Stupid Is as Stupid Does

 

Tourist Tossing Season

Will we ever run out of damn fools bothering wild animals (yes, a rhetorical question).

Yellowstone

I subscribe to the mountain man wisdom, “Don’t go bothering something that ain’t bothering you.

Coal

An article about coal mining in Colorado. The source, The Colorado Sun, leans left, way left, IMO. In the middle of the article the environazis take victory  laps. Wyoming coal is easier to mine. There are proven coal deposits in Colorado 5,000’ deep. I grew up in coal country, knew many coal miners, and my Dad was a control room operator at the Hayden plant in his later years.

Coal

Puking (P)regressives

Is there any low, sleazy tactic they won’t use? Is there any Democrat running for office that won’t accept their tainted contributions?

SCUM

 Elk

The hills around Steamboat Springs, CO are covered with scrub oak. From spring into summer cow elk congregate there to raise their young. Good forage for them and good protection for their newborn.

Recreational mountain bikers disturb them. There are existing trails but, as usual, the riders want more areas.

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My interest? I attended high school in that town. Then it had a population of around 2,000. Now, 8,000+ transplants and trust fund snots.

Promising Technology – Iron Smelting

This can be good news.

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The problem, as I see it, is environazis and the NIMBY crowd. Where will the raw ore come from? Colorado has iron ore. From the internet:

Colorado has historically had various iron ore deposits, particularly hematite, limonite, and magnetite, found in locations like the Calumet Mine, the Orient Mine, and the Iron Mountain/Grape Creek deposit. Additionally, deposits are associated with precious metal mining in areas like Leadville. The Iron Hill carbonatite complex near Powderhorn is also notable for its iron ore potential. 

The howls from the residents around these areas will be monumental, IMO.

 Wolf News

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 Still More

Legal Immigrant

My past caught up with me again. While having my tires rotated, another customer starting petting Banner, then said he recognized me! A legal immigrant from Kenya, we sold him a Kia in 2002. He is now a naturalized citizen, speaks better English than me, and has been on his job now going on ten years.

 That is the way events should unfold.

 Telling it like it is – Crime and (P)regressives

The Pueblo, CO, Police Chief released a long, detailed press release that, IMO, is one of the better dissections of what (P)regressives have caused in Colorado. Filled with facts, he lays it out.

Crime

Trucking News – English Proficiency

A long article detailing the current state, and prior history, of the requirement commercial drivers are proficient in English.

Trucking

As has been forever, who decides what is “proficient”?

The cost of illegal aliens – personal

Sometimes there will be six levels of separation, but always there is a connection. This is a very personal account of that connection. Long, I’m putting it here for people associated with me to read who might otherwise not want to hear it from me. If others find it of interest, so much the better.

 Illegal aliens indirectly led to my youngest son’s death.

A high school forced (1) dropout, he worked his way to being a master plumber by the time he was twenty.

With two children, he married a woman with two children and they lived in the Albuquerque, NM area where he was gainfully employed. A change in building codes allowed anyone to work as a plumber, and lack of enforcement allowed builders to hire illegal’s, pay them cash, and quickly force legitimate contractors out of business. My son, seeing the writing on the wall, joined the Army and became a Medic.

In Basic, he slipped on an obstacle course and badly sprained his left ankle. No quitter, he sucked it up and kept on. By the end of his tour in Kandahar, he was wearing a support boot. Eventually the Army gave him an 80% disability, later increased to 100%, discharge. As a civilian he worked as an EMT until he was physically unable to continue.

The ankle developed sepsis and he knew the answer was amputation. The Charleston, SC Veterans Administration doctors kept stalling. He was managing the pain with morphine. With a wife and now five children, he needed to continue working. One St Patrick’s Day, he and his wife were out with friends and he had a few alcohol beverages. Once home, he passed away during the early morning hours. Likely cause?  The combination of morphine and alcohol.

Let me be clear. He used morphine to maintain, not to get high. He did enjoy adult beverages.

Back to the top, he likely would never have joined the military had his plumbing career not been destroyed by the economics of illegal aliens.

Let us address compassion. Aliens are people, yes. Why are they coming here? To make a better life, for them, is their motivation. Do they care about the country they are coming to? I doubt it. They don’t assimilate, they keep their national identity, and they have contempt for our laws and values. Driver license, car insurance? Why?

Are they escaping a bad place? Probably. Sucks to be them. Why don’t they pay the cost to fix their home countries?

We can’t fix the world. 

(1)He got crosswise with the black student packs infesting his high school. The administration failed to address the problem. Travis, not a racists, by the by, feared for his life. As a 16 year old Freshman, he took his GEDs. His lowest score was 82%.

Legacy

His son recently posted a picture on Facebook with his girlfriend. Do you see the resemblance?

 As always, YMMV

Rambling and Unfocused

 

Wyoming Farm Kids

Farms kids everywhere are driving at an early age. I’ve had a license since age 14 and was driving far earlier than that.

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Starting age 11, I worked hay fields in North Park every summer. When school started, my parents 22 acres were waiting for me to buck the bales into the barn. We had a flatbed pickup that I would put in granny gear, step out, and buck bales on the bed as it idled along.

When Sisty got bigger, she would “drive”. About the time she was nine, by sitting on the very edge of the seat, she could reach the gas pedal. Ever so slowly she would push. I would go from a slow walk, to a fast walk, to a trot and, “God damn it, Colleen!” Back to an idle then rinse and repeat.

Solyent Green News

Ever notice thr grocery store spaces devoted to plant based food are seldom empty?

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Emissions

The new broom at the EPA and the slap down of California’s CAFÉ’s standards may improve our economy in ways that may not be apparent. Cars and pickups have become less reliable over the years, in part, because of engineering compromises to gain fuel economy and/or reduce emissions. It appears DEF for diesels may go away. Ending rerouting exhaust back through turbochargers will eliminate many problems. 6.7 Power Stroke operators will rejoice.

YouTube is buzzing; everyone is an expert! Clarity will come in time.

 What is not clear is how this will affect other state programs. The Californication of Colorado has a large swath of the Front Range requiring near California standards.

 What may not be immediately apparent is the impact on West Coast ports. Getting shipping containers moving again, for example, should improve. The trucks used to move them, just in the terminal areas, are highly regulated. If that goes away, shipping costs will go down.

Many truckers will not make California runs. If that changes, costs will go down.

Prior to moving from Seattle in 1997, I knew several independent operators using old trucks, no longer reliable for long hauls, to move containers around the Seattle area. They were wiped out by the environazis with impossible to meet regulations. 

Coal

A deep water coal terminal will be a financial boon for this country. Hello, Puget Sound. Of course, all the environazis will get their panties in a bunch.

Keystone Pipeline

Too many people don’t realize building this will almost start at ground zero. The Biden goons have made that a priority. For one thing, the piping may have gone elsewhere. In November 2024 a company agreed to purchase 180 miles of the steel pipeline.

 Big Winds

While a mere zephyr compared to the tornadoes ripping the Midwest from the huge winds this past week, one property owner had a shed (one of six) fly away.

AutoPen Uproar

A concise discourse by a favorite YouTube lawyer.

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Twice deported Alien with enough ammo for an infantry company load out

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Rare Earth news from left field

Despite all of the woke bullshit distractions, some universities do produce valuable work, in spite of themselves.

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DOGE casualties

A government program is created. People are hired to manage the program. They are good, even great, managers. Now they are getting hammered. Fair? Hardly, but here we are. This is personal, affecting extended family members.

It brings to mind company commanders carrying out orders issued by generals.

 AS always, YMMV

The Dog's Fault

Banner News

Some readers like Banner stories. Last week, for the first time in the 4+ years he has lived with me, he didn’t attack his supper. The next day he was at the vet. Complete blood workup showed him slightly dehydrated but nothing else. He has unlimited access to water. Two days later he was his usual self. Despite my vigilance I suspect he ate something bad. Blasted dog will eat just about anything. Sisty suggests he just needed a good poop.

The vet noticed he has gained five pounds in six months. He suggested a change in dog food which has been taken.

The biggest reason for the weight gain is he has stopped taking me for walks.

Wind farms are wonderful?

Advertisement that appeard at the top of the Cowboy Daily. Somehow I don’t think that is ‘full disclosure’.

Wind Farm

Who knew coal is ‘green’?

I like learning new things and this is new to me.

Skin Care

The biggest question is how Kemmer/Diamondville will handle the housing and associated water and poop infrastructure to accommodate 12,000+ new residents?

Entrepreneur spirit

Are some politicians, all big government advocates, and many government employees operating with a perverted entrepreneur motivation? Empire building?

Model Citizen. Four Dui’s? 

Bad Girl

Dumb shits will be dumb shits. 

The gun grabbers are delighted by the actions of this dumb shit leaving a handgun in a state capital restroom. Naturally, the long term (P)regressive pimple on the Fourth Estate’s ass is all over the story.

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 Your GPS is wrong

Map reading is a lost skill and people putting blind faith in their electronic devices are, IMO, deluded. Wyoming’s take on the issue? 

Blind Trust

In my paper hanging job, finding addresses is crucial. I have three separate GPS devices with me. Before I ever go out I use my computer to look at every address. Often, I will view a picture of the address. Getting wrong directions from one or more device happens so often I no longer even bother to cuss.

One example. I needed to find an address in Morgan Heights (Fort Morgan). I knew I was looking for a two story stucco three car attached garage house. Two GPS directions took me to the other end of the street. One wanted to take me to Castle Rock, CO.

My Congresswoman 

Liberal Loser

Hope she is a one term representative. I put the time and effort into a letter on an issue that mattered to me. Sent one copy to her local office and one copy to her D.C. office. No response/reply. Staffers probably file 13d it.

My sister approves of her. My sister has spent thirty years of her life as a volunteer in a community health organization. Caraveo is a strong supporter. Sorry Sisty, I’m not a one issue voter.

Good and kind people

This morning I was reminded there are good and kind people in the world. My neighbor across the hall is 87 and in declining health. A resident of our building is taking her to see her doctor. This person, a LDS widow, is constantly helping others. She takes care of their dogs when they are in the hospital. She takes others grocery shopping. She does all of these acts of kindness quietly and without any fanfare. Some of her acts are motivated by her religious beliefs but I think mainly she does it because she is simply a good and caring person.

IMO, in our day to day lives we overlook how many good people are in our world.

PETA

They recently held a rally at the Wyoming capitol building. Other than the four protesters, nobody showed up. I’m not bothering to link the article.

Firearms control

The tyrants never stop with a death by thousand cuts against legal and lawful firearms owners (I don’t use “gun” unless talking about smooth bores).

Fiddling while Rome burns

What this effort should be labeled is avoiding serious issues while appearing to “DO SOMETHING” with a seasoning of hysteria.

As always YMMV

War On Coal

Is the war on coal over under President Trump? The marshalling yard at Gurnsey, WY is active again. Busiest I’ve seen it in the past year and a half.

Deferred Maintenance

Think it is past time for my company to fix this clown car. Perhaps things will change. Our ‘stuperviser’ has quit. No loss, she would be hard pressed to organize a two car funeral. No replacement in sight.

Open Road Joys

Narrow two lane highway, 90° day, following an open 40’ trailer loaded with raw material for an animal byproducts plant. Slight improvement after passing and falling in behind a bullhauler (cattle truck).

Reminder

Message on a highway information sign on I-25 near Wellington, CO.

“301 Traffic Deaths”

“Real People”

“Real Families”

August is usually an interesting month driving on our route. Sturgis traffic. Tourists, thunderstorms and tornadoes.

 August 21^st should be extremely interesting. Our route goes through the solar eclipse totality path. Every motel, RV park, etc. has been reserved for months. Should be three days of clusterfuck traffic between the tourists and the locals who can’t drive worth sour owl shit in the best of times. Fun, fun, fun.

                                           Addendum
 Must enjoy the summer.

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

Not In My Backyard

The envirokooks war against energy continues. No fracking to release natural gas (which is mainly methane, by the way).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_gas

No reducing our trade imbalances by exporting coal.

http://www.greeleytribune.com/news/4512306-113/coal-mine-decker-industry#.UQauTm43NCk.email

All that nasty stuff needs a port to ship from. Oh  no, not in MY backyard!  I have my job; don’t see why we need more good paying jobs in our area, nosiree.

But, of course, it is all for protecting Mother Gaia; not for my selfish self interest.  Plus, we have too many people. We need programs to encourage the surplus, who are not our types, to die off.  Better get them disarmed, first.

Keeping The Lights On

My employer services many mines, coal and others, with "hotshot" freight deliveries. Seems a large power plant will use up to 180 railcar loads of coal per 24 hours. Producing that coal is a huge undertaking.

This is one of the smaller mines in the Wyoming Powder River Basin.

Probably a good idea to  heed railroad crossing signals.

My #1 year around hazard.

My # 1 Winter hazard - blowing snow. During the day, the sun warms the pavement just enough to melt the blowing snow. Not enough to evaporate the moisture. Come night fall; black ice.

The secondary roads can be interesting.

A calm day in Wyoming. See the flags?

Not to complain; I get a decent check to do the work. My employer is among the best I've ever worked for.