The 2021 Wyoming Legislative Session, Part V. The out of session, signing goes on, edition.

It's now out of session, but the signing goes on, and the old thread got too darned long.

So one more, part five.

April 13, 2021

Ten bills were signed  yesterday.  They were: 

Governor Gordon Takes Action on 10 Bills on Monday, April 12

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Governor Mark Gordon took action on 10 bills on Monday, April 12. The Governor signed the following bills into law today:

Bill No.	Enrolled Act #	Bill Title
SF0141	SEA0071	Business entities-representation in detainer cases.
SF0121	SEA0075	State funds - investments and distributions.
HB0136	HEA0081	Inclusive ballot language.
HB0231	HEA0083	College credit retention.
HB0219	HEA0084	Investment funds committee-membership.
HB0244	HEA0085	State investment administration.
HB0253	HEA0089	Higher education-ban on funding for abortions.
HB0159	HEA0091	Liquor manufacturer regulations.
HB0254	HEA0094	Transportation computer system.
HB0092	HEA0095	Revisor's bill.

Bills passed to date, and how they were acted upon:

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Governor Mark Gordon has signed the following bills into law.

The full text of all bills from the 2021 session may be found on the Wyoming Legislature's website:
HB0003 HEA0001 Certified addictions practitioners-certification amendments
HB0006 HEA0002 Trust company amendments
HB0034 HEA0003 Youthful offender program-amendments
HB0042 HEA0004 Chancery court vacancy amendments
HB0048 HEA0005 Community juvenile services block grant program
HB0008 HEA0006 Consumer credit amendments
HB0018 HEA0007 Military training memorials
HB0025 HEA0008 Tribal vehicle registration exemption implementation
HB0035 HEA0009 Theft statute-amendment
HB0045 HEA0010 Changes to water right - notice requirements for hearing
HB0066 HEA0011 2021 large project funding.
HB0053 HEA0012 Invasive plant species
HB0030 HEA0013 Public utility assessment
HB0044 HEA0014 Omnibus water bill - construction
HB0009 HEA0015 Short time compensation program
HB0027 HEA0016 Business code revisions
HB0013 HEA0017 Alcoholic beverage regulation
HB0015 HEA0018 Department of transportation communication facilities
HB0004 HEA0019 Mental health professions practice act-amendments
HB0020 HEA0020 Driver's license requirements-visual acuity
HB0029 HEA0021 Burials for indigent persons
HB0033 HEA0022 Interference with public contracting
HB0046 HEA0023 Crime of bestiality
HB0069 HEA0024 Division of banking-fees
HB0086 HEA0025 Off-road recreational vehicles registration authorized
HB0087 HEA0026 Provider recruitment grant program
HB0111 HEA0027 Access to anatomical gifts and organ transplants
HB0118 HEA0028 Food freedom act amendments
HB0120 HEA0029 Hathaway Scholarships-success curriculum in middle school
HB0054 HEA0030 Wyoming meat packing initiative.
HB0058 HEA0031 State parks account-expenditure authority.
HB0014 HEA0034 Rights of way along public ways-amendments.
HB0021 HEA0035 Wyoming National Guard-preference for education.
HB0076 HEA0037 Uniform statewide payment processing.
HB0109 HEA0038 Local health officers-education requirements.
HB0148 HEA0039 Fees paid to secretary of state-amendments.
HB0064 HEA0040 Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act-extinguishing claims.
HB0079 HEA0041 Subdivisions.
HB0104 HEA0042 Uniform Trust Code-amendments.
HB0217 HEA0044 Community health center and rural health clinic grants.
HB0091 HEA0032 Removal of unenforceable property covenants
HB0057 HEA0033 Advance enrollment
HB0107 HEA0043 Retirement system-efficient disbursement method
HB0122 HEA0046 Hunting and fishing access-reliable funding
HB0052 HEA0047 Wyoming school protein enhancement project
HB0039 HEA0036 Optometrist practice act amendments.
HB0115 HEA0048 Big or trophy game animal-minimum hunting age.
HB0144 HEA0049 Electric vehicle fee updates.
HB0133 HEA0050 Online sports wagering.
HB0112 HEA0051 Pioneer trapper license.
HB0101 HEA0052 Elk feedground closings-requirements.
HB0085 HEA0053 Unlawful dissemination of an intimate image.
HB0068 HEA0054 Wyoming Statutory Foundation Act-amendments.
HB0010 HEA0055 COVID-19 large business relief program.
HB0038 HEA0056 Community behavioral health-priority populations.
HB0073 HEA0057 Birth certificates-gestational agreements.
HB0095 HEA0058 Game road kill.
HB0102 HEA0059 Wyoming Preference Act of 1971-amendments.
HB0041 HEA0060 Intrastate crowdfunding exemption-amendments.
HB0043 HEA0061 Digital assets-amendments.
HB0179 HEA0062 Optional municipal tax-election.
HB0195 HEA0063 Wyoming medical review panel-repeal.
HB0197 HEA0064 Connect Wyoming program-federal funding.
HB0198 HEA0065 University water system.
HB0229 HEA0066 Livestock identification choice act.
HB0207 HEA0067 Coal fired generation facility closures-litigation funding.
HB0017 HEA0068 Range management at military training areas.
HB0049 HEA0069 Agency fee revisions.
HB0116 HEA0070 Concealed carry-residency requirement-2.
HB0188 HEA0071 Irrigation and water conservancy district loans.
HB0075 HEA0072 Voter identification.
HB0150 HEA0074 State budgeting and expenditure authority.
HB0007 HEA0075 Air ambulance membership organizations-regulation.
HB0156 HEA0076 Alcoholic beverage permits.
HB0190 HEA0077 Vehicle titles for nonresident owners.
HB0136 HEA0081 Inclusive ballot language.
HB0231 HEA0083 College credit retention.
HB0219 HEA0084 Investment funds committee-membership.
HB0244 HEA0085 State investment administration.
HB0236 HEA0087 Firearms transactions-financial discrimination.
HB0253 HEA0089 Higher education-ban on funding for abortions.
HB0159 HEA0091 Liquor manufacturer regulations.
HB0254 HEA0094 Transportation computer system.
HB0092 HEA0095 Revisor's bill.
HJ0001 HEJR1 Traumatic brain injury and post traumatic stress treatments
HJ0009 HEJR2 Local government investment in equities.
HJ0011 HEJR3 State sovereignty impacted by federal actions.
SF0063 SEA0001 PWMTF reserve account-distribution timing
SF0042 SEA0002 Out-of-state state bank charter conversions
SF0041 SEA0003 Tax lien enforcement-amendments
SF0043 SEA0004 Wyoming energy authority amendments
SF0057 SEA0005 School finance-dates for fund transfers
SF0037 SEA0006 Omnibus water bill - planning
SF0014 SEA0007 Credit for reinsurance
SF0032 SEA0008 Water permit notice requirements
SF0060 SEA0009 Monthly ad valorem tax revisions-2
SF0029 SEA0010 Revised uniform law on notarial acts
SF0054 SEA0011 Statewide health information exchange-codification
SF0026 SEA0012 Animal abuse statutes reorganization and update
SF0018 SEA0013 Universal occupational licensure
SF0053 SEA0014 Ground ambulance service provider assessment act
SF0035 SEA0015 State budget department
SF0021 SEA0016 Judicial review of agency actions-permissible venues
SF0023 SEA0017 Public meetings-executive sessions for security plans
SF0119 SEA0018 Investment of state permanent funds
SF0079 SEA0020 Medicaid billing for school-based services.
SF0072 SEA0021 Financial council and reporting-budget reductions.
SF0062 SEA0022 Repealing sunset date for the office of consumer advocate.
SF0040 SEA0023 Wyoming Money Transmitters Act-amendments.
SF0039 SEA0024 Digital identity
SF0106 SEA0027 Transportation statutory amendments-1.
SF0107 SEA0028 Transportation statutory amendments-2.
SF0108 SEA0029 Career and technical education terminology.
SF0110 SEA0030 Small claims procedures.
SF0116 SEA0031 Wyoming business council directors-reduction.
SF0088 SEA0025 Ownership of fossils and artifacts
SF0074 SEA0026 Athletic trainer revisions
SF0124 SEA0032 Defending Wyoming business-trade and commerce amendments
SF0117 SEA0033 Speech and hearing specialist licensing amendments
SF0148 SEA0034 Requirements relating to depositors-amendments.
SF0047 SEA0036 Clinical laboratory regulation.
SF0044 SEA0037 Solid waste cease and transfer program funding.
SF0033 SEA0038 Physician assistants amendments.
SF0013 SEA0039 Abandoned vehicles-towing service liens and titles.
SF0155 SEA0040 Limiting firearm seizure and regulation during emergencies.
SF0120 SEA0041 Investment of state non-permanent funds.
SF0115 SEA0042 Education-pupil teacher contact time.
SF0109 SEA0043 Board of dental examiners-amendments.
SF0056 SEA0044 Wyoming gaming commission-modifications and corrections.
SF0052 SEA0045 Insurance-mental health and substance use parity.
SF0089 SEA0046 Public utility safety lights.
SF0083 SEA0047 Gillette community college district.
SF0102 SEA0048 Unclaimed cooperative utility deposits and payments.
SF0136 SEA0049 Public service commission considerations.
SF0096 SEA0050 Homicide amendments.
SF0078 SEA0051 Real estate appraisers-continuing education.
SF0126 SEA0052 Real estate subdivisions-easement requirements.
SF0139 SEA0053 Community based in-home services program.
SF0111 SEA0055 School of energy resources budget submittal.
SF0066 SEA0056 Slayer rule-amendments.
SF0019 SEA0057 Public health emergencies-immunity amendments.
SF0002 SEA0058 School facilities-project prioritization.
SF0025 SEA0059 Animal impound proceedings - bond and disposition.
SF0058 SEA0060 Wyoming investment in nursing funding.
SF0034 SEA0061 Born alive infant-means of care.
SF0028 SEA0062 Motor vehicles-security interest perfection.
SF0015 SEA0063 Temporary licensing and permitting authority-2.
SF0112 SEA0064 Insurance discount for accident prevention training.
SF0076 SEA0065 Broadband development program-amendments.
SF0087 SEA0069 Voyeurism Amendments
SF0141 SEA0071 Business entities-representation in detainer cases.
SF0121 SEA0075 State funds - investments and distributions.
SJ0003 SEJR1 Federal suspension and orders on oil and gas production.

There was one bill that the Governor commented on by letter:

HB0198 SEA 0065 University Water System 

The Governor's letter had nothing but complaints about this bill, and yet he signed it anyway, which I don't quite grasp.  I know that the City of Laramie has been extremely upset by the bill.

The Governor let the following bill go into law without his signature:

 SF0050 SEA0035 COVID-19 business relief programs agriculture. 

The Governor vetoed the following bills, only one of which I'd caught before this post:

SF0093 SEA0019 WICHE repayment program-veterinary medicine students 

SF0114 SEA0054 State land leases. 

The Governor exercised his line item veto authority on the following bill

HB0121 HEA0073 State funded capital construction.

Governor Gordon Signs 3 Bills that Support Wyoming's Energy Sector 

 

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Governor Mark Gordon Gordon signed six bills into law on Thursday, April 15, including three that reflect the Governor’s support for Wyoming’s energy sector.

House Bill 166 will require public utilities to take additional steps before retiring coal or natural gas plants in the state. Utilities would be required to demonstrate to the Wyoming Public Service Commission that the retirements would not lead to added costs to ratepayers or less reliable electrical service.

“The experience Texas and others had earlier this year underscores how critical it is that our electric grid remains reliable, and that it continues to provide 24-hour dispatchable power. It is imperative that this be done without adding additional costs to Wyoming ratepayers,” Governor Gordon said. 

“We already enjoy this because many existing power facilities currently operating in Wyoming are efficient and can produce power regardless of weather conditions,” the Governor added. “So if a utility plans to close a facility, it must show that a retirement will result in cost savings to customers, without compromising the dependability of their power supply.”

The Governor also signed Senate File 152 and House Bill 189. SF 152 prohibits cities, towns and counties from implementing ordinances or policies that prohibit “the connection or reconnection of an electric, natural gas, propane or other energy utility service provided by a public utility.” The bill protects Wyoming utility customers from having to pay higher rates because of ordinances that might prohibit the use of a specific energy source. 

House Bill 189 provides an opportunity for oil producers to utilize natural gas that would normally be flared into the atmosphere for other productive purposes, including cryptocurrency mining. 

These bills complete a slate of bills supported and signed by the Governor designed to promote and protect Wyoming energy-related products, including HB207, providing funding for potential litigation concerning export of coal and use of coal as a source of energy; SF43, the Wyoming Energy Authority amendments to encourage development of rare earth elements; SF136, authorizing the Wyoming Public Service Commission to fully consider reliability and economic consequences in Integrated Resource Plan reviews; and SJ3, stating opposition of Federal decisions regarding oil and gas production. The Governor also previously endorsed HJ 11, which states that the federal government should respect state sovereignty and urges the current Administration and Congress work with the state to develop federal land use policies “in a manner which recognizes their impacts on Wyoming citizens.”

----

Governor Gordon also signed the following additional bills into law today:

Bill No. Enrolled Act # Bill Title

HB0051 HEA0082 Meat processing programs.

HB0036 HEA0096 Management council membership.

SF0085 SEA0067 Property tax-reporting and exemption.

The full list of bills the Governor has taken action on during the 2021 Legislative Session as well as the Governor's letters can be found on the Governor’s website. 

 

--END--

April 15, 2021

Governor Gordon Takes Action on 3 Bills on Thursday, April 15

 

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Governor Mark Gordon took action on 3 bills on Thursday, April 15. The Governor signed the following bills into law today:

 

Bill No.	Enrolled Act #	Bill Title
HB0239	HEA0078	Worker's compensation-student learner agreements.
HB0022	HEA0086	Wyoming military code.
HB0158	HEA0092	Local land use planning and zoning.

 

The full list of bills the Governor has taken action on during the 2021 Legislative Session as well as the Governor's letters can be found on the Governor’s website. 

 

--END--

April 23, 2021

Governor Gordon Takes Action on 2 Bills on Thursday, April 22

 

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Governor Mark Gordon took action on two bills on Thursday, April 22.

The Governor allowed the following bills to go into law without his signature:

SF0130	SEA0074			Charter schools.
HB0127		HEA0093	Public health amendments.

Letters explaining the Governor’s action on both bills are attached and can be found here and here. 

The full list of bills the Governor has taken action on during the 2021 Legislative Session as well as the Governor's letters can be found on the Governor’s website. 

 

-END-

Prior threads:

The 2021 Wyoming Legislature, Part 1

The 2021 Wyoming Legislative Session, Part II

The 2021 Wyoming Legislative Session, Part III

The 2021 Wyoming Legislative Session, Part IV

Some odd things you can do for the environment on Earth Day that may or may not have occurred to you.

All of which are in the "little things mean a lot" category.

Quit buying bottled water.  It's almost always packaged in plastic and varies hardly at all from tap water.  Just get tap water.  If water in your area really sucks, okay you can do something, but bottled water isn't it.

I'll note, I don't include carbonated water, which is its own drink, in this. But buy it in the glass bottles or the aluminum cans.

By the way, if you live in the US, you don't need to pack around water constantly.  Americans carry more water on an individual daily basis than the British 8th Army used in the desert in all of World War Two.  You are hydrated just fine.

If you must pack water around with you like a desert explorer on an extended expedition, get a good metal container. We used to call these "canteens", but now water bottles are called something else.  Anyhow, get one of those.

Plant a garden.

Go hunting.

Go fishing.

Grow it, harvest it and process it yourself.

Switch to fountain pens, if you use pens.  Disposable ballpoint pens have gotten to the point where they write really nicely, but they're an entire industry based on disposal.  It's wasteful.

Don't buy it just because its new and you have an old one.  I don't know what it would be, but the buy it as its new ethos is wasteful also.

Walk there if you can.

Ride a bike there if you can.

If you are an outdoorsman and use an ATV to get to the sticks, get rid of it.  There are legitimate uses for them to be sure, and of all sorts, but hunting and fishing aren't two of them.  If you need a mule, get a mule.

Skip the sanctimony.  Almost all environmental sanctimony is handed out by people who have bought into theories of environmentalism that suffer in the face of reality, and tend to be, beyond that, virtue signaling.  Some people living really simple quite lives are much more green than people who make a big deal of claiming to be green.

If your clothes are synthetic, switch, when they wear out, to ones that aren't.  And buy durable ones.  That means buying plain or classic ones.  A good pair of Levi's lasts for eons, a Sheepskin coat is going to outlast a synthetic one by decades, a beaver felt broadbrimmed hat will last for 20 or more years when your high tech synthetic one has had to be replaced two or three times.

And your Levi's (and that's not the only thing) don't need to be washed nearly as often as you think they do, unless you work an occupation that makes them routinely dirty.

To add to that, quit buying the laundry soap that's perfumed.  It's just some weird chemicals and it just makes stuff smell weird, not clean.

Same thing with "laundry sheets".  You don't need them.

On perfumed stuff, I wish I could say the same thing about deodorant, a useless product that made its real appearance in the late 60s, but its now so ingrained in society there's no avoiding it.  At least it means that we have to put up with perfume, and even more useless product, less than we used to have to.

Make it yourself, if you can, whatever it is, from dinner to durables.

Go to church on Sunday and, if you are open to it, go to one that's an Apostolic Church.  An institution that has its eyes on the really long future and the really long past, and regards them all as pretty much the present, has a lot more going on for it than whatever organization you might be pondering joining.

Today is Earth Day for 2021. . .

 so let's post a few uncomfortable/surprising truths that relate to this.

Why?  As this area, environmentalism, is one of those areas people allow their political views to enter and trump scientific ones, ending up taking positions counter to their own stated position.

So here goes

First off, almost all the really dire predictions that were made when Earth Day first became a thing have been, well, wrong, showing that our ability to predict in this area is no better and maybe worse than any other.

That's, oddly enough, a reason to hope.

Regarding climate change, those who argue that we should go to an electric future free of coal fired power generation and fossil fuel powered cars have to accept that absolutely, with no exception, requires the use of the one really efficient green power source we have. That's nuclear power.  Back all the windmills you want, but without nuclear power, we're not getting anywhere on this.

On that, fear of nuclear power is purely emotional and wholly un informed. 

For those who scoff at the arrival of electric cars, by the way, you're about at the same point that people who scoffed at the arrival of cars themselves were in 1915.  I.e., there's enough of the old around to fool yourself, but that's what you're doing.  Ten years from now your petroleum consuming vehicle will have no value at all and you'll be looking for an electric one, like it or not.

Re solar and wind, while nuclear is necessary, these have now come into their own.  Scoffing at these sources not being self supporting is living in the past.  Yes, they have their own problems, but everything does.

Next, in order to really preserve the wild areas and basic environment of North America you pretty much have to cap off immigration at some rational level.  I.e., you can't increase the population of the country much beyond the current point and, frankly, you really have to look towards it decreasing, which given the low birth rate of native born North Americans is actually perfectly possible.

The entire population of the world will start decreasing on its own sometime during this century, but the current population growth rate in North America is way beyond the sustainable and that's all immigration fueled.  This isn't racist or xenophobic.  It would still be true no matter what populations were taken in.  It's a simple fact.  For that reason, really, immigration at this point in time ought to be geared mostly towards true refugees with some rational acknowledgement that a slower rate is required.

Tied into this, advocating for growth in everything is contrary to the environment as well, rather obviously.

On another point, agriculture is the only really green industry of any kind, and even it isn't green when its industrial.  If you want to preserve the environment, preserve sustainable family farms and ranches, everything else flows from that.

The closure you live to nature, the more of a real conservationist or environmentalist you are.  If  you herd sheep, ranch, farm, work out in the sticks, etc., you are probably an environmentalist even if you don't know it.  If you work in a large city, chances are that you aren't, even if you think you are.

Related to that, if you aren't gardening, hunting or fishing, you aren't really an environmentalist.

You probably also aren't if  your living a modern corporate existence in a big American city.  You may be eating a tofu based diet and working from home in Seattle, but if you got there by going to an east coast law school to make a big income and went on a vacation, just before COVID 19, to Bali, you're likely consuming a lot more of everything than that guy working down at the garage who's driving a twenty year old beat up pickup to work.

If you call your dog a "fur baby" and have fits about the plights of pets, but don't worry so much about humans, same thing.  Being a misanthrope or just neglectful of the human condition doesn't make you an environmentalist.

If you oppose environmental measures because you are a Republican, and support them because you are a Democrat, you aren't thinking things out.  Individual things require individual ponderings.

All of which means, you can't have it all your way, on anything.

April 22, 1921. Lancaster schools.

Millersview Normal School, now Millersville University, April 22, 1921.  Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Franklin and Marshall Academy, now Franklin and Marshall College, April 22, 1921.  Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

 

April 4, 1921. National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (and others) at the White House)

Cameramen at the White House, April 21, 1921.

The Aerodrome: April 4, 1921. National Advisory Committee on Aer...:  

April 4, 1921. National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics.

It was apparently a very busy day at the White House for groups of all types.

The Daughters of the American Revolution were there:

And their Congressional pages were being photographed.

And a group of farmers stopped by.

Assumptions

Advertisement for Smirnoff vodka that played effectively on assumptions.  Part of a series of such advertisements, another of which is shown before, illustrating our  assumptions about a profession and "shattering" it.  In reality, vodka wouldn't have this effect, of course.

At some point in life, the assumptions really set in.  It's interesting.

Not your own assumptions.  At least if you are like me, your world outlook at age 57 isn't very much different than it was at 17.  

Well, I guess that's not really true, at least in a complete fashion. But it is in a core fashion.  There are some experiences you have/enjoy/endure that there's no getting back from, no matter how much you might wish to.  I know that in my own case, that's definitely the case, including some I wish I hadn't have had and could take back.  I know I can't, but that doesn't keep me from wishing I could.

And there are some experiences that probably impact your world outlook no doubt, but in my own case not that much really.  I look at most things the same way, and in the same way, that I did back then.  Indeed, in spite of 30 years as a lawyer (well, 31) I don't think being a lawyer has changed my mental process whatsoever.

No, what I mean is the way other people look at you.

That really changes.

And not just for people who know you in one setting, but people who know you otherwise.

And why wouldn't they?  You spend five days out of seven, or if you are like me more often than not six days out of seven, assuming you don't violate the Commandment and make it seven out of seven, doing your occupation. That is what you are to most people, your vocation.  And even if you occupy a secondary occupation, it'll be regarded as a hobby.

Your secondary occupation could be working in Executive Outcomes and fighting in desperate struggles in far off lands, but if work a day job as an accountant, even if that job is to support  your armed inclinations, you're an accountant.

"Oh?  Going to Crapistan to fight in the insurrection?  Well, hope you find it relaxing and it helps get you back to accounting with a renewed focus."

Sigh. . . 

Well, you might take up drinking Smirnoff out of desperation (and in my view, if you are drinking vodka, you must be desperate), but truth be told, you'll still be an accountant and you'll still be taking the caravan to Southend.

And you'll still dress like an accountant, or a lawyer, or whatever and sooner or later, that's what you will be to most people.  Even people who know you at least somewhat well.

The only exceptions really are those people who knew you when you were young.  Back when you were, whoever you were, and who you may still dimply be.

Those are the folks who want to know if you want to go gold panning, or fishing on the high streams, or look at mules.

Everyone else?  Forget it.  Even if they looked at mules with you once, they want you to look at their mortgage now.

Testing a new email delivery program. . .

looks like it might work.  The new link to subscribe is over on the left column.  I should like have test driven this on a different one of our blogs, but I didn't.

I haven't migrated any of the old emails over yet, which will take awhile.  Right now, I have it up as I'm testing it on one of my own emails.

Anyhow, the old blog may live on after all, no thanks to Google.

"We all do things we said we never would"

So said a sticker that was on a car that belonged to somebody who parked in the same parking lot I've been parking in for 30 years.  The quote was attributed to "Soccer Mom".

For some of that 30, I've parked a real car there.  The cars were, in order of ownership, a 1954 Chevrolet sedan I once owned, a 1973 Mercury Comet, and a 90s vintage Mercury Cougar.  The Chevy I bought when I was still a college student.  I loved it, but owning it turned you into a part time mechanic and I didn't have the time. Additionally, at the time I sold it, I also had the Comet, which I had inherited, which was a nicer and more modern car.

I regret selling the Comet, but I did just that when we had our first child as I was able to buy a 1995 Ford F250 diesel for a good price, part of which was trading the Comet and a F150 to the person who sold it to me.  I  had too many vehicles anyway, I thought, and it was a good deal. The Cougar came along later when we picked it up from a friend of my wife's.  It had a lot of miles on it but it was in good condition and I drove the stuffing out of it, even though the heater didn't work.  

Otherwise, I've driven 4x4s to work.

Often they've been pretty heavy duty ones that could do ranch work as well as sporting transportation.  More recently I've added an old Jeep.  The Jeep is my current daily driver, but my Dodge D3500 4x4 takes me to work a fair amount and to out of town work when I go out of town.  None of these vehicles is new by a longshot.

Most of them look like I'm ready to go pull a trailer full of bulls or go into the hills. But there they are, in the parking lot.

The point of the quote above?

Today is the opening day of turkey season.

I won't be going today. The weather is awful anyway, cold and lots of snow on the ground, but that's not the reason why.  

I'll be heavily engaged in work.

When I was first practicing law, I cancelled an elk hunting trip here in the state (a Wyoming type of trip, not a guided something) as a partner in the firm assigned me something that conflicted with it.  Another partner later apologized and noted that one of the advantages of being a lawyer was "the illusion that you could take time off when you wanted to."  I've found it to be just that, an illusion.

I've been introspective a lot recently.

An old friend. . . my oldest friend, reminded me the other day that when we were in high school I maintained I'd never have a job in which I'd wear a tie.  The conversation came up as we were at a funeral, his son's funeral, and he wasn't wearing a tie as his son always tied it for him.  He doesn't wear them often.  I was wearing one, and I know how to tie one, as I wear them so often.

My youthful declaration about ties was because I didn't want an indoor job.  At that time I was going to be a game warden.  I've written about that before, so I'll forgo doing so again, but I didn't take that path.  Instead I pursued geology, but the bottom fell out of that.  Then I went into law.  I didn't know much about the practice of law and I didn't know any lawyers.

A different friend of mine, who is a lawyer and who is married to a lawyer maintains that law was the only occupation, other than the clergy, that would suit me, and as I'm Catholic, and married, obviously the clergy wouldn't be for me (unless, of course, I was Easter Rite, but that's another story).  Religious are called in any event, and I lack that calling.  Anyhow, that fellow is a German and has a more ordered sense of the world, I think, than I do.  Maybe he's right.  I hope so, and that would give an element of necessity to the otherwise complicated way we govern or our lives.

At any rate, as a lawyer, I've been a litigator.  It's not that I pursued that, but fell into it.  Lots of lawyers used to say that "the law is a jealous mistress", meaning it would take all your time, and whether or not that's true of all branches of the law, its certainly true of litigation.

Or perhaps my personality just works towards devotion to duty and work over anything else.  But after two weeks with two untimely deaths, thinking back on the younger me, I've found that the sticker has been true to my personality more than I would have ever have guessed.

April 20, 1941. Reversals in the Balkans.

 

Jubilant crowed in Skopje caring portraits of Bulgarian Tsar Boris III and Adolph Hitler.  Macedonia had a significant Bulgarian minority and Bulgarian troops occupied much of it during the war.  Given this, the region was at first sympathetic to the Axis in the form of Bulgaria.  Tsar Boris was a popular figure in Bulgaria who did not live to see the war completed.  He participated in the repression of his country's Jewish population but he would not agree to deportation to the death camps, nor would he agree to participate in the war against the Soviet Union.  He died in 1943 shortly after meeting with Hitler and some have suspected he was poisoned.

Things were not going well for the Allies in the Balkans.  

On this day Albania surrendered to Italy, something that was perhaps inevitable but which is remarkable not for occurring, but for how long Albania was able to manage to avoid that result.  It had held out with Greek support until the German intervention in the war reversed Greek and Albanian fortunes in the region.  Also on this day the Greek III Army Corps surrendered to the Germans.

On the same day, the Battle of Athens, an air battle over that city took place.

The British did conduct a successful commando raid at Bardia, behind German lines in North Africa, causing the Germans to have to detail troops to their rear.

April 19, 1941. National Service.

 The British passed their second National Conscription Act on this day in 1941.

An act passed the day after the German invasion of Poland created military conscription for all men who had obtained 18 years of age and who were not yet 42, meaning that Britain was including some men who had be liable to conscription in World War One, during which the conscription age eventually went up to age 50.  Exemptions were made for war work and health.  Keep in mind, however, that being liable for service did not necessarily mean that a person would be called up.

The second conscription act required men up to 60s years of age to perform some war service, which included military service for men up to 51 years of age.  It lifted the exemption for men under 20 years of age for foreign service.  And it made unmarried women without children between the ages of 20 and 30 liable for war service at home, other than military service.

On the same day London suffered a heavy bombing raid.

A research from Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Montana was photographed on this day flagging for ticks.

Monday Morning Repeats for the week of May 21, 2011: Knowing, or not, what we think we know.

An old pondering, which was an early "blog mirror" entry, still well worth pondering

Knowing, or not, what we think we know.

April 18, 1941. The Camp X Escape.

On this day in 1941, the largest escape from a Canadian POW camp occurred.  You can read the details, and generally on the camp on other threads on this blog, here:

ANGLER & PRISONERS OF WAR (Chapter 4 of 7)

The Camp was located near Marathon, Ontario and contained German POWs as well as Japanese Canadian internees. The Germans timed their escape to correlate it to Hitler's birthday.  At this point in the war, and really up until 1944, German POWs tended to be heavily Nazified.

The Germans took Mount Olympus in Greece, scaling it with the German 6th Mountain Division.

The 6th is a German unit we hear little of, in part because in September 1941 it was deployed to Finland in support of the Finns and serve the rest of the war in Lapland.  It surrendered to the British from Norway, into which it had withdrawn at the wars' end.

April 18, 1921. Service.

On this Monday, April 18, 1921, Edith Barnett, who had died serving as an American nurse in far off Siberia, was remembered with a tombstone marked in English and Russian.  She had died of Typhus while serving as a Red Cross nurse there.

Some Gave All: April 18, 1921. "Grave of Edith Barnett of New Yo...:  

April 18, 1921. "Grave of Edith Barnett of New York City. An American Red Cross nurse who died in Siberia, Aug. 15, 1919. Monument placed at Tomsk, Siberia on April 18, 1921. Photograph taken on April 19, 1921"

Ontario voted, in a plebiscite, to ban the sale and importation of alcohol by a 60% margin.  An attempt at repealing the ordinance the following year by the same means failed.

How would you have voted?  I'm not a teetotaler, but I'm sure I would have voted for the measure.

Jacksonville Florida was photographed from the St. John's Bridge.

View of the Jacksonville Florida St John's Bridge, April 18, 1921.

President Harding seems to have had a busy day greeting groups.

Harding with Community House Kids.  I'm not sure who they were, but it appears to probably be a church based group.

Harding and Women's Commission for World Disarmament.  The group obviously did not succeed in its goals.

Gen. Herbert Lord of the Quartermaster Corps received an award consisting of draft horseshoes.

I don't know the actual occasion, but it may have been recognizing his service which was principally in administering its budget.  He'd go on to occupy the position of head of the OMB, although under a different title at the time, in the Harding Administration.

Churches of the West: Emmanuel Baptist Church, Casper Wyoming

Churches of the West: Emmanuel Baptist Church, Casper Wyoming: 

Emmanuel Baptist Church, Casper Wyoming

Not the best photograph, by any means, we admit.

Emmanuel Baptist Church in North Casper, Wyoming.