Not so smart bunny

I've deleted the previous post.  I read the book.  The economics is mostly in line with MMT, not completely, but the rhetoric is just too much.  It's unhelpful to the cause.  MMT stands on its economics, it doesn't need personal attacks like this by dumb bunnies.

Terror on Lake Coeur D'Alene

Cindy and Scott have a season pass for 4 for the boat rides on the lake, so they invited us to join them. It's a nice 90-minute ride around the lake, viewing places where the rich and famous live and play. Scott had to work that day, so it was just the three of us. We were going to meet at 2:00 for the 2:30 sailing, but Cindy was running late and pulled into the parking lot just as the boat was leaving.

We decided to wait for the 4:30 boat, and sat at a picnic table near the head of the pier, between the beach and the parking lot. The girls were chatting away, and I decided to try to find a sports bar and watch some golf.

While I was gone, Vicki got a pretzel and a virgin margarita from the Tiki Hut, a trailer parked about 12 feet from the picnic table. She and Cindy were talking when suddenly a white van traveling in reverse crashed into the Tiki Hut and was pushing it toward them.

The picnic table is built with steel bars connecting the middle of each seat to the table. Vicki had to move into the path of the vehicles to get out of the seat, and then stood and ran around the picnic table toward the beach. Cindy tried to move toward the beach, but her legs were blocked by the steel bar, and she fell onto the concrete. Without time to get to her feet, she rolled toward the beach to avoid the van and Tiki Hut which were coming at her.

The two girls working in the Tiki Hut came flying out the back door onto the beach, as the van had crashed into the front of it, where customers would have been standing, waiting to be served. And where Vicki had been only minutes before. Neither of the girls had been injured, but the hot oil inside had splashed all over the place.

The van and the Tiki Hut, now a single vehicle, stopped within a few feet of the picnic table, and a young boy, looking about 8 years old, got out of the van and ran into the water.

Someone called the police, and they managed to coax the boy out of the water. He was quite frightened, and appeared to be autistic. Nobody claimed to be with him, or responsible for him. The police could not even get him to tell his name. He kept hitting his head with his fists, and the only words he would say were “No Becky, No Becky”.

Vicki had called me, and I arrived back at the picnic table to find that Cindy had some bumps and bruises from her fall, but was otherwise unhurt, as were Vicki and the two girls in the Tiki Hut. The adrenaline was high in the four of them, a crowd had gathered, and there was much talk of the good fortune that no customers were standing there, and that nobody was seriously injured, and of what the legal resolution might ultimately be.

It turns out the van was the supply / tow vehicle for the Tiki Hut, and was parked 30 feet away, unlocked, with the keys in the ash tray. The owner was called, and came to deal with the police and the cleanup. She exchanged names and phone numbers with Cindy, in case of any injuries not immediately apparent.

This is Cindy sitting at the picnic table after the fact, telling Scott what had happened.  Someone sent their cell phone pictures to the local TV station, and Scott saw Cindy on TV later.

Here's the front of the van and Tiki Hut trailer

Soon after, the 4:30 boat was ready for us, and we began our leisurely cruise on peaceful and beautiful Lake Coeur D'Alene.

Free RV Parking at golf courses

We just joined a club that gets us one night of free dry-camping at 317 golf courses around the country.  We haven't used it yet, but it should be more enjoyable than staying at a Wal-Mart on the way from here to there.  They also offer discounts on greens fees, and in the pro shop or restaurant, and there are some really nice courses.  One is Erin Hills, which will host the 2017 US Open.  They're signing up more courses all the time.

They also have some RV resorts where we get two nights free, with hookups. (Like I said, we haven't used it yet, and my radar tells me we might have to endure a marketing presentation or something like that, to get the 2 nights free.  I clicked on a few of them, and they are selling lots and campsites.  We'll see.  We have stayed at discount rates in places that sell permanent sites like that, and they have not done high-pressure marketing like timeshares.)

If you know someone who golfs and RVs, they might be interested.  They can use the link on the right, and if they use that link and buy in (LIMITED OFFER: Only $49 for the first 1,000 Annual members who sign up Only $245 for the first 500 Lifetime members who sign up) then we get some sort of commission.  I gather they have a multi-level marketing thing, too, like Amway, so if you want to put ads on the Internet, you can be one of our sub-agents and get commissions, too.  Without joining yourself, I think.  If you're into that sort of thing.  I didn't explore that in depth, but I can get the details if you think you want to do it.  Meanwhile, feel free to put that link on your own web site or blog :)

Cowboy Poetry

We're at Escapade this week, a gathering run by the Escapees.  It's like SHARE for RVers ... if you know what SHARE is.  Or like Comicon is for Sheldon and Leonard, more or less.

Tonight the entertainment was Ham-o-Rama, where amateur performers took the stage.  One man read a poem:

We'd worked all day a-branding calves

And now we took a rest.

Buck opened up a six-pack,

Took a smoke out of his vest.

We started in to contemplate

The problems of the day.

Some stretched out on feed sacks,

Some on a pile of hay.

“You know,” he says, “for thirty years

I've been a-running steers,

And how this cattle ranching's changed

Could bring a man to tears.

Some people say that beef's too high,

Some say it causes cancer;

Any bureaucrat you ask

Will have a different answer.

And when I think of government

And all the funds they've spent

To get the public on our range,

And then they raised the rent.

They pay a man to raise no corn;

They buy another's cheese;

They pay you not to milk your cows

And turn loose half your bees

Then Pete says on the radio

They broadcast Tuesday night

That there are just too many cows:

That is the rancher's plight.

He said some feller took a count,

And don't this beat the band:

He says there are nine million cows

That live upon this land.”

Now Joe, he done some ciphering

And then said “Boys, look here,

What if those nine million head

Was one gigantic steer?

That critter'd weigh a million ton;

He'd reach from coast to coast;

Eat 90,000 ton of hay,

But what I like the most

He'd have his off hind foot near Buffalo

The front one in Tacoma,

The near hind hoof in Jacksonville,

The fourth one near Pomona

And after he ate all that hay,

Wouldn't it raise a fuss

If that steer did to Washington

What Washington's done to us?”