Occupation of Independence

It has been years since I experienced 90 F temperatures, so I was worried about taking my dog in the van for an appointment, in mid-day. But just driving by a shaded city park and seeing kids adapting to the heat wave, put me in a good frame of mind. More than merely adapting to it -- they were playing with it. While waiting for some routine service on the van, Coffee Girl and I went across the street and enjoyed some shade from the building and an iced coffee, my first of the summer. I turned a dish of water over on her head and rubbed it in. Dog hair can be a great evaporative-cooler-mat! Why don't I dunk her head in water all the time, in summer? It happens so many times: having a dog brings me back to childhood and nostalgia. A heat wave in summer contributes to that mindset.  I wish I understood the "ice" economy in the America of 1900. Something about storing it underground, surrounded by straw? Surely that didn't last all summer. It was a great day -- at le

I have been surprised (and disappointed) by how subservient many people are to the lockdown, face diapers, etc. But the political angle of this has been talked about enough. There is a different perspective that might go a ways to explaining craven obedience. Think back a few decades to when the digital clock became standard on most nightstands. I always disliked them, and wondered why people put up with them. Circa 1970. Then TVs acquired remote controls, with dozens of tiny buttons. Soon VCRs jumped on the bandwagon, and of course had their own remote control, so now you could wrestle with two of the damn things at the same time. On and on it went: a PC (computer) on every office desk, and more and more people did office wussie work for a living, as America became post-industrial and bureaucratic. Then you started doing your taxes on software such as TurboTax. In fact you did everything on the computer. It became strange to ever touch pen and paper. But the reductio ad

There have been times recently when I just stand there, outside my camper, and can't believe it: I am not in pain. I am not suffering the relentless onslaught of hot sun, high winds, blowing dust, thorns and stickers, rattlesnakes, and rodents. My skin is healing. So are my fingernails. Even my eyeballs are recovering. So soothing and green. What would be the perfect music for moments like this? The genre of Celtic/New Age would be a good place to hunt. No doubt, a couple of my (male) commenters will accuse me of going soft in the head if I suggest some of Enya's songs. On a classic TV western episode, the cowboys were gittin' tired at night and ready to turn in. A new kid had showed up recently and joined their crew. The cowboys thought it was hilarious that he had a fiddle. He played Brahm's Lullaby for them. Surprisingly, they settled right into it. That was really "valued added" for the screenwriter to combine two ideas like that. But what about

I am almost in tears. Have I ever asked anything from the reader, before? I am going to ask for something now. No, I don't want you to click on something that will redound to my bank account. Nor do I want you to go to my Patreon page. (I ain't got one.) All I ask for is advice on a decent weather website or app. Is that a humble request or what? Actually it would be vital information. So far "Pocket Rain Gauge" is the best app I know of. It gives one -- and only one --piece of information: the MEASURED RAINFALL ACCUMULATION at my present location over the last 24 hours. It updates the number every hour. Perfect! Except for one thing: it only gives the accumulation at my present location. If I want to know about someplace else -- and a traveler IS interested in several other places -- it just won't cooperate.   The big name weather websites probably give the rainfall accumulation in some obscure place, gotten to by stepping down through the menu to leve