Greetings from Ice Station Zebra....

Blizzard "Goliath" dumped well over two and one half feet of snow 
on us in 12 hours starting 12/27.
It continues to snow 12/29.
We live in a high desert area that experiences--in a rare hard winter
perhaps 3 inches of snow total in an entire winter..1/2 inch at a time.
This amount of snow at one time here has just been overwhelming.

The snow fell so hard and so fast on the night of the 27th
 the weight of the accumulated snow destroyed the sunshade
over our driveway..

It's reported that several business roofs collapsed as well..

Our dog cannot get out--he's so small that the snow is over
his head.

Everything has stopped---
No mail, no nothing...the streets are totally blocked.
It's supposed to stay very cold, and as of the 29th it has begun snowing again...
(below the neighborhood looking north from our front porch)

We are fine tho---

Paranoia is it's own reward..

we are always well stocked against any contingency..
Supplies are not a problem....
The power is on and seems OK---?
We are lucky in that since----
 my generator is buried beneath the collapsed 
driveway sunscreen framework.
The benefit of being survivalist orientated
is that a week without the grocery store is nothing.

People have a tendency to laugh at survivalist tendencies--
until an incident like this happens?

The county website is advising that the most of the roads are still 
blocked, and that people who were staying in the town's
hotels are dependent on cross-country skiers to bring
them food?
The stores that are open people are reporting their stock is dwindling...?
We are a little light on emergency services here...
for example a photo of one of our limited in number
snow removal trucks from the county website doesn't look so good?

So my paranoid peccadillo's have actually paid off for once---

There's been two local deaths reported due to the storm so far--
One, a heart attack from shoveling snow:

The other was a victim of the cold and snow
caught out in the storm...
New Mexico 
can be unforgiving at the best of times.

With the driveway a disaster, snow blocking movement,
the dog unable to go out & roads blocked---
Our special purpose in life at the moment seems to be
standing around staring stunned at huge piles of snow 
while repeating"What the fuck" 
enhanced by an exasperated tone of voice?

Nature isn't stunned by the snow--

My JoJo photographed this falcon

killing a dove in our backyard...?

It is going to take quite a while to dig ourselves out.

I started but---

It may not be over yet.

There is additional snow fall forecasted for 

New Years eve?

New Mexico, Land of Enchantment they said---

really, really, really want one of these
to set up in the yard...want, want, want...
too expensive, too expensive, too expensive--
ah shit!

A digital sundial that displays the exact time as the sun moves!

The Pocket Rocket was serviced last week

and is totally good to go!

Snug in the garage out of the blizzard.

The local Toyota dealer did a great job.

Oil Change, tune-up and systems check,

as well as a new set of tires installed.

This was my major project for the winter...

I installed a vehicle mount in the Rocket for my new IPhone 6s

so the vehicle now has GPS navigation & accessible Internet capabilities.

The next item on the "get" list for the Pocket Rocket
is a ScanGaugeE.

The ScangaugeE monitors fuel consumption on multiple,
digitally accurate levels that far surpass any other
fuel consumption gauging. 
It installs by merely plugging it into the OBDII port.
Then programming the gauge for your specific vehicle.

With fuel so cheap at the moment

and my turbo diesel Pocket Rocket averaging 

over 65 mpg in town--

(The turbo diesel Smart obtains double the mileage of the gasoline model)

why invest in this technology you may ask?

It is only a matter of time until the oil barons of the world like Dick Cheney,

manipulate the price of fuel upwards again until it 
once more gouges the life out of the American public.
As sure as tomorrow's sunrise these bastards will make this happen...
This manipulation has always occurred--
a crash in fuel prices is 
ALWAYS followed by a huge average price increase.
If you believe fuel pricing will remain at the current level forever,
well....

I will be prepared to fuck them back by eco-modding
the Pocket Rocket to squeeze the last drop of maximum mileage,
and to keep every penny possible from lining Cheney's pocket.

There is massive strangeness involved with life in your mid 60's.

Some mornings I awake feeling on top of the world.
Perfect, willing to tackle anything and proud of being
a capable geezer...different from those old codgers...

These "on top of my game" days are often immediately followed by
 days where i feel older and more broken than Tutankhamun?
On these Tutankhamun days my brain screams "YOU'RE FUCKING OLD"
as i try and try to get myself jump-started towards doing anything?

There is no apparent reasoning behind this physical variation.
No pattern that I can determine...
no cause and effect syndrome to allow for possible prevention.

Overall life is excellent.

But this day to day variance problem 
in how my personal, physical machinery operates
requires a solution---
I'm working on it---

The Anime series--"Cowboy Bebop"--- Soundtrack.

and

Why don't you see this in the Hillary dominated news?

Do I have enough time to beat up the band?

Stop being afraid....

Politicians and the news media have become screaming
platforms of fear.
Each attempting to outdo each other driving the American voter into
supporting one camp or another.
On any subject matter they think we can be influenced--by fear.
They want us afraid--to herd us like sheep-like 
in the direction of their choosing.

The counter to fear is factual information and an open mind.
Here are the facts---
This year:
Only 1.8% of the GLOBAL deaths involving violence of any kind
were attributed to terrorism.
This works out to be 11,133 terror related deaths globally from
 an estimated U.N. world population total of 7 BILLION PEOPLE?
Now What the Fuck?
The conflict in the middle east is a major contributor to this 1.8%.
In applying a logical perspective to the fear of terrorists--
one needs to understand the following---

In 2012 ( last figures available)
 three times as many humans on the PLANET died from
RABIES...
compared to Terrorist assault.
On our planet today----
Stomach cancer kills more humans than
War and murder combined.
Do not be manipulated--by fear tactics.

Be strong, be intelligent,be resolute, be logical
against intentional fear mongering
for profit or political advancement.

Read the truth here at the Atlantic...

Be smart...not afraid...

We are safer now than at any time in history!

This week--I replaced the battery and installed a NATO strap
on an old Invicta, inexpensive watch.

I still need to replace the timer activator rods
for the stopwatch sub-dials which
have never worked properly even when new...
A good winter project?

I spent days writing for this particular blog---

I wrote on---

 Hillary Clinton, Susana Martinez my Governor,

the arrest of the Pharma-bro---

I worked hard on the first draft....

My wife had several insights this week that really helped in providing

 a personal revelation..

All I had written in actuality..was a series of RANTS..

nothing constructive--rather just---ranting--

Tonight I deleted everything i had written and replaced it..
There is an over abundance of ranting in this world.
You have no need to hear more here.
I am attempting a rant free zone...

Not that i am just going to post 

happy, stupid, puppy videos or some such shit.

I will still post weird shit and comment on it.

However

I am not going to rant.

Find this concept extremely logical--
A method to insure nuclear war is an absolute last step

I managed to repair one of my Swiss Army knives..
The scissor spring had broken...which I replaced.
Springs used with the knife's scissors are ordered in packets of 6..

You push the spring out of it's circular side mount.
and press the replacement spring in with pliers.

Unfortunately it sounds simple..deceptively simple....
Especially when you are aligning very small parts
around sharp objects....
using geezer eyeballs.

But elaborate cursing carried the day to success.

How's this for an opening paragraph?

Art Pepper's "The Trip"

on new old stock analog cassette...

And:

Analog tape as well...

Anonymous has come out in support of Bernie Sanders...

Awesome!

Hillary had better play fair...