The Peregrinating
Graybeard
18 June, 2013 Monte Verde RV Park (Angel Fire, NM)
This morning the low was 47°, kept much higher by a solid cloud cover that was down below the mountain tops. The weather guessers were correct again yesterday for the high which was 75°. Their 10 day forecast continues to show highs in the 70s but the upper 70s after this next week.
My next door neighbors are here for a week but primarily here for this Saturday June 22nd & Sunday June 23rd. They are part of the support staff for the 2nd Annual Angel Fire Endurance Race which offers up distances of 50Km, 50Mi and 100Mi. The course is and out and back 12.5 mile route that is repeated until the the selected distance is achieved. There is a 30 hour cutoff with additional cutoff times for the 100 mile participants at 50, 62.5 and 75 miles.
Patches was barking at them as they came past the side of Desperado so I took her out to meet them. She was a sweetheart and they provided her with some attention so she should now give them a pass. They are traveling in a beautiful Mercedes Diesel Fleetwood Pulse Class C RV that I think were only offered in 2009 & 2010 and sell used for between $60,000 and $85,000. Well out of my price range but would love to have one.
President Obama said the following in and interview with Charlie Rose of PBS to defend the NSA surveillance: "It is transparent, that's why we set up the FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) court." The location of the FISA court is secret, the sessions are closed, the orders that result from hearings in which only government lawyers are present are classified. That is the President's idea of transparent and because of this belief he can also claim to have a transparent administration.
Then there is this article Obama on Syria: Americans Just Don’t Understand by By Chris Stirewalt for FoxNews.com where he explains the President's 'leadership from behind' in Syria. It is all just so complicated that he can not explain it to people that are not smart enough to understand.
That seems to be the new motif of this presidency, whether it’s domestic spying, taking it easy on the IRS and Department of Justice scandals or implementing his creaking and groaning health law. Americans can’t understand the details here, but Obama and his team of experts understand things in a way we can’t.
Obama can’t tell you why he’s doing what he’s doing because it is too complicated. But if you could understand, you’d be all for it.
For a government and a president suffering a crisis of confidence, “trust me” takes a mocking tone.
17 June, 2013 Monte Verde RV Park (Angel Fire, NM)
This morning the low was 34° scoring another correct guess by the weather gurus. They got the high correct for yesterday also, it was 77° which matched the day before and continues to be their forecast for the next 10 days. I hope they have it right, the weather has been wonderful.
Didn't do much of anything today. Yesterday afternoon when we returned from our walk I noticed that the gray water tank was full, I can tell this when it starts to backup into the shower. My fresh water idiot light was also reading 1/4 full so it had to be time to dump tanks and take on fresh water. I got that taken care of and should be good until just before leaving.
The Park has had a lot of bicyclist during this past week but most of them were gone by this morning. For a short time the entire row that I am in was vacant except for me. That only lasted for about 3 hours and I now have new neighbors in the space right next to me. With the entire row empty why they are right next door is a question I'm not going to ask.
All this activity and hard work took its toll. I was there on the couch reading my latest book with Patches on my lap. The next thing I knew I was waking up from a nap that seemed to have overtaken me. That doesn't happen a lot but I don't attempt to fight it when it does.
16 June, 2013 Monte Verde RV Park (Angel Fire, NM)
This morning the low was 46° but the weather guessers are standing by their forecast of lows in the 30 for the next 10 days. They did get the high correct yesterday it was 77° and that is what they are calling for in the future.
Soon after going to bed last night the wind came up strong. Steady winds of 20 mph and gusting at over 30. There is another thunderstorm building up today but the chances of rain are not very high. We will get the winds again for sure, already starting to blow in the early afternoon.
We did our walk to the south this morning with an anticipated stop at the Camp Fire Café for free coffee. My host didn't get up to make any this morning so we rested for a few minutes and returned home. Didn't find any roadside treasure this morning either. I found a nickle on the south route our last time and an adjustable wrench yesterday on the north route. Patches finds treasures on every walk!
This is Agua Fria Peak at Angel Fire the home of Angel Fire Bike Park which has over 50 miles of trails on one of the largest lift-access mountains in North America. Rider and bike can get a (chair)lift on the Chile Express to the summit at 11,078 feet. In the winter it is known as The Mountain at Angel Fire where the base elevation is 8,600 feet with the summit at 10,677 feet. Vertical drop: 2,077 feet. Skiable Terrain: more than 550 acres.
I took this picture yesterday afternoon from near the Angel Fire airport looking south. It then took me about 1 1/2 hours to get the pictures I had taken downloaded from the camera into Picasa, edited, saved to my computer Picture folder and then uploaded to my web site. I have so much software 'stuff' loaded onto my computer from the Cannon CD that I have no idea what it does.
I don't think I need much of it so I went into my computer today and deleted/uninstalled everything I could find that had Downloaded from Cannon with one exception. I did keep PhotoStich which does panoramic pictures by combining multiple shots. Don't have a clue how to use it yet but I have left it. Some of the other 'stuff' that I threw away would have let me send pictures to iPhone, iPad, Facebook and a bunch of other places that I have absolutely no desire to send them. I will now see if I can upload pictures to my computer - but not today, I'm not prepared for the disappointment. HA
15 June, 2013 Monte Verde RV Park (Angel Fire, NM)
We had a few drops of rain yesterday but the official recording was 0.0 inches. It stayed very cloudy all afternoon with a high of 72° that came a little before noon. This morning the low was 34°and that is the forecast for the next 10 days, highs in the 70s and low in the 30s.
I did nothing more with my camera yesterday other than get it in its camera bag and mounted on my belt. I wore it this morning on our walk just to see how it was going to 'ride'. After wearing it for a few days I doubt that I'll know that it is there. Didn't see anything that got me excited enough to take a picture. I'll be back into a learning mode this afternoon. Can't get so frustrated with it that I throw it up against a wall so I'm taking it very slow and easy.
I finished The Hope by Herman Wouk yesterday. This was a historical fiction novel that focused on the major Israeli wars between 1948 and 1967. Their War of Independence, Suez and Six Day War. I read something by Wouk a very long time ago but can not remember what, if I find another novel of his I'll trade for it - this was a good read.
Patches and I both got a surprise this morning as we approached the Park bathroom. I was just about to step up onto the entry porch where I tether Patches to a bench when the bathroom door opened and Patches was nose to nose with another dog coming out. She behaved well considering the circumstances; came to a Heel on command, barked a couple of times then shut up on command. I couldn't ask for much more, she can be a Good Girl.
I still do not find an active fire anywhere close to Angel Fire, NM as the Park owners wife claimed yesterday. The Thompson Ridge fire is now the largest in NM and NM4, that I drove across the day after it started, has been re-opened after being closed for a few days. It has now been declared to be 75% under control with no increase in size over the past 24 hours and all per-evacuation orders have been lifted. A much better outcome than the Black Forest fire in Colorado which is only 30% contained.
14 June, 2013 Monte Verde RV Park (Angel Fire, NM)
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: WA131 June 14, 1925
We finally got the good thunderstorm that has been promised for more than a week. There were a few sprinkles during the afternoon but the rain finally came around 8:00 pm with some showers and then a steady rain put me to sleep.
The Park shut down their WIFI for about an hour during the afternoon when we had lightning popping all around. I heard that there were two, maybe three, fires started by lightning nearby. One or two of them were put out quickly but the Park owners wife told me one that was started yesterday was still burning, I could find no report of that anyplace on the Internet.
She came by around 9:30 this morning and said that the electric company was going to turn off all power at 10:00 to do some transformer work and the WIFI would be shut off. She promptly turned off the WIFI at 9:50 but I never saw any loss of electric power unless it was only for a few minutes. The WIFI here came back up at about 11:15 although I had been seeing others were up throughout our whole down time. No serious issue but it did cut into my web reading. HA
The official rainfall yesterday was 0.25" which was a good rain here since it has been so dry. The high yesterday was 80° although it never felt like it. This morning the low was a couple degrees warmer, at 42°, than yesterday but felt colder because it was so damp. Maybe more rain today with the clouds building again by noon.
I got started learning about my camera yesterday. It is a Cannon PowerShot A1300 16.0 megapixel, 5x optical zoom, 28mm wide angle lens. The Users Manual that came with it on a CD is for a Cannon PowerShot SD1300 SI which has caused me a lot of problems. I read the Manual and it tells me to push arrows and buttons that do not exist on my camera.
Yesterday I did get the Memory Card installed and Formatted. Then was able to take a picture of my model, Patches, and then see it on the LED screen. It wasn't a very good picture, nor bad, but I wanted to delete it so I would know how. This is where the Manual and the camera did not match up at all and it took me around 15 minutes to finally find out how to delete a picture. That was enough for the day - too frustrated to continue, maybe more today.
I continue to follow the headline news from Bulgaria and saw this today. They were talking about building this bridge in 1997 when I stopped in Vidin while on my circular bicycle trip around Bulgaria. Everything takes time in Bulgaria a country whose motto could be "It's good enough".
A new bridge linking Bulgaria and Romania across the Danube River was opened Friday with hopes that it will spur growth in one of Europe's poorest regions.
But skeptics argue that dilapidated infrastructure on both sides of the river will turn it into "a bridge to nowhere."
The long-delayed bridge linking Vidin in Bulgaria with Calafat in Romania was opened at a ceremony attended by top politicians of the two countries and EU officials.
13 June, 2013 Monte Verde RV Park (Angel Fire, NM)
Yesterday the high of 83° almost reached the forecast but I think it will be far short of the predicted 82 for today. This morning was much warmer with a low of 40°. I didn't need the A/C yesterday but did run the fan in the early evening when the wind died. Thunderstorms predicted for the next 4 days and it looked like one was on its way today at noon. By 1:30 I was sure we were going to get a good rain but what fell wasn't enough to hold the dust down.
The Park owner was in Santa Fe yesterday for most of the day at a doctors appointment. That left the wife here to manage the Park and without a car to go after the mail. Didn't get my Memory Card until after 5:00 pm and didn't do a thing yesterday. Started the learning process today in a limited way.
As soon as our morning walk was completed we went to town. Stopped in at the Café Espresso and got a latte while I waited for Lowe's Market to open. I'll probably have breakfast there next week when I go for groceries.
After stocking up at Lowe's I moved on to the Camp Fire Café for breakfast. Had their Huevos Rancheros this morning which were nothing to get excited about. Neither place had many customers this morning so I am either much too early for this town or not many people come out for breakfast, there are not many choices.
12 June, 2013 Monte Verde RV Park (Angel Fire, NM)
Yesterday dropped down a degree to a high of 82° with this mornings low down to 30°. The forecast high for today is 84 and I think it will make it because it was already 80 at 11:00. I may even have to run the A/C if the wind dies down like it did late yesterday afternoon.
My Memory Card was delivered in the early afternoon yesterday to the Post Office as I suspected. The Park owners don't go to get the mail until after daily mail delivery which is around 11:00 so I didn't receive it until this afternoon. I'll now start to get serious about learning what the camera is all about since I now have some way to see what I took a picture off.
The neighbor that I told you about yesterday left this morning but not before I saw the license plate on the trailer. It was a 1961 Airstream Bambi 16' that had been polished by The Polishing Guru in Riverside, CA. It was not just the trailer that was polished but the twin LP Gas tanks on the tongue were also like mirrors. I didn't see the interior but if it has been restored like the exterior the trailer would sell for about the same price as a new Bambi. It was beautiful.
Have started to get the Will Rogers weekly article links ready for July. Nothing different at this time because of Windows 8. The difference will come into play when I want to copy the text from PDF file and paste to my blog site.
The other biggie for the the day was I made a decision. I had tentatively planned/thought about going to the Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial area for the first 2 weeks of August. I have had reservations in Custer, SD since just after the first of the year and I thought that would be a good route to get there.
However, that idea would have required driving 816 miles rather than the 339 miles that I now have planned. The RV park in Medora, ND plus a stop to get there would have cost me about $450 compared to the $250 with the new plan. There was also a problem with the RV Park Reviews, the time of year (lots of tourists right off the Interstate) and the impact that the fracking oil boom (yes I spelled that correctly) has had on prices in northwestern/western North Dakota.
11 June, 2013 Monte Verde RV Park (Angel Fire, NM)
It surprised me but I did get a reply from Underground Weather. They didn't say it in exactly these words but there system does an automatic adjustment of past and current data when it receives a report that is not within 'some' established parameters.
Therefore, when KAXX quit sending reports on Jun 9th the system recalibrated the history for June 1-8. I don't know how far back the recalibration may have gone. They said they would go back and restore the history which is what has happened, including the erroneous high/low for June 9 (I would think it would be best to show N/A for that date).
Yesterday did reach a high of 83° with this mornings low a couple degrees lower than yesterday at 36°. The forecast high is to remain in the 80s for the next few days then back into the upper 70s for about a week. Very nice IF the breeze continues during the afternoon!
This morning as I was reading my Daily blogs I lost connection with WIFI which has happened a few times since I have been here. Not a big issue, I have simply clicked on the Network Icon and a list of available WIFI locations appears and I then click on Monte Verde and Connect.
This morning when it happened I clicked on the Icon and got nothing. If I hovered over the Icon it said; Not Connected - Connections are Available. That was all well and good but I could not see them to click on Monte Verde. I went to the Park Office and the owner and I messed with computer for about 1/2 hour and could find nothing wrong but the Icon did not work. Then suddenly it did work - WOW, we fixed it. Have no idea what was wrong nor why it worked again.
I checked the Tracking for my Memory Card shipment and found that it sat in Henderson, Co from late June 7th until arriving in Santa Fe, NM early this morning. That is only 92 miles away now but I'm betting it will take all day to get here. Maybe arrive late in the day at the Post Office and I'll get it tomorrow.
I got a new neighbor yesterday in a VERY shinny, older, small (maybe 18') Airstream trailer. It also came equipped with two dogs that have been causing Patches some aggravation, not that they are doing anything it is just their close proximity. One of them is a Boston Bull that looks like her friend Buddy that she tried to play with in Pahrump. That didn't work very well because Patches would just run over poor little Buddy and he did his best to stay out of her way.
Have become current with my Monthly blogs again. Dropped off another one that had not posted in over 6 months, I think that will be my new standard. I have also moved Tioga George into the Monthly list although he has said that he is retired from blogging. I suspect he will be back within the next 6 months.
10 June, 2013 Monte Verde RV Park (Angel Fire, NM)
I still do not know what the low temperature was yesterday morning but I know a lot more than I did. I have been using Underground Weather for many years now because they are one of the few weather sites on the Internet that provide historical data for most places in the US. I now question my judgment in doing so but don't know what the alternatives might be.
I did more research yesterday and found that the weather reporting station that I had selected, NW face of Angel Fire Ski Mountain, Angel Fire, NM (elv. 9,030') or KNMANGEL2, was reporting weather readings from Angel Fire Airport (elv. 8,379) or KAXX for the period June 1-8, 2013. Yesterday morning KAXX stopped submitting readings and did not begin again until 6:30 yesterday afternoon.
When KAXX stopped reporting I assume Weather Underground switched to some other reporting station to provide KNMANGEL2 with data and that stations history replaced what was there before. I was able to find KAXX as a reporting station on Weather Underground and the history matches what I had recorded on a daily basis since I have been here. The high/low for June 9th is meaningless however because it only started at 6:30 in the afternoon.
Today, June 10th, Weather Underground appears to have moved KAXX back to being the reporting station for KNMANGEL2 once again and the historical data has moved also. I sent Weather Underground an email yesterday and asked them what was going on but have not received a reply. There is a very good chance I won't.
What all of this has taught me is that I need to view all of the data that I see on Weather Underground with a bit of skepticism and not take it at face value. It has also taught me to search for an airport reporting station near the location that I'm interested in. There is a better chance that data from an airport has some validity than other reporting stations although they may contain errors also as I pointed out yesterday or the reported high/low for June 9th.
Having said all that, I do believe that the low temperature this morning was 37°. The MADIS analysis for KAXX has reported that their temperature readings have been outside an acceptable error range for a long time and nothing has been done about it. I walked up to the airport and spoke to a guy that was manning the desk and radio about all this yesterday. He didn't know much but thought the MADIS analysis was not very useful because there were no other close by reporting stations to compare to (this being an important part of the analysis).
Nothing else of much interest happening with me. Still making progress on reading my Monthly blogs, maybe finish them in a couple of days. The very nice breeze during most of the day leads me to the couch to read my latest historical novel. Then there are the twice a day walks with Patches. Not doing much but enjoy the not doing.
It is the beginning of another week and the beginning of another scandal in Washington. It is a sad day for the Clintonistas because this drives another spike in Hillary's chances for the nomination in 2016. The far left wing of the Democrat Party will still be all for her nomination but I think the rest of the Party will balk considering her and President Obama's problems.
CBS News reports that is has unearthed documents from the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), an internal watchdog agency, that implicate the State Department in a series of misconducts worldwide.
The memo, reported by CBS News’ John Miller, cited eight specific examples, including allegations that a State Department security official in Beirut “engaged in sexual assaults” with foreign nationals hired as embassy guards and the charge and that members of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s security detail “engaged prostitutes while on official trips in foreign countries” — a problem the report says was “endemic.”
Former State Department internal investigator Aurelia Fedenisn told CBS News, “We also uncovered several allegations of criminal wrongdoing in cases, some of which never became cases.”
Often times, other DSS agents were simply told to back off of investigations of high-ranking State Department members. Fedenisn told CBS that “hostile intelligence services” allow criminal behavior to continue.
9 June, 2013 Monte Verde RV Park (Angel Fire, NM)
I am not sure what the temperature was this morning. All of the history for the weather station reports that I have been looking at for the past week have now been revised. The historical record now shows that the high has been in the 71 to 80 range and the low 39 to 51. That is a Big difference in the low temperatures and although there may have been errors I don't know how the new numbers were arrived at.
I did some web searches and found a web page that provided METAR Information for KAXX (the Angel Fire Airport). METAR is a format for reporting weather information and the web page I found was a MADIS (Meteorological Assimilation Data Ingest System) analysis of KAXX reporting. What this page was saying for KAXX is that their temperature readings were NOT within an acceptable error range. Therefore, what I have been seeing has been incorrect readings and because of this analysis I'm assuming the historical record has been adjusted. It has still been very nice weather just not as cold in the early morning hours as originally reported. The Chamber of Commerce may have also played a part in all this. HA
I did nothing out of the ordinary today. Cooked a couple of salmon fillets that I had in the freezer since Albuquerque and have two more still there. Made up a pot of Frey's Special Chili a couple of days ago so I can have some of that as a side dish served Cincinnati Style. This will provide 'linners' for the next 4 days with some Chili left to go with whatever I decided to pick up for next weeks groceries.
As the scope of the government's spying on private citizens becomes clear, left-wing politicians are openly criticizing Obama and his Administration. Long critical of Bush-era anti-terror policies, many had expected Obama to end these practices, rather than expand him. MD Democrat Rep. Elijah Cummings said, "I think the president needs to go back and read his own speeches.”
“I’m very concerned that this is basically a continuation of the policies of the Bush administration and the abuses of the Patriot Act. I’d like to see better out of this administration,” OR Rep. Peter DeFazio told Politico.
Another editorial from The Seattle Times, a left leaning newspaper, (sorry about the redundancy) condemns President Obama for his abuse of power. I think the next edition of the Merrium-Webster Dictionary will have a picture of President Obama by the word overreach.
This page supported Barack Obama. So did the voters of Washington. Obama was for “change.” But on the matter of secret killing by aerial drone, on detention without trial at Guantánamo, and now on the mass interception of mail by the national security state, where is the change? The essence of the Constitution is power constrained by law. We are looking for the constraint and not seeing it.
8 June, 2013 Monte Verde RV Park (Angel Fire, NM)
This morning the low was 28° yet it didn't feel as cold as yesterday morning. The forecast for next week is much higher temperatures, maybe get up into the mid-80s with lows in the 40s maybe even 50s. I don't think it is going to happen but we will see.
The Thompson Ridge fire near Jemez Springs has grown to over 14,000 acres and has over 1,000 fire fighter on it now. It has grown to be bigger than the Tres Lagunas Fire that is east of me and sending some smoke my way from time to time. The rains have not helped much but higher humidity and weaker winds have kept both fires from growing even faster.
| Angel Fire, NM looking west to where my home is parked for the month of June. | Place Stamp Here |
| Dear Reader, I have been here a week now and thought I would send this Postcard to brag about the weather. The high temperature has ranged from 69° to 77° with the nightly lows between 27° and 34°. I'm liking it, Patches loves it! Ed |
___________ ___________ ___________ |
This was the headline by CNN Money for the US Treasury sale of 30 million shares of GM on Thursday: Taxpayers to make $1 billion from GM stock sale. WOW, isn't that great News. Most people would take the phrase "to make" to mean that the taxpayers got back more than it cost them. But, you must remember where CNN's loyalties lie and question what kind of spin might be involved.
That $1 billion that is so prominent in the headline is the total proceeds that they Treasury received. Those 30 million shares cost the taxpayers $1,315,500,000 so the headline should have read US Treasury lost $315.5 million form GM stock sale.
President Obama had it exactly right in 2004. He knew the Patriot Act was ripe for abuse and he has taken full advantage of those provisions that he claimed violated basic tenets of jurisprudence. He now claims however that there has been no wrong doing, everything is legal, and there has been no abuse by the executive branch. I wonder how many people he has blackmailed into doing his bidding since he came into office and found out how useful the Patriot Act could be?
In 2004, then-State Senator Barack Obama on Illinois Public Radio answering constituents' questions during his campaign for United Sates Senator, said, "[The Patriot Act] contained a whole series of provisions that violated a couple of basic tenets of jurisprudence--a couple of basic tenets of law that we always want to be mindful of. Number One: that a judge should find probable cause, or at least a reasonable suspicion before issuing a warrant for searches, seizures, wiretaps. Those provisions, in many cases, were violated. Number Two: that when the government is investigating you and obtains your records, that at some point, you should be notified about it so that you can defend yourself against these charges--particularly when it comes to U.S. citizens. And there were provisions in the Patriot Act that allowed, for example, the government to ask librarians about the books that you checked out, and the librarian was prohibited by law from letting you know that the government had asked about those materials. Those are areas in which a [sic] executive branch and a Justice Department can potentially abuse them in ways that, I think, run against the grain of our Constitution and the kinds of liberties we want to preserve.
7 June, 2013 Monte Verde RV Park (Angel Fire, NM)
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: WA130 June 7, 1925
This morning the low was 30° which happened about 30 minutes after we started our walk. It felt colder than that because there was patchy ground fog throughout the valley. I saw one small airplane do a flyover deciding not to land and saw another one take off just as the north end of the runway started to become enclosed in fog. It had all burned off soon after the sun came up over the mountains however and warmed up quickly.
The thunderstorm yesterday afternoon came a little after we had finished our walk which was a good thing. This time we did get some lighting, thunder, loss of WIFI, blowing winds and 0.05" of rain. There is a 50% chance that it will happen again today and the cloud build up by noon is the most I have seen so far. We might get a good rain out of this one.
I read about 1/2 of my Daily blogs and then un-plugged from electric for our trip to town. By that I mean I drove the 1.5 miles to Lowe's Market for groceries. Lowe's reminded me of the store that I went to in Challis, ID or the one in Jackpot, NV.
It is going to provide what I need while I'm here but not everything that I want. No dark chocolate candy, no store brand Eggbeaters (they have small containers of Eggbeaters brand but outrageously expensive, I'll eat eggs) and no Fuji apples. The absence of any Fuji forced me to consider some others and I picked up some Braeburns that just might stay on my list. I wanted some habanero chile, either fresh or dry, and could find none but did find some packages of crushed cayenne.
From the Market I moved less than a block north to the Camp Fire Café, in the Elk Horn Lodge, for breakfast. I had their chorizo and eggs which was nothing special and a bit pricey but there are not a lot of places to chose from. I'll be back to 'pay' for my free coffee that I'm getting when I walk up here in the mornings if for no other reason.
Then went to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial State Park just off US64 about a mile east of the junction with NM434. The outside grounds have some displays, a Huey most prominently, then there is a chapel, a gift shop and a display area. I went through the displays in about 30 minutes and then took another 10-15 to fill out some paperwork to donate my Army uniform to the Park. I'll know in a few days if they want to take it (my opinion is that it is in better shape than what they currently have on display).
The only thing of consequence that I've done here at home is start to read my Monthly blogs again. That and some reading of my new historical novel. Didn't try to find the Angel Fire library, I need something to do next week!
The Bureau of Labor has released their non-farm job numbers for May, an increase of 175,000. The media is relatively silent about the jobs increase and totally dumb with regard to the Unemployment rate increase of 0.1% to 7.6%. In the run up to the election they would have been raving about the increase in jobs and how President Obama was responsible. Not so much now.
If you look at the Household Data for May the number of Employed was even better yet with an increase of 319,000 after the 293,000 increase in April. The number of Unemployed increased by 101,000 which is the bad news that the media is trying to sweep under the rug.
The increase in Employed and Unemployed came from the same source, a 231,000 decrease in the Not in the Labor Force. People came back into the labor market looking for jobs; some found one and some did not.
The Participation Rate increased by 0.1% to 63.4% which is good News but I didn't see any glowing media reports about it. Since the election is over and the lame stream media got their guy re-elected the jobs issue is not that important to them. They have much more important things to do now - job #1 is to try to provide cover for the President against all the scandals that keep popping up like Whac-A-Moles.
From The New York Times opinion pages President Obama’s Dragnet by The Editorial Board Published: June 6, 2013. These are only the opening paragraphs of a serious parting of the ways between the NYT and President Obama. The Times has been carrying his water since Campaign 2008 but this appears to be the last straw. Very Bad News for the President.
Within hours of the disclosure that the federal authorities routinely collect data on phone calls Americans make, regardless of whether they have any bearing on a counterterrorism investigation, the Obama administration issued the same platitude it has offered every time President Obama has been caught overreaching in the use of his powers: Terrorists are a real menace and you should just trust us to deal with them because we have internal mechanisms (that we are not going to tell you about) to make sure we do not violate your rights.
Those reassurances have never been persuasive — whether on secret warrants to scoop up a news agency’s phone records or secret orders to kill an American suspected of terrorism — especially coming from a president who once promised transparency and accountability.
The administration has now lost all credibility on this issue. Mr. Obama is proving the truism that the executive will use any power it is given and very likely abuse it. That is one reason we have long argued that the Patriot Act, enacted in the heat of fear after the 9/11 attacks by members of Congress who mostly had not even read it, was reckless in its assignment of unnecessary and overbroad surveillance powers.
6 June, 2013 Monte Verde RV Park (Angel Fire, NM)
This morning the low was 27° which happened about 30 minutes before we started our walk. It was another of those morning that after some 10 minutes I was wanting my gloves. I didn't need them after the sun popped over the mountains but there was a chill in the air until then.
The thunderstorm that was moving in from the east yesterday sort of dried up as the day progressed and all we got was more forest fire smoke blowing in. Very clear sky this morning with only a slight haze on the mountains to the east across this narrow valley. I am in the foothills of the mountains on the west side with the crest only 3-4 miles away.
It looked like we could get wet yesterday afternoon so I cut our walk short. Did one lap around the Park and got out of the 'cool' wind that was blowing. It looks like we may have a repeat performance coming in from the east this afternoon. Might get some rain yet.
I got an Amazon email this morning that said my Memory Card has shipped and that I can expect it by June 11th. I checked the tracking and found that it is in Phoenix, AZ this morning which prompted a question in my mind, "Why is it going to take 5 days to go 570 miles"? This is Pony Express speed!
This quote from an article by Chris Stirewalt probably say it all about the Verizon telephone taps. Politicians from both parties are defending the surveillance on the grounds that it is protecting us from terrorist. It didn't do much to protect the people in Boston but I haven't heard anyone providing an excuse yet. This may be the slap along the side of the head that the American public needed to wake them up to what is happening in our government - I have my doubts however.
As American’s trust and confidence in their government drops lower and lower, it is not a good time to discover a massive, secret domestic surveillance program. As Obama tries to get off of the defensive concerning abuses of power by members of his administration, this is totally toxic.
5 June, 2013 Monte Verde RV Park (Angel Fire, NM)
This morning the low was 33° but that happened around 3:30 and it was probably 35 or 36 when we went out for our walk. The thunderstorm forecast remains in effect but the chances of rain have been raised to 60% today and 50% tomorrow.
By noon there was a heavy cloud build up to the east. It also looked like there may have been rain in the area of the Tres Lagunes fire which would be good news. If it moves this way and continues west it might do some good in putting out the Thompson Ridge fire also. From the way it looks there is hope for that.
Amazon indicated that my camera would be delivered by June 4th. I didn't have it as of this morning so I checked the tracker that they had provided. Found that it had been delivered on June 4th to the P.O. Box address. Went up to the Park Office and asked them about it, begged some coffee while I was there, and they said they were going to the Post Office.
I had it delivered to me within the hour. No operators manual included, I don't think any electronic device is provided with one any more. They did include a CD that I'm going to try and open and read through today. It is assumed that I would have a computer to play the CD or that I would be equipped to go on the Internet to get the operating manual. It is certainly a different world from the one that I grew up in - Your not in Kansas anymore Dorthy!
I devoted a couple hours to the manual and software set up. The CD indicates that there are 5 files yet when I downloaded to my computer I ended up with 11 file folders with a mass of files in those folders. I also had a Windows Installer error message that may or may not have indicated a download problem.
That was only part of my not knowing what was going on. When I ordered the camera I was unsure what I needed and what was included with the camera. I knew that I needed a cord from the camera to my computer and could not see that it was included so I ordered one. I now have two cords but NO Memory Card. I ordered that today and will get it in a week - two weeks? I'll not be taking any picture before then but I will be trying to understand the manual.
If any readers of my past postings believe that I have been too critical of President Obama I want you to know that I strongly believe what Monty Pelerin's World said in his post Lesser-Evil Politics. At this time in history it just happens that President Obama is the one that is accelerating the rate at which the country is being destroyed and I'm opposed to that.
Neither party deserves respect. On most issues there is no difference between them. Even when they differ, the difference is more political marketing than true substance. Both parties grow government. Both engage in unnecessary military adventures. Both exploit citizens to feather their own nests. Both pander to voters rather than adhere to principles. Both routinely ignore the Constitution. Both raise taxes. Both expand programs. They differ only by degree and the rate at which they are destroying the country.
4 June, 2013 Monte Verde RV Park (Angel Fire, NM)
This morning the low was 29° but that happened about 1/2 hour before we went for our walk. Didn't take my gloves this morning and my hands felt fine so it was warmer than that when we went out. The temperatures that I am getting are also from a station that is about 500' higher than where we are or maybe 2° colder.
We had a repeat of the June 2nd thunderstorm yesterday around 5:00. Strong winds, gust up to 40 mph, with only a trace of rain and no thunder or lightning. The forecast for the next few days is continued thunderstorms with the chances ranging from 20% to 50%.
Our walk this morning was south again along NM434 to 'town center', about 1.5 miles one way. This is where the grocery store, pizza place and an espresso café are located. Just slightly north of those establishments is Elk Horn Lodge that is for sale but has a restaurant that is still in business.
I walked up to it to check on hours of operation and saw a man inside that motioned with his coffee cup asking me if I wanted some. I nodded that I did and went inside to get some free coffee and a few minutes of socializing with him. He said that the restaurant does not open until 8:00 but he always makes coffee at around 6:00 and I'm more than welcome to stop by in the morning and get a cup.
Right after I posted yesterday I looked at my web Home page and I had 4-5 underlined words that would pop up an ad if you clicked on the word. Saw they were being shown by TidyNetwork and some web searching told me that it was ad malware and how to get rid of it. It took some time but I finally did get it to go away. I think the problem was all on my computer but if you see anything like that leave a SHOUT.
I was also being driven to distraction by a 'reminder' to back up my computer using MyPC Backup. This was a program that was pre-loaded onto my computer as part of the Windows 8 package, I assume. It again took me about an hour to find out how to get rid of this PIA using a web search again. So far I have been able find help for every issue that I have had with Windows 8 which is a VERY good thing.
After my experience with TidyNetwork yesterday I decided that the Norton anti-virus software and who knows what else that was pre-installed on this computer was not doing the job. It took me almost an hour and 4 computer restarts to uninstall 6 Norton programs. I then downloaded the free version of AVG anti-virus software. They too wanted to load me up with a bunch of their other product for a free trial period. I think I dodged all of them although one offer almost slipped past me; all free downloads include this kind of 'marketing' and if you are not careful you can click to buy things that you don't want much less need.
The Automatic Earth is not the only blog site that questions the 'recovery' of the US economy. The excerpt below is from Monty Pelerin's World another blog that deals primarily with Finance, Economics and Politics (my kind of place). I just stumbled upon it today but you may be hearing more from its pages.
Do Not Use The Stock Market To Claim An Economic Recovery makes its point by comparing the current stock market indexes to what happened to them during the 1930s.
How often have we been told that the economy is recovering? By my count we are now in our fourth “Recovery Summer.”...
A good case can be made for the fact that there is no recovery and that we are just beginning our decline. The efforts of government merely served to drive us more deeply into debt and stave off normal economic healing. If this observation is correct, all that has been accomplished is a postponement and accentuation of the pain to come. My economic sense tells me that is the case.
Whether you accept this conclusion or not, don’t be fooled by the performance of the stock market. There is little other than inflationary Fed policy to justify financial asset prices. Furthermore, recent performance really isn’t special as those living through the 1930s learned. In fact, what has happened recently doesn’t even measure up to the initial rebound that occurred during the Great Depression.
3 June, 2013 Monte Verde RV Park (Angel Fire, NM)
This morning when Patches and I went for our walk it was at 31°. We are getting out at about 5:45 and that is around the time that the low for the day is set. Patches loves the cold mornings and I felt fine today with my gloves on. They were feeling too hot by the time we returned home.
Our walk this morning was to the north along NM434 to the junction with US64. I made one slight detour to check the hours of operation of a barber shop so the round trip was 2.85 miles (I think 2.75 without the detour). The barber hours were posted which surprised me but the fact that they are Noon to 6:00 Tue, Wen & Thur is not that surprising - I'm in a very small town.
We went out in the afternoon yesterday and Patches ran herself ragged chasing prairie dogs. As we were about to get back in Desperado I saw my new neighbor fighting with his awning and stopped to give him some assistance. I also wanted Patches to meet him so she won't bark at him every time she sees him. We got to talking about her and he offered to have his dog meet her also.
The meeting went much better than I had expected and I asked him if the two dogs could run and play together. He said it looked like they could so we took them to the field where his dog had been chasing a tennis ball earlier. Well, Patches could outrun Davis (the other dog) and usually got to the tennis ball first and would not give it up. There was only one misbehavior by Patches and it was not too bad so all-in-all they had a lot of fun. It is only the fourth dog that I have been able to have her play with but she did GOOD.
She has not done so well today. Every time Davis is walked past Desperado Patches has barked at him. This is not uncommon for her but she will usually give about a third of the dogs walking by a pass. Now that she has met and played with him she thinks she has to bark. I'm thinking it might be time for a shock collar, my continued telling her NO and QUIET is not making any permanent change in behavior.
No smoke in the valley this morning from the Tres Lagunes fire near Pecos, NM. The Thompson Ridge fire near Jemez Springs, NM slowed its growth and is now at 2,229 acres. The hope that rain would fall on it did not happen but the winds were not pushing it as much as on Friday night and Saturday. They have evacuated 40-50 homes from the area but are not reporting any structures being burned.
I finished Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow and found it to be as good as the previous one of his that I read. I hope to find another one of his but it will not be at this RV Park. The exchange library here is not as large as the one was in Albuquerque and that one was very small with a very poor selection. I may stop by at the Angel Fire town library and see if they have anything that they will trade. The Park owner said that they have books for sale so I might get lucky.
2 June, 2013 Monte Verde RV Park (Angel Fire, NM)
Saturday morning the low temperature here in Angel Fire was 19° but it was a wonderful 66 when I arrived and maxed out at 70. This morning when Patches and I went for our walk it was at 34° the low for today. She loved it and I had my winter garb back on with the exception of cap and gloves and was comfortable. Although tomorrow I'll have my gloves. The weather guessers do forecast a 50% chance of thundershowers today but that leaves a 50% chance that they will not happen - it doesn't look like they will.
Our walk this morning was to the south along NM434 toward the 'town' of Angel Fire. We went about 1/2 the distance and then returned by the same route. Checked three places that held some promise for being coffee stops but none of them were open nor had any hours of operation posted. I talked to the Park owner later in the day and the only possible stop is near the grocery store which is about 1.75 miles one way.
Our afternoon walk yesterday was in a large field adjoining the Park to the north. It is pockmarked with prairie dog burrows but I only saw a couple scurrying around, did not see any standing up near their burrow as I have in the past. Patches had a grand time because she was off leash and gave chase to more of them than I saw. She is going to have a lot of fun every afternoon IF I can keep taking her out there.
There is some smoke haze in the valley this morning from the Tres Lagunes fire near Pecos, NM. This is the larger NM fire but the Thompson Ridge fire near Jemez Springs, NM has doubled in size in the last 24 hours to 1,742 acres. That is the one that I went past yesterday morning.
A blog on The Automatic Earth dated June 2, 2013 title What If Stimulus Is Self-Defeating? makes a case for questioning the "Recovery" that President Obama is trying to take credit for. This is only one point that is made in the posting, it is a good read in its entirety.
The US "silly recovery" remains in full swing. QE has facilitated another housing bubble, driven by large investors but marketed as a sign of solid growth. David Rosenberg reported this week that US real personal income fell at a 5.8% rate in Q1 2013. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported real per capita disposable income was revised lower again for the quarter. Real per capita disposable income contracted at a -9.03% annualized rate, while the personal savings rate was adjusted down to 2.3%. What recovery?1 June, 2013 Monte Verde RV Park (Angel Fire, NM)
I'm not sure what time we pulled out this morning because my watch stopped for about 30 minutes. I'm reasonably sure that it stopped while I was having breakfast so think we left Albuquerque at about 6:30.
I remember looking at my watch before going in for breakfast and it was a few minutes after 8:00. The next time I looked it was about 8:20 and I thought breakfast took longer than that. It was not until I got to Smith's in Taos and saw a clock that I found I was running 30 minutes slow.
The breakfast stop was in Jemez Springs, NM at the Jemez Stage Stop. Everything on the menu was very expensive for such a nondescript place but they are about the only game in town. The Spanish Omelet was good, the home fries were rather scarce but the coffee was good; it just was not worth the price.
About 1/2 way between Jemez Springs and Valles Caldera there was a forest fire to the north of NM4 that was producing a lot of smoke. As I got closer to it I could see that it had jumped the mountain ridge an was now starting to burn on the north side of the canyon where NM4 was. At one point I could see fire about 1 mile from the road and there were firefighter starting to arrive on the scene. I was probably lucky to get past the area when I did.
I only drove 194 miles but with the breakfast stop, grocery stop in Taos and the slow speed driving in Albuquerque, on NM4 and US64 I didn't arrive until 1:00. The route: Central Ave/Frontage Rd, Atrisco Vista Blvd/ Paseo Del Norte Blvd, Universe Blvd, Paradise Blvd, Unser Blvd/ NW Loop Rd (in Albuquerque), US550, NM4, NM502, NM30, US84/US285, NM68, US64 & NM434.
I can not get a Verizon connection here so will be totally depending on the Park WIFI. There are a few other free WIFI hot spots in the town of Angel Fire that I can go to if this one should fail. I'm a long 24 miles up hill from Taos and Smith's so will see if the small local grocery store can keep me supplied. If I am missing something that I can not live without the Park owner said they would pick it up for me. Kind of like when I was in Challis, ID. We will see.
That is all I have for today. I need to read my Daily blogs and check the News. Then take Patches out for her afternoon walk so she can smell all the previous dog scents that are here. It will be great for her after the tough drive that she had this morning - sound asleep on the couch as I type.
31 May, 2013 American RV Park (Albuquerque, NM)
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: WA129 May 31, 1925
Just a routine final day here in Albuquerque. I always get anxious the day before travel day but that doesn't mean that I do anything special. Although I did unhook from electric after we did our walk and drove down to Smith's to fill up with gas.
Then on the way home I stopped at Café 66 for breakfast. This was the closest restaurant that I could walk to when I was here in September 2011 so I probably had 3-4 meals back then. As soon as I walked in the door the cook/owner said "Good to see you back".
I then ordered chicken enchiladas with two eggs on top which is not on the menu. Again as soon as I started to tell him what I wanted he said, "Yes I remember". It was a great breakfast, I'm now sorry that I didn't stop here rather than Denny's or Weck's when I did.
I did a couple more chores during the day. Cleaned the drivers cab area which means I washed all the dog nose prints off the two side windows and got most of the dust off the dash. The last cleaning off the day will come after 'linner' when I wash down the stove and counter tops.
I also devoted quit a lot of time to researching how to create a slideshow using only HTML and CSS. I think I can do it now but don't know that it is a vast improvement over what I did before when I had a lot of pictures to show.
Picasa has a feature that attaches Captions to the photo but when I tried to use it on a web page the Caption did not appear. It will show when viewed in Picasa but not on the web. That doesn't help me any nor does it change the opinion I expressed above about finding an improvement.
30 May, 2013 American RV Park (Albuquerque, NM)
It dropped down to a high of 82° yesterday after the weather guessers had finally conceded and reduced their forecast to 86. I thought they might have been right for the first time in a long time but they were still too high. Today they think it is going to go back up to 90° but I think they are too high once more.
Right after our walk and breakfast this morning I started on chores. First, I got my laundry done. While in the laundry room I checked out the possible book trades and saw nothing that I wanted. I also got my coffee fix after the wash cycle was complete and the Office opened.
The second chore was to dump holding tanks and take on fresh water. I wasn't in need of dumping yet but I prefer to travel with empty holding tanks. I was able to replace the Terminator Cap with no difficulty which surprised me, usually when I approach what looks like a simple task it becomes very complicated.
I knew that my fresh water idiot light was not giving me a correct reading but got further evidence of it today. Before I started to add water it indicated that I had 3/4 of a tank which I knew was less than that. Then when it finally indicated that the last 1/4 of the tank was being filled I found that the overflow was running. It had been my practice before to quit filling when the last 1/4 of a tank light came on, now I can not even guess how full the tank is until I see it overflow.
The third, and last of the day, chore was to give the floor a quick vacuum. I thought about washing the bathroom and kitchen floor again but decided that was carrying things too far. I'll get to that later.
I don't think you will see this article in the New York Times but that does not change the facts that are presented in the opening paragraphs. This is from IRS’s Shulman had more public White House visits than any Cabinet member by Vince Coglianese for The Daily Caller. Does anyone, other that the NYT, believe what the President has said about his involvement in the IRS scandal? He found out that the IRS, one of his executive agencies, had targeted conservative campaign contributors and Tea Party organizations only when he read it in the News - give me a break!
Publicly released records show that embattled former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman visited the White House at least 157 times during the Obama administration, more recorded visits than even the most trusted members of the president’s Cabinet...
Shulman’s extensive access to the White House first came to light during his testimony last week before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Shulman gave assorted answers when asked why he had visited the White House 118 times during the period that the IRS was targeting tea party and conservative nonprofits for extra scrutiny and delays on their tax-exempt applications.
By contrast, Shulman’s predecessor Mark Everson only visited the White House once during four years of service in the George W. Bush administration and compared the IRS’s remoteness from the president to “Siberia.” But the scope of Shulman’s White House visits — which strongly suggests coordination by White House officials in the campaign against the president’s political opponents — is even more striking in comparison to the publicly recorded access of Cabinet members.
29 May, 2013 American RV Park (Albuquerque, NM)
We had a repeated high of 85° yesterday and the weather guessers have finally conceded, they have reduced their forecast to 86 for today. I think they might get this one right. And I still have that wonderfully cool weather forecast for my camp next week.
I finished Rise to Rebellion a historical fiction novel by Jeff Shaara. I doubt that I'll find another of his here but I would like to read some more of his. I enjoy historical fiction a lot. I also liked the first novel that I read by Scott Turow and look forward to the second one of his that I have now just started.
Patches does not 'meet' other dogs very well. Her natural social instinct is to make a mad rush at the other dog which is usually interpreted as an attack so the 'meeting' goes downhill from there. I have therefore been working with her for over a year now to teach her not to do that.
I have made some improvement. I can now command that she Heel and she will almost always do so; sometimes it takes a second command and a reminder jerk on the leash. She will then allow the other dog to pass or we can walk past the other dog with only minor 'acting out' on her part.
What this also does is it gives the other dog owner the confidence that Patches is under control and they can have their dog approach her. This happened yesterday afternoon with good results after a little shaky start. Within a minute or two Patches calmed down, left the other dog alone and sat upon command as the other owner and I talked. She needs more of this kind of exposure but this was Progress!
I spent more time today than it deserved trying to get a PDF file converted to something that I could then copy from on WordPad. Had no success at all in that endeavor but I did find a little button in Adobe Reader that let me change the PDF page layout from a book format (2 pages side by side) to pages one after the other that I can scroll through from top to bottom. This will make copying from Adobe Reader much simpler than what I was trying to do before. Progress!
The Scripps National Spelling Bee began today which is only slightly interesting News. Since I don't have a TV, and haven't had one for a long time, the more interesting thing about the competition is that it is being broadcast by ESPN. But, the most interesting thing is that since 1999 ten of the fourteen winners have been Americans of Indian descent, including the last five. Note: It did not surprise me in any way that I had 5 misspelled words in this posting.
28 May, 2013 American RV Park (Albuquerque, NM)
I was right when I said that the high would be a little lower yesterday, it got to only 85° but that still required some A/C when the breeze quit. The weather guessers are not giving up, they think that it is going to be hotter and are forecasting another 90 for today. I again don't know if it is going to make that. It may be hotter but not that hot. In contrast, my next camp is predicting high temperatures in the 68-73 range for the first 6 days that I will be there.
One of the first things I did today after our morning walk, our breakfast, my coffee and my reading Daily blogs was edit yesterdays post. I enjoyed showing the Postcard a couple days ago and wanted to get a picture of Patches up for RV Sue so I used that format again. I edited that today to allow for clicking on the picture and a much larger one will appear on a separate Tab. I'll continue to use the Postcard but it will be for 'special' occasions. I say that will be what I'll do until I change my mind again.
The only other thing of significance that I did today was to prepare my 3x5 route cards. This included quite a lot of web browsing trying to decided where I was going to have breakfast. I had a prior idea of what route I was going to take but the importance of breakfast was left until today.
The one blogger that I read Daily that was suspended by WordPress, that I wrote about a few days ago, has their blog back up but are moving to a self-hosted site. WordPress will allow the use of their blog software and advertising but it must be hosted someplace other than with WordPress.
I had another Daily blogger write that today was his last post. Tioga George says he is retiring from blogging as of this date. He shut down his original blog a couple of months ago. Had a second one for a little over a month that he also shut down and now says he is retiring from this third one. I wish him well because I think he is going through a troubling time in his life. He may be back with a fourth blog at some point.