The Native Iowan

Saturday morning here in cyclone country. And, no, I dont mean Ames Iowa…

The scary heavy centre of the Cyclone is noticeably “less”, notably lighter, noticeably less menacing. Downgraded to a Tropical Depression, Tropical Cyclone Alfie is no more.

We’ve had weather around us for the whole week. Off shore weather has been blowing and roaring, but we haven’t got more than 15mm/ half inch rainfall, total, all week.

Which is good for us.

South of us, South of Brisbane and into NSW, more than 200,000 homes are without power.

Alfie ran the coast for days as a cyclone, stirred up huge seas and created huge waves and eroded the the shit outta the beaches. The Coast took a real beating.

Obviously the area Brisbane, south to NSW, took a big hit. But not a huge hit. I dont think the many rivers in that area got the rain fall expected/ feared. Nick and Salome tell me that the river at Lismore is up, but not too bad. They did not have to get up on their roof this time.

Most of the damage is from trees falling, power lines coming down.

The lack of rain allows cleanup crews to get to work sooner.

SO, TC Alfie, though an issue for the entire past week, ends up a mini-event on the meter of life.

Speaking of Iowa…

A while back I came across a “letter jacket” from the Iowa Hawkeyes… I had bought a couple of these many years ago while in Iowa. Not sure why, they were cool at the time. And a decade later I end up finding 2 in the closet. They are nice jackets…

So… my favourite coffee/ bakeshop makes the best 7.50 breakfast I know of… a fresh baked bun with an egg and a nice slab of bacon… for 7.50. I drop in when Im on the coast. A while back a gal waiting at the counter commented on my accent. I normally dont engage in such discussion, I normally laugh and tell Aussies, I aint got no accent, you do. But this gal was insistent. Where you from…

When I said Iowa she was excited… turns out she is from the Sunny Coast, and did an exchange student gig in Iowa. We had a quick chat. The next day I gave her one of the jackets. She was inordinately happy.

And life is good.

Smiles all around

More later

Cyclone Alfie is running south of us. The skies are clearing. Let’s see if we got lucky. I know that Nick and Salome in NSW are watching the river rise, power is off, and their prognosis is more wet, more wind…

The sun is now shining bright, making the place very warm. May have to turn the aircon on…

Gracie and I did a run into town. We hit both supermarkets (IGA and Woolies) and brought very little home. The shelves were pretty much empty. May be a few days before resupply comes to town.

Beast, beans and beer… I’m pretty well stocked up.

So I sit, watch a couple different news channels… the Storm chasing news folks are running out of things to talk about. As I sit and watch and listen and ruminate I think of a time long past that I got to hold a DOGE type position of power…

In 1989 I was a licensed consultant between jobs. A job with the US Gov I’d had lined up fell through. I was coming off a couple month spell between contracts. Id been living in Gizo, building my house, hanging with the family when I got the call. The next few months of work I was banking on was not to be.

My old saying, “the worse thing that can happen to you, may be the best thing that can happen for you”, was about to be very much tested.

So I hopped on a boat and went looking for employment in Honiara.

In 1989 I was a very modern, very cool consultant. I had a computer and a printer. My MacII went into a carry bag, my dot matrix printer went into a different case. I ran v1.0+ of MS word and xl.

I did number crunching, wrote reports. I was a DOGE dueller for hire.

I’d been doing this type of work for a couple years.

When I got to Honiara, my first stop was the Yacht Club, where I ran into Roger. He offered me a job to go clean the books up at their fuel depot in, Gizo. Yes, GIZO…

Roger’s company, Liapari Ltd, were the franchise distributors/agents for Mobil Oil in Gizo. I knew Roger well, I knew Liapari well. I lived in Gizo, what’s not to like?

I was given zero instructions. I was given access to a few years of dusty musty receipt books. I went to work. I was there to DOGE the entire business. To clean it all up.

When I started this work I realised there were many problems. I decided to start with Receivables. The books were confusing but the glaring issue/ priority I saw was the large sums owing. Every ship owner owed heaps. The SIGovernment owed huge. The books simply and been neglected. Mobil was taking legal action to get paid what they were owed for a couple years of fuels and lubes supplied. It was a mess.

I started by stopping all, ALL, credit sales.

SIEA, Ministry of Education, Marine Division, the local ship owners, even the airline raised hell with me. I had folks yelling at me. Making mad, mean phone calls. My boss wasn’t too sure. But I stuck to my guns. Each and every account had to be reconciled. It was a slow process. But my point here is this: Every single entity involved quite quickly came to the table. After a day or two of crying, we started scheduling meetings.

When I told SIEA (the electric authority) in Gizo they would get no more fuel until… you’d have thought the world was ending.

SIEA used about 2000 litres 500 gallons of diesel daily. And a large amount of lubricants. Technically SIEA was Mobil Oil’s customer. It wasn’t hard to manage the paper work, do the paper work that had been neglected for ages. In less than 48 hours SIEA was sorted and their supply restored. And Liapari owed Mobil several hundred grand less than thought.

No emergency. No power outages (out of the ordinary).

But damn, there was a lot of emotion.

The Marine Division was the same. Thousands of litres of fuel a week. Lost in those musty piles of old receipt books. It was a mess. Of course the slackness of the systems meant that both the staff supplying the product, and the staff receiving the product were massaging the system. Marine was a Mobil customer but the mismanagement saw guys on the ships opening up their own accounts and loading fuel on runs, to sell beach trader style. The guys supplying the product were on the take too.

The absence of parental controls saw every kid in the school play some kinda game, perform some kinda theft. The higher ups were making some serious money. Pretty much everyone on shore and on the boats were running a scam, large or small.

It was a mess. A number folks on different sides of the problem lost their jobs. There was much graft, corruption, mismanagement, misuse and abuse exposed. Cash and product was being misused, converted, stolen, pilfered, mismanaged.

For no less than 3 months I was regularly in verbal altercations, on the phone, face to face. I was threatened a couple times but my reaction to threats (in those days) was violence. I was always ready for a bit of a duel, had a couple scuffles. One guy (a good old friend these days) managed to get me to lift him off the ground by his neck. One guy, not a friend, I picked up and threw off the wharf.

Those were the days!. The Wild West days.

I originally signed a 6 month contract for that “job”. I had other things I was planning to do. 6months in Gizo was good. I got to finish building my house. Got to spend time with my young family. It was pretty good.

So when I was offered an extension of 12months on my original contract, I took it.

Despite my original cart-upsetting actions, my management style worked. the books were in order. The customers were happy. Mobil Oil was impressed.

So impressed they terminated Liapari as their Agents.

For the next number of years I was employed by Mobil Oil. I later became a direct-purchase-agent, meaning it was my show. My business. I bought the product and kept the profits. I was Mobil’s only customer in Gizo.

As of 2000, when Mobil decided to exit the Solomons, I bought the business out right.

My point of course is that the upsetting of The Apple Cart is probably not a terrible thing. Everyone gets comfortable with the status quo, can’t imagine it not being the way it is, corrupt, inefficient.

But once we clean it up, everyone is better off.

Remember, the worse thing that can happen to you, may be the best thing that can happen for you…

More later

7am Friday morning. I can hear and feel the pressure of Alfie. Twenty miles east of where I sit is the coastline. Fifty miles south is Brisbane. For the entire week there has been heavy off shore weather. Alfie has been taking his time getting to the front door.

The sky is menacingly grey. Thick, heavy, moving, alive in the sky.

The wind comes in gusts and flurries. Like a large fist, a gust will hit, shake the house, rattle the windows, make the wind chimes scream.

The dogs have a wary sense about them. When I woke early, they all came out to see me. Normally they’d laze around most the morning waiting for me to go outside. Today their nervousness was visible. I think the long night of gusts and flurries and creaks and groans has them unsettled.

My old house here is, for lack of better terms, flimsy. It is well built, but in standard QLD house building style, all houses here are not built for cold so no insulation and no double windows or thick door seals. Not like an old Iowan house at all. This old house moans and groans. Wind blows through the house, rattles the windows, shakes the walls. I tell the Grandkids it’s the ghosts, and some times it is, but most times its wind slipping through the plethora of cracks and openings.

We have spent the entire week waiting for Alfie to make land fall. I’m not 100% certain it has, yet. Nope, predicted for tomorrow, again… Info states landfall now for “later today/ early tomorrow”. After a week of getting wrong they aren’t predicting a time any more.

I know some places have seen over 100mm/8inches of rain. We haven’t gotten any measurable rainfall here, but then we are a-ways north of the system. I’ll be happy to not get dumped on, this time. I dont need the rain.

Early this past week landfall was predicted as far north as Bundaberg. At that time predictions called it a Cat 4 storm. Now it has been down graded to Cat 1-2. I think Alfie spent a lot of its energy spinning off shore. It’ll make landfall with less wind, but there will be a lot of rain. All that mass has to get dumped somewhere.

Not sure which is worse… hydrostatic forces or high winds? If the winds die down there will still be heaps of rain.

At times the wind simply stops. Things go clam, the air gets heavy and hot. Everything goes a bit quiet, then you hear it to the south-east, a rumble turning into a roar. It sounds like a train chugging up the valley. When it hits everything rattles and shakes everything.

The cattle appear unperturbed. I had expected them to head back to their home paddocks. I thought they’d feel the ‘something evil comes this way”. Must not be as bad as the dogs think. The cows leisurely do their grazing, mind their own business, have nothing to say today.

All makes me think of a song…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzgXx7Ol-Bg

more later

Golly, gee… damn, double damn… How sad and stooppiid and inhuman can the DNC faithful be/ act?

A kid was introduced by DJT at the big speech last eve, a kid that has been suffering from Cancer for all his life. A kid that is a survivor, a fighter, a human in need. DJT made the kid happy, brought tears to the eyes of the Nation, and those loser DNC dicks sat and looked glum. Sat and looked dumb…

No joy for a child in need, because he’s buddies with DJT.

Sure, shows your compassion and humanism.

We have been prepping for Cyclone Alfie to make land fall. Busy all day yesterday, so I had to watch the speech in rerun, later in the day. Lots of comments swirling by then so none of it was a shock. I was on the road and the local liberal newz source ran play-by-play on the speech as it took place. I was aware of what went on, but when I watched it I was a bit shocked. And buzzed. There was palatable energy in that room…

Half of Congress sat looking like the ugly kids at the orphanage that know they aint gonna be adopted…

They feigned disinterest. Adopted steely, fixed faces; insulated and insolent, they sat stoically, ruthlessly, sadly. No joy on that side of the room at all.

But the joy on the RNC side of the room was infectious.

D.J. Daniels has aged eyes, and when he heard what was happening his eyes grew wide and started to shine brilliantly. Damn, what an energetic rush, pure and unadulterated positive energy shone from D.J.’s eyes. How can you not smile, giggle, get teary, when met with such a positive rush of energy?

Damn! Those loser DNC dicks sure are… Dicks…

Cyclone still tracking south… has not made landfall yet. I am of a mind that we “have missed it”, but there is heaps and heaps of weather still coming. As a pilot buddy of mine said, “We may have missed the cyclone, but we’re in for some good thunder storms”.

This morning:

More later

Smiles all around

Cyclone bearing down on the eastern coast. Got gen-sets n fuel all ready for the power to fail. Will go to town n buy a bunch of grog, meat, and beans… We shall survive… It dont take much to survive.

Just a quick thought this fine blustery morning…

All my friends and family (and a few million others I am not acquainted with) appear to think the War in Ukraine should go on and on and on… until…

???

I see slogans like “I stand with Ukraine”… but I’m a bit confused… what does this mean?

? Does it mean you stand with Zelensky and his crowd? Knowing well these folks are diverting billions and billions for their own benefit. Zelensky needs to call an election. Lets see if his own folks stand with him. Why doesn’t he want to bring the death and destruction to an end?

? Does it mean you stand with the numerous Ukrainians that have already ran away from death and destruction and sit as refugees in Germany or France? What about these folks? Maybe we should Hera what they think, what they have to say?

? Does it mean you stand with the soldiers who are being conscripted and sent to die at the front? Both side are bleeding youth dry. It aint the old farts that go die in the War. It’s the youth of a Nation who pay the highest price for a refusal to negotiate. Are these the Ukrainians you stand with?

We’re in our 3rd year here. 3rd year in a war averaging a few thousand deaths a week…

Cant see why it’s such a good idea for this all to continue. Why all the noise and emotion…. is it the gouls who clamour for the continuation, or is the fools?

If there is a chance, even a slight chance, for settlement, for a cessation of death and destruction, shouldn’t we be taking it?

I don get it. All these nice well meaning bleeding hearts are saying they want this war to continue.

I dont get it….

Wood, not war…

915am, 2nd day of the 3rd month. My how time flies…

A thought, an idea, a phrase crossed my way last week… “Sorry If My Common Sense Offends You”…

I’m sure this isn’t new. I’m sure its been used for ages and ages… but this past week I kinda heard it for the first time, and it made sense for me…

There is soooo much that “Sorry If My Common Sense Offends You” applies to. There are so many situations where “Sorry If My Common Sense Offends You” works well. I like it a lot… “Sorry If My Common Sense Offends You”.

For decades, generations, for ever there has been conflict between the folks that trade a share of their toil for the safety and security and regulations a society requires to function. “Society” allows ‘Administration” to take a share of their production in exchange for certain securities. When the exchange becomes unfair, unacceptable we end up in civil strife.

No taxation without representation comes to mind.

For some strange reason people in general tend to forget that its their hard earned dollars, taxed by the Administration, that get wasted frivolously, spent foolishly, converted for personal gain.

Succeeding Administrations (world wide) campaign on fiscal management. Less taxes. Wiser use and less abuse of the public purse.

I have been fixated on the word “Liberal” for quite some time. Here is Aus the “Liberal Party” is in fact the conservative side of politics here. Liberal in this context supposedly means “loving liberty”, wanting less administration, less waste, less conversion , less corruption.

The left-leaning side of politics here belongs to the “Labor Party”. Labor = Unionist/ Socialist. And the Labor party here in Aus is very Liberal… with the public purse.

Liberal = liberty loving, or, Liberal = free with the $$$.

Here in Australia that middle class is being erased, methodically, with intent. From the Nut Zero insanity to the foolish granting of millions and billion to “start-ups” doing Green Hydrogen or AI or some other private enterprise stuff the Administration loves to “invest” in… The National Reconstruction Fund has taken a $32 million stake in artificial intelligence start-up Harrison.ai

The governments here in Aus, the past succession of governments, have tried to appease too many fringe groups, invest in too many “winners”, have made some really stupid choices… While enriching themselves… let’s check on Mr. Albo: I see Anthony Albanese has been in politics all his life, has been a member to Parliament since 1996 and has a personal wealth listed as $15million… https://www.networthmama.com/category/heads-of-state/presidents/anthony-albaneses-net-worth

For a guy that has been an elected offical for 20 years, on an average salary of under 250kpa… hmmm… not sure how it adds up, but… it dont add up for me… and its an age old story. How does an elected official on a set salary become wealthy? I’d say it all has to be, even a little bit, corrupt…

“Sorry If My Common Sense Offends You”

In the USA I recall a while ago where a road (I think in Oregon) was going to be laid with solar/ PV ability… at a cost of something stupid… https://www.oregon.gov/odot/programs/pages/solar-highway.aspx … I can’t find a cost here but I see something like 30million spent on it so far… ???? …. !!!!

Many moons ago, as a business-dude in the Solomon Islands, I got involved in building roads for the World Bank… sure seemed like a good idea at the time… the money was stoppiiid… Back in 2005/6 the cost of building a road, a standard tar sealed road of a decent engineering standard was, let’s have. look…. Damn!!! … According to data from the BITRE (Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics), the average cost of a road construction project in Australia is around $5.1 million per lane-kilometer. However, this cost varies significantly depending on the road type, with urban and rural freeways costing closer to $6-6.5 million per lane-kilometer, while rural arterials are around $3 million per lane-kilometer. 

When I was doing this work, the cost per kilometre was roughly 5times the average cost in developed lands. I forget the numbers but they were impressive… Sure, isolation, material availability, expertise, etc, etc add to the cost… but 5times? Much of the cost was to cover the World Bank big-shots that flew in to “help”. These folks always fly 1st class. They always stay in the best hotels, eat in the best restaurants, etc, etc. We could have done the work without their help.

During this project I consistently made noise about the money being wasted. I could build a road for way under 5milUSD per-mile. But I wasn’t allowed to. The food-chain, the money-chain owed too many people, too many NGOs, too many Govt Offices too much to make it economically sensible. There was more than enough money to do a high class job. But the waste and corruption only allowed for a rather mediocre job.

This project eventually got many things wrong, made many mistakes. In the end I was told to simply “get it done” so the project managers could close the project out. Certain materials (culverts for drainage) had not been ordered, had not arrived. We were told to complete the road work without the drainage.

In my opinion this project may have started out as good idea, but turned into yet another example of waste, mismanagement, and corruption. The people involved, in charge were often overly qualified but not invested enough to make it be a good job. They were more interested in the project looking Good-On-Paper. They were chasing a feather in their cap. How positive the project was on the ground was of minor concern.

So, as the USofA rationalises its waste and corruption, and as many many many folks bleat like sheep during a thunder storm, I ask everyone to consider the end result of a positive world that is less greedy, less wasteful….

What is sooooo terribly wrong about shutting off the spigot that fills the trough of graft and corruption?

here is the DOGE report so far… DOGE’s total estimated savings are $65 billion, which is a combination of fraud detection/deletion, contract/lease cancellations, contract/lease renegotiations, asset sales, grant cancellations, workforce reductions, programmatic changes, and regulatory savings … https://doge.gov/savings

A lot of people are not happy, a lot of people are scared, a lot of people have a lot to lose, a lot of people have their snouts in the trough…

Fiscal prudence all ways makes sense. To be foolish with your $$ is a short term gig. It does not hold much of a future. We have all been financially frivolous, foolish. Short term may be OK. But we have allowed, fostered an Administrative practice of being wasteful.

The US debt is insane. The world-wide domestic debt is foolish.

Time to end the era of fiscal mismanagement and waste. It simply cannot be allowed…

“Sorry If My Common Sense Offends You”

Smiles all around

More later

1st of March, a Saturday morning here. Nice day so far, a bit blustery. Not much rain this week (20mm/less than an inch). The dogs are all content, relaxed. Bird life is prolific this time of year. I lie in bed in the mornings, dozing and dreaming to the sound of the birds. Its nice.

Sunrise has slowly come back from 4am to 530/6am. In another couple months we’ll end up still being in the gloaming until 8am. And it’ll be much cooler out. Makes morning sleep-ins easy. This 4am wake up stuff gets rough.

Ive been out of sync with myself for quite some time… the past year, 2024, has been a very hard slog… I have intentionally been less antsy these past two months. Ive perhaps relaxed my forward vision and taken my foot off the gas-peddle. Not going to stress as much as I did last year… And I’m going to take some time to fix my broken ankle…

I dont do doctors all that much. PRN “As Per Need”, is the attitude I take with doctor visits.

Here in Aus we have top, top shelf medical services available all around us. One of Austarlia’s biggest export businesses is medicine. The largest hospital complex in the Souther Hemisphere is an hour east of here. We have very, very good medical attention. And, as a card carrying Aussie, I have access to all of it.

I had both my eyes fixed late last year. Day surgery for each eye, took a number of weeks for recovery, all up, but the result is fantastic. I can see again. So I’ll now let the Docs fix my broken ankle…

Going back decades… Ive sprung my ankles more than once. In the past years, as a farmer, I have had 2 major incidents where I ended up hurt, damaged, laid up afterwards. The first one involved a day old calf… Id lost the calf, moved the mother, and had to go back and find and get hold of and move it… day-old calves are swift as deer. Normally a mother will hide the calf so she can graze. The calf, only a day old, will lie and sleep all day, waiting for mom to call for supper.

I kinda knew where this calf was, and managed to find it easily. I knew from experience you cant just talk it into following you, noooo…. I walked up to the sleeping calf and fell onto it. Covered it, held it down as it kicked and struggled. I gathered it up, held it tight, stood up, and promptly turned my ankle. And I could do nothing but hold on, struggle through it, and take the calf to its mother. It took me a while to get home and get my bruised and swollen foot out of my boot…

That was in late 2021. Since then my ankle has done nothing but deteriorate. The Dr said the X-ray showed only mild degeneration thus the problem was probably is ligaments.

As is, my right leg is not dependable. Just the other day, working in my machine shop, I turned to move and my foot didn’t move with me. I went down hard on my knee…. not guuud.

So I decided to get it fixed. Ive tried braces and sole inserts and tight high boots… And my ankle does not get better. So I’ll see what they can do for me. Go in and tighten some of the rubber bands that keeps my foot from flopping about.

This getting old bullshit aint for sissies… thats what my Mom always said…

More later

I have written before about the person I considered the best employee I ever knew, her name was Lani, she passed away yesterday.

I dont know how old Lani was, but when she came to work for us in 2000 I think she was late teens/ early 20s. She had a young daughter, was a single mother, came to work as a house-keeper for us in Gizo.

Over the past couple decades (and more) Lani made my family’s life a better place. She has helped raise no less than dozen of the Hemmer progeny. She is the most dedicated , willing, able, aware employee I have ever known.

I have spoke about Lani previously in relation to discussing why folks are motivated to work, and what motivates folks to be good workers. In Lani’s case, as a young mother, she loved her job because she loved her family, and her job very simply allowed her to provide for her family, including the payment of school fees.

I learned a long time ago that a faithful, happy, willing and able employee was a good thing. I learned long ago that a dedicated, long serving employee was what I wanted. And to entice and retain good employees I have traditionally offered the payment of education expenses as part of the employment package.

Lani had more kids, I think she eventually had 2 daughters and 2 sons. Lani was faithful and wiling and able for many years, ensuring her kids had a home and got a decent education. Just last year, Lani’s daughter graduated from University in PNG. Lani got to get a passport so she could travel to attend the graduation ceremony. She enjoyed her first only international trip, shared the Graduation with her daughter, came home and got to tell everyone about her amazing adventure. To me this single little story of success explained well Lani’s commitment and willingness.

Lani died, I am told, suffering an asthma attack.

Sad sorta statement on the Solomon Islands. People should not die during an asthma attack, but they do.

So here is to Ms Lani, Zai Lani…

Impossible to replace.

Shall be missed…

more later

I am thinking of my youth. Specifically those years when you cease being a child, start learning things and being competent. Becoming capable, making choices, forming a mature personality, becoming YOU.

I have been political from a young age. Perhaps I should say I was politicised at a young age… A lot of politics got talked around The Family Table. My parents were modern liberals. They had very conservative yet held liberal ideals…

They were catholic and obviously did not practice birth control (I’m the middle of 9 natural births). Their marriage was consider “inter-racial” for the day… dad was German Catholic and mom was Greek Orthodox… my grandmother never forgave her daughter, my mother, for marrying out of the “church”.

As a little kid I went to the catholic school in a midwest, bible-belt town where catholics were a distinct minority. 1st grade to 8th saw less than 100 kids. We were a glaring minority… I never understood the slurs I heard. Still dont.

My father was a therapist in the V.A. medical system. He worked with folks from all walks of life, religions, nations, levels of education, sects and more… My brother and I reflect these days how our folks collected a number of gay and lesbian friends. We didn’t get it then but as we aged we realised that T.C. was a gay guy. Not just a single man… What did we know when we were kids?

Race, color, creed, nationality mattered not to my folks. All were welcome around The Family table.

When it came to politics, The Democrats Party was respected, the Republican Party not so much.

But all were welcome, showed respect, fed and watered equally. I never understood basic racism because I never learned it.

Many of those seated at The Family Table were clergy. Mostly catholic priests, some bishops, a couple monsignors, and one nuncio. Catholics felt comfortable around our Table. it was a very catholic Table. Catholic in our traditions and prayers and songs of worship. Many a family mass was conducted around The Table.

I think back… I can picture the large dining room with the huge Family Table.

Meals, meetings, arguments, card games, and more took place on and around The Table.

By the time I was 10/12 I knew I was a Democrat. By then I was coming-self- aware, I was modern, I thought I dressed and talked like a Democrat. I thought I was coooool….

I was 10 in 1967. Between 1967 and 1975, the year I came of age, I was educated well, indoctrinated well, conditioned well by all those gathering at The Table.

People read books back then. People talked about the books they read. I had access to lots of books and read many. Reading was something most folks did…. my mom read, my dad read, people I admired read books, discussed the books they read.

As a young teen I became politically active. My elder siblings and their friends were the 60’s era teens that were too young to vote, but old enough to die. Many were “activists”. I had first hand contact with “Nam-Vets”… Listened to their stories. I thought they were cool. I could only agree with hem support their “movement”.

I wore a used pair of “boony-boots”, and a duffle coat with genuine patches. I thought I was cool, informed, aware and cool. Did I say coooool?

in 1980 I joined the most Democrat organisation of them all, The US Peace Corps. Only liberal minded, modern, open minded folks joined the Peace Corps…. I was wrong…

Between 1967 and 1976 I’d “popped my cherry” when it comes to politics. I’d been involved with McGovern in 1972. Of course Nixon was bad, terrible. The war was bad, terrible. Republicans were bad, terrible… but when Anderson went independent in 1976, splitting the Democrat ticket and letting Raygun win… well hell! I refused to vote. I saw that it wasn’t the best and brightest running the DNC. It was dirty bizzynesss…It was a fight for power and Anderson lost, even with my support, and went rogue and fucked it all up… according to my youthful thinking Raygun was bad, evil…

I always and all ways considered Carter a fat cat of sorts. Sure he spoke homey n all but I always thought him to be a Republican in DNC clothing. Could not support him. But for some reason I thought Anderson was The-Guy… cant recall why.

As I was saying… in 1980 I joined the most Democrat organisation of them all, Peace Corps”. Only liberal minded, modern, open minded folks joined the Peace Corps…. I was wrong… My political position got beat up, shouted down, called names, and more.” I should not have been allowed in the Corps if I didn’t vote.”

Damn, can you say “intolerant”?

I was lucky to learn to question my team/ my party at an early age. I was adept at questioning the other party(s). So I went to work becoming a Centrist. After being forced into a corner by my then Peers.

These days I question everything.

Which leads me to my title for this piece….

All my youthful, tolerant, kind, well meaning democrat and democratic friends…

Where have all the Flower gone?

More later

Saturday morning here. We’ve been getting rain, the ground is wet. Really need to do some mowing.

The skies are slate, dense, opaque. No radiant warmth getting through to the earth, noting it’s a muggy 24c/ 74f out. Its going to rain, again, soon…

I’m thinking of the waste, graft, corruption, misuse and abuse we are hearing about. Below is a list of items “discovered” thus far by the DOGE cowboys. But I need to walk down memory lane a bit, first:

Discussion Part-One…

I became an “Aid-Worker” in 1981. I swore-in as a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) 3 months after Ronald Raygun was swore-in for his first term. I was a “gift” to the Solomon Islands, from the USofA. I was sent to a school to “teach” whatever they needed taught. My presence was free of charge to the Solomon Gov. I came with access to Aid-$$$. PCVs were expected to have a “project” or two.

My gig was a traveling circus type “Alternative Technology” workshop where I coordinated with other government departments and traveled to remote villages holding courses in areas like sanitation and water, outboard motor repair and maintenance, small business assistance, and more.

My PCV status gave me easy access to “development funding”. Organisations like IHAP (International Human Assistance Program) and FSP (Friends of the South Pacific), and others had funding for “projects”. I’d fill in the forms, jump through some hoops and get something like USD$2,000 to buy the fuel and consumables for a “tour”.

A “Tour” typically would include a government owned canoe and OBM with a driver. I’d buy the fuel and consumables. Get someone from the Ministry of Health to come along. Maybe someone from Agriculture. I worked for the Ministry of Education, so everyone was paid to be involved.

We’d take off and do a couple weeks traveling to predetermined villages. We’d hold a workshop where we might install a water-seal toilet, build a ferro-cement tank, offer some training on OBMs. We would target a village with a school. The new infrastructure assisted the development and expansion of the village school. Everyone won. It was a good program.

Full time I lived and taught at a remote boarding school. I used the school breaks and holidays for my extracurricular fun n games.

The Aid$$ was always “tied-aid”, meaning it was for a specific purpose. In this case “education”. I did this work throughout the 1980s, holding maybe 50 small (2-3day) workshops and maybe 10-15 large (2week) workshops.

I had to apply for the funding with a written proposal. Once the funds were approved they would be released to my Ministry. The $$ was disbursed to me on what in the old days was called Licensed Purchase Orders (LPO). I didn’t get the money, I got quotes for the stuff I needed then got the LPO to “buy” the gear. I’d take an “Impress” in cash for incidentals. All funds had to be “retired” at the end of the program.

My next discussion is about the “Food-Chain” of the money I had access to, that I spent …

Discussion Part-Two…

The organisations I sought funding from had offices in Honiara, and regional offices in Suva or Moresby. With, of course, higher up offices in DC. Most of the funding ultimately came from USAID, through the other orgs like IHAP.

I was a lowly PCV, I made around USD 2-3grand per annum. I got my housing, travel, and medical paid for. Peace Corps had staff in country offering good support. It all cost. The food-chain my presence represented was much, much bigger, greater, more expensive than just me.

The Bosses on the ground locally were pretty well paid. The higher-ups in regional offices made more. The folks in DC made much more. Some were/ are downright Fat Cats. I was just a PCV.

The USD2000$$ I spent on a tour probably cost 10x to facilitate. Or more. The Food-Chain of the Aid$$ I touched was long, deep, and costly.

I have worked closely with USAID. My programs were good, notable, so bigwigs often came to play. I was once nominated for The Rolex Award by a well meaning FatCat. I never liked these folks… They’d travel first class, wear lots of gold, stay in nice hotels, eat in the fancy restaurants, and spend more in a week than I touched in a year.

So when I see something like this… “$5 million for effort to treat eating disorders by “affirming” LGBTQIA+ patients’ sexual orientation and gender claims” … I am confident that very little actually got spent treating eating disorders. It all got consumed by the Food-Chain, top to bottom, that has a voracious eating disorder.

The waste, graft, corruption of what is suppose to be “Aid”… nothing new here…

My week in pictures…

• $78,000 to Palestinian activist group whose chairman was photographed attending an anniversary event celebrating the founding of the Popular Front for the Liberation of the Palestine terrorist group
• $1 Million for foreign DEI programs, including ‘indigenous language technology’ in Guatemala, per non-public funding docs reviewed by WFB
• Nearly $1 million to Hamas-linked charity that hosted terrorist leader’s son, per report from the Middle East Forum’s Focus on Western Islamism
• $3.4 million for Malaysian drug-fueled gay sex app
• $5 million for effort to treat eating disorders by “affirming” LGBTQIA+ patients’ sexual orientation and gender claims
• $1.5 million to address address racial, ethnic and income-based differences in vasectomy knowledge.
• $38.7 million annually for DEI work in addition to the roughly $30 million it spends on its Office of Minority Health
• Over $1 million on video game to help LGBTQ youth stop “binge drinking”
• Up to $3 million to defund the police advocacy group to pursue “climate justice” for convicts
• Nearly $500 million for Biden admin’s “environmental justice” advisors
• $50 million to a coalition that includes an “immigrant justice” group that pushes voter registration for traditionally Democrat-leaning demographics
• FEMA doled out $12 million in May 2023 to push “equity” and prioritize communities with high concentrations of racial and sexual minorities. Then, after Hurricanes Helene and Milton, fmr. DHS Sec. Mayorkas claimed that FEMA did not have the funds to make it through hurricane season
• The Biden administration’s 2022-2026 FEMA strategic plan listed “equity” as one of its top goals, with the agency also emphasizing “racial justice” trainings and funding DEI studies
• June study from Arizona State University found the Pentagon had turned into a “vast DEI bureaucracy” under the Biden administration, requesting a $114.7 million budget for DEI projects in FY 2024
• DoD Education Activity (DoDEA) approved a $2 million consulting contract for “equity”-focused management consulting firm BCT Partners to create an “action plan” for Pentagon-run schools
• $500,000 for research on “indigenous knowledge” – “a pseudoscience that posits native Indians possess unique insights into the workings of the universe”
• Over $100 million between 2021 and 2024 on education programs related to “restorative justice, social-emotional learning and DEI”
• Instituted an “equity action plan” in 2023 to “advanc[e] equity for historically marginalized and underserved communities”
• Funded performances of play “Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes,” in which God is bisexual and communists are good, in North Macedonia
• Disbursed $15,000 to “queer” Muslim writers in India
• Shelled out tens of thousands to create army of 2,500 LGBTQI+ allies
• $1.6 million for the “Nancy Pelosi Fellowship Program” to diversify America’s diplomats
• Sponsored a set of $10,000 grants to “uplift transgender” youth in Peru via a ballroom dancing program
• Funded 31 programs across 23 countries to engage in “hip-hop diplomacy,” to promote “democratic values, boost climate activism and promote diversity”
• Provided $70,000 grant to produce a DEI musical in Ireland
• $500,000 to “expand atheism” in Nepal
• $25,000 to transgender opera in Colombia
• $2.5 million to electric vehicles in Vietnam
• Gave $32,000 in funding for a Peruvian “LGBT comic book”
• Provided $1.5 million grant to “advance diversity equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities, by promoting economic empowerment of and opportunity for LGBTQI+ people in Serbia”
• $2 million for sex changes and “LGBT activism” in Guatemala
• $6 million to fund tourism in Egypt
• Spent $20 million on “Ahlan Simsim” – a new Sesame Street show in Iraq
• Over $4.5 million to “combat disinformation” in Kazakhstan
• Up to $10 million worth of USAID-funded meals went to al Qaeda-linked terrorist group the Nusra Front
• $500,000 to group that “empowers women” in attempt to solve sectarian violence in Israel just ten days before Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks
• Awarded nearly $25 million to Deloitte to promote green transportation in Georgia (the country)
• $4.67 million to EcoHealth Alliance – one of the key NGOs funding bat virus research at Wuhan Institute of Virology — in late 2021. Later refused to answer key questions about the funding.
• $20 million for the Strengthening Transparency and Accountability through Investigative Reporting program which used the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) as its implementing partner. The OCCRP was cited four times in the whistleblower letter that led to the Russiagate impeachment.
• USAID’s 2022-2030 climate strategy outlined a $150 billion “whole-of-Agency approach” to building an “equitable world with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions”
• $7.9 million to a project that would teach Sri Lankan journalists to avoid “binary-gendered language”
• $1.1 million to an Armenian LGBT group.
• $1.2 million to the African Methodist Episcopal Church Service and Development Agency in Washington, DC to build “a state-of-the-art 440 seat auditorium”
• $1.3 million to Arab and Jewish photographers
• $1.5 million to promote LGBT advocacy in Jamaica.
• $1.5 million to “rebuild” the Cuban media ecosystem.
• $1.5 million for “art for inclusion of people with disabilities”
• $2 million to promote “LGBT equality through entrepreneurship…in developing Latin American countries.”
• $2.1 million so the BBC can strengthen the media ecosystem in Libya, “designed to value the diversity of of Libyan society”
• $2.3 million for “artisanal and small scale gold mining” in the Amazon.
• $2.5 million to promote “inclusion” in Vietnam.
• $3.9 million to LGBT causes in the Western Balkans
• $5.5 million to LGBT in Uganda.
• $6 million to advance LGBT in “priority countries around the world.”
• $6 million to “Transform Digital Spaces to Reflect Feminist Democratic Principles”
• $6.3 million to men who have sex with men in South Africa.
• $8.3 million for “USAID Education: Equity and Inclusion”
• Another $16.8 million to a separate group in Vietnam for “inclusion.”
• $15 million for “oral contraceptives and condoms” in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, per non-public congressional funding notice reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon (WFB)

A glorious Sunday morning this side of the planet. Weather has been pretty good. Only a couple inches of rain this past week. Have been gaining on all my projects. So far 2025 has been Okay…

Today we have a damn good UFC fight card. Doesn’t start until later so I’ll sit, ruminate, drink coffee and waffle-on…

One strange habit I have, watching commercial TV, puzzles those around me…

I do have “cable”, and am fully connected to all sorts of buttons on a couple different remotes that do things I am only partially aware of. My kids and grandkids go places and watch things I dont know about. But I like watching commercials…

In the 80s there was NO TV in the Solomons. It wasn’t until the very late 80s/ 90s that we got “video players”. I left the US in January 1981 and did not go back for a visit until December of 83. Upon re-entry to the US I found the modern TV with its modern commercials (and the whole cable TV scene) very interesting, very entertaining. I learned to watch the commercials to gain a handle on society. By watching what was being advertised, how it was being marketed, and whom it was targeted, I figured basic social confusions out.

The world had changed, the US had changed a lot in the few years I was gone.

People think I’m too old fashioned and dumb to learn all the buttons on the various remotes, but the fact is, I watch commercials. In many ways the commercials can be more creative, more informative, and more entertaining than the general programmes. Commercials are cool…And who isn’t waiting for the commercials to come in 24hours at the Super Bowl?

It is still very cool:

more later

I am sitting in an O’Briens Glass workshop. Located in a big industrial zone north of Brisbane. I’ve brought the Holden Astra in to get new glass for Elora.

MissE arrives here early Monday morning to start her career as a University student. I’ve prepared the hot little 1.8LTurbo for her.

I enjoy being involved with young folks as they grow and gain their wings. MissE is 18, an international kinda gal with her father, my brother, being a Yank, her mother is Austrian, and she grew up in Germany.

Now she’s moving to the Land of Aus.

Go team go…

I’ll aim to help her gain her feet here. Noting that one English speaking country is not the same as another. It’s a weird thing but borders n time zones = a new land, a strange land.

I think of simple things, like coffee… when I went on my first big international trip, age 23, I had never considered that coffee could be so confusing, so challenging… I grew up with standard “black n hot”. I don’t think I saw anyone put milk in their coffee, in Iowa. So when I was asked if I wanted my coffee “white” or “white n one”, I simply did not know what to say.

But I was a simpleton Iowa boy. I know MissE is much smarter.

Still about coffee… in Iowa I never saw, used or knew about “instant” coffee. I learned quickly that a hot cup filled with dark, aromatic fluid, made from coffee-crystals is not coffee. It’s still a decent drink. I’ve learned to enjoy it. But do not confuse that hot drink with coffee.

So, here I sit. I grabbed a MacDonald’s flat white on my way here.

Here in Aus it is not technically MacDonalds… it’s “Maccas”. Here words get chopped n changed. Slang is a cultural tradition in this land. And the only country on the globe where MacDonalds isn’t MacDonalds…

Macca’s” is a nickname for Mcdonald’s. If you used the term Macca’s in the U.S. or Canada, you’d get some funny looks. But the term is very common in Australia. In fact, McDonald’s changed its name to Macca’s at stores across the country for Australia Day in 2013 – and still refers to itself as Macca’s today.

The office area where I sit is comfortable. It’s a busy place. I count 5 guys working, have seen 3 cars arrive, it’s 820am.

So I sit and watch the world n write n read…

One topic I have been working on is the fact that females in our modern world don’t need men. Females can live, work, propagate, raise a family without men. It’s been going on for quite some time. I’ve watched as legal systems changed to accept and cater to this female revolution.

I very much get it. I sat years back, with my Lesbian friend Debbie, talking it all through. She and I like women for the same reasons. She and Diane have been together for decades. They have kids grandkids. They didn’t need a Man… They never did.

I do though think children need a Father.

I think of MissE and her terrific Dad.

No doubt, Moms are important too, I claim I learned most of what I know in life from my Mom… here’s one tale about my Mom… https://nativeiowan.com/2009/04/11/and-mother-farted/

But it was my Dad that gave me an example of what a Man was. Showed me both right n wrongs ways.

I believe children need a Father.

I believe much of our confused, rage filled, angst burdened, modern day youth could have benefited by having a Father.

The TV is on here, a morning news program is on. They are talking about a “singles tax”… new to me…

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), a one-person household can spend $2,835 per month on living costs which is 27% more than couples who spend a combined $4,118 per month, or $2,059 per person – a $776 difference.

Hmmm, a new concept I’ll have to look into.

About done here…

More later

A clear, crisp, blue skied day on this side of the planet. Things are sedate, the dogs are all quiet, the birds are not being too noisy, a gentle breeze chills the skin.

Ive been thinking (and mowing), and talking to a couple people I really appreciate, and disagreeing and pissing them off by being, they think, obtuse. I think I’m being an inquisitive centrist, asking questions, honestly trying to understand their position(s)…

It is the bane of a centrist to never have a team. Right, Left, Up, Down… I’ll listen, be respectful, and when I disagree I’m viewed as an enemy, as opposition.

My old buddy, DB, is rabidly anti-Trump. Nothing can get him to see any positives in what is happening. The old-stool concept of “the voting is done, let’s all work together until the next election” is rejected.

The electoral swing, according to DB, is false, those that voted on the “right” have shit for brains, listen to Fox News, are of very low IQs, and should be sterilised.

Another, RB, is firmly of the opinion that the path the US has taken is wrong, deadly, hurtful, damaging, and leading to disaster. Trump is “fucking everything up”. Which leads me to assume that the status quo before Jan20th was ok, in his mind. I cant figure this out…

As soon as I hear the sound of personality hatred I step back…

I’m not sure, and I fear the emotion in both my dear and valuable friends, clouds their ability. We end up at “Orange Man Bad, Republican bad”. Haven’t got too far, have we?

Both have little inclination to answer questions I pose. We are tru, good friends, valued friends, and I dont fear being cancelled for my questions, but I am pissing them both off. One of the hardest things to do is explain what you believe in, believe to be good and true.

As a centrist I dont have a position to defend, I’m still looking for “my team”. Benn looking for a long time.

One main topic/ issue is the DEI+A agenda that Trump has put a choke hold on. According to RB, the US is going to come to a grinding halt under Trump… Eggs will cost more than gold soon, all our agriculture will die because there will be no labourers in the fields. With an almost gleefully-diabolical laugh, he says “wait until we cant buy eggs any more”… waiting to be proven correct. Wishing upon a negative to be proven positive.

The DEI+A gig is something I dont really get. RB is an educated expert on the topic, as he says “Ive been doing this since the 80s”. Gives me his credentials to add weight to his words. He explained what DIE+A is… and I’m none the smarter.

AM I being obtuse? Perhaps.

With Trump cancelling all the DEI+A programmes, RB tells me the US will grind to a halt. (Even tho I still dont understand)

To me I see DEI+A as an added regulation on the workplace. And regulations require bureaucracies and departments and inspectors and rules and laws… its more than just a good idea to hire the needy kinda good idea… I think, I’m still not sure.

I did some research and and still confused…. allow me to drop some of the sage words I found on line…

“Diversity in the workplace is not a hiring manager handing an open position to someone because they are a member of a marginalized group. It’s about expanding the representation of who works in every industry, yes, but it’s also about creating goods and services with the elevated potential to be effective.”

Help me here… what does this mean “but it’s also about creating goods and services with the elevated potential to be effective.”

“Elevated Potential to be Effective”… hmmm, hmmm…

And… When I ask my online intelligence what specifically DEI+A is I get the results of a survey: “Of those surveyed, 56% percent say the term means “to be informed, educated on and aware of social injustices.” That includes not only three-fourths of Democrats but also more than a third of Republicans. Overall, 39% say the word reflects what has become the GOP political definition, “to be overly politically correct and police others’ words.” 56% of Republicans agreed with this view. The term will likely continue to be a point of contention.”

So we dont know what it means, we have no real definition, but we take a survey and attempt an explanation by poll… ???? And, of course the term will be a point of contention because we dont agree on what the word means.

And so, we argue and throw rocks discussing its meaning, effect, use, misuse…

DAMN, I say… lets talk about basketball…

My week in pictures…

Sunday morn here. Ive been working too hard, getting heaps done, so I’m buggered this morning. Been a long couple weeks of work. Have gotten a lot done and need to get a lot more done… rain and great growing weather and selling one house and deciding to build a duplex on another lot I own… Too busy for an old fart. I dont get a lot of days off.

Ive been too busy to be 100% uptodate with the US news but, what I see and hear is interesting, even inspiring… I get the vibe that the USofA aint a one legged invalid any more…

So, dissecting week one of Trump-Time….

Damn this guy is busy. For a dude almost 80, he sure moves a lot.

Inside reports tell us: the 20th DJT was inaugurated, partied, had fun and then worked 30 hours straight. 

This dude do get shit done!

I am not going to trade broadsides over pardons or such. The positives of the past week surely outweigh the politics of the past.

This dude do get shit done!

The foolishness of the modern gender BS has cost too much $$and way too much time. It is not important to the mainstream population. Traans, LBQTSHIT represents less than 1% of the population. It’s good to see it begin to be de-regulated. 

I like the JFK, et al gig. Will be interesting to see if anything of substance is revealed. 

DJT has done no less than 3 major site visits… NC, Cali, Vegas. 

All in a week.

And in Cali he wasn’t a big bully as I half expected. He appeared to be reasonable and intelligent. Something the Newsome circus cant pull off.

Trump is very well informed, prepared. He wasn’t pugilistic, but rather a firm, mature, male figure of support. 

Cali is an interesting wake-up-call… We can now see, smell and taste what a too far left agenda gives us… Science of forest management, like social science and biology… all ignored, stupidly flawed, changed, modified for the common “good”, if not designed to be intentionally destructive. 

I’m impressed thus far.

One interesting thing I see happening, and its not as it usually happens… big wigs from top industries are hopping on the Trump-Train, not because of the graft and influence and corruption that normally brings the vultures to carrion, but because its the right thing to do… I think of past appointees and and senior secretaries… they got where they were because of what they were or did, or knew, not because of their ability. 

Meritocracy… a good thing.

I do think, see, feel that the DJT era will be good for the chaotic world we share…

One week of DJT and we see and hear recalcitrant state actors stepping into line. 

The US Ship of State has been rudderless for too long. I won’t go into a big diatribe of how sad and spoiled and soiled the Biden Admin has been. The World is now, once again, starting to look up to the US, not look down of it for being so sadly screwed up.

Putin is willing to talk, Xi is willing to play nice, Canada is for sale, Iceland has a “take me home sign” posted in the front lawn, Australia is noticeably shifting right, Mexico is building camps to welcome back their people… and more… I heard Taiwan’s big sigh of relief. And, hostages being released.

This dude do get shit done!

The one thing I find sad, even regrettable… 

When the time comes for this to all be a mini-series on TV, how will they find folks to play the roles of Tom Homan, Musk, Ramaswami and others… they are almost caricatures of what they are suppose to be… the tuff cop, the dyslexic genius, the billionaire dude with a nice smile… 

So far I like what I see and hear.

My week in pictures…

Too busy to take pictures…

more later

big smiles

They are back… the cage fighters are back. After a long Cmas break. Blood Sport Sundays are back and happening. Yippeeeee…

Today is a cool, clear, mild morning.

Last night we had big rains and high winds. 50mm/2inch of rainfall in a couple hours.

The rain has cleared the air. It’s a very pleasant morning. I sit with my blanket and coffee. Blood sports start in an hour or so.

It’s been a while since I blogged. Have been busy using the days of dry to catch up on mowing.

The valley looks very nice.

A morning’s worth of writing and ruminating is guuud.

Whatz the Newz, Whats the Bluez???

DJT will be sworn in soon.

Hamas is soon to return the Oct 2023 hostages (dead and maybe alive) as per a “cease fire” deal.

CALifornia is still burning, still hurting, still led by DEI incompetents.

Congress is saying they will withhold funds until CA pulls its head out of its arse and fill the reservoirs, and turn the power on and tend to its fire risks.

DEI is being jettisoned by the Corps and COs that joined the rainbow gang-bang to nowhere.

The Green Deal that aint green is being tossed out as fast as Hunter’s paintings.

The Biden Crime Family is on its way out. Damn, what would another 4yrears of this kleptocracy given us?

The Liberal left that danced around the Biden mob for so long, are all foolishly silent.

The likes of many Loony Left Liberal drum beaters (FaceBook is one) are coming out and saying how good it is to have the Biden Admin off their back. I call them Cowards.

The Loud Loony Liberal portion of the DNC (I think of the squad) are either staying quiet or are making fools of themselves, again and again.

The RNC, for the first time in a long time, appears to be united.

Both the DNC and the RNC have morphed, are unrecognisable from their old selves.

The Liberal Left Lying Media are all changing the tune, many once upon a time important voices (Don Lemon) are sinking into obscurity without dignity.

I saw something about what was referred to as “The Palestinian Mandela”… https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/15/hold_hopes-diminish-that-pivotal-palestinian-leader-may-be-released

I must admit I dont get it… Invade a country, kill a few thousand citizens, take a few hundred hostages, hold them for over a year, killing many, selling others into slavery, then stand up and proclaim your victimhood, your sainthood (noting Mandela was a global saint in his later years) … Hmmmm, Hmmmm… Nope, dont buy it at all.

AntiSemitism is alive in well in Australia, and the Albanese Administration does little, nothing. But then “Albo” does little or nothing, all the time.

A Federal Election is due here in Aus this year. We need the pendulum to swing.

My recent days in pictures…

I took my super cool, super sleek, super fast 10cyl/ 600hp super car into town for coffee last week. A teenaged kid came up and told me how cool the car was. I said “Get In”… I took him for a good burn then drop him back to his family with stars in his eyes. He shall be forever changed.

And the beat goes on.

More later

Big smiles

In my youthful life I considered the WestCoast to be a “hot” place. A “cool” place. A “happening” place.

Los Angeles, for me and mine, has been a place of transit. LA was always the revolving door to and from the US. LAX is (in my mind) the most difficult airport. In and out of LAX was something I’d psych myself up for. One needed to go into training, mentally and physically, to “take-on” LAX.

I was 23 when I first met LA, LAX, Cali. I last visited in 2018, when I moved out of the Pasadena apartment we’d had for many years.

Over the 40+ years I’ve been stomping around LA/ So-Cal I’ve developed a mixed emotion for the place. A love/ hate relationship.

Of course there is sooooo much gooood about Cali. Sun and Sea and California-Weed. What’s not to like.

Between the age of 23 and 67 a lot changes.

In the youthful years I was prone to quick, shallow, ungrounded thoughts and opinions. The dope was great. The place was the fun. The excitement, the night life, the gorgeous girls, the snazzy cars, the glamorous lifestyles, all dazzled and blinded me. And I was high a lot.

There was soooo much fun and entertainment to be had between LA and SanFran. Sooo much fun.

When I decided to set up a base camp in Pasadena, I was looking to experience and enjoy what was on offer. Both in Pasadena and LA and SoCal, and more. I used the place as a transit pad for many long motorcycle adventures across the USofA.

And, importantly… Pasadena offers the worlds best New Years Eve party… it’s called the Rose Bowl Parade.

Our apartment was 2 blocks off Colorado Blvd. The city blocked off the streets around our apartment to stage and set up the parade. All night long, every NY’s eve, the Parade that kicks off early the morning of the 1st, and travels some 5 miles, lines up, prepares to march, on the streets around our apartment. It was and probably still is a great street-party… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Parade

Much now is gone, destroyed. Razed as only an intense fire can do.

The map does not really give us the scale of it all. It’s 50 miles from Pasadena to Palisades.

The LA area is known for natural disasters… earthquakes, mudslides, fires… nothing new here.

Not good. Not good at all. Poor, poor LA Country. It’ll be a long time before this will be managed, cleaned up, sorted out…

Sadly, almost criminally, it is the general, overall ineptitude and absence of Leadership we are seeing take place, that is mostly to blame. To blame for what has taken place and what is happening on the ground.

I think of the years of “follow the science” BS we’ve been fed by our liberal leaders. In SoCal the science of forest management and disaster preparedness has been rewritten by illiterates.

Sad, sad state of affairs for my old friend, California.

Pictures from our last Rose Bowl Parade…

More later

A glorious, sunny, cool, sound filled morning here. It got very cool last night. It’s 830am and Im still wrapped in a blanket. Very nice.

I have been looking to buy new batteries for my cordless tools… or I need to buy new tools. Both are costly.

I am loath to retire (throw away) the older tools. They still work. I haven’t killed them yet. But my batteries are failing. Im not sure how old these tools are. In the past 8 years (since I bought this farm) I have purchased two “kits”. Kits normally give you a selection of cordless tools with batteries and charging station. Here’s the 2 kits I have:

Plus, Ive bought stand alone tools with battery, and a few “skins”… tools without batteries. Ive got two charging stations, one in my garage and one in my workshop. Right now I’d say I have 8 batteries on charge. Its a rare day I dont use a cordless tool… And my batteries are failing.

I keep a drill/ driver around all the time. I use the impact driver a lot. The reciprocating “saws-all” unit is always in use. The cordless grinder busy, busy. The skil-saw is used less. The hammer drill used even less. I have a mini compressor/ tire gauge that gets a lot of use. There are other tools… the leaf blower, a decent work-light. Others… I tend to manage my batteries well. I know batteries have a memory and if we dont manage that memory well we can lose the battery pretty quickly.

All rechargeable batteries have a finite lifespan and will slowly lose storage capacity as they age due to secondary chemical reactions within the battery whether it is used or not. Some cells may fail sooner than others, but the effect is to reduce the voltage of the battery. Lithium-based batteries have one of the longest idle lives of any construction. Unfortunately the number of operational cycles is still quite low at approximately 400–1200 complete charge/discharge cycles. The lifetime of lithium batteries decreases at higher temperature and states of charge(SoC), whether used or not; maximum life of lithium cells when not in use(storage) is achieved by refrigerating (without freezing) charged to 30%–50% SoC. To prevent overdischarge, battery should be brought back to room temperature and recharged to 50% SoC once every six months or once per year.

Replacement batteries are very costly:

The batteries alone represent one-third of the cost of the kits I noted.

My tools are worthless without the batteries.

We know the batteries are “disposable”. And, very luckily, these tools offer replaceable batteries. I note some items (like my cordless vac, and other things) dont offer an easily changed battery. They appear to be completely disposable.

I note well that there is little or no market for used cordless tools. Pawn shops are about the only place one can trade-in used battery operated tools.

Which leads me to ponder the future of Electric/ rechargeable vehicles.

I had not really looked at it all from this point of view, but…

Are EVs disposable automobiles?

Time to get some work done.

more later

Smiles

Golly, woke this morn to a lot of bad-newz, big bluez…

Another vehicle vs pedestrian rampage has taken place in New Orleans. Numerous dead. Evidence shows this was suppose to be a bigger “Terror Attack”. More deaths were planned. Hard to say but, might have gotten lucky, a bit.

And: A vehicle-bomb was detonated in front of the Trump Tower in Vegas. I say vehicle-bomb and not car-bomb because the vehicle was a Tesla CyberTruck.

Terrorism is not new, is not a modern concept. Fomenting fear, instability, societal unease and confusion is the aim of terrorism.

Blocking The Harbour Bridge, in the name of Climate Awareness, is terrorism. The raging and looting and burnings we have seen in US cities is terrorism.

Some terrorists are ideologues. Some are just confused and misled. Some are down right evil.

I have an old friend that had her life changed by an act or terrorism.

In December 2017… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_2017_Melbourne_car_attack….
According to witnesses and police, the driver, Saeed Noori, an Australian citizen of Afghan descent who had arrived in Australia as a refugee, deliberately ran a red light then accelerated into an area with a speed limit of 40 kilometres per hour (25 mph), where he ran into the pedestrians. His car then hit a bollard beside a tram stop. The nineteen injured included nine foreign nationals: three from South Korea, and one each from China, Italy, India, Venezuela, Ireland, and New Zealand. An off-duty officer of the Victorian Police was credited with quickly subduing the suspect, who was wrestled to the ground, handcuffed, and arrested.

My friend is disabled these days, unable to adequately function, physically, emotionally, mentally.

The Terrorist in the Melbourne case was probably more confused, more ill, more delusional, than ideologically committed, to anything. Mental illness is real and very prevalent on our streets. But a seed of disquietude can go along way to pushing a mentally ill being over the edge. Being radicalised is basically the act of taking a confused, ill, sad individual and convincing them its OK to commit evil acts… in the name of God, Allah, Glowball Warming, Trans-rights…

We know little about what is what in both N.O. and Vegas.

Initially we see connections between the two incidents.

For some reason I cannot fathom – The current administration is loathe to state that these are/ were acts of terror. I hear them make excuses. The long standing policy to leave Islam alone (as much as possible) has leaders (National, State and Local) looking foolish. An ISIS flag in N.O. should kinda be enough to tentatively assume that, yes, this is an act of Islamic Terror.

What if… WHAT IF… the flag in the truck was a Johnny Rebel flag?

I dig the fact that the Tesla truck muffled the explosion in Vegas, made a big show but little blow. Even the glass doors at the Hotel did not blow out…

2025… Off to a good start.

More later

Yippeeee… I am smiling… one of the reasons I write/ blog is so I can come up with great titles.

1 of 1 is a good’un.

Wednesday morning here. It is a gentle day. Overcast, cool, muted sunshine through a cloudy sky, a brief breeze rustles the leaves on the olive tree outside my window.

My 2024 went out on a bit of a high… I made unexpected progress on my Medical Cannabis Grow Facility… dont look like much, I know…

I said it dont look like much… but… we’re looking at the site where we will build a large facility. This project, the work on this site has been delayed, deferred, forgotten for months and months… due to rain.

In October we had a window where the initial earthworks on the site got started. But the rains returned and we did not complete the job. This past week things dried out enough to deliver and layout 22 loads of recycled road base. Once the road base is complete the site will be weatherproof. Rain or shine we will be able to get onto the site.

As you can see, only about half way, but we’ve broken the back and will be able to finish the site-prep soon. Progress, even belated, is positive.

New Years Eve for me, here on the farm, was fun filled…

And the beat goes on…

Smiles all around and all the best in the New Year… 2025 has got to be better than 2024…

More later