(FYI, my commentary on current events appears at the end of today’s post.)
Not since April Fool’s Day in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee have the bus’n’us seen temps as cold as last night’s. It was during our “shakedown cruise” that we awoke to 25°F and a dusting of snow on the nearby Smoky Mountains.
We set a new mark this morning — at 7am it was 24°F. No snow in sight, though.
Deb and I ran the rooftop electric heat pumps last night ’til we were ready to turn in, around 10pm, and it was in the mid-30s outdoors by then. We switched over to the LP-fueled furnaces, setting both thermostats to 70°F.
When I got up with the dogs this morning the rear bedroom was comfortably warm, just about right for sleeping. The living area up front was a little cooler, which was fine, and I ticked the thermostat up a few degrees to accommodate my morning routine while Deb continued sleeping.
There are noticeable differences in effectiveness between heat pumps and furnaces. The electric heat comes from overhead and, thermodynamics being what they are, the area near the floor never gets as warm as we might like it. The furnaces’ registers, on the other hand, are in or near the floor, and that creates a much cozier environment throughout the space.
The furnaces are a helluva lot quieter, too — if you’ve spent any time in an RV, you know this. Those AC/heat pump units in the ceiling really roar, and although it’s “white noise,” over time it can get annoying. The occasional soft whoosh of the furnace blowers last night was a welcome change.
There are other benefits to gas heat, at least the way our bus is configured. When the temperature drops, keeping Ernie’s plumbing from freezing is a primary concern, and the location of the furnaces helps with that. The rear unit sits directly over the wet bay, combining with a radiant heater in that bay to maintain adequate warmth (64°F this morning). The front furnace is nestled under the galley plumbing and accomplishes the same thing.
We’ll continue to run the heat pumps as much as we can, generally whenever outside temps are in the mid-30s or warmer. The reason is simple — dollars and cents.
Electric is included in our campground fees. Ernie’s onboard supply of propane, however, needs to be replenished and paid for, and that means pulling up stakes and driving the bus across the campground to the LP filling station. That’s both very convenient and a pain in the ass, and it costs (more) money.
We haven’t bought propane since June 6th, and yet the gauge shows that Ernie’s tank is still two-thirds full. Consumption since the last fillup has been limited to cooking on the gas range, operating the fridge on travel days (or when boondocking) and, rarely, boosting the water heater. Running furnaces will draw down the supply faster, so we’ll need to keep an eye on it.
There’s more to life at the campsite than just a nip in the air. Notably, our neighbors planned to leave this morning to drive home to Canada for the (American) Thanksgiving holiday. Both vaccinated, they had to test negative for WuFlu on this side of the border in order to be admitted into their own country, where they’d be tested again. While preparing for the trip yesterday he learned that he’d been exposed to WuFlu at his workplace, sabotaging their travel plans.
We had dinner with them last night. They’re understandably disappointed, of course, but this is the world they live in. It’s all so pointless.
In yesterday’s post I wrote about a guy we know who’s battling severe WuFlu symptoms. His doctor was able to order only a heavy-duty cough medicine and nothing more, so he took it upon himself to pursue less conventional, “unapproved” therapy.
He was able to locate a medical professional willing to prescribe a number of those treatments and a source that would fill the prescriptions. (I’m being intentionally cryptic here, since this is the medical equivalent of the Underground Railroad.) He noticed improvement within four hours after taking the first dose of the off-label cocktail. Time will tell.
Meanwhile, Deb has upped our vitamins-and-supplements regimen, adding turmeric curcumin. That makes it nine tablets and capsules for me — multivitamin, B complex, C, D3, zinc, quercetin, baby aspirin, PreserVision and now turmeric — chased with a high-protein drink, every day.
Around 3am this morning, while I slept, my lovely wife ventured outside our Beaver motorhome to catch the partial eclipse of the Beaver Moon, reportedly the longest event of its kind in 580 years. She grabbed a few quick pictures before ducking back into the warmth of the bus.
I won a bet with Deb the other day. We found ourselves in need of graph paper, part of working toward what’s next for us, and while shopping the Harrison Walmart I suggested we check the “Home Office” aisle.
“At Walmart?” she mocked. “Ain’t gonna happen.”
It took me about a minute to find it — a perfect-bound notebook for me, spiral-bound for her. She grabbed a couple of mechanical pencils.
That high-profile criminal trial in Kenosha is over. Kyle Rittenhouse was found “not guilty” on all five counts filed against him. A sixth count, a misdemeanor weapons charge, was dismissed before the jury began its deliberations.
Deb and I were watching here in Arkansas as the verdicts were read, via Fox News Channel on Ernie’s main TV. You can imagine, I’m sure, how we reacted.
My prevailing emotion right now is relief for Kyle Rittenhouse — a young man, not a principle, was on trial here. I’m glad that justice survived craven politicians, race hustlers, suppression of speech and dishonest prosecution.
Our individual birthright to self-defense survived, too — and only in this case, only for the moment. Yes, we should take a measure of righteous satisfaction in the outcome of the trial. Then let’s straighten up and remember that anti-American poison still courses through the veins of our society.
Within the last few days, a sitting member of Congress said,
“A 17-year-old white supremacist domestic terrorist drove across state lines, armed with an AR-15. He shot and killed two people who had assembled to affirm the value, dignity, and worth of black lives. Fix your damn headlines.”
See how hard she had to work at being racist there? Think today’s verdict changed her mind? Of course not.
Here’s an expression of pure evil from a network TV host, demeaning the defendant’s emotion on the stand:
“…In America, there’s a thing about both white vigilantism and white tears, particularly male white tears. Really white tears in general, because, that’s what Karens are, right? They can Karen out and then as soon as they get caught, bring waterworks.”
The vapid spokesginger for the current occupant of the Oval Office defended her boss’s overt racism during his 2020 “campaign” with this gem:
“What I’m not going to speak to right now is an ongoing trial nor the president’s [sic] past comments [labeling Kyle Rittenhouse a ‘white supremacist’]. What I can reiterate for you is the president’s [sic] view that we shouldn’t have, broadly speaking, vigilantes patrolling our communities with assault weapons.”
And we endured lies like this from the Kenosha County assistant DA:
“You lose the right to self-defense when you’re the one who brought the gun.”
That gross misrepresentation of law comes from the same putz who, during the prosecution’s closing argument, cavalierly picked up an AR-15 (entered as an exhibit), put his finger on the trigger and flagged the whole damned courtroom.
The enemies of Liberty, these enemies of the People, haven’t changed their stripes. They’re not going away. Want proof?
The lame-duck mayor of New York today issued a statement saying that “a violent, dangerous man chose to take a gun across state lines and start shooting people.” (All of that was disproven in court, dumbass.) The disgraced former governor of that state called the verdict “a stain on the soul of America.” (You can’t make up comedy like that.) The state attorney general who helped topple that governor called the trial’s outcome “yet another reminder that our system needs to be uprooted and reformed.” (Sure it does.)
The oxygen thief who gave us the “male white tears” line whined,
“We have learned again what is considered legal for *some* people to do in America. It’s helpful to know where you stand in your country.”
A kiddie group seeking the repeal of the Second Amendment issued its own ham-fisted statement:
“It is so very clear that Kyle Rittenhouse embodies the very danger of a toxic mix of a white supremacist culture that values property over human life, and wide proliferation of high-powered guns with fewer limitations than a driver’s license. … Dangerous vigilantes like him are encouraged when our leaders stoke white supremacy…. He embodies the very danger posed by an armed white supremacist culture.”
I could be wrong, but it almost sounds like those children have bought the lie of “white supremacy.”
The Kyle Rittenhouse verdict, gratifying though it may be to true Americans, changes nothing. The enemies of Liberty are still coming for us. They’re still coming for our birthrights and, naturally, they’re still coming for our guns. And they’re really coming for white Americans, especially men and boys.
That’s the way it is. Don’t look away. This is no time to be squeamish.
We’re left to fight for our birthrights and, damn the consequences, fight for our lives. I’ll leave you with a hundred-year-old piece of advice from Horace Kephart:
“The citizen must be his own warrior, his own policeman, his own defender of his life and home.”
Lock and load, boys and girls.
Oh, and happy International Men’s Day.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB