Desert Toad

They're back! The first toad of 2024 came out of hibernation last night by my A/C. It will not be long before I will be blowing poop off my carport onto my neighbor's property <grin>.

Digitize Print Photos

I have a high speed scanner that can digitize large volumes of print photos up to 8x10 inches including the back (if it has any writing on it). This would allow you to edit the photos and share them with friends and family.

The price is $0.20/scan ($10.00 minimum) plus the cost to return your paper photos along with a 16GB SanDisk USB drive containing your digital photos (should be about the same cost as shipping everything to me). Use the "Contact Form" in the left column to exchange information with me.

Scary Stupid

Recently, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee told schoolkids that the moon is a ‘planet’ and ‘made up mostly of gases'. I find it scary that someone that dumb can be elected to Congress. No wonder our country is in trouble.

"No-brainers"

According to her biography, she earned a BA in political science from Yale University in 1972 and a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1975. In 2023 she stated that she is a 'clear recipient' of affirmative action. In my opinion, this is a great example of the dumbing down of America due to the liberal bias of our education system, particularly, our institutions of higher learning.

Biden's Economy

I find it both infuriating and insulting when Biden brags about how well the economy is doing under his administration. Apparently, he has not filled up a vehicle, bought groceries, paid an electric bill or picked up the tab at a restaurant recently.

Who are you going to believe, Joe or your lying eyes

Anti-woke Ad

This is one of the best anti-woke political ads that I have seen...

Rare Sight

Here's something you don't see very often in the desert ...

Jerry mowing my "front yard"

Cougar Shadow

Twice a year the sun hits the Superstition Mountains at an angle that creates a shadow resembling a cougar...

Nature never ceases to amaze me

Saving Democracy

Saturday Ride

I joined Lance, Erik and Jim for a half day ride out back in desert. Here are today's photos...

Click on images to enlarge

The scariest part of the snake encounter was watching it coil up under a bush and never once rattle. Apparently, they do not always warn you of their presence.

Desert Hail

Yesterday, while I was at the grocery store in Gold Canyon, a severe rain and hail storm hit the park...

This is the second time I have been able to avoid hail damage to my new car. I like to think it is due to clean living!

St. Patrick's Day Fashionista

My neighbor, Missy, got all dressed up for St. Patrick's Day and the golf cart races...

It's not easy being on the cutting bleeding edge of fashion

Conservative Momma

I just discovered a hilarious vblog that will make conservatives laugh and progressive liberals meltdown. Here's a great satirical video of what Biden's handlers must deal with...

Home State Parties

As the season winds down and the snowbirds are beginning to leave, a number of park residents held "state parties" this afternoon where they invited everyone from their home state to join them for a get together...

There was no North Carolina party, so I identified as a homeless, illegal immigrant and went around eating everyone else's food and drinking their booze. Think of it as Bidenomics at the local level.

Rattlesnakes

It's that time of the year in southern Arizona when rattlesnakes come out of their dens...

Out back of the park

Entrance to the golf course

Daylight Saving Time

Arizona is one of only two states that does not recognize DST (the other is Hawaii). The reasons given are the extremely hot summers and energy savings. It should be noted that the Navajo Nation in the northeast part of the state does observe DST. I tell people the reason I live in Arizona is not having to change my clocks twice a year. It's part of my energy conservation program! <grin>

Bitcoin

Long time followers of this blog know that I began mining cryptocurrency back when Bitcoin was around $100/coin. Currently, it is at an all time high of approximately $69,000/coin. I now have over $6,000 in cryptocurrency at today's rates (not bad for a passive income).

Back in January, I posted an article on Kryptex mining software which has turned out to be one of the more profitable programs I have tried. One unique feature of the software is the myriad of ways you can redeem your cryptocurrency...

After choosing a $50 Amazon eGift Card, I received an email within 48 hours that allowed me to deposit the credit directly into my Amazon account without any complications. If you would like to try the program and have a high end computer with excellent cooling, here is my referral code: https://www.kryptex.com/?ref=006df462.

Biden/Harris Poster

This could be the most honest political poster of the year...

Update (3/8/2024): I tried to listen to the State of the Union speech, but could not finish it. Biden came across as an angry, old man, who blames the country's problems on everyone but himself.

Freak Accident

Several park residents built a very nice airstrip near the back gate to fly their RC aircraft. Unfortunately, one of the pilots was recently struck in the neck by his own plane and had to be taken to the emergency room. I have since been told that he is back home with stitches but no concussion. It will be interesting to see if the lawyers get involved and they ban flying in the park for liability reasons.

Desert Flowers

The view from my park model this afternoon... .

Not a bad way to start the first of March

Kofa Wildlife Refuge

The Kofa National Wildlife Refuge in western Arizona is huge at 547,719 acres. We started out touring the southern section of the refuge by running the Big Eye and McPherson Pass trails. Both are very scenic, particularly, in the mountain areas. However, the trails are rough and you have to drive fairly long distances to get where you want to go.

If you are ever in the area, I would recommend visiting the Castle Dome Mine Museum to see what an old mining town looked like in its heyday...

Update (2/28/2024): Unfortunately, I woke up this morning feeling nauseous and unable to eat breakfast, so I am going to head home early. Hopefully, it is nothing serious but I do not want to be out in the middle of nowhere if it gets worse.

Update (2/29/2024): I am feeling better and beginning to get my appetite back. A friend suggested I might have had a bit of the stomach flu that apparently is going around.

Road Trip

Ken Darby has joined me for a road trip to explore the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge located on the western side of Arizona between Yuma and Quartzsite. On the way down to Yuma, we stopped at the Dwarf Car Museum south of Maricopa where Ken almost bought a convertible...

Dodged A Bullet

My Polaris RZR developed an intermittent noise while returning from a recent ride. My neighbor, who owned a Polaris dealership, thought I might have a bearing going bad in the transmission, so I took it to the local RideNow for service. The first thing they told me was if they had to replace the transmission, it would be $3,200!

Saturday, I got call from the service manager saying "you are not going to believe what the problem was". It turned out that the left rear wheel was about to come off. It was missing one lug nut and the other three were just hand-tightened. The threads were not damaged, so all they had to do was button it back up and I was ready to go. Instead of $3,200, I was able to get out of there for $80 (they charge $165/hour for labor).

OHV Crash

The only thing I know that travels faster than the speed of light is a rumor in a RV park, so when one of our residents rolled his side by side today, it was not long before everyone in the park knew about it. Fortunately, the driver was not seriously hurt (which speaks well for the safety of these machines), but I suspect he will have some aches and pains tomorrow. 

Note cholla cactus in the windshield and tires
(click on image to enlarge)

Live Streaming Video

I have been playing around with ways to live stream video from my smartphone to the Internet. Most of the apps I tested were a little too complicated, particularly, for those who are not tech savvy. The VDO.Ninja site solves that problem by making the process incredibly simple without having to download any software. Just go to https://vdo.ninja/, click on "Add your Camera to OBS" where it will automatically recognize your phone's camera and then all you have to do is hit "START". It will create a URL that when entered into a browser, will show your live video. That URL can be sent to others who can view that same video via the Internet. Here's a YouTube video that will give you more detail...

Foreign Aid

In my opinion, our government should not be borrowing money to give to foreign countries (including China and Russia) when we have a $34+ trillion dollar national debt. The interest alone will be our government's second largest expense in 2024. Sadly, there appears to be no accounting for where the money goes; I suspect a lot of it winds up in the hands of corrupt officials. It's like we have become the "sugar daddy" for the rest of the world.

Click on image for more information

What triggered this post was former President Donald Trump saying that "all foreign aid should be issued as loans from this point forward, rather than giveaways". What a great common sense approach to reducing our debt! Unfortunately, because the idea came from Trump, the current administration will never consider it.