A rainy start to the Labor Day weekend

I don’t really mind. But the dog is bored!

We got sprinkled on yesterday evening on our walk. Then the rain actually started right around sundown. It came in waves throughout the night. Sometime around 2am I remember hearing the wash starting to flow again. I thought about the Flood Control guys who’d spent so much time clearing the mud and rocks out of the wash over the past week.

OOOopps! I guess they’re going to be busy for a while longer. The guys themselves are actually nice. They’re just having to deal with a really shitty design and cleaning up after some morons who obviously were only interested in creating a “Make Work” project. I laugh because the wash project was supposed to prevent erosion, and yet, it seems to have done the exact opposite.

Again, not the fault of the guys tasked with cleaning up the mess.

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It’s been raining off & on all morning. The clouds look like they’re breaking up I don’t know if it’s going to clear up today.

There is something weird going on in the atmosphere. (Aside from the rain) I’m picking up a Las Vegas, FM radio station. I’m not sure how that’s happening but it is… The antenna on my HAM rig isn’t that good! Especially since the antenna is built & tuned for completely different frequencies.

I’m not complaining, It’s an alternative rock station that I always look forward to listening to when I’m in Las Vegas. I’m just surprised that I’m hearing them here at home. I may upgrade with the antenna on the sound system in the living room to see if I can get this station all the time. Generally speaking I don’t like the LA / Inland Empire radio stations. On this side of the mountain about all I’ve been able to hear for years was Religious (Hellfire and damnation radio), or Spanish stations. Neither of which are particularly entertaining to me.

Since both cars were equipped with Satellite radios, the other half and I tended to listen only to Sat channels. Come to think of it, I haven’t even sampled local radio for decades, (except for the lone country station I could reliably receive).

Maybe it’s time to revisit over the air stations. There wasn’t much point in Southern California, for me at least. Even my old favorite stations from the 70’s & 80’s moved to Rap, or were purchased by Spanish Broadcasters and catered to that audience.

I remember a time driving through LA and not being able to find a single Radio station that was playing American Rock. I think that was 2005 – 2006. When I ordered my Mini Cooper, I made sure that the sound system had Satellite Radio, a CD Player, and an interface for my iPod.

Whenever I visited other states I’d spend time with the rental car radio to see what the locals were listening to. NV, AZ, OR, WA, KY, TX, LA, NC, SC, FL, GA, MS all had a healthy mix of musical types, talk radio, and languages represented. It was only in Los Angeles that I couldn’t find entertainment in my language.

This suggested to me that Los Angeles was no longer welcoming to folks like me, and I suggested to the other half it was time for us to leave.

The other half and I actually fought about it. He said I was being racist.

We were going somewhere, I was driving and told him, “Find a station that we can understand.” After tuning through the the AM and FM bands several times, he finally put a CD in the slot. He sat silently fuming for about 5 minutes. Then said, “Alright let’s look into satellite.”

He didn’t listen to the radio or music much when he was driving around, so he hadn’t noticed. Me, on the other hand… I spent 4 hours a day in the car going to and from work. So I WON! Well, I won half the battle, a complete win would have been us moving out of California. The compromise was, when we replaced our vehicles, we had satellite. First in my Mini Cooper, then in his vehicle. If I were to move out of California satellite radio is likely to be to first thing I disconnect especially if I go someplace with a healthy mix of stations.

I could add that to the “Reasons to Leave California list” right under cost cutting…

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Hmmm. I looks like the clouds are thickening up again. Eh, I’m good with it. The mountains need the rain and I can save the water because I don’t have to water the plants in the yard.

There’s a ton of stuff I should be doing, but I’m feeling lazy. I think I’m going blow it off and find a book to read.

Have a great Labor Day weekend.