Glad It Is Over

Sisty and I went together to a Memorial service today. I drove as she is still recovering from foot surgery.

The person who died (age 65) was married to one of our cousins. Their relationship was troubled. She was accepted as a family member early on and that never changed. In particular, she was very close to one of our two surviving aunts. We wanted to be there in support of her two (adult) children and our aunt.

The venue was a private home in the foothills near the town of Morrison west of Denver. Perhaps 150 people were present.

Our cousin’s relatives, (the “White’s) were well represented but outnumbered by her relatives (the “Collins’). Lots of visiting, food and alcohol consumed, and reminisces were shared.

Sisty and I slipped away early. The excuse, and it is real, was our health. 85° temperatures at 8,200’ ASL can be taxing.

While enjoying seeing various cousins, their spouses, ex-spouses, etc. and catching up, the occasion itself depressed me, and I’m glad it is over.

Wyoming Crime

Outrage!

https://oilcity.news/crime/2019/08/27/wydot-snow-fence-boards-stolen/?fbclid=IwAR1mee9YogEEZT7xvHAcvPX-5bjno9-ygpMYAtysIb6qBaj1fpzHuuVtdgI

Where will people sit to view the Pronghorn races (h/t Sisty)?

Without the fence, the Jackalope will run amok.

Where are all the Dim candidates on this issue?

What is the point of all this, WSF?

None, I just felt like molesting some electrons.

Amusing

Don't agree with any of this but I always admire good snark, whatever the flavor.

Catch Up, Colorado Politics

The usual suspects have caught up with FB.

https://coloradopeakpolitics.com/2019/08/26/pissed-in-pueblo-polis-booed-at-state-fair-opening-day/

There are several recall efforts underway. The deep blue elitists may be shocked to find the number of residents who loath them come election time.

Womyn Power

Hanging paper on delinquent mortgagers is a part time job I do. What I bring are possible solutions. After me in a few weeks come the ones serving foreclosure papers.

A recent call had two female names on the paper in a location close to our Teachers College; excuse me, University of Northern Colorado. The residents turned out to be two “womyn” in their fifties wearing permanent grievance expressions. I believe they are ivory tower inhabitants.

They disapproved immediately of the presence of a 6’ 300 lb male with no effeminate manners knocking on their door. After introducing myself, identifying as a collection agent, and handing them the bad news letter, I started to leave. They both started complaining and working themselves into a snowflake snit when I said, in my best command voice, “Stop”! They did, shocked and angry expressions showing, and then I added, “If you don’t want collectors at your door, pay your bills”.  Giving them my least insincere smile, added, “Have a nice evening”, turned and walked away.

The chorus of sputtering and outrage that followed me would have warmed my heart, if I had one (h/t Fredd).

Cruel world, it is, and if you borrow money with the promise to pay it back, no “special privilege” exists, IMO.

Doing this work, I am polite, courteous, and impersonal. It is their problem, and they own it.

A boss I had was fond of saying, “That is not my monkey, and you are not giving it to me”.

That said, if they want to be assholes, they are amateurs going up against a professional.

Will The Deplorabels Show Up?

Been awhile for a WSF political rant. If you aren’t interested, feel free to skip.

Looking at the upcoming Presidential election, my question is will Shillary’s “deplorables” show up again?

Assuming President Trump is on the ballot, I believe they will. What keeps him from running? Staying alive, and deciding he wants another four years. No guarantees on either.

What President Trump has delivered is jobs. Those job have overwhelmingly gone to Shillary’s “deplorables”, the jobs the Lightbringer said were never coming back.

The (P)regressives seem to grasp this; hence their blathering about a recession. What utter selfishness, wishes for pain and suffering on the people at the bottom just to enhance their chances for winning elections. They earn my utter contempt.

Nothing makes someone more of a willing citizen, one who doesn’t hold laws in contempt and hatred, than a job IMO. $12 to $15 an hour may not be much to the elites but it keeps one off SNAP and out of the unemployment lines or the lobby of the temp agencies.

Wasn’t one of Bill Clinton’s internal positions while running against George the First, “It’s the economy, stupid!”?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_the_economy,_stupid

Imagine if Schumer/Pelosi et al had adopted the attitude, “We don’t like the #$%&%$# but the people elected him, so we will work with him for the good of the country” They would now be going into the next election being able to claim credit for all that has happened under President Trump.

President Trump is a businessman, not a politician. Above a certain level, say upper middle management, if you don’t produce, you are gone. If not, you are employed by a corporation marching to oblivion.

Contrast that with civil service and politics where the dominant value is, “Go along to get along and ahead”.  He doesn’t give a rat’s ass for their values. No wonder they hate him and drag their feet at every opportunity.

 “We work for you, the public”?

In the area of world affairs, I hearken back to President Reagan who I, along with many of the world’s leaders regarded as unpredictably bat shit crazy. Maybe he was, or wasn’t, but he did break the Cold War logjam.

In President Trump we again have the unpredictable, but without the bat shit crazy. Some may argue that point. I think it is just what he wants to project.

As an aside about President Reagan, many of our oppressive gun control laws started with him as California Governor, shitting his pants because a few Black Panthers exercised their 2^nd Amendment rights in the state capitol building.

At my state level, our deep blue Governor rode around the rodeo arena on a stagecoach at the recent State Fair. While waving his hat to the crowd, the crowd responded with boos and thumbs down. I’m not able to post the video, but thanks to I.Am.Mental for sending it to me.

As always, YMMV.

Well Shucky Darn

Malfunctioning a/c. No fire. I was having a lovely nap.

Ever Feel This Way?

Me, often.

Well Known Laws

An email from a friend.

---

  1.Law of Mechanical Repair - After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch and you'll have to pee.

2.Law of Gravity - Any tool, nut, bolt, screw, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible place in the universe.

3.Law of Probability - The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of your act.

4.Law of Random Numbers - If you dial a wrong number, you never get a busy signal; someone always answers.

5.Variation Law - If you change lines (or traffic lanes), the one you were in will always move faster than the one you are in now.

6.Law of the Bath - When the body is fully immersed in water, the telephone will ring.

7.Law of Close Encounters - The probability of meeting someone you know INCREASES dramatically when you are 
with someone you don't want to be seen with.

8.Law of the Result - When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't work, IT WILL!!!

9.Law of Biomechanics - The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach.

10.Law of the Theater & Hockey Arena - At any event, the people whose seats are furthest from the aisle, always arrive last. They are the ones who will leave their seats several times 
to go for food, beer, or the toilet and who leave early before the end of the performance or the game is over. The folks in the aisle seats come early, never move once, have long gangly legs or big bellies and stay to the bitter end of the performance. The aisle people also are very surly folk.

11.The Coffee Law - As soon as you sit down to a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to do something which will last until the coffee is cold.

12.Murphy's Law of Lockers - If there are only 2 people in a locker room, they will have adjacent lockers.

13.Law of Physical Surfaces -The chances of an open-faced jelly sandwich landing face down on a floor are directly correlated to the newness and cost of the carpet or rug.

14.Law of LogicalArgument - Anything is possible IF you don't know what you are talking about.

15. Law of Physical Appearance - If the clothes fit, they're ugly.

16.Law of Public Speaking -- A CLOSED MOUTH GATHERS NO FEET!

17.Law of Commercial Marketing Strategy - As soon as you find a product that you really like, they will stop making it OR the store will stop selling it!

18.Doctors' Law - If you don't feel well, make an appointment to go to the doctor; by the time you get there, you'll feel better. But don't make an appointment and you'll stay sick. 

19.E-mail’s Law - If you don't forward this to your friends, your belly button will unscrew - and your butt will fall off.  Really, it's true. I read it on the Internet .

Excuses

Working like a Hebrew slave is my excuse for sparse blogging. One part time job 3 ½ days a week has me getting up at 0300 and not getting home until 1945. My insurance gig has been sparse but recently picking up.

Why, at age 75, am I doing this? In one part, because I can. This body is way past warranty expiration and who knows how long it will function without a major breakdown? In another part, squirreling nuts against the coming winter. I have no desire to be on the road come snow season except when I want to be and on my terms. In another part, have put a dent in the financial reserves and want to get those back to a comfortable level.

So now, for a shotgun approach.

Hemp

Some antiquated laws have been changed and farmers can grow hemp. This is a field about ½ square mile I drive past on the way to work.

Monsoon Season

After a hard winter and wet springs, we have entered the fall monsoon season. Colorado hasn’t been this green for years. It does make for some interesting clouds.

The Great Western Railroad

A local Northern Colorado feeder line between the BNSF line in Fort Collins and the Union Pacific line in Greeley, both of the big boys use it from time to time.

Highway 287

Work took me today to Bailey, CO to do a visual (from the street) property inspection/report and take three pictures. Paid $93. Hwy 287 is a nasty, mainly two lane highway connecting metro Denver with Southwest Colorado. Sunday it is jammed with recreationists headed back to metro Denver. One bad accident and it can be closed for hours.

Guanella Pass

Up the road from Bailey at Grant is a 24 mile road to Georgetown,  CO over Guanella Pass. Since I haven’t been over it in years, decided to reroute my trip back to base over it. Much improved, paved all the way, and with new stout guardrails in the nastiest spots, it was a relaxing diversion.

https://www.colorado.com/articles/colorado-scenic-byway-guanella-pass-mount-bierstadt

On the Georgetown side a “longboard” race had the road closed but I was only delayed about 30 minutes.

Interstate 70

Like Hwy 287, jammed with returning recreationists. The difference? Three lanes and broad shoulders. A wreck, unless a total wipeout, doesn’t close it down.

Cabellas

Walked in, around, and out without buying anything. That has never happened before.

Rants

The schedule has cut into my reading time, and the number or articles that can get my maverick Celtic blood boiling. I’m going to catch up this winter. Can’t have LL beating me to the bunk nearest the stove!

OOPS

More Guanella Pass snaps. I’m too tired to figure out how to move them.

August Road Trip

The client had two important assignments in Northwest Colorado that they were willing to generously compensate to handle.

Loathing the tourist traffic on I-70 and  the “recreationist” infesting Colorado 14 in the Poudre Canyon, I elected to go through Wyoming to Laramie then via Walden to US 40. Many folks from my maternal side of the family are buried in Walden and I stopped to pay my respect

One property the client wanted inspected is abandoned. It is in an area of second or even third homes. Good luck in selling that!

The trip took me past the Carpenter Ranch east of Hayden, CO. Once had the finest hay meadows in Routt County, the heirs of Ferry Carpenter, a man of many accomplishments, deeded it to the Greenies. As per usual, the Greenies talk to talk but are too lazy to walk the walk.

https://www.coloradovirtuallibrary.org/resource-sharing/state-pubs-blog/the-maverick-of-carpenter-ranch/

I was able to carve out an hour to visit the museum in Craig, CO, a subject of an earlier post.

All in all, an interesting trip through country I spent my teens.

Being late in the day, went up to I-80 in Wyoming and back through Cheyenne to I-25 and then home. Added 45 minutes to the trip but no mountain passes, tourist traffic, and less demanding driving.

A road I’ve traveled scores of time, Rabbit Ears Pass can kill you if you insist on being stupid. There is not one foot of flat road on the West side. Coming up Muddy Pass, a nice 3 point buck in velvet strolled across the road. Only deer seen on the trip but did see numerous Pronghorns.

Sorry, Cali

Today, Northern Colorado.

Custer Colt

A neat museum in Craig, CO has a verified “Custer Colt”, that is to say it was carried at one time by an officer in his command but lost/stolen/mislaid prior to the massacre at Greasy Grass.

The museum has an extensive collection of old firearms and cowboy gear. Forbearers from my father’s side lived in the area from the late 19^th Century on.  They were connected to many of the names in the exhibits.

Quality of the photographs is poor, taken with a point and shoot, and the workman wasn’t even up to the level of his tool.

https://www.museumnwco.org/

The museum is located in the old State Armory, and entrance is free. They are facing a funding crisis. Blessedly, there is a small but serviceable elevator as the firearms are on the second floor and the restrooms in the basement, important considerations for those of us with a few miles.

Business took me to Craig, and I didn’t have much time to linger. A future post will cover the road trip.