Bumbling Around

 

Salesmanship

The Taurus I purchased had good tires but were not adequate for the conditions I drive in; unplowed icy rutted residential streets and/or dirt country roads (often muddy). Happy with the Firestones on the Buick I was disappointed to find their price has gone up 30%. Further, the manager of the store has moved on and the current group doesn’t impress me.

Doing some research I found Falken WINTERPEAK F-ICE 1. The reviews were good so I called the local store (Peerless). The manager said,

 “We sell a lot of them to rural mail carriers”.

Sold!

So far the tires are everything I wanted and handle the conditions as well or better than the Firestones.

I’d have voted for him    

100 Years Ago, for the fourth week of January 1923, from the pages of the Greeley Tribune-Republican newspaper:

• A County Judge in western Colorado was arrested this week for selling illegal bootleg whiskey to high school boys. Judge Michael Welsh is in jail today after sheriff’s deputies discovered he was selling the illegal liquor to high school boys. The boys were regular customers of the judge and came to his house regularly to purchase the illegal booze.

ODD: Oppositional Defiant Disorder  

Thanks to LL, Virtual Mirage, I now know what I have had for a lifetime. The problem? I like my disorder.

Loathing (P)regressives  

Colorado is unique in having in the State Constitution a Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR), a political bulwark preventing the complete Californication of Colorado. To get around it the (P)regressives enact “fees”. An example, from registering a newly purchased vehicle.

Where is all that money going? Roads? The only decent roads in Colorado are in Boulder County, IMO, and I have driven corners to corners and boarders to borders at one time or another.

Frayed Man Card  

In the past few weeks I’ve started making, and carrying through, mature and logical decisions. With a h/t to the Detroit SCCA, my whole life has been, “Press on Regardless”. Worse, I’m now almost diligent in following medical instructions. Further fraying comes from reading and following instructions.

This is difficult. I’ve been tested for patience, and am negative. Trying to be more flexible I resist, “If your only tool is a hammer……..”

Bastards Never Stop

Colorado Democrats prepare ban on assault weapon sales

Fort Collins lawmaker said public safety is his top priority

Bruen Decision? (P)regressives say, “Fuck you, we make our own laws”.

Banner Approved

He likes the new ride. The back seat is different from the Buick and he is able to put his nose between the front seats on my right shoulder; yes, a back seat driver.

Snowpack

Good news so far for next summer’s water. Only the Arkansas River drainage is below average. My rancher friends in Steamboat Springs say the snow was over the 4^th wire on their fences but has settled to a three wire. Another two good storms should put the snow over the fence posts.

The deep snow is hard on the elk and deer population and likely will cause above average winter kill.

Coach Prime Time

The University of Colorado hiring Deion Sanders to run the football program is creating a big buzz. While I’m no Buffalo fan, for the sake of friends and neighbors who are, I hope this doesn’t turn out to be another Russell Wilson/Denver Bronco fiasco. Since the Buffs won just one game last year he can’t do much worse.

Good luck to him and the people he is bringing with him as they navigate the Boulder housing market. Can you say, “sticker shock?”

The Emperor has No Clothes

Polis busted for bogus crime rate claim, Colorado 2nd in FBI stats for property crimes

The Denver Gazette fact-checked Polis’s claim that Colorado falls in “the middle of the pack on crime rates,” and discovered that Colorado’s crime rate is higher than the national average.

According to the FBI, only Washington, D.C. had a higher property crime estimate than Colorado.

We are #2

 Gov. Polis and Democrat lawmakers campaigned for reelection on their alleged accomplishments of reducing the cost of healthcare in Colorado.

 

Our health care premiums saw the second largest increase nationwide!

Private health insurance premiums rose higher in Colorado for 2023 than every state except for one.

Axios Denver reports Georgia came in first place with premium spikes as high as 20%, followed by Colorado with a soaring increase as high as 19.6%.

The nationwide average increase for health insurance premiums in 2023 is 4%.

For those who excelled in the study of equity and inclusion but must Google simple math — those numbers suck.

 

h/t Colorado Peak Politics

 Win, win, win 

First win. The lady who sold me the Taurus had a stress free sale with cash in her hand. Second win. I now have a nice car at a very reasonable price. Third win. The Buick went to a very decent couple who are struggling. The wife is caring for her elderly mother who lives off a dirt road thirty miles from their home with hit or miss snow plowing. The Buick is a tank in those conditions so their primary vehicle can stay with her husband.

Firearms rant

The motives of those politicians calling for “GUN CONTROL” are, to me, highly suspect. A few are undoubtedly sincere but most are just posturing. They know what they are proposing won’t work, is likely unconstitutional, and unenforceable.

“Look, we are doing something!!!!”

The harm is the distraction from other, serious problems that aren’t addressed because of the time spent posturing. Nice way to deflect attention from their lack of accomplishments that solve real problems.

As always, YMMV.

 

Blah, and More Blah.

 

Not much to say as my outrage box is overflowing to the point I’m numb.

Sort of a good news, bad news story.

https://coloradopeakpolitics.com/2020/12/09/polis-retreats-on-covid-crackdown-in-the-face-of-supreme-court-spanking/

Good news is that Emperor Polis was forced to back down. Bad news is that the case didn’t reach the Court and a permanent slap of all the (P)regressive assholes put in place.

I’ve yet to see anyone explain how our Emperor has statutory authority to do any of his antics. Thirty days declaration of martial law and calling out the National Guard is all he has, as I understand it.

Monday I had business in the South Park area (Fairplay, CO 9, Hwy 285). There was only 2’ or less snow cover when a normal year there would be 4-6’. Colorado winters in the mountains are judged by how many strands of wire on a four strand barbed wire fence are covered. Normal is three-four. Right now it isn’t even one. Downstream dependents on Colorado originated water best start preparing now for drought. Clear that vegetation (soon to be fire tinder) away from your structures.

I haven’t experienced a day like that in decades. There wasn’t even a wisp of a cloud in sight and the mountains stood out like an abstract painting. What local pilots call, "severe clear". Sorry, no pictures.

Swiped the header meme of a cousin’s Facebook posting. Seems accurate.

And finally, God Bless Texas! The lawsuit against the swing state election results may be our best (and last) hope to prevent a Harris/Biden debacle.  

Road Tripping

 

Back from an 800 mile business mile trip in the wilds of the Nebraska Panhandle and Northeast Colorado. While not a Texas trip, there are a lot of miles to be covered. Sorry, no pictures.

Saw exactly three Biden signs. Scads of Trump/Pence signs and flags.

I did see something that reminded me of the values flyover America retains. A more disliked Supreme Court Justice than Ginsberg would be hard to find in the area, yet flags everywhere were at half mast out of respect, and not just government buildings.

What Sisty calls over thinking and what I call thoughtful analysis,  is something I do while driving. Better, for my alertness, than listening to “tunes” or talking mouths (since we can’t see their heads) on the radio.

One random idea I kept mulling over is the number of “educated” university graduates with staggering student debt and degrees for which there are no real jobs. At their core, they know they have been gamed. Their salvation is make work government funded “social sector” jobs. The same party that created the mechanism for their dilemma is the party they expect to save them.

Another random idea is the impact all these wildfires will have on water supplies. My city has some of the finest drinking water in the country but draws water from five reservoirs that collect runoff from areas now burning. How much of a problem will that be for California?

Still another thought was the number of dying towns I drove through and the number of small, but seemly prosperous, towns just down the road in the heavily agriculture areas I traveled. Most, but not all, prosperous towns are in areas with ample water supplies. Most, but certainly not all dying towns are in areas where dry land farming is practiced.

Back in the day I worried this particular bone in trying to decide places to hold our offsite sales. I never developed a template and instead asked questions here and there. At the Chamber of Commerce; are you getting more new members than you are losing? At the town clerk (permits, permit, permits up the wazzo) are you delinquent  taxes higher this year? What I wanted to determine was the prevailing attitudes, positive or negative. Was the local newspaper eager to accept my advertising?  Local radio station willing to run my adds and do a live remote?  As to advertising, we had a direct mail guy that put something into every address in a zip code.

One more thought on water. Most of the Nebraska Panhandle is pumping from the Ogallala Aquifer. It isn’t being replenished as fast as it is being depleted. A portion of that replenishment is from the Rocky Mountains runoff, where the fires are currently burning, ie the North and South Platte Rivers and tributaries.

Retirement means I don’t need to make these trips. The company I work for as an agent is hurting and I don’t mind helping. Plus, I do get paid. We are seeing the end of some of the Chinese Flu short term programs. Unless some or most of the programs are renewed, I think I may be very busy this fall contacting delinquent mortgagees.

Whiskey Is For Drinking, Water Is For Fighting

Old Colorado saying.

On the Colorado Ballot this election is Proposition DD, a scheme to legalize sports betting with large taxes going to “Water Projects”.

Discussing this with Sisty (whose opinions I value, not that I agree with her) she brought up GODDAMNDENVERWATERBOARD as spoken on Colorado’s Western Slope. They have been stealing water for over a century.

A junior imitator, the City of Thornton, has bought out over the years the water rights of farmers to the Cache La Poudre River. All those farms were allowed to “dry up” and abandoned.

Thornton’s grand scheme has hit a roadblock. They need to complete a pipeline in Larimer County. The county commissioner have said, NO! They may have an option to build in Weld County. I imagine the Weld Commissioners say, “Not only NO, but Hell NO!

The water wars will continue forever as the Front Range population grows. Pass the popcorn!

As to Prop DD, my vote is No. Too vague, and I don’t trust those (P)regressives currently dominating Colorado politics not to pervert and misuse any new laws.

Grumble, grumble, complain

Leading up to winter, got the vehicles prepared, studded snow tires on, emergency kits checked and loaded, and windshield washer fluid reservoirs filled with -35 fluid. Other than a few snow days in early November, haven't even used the ice scrapper. Fickle Colorado weather!

Last winter was harsh. This year, nothing (yet). We'll probably get hit with a spring blizzard that will shut everything down for a week.

No winter snow means no summer water and no replenished aquifers. Despite the oil boom and the high tech stuff along the Front Range, Colorado still depends on agriculture to pay the freight.

We need snow!