First World Problems

 

Traveled Thursday to North Platte, NE for business. Perhaps elsewhere in the world this problem exists. Trucks with a top speed governed. OK, two trucks with the same top speed but not quite in sync. One passes the other, slowly, as you follow mile after mile. Along this stretch of I-76 the speed limit is 75 mph.

Onward to I-80 and the eleven miles of single lane due to construction.

Quit your bitching WSF, children are starving in ___________(your choice).

North Platte, NE

A Union Pacific dominated city with few empty storefronts. Prosperous in a grimy industrial way. The rail switching yards are massive. My fat elderly body said, “Hell No” to climbing the overpasses to photograph them. Try Google Earth.

41°08’13.57”N 100°49’40.96”W

Nebraska Panhandle

While not in first place where I want to visit I do enjoy some of the scenery I see while being paid to travel there.

War Stories, aka the first liar doesn’t stand a chance

A neighbor and I were swapping stories. His first.

After a race at Pikes Peak Raceway, I came across a man who had locked his keys in his truck. After spending the better part of an hour using a coat hanger I got it open. His thanks?

“What took you so long?”

So, I relocked his truck and left.

Mine.

While managing a skylight company in the 1970’s, we received a complaint from a man claiming our skylight was leaking. I loaded a ladder in the truck and went to the address on Mercer, Island, WA (Lake Washington-Seattle).

The house had a Mansard Façade and a nearly flat roof. The downspouts were completely plugged with leaves and junk. A scum line was several inches above the skylight frame on the acrylic dome. After taking several pictures with a Fotomat  single use camera I explained to the customer the skylight was never designed to be under water and his lack of maintenance caused the roof to flood. In fact, he was fortunate the roof hadn’t collapsed from the weight of standing water.

He wasn’t pleased and proceeded to walk around the roof pointing to problems and demanding to know what I, and my employer, was going to do about it. I left with my ladder with him still on the roof.

(The individual had just founded a coffee company that eventually became a major international powerhouse. Astute readers will have no difficulty identifying the individual)

Vision Issues

Concerned about problems seeing at night I went in for an eye exam. I developed macular degeneration in my right eye (shooting eye) in 1995. I started taking 40 mg of Lutin and the problem hasn’t gotten worse. 

The clinic found some problems and has referred me to a specialist.

Seems I have a few cataracts. The examiner said, “Welcome to Colorado”.

I’m waiting for the specialist to contact me and arrange an appointment.

Now left eye dominant, my shooting skills are crap. Those firearms not lost in the terrible Horsetooth Reservoir boating accident have been given to those who can use them.

My hope is the problems are minor in nature. My job requires finding addresses and the days are getting shorter. Driving along suburban streets while looking for house numbers is getting “sporting”. Yes, I use a GPS but it isn’t all that accurate – 50’ at the best.

Lack of Posts

The muse has been absent from my wheelhouse. Local Colorado politics has been consuming my interest.

Banner

Yesterday was our third anniversary together. Next Monday is his annual vet visit. He needs several shots and then I need to renew his pet license. Yikes! It will be expensive but he is worth it.

Breathing air and taking nourishment

That is the current status quo.

Other Blogs

I do read yours and often (too often?) comment. If I haven’t listed you in the side bar it is because of my Latter Day Luddite computer skills.

Patience

I’ve been tested and am negative. Sisty says I am not impatient because you need patience to be impatience.

Might Lean Republican

Excerpt from the November ballot. Despite being the home to the University of Northern Colorado (Teacher’s College) you might conclude the county is “conservative”.

The only county resident holding a state office is David Young, the State Treasurer.

With the addition of a new Congressional seat (census) the county as a whole is now split between the old 7^th Congressional District and the new 8^th Congressional District.

The contrast between the GOP candidate and the Democrat candidate are stark.

Yadira Caraveo (D), Barbara Kirkmeyer (R), Richard Ward (L), and Tim Long (Colorado Center Party) are running in the general election for Colorado's 8th Congressional District on November 8, 2022.

Caraveo is a pediatrician and a member of the Colorado House of Representatives, first elected in 2018. Caraveo, whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico, said, "Colorado families need a powerful partner fighting for them in Congress — not divisiveness and extremism. I am fighting so that our kids can achieve the same American Dream I was able to."^[1][2]

Kirkmeyer is a member of the Colorado State Senate, first elected in 2020. Before entering the Senate, Kirkmeyer was a Weld County Commissioner from 1993 to 2000 and 2009 to 2020. Kirkmeyer said she will "lower the cost of living, restore order to the border, bring back energy independence, and stand up for law enforcement."^[3]

The 8^th now includes my address and the home of the 7^th District congressman, Ken Buck (R).

My sense of the political mood is Colorado may well go from being deep Blue to faint Purple. Inflation, bad roads, and crime are on people’s minds. Colorado is #1 in the country for car theft.

For the record, I am registered as an Independent. I’ve voted in every single election since achieving my majority and rarely voted any straight party line.

Lust

As seen in Fort Morgan, CO.

Inflation

On the third Sunday each month the local V.F.W. serves breakfast. Profits go to help disabled vets. Cost?  $9.00. A year ago it was $7.00.

Now I’m not complaining about the price. The point being inflation hurts people who are poor and/or disabled disproportionately.

My reason for having breakfast there is simply to do something for disabled vets. Sunday breakfast at nearly any restaurant in this fair town will take a big chunk out of a $20 bill. I can afford it.

We usually have a group at the V.F.W. and enjoy the company as much as the food.

Coming up to the mid terms there is talk of social security payments going up 8.2%. Whoopy! Isn’t the real inflation rate over 20%?

North Park Assignment

                40°57’26.05”N 106°15’28.85”W  Elev 9;093

                To 40°26’59.83”N 106°12’17.63”W Elev 8,865

 

My client wanted me to do an assignment in Walden, CO that they were willing to pay for 124 miles automobile expense. I declined, citing the route was up and down slot canyons and a high mountain pass. Further, I said when I go to that town I go by way of Laramie, WY and the route is 161 miles (which is also 20 minutes faster, driving time).

They then asked me if I would do the assignment if they paid me for 161 miles. I said, “yes”. Much to my surprise, I was given the assignment.

My acceptance was along the lines of, “Shucks, I thought your supervisor would say, “No”. Now I’m stuck doing it. Per feedback, that caused much laughter in their office.

Friday I did the assignment. Luckily, I was able to do two other assignments on the return trip for a total distance of 350 miles. A profitable day.

North Park was formed by an ice dam several thousand years ago and faint outlines of the ancient shoreline can still be seen. The waters drain into the North Platte River near Saratoga, WY.

ATTN: “Earth Guardians

Graze it, log it, or watch it burn.

Cute

Walden

A small town that somehow survives on tourists, hunters, logging, oil drilling, local ranchers and isolation from any big towns.

The local rodeo has taken place during a snow storm.

I took some time to pay my respects to maternal relatives resting here.

In my youth I spent many summers working relative’s hay fields.

Wyoming Gas Price

Gives firearms owners a bad name – Jerks!

Guts and Determination

A branch railroad  connecting to the Union Pacific mainline in Wyoming operated here for almost one hundred years. Today we can admire the grit of those railroaders. To them it was probably just a job of work coping with blizzards, sub zero temperatures  and rock slides.

Fall Colors

This doesn’t look like a great year for fall colors. Most of the aspen have lost their leaves and the cottonwoods aren’t much.

US 287

Transitioning from Wyoming into Colorado.

Proud Grandfather

From Facebook

Cadet LCDR White and I attended the annual Military Officer Association of America dinner tonight at the Piedmont club in Spartanburg, SC.

Cadet White gave an awesome 5 minute speech on the unit and her plans for the future. Cadet White gave a Very Impressive speech and the audience loved her.

Great Job CO !!!

Senior this year and an honor student since 1^st Grade. She is in the marching band, too. Her older brother is in the South Carolina National Guard as a 5^th generation soldier. Younger brother is now in the marching band but is, alas, far from honor student status. He is just a good hearted kid and that is ok with me.

Camp Hale

https://www.vaildaily.com/news/biden-designates-camp-hale-continental-divide-national-monument-preserving-history-and-conserving-precious-landscapes/

Last Wednesday FJB locked up 53,804 acres of public land with no regard for existing water rights, grazing permits, or public access to public lands. Since the US Government stole the land from ranchers Frank and Pauline Byers one could say nothing has changed.

Where was someone with a 81mm mortar?  

As always, YMMV

Mid Term Elections

Cliché: Elections have consequences. Seems the (P)regressives will have a harder time stealing the midterms than the Presidential election.

https://www.greeleytribune.com/2022/10/10/colorado-election-deniers-clerks-voting-fraud/?utm_email=2324337475602411D46EA5DA6A&g2i_eui=Lx4rIdmvnRa7A%2bqYE6zWoV9Xr2DQfA63

Seen to recall reporting recently our Clerk and Recorder was looking for election judges and poll watchers. Strange.

The “reporter” can claim, with some justification, he wrote a fair and balanced piece. The fair and balanced part is several paragraphs down and the sensational (P)regressives buzz words fill the first paragraphs. How many will read the whole piece?

At least he refrained from quoting the Southern Preposterous Lie Center.

As always, YMMV.

A Canary in the Financial Coal Mine

Democrats buying votes is getting closer to biting all of us in the ass, IMO.

Starting with Willy Wanker,  we had the sub-prime debacle.  2008 was when the shit really hit the fan.

The side effects killed the used car business, at least for me, and I started a new career securing abandoned/foreclosed homes. Turn off water, drain pipes, change locks, board up windows, and write reports along with many digital photographs. Many houses still had furniture and personal belongings that I sub-contracted to a couple who ran a second hand store to clean out. Not the most uplifting work but I had bills to pay.

A few years ago as a part time job, I became, legally, a debt collector. The essence of the job is to deliver the borrower a letter from the mortgage company encouraging them to pay attention to their delinquency. I take a few photos and submit a short report.

During the COVID nonsense the work was a trickle. Now it is a flood.

Last month I was paid for 30 jobs. Already this month I’ve been paid for 32 jobs, have 12 pending payment, and have six current assignments with just 1/3 of the month gone. (The payment schedule is convoluted so I’m doing averages here)

I’ve been forewarned by the dispatcher that, due to some HUD programs changing, much more work will be coming after the first of the year.

I do not seek out information, beyond a current phone number, from the people I contact. First, I don’t get paid to do it, and second, I don’t want to get embroiled.

During the 2008 crash, a common practice was for the mortgagee to start stashing cash and seeing how long they could live in the house without making payments. They recognized their credit was trashed so they went into a survival mode. I will guess that is happening again.

Most likely, these folks aren’t aware of some of the provisions of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act which will allow banks to save themselves by seizing their customers accounts to include safe deposit boxes.

The last place I will ever have assets is with a commercial bank. Credit Unions are safer – different rules and less risky lending practices. Safer, of course, isn't safe.

The (P)regressives running the Democrat Party are making money out of thin air; buying votes. A Ponzi on an epic scale.

Many people more knowledgeable than me are warning of a complete financial meltdown. I fear the warnings are correct. How bad will it be?

As always, YMMV

For anyone wandering by from the Sequin, Texas area a cousin is running for the school board. Solid man, retired Master Chief whose career didn't have soft jobs. Please check him out.

Cheapskate Ways

 During the car biz years my mantra was, “I give car payments, I don’t make them”.  In fact, the last time I had a car payment was 1984.

Over the years so many cars and trucks have passed through my paws I can’t remember all of them. Being a white trash mechanic, making repairs was what kept me from spending real money on something to haul my ever expanding butt down the highway.

Another factor was my 26 year marriage to a complete mechanical nitwit.

  “Honey, the red light came on in the car so I turned around and came home while it was still running. I made it but the car sounds funny”.

Location where she first noticed the light was nearly fifty miles from our house.

    “Honey, the car isn’t running right. After I stopped at Sinclair and filled the tank it barely made it up the hill”.

 That happens when you put gasoline into the tank of a diesel powered vehicle.

 Should I mention her night blindness? Her dozen pair of glasses she could never find? The wrecks she had driving at night without her glasses?

Age has caught up with me and I no longer can physically do much in the way of repairs. Add I am more of a parts changer than a mechanic.

I use a mobile mechanic now. Last weekend the rear brake pads needed replacing and the caliper pistons were frozen. It took two days to get new calipers. Gee, just because the car is 27 years old is no reason for the parts store not to have parts sitting on the shelf!

Total cost was less than one month’s car payment.

With only 198,000 on the odometer I should be good for many more miles. That GM 3800 V-6 has to rank high among durable engines. Too bad many of their other engines are crap.

Cheapskate that I am, I still adhere to my Dad’s words of wisdom.

   “Grease is cheaper than machinery”.

Sisty recently stepped up and bought a Kia Sorento off the showroom floor. As an insurance adjuster in demand for her skills investigating truck accidents, she needs AWD and the ability to go at all hours and weather conditions. She has written wavier from Wyoming to travel on closed highways. Too many times she needs it.

Her new ride is impressive and I’m happy for her. Also, happy I don’t have the monthly stroke.

Yes, from time to time my cheapskate ways bite me in the ass. I’ve learned to live with it.

 As always, YMMV