Greg In The Desert

• Artist In Residence Programs – Did you know that most of our National Parks have an "Artist In Residence" program? Each park has different stipulations as to what it entails, but all you need do is to type in a search for your favorite National Park and look for the program within their site. Even if there is none listed on the website, you might want to contact the park directly since information posted to these sites rarely happens in real time.
• CL Sues SC AG For Declaratory Relief – craigslist has filed suit against SC AG Henry McMaster in federal court in South Carolina, seeking declaratory relief and a restraining order with respect to criminal charges he has repeatedly threatened against craigslist and its executives.
• American Thinker Blog: Letter from a Dodge dealer – On Thursday, May 14, 2009 I was notified that my Dodge franchise, that we purchased, will be taken away from my family on June 9, 2009 without compensation and given to another dealer at no cost to them. My new vehicle inventory consists of 125 vehicles with a financed balance of 3 million dollars. This inventory becomes impossible to sell with no factory incentives beyond June 9, 2009. Without the Dodge franchise we can no longer sell a new Dodge as "new," nor will we be able to do any warranty service work. Additionally, my Dodge parts inventory, (approximately $300,000.) is virtually worthless without the ability to perform warranty service. There is no offer from Chrysler to buy back the vehicles or parts inventory.
• The cactus bees are here! « mistress beek – At least in Albuquerque, the docile European honeybee hasn’t totally edged out our natives. The prickly pear cactus in my yard has just started blooming which attracts bees from the genus Diadasia, also known as cactus bees.
• The 7 Hotdogs of the Apocalypse – Instead, doom will come stuffed with cheese, wrapped in bacon, fried in oil, stuffed in a bun and topped with sauerkraut, mayonnaise and lard.

  The streets will run pink with hotdog.

• Project MKULTRA – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia – In 1973, CIA Director Richard Helms ordered all MK-ULTRA files destroyed. Pursuant to this order, most CIA documents regarding the project were destroyed, making a full investigation of MK-ULTRA impossible.
  In December 1974, The New York Times reported that the CIA had conducted illegal domestic activities, including experiments on U.S. citizens, during the 1960s. That report prompted investigations by the U.S. Congress, in the form of the Church Committee, and by a presidential commission known as the Rockefeller Commission that looked into domestic activities of the CIA, the FBI, and intelligence-related agencies of the military.
• News : New movie to be filmed in Rio Rancho – Rio Rancho Observer – Shooting is set to begin June 10 on “I was a 7th Grade Dragonslayer,”

  Included in the shooting will be scenes at Rio Rancho Mid-High and on some Southern Sandoval County Arroyo Flood Control Administration land, she said. A warehouse in Albuquerque will have additional sets used in the filming, which is expected to be completed by July 10.

  Wendie Malick (“Just Shoot Me,” “Dream On”) and Leah Thompson (“Back to the Future,” “Space Camp”) have starring roles. The children’s roles were being cast this weekend; there will be opportunities for local extras.

• Meet My Chickens: the continuing story of Chickenzilla – Homegrown Neighbor here. My chicken Whitey, a.k.a. Chickenzilla, has been laying some wonderful eggs lately. Of course, she is a meat chicken, not a layer. I think of her as a "rescue" chicken.
• Muzi Software – Main – Torrent feature to be removed from latest version – Apple has asked to have all features related to torrent queuing be removed from the next version of Trackr, or have the app pulled from the app store. Unfortunately, the next release of Trackr, which will be submitted to the app store tomorrow will no longer be able to work with torrent RSS feeds.

Rio Rancho man accused of illegally dumping coyote carcasses (Via Free New Mexican).

A Rio Rancho man faces charges of illegally dumping about 20 skinned coyote carcasses in an arroyo west of the city.Coyotes are not a protected species in New Mexico, and it is legal to hunt the animals. However, Undersheriff Tim Lucero said it is illegal to dump carcasses in that part of Sandoval County. County ordinance makes violators liable to 364 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000 for dumping.

Some people in a Rio Rancho neighborhood hit by a water main break on Sunday are saying that the city isn’t doing its part to assure that they have clean, drinkable water. “It’s just getting really old,” said Renee Popovich, a homeowner near Rockaway and Pyrite in northeast Rio Rancho. “We’re not getting any support from the city to provide at least drinking water for the residents.” Popovich said that her children had to spend the night with friends so they had water to get ready for school on Monday morning. The break carved out a mini arroyo in front of several homes leaving people unable to back their cars out of their driveways. Rio Rancho officials say that they are aware of the problem and have recently removed asphalt over the water main in preparation for repairing the faulty pipes, which have failed several times in recent months.

The city came and fixed the water main break in front of my house pretty quickly. This break seems much worse than mine which might be part of the problem. Perhaps the city should do a better job of communicating to the residents the problems in fixing this and how long it’s going to take so it doesn’t end up on the news. Just sayin’.

The City is looking for help from the state to clean up from the massive amount of rain we had over the last week. Mother Nature doesn’t let dirt roads stand in the way of it’s canal (arroyo) making, in fact they make easy targets. I can understand that people are upset about this but their expectation are a bit out of whack.

“We are very, very frustrated with the city that they allowed us to build here. We are a drainage focal point for about two or three miles up.”

I can’t totally blame the city for their problems, when you live in an area with dirt roads and no storm drains you have to expect this to happen. Rain is pretty scarce in the desert but the effects of heavy rain are known to make noticeable changes to the terrain. They should have planned better for it.