Bush's Detention Facilities.

You think this is for illegal aliens?

These are concentration camps for any large unruly groups to be herded and detained, and the recent Presidential directives put in place all the authority necessary for a dictatorship to be declared in any "emergency".

I used to think the lefties were wack for talking about this stuff.

Not anymore.

Labels: conspiracies, politics, statism, watching the skies

from here.

Labels: felicity and jocularity

Senator Jeff Sessions breaks it down here.

Update: Ok lefties, you still really want to impeach this president? Have at it. I'm not standing in your way.

Labels: politics

I really wish I felt more enthusiastic about the progress pics lately, but what can you say about a trench in the ground, especially as it took three of my four extended weekend days to finish the thing?

And my smugness of a couple weeks ago has worn thin due to the sheer volume of soil to move, and the appearance of a layer of cobbles in the bottom 3 to 6 inches of the electrical trench. They don't move out like nice cohesive pats of butter. Oh no sir! They need to be pried and wrestled and wedged, and you need to get down in the trench deep and wrap your hands and arms around some of them and haul them up, pressed to your chest and covered in mud, and fling them hence.

And that gets old after a couple hundred feet.

My hands ache and tingle. The tension in my palms from three days of beating upon rocks is excruciating, and to top it off I fell on Monday and smacked my palm hard enough to leave a bruise.

Yup. Crazy Cat.

But I will try:



Two trenches diverged in a green wood,
And sorry I could not slog through both
And be one digger, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was muddy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the digging there
Had dug them really about the same,

And both that afternoon equally lay
In clods no step had trodden flat.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two trenches diverged in a wood, and I—
I dug the one less slogged by,
And that has made all the difference.

Ok, I will not leave you with just that. I do have a bit more.

Because the trenches cross the driveway I constructed these temporary bridges to get in and out of the lot. I put up the posts and caution tape, and then propmtly knocked one over trying to back Doozey out across them.


Finally Monday I was able to get back to constructing the utility systems that go in these trenches. I realize now that I didn't get pics of some of the plumbing work, but I was proud of my tape-wrap job on this RGC electric riser:


Backing up to Thursday evening, I was on the ramada roof like I often am at dusk. I heard a sharp rustle on the tarp below me. I peered over the edge to see what creature had made the sound.

It was dark by now, so what I saw was shrouded in deep shadows, but what I saw looked like something the size of a large guinea pig or small marmot. It shuffled slowly next to the tarp, and then suddenly leaped away in the direction of the light coming from the trailer below.

When it leaped I realized it couldn't be a mammal, as it's spindly legs were hairless. It looked vaguely reptilian, but it had no tail like I would have expected of a large lizard. And it was huge!

Startled now, I shifted position to see the area it had disappeared to. I stared long and hard at the shadows where it should have been. After a time I began to believe that it must have scuttled off and was no longer anywhere nearby.

Then after staring much longer at the shadows than was reasonable, given my surmises, one of the shadows began to move again. And then leaped again toward the light!

"H-HU-h. H-h_h-YOOGE Toad!!"

Gargantuan! The size of both my fists put together! A giant amphibian sat in the beam of light below the trailer window, balefully watching the circling moths with marble-sized eyeballs perched on his head!

I was flabbergasted. I'd never seen an amphibian this big.

After a time he shuffled off into the grass and out of my sight.

A couple nights later, his smaller cousin showed up and I got his photo. This little guy is no more than 2/3 the size of the one I saw Thursday night. As a scale, the angle-iron posts you see are 1" on a side, and the pipe in the trench is nominal 2" PVC. So he's at least six inches long:


After describing what I saw, Momcat thought it might be a bullfrog. But I am now convinced it is actually a Sonoran Desert Toad.

Who would ever expect such amphibians in the desert?

Not I.

But then this is a special place, this riparian habitat.

Momcat's vetch patch has gotten up to about five feet tall, and has become quite the butterfly magnet:

Labels: San Pedro homestead

Yes, you probably suspected correctly. I've been out beating on rocks with a shovel for the last four days straight.

I have pics to share, but right now I'm "bicycle" and going "Tibet".

Labels: San Pedro homestead

Never heard of him.

But sometimes I rue my cultural illiteracy:



There are days.

Yes, there are.

Dems set war bill without Iraq timeline - Yahoo! News:

"WASHINGTON - In grudging concessions to President Bush, Democrats intend to draft an Iraq war-funding bill without a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops and shorn of billions of dollars in spending on domestic programs, officials said Monday."

Bahahaha!


Update: From here. Only part way to the fulfillment of that prediction, but right on track so far.

Oh, and also this taunt is worth repeating.

Labels: politics

According to the Mayans, the world will end on December 21, 2012. Here is a site that explores a singular astronomic event that will occur on that date, and which may explain why the Mayans chose this date as the end of their "Long Count": Why 2012?

Labels: watching the skies

Guess who's back?!

Rachel Lucas!

Labels: blogospheric navel-gazing

Doozey has been in the shop, and today my mechanic says he still didn't get the part back from the specialty shop.

So I'm Doozeyless.

However I can't let the project slide just because I'll be inconvenienced. So I'm off this evening on the scooter, back Sunday. No I'm not entirely without accommodations and conveniences. I have my old camper van parked out there. I have the travel trailer (converted to workshop) that has a functioning refrigerator.

And trench to dig.

Labels: San Pedro homestead

Back when I wrote about canning butter, I included a link to the recipe on this site: Manna Meals

However in my "search for canned butter recipe" induced tunnel vision, I overlooked several other great recipes here for long term storage foods.

Xanga Anna pointed out the recipe for canning soft cheese, which will be perfect as a good dairy protein source.

On another note, this post is hugely interesting to me as a watcher of the skies. I need to mark it, note it, for future reference, see how it lines up with other scriptural clues. This is better than the DaVinci Code! I think we're getting awfully close to unlocking this code--that is, the keys to interpreting these times as laid out in scripture.

Labels: preparedness, resources, watching the skies

The scent of tree-ripened mangoes!

I had one more of the previous batch, which have been ripening on my counter, this afternoon for a snack. And I thought again how marvelous they are.

But another box came to my doorstep this evening, and inside were at least two mangoes with fully yellow skins and the fragrance of something that fell out of the Garden of Eden. Indescribably alluring! And that's just the scent.

We're going out for a bite to eat, but dessert will be waiting here for us.

Argument ends with gunshots

Methinks this is a story k might like...

"The argument turned violent and the man was shot," Hopffer said. "He suffered life-threatening injuries and was airlifted to a local hospital."
The woman was at the scene when police arrived, Hopffer said. He would not say if she shot her boyfriend but did say no arrests had been made Tuesday night and that investigation is ongoing.

"No arrests have been made..." means they're treating it as a justified shooting.

Bottom line to keep in mind however: If the police are called on a domestic violence complaint, they will confiscate *all* guns in the household and keep them, whoever they belong to.

Best to keep your powder dry...

Labels: firearms, security

Meeting place: Jacobs Park YMCA multi-purpose room, Fairview Avenue between Miracle Mile and Prince Road. The YMCA is at the south side of the park on Lind St.

Meeting time: 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM TODAY!

This is our one and only public opportunity to voice our concerns about this proposed new freeway. If you can't make the meeting, there is also a questionnaire that you can fill out at the site linked below, but real, in person people put the heat on the planners in a way that surveys never are able to.

More information here including .pdf files of the maps/routes that I reference below. Specifically, here is Sheet 8 of the presentation boards, that includes the proposed route segments.


Here is a copy of the survey and my responses:

1. "Do you see any problems or issues about current and future traffic operations on I-10?"

Well there's an open-ended question for you. See my answers below, but my general approach is that the solutions need to be closely linked to the problem areas. Specifically a solution for the Tucson bypass issue needs to be located in Pima County, not passed off to adjacent rural counties.

2. "This study is to assess the preliminary need for and feasibility of a new roadway that would offer an alternative route to I-10 to help relieve traffic congestion in Phoenix and Tucson. Do you have an opinion about the need or feasibility of such a route?"

I would prefer to see improvements and upgrades to I-10. 1) Intercity traffic is going to continue to increase as well as interstate through traffic. A widened I-10 corridor will serve this need as well as the needs of interstate traffic. 2) Routing traffic through rural and wild areas of the state is only going to increase development pressure in those areas, specifically the lower San Pedro River valley. Keeping traffic to existing corridors will reduce the pressure for more sprawl into rural, wilderness and ecologically valuable and/or pristine areas--all promises to limit access notwithstanding. It should not be the state's job to be serving the needs of large land developers.


3. "If a new route were to be pursued, would you have any suggestions as to locations of possible corridors that may have the most potential?"

1) Every major city has loop routes around the city to help divert through traffic as well as serving the needs of local residents. There is only one proposed Tucson-area route that meets both purposes, and that is route "H" on your public meeting maps--the route that runs south of San Xavier reservation and north through Avra Valley. The Tucson area needs more freeways to properly serve our population, and a freeway loop through Avra Valley would help remove one of the biggest obstacles to the development that is already happening there, and that is poor access to Avra Valley.

2) The route must stay out of ecologically valuable areas such as the lower San Pedro River valley. This valley contains one of the last living riparian areas in the state, and one of the reasons for this is a lack of high capacity roads. Fifty miles of dirt road has served to limit development to those hardy souls that are willing to make the trek to live away from cities and freeways and pollution. And the beneficiaries have been the countless dozens of species that utilize the open spaces for habitat. *Any* road improvements will degrade this situation. *Any* promises to limit access off the freeway in this valley is going to be met with extreme skepticism. *Any* freeway is going to degrade the habitat, degrade the water and air purity, and degrade countless intangible factors that make this valley a retreat, and a wildlife refuge.

4. "If a new route were to be pursued, would you have any suggestions as to locations of possible corridors that may have the most potential?"

The southerly route around Tucson is the only route that makes sense from an economic and environmental standpoint. It serves the purpose of diverting through traffic around Tucson without creating a demand for new development in remote areas. It also serves the needs of Pima County residents who need alternative routes around downtown traffic issues. None of the other proposed routes do this. Is it really your mission to create demand for real estate in areas that are not currently seeing development pressures? Or to meet the demands of areas that are already experiencing growth? The routes through the San Pedro valley are only going to increase development pressure in that direction. The route around Tucson to the south will serve existing needs without promoting sprawl toward currently undeveloped areas.

5. "Conversely, what locations or features do you think should definitely be avoided?"

Please just delete routes "K" and "D" from your study. They are non-starters for the reasons I've noted above. I don't care so much about routes "E" or "L", but they have many of the same concerns as blasting a freeway through the San Pedro Valley would have. The problem is caused by Tucson, Pima County and Phoenix. The solutions should be made in Pima County and Maricopa County. The residents and wildlife of Cochise and Pinal Counties should not be made to pay for the stubbornness and lack of long-term vision of these urban counties. But if Safford and the San Carlos Apaches want freeway access, I'd be all for giving it to them, far sooner than I will sit still for the abomination through the San Pedro that you're proposing.

6. "Besides a potential new roadway, do you have any ideas to address transportation issues in the I-10 corridor? (for example, some ideas that have been expressed include improved urban bus system, light rail transit, metropolitan commuter rail, intercity high-speed rail, improved freight rail service, airports, etc.)"

This study doesn't really appear to address the problem of increased Phoenix to Tucson traffic that must be addressed either by a widened intercity corridor or alternative modalities. In fact as I noted above, I feel that many of the routes that fail to improve the capacity of the existing corridor will dangerously divert funds for needed upgrades to this route. My preference? Build corridor segments "H" and "G", then upgrade I-10 from Marana to Phoenix to 6 or 8 lanes. Leave room for 10 or 12 lanes if necessary. Why spread traffic and pollution all over the state if it's not necessary?

7. "Do you have specific information on planned developments or environmentally sensitive areas that we should take into account in this study process? Or, can you suggest who we might talk with about this?"

Not personally. I'm sure you know what a pandora's box you're opening by trying to blast through San Pedro valley.

8. "Do you know of any local studies or data sources that we should obtain for this study?"

no

9. "Can you suggest other people, groups or organizations that should be contacted about this study or added to the pubic notification list?"

A "pubic" notification list? I'm sure you've had that gaffe pointed out about a thousand times already.

10. "Arizona has been one of if not the fastest growing states in the nation for the past two decades. Do you believe that the rate of growth over the next few decades will reduce, stay the same or increase?"

I do not believe it can be sustained. I am a water systems engineer, and I am acutely aware that water is the real limiting factor to growth in this state. Your projected 2050 population looks rather unlikely to me unless the state presumes that it will be able to severely limit water consumption somehow. The efforts of my organization to limit water usage through progressive rate structures has been less than successful. Do you propose draconian measures to spread out the limited water resources to such a huge population? Will people be limited to a couple gallons of potable water per day for drinking, cooking and tooth brushing? Seriously. Do you people look realistically at the long term issues or are you driven mostly by the wet dreams of the real estate developers?

11. "The traffic volumes in Arizona have increased even faster than population. Do you believe this will continue?"

No. See 10 above. Also the increasing cost of gasoline is likely to put a long-term damper on unnecessary driving.

12. "Do you have any other comments, suggestions or thoughts that would help ADOT in carrying out this study?"

It should not be ADOT's job to provide freeway access for owners of large tracts of remote land for development purposes. Population growth should be concentrated around existing population centers. Freeways through pristine undeveloped areas will raise the hackles of a whole lot of people who see sprawl as the ultimate goal of this project. It is pretty clear that the owners of land from San Manuel to Oracle Junction and westward would greatly benefit from most of the routes included in this study. The losers would be the wildlife between the Catalina and Gailuro Mountains, and those of us who enjoy this unspoiled area for what it is.

I am not a zero-growth envirowacko nutcase. I'm actually quite conservative and pro-growth. But I'm also a conservationist. When you've gotten on the wrong side of me, you have to realize you're barking up the wrong tree.


Take The Survey

Update: Well that was invigorating. I never got a chance to voice my two bits, but every one of those who did get a chance voiced my opinions and perspectives very well *for* me. I am much encouraged to see the passion that others have in opposition to the San Pedro route. I am also chagrined to find as allies, some of the sorts of people and groups that I usually rail against. But in this case, they're dead right and I welcome any weight they can lend to the fight.

Labels: San Pedro homestead

When I can: AMMOMAN.COM

All this fun has a price.

Labels: firearms, resources

Brought to you by the word "COVER!" and the number 180.

But first a word from our other sponsor: "Dropped Mags"

Cruel cruel Cowboy Blob, letting the Cat fumble about for his lost mag...
But that's okay, 'cause his day wasn't dropped mag free either. :)

Stage 2 excerpt: "Cover!"


Stage 3 excerpt: "Cover!"


Stage 4 excerpt: OOpsie daizy! Almost broke 180. Yikes! I've got a new sling coming to fix the problem. It's a little hard to see on this video, but watch right at the end of this segment where I flip the sling off of where it is caught on the edge of the table...

...cri-inge!

Stage 5 in it's entirety--The Infamous Baghdad Cafe. When I wasn't out of cover, I was dangerously approaching breaking 180 again here. Notice at the corner I had to jump back when I realized I had a cover issue. And you can't see it, but when I reload behind the hay bales I was pushing 180. When I reload, I flip my gun 90 degrees in my palm to access the magazine. When I am facing straight down range this does not present any problems, as it leaves the muzzle pointed about 45 degrees to the left. But you notice that behind the hay bales I am already facing almost 45 degrees to the left, and that *did* almost become a problem.

Anyway, how about the terrorist *under* the table? Or the two terrorists jumping around like monkeys on crack? And I thought The Star presented a challenge last time... I had a miss on one of them. Surprised?

Finally Stage 1, Close Quarters Combat, in its entirety. I did well on this stage, other than a brief fumble of my plan near the start. What caused that fumble was the distinct feeling that I would not be not behind cover when taking out the set of bad guys behind the first wall. And I wasn't. But that was apparently something of a design flaw in the stage. After getting my head screwed on straight again, I ran it as it was intended per Scott, despite feeling exposed for a moment there.

I do very much enjoy these types of stages though.

Next update will be Daisycat's stages. It is very late now, as I had to crash hard after coming home due to a screaming she-demon of a migrane that was rapidly coming up on me after the end of the match. I felt bad bailing on Scott with two stages to tear down yet. I was at the end of my heat tolerance, but it was the thermonuclear device doing a slow-blow in my brain that made it imperative to scoot.

Thank God for Imitrex. Next time I need to remember to come equipped with one.

In the mean time here is Cowboy Blob. I filmed his stages on his camera so I don't have the footage myself, but he's got them spliced together on his site at that link. Watching that, I'm not surprised his overall score was half mine. Maybe someday I'll shoot that well.

Update: Ok, here's Daisycat's day. Despite the nits I'm picking here, she had a great day, with markedly improved accuracy and speed.

Stage 3
Highlights: Don't forget to take off the safety. "Arrgh!"


Stage 4, Bad Town Cafe. The Premise: You're having dinner in a bad part of town when a couple of thugs grab your dinner companion. Then more burst in the back door, taking the wait staff hostage. Your mission: spare the wait staff so you can get back to your cheeseburger in peace.

Highlights: 1) Don't forget to take off the safety (again)! 2) What happens when you're too short to use cover? 3) Lost track of the last badguy and broke cover looking for 'im. "Did you have a plan?" asks Cowboy Blob.


Stage 5, Teh Infamous Baghdad Cafe. Bad guys have taken over a cafe in downtown Baghdad and your job is to clear the place while sparing the hostages.

Highlights: Cover! (totally blew it standing still in the doorway there...and again from the haybales w. pistol.)


Stage 6 was the long rifle range and the camera batteries died halfway through the shoot. I'd post the whole segment that I did get, but it's a bit like watching the international cross-stitch championships in progress. Still she did markedly better today and didn't quit like last time.
Excerpt highlight: "Hit? Yaay! I can move forward!!"


Stage 2 premise: Your car has a blowout. While changing the tire a van comes up behind you and bumps your car. Bad guys jump out and grab your passenger. You polish them off with your handy-dandy sidearm and a whole lot more badguys jump out of the bushes--some with body armour, some holding hostages/human shields. Ambushed! You run to the trunk to grab your rifle and take them out, sparing the hostages.

Highlights: 1) Don't forget to turn off the safety (yet again). "Arrgh!" 2) RSO as human video shield.


Stage 1, close quarters combat. No real nits to pick here, except maybe a bit of a cover issue taking out the bad guys behind the first and last walls (standing still and exposed too far). Well run stage!


One last bit-o-fun. Cowboy Blob brought his Uzi to shoot after the match, and Desert Cat found it to be way fun to shoot!


Update: Scores are up! While I'm lagging the pack again, at least I can take comfort in only losing to AZPackrat (our club leader) by only a hairsbreadth. As expected, Cowboy Blob is way up near the top of the list.

Update 2: Someone else from another squad has a comprehensive writeup of the day's courses of fire here.

Labels: firearms

..mmmANGOES!

A bit of Florida Sunshine from the Sunshine of Florida.
Thank you most kindly, ma'am! I needed something like this after the week I've been having.

"Better than produce department mangoes?" I ask Daisycat.

"100% more better!"

Heavenly! Intoxicating! I can hardly wait for the rest to ripen. Cookie bear will keep watch over them in the meanwhile.

Well I just learned today that "the rules" take firm precedence over any human aspect at my place of employ. Thanks so much for your understanding.

Labels: misanthropy

Bane posted this for his son, but this bears repeating and distributing.


I don't have anyone over there, but for those of you who've been there, who are there, or are heading over there, thanks. I mean that. I can't really know what it's like, and nothing else I can say is likely to mean much. You've put your life on the line for your country, for me. Thank you. I appreciate it.

The most important thing I feel I can do in return is to vote for the politicians and push for the policies that ensure your efforts are not in vain, and the job you started gets completed.

That, and welcome you home.

That's singular, because the weekend consisted of one thing:

Digging twenty four inches deep x one hundred and fifty feet of trench.

By hand.

Yes, I feel it all the way to my bones.

"Youse CRAYzee, Desert Cat!"

Yes, quite possibly. Or too cheap to hire a trencher. Or too lazy, stubborn or masochistic. Or maybe I figured I needed to do something to try to whip this carcass into some kind of shape to keep up with Daisycat when she hits the trails on Maui next month.

I *told* you I like digging this soil! Once it is dampened with enough water I can cut through it like butter. I can't wait to start gardening in it.

To the observant, you may have noticed this trench runs right through where I usually park Doozey when I camp out here. I had to relocate my camp spot for this work, and it is now up next to Momcat's garden. Which allows me to segue into a few photos thereof.

Because she's mostly busy remodeling the mobile home now, this spring's crop is mostly "green manure"--a cover crop grown expressly for the purpose of adding organic material to build the soil. These beds have a mixture of vetch and wheat (I believe).


She also started a bed of potatoes that are going gangbusters.


Her apple trees are settling in very nicely.


And inside the 'wall-o-water' are tomato plants.

Labels: San Pedro homestead

Marked for future reference
Shipping containers find new life as homes - Nightly News with Brian Williams - MSNBC.com

Labels: resources

Finally! Tonight I try it out for the first time.

In the mean time, now that I am a "powerful, influential member of the alternative media", I want to put a plug in for this company: BillMyInsurance.com

While the process of going through my doctor for a referral, and then to a sleep study clinic for the tests, was long and arduous, my experience with BillMyInsurance.com was a breeze and a pleasure. And I am happy to give them my wholehearted endorsement.

My sleep study clinic was also set up to be my durable medical equipment (DME) provider. But in doing a little online research, I found this online company before I got to the point of actually being outfitted with my CPAP equipment. Which is a good thing, because my DME provider had only *one* very basic machine available. No choice. No ability to upgrade to equpment I would find more suited to my needs.

BillMyInsurance.com has a variety of machines available from several different CPAP machine manufacturers, and if your insurance covers the equipment, the copay is very nominal. I happen to have Blue Cross/Blue Shield and this company is an in-network provider for BCBS! (If you don't have insurance that covers this equipment, they are associated with CPAP.com, which is a site for private pay purchase of CPAP equipmpent.)

But from the first e-mail I sent them, they've been prompt and on-the-ball, professional and courteous. Amazing. You hardly see this anymore. But they want your business and they work hard for it. They took care of all the hassle with getting my doctor to pull together and fax over the necessary paperwork from my sleep study. And a hassle it was, unfortunately. I have a great doctor, but sometimes his staff seem lost and clueless. But Claudia at BillMyInsurance.com took care of all the back and forth until they got it all together.

The machine I ordered is a REMstar Auto M series, together with the heated humidifier and mask gear.


And that's the *other* great thing! My prescription was originally for a plain-vanilla CPAP machine, because I was told that my insurance would not pay for an auto-adjusting CPAP (APAP) machine. Turns out that was only so much malarkey by my original cheap-ass DME provider. Upon request, my doctor wrote it as an APAP prescription and BillMyInsurance.com filled the order accordingly, with my insurance company picking up 90% of the tab.

If you're shopping for a CPAP machine, do yourself a favor and check these people out. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Update: Daisycat had to check on me a couple of times to make sure I was still alive, since I wasn't making the usual buzzsaw and snorting sounds. Me, I dreamed of the wind all night.

Labels: health and lifestyle

The Sanhedrin’s peace initiative

I consider this to be the final piece of the puzzle that needs to be in place for the fulfillment of prophecy. If this ever gets off the ground I will be poised on the balls of my feet, ready to head for the hills.

Labels: watching the skies

...from a truncated weekend.

I worked on my project Saturday, then returned home for the match on Sunday. So I didn't get as much done, but on the other hand I didn't run out of parts this time either.

Finished assembling the frame and installing the roof panels:


and installing the outlets inside the shed:



Because of the extended drought we have been experiencing here in the desert, the mesquites have been shedding branches to survive. So I have a lot of this on the property:


I started turning it into these in some areas:

What I am trying to do is stack as much material as high in a single pile as possible in order to minimize the amount of material in contact with the ground, because ground contact hastens its decomposition. This is good stuff for barbecue, chiminea fires, and cooking fires post teotwawki, and I'd like it to last as long as possible.

Harvester ant column:

Labels: San Pedro homestead

Slashdot | Censoring a Number: "09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0" Pass it on.

Bite me, MPAA.

via Cythen

Update: Number as art

Labels: not-laws, statism