Nostalgia Brunch

Drjim gives a good weather report for our area.

http://every-blade-of-grass.blogspot.com/2019/03/2330-here-where-its-30-and-snowing.html

Decided to make hamburger gravy for brunch.  Reminded me of some Army breakfasts circa 1960’s.

We would be in the field, cold German winter, and the cooks in the mess truck would make hamburger gravy, scrambled eggs, hash browns, and toast.

I would take out my canteen cup and layer toast, hash browns and scrambled eggs topped off with hamburger gravy. Then the canteen cup went back into the carrier and the food would stay hot for several minutes.

Being a trooper with my shit together I had three canteens (bought two). The second canteen cup and cover was for coffee. The third was a backup.

Other than the dreaded Consolidated Mess Hall, I ate well in the Army. Part of that, I believe, was the cooks lived in the same barracks/tents as the troops they were feeding.

Soon it will be time to clean off the car and run errands. Two of the ladies in our building have asked me to take them to the grocery store (social security was paid out yesterday).

F^^k What The Voters Want

Last fall the voters in Colorado turned down, by a large margin, Proposition 112 involving regulating the oil and gas extraction industry.

https://www.vox.com/2018/11/5/18064604/colorado-election-results-fracking-proposition-112

In the same election Colorado went ‘blue’ in part by Polis spending $20 million of his own money to buy the Governorship.

Now the envirothugs are back with what is essentially Proposition 112 as legislation.

https://www.greeleytribune.com/news/weld-county-republicans-fume-as-colorado-democrats-plan-sweeping-oil-and-gas-regulations/

Likely will pass and be signed into ‘law’.

My response in the “remarks” section?

Frank White

Since "sanctuary" political entities are now all the rage, why can't Weld County become a petroleum sanctuary county?

I think it is a great idea. Doubt any state regulators can do their jobs without the co-operation of the Sheriff and he has already made Weld a 2^nd Amendment sanctuary county.

Rebellion comes in many forms IMO.

Saga Continues

Had my first VA appointment this morning. Mainly was questions, blood pressure check, and listening to the heart and lungs. They were surprised to find me PPPPPP (Prior preparation, etc.) Gave them printouts on my last five years of clinic visits, current medications, current supplements, and all the reports from my pacemaker escapade. The physician agreed I need a referral to a urologist and promised to set it up with the VA Hospital in Cheyenne. We will see how long that takes. Overall, a good experience.

To get to this point took a letter to my Congressman. I’ve blogged about this before. The first person I saw this morning was the XXXXX that caused the problem to begin with. She was tasking the intake desk. Still has the attitude and was treating the vets in a most condescending way. I used the kiosk to check in and didn’t need to speak to her.

Back in the car selling days, I loved this kind of customer. I’d let them be all superior and condescending while setting them up for the kill. They always let their mouths overload their asses.

In general, my approach to sales was: They came in to buy a car. Let them! Don’t make it an ordeal.

On occasions, with customers like her, I let the killer out of the cage. The usual time for them to realize just how bad they were fucked was three days. No matter how they carried on, I never, ever, unwound the deal.

Time Moves On

WSF is in a philosophical mood. You have been warned.

This abandoned farm today made me think about time, and changes, and economics, and human folly.

Located in the arid rain shadow of the Rockies, this place lies a few miles south of the Pawnee Buttes National Grasslands and Highway 14.

So many homesteads went under during the Great Depression, and were abandoned, that “something had to be done”. Occasionally the government gets it right (or more precise, government employees) and the homestead were reclaimed, the buildings removed (with a few exceptions) and the land allowed to return to nature.   The result is Pawnee Buttes Grasslands. The area North of Highway 14 was chosen.

A lot of hard labor was spent on this farm. Someone carefully nurtured some fruit trees and berry bushes. The water lifted by the windmills probably wasn’t the best tasting. Ground water in that area usually is high in minerals.

The altitude there is about 5,000’ ASL. The type of crops available weren’t well suited for high altitudes and dry land farming.

Thirty miles further East things are different. Out of the rain shadow, dry land farming works (most years). Years of experimentation by the agriculture colleges have improved crops.

I do find it ironic three miles ESE of this building is an inactive missile silo.

The house sits in the middle of a large oil deposit with wells all around. Maybe the people were able to move to town and live off the oil royalties. 

Shameless Promotion

My grandniece has a new post on her blog.

https://lessonsfrommyexes.blogspot.com/2019/02/my-thoughts-on-betrayal.html

She is a college senior, has a job, is paying for her education by playing soccer (scholarship) and, in my biased opinion, a fine writer. She is a millennial that gives me hope for the future.

She is too polite to disagree with her great uncle. Given that, she, her mother, and grandmother are strong, opinionated women with guts, grit, and determination. I couldn't be more proud.

I'm sure she will appreciate any comments you care to leave on her blog.  

Social Credit

(P)regressives are working hard to create a climate for a social credit system similar to China’s IMO.

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

So what happens to those of us with sub zero scores, like myself and those few who might read this blog from time to time?

We have bankruptcy laws and procedures for those in hopeless financial circumstances. Will a similar system be in place for those of us who are socially bankrupt?

Baffle Them With Bullshit

Figures don’t lie, but liars figure.

The Secure Fence Act of 2006 (H.R. 6061) authorized construction of 700 miles of fence. Passed with bi-partisan support and signed into law by 43.

Was ‘partially funded’, whatever that means.

Under 44, billions were allocated for various Homeland Security scheme involving a fence, immigration enforcement, etcetera. WSF asks the question, where did all that funding go? Damned if I am smart enough to use my limited computer skills to answer the question. Cynical me bets much of it ended up in untraceable offshore accounts.

Along comes 45 wanting to spend $5 billion and the Deep State/Democrats (hard to tell where one starts and the other ends) are aghast. Why?

Does 45 plan to actually build fence as opposed to increasing already bloated bureaucracies? Less bloat exposes the inhabitants to more accountability for their misfeasance/malfeasance and expense accounts.

 How dare he? 

No funding for juicy consultant contracts? No funding for in depth ‘studies’? No lavish conferences? Without all the ingrained kickbacks built into the current ways of government business whole sectors of the economy will suffer. Next thing you know the deplorable taxpayers might get more than a token return on their taxes.

This rant is at a macro level. Let’s go to a micro level. Living in the Seattle area 1974-1997, I was involved in politics and became friends with a cynical individual who described himself, in private conversation, as the mayor’s ‘bagman’.

 A bigger, better bridge to West Seattle had been an ongoing ‘goal’ for better than thirty years. In 1978 the drawbridge over the Duwamish was rammed by a freighter and damaged. Finally a new high rise bridge was built in 1984.

 My friend the bagman over drinks one night said,

“Now we’ve built that damned bridge, it hardly pays to be in politics”.

Is this the problem with building the wall?