Exeter

October 2013

Exeter, CA is a little town in the central valley that, besides being home to my second cousins (once and twice removed), has murals painted on the outside walls of many of the buildings.  We took the mural tour, which includes searching for hidden images in the paintings.  In this one, can you find the cat?

And when we returned to the truck, we had a visitor

More pictures.

Helpful advice

from the Oregon DOT:

But, like all warning signs, they wouldn't be there unless somebody had done it!

Mount Shasta

October 2013

Driving I-5 from Oregon to California you go past Mt. Shasta, an impressive 14,000 foot double volcano in the ring of fire.  We didn't stop except to take a few pictures.

La Pine

I've been falling behind.  This post was due to be a golf course review, but my new golf course review system, wonderful though it is, takes some time to implement.  I've been stuck, but I will skip the golf courses for now, and carry on with our travels.

September 2013

La Pine, Oregon is just south of Bend, in an area of (good golf and) volcanic activity.  We hiked around Lava Butte

and drove up to Paulina Peak,

with views of Paulina Lake and East Lake, part of the Newberry volcano crater.  The road to the summit was narrow, winding, the mountain on one side and sheer cliffs on the other, snow-covered, and quite an adventure going up and down in the truck, maybe not as much of an adventure for us as it was for the family in the Subaru coming the other way.

We saw Paulina Falls

and the Big Obsidian Flow, huge chunks of it!

and hiked several places around the Deschutes River

And some of the mountains seemed vaguely familiar to me

More pictures and two waterfall videos.

Read this anyway

I know y'all don't care much for the economics posts, but this one is quite timely and is something we all can, and need to, understand.  

It's from Warren Mosler 

It starts like this:

There is no right time for the Fed to raise rates!

Introduction
I reject the belief that economy is strong and operating anywhere near full employment. I also reject the belief that a zero-rate policy is inflationary, supports aggregate demand, or weakens the currency, or that higher rates slow the economy and reduce inflation. Additionally, I reject the mainstream view that employment is materially improving, the output gap is closing, and inflation is rising and returning to the Fed’s targets.

What I am asserting is that the Fed and the mainstream have it backwards with regard to how interest rates interact with the economy. They have it backwards with regard to both the current health of the economy and inflation, and, therefore, their discussion of appropriate monetary policy is entirely confused and inapplicable.

You can read the rest at the link.