Occupation of Independence

 Given the forecast of more rain, it made sense to hang around in town on paved roads for another day or two.  But I ended up shopping too much, and that is nerve-wracking.  So I headed out to a favorite area in central Utah :    Maybe I would get lucky with the mud.  The sky was fairly bright, actually, so I was optimistic.  But when you see tire ruts in the dirt road ahead, you know you are in trouble. There were hardly any puddles, so the road didn't seem  that wet.  So why was I losing traction and fishtailing on a flat road?    The traction control system lit up the dashboard like a Christmas tree.  It would then shut down the throttle, which is annoying to a driver.  I did better with the damned thing turned off.  I really should have let some air out of the tires.  Trying to get the van tires over the most gravelly part of the road did more good than anything.  What an utterly perverse surface!...

As a reminder, comments are no longer moderated on this blog, so your comments will appear immediately.  We do not mention specific locations.  Once again I want to praise Pacific hurricanes to the sky.  Despite being so far inland, Central Utah felt the most recent one (Rachel) to smack southern California and northern Baja.  I got a reminder of how much care a camper needs to use to stay out of the mud.  It is ironic: when rain finally comes to this gawdforsaken wasteland, I go into a mild panic instead of enjoying it as much as it should be enjoyed. Clothing is important.  Rubberized boots certainly help.  And rainsuits (jacket and pants) with the all-important property of the pants slipping on and off over shoes.  Even something as simple as a baseball hat helps, since it keeps rain off you face and eyeglasses. It happens so rarely that I am 'out of shape' when it comes to the flexibility that rain requires.  A momentary break in the rai...

 I believe it is possible to construct a survivable and stable solution to the mess in the Persian Gulf.  Let's call it the " Greater Persian Gulf Co-Prosperity Sphere ", administered by Iran.  (No facetiousness.)  Iran would charge a hefty transit fee at the Strait of Hormuz , and some of the money would be shifted to Gulf countries that have become friendly to Iran and unfriendly to Washington DC and Israel. What is so bad about global wealth shifting toward energy and resource producers, and away from parasitic consumers? But food will cost more because of high diesel prices , you say.  What is so bad about shifting to more locally-produced food , with its lower transportation cost? When people talk about the cost of energy being a 'tax' or drag on the economy, they act as if your energy usage is absolutely fixed.  Walk into your local grocery store and look at the cars.  They aren't cars, of course, they are monstrous F-150 pickup trucks .  A...

 I am experimenting with NOT moderating comments on this blog.  Let's hope the spammers don't invade.  Last time, it was strange cows.  Now it is horses acting unusual.   Last year it was a weird bighorn ram.  This horse was too friendly.  But that's OK, he and his friends were sure pretty:        Maybe animals have been acting so strange because, in Utah, they have never seen a human being walking or riding a bike.  They have only seen humans in motorized side-by-sides.   Remember the curious ram from last year?