Bert's Musings

This morning we went to Biosphere 2. It is an amazing facility located maybe 20 miles north of Tucson. You can read about it at http://www.b2science.org/  or at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere_2 Kathy and I thought some of the stuff we heard on the tour was some tree hugger propaganda and we did some more reading. A lot of what we heard was about what was going on now that that the facility is no longer being used as a habitat, that part was probably OK. We also heard some about the original "missions", where people were sealed into the unit. The first group for 2 years and the second group for around 7 months. A LOT of what we heard about the missions was baloney. The place is an engineering marvel. When sealed the biosphere loses less air (based on percentage) than the space shuttle. This is an astounding claim but I've found it stated several places, and it is a LOT less. One of the impressive areas was the "lungs". See the photo below. The legs you se...

We made it to Tucson today. It was in the mid 70's and sunny when we arrived. Now, at 8 PM, the temp is down to 60. Tonights low is supposed to be 43. This is the first nice weather we have had in a long time. It was cool, rainy and muddy most of the time at YWAM. The past three days have been nice but the nights have all been below freezing. I think we have seen the last of freezing temps for awhile. Note the frost on the CRV this morning while in Deming. The view from the rest area, in AZ, where we ate lunch. It was warm enough that we had lunch out on one of the picnic tables. The view out behind our RV at Cactus Country RV campground, just east of Tucson. Kathy enjoying the afternoon on our patio. Note the ice tea and chair beside her. I also spent some time enjoying the warm temperatures. Christmas decorations at one of the RV's in the park. Yes the Santa head is on a big cactus. We did get to see our first Saguaro cactus about 20 miles east of Tucson. We saw some great sc...

This morning we (Kathy) drove up to Silver City and we looked around. It was an interesting place to spend some time and have lunch. The scenery was great on the drive up and back. I'm still a little prejudiced, I LOVE TN. It might be pretty out here but so far I haven't seen anything that is prettier than the Smokies. My brother had suggested that we explore further to the north, and we would have done so but I was feeling puny. We spent quite a bit of time at the museum in Silver City and then walked down to main street and walked up and down it. It was near 60 degrees with bright sunshine, no jacket required. Below is the snow still left on one of the side streets. We had intended on going up to see the Gila cliff dwellings but they are closed because it is muddy. One of the interesting facts about Silver City is that the original main street is now the "Ditch." See below. This was originally Main St., but during the night of July 21, 1895...

Between the Dallas/Ft Worth area and the Big Spring area we saw billions of dollars worth of windmills. Most of them were actually turning, but many were not. I bet that the ONLY reason that they are there is because Congress forced the American taxpayer to co-sign for the loans to build them. No sane investor would be willing to invest his/her money in them unless taxpayers were put on the hook (can you say Solyandra, it cost we taxpayers over $500 million   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/02/solyndra-bankruptcy-obama-administration-bailout_n_1072737.html ). The windmills would still not have been built unless Congress forced utilities to buy the electricity the windmills produce, at costs far exceeding (3 to 6 times) conventionally produced electricity. In some cases I think we taxpayers directly pick up the cost difference. In other cases the utilities just "blend" their increased costs in with their other expenses and bureaucrats allow them to passed throu...

We are in Deming, NM tonight. We arrived around 4:45 PM MST, we gained an hour changing time zones near El Paso. We plan on staying here at least two nights so that we can look around the area. No real problems, other than traffic in El Paso was HORRIBLE. It wasn't a problem for me, Kathy was driving then <grin>. I told you yesterday that I would include a photo of the oil wells next to the campground we stayed at in Midland, TX last night. We like to travel during daylight hours but after driving approximately 100 miles, some before but most after, Midland; TX, it wouldn’t bother me to drive through there in the dark if we come this way again. After the first 50 miles or so of oil well after oil well, all on flat desolate land, the novelty wears off. From Pecos, TX on west the scenery is much better. The next photos are of the picnic area where we had lunch, near Van Horn, TX. That is our CRV and motorhome next to the sidewalk. Meals have been pretty inexpensive. Last n...

We left the Lindale Texas YWAM (Youth With a Mission) base a little before 9:30 AM this morning. We stopped in Dallas long enough to have the motorhome oil changed and then pushed on. Depending on how long it took to have the oil changed I wasn't sure how far we would get today. The furthest I thought we might get was Big Spring, TX. Because the overnight temps are supposed to be below freezing we decided we would stay in a campground where we could be plugged in and run the heat pumps. Kathy called the Big Spring campground about an hour before we got to Big Spring. They were already sold out. We were trying to stay at one of the places were we would get a discount because of one of our club memberships. She found a campground in Midland, TX that offered a 15% discount to Escapee's. She called it while we were still 2 hours from Midland and reserved the last of their165 spots. We pulled in around 6:30 PM. We have had supper and we ...

The four of us (Ron, Sheila, Kathy & I) went to the Crossband Cowboy Church 9 AM service. It was an enjoyable service. There were well over 200 people at the early service. The bulletin that there was a total of 981 people at the two services the week before. My guess is that there will that many at the Christmas services,  if not more. Ron and I wallered around in the mud, trying to work a little, trying to work a little and then we had Christmas dinner together. A single lady lives in one of the big houses on site It is also used for small conferences and meetings. She is gone for the holidays and told Ron & Sheila to use the place while she was gone. It is a very, very nice 3 bedroom home that overlooks one of the larger ponds on the site. Sheila fixed a turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, turnips, yeast rolls, etc. Kathy make a prime rib, potato salad (my request) and pecan pie. Yep, we had far to much for the four of us. This ...

Ron and I tried to build some more wall forms today but got rained out after only about 15 minutes. We then took the batteries out of the YWAM dump truck and went and bought new ones. When we got back to base it was raining hard enough that we didn't install them. We took the rest of the day off. After dropping me off at the building site this morning Kathy went to the Kroger store in Longview, TX, it is about 50 miles from here. She gets her prescriptions from Krogers and she also wanted to do some grocery shopping some place other than at the local grocery in Lindale. It has sprinkled rain since around 9:30 AM. So far we have had 0.6 inches today. That brings the total for December up to 6.2" and the total for the year up to 11.7". There is a 70% chance of rain tomorrow and a 100% chance for rain on Monday. I'm sure the folks around here would be happy if it continued to rain like it has today for the next week. I am curious and tomorrow I will have to check the wat...

Some of you have mentioned that you have unsuccessfully tried to leave a comment on some of the posts. I just tried it myself and think this procedure works. Click on Post a Comment Write your comment in the box Click on Select Profile Highlight the dot for Name/URL Type in any name you want to use and then click on continue Click on Publish Fill in the word verification box Click on publish Try it and let me know if you still have a problem.

Today was cloudy and cool. The high was a windy, damp 47 degrees. Tonight's low is supposed to be 37. Kathy did more painting today. Ron and I dug under the foundation for one of the walls we had previously poured and installed a pipe for storm water. Yes it would have made more sense to install it before we poured the foundation but we didn't know where it was supposed to go then. Later we cleaned the mud off another foundation and started forms for another wall section. Ron's hammer drill died before we finished the back side of the form so we knocked off early. He went into Lindale and bought a new one. We are going to try and finish the forming this wall section in the morning. Ron and Sheila came over for left over vegetable soup for supper. We had a nice evening. Sheila told us about how they started coming down here to volunteer and how they were "called" to sell their home, they had just spent two years remodeling it from top to bottom, so that they...

Ron, Lester and I pulled the forms off the wall we formed and poured yesterday. We also pulled the forms off one we had poured a few days ago. We finished by around 10:30 and basically took the rest of the day off. Ron and Sheila took Lester and Marie to Tyler to pick up a rental car. Lester and Marie were headed for College Station, TX to pick up their son and his wife. After that they were heading for Padre Island, TX which is on the Gulf of Mexico, almost to Mexico. They won't return here until after we have left. They have invited us to come stay with them in Newfoundland. It is a LONG way, 2,000 miles from Toledo and accessible only by ferry (I think the ferry ride is around 8 hours long. A round trip ferry ticket for Kathy and I, plus our RV and CRV would be well over $1,000.). I don't know that we will make it there for a visit but it was great getting to know some "Newfies". We went to Juanita's Mexican Buffet for lunch and it was good, again. After gettin...

Ron, Lester & I working on the concrete walls again today. Ron and Lester built forms for a nasty sloped section of the wall. I spent at least four hours tearing apart previously used wood forms and salvaging what I could for future use. Before quitting we mixed enough concrete to pour the sloped wall section. Kathy painted some more doors. I think Marie and Sheila did some painting in the kids room in the gym area. Chris, the guy who is in charge of construction on the new building, took the three of us (Ron, Lester & me) out to lunch today. Chris is from New Zealand, he used to shear sheep for a living. It was interesting having time to talk to him. Lester, Marie, Kathy & I went to the Wednesday evening service at Crossbrands Cowboy Church. Ron and Sheila would have gone but they had been invited to someones house for supper. On Wednesday nights the church has supper at 6 and church starts at 7. We didn't go for supper but people were still ea...

Today's high was 54. It was partly cloudy but overall it was a nice day. We stripped the forms off the wall we poured yesterday and formed and poured 20' of new wall. NO FORM BLOWOUT! Kathy and Marie inventoried books in one of the libraries. The job was supposed to take them all day but they finished it before lunch. In the afternoon they did some more staining. Ron, Sheila, Lester and Marie come over for supper tonight. Kathy made vegetable soup. We had a very nice evening getting to know them better. Lester and Marie have invited us to come visit them in Newfoundland. I'm sure that if we were in Alberta in the summer time they would want us to look them up. Good night to all and may God bless you and yours.

It was in the mid 60's today but partly cloudy. The low tonight is supposed to be 49. We poured 19' of 30" tall wall this morning. Once again the form started to blow out and Ron had to race over with the backhoe to hold it in place until we got it stabilized. There is quite a bit more of this wall to pour so before it is all finished we may figure out how to build a form that doesn't blow out. No one seems to know where to get form ties down here. The good news was that we did not have to bail any water off the top of the concrete when the level got up to the top of the wall. It was still a little to wet but way better than what we poured last week. We had a small mixer today and mixed our own concrete. The mixing went pretty well. It was a lot better than mixing Sackrete in a wheel barrow. In the afternoon we build one side of the forms for another 20' of wall. We got to a stopping point about 4:30, just as it started to sprinkle. It sprinkled on and off for seve...

We went Crossbrands Cowboy Church again this morning. After going their twice I am reasonably sure that if we were going to stay in this area I would get actively involved with them. They sure seem to care about one another, which is exactly what should happen at church. Branded, a band, was there this morning. You have NEVER heard anyone do Angels We Have Heard on High like the boys in Branded did it. I tried to record a couple of their other songs on my phone. I'm "technologically challenged", I got video, just no sound. Yesterday was the day people were supposed to show up in Athens, TX to show their support for the nativity scene that the atheists from Wisconsin want removed. You probably won't hear anything on the national news but local news outlets report that up to 5,000 attended the rally. Rally organizers had hoped for 2,500 people and had only printed 3,000 handouts. They ran out well before people stopped pouring in. We didn't accomplish much the remai...

This morning we drove up to Mineola, TX to look around. On the way we made a wrong turn, out in the country. Just after we turned a road runner raced across the road in front of us. It ran just off the road and then stopped to watch us. According to wikipedia they are named roadrunners because they run down the road in front of vehicles and then dart off the road. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Roadrunner   We had brunch at a place on the north side of Mineola. The food was acceptable, but certainly not great. We then walked around the downtown. How one little town can support that many "antique"   (craft/junk/antique) stores is a mystery. Kitchens Hardware and Deli was an interesting place.  It really was a hardware store and a deli. The hardware store part of it was so dark that you almost needed to buy a flashlight to be able to see all the bolts/nails/etc in the numerous bins. When we got back to Lindale we went to check out Parrot Park Agricultural ...

Below are some photos of the new building. This is one of the entrances we are staining. There are two this size and three smaller ones. The crew applying the final, colored, coat of stucco. The system went on in three layers. They put "tar paper" on the house wrap you see, then stapled a wire mesh to the OSB sheathing under the house wrap and then applied 3 layers of stucco. Only the top layer was colored.  This is the "back" side, but what will probably be the main entrance when all the landscaping is finished. This is a big building.  These are the stairs you have read about. the top sections were in place when we arrived. I helped form the bottom sections and the 3' tall wall between the two stairs. There will be two levels of retaining walls between the stairs to form a terraced look. Handicapped access will be from a ramp at the right end of the photo but I have not seen any information on what that might look like. It is a lot muddier than it looks in the...

Why anyone supports the current crop of big government politicians we have in DC is a total mystery to me. Read some of the stuff below and tell me why our taxes must be raised. All we need do is to start supporting people who don’t think more government, more regulation, higher taxes, more forced income redistribution, etc.; is the answer to every problem. Herman Cain might have been such a man, but of course the big government Republicans didn’t want him in office. Those controlling the Republican party want an Obama lite; someone like Bush who will grow government, just at a slower pace. Obama has dumped $70 BILLION into subsidizing “green energy”. Now the Navy just signed a contract to purchase 450,000 gallons of “biofuel”. It paid $26/gallon for the biofuel, as opposed to the around $4/gallon it typically pays for jet fuel. If your stomach is strong you should read an article in the Wall Street Journal about the incredible stupidity exhibited by those in government. Government has...

It stopped raining here around 2 AM. At times it rained hard during the night. I dug my steel toed boots out from under the motorhome this morning. I needed more than just shoes to wallow around in all the mud at the job site. I didn't bring any rubber boots because I never thought I would need them. We cleaned mud off wall footings and formed up about 25' of 3' tall wall. Hopefully the forms will hold when we pour the concrete next week. I'm not sure why we can't afford a few form ties. Guess it is far more exciting to have to race up with the backhoe to brace a form during every pour. They brought in a small (3.5 cu. ft.) concrete mixer today. It ought to be a lot better than the Sackrete route we used to pour the wall this week. We went out for supper tonight, back to Catfish & Steak place. We had a good meal. The weekend is supposed to be sunny. Hopefully things will dry out a little by Monday, but more rain is in the forecast for Monday night. No one from e...

It misted rain, and rained, all day today. We just plodded around in the mud and did the best we could. This morning was the "Christmas breakfast" for the Site and Maintenance people. YWAM took 15 of us to Simply Bertie's restaurant for breakfast. Bertie is a really interesting lady. I'm sure she is someone who we would like to know better. I've had breakfast there before and she remembered me. We had a chance to talk some because I thought we were supposed to meet there at 7, actually we were supposed to meet at 8. Kathy and Marie stained OSB panels today. They didn't go to breakfast with us guys. They are supposed to go out at a different time. We guys stripped the forms off the wall we poured yesterday and poured the wall foundation that we formed yesterday. These folks put an unbelievable amount of water in their concrete. When we poured the 3' tall wall yesterday one of the guys was bailing water off the top of the concrete when the  concrete level go...

No rain during the day today, just occasional misting. I spent the day digging a wall foundation and forming it, with help, and then help mix and pour 37 bags of Sackrete in a wall form others had built. After work, and a much needed shower, a group of us went over to the open house at Fatherheart Maternity Home. It is a "home" for unwed mothers and is part of YWAM. the actual facility is a couple of miles from the base we are at.   http://www.livalt.org/fatherheart.html Tomorrow is the "Christmas Party" for the Site/Maintenance people. They are taking us to Bertie's for breakfast. It is a good place to get breakfast and the lady who runs it (Bertie) has a great Christian testimony. It has been raining for an hour or so. I'm not sure what we are going to work on tomorrow. I could stand a day off <grin>. (and I could have one any time I asked) Goodnight to all and may God bless you and yours.

It was cloudy today, but the temperatures were great. The high was 66 and the low last night was 48. Tomorrow we are supposed to get some rain. At 7 AM the chance of rain increases to 50%. Even after the rain we have had since we have been here Tyler just instituted water restrictions for such things as lawn watering. Local reservoirs are 6-8' below normal levels. The YWAM base gets its water from wells. Kathy painted doors again today, I again helped with staining the cedar entrances on the new building. Today it was decided that it was OK to use rollers to apply the stain. The rollers work great to get stain on the cedar but the cedar is so rough that you still need to go over it with a brush. (At least I think you need to, and that is what I did. Some others just slapped on the stain with a roller.) Today we had more people staining. We put on about 5 gallons. The two gallons we have left aren't going to be nearly enough to finish. We will probably need another 5 gallo...

Last weeks church experience was good, this Sunday’s was awesome. Ron & Sheila took us to the Cross Brand Cowboy Church with them. WOW!! http://www.crossbrandcowboychurch.org/ I don’t know where to begin. The main building is a pre-engineered metal building, which seats over 600. We attended the 9 AM service, they also have an 11 AM service. Ron said that this church has already "birthed" two other Cowboy Churches in the area. There were over 200 people at the 9 AM service. I didn’t notice one person who was not wearing jeans. There were maybe a dozen of us guys who were not wearing big cowboy hats. One thing that you couldn’t miss when you pulled into the parking lot was the rodeo arena that was under roof. Ron said that a couple of times a year they have “church in the dirt” in the arena. From looking at their web site it appears that they get lots of use out of it. The greatest thing about this is finding two churches, so quickly, that appear to really have their head...

W e had a fantastic day. It was sunny and the high was in the mid 50's. Today was a sightseeing day, or as my cousin used to say, "We did research", although our "research" did not include taking a 6 pack with us. Actually we did pick up a 12 pack at the Kroger store in Longview but all 12 are still in the package. First we went to the east Texas oil museum in Kilgore. It was great! We watched several videos about oil drilling and the oil finds in east Texas in the early 30's. Below are some photos. This is a replica of an oil drilling rig from the 1930's. It is in front of the museum. This is "main street" Kilgore as it was in the early 30's. When the 2nd well came in the population of Kilgore grew from 800 to 8,000 in 24 hours. Right after the first wells came in it started raining and things were a sea of mud for quite some time. Photo quality sucks, sorry. I bet PETA would have a cow if they saw these stuffed mules. They were quite life...

Weather was not quite as nice as yesterday. It was warm, high in the 50's, but cloudy. Kathy painted the morning and then came back to the RV and cleaned and did laundry in the afternoon. I dug out the fill that we had put behind the stair forms and pulled the forms. I also moved about a cubic yard of dirt into another rain washout next to the building and compacted it, all my hand. The food here is edible but it isn't nearly as good as what we had while we were volunteering at Spring Hill. LOTS of chicken. We may have had some beef in with some noodles once and we had a pasta dish once that had sausage in it. Other than that its been chicken, chicken and more chicken. We don't have to eat at the dining hall so I should not be complaining. If I don't like it I can either come back to the RV and fix something or go out. Tonight we went out. We went to Petty's Steak and Catfish, in Lindale. I had a 10 ounce rib eye and Kathy had Tilapia. The meal was good, we enjoyed ...

Today I received an email from Senator Dan Coats, I’m still on his mailing list from when we were Indiana residents. Below is an excerpt: “To reduce excessive federal spending, we need to determine what programs are essential, what can be pared down and what needs to be eliminated. This week I supported the Taxpayers Right to Know Act, bipartisan legislation introduced by Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) that would require every federal agency to provide taxpayers with an annual report card for each of its programs.” This is just further proof that the people in DC are totally out of touch with the real world. The only thing this bill would accomplish would be to cause every agency to spend thousands of hours justifying their own existence. Does anyone honestly think some federal worker is going to admit to doing an abysmal job and telling others that his/her job should be eliminated? Even if one of the “Indians” were honest enough to admit that his/her function was unneeded, no “Chief” if...