Old River

There is a place between my acre, and Baton Rouge, along the Mississippi River, called the Old River Control Structure.  It's a massive engineering project that is ongoing, started in the early 20th century and continuing today.  It is designed to keep the Mississippi river controlled.  It's massive hydrology.

The problem is that the Mississippi river does not want to stay in it's channel.  It wants to take the Atchafalaya river.  The Atchafalaya river is straighter than the Mississippi, a more direct route to the Gulf, with a steeper drop.  If the Mississippi moves into the Atchafalaya, then Baton Rouge and New Orleans will be stranded without enough water to sustain the industry and the populations, resulting i a massive dislocation of people and resources.

My father always said that one of these days it will happen.  I've said it myself in the past.  Mother Nature works in her own ways, ad while we can live with tiver and the floods, we can't control her, or the river.

This young lady presents a pretty good tutorial on what is happening today and what might happen tomorrow (or the next day).  If's fifteen minutes, but it's worth it.



With all the rain we're getting this spring, and all the snow that the west is still getting, we may be setting up for record flood.  It will be interesting to see i the structure can hold back the flood, again.

Texas Asserts Sovereign Immunity

It seems that the Texas government has asserted sovereign immunity over the US Congress.

Texas is asserting its sovereign immunity against Congress, telling Democrats on two congressional committees this week that the state has no obligation to comply with their investigative demands.
Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office says that as a state with sovereign powers under the Constitution, Texas can’t be treated like a federal agency or Cabinet secretary who can be compelled to comply.

I've often wondered why states did not more often invoke the 10th Amendment in certain matters, telling Congress (or federal bureaucrats) to go pound sand.

For those who are not familiar the 10th Amendment says:

 The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Congress, over the past decades, has assumed a lot of powers not delegated to it by the Constitution, and sometimes the states should rein in the federal bureaucracy.

We're Tired

We're tired.  Tired of the climate bullshit.  The climate alarmists have been spewing doomsday scenarios for most of my adult life, and none of them has panned out.  For example, in 1975 Newsweek ran an article about the coming glaciation.  Yeah, that link takes you to Snopes.  but, look what Newsweek said:

The central fact is that after three quarters of a century of extraordinarily mild conditions, the earth’s climate seems to be cooling down. Meteorologists disagree about the cause and extent of the cooling trend […] but they are almost unanimous in the view that the trend will reduce agricultural productivity for the next century. […]

Nowadays, it's global warming.  The same gloom-and-doom, and politicians make hay out of it.  The voters are seeing through the poly.  I see where Australia elected a conservative government over the weekend.  The New York Times put the blame on the strident climate alarmists.

 On Saturday, the conservative party — the Liberal/National coalition — held on to its majority in Australia's parliament, even picking up a few seats and stunning observers who had predicted a Labor Party victory. In fact, The New York Times ran a lament that the climate alarmists lost their election.

Yeah, because we're tired of your bullshit. Any politician around me who talks about climate is an idiot.  The climate is not their concern.  Really, t's not.

UPDATE** From Instapundit, since the original posting:

“It is the middle of May and things are looking more like winter than spring. Winter apparently is not finished with parts of the Northeast, nor the West or Europe. In many places around the northern hemisphere its the latest start of spring on record. Cold air coming in from Canada is likely to cause a mix of snow and rain in higher elevations of New Hampshire, Vermont and much of northern Maine by the 14th of May, CNN meteorologist Gene Norman said. That means we will have have had 9 months of winter weather in some parts of the United States as well as in Europe and Russia.”

Nine months of winter sounds like climate change, but not the kind we've been led to expect.

The No Name Club

The No Name Club is a local social club for men.  (Gasp!  Perpetuating the patriarchal hegemony!).  No,not really.  The club has been active for years, some say decades, and the activities are a lot of fun.  Once a month they meet, hold a dance, and spend a Sunday afternoon dancing and cooking  Yes, the ladies are invited, but they are catered to for the afternoon.  It's very pleasant, and the membership is limited, by invitation only.  Dues are reasonable, ad pay for the venue and the food that we consume.

Belle and I have attended a couple of times as a guest. but recently I was invited to join.  I jumped at the opportunity.  All of the men are divided into six teams, responsible for the cooking.  Each team cooks twice per year.  I'm on the cook team this month and again in six months.  Ain't no problem, I know our cook team leader.  He's a retired Sheriff's deputy and has the situation well in hand.  I"ll show p at the appointed time, and do what I'm told, and we'll serve on time.

Basically, we meet from 4:00 to 8:00 pm on Sunday afternoon, with dinner served at 6:00.  The club provides set-ups, beer and wine.  The ladies are catered to in the finest tradition of Southern hospitality.

The cook team is meeting at 1:00.  Belle will follow at 4:00.  We're looking forward to it.

Random Car Crash

Who do these boys think they are?  The Dukes of Hazzard?

Dunlap Dam Failure

This video catches the partial spillway collapse at Lake Dunlap near New Braunfels, TX.  Water is heavy, and exerts lots of pressure.

Prayer and Practice

After my Gosh-awful day, I needed to go to a place where God's word would be heard, so about sundown I went over to the church.

I started the morning at the DMV, which is enough to make anyone lose their religion.  Came home and ran a chainsaw for a bit, trimming an oak tree so that I could mow under it.  Got out the lawn mower and had trouble keeping it running.  Stuck it twice in a muddy ditch, and when on the other side o the house, got too close to the central air unit and slid it off it's pad.  Put the AC unit back on the bad and called the AC guy to service it.  AC guy said he'd be there shorty.

Called second son, my mechanic, who is an expert on small engines. He said he'd come by after work.  AC guy showed up about 4:30, told me I hadn't really hurt anything, but gave the AC unit a springtime servicing and let me write him a check for his work.

Second son came over, ad we started diagnosing the lawnmower.  He asked for some needle-nose pliers and I went to gt them.  Came around the corner and saw flames, actual flames coming from under the dashboard of the mower.  I'm no mechanic, but I believe flames are bad.  My mechanic thinks so too.  We have some re-wiring to do, as soon as he researches the original problem.  We'll get to the bottom of it, but not tonight.

Belle got home and we poured an aperitif.  I told her about my day, and told her I was going to the church to help with Prayer and Practice.  I changed shirts and went over.  Found my church buddies and told them about my day.  One good friend pointed at the full moon and told me that was the problem.  Some of the horses were skittish because everything is weird on a full moon.

Our church is a Cowboy Church, and yes, we have horses.  And a rodeo arena.  And during the middle of the practice, we stop and listen to a word of gospel.

Brother Perry, our arena master, delivering he Word of God from horseback.

Home now, and safe.  Everything is good, the house is cool, and the mechanical problems will be solved in good time.  Like I tell the dawg every morning, "It's going to be all right.".

Corrections

The Corrections Officer is vital to the efficient operation of the Sheriff's Office.   Under Louisiana law, the Sheriff is responsible for keeping the local jail, and Corrections Officers normally make up about half of the sworn officers in the department.  I know the job, because I've done it, and I support the fine deputies who provide Care, Custody, and Control to the nations's jails.

Revealing The Plan

It seems that both Senator Cory Booker ad Senator Kamala Harris, both Democratic hopefuls, are trying to out-do each other on control.  You can read the whole sorry scenario here.

Violating the Second Amendment does't seem to be a problem for the Democratic hopefuls.  Banning, legislating, and royal decree executive action seems to be the way they intend to to introduce common sense gun safety sweeping gun bans to the country.

They are revealing their plans in an effort to broaden support in the primary.  They are talking to the base, not the general electorate.  Plans like this may play well on the coasts, but in middle America, it is anathema.

I've been thinking about picking up another M4-style rifle.  It's America's Rifle, after all, and patriots would do well to prepare.  I really don't believe that either of these two will see the general election, but having another modern sporting rifle in the rack is never a bad idea.

What Is Going To Power Them

I see that the Democrats are backing a bill to ban the use of gasoline powered cars by 2040.  Fat chance.  It will never get through the Senate.

But, what do they think will power cars?  Electricity?  Okay, fine.  What source of power is going to be used to generate that electricity?  Today, it's natural gas (35%), coal (27%), and nuclear (20%).

I knew  guy a while back who had an electric car.  I harassed him about using a coal powered car.  He got offended, but our local power plant used lignite to run the steam turbines.  So there.

IN the parts store today, doing a little politicking and laughing about the Democratic clown-car-show that they're putting on against Trump.  This bill is simply pandering to the far-left base.

Meatless Revolution

Meatless revolution?  I think not.  As it turns out, vegetarians account for about 5% of the US population, ad vegans are about 1%.  But, Chick-fil-A is exploring meatless options.

Say it ain’t so, Joe! Or Dan, actually. (As in Dan Cathy, CEO of Chick-fil-A.) The company is reportedly in the midst of developing more vegan options on their menu. But they’re not just talking about salads and side dishes here. Some thought is being given to offering “meatless chicken.” Which, last time I checked, means it’s not actually chicken. 

Chick-fil-A has a great business model, and they've done really well with one product.  Chicken.  I've eaten at their restaurants, and it's pretty good, though I don't make an effort to get across town.  If I'm over there and peckish, I might pick up a bite.  However, I know people who are very loyal and truly crave their sandwiches.

But, whatever, it's their business.  And as I've heard it said;  "Get woke, Go broke.

Ralfy Revieews

If you want to know anything about Scotch Whiskey, go over to ralfy.com  He is a veteran reviewer of Scotch Whisky, and knowledgeable. 

Occasionally, he slips his traces and roars off into foreign territory, reviewing rums and bourbons.  Here he's reviewing Bourbon Deluxe, a blended bourbon whiskey marketed by Jim Beam.  We used to consider Bourbon Deluxe a bottom shelf whiskey, suitable for serving only to young lieutenants, and artillery officers.  Helicopter pilots would drink it as well, but those guys are liable to drink anything.

At any rate, have fun.  He compares it to Pappy Van Winkle.  But, he reviews two bottles, one bottled in the 1970s and one bottled recently.  It's a generational review.



Watching this guy is a lot of fun.

New Salt Generator

Many of you know that I use this blog, among other things, to document home improvement, and devices I use at the homestead so that when they go out, I can readily find what I'm looking for.

We have a pool and it uses a salt water system.   It's very friendly on chemicals.  Normally, I spend about $200 per year on salt and muriatic acid.  The pool tends to go basic, so I need the acid to balance ph, and the salt us used by the salt system to make chlorine.  Normally, this works great, but every five years or so, the salt generator dies, constituting the need for a replacement.

One day last week, I noticed that the salt generator wasn't working, so after some diagnosis, I decided that it had gone south.  We ordered a new one, and it came in today.  It's already installed, a simple matter if you have a strap wrench.

For the record, it's a Pentair Intellichlor IC40.  I have installed it, and we're going to let it run for 24 hours on the Shock setting.  Then I'll balance the ph and start vacuuming.

Inspection Stickers

Louisiana has a requirement that all vehicles have an inspection sticker.  You can buy a one-year of r two-year inspection sticker.  I noticed a couple of weeks ago that the inspection sticker had expired on my pickup, but it hasn't left the yard in several weeks.  One of the things on my "Ger "er Done" list is to get a new inspection sticker.

As a working cop, I always questioned the efficacy of those inspection stickers.    If I made a traffic stop, it was one thing I checked, but I don't think I ever wrote a stand-alone ticket for an expired inspection sticker.  If there was a problem, I would add it to the list of things, but generally, I'd just warn the motorist to get a new sticker.

The problem with inspection stickers is that it increases the bureaucracy.  A portion of the money went to the State Police, a portion went to the Office of Motor Vehicles and a portion went to the actual inspector who conducted the inspection.

But, there is a bill in the state legislature to do away with inspection stickers completely.  They would recoup the money by adding $10 to the registration fees.  They would use that money to hire an additional 150 state troopers across the state.

Stonewall Republican Rep. Larry Bagley’s bill would eliminate the inspection requirement, but essentially retain the $10 fee by increasing the registration renewal cost. The money that would go to the local inspector under the current system would instead be earmarked for LSP, allowing the agency to hire an additional 150 troopers to patrol Louisiana highways.

I thin this is a great idea.  But in the interim, I still need to get the truck inspected.