Hail,Ya Betcha

 Hail

Thunderstorm season and it is starting off as a bad one. A small tornado passed by Scottsbluff and the picture is from Facebook. Kids holding melon sized hail. Sisty’s insurance adjuster’s agency has nine claims in Scottsbluff and more will likely come in.

Speaking of Sisty, much like a mechanic’s Snap On tools, she has upgraded her tool kit with a new computer and monitors. Her skills are in demand.

Places around the Foothills and out on the plains received as much as 6” of rain in a few hours.

 TABOR for Roads-A Colorado Specific Topic

In 1992 Colorado taxpayers passed the Taxpayers Bill of Rights as a constitutional amendment; the only state to do so. To basic parts are, taxpayers, not the state legislature and/or other government agencies (cities, water districts, et.) must approve tax increases and taxes collected in excess of the approved budget must be refunded to the taxpayers. Since Colorado went blue, the (P)regressives have been fighting to neuter TABOR.

To feed their feckless spending they have siphoned highway funds, among others. Now on the 2006 ballot will be Initiative 175, a constitutional amendment, to insure highway funds are spent on highways. Just the thought is giving the (P)regressives vapors. 

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The three Justices on the Colorado Supreme Court were openly Democrat activists when elected. They have let the Polis Administration slide on many important legal issues including the State Constitution mandating a balanced budget. What will they do, assuming the initiative passes, and the question reaches them?

“Fix our Roads” seems close to becoming a bipartisan movement.

There may be as many as nine other Initiatives on the ballot; most push backs against (P)regressive cherished ideas.

Long reads but for those interested:

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 h/t Cory Gaines

Uranium

Growing up around the 1950’s uranium boom, friends and I ‘prospected’ for uranium with a second or third hand Geiger counter that ate batteries. The closet we came was finding Thorium within the city limits of Steamboat Springs. There was a kind of intoxication in prospecting. Likely what motivated the gold rush? Many in our extended family/clan are fanatic rock hounds.

Now Wyoming is enjoying another uranium boom.

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Hopefully lessons learned will keep mine tailings being used in concrete mixes poured for building foundations. Craig, CO comes to mind.

Colorado Sun

An online daily newspaper I read but don’t support. Despite their claims, they are a left wing econazi propaganda machine.                              

What they claim.

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Cory Gaines, who I also follow, takes them apart on just one subject.

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Being retired, I amuse myself by reading a lot of opinions, bloggers, and watching YouTube. No television for me. Blogging is another outlet, inflicting my opinions on an uncaring world.

Car Story 

Left Hanging – Not especially proud of my actions nor ashamed. Shit happens.

Management was upset when they found a salesman hanging from barbed wire. I was responsible and knew my days there were numbered.

Sunset Cars backed up to I-405 and had a 6’ chain link fence across the back of the lot. After hour troubles prompted the fence to be topped with barbed wire.

One evening a 20’s smart ass and I got into it. He was a 5’6” 120 lb ‘martial arts expert’. He came at me and got picked up and tossed against the fence. His arms got caught in the barbed wire and his feet were off the ground.  I walked away.

Others dropped the tailgate of a pickup and backed up to him then helped him get untangled after he was found by other salesmen.

So how did a 50 year old man prevail? The old man is a lifelong dirty white boy. When Mr. Martial Arts tried a head high spinning leg kick, the old man stepped into the kick, grabbed the leg, grabbed the groin, lifted and tossed. The position of the fence wasn’t part of the plan. Oh well, the fence was there.

Sunset’s structure was two sales managers with two sales crews working shifts. The young warrior was on Al’s crew and I was on Jeff’s crew. Jeff had personal problems including drinking on the job. Not too long after the hanging he was fired. I knew my time was at an end.

 My departure was cordial. My unemployment lasted four hours. Such was car sales in Washington State in the 1990’s.

Not my first, nor my last, rodeo. Physical altercations were common during my car sales days and I was in several. That said, the only customer I ever touched was the punk who pulled a gun on me.

As always, YMMV

Howling

Wolves

The stink still lingers from the 2020 election. Did Proposition 114, which mandated wolf re-introduction, actually pass?

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Remember, per the Democrats in state office, our mail in ballot election is the “Gold Standard”. I mailed in my ballot and received notification it was counted. Not received, counted.  Counted before Election Day? No chance for mischief here folks, just move on. 

P)regressive Entrepreneurs

New ways to make money off illegal immigrants and tax payers shows the far left are still hustlers.

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 Of course, it is for the children.

How Many Vote Democrat?

Cynic me, I believe many administrators don’t give a rats ass about the children. Would education improve if most took their useless degrees and entered the private sector?

Surprise!

Many of the minority owned businesses building the Obamination Library in Chicago haven’t been paid, some for years.

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United Health Care

My health insurance company causes me some sympathy for Luigi Mangione. They have recently forced a new wrinkle, a referral. Before I can have my annual checkup at the same cardiology practice responsible for my pacemaker, where I have been going since 2014, I now need a referral from my “primary health care physician”.

By good fortune, Medtronics, my   pacemaker supplier, has provided me with a remote device using the cell phone network. Every six months I hold a reader over the pacemaker. In just a few minutes my pacemaker history is transmitted. If they see anything of concern they contact the cardiologists.

Why UHC? That is who Sisty says I should have. She has been involved with a community health organization for thirty plus years and on their board for decades.

(My sister calls me “Monster”. My comeback was Norm Crosby’s,

"Once upon a time, there lived a very beautiful girl named Rindercella and her two sisty uglers")

 Next week is my annual VA checkup where I prove I’m still alive. My thought is to see if the Doc I see can do the “referral” b.s.

Car Story

Being civil costs little so why be an asshole.

One Saturday an arrogant group drove on the lot in a VW 4x4 Camper van. We had a ramp to the showroom to bring cars on display in and out. The VW driver chose to park on the ramp. While not my ‘up’, I noticed the activity.

 I was coming back into the showroom and heard these arrogant assholes running their mouths about our prices and our thievery.

This was in our showroom with other customers present. I was irritated by their behavior.

 By happenstance, there was an open box of sheet rock nails on the window sill so I placed one under each tire of the VW.

Maybe 45 minutes later, on a test drive, we went past the VW on the side of the road with three flat tires. The arrogance was gone from the group; in fact, they looked forlorn.

Is there a point to this story? Whatever you want it to be.

As always, YMMV

Dirty Deeds

Sheep Dipping

The car biz refers to “sheep dipping” as getting the “brand” removed from a salvage title. While not common, doing it requires a certain amount of finesse. One Utah dealer has stepped on his pee pee.

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Back in the 1990s, dealers used Idaho to “sheep dip” Washington titles. I wasn’t personally involved except selling the ‘clean title’ vehicles. In this era, how you can bypass CARFAX  or J.D. Powers must be difficult. Two dealers I know use a service and every vehicle they take in trade or buy from a wholesaler is checked.

How Colorado Stays Blue

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Surprise! The Democrat primary candidates are savaging each other while the GOP candidates are staying civil. Can't get their hands dirty, don't you know.

CPAP

I’ve been sleeping with a CPAP since 1996. This YouTube clip reminded me of why.

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My boss, Ed Jones, told me to get tested or get fired! He reminded me we were covered by Group Health; no excuses. I arrived at Group Health and they wanted me to spend a night in the “sleep labs”. Not happening, single custodial Dad with two young teenage boys. Instead, they painted spots on my chest were electrodes were to be placed and sent me off with the equipment. I returned the equipment the next morning and went to work. Pro tip; If you ever do this, shave your chest hairs first.

That afternoon I got a call from the head of the department insisting I come in RIGHT NOW! Grumbling, I complied. The conversation went like this.

 “Mr. White, not only do you have sleep apnia, you have the worst case I’ve ever seen. See the lines on this screen? When this line is that low, you are clinically dead!”

Realizing he was dealing with a stubborn blockhead, he continued.

“Based on my experience, I believe you will soon have a ‘significant medical episode’. It may happen tomorrow, next week, but will happen within the next six months. If you are lucky, it will kill you. If not, it will severely impair you. You do have someone who can provide you with 24/7 nursing care for many years to come, don’t you?” What a salesman he would have been!

I said, “And my options are?”

I went home with a CPAP and have used one to this very day.

 Car Story

Hope this isn’t a repeat.

There a few occupations that often have shit credit. Two come to mind, preachers and cops.

One of my coworkers at Southgate Ford/Isuzu in Burien, WA was a black man named Paul. He was a great salesman and all around good person.

One Saturday he was trying to get his minister financed in a car. It was taking time and the minister was wandering around upstairs where we worked deals.

Monday Paul came up to me and said, “Hey Tank! Our minister had a great sermon yesterday. He spoke about race relations and how progress is being made. You were mentioned”.

Oh shit!!!!

“Yeah, he overheard you working a deal. Loser xxxx was sucking up to you”.

Loser xxxx said, “Tank, you do really well with black people. What is your secret?”

My minister said you were visible irritated by the interruption and snarled at him, “Simple, treat them like white people”.

Paul then gave me an evil grin and asked, “Tank, are you sweating?”. Bastard!

As always, YMMV

 

 

 

Need to Piss Someone Off? Use a Blogger Post

 Colorado’s “Gold Standard” Election Integrity

Yeah, right.

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I will be receiving my mail in primary election ballots this week, one for each party. I can only fill out one.

Wyoming Coal

The industry is getting a boost thanks to President Trump. Placing a coal terminal in Oakland does two things. First, frosting the ass of econazis. Second, making USA coal available to Asian countries.

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Other areas will prosper, politics permitting. Northwest Colorado has huge deposits of coal, for instance.

Perhaps naval experts can help. With a dredged depth of 50’, will the Oakland Terminal be able to service the largest bulk carriers?

Gun Haters Rejoice

Colorado saw a sharp decline in Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs), with 189 dealers closing or surrendering their licenses during a single recent 6-month period, outpacing new openings. State associations report that out of more than 2,100 FFLs operating in the state, only about 800 applied for new mandatory state permits following recent legislative changes.

The Godfather of current restrictive firearms laws is Ronald Reagan when he was Governor of California. He, and others, shit their pants when lawful citizens exercised their 2^nd Amendment rights.

They rushed through the California Assembly “gun laws” that have morphed into today’s hellish mess.

Sadly, West Virginia Attorney John H Bryan’s, “My freedoms don’t end where your fears begin. Freedom is scary, deal with it”, wasn’t around then. Would it have mattered?

Many hold President Reagan in high regard. If it were an attitude back then, I had Reagan Derangement Syndrome. No need to go into the tiresome details at this late date.

“President” Polis

Now nearing the end of his term, he is aiming for the Democrat nomination in 2028, IMO. He is now trying to build credibility as fearless, pragmatic, libertarian, etc., with a large number of veto’s of (P)regressive wet dream bills passed in the last Legislative session as proof.

There is the Tina Peters move.

Don’t count him out. He is highly intelligent, personally wealthy, and has an ability to use other people’s money deftly. His sexual orientation won’t be an obstacle with Democrats.

Car Story

Hope this isn’t a repeat.

Occasionally dealing with customers you get stuck and can’t come up with anything to say. The technique I learned was to let your mind go blank, open your mouth and whatever comes out will probably work.

The Seattle area has a large Chinese population. I always liked having them for a customer. While it was hard to make a profit on them, they came to buy a car. They rarely lied and the Chinatown branch of Seattle First Bank would finance them.

The Ford store I worked at always had six or eight sales units on the weekend. These were bare bones and priced dirt cheap. We never, under any circumstances, sold them for less than the sales price.

Two Chinese were on the lot. One was the buyer, the second was the negotiator. They landed on a Taurus.

The negotiator asked, “What you price?”, in an  aggressive tone. I pointed to the sales price in the window.

“Too high”, he said. No surprise there.

“These are special sales cars. The owner won’t let us sell them for less”.

“Why your owner won’t let you sell for less?”, in both an aggressive and aggrieved tone of voice.

 Blank mind. What came out was, “The owner is a Jew”.

 “Oh, Jew! Tougher than Chinese. What your interest rate?”

 An hour later they left in the Taurus.

 As always, YMMV

 

Pray for Colorado

 

As the title suggests this blog is mainly Colofornia politics.

Captain Obvious Speaks

A well written and laid out Colorado specific political analysis that likely applies to many states, IMO, but brings to mind Charles Dudley Warner’s remark, “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it”.  (not Mark Twain)

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 Until PDJT came along the Republicans were quite comfortable being the opposition. They were full of sound and fury but unwilling to get their hands dirty.

Not worth the fuck it took to make him

Paul Weiser is the two term Attorney General who now wants to be Governor. As Attorney General he is the top law enforcement officer in Colorado. When he took office in 2016 Colorado was about the 26^th safest state in the country. We now about the 6-8^th safest state in the country, with some placing us at #3 for violent crime.

 Note he brags about Colorado being the “Gold Standard” for election integrity. Is that liberal for, “We’ve locked in a perfect Democrats will always win system?”

From his fellow travelers:

 The ACLU of Colorado moved to intervene on behalf of Common Cause and individual Colorado voters in a federal lawsuit over the federal government’s demand that Colorado turn over its entire voter registration rolls, including voters’ sensitive personal data.

Oh joy, Colorado voters, Secretary of State Jena Griswold is running for Attorney General. She is the epitome of, “Women can be just as incompetent as men in high public office”.

 She, and the other three (P)regressive candidates, are running on the same platform, same leftist/socialist/communist Boulder coffee house talking points. Only one makes a vague mention of the criminal problem. The "Big Issues" aren't my big issues.

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Will the Colorado Republicans get their shit together? Unlikely, they prefer to stand on the “moral high ground” without being responsible for measurable results. Will the unaffiliated majority swing GOP?

Grandparents

A picture of my paternal grandparents. Hers appears to be a studio photo while his is likely a Kodiak Box Camera picture as he is standing beside a sod house. Probably from the 1920s. These were in a collection an aunt sorted through and digitalized. My grandfather died when my Dad was fourteen. My grandmother died when I was four.

Car Story

When my two youngest boys were teens, they were big fans of “Cops” on television. One portion was, “Western Washington’s most wanted”. One night we were watching together and the featured felon was a man on my crew.

About ten minutes later my phone rang. Guess who?

“Ah, Tank”……

“Yeah, I saw”.

“Can you give my wash out check to one of my sisters?”

“Sure, just have them call me”.

As far as I know, he decamped Washington State pronto.

Did I commit a crime by giving his stuff from work and his paycheck to his sister without notifying the authorities?

As always, YMMV

 

Should Grumpy Old Men Blog?

Shotgun Safety

Nebraska resident or outsider? 

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Bad dog?

The Stupid, it Burns

 The Mountain Men said it best, “Don’t go bothering something that ain’t bothering you”.

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Just one of the many reasons I don’t go there.

In related stupid tourist news, someone emptied their RV holding tanks into the underground diesel tank at the Maverick in Montrose, CO. A friend, retired petroleum truck driver, says the cost to fix the problem could be in the six figures.

The Mountain Men said it best, “Don’t go bothering something that ain’t bothering you”.

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Just one of the many reasons I don’t go there.

In related stupid tourist news, someone emptied their RV holding tanks into the underground diesel tank at the Maverick in Montrose, CO. A friend, retired petroleum truck driver, says the cost to fix the problem could be in the six figures.

Californicating Colorado

The firewall against the complete Californication of Colorado is the TABOR Amendment.  Every year the (P)regressives find new ways to try breaching  it. 

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El Nino

The sky is falling, brought to you by the same Climate Change alarmists that are consistently wrong. Yes, even an analog clock is correct, etc.

Don Day offers are more realistic report.

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This area needs moisture, no denying that. The annual Monsoon Season may, or may not, help. Depending on the winds aloft, moisture from the Gulf comes into the area. The winds can stall against the Rockies and we get rain. Sometimes, we get huge amounts of rain. The foothills have numerous slot canyons that can quickly become death traps.

Bots, Trolls, Whatever

More comments on this blog are being deleted than posted. Please give some indication you read some of the blog before you comment. Otherwise, I assume you are some form of AI. So solly, my blog, my rules.

Bastards Never Quit - Climate

“Sea level rise is one of the most visible consequences of human-driven climate change”.

Another climate change article; is the climate changing? Of course, the climate is always changing. Human driven?  Not proven, just believed by those who want it to be proven. This article is flawed from the beginning.

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 These studies are useful for future planning but the premises that changing human behaviors can forestall climate change is a fantasy.

Changing human behaviors can impact local environments; not proven on a global scale, IMO.

All models used for forecasts suffer a flaw, GIGO. (Garbage in, garbage out). There is always lurking the human desire to enter data to influence a desired outcome. Anyone who has sat through a long department heads meeting has seen this play out on a micro scale.

Car Story

A favorite cartoon.

As always, YMMV

Living in Colorado

 

Wonderful Picture

Photo taken by Jo Stanko, an old friend, from their ranch house SW of Steamboat Springs. Nothing political; just something to share. Locally that is called Sleeping Giant, officially Elk Mountain.

No, President Trump didn’t step on his pee pee

Truman famous desk plaque, “The Buck Stops Here”, applies to all Presidents. Big job, requires subordinates to deal with the minutia, and errors will be made. Given the hyper TDS infecting everything political, any chance to make the President look bad won’t be missed. Such is the case here.

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Perhaps better questions are who hired this individual in the first place, and who was his supervisor?

He has been confirmed by the Senate. Defense lawyers in Wyoming will continue their work for their clients but this will likely drop off the news cycle.

Colorado Specific

A summation of this year’s legislative super majority session by the Independence Institute is offered. In previous blog I’ve covered TABOR (Taxpayers Bill of Rights) addition to the Colorado Constitution from the 1970’s when Colorado was red. The state has a tax surplus and the (P)regressives are relentless in trying to find ways to spend it rather than return the surplus to the citizens.

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A left wing point of view.

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Brave Marine

The Veterans Administration held a, “Struggling with Technology”, help clinic in a nearby town. I decided this Latter Day Luddite should get the VA app on his phone and showed up for help.

The young volunteer was a Marine originally from Coney Island. After well over an hour and many attempts, the app is installed and working on my phone.

I suspect his next move was to find a bar and get a stiff drink.

Emperor Polis, wanna be 2028 President

He grants clemency to a man who shot at two cops, wounding one, on National Law Enforcement Memorial Day. Duh!

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He gets national notice for “pardoning” Tina Peters, Mesa County Clerk and Recorder, in prison for voting mistakes. He didn’t pardon her, he commuted her sentence. She is still a convicted felon and will be on parole for the rest of her life.

All the (P)regressives are OUTRAGED!

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He responded in a speech.

“I think this will be remembered fondly,” Polis said at The Colorado Sun’s annual legislative recap event at the University of Denver. “The nation needs to have a reconciliation and healing.

Sounding “Presidential” he continued.

“People know I’m a man of action,” he added. “I’m a bold person, I’m going to do things that I think are right, and that’s why people put me here. They want me to do things that I think are right.”

Trump Lite?

Car Story

 This isn’t a story of misadventures. Rather, one of, “If you don’t quit, you don’t lose”.

 My boss, Steve Lance, aka Little Hitler, had a vision of holding car sales in smaller towns across Colorado to promote Kia, then an obscure Korean built car. He had found a man in Indiana who was an “expert”, brought him to Colorado, purchased an RV to convert into a mobile sales office, and held the first sale in a nearby town. The sale was less than a success. The General Manager, Greg Miller and Steve brought me into an office and offered me the job of organizing these sales. Huh!

 “Tank, you are bored selling trucks”, Steve said. “You need a challenge”. We started negotiating. Imagine three stubborn men, all of whom were negotiators by trade, hammering out a position that didn’t, and had never in their experience, existed.

My demand was absolute authority. I answered to Steve and Greg only; nobody else in the organization had any authority over my actions. Rarely granted in the car biz, I demanded a monthly guarantee, win, lose or draw. I wanted expenses including a vehicle, either mine or one of the companies, to be included. After the next sale was less than successful, they agreed. What followed was several exhilarating years doing tasks that were unique and without any blueprint.

The man Steve brought in had a relationship with a man whose expertise was direct mail advertising. A problem was advertising, as the small town newspapers and radio stations were reluctant to work with us, fearing the wrath of their local dealers. With this direct mail operation, we could create and place in every mailing address or post office box an eye popping flyer that worked. Long after a sale in some town was over, people would arrive at one of our dealerships with an flyer asking, “Can you still do this?”

 “No, but we can come very close. Let us see what we can do. Hey manager”.  

Steve would tell me, “This is what I want done. This is when I want it done. This is where I want it done. Do it right, do it legal, and don’t cut corners”. Then, he only wanted to hear back that the job was done, or if not, why. For his own mental health, he preferred not knowing how I got the job done.

The Obama years were a disaster for the car biz and I moved on, drawing on my experiences in construction related activities, among other opportunities. 

 Life is simple. Get up every morning and start putting one foot in front of the other. Inertia is the enemy.

 As always, YMMV