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Reading the “news” may be bad for one’s thinking … and there’s so very much of it that says nothing.
I have this weird idea that our next war isn’t going to be against Russia, China. or Iran – it’s going to be against the EU. But those monkeys seem to think their laws apply to us and that can’t be allowed.
So much for NATO – it’s time has come and gone anyway, same with the UN.
Walsenburg Camp (separate from Walsenburg) was formed as a coal mining company town by the Colorado Fuel & Iron Co in the 1870s. At its peak in the 1920s, Walsenburg Camp had a population of 1200. By the 1930s, the Walsen mine began to flood with water beyond what was feasible to pump and the mines closed. The town was razed in 1965.
However, the power plant, which had been built in 1898 to supply the mines and town, continued to function, providing power to Walsenburg. CF&I had sold the plant to the city of Walsenburg in 1955 but by 1972, deferred maintenance (isn’t that always the case with governments?) and needed repairs led to the end of life for the plant
The remnants of this power plant is the last structure remaining of the Walsenburg Camp settlement. It is now on the Endangered Colorado preservation list but its location makes it susceptible to vandals and scavengers. This photo was taken in 2006; at the time, some of the machinery was still in place. I find something fascinating about that 1890s/1910s industrial equipment …
To my knowledge, the structure may no longer exist.
I’m going to recommend a book. It’s a religious book … of a different sort. Tales of Ely, tracking elk across the mountains, digging for ore, sagebrush and the open desert, redemption.
So maybe it won’t appeal to you; such a book wouldn’t appeal to me either on the face of it but for some reason, I picked it up sometime, somewhere I no longer remember.
Redemption of a Hardrock Miner – John Gergen
What first drew me to this book was the cover photo, title, and blurb:
“John was [is] traditionally a hardrock miner, who was raised up in the back room of a central Nevada roadhouse secluded in the high desert mountains.“
I used to stop at that “central Nevada roadhouse” back in the early 80s; a bar, a gas station, an old livery barn, and a nice hot springs: Warm Springs, NV at the intersection of US6 and NV375 (aka “The Extraterrestrial Highway”).
Back in the day, it was the gathering place for miners working the mines in the area – Tonopah was the nearest anything and it was 50 miles away: the miners could bunk down on payday, run a tab at the bar and gas station (and probably the girls). They’d collect their pay once a week, pay off the tab, and repeat the following week.
Even after the mines closed down, the gas station closed down, and finally the bar closed down, one could park out behind the old stable and soak in the springs; hidden from any rarely passing cop car, not noticing, intentionally or not, that you were there.
Those were the days before “progress” and civilization happened.
As far as I can tell, the only reason Warm Springs shows up on Giggle Maps is to fill in a mighty large blank space .
A few of the buildings still stand; ruins now, not worth the cost of tearing down. The gas station is gone, the stable is gone and the springs fenced off. A few trees grow along the run-off, the stone corral for wild horses is still there; a wide spot in the road for truckers to stop and check their maps.
Tonopah to the left is the only “civilization” on this map in spite of the names shown One could get in trouble out here thinking there was a town nearby
The book speaks of places I’ve been and thoughts I’ve had out there in the high desert, of times when I was in the area – so of course I read it. And it spoke to me.
Interlude
Evey so often, I get together for breakfast with a friend of mine who lives about 40 miles away. We trade off places to go; sometimes we go to a town near him, sometimes we go to a town near me. I don’t recall when I was living back east thinking of driving 40 miles or so to meet for breakfast – different world; need a passport to go east of Kearney.
We’ve been doing this for a year – come to think of it, two years now. As it so happened, the diner we went to closest to me shut down recently when the owners decided to retire after 40 years.
How dare they!!!
This is agriculture/ranch land; population isn’t high, not enough business to support a lot of such places so we’ve been looking for a place on my side to replace the old place.
A relatively new place in the town. About 20-25 minutes away for me; longer for him.
“Let’s meet at X’s at 7AM“ “OK – see you Saturday“
He’d been overseas since before Thanksgiving; we hadn’t checked this place out before.
So I’m there about 7AM opening time, grab a seat at the counter and a cup of coffee … and wait. And wait. And drink another cup. And wait. And drink another cup. This time though, I gave up on him showing and ordered. A kill-me special: biscuits, gravy, two eggs over easy, two sausage links. Large milk. More coffee.
The guys next to me are BS’ing when I hear one talk about a trip down to Warm Springs. I pop up and tell them I used to go to that bar when it was open in the early 80s. We get to talking and one of the guys happens to mention he had written a book.
This book.
Now I’m going to tell you, this was a guy like I imagine Jesus to have been – I believe Jesus existed, not so sure about the divinity but then not many have had the influence on the world he has, divine or not. This guy’s a hard rock miner rather than carpenter but a down-to-earth long-haired redneck type. Works his hands for a living digging rock. Nothing special about him, just some guy – someone most wouldn’t be comfortable around.
Now, I’m not a redneck. People that aren’t rednecks think I am; the genuine article knows better. My brother’s a redneck, my cousins are rednecks. I’m not a redneck but many of my friends are and I get along fine with them; more so than I get along with people in my professional work really.
So I met the author of this book quite by accident this morning. We seem to have a lot in common yet have very little in common. Maybe the most important part is our feeling for central Nevada, the smell of sagebrush, the wind through the trees, the vast openness of the country – closer to God than other people. I can stand in places and look over valleys where the entirety of NYC would fit with room to spare and probably have not as many a dozen people.
And because I went to breakfast this morning and met some guy, y’all get this rambling discourse and mention of a book I think worth reading – all because I had a chance meeting with the author, who just happens to live not far from me, who loves the same places I do for the same reasons, and works in a field I can relate to.
The voice in my head told me to write this post. Gets me thinking about heading down to the high desert country again.
Play it again, Sam …
Tonopah
Across the mountains here Nevada sings Tellin’ me it’s time to hurry home Hot dry and wind blown country callin’ me Out where those shadows run so tall
It came about when someone suggested this verse to me:
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! Isaiah 5:20-21
Which ended up leading to this …
Defending our God-given rights
Protecting liberty
Upholding the Constitution
Promoting less government
Preserving America’s founding values
Maybe that was the person’s intent. Who even knew they still existed?
Some stuff worth reading: “John Birch Society” jbs dot org
The John Birch Society is an American right-wing political advocacy group. Founded in 1958, it is anti-communist, supports social conservatism, and is associated with ultraconservative, radical right, far-right, right-wing populist, and right-wing libertarian ideas.
So this is bad???
If NPR is against it; if Wiki uses terms like “radical right“, if a description states: “known for its strong anti-communist stance and promotion of conspiracy theories.” It must be worth looking into. Counter the woke.
Ida never thunk it of myself either … but I’m already on “The List” so why not?
Even though I was far too young to vote – or even have an educated opinion, I remember thinking I liked Barry Goldwater in ’64; I even still have one of his books from then. Damn – they are going to come for me when they take power again …
Mrs DT & I met in Colorado. We never really dated – the voice in my head told me she was the one and I’d better not mess this up. Not that I have a habit of messing things up. Too often. Well, maybe too often …
But I didn’t this time.
But to make up for not dating, we got married three times. Colorado acknowledges common-law marriage. Wedding #1 – the one I recognize.
Mrs DT is from a foreign land. She had every intention of returning home; she turned down a good job because she was not staying. Until she met me. Ta da!
The Feds don’t recognize common-law so we had to do it formal like so she could get a green card. Went over to the county courthouse, talked some clerk into signing papers. Wedding #2 – the “official” one. Today’s date; Friday, February 13
Now people think, Aw, that’s cute. A Valentine’s Day wedding. Nope. We don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day. Like this year, we got married on Friday the 13th. It just happened to be February. That’s why I’m posting this now.
But then friends and relatives spoke their minds …
So, we picked a date in May (nice weather) – I forget the date but I’m sure Mrs DT hasn’t – where we had a friend (I think he was ordained in some way back in his hippie days) perform a ceremony with all the traditional trimmings including a reception. Wedding #3 – the almost forgotten one.
We must have done something right – still together and still friends. I was thinking 30 years – perhaps wedding #1; looking at a calendar, wedding #2 must have been 1998 so 28 years “official”.
She became a citizen in 2002 but that’s a different story.
“An ensuing Supreme Court ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA found greenhouse gases qualify as air pollutants and that if the EPA determines they endanger public health or welfare it can regulate them.“
By far the most significant “greenhouse” gas is water vapour.
And lots of other related things there’s no point in going into here – other than …
EPA has probably done at least as much damage to this country as the civil rights act.
Jamestown was founded in 1607 (Pocahontas anyone?) on what was then a peninsula poking out into the James River. It was the capital of Virginia until 1699 when the capital was moved to Middle Plantation, later named Williamsburg. The town of Jamestown began to fade away as the majority of commercial life followed the government to Williamsburg but several families stayed on what became an island and prospered.
Through marriage and inheritance, the primary landowner was Richard Ambler by 1724. Richard died in 1766 and divided his holdings between his three sons. Edward, the eldest, inherited Richard’s Yorktown properties, John inherited the majority of Jamestown properties, and the youngest, Jaquelin, inherited smaller holdings in both. John died not long after Richard; his holdings went to Edward. Edward moved his family to Jamestown; when he died in 1768, his family remained until the American Revolution. Jaquelin died in 1798.
The Ambler mansion was first built in 1750. Built in the Georgian-style, it was a 2-story structure centered about a central hall with two rooms on either side. The home was surrounded by extensive garden walkways. It was burned in the American Revolution and rebuilt by John. The Ambler family sold its Jamestown holdings in 1831 to David Bullock. The home was burned again in the Civil War and rebuilt again. The third burning in 1895 was not rebuilt and the ruins are now part of the Colonial Historical National Park.
Although the Jamestown site has fee-based access like other national parks, there is an island loop road which is open-access (as is Colonial Parkway – the main road between Jamestown and Yorktown through Williamsburg. Obama shut the road down during one of the now common govt shutdowns. Like closing statues.)
I recently expressed some opinions on participating in the stock market. There have been some interesting comments as a result. I enjoy such but I feel the need to state a disclaimer. This also covers opinions not necessarily of a financial nature. To do so, I’m going to steal bits from QTR Fringe Finance because he best expresses my thoughts on the matter; I haven’t changed his wording too much:
My posts represent my opinions only.In addition, please understand I am an idiot and often get things wrong and lose money. I may own or transact in any stocks mentioned at any time without warning.
These are not recommendations to buy or sell any stocks or securities, just my opinions. I often lose money on positions I trade/invest in.
None of my comments are a solicitation to buy or sell securities. I may or may not hold opinions I write about any longer than it takes to write it down. Sometimes I’m bullish without owning things, sometimes I’m bearish and do own things. Just assume my positions could be exactly the opposite of what you think they are just in case. If I’m long I could quickly be short and vice versa. All positions can change immediately as soon as I publish any comments, with or without notice and at any point I can be long, short or neutral on any position.
You are on your own. Do not make decisions based on my blog. I exist on the far side of the fringe … but I can see the fringe off in the distance.
If you see numbers and calculations of any sort, assume they are wrong and double check them.
I do my best to be honest about my disclosures but can’t guarantee I am right; I write these posts in unusual mental states sometimes. I often edit after my posts are published because I’m impatient and lazy, so if you see a typo, check back in a half hour. It might still be there.
Also, I just straight up get shit wrong a lot. I mention it twice because it’s that important.
Mostly I won’t give stock advice unless specifically asked – or unless the muse strikes. If and when you ask – about stocks or anything else, I’ll be happy to flap my figurative lips until the cows come home. And beyond if I feel the urge.
I’ve played the stock game for a few decades now and can provide definitive, God’s-honest-truth on methods to lose money. Many of those methods involve listening to experts. I will share what little I’ve learned but my advice is worth what you paid for it.
But that advice or comment may give you a starting point to form your own opinions.
if you are determined, bound and determined, to disregard disrespect dismiss the life that you own, get a room far away and write a long note saying “sorry, I love you, but I hate myself more.”
