The Wandering Minstrel

The Better Half and I took a short drive to the historic Old Wickenburg downtown area this afternoon. She wanted to look through the little curio and gift shops with home decor in mind. Along the way, we stopped to photograph this (clickable) image of a couple of restored antique gas pumps in front of the local Jeep tours office. I barely remember Frontier Gasoline from trips Mom and Dad made to Colorado when I was a kid.

Keeping the somber purpose of this Memorial Day holiday in mind, The Better Half and I fired up the grill and teamed up to cook up these meaty pork loin country style ribs on the grill this afternoon.

The Better Half prepared some cheddar-topped cauliflower and macaroni salad for side dishes. Damn, was it all really good!

God bless the American Spirit and all of our soldiers and sailors who gave all so we could be free to kick off the summer season. God bless America!

Clickable image - do not drool on your keyboard!

I was trimming some of the creosote and mesquite along the RV pull-through today. The Better Half snapped this (clickable) photo of me bending to get some of the trimmings. None of the neighbors are close enough to notice that Little Boy, my Glock 26, popped out of the bottom of my shirt.

It’s good to be in a Constitutional Carry State!

I updated the GPS with the latest map files today. About two years ago, I bought a Garmin Nüvi 205W GPS unit. Other than a few glitches now and then, the unit has proved to be a worthwhile investment.

Clickable image - Garmin screenshot showing map and software update status as up-to-date

When I acquired the GPS, I signed up for lifetime map updates. That, also, turned out to be a good investment. When we first bought our property in Wickenburg, ADOT (Arizona department of transportation) was just finishing the route 93 bypass and it had yet to be updated on the GPS maps. Then, the new bypass and roundabouts showed up on the very next update.

In the near future, The Better Half and I will be taking some deserved vacation time, even though the new house experience has been like a permanent vacation for us. I have been charting excursions to some of the Native American artifact sites in the four corners states since that is one mutual interest that The Better Half and I have in common. She is one-eighth Creek/Cherokee and I am one-sixteenth Cherokee although our Irish and English heritage covers most of that up. Still, we have a great interest in ancient American peoples.

We will also have the opportunity to visit some of America’s natural wonders (Grand Canyon, Canyon de Chelly, Arches, Canyonlands, etc.). We can hardly wait.

One of our neighbors has a pickup truck with this interesting decoration in the cab rear window. Perhaps he (or she) is also an Arizona refugee from California, one of the worst gun-law states in the union.

By the way, please take the time to OPPOSE the ATF’s power grab by sending form mail at Only Guns and Money

The Supreme Court of the United States upheld Arizona’s law punishing businesses that hire illegal aliens. They voted 5-3 to reject arguments that states have no authority in immigration matters. Breyer, Ginsburg and Sotomayor (the usual left-wing communist justices) dissented on the decision. Justice Elena Kagan, another communist, would have also dissented, but she had to recuse herself because she worked on the case as the Obamination’s solicitor general.

Fox News posted the Associated Press article that detailed the court’s decision. In the article, they published a rather uncomplimentary photograph of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, which is a non-sequitur since it was then Governor Nappy Incompetano and not Brewer who signed the law into effect in 2007. Brewer is not once mentioned in the AP article. This s typical of the media smearing a politician with whom they disagree.

All that aside, the SCOTUS decision to allow Arizona to regulate immigration matters shows promise that Arizona’s SB 1070 immigration law may be upheld at the SCOTUS level unless the Obamination has an opportunity to further stack the court with communist justices (God forbid).

First from Southern California’s South Bay paper:

• Teen shot to death in San Pedro
• 2 men shot multiple times while eating at taco truck in Wilmington
• Family of slain Wilmington longshoreman to hold ‘walk for peace’
• 2 gang members shot after allegedly threatening deputies

Now, from the Wickenburg (AZ) Paper:

• A man was arrested for not having his vehicle equipped with an ignition interlock device
• A man was arrested during a traffic stop on a charge of driving with a suspended license
• A woman reported that an unknown suspect(s) removed two statues from her yard

Another snapshot demonstrating that More Guns = Less Crime.

California = Less Guns, more crime.

Arizona = Constitutional Carry, less crime!

And the morons in the California Legislature continue to ensure more crime.

Jeez - am I glad we’re out of there. We HATE going there, but there is the other house that requires our occasional presence.

The Better Half took this (clickable) photo of a custom 1850’s Chevy a few weeks ago when we were on a shopping excursion into the metroplex. Somebody put a lot of work into this custom classic. Shiny.