Rancho Maven supports workers. Young and old.

Yeah, we coulda fired up the snowblower, but these youngsters from the neighborhood were looking for a bit of experience - and money to go see Gnomeo and Juliet that afternoon.

Monday Musings: December 20. 2010

First things first - we want to wish all our readers a Terrier-ific Christmas:

And, if that wasn’t durned cute enough, there’s this one (thanks Peg, for tracking it down):

Ron said to me today that he really can’t imagine having any other kind of dog but a Jack Russell Terrier anymore. They sort of do that to you.

Speaking of Ron, I took him to the ER at about 0400 on Sunday. Turns out he’s got a bit of a problem with atrial fibrillation. The pacer is actually fine but it turns out we got him there in time. Atrial fib can be nasty if you don’t deal with it promptly and correctly - and throwing a clot is common, which can result in a stroke. So Monday the docs will hopefully figure out what to do about it. Meds are the most common treatment.

If there is a bright and shining lining to all of this, it’s the enduring power of friends. That’s what’s keeping me from feeling overwhelmed right now, between this and my elderly Mom’s medical issues that will also keep me hopping during what little there is to this week. But what I want to say here is that old bit about finding out who your real friends are during times of crisis. Ron and I have some remarkable ones - particularly Suggie and Shelley. They spent most of Sunday evening in his hospital room making us laugh, and on the way out to the parking garage on a dark, cold and stormy night, still wanted to stop by the house and help with whatever.

As a non-believer, I’m not always sure about what ‘meaning’ I should attach to the holiday season, but somehow I think this is a big part of it.

Asta could sniff out a prettily wrapped tin of YipYap treats so fast it would make your head spin, and rip it to shreds in about two minutes. It was always hysterically funny.

I want to wish all my readers, and my fellow bloggers, a wonderful holiday. I hope that it is filled with  friends both old and new and family, plus good memories of those specials people - and pets - who have come into our lives and then gone out again.

We’re richer for them having touched and informed us. And although we miss them, we have the memories … and a little wooden box on the desk.

Hey, Asta … let’s watch that first video again!

-maven

Friday Fish Wrap: September 24, 2010

Today is my husband’s 79th birthday, or as it’s known around here … 19 years since the airlines and the FAA decided he was too old to be in command of a passenger airliner. Ha! That’s in reference to the archaic ‘Age 60’ rule that was still in force then, which said that a pilot couldn’t possibly be competent to command an airliner even a day after his 60th birthday - so sayonara, and don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out. The good news for younger pilots - the Age 60 Rule was changed in 2007. You can now fly until age 65 - all still contingent on maintaining a FAA First Class Medical Certificate, of course.

Sheesh.

This is Mr. Maven today, riding 15 miles on his bike.

Ain’t he cute? What a guy.

Oh, on a ride the other day, I saw a Sand Hill Crane out in the Damonte Ranch wetlands.

The following is from alert reader, Peg. It’s very good indeed.

‘Benevolent Mischief’ by Chase Jarvis

Let’s take a look at John Boehner’s ‘Pledge to America’, since it’s been big news, having been beamed into John’s tinfoil helmet from the dusty archives of the mothership out beyond the solar system.

Right off the top, I asked myself the following:

“Permanently stop all tax increases” - uh, is he referring to letting the expensive Bush tax cuts expire on the richest 2% of Americans? Not actually at tax increase, John. It’s more like a savings when it comes to the deficit. A $700 billion savings.

“Allow small business owners to take a tax deduction equal to 20% of their business income” - what constitutes a ‘small business owner’ on Boehner’s planet? Is it gross receipts under $1 million? Under $10 million? Just what is it? Oh, I know - it’s businesses with gross receipts over $50 million annually. Now that’s your local Mom and Pop pizza parlor, isn’t it?

“Hold weekly votes on spending cuts”  Jeeze Louise, it seems like Congress can’t get anything done as it is and John wants to tie it up even worse with votes on every nickle and dime ‘spending cut’? That’s too precious to be believed.

“Prohibit taxpayer funding of abortion” - Oh, he must mean like it actually is already.

FactCheck.org has this to say about it (here’s the ClifNotes version. A far more detailed analysis can be seen here.):

The Republican “Pledge to America,” released Sept. 23, contains some dubious factual claims:

• It declares that “the only parts of the economy expanding are government and our national debt.” Not true. So far this year government employment has declined slightly, while private sector employment has increased by 763,000 jobs.
• It says that “jobless claims continue to soar,” when in fact they are down eight percent from their worst levels.
• It repeats a bogus assertion that the Internal Revenue Service may need to expand by 16,500 positions, an inflated estimate based on false assumptions and guesswork.
• It claims the stimulus bill is costing $1 trillion, considerably more than the $814 billion, 10-year price tag currently estimated by nonpartisan congressional budget experts.
• It says Obama’s tax proposals would raise taxes on “roughly half the small business income in America,” an exaggeration. Much of the income the GOP is counting actually comes from big businesses making over $50 million a year.

For details on these and other examples please read on to the Analysis section.

And the Democratic Senatorial Committee has this handy dandy comparison chart. As your action item for the weekend, I suggest you cut this out and paste where the GOP ‘true believers’ can see it.

WHEN REPUBLICANS “PLEDGE” TO…	THEY REALLY MEAN THEY WILL:
“Permanently Stop All Job-Killing Tax Hikes.”	Re-open tax loopholes that reward companies for shipping American jobs overseas which Democrats closed.[i] Give deficit-exploding handouts to CEOs who ship American jobs overseas.[ii] Hold middle-class tax cuts hostage to giveaways for CEOS and special interests.[iii]
“Rein in the Red Tape Factory in Washington, DC”	Let Wall Street off the hook for gambling away Americans’ savings.[iv] Let mine companies off the hook when mines collapse.[v] Let food producers off the hook when contaminated food kills innocent Americans.[vi]
“Give Small Businesses a Tax Deduction.”	Pretend Wall Street bankers and partners in law firms represent small businesses, and hand them giant, deficit-exploding tax giveaways.[vii] Vote against relief for real small businesses.[viii] Put small business’ interests behind the interests of Wall Street and companies that ship American jobs overseas.[ix]
“Repeal The Job Killing Health Care Law And Put In Place Real Reform”	Let insurance companies go back to denying children coverage due to pre-existing conditions.[x] Let insurance companies go back to imposing lifetime limits.[xi] Push millions of Medicare beneficiaries back into the “doughnut hole.”[xii] Take away tax breaks that help small businesses pay for health care.[xiii]
“Our Plan Stands On The Principles Of Smaller, More Accountable Government; Economic Freedom; Lower Taxes.”	Read Rep. Boehner’s lips: “We are not going to be any different than what we’ve been.”[xiv] Despite their rhetoric, Republicans will take us back to Bush-era policies of giving huge handouts to CEOs and the very wealthy while the middle class suffers – the same policies that drove us into a recession and cost 8 million Americans their jobs.[xv]

Senator Harry Reid’s spokesman released this today:

Washington, DC – Jim Manley, spokesman for Nevada Senator Harry Reid, released the following statement today after Republicans blocked legislation to discourage companies from sending American jobs overseas:
 
“Someone should start keeping a count of how many different ways Republicans will try to justify protecting CEOs who send American jobs overseas. The facts speak for themselves. Republicans have a long and distinguished track record of protecting multimillionaire CEOs who offshore American jobs at the expense of the middle class, and clearly they want to keep on with more of the same policies that cost 8 million Americans their jobs. But don’t take it from me, Representative Boehner said it best yesterday when he admitted, ‘we are not going to be any different than what we’ve been.’”

The bottom line here is that Boehner’s diversionary ‘Pledge’ is just a warmed over version of Newt Gringrich’s long ago discredited ‘Contract With America’. Here’s what Mother Jones had to say then about the Contract:

“The House Republicans’ Contract with America is like miniature golf. Each tenet of the 10-item contract has its own hole, and the entire course is a fun, popular, and largely diversionary exercise meant to satisfy middle-class sensibilities. While I write, the Republicans are near the beginning of the course. By the time you read this, they could be as far along as hole seven or eight.

But the contract is no more an agenda for governing America in a new way than playing miniature golf is a way to play real golf: Instead, it diverts attention from the Republicans’ real agenda.”

Wouldn’t it be cool if the Republicans ever came up with anything original? Once again, they are basing their program on  fantastical spending cuts without ever taking ownership of what get cuts, how much it get cuts, how it bends the deficit upwards and worst of all,  who gets hurt in the process.

Oh, and here’s what economist Paul Krugman had to say about the ‘Pledge’:

On Thursday, House Republicans released their “Pledge to America,” supposedly outlining their policy agenda. In essence, what they say is, “Deficits are a terrible thing. Let’s make them much bigger.” The document repeatedly condemns federal debt — 16 times, by my count. But the main substantive policy proposal is to make the Bush tax cuts permanent, which independent estimates say would add about $3.7 trillion to the debt over the next decade — about $700 billion more than the Obama administration’s tax proposals.

We swung by Klaich Animal Hospital today to pick up more meds for little old Asta, my 19-1/2 year old Jack Russell Terrier. Mark Klaich is amazed. You just don’t see many dogs this age and still in this good of shape. Her lab tests indicate …. nothing. She’s fine except being deaf … really old and frail … crotchety … snarly … incontinent. We’re now trying some estrogen to see if that will help the incontinence. The bottom line here is that we’re playing it day by day. It’s all theoretical at this point. Nick Klaich told me that he’s never seen a Jack Russell this old.

Here’s a neat tidbit: Nick Klaich and new family was the first owner and occupant of this house we’ve lived in for 20 years now. Yes, Reno is still kinda a small town in some ways.

I got a boatload of housework done this week. How? Why? I’ve got company coming from out of town. It’s a great way to ‘find the time’ to get all those nagging jobs done like hosing the bird poop off the patio, polishing all the wood furniture and such.

I’m hoping our houseguest doesn’t notice all the gardening that needs to be done for the fall.

I finally got around to picking up my new skis over at Bobo’s today. I got a pair of the Dynastar Exclusive Active’s in a 158 cm. It’s a woman’s all mountain ski with a wider waist (74 mm) and a 14 turn radius. This ski will give me the flexibility that I’ve been missing on my old Rossignol’s to explore more terrain - especially trees and powder on those rare days we get any here in the Sierra’s. Plus, there’s some added stability through crud and a higher speeds.

 

I demo’d a similar pair last winter and loved them. They turned on a damn dime. They’ll also push my center of gravity a bit more forward, compensating for my small frame. I’m sooo looking forward to using them. The Rossi’s are still a great all round ski, and will become my ‘rock’ skis.

Don’t be alarmed if there isn’t a Monday Musings blog post. I’ll be winging my way down to Houston for a couple of days. Should be back by Tuesday night.

So have a great weekend and enjoy the full moon - which should be in full swing tonight - and the really warm fall days that we have here in Reno. I could live a lot of other places but Northern Nevada in the autumn is so great - why would I?

Sit. I’ll let myself out.

-maven

P.S. - I’ve decided it’s time to focus on the two activities (cycling and skiing) I truly love and so have decided to sell my entire Kayak outfit. It’s a great - and cost effective - way to start kayaking.

See the listing on Craigslist Reno

Bienvenue sur le monde Internet, Monsieur Agbenou

This was a banner day. Natacha’s father, Monsieur Agbenou of Contonou, Benin, Africa installed internet in his house and is emailing us and we are returning with messages about what’s going on here in Reno.

I told him all about

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A feast of international flavors

Natacha’s father, Hubert has been wanting to make a signature dish of his for a week or so now … a smoked duckling dish. So on Sunday, I biked down to Butcher Boy and found a nice frozen duckling for him, and then Ron took him to Nevada Backyard to buy the requisite wood and smoking chips.

Yesterday, when I got home from work, Hubert and Ron were out in the backyard with the BBQ going full tilt,

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Friday Fish Wrap: June 5, 2009

Once again another week has flown by like an F-18 on afterburners up my 6 o’clock. For those of you who aren’t aviation or military savvy, that means pretty damn fast.

Between work ( and crazy hours that come with the territory of putting together a huge software startup … hey, it’s tomorrow in India  ), entertaining Papa Agbenou from Benin, the usual cleaning, cooking and house repairs ( everything seemed to go on the fritz this week) it’s been a forehead wiper.

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Cementing international goodwill one yard job at a time

This is classic male bonding at its best …. fixing the busted sprinkler head. Why, oh why do people insist on trying to connect plastic and metal? It only took about 2 hours and 3 trips to Home Depot before they got it fixed. Then, of course naps had to be taken.

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Skiing. Sort of makes you think about death.

Oh, I crack myself up!

Seriously, I skied my brains out today. See, nothing there. Well, that doesn’t work so good without video.

Natacha wanted to go up to Mt. Rose with me, so she could get away from the house for awhile and study. She sits hunkered down in the lodge and not out on the deck, which I don’t understand, but there you are.

I made Natacha drive and I don’t know who was more scared - me or her.

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Mr. Ryan pulls through with flying colors!

Updated on Thursday, December 4, 2008 at 08:55 by mavenandmeddler

Ron is looking just as sweet and handsome as ever - and it only took about one hour. He was pretty silly and groggy for a while - kept trying to flirt with the nurses ( he must have thought they were flight attendants ). But as soon as it wore off he was hungry. That’s always a good sign.

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