I can't believe it! I WANT to WORK!

For the past 12 seasons, I've been the entertainer for Parade Rest Guest Ranch near West Yellowstone, MT, normally from about the middle of June until around the first week of September.  This involved entertaining at cookouts two days a week.  For the last few years, I've also been the dinner cook two-four days a week at the Ranch.

On the days I wasn't either scheduled to entertain or cook, I'd go hiking in the mountains, camping and generally just enjoying the Yellowstone area.  Sometimes that meant sitting in a chaise in the mountains somewhere, reading a book in the sunshine.  Just sitting on a rock, far back in the mountains, while I listen to the breeze sighing in the pines, basically doing and thinking nothing...that's about the closest I get, anymore, to feeling peace and even a little happiness. 

If I felt like it, I would go to the West Park Mall, in town, set up a stool and a tip jar and just play and sing, sometimes for hours.  I didn't make a great amount in tips and CD sales, but it was enough to handle most of my summer expenses.  I'd also schedule a few bar gigs and other events on Saturdays during the summer to make a little extra.

I've made a concerted effort, over the past few years, to cut my expenses and debts as close to the bone as possible so if I saved $4000 over and above my expenses/bills during this three month effort, I was happy.  

This year, of course, this is all probably shot in the ass.

"They" have closed The Park and are "advising" against travelling to resort areas.  We all know that They have locked down our country, purportedly because of this virus.  

If the past two weeks are any example, I will spend my summer working around the yard, cleaning house, reading and watching movies/TV on my computer.  In remuneration for my staying at home, essentially doing nothing, They have promised to not only pay me unemployment but (I'll believe it when I deposit it) the Feds are supposed to "grant" me $600 a week, over the state unemployment amount!  So, if They actually come through, I'll get a little over $4000 for six weeks (Hopefully, that's all!) of unemployment.

So, what am I complaining about, you ask?  I mean, if They actually pay this much, I'm going to make MUCH more during my house arrest than I would have while waiting tables for these six weeks and I'll have a lot of stuff done around my house, will have read most of the books I have pending and will have watched many hours of TV.  Oh, and I'll have gained about 100 pounds, but let's not think about that!

My complaint is that They will have shown themselves and us that They are in control.  Will we need "Papers", showing that we are immune to and/or not carrying Covid19?  Will we have to show a reason to travel away from our homes?  Will all the motel/hotel registries be sent to the local police each night so They can cross reference and make sure everyone is complying with "restrictions"?  You laugh.  We in the U.S. have rarely experienced such things but, in many other countries, these restrictions and rules have been in effect for a long time.

Will They have finally managed to get Their gun control more in place?  Will our medical care be handed out to us by our Benevolent Government?  How about recreation?  They can close OUR parks, restrict our use of the rivers and "Federal Lands" now.  We have surrendered many of our freedoms over these past few weeks.  Gradually, yes.  Certainly, the argument can be made that these draconian measures have protected much of our country from what we are seeing in New York and New Jersey.  But, are They going to relinquish Their hold on us, our freedoms, our incomes, our whole way of life?  Now that They HAVE control, will They give it back?

I don't really like being back in food service work.  It's not where I planned to be, back where I was at 16.  In fact, it's not uncommon for me to shed a tear and sob a little before I take a deep breath and walk out the door, headed for work.  But I WORK for my living.  I have value and I feel valuable because I'm producing something of value.

If given the choice, I'd much rather do a physically demanding, sometimes unpleasant and even somewhat menial "job" than have Them support me in sloth and meaningless inactivity.

Welcome to Prepping

As the Corona virus (Covid19) panic grows, I say "Welcome!  To the world of Prepping."

"Preppers" have not been stocking up for the Apocalypse or for Zombie attacks or any of that crap.  Most of us just realize that there are times when we should be prepared to live on our own for a while.

In past years, I've had to dig into my storage because of losing a job, a major blizzard and other weather issues.  It isn't a bad thing to have extra food and other supplies set aside for an emergency.  Things like non-perishable food, batteries, oil lamps (and oil!), blankets and warm clothes, hand tools, medications and so on can be stored in a pantry area. You REALLY don't have to go to the store every day for that days meals.  Really.  Trust me.

Think about this.  What if the President asked the whole country to self-quarantine for the next two weeks?  Suspend all international travel, give us a few days to get prepared and then everyone just stay at home for two weeks.  Covid19 would be, for all intents and purposes, gone in the U.S.  The problem is, we can;t do it!  Too many would panic.  The stores would look like Black Friday and everyone would be running on paper towels, toilet paper and hand sanitizer!

I, on the other hand, could close my gate right now and not leave my property for at least six months with no real stress.

You don't have to be living in a bunker, far from society and off the grid.  Just use a little common sense and have some extras of things you might need.

Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s there was a gold rush to Alaska and the Klondike.  Huge numbers of people were going to the Klondike with little or no preparation for what they would find.  The Northwest Mounted Police (Mounties) were not allowing prospectors into the country unless they had a years supply of goods...called "a ton of goods".  If you look at this list, you won't find toilet paper on the list of "necessities".
A Ton of Goods story

Here are some links that can help.

theprepared.com
FEMA preparedness info
FEMA Emergency guidelines

Trump Accomplishments

I found that I couldn't post this whole thing as a comment in Facebook so I put it here.

Kellie R Crosby
February 26 at 9:45 PM

Dude has been in office for 3 years.... what has he done? Other than dodging the darts the media and Pelosi have thrown?!?

what have PRESIDENT TRUMP and his cabinet accomplished.....

Here you go.
* Trump recently signed 3 bills to benefit Native people. One gives compensation to the Spokane tribe for loss of their lands in the mid-1900s, one funds Native language programs, and the third gives federal recognition to the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Montana.
* Trump finalized the creation of Space Force as our 6th Military branch.
* Trump signed a law to make cruelty to animals a federal felony so that animal abusers face tougher consequences.👀👀
* Violent crime has fallen every year he’s been in office after rising during the 2 years before he was elected.
* Trump signed a bill making CBD and Hemp legal.👀👀
* Trump’s EPA gave $100 million to fix the water infrastructure problem in Flint, Michigan.
* Under Trump’s leadership, in 2018 the U.S. surpassed Russia and Saudi Arabia to become the world’s largest producer of crude oil.
* Trump signed a law ending the gag orders on Pharmacists that prevented them from sharing money-saving information.
* Trump signed the “Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act” (FOSTA), which includes the “Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act” (SESTA) which both give law enforcement and victims new tools to fight sex trafficking.👀👀
* Trump signed a bill to require airports to provide spaces for breastfeeding Moms.
* The 25% lowest-paid Americans enjoyed a 4.5% income boost in November 2019, which outpaces a 2.9% gain in earnings for the country's highest-paid workers.
* Low-wage workers are benefiting from higher minimum wages and from corporations that are increasing entry-level pay.
* Trump signed the biggest wilderness protection & conservation bill in a decade and designated 375,000 acres as protected land.
* Trump signed the Save our Seas Act which funds $10 million per year to clean tons of plastic & garbage from the ocean.👀👀
* He signed a bill this year allowing some drug imports from Canada so that prescription prices would go down.
* Trump signed an executive order this year that forces all healthcare providers to disclose the cost of their services so that Americans can comparison shop and know how much less providers charge insurance companies.
* When signing that bill he said no American should be blindsided by bills for medical services they never agreed to in advance.
* Hospitals will now be required to post their standard charges for services, which include the discounted price a hospital is willing to accept.
* In the eight years prior to President Trump’s inauguration, prescription drug prices increased by an average of 3.6% per year. Under Trump, drug prices have seen year-over-year declines in nine of the last ten months, with a 1.1% drop as of the most recent month.
* He created a White House VA Hotline to help veterans and principally staffed it with veterans and direct family members of veterans.👀👀
* VA employees are being held accountable for poor performance, with more than 4,000 VA employees removed, demoted, and suspended so far.
* Issued an executive order requiring the Secretaries of Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs to submit a joint plan to provide veterans access to access to mental health treatment as they transition to civilian life.
* Because of a bill signed and championed by Trump, In 2020, most federal employees will see their pay increase by an average of 3.1% — the largest raise in more than 10 years.
* Trump signed into a law up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave for millions of federal workers.
* Trump administration will provide HIV prevention drugs for free to 200,000 uninsured patients per year for 11 years.👀👀
* All-time record sales during the 2019 holidays.
* Trump signed an order allowing small businesses to group together when buying insurance to get a better price👀👀
* President Trump signed the Preventing Maternal Deaths Act that provides funding for states to develop maternal mortality reviews to better understand maternal complications and identify solutions & largely focuses on reducing the higher mortality rates for Black Americans.
* In 2018, President Trump signed the groundbreaking First Step Act, a criminal justice bill which enacted reforms that make our justice system fairer and help former inmates successfully return to society.
* The First Step Act’s reforms addressed inequities in sentencing laws that disproportionately harmed Black Americans and reformed mandatory minimums that created unfair outcomes.👀👀
* The First Step Act expanded judicial discretion in sentencing of non-violent crimes.
* Over 90% of those benefitting from the retroactive sentencing reductions in the First Step Act are Black Americans.
* The First Step Act provides rehabilitative programs to inmates, helping them successfully rejoin society and not return to crime.
* Trump increased funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) by more than 14%.👀👀
* Trump signed legislation forgiving Hurricane Katrina debt that threatened HBCUs.
* New single-family home sales are up 31.6% in October 2019 compared to just one year ago.
* Made HBCUs a priority by creating the position of executive director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs.
* Trump received the Bipartisan Justice Award at a historically black college for his criminal justice reform accomplishments.
* The poverty rate fell to a 17-year low of 11.8% under the Trump administration as a result of a jobs-rich environment.👀👀
* Poverty rates for African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans have reached their lowest levels since the U.S. began collecting such data.
* President Trump signed a bill that creates five national monuments, expands several national parks, adds 1.3 million acres of wilderness, and permanently reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
* Trump’s USDA committed $124 Million to rebuild rural water infrastructure.👀👀
* Consumer confidence & small business confidence is at an all time high.
* More than 7 million jobs created since election.
* More Americans are now employed than ever recorded before in our history.
* More than 400,000 manufacturing jobs created since his election.
* Trump appointed 5 openly gay ambassadors.👀👀
* Trump ordered Ric Grenell, his openly gay ambassador to Germany, to lead a global initiative to decriminalize homosexuality across the globe.
* Through Trump’s Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team (ACTeam) initiative, Federal law enforcement more than doubled convictions of human traffickers and increased the number of defendants charged by 75% in ACTeam districts.
* In 2018, the Department of Justice (DOJ) dismantled an organization that was the internet’s leading source of prostitution-related advertisements resulting in sex trafficking.
* Trump’s OMB published new anti-trafficking guidance for government procurement officials to more effectively combat human trafficking.
* Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations arrested 1,588 criminals associated with Human Trafficking.
* Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services provided funding to support the National Human Trafficking Hotline to identify perpetrators and give victims the help they need.
* The hotline identified 16,862 potential human trafficking cases.
* Trump’s DOJ provided grants to organizations that support human trafficking victims – serving nearly 9,000 cases from July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2018.👀👀
* The Department of Homeland Security has hired more victim assistance specialists, helping victims get resources and support.
* President Trump has called on Congress to pass school choice legislation so that no child is trapped in a failing school because of his or her zip code.👀👀
* The President signed funding legislation in September 2018 that increased funding for school choice by $42 million.
* The tax cuts signed into law by President Trump promote school choice by allowing families to use 529 college savings plans for elementary and secondary education.👀👀
* Under his leadership ISIS has lost most of their territory and been largely dismantled.
* ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi was killed.
* Signed the first Perkins CTE reauthorization since 2006, authorizing more than $1 billion for states each year to fund vocational and career education programs.
* Executive order expanding apprenticeship opportunities for students and workers.
* Trump issued an Executive Order prohibiting the U.S. government from discriminating against Christians or punishing expressions of faith.
* Signed an executive order that allows the government to withhold money from college campuses deemed to be anti-Semitic and who fail to combat anti-Semitism.
* President Trump ordered a halt to U.S. tax money going to international organizations that fund or perform abortions.
* Trump imposed sanctions on the socialists in Venezuela who have killed their citizens.
* Finalized new trade agreement with South Korea.
* Made a deal with the European Union to increase U.S. energy exports to Europe.👀👀
* Withdrew the U.S. from the job killing TPP deal.
* Secured $250 billion in new trade and investment deals in China and $12 billion in Vietnam.
* Okay’d up to $12 billion in aid for farmers affected by unfair trade retaliation.👀👀
* Has had over a dozen US hostages freed, including those Obama could not get freed.
* Trump signed the Music Modernization Act, the biggest change to copyright law in decades.
* Trump secured Billions that will fund the building of a wall at our southern border.
* The Trump Administration is promoting second chance hiring to give former inmates the opportunity to live crime-free lives and find meaningful employment.
* Trump’s DOJ and the Board Of Prisons launched a new “Ready to Work Initiative” to help connect employers directly with former prisoners.👀👀
* President Trump’s historic tax cut legislation included new Opportunity Zone Incentives to promote investment in low-income communities across the country.
* 8,764 communities across the country have been designated as Opportunity Zones.
* Opportunity Zones are expected to spur $100 billion in long-term private capital investment in economically distressed communities across the country.
* Trump directed the Education Secretary to end Common Core.👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀
* Trump signed the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund into law.
* Trump signed measure funding prevention programs for Veteran suicide.👀👀
* Companies have brought back over a TRILLION dollars from overseas because of the TCJA bill that Trump signed.
* Manufacturing jobs are growing at the fastest rate in more than 30 years.
* Stock Market has reached record highs.
* Median household income has hit highest level ever recorded.
* African-American unemployment is at an all time low.
* Hispanic-American unemployment is at an all time low.
* Asian-American unemployment is at an all time low.
* Women’s unemployment rate is at a 65-year low.
* Youth unemployment is at a 50-year low.
* We have the lowest unemployment rate ever recorded.
* The Pledge to America’s Workers has resulted in employers committing to train more than 4 million Americans.
* 95 percent of U.S. manufacturers are optimistic about the future— the highest ever.
* As a result of the Republican tax bill, small businesses will have the lowest top marginal tax rate in more than 80 years.👀👀
* Record number of regulations eliminated that hurt small businesses.
* Signed welfare reform requiring able-bodied adults who don’t have children to work or look for work if they’re on welfare.🙌🙌
* Under Trump, the FDA approved more affordable generic drugs than ever before in history.
* Reformed Medicare program to stop hospitals from overcharging low-income seniors on their drugs—saving seniors 100’s of millions of $$$ this year alone.👀👀
* Signed Right-To-Try legislation allowing terminally ill patients to try experimental treatment that wasn’t allowed before.
* Secured $6 billion in new funding to fight the opioid epidemic.❤️❤️
* Signed VA Choice Act and VA Accountability Act, expanded VA telehealth services, walk-in-clinics, and same-day urgent primary and mental health care.👀👀
* U.S. oil production recently reached all-time high so we are less dependent on oil from the Middle East.
* The U.S. is a net natural gas exporter for the first time since 1957.
* NATO allies increased their defense spending because of his pressure campaign.
* Withdrew the United States from the job-killing Paris Climate Accord in 2017 and that same year the U.S. still led the world by having the largest reduction in Carbon emissions.👀👀
* Has his circuit court judge nominees being confirmed faster than any other new administration.
* Had his Supreme Court Justice’s Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh confirmed.
* Moved U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.👀👀
* Agreed to a new trade deal with Mexico & Canada that will increase jobs here and $$$ coming in.
* Reached a breakthrough agreement with the E.U. to increase U.S. exports.
* Imposed tariffs on China in response to China’s forced technology transfer, intellectual property theft, and their chronically abusive trade practices, has agreed to a Part One trade deal with China.
* Signed legislation to improve the National Suicide Hotline.👀👀
* Signed the most comprehensive childhood cancer legislation ever into law, which will advance childhood cancer research and improve treatments.
* The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed into law by Trump doubled the maximum amount of the child tax credit available to parents and lifted the income limits so more people could claim it.
* It also created a new tax credit for other dependents.
* In 2018, President Trump signed into law a $2.4 billion funding increase for the Child Care and Development Fund, providing a total of $8.1 billion to States to fund child care for low-income families.
* The Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC) signed into law by Trump provides a tax credit equal to 20-35% of child care expenses, $3,000 per child & $6,000 per family + Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) allow you to set aside up to $5,000 in pre-tax $ to use for child care.
* In 2019 President Donald Trump signed the Autism Collaboration, Accountability, Research, Education and Support Act (CARES) into law which allocates $1.8 billion in funding over the next five years to help people with autism spectrum disorder and to help their families.👀👀
* In 2019 President Trump signed into law two funding packages providing nearly $19 million in new funding for Lupus specific research and education programs, as well an additional $41.7 billion in funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the most Lupus funding EVER.
* Another upcoming accomplishment to add: In the next week or two Trump will be signing the first major anti-robocall law in decades called the TRACED Act (Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence.) Once it’s thelaw, the TRACED Act will extend the period of time the FCC has to catch & punish those who intentionally break telemarketing restrictions. The bill also requires voice service providers to develop a framework to verify calls are legitimate before they reach your phone.
* US stock market continually hits all-time record highs.
* Because so many people asked for a document with all of this listed in one place, here it is. No links provided to remove bias as Google search is easy. Print this out for family, friends, neighbors, etc. I encourage you to drop this list off to voters before the 2020 election too!
*Trump did all of this while fighting flagrant abuse and impeachment charges.
——-please explain to me why you have a problem with OUR president? Because he has misspoke a few times? Tell me when you find a perfect person, please....I’ll wait! I’ll tell you why, because the media has skewed him in such a negative light and unfairly report his accomplishments to undermined those achievements! Why? Because the media is complicit in every single thing this man is trying to undo! Start thinking for yourself!
🇺🇸WWG1WGA🇺🇸
🇺🇸🇺🇸Are you tired of winning yet?🇺🇸🇺🇸
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Why I get so political sometimes

I keep telling myself that I MUST avoid political posts and just put other stories and statements on this blog page.  I've put several cooking articles here and I've kept track of my travels around the country but, when election seasons come around, I'm right back to the same old Political Rants.

It occurs to me that it might be advantageous to explain why I get so involved in political crap.

I believe that God made this country as a land, "Choice above all other lands" (Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi, Chapter 1) and that He means it to be the land where His choice people live. 

In order for people to be judged by their own actions, they must be free to act as they please.  No other country in the world or in the history of the world has offered the complete freedom we enjoy here. Or enjoyed in the past, anyway.

I believe that God brought together a group of Inspired individuals who were directly led, by God, to create this country as it was founded.  There is no question in my mind that the Founding Fathers were directly Inspired by God the Father through His Son, Jesus Christ, to create this country.  The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States are Divinely Inspired documents.

So, there you go.  I'm not only discussing politics but also Religion, in the same post!  What a terrible person I must be!

Today, we watch as the Democrat Party works to nominate someone to be their candidate for President of this Choice and Special land.  We see all those who aspire to this high office standing on a stage without one single American flag in evidence.  We see a group of people who proudly proclaim their support for killing babies, not only while still in the womb but even after "partial birth"!  What part of "birth" do they not understand?
Jeremiah, 1:5, KJV

We see the whole group agree with the concept of taking our means of self defense away from us, not only thus shredding the Second Amendment of our Divine Constitution, but the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendments as well.
Bill of Rights

More frighteningly though is the national support for their front running candidate, Bernie Sanders, who is outspoken about his disdain for this country as founded and for the values our Founding Documents protect.

I think this picture pretty much covers his seriously flawed philosophy

Socialism has NEVER worked anywhere!  The settlers from the Mayflower even tried it.  That's why they almost starved and what the first Thanksgiving was really about.
Socialism at Plymouth

Democrats cite the Scandinavian countries as socialist success stories.  If you are willing to live under the control of a central government and pay huge taxes then; well, maybe.
Scandinavian Taxation

I guess I've strayed somewhat from the original point for which I was aiming.  The Prophet Lehi, cited in The Book Of Mormon, 2Nephi, Chapter 1, I think said it best and I quote verses 10 and 11 here:

"10 But behold, when the time cometh that they shall dwindle in ^aunbelief, after they have received so great blessings from the hand of the Lord—having a knowledge of the creation of the earth, and all men, knowing the great and marvelous works of the Lord from the creation of the world; having power given them to do all things by faith; having all the commandments from the beginning, and having been brought by his infinite goodness into this precious land of promise—behold, I say, if the day shall come that they will reject the Holy One of Israel, the true ^bMessiah, their Redeemer and their God, behold, the judgments of him that is ^cjust shall rest upon them.

11 Yea, he will bring ^aother nations unto them, and he will give unto them power, and he will take away from them the lands of their possessions, and he will cause them to be ^bscattered and smitten."

 Seems pretty clear to me.

Democrat Presidential Candidates

I caught a few moments of last nights grade school level debate and I've read about it today and have the following observations.

First, once again, a U.S. Presidential candidate debate and not one single American Flag on the stage. Hmmm.

All of the candidates support, at one level or another; Partial Birth Abortion; Gun control, up to and including confiscation; Amnesty for Illegal Immigrants who are here and open borders for all those who want to come here; the "New Green Deal; Free Medical Care and lots of other "Free Stuff". Mostly, they all are big on the idea of the government telling us what we can earn, how we can spend what we earn, what we can own and how we live.

Partial Birth Abortion. What part of "birth" do they not get? If the baby has been born, then you are

killing a baby. Even the silly argument that a fetus is not a person doesn't apply.

"Gun buy back" programs are government sponsored theft. Confiscation is government committed theft and a violation of the 4th Amendment.
Gun Control Stances (Politico)

Illegal Immigrants are just that. Illegal. Our immigration laws are in place to try and protect us from diseases that other countries haven't eradicated, criminals from other countries hiding here, the smuggling into our country of dangerous drugs and weapons and so on. Funny how the same people bitching about our immigration laws are also bitching about the Coronavirus coming into this country and are the same people trying to control illegal firearms.

Free Medical Care, under any name, is the death knell for the incredible quality we enjoy in our medical care. If the government sets the prices, a lot of quality doctors will do something else and we'll be seeing PAs and NPs most of the time...like the VA system today
.
Free college tuition? Elizabeth Warren gripes about the cost of college and yet accepts over $200,000 a year salary from teaching college. Which is it, Fauxcahontas?
Politifact

Warren, Biden and Sanders have all been in congress for dozens of years and haven't addressed anything they crow about now.
Donald Trump has been President for 3 years and look at the economic, trade and foreign affairs

successes he already has!

All of them, but Bernie in particular, are advocating some level of socialism. Bernie is just a communist and has told us so many times. His "honeymoon" in the Soviet Union and his glowing praise of Fidel Castro are telling.

Has anyone ever noticed how hard people try to come to this country from socialist countries? Doesn't that make your common sense button throb at least a little?

Socialist Dems often cite Scandinavian countries as socialist success stories. Sure. their governments pay for much of the services they get but at an enormous tax cost. Once again, the government telling us how much we can make (price controls), what we can keep of what we make (taxes) and what we can buy with what we make. Give up all your personal freedoms so that your nanny state can take care of you from womb to tomb.
Scandinavian Taxation

I don't want half of what little I make to be taken (stolen) by the government to pay other peoples bills.

Overall, the entire field of Democrat Presidential Candidates is disgusting at best. I know that many of you think of yourselves as Democrats but this isn't the Democrat Party of your fathers. JFK and Roosevelt are Dead.

Todays Democrat faces are Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Crazy Bernie Sanders.



"Ask not what you can do for your country! Ask what free stuff your country can give to you."

Trump plays too much golf

This is a meme I saw on Facebook today and I just HAD to answer it!

That Damned Trump! He needs to quit golfing and fix this China trade war and get some kind of deal with them so we can start trading goods again. He needs to fix the NAFTA mess and get a new trade deal with Canada and Mexico.
CNN: US/China Phase 1 Trade Deal
NBC News: USMCA Trade Deal replaces NAFTA

If he'd knock off the golfing, maybe he could come up with some policies that will reduce the unemployment in this country. Minorities need better employment rates and so do women.
factcheck.org: Trump economic numbers

Get off that golf course and make our military stronger and improve the morale in our military.
Defense News: Military Readiness

He needs to get some kind of tax reform so we don't pay so much in taxes.
Wall Street Journal: Tax reform is helping most people

He should be sitting in his office, signing bills to battle sex trafficking in our country.
McClatchydc.com: Trump increasing budget to fight human trafficking

If he weren't golfing, he could be the first sitting President ever to attend the Right to Life rally.

  









Let's get some border wall built and reduce the numbers of illegal immigrants who sneak into our country while deporting those who are already here. 
CNN: Trump Border Wall

San Diego Tribune: Like them or not, Trumps policies are reducing illegal immigration

Yep. If he weren't wasting so much time golfing, maybe he could keep a couple of promises that he made.

Politifact: Trump Promises kept

Washington Examiner: Promises made, promises kept

 Yes sir, I agree that he needs to quit golfing and get some work done for America, like the Democrat leadership has done. All the things the Democrats have done for America in the past three years speak for themselves.

Another example of what those in power think of "We the People"

This is who we are to "Them".  When you go to the polls this year, remember, this is how the "leaders" in our government feel about those of us who make the country work. 

Coronavirus: Major pandemic or media hype?

Wuhan Hospital scene

I'm back to wondering what is REALLY going on in China with this Coronavirus.

Is this a major Pandemic in the making; with an already major epidemic in Wuhan, China or, are there only under 1000 people infected?  Which is it?

If you read this article, it says both things, sometimes in the same paragraph: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/10808633/coronavirus-wuhan-zombieland/
Here's a quote that illustrates my point:  "Harrowing pictures on social media show people collapsed on the street and in hospital waiting rooms amid the epidemic which has claimed the lives of at least 26 people."

Ok.  Which is it?  Are people collapsing on the streets or have only 26 people, in a city of 11 MILLION people?  Are things as chaotic as the pictures in this article suggest or are there less than 1000 people infected, worldwide?  In a city of 11million, how many thousands are home sick each day with common cold or flu?  Likely far more than 800 and no panic in the streets, empty grocery shelves and crowded hospitals.

Wuhan Grocery store

The conspiracy theorist inside of me says that the pictures and videos we see here are true and our world is facing annihilation while the governments and media work to make it seem insignificant.

The logical part of me says, if only 1000 people, worldwide, are infected, then these are more internet hype pictures, as believable as the "Lincoln said" memes we see every day.

I'm reminded of the Book/movie, "The Stand".  A Steven King story where the government covered up a devastating disease while it destroyed civilization. 

What is the truth? 

Why is Coronavirus such a big deal?

As usual, I don't understand. Why is this Chinese virus such a big deal? 620 people have caught it and 17 have died. I get that, but there are 1.3 billion people in China. So, .00005% of the people in China have an illness and .000001% have died of it. https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/longevity/479573-china-cancels-new-year-plans-amid-coronavirus-outbreak

There are 7.7 BILLION people in the world.

There are 327 million people in the USA. Here is a quote from https://time.com/5610878/2018-2019-flu-season/; "In total, the CDC estimates that up to 42.9 million people got sick during the 2018-2019 flu season, 647,000 people were hospitalized and 61,200 died. That’s fairly on par with a typical season".

I'd call those flu numbers truly frightening and I had no idea they were that high.

Very few people have been affected by this Corona virus and it doesn't seem to be overrunning, even China, where it seems to have started.

So, my question is, why is this Corona virus outbreak such a newsworthy, panicky situation?

The Democrats who cry "Wolf"

Why should we believe anything the Democrats say at this point? Their track record is one of blatant lies and concealed facts.

Anyone ever hear of the story about "The boy who cried 'wolf'"?

When President Trump nominated Judge Kavenaugh to the Supreme court, suddenly there was a "whistleblower" who had horrific stories to tell about rape and sexual assault, by Kavenaugh, back in his college days. When Blasey-Ford came out into the public eye, it quickly became evident that she was not credible. Probably lying. When her credibility became muddles, suddenly there were more women who came out, a couple led by Avenatti, with the same kind of stories. One by one, they all admitted they were lying. The whole thing just kind of went away after he was confirmed to the Supreme Court. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh_Supreme_Court_nomination

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/no-kavanaughs-accusers-are-not-credible

Another one? How about Nicholas Sandmann and his contemptuous treatment of an elderly Native American man? 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_2019_Lincoln_Memorial_confrontation

Mr. Sandmann, at the time a 16 year old boy, was on a field trip with other students from a Catholic School. They were minding their own business, watching the events around them. However, Mr. Sandmann had the temerity to be wearing a Make America Great Again hat!

He was approached, in what I would term an aggressive manner, by Nathan Phillips, who was banging a small drum and did so, well withing Mr. Sandmann's space, actually right in his face. Sandmann kept his composure, said nothing out of the way and even tried to smile his way through it all.

The news media portrayed Sandmann as the aggressor and characterized his smile as being condescending and portrayed him as a racist bigot.

It turned out, of course, to be exactly the opposite, as proven by many videos that the media tried to keep us all from seeing. Happily, CNN has recently settled a lawsuit, by Sandmann, for an "undisclosed amount".

My point is, here is another case of the leftist media vilifying someone with no true facts.

How about all the "Russia Collusion " investigation we put up with? After two and a half years, absolutely no evidence of President Trump and any Russian "colluding" to "fix" the election despite a special prosecutor and millions of dollars spent in the effort.

Once again, the real truth is probably exactly the opposite. Hillary had paid for opposition research, the "Dossier", getting much of the "information" from Russian sources. She seems to have many more ties to Russia than President Trump. Could it be, that Hillary Clinton is actually guilty of all the things for which "They" accused President Trump?

Do you see the pattern unfolding here? Make the allegation and bring out some vague "testimony" from people not in a position to know anything. Investigate it, widely report it on the main stream media and then, when it's proven false, either let it fade away or just say that you were right all along, just couldn't find the evidence.

Sound familiar?

A "whistleblower" comes out with information about President Trump's phone call with the Ukrainian President. President Trump immediately releases the transcript of the call, blowing the whistleblowers story all apart. Representative Schiff lies, on the floor of the House, telling us what Schiff WISHED the President had said. Everyone conveniently forgets Schiff lying about the phone call.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/11/13/impeaching-hearing-factcheck-adam-schiff-parody/4178449002/

An "investigation" is started and they call numerous people who have no direct knowledge of anything germane to the call or the situation.

Why should we believe anything the Democrats say at this point? They have repeatedly played this same Bullshit game over and over during President Trump's tenure and many of us are tired of it.

Uncle Dean is gone

My Uncle, Dean Dixon, died this week. He'd been in hospitals and nursing homes for the past three months and this was not unexpected.

He was in a nursing home bed and attended by a couple of pretty nurses. Just his kind of thing!

He asked me to have him cremated and interred on the plot with Aunt Phyllis and that is what I plan. At this time, we're thinking just the dedication of the grave at interment and try to put together a memorial service later.

Uncle Dean was a great fisherman and hunter. He taught me all about such things and many more.

He married my mothers sister, Phyllis, just before he enlisted in the U.S. Army and went to fight in Korea.  In Korea, he was a truck driver for a while, hauling supplies around the country.   At some point, he was reassigned as a tank driver.  When he came home from Korea, he went back to his life in S.E. Idaho, often working with our family in the logging camps around West Yellowstone, MT.

During the '50s, my grandfather and his brothers logged the West Yellowstone area and lived in tents and half-tents in camps near their work sites. Each month, one of the men would take off from the logging work in order to provide camp meat for the whole camp. My understanding is that if no one else was having any success, Uncle Dean was the go-to guy for bringing in the game!  He used to have an old bolt action .22 rifle that he called his "moose gun".  When I laughed at him, he told me he'd taken more moose with that .22 than I had ever shot elk.  He said: "If you shoot them in the head, the go right down and if the game warden is more than 50 yards away, he didn't hear the shot!"

For those in today's world, this probably sounds harsh.  But those people lived on wild meat year around.  Animals weren't killed for fun, profit or as trophies but were used to provide food for big families with little or no money.  And "hunting season" wasn't as big a consideration because we had to eat all year long, not just in the fall.  The game wardens of the day knew these things and pretty much looked the other way, even having dinner with our family once in a while, eating moose meat along with everyone else.

Uncle Dean was also a great fisherman.  I can't remember a time that he came off a fishing trip "skunked".  Even if the rest of us didn't catch anything, he always did.

We had gone fishing on Willow Creek (aptly named) in the Island Park, ID area when I was very young.  There were at least four or five other men going fishing in addition to Uncle dean and myself.  Anyway, I took a little too long getting ready and by the time I was ready to leave the car and hit the creek, everyone else was out of sight.  There was only a small area of clear stream bank, where the road crossed the creek and both up and downstream seemed to be blocked by an impenetrable wall of willows.  I started crying because I couldn't figure out where to go.  Aunt Phyllis shouted "Dean!" and he came back to the car.  He showed me how to navigate through the wall of willows and find water to fish in.  Once I had caught one on my own, he left me to it and went on his way.

Our big family group, probably four or five families together at one camp, were at Island Park Reservoir (the Backwaters) fishing.  I really didn't like fishing with bait; throwing your worm out as far as you could and then watching the tip of your pole intently, waiting for "a bite" and I quickly got bored.  Uncle Dean had propped his pole up near me and was behind me, near the campfire, drinking coffee with the rest of the men.  Anyway, I started throwing small rocks at his pole.  When one hit, his pole would bounce as if he had a bite, he'd come running down the bank and haul back on the pole in an effort to "set the hook" and then give up in disgust, thinking the fish had not completely taken the bait.  We kids were quietly laughing at getting him to keep trying.  Anyway, one time, I got his pole to bounce and he came running down the bank alright...picked me up and threw me in the lake!

He was hunting elk one fall near West Yellowstone.  He got on a set of tracks and began following.  More than once, he saw antlers moving through the trees but could never get quite close enough to get a shot.  He kept following for quite some time.  At one point, he crossed a road and wasn't sure which road.  Then, a truck with Idaho plates came by and the driver told him that he was a couple of miles into Idaho.  He had to turn around and track himself back!

He worked at Elk Studs sawmill in West Yellowstone from almost the time it opened until around 1975, working every position in the mill, finally including Millwright.  The millwright is the guy who keeps everything working.  Later on, he moved to Townsend, MT and went to work at Wickes lumber, later RY Timber.  He retired from there a few years ago.

He was married to my Aunt Phyllis for 43 years before she died.  The two were almost inseparable from the time he came back from Korea.  The love between the two was almost visible. "Phyllis and Dean"  or "Aunt Phyllis and Uncle Dean".  Rarely one without the other somewhere close by. They never had any children and I guess I was the prime beneficiary of that fact.

When they first moved to the logging camps, as newlyweds, there was a fallen down old cabin on the campsite.  All the other men said they would help get the cabin fixed up so that Dean and Phyllis wouldn't have to live in a tent.  But, work and other activities kind of kept putting off the job until one night there was a grizzly sniffing around their tent.  The next day, while the men were all off working, the women got together, at Aunt Phyllis's urging, and got the cabin fit for occupancy.  When the men got back, Phyllis and Dean were moved!

When we went fishing or hunting, Aunt Phyllis would usually go along and sit in the car, reading or sewing or something, waiting for us to come back.  I remember one hot summer day, Uncle Dean and I were fishing the South Fork of the Madison river near West Yellowstone.  We had a great time, caught a bunch of fish and pretty much stayed on the river for most of the day.  When we got back to the car, the windows were all up, Aunt Phyllis was seriously hot and sweaty and she had made a little pile of mosquito carcasses on the dashboard.  If she opened the windows of the car, they just swarmed in at her so, all that time we were having a great fishing trip, she was fighting hordes of mosquitoes.

Aunt Phyllis's kidneys began failing in the early 80s and she had to start dialysis.  This meant three times a week she had to go to St. Peters Hospital in Helena, MT, early in the morning, and spend the day hooked up to the dialysis machine.  Uncle Dean took the graveyard shift at the mill so he could work all night and then take her to dialysis for the day.  He'd sleep in the car while she was there, take her home and go back to work. This went on for over ten years. That kind of says it about the devotion the two had for each other.  

Aunt Phyllis died in early '96 and Uncle Dean, as someone who had literally NEVER lived alone, soon remarried.  He showed the same devotion to his second wife, Vivia, as he had Aunt Phyllis and the two traveled a lot after he retired, driving around the country with a fifth wheel trailer behind his pickup.  Vivia died about three years ago and he was finally on his own; by himself and he really didn't like it.

I hadn't realized that he was having so many problems with finances and home repair and so on.  About a year ago I began helping him with those things, managing his bank account and keeping things going with his house and that sort of stuff as he slowly drifted into more and more acute dementia.  He never really had any major physical impairments, he just kind of stopped eating well or doing things.

A few months ago, he fell, apparently trying to replace a light bulb, and hit his head.  The caregiver I had arranged for called me and said he looked injured but wouldn't let her take him to the Dr.  I went to his house as soon as I got off work and found that he had a big knot on his head.  I told him we were on our way to the VA in Helena.  He said: "I don't need to see no GD Doctor!"  I said: "I didn't hear anybody ask you".  The VA found that he had a fractured vertebrae in his neck and from then on he went from one facility to another, winding up in a nursing home in Great Falls where he finally died.

He was just an all around nice guy. I can't think of hearing anything particularly bad that he ever did. He was always friendly to everyone and always seemed to have a good, positive attitude, even at the end.  I had gone up to see him only a week before and we talked for a while.  The nurses and residents all liked him and he seemed to be enjoying the company.

He has one brother and three sisters left of an original 11 kids. They were born and raised in Ashton, Idaho. 

When I first got him signed up for the VA medical service, he still had his original copy of his DD214 in his wallet. "They told me to keep it with me" he said. Over 64 years carried around in his wallet!

I'll miss him.  He was a wonderful Uncle and friend and I hope Aunt Phyllis is satisfied with my efforts.

Sally Lunn

Here's an old recipe for you, called Sally Lunn.  It comes from old England and was often used by the ranch and chuckwagon cooks in this country.  When they needed a quick dessert or breakfast bread, this one was easy and quick to prepare and could easily be adjusted for more people.

There actually is some history from England and Colonial America with some argument as to who first did this and where.

Sally Lunn is a spongy cross between bread and cake.  I like it best fresh and hot with some whipped cream on it.  Basically, with whipped cream I see it as a dessert and without whipped cream it's a pleasant breakfast bread.

1 cup flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
3 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Mix ingredients together and pour into a well greased cake pan.

Sprinkle the top liberally with cinnamon and brown sugar

Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes or until done.

The recipes I find online all use yeast instead of baking powder.  I found my recipe in an old book for cow camp cooks and this is the way I'm used to making it. 

This was a popular cake with the cow camp cooks because it was so easy and could be made up in a hurry if there was an unexpected occasion.

Anyway, this is one of the easier and quicker desserts I count on when I'm planning my menus.

The "Family Recipe"

Ok, one of my favorite dishes can be adjusted to feed from two to about as many as you want with only a little adjustment to ingredient amounts.  I call it a Mexican Casserole.  My Mom called it an Enchilada Casserole.  My daughter just calls it "The family Recipe"

Pretty simple, really.

For one or two people:

1lb hamburger.
small onion
small bell pepper
1 can of enchilada sauce
1/2 cup salsa
tortilla chips
cheddar cheese

That's it.  Brown the hamburger along with a chopped onion and diced pepper.  Once the hamburger is browned, add the enchilada sauce and salsa, then stir it together and simmer it well.  Meanwhile, crunch up some of your tortilla chips in the bottom of a casserole dish or a 9x9 cake pan or a cast iron skillet or any other fairly deep oven ready baking dish.

Pour half of the hamburger mixture over the base of crushed tortilla chips.  Cover with cheese and more crushed tortilla chips.  Pour the rest of your hamburger mixture and cover with cheese.  Bake it until the cheese is melted all over the top. 

For variety, use different intensities of enchilada sauce and salsa.  Put some chili peppers in it. 

If you want to fancy up the service, put some refried beans and Spanish rice on the plate with it.

Figure 1/2 lb of burger per person and one 10oz can of enchilada sauce per pound of burger.  I've made two 9x13 cake pans of this to feed 11 but I've also had 8 cowboys eat up that much.  If I've got a big group, I'll definitely do the beans and rice as filler.

I'll be leaving this week to go cook at a hunting camp for Ramshorn Outfitters from Townsend, MT.

This one will be different from the last hunting camp I did as this is a pack in camp as opposed to a drive in camp.  All the gear goes in on horseback. 

I'm limited on how much weight I can take in so I can't take my dutch ovens or my other cast iron gear.  I am insisting on my big cast iron skillet, though.  I have a 15" skillet with a cover.  I can brown five pounds of hamburger in it at once or cook scrambled eggs for several people.  It gives me enough room and cooking surface to make eggs to order or even omelets if I want.  But, it weighs about 15 pounds.

I'll have a camp stove and a Camp Chef oven/stove top and will be cooking for as many as 13 people.

So, Friday I ride into the mountains for 3 weeks of new experiences!

Sourdough starter and pancakes

As we progress through this cooking odyssey together, one thing you will need is a sourdough starter.  Making a good sourdough starter is actually pretty easy.  I use sourdough for breads, doughnuts and pancakes all the time so this is an important step. 

First, get yourself something to store it in.  I like a sealable crock.  One of those with the wire clamp to hold the lid on.  Here's the thing, though.  I remove the rubber seal!  So, there is some air circulation but it's still well covered.  Just a canning jar will do, but it would have to be a pretty big one...quart sized or more.  I like the crock because I got one big enough to hold five or six cups of starter, it stays closed without strangling my starter and the mouth is big enough to get a measuring cup in to scoop out what I need. 

Now, put in 2 cups of all purpose flour, 1 tsp of yeast and two cups of "no sugar added" fruit juice.  I make my own apple juice and always have some of that on hand so that's what I used the last time I had to make starter; about a year ago. 

Another way is to boil some peeled potatoes; maybe making mashed or something, and use the left over water instead of juice.  I’ve done both.  When your starter is a few years old you won’t be able to tell which liquid you used.  

Mix the flour and the juice well and leave it lightly covered for two or three days, stirring once in a while each day.  Once you have a good bubbling action going on...called a "sponge", and you can smell that sour, yeasty smell, then you have starter.  

Over time, the stored starter will develop a brownish colored liquid on top.  This is called “hootch” and is just part of the sourdough.  I mix it back into the starter once in a while.  Some people pour it off.  Whatever “floats yer stick” here. 

http://breadtopia.com/sourdough-starter-management/ is a great page about maintaining sourdough starters.  I keep mine in the crock in the refrigerator.  I try to remember to "feed" it once in a while but usually it is replenished, or "fed", often enough because I am using it. 

 Starter can last for a long time…years even…if you store it correctly, use it once in a while and, even if not using it, feed it occasionally.   The old chuckwagon cooks kept their starter for years, sometimes sleeping with it in their bedroll so it wouldn’t freeze. 

Now that you have your starter working; it’s bubbling a little and smells “yeasty” , it’s time to put it to use.

Sourdough Pancakes

The night before, mix well (to incorporate some air) 1 cup of your starter with 1 ½  cups of all purpose flour and ¾  cup of warm water.  Cover and leave at warm room temperature: 70-85 degrees, overnight.  

The next morning, return one cup of the starter mixture to your crock.

Then, mix the remaining 1 ½ cups of starter with:

 

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 tablespoon of sugar…more if you want.  I like a little more.

¾ tablespoon of salt

½ teaspoon (generous) of baking soda

2 tablespoons of milk

Try to have your ingredients at room temperature.  This will help to make more tender pancakes.

Your pancakes will be a little heavier and not as fluffy as you are used to.  In my opinion, the sourdough flavor blends with a fruity syrup better than regular maple syrup.  I also like these with butter and my home made raspberry jam. 

Now that you have made sourdough pancakes from scratch, here’s a cheat.

Depending on how many you are making, put ½ to 1 cup of starter in your mixing bowl and then add your favorite boxed pancake mix and just make your regular mix, using your sourdough starter as part of the liquid.  This gives you the sourdough flavor, they’ll be a little fluffier  than scratch and it’s a little easier because you can do this spontaneously without having to plan from the night before.