I hope that the Senate Democrats up for re-election in 2012 know that the people have a very good memory. Ramirez’ take on the lame duck situation . . .
Click on the image to enlarge.
November 2010
Garcia Little Red School House
This is Wickenburg’s historic Little Red School House on North Tegner Street. The Wickenburg Children’s Cultural Organization uses it for musical events and community cultural activities. It is a national historic monument.
This building, originally built at the Vulture Mine, was moved the 25 mile distance to its present location in about 1895 at a cost of $50.00. You can read about Ynagcio Garcia for whom the school house is named and the rest of the history at the Wickenburg Unified School District website.
Click on the image to enlarge.
Along US 60
We have been up and down US 60 between Wickenburg and the Phoenix Metro area a lot since the new house project started. Earlier this month, we passed the first train we have seen on the BNSF rails that parallel the road. This one was hauling rolls of sheet metal and some other big metal products. I sure like the paint job on the locomotives. Photo credit Damsel – click to enlarge.
Profiling YES – Pat-downs NO
What part of the Bill of Rights is the TSA ignoring?
The Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Dark Sky
Several years ago, I visited Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, AZ. Some friends and I took the guided tour that brought us into several of the telescope domes on the mountain. One statement the tour guide made stuck in my memory. He said “We get more light pollution from Phoenix than we do from Tucson which is less than half the distance from the observatory.”
Tuscon, which is home to the main campus of the University of Arizona (go Wildcats). The University does a lot of optical and astronomical research and was a main influence on Tucson’s Dark Sky Ordinance. Most of the Phoenix Metro cities do not have a dark sky ordinance. We can stand in the 18 wheeler lot after nightfall at our Wickenburg hotel and see the glowing dome of light pollution to the southeast.
The Town of Wickenburg is considering a dark sky ordinance. The ordinance isn’t yet in effect, so we don’t have to comply when selecting our outdoor fixtures, but we want to be compliant. The image above shows the light pattern that our compliant fixtures will deliver – no upward light.
We have two telescopes – serious ones – 10″ and 90 cm catadioptrics, but we don’t use them much because of the terrible seeing in Southern California. We want to be able to take them out on clear Arizona nights and be able to see the planets, stars, galaxies and nebulae without competition from our own lights.
Weekend AND Thanksgiving Grocery Shopping
We usually do our grocery shopping on Thursdays. Before we retired, we went shopping on Friday afternoon or Saturday morning. We changed to Thursday because there is less traffic in the store unless they have one of their weird 6-hour sales or something.
We decided that today we would combine the weekend shopping and pick up the things we’re going to need for our Thanksgiving dinner. As usual, the store wasn’t too crowded today. We shopped for the weekend faire, got some household supplies. got a few pantry items and also got everything we needed for our holiday celebration.
We redeemed a bunch of coupons and walked out of the store having saved over seventy dollars on the total. We’re looking forward to our weekend cooking and the Thanksgiving Holiday with eager anticipation.
Pelosi Reelected to House Leadership
With Pelosi’s public approval rating now less than Cheny’s lows, what could possibly go wrong?
