I'm set with 'linners' for the next few days.
I have given up on looking at the forecasts for the low temperatures to come. The forecasters have not been anywhere close to right.
I cannot fathom why they keep forecasting near freezing temperatures when the actual continues to be in the low 20s. Maybe it is a Chamber of Commerce influence?
I have been reading mostly mystery, suspense or thrillers for the past six months or more. Today when I made my exchange I was looking for bulk more than genre and picked up a western.
I went through a period a few years ago when I read a lot of westerns; this may be the beginning of another cycle.
In his State of the Union speech Obama said: “With more research and incentives, we can break our dependence on oil with biofuels, and become the first country to have a million electric vehicles on the road by 2015.”
I think the key word spoken by President Obama was “incentives” with regard to the private sector. In the public sector it is a very simple goal to achieve; all he has to do is issue an Executive Order that all new Federal Government cars purchased will be electric. If the free market is allowed to function the goal is iffy but possible if gas prices continue to escalate.
Despite renewed concerns about the price of gas, most Americans still aren’t likely to buy an electric car in the next 10 years.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 27% of Adults say it’s at least somewhat likely they’ll buy an electric car within the next decade. That’s down 13 points from early August 2009 when 40% felt that way. Sixty-four percent (64%) say it’s not likely they’ll purchase an electric vehicle.
These findings include just 11% who say it’s Very Likely they’ll purchase an electric car in the next 10 years and 29% who say it’s Not At All Likely.
29 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
I slept in a bit later this morning. That along with some muscle soreness indicated to me that it was time for a rest day. No walking today.The muscle soreness has come from my pushing the speed of my walks the past few days. I have been watching my speed closely and keeping it faster than my 'normal' pace.
This faster pace will become my new 'normal' given some time but I need to listen to my body as I get to that point.
I think it was because I did not walk, the morning low was up to 27° rather than the low 20s where it has been. I think I'll be out again tomorrow and hope the low is where it was this morning or higher. It was rather nice.
I was on the couch a lot with another Lescroat mystery today. Broke that up with the reading of three blogs I'm trying to get to current.
Two of them are iffy that I will continue to read after I do get current but I'm giving them a fair chance. The third one will not make it to my daily read list but probably will be one that I'll catch up on every month or two.
I have been thinking about President Obama's proposal that the United States change the present mix of conventional energy production and green energy production so that 80% of all energy is green by 2035. The web has a lot of information so I thought I would see what I could find.
This information was taken from The Department of Energy Report #:DOE/EIA-0554(2010) Release date: April 2010.
The costs ($/kW) of new projects initiated in 2009: Scrubbed Coal 2,223 , Conventional Gas/Oil 984 and Conventional Combustion Turbine 685. These three are what may be thought of as the current technology of energy production (about 75% of all production) and what President Obama wants the United States to move away from.
The costs ($/kW) of new projects initiated in 2009: Advanced Nuclear 3,820, Biomass 3,849, Solar Thermal 5,132 and Wind Offshore 3,937. These are the larger green energy systems that could possibly replace the current technology. This is where he want the United States to go.
My back of the envelope calculation; to replace one half of the current technology with green production, would be something in excess of $250 Billion. This would raise employment during the construction of these replacement green energy plants, that is a good thing - then the construction workers would once again be unemployed, which is a bad thing.
The good things would happen while Obama is President while the bad would happen when someone else is responsible. The new plants would raise electric rates of course but that is of little consequence to President Obama's far reaching vision.
Where the money might come from is also outside of his plan for a better America. That is a problem for someone else to solve, his place is simply to make proposals and look at getting re-elected.
30 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
This morning the low was just below freezing, like yesterday, but the forecast is for lower temperatures through this coming week. The high on Wednesday is to be 45° with a low back to near 20.The wind has been kicking up this afternoon which is probably the leading edge of the cold front starting to move in.
I see a hawk at about the same place every time I walk my east/southeast route. Today I saw him/her again but soon thereafter I also saw a pack of four coyotes
I can not remember when, or if ever, I have seen more than two coyotes at one time. My day for wildlife was not over, within a few hundred yards I had six deer jump up near me.
I didn't see any of the deer of coyotes for long; they disappeared into the heavy brush very quickly.
The ObamaCare news just keep rolling in with continued evidence of President Obama's guiding policy: Reward your friends and punish your enemies. These waivers need to be renewed every year; I wonder how many of those entities that have been granted them this year will make a contribution to the 2012 Obama Re-election Campaign?
The Obama administration has now tripled the number of waivers granted to employers who cannot meet with the requirements of the new law -- from a little more than 200 to more than 700.
"Even the Obama administration is admitting by granting these waivers that they better make some exceptions or they're going to have the unintended consequence of having more uninsured, not less," according to Jim Capretta of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a former official in the White House Office of Management and Budget from 2001 to 2004...
Hundreds of entities from banks to church groups to school districts are saying they can't live up to the law. The group also includes dozens of unions chapters, most of which supported passage of the bill -- from electrical workers to Teamsters to the Service Employees Union, which organizes low wage workers. Even a union representing NY Firefighters asked for a waiver, as well as several states whose own health care requirements were lower than the new federal law.
31 January
Mountain View RV Park
Huachuca City, AZ
This morning was great! We had our 5th morning low temperature this year that was at or above freezing.There had been a cloud cover during the night that helped retain the heat of the earth. But as the day progressed, with increasing winds, those clouds blew away and more rain bearing clouds moved in.
Those rain bearing ones started to release their load by early afternoon, wind gusts were rocking Desperado and the weather was turning ugly.
The rain had what the Weather Underground called 'ice pellets' mixed in (it sure looked like snow to me). There will probably be some snow covering all the mountains around me in the morning.
The cold front has arrived!
I walked to Huachuca City again for breakfast before all the weather changes happened; this time stopping at Sunny D's restaurant. This is the third place in town that is within walking distance, 8 ¼ miles round trip.
The breakfast was good but I can not say that any of the three are really great.
After I got home I just hunkered down as the storm blew in. More couch and computer time for most of the day.