The Wandering Minstrel

The Better Half and I took a ride a few days ago. Our route took us to the north and east of town driving past ranches and farms. Twice along the route, we crossed the Hassayampa River. The “raging” Hassayampa isn’t as dry as it looks, though. The river flows along the bedrock below the river bed and flows on the surface south of town where the bedrock is close to the surface.

Clickable image courtesy of The Better Half - Looking south towards town with the Vulture Mountains in the distance and Vulture Peak at the far right.

This area used to be one of the places the nomadic Yavapai Indians dwelled as they wandered between seasonal agricultural and hunting sites. I’m reading a book about the history of this area and find it to be very interesting to learn about our chosen retirement town’s past and culture.

I don’t usually post flora and fauna pix, but today, The Better Half caught this nice (clickable) photo of one of the cardinals that are frequently seen in our back yard on his way from the mesquite tree to the seed block that she hangs near the patio. We have seen at least two pairs of cardinals contending for the goodies that The Better Half hangs out for most takers. We shoo the greedy cowbirds away to leave the munchings to pretty birds like this.

First of all, I would like to wish the men and women of the armed forces of America a safe, happy and deeply appreciated Armed Forces Day. God bless you all.

Today, the menu consisted of grilled pork baby back ribs, The Better Half’s awesome potato salad and baked beans. I hope that all of our service people had a great meal such as this. Clickable image - half rack of ribs on the grill.

Try not to drool on your keyboard.

The Better Half snapped this (clickable) photo of a sign along a scenic route north of town today. It appears that some folks get their target practice on public property.

C’mon guys - stay classy. The sportsmen’s club is more than happy to have you shoot at their facility.

By the way, click the image to see how beautiful the scenic route is.

Jim Geraghty at NRO’s Campaign Spot notices a continuing trend on the part of the Obamination to over use personal pronouns . . .

Two years ago in Cairo, I began to broaden our engagement based upon mutual interests and mutual respect.

Our support for these principles is not a secondary interest - today I am making it clear that it is a top priority that must be translated into concrete actions, and supported by all of the diplomatic, economic and strategic tools at our disposal.

As I said when the United States joined an international coalition to intervene, we cannot prevent every injustice perpetrated by a regime against its people, and we have learned from our experience in Iraq just how costly and difficult it is to impose regime change by force — no matter how well-intended it may be.

We will continue to make good on the commitments that I made in Cairo — to build networks of entrepreneurs, and expand exchanges in education; to foster cooperation in science and technology, and combat disease.

My Administration has worked with the parties and the international community for over two years to end this conflict, yet expectations have gone unmet. Israeli settlement activity continues. Palestinians have walked away from talks.

Indeed, there are those who argue that with all the change and uncertainty in the region, it is simply not possible to move forward. I disagree.

And I would not be standing here today unless past generations turned to the moral force of non-violence as a way to perfect our union — organizing, marching, and protesting peacefully together to make real those words that declared our nation: “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal.”

I italicized the quote from the Declaration of Independence to point out that the Obamination means it in the “spread the wealth” sense and not in the “equal freedoms” sense. The founders certainly meant it that way as the rest of the Declaration and the Constitution prove.

Temperatures have cooled off the last couple of days and today we had several thunderstorm cells pass close but we only had a trace of rain. I can see the rainfall in the distance looking south in this (clickable) image and saw what appeared to be heavy rainfall in the mountains to the northeast a little earlier today.

The forecast is for a 60 percent chance of more rain tonight but, looking at the NWS radar (inset), I don’t see much precipitation coming. There is still time for some nocturnal storms to develop though. At any rate, we’re all battened down here and sipping on a cold one.

The Better Half took this (clickable) image of a young man walking down a street talking on his wireless in our town this afternoon. We were both amused at the imagery on the shirt he had on.

We observe many indications that a lot of folks here think as we do. We see pro-gun and anti Obamination bumper stickers, Gadsden Flags and other conservative notions. Once in a while, however, we see some poor liberal bastard driving a Prius with an Obama/Biden ‘08 sticker. There always seems to be some rotten apples spoiling the barrel.

I’ve seen plenty of trikes and sidecar rigs for motorcycles, but this is the first four wheeler outrigger (training wheels?) I’ve seen. The Better Half snapped this (clickable) image this afternoon near the post office. I know, it’s a Honda motorcycle and we like Harley-Davidsons here, but weirdness can’t be overlooked.