Bein' the Best There is__ Don't Make You Good.

I've been depending on Verizon for a lot of years now. Only because in a lot of places they're the only game in town. For a few of those years I saw their service footprint expand and improve in quality.

Buuuut maybe it's like old men... after a while telephone companies start to not give a fiddle and just let things fall apart. Old places I used to get online are now non-functional except for texts... IF ... you're willing to wait for ten minutes a lot of the time for the dang thing to send... or receive any reply...

They're loosing ground and I'm not real sure why... only problem is... there ain't nobody else to jump to in the hope of adding some competition pressure... So I just try once or twice and then quit until I can find some signal somewhere.

Soooo... the slowness of posts and replies is not ALL just the cranky old anti-social cowboy biker cussin' and squealing; "No! I won't!" ;)

 Knowin we'us gonna have to hook up and haul out so I was close enough to not spend a fortune running back and forth to keep those VA bureaucrats happy, Me an Arlo decided we should make the five mile up and back stroll to the Rabbit Ears before we left.

We been prowling through the timber and back roads around for days.

Climbing up to the Rabbit Ears would be ok__If__ the guy you had on the end of the leather was willing to NOT yank you off your boots on the slickery steep parts! He had to be on a leash 'cause his behavior when other folks are around is not something you can brag about.

It's not a bad lil' hike at all. Just a few spots where the sand on the hard pan of the purty steep trail gets kinda dicey and you curse yourself for wearing the wrong boots and leaving that walkin' stick behind.

And then that furry chainsaw gives a yank the wrong way at the wrong time and even coarser bad words escape into the environment...

*The Rabbit Ears are... well... kinda obvious aren't they?*

*Sunrise in the High Rockies*

*Along the trail to the Rabbit Ears*

*My, ain't it purty up here... From the top. Beside the ears*

 

A couple nights before we pulled out this big guy come a visiting... sort of... He's nigh on to 600 yards from the rig... zoomed out that classly lil' nikon and got this... kinda grainy but not bad for the distance!

He seems to be growin' a purty good rack.

We've moved to a spot west of Cheyenne to facilitate (That means 'make easier' for those less wordy than some others) the chores of these appointments.

And even here... I have to get in the truck to go a half mile to where suddenly there's signal... even though I can SEE two towers from the rig... arrrrgggghhhh...

Oh well... Anyhoo, as it stands it looks like we'll start movng north finally bound for... no friggin' idea. :) on the 20th or so...

Actually a camp I've had before up on the mountain above Sula in Montana has been sending its whispers on the breeze... which right now is Whistling through the rocks and trees around camp!

Slowly getting back into the swing of photographs and some proper writing... and likely some improper too!

-Brian

Funny How Those Circles Continue to Link...

I've been "associating" with some people from a "Circle" taken many many years ago... 

I started a "Thing" a couple weeks back... A VA thing... I'm torn and I'm ambivalent about it... I know I risked for and earned what I get there... it's not a charity... but just the same... I have a difficulty with it.

On top of that... going in there to get anything, I'm taking dollars out of a cruelly underfunded system. Dollars desperately needed by these young guys, and gals who've been coming home the past ten years... many of whom are in far worse shape than my wore out old kiester... I feel a sense of guilt... almost like I'm taking treatment away from them... so it's not easy.

But... the VA is my only Protection against the fines and punishments of not obeying king obama and his socialism... so I go... ambivalent and torn or not.

...and they treat me very well. Hell, they always have. I've said it before... the issues there are not found in the professional medical people at the VA who take care of us... sure there are the rare fools you find in any large institution or organization, that's just human reality... but the problem there is and always has been, the deceitful sob's the American people keep putting over us in D.C.

You want to "fix" the VA... you are first going to have to "Fix" yourselves and your own perceptions... so you can clean up that sewer you call government... don't do that... and the VA will never be repaired.

So anyway... I went in... with ONLY the idea in mind of getting my "Name" back on the active list so I'm protected from the friggin' IRS...

...and the people in this Institution, that has been getting ripped and torn and accused of all sorts of Malfeasance... have insisted (contrary to how they are portrayed)... almost demanded that I get certain checks and things looked at... Like I said... The Medico's at the VA are the best. The assault against them is a game of misdirection and lies... told to protect the lying sob's that keep lying their way into congress and the white house... enough said...

~~~~

It looks like our return to the Beet Harvest in North Dakota is a solid go... a lot of work has to happen to get there though... I discovered a lack of brakes on the Fiver on the run up to Red Feather, as in NONE... so New brakes all around on the trailer... and I'm thinking the bearings have got to be worn... so IDK... maybe have to knock over a liquor store ;)

The "wasp tent" is still active on the roof... I decided to just leave it up until I have to move the rig... or darn near. I've been checking things daily and not seeing any activity at all... but I'm playing it safe.

I did manage to get up on the roof and apply some seam/joint sealant in some spots that needed it. That had to be done before I can re-coat ... so it has time to cure first... Hoping to do a recoat in another week or two...

Still waiting on another shipment of a small tool so I can get my scooter reassembled... Hoping hard for that to arrive late in the week...

While I'm doing that waiting... I decided to try to fabricate a carrier for my phone...

More time on the new stitching horse... So far that has been pretty much a total success. Thing works better than any other I've built.

Took me two tries to get it sized right.

The first time I was off just enough I couldn't even stretch it to fit... yup... leather craft is a perishable skill... leave it lay too long and it takes a bit to get it warmed up again.

This time, with a slightly enlarged pattern... I juuuuust squeezed by.

Not sure I'm gonna be happy or "comfortable" with it though... with this humongous new phone I blundered into... It's kinda like having a small laptop strapped to my belly!

I was given the comment that I look like an "Insurance salesman or a Realtor ready to draw my phone and pull the Trigger! Bang! Bang!"

... um.... that stung!... and, No... So... we'll see how it goes. It is better than carrying the thing in my hand or having to take it out of my pocket every time I sit down so I don't crack it like the last one... but...

... it's like Facebook... I think it may be time to back away a good long distance from quite so much gadgetry... and just go back to Motorcycles, Horses and Far Country... Far More...

Off now to another VA visit... :-?

Brian

The Veterans Administration... is NOT... the Source of the Problem

 (this is a post I wrote on my FB... I decided to reprint it here)

Ok... the VA... big stink lately right? Well guess what people... it's not one damn bit of difference than it has EVER been.

I speak from thirty plus years of personally dealing with it. U.S Army Disabled.

The VA don't get it done. It NEVER has.

Is that the fault of the VA system? No... it is NOT.

If you must place fault, go into the smallest room in your house, lean over the sink and stare into the mirror... and look your ass in the face. Cuz Darlin's... YOU is the culprit.

America has long talked her best into "writing a blank Check" payable for any amount up to and including their lives... to the nation... to go on foreign adventures, largely for the purpose of enriching already obscenely wealthy owners of various military/industrial complex corporations.

They were promised health care if they got torn apart and Survived the ordeal...

America has largely reneged on that promise. Always has. Look back at the army attacking the Vets on the Washington mall after world War one... when they went to protest the broken promises...

So now... the VA is "playing games" with appointments and treatment? I call Bull Shit!

The Congress and bureaucrats are scapegoating... and it's obscene.

They failed to fund the VA for the task they were given. The AMERICAN PEOPLE have not demanded that they do... and Vets endure, with dignity, once again, the broken promises.

The VA is staffed, doctors, nurses, technicians and orderlies, with the best people there are... but they can only do what they can do with available resources... their "delaying" of appointments/treatment is NOT malfeasance ... it is a form of triage. They deal with and treat who they can with available resources.

Firing Gen. Shinseki is not justice for a poor job. It is Scapegoating for failure to work a god damned miracle.

If you want to point the finger of blame... point it at the Congress and Whitehouse for failing to properly fund a grossly over burdened system... and yourselves... for failing to demand that they do!

Leave the good people of the VA alone.

They are doing the best they can with the meager tools you gave them. If you don't like the treatment your warriors are receiving, write your congressmen and demand that your soldiers be treated before the disrespectful illegals flooding our borders!!!

Signed...
A Vet in defense of the VA