Occupation of Independence

 The ATV'er slowed down and then stopped to talk.  Was he a javelina hunter ?  It turned out that he was a ranch hand at a nearby ranch.  He was taking out big brown blocks of food for the cattle.  I love asking questions about How Things Work and how people make a living.  And how animals make a living. He was quite scientific about the nutrition of these big blocks, but struggled a bit with the verbiage.  Finally I helped by saying, "So you mean that even the ranchers near [redacted] are hippie-dippies ?"  He nodded yes and laughed. Our talk helped me slip into my annual infatuation phase with grasslands and trees in southeastern Arizona .  That might sound strange to some people, but spend a couple months in mid-winter along the lower Colorado River and you will feel a lust for anything that isn't rubble or cholla . Arizona Sycamore Tawny grass and live oaks Planet Earth certainly has some goodies, but the desert isn't one of them. T...

 Do you ever think you are too easily and eternally pleased with something, and that you should try harder to be dissatisfied?  Maybe you just aren't raising the high jump bar high enough? Ahh, but what a fine thing it is to be completely satisfied, time after time, year after year!  When I find a spot in Arizona that isn't choked with chollas, like some places: ... I am satisfied with it -- with no questions asked.  We can put up with cactus spines and goathead thorns with no problem.  But damn those chollas! And here we were, finding another interesting arroyo within walking distance of my camper.  We had never walked this one before.  It was pleasantly cool and was totally unused by the motor-crazed morons.  What a nice surface it was for doggie paws. I unsnapped her because she usually stays confined to the arroyo proper.  And running free is so much fun for her.  Then the coyotes started yipping, close.  She is only 21 pounds, ...

 I stubbornly cling to the notion that it is good for a person to pay attention to what it is happening in the world.  But it is important to give yourself some relief, some soothing thoughts, during all this. For Americans, books and movies about the Battle of Midway can provide soothing thoughts.  On the British side of the pond, it might be even easier.  I downloaded "Mrs. Miniver" from  Archive.org .  In the movie, Brits of all classes were working together.  Nobody had any doubt about the necessity of the war.  Everybody knew who the good guys and the bad guys were. Such a mindset is a bit believable.  People got their news from the BBC , virtually a branch of the British government.  Naturally that does not make for brutal truth-telling.  But that is not our concern in this post -- soothing is. The movie had quite an effect on me.  Everybody was so polite and wore such nice clothes.  The actresses were lovely, ...

 " Independence " is an easy word to praise.  It is not so easy to practice.  Once this winter a friendly camping-neighbor approached me.  We had several good and long conversations.  These days I try to respond positively when somebody else takes the initiative, but I never take the initiative myself.  Call it the 'triumph of experience over hope.' Spending so much time alone makes a person feel a bit unhinged or cranky.  You are free to develop opinions that are out-of-step with the ignorant masses.  Then you wonder if you are getting a little crazy or whether the other people are. For instance I have rolled my eyes at the pickup truck trend of the last 20 years.  Finally I ran into a channel that put out the same sort of rant that I do.  Validated, at last!  It is fun to find worthwhile channels on You Tube and to shout them out.  

 A strong hiker once told me that he disliked walking on the loose gravel of arroyos in the desert.  But dogs love a surface like that -- only a beach could be better.  Every now and then you find an arroyo that has a packed, tight surface.  Sometimes this happens after rains.  But most arroyos are indeed rather loose to walk on.   Somehow I only recently noticed the firmer and higher arroyos that run parallel to the main arroyos.  For fun, let's call them arroyos altos , using fake Spanish.  Apparently arroyos altos see water flow much less frequently than the main arroyo, arroyo bajo .  Therefore the arroyo alto has less rounded, pebble-like gravel.  And it has more dirt and vegetation.  But it isn't as sharp and uncomfortable as the main part of the desert. While enjoying walking on one of these arroyos altos the other day, my dog took after her first jackrabbit of the entire winter!  With all the green vegetation in...

For over 50 years, the specter of 'Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz' has haunted the world.  Is it a realistic fear?  Doesn't Iran need to sell its oil as badly as China needs to get the oil?  Why would Iran want to hurt BRICS countries?  China is providing some assistance to Iran these days, so it is not in Iran's interest to weaken a developing alliance. Of course, closing the Strait shuts off the oil from the Arab states, and not just from Iran.  This would make the Arab countries more hostile to Iran in an era when Iran is trying to become friendlier to Arab states on the Persian Gulf.  Some of the Arab countries have closed their airspace to Israeli-American bombing of Iran.  But was this done out of the goodness of their hearts or perhaps because Iran threatened to close the Strait? How selective could the closing off of the Strait of Hormuz be?  Iran doesn't really have the navy to provide protective convoys to friendly countries. These ar...

Hegseth et al. must be thinking: Can you believe these nambie-pambies and their "stupid rules of engagements?"  Americans seem resistant to Trump's desire to impose IDF ( Israel Defense Forces) methods across America.   If he succeeds, it will be the ultimate triumph for Netanyahu and Israel.  IDF methods won't even be considered news if they become normalized.  The genocide in Gaza will magically disappear: how can it be a genocide if they are just using 'normal' law enforcement methods. After the entire population of Gaza has been exterminated, Congress can pass the " Gaza Freedom and Democracy Reconstruction Act ."  It will offer government-guaranteed 1% loans to build casinos and hotels along the Trump Riviera. I wonder how fast the grass is growing in Greenland ?

 What a great wildflower season there should be this March, in the desert.  Of course, a snowbird may leave before the wildflower season in order to escape the heat.  But the wildflowers can be impressive.  A couple years ago I wallowed in desert poppies at a well-known place near Tucson : The long-suffering reader knows that I am prone to anti-tourist snobbery.  But still, who won't admit that standard tourist-industry memes at well-known locations feels too much like 'consumption' rather than 'experience?'  And does it really do you any good to see 10 million identical specimens of a certain flower or tree? What happened yesterday was at the opposite end of the numerical spectrum.  In perfect -- that is, mildly chilly -- weather, my little dog and I were biking along, on a dirt two-track .  We were climbing.  We were huffing and puffing.  And I wasn't exactly sure it was the correct route.  Then this surprised me: It was the firs...

 When you forget about the usual (visual) orientation of human visitors to the desert, and look at it from the viewpoint of shoes and tires and dog paws, you might appreciate the importance of different types of texture.  Eskimos are supposed to have many different words for snow .  And we have the same need in the desert for all the different forms of texture: round (alluvial) gravel , sharp volcanic rocks , coarse and packed sand in arroyos, powdery dust, hardpacked desert pavement , good or bad traction, and cholla segments . I saw a new form of texture yesterday that I never thought of before, in the desert.  It was a deja vu experience.  Way back when, I ran across the advertisements for some kind of landscaping service, called " Barefoot Lawn ."  What wonderful, nostalgic images that brought to mind!  It makes a person think of running across the lawn when you were a child, on summer vacation. That is what this image brought to mind: My little d...

Several times on this blog, I have quoted Samuel Johnson 's "...as I have gotten older, I have come to call a man a good man on easier terms than before." (not an exact quote.) A corollary is to have humbler expectations of the human condition.  And that approach certainly works with You Tube .  AI rubbish is ruining You Tube.  But what can a person do about it? It has helped me to focus on some of You Tube's successes, such as musical performances .  Although it really makes no sense to make a video of instrumental music or singing, it is still a good and free way to become acquainted with music you didn't know about.  And for opera , a video does make sense. Thanks to a few seconds of opera in a movie I was rewatching, the "noooo more Rice Krispies , they're all gone, the Riiiiice Kriiiiispies!" song was brought to my attention.  You Tube had several versions of the song available.  They are all wonderful.  My favorite  "Vesti la Giubba...

The wild burros -- maybe we should call them feral -- are entertaining me this winter.  The 'grass' is so green and thick, you'd think they would be getting fat.  Maybe it would be worth reading up on the burro lifestyle , but I am usually disappointed when I look something up on Wikipedia . Anyway, I am camped in a new area and the burros are back.  I hear them braying at night.  When do they sleep?  But none have walked up to my screen door to panhandle.

  I got an email from a financial website on Substack, entitled Pivot and Flow (J.L. Bernstein).  At first I was inclined to delete it, but held up for some reason.  Then the story hit me like a punch in the gut. "She Bought a Burrito on an Interest-Free Installment Plan She's 28, sitting in her car in the Chipotle parking lot, her thumb hovering over 'Pay in 4.' It's a $34 order.  Two burritos, chips, a drink.  Her son's inside with her mom.  He's seven and he asked for Chipotle because his friend's family gets Chipotle and he wanted to know what it tastes like. She knows she shouldn't.  But her checking account has $47 until Friday.  Rent took everything.  The light bill ate the rest.  She picked up an extra shift but that won't hit until next week.  She clicks 'Pay in 4.' Here's what we built: a system so elegant that a mother can finance her son's first burrito with no human interaction at all.  No bank teller to look her i...

 There certainly are real news events happening everyday that are worth paying attention to.  But from another point of view, specific events are not strategic.  The over-arching strategy of the Adelson-Trump-Netanyahu regime is to get Americans used to the idea that militarized goons working for Washington DC are entitled to use IDF (Israeli Defense Force) tactics and methods both outside and inside America. Once IDF methods come to be seen as normal law enforcement methods, then the genocide in Gaza will not even be news anymore.  That would be  the Promised Land  for Adelson-Trump-Netanyahu. In the meantime I need to think about something pleasant, like the wettest winter in years, in the Arizona desert: Here is a nice scene in central Utah that has nothing to do with this post:

 When following the news it is natural to become angry or discouraged.  There is nothing wrong in looking for comfort.  Human beings are not infinitely strong.  Once again I ran to the Battle of Midway as a way to keep from spiraling down into despair because of current news.      This is not an endorsement for permanent escapism.  Yes, the Battle of Midway.  You can find books, movies, and documentaries, sometimes for free on You Tube if you use the Brave browser . What would be a good visual representation of what I am saying above?  In Arizona , it would be winter rain and grass carpeting the desert : Or it might be clouds and shadows :

 Should I buy a weedwhacker or lawnmower?  The southwestern desert is filling in with so much green grass-like vegetation!  There is supposed to be a secondary rainy season in the desert southwest, but you don't get it every year. But we are getting it this year.  The wild burros must be fattening up and feeling their animal spirits, if you know what I mean.  The gestation period for a burro is about 12 months, so next winter there should be quite a baby-boom of little burritos. My skin just feels so good with the moister air.  There is a challenge with all this greenery: letting it impress the hell out of you, despite it not being spectacular tourist scenery. It is almost humorous to me to imagine the dissatisfaction that Canadian (and Puget Sound) snowbirds must be feeling right now.  They don't understand what I am ranting about.  They came here to sit in a folding chair, and to wear their shorts and sandals, with the sun hitting their face! (...

 Now that You Tube is flooded with fake (AI) videos, people have to make a decision.  Are they going to waste their lives watching crap produced by a computer algorithm, or will they go back to books, the written word.  Of course the world of books isn't perfect either. I don't know if we can reasonably expect any improvements in the world of books .  But there are possible improvements in how we read.  Do you feel guilty unless you read the lumber from cover to cover?  Do you really benefit from 400 pages of verbiage about a topic, no matter how potentially interesting and important the topic is?  For the most part, reading is an unnatural and tedious way to kill time. But it has advantages. Perhaps reading should imitate what I have recently advertised about walking: that we need to 'unclench the fists' while walking; we need to forget about 'how far? and how fast?'; that we need to frolic like a dog, investigating an arroyo. Thinking along these ...

Aren't you surprised by the alarmism that pervades the media coverage of winter storms ?  I envy the people in the High Sierra ( Donner Pass and Truckee ) for their glorious snowstorms.  Granted, difficulty with driving can create emergencies in some situations.   But there are a lot of false crises, resulting from driving too fast, driving without chains, and poor planning with household supplies.  These result from thinking that mother nature is not supposed to have an effect on human life, and that one day is supposed to be just like all the others. I have watched ten videos from the High Sierra and fluttered my eyelashes through all of them.  Yes, that could be simple hypocrisy.  Arizona in the winter provides great sleeping weather , no insects, hardly any mud, and sunny skies. But there is something ignoble about comfort.  The soul yearns for a rigorous test and challenge, something grander and nobler, such as they are getting in the Hi...

 The news from Britain is hard to believe: the Starmer regime is practicing censorship that seems completely un-British.  Think of how this turns its back on centuries of proud English traditions.  Maybe this is a good thing because it give the modern English a chance to show some of the heroism that their ancestors showed.  Or maybe the greatness shown by a country happens only once, and is never to be seen again. I have read quite a bit of history, but does it really help to judge modern England's chances to recover? A great decision also faces Americans.  Are they content to go the way of declining, bankrupt, overly militarized empires?  Will they reclaim at least some of the Constitution that is currently being flushed down the toilet by Trump?  My guess is that America is unredeemable.  Let's hope Britain at least produces some good news.

 The other day I was trying to make a loop out of a ride in a canyon area.   This caused me to return on a paved highway for a bit longer than I usually do, these days.  In fact, I usually avoid paved roads because there are too many cars driving too fast, with drivers who are too distracted. After returning home, I lapsed into the deep, mid-day trance that always happened during my road cycling years.  It had been so long that I had forgotten about it.  There is nothing in this old world of ours that beats a reverie or daydream after exercise, while hearing or imagining a musical score by John Barry , Bernard Herrmann , or Patrick Doyle .  It seems more restful than sleep itself, and better yet, you are conscious of it while it is happening. How common is this trait?  How would you even know?  It isn't exactly what most people would call an athletic talent, but it might be a talent that actually does more good.  Little is said about th...

 Put yourself in the shoes of an Israel-firster.  How would you go about selling war-crimes and slaughter to the world?  It would really need some creativity and persistence from you.  Perhaps, as with many difficult projects, it would be best to proceed indirectly.  For example, an army might choose to avoid a direct frontal attack on a fortified position by going  around the fortified obstacle. That point of view is useful in considering Trump/ Hegseth 's embarrassing and shameful approach to regime change in Venezuela.  Recall Hegseth's despicable speech condemning "stupid rules of engagement."  He actually let the cat out of the bag: oil, leftist government, and narco-terrorism are just noise and obfuscation.  It is a giant deception. What the Israel-first Trump regime really cares about is getting Americans used to the idea of their own military acting criminally and murderously -- that is, like the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces.)  ...