Month: August 2020

‘Keep America Great’ I

The United States hasn’t been great for everyone all the time. Despite this, the U.S. has been and continues to be a premiere destination for immigrants from all over the world. Some may not have had alternatives, but once they arrived here they rarely left to go elsewhere. Those of us here rarely go elsewhere to live, either.

So along comes Donald Trump. “Make America Great Again.” If the U.S. was once great, what happened to reduce its stature? And why did he run for president on a platform of “If it ain’t broke, break it”? * Is that how to make America great?

Now the Trump campaign wants to “Keep America Great.” But so do Democratic candidates Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

The Biden-Harris campaign created a web site to list what Trump broke, and now Joe Biden and Kamala Harris plan to oust Trump so that they can keep America great. No more breaking things. They stand for four years of fixing what Trump broke and really making America great again.

Trump didn’t just break what wasn’t broken. He broke his promises, too.

See “Keep America Great” on the web sponsored by Biden for President.

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* He didn’t say this in so many words. But this is what he meant by draining the swamp. His perception of the federal government is that it has been a swamp of self-serving incompetence. While there have been inefficiencies and redundancies, the government was staffed by professional and knowledgeable public servants who took their jobs seriously. Trump broke the government by appointing campaign contributors, industry insiders, fundamentalist Christians, and shysters – sometimes all in the same person. If there ever was a swamp in Washington, D.C., Trump introduced it. Democrats Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are tasked with draining the very real swamp that Donald Trump created.

Javalinas near Phoenix, Arizona

Late August 2020

Javalinas – peccaries – are nocturnal. I came across these at about sunrise when they were returning to their nests in the nearby wash – seasonal riverbed. They are in the family of New World pigs. They shouldn’t be confused with domestic pigs, which originated in Eurasia. No one seems to have domesticated javalinas, though.

The wash is down a slope to the right of the picture. The large washes around here are on public land and are considered nature preserves.

Not long ago, I was about a dozen feet away from a javalina – also crossing a residential street a bit distant from a wash. They are fond of knocking over garbage cans for remnants of food. They are omnivorous.

I didn’t have my camera, and I’ve never used the camera on my flip phone. (Yes. You read that right. That’s what I carry when I’m out and about. My smart phone stays at home, safe and sound. More about my phones another time.)

This made my day.

What’s on your license plate?

I’ve never had a wet bar in my home, and if I did I can’t say whether I would display my old license plates behind the bar.

But I can say that I’m sharing with you pictures of some of my old plates. (Do you have photos of your old plates?)

My first Arizona plate. Plates are designated by three letters followed by four digits, and the first letter has been ‘A’, ‘B’ or ‘C’. This was on my 2004 Dodge Neon. I’ve disguised the actual identity of the plate –

2004 Dodge Neon

(I keep cars for a long time. I’m not part of the American consumer culture.)

My new Arizona plate is a new style of designation. Plates are coded by seven characters with three A’s interspersed . This is on my newish 2018 Kia Rio. Again, I’ve disguised the actual identity of the plate –

2018 Kia Rio

 

The following are plates that I had in Illinois from about 1977 onward –

Front plate. Rear plate was stolen. This was from my Dodge Neon before I moved to Kansas where the rear plate was stolen – before I even registered this car in Kansas.

 

 

I had two other cars during this time. Both were totaled in accidents that I escaped from with no injuries, unless you count glass embedded in my left palm.

I’m missing a picture of my Kansas license plate. I thought that I took a picture of it before I discarded it in Arizona. It would be on my computer somewhere …

An Agave without seeds

This Agave has grown bulbils from its flower stalk after the flowers were spent. I don’t know how long these bulbils have been on the plant, though. This is to say, I don’t know how long since the plant flowered.

The bulbils are fully formed plants, just lacking roots. If they fall off and land in a favorable place, they will grow roots and establish themselves.

Who knows how many new plants will successfully establish themselves from these dozens of bulbils.

Folklore calls some Agaves the “Century Plant” with the erroneous belief that they flower after they’ve been growing for a century. The truth is that they flower just one time when they are fully mature – before they’ve reached the age of twenty-five or so.

I believe that they were called the “Sentry Plant” for their tall, prominent flower spikes. ‘Sentry’ was easily heard as ‘century’ after its flowering habit. So there you have it. Mull it over with a cup of hot tea with sugar.

I potted two bulbils for my patio desert garden:

This picture shows what the bulbils look like:

It’s hard for me to say which species and which variety this is.