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[CVTractor Wrangler]

I should be Wrangler Tractor Palin by the name generator, but I had to invert it and add a bit of "my" signature to make it my own. If only you all knew how often I've wrangled a tractor or ten, this middle aged horsegal could share with you how hard I laughed when that name popped up.  No shame here, I wet my pants!
I have been a lurker here since the day McCain made his VP choice known to the public. This is my first post, and thank the Googles for Google-ability! Thank all of you for making Mudflats a haven to come to when the Daily News left and still leaves us with the dreaded WTF?
I won't go into Post Turtle Palin much here other than the only knowledge I had of her previous to that Friday bomb was of her Wolves policies. Or should I say her anti-wolf policies?
I have no problem when hunting to feed oneself or family. I own guns. I target shoot regularly. If you live where I do, you need one. Period. Out here one has rabid animals, occasional predators, rattlesnakes that can't be coaxed out of their hidey holes, and a couple of times domestic animals that needed relief.....immediately. Such is the life I live. Yet in no way can I condone aerial or bounty hunting. 
So hello to all from different countries and different lifestyles! I live on a ranch in the hills of Central California. My personal motto? I will not tolerate unreasonable intolerance. Therefore, on ALL levels I cannot accept the McCain/Palin ticket as a valid one to vote for.

[DownInMississippi]

  to the forum!

yeah, sounds like you got the right name!

[CVTractor Wrangler]

Yep, no problem with MY name, but my 24 year old daughter refuses HER name of Wesson Scalper. Kinda don't blame her. LOL. I do admire your moniker. We have a 54 Willy's Jeep, and I've fished for Pike in WI many, many years ago.

[DownInMississippi]

There you go!  I don't have a jeep, never fished for pike BUT my fiance, Clamp Noodle, (who I have no intention of talking to until after this election) does have a jeep and, come to think of it, he was in the Pike fraternity at Ole Miss many, many years ago!

[Palmdale, CA aka Gini]

 
Glad you've joined our merry band.  Where in Central CA?

[CVTractor Wrangler]

Aaaaah, Clamp Noodle is as bad a name as it gets! Maybe if the invert magically happens a lamp might light up pre-election? Old Jeeps kick a## off pavement, pike are WONDERFULL to try to catch and yet taste like ca-ca, so what do I know other than if McCain and SWWNBN get elected I'll want to scream forever!
Are you an a AK resident or Miss?

[CVTractor Wrangler]

Greetings Palmdale,
     Southern Monterey County. Repub country here. Aargh!

[Palmdale, CA aka Gini]

Hmmm, southern, huh?  My ex was a Salinas boy.... Been up and down 101 more times than I can count.  I should have waved.   

[CVTractor Wrangler]

Palmdale,
             Well, you're waving now. Heh, and my SO is a Salinas homegrown. Me? I got the benefit of high schooling in Palo Alto. Guess that makes me elitist? Palmdale is desert or LA area?

[Palmdale, CA aka Gini]

Desert, but close to LA, and higher altitude -- north, mostly, near Edwards AFB.  Up here, we call LA "down below."   

I'll take elitist any day! Smart counts!  I'm Pasadena born. College in Stockton... I do still have friends in Salinas.

[CVTractor Wrangler]

Well, small worlds and all that! The SO's kids (20 & 30 somes....2 grandbabies also) live in Salinas. My daughter is in CO. We do vacation in Death Valley come Novembers. The 49'ers get together and celebrate the European invasion (of ignorance I've asked myself?). I have come to love the desert, and still don't know an inth of what it can reveal.
As my farrier says, "There's some as acts like they know it all, but put 'em where they don't know shee-ite, they won't be but nothin' left to sleep on." There has to be a middle ground to get a balance on these days?  Somewhere that common sense and intelligence meet? Where ignorance and hatred can be met head-on without fear.
I would guess that this is why I've started talking here. How can I make a differance with the people I know who only hate and label?Huh, I know there are no answers.

[Palmdale, CA aka Gini]

I've been a desert rat of some sort since '90 -- first NM, then Vegas, now here.  But I'm ready for a change of scenery -- find some green that lasts more than a month or so.  Spring here is glorious, assuming reasonable winter rains. Incredible wildflowers.  Vegas was almost lunar it was so bleak -- at least once you get out of town. I loved Albuquerque -- the mountains, the mesas, the red rocks, the bosque along the river, the sunsets. This is just tumbleweeds and joshua trees with a few jumipers except in the spring.  People like to pretend it isn't desert, but we're running out of the kind of water it takes to keep lawns.

I love the hills in Central CA -- green in winter/spring, golden in summer.  Now they're all covered in vineyards.  Amazing changes over the years as the cattle have given way to grapes.

[CVTractor Wrangler]

Hmmm, the hills are what I know best. At the very least I count on the gradual seasonal change of hue. Animals needing to be fed, and the love, attention, and poop scooping that accompany the horizon scanning? It is a simple kind of love that keeps a faith in the best of worlds alive for me.
Now, a love for the desert with it's harsh demands and few actual rewards? It would take many years to appreciate or even find the beauty that is hidden in the seeming barrenness.
As far as the many water sucking vineyards that now green up the summer gold? Hmmmm, I love wine.....and the feel of grass under my bare toes. I just feel it's stupid of we humans to be using such the precious Western resource and necessity of water for vanity (lawns, fountains, etc) and greed (vineyards, mining, etc).
And if you're in the need for green? The Midwest, Northeast, and particularly the South could use a few more of us Californians to remind them of the values of Wild West frontiers! LMAO!
Maybe it IS the Wild West image that attracts the Republicans to Ms Post Turtle? Shee-ite....what them city slickers gonna do with Ms Moose-Can-Skin? Other than Cheney, they'd crap their pants collectively if she brought out a rifle in person, so who ARE they trying to fool? Us? We know better!

 

[Engine Nighthawk Palin]

 

[Palmdale, CA aka Gini]

I think the desert has to be enjoyed slowly because it changes slowly. And you need to get up close and personal so you can appreciate the details.  You can't just go roaring through and expect to see what it has to offer.  Didn't much appreciate that until I read Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire. 

One thing I loved about living in Albuquerque was to watch the light as it changed throughout the day and from day to day.  We lived up in the foothills (east side of town), so every morning on my way to work I got to see the morning light as it played over the mesas and the bosque along the river.  Every day was different depending on the time of year and if and where the clouds were.  Same thing in the afternoon watching the mountains as the sun went down or watching as the sun neared the horizon and then dipped below.  I understood why so many artists are drawn to NM to paint.  It's a beautiful place.  California desert just can't compare even though it has its moments.

[Icy]

Welcome, CVWrangler...

The discussion here made me stop a bit to appreciate our beautiful and varied state of California.  I've lived up and down the coast, as far north as Nevada City (in the Sierras) and as far south as San Diego. 

Have to say though, your patch is just about as beautiful as they come.  I love the Monterey Penninsula....have never lived there, but visited often.

Look forward to reading more of your posts....

[califpat]

Hey Palmdale:
Welcome! I admire your love of the beauty of the California desert. I recently moved from San Bernardino, California and now live in Victorville, California. I am a city girl via, Saint Louis, Missouri and Los Angeles, California. I think the mountains are beautiful. I have been living California since 1974 and I dont think that I could stand the Saint Louis winters if I were to ever go back. I am a proud mother and grandmother. On this past Saturday, my husband and I went to an Obama party in AppleValley and we made hundreds of calls asking MoveOn.Org members to remember to volunteer their time to win this election. It was a lot of fun and we met and made friends with a lot of people who participated. Again, welcome, fellow Californian.