I Guess I Was Right . . .

BREXIT hoopla is subsiding rapidly because people are realizing that it is a British thing, not a world thing.  And Europe seems to be getting over it.  Of course, many in Great Britain are still unhappy but I see where the government is not going to hold an election for the "Do Over" people.  If anything, I would think the Do Overs would lose even worse the second go round should there be such a thing.

Any way, the market is on its way back up.  I think it will recover to about where it was before.  Of course, FMOC could screw it up and something else could do it too.  I see where the price of oil will probably go up a bit as the summer driving reserves are down.  That means demand is up and that is classic "supply and demand' economics.  And rising prices in oil seems to spur the market on higher.

But there was no real reason except for general luke warm economy ala Obama we are settled in for the duration of his administration.  A group of incompetents with arcane give it away philosophy will come to an end.  As Margaret Thatcher said, "Liberals do great until they run out of your money to spend."   The gimmie days are I think are over.  There is not enough money to sustain all the gimmies.  Already the national debt is way out of control.

Perhaps the Republicans will grid their loins, and stop the leaking purse from excess spending.  And maybe we will get some reasonable tax reform.  I like the present system, as I understand it. I do not like the high rates of taxation and go great lengths to avoid having to pay excess taxes.  It is not that I dislike the privilege of paying taxes (as that means one has a real income), it is just that Congress wastes so much of it on extravagant social programs.  We need to get back to reality.

Any way, I did not panic and sell my investments.  I already had considerable conversion to cash in my IRA.  I have been selectively buying defensive stocks.  And I was pleased, that during the brief draw down, most of those stocks weathered the drop.  Did I have losses, yes, were they as bad as the market drop, no.  So I was some what prepared for a drop, just not because of BREXIT.  So we are now beyond that, I hope.

BREXIT . . .

I do not understand all this hoopla over BREXIT.  I agree some big US banks may and I repeat may be impacted but nothing else.  Airfares to United Kingdom (UK) may be down for a while but that will adjust pretty quick.  So why depress the remainder of the stock market?

I think BREXIT is only a stimulus to impact the US's weak economy ala Obama's ineffective fixes.  BREXIT is more about sovereignty of the UK than financial fiasco.  The Brits are just taking back their country from European bureaucrats that were essentially unelected rulers.  They did not want further increases of Muslim/Arabic people freely entering their already overcrowded island nation.  There were several thousand camping in France with the specific intent to get into the UK.  Now that will not happen.  So the UK was essentially taking back their own destiny from non-islanders located in places like Brussels, Paris or Luxembourg.

The UK will escape the bickering over Greece and their economic excesses.  Similar problems exist in France, though less so, but more so in Portugal, Spain and Italy economies.  And then there are group of little island nation states like Malta and Cypress (Cypress has already like the Greeks gone though a default of sorts).  So there are a host of inequalities in and amongst the European Union EU).

United Kingdom will continue to be a good friend and ally in Europe to both us and the continent.  NATO is not a function of the EU though many confuse the two.  For instance, both the US and Canada are members of NATO and have nothing to do with the economy or the Euro coinage in Europe.  They are not synonymous, while currently related, they are not the same.  One is military alliance and the other economic merger.  UK remains a charter member of NATO and is a strong military contributor to the military strength of NATO while neither Malta or Cypress have little or nothing to do with NATO.

I know for a fact that Luxemburg's contribution to NATO is one battalion of troops, a mere pittance compare to the US and the UK.  And since the Iron Wall has fallen there are new members of NATO such as Poland and Hungary as well as the Baltic States.  As I recall Austria is not a member of NATO and neither are the Swiss but they will align with NATO if threatened.

So do not confuse military strength with the potential collapse of the EU.  The EU is concerned with money not defense.  So even if the EU were to totally collapse, it would not mean a demise of NATO.

Even though the UK was a member of the EU they steadfastly refused to use the Euro and remained with the pound Sterling as their currency.  You would get your bill at a hotel in both denominations but had to pay in pounds.  Each of those EU nation states had their own tax system, while many were had similar tax systems they were not all the same nor have the same rates.  So a lot of the separation will not effect coinage, their no UK Euros floating around like Malta or Greece or Portugal.  The Euro is common to all those nation states with the sole exception being the UK.

I applaud the UK's determination to withdraw from the EU.  They have decided that they are British, not common Europeans.  That was vote for liberty.

The Heat is On . . .

Our rainy season is over.  At least for the foreseeable future.  The ambient temperature has shot up to the mid to high 90s with a lot of humidity.  We are drying out, the lakes as yet are full but the run off has tapered considerably.  Soon the lakes will be falling again as per the local norm.  We may yet get a  thunder shower but not very likely.

The heat index is driven by the humidity and is pushing over 100, feels like more than a 105 or more.  The local water parks are full to capacity as the kids (and parents) are seeking a place to cool off.  Cities and villages are trending toward water slide parks rather than swimming pools.  The danger is not so much of drowning but I guess broken bones and necks are a bit higher.  And the attendees get a thrill going down steep slides, twisting and turning into a relatively shallow pool.

We had a father's day cook out at the flying field yesterday.  Not to many showed up, a few did to enjoy burgers and watermelon.  Then it began to get really hot, so we all kind of packed up and headed home.  Today we are generally staying home and enjoying the real father's day.

I did some model covering.  I have just built back my Stik model, it was a pile of sticks from an errant take off.  I am pretty sure it was bent control rods that caused it all.  I will be checking it out anyway.  I doubled the control rods to prevent bending, not pretty but functional.  I will check out the receiver to make sure it is not going haywire too.  The bird will be a bit heavier with all the additional glue and patches.  Beefed up some of the structure, had to even patch the fuel tank with shoe glue or a similar sealant.  It does not deal with a great deal of pressure so a good patch will work.  I tried to stay away from fiber glass as that is heavy stuff, used around the landing gear mount.  I replace the top deck with 1/8th inch balsa instead on the thinner stuff in the original so I know it is stronger than before.  Getting the covering back on as I write.

I will have to install the landing gear and engine.  The throttle linkage is all set up, just got to hook it up so to speak and she will be ready to go.

It is hot in the garage where I do the work.  So I have to do it early in the AM and then kind of back off and work in spurts.  It is just to hot.

Discover Card . . .

Wow, out of the blue I got a message from DiscoverCard saying contact them, they think they have detected unusual activity on our credit card.  Usually, when I see such message they are nothing more than phishing.  But the message did display the actual last four digits of the credit card, so I called them as requested.

In a short but nice conversation with DiscoverCard person, we determined yes there was fraudulent activity going on.  There was a charge at a 7-11 and at a Tom Thumb Grocery store, neither of which we are near or use.  Asking further where this occurred and she said in Arlington, TX.  Of course, Arlington is a good forty miles from us and I have not done any shopping in Arlington.

I have no idea how they got the numbers of the card, could have been random in nature.  Or someone has been copying the numbers off other charges in the local region.  We will never know but we have Discover watching our backs for us.  We do use Discover Card routinely, and all other cards sparingly.  In fact I have just one other card while Judie has that and one of her own.  They were not involved.

Hats off to DiscoverCard and their fraud detection capability.  They had already stopped one charge and the other had gone through, but she said, it would now be kicked back and we had no liability.  Those are my kind of people.

Do I recommend them, you bet I do.  Second time they have come through for us like that.  The other time it was some game software operation, and we got that stopped.  That was years ago.

Our Animals . . .

No, not dogs or cats, we are talking about deer and squirrels.  I cut some branches off the Pyrocantha that surrounds the water well out back.  I had previously cut some Pyrocantha on the South side of the house and piled the branches up in the vacant lot right next to us.  So I picked up some of the branches from around the well area and started across the yard to put the new cut stuff on the old pile of branches.

I saw three squirrels under the bird feeder chowing down on spilled seed.  The Blue Jays and some of the other birds and an errant squirrel usually jump into the feeder and spill it over on to the ground.  The ground is bare there as the feeder is hanging from a branch of the Hackberry tree.  It is easier for them to feed on the open ground there than under the other bird feeders that have grass beneath them.

So I figured as I walked by with the branches the squirrels would leave quickly.  But not so, two these squirrels have become use to us feeding them via the bird feeder.  Do not get me wrong we are not for feeding the tree rats, that's what I call squirrels.  These two Fox squirrels just kept on foraging for seed ignoring me.  I was not moving fast nor was I actually coming at them, but I got with in 10 feet of both of them and they just ignored me and kept on eating.

I had just finished my second trip from the well with a hand full of Pyrocantha limbs and was getting ready to return for the final clean up.  I looked at the squirrels, they kept on eating and then looked over at the old Post Oak tree about half way between me, the squirrels and the well and there stood a young yearling doe.  She looked at me like, "Are you putting out food for me?'  I stopped in my tracks, turned and went around the front of the house and came inside.

I figured I would let them do what they do in peace.  I could get the remaining limbs later in the day.  No need to startle them or scare them off.  After all we are in their territory, not ours, we are just interlopers that can occasionally be counted on for some food scraps to eat on.

The deer are particularly fond of melon rinds, water melon is most common.  Though sometimes we have cantaloupe melon rinds.  Even old grapes, and greens of any kind except of course onions and other herbs.  They do not eat Rosemary, hence we have a lot of that planted and they do not eat chives.  They will on a rare occasion eat parsley, though it is not preferred. Naturally that is what we have growing around the yard.  They will also eat leaves of Crepe Myrtles and low hanging Oak limbs.  We have to have wire cages around Day Lilies, Daises or anything else we like except Vincas which they do not seem to eat.  They ate Tulips right down to the ground, but left the Garlic alone growing right behind the Tulips.  That kinda gives you an idea of what our yard is composed of, plants that deer to not eat.  No style, all driven by the animals.

They have gone beyond the animals being pests, they are sort of our cohabitants in the area.  Last week we had fawn spend the day in the middle of the yard.  Its mother left her there and came back later and got her.  The yard maintenance people spread fertilizer all around her and she just stayed where her mother put her.  The new born fawns are all over the neighborhood.

So I left them in peace and will go out later and finish my job.