Peregrinating
2014

April

1 April
Pair-A-Dice Escapee RV Park
Pahrump, NV

Another trip to town and another stop at Gems Café which I identified as Imagine Vegas when I visited the first time. Gems Café is what is on the building and Imagine Vegas is what is shown on the credit card receipt. I had a build your own omelet again but had some difficulty building it. It seems that the owner left the cook/server with almost nothing to cook and I had to make a couple different choices before he had what I was selecting. I'm not so sure the breakfast idea is going to work out for them if this becomes routine.

I then went to my 9:00am dentist appointment and arrived about 30 minutes early to find that the office was locked until 9:00am. I then waited for about 20 minutes until x-rays were taken and then another 30 minutes before the dentist came in to see me. This was only the second time that I have been to this office but if I were not changing my April visits to Sierra Vista I would not have used this dentist again. Both visits were like this - long waits. I gave them the benefit of the doubt the first time but this second visit confirms that they run all their appointments like this.

Patches was upset with me again this morning. Too much running into town and leaving her by herself. Not paying enough attention to her. Disrupting her whole routine in life. Not good!

The wind has stayed with us, the temperature has dropped and the chance of rain tomorrow is now only 30%. This brings back memories of winter but is a very normal pattern for Nevada. Spring is a one or two day affair here that is inserted into winter then disappears completely overnight when summer arrives. I think I'll be getting out of town before that happens but you never can tell.

2 April
Pair-A-Dice Escapee RV Park
Pahrump, NV

We got some more winter here this morning. The low was 44° but only 40 with the windchill. The weather guessers reduced the chance of rain even more, to only 20%, but I have had enough fall on Desperado to say that it rained today. Not much, but it did rain.

I was able to do our morning walk before the rains came. I was also able to go to the Club House for some coffee and conversation and get home before it happened. The rain did come again around noon and this time it stayed long enough to get the ground wet. Still not a lot but Pahrump never receives a lot.

Yahoo! has been messing with MyYahoo! since I moved my homepage to it some months ago. A few days ago they had a notice on the page that they were not going to display my Bookmarks there at some undisclosed point in time and were pushing the use of their Yahoo! Toolbar. I have made the move and don't like it much better than MyYahoo! but will adjust given enough time.

I'm not sure why they are moving away from MyYahoo!. It offered an advertising platform that the Toolbar does not which seems counterproductive to what they have been doing. I was able to disable the ads on MyYahoo! by installing Adblock Plus. Perhaps many others were doing the same and Yahoo! found that the ad platform was not paying for its maintenance.

Yes, We Can Wait by James Taranto for The Wall Street Journal puts some backspin on the story line that the White House and the lame stream media are trying to peddle about ObamaCare enrollments. A month ago the Administration did not know how many people had signed up yet the day after enrollments are closed they know there were 7.1 million. One day after the close and they know how many there were to the rounded thousands. Do you believe that? I got a bridge!

But it was the line photos that we found arresting. And it's clear McGuinness was advancing a White House line. Press secretary Jay Carney opened his daily briefing yesterday with the following gasconade: "As you can see by the lines around the country this weekend, we are seeing a surge in enrollment."
The first thing we thought of when we saw the pictures was the photos we've recently seen on Twitter of Venezuelans waiting in bread lines. Waiting in line to purchase necessities is a characteristic not of a prosperous free society but of command economies under repressive regimes. Closer to home, one doubts even the Transportation Security Administration would be so tone-deaf as to advertise long airport lines as an indication it's doing a great job.
So what in the world could the White House have been thinking? Here's a guess: They look at the ObamaCare lines and think not of communist subjects queuing up for bread or toilet paper, or Americans for driver's licenses, but something more like the lines of consumers eager to be the first to get the new iPhone or the latest Harry Potter book. Affluent people often wait in line for things about which they have a particular enthusiasm--or for special experiences, like an amusement park ride, concert or meal at a favorite restaurant.
One obvious difference is that whereas the iPhone and Harry Potter queuers are eager to get the new thing first, the ObamaCare ones are presumably anxious not to miss the deadline (even if it's not rigorously enforced). ObamaCare lines might have been impressive if they'd begun to form in the last days of September. At the end of open enrollment, the White House boast is akin to the IRS's citing a "surge" in filing of tax returns two weeks from now as evidence that the income tax system is popular and well designed.

3 April
Pair-A-Dice Escapee RV Park
Pahrump, NV

Cold, cold. It stayed cold and rainy until we went out for our afternoon walk yesterday. By then it had warmed up to 54° as warm as it was going to get. Then this morning there was some light frost although the official low temperature was 34°. The weather guessers are predicting warmer days to come with a high of 80 on Monday.

I was back at the Club House again after our morning walk. More coffee, conversation and book trading. I was able to trade the O'Shaughnessy for another one but the Park library had no other Stan Johnson. That is the first author that I could not find to do a 'straight' trade but I got a DeMille which made for a better one.

I also became current on reading my Monthly blogs. Making some progress on the one blog that may joining the Monthly list but still only in 2012. I'll devote more time to it now that I have finished the Monthly once again.

This is the first book that I have read by these two sisters; Pamela being experienced as a trial lawyer and Mary having prior experience as a writer and editor. I did not find the scenario to be just-barely-believable as Publishers Weekly claims. Perhaps a stretch but after all it is fiction. The 'lawyering' could be less than believable but I don't know that so I enjoyed the story. I'll look for some more of Perri's books when I trade.

A wild, just-barely-believable scenario jump-starts this serviceably written, well-paced and engaging courtroom thriller, seventh in a series by the bestselling duo (sisters Pamela and Mary O'Shaughnessy) who write under the pen name Perri. On an ordinary night at a Lake Tahoe casino, a young ex-Marine and Native American widow named Jessie Potter punches a button on a slot machine and winds up hitting the jackpot to the tune of $7 million. Rather than jumping for joy, she flees the casino, dragging computer nerd Kenny Leung, the man at the slot machine next to hers, along with her. Jessie, it is revealed, is being stalked and can't sign for her check, for fear of publicity. Desperate for a solution, she convinces Kenny to marry her so she can sign as Mrs. Leung, and to protect her interests, she hires lawyer Nina Reilly, back once more after her adventures in Move to Strike. The story takes off when Jessie's former father-in-law enters the picture with a wrongful death suit, claiming that Jessie killed his son, and a writ of execution that will seize all of Jessie's assets, including the $7 million. Meanwhile, key witnesses to Jessie's win keep turning up dead, and Nina and her arch rival, Jeff Riesner, face off in court. Although development of the interpersonal relationships is rushed, making them never quite as believable as they should be, and the language and dialogue are rendered predictably, the suspenseful and well-executed courtroom scenes provide ample payoff. In particular, the book's final third captivates with its scenes of wily courtroom negotiation. Readers will relish the myriad plot details and the procedural drama, and enjoy the cast of offbeat characters. - Publishers Weekly

Spengler wrote The West’s Ukrainian Folly: Wisdom from an Old Cold Warrior on 20 March 2014. The excerpt shown below is only a small part of that article but I think the closing sentence is right on the mark.

...The Republican mainstream mistook Tahrir Square for Lexington Common, and then mistook Maidan for Tahrir Square. If only we were rougher and tougher, it is claimed, Crimea would be free today. That is just plain stupid; there is no possible state of the world in which Crimea would not be Russian. We had some ability to influence the terms under which it would be Russian, and we chose the worst possible course of action, namely open hostility combined with impotent posturing...
What we will get in Ukraine, I might add, is something like what we got in Egypt. While both the Obama administration and Sens. McCain and Graham (along with the likes of Reuel Marc Gerecht at the Weekly Standard) bet on the Muslim Brotherhood as the voice of Islamic democracy, Egypt’s economy collapsed. The IMF tried to get Egypt to cut the food and energy subsidies that consume its budget, and Egypt refused. Eventually the economy crashed and the military came back by mass popular acclaim. Ukraine isn’t quite Egypt (it exports rather than imports food), but its economy is busted, and the West has sent the IMF in once again. That’s a formula for chaos. Putin won’t take over Donetsk or Karkhov. He doesn’t have to. He’ll wait for the West to make an unspeakable mess of Ukraine and then do whatever he wants.

4 April
Pair-A-Dice Escapee RV Park
Pahrump, NV

Another trip to town with our first stop at Smith's for groceries. The advantage of being there early is the few shoppers that are there. The disadvantage is all the items that are in the isles that the stockers are frantically trying to get put on the shelves.

We went from there to The Town Diner which was called the Pahrump Diner and that have Pahrump Town Diner on their receipts. What has not changed is the Egg Enchilada that they offer for breakfast. I think this is the only place that I have ever had it and I always get it at least once while I'm here.

I then went to the UPS Store where I was able to pick up my new drivers license along with some junk mail. Our last stop was then at Acme General Store where I was able to get the bag of Canidae Pure Elements for Patches.

Immediately upon arriving back at the Park I set to work preparing 'linners' for the next few days. This week it will be my same salad except I'll use kale rather than mustard greens. For the entrée I made a pot of Barly, Beans and Sausage. That is a dry cup of pearled barley, 32 oz of broth, 29 oz of red beans and two packages of Lightlife Smart Sausages Italian Style. The sausage is an experiment in using vegan sausage for its much reduced fat content; 1/4 what there is in regular sausage. I may find that the reduced fat is not worth the lack of taste but will only know by trying it. The taste test after a couple of hours in the Cooker gave it a passing mark.

I also made up another big batch of yogurt desert. Continued to use vanilla Greek yogurt but added a pound of mixed berries, a small bag of pecan and a cooked cup (dry) of quick barley for this week. I have really liked these desserts and will keep switching the fruit and nuts so that it doesn't become same Oh same Oh.

I got my new mail box address from the Sierra Vista UPS Store yesterday. Sent off an email to chance my address with the University of Arizona Alumni and the VFW magazine. Also sent an email to the VFW Post in Sierra Vista asking them to transfer my membership from Nevada and received a reply today to consider that done. I wish changing my address with Prudential and Social Security had been that easy.

The other thing that I did yesterday was 'Secure Message' (email) blood pressure readings that I took here at home from 3/28 - 4/3/14 to my VA 'doctor'. He had asked for some readings at various times of the day including when I first woke up. I had told him that these were always 20 points or more less than what I would measure in the office. That is what the numbers were that I sent him.

This morning I got a reply that said to reduce my dosage of blood pressure medicine by 1/2 and send him some more readings over the next 2-3 weeks. I'll be going on the reduced dosage tomorrow morning and expect to see some increase but will be disappointed if it is more than 10 points. We will see what happens and what he thinks.

5 April
Pair-A-Dice Escapee RV Park
Pahrump, NV

I went to the Club House for coffee again this morning but did not stay long. There was a crowd starting to gather for the Park's annual/semi-annual meeting of lot owners. I didn't need to stay for that since I'm not a lot owner and I didn't want to put up with the gathering crowd.

I got home and put together what I think will be my breakfast scramble for the next few days/weeks until I change again. My latest creation has dark leaf greens (today was kale), onion, sweet mini-peppers, some cooked barley, couple big spoons of Pace Picante Sauce, couple spoons of minced garlic, a little turmeric and about 4 oz of crumbled firm tofu. When this is done I may garnish with some low fat cheese or avocado (this morning) and a liberal dash of my home made cayenne hot sauce. To be eaten with corn tortillas.

The Barley, Beans and Sausage that I made yesterday turned out well although the texture of the sausage will require some adaptation on my part. Having said that, my next attempt will reduce the amount of barley to keep it more of a soup rather than the almost dry stew that I ended up with this time. It is amazing how much liquid a small amount of barley will soak up.

Did a little bit of house cleaning today but didn't do all that needs to be done. I'll ease into getting it finished by the time I leave. Priority one today was to clean the toilet (porcelain much easier than the plastic), bathroom sink and mirror. I also got most of the dog hair vacuumed up off the floor but still need to get down on hands and knees and give it a good washing.

The other chore for the day was to pay for electric used during my month stay here at the Park and pay for 3 additional days. When I started making summer reservations I began with August, when I need another teeth cleaning, and worked back to current. Because every Park has a different idea of how long a month is I ended up needing to stay here for 3 days past what they consider a month (28 days).

I also received an email reply from Prudential that they could not change my address based on an email. They did give me enough of a hint that I was able to find a place to register and then do it online. The only thing I get from them in the mail is an annual 1099-R for tax purposes and I selected to now get that paperless. Don't need to be changing addresses with them any more. Good news, it was easy to change my banking addresses online.

The Bureau of Labor released their non-farm job numbers for March yesterday that showed an increase of 192,000 jobs. The media was very quiet about the release. The only hype that I found was that the private sector now has as many people employed as it did before the recession started. That is rather faint praise for the jobs policy of the Obama Administration.

If you look at the Household Data for March the number of Employed increased by 476,000 keeping the trend in place. There have been increases of 818,000 in November, 143,000 in December, 638,000 in January, 42,000 in February and now this much larger increase again.

The Unemployment Rate remained unchanged at 6.7%, which the media is tending to ignore now that the Federal Reserve is also ignoring the rate. The number of Unemployed was up slightly by 27,000 with the Not in the Labor Force decreasing by 331,000. This was enough to move the Participation Rate up to 63.2% but continues to be far below the historical normal.

The average earnings lost one cent to $24.30 an hour, while the average workweek gained 0.3 hours to 34.5 hours or back to where it was in January.

6 April
Pair-A-Dice Escapee RV Park
Pahrump, NV

I did a little more housework today. Got the floors washed down which is not that much of a job if you exclude the getting up and down. Even the getting down is not very hard, it is the getting back up that is the hard part. It is good exercise - I should do it every day. Right.

The only other thing that I did was finish another book. I'll get a review posted tomorrow or the next day. I also started taking the reduced dosage blood pressure pills yesterday morning. A mid-day reading was not so good but the just before going to sleep and the before getting up this morning were very close to what I was getting while using the higher dosage. I took it again around 10:30am and it was higher than when still in bed of course but much better than the mid-day yesterday. I'm encouraged.

I don't think the Lame Stream Media has had a front page headline about US casualties during this first quarter of 2014 nor did they in 2013. The media only gets excited about the number of deaths when they can use them in a political story. Since the troops are going to be leaving Afghanistan this year I doubt there will be any mention of how many have died except for a 'closing story' or two that will blame them all on former President Bush. The numbers shown below are for the first quarter of each year and the president that was in office when it happened.

On Friday’s [04/04/14] "Morning Joe," Scarborough attacked Reid for believing that he could motivate voters to support Democrats by labeling the GOP as a party that is heavily influenced by big money backers.
"It’s the stupidest strategy I’ve ever heard," Scarborough said. "If somebody think that a voter in Raleigh, North Carolina, gives a damn about who is financing 30-second ads, they are too stupid to be in politics.
"You have to be really stupid to think that this is going to work."

7 April
Pair-A-Dice Escapee RV Park
Pahrump, NV

Went to the Club House for the last time this visit. I had coffee and conversations again but also did my laundry. I also went to the Park library and traded the book that I finished yesterday for another author that is unknown to me. A very busy morning of multi-tasking.

Then later in the day I did some more house work. Washed the nose prints and slobber off of the window where Patches spends most of her time now when we travel. She gets the driver side smeared up also when she is waiting for me when I have breakfast or shopping or whatever. I then washed down the dash so my house is now probably as clean as it needs to be for traveling to our next camp. I will wipe down the stove and counter tops tomorrow evening as the final touch.

Russia prepares to attack the petrodollar is an article from The Voice of Russia (Russia's answer to Voice of America) the English edition. It is dated 4 April 2014 so there has not been much time for the US lame stream media to pick up on the story but I doubt seriously if you will read/hear it from them. President Obama declared a "sanctions war' and the Russians are starting to fire back in a serious way.

President Regan forced the Soviet Union into bankruptcy when they attempted to match his arms race spending. I think President Putin learned the lesson well and is now trying to force the United States into bankruptcy by removing the US Dollar as the worlds Reserve Currency. They are being helped in that effort by China and the other BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China & South Africa).

The US dollar's position as the base currency for global energy trading gives the US a number of unfair advantages. It seems that Moscow is ready to take those advantages away.
The existence of “petrodollars” is one of the pillars of America's economic might because it creates a significant external demand for American currency, allowing the US to accumulate enormous debts without defaulting. If a Japanese buyer want to buy a barrel of Saudi oil, he has to pay in dollars even if no American oil company ever touches the said barrel. Dollar has held a dominant position in global trading for such a long time that even Gazprom's natural gas contracts for Europe are priced and paid for in US dollars. Until recently, a significant part of EU-China trade had been priced in dollars.
Lately, China has led the BRICS efforts to dislodge the dollar from its position as the main global currency, but the “sanctions war” between Washington and Moscow gave an impetus to the long-awaited scheme to launch the petroruble and switch all Russian energy exports away from the US currency.

It’s been easy to shrug off the U.S. sanctions against Russia as something that only impacts people half a world away. That could be changing. Anecdotal evidence suggests that wealthy Russians, who have become a big part of the luxury real estate market in places like New York and Miami, may be sitting on the sidelines while our two countries duke it out on the diplomatic stage.

8 April
Pair-A-Dice Escapee RV Park
Pahrump, NV

Went to the Golden Harvest Café, in the Nugget Casino for breakfast. Built an omelet again and they had all the ingredients that I selected the very first time. They have done this before I think. Perhaps the Gem Café could take some lessons?

I could have put off going to Smith's for groceries today but I know that the only grocer where I'll next camp is a small one. Thought I might as well get one more week of items that I want versus a store where I can get what they have. I might be surprised, and hope I am, but do not have high expectations.

I also used my Smith Reward points to fill up with gas but I could have done that tomorrow on my way out of town. Made a final stop at the UPS Store where I picked up a package from the VA that had most of my prescriptions in it. The blood pressure pills came in 20mg and I am now taking only 1/2 of one a day which means I got a 6 month supply. IF I can stay on the 10mg. I think the 'doctor' will let me stay with it. The readings that I am getting before getting out of bed in the morning are only slightly higher than when I was taking 20mg.

When we got home I hooked up to electric and immediately began to dump my holding tanks. Took on fresh water so I'm now ready to hit the road in the morning. I have a two day route getting to my next monthly camp. I'll be doing a blacktop boondock tomorrow night and think I will have an Internet connection. If I don't I'll still be writing up a posting but will not get it uploaded to my website until Thursday.

This is the first book that I have read by Evans. Not sure where I picked his book up at but probably one of my last trades in Hondo, TX where the selection was getting thin. I most likely chose it for its size as much as anything. I found it entertaining and Publisher Weekly does it justice in their review. If you are a tree and/or bunny hugger then the book will be a real emotional roller coaster for you. I will read another of his if I can find one but he is not the most prolific writer.

Fans of Evans's bestselling debut, The Horse Whisperer, may find that this issue-oriented follow-up is a case of deja vu. Montana is again the setting, animals are crucial to the plot and a love story between dissimilar people is the heart-tugger. The bitter debate over the reintroduction of wolves into the American West provides the hook. After the book opens with the killing of a family dog by a stray wolf, the battle lines are quickly and clearly drawn. The wolf-hating cowboys are led by quintessential alpha male Buck Calder, the region's biggest rancher, bully and philanderer. Primary opposition comes from wolf biologist Helen Ross, a despised Easterner hired to keep the wolves safe from ranchers and more selective about their predation. She eventually teams up 'professionally and romantically' with Calder's stuttering, insecure son Luke, much to his father's disgust. This underplayed romance is nicely done, as is the burgeoning revolt within the Calder household by Luke and Eleanor, Buck's surprisingly self-possessed wife. But Evans once again shows himself capable of graceless writing. As if preparing for the inevitable casting call, detailed character studies occupy large portions of the initial 100 pages, preempting later, subtler disclosures. His passages on wolf behavior read like mediocre nature film scripts. The novel is more a work of ideology than imagination. Among its overt messages: man is out of sync with nature; the New West is full of lonely, emotionally scarred people licking their wounds; and wolves make better alpha males than humans do. - Publishers Weekly

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will attend Wednesday's memorial service for the victims of last week's shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas. There were three people killed in this shooting but the numbers don't seem to be the deciding factor in which memorial service the President will attend.

The Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting was a mass shooting that took place on August 5, 2012 which killed six but the President did not attend that memorial. There have been 34 identified as being killed in the Washington mudslide yet there has been no announcement that the President will attend any of their memorials. I guess it needs to be a shooting that can be used for political purposes that requires his attendance.

Late Breaking News, this just in! President Obama will visit Oso, WA on April 22, before starting out on a week-long trip to Asia, to meet with families affected by the deadly mudslide there. I'm not the only male multi-tasker on the planet, he can also multi-task. He scheduled his attendance at the Ft Hood memorial to correspond with a TX fund raiser and then the visit to Oso as part of his Asian trip.

9 April
Banc Club
Tonopah, NV

Patches and I did our final morning loop around the Park and then got 'on the road again'. Didn't go far before I stopped at Mom's Diner one more time for their Corned Beef Hash, Poached Eggs, great Home Fried Potatoes and thick slices of sourdough toast. My must have breakfasts when I ever get back to Pahrump are the Egg Enchiladas at The Town Dinner and Corned Beef Hash at Mom's.

Then when we really did get on the road it was not a very long day at only 171 miles. I had a choice of a long day today or tomorrow and chose to make it tomorrow. Our route today: Oakridge Ave, Manse Rd & Howestead Rd (all in Pahrump), NV160 & US95.

Stopped for gas and almost filled up at a station in Tonopah, NV but the pump shut me down at $74. That was close enough to full that I can make it to Ely, NV tomorrow where I think gas is cheaper - that is cheaper not cheap. It was $3.739 here where I got gas and I saw stations that wanted even more.

I had a another decision to make today. Do I eat the last 'linner' that I have prepared and then make another weekly salad and weekly 'linner' today or do I eat out today. I chose to spend the time I have today for making the salad and main dish for 'linners' next week. I'll tell you about them tomorrow.

The less Americans know about Ukraine’s location, the more they want U.S. to intervene an article in The Washington Post is based on where U.S. survey respondents situated Ukraine on a map. The Post arrives at all sorts of conclusions but for me the most obvious one is that the lame stream media is forming foreign policy with their 'News'. I know Senator McCain has been to Ukraine but he flew into the country; I am curious where he would have placed it on the map. It seems that those people that misplaced the country by the most distance have adopted the Senator's approach as a solution.

On March 28-31, 2014, we asked a national sample of 2,066 Americans (fielded via Survey Sampling International Inc. (SSI), what action they wanted the U.S. to take in Ukraine, but with a twist: In addition to measuring standard demographic characteristics and general foreign policy attitudes, we also asked our survey respondents to locate Ukraine on a map as part of a larger, ongoing project to study foreign policy knowledge...
However, the further our respondents thought that Ukraine was from its actual location, the more they wanted the U.S. to intervene militarily. Even controlling for a series of demographic characteristics and participants’ general foreign policy attitudes, we found that the less accurate our participants were, the more they wanted the U.S. to use force, the greater the threat they saw Russia as posing to U.S. interests, and the more they thought that using force would advance U.S. national security interests;...

10 April
Antelope Valley RV Park
Delta, UT

We were up very early this morning. I wanted to be on the road at the first twilight and that is what happened after taking Patches for a short potty walk. We pulled out of a full parking lot at 5:35am that I shared with two others for most of the afternoon. There were 10 semis and about a dozen RV pulled in after I went to bed.

I wanted the early start because it was a long day and I was moving into the Mountain Time Zone which added an hour to our perceived travel time. I also wanted to stop at the Red Apple restaurant in Ely for breakfast but it is no longer open. Don't know how long it has been closed but is currently being remodeled as a pizza place.

So I went to my second choice, the Prospector restaurant in the Casino. There I got a huge Denver Omelet and an equally large serving of home fries. I ate it all of course but it could have easily fed a couple if a side order of toast were ordered. Then stopped for gas on the south end of town and filled up with gas that was 11 ¢ cheaper than in Tonopah.

Total distance today was 321 miles on this very simple route: US95, US6 & US50/US6.

The land looked very brown with not much sign that spring has reached this far north yet. Passed through some patches of snow on the north side of the mountain slopes just before entering Ely. Mount Wheeler has a lot of snow on it from ever vantage point that I could see as I drove around 3 sides of it. I can also see a lot of snow caped peaks in all directions from my new camp. My space will be shaded in the afternoon, probably in a week, by a number of trees that are just beginning to leaf out. Will still have a good view of sunrise over some of those snow caped peaks to the east and south.

Remember When Obama Taught Putin A Lesson By Releasing Oil From The Strategic Petroleum Reserve? by The Administrator of The Burning Platform was posted on 9 April 2014. This is what he had to say and included a chart which I have not. I would say that it was probably as effective as his 'sanctions war' is going to be.

On March 12 our far thinking brilliant droner in chief announced to the world that he was releasing 5 million barrels of oil from SPR in an attempt to drive the price of oil down and hurt the Russians, the 2nd largest oil exporter in the world. Considering that is one and a half hours of worldwide usage didn’t really matter to our PR president. The American sheeple needed to know the savior was taking action.
Since the MSM [Main Stream Media] will never go back and assess the success of Oblama’s calculated master plan, I will. The price of oil was $99 the day before his surprise announcement. It dropped to $98 for one day and it has been on an upward path ever since. It hit $103 today. That is a 5% increase in less than a month. Meanwhile, gasoline prices have risen from $3.48 per gallon to $3.58 per gallon in one month.
I sure hope our community organizing teleprompter reader in chief doesn’t try to teach Putin any more lessons. We can’t afford it.

11 April
Antelope Valley RV Park
Delta, UT

I said I was going to write about my 'linner' menu for this week and I said I would do it yesterday. I had a long day and not only didn't feel up to it but completely forgot. The salad for the week has mustard greens as the only change, the dessert changed to blueberries and hazelnuts and the breakfast dark green leaf will be a mixture of mustard greens and turnip greens.

The main course is the big change - no Thermal Cooker this week. I cooked up some of the sauce two days ago and will be adding cut up squid each day and cooking until done in my skillet. The sauce was simply a can of diced tomato, diced onion, sliced Greek olives a dab of powdered cayenne pepper and a double dab of oregano. This will be served over some pre-cooked pearled barley. I had some yesterday and it was tasty.

Patches and I did a 2 mile round trip walk this morning that was out and back to the east along Main Street. Our turn around was at the Rancher Motel & Café where I could see a lot of people having breakfast. If you search for restaurants in Delta, UT using Google Maps this place will not show up. I usually do such a search but then also do a Yahoo! Search where I read the reviews from tripadvisor, yelp and urbanspoon. The reviews for breakfast are mostly good but decidedly mixed for lunch and dinner. I'll give them a try when I go for groceries next week - mostly because they are almost the only place in town that is open in the morning for breakfast.

The high temperature yesterday was 73° with a slight breeze and this mornings low was 40° and calm. Just about perfect by my standards. I can not get too comfortable however since the historical April average high/low is 64/33. Today and tomorrow continue above average then the Sunday forecast is for 53/31 then moving back up to near averages once again. I'm at about 4,700' in a semi-arid climate that get very hot in the summer and brutally cold in the winter.

12 April
Antelope Valley RV Park
Delta, UT

I got 5 more RVs in my sector of the Park yesterday. Four of them arriving after dark to set up and one of those is now my next door neighbor to the north. I selected the space that I have because there will be no one on the south side of me and I can hope that my new neighbor is a weekender.

We did a 2.2 mile square route for our walk yesterday afternoon. The western side was along 1000 West Rd/St(?) which had more fast traffic than I like but we could get well off the road. The north side was along 500 North and the east side back down 500 West to US50/Main St. I'll probably be doing this route some more.

This morning we went east on US50/Main St again to 200 West turned north to 200 North then looped back home. These are great examples of a unique feature of the Mormon grid plan, a so-complicated-it’s-simple method of street naming and numbering. The town site of Delta also appears to have followed the "Plat of Zion" which specified all streets were to be 132 feet wide with square blocks of 10 acres each measuring 660 feet on each side. It makes route planning very easy once you are inside the grid.

The reason for the traffic on 1000 West is the Intermountain Power Project, a coal burning electric power plant that generates 1,800 MW and transmits 75% of it to Los Angeles/Southern California. This is the largest power generation facility in Utah. It burns Utah coal from Canyon Fuel and Andalex mines with the coal trains carrying 15,000 tons each passing within 1/2 mile of the Park.

It is the power plant and farming that keeps Delta population at some 3,500 and kept the unemployment rate at 3.9% in July 2013. Most of the farming is alfalfa which is then fed to dairy cattle and the milk shipped to Salt Lake. A very nice community that is mostly white (78%), mostly LDS Adherents (96%) and in the 2012 presidential election 89% voted for Romney.

Why has the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) only now moved against Bundy in Clark County? Follow the money as spelled out in Sen. Harry Reid Behind BLM Land Grab of Bundy Ranch by Kit Daniels at Infowars.com. Follow the links in the original article, this is only a portion of what was written.

Deleted from BLM.gov but reposted for prosperity by the Free Republic, the BLM document entitled “Cattle Trespass Impacts” directly states that Bundy’s cattle “impacts” solar development, more specifically the construction of “utility-scale solar power generation facilities” on “public lands.”
“Non-Governmental Organizations have expressed concern that the regional mitigation strategy for the Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone utilizes Gold Butte as the location for offsite mitigation for impacts from solar development, and that those restoration activities are not durable with the presence of trespass cattle,” the document states.
Another BLM report entitled Regional Mitigation Strategy for the Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone (BLM Technical Note 444) reveals that Bundy’s land in question is within the “Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone and surrounding area” which is part of a broad U.S. Department of Energy program for “Solar Energy Development in Six Southwestern States” on land “managed” by BLM.

13 April
Antelope Valley RV Park
Delta, UT

We were up and out walking the route north of the Park this morning while it was still about six dark thirty. Not nearly as much traffic from the power plant at that time of the day so I'll be doing that route mostly as a morning walk.

We got some rain after I went to bed last night. Didn't sound like it was very much and the roads had only a few small puddles this morning. Wasn't too cold, 43°, but I was wishing that I had my gloves by the time we got home. The weather guessers continue to forecast a high of 51° for today but now think it will be down to 29° tomorrow morning. I will have my gloves on! Some of the clouds have blown away and we are getting partial sun during the afternoon even if it is not warm.

During our morning walk yesterday I spotted a payphone. These are rare, mostly antiques, anymore and I never have paid much attention except to note their demise. A blogger friend has a hobby of finding payphones so I sent her an email about this find. It is a very rare find indeed, so much so that it is hard to find any pictures of similar ones on the Internet. I'm going to try and get some pictures of it this afternoon if the sun will prevail, if not today then tomorrow.

Russian Gazprom Neft says Asian oil buyers ready to pay in euros a Reuters story on 10 April 2014 that probably will not be picked up by the US Lame Stream Media. It does not fit the 'story line' that they wish to tell so they will ignore it but reality marches on and Russia is firing back in response to President Obama's declaration of a 'sanctions war'.

Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft said on Thursday it had received positive responses from Asian clients about the possibility of using euros as a settlement currency.
"Gazprom Neft held discussions with its eastern partners about the possibility of completing settlements in the European currency. They, in turn, expressed their potential readiness for this," the company said in emailed comments.
Company head Alexander Dyukov said earlier this week that Gazprom Neft had broached the idea of dropping the dollar, traditionally the currency of choice for the global energy sector, as a response to a possible new round of Western sanctions.

14 April
Antelope Valley RV Park
Delta, UT

I had 3 of the 5 RVs that came in Friday leave yesterday. Unfortunately my next door neighbor and the one across the street from me were not among the 3. The northern neighbor did leave this morning a few minutes after 11:00.

I was also lucky to have the tent camper and his dog leave this morning. He was a nice enough fellow but his dog pup had a barking habit that was not being corrected. He was visiting a couple in a Class A, that also left, which was parked to my southwest; close enough that the dog barking irritated Patches and I (me more than her I think).

It was 27° this morning when we went for our walk at 6:30. That was bad but it got worse after the sun came up and the temperature continued to go down to 25 before it warmed up. I could tell it was cold when I got up around 5:00 so I ran some water through all the lines to keep them from freezing.

I have my doubts about the weather guessers forecast for the next few days. They are predicting today to be 57/32 then 71/41 tomorrow and back down to 58/32 on Wednesday. Then warming back to the 60-70/40-50 range for the rest of the 10 day forecast. I'll most likely stay rather cold until Thursday.

15 April
Antelope Valley RV Park
Delta, UT

We did another slightly different loop route to the east in what I now think of as our Library Route. In doing it we found another payphone which I did not take any pictures of this morning because it was not yet quite light enough. I did take some pictures of a statute at the City Library. Those I will be posting in a day or two.

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16 April
Antelope Valley RV Park
Delta, UT

We were up about the same time this morning but did not walk right away. First we drove to the City Library and parked and then did a 2+ mile out and back route east along US50 and a little of US6 after the junction. Stopped at a Mexican restaurant and inquired about their hours as I did with a second market here in town.

After we finished our walk I went to the The Rancher Café and had a so-so omelet. I may go back and give them another try but was not very impressed this morning. Then it was grocery shopping time at Jubilee Foods which carries a lot of Western Family brand canned foods.

It has been a long time and the weather is right for another pot of Frey's Special Chili. I got that going as soon as I got back to the Park and hooked up to electric. Also made up my desert for the week: vanilla yogurt, sliced almonds, blueberries and quick barley.

I also made a salad for just today. For the past few weeks I have made a big salad and then took a serving each day but I have found the peppers, and mushrooms were getting soggy by the 4-5 day. I'll be making individual salads this week: kale, Roma tomato, red onion, turnip, a sprinkle of feta cheese then dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

I finished another book today and started one more. The trading opportunities are very poor here at the Park. I think I will check with The City Library just before I leave here and see if they will trade for how ever many I have read by that time. I'll get a review of this last book posted in a few days.

Unsettling video shows large al Qaeda meeting in Yemen at CNN World by Barbara Starr seems to parrot excuses for the Administration rather than challenge their ineptitude. You have the Republican Representative carrying the Administrations water for them rather than holding their feet to the fire and the Media yawns.

The Drone President has not had any difficulty in finding and blowing away wedding parties in Pakistan with his Drone Army. Why not a group meeting of high level al Qaeda members that he has on the run?

A new video shows what looks like the largest and most dangerous gathering of al Qaeda in years. And the CIA and the Pentagon either didn't know about it or couldn't get a drone there in time to strike...In the middle of the clip, the man known as al Qaeda's crown prince, Nasir al-Wuhayshi, appears brazenly out in the open, greeting followers in Yemen. Al-Wuhayshi, the No. 2 leader of al Qaeda globally and the head of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, has said he wants to attack the United States...
U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" that leaks tied to Yemen have affected U.S. intelligence collection, but he said he couldn't say whether U.S. intelligence knew about the meeting.
Asked by Blitzer whether the United States would have sent a drone if officials had known such a large meeting of terrorists was taking place out in the open, the Michigan Republican said it's unclear.
"It really depends," he said. "There are a lot of procedures that one would go through ... to do an airstrike on any large package of individuals."
"It's difficult to get assets in position. You have to know where they are and where they meet at the right time in the right place with the right equipment. That's a lot to do."

17 April
Antelope Valley RV Park
Delta, UT

I was slow in getting up this morning and didn't feel like doing a long walk. Patches may have been ready for a rest day also since she took the short potty walk that we did with little protest.

It was also a cool 36° out there this morning in which I didn't want to spend much time. The forecast is for warmer mornings during the next 6 days then a couple of cold days and mornings once again; highs in the 50s and lows in the 30s.

Putin knows Obama will not resort to military action. That leaves sanctions. By leaving the president with no other alternative than to strike back or lose face maybe Putin hopes to force him into a sanctions game that Putin feels the EU will leave him stuck...
Putin is daring him to over-extend; to tread upon the European ice, which he knows in his heart will cave in under Obama. Fighting an all out sanctions battle would force Obama to rely on the EU, which Putin calculates will abandon him. In the resulting debacle, not only would NATO be shattered, Obama would be too...
One reason why Putin has made a special effort to humiliate the president is that his profilers may have pegged Obama as suffering from narcissistic personality disorder. Putin the secret policeman must be thinking: how do you get a narcissist to melt down? Answer: by personally and publicly shaming him, thereby provoking a narcissistic rage^**.

18 April
Antelope Valley RV Park
Delta, UT

I saw what I thought was a weather station in front of the Sheriff office a couple days ago. This is in the same building that the City Library is in and is surrounded on the south and east sides by a park. It was a CEMP (Community Environmental Monitoring Program) station that not only monitors the weather but also gamma radiation from man-made radioactivity that could result from NNSS (Nevada National Security Site) activities (nuclear explosions).

I have found the web site for the Delta CEMP station data so now have a much better source for local weather. WeatherUnderground just changed their website and I'm not sure it is for the best but change seems to be required to keep the website administrators employed.

Yesterday was a walking rest day for patches and I. We did less than a mile total during the morning and afternoon potty walks. We were back to our usual morning routine again today and think I'm still up to doing a long afternoon walk. I know Patches is.

I think I outdid myself with this last pot of Frey's Special Chili. It has to be the best that I have ever made or perhaps it is just that I have not had any in such a long time. This very successful pot reminded me that I have not made any Pazole in a long time either - maybe next week is the time.

This was part of the posting yesterday to the Daily Pfenning title BRICS Announce An Alternative To The IMF!. Did you see it anyplace in the Lame stream Media? Why not? Not News? It is another slap at the US dollar that this Administration does not want reported and the lap dog media is willing to roll over for a belly rub.

So, did you hear the news that hit the newswires yesterday? The BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, remember when they added the “S”?) are going to start their own IMF, and World Bank, which are dominated by the U.S. This is HUGE folks… Not only are the Chinese removing dollars from terms of trade all over the world, and now Russia is doing Oil deals without the dollar in the terms of trade, but now these countries (BRICS) are bypassing the IMF, and World Bank thus ceasing the IMF’s claim on being the world’s only organization capable of rendering international financial assistance.

37 percent overall say President Obama ”lies to the country on important matters” most of the time; 24 percent say he fibs some of the time, 20 percent say only now and then, 15 percent say he never lie.

19 April
Antelope Valley RV Park
Delta, UT

I thought I might get an influx of neighbors for the Easter Weekend but it has not happened. The Class A that was across the street from me left on Thursday and I then did get a new neighbor to the southwest of me but they are about a space and one half diagonally away from me.

This has been a pretty good site so far. I did have a problem Thursday afternoon and yesterday morning with the sprinklers spraying water on my steps with Patches and I both getting wet getting in and out. I need to park about a foot or 18" away from the cement patio to avoid that happening again.

I stopped at the City Library yesterday afternoon and inquired about trading books. It is not too promising. They have a couple of tables covered with hard back books that they are selling for 50¢ each but they box up any paperbacks that they get and send them out to someone else. I might be able to trade out of that box if I talk to the right person at the Library - available only Mon-Thur.

I have also devoted far too much time in trying to rid my computer of WildTangent Games that came pre-installed on my computer. I uninstalled the games but could not get rid of the folder that contained the App. These are tenacious buggers. Downloaded some software that promised to do it for me but when it came time to put-up-or-shut-up they wanted money. I passed on that option and then had a problem getting rid of that download. I finally prevailed and the last vestige (showing up in my Firefox Add-on Manager) has gone away.

For the past couple of months I have had DoNotTrackMe installed that claims to stops companies, advertisers, and social networks from tracking your browsing and personal information as you browse the web. I have removed that also but retained Adblock Plus and activated their tracking and malware blocking features. I never had so many ad, pop-ups and malware issues with Ubuntu but they all come with Windows whatever version you might have. Many of the problems are pre-installed when you buy a new computer and are difficult to delete.

This book was picked up in a trade at the Park in Del Rio where the selection was rather slim. I chose this, new to me author, most likely for the books volume. I got that in the form of three stories tied together in the one book which jumped back and forth between the three. I think I would have been happier if there had been three books that I could have read sequentially that told the same story. The thriller part does not kick in until after the first 1/3-1/2 of the book but then the author holds the suspense right up to almost the very last page. It was entertaining and customer reviews indicate that it was not a 'normal' Craig Thomas book so I may give him a chance if I find another of his books.

Thriller - The trap was baited and waiting. Waiting for forty years and MI5's Aubrey to step right into it ... And then one of British Intelligence's most formidable figures would be heading for disgrace and British Intelligence would be heading for disaster. But Aubrey still had one or two tricks up his sleeve. And one or two friends determined that things would not go according to plan. Friends, like, Hyde his Australian right-hand man, who were prepared to risk everything on the bloody killing fields of Afghanistan and on the unsafe streets of Prague to seek the secret of Teardrop - the secret buried in the black heart of Moscow Center. - Publishers Story Summery

20 April
Antelope Valley RV Park
Delta, UT

It was very cloudy this morning when we went for our walk. I could see virga near the mountains to the east just before sunrise and felt a sprinkle or two. Thought we might get caught in a rain shower but stayed dry and the clouds all dissipated within a couple of hours.

A quiet Easter Sunday, maybe even quieter than most Sundays. I spent most of the day reading on the couch or on my computer. Also started to get the Will Rogers weekly article links for June prepared; made progress but still have more to do. I have also made good progress in catching up to current on the blog that I'm going to add to my Monthly list. A lot of the progress was due to no postings for about 6 months not so much my efforts.

Some interesting facts and my comments on them.

Facts: In 2010 there were 38,364 deaths by suicide in the United States and 31,672 deaths by firearms. There were also 38,329 deaths by drug overdose and 33,687 deaths by autos.

Comments: Based on the facts you would think there would be a hue and cry from every Liberal in this land of ours to 'Do Something' about suicides, drug overdoses and automobiles. But that is not the reality. All of their focus is on banning firearms because they kill people. If they have so much compassion for people that have died a firearms death why no concern about people committing suicide, or dieing from a drug overdoses or in an automobile?
It therefore seems obvious that the desire to ban firearms has nothing to do with people dieing. The recent standoff between armed citizens and armed government personnel at the ranch in Nevada points to the more obvious reason. If the citizens had not possessed firearms then the government would have done whatever they wanted to do. It was only a fear that the armed citizens would fire back that kept the government from committing another Waco or Ruby Ridge. Banning firearms is all about obtaining complete governmental control of its citizens!

21 April
Antelope Valley RV Park
Delta, UT

The neighbor that was closest to me left just before dark yesterday and I had a new one come in across the street from me even later. I spent some time talking to the fellow this morning after I saw him starting to pack up in preparation to leave. He is tent camping with all his gear on a big Harley plus he is carrying his golf bag and set of clubs.

He first stopped here in Delta some years ago in his RV and played the golf course while he was here. Remembered that experience and decided to stop and play another round as he passed through on his way to Zion and Bryce. He has a home base in Valier, MT but since retiring has put 80,000 miles on a motorhome but now enjoys his motorcycle tours more. Enjoys golf as well so he takes his clubs with him. Carrying a set of clubs on a motorcycle looks a little strange but he is doing what he loves - what more can you hope for upon retirement.

I finished reading another book today and started the next one. I'll review the one that I completed in a day or so. Did some more work on the Will Rogers links. That was about the extent of what I got done during this very nice weather day. I think I might do a slightly longer walk this afternoon to take advantage of it. Patches may not be as much in favor however; when I think we are having great weather she considers it too hot.

The quote shown below is from The truth behind Obamacare’s phony 8 Million signups by Robert Hutchinson at Human Events. In a separate story I read that only 2.1 million were previously uninsured and only 53% of those have paid their premiums. The others that have signed up are paying their premiums at a higher rate of 86%. That means that a total 4.8 million have actually paid into the risk pool and insurance rates are sure to rise next year which will most likely cause people to drop their insurance. I think the partisans are dancing in the street to a pyrrhic victory that they will come to rue.

The U.S. media, following a carefully prepared script from the White House, have declared that Obamacare is now a total and complete success...The tone of the partisan victory cries is unmistakable.
“The total exceeded the initial forecast by 1 million people and capped a notable comeback after a disastrous debut last fall gave rise to predictions the law would collapse in its maiden year,” the Los Angeles Times gleefully reported on April 18. “The health law, often called Obamacare, instead has brought about the largest increase in insurance coverage in the United Sates in half a century since Medicare and Medicaid were created.”
The equally jubilant New York Times, however, did concede that the White House and its media allies weren’t being totally forthcoming about their statistics, although the concession came eight paragraphs into its lead story. “The administration did not release two other crucial statistics that would help determine the success of the law: the number of people among the eight million who bought insurance for the first time and the number who paid for their premiums.”

22 April
Antelope Valley RV Park
Delta, UT

I got up a little bit later this morning and blame it on the overcast. Took Patches for a brief potty walk and then drove into town, about 1.5 miles, and parked in front of the restaurant I was going to try this morning. We then did about a 1.5 mile up and down walk along Main St/US50/US6.

This put us back at Zapata Restaurant soon after they opened which meant a long wait for a cup of coffee. I then ordered off the menu and they put together a very good Enchiladas de Pollo Montadas. Please note that the New Mexico way is for the enchiladas to be stacked flat, rather than rolled, with the eggs on top.

From there I went to Quality Market for my groceries this week. They also have a lot of Western Family canned goods and their produce is slightly more limited. Was not very impressed with their meat options but I don't eat much meat and was able to find the de-boned and skinless chicken thighs that I wanted.

The only Greek yogurt that they had in vanilla also contained honey. So this week my desert is that container of yogurt with walnut pieces and dark cherries. No barley added to it this week. For the Pozole I used chicken broth (no 32 oz size available so it was 3 small cans), browned off chicken thighs , two cans of white hominy, two cans of diced green chiles, a large diced yellow onion and a big dab of menudo spices plus a couple small dabs of powdered cayenne.

The salad this week remains unchanged. However, the past couple weeks I have had an English Muffin with 'linner' but changed that to a roll with sardine pâté for this week. The pâté was made from a 15oz can of sardines packed in tomato with a little gray poupon mustard and horseradish added (just because I had some). Spiced it up with a few shakes of powdered cayenne and then blended it in my stone age blender - (Mortar & Pestles) that I have not used is quite some time.

I did all this after I had got hooked up to electric in my space at the Park; making sure I was about 18" from the patio slab. I also dumped holding tanks and took on a tank of fresh water. It was a very good thing that I did that little chore when I did because around 10:00am the very strong winds that a Wind Advisory had been issued for came in with a rush. We may cancel our afternoon walk until this blows over. The early gusts were in the 25mph range with the threat of 60mph gusts later today.

The weather guessers are predicting a cold weekend with a chance of rain. The high temperatures are to be back down in the 50s and the lows in the 30s. That is not quite as bad as what is forecast for my next camp where the weekend will be in the 40/20s range with a chance of snow. I may be pushing it to go north and higher with an arrival date set for 10 May. Winter does not want to go away this year.

23 April
Antelope Valley RV Park
Delta, UT

The wind died down as the sun went down but not until it had done some wind pruning of the trees. I had a lot of small branches bouncing off Desperado that caused Patches a lot of worry. Then there was the one that hit my window about a foot from my head that almost bounced me out of my chair. I was real lucky that the approximate 10' one that was 2-3" thick where it broke off missed Desperado and hit the patio.

The CEMP weather station recorded a high gust of 37mph but it is in a much more sheltered area than the Park is. However high they were they did a number on two tents that have been set up on southeast corner of the Park about 5 spaces from me. Very calm this morning but the low was 37° with an expected high for the day to only be 57 and the low tomorrow morning 33. Warming then for a couple of days and a cold weekend as previously forecast.

I think my afternoon walk will be to the Delta Post Office. I need to confirm with them that they will accept General Delivery and exactly how they want it addressed. The RV Park will not accept any forwarded mail so that makes it slightly more complex in getting my mail. I would wait until the end of May if I were not needing to receive my vehicle registration and license plate tabs.

This is another book that I probably traded for while in Del Rio. It is the first book that I have read by this author but would be happy to find another. The Publishers Weekly review is very good and the only thing that I would add and that I would have liked to have read in the book would be a few stories of the failures. Everyone that Waller wrote about succeeded, that is not how the real world works.

After much negotiating with top Navy brass, Waller (The Commandos), the national security correspondent for Time magazine, was granted permission to perform an amazing journalistic feat. In the process of researching his book on the training of Navy pilots, Waller was allowed to take part in the program. He endured disorientation exercises in which he was deprived of oxygen, or spun in circles at nausea-inducing speeds. He was blindfolded and dunked, upside down, into a water tank. As reward for having passed those grueling tests, he was permitted to ride in the cockpit of most of the training flights recounted in this thoroughly documented work. Waller resists the easy temptation of presenting a book centered on "my adventure with the Navy"; instead, he relies on his eyewitness experience, plus interviews with more than 200 aviators, to craft an in-depth profile of the Navy's aviation training program and its participants. Readers expecting to follow a core of main characters from start to finish may at first find the format disorienting. Waller offers quick takes on individual students, both male and female, going through a particular phase of pressure-cooker training, then moves on. But once readers catch on, they won't want to put down this engrossing saga that will likely become an unofficial recruiting tool for naval aviation. Throughout, the would-be aviators are revealed as supremely talented, courageous and intelligent young people. And by showing how individual aviators have been unfairly tarred by the Tailhook scandal, Waller offers a powerful argument that repercussions from the infamous sex-capade have gone too far. The Navy will love this exemplary book; but so will the vast corps of military supporters and adventure-lovers. - Publishers Weekly

24 April
Antelope Valley RV Park
Delta, UT

It was slightly colder this morning at 32° than the forecast but a not too cold 35 when we went for our walk. Warming up for a couple of days and then cold and rainy starting Friday night through Sunday. That may be a stay inside and hibernate period for the Patches and I.

I finished getting the Will Rogers weekly article links for June ready. Now it is time to read my Monthly blogs once again. Find out who is still posting and what is happening with those that that do post regularly.

After reading a chapter or two of my new book I realized that I have read it before. I think it was more than 5 years ago but could not find that I had written about it for my website so don't know that for sure. I don't remember everything that is going to happen but when I read it then I remember it from the past. I'll finish the book because it is an entertaining read and I don't know everything that is going to happen.

W. Neil Eggleston chosen to be new White House counsel by Katie Zezima for The Washington Post was written on 21 April 2014; a very quiet News day. The big news item of that day was the White House Egg Roll so this announcement didn't mean much to the Lame Stream Media.

The President did issue a statement however that said "Neil brings extraordinary expertise, credentials, and experience, to our team. He has a passion for public service, is renowned for his conscientiousness and foresight, and I look forward to working closely with him in the coming years.”

The extraordinary expertise, credentials, and experience that he is most known for and where he has made his living, and his name, was in defending those involved in serious political scandal. It appears that the President is hedging his bets that the Democrats will hold the Senate in the 2014 elections. If they loose their majority then he looses his protection from some serious scandal investigations and is hiring a top gun defense lawyer.

25 April
Antelope Valley RV Park
Delta, UT

I think I overdid it a couple days ago when I walked to the Post Office. My right knee was paining me some that night and then yesterday. Took a few ibuprofen and decided to give it a rest today. Took Patches for a short potty walk this morning and she seemed to be happy to have a rest day also. Lounging in the sun on the passenger seat most of the morning.

I got a new "Clinger" neighbor yesterday afternoon. "Clingers" are most easily recognized, and written about, by boondockers that have their place way off out in the nowhere and along comes another RV and parks almost next to them. In RV Parks you don't see that as much because they are more crowded and usually the Park Office assigns a space.

At this Park I was given free choice of about 20 spaces along the northeast and east side of the Park. I assume that the "Clinger" was given that same choice and out of the 18 spaces that were open he chose the one directly across the street from me. I should take it as a compliment that they would want to be so close to me but it just does not feel that way.

There was another High Wind Advisory issued for today warning of wind gust in the 25 to 55mph range starting at 10:00am. They were right on the button with the wind picking up at 10:00 almost on the tick of the minute hand. The forecasters have changed their mind and now are predicting the colder weather to hang around through Tuesday or maybe Wednesday with morning lows near or below freezing.

The Bush doctrine was the "freedom doctrine". If democracy seekers anywhere around the world were looking for solidarity, then Bush believed America had a responsibility to help them. But for many Americans, Obama’s political promise was a welcomed pendulum swing back from those days of President Bush’s cowboy diplomacy.

What we got however is the Obama Doctrine - "go to war or ignore all international crisis". There is no in between for President Obama and he has been perfectly clear that he isn’t going to start any new wars. The rest of the world will simply have to make do because President Obama is not going to do anything. Well, maybe make a speech!

The President's Russian sanctions are working however.

Visa and its rival MasterCard stopped providing services to two Russia-based banks as part of Barack Obama's sanctions. With 100 million cards in Russia Visa is assuming "several pennies of earnings per share impact" (that is polite language for a reduction) from the sanctions.

26 April
Antelope Valley RV Park
Delta, UT

The wind was not quite as bad yesterday with the maximum gust measured at 32mph. It was bad enough to stir up a lot of dust again but died down as the sun went down. The rain that was forecast made an appearance around 5:00am and was still raining when we went out to walk. Patches likes a mist but this was a step or two above that and she didn't want to be out in it for very long. No hesitation about getting the potty walk taken care of and getting back to Desperado.

My "Clinger" neighbor left this morning after about 30 minutes to get hitched up to his trailer. I watched him try it 6 times before he went back inside the trailer and got his wife to come out and provide some backing directions. I don't think he does this very often. Today was also a terrible day to get back on the road. The only direction that looked reasonably clear was west into Nevada and there were some scattered rain cells even there. North in Utah was very heavy rain as there were to the south in northern Arizona. Storm to the east in Colorado was probably dumping some more snow on the high passes.

A rather cold dreary day. Time was spent on the couch with Patches and my book. Or on my laptop reading blogs from my Monthly list. The normal routine of reading my Daily blogs and News with not much happening in either medium.

Maybe get out for an afternoon walk. It will still be cold with some wind but if it isn't raining I need to get Patches out or she is going to drive me crazy. The chances of it happening are not looking good. Had to fire up the Wave heater again to stay comfortable, the temperature was stuck in the low 40s from 7:00am with very little promise of reaching the forecast high of 46.

27 April
Antelope Valley RV Park
Delta, UT

We did reach a high temperature of 49° yesterday but it was a damp cold and windy afternoon. Patches and I did walk but it was a short one and we were both happy to get back to Desperado and in front of the Wave heater again.

A brisk 35° this morning but almost calm. There are a few scattered clouds but it has clear enough that I can see that the mountains to the east have a light snow cover once again. They had snow covered peaks when we got here but a few days ago that was all melted off. It is back again and even lower in elevation than before although I doubt that it will last much more than a week.

I see a Comment question like this in some RVer's blog about once a month. "Am curious what your Exit Plan is. This is a subject that needs to be address as we are all getting older. Thanks." Today I replied to the question as follows:

This Exit Plan question is asked approximately once a month. Almost always with some reference to how necessary it is as we age.

I have a question of my own. Why are stick-n-brick residents never asked this question? I read a lot of RV blogs and see the question posed in many of them. I also read a few blogs written by people that live in a fixed sticks-n-bricks and NEVER do I see them asked the same question.

The underlying assumption when the question is asked of someone that lives fulltime in a RV is that they MUST at some point in time give up their RV and move into a sticks-n-bricks. I think asking the Exit Plan question of a fulltimer is equivalent to asking a sticks-n-bricks resident “When are you going to sell that big old house you live in and move into a nursing home”?

In a USA Today story about the racial vitriol spouted by Donald Sterling, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, the author is of the opinion that he should be permanently banned from the NBA. This is not quite as strong as some suggestions that his ownership be taken away from him nor quite as strong as the call some have made to execute Climate Change Deniers.

The part of the story that caught my attention however I have quoted below. The NBA is the 'model of diversity'? This is what every segment of our society should strive to emulate? Really?

This is Orwellian doublespeak at the extreme presented as a virtue. George Orwell make two mistakes in 1984. His first was the year that he selected and the second was his invention of the Newspeak language to satirise the hypocrisy and evasion by the state. The satire failed and Newspeak has been adopted by not only the state but the Far Left as well as their official language.

What makes the latest vitriol particularly reprehensible is that the NBA has become the model for diversity in men's professional sports. It consistently gets the highest grades on the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport's Racial and Gender Report Card, and former commissioner David Stern last year was hailed for embracing "the moral imperative for diversity."
According to the institute's most recent report card, from last season, 81% of NBA players were people of color and more than three-quarters were African-American. Of the league's head coaches, 43.3% were African-American, the second-highest percentage in NBA history.

28 April
Antelope Valley RV Park
Delta, UT

We drove into town before doing our walk this morning. Parked by El Jalisciense Taco where I planned on having breakfast. Then did a loop route to the northeast past the High School (a huge, brand new multi-building campus serving 588 students)and returned for almost 2 miles.

The Huevos con Chorizo plate came loaded with plenty of rice and beans and a small salad garnish. I had a long wait for fresh coffee to be made but it came about the same time that the meal did so that was alright. There are a few tables inside but this place does more take-out business than sit down. No table service to speak of other than they bring your food out when it is ready.

Then went to Quality Market for my weekly groceries. My 'linner' this week will be stir fried Brussels sprouts with chicken thighs in a sweet chili sauce. That goes with the same salad that I had last week. For dessert I'll be having Greek vanilla & honey yogurt, blueberries and almonds or cherries and walnuts. I have also started eating my daily 2-3 squares of dark chocolate along with the dessert which is really, really good.

Stopped at the Post Office to mail a change of address to the VA location that fills my prescriptions. I also checked to see if I had my General Delivery mail forward and was lucky that it had just come in. The most important thing in the forward was my vehicle registration and license tabs. But I got lucky and had VA prescriptions in the package also.

That included a 90 day supply of 10mg blood pressure pills. This means that I am now on the reduced dosage and my primary provider has said to give him twice a week readings to keep track of how I continue to maintain the good level. I thought the readings would go up by no more that 10 which would have been acceptable but they have increased even less than that. Good News!

The low temperature was 36° this morning about the time that we were walking. It was calm however and did not feel very cold. At noon I stepped outside to afix the license plate tab and it was near 46 but the wind had picked up and it felt colder than early this morning. Tomorrow morning and the next one are going to be colder yet with a forecast of 29 and 32 but there are warmer days to come later in the week if the weather guessers are right.

29 April
Antelope Valley RV Park
Delta, UT

It did not get down to the 29° forecast for this morning although it was below freezing. With almost no wind and by wearing my wool cap and winter coat/jacket I was quite comfortable. As for Patches, she loves these cold mornings. We did almost a 3 mile loop and she was willing to go for more. This too shall pass; the weather guessers think the high on Saturday will be 82°.

I did almost nothing today. I think we will get in our twice daily walks but that will be the highlight of my accomplishments. Read a few Monthly blogs but can not say that I made serious progress on them either. Sort of a down day.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has got it exactly right in what he has written in Welcome to the Finger-Wagging Olympics for Time online. This is only a portion of what he said in the article which I recommend being read in its entirety.

What bothers me about this whole Donald Sterling affair isn’t just his racism. I’m bothered that everyone acts as if it’s a huge surprise... He was discriminating against black and Hispanic families for years, preventing them from getting housing. It was public record. We did nothing. Suddenly he says he doesn’t want his girlfriend posing with Magic Johnson on Instagram and we bring out the torches and rope. Shouldn’t we have all called for his resignation back then?
Shouldn’t we be equally angered by the fact that his private, intimate conversation was taped and then leaked to the media? Didn’t we just call to task the NSA for intruding into American citizen’s privacy in such an un-American way? ... The making and release of this tape is so sleazy that just listening to it makes me feel like an accomplice to the crime.
So, if we’re all going to be outraged, let’s be outraged that we weren’t more outraged when his racism was first evident. Let’s be outraged that private conversations between people in an intimate relationship are recorded and publicly played. Let’s be outraged that whoever did the betraying will probably get a book deal, a sitcom, trade recipes with Hoda and Kathie Lee, and soon appear on Celebrity Apprentice and Dancing with the Stars.

30 April
Antelope Valley RV Park
Delta, UT

A nice clear sky this morning with only a slight breeze that will build to winds by this afternoon. Still below freezing this morning but might get up to 60° today and there continues to be a forecast of 80s for the weekend. Too cold now and then will leap to too hot.

We are getting in our twice a day walks even with the colder weather but Patches will not do well when it get up into the 80s. I will have to take care that she does not over heat in the afternoon walks.

Just another slow day for me. Doing my usual daily routine of walking, reading and eating. The News cycle has slowed down a lot since the missing Malaysian Flight has remained missing. I was anticipating a breaking headline that President Obama had found it while he was in Malaysia but I guess he couldn't find it either.

The Business News today was not News either. First guess at what the 1st Qtr GDP was had the spinmeisters busy trying to make 0.1% growth be good news. Then Reuters did their best with a story Fed shows faith in U.S. economy with bond-buying reduction that has very little to do with the Federal Reserves faith in the economy.

The central bank said the economy "will expand at a moderate pace and labor market conditions will continue to improve gradually" - an assessment that tracked its statement last month. This is the same thing they were saying as they kept buying the Federal Debt claiming that they had to do it to stimulate the economy. That did not work and they had to quit at some point because it was killing the value of the US Dollar.