Unfocused Mind

 

 

A rambling post with no specific direction. You have been warned.

100 years ago – Local Rag edition.

The price of gasoline has fallen again in Greeley. It dropped 2 cents to 24 cents per gallon. Dealers believe the gas price will continue to drop every 30 days. It is because the price of crude oil falls quickly.

Editorial: “One of the most discouraging tasks in the world must be praying for Congress. One chaplain prayed for the Congressmen 25 years ago, and they are no better off today.”

What has changed?

RINO

A long time fixture in the Colorado Country Club mafia, aka The Republican Party, is one Dick Wadhams. Excerpts from a recent article he published regarding Colorado’s senior carpetbagger aka Senator Bennet.

Republicans must nominate a candidate who will run an aggressive, disciplined campaign with a clear agenda that is in stark contrast with Bennet and that focuses on the issues that appeal to unaffiliated voters rather than repel them. 

So far, so good. Then the lofty GOP high road takes over..  "

And the candidate cannot get mired in discredited conspiracy theories about alleged stolen elections".

Gutless wonder! Colorado’s election results were likely accurate as the Secretary of State for several years was a man of integrity. The rest of the country???  Now that  the office is held by a woke (P)regressive, who has a 200% turnover in staff her first two years, Colorado will join the rest of the Blue wave election corrupters, IMO.

He concludes.

Colorado Republicans have another opportunity to get it right in 2022. If not, Bennet will be headed to another undeserved victory.

Not if they continue their lofty and mannerly (don’t sully our hands like the Democrats do) ways.

Trinidad

One of my favorite Colorado towns. Back in the day we held five off site sales there, including our last one. It was always a good one for us My crew did their best to enhance the local economy’s bars. We had an excellent relationship with the police, county sheriff, and area state patrolmen. Lucky me, not having to bail out anyone.

Some recent good news for the area is reopening a coal mine.

https://coloradosun.com/2021/06/24/new-elk-coal-mine-trinidad-economic-development/

Since the coal is to be shipped abroad, my question is what ports they will be able to use? The Earth Huggers are fighting any coal exporting facilities on the West Coast.

The area as a whole I enjoy. Going westward toward the Sangre de Cristos, you encounter lava dikes. Northwest are the Spanish Peaks, locally referred to as the Spanish “tits”. In the area is the site of the Ludlow Massacre.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludlow_Massacre

The area, in the past, saw lots of mining, and lots of labor strife.

Fisher Peak dominates the area. Should you think surveyors aren’t important, a quiet fight goes on as to it being in Colorado or New Mexico. So far, Colorado. The huge mesa eastward towards Boise City, OK  is worth exploring.

   

The south side is a very open expanse of NE New Mexico from Raton, NM to Clayton, TX. There are things to see.

The north side was the route, along the Purgatory River, of the old Santa Fe Trail. One of the more obscure sights is Picture Canyon. My late son claimed some of these are Norse runes.

Also along the Purgatory is what is left of a Japanese WW II internment camp.

https://amache.org/

Further up the Purgatory is the US Army’s Pinion Canyon Training Area. My late son, who trained there with the 4^th Infantry Division, told me there is a complete empty internment camp behind barbed wire fencing tucked away in a side canyon.

What future use?

I’m tempted to move to the area. The problem is escaping Colorado politics. The other side, New Mexico, has appeal. Again, the state politics are distasteful.

As always, YMMV.

 

Graveyard Shift Wandering Thoughts

What follows is the rambling of an unfocused mind. You have been warned.

We have now had over a month of rain, the ground is saturated and the rivers are running high and muddy. Lots of flooding on the South Platte in NE Colorado.

Colorado drivers who think nothing of driving 10 over on black ice in a blizzard are doing 15 under in the rain.

One meteorologist has said we are back to normal, that the dry spell starting in the 1970’s isn't the norm!

All this is bad for those in the flood paths but good news for the vast region dependent on the Ogallala Aquifer and the smaller aquifers in the region.

SE Colorado/SW Kansas/Oklahoma panhandle is seeing a lot of rain after years of drought. This should be a good summer to visit the Comanche Grasslands.

My heart is heavy for my relatives and friends in the Moffat and Rio Blanco counties of NW Colorado. An out of state “Environment” Group along with an Obama appointed Federal Judge found a regulation (among thousands) not followed and have given the major coal mine in the area 120 days to shut down. This regulation was not followed by the Federal Government, not the coal company, but matters not to the enviornazis and the syncopate judge.    

While I hate to give these environazis any publicity, here is their “victory” statement.

http://www.wildearthguardians.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=11529&news_iv_ctrl=1194#.VVupE7lVhHw

What is at stake.

http://instituteforenergyresearch.org/press/ghost-town-aea-video-profiles-regulatory-assault-on-craig-colorado/

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/blog/earth_to_power/2015/05/feds-must-look-at-impacts-of-colorado-coal-mine.html

Governor Wishywashy leaps into the breach

http://coloradopeakpolitics.com/2015/05/19/with-friends-like-these-hick-stabs-craig-in-the-back-over-mine-ruling/

What happens after the coal is mined?

http://mining.state.co.us/Programs/Coal/RulesRegs/Pages/ReclamationAct.aspx

 No need here to delve into my utter outrage about this situation. One source says Colorado families face a $700 a year increase in their electric bills with the 30% renewable energy mandate.

The only constant is change.

ADDENDUM

Our junior Senator weighs in.

https://www.facebook.com/SenCoryGardner/videos/vb.160924893954206/903085873071434/?type=2&theater

Getting Old Chaps My Ass

Came face to face with my physical limitations last night. Southbound, I-25 from Chugwater, WY in a nasty Wyoming snow storm, was passed by a Jeep Liberty with California plates. How nasty was the storm? How often do you see a highway snowplow spun out in the center median? Since I’m always pushing the limits, anyone who passes me is going well into the danger zone.

About ten miles from Cheyenne, came over the top of a hill in time to see the Jeep, about a mile ahead of me,  go from the left lane to over the right side of the road. As I slowed, I could see the Jeep, on it’s wheels, lights burning bright (engine still running), and not on fire, at the bottom of a 50’ embankment. Don’t know if he rolled it, hit the fence, or just spun out. For certain, I knew that I wasn’t physically able to climb down that steep, icy,  snow covered embankment to check the occupants condition, and then climb back up. Would become another casualty. Instead, continued to Cheyenne where my cell phone would work (cheap, unreliable carrier - Cricket) and called for help.

It burns that I can no longer do the things I took for granted most of my life. It burns that I couldn’t offer any immediate help to the Jeep occupants.

On a more cheerful note, one delivery was to a mine vehicle shop and I was able to wander around the equipment. Big, big equipment! How often do you look up at a wheel hub?

The machines in the last two pictures are obsolete and too small for today’s operations. I usually drive past them in the dark.