Peregrinating
2015

July

1 July
Taos Valley RV Park
Taos, NM

I was able to build three route maps yesterday afternoon. Two of them did not require any waypoints at all and the third one only needed two. Very easy builds as were the final three that I did this morning. Again two of them required no waypoints and the third one required only one.

Now I need to proof and edit all the links from the Total Trip Map and from the Journal to the route maps. That is going to eat up some bytes but I have quota to spare so will probably get that done tomorrow. Then I move on to building the replacement map for 2011 that is in the drop down menu.

I finished the HTML formatting that I was doing on 4-5 Will Rogers weekly articles yesterday. That is one of my regular monthly projects that I can now not think about for another month.

Received a reply from A&D Medical answering my question about clearing the memory in my LifeSource UA-1030T blood pressure monitor. There are two buttons that are used to scroll through the memory or are also used in setting dates, talking volume and other features. To clear memory the unit needs to be OFF and then both of those buttons need to be pressed down simultaneously and held until the flashing "M" disappears. It took me a couple of tries to get the 'simultaneously' part mastered but IT WORKED.

This latest Supreme Court decision (see quote below) is another win for the liberal cause but I don't think it goes far enough. Why only citizens? On 29 June 2015 I suggested that Clinton - Bush run on the Democratic-Republican Party ticket against all comers in 2016. I also want to repeat a suggestion that I have made proposing that the voting be done as for American Idol.

The election of a United States President has become nothing but a popularity contest, why shouldn't the voting be done in a way to reflect that. It would also give people in foreign countries, especially Mexico and Canada, an opportunity to select someone that will keep their interest in mind rather than some President whose only concerned is the United States.

However, Idol restricts voting from only Twitter, Instagram or Facebook; that must be expanded. The provision to vote once per category (ie President/Vice President) per day per platform (Twitter, Facebook, etc) would remain.

By not hearing the case, the Supreme Court effectively upheld the decision of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled against Arizona and Kansas in November 2014, saying the EAC did not have to modify its form to meet state laws. Under the federal form, would-be voters need only swear under penalty of perjury that they are citizens.

2 July
Taos Valley RV Park
Taos, NM

I woke up to the sound of rain yesterday morning and went to sleep to the sound. There was also a shower just before we did our afternoon walk. We were able to get out in between the showers and stayed dry. Total for the day was 0.21".

This morning there were still what looked like rain clouds but they had mostly dissipated by 8:00 and were replaced with a high overcast. There is a 50% chance or scattered thunderstorms this afternoon but that is the forecast for almost every afternoon.

I finished proofing and editing the links for the first month from the Total Trip Map and from the Journal for the 2008 Quest this morning. I would have been able to do both months but had a serious error. I was missing a route map which was probably due to my not saving it. I remember that it was a difficult one to build and I was probably so happy to get it done that I didn't save. I got to build it again today and it was not as hard as I remembered it to be the first time.

That used up most of my quota for the day so I'll do the second month tomorrow. I have been using the Park WIFI for some general Internet browsing during this past week and without it I would be over my Verizon usage limit already and I have today and tomorrow remaining in this billing cycle.

The Bureau of Labor released their non-farm job numbers for June today (a day early because the federal government is closed down this Friday) that showed an increase of 223,000 jobs. The Ministry of Propaganda is waffling in their reporting about this months report.

They want to say that the increase is strong but it was less than expected (no surprise there, it almost always is). The Unemployment Rate falling to 5.3% would usually be the headline but it was mostly because people quit looking for a job. The Ministry is hard pressed to spin this report as good News.

The CES Birth/Death Model added 109,000 or about half of all the jobs 'created' for the month. The April job numbers were revised down to 189,000 which means that there were jobs lost that month because the Birth/Death adjustment was 213,000 and it is never revised. May job numbers were also revised down and after next months revisions that month may also have job losses without the Birth/Death adjustment. The Ministry never writes a word about this and prior month downward adjustments are glossed over if reported at all.

If you look at the Household Data the number of Employed decreased for the first time in a year with 56,000 being lost in June. The Unemployed went down by 375,000 and the Not in the Labor Force increased by 640,000 which means a lot of people quit looking for a job. That combination is what led to the decrease in the Unemployment Rate by 0.2% to 5.3%.

The Participation Rate fell by 0.3% to 62.6% the lowest in 38 years. While the Not in the Labor Force rose to 93,626,000 another new all time record. The Ministry could not ignore these two new benchmarks but they have very little to say about them; they can not spin something like that to make it good News.

The average earnings decreased by 1¢ to $24.95 an hour while the average workweek stayed at 34.5 hours for the 4th month. I think the Federal Reserve is getting the wage inflation numbers and the Unemployment Rate that they need as cover for their rate increase. There is more analyst 'talk' that there will not be a rate increase but I'm convinced that there will be.

3 July
Taos Valley RV Park
Taos, NM

We had a good old fashioned thunderstorm around 7:00 last night. The lightning was cracking close by with the thunder shaking Desperado. Patches did not like it much but she put up with it quite well. The rain was a little disappointing with only 0.04" but there is more to come.

I finished the proof and edits for the 2008 Trip. I needed to do a little tweak on one of the route maps but did not have to re-build any of them. The next project is the 2011 Camp map that is linked in the drop down menu of my Home Page. I'll probably start that tomorrow.

I have just about enough quota left today to get this posting online. If NetWorx is right, and it has been, I plan on ending the Verizon billing cycle with .15GB of my limit unused. It will be a couple of days before I get the billing and know how close I am to that estimate.

President Barack Obama was back on the campaign stump at the University of Wisconsin in La Crosse on 2 July 2015. He focused on what he called "middle-class economics" again which the best I can determine is encompassed in this quote from his speech. The major point of his speech however was to criticizing Republicans, as are most of his speeches.

Give them the tools they need to earn higher wages and better jobs, keep our businesses the most competitive. Invest in research. Build our roads. Build our bridges. That's how we're going to help middle-class families succeed.

We have to make sure America writes the rules of the global economy and we should do it today while our economy is in a position of global strength. If we don't write the rules for trade around the world, guess what, China will. And they'll write those rules in a way that gives Chinese workers and Chinese businesses the upper hand.

4 July
Taos Valley RV Park
Taos, NM

Since I have a WIFI that seems to be working well I took the opportunity to upgrade FireFox yesterday. I also found that Adobe Flash Player needed to be upgraded. I have all auto flash blocked and use the Flash Player only when I activate it but the old version was blocked because it had been hacked. Those two downloads plus a lot of general Internet browsing used a lot of bytes but they were not through Verizon.

I think that upgrade to Firefox 39.0 yesterday has caused me a problem. I can no longer see the Marker Titles on the Route Maps that I have drawn. The strange thing is I can see them on the Camp Maps and also the Total Trip Maps. This makes me think that Google API does something different with the Title in maps that are drawn using their DirectionService and Firefox is trying to read them as a UL link. I don't know?

I have not quoted anything from Barack Obama Tells Another Whopper - He Did Not Create 12.8 Million Jobs by David Stockman. During his speech on 2 July 2015 in La Clare, WI President Obama laid claim to the 12.8 million jobs by measuring the past 64 months, not since he took office.

If the measurement had been from the beginning of 2009 and the Birth/Death adjustments were removed the number would be closer to zero than to 12.8 million. Stockman provides plenty of analysis backed with graphs to gainsay the President's lie and is worth a read. The crowd of a thousand students and liberal faculty accepted it with great applause, of course, never questioning a word he said.

I have copied a Customer Review that comes close to what I thought of this book. In fairness there were many other Customer reviews that began like this "This is one of those rare near-perfect books that crosses through many genres and could be universally acclaimed. There are dozens of great reviews on here already, but this book struck me as so profound that I felt I needed to briefly put down my own thoughts." I persevered and did read it all but will not be going out of my way to find another book by Umberto Eco. He is way to 'profound' for my simple mind and the inclusion of Latin passages did nothing to clarify anything for me.

The mystery part of this novel was good however that story could have been told in 100 pages rather than the 601 that my paperback edition contained. The other 500 pages are filled with what the Reviewer below describes as 'crap'. Any chapter in which Adso, the monk that is telling the story, begins to pontificate or describe what he thought is a chapter that can be avoided at no loss.

Eco's writing is so infectious, lively, and likeable that I thought it appropriate to pen my review in his style.
1) In which I, as reader, feel used.
Yes, I'm almost certain Eco wrote this thing for the sole purpose of informing us of how knowledgeable he is of the finer points of monastic orders, book trivia, and medieval philosophy.
Knowing most would not put up with this crap for 500 pages, he wisely chose to interrupt his many digressions on poverty, heretics, whether or not Jesus laughed, Aristotle, architecture, etc, with an amateurish mystery plot. It's pedantry disguised as fiction. I've been used.
2) In which the pace sucks.
Just when you thought it was getting interesting, just when the plot is getting meatier and it grabs your attention, here comes a dissertation or a long drawn description of doors, churches, parchments, beasts, characters that are totally irrelevant to the plot, and backstories that do nothing to shed light on the events. You must often wait a chapter or two to get back to the mystery that drove you to read this thing in the first place. Do yourself a favor and quit after he's found Brunellus, the horse (p.25?).
3) In which the plot fails to deliver.
Provided you made it as far as the end, all in hopes of finding a conclusion so stellar as to redeem the drudgery that preceded it, what one is most likely to find is disappointment. Most, by the time they get there, will already know who the culprit was, and given the setting and the tools the protagonists are carrying, what will happen in the final scene.
Is it a fantastic twist? A conspiracy centuries in the making? No. Just lunatic ravings akin to the ones that drove Eco to romanticize about love, lust, knowledge, etc... - Good Reads Customer Review

5 July
Taos Valley RV Park
Taos, NM

What I thought was a Firefox 39.0 problem yesterday turned out to be only a twist on what I have been dealing with for a long time. It has always been somewhat of a problem to get the Marker Titles to appear when the cursor hovers over the Marker. Yesterday I could not get them to show and thought it was a 39.0 issue.

I later found that I could get the Title to show IF I pointed the cursor Pointing Finger at the top of the Marker. However, later yet I was back to the same problem of not being able to see the Titles nor could I get a Pointing Finger. Firefox 39.0 does not recognize the Tooltip/Title that is being sent on the Route Maps although it does on the Camp Maps and the Total Trip Maps. Strangely, it also works like it did before (poorly) on the embedded Route Maps that are in the Peregrinating Journal pages (these are Route Maps also).

I did some work on the 2011 Camp map yesterday before I was interrupted by the Marker Titles not showing. Got some more work done on it later in afternoon. I finished it this morning, including the proofing and editing and have included it in the drop down menu on my Home Page.

We had a front row seat for the fireworks display last night. The first couple of rockets that went off got Patches' attention, well they got mine too. I laid down on the floor with her for a few minutes while we watched and then I got in the drivers seat and she laid down beside me and everything was fine.

We were closer to the fireworks last night than we were last year when we were in Chama, NM. Patches handled it well. This Park is a big improvement over last year for the 4th's weekend. This Park has had some open spaces and my closest neighbors have been 2 spaces away, last year we were packed in. More importantly, there has not been any loud music or people walking through my space. This has made the weekend far more enjoyable for both Patches and myself.

In the essay Politics In America 1776-1876 by William Graham Sumner he makes a clear distinction between a constitutional republic and a democratic republic. The transformation of the United States continues, at an accelerated pace, its move towards a democratic republic and the 'equality' that such a government promises. I have added my emphasis to the quote.

Democracy, on the other hand, has for its essential feature equality, and it confers power on a numerical majority of equal political units. It is not a system of government for a state with any but the narrowest limits. On a wider field it is a theory as to the depositary of sovereignty. It seizes upon majority rule, which is only a practical expedient for getting a decision where something must be done and a unanimous judgment as to what ought to be done is impossible, and it makes this majority the depositary of sovereignty, under the name of the sovereignty of the people. This sovereign, however, is as likely as any despot to aggrandize itself, and to promulgate the unformulated doctrines of the divine right of the sovereign majority to rule, the duty of passive obedience in the minority, and that the majority can do no wrong.

6 July
Taos Valley RV Park
Taos, NM

I fixed my FireFox 39.0 Marker Title issue. I have started using Internet Explorer 11 for all of my web site work and to proof/edit what I have done. About a third of the visits to my site use FireFox although I do not know how many are using the 39.0 release. The Title problem existed before it got worse and there are probably few of those FireFox users that ever look at my maps much less hover over the Marker to see the Title. Problem solved! Well maybe not solved but I have a Work Around that is going to be fine.

I finished building all the maps for the Minden To Minden Teardrop Trip (the third time to attend the Teardrop Gathering) yesterday. I had all the Route Maps built some years ago but had to change all the links in the Journal and re-named the maps. Then did some clean up of the Journal and got the Total Trip map built. Then started the re-build the 2009/2010 Camps Map for the drop down menu.

Another shopping trip to Smith's soon after we finished a slightly shorter morning walk. Every time I have been to Smith's here in Taos they have been stocking the shelves. Today was extra heavy with some aisles blocked with high stacks of items that needed to be put up. Other aisles had boxes and products scattered in them making for a shopping cart slalom course. But, I got 'er done.

Some years ago, not last year, I stopped at El Taoseno Restaurant for breakfast on my way through town. I was not very impressed but have noticed that they get a big morning crowd so I gave them another try this morning.

I had the Huevos con Chorizo, on Special, with home fries. That was good but the coffee was not good enough for me to accept the offer of a second re-fill. Of the three restaurants that I have been to so far this year I am not any more impressed with the breakfast restaurants in Taos than I was last year. Adequate is perhaps the most favorable review that I can give them.

Since President Obama has openly sent troops back into Iraq (I believe there are now 3,500 or more) there have been few reported casualties but Iraq III or perhaps that is Iraq³ is still small scale. You can believe that if there are casualties the Administration will do their best to keep the loss of life hidden from the public. The dutiful media will do all they can to also suppress that News simply by not reporting it as the have done since Obama become President. I will do my best to report them here, the table below shows the military war deaths for the first half of each year and the President in office when they occurred.

Between 4 p.m. Thursday, July 3, and 3:30 a.m. Monday, 82 people were shot on the streets of Chicago. Fourteen of them died. McCarthy cited lower numbers- and a shorter time span from 6 p.m. Thursday to midnight Monday - during his news conference.
In eight incidents, Chicago police officers were threatened or shot at and returned fire, McCarthy said. Police wounded five people, killing two of them, in those shootings.

7 July
Taos Valley RV Park
Taos, NM

At 2:00 yesterday afternoon we got a third of an inch of rain in about 15 minutes. No roof leak; it surely would have if I had not had it fixed. That was a good test and I feel a lot better about the fix now. It then went on to rain lightly past our usual time for a walk.

When it quit and cleared off somewhat we went for it. Just made it back to Desperado when it started to sprinkle again with the forecast for another 0.50" last night.

The additional rain last night did not reach the forecast but we did get some more. This morning was very dark with a mist for most of our walk. The last third of a mile it turned into a light sprinkle, just enough to start Patches doing her "shake it off dance". I knew that it was coming but there is nothing you can do about it. It is a "dog thing", they save that last shake for after they get inside.

I finished the 2009/2010 Camps Map re-build this morning. Did the proof and some edits and now have it included in the drop down menu on the Home Page. I found out something else while doing this with IE 11 as the browser. IE 11 is good that it lets me see the Marker Titles but the Camp Maps are pop ups that I can expand to the full page using FireFox, IE 11 will not expand the pop up. Compromises, every thing is a compromise.

Winston Churchill "We Will Fight On The Beaches" speech to Partiment 4 June 1940.

Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and if, which I do not for a moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.

This broader challenge of countering violent extremism is not simply a military effort. Ideologies are not defeated with guns, they are defeated by better ideas and more attractive and more compelling vision. So the United States will continue to do our part by continuing to counter ISIL's hateful propaganda, especially online. We'll constantly reaffirm through words and deeds that we will never be at war with Islam. We are fighting terrorists who distort Islam and its victims are mostly Muslims.
We're also going to partner with Muslim communities as they seek the prosperity and dignity they observe. And we're going to expect those communities to step up in terms of pushing back as hard as they can in conjunction with other people of good will against these hateful ideologies, particularly when it comes to what we're teaching young people.

8 July
Taos Valley RV Park
Taos, NM

We had a busy morning. First off was our usual 3+ mile walk. Then as soon as we finished I unplugged electric and stopped at the dump station on the way out of the Park. It was time since both tank idiot lights have been showing red for a couple of days.

There is a 'hole in the wall' laundry here at the Park but it just looks depressing to me. I would rather do my laundry at the place across the street from Smith's when I do my weekly shopping. But since I needed to make a special trip to pick up dog food I decided to go there today.

While doing laundry I started breakfast and reading my Daily blogs and other News sites. I just about had breakfast ready by the time the laundry was folded and put away. It was only 8:00 which meant I had a 30 minute wait for Taos Tack and Feed to open. So, I ate breakfast in their parking lot and finished washing the dishes as they opened.

Picked up the bags of Canidae for Patches and headed for my 'home space'. Before getting into said space I stopped at the propane tank here in the Park and had them add 7 gallons to my tank.

At altitude the partially empty tank was not feeding the stove top as well as it would have been at lower levels. I think there are gas regulators at the tank and maybe at the stove that are there to take care of this situation but I find filling the supply tank fixes the problem.

I spent quit a bit of time yesterday late afternoon working on another map modification. I'll be devoting more time to it today. I have something that works but it needs tweaking to get it looking like I want it. I'll tell you about it in detail if/when I reach that point.

The popularity of Donald Trump may have been described by William Graham Sumner in an address before the Kent Club of the Yale Law School. However that was in 1880 and he was talking about Andrew Jackson the first non-Establishment president this country elected. Unfortunately, Trump will never be elected and if he is on the ballot it will most likely make Hillary the winner.

The best that I could hope for if he is on the ballot is that no one would get an absolute majority in the Electoral College and the decision would be made in the House of Representatives for President and in the Senate for Vice President. That would shake up the Establishment like nothing else has in years.

They recognized a man with the same range of ideas and feelings, the same contempt for history, law, Old-World forms, and traditions by which they themselves were actuated. His bluntness, his rollicking, untamed manner, his hit-or-miss arguments, his respect for the popular whim or emotion as the only control he would admit, his plump ignorance which exceeded omniscience in its boldness, all flattered the populace and won its favor. Here was a hero from amongst themselves, using their methods, despising the restrictions of the cultivated and the learned, a virtuoso in negligence and carelessness of manner, aiming at rudeness and bluntness as things worth cultivating, and elevating want of culture into a qualification for greatness and a title to honor.

9 July
Taos Valley RV Park
Taos, NM

I was all screwed up again yesterday, not knowing what the date was. I had a reasonably good grasp on the day of the week but the date on my watch was wrong. I don't look at it very often and it may have been wrong for a long time. I guess that is what getting old and retired does to a person - don't know what the date and/or the day of the week is (and generally we don't care).

Yesterday I found a way to include the Route Maps in the InfoWindows that pops up when a Marker is clicked on the Camp Maps. I have changed the InfoWindows in the 2015 Camp Map and that latest version is now included in the drop down menu on the Home Page. Started on 2014 today.

I then devoted more time than it deserved trying to find an easy way to add a pop up window for my maps in the Journal. There was no easy pop ups that I could find but what I did find works just as well. It is what has been named a "Child Window".

It is like any Window that opens when a link is clicked but the size can be adjusted so it functions like a pop up. I have started removing the embedded Route Maps that I have included in the Peregrinating Journal pages and replacing them with a Map Button that opens a "Child Window" with the Route Map in it. All the pages for 2015 have now been changed, it works pretty slick!

Last month I was .12GB below my allotted bytes with Verizon. I used the Park WIFI some or I would have either been over limit or would have had to throttle back my usage.

Starting this billing cycle I am not using up a lot of my limit building maps and should be under my limit by a lot. I was under my daily quota yesterday by quite a bit and did a lot of web browsing and some web page editing but very little map building, only one that I messed up when trying to add InfoWindows.

White woman shot in the back of the head while walking in Hollywood is a "random act of violence" (I added the underline in the quote).

A woman who was shot in the back of the head with a shotgun while walking with her boyfriend in Hollywood appeared to have been killed in a “random act of violence,” police said Monday:
On July 5, 2015, around 10:12 p.m., Hollywood Area officers responded to a radio call of a shooting in the area of Sunset Boulevard and McCadden Place. Officers found that a female in her 30s had been shot while walking with her companion on McCadden Place toward Sunset Boulevard when an unidentified male Black approached on foot and shot the victim.

10 July
Taos Valley RV Park
Taos, NM

Our afternoon walk got rained out yesterday. I thought we could get it done but we were not far outside the Park entrance when I saw rain in the foothills to the east. We were also getting a few sprinkles and it was very dark to the south of us. Turned tail and rushed back to Desperado.

I made up my 3x5 card for the route that I'm going to take to my next camp. Looked for a breakfast stop but none of the possible restaurants showed hours of operation on-line so I'll stop when and where I find something that is open. The route that I selected is about 60 mile longer than the shortest way of getting from here to there but I have done that, I want to see some different country.

On 1 July I quoted an article that reported on a Supreme Court ruling that said in part "would-be voters need only swear under penalty of perjury that they are citizens." I then questioned why only citizens could vote. It appears that others have taken my idea and are going to run with it, Washington, DC May Allow Non-Citizens to Vote in City Elections.

Why Russia should take over Israel's defense from America by Peter Weber makes a good case. Probably the most important reason is President Obama does not like Netanyahu and has more empathy for Iran and the Palestinians than he has for Israel. I have quoted his Opinion closing, the article is worth reading.

Israel and the U.S. have a long, close friendship, but as the band Chicago says, "everybody needs a little time away." There's no need to "consciously uncouple" entirely — Russia and Israel are already friendly, at least in a casual way, and the U.S. wouldn't become Israel's enemy — but if everyone would benefit from a Mideast realignment, there's no need to stay together for nostalgia's sake.
U.S. policy on Israel has been remarkably steady for decades. But it isn't carved in a stone tablet.

11 July
Taos Valley RV Park
Taos, NM

I finished re-doing the 2014 Camp Map yesterday but 18 of the 20 InfoWindows opened differently. I went back and looked at 2015 and 1 of the 5 there also opened differently. I looked for what might be causing the difference and could not find it.

This morning I spent over an hour looking for the problem. Finally, I found it. It is the same kind of thing that has had me tearing out my hair in the past, a syntax issue. A missed "," or an apostrophe in the wrong place or a missing &ltbr&gt was what was causing me all my latest problems. I'll start on 2013 Camp Maps later today.

But, first things first. It was house cleaning day again. Bath room and kitchen cleaned up and floor washed, living room floor vacuumed. All that "maids work" was broken up into the segments that work best for me, that is I stop and drink a cup of coffee after each bit of cleaning.

William Graham Sumner had this to say also in his address before the Kent Club of the Yale Law School in 1880. What he said then has remained true to this day with both political parties laying claim to the "extended interpretation" of Jefferson's ideas as political cant of their own.

The Jeffersonian ideas of government and policy had also spread steadily and rapidly and had received more and more extended interpretation. They were fallacious and only half true at best, that is to say, they were of the most mischievous order of propositions possible in politics; but in popular use and interpretation they had become worn into a kind of political cant, in which the moiety of truth had disappeared and the residuum of falsehood had become the highest political truth and the badge of political orthodoxy. To use the ballot was held synonymous with freedom; the rule of the numerical majority was made equivalent to the republic; the "will of the people" was held paramount to the Constitution - which is nothing more than saying that to do as you choose is superior to doing as you have agreed. And it had become a political dogma that, if there are only enough of you together, when you do as you have a mind to, you are sure to do right. I use the past sense here, but you will at once perceive that I am describing what is still strong amongst us.

12 July
Taos Valley RV Park
Taos, NM

I thought I could wait until today but had to take on water yesterday afternoon. When I started doing dishes after 'linner' the water pressure was not there and I was getting some air in the lines. It was past time to fill the tank.

This morning while we on our morning walk I did some of that multi-tasking that the women are always proudly talking about. They have nothing on me - I stopped at a bank that we pass and used their drive up ATM to get some cash. I use very little cash but am almost out and know that I need a hair cut and that usually requires cash.

Then when we got back to Desperado I unplugged from electric and we went to Smith's for this last time while in Taos. I have written about them always stocking the shelves in the morning, well not so much on Sunday. The downside of that is they were out of a couple things that I wanted.

No Greek God with Honey Vanilla yogurt but they did have Greek God (which always has honey) and I still have a bottle of vanilla. No Bing Cherries but when I asked the produce guy about cherries he went in the back and got me some Rainier Cherries. They are more expensive but what the hell. No mini peppers either, so I do without.

I made a good start on the 2013 Camp Map re-do yesterday. Finished it today and replaced what was in the drop down menu. Maybe get started on the 2012 Camp Map later today.

Stopped at Earlenes Public House again for breakfast. I had their Greek Omelet this time which was expensive and I chose a flour tortilla for toast when they had no sourdough; that choice cost me additional. The omelet was good and the seasoned home fries were excellent. The coffee was not. This restaurant cooks what I call California cuisine which probably fits the taste of most of the tourist trade that comes to Taos. Me, not so much.

13 July
Taos Valley RV Park
Taos, NM

I have been VERY lucky doing our afternoon walks. We were not back inside for more than 5 minutes when a rain shower hit yesterday. We did a slightly shorter walk this morning and probably will do the same again tomorrow. If we get rained out this afternoon that is not a problem, we need some rest.

I am also lucky to have a Park WIFI that works as well as it does. It let me finish re-doing the 2012 Camp Map yesterday. That is now available in the drop down menu. I'm working on 2011 today and believe that I will finish its re-do by the end of the day.

Went to work on the windshield and cab windows this morning. All the rain storms had left a covering of mud on the outside and Patches nose prints and slobber was covering the inside. That finishes up my house cleaning chores except the stove and counter top wipe down afer 'linner' today. I'll be ready to hit the road tomorrow morning.

Nothing much has excited the Ministry of Propaganda. They are beating the dead horse called Greece, trying to spin that story into something positive. They are beating the live horse called Trump, trying to spin that story into something negative.

14 July
Little Creel Resort
Chama, NM

We did the slightly shorter morning walk that I said we would. Was unplugged from electric, into Taos, filled up with gas at Smith's and on the road by about 6:45

Looked for a breakfast restaurant in Questa, NM and San Luis, CO and saw nothing open. My last chance before arriving here in Chama was in Antonito, CO. I had checked the Dutch Mill Café on the Internet and it had decent reviews but did not show hours of operation. As I drove into town I saw that they were open so that was my stop.

I had their Huevos con Chorizo Skillet which was good, the home fries could have stayed on the grill for some more time. The coffee was so-so but what made it worse was trying to get a re-fill. I had to get up and go to the kitchen to get the waitress to fill my cup. Service is not bad just not attentive.

The route was not the shortest but still only 155 miles using Estes Es Rd, Gusdorf Rd, Ray Rd (Estes Es Rd still blocked - they have been installing traffic lights and curbs), NM68, US64, NM522, CO159, CO142, US285 CO17/NM17.

Highway CO17 goes over La Manga Pass, elevation 10,230 ft, which Desperado had no trouble climbing. She had to do the steepest part, which was about 3 miles, in 2nd gear not so much because it was steep but the tight curves. Then over Cumbres Pass, elevation 10,022 ft, that was very easy because there had not been much elevation lost from La Managa.

Cumbres Pass is where the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad tracks first cross CO17 when traveling from the east. It is also near Osier, CO, the 1/2 way point, where many of the Scenic Railroad trips start/end with a bus connection. I saw one train with steam up in Antonito, CO and then saw a second one climbing the southwestern grade to Cumbes Pass.

Made one other brief stop in Chama at the post office. I wanted to make sure that they accepted General Delivery, what their hours where and what the ZIP code was. I need to have some Arbuckles Coffee shipped to me soon, I'm almost out.

I got the same space here in the Park that I had last year with the same neighbors from Oklahoma. I have a good view of the Chama River on my southwest side with some mature shade trees. The Park is not as full as it was last year and I'm hoping it stays this way. Very quiet and peaceful since I have pulled in.

My posting for today was delayed by Web Hosting Hub. They explained it this way (I have added the under line): "Our System Administration team has identified issues requiring unplanned maintenance on our West Coast Data Center connectivity."

15 July
Little Creel Resort
Chama, NM

William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey known as "The Manassa Mauler", was an American professional boxer, who became a cultural icon of the 1920s. He was born in Manassa, Colorado, in 1895 and grew up in a poor family in Colorado, West Virginia, and Utah. That is where the "Manassa" in his nickname comes from and I can see why he would have dropped out of school and hit the hobo trail at the age of 16.

I drove through Manassa, CO yesterday and saw that they have a Jack Dempsey Museum but I did not stop to check it out. Manassa in now, and probably always has been, a cattle and hay kind of town. Population in the 2010 Census was 991 probably up only slightly from what it was in 1895.

We got a very heavy rain around 5:00 yesterday afternoon but I have no official weather station nearby that tells me how much. I'm using the WeatherUnderground reporting from the Pagosa Springs airport and they recorded no rain. It poured for a half hour that has left everything off pavement very muddy. We stayed on the highway shoulder as much as possible this morning when on our walk needing to dodge a puddle now and then.

We walked toward downtown Chama and said hello to the same two dogs that always confronted us last year. The yellow 'mutt' stayed on his property this morning and barked. Last year he would come out to the road or even cross the road.

The other dog is a Shepard that never barks but gives me a fright every time he comes out to see us. The only way I know that he has appeared is Patches will start looking behind us and there he will be following along maybe 30' back.

When I checked in yesterday I had to wait. I hate doing that so I spent the time looking over the Park exchange library books and picked up three to trade. I knew I would finish reading another book today and will take it over to trade from their rather limited selection.

This was not my kind of book. From all the reviews that I read it was not for many of the readers. This is number 8 of 14 in the Sword Of Truth Series and was a disappointment to many that had read them all thru this one. I am not a fan of high fantasy with its setting in an imaginary world with characters that have magic powers. What the reviewer I have quoted calls preaching did not bother me but the repetition did get to be a bit much. My not liking magic was reinforced by the author using it every time the 'good guys' get in a jam and about to be destroyed. I doubt that I will ever read another of the books from this Series.

While this book is better than The Pillars of Creation, it isn't by much. The entire thing is one long preach about the evils of pacifism. Even without the preaching, it's still a poor book overall. Like a previous person said, Richard's sister Jensen has been reduced to a sidekick and good for pretty much nothing. Her goat Betty played a bigger role here than she did. And surprise surprise, Kahlan is taken prisoner again. Boring.
At this point, I'm reading the series just to finish it. I'm so tired of Goodkind's writing. In every book, he repeats himself over and over again. How many times do we have to read about the effect that drawing the Sword of Truth has on Richard or the entire history surrounding Confessors whenever Kahlan uses her power? Speaking of which, Goodkind never explains why Kahlan's power didn't have any effect on Nicolas. I also hate how convenient he comes up with Richard's solution to the problem with his gift. - Good Reads Customer Review

16 July
Little Creel Resort
Chama, NM

I gained only 600+ feet in elevation when I moved here from Taos but it has been MUCH cooler. As I said before I don't have a local weather station but Pagosa Springs is about 300 feet higher than Taos and maybe a couple of degrees cooler. I think the big mature shade trees and an afternoon breeze is what has made the difference here.

I lost my Chama River view yesterday afternoon. A 5th wheel is in the riverside space now. It does not block that much of my view but the tow vehicle is parked right where it need not be. This is still a very nice space and IF I really, really want to look at the river I can walk about 100' to the river bank and watch it.

If there is any downside to this Park it is the market that is available and the scarcity of different walking routes. I'll be doing almost all my walks along US64/US84 and NM17. All of them will be out and back routes as well which becomes boring for me although Patches does not mind. We saw our first deer this morning which had her excited.

I have started the re-do of 2009-2010 Camp Map. It is going to take a few more days but I have good WIFI here at this Park also. That will help me stay within my Verizon usage limit while I work on it. My daily blog reading and Internet browsing uses up a lot of my daily quota so the WIFI, if it is working, is great.

We are accustomed to dwell upon the discoveries of science and the development of the arts as simple incidents, complete in themselves, which offer only grounds for congratulation. But the steps which have been won are by no means simple events. Each one has consequences which reach beyond the domain of physical power into social and moral relations, and these effects are multiplied and reproduced by combination with each other. The great discoveries and inventions redistribute population. They reconstruct industries and force new organization of commerce and finance. They bring new employments into existence and render other employments obsolete, while they change the relative value of many others. They overthrow the old order of society, impoverishing some classes and enriching others. They render old political traditions grotesque and ridiculous, and make old maxims of statecraft null and empty. They give old vices of human nature a chance to parade in new masks, so that it demands new skill to detect the same old foes. They produce a kind of social chaos in which contradictory social and economic phenomena appear side by side to bewilder and deceive the student who is not fully armed to deal with them. New interests are brought into existence, and new faiths, ideas, and hopes, are engendered in the minds of men. Some of these are doubtless good and sound; others are delusive; in every case a competent criticism is of the first necessity. In the upheaval of society which is going on, classes and groups are thrown against each other in such a way as to produce class hatreds and hostilities. As the old national jealousies, which used to be the lines on which war was waged, lose their distinctness, class jealousies threaten to take their place. Political and social events which occur on one side of the globe now affect the interests of population on the other side of the globe. Forces which come into action in one part of human society rest not until they have reached all human society.

17 July
Little Creel Resort
Chama, NM

Not much happening here. I did more work on the 2009-10 Camp map this morning and will probably do some later today. Spent some time on the couch with Patches. I was reading and she was watching the Park, you can never be too careful there may be a dog getting too close to Desperado. She will let me know!

Not a lot of News. I have read that a motive for the Chattanooga shooting by Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez has yet to be determined. I don't remember that it took very long for a motive to be assigned in the case of Dylann Roof. But then again that was an easy one white boy killing African-Americans/Blacks/Negroes, what more do you need to know - hate crime!

I think it may have simply been his way of celebrating the holiday of Eid al-Fitr which marks the end of Ramadan. You see all these videos of Muslims firing their AK47s in celebration, why should he not be able to do the same. If some Marines got killed it was a “heartbreaking circumstance”, as President Obama said.

The Iran nuclear 'deal' News still had legs but I think it is déjà vu all over again.

President Clinton speaking October 21st, 1994.
CLINTON: This is a good deal for the United States. North Korea will freeze and then dismantle its nuclear program. South Korea and our other allies will be better protected. The entire world will be safer as we slow the spread of nuclear weapons. The United States and international inspectors will carefully monitor North Korea to make sure it keeps its commitments. Only as it does so will North Korea fully join the community of nations.

President Obama speaking July 15, 2015.
OBAMA: That's why this deal makes our country and the world safer and more secure. It's why the alternative, no limits on Iran's nuclear program, no inspections, an Iran that's closer to a nuclear weapon, the risk of regional nuclear arms race, and the greater risk of war -- all that would endanger our security. That's the choice that we face. If we don't choose wisely, I believe future generations will judge us harshly for letting this moment slip away.

Now about those inspections. This is what our President has agreed to (I added the underline): "Iran will increase the number of designated IAEA inspectors to the range of 130-150 within 9 months from the date of the implementation of the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action], and will generally allow the designation of inspectors from nations that have diplomatic relations with Iran, consistent with its laws and regulations,”

Susan Rice, President Obama’s national security adviser, confirmed this is what was agreed to in an interview with CNN.

There are not going to be independent American inspectors separate from the IAEA. The IAEA will be doing the inspections on behalf of the U.S. and the rest of the international community. The IAEA, which is a highly respected international organization will field an international team of inspectors, and those inspectors will in all likelihood come from IAEA member states, most of whom have diplomatic relations with Iran, we of course are a rare exception.

18 July
Little Creel Resort
Chama, NM

Yesterday our afternoon walk got rained out. We could have gone later but my right knee has been a little sore for the past few days so taking an afternoon off may have been the thing to do.

I finished the re-do of the 2009-10 Camp Map yesterday and started the proof and edit. Got that done this morning and have included it in the Camp drop down menu.

The Park has filled up. Not completely but there are only a few empty RV spaces and I think all but 1-2 cabins. When I tried WIFI this morning it would not load a page which was another sign that a crowd is here sucking up all the bandwidth.

Very overcast so far today. The weather guessers have assigned a low chance of it raining and think it will reach the upper 70s for a high. A little higher chance for rain tomorrow which may encourage some of the people here to leave early. Yes, one of them did! I got my Chama River view back, now I can watch the fishermen feeding the fish again.

I think the fast food workers that are striking for a $15/hr wage would do well to read this. It is from an article by William Graham Sumner in Harper's Weekly, September 15, 1883. Of course the argument would be "now is different". Is it?

Now the question is raised whether there is any remedy for the low wages of the crowded occupations, and the question answers itself: there is no remedy except not to continue the causes of the evil. To strike, that is, to say that the workers will not work in their chosen line, yet that they will not leave it for some other line, is simply suicide. Neither can any amount of declamation, nor even of law-making, force a man who owns a business to submit the control of it to a man who does not own it.

19 July
Little Creel Resort
Chama, NM

Our morning walk was rained out. We did give it a start but I was getting wet and when Patches started to shake it off we quit with just a potty walk.

It started raining last night about the time I went to sleep and I heard it every time I got up during the night. Not a pouring rain but steady. Woke up at 5:00 to find that the roof leak has not been fixed. It is not leaking much but the headliner is soaked again and dripping on my bed. That means that ANY rain in the future will cause additional dripping until the headliner dries.

By 7:00 it had stopped raining and was clearing although by noon there were clouds moving in again. I could have gone for our walk when it cleared but my right knee still needs some time off. I think I need it mentally also. I haven't had a good rest day from walking in some months.

Trump has created another fire storm. First it was his comment about illegal immigrants. That got Senator McCain, a big supporter of 'amnesty', fired up as well. He had this to say about Trump and his appearance in Phoenix "It’s very bad, this performance with our friend out in Phoenix is hurtful to me, because what he did was he fired up the crazies. We have a very extreme element within our Republican Party."

Trump has about as much respect for McCain as McCain does for Trump and he took exception to having his supporters called 'crazies and extremist' so he responds by saying "He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured."

The Establishment Republicans have joined with the Ministry of Propaganda in denouncing Trump and supporting McCain. I agree with Trump. A hero is a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities. I do not believe McCain's actions meet the requirements of this definition. Our culture, and political correctness, has cheapened the definition. Sort of like everyone gets a trophy for 'participating'.

20 July
Little Creel Resort
Chama, NM

Saw three bucks this morning near the flashing Deer Warning light on US84/US64 south of Chama. Saw two does also with one of them grazing with 3-4 horses. That is the most that we have seen in any one day so far. The Taos Park was over run with rabbits, here it is deer.

We headed for town as soon as we got back to Desperado. Parked in the center of town and walked to Cowboys and Cowgirls Hair Salon to see what their operating hours were. Not posted.

The barber shop that is on one of my walking routes has a For Sale sign in the window and no operating hours posted although I was told that he is still in business. Neither of them could prove it to me with no hours of operation posted on the door nor on the Intenet.

Then it was about a 1/2 block walk in the other direction to the Boxcar Café where there were 4 railroaders waiting for the door to open. We had a brief chat and they told me they were trainees for the Train.

I asked if they took turns training as the fireman and one fellow pointed to two others and said they do. One of them that he pointed to was a woman that was about 5'11" and probably weighed in at 220 pounds, or more. When I asked how much coal was shoveled she said it took 2.5 tons to reach the Pass from Chama. She did not ask and I did not volunteer an answer to the question "Do these bib overalls make my butt look fat?"

For breakfast I had a very good Burrito, not wrapped, although they went a bit 'California' in the preparation by adding too much cheese and then passing it through the salamander broiler. The coffee was decent, the service was good and this place gets a #1 ranking by tripadviser.

I then went to Lowe's Market & Hardware where I did reasonably well getting everything I wanted. They had Greek God Honey Yogurt which surprised me and I picked up some more vanilla to add so that was good. No Dark Chocolate bars in the candy section but that did not surprise me. I stocked up in Taos so have enough for one more week.

Last stop was the post office. There I picked up my Arbuckles' Coffee order and headed for 'home'. Pulled far forward in my space and dumped holding tanks and took on fresh water. Then backed up to where I prefer to park and have my Chama River view.

Obama issued same-day orders lowering the flag following the July 20, 2012 Aurora, Colorado mass shooting, December 14, 2012 Sandy Hook, Connecticut mass shooting and the September 16, 2013 Washington Navy Yard mass shooting. It was only a matter of hours after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage last month before Obama bathed the White House in the rainbow hues of the LGBTQ [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning] movement.

It has now been four days since a gunman opened fire on military facilities in Chattanooga, Tennessee, killing five unarmed servicemen and wounding a policeman. President Barack Obama still has not ordered the lowering of the U.S. flag to half-staff at the White House and federal properties as a sign of respect and mourning for those killed. Is it because he can not use this 'heartbreaking circumstance' for his political benefit? Or, is it because he does not respect those that were killed?

21 July
Little Creel Resort
Chama, NM

I heard a light rain falling again last night as I went to sleep. It did not amount to much and I had no roof leak. This morning was very overcast and dark but no rain and the forecast does not predict much chance. What is predicted is that it will get hotter for the next week - over 80 for the high.

I stopped at the Park office yesterday and inquired about where I could get a haircut. The two shops that I had found seem to operate a telephone appointment kind of business. I did get the name of another that maintains "normal business hours" - maybe. I'll check it out the next time I'm in town.

No much happening here today. My usual daily routine and reading the usual daily News.

Did President Obama issue one of his Executive Orders to arm all military recruiters after the attack? No, here is the story about what is being done to provide greater security in the recruiting offices Marine recruiters told not to wear uniforms after attack.

The military services have taken swift action to increase security after Thursday's shootings in Tennessee, even closing some facilities and telling Marine recruiters not to wear uniforms in public.
One of the steps Defense Secretary Carter approved was Marine Corps Recruiting Command's decision to have recruiters not wear their military uniforms for now, a defense official said. The recruiting command also closed down all offices within 40 miles of the facilities in Chattanooga and increased the force protection condition level from "Bravo" to "Charlie." "Charlie" is the third highest security level. It indicates an incident has occurred or officials have evidence that terrorists are planning an attack.

As Muslim Americans celebrate Eid across America, the holiday is a reminder to every American of the importance of respecting those of all faiths and beliefs. This past year New York City Public Schools announced adding Eid to their official school calendars alongside Christmas, Hanukkah and other holidays – an acknowledgement of the great diversity and inclusiveness that adds to the richness of our nation.

22 July
Little Creel Resort
Chama, NM

It felt cold this morning with a slight wind. Pagosa Springs reported a low of 46° so it was probably at or below 45 here. Not that cold but with a windbreaker and T-shirt it felt that way.

Since I have finished all of my map builds and map re-builds I have nothing to do. I go through my Daily blog reads quickly and then a quick pass through the News. In both cases nothing much is different today from what it was yesterday which has been true for some time.

I'm back on the couch with my latest book a little more now. This makes Patches happy, I think. She spends more time in her chair up in the cab if I'm not on the couch with her.

I think this is the first Robin Cook novel that I have read. If it had not been for the two books that I read before this one I would have been rather harsh in what I had to say about this one. The previous two were big disappointments which made this one not so bad. As the reviewer I quote says the Salem Witch Trial history was interesting and I enjoyed it. It was entertaining, although all the medical jargon and terms are not something I look for, and I may read another of Cook's medical suspense novels but will not go out of my way to find one.

I started out really enjoying this book but I became disappointed by the end. I'd have given it 3 stars otherwise. The pros; it was a unique story, and the Salem Witch Trial history connection was very interesting. The cons; predictable, character development was lacking, ending was rushed and lacked some closure for me (I notice this in many of his books), and finally; I find the characters to be unrealistic in their behavior and attitude toward events unfolding in the story. - Good Reads Customer Review

California's Gas Price Premium Has Never Been Higher, Here's Why is a story that may be told throughout the United States if the federal Environmental Protection Agency has its way.

California's gasoline price premium to the rest of the nation is the highest on record...in large part because an Exxon Mobil Corp. refinery in Torrance has been out of commission since an explosion there in February, and the state’s environmental regulations are hampering the company’s efforts to quickly get it back to full production...ExxonMobil has sought permission to use a previous model of the unit until the newer version can be installed, but was denied because the older unit emits between two and six times more greenhouse gases than the newer model, which would violate state regulations.
And then there’s the pipeline breach in Santa Barbara County on May 19 that interrupted the flow of ExxonMobil oil to refineries in Southern California, amounting to 150,000 barrels of crude per day. ExxonMobil filed an emergency application to have trucks move the oil until the pipeline is repaired, but the request was denied on the grounds that the situation wasn’t an emergency.

23 July
Little Creel Resort
Chama, NM

Cool this morning just like yesterday. The high in Pagosa Springs yesterday was 80° so probably 78-79 here. The forecast is an expected high of 82 so most likely the same kind of day as yesterday. We may get the same for the rest of this month. Then maybe a little cooler in August.

We did a slightly different route going toward town this morning, trying to get some variety in our walks. That slight modification was not where we saw the three does and one buck however. The does were just north of the Chama River near a commercial building.

I think Patches saw them move. They were statue still when I looked where she was looking and too far away for her to have seen them if they had not been moving. The buck I think she heard or smelled. I looked in the direction she was looking and spotted him standing still and she ignored him. He was too far away and without moving she could not see him.

It is no surprise that President Obama has had nothing to say about the Planned Parenthood "chop shop" body parts controversy. He is a VERY strong supporter of Planned Parenthood and was the first sitting President to address a gathering of the organization. This is how he closed that speech on 26 April 2013.

As long as we’ve got to fight to make sure women have access to quality, affordable health care, and as long as we’ve got to fight to protect a woman’s right to make her own choices about her own health, I want you to know that you’ve also got a president who’s going to be right there with you, fighting every step of the way. Thank you, Planned Parenthood. God bless you.

EARNEST: I haven't spoken to the president about the actual videos. I have read the reports and I'm confident that he has, too, raising significant concerns about the way in which those videos were selectively edited to distort the -- not just the words of the individual speaking but also the position of Planned Parenthood.

24 July
Little Creel Resort
Chama, NM

Today was another shopping day. A little earlier in my normal shopping cycle than called for but I wanted to see if Lowe's had more of a selection on Friday that on Monday. I don't want to go during the weekend because that is when the store is crowded with weekenders.

Not much difference. They are just out of different things on Friday. No Greek God Honey yogurt, I got some Honey Salted Caramel which sounds strange but I'll give it a try. The produce was rather limited compared to last Monday but I saw that they were stocking as I left so I guess I could have asked.

Breakfast was at Fina's Diner almost across the street from Lowe's. The menu is rather limited but their 'lots of stuff omelet' was a good choice. A generous serving of hash browns and pretty good coffee. The waitress did not act like she wanted to be there but she did keep my coffee cup full without my looking for her.

I want to make a correction to my posting of yesterday where I referred to the Planned Parenthood "chop shop" body parts controversy. Dr. Jen Gunter, an OB/GYN and a pain medicine physician has written an article The Many Manipulations of the Planned Parenthood Attack Videos that states that the correct medical terminology is "products of conception" not "baby parts".

The New Republic is a liberal American magazine so the article is preaching to the choir. It does provide a clear view of how Planned Parenthood and the left see this issue however. It is the same way they see abortion, there is no "baby"; it is nothing but "non-viable tissue mass". That is what an unborn child is called when it cannot live, unaided, outside the womb.

This quote is from The Forgotten Man an essay written in 1883 by William Graham Sumner compiled and edited for a book The Forgotten Man and Other Essays by Albert Galloway Keller in 1919. I have quoted from some of the other essays as I have read them but this is the first that I recommend be read it its entirety. The Forgotten Man is the clean, quiet, virtuous, domestic citizen, who pays his debts and his taxes and is never heard of out of his little circle.

Now we have a great many well-intentioned people among us who believe that they are serving their country when they discuss plans for regulating the relations of employer and employee, or the sanitary regulations of dwellings, or the construction of factories, or the way to behave on Sunday, or what people ought not to eat or drink or smoke. All this is harmless enough and well enough as a basis of mutual encouragement and missionary enterprise, but it is almost always made a basis of legislation. The reformers want to get a majority, that is, to get the power of the state and so to make other people do what the reformers think it right and wise to do...the liberals used always to regard state regulation with suspicion, but since they have come to power, they plainly believe that state regulation is a good thing if they regulate - because, of course, they want to bring about good things. In this country each party takes turns, according as it is in or out, in supporting or denouncing the non-interference theory. Now, if we have state regulation, what is always forgotten is this: Who pays for it?

25 July
Little Creel Resort
Chama, NM

The Park filled up again for the weekend. By the time we returned from our afternoon walk yesterday most of the RV spaces were taken and many of the cabins. Then about 5:30 a bumper pull trailer was pulled into the space that blocked my river view again.

Bummer, I should get it back by noon on Sunday! But wait, they did not like the space and have backed out and moved down river. But, that good news didn't last long. The space was taken up by a big 5th wheel with the tow vehicle blocking my view. That is bad enough but to make it worse the 5th wheel and a pickup with a tent in the bed is packed with children. Loud, squealing children.

Started to work on another month's links for the Will Rogers weekly articles. Got the copying to my web site done. That is the easy part but I should have it all done by the end of this month.

Matthew Continetti has written a very good article Revenge of the Radical Middle that explains Trump's support. The "radical middle" might be the Forgotten Man that I wrote about in yesterday's posting.

Two decades ago, in the spring of 1996, Newsweek magazine described a group of voters it called the “radical middle.” Formerly known as the Silent Majority, then the Reagan Democrats, these voters had supported Ross Perot in 1992,...The radical middle is attracted to populists, outsiders, businessmen such as Perot and Lee Iacocca who have never held office, and to anyone, according to Newsweek, who is the “tribune of anti-insider discontent.”...Well, here we are again, at the beginning of a presidential campaign in which the Republican Party, having lost its hold on the radical middle, is terrified of the electoral consequences. The supporters of Reagan and Perot, of Gingrich and Pat Buchanan, have found another aging billionaire in whom to place their fears and anxieties, their nostalgia and love of country, their disgust with the political and cultural elite, their trepidation at what our nation is becoming.

I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth; banks are going bust; shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter; punks are running wild in the street, and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it.
We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat. And we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be!
We all know things are bad -- worse than bad -- they're crazy.
It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out any more. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we're living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, "Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials, and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone."
Well, I'm not going to leave you alone.
I want you to get mad!
I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot. I don't want you to write to your Congressman, because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street.
All I know is that first, you've got to get mad.
You've gotta say, "I'm a human being, goddammit! My life has value!"
So, I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out and yell, "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!!" - Donald Trump (Campainging 2015) or Howard Beal (Network 1976)

26 July
Little Creel Resort
Chama, NM

My neighbors by the river were buzzing around all day yesterday but remained quiet considering the number of them. I was not paying close attention to see if any of their group was involved but I did see a lot of young 'fisherboys' and 'fishergirls'. Some where with an adult but most of them were alone or with another young person. Maybe Hell has run out of hand baskets.

I used all of my Verizon daily limit yesterday and tried to sign on to the Park WIFI. No way! I don't know if it was down every time I tried it but I know it did not even appear as a WIFI that was available about half the time I checked. The other half the time I got a Limited connection which means I do not have a connection that will open a web page. Too many people with their straws sucking from the Bandwidth pool.

Patches and I saw our first bear in the wild this morning. No pictures, too dark. It was a black bear, I think, that came walking up the entry road to El Mesón Lodge, past the Elk Horn Restaurant and crossed US64/US84. Patches was excited and wanted to run up and say hello so it was a good thing she was on leash.

Saw three deer soon after that and Patches was disappointed. She still had some interest but after the bear seeing some deer was a let down.

I noticed that the Park had their NO vacancy sign on this morning. I did see three RV spaces that were open but the service at those sites may be not working. There was one cabin that appeared unoccupied but it may have been vacated early this morning. There is a crowd which I think I'll be seeing every weekend while I'm here.

The 'review" by Booklist is not much more than what you would find on the back of the book. No customer reviews at Amazon nor at goodreads. It is a wonder that I found this book. I don't think it was a big seller and I probably will not find another by this author. The book was not bad it was just not very well written. I was surprised to find that this was the sixth book that Linda Amey had published. It was not her first so perhaps the other five were better. I thought it was her first from the way it was written.

Funeral director Blair Emerson has more than her share of problems. Daughter Brandi, kidnapped as a toddler and returned 11 years later, is obsessive-compulsive, afraid to be touched. Divorced from her lawyer-husband, Blair brings Brandi to Live Oak, Texas, where Blair grew up, hoping the small town's friendliness will ease her daughter's therapy--and her own fears about Brandi's safety. But a string of arsons frightens and divides the people she has known all her life, and as a witness to one of the fires, Blair is embroiled in the investigation. Is the culprit an environmentalist hated for challenging the way Live Oak's people treat their animals? Or a troubled teen with a psychological problem just as serious as Brandi Emerson's? And is someone really stalking the Emersons again, or has Blair's need to protect her daughter driven her over the edge of sanity? Amey, who has written five previous mysteries, is an engrossing storyteller. - BooklistReview

27 July
Little Creel Resort
Chama, NM

I stopped at the Park office yesterday afternoon and reported my bear sighting. The Host said that was the first reported sighting that he has had this summer. He told me that Lowe's market has been having problems with bears getting into their dumpsters. No problems here - yet.

I made up a batch of dessert yesterday using the Greek God Honey Salted Caramel. It is not bad but call me old fashioned - I like Honey Vanilla better. Even the Honey to which I add vanilla is better. So there you have it!

We tried a different walking route this morning. Although most of it was along US64/US84 toward town we wanted to go west at the NM17 junction. We have done this a couple of times but have only gone as far as a street that parallels NM17.

This morning we crossed a creek and approached a house on the left that had loose dogs last year. They are still there and still loose. Turned around and will not go past the creek bridge on any future walks. We then looped back to NM17 by going north on the paralleling street which is also an iffy route because of the loose dogs on NM17.

Donald Trump — The Great Uniter by Monty Pelerin explains how trump has united the Republicans, Democrats and Media. I have selected the opening and closing paragraphs of his enjoyable article.

Our national version of the Bloods and Crips — Democrats and Republicans — are joining forces against their common enemy, Donald Trump. Prior to his foray into politics, few would think of Trump as a great uniter. He doesn’t act like one, nor does he care to. However, he is a common threat to the plunder and pillage that both political parties have inflicted on the country. In that sense, they will unite against him.
Whether Trump would make a good president or not is moot. Given recent experiences with elections selecting someone by lottery might not be worse than those we elect. I have no interest in voting for Trump (or anyone else for that matter). I do like what Trump is doing because he is rocking a boat that needs rocking or even sinking. Watch the ruling class unite against his threat. Listen to the squealing pigs whose preferred place at the trough is being threatened. That is music to my ears!

The surprisingly new Yougov poll conducted through Wednesday shows that Trump’s support has surged among Republicans in the wake of the backlash against comments the real estate mogul made about Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).
But the biggest surprise that came out of the poll is that veterans [sic] currently serving in the military view Trump more favorably than McCain. Among current veterans, a full 53% view Trump favorably compared to just 41% for McCain. McCain’s unfavorable rating with this group is also higher than Trump’s, 49% to 42% respectively.

28 July
Little Creel Resort
Chama, NM

We did a little shorter morning walk. It was cold, Patches loved it, which gave me an excuse to do the shorter walk. I'm guessing it was 43-44° with a slight breeze. There has not been any rain forecast during they past few days but we have received a short shower almost every day. The weather guessers are now predicting rain to start on Thursday thru the end of the 10 Day Forecast.

Not nearly as cold as a little farther north. More than an inch of snow was reported yesterday at the ski resort of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and in the mountains of western Montana and central Idaho near Salmon, ID.

The insurance saga seems to never end. I got a second notice email from my insurance agent yesterday wanting my signature on the policy application for the AZ policy. I never received notice #1 that I recognized as requiring any signatures. This second notice referred to 'mailed' items which I have not had forwarded.

I was able to forward the attachment via email to the Park office where they printed it. I affixed my signature and initials and we then tried 3 times to FAX it back to the agent. Their machine would not answer so we then scanned the signed documents and sent them back as attachments to an email. I have not heard anything more from the agent today but the day is not over yet nor do I believe the saga is over.

On 24 July 2015 Senator Ted Cruz gave a Senate floor speech shining a light on the corrupt deal struck by Senate Republican leadership to allow the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank.

The Ministry of Propaganda have reported a few select quotes that focused on Cruz calling out Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for being a liar. Or, they have written opinion pieces, that are disguised as News, that attribute Senator Cruz's motivation for the floor speech as his need for attention to bolster his presidential nomination aspirations.

What is very hard to find is the entire text of Senator Cruz's speech. You can read it in Ted Cruz Issues Manifesto For Conservative Populism an article by [Conservative HQ - Richard A. Viguerie] CHQ Staff. Trump is getting a lot of the Ministry's attention now but Senator Cruz would be a bigger worry for them if the populist conservative message he delivered on the Senate floor were to gain traction with Trump supporters. His credibility needs to be destroyed before that happens and any possibility of the nomination going to him must be thwarted.

29 July
Little Creel Resort
Chama, NM

Laundry day. The facilities here at this Park are totally inadequate for the number of RV spaces not even counting the cabins. There are 4 washers and 4 dryers with Out of Order notes on two of the washers.

When I arrived at 6:40 this morning the two washers that work were doing so. I went back a few minutes before 7:00 and the fellow that had taken control of those two that worked was almost ready to unload one of them. I went back after about 30 minutes and moved my clothes to a dryer and 45 minutes later went to fold and bring back clean clothes.

It was only the luck of the draw that I got a dryer that did dry. The other fellow had to put one of his dryer loads into the one of the two he had selected that worked. So of the 4 dryers we know that two work and one does not, not sure about the fourth one. But even if everything worked there are not enough washers and dryers.

A new book to be read while on the couch with Patches. A quick read through my Daily blogs that now have combined personal blogs with News sites. Finished getting current reading Monthly blogs once again. That was about all I got done today.

This is the third book from the Mitch Rapp Series that I have read and the fourth Flynn book. The other two in the Series were Consent To Kill #8 reviewed 2 July 2014 and The Last Man #13 reviewed 19 August 2014. This is #7 in the Series and as I said before these are entertaining reads but certainly not literature. The Weekly does not mention it but I think Rapp should have been placed back on desk duty again after being congratulated by President Hayes. They also got the location of the stronghold wrong, it was in Pakistan. What they did get right is the formulaic structure of the story. If you expect some twists and turns in the story this book will not provide them. That will not keep me from picking up another in the Series if I can find one.

The latest entry in Flynn's popular Mitch Rapp series (after 2003's Executive Power) offers a gripping look at what could transpire if a terrorist group were to sneak a nuclear weapon into the U.S. Rapp, the relentless, marble-hearted CIA assassin and terrorist hunter, would never let that happen, of course, and Flynn's description of the process of bringing a nuke ashore and the lengths to which the government's counterterrorism force will go to prevent harm to U.S. citizens add up to another page-flipping extravaganza. Rapp, back in the field after a long stint on desk duty for insubordination, unearths the bomb plot during a daring commando raid on an al-Qaeda stronghold in Afghanistan. A U.S. strike force manages to intercept and disarm the nuke moments after it arrives by freighter in Charleston, S.C. Everyone, including series stalwart President Robert Hayes, congratulates themselves on a job well done, but Rapp isn't convinced; he believes al-Qaeda leader Mustafa al-Yamani has smuggled a second nuke into the country and plans to detonate it in Washington, D.C., during Memorial Day celebrations. Rapp, a ruthless terrorist pursuer by temperament and training, turns it up several notches this time around, following al-Yamani's scent with feverish abandon. Flynn trots out his usual assortment of characters to keep the action tense—wishy-washy cabinet members, political climbers, invective-spewing terrorists and a selected assortment of ice queens who use sex as a weapon. Yet his skillful use of converging plots, particularly the panic created by having a nuke on the loose, is enough to keep Flynn's growing fan base more than willing to overlook the formulaic components. - Publishers Weekly

I love it when the Pollsters get poll results that they did not want nor expect. They then spin the results as best as they can because not publishing the poll at all will hurt their credibility even more. Trump Still Leads National GOP Field, But Disaster in General is a good example. When there is a "But" in the article title you have to know there is some spin involved.

They then report in the first sentence of their poll result summary the media narrative that Trump's comments about Senator McCain sound the death knell to his nomination chances. It was on 16 June 2015 that he announced that he was in the race for the presidential nomination and he made his immigration comment that was to be the 'death knell'.

Yet buried in this poll you can find that he has the highest Favorable rating by Hispanics of any Republican in the race. How can this be? After NBC and Macy's dropped him, the Establishment Republicans united with their comrades across the aisle in condemning him; he leads in Favorability from Hispanics! You need to dig VERY deep in the poll results to find this, the pollsters certainly did not highlight it in their summary.

30 July
Little Creel Resort
Chama, NM

Another grocery shopping trip as soon as we finish our morning walk. Arrived a few minutes early for their 7:00 opening but was able to get in and out quickly. Still no Greek God Honey Vanilla so I got Honey Strawberry this time. Everything else I wanted was to be had. In fact I wanted some cod and found some at a great price. It is always cheaper than salmon but what I found today was less than half the price.

Met a couple of fellows in the parking lot that complimented Patches and expressed the good fortune in my having such a great looking dog. They wanted to meet her and she was happy to meet and greet.

We then went to the Elk Horn Café where I had a very good omelet with lots of stuff inside and lots of chorizo. It was served with a generous amount of hash browns that could have been browned a little more. The coffee was good and it kept coming. The only downside to the entire experience was the bill - they are a little expensive but it is a tourist town.

Final thing to do today before settling down to doing nothing was dump holding tanks. I got that done but not before breaking the rod that closes the valve on the gray water tank. It snapped off right where the handle screws onto the rod. I may be able to get the handle off the piece of rod but probably not. I also think I can open the valve by pulling it open with pliers but not sure of that either. I'll worry about it in another 10 days or so.

I have written before about the Status of the Social Security and Medicare Programs. The Trustees have released their 2015 report and it says the same thing that their reports have been saying for years. The Trusts are going to go bankrupt.

Social Security’s Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Fund now faces an urgent threat of reserve depletion, requiring prompt corrective action by lawmakers if sudden reductions or interruptions in benefit payments are to be avoided. Beyond DI, Social Security as a whole as well as Medicare cannot sustain projected long-run program costs under currently scheduled financing...DI Trust Fund reserves expressed as a percent of annual cost (the trust fund ratio) declined to 40 percent at the beginning of 2015, and the Trustees project trust fund depletion late in 2016, the same year projected in the last Trustees Report.

31 July
Little Creel Resort
Chama, NM

Heavy overcast most of the day yesterday. It felt extra humid when we did our afternoon walk and then started to rain just minutes after we got inside. I dodged getting wet one more time. This morning looked much the same, very gray.

My neighbor, on the north side, from OK was outside when we finished our walk this morning. This is the first time I have seen anyone up around their trailer at such an early hour. He said they were leaving today. They had a son/daughter or maybe son-in-law/daughter-in-law or maybe friends come and visit yesterday and I saw that same flat bed crew cab truck at one of the cabins. Well, that is what hooked up to their triple axle 5th wheel and they were gone by 7:30.

Good neighbors, I hope I can get as lucky for my remaining time here. It is a "monthly" space but that does not mean the Park will not put some weekender in there if they have no monthly reservation.

We saw Pepé La Pew again this morning. This may be the same Pepé that we saw last year since he was in the same general area. Patches was overwhelmed by his charms and wished to rush to him. Once again it is a VERY good thing that I had her on leash.

I finished all the formatting for next month's Will Rogers weekly articles this morning. That is a monthly chore that I can strike of my list again for a while. Other than that I didn't do much. More time on the couch with a really good book and Patches (a really good dog).

These farmer protest have received almost no News coverage by the Ministry of Propaganda here in the United States. It is News in Europe however and just another consequence of the Sanctions War that President Obama launched against Russia. He declares War and suckers the Europeans into manning the front lines; they then are the ones that suffer. The Russian economy is holding up fairly well.

Belgian farmers started a series of large-scale protests across the entire country, Belgian newspaper Le Soir reported. Similar to their French counterparts, Belgian farmers are protesting against low prices for milk, pork and other products, Le Soir said.
The decrease in food prices is partially caused by the oversupply of farming products in EU markets. In the past, the EU would export much of its farming products to Russia, but the Russian food embargo has caused the overproduction of food. Last year, the Russian government banned imports of certain food products coming from a number of European countries in response to anti-Russian sanctions imposed earlier by the United States and the EU.