We have seen cell phone transmission that have been disguised as conifers, palm trees and who knows what else, but this is the first time we have seen a church steeple (or whatever) with cell elements strewn on it. Seen on I-57 near Fullerton, CA. Click on the image to enlarge.
When we return to California, we’re always greeted with surprises – some unpleasant ones, like elbow high weeds in the back yard and some nice surprises like flowers in bloom. We mow the weeds down, spray Round Up grass and weed killer and I take pictures of the flowers.
This is (I think) a lithops in bloom. “Lith” from the Greek for stone and ops meaning “like.” This species uses it’s stony, unappetizing appearance to keep from being eaten by small mammals, but occasionally produces flowers for propagation purposes. Click on the image to enlarge.
When we come to California to the old house, we bring our recyclable aluminum cans so we can turn them in to the County recycle center and get $$ back. We had quite a load this trip and actually got over a hundred bucks for the aluminum cans. We had been collecting them over several months.
The funny thing about the recycle trip is that we get most of our aluminum beverage cans in Arizona. In our state, we do not have the nutty greenbat notion of California Recycle Value (CRV), so we can take advantage of recycling our scrap aluminum and get the CRV back that we didn’t pay in the first place. 😀
Damsel took this picture of an unusual succulent just outside of the gate to the center. The large drooping flowers attracted a bunch of bees we could see buzzing around. Click on the image to enlarge.
After our all-day drive from Wickenburg to Torrance, I paused in the patio garden to photograph this nice daffodil that seems to be doing OK in spite of not having any attention for nearly three months. Click on the image to enlarge.
Last year, February 6th was Superbowl Sunday. It was the first time we watched the big game in our new Arizona home. At that time, we had yet to acquire much furniture and we watched the Packers defeat the Steelers while sitting on folding chairs and using a picnic cooler for a table. I grilled up a couple of tenderloin steaks on the little portable charcoal grill. We ate the meal and enjoyed football afterwards. Click on the grill to see the tenderloin steak, baked potato and asparagus meal we ate that day.
Compare this scholarly analysis of the fall of the Athenian Republic to our situation in America (Hat tip to my former colleague, Frank N.):
In 1887 Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior:
“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship.”
“The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:
From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage.”The Obituary follows:
Born 1776, Died 2012
It doesn’t hurt to read this several times.
Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul , Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning the last Presidential election:
Number of States won by: Obama: 19 McCain: 29
Square miles of land won by: Obama: 580,000 McCain: 2,427,000
Population of counties won by: Obama: 127 million McCain: 143 million
Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Obama: 13.2 McCain: 2.1Professor Olson adds: “In aggregate, the map of the territory McCain won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of the country.
Obama territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in low income tenements and living off various forms of government welfare…”
Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the “complacency and apathy” phase of Professor Tyler’s definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation’s population already having reached the “governmental dependency” phase.
If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal invaders called illegal’s – and they vote – then we can say good-bye to the USA in fewer than five years.
If you are in favor of this, then disregard this message.
If you are not, then pass this along to help everyone realize just how much is at stake, knowing that apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom.
This is scary.
Of course we are not a democracy, we are a Constitutional Republic.
Of course we know that Obama and many others pay little attention to The Constitution.
There couldn’t be more at stake than on November 6, 2012.
If you are as concerned as I am please pass this along.
After walking the dogs this afternoon, I stepped back out to get this nice photo of the waxing gibbous moon over one of the saguaros in our yard. Click on the image to enlarge.