Wicca

The leader of the morning gathering of the Ladies of the Roundtable, aka The Coven, the “treat lady”, lost her dog of 15 years to old age. Sad.

Recently she was given a cat, a black cat, which she named Wicca.

I’m currently in the disfavor of the ladies due to my pointing out the appropriateness of the name, given they are a coven.

Banner, my dog, is still welcome, and I’m on the other end of the leash.  I’m sure they will not rest until I’m put in my place.

After 25 years in the car biz, more curses on my head are not a worry. By now, I’m immune.

Peace by Deterrence

Minuteman silo, Weld County, CO.  Maintenance?

Controlled out of Cheyenne, there are silos scattered in Wyoming, Nebraska, and Colorado. Not all are ready to shoot – treaty stuff.

Free advice. Don’t go poking around them. The Air Force takes security seriously and those aren’t empty weapons you see. Add Blackhawk helicopters just minutes away and you could have a bad day.

Given the harsh winters in the area, that is not easy duty. Summers can be a bit on the warm side too. Check out Prairie Adventure for some great videos of the area’s weather.

http://prairieadventure.blogspot.com/

Business today took me to NE Colorado (Phillips County) and then back to the Front Range (Larimer County), some 316 miles in very decent weather with little heavy wind.

Irritating Generations of Women

Any woman involved with a man who served in Germany after WWII.

In talking with a neighbor who served there in the 1960’s, he brought this up. I remember several women, including my ex, who hated this song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjEtkAwG3yM

Mox Nix.

Domestic Violence

A Rant

Neutrality and dispassionate are the modes I maintain as I deliver letters to mortgagees behind on their payments for the agency that pays me to do so. Occasionally, like this morning, I return to my car and tablet and seethe with anger.

Approaching the house, the doorbell button is gone, a clue that this might be an awkward call. Knock on the door and hear a dog barking inside. Wait, second knock and someone comes to the door. The door opens a crack and I ask, “Mr. XXXX?”

The door opens wider and I see a teen boy, maybe 16, and he says,

“He doesn’t live here. He hasn’t for a month. He has a restraining order”.

The young man’s shame and embarrassment was obvious. I concluded my business by giving him the envelope to forward and departed.

What kind of shithead coward puts his children in that position? Yeah, rhetorical question.

If I did only one thing right in raising my sons, it is you don’t hit women. Both of the younger ones have been in abusive relationships. Both were hit by the women in their lives. Both walked away instead of retaliating. The same happened in my only marriage.

The money spent on lawyers would have made a good college fund start. My youngest got full custody and later the birth mother lost all parental rights. To see how those children have grown and thrived in a loving, but disciplined, home makes it all worthwhile.

Middle son was married five years. Thankfully, no children.

That house I visited will probably end up in foreclosure. The signs of property neglect are plain. Poverty and uncertainty will be the fate of the children.

Makes me sad and angry.

Ladies of The Round Table

AKA

The Coven

They gather every morning in the commons area to discuss the state of the world and offer “helpful” suggestions on any subject that may come up.

Each morning I stop by with Banner, the dog, after he has taken care of his morning dog business. He gets “treats” and I get my balls busted.

This morning they had a card for everyone to sign. One of our residents, age 92, died last night. In a 65+  90 unit building that is a frequent occurrences.  R.I.P. Armondo.

There is usually two groups. The Coven go in together to fund a coffee pot so sit across from the commons kitchen. Then there is the lobby group, who use the lobby coffee bar and the Krug machine.

Need I say neither group likes the other?

Banner, and I, are friendly with both groups. Surely that irritates everyone. Mission accomplished!

Chafes My Ass

Advertising. I’m not against it, not at all. During my years in the car biz spent a lot of money on it. What chafes my ass is disrespectful, manipulative advertising.

I don’t own a television, and I don’t watch television. I will be interested in a program, then comes eight to ten minutes of commercials. By the time they are over, I’ve lost interest.

More and more the internet is being infested. OK, I will live with some but when my screen goes totally a commercial and I have to interact with the damned thing to be able to finish what I was reading, that goes too far. Plus, they take too long to download.

Tonight I purged my sideboard of the worse offenders.

All in all one of the reasons I like books. No f^^king intrusive commercials. 

YMMV

Accurate Meme

"Loyal" Opposition

During the Lightbringer years, the RINOs became the loyal opposition, IMO, and made a comfortable living playing the opposition, careful not to actually win, and fooled their base into thinking “something is being done!!!!!”

In fact, this is what they are.

https://www.washingtongenerals.com/

It all worked out splendidly until Donald J. Trump came along and spoiled the game. Now it is hard for them to be the Deep State Auxiliary and their comfortable, predictable world is in turmoil.

Fuck’em!

4 Wire Winter

My parents moved to Steamboat Springs, CO when I was in the 7^th Grade and settled there. My sister attended school there K-12.

Barbed wire fences there are usually four strands, and a normal winter is a 3 wire (about 30’ of snow total, but compacted). Some winters are 2 wire (a disaster) and some, like this winter, not only cover the fourth wire, but the top of the fence posts.

https://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/northwest-colorado-records-storms-highest-snow-total/

It is a hard winter for ranchers but a boon to skiers and those who live off them.

Steamboat gets little, if any, wind being in a deep valley. To the east is the Continental Divide where 100 mph winds are not uncommon. What Steamboat does get is extreme cold temperatures, like -50°, night after night. Tires develop flat spots sitting and in extreme cold don’t get round for a few miles.

About ¼ mile from the location of the picture in the article is Thorium. I’m not sure if there is a commercial quantity deposit, but I get a perverse delight imagining the howls of the residents should it be developed.

Snow pack is at 123% of normal and winter isn’t over. Good news for Lake Powell as the Yampa, which flows into the Green, isn’t impounded anywhere downstream of Steamboat. Neither is the Green below Flaming Gorge in Utah/Wyoming.

On a personal level, I don’t miss Steamboat but still have fond memories of the Yampa Valley.

Exploding (P)regressive Heads

You can imagine the (P)regressive heads exploding with the images coming from Daytona.

President Trump knows how to put on a show and the one today was of naked, blatant, America first. Great job! 

IMO YMMV

Teenage Shitheads

Saw this meme on FB and it brought back a 60 year old memory.

My classmate and fellow troublemaker acquired some 2,000 cherry bombs and M-80s. We spent the winter of 1960-61 setting them off.

He had a Jeep and I would ride shotgun lighting and tossing them. This was in a Colorado mountain town of some 2,000 people. Our Senior class had 42 kids.  When things got “interesting” we would shift over to my 1951 Ford four door with him riding shotgun.

The High School three story wing had a central air distribution room. Fairly large, it was used for storing old desks, etc., and was locked (Ha!). Another conspirator made a delayed fuse in chemistry class. He tested a few and declared they took thirty minutes to burn.  We fabricated ten cherry bombs into a single delayed fuse, placed it in the air distribution room, and lit it just before the start of afternoon classes. The “thirty” minute fuse was more like ten minutes and we three were as startled as everyone. A magnificent “boom”, and about a twenty years accumulation of dust started pouring from the heat vents.

With three other towns within a 40 minute drive, we would torment those residents when things got tense in our town.

We had one big thing going for us; keeping our mouths shut! No boasting, no snickering in the school hallways, and not bringing in any others (except the fuse maker, who could keeps his trap shut). Girl friends were not in on it. The powers that were had their suspicions but never hard proof. My fellow troublemaker never brought more than a few with him at any time and we survived several cop searches.

It was good training for future employment. He, operating an import business in Florida (no, I never knew what he imported) and me as one of two designated demo men in a combat engineer company.

#WALKAWAY

The discontent in this country runs deep.

I joined a #WALKAWAY group on Facebook for former Democrats. After acceptance, put up a two paragraph comment. In two days the replies, likes, and shares are over 500!

A common theme is support for President Trump. A minor theme is a strong dislike for RINOs. Lots of Blue Dogs in the group.

I’m going to leave the group. Not because I disagree, but it is hard for me to see the posts from people I care about, mainly family and old friends.

ADDENDUM: Before I could block the FB #WALKAWAY group, the count went over 1,000.

Colorado Primary

Is March 2^nd in Colorado, where we vote by mail. We get both party ballots but can only submit one. Send in two and both are discarded.

It is not hard to get on the ballot, as you can see. First the Dims.

The deplorables.

Come the General Election I will vote to continue 45. For this Primary, I may vote on the Dim ballot for Tulsi Gabbard. I don’t see her as presidential material but I admire her spunk. Also, as a middle finger salute to the (P)regressives.  What do you think?

This meme I swiped makes me smile. Hope it makes you smile too.

Colorado Front Range Weather

https://forecast.weather.gov/wwamap/wwatxtget.php?cwa=bou&wwa=snow%20squall%20warning

All day we have had high clouds, maybe 15-60% cover. A strong cold wind has been blowing all afternoon, but nothing unusual. Then bang, this squall centered 12 miles to the south.

We are not unique having abrupt changes of weather but it always  catches  the pilgrim immigrants, and locals who should know better, unaware.

The North-South Front Range runs from 9,000’ to 14,000’. In just 10-15 mile in the lee is relative flat ground 4,000’ to 6,000’. That can brew some nasty weather even to the jet stream touching down.

The dog and I are snugly inside with no need to go anywhere and a fresh pot of coffee is brewing. Life is good!

Does The Apple Fall Far From The Tree?

Middle son, age 44, lacks social skills discretion. He knows them; chooses not to use them.  Friday on his job his Hispanic female supervisor started “supervising him”. About two minutes into the confrontation he told her, “Go fuck yourself”, while holding his work knife.

Yesterday he was called into the office and counseled. Seems everything that happens at that job is on camera. Her statements didn’t match what was on the recordings.  He was advised to be more tactful and sent back to work.

In the four years he has worked there, he hasn’t missed a day. He has been late twice during bad snowstorms.  People routinely get laid off there but he never is. They have an employee who comes in, clocks in, works, clocks out and goes home. No bullshitting about the Broncos, no membership in any clicks, and no goofing off. All he wants is to be left alone to do his job, which he does with exceptional accuracy and mistake free.

His interest is music (plays a decent guitar), black death metal genres, and writing blogs about it. You can find one on my sidebar. I don’t understand much of what he writes but he gets music sent to him from all over the world.

He is a peaceful man until provoked. Provoked, he is a berserker (Norwegian mother). In his younger days he had an alcohol problem but has been stone sober for years. Good thing. His last DUI arrest took six Denver policemen to cuff and stuff him.

All three of my sons won’t steal, aren’t lazy, and are always valued employees, but fuck with them and they will fuck you up. Must take after their mother, don’t you think?

Bittersweet Day

Sunday, the 9^th, was my youngest son’s birthday (2/9/79). For new readers, he died last St. Patrick’s Day. A 100% disabled Army Medic; he left a wife and five children. The Spartanburg S.C. coroner ruled it an accidental death caused by adverse medication reactions.

My admiration for his widow is deep and sincere. He knew what he was doing when he married that woman!  She has kept the family going and they persevere.

He was a warrior, and he met a warrior’s fate. Shit happens!

Over at Daily Timewaster is a video that captures his spirit as a youth (less helmet).

https://dailytimewaster.blogspot.com/2020/02/they-saw-it-done-on-tv.html

Another picture from happier days in 1993 with his first new car. Since it was my sales operation, he got a great deal! Put 150,000 miles on that Kia.

Side note: I managed an offsite sales program for my boss, Steve Lance. We held 30+ five day sales in 18 different Colorado towns over a three year period.

Update from my daughter-in-law. "He'd be so proud of Crystal. She's the only oboe player in the Spartanburg Youth Philharmonic Orchestra"

Porn

Received porn in the mail today from Nancy Pelosi. You can read it  if you wish. My computer skills are limited; hence the way it is presented.

The header picture? I take these prepaid envelopes and stuff them with junk paper just to run up their postage bills. Do I feel quilt? Hell no! I’ve informed them several times I want off their mailing list.

Wonder if the blog title will increase my visitors?

Off subject, it was 3° this morning. We had overnight fog which made for a pretty morning.

Update: Must be the click bait. Visits up over 200%.

Don't Miss It

Snow rake.

DrJim at http://every-blade-of-grass.blogspot.com/ bought one on my recommendation. The one I use is ten years old.

The car biz in snow country brings additional challenges with attracting customers. You want them to know you are open for business so you clear, at a minimum, snow from the windshields. I worked at lots with 100+ vehicles in inventory. We, the salespeople, did the work.

One memory is working with Charles Sampson, a Professional Cowboy Hall of Fame bull rider. Our lot also sold trailers and we would put vehicles on the trailers. One morning Charles (he would answer to Charlie but preferred Charles) and I were on a trailer cleaning a vehicle. Charles fell off. Shortly after laughing at him I stepped on a metal part of the otherwise wooden deck and face planted.

Thereafter, I would say, “Yah, Charles and I both got bucked off at the same event, but I had a tougher draw”. He would mutter something about fat rednecks.

My advice if you live in snow country, get a snow rake. It will be the best $40 you will spend.  

Colorado Weather

UPDATE: As of 2200 it is snowing steadily but the forecast is for it to stop by mid morning and for Wednesday to be clear.

If you don't like it, stick around for a couple of days. Sunday, 72°.

Today, 20°.

First, freezing rain followed by a dusting of snow. It is now slicker than slick. Taking the dog for his morning constitutional wasn't fun!

Forecast clearing Tuesday and clear, but chilly, Wednesday.

For all that, this has been (so far) a mild winter along the Front Range.

Further North, Wyoming is getting hammered again. So glad I'm not driving there anymore.

Here is hoping my sister, the insurance adjuster, doesn't have any truck wrecks to investigate.

Poor People Have Poor Ways II

Spent the morning at the auto salvage yard taking trim pieces off the underside of three 1994 Mercury Sable steering columns, the closest I could find to my 1995  Taurus, to get the part I need. None were a correct match.

Blast and damn. Looks like I’m forced online and paying retail! I can only imagine relatives, past and present, laughing their asses off.

When the weather calls for wipers I still have the Mitsubishi Mighty Max. The cab gets cramped with a 270 lb. man and a 65 lb. Lab mutt sharing the space. The dog doesn’t seem interested in learning how to shift.

Speaking of the dog, today we were at the dog park. He was out running with some 20 other dogs until he was exhausted. While he was doing that, I had a nice conversation with an attractive lady. Alas, only conversation.

My cheapskate credentials are threatened by what I paid for 25 lbs of dog food. The rational is good food now prevents big vet bills in the future. The easiest sale for a good salesman is another salesman, just saying. The Tank got high grossed.

Just swiped this off FB.