Droning?

 

A Yeah, But

Drones

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Recommendations?

Of Interest to Colorado Voters

Republicans haven’t won a statewide race since 2016. Will they adapt?

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Living in Renton, WA during the 1990’s I was the Democrat Precinct Committeeman for six years. I’ve some experience with the strong results of “boots on the ground”.

King Lysen was the GOP committeeman. After each election we would meet with other volunteers and gather campaign signs off public right-of-ways, load them in my old Dodge pickup, and haul them away. Politics were civil then.

How Colorado Citizens Fight Back

Initiatives. Of course the (P)regressives use them too.

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Why Would PDJT Do This?

Move the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management Headquarters to Salt Lake City and Grand Junction, CO.

Colorado River Water Fights

This year’s drought has intensified the regional fight. Always “climate change” is a talking point.

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What is seldom mentioned, and in passing, are invasive plants. How much water is taken by these plants in the greater Colorado system?

I’ve seen estimates as high as 30%.

They are:

Tamarisk

Russian Olive

Russian Knapweed

Purple  Loosestrife

There is a solution, camels and goats. Tamarisk, aka salt cedar, leaves have high concentrations of salt that native animals can’t tolerate. Goats will eat about any kind of weed. Camels seem to love Tamarisk leaves.

Currently, Northern Tamarisk Beetles, imported from Eurasia, are somewhat effective. Our native fauna will eat them and their larvae which seems to be a safe invasive insect to introduce to our ecosystem.

Will we see camels along our Western rivers? Someone will see the opportunity if the government agencies will get on board.

The idea isn’t new and has mixed success. An example.

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Fifty Three Years

Military training that sticks. Basic Training at Fort Leonard Wood in 1963 every physical training exercise ended with, “One more for Airborne!” Today I found myself doing one extra pull on my rowing machine.

Soccer

Soulless apartment complexes seem to be everywhere, often far away from parks and recreation centers. Kids growing up there have few places to just be kids. Usually there is some kind of “park” amenity where kids can play soccer. The only equipment needed is a ball. Not every kid is able to play basketball. Long term? Maybe the USA becomes more of an international power.

Find a Need and Fill It

I admire entrepreneurs.  

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Amateurs, as anyone who has seen the contents of my trunk will attest.

Car Story 

Not a car lot story.

One time going North on Hwy 93 from Salmon, ID to Missoula, MT I came around a corner and saw a pickup truck with a camper off in the ditch and against the bank. The driver was frantically waving out his window.

I stopped and started to approach when he warned me a bear was stuck under his truck, directly under his door. One leg was sticking out and the paw was hitting the driver door.

“My rifle is in the camper. If I give you my keys, will you get it and shoot this bear”, asked the driver?

The truck had a Handyman (high lift) jack bolted to the front bumper.

After getting it off the bumper I started jacking up the pickup. When the pickup was high enough, the bear freed himself, ran across the road, and down the hill, post haste.

Why not shoot the bear first? The pickup would still need jacking up and then the carcass drug out. Authorities might have been involved.

Did I have a plan if the bear didn’t run? Yes, climb up on the pickup and then the camper.

As always, YMMV

Gratuitous Grousing

 Bend Over

Water rights are always under attack. Key phrase.

The department’s U.S. Bureau of Reclamation promised a “robust and transparent public process” 

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Realists know the decisions are already made. The “robust” process is optics, nothing more.

Old School Police Work

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Kudos to our local police department.

The surveillance video must be compelling for a $100,000 bond to be set.

ROBUST

The new buzzword to shut up the common rabble? As in this masterpiece of propaganda.  

"robust scientific evidence on which to base decisions".

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Silly Santa

A friend is a professional Santa Claus. Sunday at the VFW breakfast he “gifted” our group with elaborate bibs.

So What?

Workplace altercation leads to severe injuries is a legitimate news story – no problem with that. Why did the reporter need to mention the accused was is a former Marine?

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This irked me enough to send an email to the reporter. No response.

Why was it necessary to add Calvin August is a former Marine? Implies former service members, especially Marines, are prone to violence.

IMO, has zero bearing on what happened.

As always, YMMV

Whiskey Is For Drinking, Water Is For Fighting

 

This is a Northern Colorado specific blog that may be of limited appeal to readers from out of the area.

The City of Thornton was Colorado’s first fully planned community. Located ten miles North of Denver and between the then planned Interstate Highways (I-25/I-76) the town, with one square mile and a population of 8,640 was incorporated in 1956. Since then it has grown to 38 square miles and a population of 136,000+.

Without water, growth is nearly impossible and Thornton focused their eyes on the Cache la Poudre River which flows through Fort Collins (Larimer County) and Greeley (Weld County) where it merges with the South Platte.

Early settlers obtained water rights. Thornton started acquiring many of these farms for their water rights. Shortsighted, wanting only the water rights, they dried up the farms and tore down the farm houses and outbuildings.  The once productive farm lands became home to noxious weeds and litter. This caused extreme resentment in Larimer and Weld Counties. The resentment lives on today as Thornton tries to build a pipeline from Fort Collins to Thornton.

https://www.greeleytribune.com/2021/06/04/thornton-sues-weld-over-denial-of-pipeline-permit/

Thornton is building their pipeline where they can. Evidently their strategy is, if enough is built, they can muster enough political and/or court pressure to force Weld and Larimer counties to give in.

WSF’s forecast? Might work in another twenty years.

An aunt and uncle bought a house there in 1956. These original houses were 1,000 sq ft 3 bedroom GI Bill/VA Loan targeted.

Circa 1998 I managed a used car “pot lot” in Thornton. Trust me, it wasn’t an upscale area. Few of the years I worked car sales did I “carry” but in Thornton I did.

Synfuels

WARNING: Off on one of my meandering rants.

Intriguing article in the Casper, Wyoming Star Tribune regarding Sasol Synfuels, a South African company, taking a position in the Wyoming energy field.

http://trib.com/business/energy/south-african-synfuels-firm-buys-land-near-lake-de-smet/article_9076dc49-98a4-511f-827f-b05c9002a14c.html

http://www.sasol.com/sasol_internet/frontend/navigation.jsp?navid=1&rootid=1

Companies like this plan in decades, if not centuries, so you start wondering what they see in our future.  Casper has a mature oil and gas industry infrastructure and a well trained labor force. It sits adjacent to some of the largest coal deposits in the world. This is good grade coal, mainly steam coal, and easily surface mined. In opposition, a harsh regulatory climate with little relief in sight.

My guess? They think four more years of the Lightbringer and his unicorn herders will put us in a desperate energy downward spiral and make a good climate for contrarian investing.

I’ve blogged about coal to  oil processes and coal to gas in the past.

http://wellseasonedfool.blogspot.com/search?q=sasol

http://wellseasonedfool.blogspot.com/search?q=coal

There will be some investment opportunities spin off all this. While I’m getting to old to look at far off returns, others in my tribe are the right age, and are in the right location, to prosper. When these big companies start stomping around like elephants mating, some tasty morsels become available for the ambitious “little people”.

I do see one potential disaster for the western states; water. Watch the Lightbringer’s thugs start to mess with water rights. Things will get real pear shaped real fast. Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting. Think I’m joking?  Interior Secretary Ken Salazar was a water rights lawyer back in the day.  Since joining the Lightbringer’s administration, Salazar has become a weasel.  Maybe he always was a weasel; just hid it well.
Get control of the water and you have the whole region by the throat. Want a real life example? California’s San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys. Can you say snail darter? Meet the Colorado pikeminow, Razorback Sucker,
Humpback Chub, and Bonytail in the Colorado River drainage. Arkansas River? Shiner and Speckled Chub. Rio Grande? Silvery Minnow. Platte, North and South? Pallid sturgeon.

For many years, a Colorado joke is, Goddamndenverwaterboard is one word. We may look back to that time as an innocent interlude.