Occupation of Independence

  Occasionally you can see videos made from Go-Pro cameras attached to the heads of animals.  A coyote would be a good animal to choose for this kind of reality TV show.  What a life those animals barely manage to live! Here in the Yuma area, not to0 many coyotes are heard or seen.  That is not a great endorsement of a geographical area.  But this year I see several wild burros per day.  They would also be a great choice for mounting a Go-Pro camera on their heads.  How do they make a living around here?  Water is not a problem, with the Colorado River and irrigation canals nearby.  But there is no vegetation around here -- not even cholla.  Those burros must be sneaking off in the middle of the night to raid lettuce fields! Cute animals, these burros.  But I worry about how my little dog would behave around them if she were off-leash.  They can kick pretty good and their hooves are sharp. There is an gravel pit next to my campsite that appears somewhat contained, so I let my little

Gonzalo Lira died recently in a Ukrainian prison, due to health problems.  He was a You Tuber who lived in Ukraine, where he had a couple children.  He had been reckless enough to criticize the Zelensky and Biden regimes.     I used to watch his channel on You Tube.  When the sad news came out yesterday, it really affected me.  Of all the deaths in the Ukraine, this was the one that really hit me.   Strange isn't it?  Recall Stalin's words:  One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic. From Helsinki Times

  Every year, during the depths of a Arizona winter, I put in some time in Yuma.  It is the only time of year that I can stand the place.  But I have learned to laugh at my own maladjustment here.  And there are things that help, such as shopping first thing in the morning, when traffic is tolerable.  Afternoon traffic is awful. I was in the Walmart getting some new tires, the first day.  It seemed like I was the only adult male who wore long pants.  But I was on my best behavior: not once did I roll my eyes at those goofy Canadian snowbirds, walking around in their shorts, and displaying their ugly legs in public.   The mere act of shopping is semi-comical.  I blast through the store, pushing my cart at reckless speeds, and nearly having a couple crashes.  The sooner the shopping is ended, the better!  For one thing, I need to escape the music. Then I stopped and stared quizzically at big blocks of cheese: why do they have 'mild cheddar' and 'medium cheddar?'  People

Sometimes it is hard to keep up to date.  In a small Arizona town recently I saw a political message in somebody's yard/fence.  It was an Israeli flag, with the message "Support Israel."  I have seen such political billboards before in the rural West, and usually just roll my eyes at them.  Presumably they are put up by a Rapture-crazed, Evangelical Christian who is under the influence of some frothing-at-the-mouth radio preacher. But this flag surprised me: it also included a Rainbow flag.  In other words, this was a statement made by a mainstream Democrat.  And I still think of Democrats as the party of George McGovern and anti-Vietnam War protestors.  My goodness, am I out-of-date!