{"id":4692,"date":"2017-01-29T18:30:54","date_gmt":"2017-01-30T01:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/?p=4692"},"modified":"2017-01-29T18:42:52","modified_gmt":"2017-01-30T01:42:52","slug":"ho-hum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/ho-hum\/","title":{"rendered":"Ho-Hum"},"content":{"rendered":"

Other than politics, which I try to avoid in these posts even though we follow events closely, it has been a ho-hum week. Here is an update from the past week on several topics.<\/p>\n

We have decided to hold off scheduling a visit to the last Cedaredge house I mentioned in my last post; perhaps we can arrange to look at a few “potentials” in one trip instead of just driving to look at a singe place. (145 N. Grand Mesa Drive<\/a>) The realtor did send us info on the cost of utilities which appear to be high: $182.00 per month (average) for electric and natural gas. That seems to indicate the place has little or no insulation, a factor to consider if we would consider remodeling such a place. So, while not eliminated, we don’t feel there is a great hurry to look this one over.<\/p>\n

A recent ATV ride in Wild Horse Mesa yielded a couple photos; the roads are muddy due to melting snow (daytime temps once again above freezing). I spotted an “antique” oil pumping rig, now out of service, that originally ran an internal combustion engine on\u00a0natural gas. The old rigs are being removed and few remain in this area.<\/p>\n

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Muddy roads on Wild Horse mesa<\/p><\/div>\n

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Natural-gas powered oil rig is now an antique<\/p><\/div>\n

The trip was not long, a couple hours, but it was good to be out in the sunshine again!<\/p>\n

As mentioned above, the weather has improved and we are now looking forward to a spell of \u00a0weather featuring above-average temperatures. We did have some single-digit low temps this past week, a reminder that winter is a long way from being over, but the warmer temps are welcomed by us and our critters.<\/p>\n

And speaking of critters\u2026here is a photo of Pam – with KitKat and Auburn Jo – sitting on our glider:<\/p>\n

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Pam with KitKat and Auburn Jo<\/p><\/div>\n

KitKat is mellowing out; she would not let herself be petted for over a year but now likes to have Pam (but\u00a0not me) pet her on occasion.<\/p>\n

I can’t end without visiting the political events of the past week. My grandparents were immigrants who came to this country for a variety of reasons, including political ones. Religion was never an issue and, in my opinion, never should be. The US Constitution, First Amendment, reads, in part:<\/p>\n

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;<\/em><\/p>\n

Mr. Trump claims his 7-country immigration ban is about keeping the US safe from terror but not one individual who has committed an act of terror in the US, going back to 9-11, originated from one of those countries. The countries where terrorists\u00a0have come from, including Saudi Arabia (15 of the 9-11 hijackers had Saudi passports) are not on the list. This executive order is clearly a ban on immigration based on a specific religion.<\/p>\n

The Constitution also includes Article 6, which reads in part:<\/p>\n

…but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.<\/em><\/p>\n

Which further strengthens the\u00a0argument that banning immigration based on religion is unconstitutional. I hope the courts, where challenges to this order will be heard, put a check on the President’s [God-like] power to issue executive orders, orders that must pass constitutional muster. This is not a given. If the courts decide the President’s power is absolute then our democracy is worthless; the idea of checks and balances in a democratic system will cease to exist and the President would be\u00a0free to act as a tyrant.<\/p>\n

Regarding the Executive Branch’s contention that the inauguration was better attended than it was, and the photos by the National Park Service verifying otherwise, I’ll close with the following graphic:<\/p>\n

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Let’s hear it for the good guys!<\/p><\/div>\n

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!<\/p>\n

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:<\/p>\n

Geez, I look like my Aunt Angela in that photo. Time to color my hair again, I see.<\/p>\n

Yes indeed, every day this week has been a political education. The country surely is in buyer’s remorse over the results of the last election;\u00a0Executive and Congressional branches both are filled with alarming and disappointing “representatives.” \u00a0Felicity marched in the Portland Women’s March on January 21st. \u00a0She reports it rained and she was wet and cold, but the turnout was $70,000 +\/- and she would do it again.<\/p>\n

Happy Trails.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Other than politics, which I try to avoid in these posts even though we follow events closely, it has been a ho-hum week. Here is an update from the past week on several topics. We have decided to hold off scheduling a visit to the last Cedaredge house I mentioned in my last post; perhaps […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4692"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4707,"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4692\/revisions\/4707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}